Monday, May 26, 2008

POVERTY AND WAR ARE ORGANIZED CRIME DemocraticUnderground: "Imperialists, like everyone else, have always sought to justify their actions. In the latter 19th Century and the early decades of the 20th Century, imperialism was more direct than it is today, and it was called imperialism. The basic concept was rather simple. A militarily strong country from Europe would enter a militarily weak third world country and take control of it. The natural resources and human labor of the weaker country were put in the service of the stronger country. The justification of this process has been captured by the phrase 'white man's burden'. Under this theme, imperialism was justified on the basis that the dominated countries were inhabited by culturally backward savages who were in need of being 'civilized'. Dominating them was not something that the imperialists did in order to enrich themselves, but rather it was a burden that they carried out for strictly altruistic purposes. Numerous successful rebellions by the colonized countries in the first half of the 20th Century eventually discredited the concept, so that imperialism went out of favor. The new anti-imperialist world attitude towards imperialism is captured in the preamble to the United Nations Charter, which came into existence in 1945. But progress has never followed a straight line. Imperialism is alive and well in the world today, but it goes under different names, such as 'free trade', 'foreign investment', or 'structural adjustment'. Naomi Klein, in her book, 'The Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism', uses another name for it: Shock therapy. James Petras, in his book, 'Rulers and Ruled in the U.S. Empire', debunks the many rationalizations that proponents of the new imperialism use to justify their activities. He points out that, far from making their products more available to a country's inhabitants, the prices that multinational corporations (MNC) charge are usually so high that most inhabitants of third world countries are priced out of the market. Because of the many tax breaks and lack of oversight leading to illegal tax evasion, few tax revenues are received by the country. Few or no net jobs are created because the MNCs often don't hire local workers for its activities. And when they do hire local workers they do so under government laws that greatly favor capital over labor, which are enacted to attract MNCs. The bottom line is that rather than serving as a financial asset to the country, profits accrue to the MNC and its investors while draining the country of its financial and other resources. Debt it piled up, necessitating new loans, and a vicious cycle of loans leading to further indebtedness. Why do countries allow this to happen to them? John Perkins, in 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man', explains how persuasion is often used, from the perspective of an insider who formerly did the dirty work that he describes in his book. Perkins explains that economic hit men (EHM) are paid by U.S. corporations to develop economic projections for major development projects in third world countries. Their projections are supposed to predict substantial economic growth and thereby justify huge loans from international lending institutions. The money from the loan then is immediately funneled into U.S. oil, engineering or construction companies (which is a precondition of the loan) to develop their projects. Sometimes there are darker aspects to persuasion, for which we will probably never know the full extent. Perkins describes these aspects in his second book, 'The Secret History of the American Empire - Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption'. John Perkins explains that if the EHMs are unsuccessful in their efforts to convince a government to play ball, then the 'jackals' are sent in to assassinate or overthrow the uncooperative government officials in question, as was done for example in Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, in Chile in 1973, or in Indonesia in 1965. Violence and war meld with government overthrow as a means of getting countries to go along with our wishes. Perkins explains that when other methods don't work, then we send in our military, as we did in Panama in 1989 or in Iraq in 1991 and 2003. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia was in dire financial straights as it attempted to convert to capitalism. Under pressure from the United States and international financial institutions, Boris Yeltsin decided to go the economic shock therapy route: After only one year, shock therapy had taken a devastating toll: millions of middle-class Russians had lost their life savings when money lost its value, and abrupt cuts to subsidies meant millions of workers had not been paid in months. The average Russian consumed 40% less in 1992 than in 1991, and a third of the population fell below the poverty line. The middle class was forced to sell personal belongings from card tables on the streets. Shock therapy in Poland did not cause 'momentary dislocations', as predicted. It caused a full-blown depression: a 30% reduction in industrial production... unemployment skyrocketed, and in 1993 it reached 25% in some areas - a wrenching change in a country that, under Communism, for all its many abuses and hardships, had no open joblessness... Contrary to popular beliefs, world hunger and starvation is not just an accidental result of the unpredictability of nature - rather it is largely a result of the policies described above. Such is, and has always been, the result of imperialism - war, misery, and the repression of the many, so that a small minority may live in luxury beyond the imagination of most normal people." If you want to know more about the Russian situation, here is a good introduction. 11:05:55 AM

STAR WARS Nenasili: "Jan Bednar's health conditions are deteriorating. He is on his 13th day of hunger strike against the military occupation of the Czech Republic by the United States, part of the Star Wars project. The medical team, his friends and family and sympathizers from all over the world have pleaded with him to stop. Nevertheless he is determined to continue. Solidarity messages pour in daily from hundreds of organizations and personalities such as: Noam Chomsky, Dario Fo and Franca Rame Giorgio Schultze, Giulietto Chiesa (European Parliament member), Luisa Morgantini (Vice President of the European Parliament), Nichi Vendola, president of Puglia Region in Italy, French bishop Jacques Gaillot and Pulitzer prize winner Chris Hedges. Unlimited hunger strike today: Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar in Prague since May 13, Dino Mancarella in Trieste since May 14, Federica Fratini Isabel Torres, Eduardo Calizza in Rome since May 19, José Alvarez in Spain since May 22. They have been joined today by Bruce Gagnon and the Korean Sung-Hee Choi in the USA and Gareth Smith in Australia and Joaquin Valenzuela in Bologna. In a moment of global economic crisis where the cost of food is growing incredibly and education and health-care are being dangerously privatized, it is madness to spend millions of Euros on war and the production of new weapon systems. In such a difficult moment of global history, Europe must not support any policy that pushes the planet towards catastrophe: the lives of millions of people are at stake. We cannot allow our politicians to support the absurd intentions of the United States to transform Europe into the theatre of a possible nuclear war." 10:29:15 AM

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