1.
INTRODUCTION
Before
crisis and disaster, there is a variegated state of affairs we may call
normalcy. A return to normalcy of some kind is always the stated or unstated goal
of specific instances of crisis and disaster response and recovery. We recover toward normalcy – whether this be of the
old order or, more likely, a “new normal”. Since prevention is easier sought
than achieved, building survival and resilience capabilities and options among communities of potential or actual victims
is more often than not – and more than authorities like to admit in public –
the realistic “return to normal” to work toward. This is particularly the
case with natural emergencies and disasters, and significantly less so with
human-caused or technological crises and disasters.
Carceral
authorities have through much of human history devised ways to manage normalcy
in the lives of sequestered individuals, and the prison (as an invention) is
the ultimate “ecosystem” for doing so. It has evolved over time, for sure -- as Foucault so eloquently narrated in Discipline and Punish.
However, in a free world – that is, outside of the confines of the generic prison and
the more extreme Gulag (as in Solzhenitsyn's rendition) – it’s hard, much harder, for state entities to ‘direct’
many (leave alone all) aspects of the ebb and flow of day-to-day life. It’s even unnecessary, and perhaps
too costly and too taxing even for the most nervous of draconian regimes around
the world today – such as North Korea.
Still, all
countries have surveillance and investigative measures of one kind or another –
or a combination of sorts. These are increasingly IT-driven and are rapidly
becoming more sophisticated and smarter – and more effective in dealing with
terrorism-related incidents and aftermaths, for example. Surveillance and Monitoring are key components of the
tasks assigned to any individuals with security and "boots on the ground" sleuthing in their dockets. This is so
whether the security in question is national security, food security, or simply
the security of boundaries, property, neighborhoods or large gatherings of
people. These components can be put into effect remotely -- as in Remote Sensing or CCTV
monitoring or arms-length data-mining operations -- or in close proximity to the ‘target’ of attention (as in trailing
a suspect).
CLICK TO READ THE WHOLE PAPER
REFERENCES
Adams, Mike (2017) "Evidence Mounts that PLAGUE Outbreak in Africa is an engineered depopulation bioweapon"
Foucault, Michel (1995) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Random House.
UPDATED: August 24th, 2018
