Rather see the above links in your inbox or feed reader?
Subscribe to our Links for hand-picked items from around the web
Gangs and Globalization · by David Donald
The prevalence and wide spread of gangs across cities and towns in the US has been well-documented, as well as the extent to which they mirror disorganized versions of above-the-board corporations. What is interesting about this (oldish) feature from the Chicago Sun-Times titled
“Gangs claim their turf in Iraq” is the extent to which some gangs are paralleling the previous international spread of corporations.
Like most other outlaw organizations, gangs take advantage of the systems created by modern society, co-opting them to promote their own goals and stay under the radar of the authorities. In this case they take advantage of a multinational conflict to literally expand their territory farther than they could have possibly reached without hitching a ride with the US military. As the article mentions, the other benefit to the gang is to have gang members who are actual soldiers, with experience in tactics and more intense urban warfare than most will ever experience at home.
The presence of American street gangs in Iraq presents an interesting juxtaposition, though. While American gang members may style themselves as soldiers, the youth action groups in war zones are far closer. The parallels move the other way too – Hezbollah flies yellow flags, and other groups must have other colors and similar signifiers. I wonder whether American gang member soldiers throw up their hood after letting off on insurgents.
The increasing pace of globalization has erased differences in unexpected ways, as these pictures illustrate:
Iraqi insurgents dress in XL black tees and baggy jeans, but with much more large weaponry than any American gang would be likely possess at any one time.
Meanwhile this image from the Katrina aftermath of last year looks, for all intents and purposes, like a war zone in a gap state.
For those interested in more discussions of globalization’s effects on outlaw warrior groups, check out John Robb’s Global Guerrillas and personal blogs. (Although be prepared for some self-promotion and intellectual chest-pounding – not that this should be offputting to a hip-hop fan.)
