Neighborhood watch groups will watch the neighborhood. They will walk right in to a private home if they feel the need. With each neighborhood watcher will be a federal marshal. They’ll investigate what books you read, what TV shows you watch, and what’s on your computer. They’ll talk to your kids in another room, of course, without their parent's permission or presence. If you have nothing to hide, what’s the big deal?

Americans will not be allowed to possess firearms.

Children will read with horror how, way back in history, the American people were allowed to do whatever they wanted.

Sound like science fiction? Sound like New World Order conspiracy theories run amok?

Everything that I’ve discussed in the above scenario has been proposed by an elected official in the last six months. The alternative/progressive media talks about it, writes about it, and warns about it. But it is too late to worry; it’s a done deal.

Call it what you will; there are many names from which to choose: police state, martial law, fascism, totalitarianism, and big brother. Take your pick. But pick one as soon as you can because the police state is already here. Just take a look around.

The new year was escorted in with hundreds of military aircraft, manned and unmanned, Humvees, armed checkpoints, and sniper on the rooftops, little seen but widely boasted by government officials.

Of course, the color-coded terror alert threat was again elevated, keeping both the public and any terrorists aware of the increase in security. The idea was to condition the public to the military presence and, at the same, remind everyone that the Big Brother Bush administration is on the job of keeping them safe from the unknown yet ubiquitous terrorist threat.

As president, GI George is prone to point out again and again that he is a “war” president. Therefore, he must have a war. Unfortunately, his war is against an abstract noun. He can’t wage war by using less-than-efficient tactics that have been around for centuries. So he takes advantage of the fears of the American people in waging his war.

Of course, now that the military is helping to police the homeland, sooner rather than later, they must have the same powers as the police. Therefore, the posse comitatus statutes must be repealed. Since 1879, this statute has kept the military and police well apart. But it’s obsolete. Its repeal has already been discussed in Congress.

Has the public heard of HR 3439? This resolution allows for the CIA to place its agents into local police forces. To do this, the CIA charter has to be completely scrapped. The CIA is not allowed to conduct domestic anything. What the CIA has to do with local policing, I can’t fathom.

The American population has been conditioned for years to accept the notion, and it has. A case in point: Just a few weeks ago, a story broke concerning Northwest Airlines. It seems that the airline secretly provided information on millions of passengers for a secret government security project after the September 11 attacks. The information in question was passenger data provided from October through December 2001 to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames research center. This involved more than 10 million passengers. The airline confirmed that it participated in the NASA program to assist the federal government in a search for technology to improve aviation security. As the story was being aired, reporters interviewed passengers at an airline terminal. Not one objected.

Additionally, The Washington Post reported a story revealing that all airline passengers in the United States will be scrutinized.

The program is known as CAPP2, or, Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening Program. This is the second version, by the way. The airlines, as well as people like me, do not want this to happen. The government, however, is going to compel the airlines to do it. The order could be issued as early as next month. You might ask how the government can compel an airline to do something that will cost it in excess of $150 million dollars a year. Easy, threaten to pull its license. That threat was made last September. It worked.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said that this new system will collect a traveler’s full name, home address, telephone number, date of birth, and travel itinerary. The information will then be fed into large databases, such as Lexis-Nexis and Acxion. Once the passenger is identified, the CAPP2 system will compare that passenger to lists of wanted criminals and suspected terrorists. A numerical and color score for each passenger will then be issued. It will be much like our highly praised and successful Homeland Security terrorists color code system that has worked so well. A “red” rating means the passenger will not be allowed to board. “Yellow” means the passenger will be subjected to additional screening, and a “green” color means that he or she is good to go.

But CAPPS2 will dig far deeper than that. Virtually anything about your life will be checked, including your credit history, banking history, criminal record, property ownership, and automobile and voter registration.

But how does all of this relate to your potential threat to the flying public? Sorry, that’s classified. Who puts you on the no-fly list? That’s classified. Who do you appeal to if it’s all a mistake? The TSA, of course. And it’s classified. And what happens to all of this information, anyway? Your personal information will be kept in the database for fifty years.

Domestic airlines carried more than 612 million passengers in 2003. Under CAPP2, about five percent of these will be flagged yellow or red. More than 3 million people will be suspects in something. Even if you pay cash for the flight or just purchase a one-way ticket, you are going to have to explain yourself to someone.

If this entire idea doesn’t send a frightening chill down your spine, you are now a conditioned member of the police state. As in the above-mentioned Northwest Airline story, I haven’t seen or heard of anyone complaining. | Add as favourites (18) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 646

Prior to the riots, the “Fortress Los Angeles” mentality of the LAPD had been getting more provocative, just when economic conditions in inner-city neighborhoods were at their lowest ebb. The recession had hit Los Angeles especially hard. A crack cocaine epidemic in South Central L.A. that was linked to CIA drug-runners by journalist Gary Webb of The San Jose Mercury News added to the misery. This unstable situation was rocked by “Operation Hammer,” a massive police operation that targeted and arrested thousands of blacks.

While the media focused on rioting in black neighborhoods, the rioting in the Latino Mid-City section went largely unmentioned. The LAPD conducted intensive sweeps for illegal immigrants, followed by swift deportation by the INS, had precipitated these riots. In both cases, individuals had been pushed to the brink by poverty, drugs, homelessness, the loss of hope, etc. Civil liberties appeared to take a back seat to law and order. In both cases, all that was needed was a spark, which was provided by reactionary police strategies.

The Battle of Cincinnati

In April 2001, the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, experienced a wave of rioting following the police chase and shooting of an unarmed suspect named Timothy Thomas. Once again, most media pundits puzzled over the propensity of inner-city blacks to storm the barricades over what may have been an honest, but regrettable mistake by police officers.

Once again, the systematic execution of a premeditated, radical, and confrontational policing strategy had precipitated a tragedy. Daniel Lazare, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, noted that this appeared to be a major factor in the Cincinnati riots.

“This is the War on Drugs and the increasingly aggressive policing it brings. Over-the-Rhine, ground zero in the riots, is also ground zero in a ferocious effort to rid Cincinnati of certain prohibited substances,” Lazare said of the inner city neighborhood that was the center of the conflict. “It has a population of just 7,600 people, yet has averaged nearly 2,300 drug arrests a year since 1995, a level that one city official properly describes as ‘staggering.’"

In the effort to eradicate drugs, this major offensive in the drug war took a toll on civil rights, according to many activists and observers. The campaign appears to have been a major factor in drawing the battle lines between the police and the black community in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine. The line between protection and provocation was apparently crossed in Cincinnati.

The Battle of Benton Harbor

Last summer in Benton Harbor, Mich., the death of a motorcyclist during a police chase sparked two days of rioting. Again, many were left scratching their heads as to how this apparently self-inflicted tragedy could incite an angry crowd to surround police headquarters. With a black police chief and an integrated police force, the community of Benton Harbor should have been an unlikely focal point for racial unrest.

If one considers the drug war tactics that were employed prior to the rioting, however, a different picture takes shape. James Pritchard, writing in The Detroit News, noted, “In 1998, the Drug Enforcement Administration sent its Mobile Enforcement Team into Benton Harbor, while state troopers patrolled the crime-ridden streets. With 42 arrests, the DEA struck a major blow at the drug ring responsible for some 90 percent of violent crime in the city. In congressional testimony the following year, the DEA boasted: "After the intervention of law enforcement officers… Benton Harbor was being brought back to life… They brought a sense of stability to the area."

The eradication of suppliers of drugs on the street level and aggressive policing tactics may have had unintended consequences. The power vacuum resulting from the DEA's action may have created more friction as new suppliers vied to meet demand in the underground drug economy. The Benton Harbor police may have unwittingly contributed to a siege mentality in their efforts to deal with the destabilized situation. Clearly, something more than one motorcyclist racing to his death caused last summer's riots, and many observers point to misguided, provocative efforts in the war on drugs as a likely precipitating factor. | Add as favourites (18) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 630

Bertolucci has made a movie about 1968, specifically events in May in Paris. He’s directed The Dreamers from a screenplay by Gilbert Adair, based on Adair’s own novel, The Holy Innocents. A brief history lesson may be needed for some of you. In 1968, movies and rock and roll music were the linchpins of an international generation. It might be impossible to believe, but the notion of film as an intelligent medium actually meant something. Movies mattered. In Paris, there was a quiet, but impassioned man named Henri Langlois, who ran the Cinémathèque Française, a repertory cinema where artistic films were shown together with generic Hollywood product. Watch Jean Renoir’s movies one day and Samuel Fuller’s movies the next. The world’s most important film magazine was Cahiers du Cinema (there were French and English language editions), and the French New Wave (especially former critics Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut) changed the way movies were made and appreciated. Langlois was an icon. When he was removed from his position, protests erupted in Paris. Students marched. The police fought them. Riots erupted. Soon, all of France erupted. Over the ensuing weeks, the turbulence touched every aspect of French commercial and cultural life. For example, autoworkers at the Renault factory went on strike. This protest, begun by movie lovers outraged at their government’s meddling at the Cinematheque, ultimately brought France to the brink of collapse. Then Europe erupted. In what is also known as the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakians battled their Soviet occupiers, only to lead to an eventual invasion by Warsaw Pact forces. It was a phenomenal coming together of elements. The world was changing, and the whole world was watching.

The Dreamers is set at the time of the student protests in Paris. Bertolucci uses documentary footage of the actual Paris riots and speeches at the gates of the Cinematheque and brilliantly intercuts the footage with exact re-enactments of those same riots and speeches. For example, iconic actor Jean-Pierre Leaud plays a speaker exhorting the crowds. This is juxtaposed with archival footage of his very same younger self, giving an impassioned speech to the actual demonstrators of 1968. Into this mix arrives Matthew (Michael Pitt), an American student from San Diego who loves movies. He dreams about movies. Has to sit up close to the screen. Matthew’s not a callow Californian. Instead, he’s a poetic soul. And he’s smart enough to be able to talk intelligently about films and a lot of other things. He sees Isabelle (Eva Green), a beautiful young French woman who is symbolically chained to the gates of the theater. He accepts an invitation to dinner at her family’s wonderfully classic Paris apartment. Isabelle has a twin brother Theo (Louis Garrel). They seem to have been born attached at one shoulder. The twin’s parents go away for a month, and Matthew is invited to move in. As the film progresses, the protests go on, but are little seen. The real drama is happening inside. Sex is as important as ideas, and the movie is as much about sexual tension and release as it is about imagination and the intellect.

Matthew realizes that Isabelle and Theo are a lot closer than he thought. Incest is hinted at. I’ve read criticism that Bertolucci and Adair don’t “explain” the alleged incestuous relationship, and that they don’t address homosexual issues as Matthew and Theo seem to get as close as Isabelle and Matthew do. A third complaint is that the protests fade into the background during the bulk of the movie. Here’s the answer to those issues: the movie is not about homosexuality or incest. Too many reviewers need to learn to review the film they’re watching, not the film in their head. The movie is about the sexual dynamic between Isabelle and Matthew and the intellectual and psychosexual dynamic amongst the three. Theo and Matthew don’t have sex with each other because that is not the route chosen by the filmmakers. As for the protests, how can these critics miss that point? The Dreamers is about three people creating a world away from the streets. It is about what goes on in the apartment. The protests are the film’s bookends. And do I really have to write one more time that MOVIES ARE NOT REALITY? They are works of fiction (as is the book on which this one is based). Documentaries may have elements of truth, but even that truth is altered by the camera. This movie’s not a documentary.

It’s to Bertolucci’s credit that he concentrates on his trio. All three are attractive and adventurous, but, unlike the twins, Matthew is possessed of a strong inner life. In today’s parlance, he’s centered. By contrast, Theo and Isabelle are edgy and aggressive, almost theatrically so. They have a great life, a superb place to live, and hands-off parents, yet neither is inwardly liberated.

I do not believe, despite their sleeping naked together, that Theo and Isabelle are lovers. As he puts it, “we are Siamese twins of the mind.” As their houseguest, Matthew becomes involved in the games being played (both erotic and cinematic). Bertolucci uses clips from vintage movies, including Queen Christina, Top Hat, and Freaks as the three forge a shared bond of films and ideas. Among the pleasures the movie evokes is the joy of conversation. The three heatedly discuss such things as Eric Clapton versus Jimi Hendrix and Charlie Chaplin versus Buster Keaton. When Theo proclaims that Mao Tse-tung is not a tyrant, but a great director because he has “directed” the Chinese to march to the music of one shared feeling, Matthew argues against the brutal sameness of a society that toes only the party line.

The Dreamers will derive a lot of attention because of its sexual openness and unabashed nudity. I suppose that’s to Bertolucci’s benefit because it will get people into the theater to see his flawlessly acted film. I hope that the ideas he delivers are greeted with as much acceptance as the sex he does, and does not, deliver. In these times of cultural dogmatism and Neanderthal attitudes about sexuality and rebellion, The Dreamers is a breath of fresh air. It may be a little ragged around the edges, but it is a welcome oasis in a cinematic desert. It shatters the notion that movies need to have a conference table consensus. This is one of those films where I truly feel sorry for people who just don’t get it. | Add as favourites (17) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 802

The accolades didn't start coming to Robeson until after he died. In 1978, Robeson was honored by the United Nations for his tireless opposition to apartheid in South Africa. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995, and, in 1998, he was awarded a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. And there were many more posthumous accolades. And, in 1979, Paul Robeson Speaks Out, a two-act play that honors Robeson's life, art, and passions, by Philip Hayes Dean, was produced for the first time. It featured James Earl Jones in the title (and only) role. In 1995, the play was revived by Avery Brooks.

The version of Paul Robeson Speaks Out presented at the New Phoenix Theatre features local actor Willie W. Judson, Jr., as Paul Robeson. Dressed snazzily in tails and an untied bow tie, the 75-year-old Robeson looks as if he's ready for a night on the town. In fact, Robeson is the invited guest of honor at a 75th birthday party celebration.

The party had to go on without Robeson. He chose to stay at home, away from the fun and food of a party to which hundreds had been invited. While at home, Robeson recalled the events of his life. He remembered the racism that he endured. One of the more dramatic instances of racism occurred when Robeson joined the football team at Rutgers College (later called Rutgers University). His teammates physically attacked him. Later, the same teammates hoisted him to their shoulders after he was chosen for the All-American College football team.

Robeson talked about his relations with his family, too, especially with his father, a former slave who had become a minister. He explored the sadness that he felt when various family members died. He talked about his wife, Eslanda Cordoza Goode, and about his career. He told stories about his years as a football player, his brief law career, and life in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance.

After Robeson left the law firm, he turned to acting. His first play was All God's Chillun Got Wings, by Eugene O'Neill. Robeson related that his character was required to whistle. But, because he was incapable of whistling, Robeson chose to sing. "I sang like there was no tomorrow," Robeson said. ater, Robeson found out that O'Neill was in the audience. Later audience members would include such people as Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Kern. Robeson became famous for Showboat, and especially for his rendition of "Ol' Man Winter," which, he said, opened new doors and which took him to England, where he lived for many years.

Trips to Spain, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Africa, among other places were turned into compelling stories in this play. It became clear through the course of the play that Robeson had been a witness to many of the major events of the twentieth century, including the rise of the Nazis the Spanish Civil War. For his witness, Robeson was attacked by the powers that be during the darkest years of the cold war, the 1950s.

Judson played the role of Robeson with passion, eloquence, and feeling. Director Kurt Schneiderman wrote in his notes that few people today remember Robeson. I can only hope that this well-written, well-acted play will be a start in changing that situation, that people will want to know more about the man immortalized by a stamp. | Add as favourites (23) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 915