Human Rights Watch released this report yesterday (http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/27/new-york-investigate-police-surveillance-muslims) entitled "New York: Investigate Police Surveillance of Muslims". The report documents how in 2007 the New York City Police Department infiltrated and spied on mosques, Muslim student groups, and businesses owned or visited by Muslims, without any warrant or probable cause. Furthermore, after the NYPD created databases documenting where the Muslim citizens of New York lived, ate, prayed, and shopped, they found no evidence of any criminal or suspicion activity. However, the New York State Attorney General won't investigate this blatant abuse of power by the NYPD due to unexplained "legal and investigative obstacles."
Why should this make us very nervous? To start, this report should remind us that minority communities in America continue to be targeted by our government. But in the context of this class, the fact that officers dressed in plainclothes were targeting minority communities of New York based solely on their religion, should raise come serious alarm. The United States government has a history of perpetrating genocide and ethnic cleansing against American citizens based on their race, ethnicity, or religion. It also has a history of enacting violence against Muslim communities all over the world. Detaining entire minority populations, such as the Japanese internment camps, has also been a tool the US government has used. When viewed in the context of the US' genocidal past, NYPD illegally spying on and tracking a minority community should make us very, very nervous.
Furthermore, we should worry about the context in which this breach of privacy and civil liberties took place, especially if we've learned anything from Winter or Bartov. The US is becoming increasingly more worried about the "situations" in the Middle East, West Asia, and North Africa. Not only are our various "wars" (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Terror) backfiring in horrific ways, but our nuclear-chicken game with Iran becoming increasingly awkward and heated. The US is also extremely worried about a possible "Shia uprising" between a defiant Iran, a revolting Syria and an unstable Bahrain. Though I don't think "Total War" will erupt, the US will go to any lengths to secure its global hegemonic primacy in the international community, and that means not only completely dominating the global oil market but controlling the various Middle Eastern and African leaders who keep oil flowing. Under these pretenses, and coupled with the already fear-mongering propaganda the US government has spread about Muslim people, I fear that the US has created a lot of excuses for itself to justify illegal and violent action toward American Muslim communities.
Finally, the complete lack of accountability or even acknowledgement of wrongdoing by Bloomberg and the New York Attorney General should remind us that if the US government decides you are on the wrong side you will not be allowed access to the democratic systems that others of us in the US enjoy. Essentially, when our government decides to enact violence of any kind in the name of "war" or "national security", those who are targeted are pushed outside of democracy and are not allowed access to justice.
Why should this make us very nervous? To start, this report should remind us that minority communities in America continue to be targeted by our government. But in the context of this class, the fact that officers dressed in plainclothes were targeting minority communities of New York based solely on their religion, should raise come serious alarm. The United States government has a history of perpetrating genocide and ethnic cleansing against American citizens based on their race, ethnicity, or religion. It also has a history of enacting violence against Muslim communities all over the world. Detaining entire minority populations, such as the Japanese internment camps, has also been a tool the US government has used. When viewed in the context of the US' genocidal past, NYPD illegally spying on and tracking a minority community should make us very, very nervous.
Furthermore, we should worry about the context in which this breach of privacy and civil liberties took place, especially if we've learned anything from Winter or Bartov. The US is becoming increasingly more worried about the "situations" in the Middle East, West Asia, and North Africa. Not only are our various "wars" (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Terror) backfiring in horrific ways, but our nuclear-chicken game with Iran becoming increasingly awkward and heated. The US is also extremely worried about a possible "Shia uprising" between a defiant Iran, a revolting Syria and an unstable Bahrain. Though I don't think "Total War" will erupt, the US will go to any lengths to secure its global hegemonic primacy in the international community, and that means not only completely dominating the global oil market but controlling the various Middle Eastern and African leaders who keep oil flowing. Under these pretenses, and coupled with the already fear-mongering propaganda the US government has spread about Muslim people, I fear that the US has created a lot of excuses for itself to justify illegal and violent action toward American Muslim communities.
Finally, the complete lack of accountability or even acknowledgement of wrongdoing by Bloomberg and the New York Attorney General should remind us that if the US government decides you are on the wrong side you will not be allowed access to the democratic systems that others of us in the US enjoy. Essentially, when our government decides to enact violence of any kind in the name of "war" or "national security", those who are targeted are pushed outside of democracy and are not allowed access to justice.
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