"This was not terror — not as Indians understood it. This was war. The killers stormed the streets of Mumbai, India’s financial capital, with machine guns and bags of grenades. They did not strike with the terrorist’s fleeting anonymity. Their work was fastidiously deliberate. It went into a second day, then a third. They took time to ask your nationality and vocation. Then they spared you, or herded you elsewhere, or shot you in the back of your skull." --NYT

Over the past years we have slowly watched as the terms of "enemy combatant", "terrorist", and other such terms have come to encompass the very citizens of the mostly free United States of America. We have seen it become more and more convenient over our history as certain administrations faced opposition from ordinary citizens. The greatest mobilization that met a very strong military backlash (including multiple troop units, calvary, and tanks) was the Bonus Army of the 1930s. War veterans from WWI demanded their bonus pay as the Great Depression took strong effect on their lives and families. Before I go too far on a tangent, the topic of today's step towards a frightening state is the fact that regular citizens with dissenting opinions can and do face state repercussions. The best current example of this is the creation of "Free Speech Zones" at political events. This includes both Democratic and Republican. I know that in many of my posts under the title "fascist america" tend to lean towards examples of Republican or 'Right-leaning' peoples and politicians. The fact of the matter is that while it may be easiest to find example of the overt stomping of civil rights by 'the Right,' it is just as easy to see the silence and inaction of 'the Left' when it comes to challenging what may be deemed wrong.

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release This scares people. It is a kind of cat-and-mouse game. In a closing or closed society there is a "list" of dissidents and opposition leaders: you are targeted in this way once you are on the list, and it is hard to get off the list.

This is probably the most frightening step for the majority of people. Private security contractors roaming the streets with impunity to ensure the 'public good.' Along with that add the militarization of your local policeman as they begin wearing bullet proof vests and helmets and toting assault rifles. Over 2000 people have died in police custody in the last three years and the number of videos of blatant police brutality has become staggering. The police brutality is especially evident when dissent is expressed in the form of organized protest.

3. Develop a thug caste

What happens when the voice of dissent sheds light on the truth and knocks on the door of the root of a problem? What grows when that level of dissent is directed at a powerful government structure run on the fumes of false fear? Why has there been such a sharp increase in the number of deaths while under police custody? Why do our local police now look like paramilitaries waiting to take over a town center from extremists? When people so much as question their government why does that become motive enough for arrest, beating, and detention? How can our government systematically take away our rights and grant themselves exemption? The questions as to where America is headed could go on for a very long time, but what is needed is an understanding and an answer to follow those questions.

From the so called great scramble to the new scramble, I believe that there never really is any difference or change in scrambling. The imperialist tendencies and actions towards Africa have been concentrated in one continuous scramble - for resources: land, people, minerals, diamonds, timber, markets, etc. A continuous scramble and a systematic exploitation and looting of the African continent. Globalization and the global political economy are generally not looked at through the African perspective. While I can hardly offer that perspective, I work to understand.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is the Zimbabwean political party focused on promoting democracy in a country where it has become very dangerous to associate with politics. Formed as an opposition party to the Zimbabwean African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which is led by current President Robert Mugabe, the MDC brings together a number of civil society groups. The MDC is now labeled as a terrorist organization by Mugabe's government, political activists are regularly beaten and arrested, and known members of the MDC disappear. The MDC front webpage tells of three recent deaths of people closely affiliated with the MDC. The site notes that this is becoming an all too common.

CNN has a story today on the Real ID act of 2005, which is an effort to create a national database of drivers' license information.

Some states have passed symbolic measures condeming the centralization of what is meant to be in state control, with some going so far as to make compliance illegal.  Other states have passed legislation praising the system...and most states are still somewhere in between.

For citizens of states who do not comply with the program, they'll be required to use a passport for any federal purpose...entering a federal building, boarding a plane...or having a picnic in a national park.

The title of this entry is a question that very often crosses my mind as I continue to read the news and stay up to date on the various African conflicts across the continent. How can the country with the most power sit idly as conflicts that tear nations and governments apart worsen? How can the country with the most power get involved in its own political war games and ignore the dying?

"If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."

What is the US's policy on Africa? Do you know? Many people do not and now is your chance to find out. On the US government page on African Policy the first thing I notice is the picture displayed on the top of the page, not just because it is a picture, but because it is President Bush and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia at a 'Partners in Democracy' forum.

As you can see Bush is pointing off into the distance and Ellen looks quite fed-up and dismayed. First, is this the US policy on Africa point to the distance and not involve the African leadership. Second, did we forget that Africa is not a country and that there are 54 countries within the continent. Africa as a whole does not have one policy on the US, each different country has a policy - why doesn't the US have a policy for each country in Africa? Maybe it is just not strategic enough or worth the US's time? Whatever the case I find the picture very telling of the US goverment approach to Africa. They then jump right into the Darfur conflict and the subsequent peace agreement in the works. This I find very disturbing as all the US government has done for the Darfur conflict is give it lip service and some nicely written statements. After scrolling down the page, to what is almost the bottom, you will find the outline of the US policy on Africa:

    You know, its election season, and everyone seems to be caught up on national security issues - Who is going to protect us better? How do we defeat terrorism? Should we torture detainees? Etc, etc.

   But I think we are missing the big picture. As the nation's largest retailer has pointed out, there's an even bigger threat to our homeland security - and that's workers who live high on the hog with such ostentatious luxuries as "living wages," "healthcare," and "full-time employment."