Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | The philosophy, work & influences of Noam Chomsky |
Date: | Fri, 17 Mar 2000 21:08:14 -0600 |
Content-Type: | Text/Plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
I think that the short section of Chomsky's thoughts on Crime and
Policing in the US miss the most important aspect. I'm sure that
Chomsky has much more to say on the issue than just this excerpt.
The most important aspect of the problem, is that the Criminal Justice
System is a extension of the military apparatus of the US. And the
US military has performed the role of a twisted, demented Social
Democracy in a land where Social Democracy was eliminated from the
political picture.
That is to say that the Military complex provides income to millions of
working class families. It is everywhere in the US. We are a
truly militarized society, where almost every famlly has at least one
member on the welfare that the military provides.
Now this welfare for the 'priviledged' workers, has been expanded into
the policing apparatus of the society. It is a gigantic extension of
the military apparatus, and of the pseudo-Social Democratic strucure the
ruling class offers to its obedient workers.
In Texas for example, many of the workers laid off in the petro-chemical
industry due to computerization have gone directly to work as prison
guards. Also, immigration policing has co-opted the Hispanic
community, by providing employment to catch undocumented workers.
Just last week a locol paper printed a joke about Laredo, one of the top
3 growing population center in the US. The joke was that the middle
class of Laredo was La Migra. Not an exageration at all.
How many people are employed in the incarceration of 2,000,000
prisoners? And the other victims under parole? It is a gigantic
program to provide jobs for uneducated, but obedient workers, plus their
petti-bourgeois professional backups. Social Democracy with a badge, a
gun, and a religious sermon.
It is now correct to talk of a military-'corrections'-industrial complex
in the US.
Tony Abdo
|
|
|