Urban Shield is booted out of Oakland

Urban Shield is booted out of Oakland

By Lynda Carson - September 7, 2014

Oakland - Nelson Mandela, Huey Newton, Felix Mitchell, Jack London, Joe Hill, and Abbie Hoffman can all rest in peace now that Urban Shield is no longer welcome in Oakland, by Mayor Jean Quan. According to Mayor Quan, the City Administrator's Office will be asking their agent not to pursue another contract with Urban Shield to have their conference in Oakland.

In the wake of the nation being horrified by rampant police shootings/killings and the militarization of the police, including the recent militarized police actions in Ferguson, and the notorious police actions that have been taking place in New Mexico, Oakland, and cities all across the nation, on Friday, September 5, 2014, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan announced that Urban Shield will not be back in Oakland next year.

In addition to the militarization of our nation's police force, school children across the country have repeatedly been subjected to lock-down periods and searches, in addition to police actions and police dogs patrolling school hallways. All too often the cops have been arresting children for minor offenses including truancy, contributing to a chilling abuse of our constitutional rights, and the criminalization of our children.

Urban Shield is a showcase demonstration project of the military industrial complex that uses Oakland and the Bay Area for demonstrations of police type military force operations, military hardware uses, military type training exercises and corporate technology that is being used in combat zones all across the world. Military force, military hardware and corporate technology that is being used to suppress governments and local populations that are being targeted by the United States and it's allies, in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Additionally, the promoters of Urban Shield use Oakland and the Bay Area for training exercises that involved fire and emergency medical services. However, the main function of Urban Shield is meant to be a showcase for the military industrial complex and it's affiliates to demonstrate and expand the sales of military hardware and technology normally used in combat zones, to local police forces in the Bay Area, and all across the nation.

Urban Shield has held their conference at the Marriott Hotel in Oakland during the past two years, and has been using Oakland for the past eight years as a showcase to demonstrate the use of military hardware, training exercises and technology being used in urban combat settings.

The Urban Shield Conference held in Oakland is a $1 million four day event being paid for by the federal government and the military industrial sponsors of Urban Shield. Sponsors pay as much as $500 to $15,000 for a spot at the conference to highlight and demonstrate their militarized products.

A list of Urban Shield's sponsors include the Department of Homeland Security, 3M, CISCO, AirCover Integrated Solutions, Armored Mobility Inc., Benchmade Knive Company, Drakontas (Dragon Force C2), Elephant Hunt Clothing (guns & skulls), First Spear, Franklin Armory, International Armored Group, iRobot (unmanned ground vehicles), Mile High Shooting Accessories (snipers rifles), Motorola Solutions Inc., Patriot Ordance Factory Rifles, Raven Crest Tactical (knives), Revision Military, The Armored Group LLC, Voodoo Tactical, Winchester Ammunition, Adamson Police Products, and many other corporations including the Cytel Group, Inc., that specializes in bringing the Urban Shield Program to government regions throughout the U.S. and abroad.

In response to Urban Shield, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets and blocked the streets of Oakland in recent days to show their opposition to the military demonstration exposition, police training exercises and the militarization of our nation's police forces that have been taking place. California Partnership which is a statewide coalition of groups advocating for policies and programs to bring an end to poverty, organized the protests against Urban Shield.

In addition to Urban Shield, there are more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence, with around 854,000 people that have top-secret security clearance in America, according to The Washington Post.

Additionally, according to whistle-blower Edward Snowden, he leaked the information revealing that the federal government spent as much as $52.6 billion in it's "black budget" during fiscal year 2013.

Fascism And The Militarization Of America's Police Forces

In a time of deep recession, political corruption, tax havens for the rich, offshore outsourcing of American jobs, job cutting measures by Republicans and Democrats, Wall Street schemes, stagnant low-wages, and major cuts to housing and poverty programs that have negatively affected the majority of the nation's population, Urban Shield is an unwanted unnecessary expense for Oakland, the Bay Area, and the country at large.

Indeed, just try to imagine a large portion of the American population that is forced to deal with poverty issues and are having major problems trying to feed their families. They are just trying to keep a roof over their head as mad dog's McCain and Feinstein are in their living room TV sets lately telling us who we should hate, while they are pushing President Obama into another war. Another endless bloody war that the taxpayers cannot afford, nor want to be involved in.

It's a dark gloomy period of tyranny in which the federal government and it's propaganda news media allies of war are pushing the general population to become engaged in another costly war. Another expanded war in the Middle East and elsewhere with drones and air-strikes that murder innocent civilians in the fight against the so-called evils of ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Russians, the Syrians, the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somolia, the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories, and whatever other threats that the war-mongers can dream up to keep the military industrial complex as rich as Midas himself.

Meanwhile, as the majority of the population is struggling to keep a job and a roof over it's head, politicians locally and in Washington continue to pass draconian legislation that criminalizes the poor, fills our prisons, keeps the American population under total surveillance, privatizes government functions and it's properties, while maintaining a police state to protect wealthy billionaires all across the nation, as they rob the general population of it's resources from here to hell.

Public housing tenants are threatened with eviction and homelessness if they are accused of violating the one strike policy with minor petty offenses. Section 8 tenants are being threatened with eviction and the loss of their vouchers if they are caught helping out friends and relatives by letting them use their homes to store personal items, or to use their mailing address as a temporary mailing address during hard times. Additionally, tenants and renters across the nation are being forced out of their homes by the Sheriff's Department and unscrupulous landlords involved in eviction for profit schemes.

As thousands of the poor and struggling working class hit the streets in protest to raise the minimum wage recently, in our name the federal government is involved in protecting and promoting the concept of corporate personhood. Additionally the federal government is involved in illegal wars, wide spread torture, war crimes, bombing of civilians, assassination of U.S. citizens, the on-going massive incarceration of African Americans and Latinos, indefinite detention, warrantless searches, arbitrary justice, immunity from judicial review, use of secret evidence, secret courts, on-going monitoring of our citizens, extraordinary renditions, rigged elections, government downfalls, drug dealing, illegal arms transfers, and many other crimes against humanity.

Oaklanders are better off without Urban Shield, and the military industrial complex is going to have to find another city to promote and demonstrate their toys of death in.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com