Discussion Guide
Below, please find a discussion guide for The Backbone of the Counterinsurgency Machine, an episode of Millennials are Killing Capitalism featuring Fatema Ahmad and Brendan McQuade.
The guide includes a series of questions for you to answer when you list to the episode, key concepts for you to define, and additional resources to continue your study.
These questions and key concepts are designed to provide a foundation for discussion. If you do not answer all of the questions or define all of the terms, that is fine.
Questions
What are fusion centers?
What does BRIC do?
What surveillance tools are used at fusion centers like BRIC?
How and why does DHS drive the demand for mass data collection and mass data sharing?
How is the day to day work of Fusion Centers different than what DHS claims these hubs do? How do these hubs facilitate the project of policing?
What is the longer history of these intelligence hubs prior to 9/11?
How do the presence of Fusion Centers undermine Sanctuary City policies?
How does the War on Terror connect to US Imperialism?
How has the construction of the national security apparatus been a bipartisan affair?
What is the difference between terrorism and political violence?
How are Fusion Centers more than just a policing tool?
How do Fusion Centers share intelligence?
How are public/private partnerships core to Fusion Centers?
What is the general strategy for challenging BRIC?
How has Muslim Justice League undermined the “if you see something, say something” tactic?
How has community knowledge shaped Muslim Justice League’s challenge to BRIC?
How did MJL pressure the Boston City Council to decline funding for the Fusion Center?
What are tactics that they have used?
What are other tactics that could be used?
Why is the organizing in Maine against the Fusion Center a cautionary tale?
How is Fusion Center funding constructed to be coercive?
What are the limitations of police surveillance oversight models?
How does reform legitimate rather than constrain police surveillance and other national security infrastructure?
How does Fusion Center surveillance differ from previous models like COINTELPRO?
How are community policing models harmful?
Key Terms
Fusion Center
Gang Database
Urban Area Security Initiative
Threat Fabrication
BRIC
COINTELPRO
Department of Homeland Security
Freedom of Information Act
Counterinsurgency
War on Terror
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism Complex
Intelligence
Social Control
Pacification
Securitization
Politics of Suspicion
War on Drugs
Community Control Over Police Surveillance
Political Policing
Human Rights Compliant Political Policing
Additional Resources
Pacification: Social War and the Power of Police with Mark Neocleous
Police Bureaucracy and Abolition: Why Reforms Driven by Professionals will Renew State Oppression