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Looting (which derives via the and Embezzlement , such as the "plundering" of private or public assets by corrupt or overly greedy corporate executives or government authorities. The proceeds of all these activities can be described as '''loot''', '''plunder''', or '''pillage'''. Looting originally referred primarily to the plundering of villages and cities not only by victorious troops during warfare, but also by civilian members of the community (for example, see is form of looting organized by ships on the high seas outside the control of a sovereign government. With the enactment of the Hague Convention of 1907 and the Geneva Convention of 1949, it is a crime to take or destroy real or personal property during an occupation unless it is "absolutely necessary". During a disaster, police and military authorities are sometimes unable to prevent looting when they are overwhelmed by humanitarian or combat concerns, or cannot be summoned due to damaged communications infrastructure. Especially during natural disasters, some people find themselves forced to take what is not theirs in order to survive. How to respond to this is often a dilemma for the authorities.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/136582.stm In other cases, looting may be tolerated or even encouraged by authorities for political or other reasons. REASONS BEHIND LOOTING DURING DISASTERS Looting is often opportunistic, the apparent lapse in authority enabling willing persons to thieve with impunity. Looting also cascades through a group of people as one person believes that his contribution to the crime is lessened because someone else is looting. People may also believe that if the goods are not stolen, then they will simply be wasted, and see their act as a lesser of two evils. Finally, a looter may believe that if he doesn't steal the property, it will simply be stolen by someone else and there will therefore be no benefit from his obedience. Looters are usually locals of the site of the disaster, and as such, may have lost a lot of their own property. This further encourages them to steal as it is reducing the negative impact of the disaster. In extreme circumstances, looting may be the only way for a person to procure necessities for themselves and their loved ones. Many see this as an act of survival, rather than taking advantage of unfortunate events. Looting can be carried out by many individuals for essentials for survivals, as well as those who exploit the emergency to get free luxuries. In some circumstances, the maintaining of essential services requires "looting": for example, during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, police were required to "loot" gasoline out of "abandoned" cars in order to continue to operate their squad cars, and doctors had to obtain medical supplies from abandoned drugstores under armed police guard:http://counterpunch.org/henderson09012005.html MEASURES AGAINST LOOTING In many countries, even in Western democracies that otherwise ban the Death Penalty , extraordinary measures may be taken against looters, during times of crisis. Looters may be Summarily shot by the police, army, or property owners. Extraordinary measures, combined with an impressive show of force, help to discourage looting and to disperse crowds that would otherwise find a normal show of force non-threatening. This is also common police practice in discouraging potential Riot s, which are often associated with looting, from escalating. The shooting of looters may also prevent further damage to the economy. One perspective is that this also shows the relative value of economy vs. "human life" in some societies. LOOTING AROUND THE WORLD
LOOTING AS AN ACT OF WARFARE Trophy Art Bibliographyhttp://www.ib.hu-berlin.de/~pbruhn/b-kunst.htm is a database concerning the international literature on the fate of cultural treasures displaced as trophies by the Red Army from Germany to the USSR as a result of World War II. In the Persian Gulf War there was massive looting by Iraq in Kuwait .http://www.kuwait.kw/diwan/emain/Story_Of_Kuwait/Occupation/Iraqi_regime_Crimes/theft.html Viking warriors were famous for their raids on their neighbors in Europe. 2006 East Timor has seen widespread examples of people looting. POLITICAL AND MEDIA CONTROVERSY ABOUT LOOTING For an interesting article relating to looting and the British army/imperialism, see; ''Empire and authority: Curzon, collisions, character and the Raj, 1899–1905''. Michael Carrington. A Ph.D (British Library). The media in Hurricane Katrina have been accused of portraying identical acts as justifiable "finding" or deplorable "looting" depending on the race of the perpetrator.http://counterpunch.org/floyd09012005.html However the reports have been defended as simply factual and coincidental based on an interpretation of "looting" as personally removing goods from a business versus "finding" defined as collecting goods floating in the street.http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/ SEE ALSO REFERENCES SOURCES
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