02-02-2012, 09:33 PM
(From Wikipedia)
Cecilia Verdinelli is writing (G-P, 30 Jan. 2012, http://www.gp.se/kulturnoje/1.843010-cec...tympar-sig) about the, for every day more common, "sell out" of what used to be common societal or communal services to private companies. States cut off their own fingers in order to get a privately run helping hand.
She viewed especially the security company G4S, working under the slogan "Securing our world". In Europe you probably have seen their money transport vans. They have recently started the function to check bus and tram tickets in our local city.
But G4S according to her, also, for example, delivers bodyguards in Iraq and foster homes in England, prison services in Israel and its occupied areas. They take care of a juvenile deliquents home in Belgium and security in the Bagdad airport. The company has even started taking over certain police work in Linconshire.
Cecilia Verdinelli imagines a young palestinian, who after a demonstration finds himself in a G4S-prison in Israel. Somehow he gets out of there, and after a while finds himself in Sweden looking for a brighter future. But he hasn't paid his tram fare properly when checked by the G4S personnel. According to EU-rules, he will be sent to Britain, which happend to be the "first" country in Europe where he was seeking asylum. He is taken into custody by other G4S personnel in the refuge accomodation, until his deportation under supervision of still another group of G4S employees. This story is fictive, but plausible.
Global companies like this one have a real potential to act in a totalitarian way. They operate on a higher intelligence level than the single State that hired them. G4S certainly is in the private security business - maybe they so far are stopping short of sending out mercenaries, but borders are thin - they are involved in "training services". And G4S owns the Wackenhut Corporation...
Quote:G4S plc (formerly Group 4 Securicor) (LSE: GFS, OMX: G4S) is a global security services company headquartered in Crawley, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest security company measured by revenues and has operations in more than 125 countries.[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][3][/SUP] With over 630,000 employees, it is the world's second-largest private sector employer (after Wal-Mart Stores).[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP]
G4S has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Cecilia Verdinelli is writing (G-P, 30 Jan. 2012, http://www.gp.se/kulturnoje/1.843010-cec...tympar-sig) about the, for every day more common, "sell out" of what used to be common societal or communal services to private companies. States cut off their own fingers in order to get a privately run helping hand.
She viewed especially the security company G4S, working under the slogan "Securing our world". In Europe you probably have seen their money transport vans. They have recently started the function to check bus and tram tickets in our local city.
But G4S according to her, also, for example, delivers bodyguards in Iraq and foster homes in England, prison services in Israel and its occupied areas. They take care of a juvenile deliquents home in Belgium and security in the Bagdad airport. The company has even started taking over certain police work in Linconshire.
Cecilia Verdinelli imagines a young palestinian, who after a demonstration finds himself in a G4S-prison in Israel. Somehow he gets out of there, and after a while finds himself in Sweden looking for a brighter future. But he hasn't paid his tram fare properly when checked by the G4S personnel. According to EU-rules, he will be sent to Britain, which happend to be the "first" country in Europe where he was seeking asylum. He is taken into custody by other G4S personnel in the refuge accomodation, until his deportation under supervision of still another group of G4S employees. This story is fictive, but plausible.
Global companies like this one have a real potential to act in a totalitarian way. They operate on a higher intelligence level than the single State that hired them. G4S certainly is in the private security business - maybe they so far are stopping short of sending out mercenaries, but borders are thin - they are involved in "training services". And G4S owns the Wackenhut Corporation...