Repression

1. Repression An Example of Social Control

2. This Week • Repression as a means of social control • Whose Responsible? • Real Examples: Lynching and War • Torture and Warfare

3. Things to think about • How is repression part of socialization? • What are the goals of repression? • Responsibility is mixture of small and large scale. • How effective is torture as a means of social control and intelligence gathering?

4. Repression and Social Control • How does society keep people in line? • Internal Sources of Social Control • Socialization internalizes society’s goals and values • External Sources of Social Control • Informal sanctions - pressure, humiliation, etc. • Formal sanctions - rules, laws, etc. • Repression • Use of coercion to enforce goals of the repressing group • Application of force (mental or physical) to obtain goals

5. Repression to Silence Opposition • At this anti-war rally, police used “bean-bag” bullets on protestors. • Thus, people are encouraged to seek only “legitimate” means of voicing dissent, like voting. • Agent Provocateurs to delegitimize movement • http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/24/ot-montebello-sq-070824.html?ref=rss • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow

6. Repression to Maintain the Privileges of the Dominant Group • Attacking Civil Rights Activists • Lynching and Killing in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921

7. Responsibility for Repression • While connected, it is necessary to separate the institution promoting repression from people who engage in it. • Governments, military and political officials sanction the use of repression. • War, dictatorial regimes, and governments encouraging fear of others promotes the use of repression. • Mixture of the large-scale (institutions and context of repression) and the small-scale (individuals who participate)

8. Some Individuals Participate • At the small-scale, people will engage in repressive activities, officially sanctioned or not. • Some people enjoy their role in the repressive regime!

9. Others Refuse to Participate • Revealed: U.S. Soldier Killed Herself After Objecting to Interrogation Techniques • Editor & Publisher • http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1102-05.htm

10. But, Torture is Official Policy • Large-scale institutions like the US government sanction and officially engage in repressive activity. • The US engages in the “practice of rendition, in which dozens of suspects have been seized and turned over for interrogation to other countries, including several known to engage routinely in torture.” • Torture Victim Had No Terror Link, Canada Told U.S. Scott Shane, NY Times 9/25/06 • http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/world/americas/25arar.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

11. Torture • “The report concluded that some practices -- including the force-feeding of hunger strikers -- ‘must be assessed as amounting to torture.’” • U.N. Draft Decries U.S. On Detainee Treatment • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/13/AR2006021301848.html • Extraordinary Rendition Victim Maher Arar Accepts Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award • http://www.democracynow.org/2006/10/19/extraordinary_rendition_victim_maher_arar_accepts

12. Torture Produces Little Useful Intelligence • Torture was used to obtain justifications for the invasion of Iraq • Confession That Formed Base of Iraq War was Acquired Under Torture • Agence France Presse • http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1027-04.htm • Information Obtained through Torture is Unreliable • Campbell warns against torture • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3295397.stm

13. War Worsens Threat • Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat • New York Times • http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/middleeast/24terror.html • Civilians main cluster bomb victims • 98 Percent of Cluster Bomb Victims are Civilians • The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,1938494,00.html

14. Military Charts Movement of Conflict in Iraq Toward ChaosNew York Times 11/1/2006 -http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/world/middleeast/01military.html?hp&ex=1162443600&en=ae294d1d13aed188&ei=5094&partner=homepage

15. War The Art of Deception Hiding the Grisly True Goals Behind Lofty Ideals

17. History Repeats • Colonial powers attempt to exploit a nation. • The population resists, and a popular, anti-West leader emerges. • This leader attempts to improve the conditions of the people. • The Western nations, being pushed out of capitalist markets, foster rebellion to regain access to resources and markets. • The Western nations tend to support right-wing extremist groups. • Moderate opposition is destroyed through repression. • Repression of the population leads to further civil conflict.

18. Panama • Manuel Noriega used to fight “communism” • Known for drug connections • Noriega loses supporters to Iran-Contra scandal • US soldiers “attacked” • US invasion in December 1989 kills 3,000 civilians or more • Government officials supporting US economic goals installed

19. Afghanistan • Country suffered poverty • In the 1970’s, a populist rebellion occurred • US supported mujahedeen against populist government • Eventually mujahedeen succeeds, temporarily, before being replaced by Taliban • Taliban are even more conservative extremist than mujahedeen • US gives Afghanistan $43 mil in aid during UN sanctions.

20. Iraq 1991 • We supported Saddam in the war against Iran. • We supported Saddam in his repression of the Kurds. • We provided military support that included • Chemical weapons • Helicopters with crop spraying equipment for use with chemical weapons • Nuclear technology • Advances in missile technology • Kuwait was slant drilling into Iraqi territory. • Saddam made his intentions clear. • Peaceful withdrawal from Iraq a “nightmare scenario”

21. Justification by Deception • Gulf of Tonkin - Vietnam • Shooting unarmed US personnel - Panama • Soviet Migs - Nicaragua • Babies and Incubators - Iraq 1991 • Genocide - Yugoslavia • WMD’s and al-Qaida - Iraq 2003

22. Pretexts for War • Democracy • Freedom • Liberation from Tyranny

23. What are the real reasons? • Battleground (clips) • Economic stability • For the US • For multinational corporations • (primarily US) • Political-Military influence/control of the region

24. Dick Cheney on Iraq in 1994 • “Quagmire” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YENbElb5-xY

25. Architects of Disaster • William Kristol • Part of Neo-Conservative movement • Interview with NPR on April 1, 2003 • Second Iraq War started March 20, 2003

26. What is the state of the insurgency? • Battleground (Clip) • Like many regions that are plagued with high unemployment, low security and rampant poverty, people are easily swayed by extremists. • Look at the immigration debate in the US - the poor, working class tend to be most antagonistic. • Lack of clean water, electricity and jobs, Abu Ghraib, car bombings, civilian casualties • All of these issues provide fodder for extremist groups, some of which participate

27. Incompetence or Deceit? • Claims by Kristol • Iraqis have different culture than US • “Pop Sociology” that there will be conflicts between Shia and Sunni • Fractious, Semi-democracy better than Saddam • Iraq War will be good for the Middle East

28. Kristol - Iraqis have a “different culture”? • Is it really the culture causing the conflict? • Why are people upset? • How “Western” was Iraq prior to 1991 compared to neighboring states like Saudi Arabia and Iran?

29. Kristol - Potential conflict between Shiite and Sunni is “pop sociology”? • “they will not meekly surrender to the imminent American-led military occupation of their country. And that fact itself carries grave consequences for American imperialism's broader designs.” • Behind the Invasion of Iraq (2003) • “You will also see that Iraq will not be allowed to “balkanize” in order to keep the Shiites and the Kurds from gaining too much control.” • My Own Lecture Notes (April 14, 2003)

30. Kristol - Iraq will be an “unbelievable improvement”? • Deaths under Hussein • Chemical attacks - 30,000 Iraqi and Iranian deaths • 250,000 people were killed during the 1991 uprisings • http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030404-1.html • Deaths as a result of sanctions and destruction of Iraqi infrastructure 1991-2003 • 1 million, 500,000 were children • Deaths since the invasion • Approximately 650,000 • http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1016-20.htm

31. Kristol - “Good effect elsewhere in the Middle East”? • Palestinian Landslide: The Elections; Hamas Routs Ruling Faction, Casting Pall On Peace Process • http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F10B1EFA3A5B0C748EDDA80894DE404482 • Occupation Made World Less Safe, Pro-War Institute • “The assessment, by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), states that the occupation has become "a potent global recruitment pretext" for al-Qa'ida, which now has more than 18,000 militants ready to strike Western targets.” • http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0526-05.htm

32. The Big Question • Are the neo-conservatives who led the charge to war: • Thoroughly incompetent and short-sighted? • Sadistic murderous opportunists for global economic goals? • Deceitful war-mongers to protect US political-military objectives? • A combination of the above? • The Big Answer: They intentionally or unintentionally did not take Political-Economy into account.