Vermont Commons Takes a Closer Look at Naomi Wolf’s 10 Steps
|
Tweet this story! Support our efforts for a sustainable world.
|
|
In this article, Rob Williams of the secessionist newspaper Vermont Commons re-visits Naomi Wolf’s “10 steps” (as enumerated in the book and movie The End of America) for turning an open, democratic society into a closed dictatorship.
As Wolf sees it, all the pieces for strangling our centuries-old republic are in place, and until protections of our civil liberties are restored, the danger yet exists for presidential power to be abused—and from there, it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to full-on dictatorship.
How do democracies get shut down, transformed into dictatorships?
Let Wolf’s analysis of this step-by-step process be submitted to a candid world
Step #1: Invoke an External and External Threat
What does the USA PATRIOT Act stand for? ((It is an acronym, oh yes – the film does a funny Penn and Teller bit with this.) To wit: “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” Passed in the immediate wake of 9/11 with nary a peep from Congress (who actually wrote the several hundred page document, and why it was ready for passage so quickly in mid-September 2001 is a matter of no small interest, one ignored by the film), the USA PATRIOT Act, Wolf concludes, essentially guts much of the Bill of Rights (you know, that little add-on to the U.S. Constitution that “guarantees” citizens the rights to press, speech, assembly, gun-carrying, trial by jury – little stuff like that), as well as eroding critical pieces of the Constitution (I won’t bore you with the details.)
Step #2: Create Secret Prisons Where Torture Takes Place
For years, Wolf observes, the U.S. government has denied that it tortures individuals. Not true. Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and “extraordinary rendition,” the process by which the U.S. government captures and transports “detainees” (known in the new legalese as “enemy combatants”, a term that the president can now apply to anyone at will) to other countries where the U.S. Constitution has no jurisdiction, solely for the purpose of torturing them, offer undeniable proof. The U.S. government doesn’t call it “torture, though. Nope. “Enhanced interrogation techniques” is the phrase de jour, and, by the way, the Geneva Convention and other international systems for protecting citizens simply don’t apply. And the Military Commissions Act (October 2006) strips detainees of the right to even see the evidence against them.
Step #3: Develop a Paramilitary Force
I’ve got one word for you. Blackwater. Wolf explains that this private for-profit corporate mercenary organization, operated by Eric Prinz and engaged in hiring professional soldiers from around the world, operates at the behest of the U.S. government in global “hot spots,” including Iraq, and, as it turns out, New Orleans and other places around the United States. U.S. law has shielded Blackwater “employees” from government investigation – the State Department has been less than forthcoming in giving Congress any specific information about the cozy relationship between Blackwater and the executive branch. (As an aside, journalist Jeremy Scahill’s recent book Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army is a must-read for anyone interested in what’s going on in this arena.)
Step #4: Surveil Ordinary Citizens
You can’t close an open society, Wolf observes, unless you are able to “listen in” on the private conversations of ordinary citizens and intimidate, even silence, those who are most vocal in their criticism of the government. Naomi Wolf speaks to her own personal experience as an air traveler with a quadruple X designation, indicating that she is “on the watch list.” A well-meaning young airport guard clued her in after several successive flights in which she was singled out and detained for extra questioning. Might want to check your ticket next time you fly. Bottom left.
Step #5: Infiltrate Citizen Groups
Anyone who understands the history of COINTELPRO in the United States, Wolf explains, understands how this works. The FBI sends agents to infiltrate, spy on, and harass citizen groups. Congress passed laws against this sort of behavior after the Vietnam War – those laws have since been undone.
Step #6: Detain and Release Ordinary Citizens
Another intimidation tactic, Wolf notes – designed to strike fear into the general population. ‘Nuf said.
Read the Vermont Commons interview with End of America producer Avram Ludwig here.
