Repression as a Means of Social

Control

Seattle,

Lynching

and

Iraq

This Week• WTO and repression in Seattle

• Repression as a means of social control

Things to think about• What happened in Seattle in November of 1999?

– What is the WTO?– Why did people protest the WTO?– What was the response of local police force?

• 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?

Goals of the WTO

• Remove any barriers to trade to allow goods and money to flow more freely between countries

• The WTO not only rules on trade barriers, but also "non-tariff" barriers to trade such as environmental regulations, food standards and intellectual property rights.– Countries must use the "least trade restrictive rule" when

developing laws or standards according to the WTO.

Rulings of the WTO and GATT

• Dolphin-safe tuna

• Asbestos ban in France

• Labeling of genetically engineered food

Labor Rally – Seattle 1999

World Trade Organization Protest Seattle 1999

WTO Protest In Hong Kong December 2005

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

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.

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 small-scale (individuals who participate) and large-scale (institutions and context of repression)

Some Individuals Participate

• Some people enjoy their role in the repressive regime!

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

Pat Tillman• After 9/11, enlisted in

the Rangers to fight in Afghanistan, but was sent to Iraq instead.

• Thought the war in Iraq was “so fucking illegal.”

• Killed by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan.

But, Torture is Official Policy• 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

Torture• The violent force-feeding

of hunger strikers, incidents of excessive violence used in transporting prisoners and combinations of interrogation techniques "must be assessed as amounting to torture" – http://

www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0213-01.htm

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

War Worsens Threat

• Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat– New York Times

• More Deadly Than Saddam– Japan Times - http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1016-20.htm

• 98 Percent of Cluster Bomb Victims are Civilians– Inter Press Service - http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1103-09.htm

Military Charts Movement of Conflict in Iraq Toward Chaos

New York Times -http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/world/middleeast/01military.html?hp&ex=1162443600&en=ae294d1d13aed188&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Things to think about

• What happened in Seattle in November of 1999?– What is the WTO?– Why did people protest the WTO?– What was the response of local police force?

• 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?