Re-Framing Dissent As Criminal Subversion
Paradigm Shift and Political Repression
Berlet, Chip
http://www.publiceye.org/media/frame.html
Publisher: Covert Action Information Bulletin
Year Published: 1992
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX13947
When our national security interests are perceived as threatened, secrecy becomes sacred, and the ends justify the means. Since the end of World War II, the techniques of political repression recur, banal and predictive, like the musical theme that signals stalking in a grade-B thriller. Those organizations and individuals targetted for repression are portrayed as enemies of democracy; those investigating and attacking then assume the mantle of democracy's guardians. Because of the covert nature of campaigns and the enormous difference in resources between government agencies and dissident/reform movements, it is often impossible to document or prove the existence of an organized campaign of political repression in its earlier stages. In case after case, however, later investigation has revealed illegal government surveillance, harassment and public opinon manipulation, as well as media complicity.
Subject Headings
