>Reading this passage of Mumia's I think I see the anti-working class
>rhetoric of 'white skin privilege'
>
>>people find that their only option in terms
>>of personal survival is to become a part of what has been called a
>>"fortress economy." Increasingly, when people look for jobs, they are
>>finding jobs in the security field
>
>America's industrial working class is the biggest in the world, but,
>perhaps understandably given his present situation, what Mumia sees is
>cops, prison officers and security guards. This is sympathetically
>expressed but it is supposed to mean that the workers are part of the
>'fortress economy' i.e. complicit in oppression.
>
>The free Mumia campaign makes its case on the basis of the likelihood of
>a frame-up, given Mumia's political past. That I can support, but I
>don't feel any need to support his views.
America's industrial working class have not died, and as you note, probably still the biggest in the world (though I don't have stats at hand). It is true, though, that the days of massive integrated factories in urban areas are over -- now many mills are small, scattered, suburban, & subcontrated. The proportion of the working class in the service sector have grown, too.
As for the fortress economy, Mumia points to the kind of material and ideological investment in the security industry -- public & private -- that Mike Davis, Angela Davis, Christian Parenti, etc. have written about. The growth of this industry has an effect disproportionate to its absolute size, I believe. The more workers become retainers & protectors of the ruling class, the less likely the war on crime is to end, the more civil liberties we all lose, the less radical the working-class politics will be.
Yoshie