INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-EUROPE:

THE NEOCONOPTICON:
There's an interesting new report being published by the folks over at Statewatch, an European outfit dedicated to keeping a close eye on those who keep a close eye on the rest of us. The Neoconopticon details how much of the total surveillance state is already in place and how much more is yet to come. The title comes from Jeremy Bentham's 'Panopticon', a design for a "perfect prison" where there is total surveillance and control of all the inmates. It should be noted that Bentham was a liberal reformer. Like so much so-called "reform" the idea of total surveillance began as an idea beloved by the left for its sheer stupidity and later taken over by the right for its sheer viciousness. Far too much of statist politics lives out its life in a similar way. Here's the announcement from Statewatch.
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Neoconopticon - the EU Security-Industrial Complex‏:
Major new report by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute:
NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf):
"Despite the often benign intent behind collaborative European ‘research’ into integrated land, air, maritime, space and cyber-surveillance systems, the EU’s security and R&D policy is coalescing around a high-tech blueprint for a new kind of security. It envisages a future world of red zones and green zones; external borders controlled by military force and internally by a sprawling network of physical and virtual security checkpoints; public spaces, micro-states and ‘mega events’ policed by high-tech surveillance systems and rapid reaction forces;‘peacekeeping’ and ‘crisis management’ missions that make no operational distinction between the suburbs of Basra or the Banlieue; and the increasing integration of defence and national security functions at home and abroad.





It is not just a case of “sleepwalking into” or “waking up to” a “surveillance society”, as the UK’s Information Commissioner famously warned, it feels more like turning a blind eye to the start of a new kind of arms race, one in which all the weapons are pointing inwards. Welcome to the NeoConOpticon."
Press release: Defence industry dominates EU’s security research programme (pdf
Contacts for further information:
Ben Hayes +44 (0) 20 8802 1882 (ben@statewatch.org ) or
Nina Brenjo +31 (0) 63 484 2129 (nina.brenjo@tni.org )

ROMANIA:

REPRESSION IN ROMANIA- YET ANOTHER ARTICLE:

The following article is from Statewatch, another of the internet watch groups. It focuses on the legal maneuvers of governments, with a concentration of the European area.

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ROMANIA-NATO:

Police actions against anti-NATO protests in Bucharest

On 2 April, hundreds of police raided the convergence centre of the anti-NATO gathering in Bucharest and arrested an estimated 46 people. All the arrests were made inside the convergence centre, no demonstration was taking place at the time. Many police reportedly wore ski masks and were hostile to journalists trying to access the scene. Romanian media did not report any violence during arrests, Indymedia however reports severe beatings by police. The repression against political activists was already stepped up a few days ago, with police arresting and detaining people arbitrarily. Once detained, the police appear to construct "offences", such as interpreting the carrying of a pocket-knife as arms possessions. People coming to or leaving the convergence centre, set up for demonstrators from Romania and other parts of the world, were also arbitrarily detained. The detained are interrogated, photographed and fingerprinted in police stations, and held for up to 24 hours. At the Romanian border several groups of activists have been denied entry into the country.

Protests are directed in particular against NATO's ongoing expansion to Eastern Europe, as well as the extension of its activities to areas formerly not within NATO's mandate. On 28 February 1994, NATO took its first military action, shooting down four Bosnian Serb aircraft, thereby violating a UN-mandated no-fly zone over central Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 24 March 1999, NATO saw its first broad-scale military engagement in the Kosovo War, where it led an 11-week bombing campaign against what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A formal declaration of war never took place. After 11 September 2001, NATO confirmed that the terrorist attacks were an attack against the entire group of members. On 16 April 2003, NATO agreed to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which was the first time in NATO's history to take charge of a mission outside of the north Atlantic area.

Sources: Indymedia report in English: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/04/02/18490151.php

Indymedia report in German: http://de.indymedia.org/2008/04/212209.shtml

English summary: http://gipfelsoli.org/Home/Bukarest_2008/4906.html

Indymedia Romania Background information on the protests against the NATO summit in Bucharest and protests against it:http://www.wombles.org.uk/article2007111364.php