Letter from Derrick Jensen!

A few days ago, a couiple of days before Christmas and in the depth of night, I wrote a long anticipated (by me at least hehehe) e-mail to one of my favourite authors, a person I admire enormously that has influenced much of my thinking. His name is Derrick Jensen, and he is also considered one of the most vocal and dedicated activists who challenge our conception of the civilization we have developed to live in.

I have read much of what Jensen has written, and I find all of it sublimely thought provocative. Whether I agree with Jensen's arguments or not, and I can't tell whether that is more often than not since I am often too engrossed in thought to figure it out, they are always extremely convincing and somewhat of a paradigm shift. His ideas, however, are so dense and well articulated that I would not, and indeed could not, paraphrase them. I indeed asked to ask Mr. Jensen if he would grant me permission to reproduce some of his writings on my blog, and here is our exchange:

My Initial e-mail



Greetings Mr. Jensen,

My name is Ruben Rosenberg Colorni and I am an International Public Administration and Political Sciences student at The Hague University in The Netherlands, representative of many student bodies and, perhaps most importantly, an admirer of your writings most of which I have had the pleasure and privilege to read. I am contacting you today both as a fan and as an amateur writer, to express my pleasure in reading your books and making a special request, if you'd be so kind to grant it.

It would be difficult to include all the personal reasons that have led me to the creation of my blog and, consequentially, this request. Suffices to say I am have become increasingly disillusioned by the way our human civilization has developed, as you have poignantly expressed in your "Endgame" series. Not only that, I have become increasingly disillusioned with a lethargic, corrupt and opportunistic political class which is willing to sacrifice the well being of its peoples, constituents and its planet for private and extremely limited interests (even if those interests were wide I still would not agree with the violent exploitation of our planet for human benefit, which is ultimately self destructing).

I have just begun writing my online blog, which you can visit (and you would honour me with a comment if you feel so inclined) at http://alternativepoliticalnews.blogspot.com. After years and years of expressing my frustration on paper and conserve those writings for my own future reading pleasure, I decided to seek a wider audience. As I have mentioned, I am at my first arms with the blog and blog writing in general, but I intend to write extensively on issues pertaining to indigenous tribes, political, economic, environmental, human rights and sustainability issues, in the broad terms of such words.

I would like to request permission to copy and publish extensive parts of your writings within my blog, with appropriate references to your works of course, in order to bring your ideas and conviction to my (albeit still limited) audience, and spread the incredible insight they provide. Of course I realize the need for limitations on the extensiveness of length of publication (if I were to publish a chapter a week, I would rapidly contribute to driving you out of business as a writer) and thus wonder what your conditions for publishing your works may be.

Once again, I would like to reiterate my admiration for your writings and your relentless dedication to the dismanling inherently and ultimately self destructive conception of our civilization, which strongly resonates with my ideal to dismantle the political system that is associated with the perpetuation of such system. I wish you the best on your future endeavours, and a wonderful time for the upcoming holidays.

Sincerely Yours,
(an admirer)

He replied very quickly, within twelve hours, with the following e-mail (I omitted his assistant's name and e-mail for privacy concerns)

Derrick Jensen's Reply


Dear Ruben,

Thank you for your note. Thank you also for your kind words. And thank you especially for your good work.

Sure, you can post parts of my published work on your website. thank you for asking. How long are the longest pieces you want to use? Perhaps we could limit each one to a couple of thousand words?
Please run each thing you want to post past my assistant, XXXXXX, <xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx> before you post it.

Your website looks really good!

Thank you!
Derrick

Firstly, I was pleased that such a wonderful author was so quick to respond and welcoming in accepting my request. Secondly, I'm really excited to be able to bring to you some of the knowledge and ideas I've had the privilege to absorb from his writings. Thirdly, nothing I could say about him or his books, and no segments of them which I will be posting, would do justice to reading a whole one of his books. So, trying not to sound like a commercial, I strongly suggest that if you wanted to buy yourself a present for Christmas and you are a bit late and haven't come up with one yet, check out his website and order one of his books (The "Endgame" is particularly mindblowing)!

I will be choosing which segment to publish during my trip to Rome to see my 105 year old grandmother, and will be back with a choice before the new year!

I wish you all a wonderful festive period!

The United Police States of America Part 3

In the last Part we looked into the activities and a bit of the history of FEMA, and the consequent and related legal acts that followed and seem to pave a very dark alley. In this section, we'll take a closer look at how this affects U.S. citizens and foreigners alike on an every day basis. Let's begin with some more recent developments...

Militarized Police

Now, in 2011, following the Occupy protests and the very real possibility of nationwide uprisings, the National Defence Appropriation Act was passed to further elaborate a counter-plan should such an eventuality occur. For years now these regulations have actually being utilized against american citizens by agencies such as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies in STASI-style paramilitary raids on homes and families, in the middle of the night, usually against incredibly minor drug offenders. These raids often result in wrongful arrests and, tragically, the very frequent murder of innocent dogs who of course react to protect their owners against armed intrudes, and are the first to be shot down.

Mayor's Home Mistakenly Raided by Police Killing his Doghttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26079096/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/police-raid-md-mayors-home-kill-his-dogs/

Police Raids the Wrong House and Kills Couple's Dog
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/police_raid_wrong_house_kill_couples_dog/

Police Raid Family Home in Columbia, Kills Dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdip3ypW6Kk


The brutal beating of Kelly Thomas, the youth shot dead for not having a bus ticket, the speeding car who eventually stopped and whose driver was shot dead on the spot... And simpler things like those violently arrested at the Jefferson memorial for DANCING! These are all symptoms of a society in which the weak and poor are oppressed both physically and economically, and in which violence is utilized to maintain the

These incidents are so frequent that an activist devotes his time collecting information on such cases and has made a Google Map for it. The truth is hard to accept, but a multi-billion dollar private prison complex and its associated lobby have influenced the U.S. political class into suggesting and implementing increasingly oppressive policies, and the completely disastrous "War on Drugs" to their benefits. The U.S. is in fact the largest prison state in the world, holding 5% of the planet's population but a quarter of all the inmates in the world. The situation is so bad that a third of U.S. youth will be arrested by age 23 (with a large predominance of those destined to be, unfortunately, African Americans and Latinos). I feel that the best way to get an initial overview of how severe the problem is, is to suggest that you take a look at this inforgraphic initially compiled by the ACLU, it paints a pretty clear picture. Not to talk about the increasing use of military drones for civilian surveillance (full report by the ACLU can be downloaded in PDF here). Not only this worrisome trend has already sparked outrage among civil rights advocates and civil liberties group, it has already led to its first civilian arrest, and possibly more. More on this in the next sections.

Occupy Crackdowns
I think one of the most obviously blatant indicators of the unacceptable use of force by police forces was the reaction of various law enforcement agencies towards the occupy protests, all across the United States. The Occupy Crackdowns exemplify, in a way that seems even too perfect, precisely the nature and dynamics of police brutality, and of the violence and abuse inherently embedded within this system. I doubt that ever before the Occupy Crackdowns such relationship has been so obvious.

The Occupy protests are a non-violent method of alternative community building and participative democracy. Firstly, one should point out the enormous ideological threat that the Occupy camps represent towards the establishment. As physical representations of the ideals enunciated by the occupiers, the encampments prove that the building of an alternative society based on mutual cooperation and aid, and one in which each member of the community has a voice and a say, is not impossible, not improbable, and not even that difficult to achieve after all! I can't help making the connection between the Occupy camps and the Kibbutz in my mind, and believe that if the messages of Occupy of a restructuring of socio-economic relations is to be taken seriously we must prove that such an alternative set of relationships IS productive.


The second threat towards the establishment that the Occupy movement poses is an increasing resentment and disillusionment towards the existing political class, and the very real results that might have. In my previous post One Vote at the Time we discussed alternative candidates for the U.S. presidency, and I am extremely pleased to witness the brave actions of U.S. Occupiers in Iowa and other key primary states who are Occupying the caucus. The Occupy movement might very well be the spark that could bring a truel pluralist political party system (and enact electoral reforms) the the United States desperately need to revive its political and social discourse. Perhaps even more extremely, the Occupy movement could eventually prove that a "representative" political class is actually unnecessary and that through a high enough level of education, every citizen should be informed enough on the affairs of the nation to partake in direct participatory democracy. 


Third on this list, and by no means the last of the contributions of the movement, I believe that Occupy has done a wonderful job in exposing the hypocrisy of the U.S. being a country of democratic freedoms and rights (unfortunately some people won't see the truth when right in front of them, and will call YOU, the occupiers, the violent ones who obstruct private property and such... it's all nonsense, all bullshit).  The violent, unwarranted and excessive police actions have shown the world how truly disgusting the United This great little short film just sums it all up...Police States of America has become, and has shook White America in realizing that police brutality does not only happen to Blacks, Browns and Latinos (who, of course we are told, deserve such violence as they are all criminals living in filth and poverty and out of control...), but that the government has no qualms beating down the white folks too. I think that this, psychologically, had enormous impact.

I wanted to make a small time-frame of the police violence and brutality towards the Occupy protests and camps, feel free to add your incidents and videos/links in the comments section!

• The infamous case of the women pepper sprayed on the sidewalk of the New York streets in Occupy Wall Street peaceful protests by Anthony Bologna. 
• The infamous arrest of 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge by police officers who tricked into doing so and thinking it was a legitimate action.
• The BRUTAL beating of peaceful students bravely protesting at U.C. Berkley (if you haven't seen this, you must).
• Novemeber Crackdown in Occupy Seattle in which a pregnant woman, an 84 years-old lady, and a priest were pepper sprayed.
• The "Spraying of the Bugs" of peaceful protesting students at U.C. Davis which sparked outrage.
• Occupy Oakland crackdown and the wounding of Scott Olsen - Two must watch videos as they give an idea of the utter disregard of police forces towards civilians. Scott, a two tours serving Iraq War veteran, was shot in the head by police with a gas canister which exploded on contact, causing brain trauma and skull fractures. Scott has just begun his recovery and talking again. As Scott Olsen was laying on the ground fighting for his life, and fellow protesters approached him to rescue him, police forces threw a stun grenade straight at them to prevent the rescue. Scott has a great interview on DemocracyNow!
• The still continuing crackdown of OCW protesters in New York.

The toll for the occupied protesters is higher than that of the green revolutionaries in the Iranian election protests. This is from a supposedly democratic country which has condemned, and used as an excuse for warfare, the suppression of democracy and democratic and non-violent protest in places such as Egypt, Lybia, Iraq, Afghanistan and the list goes on... The occupy movement is being violently suppressed because it represents a truly democratic and non-restrictive system which is a threat to the "representative" democracies we take for granted in the West. Decision making power, like violence, must flow from the top to the bottom, and any risk of a reversal of this trend incited a violent reaction from those at the top (with a lot more money and resources at their disposal) to prevent this reversal - and make money from it! This eventually leads to the...

Privatization of Warfare

Many of us are aware of the ever-growing military-industrial complex and the overwhelming private economic and financial interests associated with it that drive the U.S. foreign policy. However, even more disturbing is the infiltration of these same interests in determining domestic law enforcement and emergency relief mechanisms.

Under the new contract, the detention and relocation centers will be able to hold both immigrant refugees from U.S.-born natural disasters and foreign-born natural disasters. The most recent award to Kellog, Brown and Root (KBR) announced on Jan. 3, 2006, extends and expands the existing contract, as part of the DHS Contingency Support Project and ICE's Detention and Removal Program. KBR will get $481,212 per year to maintain readiness. So, on top of all of these, the interests between business and politics intertwine.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/33295/?page=2

The U.S. army, following the involvement of private firm KBR in the outfitting of FEMA detention camps, has begun actively recruiting Internment/Relocation specialists. If you think this personell is to be used in Afghanistan or Uganda for humanitarian aid or relief efforts, or to be used in the eventuality of natural disasters within the United States, think again. Check out the job's description from the Army's own recruitment website:

"Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a confinement or correctional facility; conduct inspections; prepare written reports; and coordinate activities of prisoners/internees and staff personnel.

Some of your duties as an Internment/Resettlement Specialist may include:

- Assist with the supervision and management of confinement and detention operations

- Provide external security to confinement/corrections facilities or detention/internment facilities

- Provide counseling and guidance to individual prisoners within a rehabilitative program

- Prepare or review reports and records of prisoners/internees and programs"

Scary shit huh?

Do you remember of any time a lucrative economic activity influenced political decisions? Where shall we start? Hydraulic Fracturing polluting aquifers and drinking water supplies, the damming of rivers resulting in ecological imbalances in fish populations, streams, forests and all organisms which rely on fish (bears, insects, and plant themselves), logging industry destroying rainforests, pharmaceutical industry selling us poisonous products we do not need, oil drilling (and tar sands) that results in unimaginable environmental devastation and  possible spilling, and too many other to mention... Now a thriving private industry is also developing around drones, as private contractors are stepping up their roles in this dark scenario.

The increasing role of private contractors also in drone strike operations are worrying some within the military as well. Civilian private contractors are being utilized to provide the information to the military that result in the military's decisions pertaining to drone strike - when and where to strike so to speak.

An incident which took place in October 2010 and that resulted in the unwarranted murder of 15 Afghan civilians brought the story to light, after a Freedom of Information Act request to read the transcripts of the operations and the involvement of SAIC Inc. - a publicly traded Virginia-based corporation with a multi-year $49 million contract to help the Air Force analyze drone video and other intelligence from Afghanistan. According to media outlet Truthout,

"America's growing drone operations rely on hundreds of civilian contractors, including some, such as the SAIC employee, who work in the so-called kill chain before Hellfire missiles are launched, according to current and former military officers, company employees and internal government documents."

The interests of the private military corporate complex has infiltrated not only the U.S. foreign policy (which it dominates) but is not-so-slowly infiltrating the formulation of interior domestic government policy. When private interests infiltrated the prison system, we saw those interests incentivize incarcerations to shore up their own profits, and to make it seem like there were more criminals that there actually were, thus also "justifying" their existence. A similar narrative is being applied to domestic law enforcement. The presence of a militarized police who will react violently to peaceful protests, sometimes sparking a counter-reaction, and thus seemingly "justifying" the need for such extreme measures is the standard tactic being utilized against the Occupy encampments all over the world and being publicized by the mainstream media conglomerate.

War is being privatized to the benefit of a select few war profiteers that sponsor global warfare. The road towards martial law and the concentration of power in the head of the executive branch (the president) is close to completion. FEMA camps have been built to accommodate those that will dissent in the eventuality of a collapse, soldiers are being recruited to man them, and a series of enormous Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBs) has been built to ensure the "continuity of government" and protect government officials in the eventuality of a catastrophe. Drones, and other spy equipments, are being utilized to spy on the civilian population which is kept in place by a militarized police force - everything you do is recorded and kept in a database to be used against you, when they will need to. 

Censorship - The Tool of Totalitarian Governments

The next tool commonly used by totalitarian governments, after the militarization of civilian police forces, instating martial law, and rescinding the civil liberties of citizens, is to choke the information and knowledge flow that might educate the citizens on the abuses that are being imposed and executed upon them. During the past year the Obama administration has built this apparatus of censorship, upon the grounds laid down by his predecessor, by passing the Protect IP Act (PIPA), the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the section 954 of the NDAA. All these measures have been publicized by the administration as measures to protect economic interests of those industries dealing with intellectual property rights (books, music, movies etc.) and those of national security (cyber-warfare, hostile hackers etc.), but in reality could be utilized as a repressive tool of censorship.  

Let's take a quick look at the first two before dissecting Section 954 of the NDAA.

The PIPA (PROTECT-IP Act - Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011; United States Senate Bill S.968) is a bill publicized as being intended "To prevent online threats to economic creativity and theft of intellectual property [such as copyrighted music, motion pictures and books] and for other purposes", and would seek to severely punish content-hosting websites should someone post any such material on them. The SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act of 2011; United States House of Representative Bill 3261) is its sister bill within the House of Representatives. Both have been criticized as tools for the censorship of dissent and anti-American sentiment under the guise of a purely commercial related piece of legislation. Other than the moral arguments in relation to the diffusion of intellectual property, which are extensive and should have  post of their own, there are numerous other worrying aspects of these legislations that must be considered and addressed. 

The Internet community and activists have long been aware of this proposed legislation as it influences them directly, as it does me as the author of an online blog. Through the PIPA and SOPA acts, the United States government would

I must congratulate the International Business times for picking up on this, and acutely noting that both the NDAA and SOPA (which we will address shortly) bills are aimed at “quashing dissent:”

"The lobbyists who have spent nearly $100 million to push for the Stop Online Piracy Act's passage will do everything within their power to ensure that money does not go to waste. For them, the copyright-holders must be protected at all costs, including at the expense of all Americans' liberties… The real purpose of the SOPA bill (and its sister bill, PIPA [Protect IP Act], in the Senate) is to target the web-based movements that have fueled revolutionaries both here and abroad."

By reading through the entire document of the NDAA I found one additional aspect of it which has not been widely scrutinized, not even by the internet blogs and independent journalists, which disturbs me. This little gem tucked away in the NDAA, Section 954, allows the Department of Defense, upon the Presidents direction, to “conduct offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our Nation, allies and interests.” This received no contest or debate within the U.S. congress, and although the provisions are conditional and required to be compliant with "(1)the policy principles and legal regimes that the Department follows for kinetic capabilities, including the law of armed conflict; and (2) the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.)", we have been proven right over and over again on the fact that the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate and Congress don't care too much about these laws. If we've learned one thing from the recent past, the U.S. government doesn't need real evidence or a real enemy to wage war, they simply manufacture one- The "Cold War" on Communism, the ridiculous War on Drugs, the absurd "War on Terror" and Bin Laden and Saddam as the Big Bad Wolves, then they took it to Gaddafi, and soon it will be Ahmedinejad. In addition, we know that the U.S. government often finds loopholes around its own legal constraints to reach their broader goals. Just earlier in 2011 President Obama, for example, flouted the War Powers Resolution and then claimed he had no responsibility to adhere to it because the operation in Libya against Gaddafi didn’t qualify as hostilities under the Resolution. So what can we expect from this new authorization for the Pentagon to wage offensive war on the Internet?

According to The New American, who took time to thoroughly analize section 954, SOPA and PIPA, reports the following: 

"The IBT contended that the Internet provisions in the NDAA seek to destroy “whistleblowers in independent news media from exposing corruption in the government,” adding "In other words, the Pentagon is afraid that with the dissemination of the Internet, the spread of information or ideas "not consistent with U.S. government themes and messages" could be too powerful and dangerous to national security."

The U.S. government is now not only able to incarcerate civilian suspects based solely on suspicion of terrorist activities, it is now able to conduct covert cyber operations against any individual on the internet (whether within the borders of the United States or otherwise) if such individual is releasing material which is uncomfortable to, or incompatible with the objectives of, the U.S. government. In addition it can now influence and decide, through the near monopoly of three companies over the communications industry in the U.S., which sources of information the population is permitted to access. If an internet provider is pressured, threatened, or legally (or illegally) coerced by the government to limit its customers' access to, say, Wikileaks or any other website that it might challenge its policies and politics, it will have to do so.

Through the PIPA/SOPA legislations and the already approved section 954 of the NDAA, the United States will have the legal capability to wage cyber war on any person that is perceived as a threat to their interests or policies, even web sites such as this blog. In addition, they grant the U.S. government the ability to censor and control the information flow to its population, and selectively decide what knowledge they can access. This is a something that the U.S. has actively criticized China and Iran for doing

The United Police of America are already here my friends, and it is very very real. The american dream turned out to be just a dream you had to be asleep to believe in, and it turned into a nightmare. FEMA concentration camps are littered all across the U.S. and if you are a dissenter, you might just find yourself there soon with the amphibian boots of an "Internment/Resettlement Specialist", paid by your tax money, on your face; at that moment many would wish to have legal recourse, to have someone to stand up for them, to have vengeful justice be done upon those that cause them great suffering... but all those resources will be unreachable for most of us who are not rich and privileged. Militarized police will keep you and your family in terror (if they don't already) and raid your house and arrest you in the middle of the night if you are suspected of being a terrorist (which is happening already). Unmanned drones controlled by private corporations bent on profit, paid with your tax money, will patrol the skies tracking the moves of ordinary citizens, in violation of their civil rights. In these times, only us, the citizens, the 99%, can counter the abuses that are being perpetrated upon us. I often think of how our societies should be run, and the best way I can put it is a quote whose author I don't recall: "People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people".

UPDATE:

Following massive internet protests which included the Wikimedia Foundation and Google, the January 24th PIPA/SOPA bills have been indefinitely postponed. This does NOT mean that they have been written off the table, as it could very well be that they U.S. HoR and Senate is only waiting for the waters to calm down before passing it though.

As these two measures did not pass through and achieve their initial intent, the U.S. congress is relying on The Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA) which is a plurilateral trade agreement passed and ratified by the U.S. in October 2011. Many people believe it is new, while it actually already exists and it is fully in place. In February 2012 the European Union and its member states also signed on to the agreement. This resulted in the shutting down of thepiratebay.org and the magaupload.com mass sharing and torrent websites in many EU countries, as well as the incarceration and pending trial of the owners of Megaupload. The U.S. congress is now attempting to tighten the regulations and rules of the ACTA through amendments, and to convince the signatories to follow suit.

The United Police States of America Part 2

In the previous part of this article the new National Defence Appropriation Act 2012 and its potential effects on the U.S. civilian population was discussed, as well as the impact of increasingly draconian legislations that curtail the civil rights of all human beings on this planet. In this section, we will discuss through which institutional and legislative measures such curtailments could effectively and practically take place.

The Origins of FEMA

The envisioned possibility of a national disaster within the United States, and its containing, solving and/or quelling, would be an enormous administrative, practical and operational undertaking. In 1979, under Jimmy Carter's Executive Order 12148, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created as an extension of the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency, initially created under General Ford's Executive Order 11921.

FEMA's original mandate, as specified in its original charter, called for the planning and training activities pertaining to "natural disasters, nuclear war, the possibility of enemy attack on U.S. territory and incidents involving domestic civil unrest". In the eventuality of any disaster, whether it be natural, due to armed conflict or nuclear war, or massive civil unrest, FEMA would be the centralised command post to administer, supervise and organise all other Federal agencies. During the 1980s, under Ronald Reagan's administration and the directorship of Louis Onorato Giuffrida, FEMA focused on applying the vast majority of efforts to develop policies, and acquire resources and power, to deal with the eventuality of "domestic civil unrest". This predisposition led to the eventual joint drafting of a position paper with the Department of Defence and the Pentagon entitled "The Civil/Military Alliance in Emergency Management" in January of 1982. This document indicated that FEMA had been given emergency power to acquire and requisition resources from virtually all federal and state agencies and institutions, including the National Guard, as well as the private sector (such as transportation, communication, banking etc.) for utilization in "civil disturbance operations".

The plan was considerably reinforced by Reagan's top secret National Security Decision Directive (NSDD 26) during the spring of 1982, a pronouncement which appears to have formally interlocked FEMA, not only with the military but with the National Security Council (NSC). Perhaps most importantly, however, the paper also effectively abolished and rescinded provisions of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.

The Posse Comitatus Act is an essential piece of U.S. legislation which prohibits military intervention in civil unrest without an express majority vote by the U.S. congress. In addition, it prohibits civilian law enforcement agencies from becoming militarized and using military grade equipment and tactics. These provisions, however do NOT apply to the United States Navy and Coast Guard, which will eventually become an important exclusion as it is now the section of the U.S. defence forces which would mostly be involved in deployment under FEMA directives. In essence, the act follows the wise perspective that the civilian law enforcement agencies are intended to serve and protect the civilian population, while the military is intended to fight the enemies of the state. When the police becomes the military (or vice versa) the people become the enemies of the state.

Rex84 - Paving the Road for Matial Law

As a continuation of its draconian and oppressive domestic national security policies, in the month of April 1984 Ronald Reagan signed Presidential Director Number 54 allowing FEMA to activate a secret national readiness exercise named Rex84. Declassified documents pertaining to this plan indicate that FEMA, in conjunction with 34 civil departments and agencies (both at state and federal level) conducted a civil readiness exercise between April 5th and 13th of the same year. This exercise was enormous and, to date, the largest one yet. It was conducted in coordination and conjunction with a Joint Chiefs exercise and the Nigth Train 84 operation, and included coordination of all worldwide military command posts (including Continental U.S. Forces) in order to address the consequences of the envisioned scenario both home and abroad. 

The Rex84 exercise was envisioned to anticipate large scale and spontaneous civil disturbances, major demonstrations, and massive strikes that would adversely affect the continuity of state and federal government activities and/or resource mobilization To fight subversive activities, there was authorization for the military to implement government ordered movements of civilian populations at state and regional levels, the arrest of certain unidentified segments of the population, and the imposition of martial rule. The operations of the exercise were implemented and supervised by FEMA and the DoD who led the other federal agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secret Service, the Treasury, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Veterans Administration through a gaming exercise to test military assistance in civil defence and to test FEMA's ability to assume military authority and included the simulation of the suspension of the U.S. constitution and the declaration of martial law which would appoint military commanders to run all levels of federal, state and local governments.

http://www.publiceye.org/liberty/fema/Fema_3.html
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/FEMA_WC_JVW.html

In the history leading up to the original topic of this multi-part blog post about the National Defence Appropriation Act of 2012 and our further coverage of FEMA, the Rex84 executive order and exercise are fundamental. Perhaps the three most permanent and pertinent effects were its indirect ones. For example, the E.O. allowed numerous military bases to be closed down and be turned into military run prisons for civilian populations, which eventually would lay the foundations for the FEMA internment camps we will be talking about later on. Additionally, two offshoot operations originated from Rex84: Operations Cable Splice (whose existence has not yet been officially acknowledged) and Garden Plot (Executive Order 12919, a.k.a USAF Civil Disturbance Program 55-2). These two sub programs were envisioned to be implemented once the Rex84 program was initiated. The former of the two was intended as a population control measure while the latter was intended to lay out the guidelines for the orderly takeover of the state and local government by federal government and the military. FEMA would head up all operations. The Presidential Executive Orders already listed on the Federal Register also are part of the legal framework for this operation.

So how much money goes into an organization like this? Well, on its official budget the agency receives multi-billion dollar (US$5.8 billion) budget. However, about 6% of that budget goes into the relief effort.

The development of FEMA and the events that led to the most recent NDAA were slowed for a number of years until the presidency of G.W. Bush, the most regressive president ever to take seat in the Oval Office. Under the Bush administration, three of the most regressive legislation of our time: the U.S. Patriot Act, the Civilian inmate Labour Program, and Executive Orders NSDP51 and HSDP20.

I'm not going to get too much into the Patriot Act as numerous people have already written extensively and in depth on this subject and is somewhat more well known than the others (and I need to shorten this post!) but I will explain the other two as they are also currently relevant. In essence, however, the Patriot Act authorizes law enforcement and intelligent agencies to spy on, record, and keep a database on the activities of every American citizen.

Civilian Inmate Labour Program and 
                     FEMA Concentration Camps

In 2005 the Civilian Inmate Labor Program (CILP) was established as a means to utilize inmates in civilian federal detention installation, such as FEMA internment camps covered later,

"This regulation provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labour programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations. Sources of civilian inmate labour are limited to on– and off–post Federal corrections facilities, State and/or local corrections facilities operating from on–post prison camps pursuant to leases under Section 2667, Title 10, United States Code (10 USC 2667), and off–post State corrections facilities participating in the demonstration project authorised under Section 1065, Public Law (PL) 103–337. Otherwise, State and/or local inmate labour from off–post corrections facilities is currently excluded from this program."

In May 2007, Bush signed new Executive Directives NSDP51 and HSDP20 (National Security Presidential Directive NSPD 51/Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-20) to replace REX84. The significance of this development is alarming, as it further concentrates emergency executive power in declared emergencies within the hands of the President of the United States. In essence, the two bills established that the White House administration would take over all local governments under a national state of emergency, instead of Homeland Security. Articles One and Six of that directive state that:

(1) This directive establishes a comprehensive national policy on the continuity of Federal Government structures and operations and a single National Continuity Coordinator responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of Federal continuity policies. 

(6) The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator

In essence, the directive states that in the event of catastrophic emergencies ( "Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions) the U.S. President can declare state of emergency, automatically instate martial rule, and become the only person responsible for the running of the nation, under a regime in which your civil liberties are completely worthless. If you think that removing your civil liberties is NOT the first priority of such bills, you only need to look at the report on National Emergency Powers that the Bush Administration compiled for Congress, which in its second paragraph states: 

"There are, however, limits and restraints upon the President in his exercise of emergency powers. With the exception of the habeas corpus clause, the Constitution makes no allowance for the suspension of any of its provisions during a national emergency. Disputes over the constitutionality or legality of the exercise of emergency powers are judicially reviewable."

Now we finally come to the FEMA camps that have been disseminated to serve the policies of Rex84, Operation Gardenplot, the NSDP51 and HSDP20, and the CILP. Over the years, independent journalists have documented over eight hundred of these prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. The majority of these installations are all staffed and some are even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States. Those installations with personnel are not allowed to be filmed thoroughly. The camps all have rail-road facilities as well as roads leading to and from the detention facilities. Many also have an airport nearby. The majority of the camps can house a population of 20,000 prisoners. Currently, the largest of these facilities is just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Alaskan facility is a massive mental health facility and can hold approximately 2 million people. You can watch this video to get an idea of what these camps are, and you can find my compiled list of all these institutions here.

http://freedomfiles.org/war/fema.htm

These institutions were intended to house massive "immigrant influx" or U.S. citizens in the eventuality of natural disasters. Lately, an even more worrying development has taken place, as FEMA has place and received orders for millions and millions of plastic burial vaults (seriously astonishing sight), coffins and body bags. Remember that this agency, which receives nearly US$ 6 billion only spends 6% of it on relief efforts. What does the rest go into? Building additional facilities, keeping them staffed and well maintained, and purchasing these things. What would FEMA need millions of burial coffins and body bags for? Obviously none of us can say for sure if the U.S. government and military are preparing for massive uprising and civil unrest, and whether they would resort to these methods of repression and incarceration through Mashall law should that happen. What has become disturbingly clear is that the infrastructure is in place, the legislation has become law and is real and the American people seem to be content with watching it happen.

Please, do your own research on this! There is plenty of crap amongst conspiracy theories, but also a few diamonds in the rough.

End of Part 2...

UPDATE:

I have just recently discovered that the U.S. military is actively recruiting individuals as Internment / Resettlement Specialists. If you think these are will be used for the relocation of Afghani victims, or for natural disasters, think again. The job description on the U.S. military recruitment website describes it as:

"Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialistsprovide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a confinement or correctional facility; conduct inspections; prepare written reports; and coordinate activities of prisoners/internees and staff personnel.


Some of your duties as an Internment/Resettlement Specialist may include:

• Assist with the supervision and management of confinement and detention operations
• Provide external security to confinement/corrections facilities or detention/internment facilities
• Provide counseling and guidance to individual prisoners within a rehabilitative program
• Prepare or review reports and records of prisoners/internees and programs"

Am I the only one that finds the utilization of U.S. military in civilian detention facilities appalling and a gross violation of the Posse Comitatus Act?

The United Police States of America - Part 1

I wanted to tell you a bit about my grandma, this ancient figure which has lived through the tenure of 19 U.S. presidents (and about half of the entire country's history), two World Wars and the Cold War, 8 popes, the invention of the washing machine, the television, the jet engine, the first space explorations, the moon landings. Perhaps most impressively, however, she was a Jewish woman in fascist Italy who was originally sent to concentration camps in Poland, and managed to escape and walk her way back to her homeland with her two children - my father who was a few months old when her ordeal began, and my uncle who was a child of seven or eight. She witnessed the rise and fall of the brutality of fascism and Nazism and experienced their practical application in two of the most brutal regimes in the history of mankind (those of Hitler and Mussolini). Some of the most intense and memorable of her life stories are not the ones of hope or of her ordeals in concentration camps, but the story of her life as Italy was becoming increasingly para-militarized and presided by a fascist and violent police and military force. She watched as neighbours she had known for decades became members of the fascist paramilitary surveillance groups and spied on everyone in the neighbourhoods. It wasn't long before they had to be careful of every word they would speak in public for the fear of being labelled a dissident, a baby-eating communist and, inevitably, a suspect. The constant fear of being watched, scrutinized, and being in a government's file somewhere ready to just be picked up, charged, and imprisoned without a trial at the first sign of an excuse to do so... The biggest regret my grandmother expresses is: "I didn't do anything... as all this was going on, I stood by and expected it not to affect me, and that it would be temporary, until it was ME they came for, and nobody was left to defend me."
Incredibly, many of the stories which seemed like they could never take place nowadays, in my naive childish mind as I listened to her anecdotes, they were impossible.

Not so much, as it turned out...

A few days ago, on Friday December 16th, 2011, My grandmmother´s 105th birthday, the United States´ House of Representative and Senate have passed the National Defence Appropriation Act 2012. Such act outlines all the defence authorizations for the U.S. military and related agencies, and is a behemoth of a volume (you can find the whole text of the bill here)

The Obama administration is supportive of the bill, despite having threatened to veto it on the grounds that those provisions “mandat[ing] military custody” amounted to a “restriction of the President’s authority” to choose what to do with terrorism suspects. No mention of the disintegration of the fifth amendment’s due process clause appeared in the administration’s objection. Recently, even those objections and the veto threat were withdrawn.

So... what would this new bill actually do? Amongst other things, it rescinds many of the civil rights and liberties which are legally and constitutionally the right of U.S. citizens such as the Habeas Corpus and the Fifth Amendment which states that no individual shall "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law".

When I first heard Michelle Bachmann (makes me shudder just having her name show up on my blog) mention her concerns about the removal of bestiality and sodomy from the punishable offences, I took little stock in her ramblings. However, after a couple of days (and I can't take credit for thinking this up) I saw the following comment on a news website (some of the text was in capitals, I reduced it for reading purposes):

"You guys don't know the worst of it. Remember Baghram Prison in Iraq? Remember the videos and Symour Hersh writing about the sexual torture, not only of Iraq men, but also their children being sodomized in front of their parents? Remeber also the dog and the military woman who handled the dog ended up getting arrested for breaking the law? The law she broke was "Article 125 of the UCMJ". This bill above gutts article 125 making sodomy and bestiality legal in the military, which then allows them to legally sodomize and do horrors to americans who are under this bill and arrested with no rights to a trial etc. and can be tortured in such a manner. That is the one section no one has noticed or talked about. So now that woman would not be arrested for doing that to us. Piling naked men one on top of the other etc...... Nice, huh???? Add that in when you write your letters. Its important."- Anonymous

I have done the appropriate research on the facts claimed to be true in the comment, and indeed they are. I completely agree that worrying about bestiality and sodomy within and between members of the military is a ridiculous concern, but this is different. The abolition of Article 125 would effectively make the use of perverse, degrading, cruel, unusual and humiliating sexual punishment and the use of animals to inflict punishment legal by the military, possibly towards a civilian force.
Remember the unconstitutional, unlawful and morally deplorable murder of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awaki, who was killed by a military stealth drone in Yemen in  September 2011? Well, through this bill not only the United States grants itself the power to arrest and detain ANY person of any nationality anywhere in the world with (in)sufficient justification based on "terrorism suspicions", but it grants itself the power to murder any U.S. or foreign civilian anywhere in the world, including American soil, based on such suspicions.

This bill is a curtailment of U.S. citizen's civil liberties. It revokes their right to a civilian trail by a jury of their peers, and warrants indefinite and unsubstantiated arrest "until the end of hostilities" (in the words of John Stewart "until terror surrenders and is not longer available as a human emotion?")  without charge or legal representation.

This has already happened in real terms once in the history of the United States. Not many American citizens are told, or remember of, the multiple concentration ("internment") camps used during WWII to imprison and curtail the civil liberties and rights of thousands of Japanese americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. One of the most notorious of these camps contained over 10,000 Japanese-Americans, and was located a mere 370km from Los Angeles - its name was Manzanaar. If you look into the history of how Japanese-American citizens were treated during WWII, you will have no doubts that the U.S. government is able of atrocious acts to curtail he liberties of its own peoples.

The Mainstream Corporate Media conglomerate has attempted to ommitt this issue from public scrutiny and attention. However, enough information has come thorugh traditional and independent media outlets to cause a recognizable public outrage. Indeed, amongst increasing criticisms, the bill will amend section 4001 of title 18 of the United States Code (Limitation on detention; control of prisons") to include the following paragraph after subsection a) of the Code:

(a), “(b)(1) An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention.

“(2) Paragraph (1) applies to an authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority enacted before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Due Process Guarantee Act of 2001.” 


However, this "concession" would only take place after the passage of an act of congress (the same congress who overwhelmingly passed this legislation) and does not effectively exclude the possible arrest and detention of American citizens if such actions are taken overseas. This measure could be effectively overturned by the passing of the proposed Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011, ut forth by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. However, to quote the "End The Lie" website:


"Feinstein, who unfortunately is one of my so-called Representatives, actually voted for the NDAA as you can see in the Senate’s roll call for today’s vote...She also voted in favor of S.1867, the Senate’s version of the NDAA. Can we really expect her to pass something that will protect us after actively working against us in such a blatant manner? [...] Moreover, we are relying on what is arguably an equally nonsensical hope: that the Senate – which voted with a massive majority in favor of the NDAA both times – would actually vote for the Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011."

End of Part 1....

To be continued soon!

One Vote at the Time...

There are numerous presidential candidates who are running for office without accepting donations from corporations or large donors. Buddy Romer, Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay (I believe he doesn't as well), Peta Lindsay, Stewart Alexander...

I see a few problems with the U.S. Political system... for starters, it seems like it's more of a one-party state run system with the illusion of it being divided for the sake of democratic discourse. In reality, both parties serve the agendas of their large donors, which do not significantly differ. The policies that are implemented are thus those of the large corporations, lobby and other interest groups, only slightly disguised as ideological and societal reforms through party rhetoric. Remember that in 94% of U.S. elections the candidate that raises the most money wins. What i would like to suggest is for these coming election to be different. Vote blank or vote alternative, and if enough people do it, the people running for alternative office may get just enough exposure to get the national public attention they deserve! Of course, I agree with you, it would be quite naive to believe that any of them could take office this coming election, but at least it would start a discourse.
Occupy Wall Street can't single handedly change the rules of the financial sector, but they have started the discourse and pushed the discourse to the public and made it realize it was in their interest.

The anti-Vietnam-War demonstrations did not stop the war themselves, but they started the discourse and pushed the discourse to the public and made it realize it was in their interest.

The civil rights movement did not directly make any reform, but they started and pushed the discourse to the public and made it realize it was in their interest.
Secondly, there is no pluralist party representation in the United States. In essence, if you are not with either of the two predominant parties, there are no viable candidates for elections or vote. What the U.S. needs, in my very very humble opinion especially not being a U.S. citizen, is a debate between candidates from various political spheres and convictions, not a debate between 8-9 candidates of the same party, and no debate on the democratic side. The U.S. Needs a debate with the Green candidate, the objectivist, the socialist worker, American independent party, independent constitutional party, the communist, the Christian democrats (why not, perhaps even a Muslim or Hindu party?) etc. etc. as well as the democrats and republicans. If you study political sciences you are introduced to the concept of "catch-all" parties, those attempt to encompass so large a segment of the populations that their policies, and rhetoric, are often determined by who they are speaking to, and contradictory. I think that by definition a bipartisan system cannot avoid having both parties attempting to be catch-all parties!

Whoever the republican candidate may be, with Ron Paul perhaps being the exception, if s/he gets elected it will be a disaster. I supported Obama and even worked for his campaign during the elections during my stay in the U.S.., but he is a sell-out. He marketed himself as a progressive democrat, and got a mandate of 15 million votes on that view, and turned out to be a closeted conservative republican. There are many positive policies he has passed through (Pushed the Dream Act and the healthcare reform), and I do recognize that he is the president of the U.S. that has maintained the highest percentage of electoral promises made. Not only that, he has done so with overwhelming opposition from the republican party and their led and bought congress, and having inherited a disastrous situation from his predecessor G.W. Bush. Problem is many of these promises were made to the financial sector, military equipment and personnel contractors etc...

Yeah, you may be leaving Iraq, but ALL your troops are being replaced by private contractors'.

He may have managed to kill Osama and Al-Awaki, but both were murders and gross violations of international law - don't get me started on the whole Libyan issue and the murder of Gaddafi which literally wants to make me puke.

The drone wars escalating all over the world.

He failed to close Guantanamo Bay.

He took too long to say no to the keystone XL pipeline plan, and has not done so but has merely postponed it to a time when a republican candidate might be president and pass the project.

He failed to veto the recent Defence Appropriation act that effectively revokes all your civil liberties.

He is laying down the foundations for a war with Iran.

Twice in both Cancun and Durban he has failed to do anything meaningful, and in fact obstacles, global climate change deals and solutions.

He appointed a crook as his chief financial advisor.

He appointed the supreme court judge that is responsible for authorizing the sale of 4,000 weapons to Mexican drug cartels and "lose track of it", which is more publicized than the amount of MILLIONS of dollars which they are "losing track of" by actually using them for undercover drug deals and, supposedly, tracking them.

He has made every effort to block Palestine's bid for statehood while publicly maintaining the opposite stance.
He has received the largest contributions from lobbies, corporations and wall street financial firms than any other candidates...

Now we find out that he has authorized the illegal spying of Iran for months, and then criticizes them for their nuclear program and "provoking" a conflict (they have systematically been surrounding Iran with military installation for years, no shit they are nervous).

- - - All of these things he did himself, without opposition from the republican party and he had the choice whether to implement these policies or not, and he chose to. He seems to have accomplished a LOT, just not for the american people. The mas has got MAAAD style, but very little substance.

Thirdly, the above suggestion will probably never happen as "debates" are indeed just publicity stunts, hence the media frenzy to ensure the rights to broadcasting them... The mainstream media cartel conglomerate benefits from the perpetuation of this bi-partisan/single-party state system and the enormous and pervasive influence it exerts over it, to its own benefit.
Within a bipartisan political system, and most other supposedly representative democracies (my rant on this later) is that popular protests have in fact been the great drivers of social and political change, NOT votes. Voting once every 4 years for a representative who is forced to compromise with a bought congress (in the case of the U.S.) to get anything done is NOT a democracy, it's a plutocracy. Votes themselves are influenced by corporate media conglomerate that has an invested interest in maintaining such a system, as people are FORCED to know their "representatives" mostly only through the media since they have to represent about 40,000-60,000 people and cannot possibly be in contact or in tune with them all.

Also, keep in mind that only 60-70% of the electorate votes. A lot of those who do, do so because of invested private interests. Poll after poll we are shown that the U.S. public is in fact much more in tune with leftist policies than it shows in election results. What hampers this is political apathy - the feeling that things will not change regardless...
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the underlying problem is in reality the ability for monetary and commercial interests to infiltrate the U.S. political system and turn it into an institutionalized, corrupt corporatocracy. Government is meant to protect and ensure the rights and livelihood of the poor and the destitute, support the lifestyle of the one who have enough to live on, and make sure they keep it, and control that those with power and money do not abuse it by exploiting the ones less fortunate. In effect, the U.S. governments (and many all over the world including here in Europe), have done the exact opposite - served the interests of those with money and power, destroy the lifestyles of the middle class, so to create a larger pool of uneducated exploitable workforce... all because money run s political interests.

So... there are solutions... Turn off your SpinBox (the TV) and get your news from alternative and more factual sources, vote for an alternative candidate which you feel represents you more, regardless of how slim the chances are that s/he wins, and encourage everyone you know to do the same! Bring the alternative candidates to the public discourse and attention, ask that your community ratio or TV station do a report on them. If you do not feel represented, vote blank, but vote / you´ll be voicing your discontent!

The whole U.S. political and electoral system is wrong, and it's not going to change without someone in power who is actually willing to change it, and that would HAVE to be an underdog, for anyone in the Dem and Rep party would not attempt to change the system that holds them in power. In a pluralist system, they would have to. The change has got to start somewhere, and if you want change, you should not vote for someone who promises it hollowly. Convince as many people as you know to vote alternative if they feel representative, do this next congressional election, next presidential elections, and keep on speaking out on it and voting alternative until you are 80. Who knows, maybe by then you would have made what was a revolutionary act into common practice!


Would you not be participant in evil by contribuiting to the achievement of a lesser than two evils?

I'm not proposing that you don't vote, on the contrary! Part of my post was actually to refute the concept of not voting because it's useless. Rather, it was to point out that a vote on an alternative candidate is NOT a vote wasted, rather it's a vote gained! To the contrary, voting for a candidate which would perpetuate the system that is endemically and systemically responsible for the very problems you are trying to fix IS a vote wasted...


Thank you to: Roshni Hemlani, Shanti Leon Guerrero, Oli Leeb, Joanna van der Hoek for the discussions that led to the writing of this article. The continued intellectual support of my friends, family and teachers is what keeps me going!