{"id":29,"date":"2008-08-07T23:09:25","date_gmt":"2008-08-07T23:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imediata.org\/?p=29"},"modified":"2008-08-12T11:42:03","modified_gmt":"2008-08-12T11:42:03","slug":"as-olimpiadas-desvendando-o-estado-policial-20-por-naomi-klein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/?p=29","title":{"rendered":">>As Olimp\u00edadas: desvendando o Estado Policial 2.0, por Naomi Klein"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/imediata.org\/wp-content\/imagens\/logos\/logolance.jpg\" alt=\"null\" \/><br \/>\n<strong>Fonte: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/naomi-klein\/the-olympics-unveiling-po_b_117403.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Huffington Pos<\/em>t, de 7 de agosto de 2008<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tradu\u00e7\u00e3o: Ag\u00eancia Imediata<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"400\" height=\"244\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/fpdownload.macromedia.com\/pub\/ shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" \/><param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#ffffff\" \/><param name=\"menu\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2029%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" width=\"400\" height=\"244\" allowfullscreen=\"false\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2029%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\"><\/embed><\/object><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/id\/2029\/August 9, 2008\/Naomi+Klein+on+China+and+the+Olympics\" target=\"_blank\">Transcri\u00e7\u00e3o em ingl\u00eas da 1a parte da entrevista<\/a><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"400\" height=\"244\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/fpdownload.macromedia.com\/pub\/ shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" \/><param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#ffffff\" \/><param name=\"menu\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2031%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" width=\"400\" height=\"244\" allowfullscreen=\"false\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2031%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\"><\/embed><\/object><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/id\/2031\/August 10, 2008\/China+new+disaster-capitalism+trough\"  target=\"_blank\"\">Transcri\u00e7\u00e3o em ingl\u00eas da 2a parte da entrevista <\/a><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"400\" height=\"244\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/fpdownload.macromedia.com\/pub\/ shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" \/><param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#ffffff\" \/><param name=\"menu\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2037%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" width=\"400\" height=\"244\" allowfullscreen=\"false\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2037%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\"><\/embed><\/object><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/id\/2037\/August 11, 2008\/China+security+tech+supplied+by+US+companies\" target=\"_blank\">Transcri\u00e7\u00e3o em ingl\u00eas da 3a parte da entrevista <\/a><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"400\" height=\"244\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/fpdownload.macromedia.com\/pub\/ shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" \/><param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#ffffff\" \/><param name=\"menu\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2041%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedembed\/mediaplayer.swf\" width=\"400\" height=\"244\" allowfullscreen=\"false\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"&#038;displayheight=225&#038;file=http:\/\/therealnews.com\/permalinkedvideorss\/videoembedrss.php?oneid=yes%26bw=300%26myrn=%26searchfor=2041%26campaigncode=&#038;height=244&#038;width=400&#038;frontcolor=0x333333&#038;backcolor=0xffffff&#038;lightcolor=0x666666&#038;screencolor=0xffffff&#038;autoscroll=true&#038;bufferlength=5&#038;shuffle=false\"><\/embed><\/object><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/therealnews.com\/t\/index.php?option=com_content&#038;task=view&#038;id=31&#038;Itemid=7&#038;jumival=2041\" target=\"_blank\">Transcri\u00e7\u00e3o em ingl\u00eas da 4a parte da entrevista<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At\u00e9 agora, as Olimp\u00edadas t\u00eam sido um convite aberto para malhar a China, uma desculpa infinita para que os jornalistas ocidentais persigam os comunistas relativamente a tudo, da censura na internet a Darfur. Atrav\u00e9s das novas e desagrad\u00e1veis not\u00edcias, entretanto, o governo chin\u00eas tem parecido surpreendentemente imperturb\u00e1vel. \u00c9 porque est\u00e1 apostando no seguinte: quando as cerim\u00f4nias de abertura come\u00e7arem, na sexta-feira, a audi\u00eancia se esquecer\u00e1 instantaneamente de todas as coisas desagrad\u00e1veis, \u00e0 medida em que seu c\u00e9rebro ser\u00e1 arrebatado pelo mega-espet\u00e1culo que ser\u00e3o as Olimp\u00edadas de Beijing. <\/p>\n<p>Gostando ou n\u00e3o, a audi\u00eancia ficar\u00e1 impressionada com a capacidade de impressionar da China. <\/p>\n<p>Os jogos foram taxados de festa da debutante para o mundo. Mas s\u00e3o muito mais significativos que isso. Essas Olimp\u00edadas s\u00e3o a festa da debutante para um modo perturbadoramente eficiente de organizar a sociedade, m\u00e9todo esse aprimorado pela China durante as tr\u00eas \u00faltimas d\u00e9cadas e, finalmente, pronto para se mostrar. Trata-se de um potente h\u00edbrido das mais poderosas ferramentas pol\u00edticas do comunismo autorit\u00e1rio \u2013 planejamento centralizado, repress\u00e3o impiedosa, vigil\u00e2ncia constante \u2013 arnesada para avan\u00e7ar os objetivos do capitalismo global. H\u00e1 quem chame isso de \u201ccapitalismo autorit\u00e1rio\u201d, outros de \u201cStalinismo de mercado\u201d, pessoalmente, prefiro \u201cMcComunismo\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>As Olimp\u00edadas de Beijing s\u00e3o elas mesmas a perfeita express\u00e3o desse sistema h\u00edbrido. Atrav\u00e9s de feitos extraordin\u00e1rios de um governo autorit\u00e1rio, o estado chin\u00eas constru\u00edu impressionantes est\u00e1dios, rodovias e ferrovias \u2013 tudo em tempo recorde. Demoliu completamente inteiros bairros, alinhou as ruas com \u00e1rvores e flores e, gra\u00e7as \u00e0 campanha \u201canti-cuspe\u201d, limpou as cal\u00e7adas de saliva. O Partido Comunista da China at\u00e9 tentou tormar azuis os c\u00e9us lamacentos, ordenando que as ind\u00fastrias pesadas suspendessem sua produ\u00e7\u00e3o durante um m\u00eas \u2013 algo como uma greve geral ordenada pelo governo. <\/p>\n<p>Quanto aos cidad\u00e3os chineses que poderiam destoar em sua mensagem durante os jogos \u2013 ativistas tibetanos, militantes de direitos humanos, bloggers insatisfeitos \u2013 centenas deles foram mandados para \u00e0 cadeia nos meses recentes. Qualquer um que ainda tenha planos de protestar ser\u00e1, sem d\u00favida, capturado por uma das 300.000 c\u00e2meras de vigil\u00e2ncia de Beiijing e prontamente apanhado em flagrante por um funcion\u00e1rio de seguran\u00e7a; foi reportado que h\u00e1 100.000 deles em dever ol\u00edmpico. <\/p>\n<p>O objetivo de todo esse planejamento central e espionagem n\u00e3o \u00e9 celebrar as gl\u00f3rias do comunismo, independentemente de como o governo da China chame a si mesmo. \u00c9 o de criar o supremo casulo de consumo para os cart\u00f5es Visa, os t\u00eanis Adidas, os telefones celulares chineses, as refei\u00e7\u00f5es felizes do McDonald\u2019s, a cerveja Tsingtao e o servi\u00e7o de entregas UPS \u2013 isso s\u00f3 para citar alguns dos patrocinadores oficiais das Olimp\u00edadas. Mas o mercado mais novo e quente de todos \u00e9 o da pr\u00f3pria vigil\u00e2ncia. Ao contr\u00e1rio dos estados policiais da Europa do Leste e da Uni\u00e3o Sovi\u00e9tica, a China edificou um Estado Policial 2.0, um neg\u00f3cio inteiramente com o objetivo de lucros que \u00e9 a \u00faltima fronteira para o Complexo do Capitalismo de Desastre global.  <\/p>\n<p>Corpora\u00e7\u00f5es chinesas, financiadas por fundos de hedge dos EUA, assim como por algumas das mais poderosas corpora\u00e7\u00f5es dos EUA \u2013 Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, Google \u2013 t\u00eam trabalhado de m\u00e3os dadas com o governo chin\u00eas para tornar esse momento poss\u00edvel: botando em rede as c\u00e2maras de circuito fechado que espiam de cada poste de luz, construindo a \u201cGrande Muralha de Fogo, ou\u2026 Firewall\u201d que permite monitoramento remoto da internet, e concebendo aqueles motores de busca j\u00e1 incorporados de auto-censura. <\/p>\n<p>At\u00e9 o ano que vem, o mercado interno de Seguran\u00e7a chin\u00eas dever\u00e1 valer 33 bilh\u00f5es de d\u00f3lares dos EUA. V\u00e1rios dos maiores protagonistas chineses do setor levaram suas a\u00e7\u00f5es a p\u00fablico em bolsas de valores dos EUA, esperando capitalizar com o fato de que, em tempos vol\u00e1teis, as a\u00e7\u00f5es do setor de seguran\u00e7a e defesa s\u00e3o vistas como apostas seguras. A China Information Security Technology, por exemplo, est\u00e1 agora listada na NASDAQ e a China Security and Surveillance na NYSE. Uma panelinha de fundos de hedge dos EUA t\u00eam flutuado entre esses empreendimentos, investindo mais que US$ 150 milh\u00f5es nos \u00faltimos dois anos. Os retornos t\u00eam sido impressionantes. Entre outubro de 2006 e outubro de 2007, o valor das a\u00e7\u00f5es da China Security and Surveillance aumentaram 306 por cento. <\/p>\n<p>A maior parte dos incr\u00edveis gastos do governo chin\u00eas com c\u00e2meras e outros dispositivos de seguran\u00e7a tem ocorrido sob a bandeira da \u201cSeguran\u00e7a das Olimp\u00edadas\u201d. Mas quanto ser\u00e1 realmente preciso para garantir a seguran\u00e7a de um evento esportivo? O pre\u00e7o tem sido estimado em US$ 12 bilh\u00f5es \u2013 tanto para dar uma base de compara\u00e7\u00e3o, Salt Lake City, que hospedou os jogos ol\u00edmpicos de inverno cinco meses ap\u00f3s o 11 de setembro, gastou US$ 315 milh\u00f5es com a seguran\u00e7a dos jogos. Atenas gastou cerca de US$ 1,5 bilh\u00e3o em 2004. Muitos grupos de direitos humanos ressaltaram que o upgrade de seguran\u00e7a na China est\u00e1 alcan\u00e7ando uma \u00e1rea muito maior que a cidade de Beijing: h\u00e1, agora, 660 cidades designadas como \u201ccidades seguras\u201d em todo o pa\u00eds, municipalidades que foram escolhidas para receber novas c\u00e2meras de vigil\u00e2ncia e outros equipamentos de espionagem. E, \u00e9 claro, todo o equipamento adquirido em nome da seguran\u00e7a das Olimp\u00edadas \u2013 escaneadores de \u00edris, rob\u00f4s anti-tumultos e software para o reconhecimento facial \u2013 permanecer\u00e1 na China depois que os jogos se acabarem, livres para serem dirigidos contra oper\u00e1rios em greve e manifestantes rurais.<\/p>\n<p>O que as Olimp\u00edadas forneceram \u00e0s empresas ocidentais \u00e9 uma embalagem apetec\u00edvel para essa aventura de dar frio na espinha. Desde o Massacre de Tiananmen Square em 1989, as companhias dos EUA t\u00eam sido impedidas de vender equipamentos e tecnologia policiais para a China, j\u00e1 que os legisladores temiam que esses produtos seriam dirigidos, mais uma vez, contra os manifestantes pac\u00edficos. Essa lei foi completamente ignorada durante os preparativos para as Olimp\u00edadas quando, em nome da seguran\u00e7a para os atletas e os VIPs (inclusive George W. Bush), nenhum novo brinquedinho foi negado ao estado chin\u00eas. <\/p>\n<p>H\u00e1 uma amarga ironia, aqui. Quando Beijing foi agraciada com os jogos, h\u00e1 sete anos, a teoria era de que o escrut\u00ednio internacional for\u00e7aria o governo da China a conceder mais direitos e liberdade para o seu povo. Ao inv\u00e9s disso, as Olimp\u00edadas abriram a porta para que o regime atualizasse maci\u00e7amente seus sistemas de controle e repress\u00e3o da popula\u00e7\u00e3o. Lembram-se quando as companhias ocidentais alegavam que, ao fazerem neg\u00f3cios com a China, elas estavam ajudando a espalhar a liberdade e a democracia? Agora estamos vendo o inverso: os investimentos em dispositivos de vigil\u00e2ncia e censura est\u00e3o ajudando Beijing a reprimir ativamente uma nova gera\u00e7\u00e3o de ativistas antes que eles tenham a chance de se tornarem um movimento de massas. <\/p>\n<p>Os n\u00fameros dessa tend\u00eancia s\u00e3o assustadores. Em abril de 2007, funcion\u00e1rios do governo de 13 prov\u00edncias se reuniram para reportar sobre o desempenho de suas novas medidas de seguran\u00e7a. Na prov\u00edncia de Jiangsu, a qual, segundo o South China Morning Post usava \u201cintelig\u00eancia artificial para estender e melhorar o sistema de monitoramento existente\u201d, o n\u00famero de protestos e manifesta\u00e7\u00f5es \u201ccaiu, no \u00faltimo ano, em 44 %\u201d. Na prov\u00edncia de Zhejiang, onde novos sistemas de vigil\u00e2ncia eletr\u00f4nicos foram instalados, diminu\u00edram em 33%. Em Shaanxi, \u201cincidentes de massas\u201d \u2013 c\u00f3digo para as manifesta\u00e7\u00f5es \u2013 diminu\u00edram em 27% no prazo de um ano. Dong Lei, o chefe do partido para a prov\u00edncia, deu parte do cr\u00e9dito dessa diminui\u00e7\u00e3o ao investimento maci\u00e7o em c\u00e2meras de seguran\u00e7a espalhadas pela prov\u00edncia toda. \u201cNossa meta \u00e9 alcan\u00e7ar a capacidade de monitoramento durante o dia todo e em qualquer condi\u00e7\u00e3o atmosf\u00e9rica\u201d, afirmou ele na reuni\u00e3o. <\/p>\n<p>Agora, os ativistas na China se encontram sob intensa press\u00e3o, incapazes de operar mesmo em n\u00edveis extremamente limitados, como os de um ano atr\u00e1s. Os internet caf\u00e9s est\u00e3o repletos de c\u00e2meras de seguran\u00e7a e a navega\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e9 cuidadosamente vigilada. Nos escrit\u00f3rios de um grupo de direitos trabalhistas em Hong Kong, encontrei um dissidente chin\u00eas muito conhecido, Jun Tao. Ele tinha acabado de escapar da China continental devido ao ass\u00e9dio persistente por parte da pol\u00edcia. Depois de d\u00e9cadas de luta em prol da democracia e dos direitos humanos, ele disse que as novas tecnologias de vigil\u00e2ncia tornaram \u201cimposs\u00edvel continuar seu trabalho na China\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>\u00c9 f\u00e1cil ver os perigos de uma vigil\u00e2ncia high-tech na distante China, j\u00e1 que as conseq\u00fc\u00eancias para pessoas como Jun s\u00e3o t\u00e3o severas. \u00c9 mais dif\u00edcil ver esses perigos quando essas mesmas tecnologias se infiltram na vida quotidiana mais pr\u00f3xima das c\u00e2meras em rede das cidades dos EUA, cart\u00f5es biom\u00e9tricos \u201cde via expressa\u201d nos aeroportos, vigil\u00e2ncia em rede de e-mails e cart\u00f5es telef\u00f4nicos. Mas para o setor global de seguran\u00e7a nacional, a China \u00e9 mais que um mercado; \u00e9 tamb\u00e9m um showroom. Em Beijing, onde o poder do estado \u00e9 absoluto e as liberdades civis n\u00e3o existem, as tecnologias de vigil\u00e2ncia feitas nos EUA podem ser levadas a limites absolutos. <\/p>\n<p>O primeiro teste come\u00e7a hoje: ser\u00e1 que a China, apesar da enorme agita\u00e7\u00e3o que ferve sob a superf\u00edcie, poder\u00e1 organizar Olimp\u00edadas \u201charmoniosas\u201d? Se a resposta \u00e9 sim, assim como quase tudo o que \u00e9 feito na China, ent\u00e3o o Estado Policial 2.0 estar\u00e1 pronto para exporta\u00e7\u00e3o. <\/p>\n<p>Leia o meu relat\u00f3rio completo sobre como as corpora\u00e7\u00f5es dos EUA est\u00e3o ajudando a construir na China um Estado Policial high-tech, na revista Rolling Stone. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Naomi Klein \u00e9 a autora, entre outros, do livro \u201cThe Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism\u201d (A Doutrina de Choque: a Ascens\u00e3o do Capitalismo de Desastre). Informa\u00e7\u00f5es detalhadas sobre o livro podem ser encontradas no site: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shockdoctrine.org\">www.shockdoctrine.org<\/a> .<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Copyright \u00a9 2008 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/imediata.org\/imagens\/grabretanha_ani.gif\" alt=\"null\" \/><br \/>\n<strong>In English:<\/p>\n<p>The Olympics: Unveiling Police State 2.0<br \/>\nby Naomi Klein<br \/>\nThe Huffington Post, Thursday, August 7, 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So far, the Olympics have been an open invitation to China-bash, a bottomless excuse for Western journalists to go after the Commies on everything from internet censorship to Darfur. Through all the nasty news stories, however, the Chinese government has seemed amazingly unperturbed. That\u2019s because it is betting on this: when the opening ceremonies begin friday, you will instantly forget all that unpleasantness as your brain is zapped by the cultural\/athletic\/political extravaganza that is the Beijing Olympics. <\/p>\n<p>Like it or not, you are about to be awed by China\u2019s sheer awesomeness. <\/p>\n<p>The games have been billed as China\u2019s \u201ccoming out party\u201d to the world. They are far more significant than that. These Olympics are the coming out party for a disturbingly efficient way of organizing society, one that China has perfected over the past three decades, and is finally ready to show off. It is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarianism communism \u2014 central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance \u2014 harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism. Some call it \u201cauthoritarian capitalism,\u201d others \u201cmarket Stalinism,\u201d personally I prefer \u201cMcCommunism.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Beijing Olympics are themselves the perfect expression of this hybrid system. Through extraordinary feats of authoritarian governing, the Chinese state has built stunning new stadiums, highways and railways \u2014 all in record time. It has razed whole neighborhoods, lined the streets with trees and flowers and, thanks to an \u201canti-spitting\u201d campaign, cleaned the sidewalks of saliva. The Communist Party of China even tried to turn the muddy skies blue by ordering heavy industry to cease production for a month \u2014 a sort of government-mandated general strike. <\/p>\n<p>As for those Chinese citizens who might go off-message during the games \u2014 Tibetan activists, human right campaigners, malcontent bloggers \u2014 hundreds have been thrown in jail in recent months. Anyone still harboring protest plans will no doubt be caught on one of Beijing\u2019s 300,000 surveillance cameras and promptly nabbed by a security officer; there are reportedly 100,000 of them on Olympics duty. <\/p>\n<p>The goal of all this central planning and spying is not to celebrate the glories of Communism, regardless of what China\u2019s governing party calls itself. It is to create the ultimate consumer cocoon for Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cell phones, McDonald\u2019s happy meals, Tsingtao beer, and UPS delivery \u2014 to name just a few of the official Olympic sponsors. But the hottest new market of all is the surveillance itself. Unlike the police states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, China has built a Police State 2.0, an entirely for-profit affair that is the latest frontier for the global Disaster Capitalism Complex. <\/p>\n<p>Chinese corporations financed by U.S. hedge funds, as well as some of American\u2019s most powerful corporations \u2014 Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, Google \u2014 have been working hand in glove with the Chinese government to make this moment possible: networking the closed circuit cameras that peer from every other lamp pole, building the \u201cGreat Firewall\u201d that allows for remote internet monitoring, and designing those self-censoring search engines. <\/p>\n<p>By next year, the Chinese internal security market is set to be worth $33-billion. Several of the larger Chinese players in the field have recently taken their stocks public on U.S. exchanges, hoping to cash in the fact that, in volatile times, security and defense stocks are seen as the safe bets. China Information Security Technology, for instance, is now listed on the NASDAQ and China Security and Surveillance is on the NYSE. A small clique of U.S. hedge funds has been floating these ventures, investing more than $150-million in the past two years. The returns have been striking. Between October 2006 and October 2007, China Security and Surveillance\u2019s stock went up 306 percent. <\/p>\n<p>Much of the Chinese government\u2019s lavish spending on cameras and other surveillance gear has taken place under the banner of \u201cOlympic Security.\u201d But how much is really needed to secure a sporting event? The price tag has been put at a staggering $12-billion \u2014 to put that in perspective, Salt Lake City, which hosted the Winter Olympics just five months after September 11, spent $315 million to secure the games. Athens spent around $1.5-billion in 2004. Many human rights groups have pointed out that China\u2019s security upgrade is reaching far beyond Beijing: there are now 660 designated \u201csafe cities\u201d across the country, municipalities that have been singled out to receive new surveillance cameras and other spy gear. And of course all the equipment purchased in the name of Olympics safety \u2014 iris scanners, \u201canti-riot robots\u201d and facial recognition software \u2014 will stay in China after the games are long gone, free to be directed at striking workers and rural protestors. <\/p>\n<p>What the Olympics have provided for Western firms is a palatable cover story for this chilling venture. Ever since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, U.S. companies have been barred from selling police equipment and technology to China, since lawmakers feared it would be directed, once again, at peaceful demonstrators. That law has been completely disregarded in the lead up to the Olympics, when, in the name of safety for athletes and VIPs (including George W. Bush), no new toy has been denied the Chinese state. <\/p>\n<p>There is a bitter irony here. When Beijing was awarded the games seven years ago, the theory was that international scrutiny would force China\u2019s government to grant more rights and freedom to its people. Instead, the Olympics have opened up a backdoor for the regime to massively upgrade its systems of population control and repression. And remember when Western companies used to claim that by doing business in China, they were actually spreading freedom and democracy? We are now seeing the reverse: investment in surveillance and censorship gear is helping Beijing to actively repress a new generation of activists before it has the chance to network into a mass movement. <\/p>\n<p>The numbers on this trend are frightening. In April 2007, officials from 13 provinces held a meeting to report back on how their new security measures were performing. In the province of Jiangsu, which, according to the South China Morning Post , was using \u201cartificial intelligence to extend and improve the existing monitoring system\u201d the number of protests and riots \u201cdropped by 44 per cent last year.\u201d In the province of Zhejiang, where new electronic surveillance systems had been installed, they were down 30 per cent. In Shaanxi, \u201cmass incidents\u201d \u2014 code for protests \u2014 were down by 27 per cent in a year. Dong Lei, the province\u2019s deputy party chief, gave part of the credit to a huge investment in security cameras across the province. \u201cWe aim to achieve all day and all-weather monitoring capability,\u201d he told the gathering. <\/p>\n<p>Activists in China now find themselves under intense pressure, unable to function even at the limited levels they were able to a year ago. Internet cafes are filled with surveillance cameras, and surfing is carefully watched. At the offices of a labor rights group in Hong Kong, I met the well-known Chinese dissident Jun Tao. He had just fled the mainland in the face of persistent police harassment. After decades of fighting for democracy and human rights, he said the new surveillance technologies had made it \u201cimpossible to continue to function in China.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to see the dangers of a high tech surveillance state in far off China, since the consequences for people like Jun are so severe. It\u2019s harder to see the dangers when these same technologies creep into every day life closer to home-networked cameras on U.S. city streets, \u201cfast lane\u201d biometric cards at airports, dragnet surveillance of email and phone calls. But for the global homeland security sector, China is more than a market; it is also a showroom. In Beijing, where state power is absolute and civil liberties non-existent, American-made surveillance technologies can be taken to absolute limits. <\/p>\n<p>The first test begins today: Can China, despite the enormous unrest boiling under the surface, put on a \u201charmonious\u201d Olympics? If the answer is yes, like so much else that is made in China, Police State 2.0 will be ready for export. <\/p>\n<p>Read my full report on how U.S. corporations are helping to build China\u2019s high tech Police State in Rolling Stone. <\/p>\n<p><strong>The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is now out in paperback. You can find extensive resources related to the book at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shockdoctrine.org\">www.shockdoctrine.org<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2008 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fonte: The Huffington Post, de 7 de agosto de 2008 Tradu\u00e7\u00e3o: Ag\u00eancia Imediata Transcri\u00e7\u00e3o em ingl\u00eas da 1a parte da entrevista<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[56,58,26,57,59,33],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lance-de-dados","tag-china","tag-comunismo","tag-naomi-klein","tag-olimpiadas","tag-seguranca","tag-vigilancia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imediata.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}