Re: <nettime> Richard Stallman: Thousands dead, millions deprived of civil liberties?

[Mike Leggett <legart@ozemail.com.au>]

on 19/9/01 1:51 AM, Steve Cisler at cisler@pobox.com wrote:

> I would be interested to hear opinions from nettimers who are not
> Americans about how they perceive our level of security was up until
> September 11. When you were in the states did you feel things were
> lax, oppressive, or about the same as your home country?

>Is Stallman's plea the voice of someone out of touch with the rest of
>the world or is he justified in his worries (or both)?

I staged through seven cities in the USA two years ago and experienced
airport security at a level similar to that in Australia - with the
exception, (and I refute racial stereotyping), that the mostly black
security staff were more courteous and less stoney-faced than those
elsewhere. Airport security is not really at issue anyway - no one was
instructed to look for knives.

In Sydney before and during the Olympics we became familiar with the sight
of para-military security at the airport and other centres. The military
special forces rehearsed for the news cameras, as did the dancers. In
Britain we became familiar with the para-militaries from the mid-70s onwards
- France, Spain and Italy have always had them. Most other countries around
the world keep the military very close to the police barracks, (the USA with
its National Guard included). These are all measures of the gaps between the
rulers and the ruled, however the system achieves that end.

The 'freedom' cliché to which many Americans resort, is almost always met
with hilarity by 'the rest of the world', who are usually better informed of
the gaps that are maintained by the rulers of the 'greatest democracy in the
world' between themselves, minorities in their population, and the subject
nations whose prosperity is determined by them.

Are Stallman's fears that if civil liberties in the USA are to be levelled
closer with the rest of the world this will enable the current economic and
ideological topography to continue to benefit the USA at the expense of
other countries and most particularly, their cultures? I cannot believe that
it is his wish that a minority of his fellow citizens continue to monopolise
the liberty to exploit, and be defended by the gross interventions that the
Armed Services continue to make in the name of 'stability'.

My sympathies go to all those tens of thousands who have lost loved ones.
Perhaps someone has the projections at hand which show how many Americans'
lives will be saved as a result of this levelling process and will as
collateral, for instance, reduce the effect of handguns on the hapless
population of the USA?

Mike Leggett

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