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TechnoratiNorthcom, Africom and Other Threats
Why remember May 4, 1970 in October 2008? It is the day that a clear message was sent with military might that Americans are not immune from attacks felt around the world. On May 4, 1970, also known as the May 4th Massacre, four students were killed and many more injured at Kent State University by the National Guard. These students non-violently protested the US attack on Cambodia and were made example of to show that militarism trumps civil rights. Now, in 2008, an era marked by increased military sophistication and unprecedented presence all over the globe, the US military boasts over 700 bases worldwide, and on October 1, 2008 established the Africa Command, or Africom - for the last standing continent that did not have a US military command. The real purpose and function of Africom remain unclear but what is no mystery is that whatever Africom is up to, the mission has begun and the governmental and civilian voices of dissent in Africa and the US have been unable to stop it.
October 1,
2008 not only marks history for US-Africa relations but also on that same day,
the US also made history by deploying troop trained for combat in Iraq to the
Ft. Jackson base in Georgia on a mission as unarticulated as Africom. According to the Army Times, the 3rd
Infantry's 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) will serve under Northern
Command, or Northcom, as an "on-call federal response force for natural or
manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks." Prior to the establishment of Africom,
Northcom was the newest brand of US military expansionism. Established on October 1, 2002 under the
leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Northcom was created to
support civilian authorities like the police and fire departments in natural
and human disasters. It debuted in that
capacity in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina where US troops along with Blackwater
military contractor mercenaries patrolled the streets of New Orleans. Yet, 2008 marked history for Northcom as
this is the first time that it has a unit solely under its command. In the words of Northcom's commander General
Gene Renuart on northcom.mil, "On the first of October, we'll have an organized
force, a trained force, an equipped force, a force that has an adequate command
and control and is on quick response - 48 hours - to head off to a large-scale
nuclear, chemical, biological event that might require Department of Defense
support."
The idea of
this quick response brigade trained for war should set off alarms in anyone
that recalls incidences such as the May 4th Massacre. With vague definitions of who and what
constitutes a terrorist and terrorist activities or even emergencies and
disasters, many Americans are subject to becoming future victims of this new
military mission. With economic
instability caused by the housing crisis and the plummeting stock market, civil
unrest is sure to rise. Will dissenters
be branded terrorists? Additionally, what about the already active and
increasing boldness of civil dissenters who demonstrate against the war in Iraq
and Afghanistan, environmental injustices and human rights violations
experienced by immigrants? What is
their fate under this Northcom mission?
On the website of Northcom, they attempt to ease accusations of its potential to violate the Posse Comitatus Act - which prohibits military forces from becoming directly involved in law enforcement. However, Posse Comitatus does not prohibit military training or the distribution of weaponry to police departments. So in a bad situation, police departments that serve as first response can do so with sophisticated weaponry and war training and whatever they cannot accomplish will be followed by this second (and quick) response.
So, it appears that May 4, 1970 was not an exception in the state response to civil disobedience but it was a prelude to a rule that has firmed up its mission as of October 1, 2008. For all those who were in Washington, DC to protest Africom on October 27th; for all those that are still healing from the police attacks at the Democratic and Republican national conventions; for all who bear witness to these vulgar violations of democracy and the establishment of the military state, you are advised to ponder the words of Marcus Garvey and "keep cool." Although Garvey's wise counsel was of a different era, it still serves as food for the scared and brave:
Let no trouble worry you;
Keep cool, keep cool!
just be brave and ever true;
Keep cool, keep cool!
If they'd put you in a flame,
Though you should not bear the blame,
Do not start to raising cane,
Keep cool, keep cool.
"Keep Cool" by Marcus Garvey (1927)
8 Comments so far
Show AllThese days I'd be more worried about the military if I were a corrupt banker than an above-board activist.
I remember a chain of articles here, working the fear of martial law, and then a capitulation to vote for the party that took us into Vietnam, funded Bush's war requests and refused to impeach. The fear angle is an interesting one, but let's analyze this carefully.
North America is a massive country, there are millions of acres so remote, so far from a town with a decent museum or ethnic restaurant let alone a strong federal presence. The only sign of the federal government I've seen on my extensive travels has often been a tiny post office or a national park. Good signs, actually.
I'd like to see more articles about retired generals angry at D.C. -- and what the average soldier grunt thinks of bailing out corrupt bankers. Any writers here willing to take that on? I bet Rothschild won't. These "progressives" would rather spin a cloak of fear, create a wedge in the wrong place.
Retired generals (and admirals) have spent decades being indoctrinated that primary loyalty is to orders, comrades, and self, in that order. Family follows somewhere. Loyalty to the USA as a thinking citizen? There is no room for that if it conflicts with those "higher level" loyalties, because it would require admission that one's entire career was a fraud. (Many won't even admit it to themselves, and some are so clueless they really believe the party line.) Smedley Butler made that leap, but few others had.
Honesty in the US officer corps has a negative correlation to rank, at least when it comes to the official party lies.
"curmudgeon99 October 29th, 2008 1:31 pm
Does anyone think it is a coincidence that combat troops are deployed one month prior to the elections?"
YES, it does, in terms of time-frame, coincide with the Nov. 4th elections; very closely. In terms that are certainly and very suspect, too; as curmudgeon99 is inferring.
curmudgeon99:
"Does anyone see the connection between the NorthCom deployment and the high state of readiness currently being put in place by police departments around the country for Nov 4th to counter expected violence at the outcome?"
SURE, and why not see that connection? And, as the article says or infers, [beware]; the police depts possibly have already received "special" training and weaponry.
Be [active] activists, but not foolish. Be careful about how the activism is conducted; not hasteful.
curmudgeon99:
"Could another connection be the documented failures of GOP manufactured voting machines and the disenfranchisement of large numbers of voters, especially in Democratic-leaning districts?"
WEll, disenfranchisement has been going on for a very long time, like throughout all of U.S. history, but as far as this being done to [large numbers of voters], so people who were previously eligible to vote, I guess this is new. And the voting machines crap has been used since 2004, or earlier; not being sure of when this tech. began to be used.
However, it all connects to the GWoT, which started, officially, in 2001; while actually having started considerably earlier, at least in the 1990s. To realise this, we need to have a very comprehensive understand of what the GWoT is really all about, but it certainly started prior to 2001. We can also be born before being given a name. Say you have a dog and decide you won't give it a specific name, will just call it 'dog', but years later, you decide to give the dog the name of ... your choosing. Did 'your choosing', i.e., the dog, start to exist only when you began to call it 'your choosing', or before? (Joking, of course.)
Gotta laugh a little once in a while, including in dark times like the present.
"kabirji October 29th, 2008 4:03 pm
HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I on Meet The Press - October, 1963
I would say that at the Conference of Heads of African states, ..., i have told, in the speech i have made to the distinguished heads of state, that people who were formerly under colonialist regime, and who have suffered a great deal, must have the girth, strength of wanting to collaborate with thier former masters for..."
COLLABORATE? HOW? In what terms? Perhaps Selassie state this, but if he did in this 1963 meeting with MTP, then it's an very important part of what he said and kabirji "oddly" omitted this.
kabirji:
"Otherwise, through vengance and remorse, co-existence would not be possible and this would be detrimental to the preservation of International peace."
Yes, sure, but it does not require collaboration in any negative or bad terms, so it does not mean, not inherently anyway, that peacefully conducted, while nonetheless affirmative, activism should not continue when there's cause to be active.
And what Intl peace was he talking about, for there wasn't really any then; nothing very or seriously substantial anyway? And there's less today! Perhaps much less, today; but am not sure of this.
Without JUSTICE, there is NO real peace; we can have individual peace for ourselves, for some of us, but no really meaningful peace for [humanity]! Peace requires real justice; it's a necessary foundation for peace to exist upon.
kabirji:
"I must say that black and white as a form of speech, and as a means of judging mankind, should be eliminated from human society."
Definitely, but it also has nothing to do with what's happening today. Today, the different colours of our skins or epiderms is mainly a matter of apparences. There are the kkk, neo-nazis, etcetera, but they're not the ones leading today's [global war] on humanity! The real ruling Western "Establishment" elites who control the U.S. govt and superpower don't care about our skin colour; it has nothing to do with their objectives, which really involve ... enslaving all of humankind. For those who fully collaborate with these ruling "masters", there will be some, or more, material comfort; but only for these collaboraters, and traitors of humanity.
Every once in a while it's important to put a firm foot down and demand that extreme crimes be stopped. I figure that we just should not resort to violent demonstrations; and anyone wishing to commit violent dissent should stay [away] from the peaceful demonstrators.
"kabirji October 29th, 2008 7:19 pm
We need to be at the polls as observers with our cameras."
NOW, HOW does that relate to keeping 'cool', vs not.
What does Chioma Oruh precisely mean by, 'keep cool'? I wonder; because this could mean to 'stay silent', 'stay inactive', i.e., 'be passive'; or "don't do anything that looks at all like dissenting against war, ecological destruction, and so on; just stay quiet, at home, watch disney, go to the movies, etcetera, instead", f.e. Or it could be meant to say to indeed demonstrate to call for critical issues to be correctly, justly addressed, but do this without committing any violent acts. Well, perhaps not likely the latter, given the demonstrators at the RNC and DNC, against AFRICOM, the war on Iraq, and so on, did not commit violent acts, but the fascist police state was still deployed against them and against democracy. So while I appreciate the article, Chioma Oruh seems to be saying or recommending to 'stay silent', 'be passive', etcetera; and that, if that's the way people adopt, is to do what? It could be to render ourselves complicit in the extreme crimes of the ruling Western "Establishment" elites who are the [bosses] of the U.S. govt.
Iow, that's a part of the article that's left in very vague terms and it needs to be clarified or better explained; instead of stating simpletonian-like recommendations. Activism must not be deadened out of fear, and another historical figure well said that the only thing to fear is fear itself. Activism must not be deadened; it must grow, become more pervasive and maintained, just that it must not be violently conducted. Don't invite violent police state crackdowns by being violent, so provoking these actions, but still be [active] and right; I believe is a fair recommendation.
If Gandhi had stayed or kept 'cool', then India would still be a British or English colony. If Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, and other activists who've been removed from humanity's presence had just kept 'cool', then they would not have moved masses to be as supportive of human rights, democracy, and so on, as has happened. Frederick Douglas is another historical figure who comes to mind ... now and then.
Followers of Jesus of Nazareth also have him for reference; and members of the RCC have Joan of Arc, among other examples. All of these revolutionary minded figures of human history could have just kept 'cool' and therefore [silent], instead of having taken the courses that they took and all for righteous and important reasons.
So what does Chioma Oruh mean?
Good article, though.
HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I on Meet The Press - October, 1963
I would say that at the Conference of Heads of African states, that was held last May,in the capital city of Ethiopia,
Addis Ababa, before the signing of the Charter, i have told, in the speech i have made to the distinguished heads
of state, that people who were formerly under colonialist regime, and who have suffered a great deal,
must have the girth, strength of wanting to collaborate with thier former masters for...
Otherwise, through vengance and remorse, co-existence would not be possible and this would be detrimental
to the preservation of International peace.I must say that black and white as a form of speech, and as a
means of judging mankind, should be eliminated from human society.
Human beings are precisely the same whatever colour, race, creed or national origin they may be.
Haile Sellassie the First.
HIM - Meet The Press - 1963
Does anyone think it is a coincidence that combat troops are deployed one month prior to the elections?
Does anyone see the connection between the NorthCom deployment and the high state of readiness currently being put in place by police departments around the country for Nov 4th to counter expected violence at the outcome?
Could another connection be the documented failures of GOP manufactured voting machines and the disenfranchisement of large numbers of voters, especially in Democratic-leaning districts?
Think about it.
But I could be wrong !
We need to be at the polls as observers with our cameras. I wanted to be out of town but I feel this is more important