Comments on: Global Cities - Global Gangs

Global Cities - Global Gangs

Burhanistan — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:26:41 -0800

Global Cities - Global Gangs: Global cities linking global economic circuits are also home to transnational criminals and global gangs. [via]

Article sources for first link: Street Gangs: The New Urban Insurgency (.pdf) Irregular Warfare: Brazil's Fight Against Urban Guerrillas (pdf)

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:33:03 -0800

For aficionados of global organized crime, there's a TED talk by Misha Glenny on global crime networks.

By: Elmore

Elmore — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:44:50 -0800

Good post. Thanks.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:53:27 -0800

Was going to mention Misha Glenny too, twoleftfeet - saw a different talk when he was doing the rounds promoting his book on the subject. Does he talk about that moment when the Bulgarians post-89 sacked several thousand former secret policemen whose main skills were covert work and violence and now had to make themselves a living.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:24:39 -0800

Glenny does show a picture of a bunch of former champion Eastern European weight lifters in their bathing trunks... the men who became the thugs of the mafia that took over after the fall of the Soviet Union. It's a different kind of gang, but a gang nonetheless. The whole flow of drugs and prostitutes from undeveloped nations through the distribution networks of developing nations to the consumers of developed nations, and its counterbalancing flow of money and weapons, reminds me of the triangular trade of rum, slaves, and prostitutes from long ago. Certainly these flows are the economic mainstay of the more localized gangs.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:28:01 -0800

Er, that should have been rum, slaves, and sugar.

By: foxy_hedgehog

foxy_hedgehog — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:35:10 -0800

The whole flow of drugs and prostitutes from undeveloped nations through the distribution networks of developing nations to the consumers of developed nations, and its counterbalancing flow of money and weapons, reminds me of the triangular trade of rum, slaves, and prostitutes from long ago. Certainly these flows are the economic mainstay of the more localized gangs. I just attended a talk by journalist Benjamin Skinner on his book about modern-day slavery, A Crime So Monstrous, and this connection really came through in the discussion. It's also an illustration of the asymmetries of globalization: the development of networks of communication and transmission and transportation have outpaced the development of bureaucratic, procedural, and legal structures to regulate them. The slavery example -- most visibly in the case of sex trafficking -- is also a big challenge to nostrums about how "development" is equal to improvement of life prospects for those who experience it, or about how globalization creates markets that are by their nature more transparent and increase economic opportunity for all. Modernization theory turns out, after all, to be only a theory.

By: telstar

telstar — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:06:56 -0800

The small but growing number of third generation (3 GEN) gangs are internationalized, networked, and complicated structures that sometimes evolve political aims Hmmm....why did my thoughts turn to Citibank when I read this passage?

By: BaxterG4

BaxterG4 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:00:17 -0800

...reminds me of the triangular trade of rum, slaves, and prostitutes from long ago. Oh, I guess that's where "rum, sodomy, and the lash" comes from? Er, that should have been rum, slaves, and sugar. Oh.

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:03:26 -0800

Oh, I guess that's where "rum, sodomy, and the lash" comes from? British Navy. Different kind of gang.

By: any major dude

any major dude — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:36:00 -0800

the development of networks of communication and transmission and transportation have outpaced the development of bureaucratic, procedural, and legal structures to regulate them. pardon my cynicism but wasn't this the original insidious intent? I'll never forget seeing some documentary a dozen years ago where someone brought a hidden camera into one of those "G" type meetings and watching CEOs giddy with their anticipation of globalization. Whenever you see giddy CEOs you know it wont be long til millions are getting fucked in the ass without lube.