Along with this obsessive and perennial discussion of

Along with this obsessive and perennial
discussion of
so-called ‘
national security issues’
,
the state spends
truly
vast sums on security measures which
have virtually no impact on the actual risk of dying from these threats
, and then engages in massive displays of
‘security theatre’ designed to show just how seriously the state takes these threats – such as the x-ray machines and security measures in every
public building, surveillance cameras everywhere, missile launchers in urban areas, drones in Afghanistan, armed police in airports, and a
thousand other things.
This display is meant to convince you that these threats are really, really serious
. And
while
all
this is going on
,
the rulers
of society
are hoping that you won’t notice that increasing social and
economic inequality in society leads to increased ill health for a growing underclass;
that suicide and crime
always rise when unemployment rises; that workplaces remain highly dangerous and kill and maim hundreds of people per year;
that there
are preventable diseases which plague the poor er sections of society;
that domestic violence kills and injures
thousands of women and children annually;
and that globally, poverty and preventable disease kills tens of millions
of people
needlessly every year. In other words,
they are hoping that you won’t notice how much structural
violence there is in the world.
More than this,
they are hoping that you won’t notice that while literally
trillions
of dollars
are spent on military weapons, foreign wars and security theatre
(which also arguably do nothing
to make any us any safer, and may even make us marginally less safe),
that domestic violence programmes struggle to
provide even minimal support
for women and children at risk of serious harm from their partners; that underfunded mental health
programmes mean long waiting lists to receive basic care for at-risk individuals; that drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes lack the

funding to match the demand for help;
that welfare measures
aimed at reducing inequality
have been inadequate for
decades
;
that health
and safety
measures
at many workplaces
remain insufficiently
resourced; and that measures to tackle
global warming and developing alternative energy remain hopelessly inadequate. Of course, none of this is surprising. Politicians are a part of
the system; they don’t want to change it. For them, all the insecurity, death and ill-health caused by capitalist inequality are a price worth paying
to keep the basic social structures as they are. A more egalitarian society based on equality, solidarity, and other non-materialist values would
not suit their interests, or the special interests of the lobby groups they are indebted to. It is also true that dealing with economic and social
inequality, improving public health, changing international structures of inequality, restructuring the military-industrial complex, and making the