A-Infos (en) France, Mouette Enragée #40 - "Voisins Vigilants" ---- the avatar of a booming market of fear (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The "Voisins Vigilants" system is just one of the commodities produced 
by a booming market of fear. In 2021, the security industry in France, 
across all sectors, generated revenues of EUR23.6 billion*. This alone 
bears witness to the rotten state of capitalism fueled by financial and 
arms markets. At the heart of this sector, domestic niches, such as the 
one occupied by the company "Voisins Vigilants," work to acclimatize 
populations to mass and local surveillance, to shape behaviors, and to 
instill pernicious consumer habits.

We do not claim to provide an exhaustive presentation of the 
"Neighborhood Watch" program; others have also attempted it, and their 
writings have provided the material for ours(1). It is in its dual 
capacity, both as a commodity in a booming security market and as a 
demagogic accessory of local politics, that we will briefly examine the 
issue.

A Product Made in the USA

The so-called "neighborhood watch" program appeared in the United States 
in the 1960s, in the wake of the civil rights uprisings and the police 
repression that accompanied it(2). The very first program was 
implemented in New York in 1982, following a criminal incident. Shortly 
thereafter, in England, the "Neighborhood Watch UK" program was 
launched, presenting itself as a response to burglaries and home 
invasions. In France, if we are to believe the story told by the two 
Marseille startupers behind the brand, an elderly American aunt gave 
them the idea. This is how a certain Brigitte Snyder imported the 
concept to the town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where she lived at the time. 
Before returning to live in the USA, she apparently passed the baton to 
Thierry Chicha and Sébastien Arabasz...

Fueling the Market of Fear

In France, the initiative has a dual origin: one politically motivated, 
dubbed the "Citizens' Initiative" by its instigator, Claude Guéant, then 
Minister of the Interior under Nicolas Sarkozy; the other commercially 
motivated, called "Voisin Vigilante." In 2022, the small business of our 
two startupers reported a turnover of EUR820,000, largely funded by 
public funds(3). The brand's other source of revenue comes from 
"customer files" data. These are stored by a subsidiary of a group owned 
by Xavier Niel, the boss of Free. For some time now, the company has 
come under the control of a management and finance fund called Ham 
Finance. This group includes members of the Dassault family, Catholic 
press executives, and "historical spectacle" entrepreneurs.

An ideological business

As you can see, the brand's business is based on promoting a "feeling," 
that of "insecurity," a true obsession of demagogues of all stripes and 
the "continuous news" channels devoted to them. According to the 
definition of the word "feeling" in the Petit Robert dictionary, it 
reflects a "more or less clear awareness, a knowledge comprising 
emotional and intuitive elements." From there, what could be easier for 
hucksters of all kinds than to stir emotions, pander to prejudices, and 
capitalize on the most confused ideas?

But for the product to be saleable, it must be desirable and convey 
positive values. Those of "solidarity" and "citizen participation" now 
embellish the range of discourse, giving the merchandise an Orwellian 
added value. In the meetings, most often organized at the request of 
prefectures and implemented by town halls in collaboration with the 
police or gendarmerie, the supposedly "apolitical" nature of the system 
is emphasized. However, if we dissect the arguments presented during 
these meetings, we find all the truisms of a reactionary, 
security-oriented ideology.

In each of its variations, "Voisin Vigilantes" claims not to provide an 
answer to what it denounces as problems, but to prevent them in advance. 
Producing and disseminating anxiety-inducing rhetoric stimulates demand 
that will be met by a commercial or institutional offering, sometimes 
both. Behind the imposture of a standard advertising strategy, we 
identify the subtext of the old far-right refrain and its obsessive 
preaching against anything coming from outside, against foreigners and 
immigration.

Moreover, the act of surveillance implies and demands, in fact, an 
extension, a resolution: that of denouncing. Denunciation is a deeply 
rooted practice in France. It spreads during troubled times, often 
encouraged by the state itself, as was the case under the Vichy regime 
or, more recently, during the lockdown linked to the Covid epidemic.

Citizens above suspicion

Behind the term "citizenship and solidarity," supposedly representing 
the general interest, lie exceptional methods. A small number of 
individuals, invested by state services with a special prerogative with 
regard to their "equals in law," are given the task of monitoring them. 
In fact, we are witnessing a power grab, both real and symbolic, over a 
territory and its inhabitants.

In the eyes of state services, these citizens, above suspicion, meet the 
required criteria of "good character investigation: enjoying the trust 
of the gendarmerie authorities and being motivated by it." Among them 
are "referents" appointed by the police or gendarmerie to exchange 
"information." Trained in a few hours or during a meeting, they feel 
"confident and supported. Some groups of these vigilant citizens patrol 
on foot or in cars and sometimes "conduct investigations," even though 
they are forbidden from intervening."(4) ...

Confining themselves to producing a counter-narrative against this type 
of system will produce little effect. It is essential to resort to it, 
at least to avoid giving free rein to reactionaries carried by the media 
wind.(5) But it is above all on the very real terrain of class struggle 
and active solidarity between exploited people of all backgrounds that 
the advance of the security ideology will be thwarted. It is when we 
reclaim lost space and develop new social relationships against those 
who exploit fears and our workforce, because they are obviously the same 
- bosses and politicians - that we will push back deadly ideologies and 
practices.
--------------
* Source: Observatory of the Industrial Security Sector: 
http://www.decision.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Observatoire-Industries-de-Sécurité-DECISION-2022.pdf
(1) To compile our summary, we consulted the following press titles: 
StreetPress, Basta Media, and La Marseillaise.
(2) At the time, the system was called "Town Watch."
(3) A mayor in charge of a town with 10,000 inhabitants would pay the 
company "Voisins Vigilants" 7,000 euros per year in exchange for access 
to an application service: a "neighborhood social network," on which 
alerts and information would be published. In short, this involved 
paying for a certain number of text messages to be sent over the network 
and purchasing the now-familiar signage: billboards, stickers, etc.
(4) Ibid: StreetPress, Basta Media, and La Marseillaise. (5) It should 
be noted that a report from the Internal Security Statistics Office and 
another from INSEE both demonstrated a decrease in physical thefts 
between 2008 and 2019...
--------------------
Box: Collateral damage...

In France, the system's proponents insist on the supervision of 
"neighborhood watchers" by state law enforcement agencies, particularly 
the gendarmerie. These police officers are said to be a safeguard 
against any potential excesses or blunders.
In the United States, it didn't take long for violence to mar the 
practices of neighborhood watchers. Several cases attest to this, in 
which racism and discrimination were often the norm (1)... A few 
examples among others: in 2010, in Maryland, a neighborhood watcher was 
found guilty of arresting and beating a teenager he deemed suspicious. 
In 2012, a "neighborhood watch coordinator" murdered another teenager 
walking home from his father's house. In Georgia, a vigilante group was 
convicted of "photographing, monitoring, and reporting" on certain 
nearby families. In California, the Oak Creek Neighborhood Watch 
fomented campaigns of harassment and intimidation against other 
residents. Several other cases document provocations and violence 
provoked by "street patrols." Finally, the Ku Klux Klan created its own 
"neighborhood watch group" in Missouri. KKK flyers proclaimed: "You can 
sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake!" (1) "Neighborhood Watch is 
more prevalent in neighborhoods with a predominantly white, middle-class 
population."

https://lamouetteenragee.noblogs.org/
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