Global Debate

"We think the special privileges that America and Britain are taking advantage of today are the origin of all disturbances in the world. Isn't it time that international relations are founded on democracy and equal rights of the nations? I suggest holding a live TV debate with Mr. George W. Bush to talk about world affairs and the ways to solve those issues the debate should be go uncensored in order for the American people to be able to listen to what we say and they should not restrict the American people from hearing the truth."
That was a quote from President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Now this little guy has a penchant for hyperbole that only an ignorant fool could fail to overlook. The reason that I post this is because it gives a perfect example as to why the international community (and I don't mean the G8, but the other 186 countries out there) hate America so much. We let our politicians make global proclamations about democracy, liberty and equality all the while doing things overseas that are in effect the complete antithesis of those ideals. The countries, like Iran, that have the courage to stand up to us will always have the moral upper hand as long as we here in the USA let such hypocritical filth emanate from the only spokesmen that the world generally gets to hear, the US President. I use the word 'let' very deliberately because it's the government that should be afraid of its people, and not the other way around.

Iraq 103

"A liberal is never happier than when he can think that the person screwing him over politically is stupid."
That quote right there is from my man Michael Parenti, and will kick off our third lesson about Iraq which will focus on the question of 'why?'. As with most wars this one is purely economic at its core, although it is covered with an insulating layer of ideology. When it's all said and done, 20 years from now people might refer to 'pulling a Bush' to mean playing dumb when in fact your actually being quite cunning. For example, most people think the war in Iraq is a huge failure for the US. Well, for the average American that would be correct, but to the power elite who run this 'democracy' it would be false. A general misconception is that the goal of invading Iraq was to liberate their oil fields, not so. It wasn't the pedantic neo-cons who were so publicly jingoistic and did all the dirty work of lying and bribing to get the invasion rolling that really started this, the real culprit was big oil. And their goal was in fact to not retrieve the oil and ensure no one else could. Now lets use our brains here people. Say your a CEO of Exxon Mobile and you want to increase the price of your one product, oil, what do you do? Their answer was beautifully simple, use the US military to disturb the supply of oil and thus drive up prices and scare the crap out of any country that had ever thought of any economic alternative to going along with the oil cartels. A very closely guarded secret is that oil is an artificially scarce commodity, and that's the way the people who sell it like it. Capitalism has been embraced by every major country on earth and as a result the demand for oil is going higher and higher. Countries like China with booming economies need it like an addict needs his next fix. Now don't think that the people who invaded Iraq are trying to be patriotic by making things difficult for our potential rivals, they just want as much money out of their growth as they can get. So as most Americans piss and moan about the evils of the Bush Administration the fat cats get fatter. Meanwhile people all over the world are beginning to notice that the American definition of freedom is the freedom to be endlessly exploited by monolithic and entrenched corporations from overseas that are near impossible to resist because the US military is their pimp. And as Iraq brilliantly illustrates, this is one pimp you don't want coming after you for not paying its whores.

Insanity is a full time job

One of my favorite bands lyrically is Bad Religion, and they have this song that goes: "insanity is a full time job that you believe in sanity". I really like that line and relate to it completely. Today as I sat reading in a park it dawned on me that perhaps insanity is just a point when you stop being understood by others, and if that is so then isn't every free thinking person dangerously close to the precipice. Perhaps that's why people seem so ambivalent about living in close proximity, they fear that those that surround them might collectively revoke their sanity status at any moment but at the same time need them around to ensure that they are sane; a rather profound paradox when you think about it. The Lord's Resistance Army has as of today decided to sign a truce with the government of Uganda. This is a big deal to my thinking because these people did every sort of atrocity that human kind is capable of. Went out to the brink of crazed self deprivation in every way imaginable. They were one of those movements that never thought of gaining popular support and only maintained themselves through their own brutality. The only real ideology they ever claimed was that their founder and leader Joseph Cony was a spiritual medium who conversed with God, so believe me when I say by all conventional thinking, these are some crazy people. But now they have signed a peace treaty! After 20 years of complete moral abandon and blood drenched debauchery they want to come back! Such strange happenings really make me analyze myself as a human, and naturally the other 6 billion of us on this strange place we call Earth. This ephemeral thing we call sanity is an elusive thing for people who are as given to contemplation as me, I can only hope that you don't have to consciously wrestle with it like I do daily.

what to think of it all?

Some days, today being one of them, I am completely flabbergasted at my society. I really don't mean to seem condescending or self-righteous, for I'm as much a part of it as anyone else. Having said that, it truly confounds me that people feel they absolutely have to work their fingers to the bones in the city so that they can have a nice house outside of it where they can raise their kids hiding them from the savage rat race until they are then cruelly demanded to step up and do the same. This is even more confusing when one considers that they spend a unhealthy portion of their day trapped in a car commuting between the two locations killing the planet and their peace of mind in the process. It always reminds me of the sign that was hung on the entrance to Auschwitz: "Arbeit Macht Frei" (The work will set you free). Granted it's an extremely different circumstance than a concentration camp. However, the motto and it's insidious implications are still very pertinent. I feel that in many ways it is the crux of what happened to make the European and later the American psyche so utterly unique, or to my thinking, deranged. This deeply held cultural belief that by keeping our bodies and minds busy with all sorts of labor we will somehow fulfill our purpose in existing. Max Weber called it the 'Protestant Work Ethic', and maybe he was right. However I think its more of a result of the bloodthirsty culture that was created in which might makes right and only the strong should survive. A sort of spiritual social Darwinism in which people who are more inclined to reflection and contemplation are pushed aside to make room for those who would sacrifice anything for money, power, prestige and the like. It was this sort of thinking that led to Imperialism and the subsequent spread of this way of life like a plague the world over. I truly feel deep down that all people still long for a life that they can make sense of and be proud of. Not this sort of all consuming lifestyle in which we have to struggle to find time to spend with our families,take care of our bodies and ponder lives many mysteries. Many people turn to religion these days as a refuge from this tidal wave of desire and hope that the hereafter will consist of all the things we denied ourselves in this existence. Such thinking is destructive in my mind because it makes people justify their careless behavior with their time on earth thinking that they will have an eternity in the next to just lounge about in heaven basking in glory. It all seems like a cruel ruse to keep people from realizing the true preciousness of the days they so mechanically fill with busywork. Perhaps I'm just lazy and am looking for a justification for feeling like that life just isn't for me. But maybe, just maybe, there is something better for all of us out there and we are just to damned preoccupied to see it...

Untitled

Life is the most beautiful thing any of us will ever know
Death is the thing that makes it so
Why so many rush through it without appreciating it as a whole
Is a thing I'm truly glad I do not know

The mass of humanity that writhes on the surface of this earth
Seems to have forgotten the purpose for their birth
Tragic as this may seem, no doubt the way things have always been
Shed tears for an unhappy race toiling away amid the din

Where we are going I've studied and pondered long
How indeed have we become so far gone?
People unthinkingly warping the world from our decadence
And when I look around I see no repentance

Perhaps their is some hope left yet
Hidden deep inside everyone I bet
A primeval need for balance and space
Quite contrary to our current insane pace

the new mason-dixie line

As most people reading this probably already know I'm not a big fan of the current capitalist paradigm. The primary reason for this is that I think the sort relationships fostered by this system is inherently detrimental to being a human being. In antebellum America their was an invisible line dividing the north and south called the Mason-Dixie line. It was in essence a line dividing two different sorts of exploitation, one centered on slave labor, the other on industrial wage earning labor. In our modern world the entire planet is divided by an invisible line much like it was then. That line divides the exploited and exploiter, it acknowledges no national or geographic boundaries and applies to every life on earth. It is difficult for people in the west to swallow this rather rough fact, but I believe it is essential if we are ever going to move beyond it. Those on the bottom (e.g. a textile worker in Bangladesh subsisting on starvation wages) and the top (e.g. a CEO or corporate manager in a G8 country) have a pretty clear view where they stand on the class line, but all those millions of people in the middle often don't. A great deal of people in America like to think of themselves as middle-class, seemingly dodging any need to be classified as exploiter or exploited, just hard working American folk. I take issue with this view for one simple fact. From its inception during the middle ages the bourgeoisie has never been anything but a buffer class for the elite. It was a sort of compromise struck between the traditional medieval aristocracy and the ambitious members of the population that demanded a bigger piece of the pie in return for their tireless labors. This also marked the beginning of nationalism as more and more people began to identify themselves as members of a nation rather than subjects of a king. In time the bourgeoisie came to realize that they didn't need this entrenched elite and joined with the poor to break free and forge their own fate, starting with the French and American Revolutions. The result was to replace the lazy and inefficient exploitation of the blue bloods with the far more avaricious and relentless exploitation of those ambitious members of the bourgeoisie who formed the new upper crust of the world. Unlike the old elite this new one had absolutely no sense of duty to the lower classes, except the occasional humanitarian, religious or nationalist feelings, and thus acted without conscience. In reaction to this class betrayal the poor began forming unions and political parties. With the help of some intellectuals they even invented different means by which to establish a society. Around this same time the capitalists started joining together to form uber-exploitation machines called corporations that made their heartless behavior even easier because it seemed to remove them from any guilt since they were all just working for share holders now. Despite this development it appeared that the proletariat might succeed in creating a workers paradise at such points in history as 1848, 1917 and the 1960's, but alas it was not to be and they ended up utterly loosing on all fronts to the subterfuge and sabotage of the rich. This epic struggle sees us today in a situation where the bourgeoisie of the rich western nations are bringing the whole world together under their dollar sign flag for the more efficient exploitation of all peoples. By keeping the masses abysmally educated and horribly busy they have established a status quo that perpetuates their power ad infinitum. To my eyes however things appear to be looking up. This corporate victory lap that we've seen during the 15 years since the fall of the USSR is causing a great many people in the Global South to realize that the externalization of authority is only going to lead to more betrayal and exploitation. They are as a result taking power into their own hands. So don't despair my readers, for if anything good can be said about human kind its that our ability to rearrange the world knows no limits.

how I see modernity

The world of beauty is dying day by day
I shed tears for seeing things go this way
The dominion of man replaces all
warping our whole planet into a mall
How much longer shall the decline take
How much more money will the rich make
I really don't' know and I really don't care
For in the end they will all get what's fair

Iraq 102

"Victor and vanquished never unite in substantial agreement."
Once again our Roman friend Tacitus gives us a perfect quote to start our second lesson about Iraq. We will now discuss where the Bush administration has made mistakes, or at least a short survey of the ones I see as important. Initially it seemed as though things might go rather smoothly. The majority of the Iraqi Army decided it wasn't a good idea to resist the juggernaut that is the US War Machine and at least 80% (non-sunnis) of the population was glade to see Saddam be deposed. Bush even made an excellent choice for a temporary administrator in Jay Garner. Jay Garner was a widely respected individual in the region because of his work with the Kurds after the first Gulf War and his generally honorable behavior towards Muslims. Unfortunately for everyone involved Mr. Garner actually thought his job was to ensure peace and help the Iraqis elect a new government. Consequently he had plans to do just that, such as pulling all US forces out of Iraqi cities as soon as possible while leaving civil authority intact, an election within 90 days, and insuring that no Iraqi assets would be sold off until the new Iraqi government could decide for itself what to do. For such noble and efficient efforts team Bush removed him after only two months and installed a political hack and soulless corporate hitman in his place, Paul Bremer. His first act was to declare it impossible to have elections that year, followed by the complete and utter rape of the Iraqi economy while disregarding any of the most basic needs of the population (providing clean water, medical needs, electricity etc.). He also refused to allow US troops to pull back to desert basses to avoid antagonizing the locals and starting an insurgency. He set up the Coalition Provisional Authority and its successor the Iraqi Interim Government for the purpose of making Iraq the first country to try all of Globalizations economic plans at once. Tariffs were completely removed flooding the market with goods and destroying virtually all local industry. All the corporations that where in bed with Bush Inc. were essentially put in charge of the privitization of Iraq's state owned utilities, not to mention the massive windfall from reconstruction and security contracts. Another very important mistake was using ethnic forces to perform military/policing operations in areas that had traditionally been occupied by opposing groups. By doing this they fanned the flames of ethnic and religious hatred into the inferno that is modern day Iraq. However, the largest mistake that I saw made by far was the disillusion of virtually every single civil post in the country and not to mention the incredibly stupid choice to disband the Iraqi army. Despite many of the flaws of the Saddam era it's organization of civil society wasn't one of them and punishing all those people that made that society work was downright maliciously idiotic. Now all these faux pas were pretty effectively hidden from the American public due to the fact that most of us here in the states are spoon fed our news through one of a few media sources that is essentially a very well trained pet of the executive branch. Those living in South-West Asia however see these mistakes very clearly, as the oppressed and abused usually do. Now all the mistakes I have mentioned here are only mistakes if the initial goal was to create a just and stable Iraq that could take its place among the nations of the world standing proudly on its own two feet. It is my contention however that that wasn't ever the goal at all and just a publicity stunt to justify something far more sinister. So stay tuned for the next lesson in which I will explain why we attacked Iraq in the first place and why we are still there making a mess of things today...