{"id":13698,"date":"2014-04-11T19:45:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T02:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=13698"},"modified":"2014-04-15T08:22:16","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T15:22:16","slug":"kristin-willims-tesc-policing-and-counterinsurgency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/kristin-willims-tesc-policing-and-counterinsurgency\/","title":{"rendered":"Kristi@n Willi@ms @ TESC: \u201cPolicing and Counterinsurgency\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kristian<\/a>

Kristian Williams<\/p><\/div>\n

Kristian Williams is the author, most recently, of\u00a0Hurt: Notes on Torture in a Modern Democracy\u00a0(Microcosm, 2012). His first book,\u00a0Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America,\u00a0was initially published in 2004, and has been re-released by South End. His work on policing and torture has also appeared in\u00a0Counterpunch, New Politics, In These Times,\u00a0and in the collection\u00a0Confrontations<\/em>\u00a0(Tarantula Publishing, 2007).<\/p>\n

In addition to researching state violence, Williams also frequently writes about comics and cartooning. He\u2019s discussed comics in some surprising places, including the\u00a0L.A. Daily Journal<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Columbia Journalism Review<\/em>. He is presently at work on a book about Oscar Wilde and anarchism.<\/p>\n

Williams is a volunteer with the\u00a0Committee Against Political Repression<\/a>, in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n

Olympia, WA @ TESC (4-10-14) —<\/strong>\u00a0‘Brad’ of ‘Abolish Cops And Prisons’ (ACAP),\u00a0Evergreen’s on campus student organization hosting the event, introduced Mr. Williams, a prolific author who has published a number of works regarding social justice and how the state is structured to inhibit\/prevent the realization of it.<\/p>\n

As always, Brad warned the group attending the presentation about the presence of the ‘Press’ in their midst including the fact their utterances were likely being recorded.<\/p>\n

Kristian Williams’ lecture was relatively short, but intense and well researched. He gave the impression of a man who had made a Herculean effort to gather a mountain of facts all supporting his claim that we live in a virtual police state of total surveillance in America today. This may be old news in the wake of Snowden’s revelations, but Williams outlined the modern history of the problem dating back to the halcyon days of J. Edgar Hoover, COINTELPRO and Senator McCarthy.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Mr. Williams did not share the paranoia of Northwest area lifestyle (A)narchists regarding the press collaborating with their government nemesis. Williams opined this was old school and possibly no longer necessary given the raft of surveillance technology ubiquitous within our modern communication technology. Snowden, of course, underscored this point. Why hire a stooge to listen to barroom banter when you can assign a machine to listen to and record phone calls? Once it became possible, it became necessary.<\/p>\n

President Bush once made this point as he publicly cozied up to and defended torture: “We HAD to know what they were thinking!” In the end, when you’ve got all those knives and forks, we’re finding out, you just HAVE to cut something!<\/p>\n

Mr. Williams spent the majority of his allotted 2-hours in TESC’s Lecture Hall 2 fielding and answering questions from his audience. \u00a0Even so, the room had mostly emptied by 20 before the hour. He remained to autograph some of the books purchased by listeners. He was articulate, persuasive, and extremely knowledgeable about the subject matter…in short, an intellectual force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

The adviser to the student run Cooper Point Journal on campus newspaper arrived, greeted this reporter, and sat next to him throughout the lecture. The reporter’s wife was not nearly so loyal and left the presentation early. It was a good lecture, precise, and covering the subject at hand.<\/p>\n

Mr. Williams’ books, particularly his recently published HURT are to be recommended. They’re very reasonably priced and a must read for any serious activist interested in becoming knowledgeable about the roots of the current political structure undermining the principles of social justice.<\/p>\n

Kristian Williams is a man and critic for our times, a patriot in the old school sense as were our founding fathers when confronted with tyranny and despotism. Take the opportunity to read\/hear him before the state decides it can no longer abide him.<\/p>\n

The lecture can be heard in the video clips included below along with the extensive Q&A session with the students that followed. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"ACAP's<\/a>

ACAP’s “Brad”<\/p><\/div>\n

1\/4<\/strong><\/h1>\n