Crime
By Brandon Astor Jones and Jenny Thomas
"What is the answer to crime? Giving more power to the state will do nothing to eliminate crime. Crime is a function of a sick society: change society and crime will rapidly disappear." — Dave Holmes, Green Left Weekly #273.
In the same way that capitalism is not always good, socialism is not always bad. One serious look at the recidivism rates throughout the US penal system will give you more than sufficient proof of that. It creates far more monsters than truly rehabilitated human beings.
What state governments need is a more humane and compassionate approach to crime and people (the latter being both victim and perpetrator). What we are talking about here is "haves" and "have nots". Speaking as a have not, I can tell you that the warmed over argument of capitalism versus socialism is, at best, moot.
"Get tough on crime and criminals " has become the political battle cry for most purveyors of the USA's market-driven system.
In dehumanising criminal activity — I should say some activities, because corporate crime goes unpunished by and large — men, women and children are reduced to mere commodities no different than cattle in the western states, corn in the mid-west and chickens in the south-east. Prisoners are bought and sold — like economic slaves — to the highest privatised bidder.
How bright do you have to be to figure out that if you treat people like animals, from cradle to grave, ultimately they will bite you?
Treating people like human beings is an act born of strength, not weakness. I think it was Hubert H. Humphrey, during his 1968 presidential campaign, who said, "Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism".
Is the USA so fearful of socialism that it is devoid of compassion? After you take an honest look at its media and political and economic structures (all of which are run by greedy and selfish corporations) I think the answer you will come up with is Yes.
DAVE HOLMES' message is straightforward: if you change society from a capitalist to a socialist one, then crime will disappear. I'm not sure it's that easy.
Two thirds of the world's population live at or below subsistence levels, while one third live in affluence. Yes, there is injustice. Yes, there is greed. Whose fault is it? Which company will be the first to ask its workers to take a pay cut because of their social conscience?
The media do benefit from crime reporting, but who buys the papers, turns on the radio, the television? Somebody must for it to perpetuate. I don't know the answer to crime and punishment issues. Nothing can be gained by putting people in boxes, whether it's criminal, victim, socialist, capitalist, neighbour or stranger. Putting people in boxes and labelling them makes them strangers to us. They are "out there"; therefore the problem is "out there".
In Britain , social responsibility took a nose dive after Margaret Thatcher told the nation that we were all individuals, and that there was no such thing as society.
Individuals are needy: they have hopes, needs, pains and anger. Individuals have to look out for themselves to survive. It takes too much energy to carry the hopes, needs, pains and anger of others around, and more often than not, too much energy to deal with our own. There becomes a stranger inside that's just as dangerous as the stranger outside.
How we react to our individual greed and anger is the key to how we deal with it "out there". Things "out there", like political parties, will never eliminate crime by themselves. Like the ecosystem, all human beings are interconnected. Each person's anger and greed can grow until there is a feeling that it is out of control, leaving a small holocaust in its wake.
[Brandon Astor Jones is a prisoner in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns. At present, he is being held under difficult conditions awaiting a resentencing trial and would appreciate letters. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, Aka Wilbur May, ID39359, POD-A, PO Box 100110, Marietta GA 30008, USA. If you can help by contributing to his defence fund or in other ways, please contact Australians Against Executions, PO Box 640, Milson's Point NSW 2061. Fax (02) 9427 9489. Cheques can be made payable to "Brandon Astor Jones Defence Fund".]