SURVEILLANCE AS SOCIAL CONTROL: HOW THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE SETTLER COLONIAL STATE CHANGES THE IMPACT OF POLICE SURVEILLANCE

Abstract

This paper is an analysis of how hegemonic power structures use surveillance as a policing tactic towards social movements, and its response to radical movements through a settler colonial frame. The differences will be exemplified by juxtaposing law enforcement’s response towards two protests, occurring months apart, organized by the Land Back and Militia Movements respectively. The most striking difference engendered was the clear difference in the amount of surveillance conducted by law enforcement prior to these protests and their willingness to engage aggressively on the basis of that information. This paper seeks to challenge the glamor of nationalist rhetoric that erases the violence of settler colonialism, xenophobia, anti-indigeneity, racism, and capitalism towards social minorities in the state by illuminating the difference in policing anti and pro settler movements. The tactics of policing social movements through surveillance will be examined through the above movements, in case studies, to determine why police behave as they do towards social movements as well as exemplify the differential treatment given to pro-settler colonialists and anti-settler colonialists organizations. Overall, how capitalist settler colonial states address, or fail to address, obstacles of social discontent through militarized police operations of hyper-surveillance will be discussed.