We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, February 15, 2013

DHS Are Militarizing Local Police to Create Federalized Law Enforcement Agencies

Click here to access article by Susanne Posel from Occupy Corporatism.

It appears from this report and others that there is a definite trend toward local police forces being both privatized and centralized under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security. Wait! Isn't that the prime characteristic of fascism--the direct takeover of government agencies by private wealthy interests in the form of corporations?

The centralized part of this has to do with the concern and fear that the One Percent has from organized domestic political activists whom they regard as "terrorists". Yes, you and I are now seen as potential "terrorists", especially if we interfere too much with business as usual, in other words, with activities of the ruling One Percent. Their "evolving mission" represents an ominous development which I will try to continue to follow. 
In early 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report entitled “Homeland Security and Intelligence: Next Steps in Evolving the Mission” which outlined in part on how to redirect efforts of the federal government from international terrorism toward home-grown terrorists and build a DHS-controlled police force agency that would control all cities and towns through the use of local police departments.

DHS maintains that “the threat grows more localized” which necessitates the militarization of local police in major cities in the US and the training of staff from local agencies to make sure that oversight is restricted to the federal government.