A spate of brutal police killings of innocent black civilians on the streets of the United States has ignited a tinderbox of unrest across the country. The immediate cause of the protests and riots is racial profiling, ingrained police racism, and the militarization of the police, carried out since 2001, in the name of fighting terrorism. In addition, during investigations into the killings, collusion between the judicial system and the police became obvious, as did the ingrained structural bias of the Grand Jury system in favour of the police. So, even the most blatant cases of police violence have not resulted in the prosecution of the killers or even their dismissal from the police force.

The widespread use by the police of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams means that paramilitary units often deal with even minor criminal investigations. However, the definition of what constitutes a criminal offence has become ludicrous. When Eric Gardener was choked to death on the street in New York by a police officer his alleged crime was selling untaxed cigarettes. Again the perpetrator was not charged or dismissed despite the entire incident being filmed. Gardener's last words, "I can't breathe," have become a slogan of the protests across the nation.

Local governments have taken to raising revenue by imposing punitive fines on the poor for such things as traffic offences. In Ferguson, where the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, provoked the initial outburst of recent unrest, the town raises 20 percent of its revenue from fines imposed on the poor. The non-payment of these fines can result in SWAT teams breaking down doors and seizing property. No wonder comparisons with Iraq have been drawn.

All this exposes the fact that the United States is a society in profound crisis. The American dream was based on the idea that everyone has equal opportunity to become somebody and to make something of his or her life by hard work. But this dream has crumbled into dust. For several decades it constituted an important ideological anchor that bound the minds of U.S. citizens to the capitalist system. Broadly speaking, people believed that if you got rich it was the result of your effort, and conversely, if you were poor, this expressed your lack of effort. So, while collectivist solutions and political parties shaped European society after World War II, this did not happen in the United States, where the mass of the people adopted the ideology of the ruling class.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)