David H. Price, "The American Surveillance State: How the US Spies on Dissent" (Pluto Press, 2022)

Sep 4, 2024

David H. Price, a Professor of Anthropology, delves into the intricate relationship between the American surveillance state and dissent. He uncovers how the FBI has historically targeted activists while aligning with capitalist interests. The conversation highlights the chilling effects of the post-9/11 era, where surveillance has become normalized under the guise of safety. Price critiques the disproportionate monitoring of leftist movements compared to right-wing groups, urging a reevaluation of civil liberties and the need for activism against this pervasive intrusion.

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Intro

00:00 • 3min

Unmasking the Surveillance State

02:31 • 11min

Surveillance: Corporate vs. Government

13:58 • 9min

Surveillance and Civil Liberties Post-9/11

22:56 • 11min

Surveillance of Activism: A Focus on Ideological Targeting

34:12 • 4min

Surveillance, Power, and Resistance

37:59 • 16min

When the possibility of wiretapping first became known to Americans they were outraged. Now, in our post-9/11 world, it's accepted that corporations are vested with human rights, and government agencies and corporations use computers to monitor our private lives. In The American Surveillance State: How the US Spies on Dissent (Pluto Press, 2022), David H. Price pulls back the curtain to reveal how the FBI and other government agencies have always functioned as the secret police of American capitalism up to today, where they luxuriate in a near-limitless NSA surveillance of all.

Price looks through a roster of campaigns by law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and corporations to understand how we got here. Starting with J. Edgar Hoover and the early FBI's alignment with business, his access to 15,000 pages of never-before-seen FBI files shines a light on the surveillance of Edward Said, Andre Gunder Frank and Alexander Cockburn, Native American communists, and progressive factory owners.

Price uncovers patterns of FBI monitoring and harassing of activists and public figures, providing the vital means for us to understand how these new frightening surveillance operations are weaponized by powerful governmental agencies that remain largely shrouded in secrecy.

David H. Price is Professor of Anthropology at Saint Martin’s University’s Department of Society and Social Justice. He is the author of a number of books on the FBI and CIA, and has written articles for The Nation, Monthly Review, CounterPunch, Guardian and Le Monde. His work has been translated into five languages.

Deniz Yonucu is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University. Her work focuses on counterinsurgency, policing and security, surveillance, left-wing and anti-colonial resistance, memory, racism, and emerging digital control technologies. Her book, Police, Provocation, Politics Counterinsurgency in Istanbul (Cornell University Press, 2022), presents a counterintuitive analysis of policing, focusing particular attention on the incitement of counterviolence and perpetual conflict by state security apparatus.

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