by Rania Khalek raniakhalek.org June 29, 2014
Editor’s Note: If you are an activist of any type who engages in nonviolent protest, you need to listen to this.
(Download the episode here or subscribe for free on iTunes here) or click Unauthorized Disclosure here to listen.
In both the UK and US there is a disturbing trend of the defense establishment militarizing social science to monitor, study and counter nonviolent activism that challenges the status quo, which both countries have classified as a threat on par with terrorism. The Pentagon has gone so far as to label peace groups that explicitly advocate nonviolence as “social contagions” and “potential supporters of political violence.” Ahmed explains the creepy reasoning behind this mentality and what it means for activists moving forward in a world increasingly destabilized by climate change-fueled resource shortages and a globalized economic order that’s failing the majority of the world’s population.
In the discussion portion of the episode, Kevin and I talk about the Obama administration citing an Israeli supreme court decision as legal justification for executing American citizens abroad without trial, the thirteen Americans who challenged their placement on the no-fly list and won, and the scandalous water shut-offs in Detroit.
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2 Comments
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Sad to say that Chomsky is right. Our freedom to take part in nonviolent activism has been eroded.
Leslie
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater and commented:
For decades Chomsky has made the point that u.s. citizens have a great amount of freedom (relatively speaking) to practice activism. That freedom has been eroded through the patriot act, the ndaa, fusion centers, the militarization of police forces, pro-corporate supreme court rulings and countless other abominations. These new measures are a direct threat to anything that still remains of our constitutional freedom and even more fundamentally, our freedom as human beings. Simply put, it is incontrovertible evidence of a rapidly rising police state.