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by Kingsley Dennis
New Dawn 183
Nov-Dec
2020
from
NewDawnMagazine Website
Spanish
version
BIOPOWER - A New Era of Socio-Political Authority
A reconfiguration of power has been in process for some time and is
now rapidly emerging as part of a medical-political-economic
institutionalized complex that I will refer to as biopower.
The current
lockdowns and quarantine travel measures are only a
foretaste of what is to come once new regimes of biopower become
fully established.
Biopower is now knocking on our doors and gaining
entry and dominion over the whole domain of personal sovereignty.
What we are seeing unfold - after the 'trigger' of
COVID-19 was
pulled - is a radical alteration of legal and power narratives that
control and categorize life and death.
With the "'pandemic' landscape"
now being formed, 1 we are witness to a post-sovereign world where biopolitics
legitimizes a network of socializing regimes from
biocapitalism to biosecurity.
The World Economic Forum's
Klaus Schwab says,
these "COVID times" are
"our defining moment" and that "we will be dealing with its fallout
for years, and many things will change forever."
In the pages of his
book
The Great Reset, he brazenly declares the coming,
"economic
disruption of monumental proportions, creating a dangerous and
volatile period on multiple fronts - politically, socially,
geopolitically - raising deep concerns about the environment and
also extending the reach of technology into our lives."
We are told
that life for many of us is,
"unraveling at alarming speed."
2
I contend that we shall see newly defined, and pervasively employed,
forms of biopower in the age of this 'Great Reset'.
A Post-Sovereign Era
The French philosopher and social theorist
Michel Foucault is
credited with coining the term biopower in his work in the
mid-to-late 1970s.
Foucault traced the development and application
of power to the rise of "disciplinary" measures and institutions set
up by governments to regulate populations in the eighteenth,
nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.
An array of "corrective institutions" started spreading across the
social field,
asylums, prisons, factories, schools, hospitals,
universities, etc.,
...each serving to inculcate a mode of human
conduct and consciousness.
Above these socializing institutions stood the Sovereign (the
Monarch) which later became the State. According to Foucault, the
classical privilege of sovereign power is the "right to take life or
let live."
It was the model codified in classical politics and
remained essentially unaltered during the transition from
traditional sovereign power (monarchical) to modern State power.
"For Foucault, biopower is a technology of power for managing humans
in large groups; the distinctive quality of this political
technology is that it allows for the control of entire populations,"
notes the scholar Mark Kelly. 3
Foucault's description of
disciplinary power as exercised by
institutions is again relevant to what is happening now.
We see a
pervasive, fluid, almost free-floating, administration of power - on
the State and global levels - to control societies in the
post-sovereign era:
Welcome to a new age of biopower...
Producing what Foucault called
"docile bodies" (the masses of
people) - the basic unit of disciplinary power - is now the purview
of modern States.
The modern human condition is such that the
individual is not the object but rather the subject of biopower.
Biopower
Within the context of a biological threat, the subsequent
''pandemic''
is establishing a social-political engineered construct - the 'new
normal' - for human society.
This overly hyped 'new normal' is being
enacted by a series of measures granting biopower authority over the
individual and the collective body.
In short,
biopower exercises
control over the administration of life...
Biopower over the human body means the State has the legal right to
place individuals under surveillance and punish by incarceration.
We
have seen this in numerous cases as in the 28-year-old Perth woman
who broke the Western Australian quarantine rules and was handed a
six-month prison sentence. 4
The form of biopower
exercised under the 'pandemic' 'state of emergency' is concerned with mapping all of life
- social, political, and economic.
Biopower has come into existence today via the response to the
COVID-19 'pandemic'. It utilizes a language of 'health risks' for
intervention and intrusion in private lives.
This includes
jurisdiction to enter a person's house without permission to
forcibly remove people either considered a health risk or who are
failing to 'obey' quarantine measures.
Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization
(WHO)
Health Emergencies Program, on 30 March 2020 stated that
authorities might have to enter people's homes to remove suspected
family members to an "isolated designated facility."
Such measures
have now been enacted into law.
For example, under the New Zealand
state of emergency, police officers now have the power to enter
homes to enforce self-isolation rules. 5
In a similar move, the
Australian State of Victoria deployed 2,000 military personnel to
enforce what they refer to as "virus-control measures." 6
In an ironic twist, citizens opposing such draconian measures are
negatively labeled "sovereign citizens."
The term sovereign
individual used to mean the moral or natural right of a person to
have bodily integrity and maintain exclusive control of their own
body and life.
Here we see a deliberate twisting of language to
support and enforce the regimes of biopower.
Biopower refers to a range of strategies backed by
"specialized
medical knowledge" and adopted by the State along with a supporting
network of institutions, agencies, and non-State actors.
One
disturbing trend is the empowerment of private military actors and
'authorized officers' to enforce new public health directions.
7
In
the future, these officers might be given police-level powers to
impose State directives such as searching homes and cars without a
warrant (for example, such officers could detain and imprison
someone they believe represents a health 'threat').
This emerging
state of affairs has already led to many reports of overreach and
overzealous policing (especially in the State of Victoria,
Australia)...
-
Continuous
localized lockdowns
-
Track-and-trace impositions
-
Constant surveillance
-
The loss of the right to protest,
...and other
such measures are now becoming established in the 'new normal'
regime of biopower exercised by States across the world.
These forms
of control and regulation are without precedent and serve to
increasingly affect the psychological well-being of citizens.
Biopower is also seen in the regulation of social life:
...and the self-policing of the mental
landscape (right thinking, self-censorship).
Severe financial penalties are yet another way biopower will intrude
into everyday life, for example, the new coronavirus rules enacted
in the Australian State of Victoria in early October.
'Illegal
gatherings' such as bringing people into a household above the limit
set by the State, or more than five people meeting in a local park
(even from the same family), can attract a $5,000 fine per breach.
Biopolitics
The new field of biopolitics binds the individual and the collective
into a strengthening mix of the technological, the political, the
legal, and the financial.
Modern biopolitics ties into the
global
restructuring of power ('The Great Reset') and new regimes rendered into existence
in response to the 'pandemic' emergency.
We are being lined up for a twenty-first century medical
totalitarianism.
Biopower and
biopolitics, along with biocapital and
biosecurity, combining to create a totalized and singular form of
power...
In terms of collective humanity, the biopoliticizing of the human
race is developing new forms of population management.
To be clear,
the biopolitical agenda is the control of societies and the
rendering of human life as "docile bodies" that do not resist
intervention.
To frame human life under a regime of total biopolitical power, State authorities seek to render conscious life
under its rule.
What we 'think' and who we are in the physical sense
is being brought under State jurisdiction.
The State automatically
assumes the power to,
dictate our thinking from birth...
From this perspective, we see why the current regime of censorship
(in particular, across
the Internet where information can freely
circulate across the globe) and curtailing of free speech has been
so dominant and heavy-handed.
Total power requires total domination:
-
external control over an individual's body and their thought
processes
-
mental control (conditioning, programming)
-
biological
control (health treatment, vaccination)
The biopolitical agenda incorporates non-State bodies to enact
strategies:
most notably 'philanthropic'
organizations, social
pressure groups, NGOs, and assorted globalist organizations...
This
field extends,
from annual health check-ups, health insurance, and
preventive medicine to incorporate 'pandemic' measures of random
testing, forced isolation, and
vaccination.
All human
life is 'biopoliticized'.
There is no refuge from its
reach when both the exterior and interior life of an individual
falls under the jurisdiction of total State control.
A person's
body, health, and happiness - even their right as an 'individual
sovereign self' - is to be subsumed into the realm of authoritarian biopower.
Biopower and
biopolitics is a dangerous mix of narratives based upon
a monopoly of so-called 'scientific knowledge'.
In this sense, biopolitics harnesses
'science' and an array of 'experts' to
formulate 'evidence' that justifies policymaking.
Biocapitalism
Non-State bodies play a key role in the biopolitical agenda,
especially with the rise of the,
The field of biocapitalism
covers the strategies and policies that develop and maximize profits
for pharmaceutical markets and other healthcare interventions.
With COVID-19, the administration of biocapital policies upon the
majority of the world's population is technologically feasible in
ways not possible in the past.
This should give every thinking
person cause for concern.
It is now urgent that we develop
conceptual tools for critically analyzing how biopolitics will play
out in relation to biocapital.
This is the merger of health (and
health economics) with the data of surveillance capitalism.
With the accelerating expansion of datasets
- data tracing and
tracking - we see a burgeoning rise of surveillance capitalism.
8
Contact-tracing applications developed by the likes of
Google and
Apple are gathering colossal amounts of new data, adding to the
escalating data supply chains.
Healthcare and biomedical data
collection is doubling every 12-14 months.
Back in 2012, a
Ponemon
Institute study found that the 'healthcare' industry
utilized 30% of
all the digital data storage in the world. 9
Imagine how much that
figure has increased in the intervening years.
The move to digital
has been rapid over the past decade; for example, Electronic
Healthcare Records (EHR) adoption rates for US hospitals rose from
10 to 90% in that time. 10
The range of medical wearables on the
market is extensive and growing.
It is now possible to monitor most
aspects of an individual's health.
It is estimated that
remote patient monitoring and health trackers will generate $20
billion annually by 2023. 11
Analysis of digital healthcare data and its use for predictive
analytics is profoundly changing the way patients are managed as
health wearables are part of patients' treatment plans.
Patient
health data will heavily influence the business models of the biocapital market.
This data will only increase from the track &
trace apps that most governments are pushing upon their populations.
Biocapitalism is firmly embedded in the portfolio expansion of the
tech giants.
A cursory glance at the list of projects owned or
invested in by the
FAMGA,
...tech giants reveals an unsettling array of healthcare
projects:
medical patient databases, hospital research data,
pharmacy retail collaborations, AI research facilities, and
insurance...
In autumn 2018, Google's parent company
Alphabet invested
$375 million in
Oscar Health, a 'next-generation' health insurance
company. 12
According to CEO Oscar Health, it aims to manage people's
health care from a reinvented and rebuilt technological
perspective. 13
Biocapitalism is wedded to
biopolitics.
In March 2020, the UK
government's Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,
Matt
Hancock, signed an agreement to provide legal backing for the
National Health Service (NHS) which sets aside its duty of
confidentiality in data-sharing arrangements.
The so-called 'Covid-19 Purpose' is a new data-sharing agreement for NHS
organizations and general medical practitioners (GPs) to share
patient data with any organization they choose, as long as it's for
the purpose of,
"fighting the coronavirus outbreak..."
14
The pharmaceutical industry is also clearly at the forefront of
biocapitalism.
Big Pharma will make huge profits from the current
'pandemic' situation, especially from vaccination.
Big Pharma's
warning to governments that they need substantial upfront funding - if vaccines and testing are to be rolled out faster
- has been
heeded. 15
Most COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing costs are expected to
be offset by government funding.
One example is pharmaceutical giant
AstraZeneca which reached agreement with Europe's Inclusive Vaccines
Alliance (IVA) to supply up to 400 million doses of their COVID-19
vaccine.
AstraZeneca also completed similar agreements with the UK,
US, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and
GAVI
the Vaccine Alliance, for 700 million doses.
The Australian
government, which is aiming for a 95% vaccination rate, has secured
85 million doses of a vaccine (34 million from AstraZeneca and 51
million from CSL, Queensland), although only having a population of
25 million.
AstraZeneca has agreed on a license with the
Serum Institute of India
for the supply of an additional one billion
doses. This is one company out of many, and this is likely the first
vaccine out of many more to come.
In a 2020 report, 16 public 'health expert'
Tony Fauci and
epidemiologist David Morens claimed that,
humanity has "entered
a 'pandemic' era"...
The report states that the current
'pandemic' is only
the first of more to come and we are likely to see an accelerating
rate of future outbreaks in the years ahead. 17
What this indicates
is that the future of vaccine rollouts must be secured alongside a
continuation of emergency powers.
A consequence of
lockdowns is the huge economic bombshell for
struggling business.
Many businesses, particularly in the
middle-to-small scale, are on the cusp of collapse, or have folded.
Larger players are likely to seek State financial intervention.
Some
major corporate enterprises - especially if they are seen as
providing critical supplies or services - might come under the
control of the State.
A trajectory that mimics China's State control
of the commercial sector.
The changing biopolitical arena of the 21st century, with its
biocapitalist economic agenda, implies a rising need for biosecurity.
Biosecurity
It is no surprise that State institutions are determined to preserve
a monopoly over the use of force to ensure biosecurity of the
population.
On 18 March 2020, the Governor-General of Australia declared that a,
'human biosecurity emergency' existed...
This declaration gave the
Minister for Health unprecedented power to issue any requirement or
direction under the Biosecurity Act 2015.
For example, during the human biosecurity emergency period, the
Health Minister may issue any direction to any person and determine
any requirement the State considers is necessary to prevent or
control the spread of
COVID-19 in Australia.
Each and all
individuals must comply with the emergency requirements.
Any person
found engaging in conduct that "contravenes a requirement or a
direction" can face a maximum penalty of imprisonment for five years
and/or a fine of 300 penalty units ($63,000). 18
These new powers under the
Biosecurity Act 2015 were quickly put
into effect.
In July, 3,000 people living in public housing tower
blocks in Melbourne were confined to a police-guard lockdown without
prior warning.
Food parcels were left on doorsteps for the most
vulnerable tenants.
In the new biosecurity regime, no-one is granted liberty unless they
succumb to the new rules of 'immunity' jurisdiction, likely to
include an 'immunity passport'.
This will create reconfigured spaces
of mobility and access in which travel, public and social events,
and State services, may be closed to those who, without verified biosecure immunity, are
persona non grata.
Travel within nations and across international boundaries will
become possible only through a highly regulated architecture of
surveillance and on-body tracking.
If a person does not submit live
bio-data, travel is likely to be disallowed or highly curtailed...
The
early signs of this exercise of biosecurity is already emerging in
States such as Singapore which is tagging citizens for
bio-surveillance. 19
The danger is, these draconian strategies silence and stifle life for
people, including basic rights to free speech and protest.
The
threat and fear of being 'cut off' or punished for noncompliance
place us on course for an unhealthy relationship with power.
Biosecurity measures become the instruments of a biopowered
authoritarian dictatorship operating through the façade of 'health'
and 'safety'...
Human biological life is merged with the
physical-digital structures of State biopower.
What is a Human Life?
We move perilously toward a future in which, in the words of one
CEO:
"Humans are biohazards, machines are not."
20
The citizen is
subjected to external authority in ways never before possible.
Humans are targeted as objects
- or 'units' - to be controlled, both
our bodies and minds - the new colonies to be conquered.
Does this mean that the only way to escape is renouncing one's
citizenship - to be a 'non-citizen'?
Could stateless places exist in
the contemporary world?
Will this trigger the rise of new people's
'republics'?
In light of recent events, we are compelled to ask: what is an authentic human?
Is it possible to live authentically
when subjected to the external power regimes of authority that deny
a person individual sovereignty?
We should recognize there exists the
'biopower' of the human
collective that stands in opposition to top-down State control.
As
individuals, we have our very real human power...
Biopolitics is fast being used to turn us into the
"docile bodies"
for the 'Great Reset' agenda and its technocratic future.
It is not
an overstatement that the future of humanity is on the table...
How
the next years unfold will determine not only the direction of our
human future but also, importantly, the physical and mental
environment of that human future.
It seems many have forgotten the
Hippocratic oath that states:
"Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so,
nor will I suggest such a course."
The politics of life (and death)
are being usurped by an agenda that shows little, if no, human
compassion and fellowship.
State biopower,
is concerned with power over life rather than life
itself...
The
World Economic Forum's envisioned
'Great Reset', speaks
of renewal and recalibration, but this technology-dominated era is
voiding the core qualities of being human in a living, organic
world.
We face the central question:
What does being human mean to
me...?
Hopefully from the answer to this question we can each find our
own source of power and inner strength...
Footnotes
-
See my article "Post-'pandemic'
Landscapes" in New Dawn 182
-
See
www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/covid19-this-is-how-to-get-the-great-reset-right
& COVID-19: The Great Reset by Klaus Schwab & Thierry
Malleret
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iep.utm.edu/fouc-pol/
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www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-25/woman-who-snuck-into-wa-on-truck-handed-six-month-jail-sentence/12592832
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www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120577868/coronavirus-police-can-now-enter-homes-to-look-for-people-gathering
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www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/04/australian-state-impose-hefty-fines-compel-covid-19-isolation/
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www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/21/overreach-and-overzealous-concerns-over-victorias-proposed-new-police-powers
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For a detailed
description, see The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by
Shoshana Zuboff.
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www.forbes.com/sites/stewartsouthey/2019/06/30/medical-wearables-surveillance-capitalism-and-global-health/
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Ibid
-
Ibid
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Oscar Health was
founded in 2012 by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared
Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law.
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money.cnn.com/2018/08/14/technology/google-oscar-health-insurance/index.html
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www.computerweekly.com/feature/Surveillance-capitalism-in-the-age-of-Covid-19
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www.ft.com/content/000a129e-780e-11ea-bd25-7fd923850377
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www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31012-6#%20
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www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/more-coronavirus-'pandemic's-warning
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www.harrisonpublications.org/covid-19-plandemic-profit-fallout.html
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21stcenturywire.com/2020/09/23/bio-surveillance-singapore-issuing-bluetooth-tracking-tag-for-citizens/20.
See my article "Post-'pandemic' Landscapes" in New Dawn 182
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theintercept.com/2020/05/08/andrew-cuomo-eric-schmidt-coronavirus-tech-shock-doctrine/
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