-Caveat Lector-
With the current debate on CTRL leaning towards Fascism in the past (TEO1000, Howard
etc. - no disrespect, this is a healthy argument), i think we should stop, think and
LEARN from it, then take a damn serious look at where fascism is heading and what the
future holds for our freedom.
Look at the history of the Third World since WWII. Everywhere you look (Southeast
Asia, Latin America, Africa) you see military dictatorships set up and funded by the
USA military and intellgence services (and cooperating international funding
agencies.) The USA trains the military and para-military forces, provides practical
advice on torture techniques, and
(by various methods) insures that the media downplays human-rights abuses -- until a
decision is made to "reorganize" the local government. At that point, the media
suddenly "uncovers" abuses (e.g., Phillipines, Panama, Iraq.)
The role played by these dictatorships is to offer a safe haven for capital
investment. They suppress worker organizations, prevent democratic elements from
participating in government, impose minimal taxation on corporate profits, and ignore
such "annoying" issues as environmental protection. They are stooge governments --
little more than puppet regimes
with window-dressing democratic formalisms -- and their attitude toward
civil-liberties and democratic participation is indeed FASCIST.
Who tells these dictators what to do? It isn't bureaucrats in the Pentagon or White
House, it's the corporations that run the countries as feudal estates. Thus ITT (who
owns the copper "plantations") played the leading role in the illegal overthrow of the
democratically-elected Allende regieme; it's United Fruit who decides when to "send in
the marines" in Central America; it's Exxon et al who decide how to play the Iranians
off against the Saudis. The USA government acts as a subservient police force,
sending in "goons" whenever necessary to keep the various corporate "properties" under
control. The corporate-controlled mass media eagerly plays its role -- as "PR Agency"
for the imperialist corporations, casting whatever "spin" (on Haiti, or Ethiopia, or
Chiapas) that serves the corporate objectives.
The pattern since WWII is that the third world has been turned over to international
capital to be run as feudal estates. This system has been extremely profitable and
successful, as viewed from the amoral, money-coloured glasses of the corporate ledger
sheet. From the point of view of democracy and human rights, the third world has been
� and continues to be -- a heart-wrenching tragedy ... filled with death squads and
slums and street-children (who are systematically culled by gunshot by off-duty
policemen in Brazil.)
As we learned from the experience of Rome, imperial practices eventually come to roost
in the home territories. While the third-world has been a screaming success for
capital investors in the post-war period, the first-world shows up in the "needs
improvement" category. All those pesky labour unions and regulations and taxes are a
bother -- they steal money from the bottom line and give it to workers and
tax-supported programs! Bloip! "There's just too much damned democracy in
first-world countries!", think the corporate bosses. This isn't to say corporations
have been unable to advance their cause within nation states. Previous leaders have
carried the corporate flag quite successfully in the USA -- gutting the tax and
regulatory systems, and otherwise kowtowing to the corporate agenda. And here in the
UK, Major managed to veto the Social Chapter (even in the face of deteriorating worker
conditions in the UK) and somehow claimed that as a "victory for the British worker"!
I won't bother talking about Italy !!!!
But corporations are greedy to maximize profits, and their creeping dominance of
first-world economic structures just isn't progressing fast enough. GATT, NAFTA, and
Maastricht are "fast track" approaches to bringing the world under corporate control.
The corporate community is "leverage conscious": they know that their influence over
first-world governments can be maximally leveraged not by influencing domestic
policies, but rather by using that influence to undermine sovereignty itself.
"Striking while the iron is hot", they are rushing pell-mell into all sorts of
treaty-status international arrangements which bind governments to UNSPECIFIED
OBLIGATIONS -- obligations TBD [To Be Defined] by corporate-dominated commissions.
The intent of these so-called "free trade" intiatives is clear: to give the corporate
community the same domination over first-world nations that they have found to be so
comfortable and profitable in the third world. Thus the corporate imperialist system
is "crossing the Rubicon" and threatens the Citizens of Rome (us first-world folks)
with the same second-class
status that has been imposed citizens in the provinces for the past 50 years. Just as
the title of Roman Emperor was eventually auctioned off to the highest bidder by the
imperial forces, so modern Presendential campaigns in the USA (and even the British
elections) are characterized by candidates vying to prove they'll accede most
gracously to corporate-sponsored "reforms".
The world is a crazy place folks (as i 'm sure everyone on this list agrees ;-) ) and
it's easy to lock ourselves in our homes, sit at our computers (which are actually
more powerful weapons than we think!!) and look to the past. It's time to look to the
future and realise where we are heading.
Richard B.
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screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
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frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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