[P2P-F] Fwd: The militarization of social science...

Sun Aug 14 06:13:57 CEST 2016

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Becky Lentz <roberta.lentz at mcgill.ca>
Date: Sat, Aug 13, 2016 at 4:15 AM
Subject: The militarization of social science...
To: wsf2016 at lists.p2pfoundation.net, comites-fsm at googlegroups.com,
fsm2016quebec at googlegroups.com, environnement-fsm-2016 at googlegroups.com,
participants at internetsocialforum.net


This should be of interest to many of us attending the WSF this week in
Montreal…

Pentagon Preparing For Mass Civil Breakdown
> By Nafeez Ahmed, www.theguardian.com
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.theguardian.com_environment_earth-2Dinsight_2014_jun_12_pentagon-2Dmass-2Dcivil-2Dbreakdown&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=8B37MXsgMDuj2CiqviVvAhnR2MQA5cw_8kVW3J2WVCI&e=>
> August 7th, 2016
> https://www.popularresistance.org/pentagon-preparing-for-mas
> s-civil-breakdown/
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.popularresistance.org_pentagon-2Dpreparing-2Dfor-2Dmass-2Dcivil-2Dbreakdown_&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=xRyw9THmaMu15VcA4ClJaUpU8kZtAm7YX4f1xrapfAQ&e=>
>
> *Social science is being militarized to develop ‘operational tools’ to
> target peaceful activists and protest movements*
>
> A US Department of Defense (DoD) research programme is funding
> universities to model the dynamics, risks and tipping points for
> large-scale civil unrest across the world, under the supervision of various
> US military agencies. The multi-million dollar programme
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__minerva.dtic.mil_cois.html&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=ROmOkPoOa_7WMnvfS6FtNulUSPqel74mEpHXW8jGJHE&e=> is
> designed to develop immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights”
> for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community,”
> and to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.”
>
> Launched in 2008
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.wired.com_2008_12_earlier-2Dthis-2D1_&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=cUH6bMsHfFlcZaMKIFGPC57ZT7_jX8Aunw8F-21QGxc&e=> –
> the year of the global banking crisis – the DoD ‘Minerva Research
> Initiative’
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__minerva.dtic.mil_funded.html&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=s90wTvl6jrqcDKDiB4SEsUPoQw6F8KNtt7OFQF5q0io&e=> partners
> with universities “to improve DoD’s basic understanding of the social,
> cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world
> of strategic importance to the US.”
>
> Among the projects awarded for the period 2014-2017 is a Cornell
> University-led study managed by the US Air Force Office of Scientific
> Research
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.theguardian.com_education_research&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=JfXn2jduQreZdMK1CHeM5m_-BUtmGNApxJ25bcwQPvQ&e=> which
> aims to develop an empirical model “of the dynamics of social movement
> mobilisation and contagions.” The project will determine “the critical mass
> (tipping point)” of social contagians by studying their “digital traces” in
> the cases of “the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the 2011 Russian Duma
> elections, the 2012 Nigerian fuel subsidy crisis and the 2013 Gazi park
> protests in Turkey.”
>
> Twitter posts and conversations will be examined “to identify individuals
> mobilised in a social contagion and when they become mobilised.”
>
> Another project awarded this year to the University of Washington “seeks
> to uncover the conditions under which political movements aimed at
> large-scale political and economic change originate,” along with their
> “characteristics and consequences.” The project, managed by the US Army
> Research Office, focuses on “large-scale movements involving more than
> 1,000 participants in enduring activity,” and will cover 58 countries in
> total.
>
> Last year, the DoD’s Minerva Initiative funded a project to determine ‘Who
> Does Not Become a Terrorist, and Why?’
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__minerva.dtic.mil_doc_abstracts_Rasmussen-5FWhoNotTerrorist-5FFY13.pdf&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=Q_M1xCGvY_Sr4gjSK_NEeAVekrvC1zE8O7THsS-DRNA&e=> which,
> however, conflates peaceful activists with “supporters of political
> violence” who are different from terrorists only in that they do not embark
> on “armed militancy” themselves. The project explicitly sets out to study
> non-violent activists:
>
> “In every context we find many individuals who share the demographic,
> family, cultural, and/or socioeconomic background of those who decided to
> engage in terrorism, and yet refrained themselves from taking up armed
> militancy, even though they were sympathetic to the end goals of armed
> groups. The field of terrorism studies has not, until recently, attempted
> to look at this control group. This project is not about terrorists, but
> about *supporters* of political violence.”
>
> The project’s 14 case studies each “involve extensive interviews with ten
> or more activists and militants in parties and NGOs who, though sympathetic
> to radical causes, have chosen a path of non-violence.”
>
> I contacted the project’s principal investigator, Prof Maria Rasmussen of
> the US Naval Postgraduate School, asking why non-violent activists working
> for NGOs should be equated to supporters of political violence – and which
> “parties and NGOs” were being investigated – but received no response.
>
> Similarly, Minerva programme staff refused to answer a series of similar
> questions I put to them, including asking how “radical causes” promoted by
> peaceful NGOs constituted a potential national security threat of interest
> to the DoD.
>
> Among my questions, I asked:
>
> “Does the US Department of Defense see protest movements and social
> activism in different parts of the world as a threat to US national
> security? If so, why? Does the US Department of Defense consider political
> movements aiming for large scale political and economic change as a
> national security matter? If so, why? Activism
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.theguardian.com_environment_activism&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=jGHd0wzDjn73K76pk61agpAWYMibSBugZrYS5C5RM_A&e=>,
> protest, ‘political movements’ and of course NGOs are a vital element of a
> healthy civil society and democracy – why is it that the DoD is funding
> research to investigate such issues?”
>
> Minerva’s programme director Dr Erin Fitzgerald said “I appreciate your
> concerns and am glad that you reached out to give us the opportunity to
> clarify” before promising a more detailed response. Instead, I received the
> following bland statement from the DoD’s press office:
>
> “The Department of Defense takes seriously its role in the security of the
> United States, its citizens, and US allies and partners. While every
> security challenge does not cause conflict, and every conflict does not
> involve the US military
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.theguardian.com_us-2Dnews_us-2Dmilitary&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=VuXURVvg119PMLFt9yEWjSTFf0OiJaSHJiU_8IdfnE0&e=>,
> Minerva helps fund basic social science research that helps increase the
> Department of Defense’s understanding of what causes instability and
> insecurity around the world. By better understanding these conflicts and
> their causes beforehand, the Department of Defense can better prepare for
> the dynamic future security environment.”
>
> In 2013, Minerva funded a University of Maryland project in collaboration
> with the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to
> gauge the risk of civil unrest due to climate change. The three-year $1.9
> million project
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.livescience.com_38167-2Dnational-2Dsecurity-2Dimpact-2Dof-2Dwarming-2Dclimate.html&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=o8frw-J4zsx4wlR1nRNIgSjZWBp3-a8zR2k3hJTyHvw&e=>is
> developing models to anticipate what could happen to societies under a
> range of potential climate change scenarios.
>
> From the outset, the Minerva programme was slated to provide over $75
> million over five years for social and behavioural science research. This
> year alone it has been allocated a total budget of $17.8 million by US
> Congress.
>
> An internal Minerva staff email communication referenced in a 2012
> Masters dissertation
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__repository.asu.edu_attachments_93938_content_tmp_package-2DDBgi6R_Nair-5Fasu-5F0010N-5F11963.pdf&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=Emi_NuF_cLajsTb-eEkYK9n-lG3ufs03tKRGfpj6eTU&e=> reveals
> that the programme is geared toward producing quick results that are
> directly applicable to field operations. The dissertation was part of aMinerva-funded
> project on “counter-radical Muslim discourse”
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__cidse.engineering.asu.edu_minerva-2Dinitiative-2Dproject-2Drecognized-2Dby-2Ddod_&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=Gtd46mcUQRWdM87kDbVXI1bLUk1ayYtXUCmm6tYfjc8&e=> at
> Arizona State University.
>
> The internal email from Prof Steve Corman, a principal investigator for
> the project, describes a meeting hosted by the DoD’s Human Social Cultural
> and Behavioural Modeling (HSCB) programme in which senior Pentagon
> officials said their priority was “to develop capabilities that are
> deliverable quickly” in the form of “models and tools that can be
> integrated with operations.”
>
> Although Office of Naval Research supervisor Dr Harold Hawkins had assured
> the university researchers at the outset that the project was merely “a
> basic research effort, so we shouldn’t be concerned about doing applied
> stuff”, the meeting in fact showed that DoD is looking to “feed results”
> into “applications,” Corman said in the email. He advised his researchers
> to “think about shaping results, reports, etc., so they [DoD] can clearly
> see their application for tools that can be taken to the field.”
>
> Many independent scholars are critical of what they see as the US
> government’s efforts to militarise social science in the service of war. In
> May 2008, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) wrote to the US
> government
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.aaanet.org_issues_policy-2Dadvocacy_upload_Minerva-2DLetter.pdf&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=NVDDHgdKnISRS6Bva5rpUby-lQBhNCKQOxD_wKdnyt0&e=> noting
> that the Pentagon lacks “the kind of infrastructure for evaluating
> anthropological [and other social science] research” in a way that involves
> “rigorous, balanced and objective peer review”, calling for such research
> to be managed instead by civilian agencies like the National Science
> Foundation (NSF).
>
> The following month, the DoD signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
> with the NSF to cooperate on the management of Minerva. In response, the AAA
> cautioned
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.aaanet.org_-5Fcs-5Fupload_issues_press_22649-5F1.pdf&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=pHRmlp6r1LwTW8oqkoBTo8WNZ4JgCxQF3LOaQU9RA3A&e=> that
> although research proposals would now be evaluated by NSF’s merit-review
> panels. “Pentagon officials will have decision-making power in deciding who
> sits on the panels”:
>
> “… there remain concerns within the discipline that research will only be
> funded when it supports the Pentagon’s agenda. Other critics of the
> programme, including the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, have raised
> concerns that the programme would discourage research in other important
> areas and undermine the role of the university as a place for independent
> discussion and critique of the military.”
>
> According to Prof David Price, a cultural anthropologist at St Martin’s
> University in Washington DC and author of *Weaponizing Anthropology:
> Social Science in Service of the Militarized State*, “when you looked at
> the individual bits of many of these projects they sort of looked like
> normal social science, textual analysis, historical research, and so on,
> but when you added these bits up they all shared themes of legibility with
> all the distortions of over-simplification. Minerva is farming out the
> piece-work of empire in ways that can allow individuals to disassociate
> their individual contributions from the larger project.”
>
> Prof Price has previously exposed
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__zeroanthropology.net_2010_02_16_david-2Dprice-2Dhuman-2Dterrain-2Dsystems-2Ddissenter-2Dresigns-2Dtells-2Dinside-2Dstory-2Dof-2Dtrainings-2Dheart-2Dof-2Ddarkness_&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=ocMjuDT-l5cQyKopzOKdCWdU40jzW-3KWKZrEIZE2SA&e=> how
> the Pentagon’s Human Terrain Systems (HTS) programme – designed to embed
> social scientists in military field operations – routinely conducted
> training scenarios set in regions “within the United States.”
>
> Citing a summary critique of the programme sent to HTS directors by a
> former employee, Price reported that the HTS training scenarios “adapted
> COIN [counterinsurgency] for Afghanistan/Iraq” to domestic situations “in
> the USA where the local population was seen from the military perspective
> as threatening the established balance of power and influence, and
> challenging law and order.”
>
> One war-game, said Price, involved environmental activists protesting
> pollution from a coal-fired plant near Missouri, some of whom were members
> of the well-known environmental NGO Sierra Club. Participants were tasked
> to “identify those who were ‘problem-solvers’ and those who were
> ‘problem-causers,’ and the rest of the population whom would be the target
> of the information operations to move their Center of Gravity toward that
> set of viewpoints and values which was the ‘desired end-state’ of the
> military’s strategy.”
>
> Such war-games are consistent with a raft of Pentagon planning documents
> which suggest that National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance is
> partially motivated to prepare for the destabilising impact of coming
> environmental, energy and economic shocks
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.theguardian.com_environment_earth-2Dinsight_2013_jun_14_climate-2Dchange-2Denergy-2Dshocks-2Dnsa-2Dprism&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=oNcwdKET6crPsUpW43yu-KjerwJhvX2DdJuu7C3ALfs&e=>
> .
>
> James Petras, Bartle Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University in
> New York, concurs with Price’s concerns. Minerva-funded social scientists
> tied to Pentagon counterinsurgency operations are involved in the “study of
> emotions in stoking or quelling ideologically driven movements,” he said,
> including how “to counteract grassroots movements.”
>
> Minerva is a prime example of the deeply narrow-minded and self-defeating
> nature of military ideology. Worse still, the unwillingness of DoD
> officials to answer the most basic questions is symptomatic of a simple
> fact – in their unswerving mission to defend an increasingly unpopular
> global system serving the interests of a tiny minority
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.theguardian.com_environment_earth-2Dinsight_2014_may_28_inclusive-2Dcapitalism-2Dtrojan-2Dhorse-2Dglobal-2Drevolt-2Dhenry-2Djackson-2Dsociety-2Dpr-2Dgrowth&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=o7sA3zKMZvL9xCI8yTiTOlytGopz_w7oY5FYNlfXEkc&e=>,
> security agencies have no qualms about painting the rest of us as potential
> terrorists.
>
> *Dr. Nafeez Ahmed
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nafeezahmed.com_&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=7h_7tsWt7qvORxlml1xWoG31iu2b7d_ya6NZQ2VJA80&e=> is
> an international security journalist and academic. He is the author of A
> User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__crisisofcivilization.com_&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=UUSiPF_xbB7_9KOHJ25AcU4tbBGv1j3EZO02xBvp9Qs&e=>,
> and the forthcoming science fiction thriller, ZERO POINT
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__zro.pt_&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=JaUrl07JDkrp2nCqYPafdQ59BlPpEBJXw8G-yIwGse4&e=>.
> Follow him on Facebook
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.facebook.com_DrNafeezAhmed&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=_G72KYJQyr8DJC-T8gJP4sZX7QIew9hI6kdSrHg31Lo&e=> and Twitter
> @nafeezahmed
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.twitter.com_nafeezahmed&d=DQMF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=-k1EmYwcE48OAymCtDkSeblNjZFKk3Rs8KIoDq4NWsU&m=mphqW5bLXsRkBnxkRbboK3T7Luxwv6ezHGnBiWKp8-E&s=laeBy_kRCON9Mepipppi-NFtZAhAaDTUYQhg6nqFDHU&e=>.*
>
>


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