(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Stephen Von Sychowski

On Oct. 26, the B.C. Provincial government announced a startling new plan to install video surveillance cameras on streets in "high crime" areas of Vancouver and Surrey. Costing $1 million in taxpayer dollars, the plan will constitute a violation of privacy rights unprecedented in the history of the two cities. While Attorney General Wally Oppal admits that "people will be concerned with some of the issues around privacy rights," he claims that "it cannot be contradicted that the surveillance aspect of these cameras enhances police efforts."

     But it can be contradicted, and has been. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association, for example, condemned a similar project in Kelowna's Cary Park. They note that a street cam program has been an utter failure in the United Kingdom, where the top police officer has referred to it as "a fiasco that doesn't deter crime, doesn't help solve crime, and yet, costs a billion pounds."

     The Association was quick to criticize this new plan for the BC Lower Mainland, suggesting that instead of reducing crime it will simply displace crime as it moves to the next street to avoid cameras. If the cameras follow, crime will move again. The final result is no more privacy and still no safety from crime.

     While the experience of other cities shows that this new spy program won't work, there is an even bigger reason to oppose it. It destroys a fundamental right of all citizens to privacy. It gives unprecedented spying powers to police forces who have historically been a force of violence and oppression and who, as an arm of the capitalist state, serve ruling class interests against the working class and the people. It allows the boys (and girls) in blue one more chance to abuse their authority by watching over any given person at any time doing anything in any public place.

     During the Nov. 15 civic elections, this should have been an important issue, but it has barely been mentioned. Vancouver's outgoing NPA mayor Sam Sullivan has stated that only communities who want the cameras will get them. The only problem is that the form of "consultation" mentioned by Sullivan is to "go to community policing centres for suggestions and consultation," which hardly constitutes real public consultation. Vision Vancouver candidate Gregor Robertson similarly stated that he believes only communities who want cameras should get them; a statement which is disappointing but not surprising considering Vision's agreement with the NPA on increasing the size of the police force.

     Besides, the provincial government has already stated the cameras will be installed in high crime neighbourhoods. In other words, they have all but made the decision already, regardless of the reassurances of local politicians.

     Public consultation under capitalism is notoriously a joke, as any activist who has fought on any issue from public transit to Olympics to peace or healthcare will know. Under the caring-sounding veneer, the people of Vancouver and Surrey are being told that their rights to privacy will be taken away, but not to worry because they will first be "consulted" through their community policing office.

     This new program fits in with the overall slide towards fascist style police state policies, and the gradual curtailment of rights and freedoms in all the imperialist countries since September 11, 2001. It can also be seen as part of the development of "police state 2010" in preparation for the upcoming Winter Olympics. This new system will no doubt be used in part as a tool for the oppression of the homeless population who must be "cleaned up" before the Olympics. Not to mention for the suppression of dissent while securing "our 2010 legacy" in the form of corporate super-profits. In the long term it could be used against workers' and students' struggles, the peace movement and others fighting for a better world.

     Some will support the cameras and buy into the heroic and virtuous sounding "crime fighting" rhetoric. But life is not a comic book and things are not black and white. Crime is an inherent byproduct of the capitalist system and the despicable conditions of existence it forces upon so many: poverty, desperation, addiction, ignorance and so on. Most "visible" crime is worker-on-worker, or committed by members of the lumpen-proletariat against more (relatively) well-off workers. We are left shamefully victimizing and blaming each other while the real criminals are off scot free.

     But rather than running scared and giving in to each demand by the ruling class to allow them to rescind our rights and freedoms in exchange for a bit more phony security, we should take a stand together to fight for policies that would really reduce crime. That means housing, jobs, education, and real help for those suffering from the disease of addiction. It means a living wage and a guaranteed annual income. It means building a culture of solidarity and collectivity, not charity and individualism. They aren't going to hand us this on a silver platter. We have to organize to take it - and if we can catch them off-camera, maybe the platter too!

     In the meantime, an alternative to street cameras might be suggested. Since our governments and the corporations behind them like cameras so much, let's install them in all of their offices. That way we can all get together and keep an eye on the real crooks for a change.