THE STATE
LAW CLASS 12 JANUARY 2016
(Judge Naidu)
1. Definition of the “State:”
a) Brilliantly explained and defined in Politics as a Vocation (Politk als Beruf), (1919) by Max Weber – those associations that have a monopoly of physical violence in a given geographical area and are concerned with legitimizing existing societal practices.
b) Physical violence means police action, shoot-to-kill, shoot-first-ask-questions later, torture, false arrests and convictions, death sentences. The State claims a monopoly legitimized by a cooperating compromising legislature.
c) “State” and ‘government” are used interchangeably. The fact that the State assumes and exercises supreme authority over a particular territory has resulted in the assumption that state and “country” are one and the same thing.
2. Keep the people ignorant, confused and scared – THAT is the standard mantra for the State to remain in total CONTROL.
3. Government is the mouthpiece and main actor of the State.
4. Ralph Miliband (1924 – 1994) in The State in Capitalist Society (1973) equates the State with society as a whole and the distribution of POWER within it. POWER is one of the master keys used.
a) “State and “nation” are different. Nation refers to that which is constituted under international law or a political subdivision along federalist lines.
b) The State is a variety of institutions, the interaction of which constitutes the state system, like legislative, [judiciary], and executive functions; the administrative services (civil service) that runs public corporations (media, banking and taxation) and other regulatory bodies.
NOTICE : “People” are not mentioned in any of these definitions. The deafening silence of the presence of the rights of the People is evident in its total absence of mention.
5. A central feature of these functions is CONTROL of economic and social affairs. Order and then, law. Not law and order. No point having law when there is disorder.
a) Employment (labor) is regulated as is private property, investment, TRADE and commodity markets.
b) In America today, the primary thrust, reason, purpose, aim, objective and goal is the MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL [,CONGRESSIONAL] COMPLEX.
e) Let me show you HOW powerful this lobby is:
Private-sector firms and the military are connected at the waist to procure equipment, funding of R &D, supporting the local arms industry in INTERNATIONAL TRADE USING EXPORT CREDITS( government-backed guarantees, loans and insurance to underwrite the activities of national corporations so that they can secure contracts abroad. Basically a public subsidy using “taxpayer money” – meaning, QE, keep the BPE busy 24/7 –
Uncle Sam diverts attention by pointing an accusing finger at China, Indonesia, Myanmar, and now ISIS, jihadists, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, etc. etc. for “human rights” violations when it treats its own Indigenous Tribes and African Americans in a hideous manner by denying them rights, privileges and immunities.
Uncle Sam will deny the use of EXPORT CREDITS. When pressed, it will say it’s a question of “national security” and therefore a gag order is issued usually by a compliant pension-hungry federal judge.
EXPORT CREDITS contradict minimum standards of environmental protection (atomic and hydrogen bomb tests, for example) and HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS that are outlined in agreements and TREATIES which are binding on the State, the nation, the country and the government.
The conduit is ARMS TRADE on the sly using middlemen and shady brokers.
6. Michael Foucault (1926 – 1984) maintained that these forms of state activity amount to the cultural regulation of daily lives through the projection of acceptable standards, like welfare payments are deemed a “benefit,” and state-approved marriages. See Foucault’s Discipline and Punish.
7. Antonio Gramsci (1891 – 1937), in his masterpiece The Prison Notebooks (1928-37), also considered that the state was not only involved in presenting coercion in the form of police action as legitimate, but also manufacturing consent through CULTURE AND IDEOLOGY. Fake and counterfeit notions orchestrated buy the state/government/nation/country. Very interchangeable, very convenient, yes?
When Uncle Sam asks, “ are you ready to defend your country,” he is actually demanding obedience to his shaky experimental laws, orders, rules, and regulations created by the state/government/nation, and interpreted by a compliant judiciary worried about impeachment and loss of pensions and other perks upon retirement.
8. So, the state, CREATES “common interest” effectively using :
~ organized religion
~ political parties
~ monarchy
~ elections
~ tradition
~ nationalism (NOT patriotism which is translated as jingoism)
to make the citizens secure and safe while further sinking and fertilizing the roots of the Stockholm Syndrome.
9. The state calls this sense of safety and security a constitutional government of law and order often equated with PRIVATE PROPERTY AND FREEDOM.
NOTE: For a society to be free we are told that there has to be free enterprise and therefore an acceptance of existing economic, social and political arrangements. According to this form of reasoning, alternative types of society cannot therefore be free. Hobson’s Choice – take it or leave it, you press the issue, we, the State, the nation, the government will pressure you and press you out of shape…..
GET IT, GET IT ??
10. So, when you and I talk about universal human equality we are deemed revolutionaries, radicals, activists, not visionaries. Institutions of the state (government, country, nation) are masked through social, economic and political standards established by the PTB.
JUST WHERE, OH WHERE, DO THE PEOPLE FIT IN ??
11. The employee is EXPLOITED by the employer because employer-friendly laws of the state are entrenched in our social, economic and political arrangements. Exploitation is thus legitimized through legislation which saw the labor unions compromised and in total disarray before disappearing from the horizon of equal opportunities.
PEOPLE are not involved in decision-making. Their elected representatives are supposed to “represent” their views and opinions, or air their grievances.
PEOPLE fail to be proactive, ready, willing and able to take alternative measures to rid themselves of power, authority, control and coercion. I believe there is a lack of organizational skills which are dampened by never-ending fear, confusion and ignorance.
The object of this class topic is to bring an understanding of the real issues and how best to tackle them.
12. Karl Marx (1818- 1883) and Frederich Engels (1820 – 1895) declared that a “truly democratic state would resist an desist coercion, and instead offer consent and decision-making to the People to practice everyday life.
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTED READING:
John Holloway’s Change the World without taking Power (2002).