LISTEN: Chris Hedges on Bill C-51 and the corporate state
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 4:57 pmLISTEN: Chris Hedges on Bill C-51 and the corporate state
[ http://rabble.ca/news/2015/03/exclusive ... rate-state ]
By H.G. Watson | March 15, 2015
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QUOTE: "You know, if we don't win this fight, then we are going to cement into place a species of corporate totalitarianism which will usher in a dystopia of terrifying proportions." - Chris Hedges
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This weekend, protests were held in communities across Canada to protest Bill C-51, a bill that would increase powers for CSIS.
Journalist and author Chris Hedges has spent much of his career working as a foreign correspondent in war zones across the globe, and has written extensively on the surveillance state and world conflict. The journalist and writer was scheduled to speak at the Toronto protest on Saturday. His plane was forced to land in Windsor due to heavy fog and so he was unable to attend the Toronto protest.
rabble.ca's H.G. Watson was able to catch up with him by phone on Saturday to find out why he was travelling to Canada to join the Day of Action Against Bill C-51. This interview has been edited and condensed.
LISTEN: TO HEAR THIS INTERVIEW CLICK HERE:
[ https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/an-inte ... ris-hedges ]
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What I find disturbing is that although the revelations of Edward Snowden are known, we're not reacting. We don't understand the danger that's in front of it, when you talk about a population that is watched and tracked 24 hours a day. The relationship between a population that is monitored on that level and knows that [the government watches] them is a relationship between masters and slaves -- you can't even use the word liberty anymore and we're already at that point.
I want to go back to the point you mentioned, that we're not reacting. Why do you think that is?
People are politically passive because they have kind of given up on the system. That's certainly true -- more true -- in the United States where Congress has a nine per cent approval rating. Only 38 per cent of the population even bothers to cast a ballot anymore. I think the other thing is that they don't quite understand how incredibly dangerous handing any government this kind of power is.
So I think it's those two factors, coupled with the fact [that] our mass radical movements -- more so again in the United States, but Canada is not immune to this -- have been largely broken. Labour unions are under assault, and I find that frightening.
That's why I was willing to fly up here because if we don't react in a sustained way then we will see cemented into place one of the most frightening dystopias in human history -- something that dwarfs anything ever dreamed of by the communist Stasi state in East Germany.
MORE:
[ http://rabble.ca/news/2015/03/exclusive ... rate-state ]
[ http://rabble.ca/news/2015/03/exclusive ... rate-state ]
By H.G. Watson | March 15, 2015
- - - - -
QUOTE: "You know, if we don't win this fight, then we are going to cement into place a species of corporate totalitarianism which will usher in a dystopia of terrifying proportions." - Chris Hedges
- - - - -
This weekend, protests were held in communities across Canada to protest Bill C-51, a bill that would increase powers for CSIS.
Journalist and author Chris Hedges has spent much of his career working as a foreign correspondent in war zones across the globe, and has written extensively on the surveillance state and world conflict. The journalist and writer was scheduled to speak at the Toronto protest on Saturday. His plane was forced to land in Windsor due to heavy fog and so he was unable to attend the Toronto protest.
rabble.ca's H.G. Watson was able to catch up with him by phone on Saturday to find out why he was travelling to Canada to join the Day of Action Against Bill C-51. This interview has been edited and condensed.
LISTEN: TO HEAR THIS INTERVIEW CLICK HERE:
[ https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/an-inte ... ris-hedges ]
- - - SNIP - - -
What I find disturbing is that although the revelations of Edward Snowden are known, we're not reacting. We don't understand the danger that's in front of it, when you talk about a population that is watched and tracked 24 hours a day. The relationship between a population that is monitored on that level and knows that [the government watches] them is a relationship between masters and slaves -- you can't even use the word liberty anymore and we're already at that point.
I want to go back to the point you mentioned, that we're not reacting. Why do you think that is?
People are politically passive because they have kind of given up on the system. That's certainly true -- more true -- in the United States where Congress has a nine per cent approval rating. Only 38 per cent of the population even bothers to cast a ballot anymore. I think the other thing is that they don't quite understand how incredibly dangerous handing any government this kind of power is.
So I think it's those two factors, coupled with the fact [that] our mass radical movements -- more so again in the United States, but Canada is not immune to this -- have been largely broken. Labour unions are under assault, and I find that frightening.
That's why I was willing to fly up here because if we don't react in a sustained way then we will see cemented into place one of the most frightening dystopias in human history -- something that dwarfs anything ever dreamed of by the communist Stasi state in East Germany.
MORE:
[ http://rabble.ca/news/2015/03/exclusive ... rate-state ]