A powerful exposé of how political violence operates through the spaces of urban life.
Cities are the new battleground of our increasingly urban world. From the slums of the global South to the wealthy financial centers of the West, Cities Under Siege traces the spread of political violence through the sites, spaces, infrastructure and symbols of the world’s rapidly expanding metropolitan areas.
Drawing on a wealth of original research, Stephen Graham shows how Western militaries and security forces now perceive all urban terrain as a conflict zone inhabited by lurking shadow enemies. Urban inhabitants have become targets that need to be continually tracked, scanned and controlled. Graham examines the transformation of Western armies into high-tech urban counter-insurgency forces.
He looks at the militarization and surveillance of international borders, the use of ‘security’ concerns to suppress democratic dissent, and the enacting of legislation to suspend civilian law. In doing so, he reveals how the New Military Urbanism permeates the entire fabric of urban life, from subway and transport networks hardwired with high-tech ‘command and control’ systems to the insidious militarization of a popular culture corrupted by the all-pervasive discourse of ‘terrorism.’
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism
Via The Excavator
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Ladies and Gentlemen;
ReplyDeleteI present to you the militarization of our police force.
In step with our community??
To protect and serve??
I dont know, thought it was something like that.
Mozart
It still is, but most certainly in smaller towns,country and especially Southern.
ReplyDeletePoint taken.
ReplyDeleteIf I could I would get me and mine to hell out of this magnet of turmoil.
Got a few places in mind by way of Texas.
Maybe in time.
Mozart
There have been a few small town Sheriffs who have threatened federal officials with arrest: http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2011/11/new-mexico-law-and-local-sheriff-trump-the-feds/
ReplyDeleteA sheriff can legally arrest a sitting president, and it actually happened once.
Most LEOs of urban and sub-urban areas will not be so sympathetic to the people.
Got a few places in mind by way of Texas.
ReplyDeleteGood, but other problems there. Seems like the NW states are the best, but too cold. Hot is a bitch, but you can survive where you can't the extreme cold without some form of heat. All fodder for thought.
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A sheriff
The best hand we can deal, if they will go along.