A.C.A.B. (All Cops Are Bastards) is an
acronym used as a political slogan associated with
radical activists who are opposed to the police. It is typically written as a catchphrase in
graffiti, tattoos, or other imagery in public spaces. It is sometimes numerically rendered as "
1312," representing the ordering of the letters in the alphabet. During the 1980s, ACAB became a symbol of anti-Establishment, especially within the
punk and skinhead subcultures. It was popularized in particular by the 1982 song "A.C.A.B." by Oi! band The 4-Skins. In later years, ACAB turned into a popular slogan among European
football hooligans and
ultras, and among anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements
… Read more across the world. In the wake of the May 2020 murder of
George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, the use of the term A.C.A.B. became more frequently used by those who oppose
police brutality. As protests in response to Floyd's death and discussions about racially motivated
police violence spread through the
United States, A.C.A.B. was more frequently referenced on social media
A
police state describes a state where its
government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil
society and liberties characterized by the overbearing presence of civil authorities. A
police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and authoritarian regimes. The best-known literary treatment of the
police state is
George Orwell's novel
1984, which describes Britain under a totalitarian régime that continuously invokes (and feeds) a perpetual
war as a pretext for subjecting
the people to mass surveillance, policing, and modification of language and the way people
think in order to make dissent not only swiftly punished, but also grammatically and logically
… Read more impossible to conceive and express. The state destroys not only the literal
freedom after action and thought meant by expressions like "
freedom of thought", but also literal
freedom of thought.
Printed in USA
