From the “control state” to the “surveillance state”

If the olympic games were the cause for the establishment of cameras, December of 2008 was – concerning the social breakthroughs brought on, the sharpening of the reflexes of struggling pieces of the society and the effort of the state to take back its lost ground preventing oncoming struggles – the cause for their use.

The mass establishment of cameras started just before the olympic games take place, with the mass media having in advance made the wide propaganda needed for them. Game shows like Big Brother were our worthless entertainment and the creation of fear and tromohysteria climate by the tv news was, and continues to be, our standard ‘’information’’. The mass establishment of cameras in private places and also the fear of international terrorism intensified this climate. All the reactions against this faced the social consent of that period as the games were to be a national bet. By naive thoughts like “I have nothing to hide”, “those who don’t like cameras are criminals” and so on, rooted in the consciousness of big part of the society the existence of cameras as needed presupposition of their safety.

What followed is known. Continuous increase of police forces, creation of new safety troops (Delta, Dias, neighborhood police), mass control arrestments before demonstrations, monitoring of resisting people, criminalization of social relationships, creation of telephonic numbers for anonymous denunciations, abolishment of entire regions’ telephone privacy, internet control and efforts of blog censorship and the list is endless… Last but not least the proposal of the hellenic data protection authority (hdpa) for the function of cameras in places that even they cannot define them as private or public, confirming one more time its subjugated existence. Obviously, we don’t expect from any institutional part to act with criteria other than the service of the state and its interests.

All these things mentioned above compose an image of the transition from the “control state” to the “surveillance state”, giving us just an idea in what is to come concerning the so-called safety field. An Orgouel oriented society where everything will be recorded by surveillance technologies fulfilling totally the panoptic model. A model that wants the absence of consciousness, the mental repression and control, the fear and self-surveillance establishment. In fact, it’s much more important for the system the creation of surveillance climate than the surveillance itself (thinking all the time that you’re surveilled, even if that’s not indeed happening). The state pretending it cares for our safety and the fear of losing its power, is building its own safety walls against the resisting people and those who desire its destruction. Demolishing their walls, let’s take the future in our hands without leaving it to chance.

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