Neurotic Security for the U.S. President

Many of us in Latin America living under military dictatorships are familiar with the ideology of national security. State security has always been the first priority. However, the concept of national security has more to do with securing capital so that capital continues with its businesses and its logic of accumulation. This ideology, deep down, views all citizens as real or potential subversives. For this reason, citizens have to be watched and, if they resist, eventually imprisoned and interrogated.

Each corner became the “imperial court”, with nearby streets, houses and shops being surveyed and inspected and tortured — sometimes to death. As a result, the bonds of trust without which society loses its meaning were destroyed. People therefore lived under a heavy blanket of distrust and fear.

I say all of this in reference to the proposed security surrounding U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Brazil. The visit displayed in full the ideology of national security; however, it was presidential rather than national. There was no confidence in the capability of the Brazilian authorities to guarantee the security of the president. Everything was done following the U.S. system. There were helicopters of such monstrous proportions that there was nowhere for them to land. There were also armored limos and soldiers coated with such high tech apparatus that they seemed more like machines ready to kill people. There were snipers teamed together with intelligence staff at strategic locations on the roofs. Each corner became the “imperial court,” with nearby streets, houses and shops being surveyed and inspected and tortured, sometimes to death. The speech to the public at the Center of the River in Cinelandia had been cancelled. Those who had been invited to hear the speech at the National Theater had to pass through last-minute screenings.

What does this scene reveal? That we live in a sick and inhumane world. Long ago, people were afraid of not having any defense against demons, mythological gods or the forces of nature. Nowadays, we are afraid of ourselves, of the weapons of mass destruction and of catastrophic wars started by the governments that cause great devastation. We are afraid of being assaulted in the street. We fear going up the mountains, where the poor people live. We are even afraid of poor street children who pose a threat. Is there anything we are not afraid of?

We have all been taught that laws, an organized state and public order exist in order to keep us free from fear and have us coexist peacefully. Legalizing fear in the first place is like saying fear belongs to our existence. Fear has four basic types: fear that removes the individuality from a person and makes him or her dependent or a mere number; fear that makes a person cut off his relations and be banished to solitude and isolation; fear of changes that can affect one’s profession, health and one’s own life; fear of the inevitable and definite realities such as death. Each individual faces different forms of fear. If we find courage, we are able to face challenges. If we continually run away, we become weakened to the point of shame.

Although modern science creates an illusion, we still have to be fearful of Mother Nature and her force. Who controls the tectonic plates? Who withholds an earthquake and causes a tsunami? We are nothing against such uncontrollable energies which are only made worse with global warming.

This fear therefore belongs to us as humans.

Fear turns into pathology and neurosis, and when we try to avoid it, it becomes so upset as to disrupt an entire social reality and make society like a field of war, led by U.S. security forces. If a president visits a country, he must undertake the risks that all humans must face. Otherwise, the authorities of both nations should meet at sea in order to avoid all risks. These security strategies only prove that we live in a world where humans are afraid of each other. All of us are hostages of fear and therefore deprived the freedom and joy of living and of receiving a visitor.