US becoming increasingly military state

PressTV

An exclusive PressTV interview with James Fetzer, philosopher of science.

Q: I'd like to have your reaction to what has been happening especially in Oakland. Of course we know that the police are getting involved in trying to crackdown on these protesters throughout the United States. But in Oakland, we are seeing extreme action now and it looks like the protesters are trying to stay on despite the police action.

Fetzer: We are seeing the increase in militarization of the police forces throughout the United States and that is a very bad tendency that has been taking place since 9/11. We see the rich getting richer and the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. This gap has been widening since the administration of Ronald Reagan.

What they are doing, the politicians are ignoring the needs of the average American and the working families. We have had increasing foreclosures, and unemployment is seen as the tip of an iceberg resistance to the corruption of politics in America. We are finding the police are even asking to use active denial systems, a form of microwave radiation that is only going to serve to radicalize the youth of America.

I believe this movement is not going to go away, and that what we are seeing is the real face of the police state of America has become.

Q: So, would you say that the strategy adopted towards these protesters is something that the American authorities have chosen as the best approach to deal with these protests or as the last resort?

Fetzer: Well, it seems to me it's massively stupid. But what you want to do is to be very patient and nurturing, allow the right to public assembly or allow the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

The last thing that the authorities ought to do is to use force against the young people of this country because it is going to increase their disillusionment of the government. I mean, the US government has been lying to the people, lying about Iraq, lying about Afghanistan, lying about Libya, showing a reckless disregard for human life including the use of predator drones, no due process, taking out wedding parties, killing around 140 innocents for every targeted insurgent and yet we have a super committee in Washington that's talking about cutting Social Security and Medicare, not cutting defense spending.

We have to cease, get rid of this American empire and start focusing on the quality of life. Stand for human rights and stand for providing a living wage for every American. It's turning into an indecent and inhumane state. The United States has lost its way.

Q: You referred to the super committee saying that it's discussing the economic situation. And as you said, not much is being expected from those who are negotiating there for a solution to America's deficit problem.

But these people on the streets have been giving their own alternative solutions as they have been calling for an end to the wars; they have been calling for taxes for the rich and, of course, a series of other demands. How important, strong and effective do you think they are getting right now, or they are getting in the near future, to affect things in the political scene?

Fetzer: The students and others in this occupied sights are making more sense politically than anything we are hearing from Washington DC. And it is just a disgrace that we have no leadership from the administration.

The Republican candidates for president, with the single exception of Ron Paul who wants to end these wars, bring our troops home and to restore the country to some kind of constitutional footing, are a joke.

Many of them are talking about attacking Iran but none of them are talking about improving the quality of life for the average working man and woman.

The banks are getting away with all kinds of atrocious actions transferring massive liabilities for risky derivatives transactions on the back of the American taxpayer. It is a terrible situation.

Most of the members of Congress are millionaires and are very detached from the people. Some have suggested, and I think there is a parallel, that what we are seeing is shaping up to have change characteristics that were found in the French Revolution.

I believe the situation is quite extraordinary; and if there is not political leadership from Washington, this is going to continue; it is going to spread; it is going to endure.

Q: Speaking about who is going to represent these demands that have been voiced by the protesters, we know that lawmakers in Congress are not representing them, the authorities are not representing them and the Republican Party or the Democratic Party is not representing them. So, who do you think should go and lead them in their demands and what they should do when we are speaking of practical terms?

Fetzer: This is a bona fide grassroots movement. It is nonviolent. The police are being grossly abusive. The local political leaders are not showing the understanding that the situation requires.

I would not be surprised if eventually this will translate into support for a third party movement in politics, certainly neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are responding to the concerns represented by the Occupy movement.

Q: So you do believe that the Occupy Wall Street movement is rather organized enough to do that?

Fetzer: Well, it's becoming increasingly more so with the passage of time. It has many of the elements that Gandhi espoused in terms of being a nonviolent protest movement. They are having general assembly's among those who are gathering in New York, Portland, Oakland, St. Louis and elsewhere in the country.

And what is going on is that they are articulating concerns that are felt by every working man and woman in the United States, a tremendous percentage of whom are currently unemployed. Many are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

It is an evitable, as sociologist have observed, that when you have a population with high unemployment, when homes are being foreclosed, people have nowhere to go, they have no income, then you are going to find an increase in crime taking place.

What's admirable about the Occupy movement is that it's so peaceful and is articulating concerns that the political leaders of this country are not addressing; it is a profound movement which is extraordinarily important.

Q: Well, of course, this is not the way that a lot of political observers or parts of the media are describing this movement. A lot of them are referring to these demonstrators as violent seeking vigilantes who are trying to create disturbances and even people who do not know exactly what they want and how they should achieve it. When the movement is facing this kind of criticism, where do you think this criticism is coming from?

Fetzer: Much of it is propaganda and disinformation. There are many powerful interests here who don't want to change the banking system, who don't allow corporations to operate to maximize their profits at the expense of the people.

What we know about corporations is that when they are dominated by the profit motive, as Milton Freidman, a noble-winning economist from the University of Chicago enunciated long ago namely, he proposed that the only social obligation of corporations is to maximize profits for their stock holders.

But that's a grossly wrong conception. Corporations should only be allowed to charter to exist if there's some useful social function. That was the case up until the early years of the 19th century. Actually, the 20th century when a Rockefeller induced two states in the Far East, in the east coast, Delaware and Rhode Island, as I recall, whose charter had no public benefit.

That was the beginning of a long series of decision where now the Supreme Court has now declared in a most bizarre ruling that corporations are persons, and has granted them unlimited rights to spend money on political causes. But that's even contradictory.

Ordinary people don't have the rights to spend unlimited amounts to spend for political purposes. If corporations were people, they should not have that right.

Q: A lot of the demands that have been voiced by these protesters, of course when you hear them one by one they do ring true to a lot of people, but the criticism that these protesters are facing is the fact that they have such a broad range of topics. Do they have, rather, a defined plan on how they should prioritize these demands? And what action should they take?

Fetzer: Well, that's reflective of the fact that it is a bona fide grassroots movement, that this was not orchestrated by powerful special interests but reflects the action of the people to a situation.

Q: Do you think this movement needs a leading political force, political leadership?

Fetzer: I think it's gradually emerging. Yes, it would benefit from political leadership. But we don't want to compromise its character. As a protest movement, I think what they're doing is sounding an alarm, and the leaders who are so prominent in this country, from the President of the United States on down should respond in a positive and constructive way to the message that they are sending.

The Republicans have become completely ridiculous. Mitch McConnell, for example, only wants to promote the interests of the wealthy. It is a joke that the Republicans think that the poor have too much money and the rich have too little. But the fact of the matter is that it is very close to the truth. I believe in democracy where everyone deserves representation, not just the rich.
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