China's All-Seeing Eye

Rolling Stone by Naomi Klein | Dec. 19, 2008 (Investigative Report)

With the help of U.S. defense contractors, China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state. It is ready for export.

Over the past two years, some 200,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the city. Many are in public spaces, disguised as lampposts. The closed-circuit TV cameras will soon be connected to a single, nationwide network, an all-seeing system that will be capable of tracking and identifying anyone who comes within its range — a project driven in part by U.S. technology and investment. Over the next three years, Chinese security executives ... Full Story »

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4.6

by Gregory Kruse - Dec. 20, 2008

Of course it's quality journalism, it was written by Naomi Klein. It tells a riveting story about what the world is coming to. It brings to our attention things we couldn't possibly know without the help of a good reporter. She discovered things she never would have imagined because of a progressive magazine editor who sent her on a dangerous and difficult mission. Part of the measure of its worth is that it was written six months ago but is even more relevant today.

I think Naomi Klein is a star reporter as well as a gifted writer and intellectual. I read whatever has her name on it. Though global economic and social development, like war, takes on a life of its own which is nearly impossible to contain, it doesn't hurt us thinkers to know more about what is going on. Like the global climate, the social and cultural tipping point is near, and knowing about it may be the only consolation.