[Xmca-l] Re: USA & Chile social revolts

Sun May 31 14:11:21 PDT 2020

This is my idea of a happy story.   It was front page and continued for nearly a full page after the jump. Of course, the rest of the paper is full of the riots, protests, burnings, etc.  

But look at what this one says -  the big truth which is how hard and complicated it is to set up what we mean by  (from Greg): "the whole of life as found in history and baked into culture, including our politico-economic systems and institutions.”   

This 66-year old man has been in prison for 44 years — his original sentence was 17 years; the story isn’t about whether he was innocent or guilty or how reliable the witnesses were (not very), but it’s about the small difficult changes in the pro security/defense process, the gears and wheels that eventually all clicked through.  A small unit in the public  defender’s office reviews cases looking for people who are suitable for reduced sentencing; they have to go through major bureaucratic reviews; this connects to Chesa Boudin and his election (he was in the public defender’s office) as the new DA of SF; the review doesn’t go to a parole board any more — so the path of the process is changed — and eventually the guy gets out.  

This should be a tremendously encouraging message to all those people who are grindfing away in the offices of government pushing paper back and forth to make something clear out of the way and get something done. Or doing basic research or writing long, difficult things. It’s not a heroic one-person accomplishment; it’s terribly detail-oriented and time-consuming and full of pitfalls.  

So while the protests are happening all over (and I think they are necessary), once you’re done burning buildings and you’ve got people's attention,  this is where the work gets done. 

'The power of redemption': Oakland man goes free after 44 years in prison, more than 30 in solitary

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/SF-public-defender-unit-helps-Oakland-man-go-free-15301831.php?utm_campaign=CMS*20Sharing*20Tools*20(Premium)&utm_source=share-by-email&utm_medium=email__;JSUl!!Mih3wA!W_68UA9vN33ySTU983cmHoR_JcM8ljg9IMi1QdAsGjIaKONttISaVWyZArCOnwitNWj4Wg$  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/SF-public-defender-unit-helps-Oakland-man-go-free-15301831.php?utm_campaign=CMS*20Sharing*20Tools*20(Premium)&utm_source=share-by-email&utm_medium=email__;JSUl!!Mih3wA!W_68UA9vN33ySTU983cmHoR_JcM8ljg9IMi1QdAsGjIaKONttISaVWyZArCOnwitNWj4Wg$ >

A new post-conviction unit at the San Francisco public defender’s office offers a fresh eye to sometimes decades-old cases, many of which were sentenced under harsher, “tough-on-crime” laws that no longer exist today.

This message was sent via SFChronicle.com <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://sfchronicle.com/__;!!Mih3wA!W_68UA9vN33ySTU983cmHoR_JcM8ljg9IMi1QdAsGjIaKONttISaVWyZArCOnwgC5rrxoA$ > 

As I write this I remember that one of basic uber-narratives is, “The prisoner goes free.” 

Helena Worthen
h <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://helenaworthen.wordpress.com/__;!!Mih3wA!W_68UA9vN33ySTU983cmHoR_JcM8ljg9IMi1QdAsGjIaKONttISaVWyZArCOnwhthyyKag$ >elenaworthen@gmail.com

> On May 31, 2020, at 1:22 PM, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> David P,
> 
> Glad to hear about your research (I have been wanting to do an ethnography of police officers for a while now but haven’t been able to fit it in). 
> 
> It will be important to bring the full power of a cultural historical approach to get beyond the very thin analyses I see all around me (by very well intentioned people, I might add) that reduce the issue to a simple concern with biases in the heads of individuals or, worse still, just a few bad apples in the police force.
> 
> One needs to study the whole of life as found in history and baked into culture, including our politico-economic systems and institutions. That’s a tough row to hoe but anything short of that will land us right back in the land of race riots in another 30 years or so (and maybe if we recognized these as “protests” or “revolts” (cf. Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s work on the broad failure of humanity to recognize the REVOLUTION happening on the island of Haiti in 1791 because people couldn’t imagine that “slaves” could mount a revolution so it was simply called a “slave rebellion”)).
> 
> Anyway, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what comes of your work!
> 
> Very best,
> Greg
> 
> 
> On Sun, May 31, 2020 at 1:33 AM David Preiss <preiss.xmca@gmail.com <mailto:preiss.xmca@gmail.com>> wrote:
> Dear colleagues and friends of XMCA living int he USA,
> 
> The images from the unrest in the USA are strikingly similar to those we experienced during our own "estallido social" since last October. Our social revolt was literally quarantined with the arrival of COVID19, and yours started during it. These are very complex days everywhere without any doubt. 
> 
> The main issue we experienced here (previous to COVID19) was how to understand institutional and social violence and how to protect our democracy. Although the unrest in the USA was triggered by a new event of police brutality, the same underlying issues seem to foster the social protest. 
> 
> There are many themes that I see there that are strikingly similar to our situation, including the widespread crisis of legitimacy of the police forces, which relate to issues of race, social and gender inequality. Democracy is not working for a large majority of the population, and is neglecting many vulnerable communities while the rich get unethically richer. That a private company sent a rocket to the international space station the same day that 25 cities in the USA were under curfew summarizes all. In Chile, however, the social unrest was channeled in a wider social movement for social reform and ended up in an agreement to change our constitution, which was about to be voted but COVID19 happened.
> 
> I have started to work on a project on human rights and the police (not a topic that was in my mainstream area of research but to whom I arrived as a part of a social concern) and will certainly be very attentive to your thoughts on the matter as events unfold. The images of police brutality that are in social media are very similar to those we experienced here as well as those of opportunistic civil violence by infiltrators, looting and so on. I really hope the social protest there achieves some substantive change and it is not just marginalized or reduced to mere chaos. 
> 
> But first of all, besides entering an academic discussion, I just wanted to share with you all my full solidarity. These are very painful moments. We went through them. I understand how painful they are. I share your pain and grief.
> 
> 
> David
> 
> 
> -- 
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> WEBSITE: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://anthropology.byu.edu/greg-thompson__;!!Mih3wA!W_68UA9vN33ySTU983cmHoR_JcM8ljg9IMi1QdAsGjIaKONttISaVWyZArCOnwjMkPoTRg$  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://anthropology.byu.edu/greg-thompson__;!!Mih3wA!QxmUxAYvk6CQVBjEjsW4Qt76ZE3soFXVZqkkNivFE4kQFkKzYkEBxKZ0gkzfFS5nbIg8lw$> 
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