IMHO, Tony is completely correct in what he has written about the
developing military-correctional-industrial complex.  However, the
following should be considered with respect to the etiology of this
latest wrinkle in the clear and present danger of our overweening State
oppression:  that China uses incarcerated labor to produce at low cost
for the foreign market (i.e., us) has long been known.  Either such a
paradigm is met with appropriate sanctions (an embargo on at least the
specific products in question), or it must be met with competition:  the
United States must develop its own pool of captive, incarcerated labor
to retain market share.

Does this help to explain the Clintons' chummy relationship with their
Chinese counterparts, even to the point of winking at their espionage?
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.   Imbibe the Chinese model of
exploiting incarcerated labor (and let's not forget that not a little of
that consists of political prisoners, so when this system runs out of
druggies to expand the captive labor supply, I guess we know who will be
next!), while the United States shamelessly browbeats the rest of the
less developed world into emulating American "democracy" and becoming
good little consumers of American products, investments and political
hegemony by the unapologetic and instructive use of Tomahawk missiles on
the hard of hearing.

Peace,
Ken Freeland

-----Original Message-----
From: The philosophy, work & influences of Noam Chomsky
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Tony Abdo
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 9:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CHOMSKY] Military-'Corrections'-Industrial Complex


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