Defenders of capitalism show no restraint in oppressing the masses...

Musings on a hemispheric war

Defenders of capitalism show no restraint in oppressing the masses. April 20 -22 was a significant day in the history of Canada and 34 nations in the western hemisphere (except Cuba) when the leaders of the countries signed the initial approval for a hemispheric free trade zone, which is essentially a treaty for the transfer of power from governments to multi-national investors in the form of international trade organizations and financial institutions, for the control of economic and social policy. Government's function will be to implement the policies and protect investor's interests from threat (citizen dissent).
What we are now witnessing is the beginnings of the next international conflict where opponents of capitalism rise up and stand with incendiary strength, against the continual plundering of the earth's resources, the attack on the dignity of humans and the conquest of the ideological reign of American Imperialism.

Since the WWII, North America has continued its attack on the socialist tendencies of the world identifying it as a threat to national security. We are now in the post communist era with only small pockets of communist leftovers from WWII. The Free Trade Area of the Americas is a legally binding contract between the corporate business investors and the governments of the western world to set in law the legal eradication of ANY socialist tendencies in western society. This is evidence of the American agenda since WWII for world domination.

This new war is now being pursued by an economic invasion as opposed to military. The plan for the economic take-over of Canada has been in place since the 50's by the U.S.. Since then "multi-national" corporations have proliferated and citizenship is no longer a barrier to dominance but only economic power. We have witnessed the economic, military and covert operations by the U.S. in countless Central and South American countries (and around the world) as well as monetary and political support for Canadian politicians sympathizing with this agenda. The double speak of these invasions are now guised under the banner of the "War on Drugs", "Free Trade", "defending democracy", and more locally, "deficit and tax reduction", and governments propagating the myth that the private sector is the efficient provider of social programs that governments can't afford to run, despite continual failures of private companies to maintain services practically and affordable. This "war on drugs" and provisions for maintaining "democracy" (neo-liberalism) is stipulated in the draft text of the FTAA which provides a scapegoat for military use and economic penalties against countries which lax on its oppression and/or eradication of any critical voice of opposition, socialist, truly democratic or other tendencies (e.g. government reforming drug laws to stop increased militarization) the people of those countries may have. They will be deemed a "threat" to democracy or national security and any action governments use will be justified. For example the political actions of governments against - the Zapatistas in Mexico, leftist guerrillas in Columbia and obviously Cuba or Iraq are dealt with by similar tactical methodology to name just a current few.

As there are numerous examples of the Imperialist agenda using tactics similarly employed by Hitler, I will convey a few my father recognized in regards to American sympathizer Mike Harris, Premier of Ontario, during Harris' first term in office.

"...both leaders write a document defining their ambitions, and actions on gaining power, but, more importantly both espoused political philosophies that are ideologically driven, arrogantly certain of their particular rightness, intolerant of dissent, with followers characterized by almost religious zealotry.
Having achieved power by legal means, both political leaders consolidated their positions by firstly, abrogating the laws by which former governments had secured certain rights of the people, then secondly, passing new laws giving themselves dictatorial powers, limiting the rights of the people, enthusiastically supported by the corporate sectors of the two jurisdictions, who - in Germany's one saw the opportunity to profit by military re-armament, in Ontario's case, saw the opportunity to profit by the privatization of government services and the crushing of the power of the Labour Unions, and depression of wage costs by increasing unemployment.
Of course, we have not yet seen the bullying tactics of the Brown shirts on the streets of Ontario's cities, (unless the use of the OPP riot squads qualifies?) But we are watching the beginnings of the more subtle propaganda warfare e.g. the constant myth making of financial crisis in debt and deficit, education, and health care, lack of corporate investment in Ontario's industries (constantly blamed on high taxes and regulation) - the constant interviewing and promoting of conservative economists and right-wing think tanks in the media.
Perhaps the greatest myth being propagated is that there is no money available in the economy to maintain the present level of government services, (in spite of billion dollar profits and million dollar salaries in the financial industry). Of course we are told that by some miracle CEOs of large and small corporations will instantly be converted from their present business philosophy of down-sizing to create greater profitability, to an enthusiastic expansion of production and employment because - they see the government itself downsizing and throwing more people out of work!?
Of course the most important propaganda triumph of the Nazis was the identification and demonization of enemies inside and outside of the nation - namely the Jews and communists inside Germany, and the degenerate European democracies and Russia outside. In Conservative Ontario, the enemies within are the Labour Unions, welfare recipients and the public interest itself, and externally the Federal Government. Like the Nazis, who pointed to the humiliating Versailles Peace Treaty of World War I as something to be avenged, so too the Conservatives point to the spending of previous governments (Liberal and New Democratic Party) as their cause for vengeance. The treatment of the most vulnerable - seniors, the sick, disabled, unemployables, single mothers, students, etc... shows the true face of their social ideology.
Are we going to see an analogy to the Nazi forced labour camps for citizens of the occupied nations of Europe in the forced labourers of "Workfare" for welfare recipients? I don't mean to imply that the policies of the Harris government are identical with those of the Nazis but when you recognize the similarities in the attitudes and practices it certainly is food for thought."#

Within these words written in the mid-nineties, we can now see the results of this continued "war" and the parallels to this and other federal government's attitudes toward resistance to the FTAA, and the attitude of the Progressive Conservative Party. We have heard the demonizing of protesters as hooligans, anarchists (like it’s a bad word), even as terrorists. This spread of language provides those in power to treat resistance to dictatorial decisions made by governments like the signing of NAFTA and eventually the FTAA a backdrop upon which actions to suspend constitutional rights, use of extreme force by police and military, to imprisoning innocent people, to continue to identify and systematically harass people of certain political persuasions as we saw in the McCarthy Era and the FLQ crisis in the late 60's, will be justified. The other function of this continued game of semantics is to influence public opinion, distract the citizens from the real issues and to perpetuate the mode of thinking to a them - or - us attitude.

Quebec saw the tactics of the Nazi brown shirts as well as fear mongering by politicians and corporate media during the lead up and during the Summit of the Americas which led to peaceful protesters accused of being a threat, mass arrests, kidnapings, police inciting violence, harassment of injured people as well as the direct violation of human rights by the use of excessive amounts of tear gas, shooting rubber bullets into crowds. Watching squads of riot police march past the windows of my comrade's house brought to mind Nazi occupation forces in foreign countries. Stepping just outside the door of my temporary residence I was immediately overwhelmed by clouds tear gas lingering in the neighbourhood air. The potential connection to these experiences led tens of thousands of protesters to direct their protest away from any conflict zone, to a safe haven kilometres away. These police violations are now being justified as unfortunate but acceptable by politicians, ministers of parliament, police chiefs since they have created just cause for their actions.
Upon returning from Quebec I have been met with people's perceptions being mis-informed, un-informed, or dwelling upon violent acts as the main interest. Even my local newspaper seemed to have no public discussion in the editorial page, and no follow up reporting until the next Friday when a whole page was devoted to 6 photos and about 200 words on a Christian man who prayed for souls at the fence for 3 days by a reporter and photographer who covered the Summit of the Americas. We see the mainstream media focus upon and sensationalise the violent acts of a few protesters but ignore police brutality, property damage or conflicts within the "anti-globalization" movement as a way to divide and conquer the solidarity of the movement.

The Propaganda War

The media which is now in the hands of but a few individuals with interests in commercial ventures ranging from alcohol and tobacco, agribusiness, biotechnology, entertainment and clothing have been able to propagate a culture through mass communication. A culture which supports the ideological tendencies of a capitalist state and manipulates the public perception of government, corporations, social programs, privatization, taxes, mass demonstrations, police brutality, even self image, through TV news, sit-coms, big budget movies, newspapers, magazines and radio. Every area of popular culture and governmental debate sees the corporate attitude perpetuated, with over-simplification, distortion or evasion of facts, one sided debates, devaluation of political organizations or movements, as well as the simple name-calling of intellectuals, writers, and scientists as 'extremists', 'radicals', 'fringe groups', etc...

"The deriving of profit from this demand [entertainment] is the main object of the producers and distributors of 'mass art' in the capitalist world. The immense possibilities of mechanical reproduction allow good books to be distributed on a mass scale, good pictures to be printed in large quantities, good works of music to be 'canned', and good films to be shown to millions of people. But on the other hand, the capitalist world has discovered rich possibilities of profit through the production of artistic opiates. The producer of these opiates starts with the assumption that most consumers are troglodytes whose barbarian instincts he must satisfy. And on this assumption he actually arouses those instincts, keeps them awake, and systematically stimulates them. The dream-image is commercialized: the poor girl marries the millionaire; the simple boy overcomes, through sheer brute strength, all obstacles and opponents of a hostile, sophisticated world. The fairy-tale motif is brought up to date and mass-manufactured."*

Alternatives

It is no longer acceptable to drop-out of this social problem of corporate culture but instead necessary to confront it head-on. The creation of alternative and independent news sources deals with the problem of state propaganda and bias in the corporate news effectively through the internet, independent newspapers, magazines and to a lesser degree radio. The corporate control over the majority of television networks allows the economics of accessibility to generally keep out any point of view which does not support corporate interests. There are a small amount of venues for opposition through public television, documentaries, "un-commercials" to be voiced. Although public television is under constant attack like all publically funded institutions through the reduction of funding, creation of artificial crises, discreditment, for eventual public acceptance for privatization.

"In a world in which the concentration of power is so great and the workings of that power so obscure, many people are inclined to think that their personal decision does not matter and, therefore, they surrender to 'fate'. In such a situation, the central problem of socialist art is to portray the men behind the nameless objects and to present the possibility of man's victory over them - without grand phrases or over-insistent optimism."*

The seizure of responsibility of individuals to inform and educate themselves and others with an alternative point of view has required people to develop skills in a diversity of areas from journalism, self publishing, art and design, to computers and technology, literature, politics, history, to be politically and media literate. It is with this self determination that the anti-capitalist movement draws its strength for a better world to be envisaged, designed and implemented. A system which is organic in structure, fluid in its evolution, inclusive in action, egalitarian in nature, sustainable in practice. On a more practical level, the first number of responsibilities for the revolutionary forces to implement within the social/economic forum would be to replace the hierarchal power structure by de-centralizing and equalizing all positions within society with everyone sharing responsibility for everyone’s future. This structure would take the form of non-parasitic relationships aiming towards balance, harmony and sustainability with nature and people. Also, full employment, price freezes, redistribution of wealth, a controlled distribution of natural and human resources, and a controlled consumption of resources based on need, not desire.
There seems to be a possible philosophical conflict between comfort and freedom under the capitalist sky. Freedom seems to be in proportional opposition to comfort which requires a necessary amount of conformity with the ruling class to enjoy. Freedom not being based on the level of acquired wealth but the right to self-determination. What I have proposed as a fundamental level of structure where everyone works for the same goal would suggest a certain amount of conformity for receiving basic needs. This leads me to the question of absolute freedom within society and whether freedom alone can be the sole purpose for any meaningful revolution. I see a fine line in the pursuit of equality or freedom in which a compromise must be found in order to insure that the basic character of humans change to a non-parasitic relationship to nature and still have the freedom of self-determination within evolving human behaviour. Therefore a social structure fluid enough for the ebb and flow of human activity must be the aim within the sustainable structure and the provision for full employment. Full employment cannot be understood within the capitalist model, therefore our relationship to work must change to complement the sustainable, balanced and especially non-parasitic philosophy/activity. Work itself must be pursued through self-determination so that the worker has the freedom to contribute to society with their individual skills and talents and not coerced into robotic functioning for basic survival/comfort or coerced by wealth or power, but for self-fulfillment and personal development. A coexistence between work and education must be fluid enough to allow for the pursuit of self-determination and participation for social contribution.

(In)conclusion

The effects of this war like any are similar, beginning ith identifying, targeting of national and international threats, suspension of civil liberties (oppression of free speech, expression, association, congregation, etc...), displacement of peoples, to the already seen abductions, mass arrests, violence, and deaths of people who act out of their beliefs against a coercive and oppressive government. This will escalate into daily death tolls until the current world social model has significantly changed.

Adam Strange
May 1, 2001

*The Necessity of Art by Ernst Fischer
#Letter by Donald Strange