Terry Leahy, the keynote speaker and facilitator for our upcoming mini-conference writes:

Policing Ownership of Wealth

“Considerable money is devoted to policing the class system of ownership of wealth. Members of the lower classes who challenge this system by developing illegal shortcuts to wealth are attacked with superior force.

The state attempts to maintain a monopoly of force and weapons. The middle class is warned and titillated by these stories of subordinate class insurrection. The story warns by letting the middle class reader know how much danger they are in from insurrection, how much they need the state to protect their (middling) ownership of wealth and defend the private property of the one per cent. The story titillates by depicting a group who are breaking the rules and taking what they want – half dressed, tattooed heathens.

Drug policy is devoted to assuring the respectable middle of society that their work ethic will be rewarded and that no one can get away with bludging and hanging out doing no ‘useful’ – read profitable – work. Those who cannot cope with life and resort to drugs are penalized rather than being supported. The criminals provide an object lesson in how not to behave to become successful. ”

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