Activists and the Surveillance State: Learning from represession

Dear Colleagues,

Apologies for an absence since my last post. I have needed to concentrate on getting the first full thesis draft submitted This is now book and am working on editing and then (all being well) submitting the final version.

Also, the dreaded widget server problem has re-surfaced. Apologies if this makes viewing this blog difficult. I'll try and figure out how to resolved this - today is a temporary fix, and I'm not sure what I have done to access the blog.

I just wanted to write a brief blog post to give a plus for the latest book by Aziz Choudry. I have written of his research/writing on many occasions in this blog, and his work is a primary influence upon my own research thesis.

Aziz mentioned this book when I saw him last, when he was in the UK to talk about his last book at an Ella Baker School seminar.


Read more about that book here, and download the first chapter: http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/historys-schools-past-struggles-and-present-realities-aziz-choudry-and-salim-vally

His latest book focuses on the state surveillance and repression of progressive and social movements. I am particularly fascinated by its concentration of how movements can learn and grow from  such analysis, as a means to subvert suppression.

The book's marketing blurb is below and you can buy a copy here:

https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337807/activists-and-the-surveillance-state/

In this age of unchecked emphasis on national security, even liberal democracies seem prone to forgetting the histories of political policing and surveillance undergirding what we think of as our safety. Challenging this social amnesia, Aziz Choudry asks: What can we learn about the power of the state from the very people targeted by its security operations?

Drawing on the knowledge of activists and academics from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Chile, Activists and the Surveillance State delves into the harassment, infiltration, and disruption that has colored state responses to those deemed threats to national security. The book shows that, ultimately, movements can learn from their own repression, developing a critical and complex understanding of the nature of states and capital today that can crucially inform the struggles of tomorrow.

In Solidarity

Ian