Ten years from Cronulla - Islam, Australia and the West

 

Muslim Kurdish women fighting ISIL terrorists who are backed by the USA and Turkey

 

Facts. Oh those rare shining things that appear like gold among the slush and slime of prejudice, ideology and ignorance that passes for public discourse these days. But on this almost tenth anniversary of the Cronulla riots it’s time to reflect on Islam’s relationship with Australia and the West. I am not going to state a position because there is no point. The Australian public has only the vaguest notion of comparative religion and almost no instruction in history or civics so rational discussion is almost impossible if not actually illegal.

 

But being an optimist and to help things along I have comprised a table which lists the world’s major religions and philosophies against a list of indicators ranging from terrorism to gay rights. Oh, and I include Neo Nazis because people who question the dogma about multiculturalism tend to get called that.

 

I have also stated some very basic FACTS about some very basic things including the following definitions. I hope this will encourage some actual thinking which might then help folk say something sensible in public life.

 

Here goes….

 

A Muslim believes that God (Allah) is one. That Mohammed is his prophet and that the sayings of the prophet as recorded in the Koran are divinely inspired. A Muslim seeks to emulate the prophet in life and faith, does ritual prayer from three to five times daily, practices hospitality and charitable giving, and hopes one day to visit Mecca.  A Muslim hopes to win paradise by obedience and good works but can only be guaranteed of heaven by dying in a holy war.

 

A Neo Nazi believes in the natural supremacy of the Aryan race (whatever that is), and wishes Western Europe to be ethnically and culturally homogeneous.  Neo Nazis are anti semitic and blame Jews for many of Europe’s problems due allegedly to Jewish involvement in international banking. They have a generalised hostility to persons of colour. To the extent that they have a religion it is most likely pre-Christian Nordic paganism. Some groups identify with Hitler.

 

A Protestant believes that God is a triune being conceived of as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A Protestant believes that God the Son was incarnated as Jesus born to Mary at Christmas, was crucified by divine intent to pay the penalty for everyone’s sin (karma if that offends you), and rose from the dead. On the strength of Jesus’ teaching and resurrection Protestants look forward to eternal life and forgiveness appropriated through faith and repentance.

 

A Roman Catholic believes the above but also believes that the Pope is the sole representative of God on earth and is infallible in matters of faith and doctrine. A Catholic believes that forgiveness is administered by the hierarchy of the Church. Traditionally it was believed that only the Church can grant a person’s soul access to heaven though this has been moderated since Vatican II. All Christians believe the Bible to be divinely inspired but none of them agree wholly what it means.

 

A Jew believes that God (Jehovah) revealed himself to the prophets and revealed the divine law to Moses. Jews believe that they are chosen by Jehovah as a special and separate people and express this by (among other things) Sabbath keeping and circumcision. Judaism has diverse views on life after death but focuses on ‘right’ by observing the Torah. Jews do not generally seek to make converts and Judaism is largely racially based.

 

A Hindu believes in any one of around one million deities based on the Hindu scriptures and culture but there are a handful of key gods like Shiva which represent aspects of spiritual reality. A Hindu believes in reincarnation and that life’s circumstances are determined by karma which is penalty or reward for things done in past lives. This has evolved into a social caste system in which social justice is seen as contrary to the right order of things.

 

A Buddhist believes that Buddha achieved enlightenment through the realisation that the world and suffering are merely illusion. A Buddhist seeks to connect to the true reality by transcending personal identity and desire through meditation. Buddhists also believe in karma and reincarnation but seek a better reincarnation by accumulating merit through compassion and charitable works.

 

An Atheist believes that only the observable material world exists and that any belief in divinity, a soul, an afterlife or any form of spirituality is delusional. Atheists tend to have a generalised hostility towards religion which they see as primitive and backward.

 

A Secular Humanist is unconvinced about divinity but sees it as a private matter having no place in public life. Humanists prefer to focus on rationality as the way to solve real world problems and emphasise human achievement over (alleged) divine intervention. Humanists cease being tolerant when religion intersects with their values such as freedom of sexual expression.

 

Fact: as a matter of simple rationality all the above cannot be true because these beliefs contradict. It follows that most of humanity is wrong about most of its core beliefs most of the time.

 

This suggests that a certain amount of humility is called for and we should look carefully for facts wherever possible. The following table might assist:

 

	Islam	Neo Nazis	Protestant		Catholic	Judaism
Contains large factions which use violence to force conversion or impose dominance aka terrorism/extremism	Y	Y	Not since the seventeenth century			Only in Palestine
Involved in violent internal struggle between opposing factions	Y	N	Not since the seventeenth century			Not since the first century
Rejects pluralism and represses alternate beliefs	Y	Y	Mixed record			Maintains internal conformity
Associated with genocide (see notes below)	Y	N	N	Y		N
Associated with violence towards other religions and places of worship	Y	Y	Not since the 17th century	Not since the 17th century		Only in Palestine
Sees women as inferior and/or subordinate	Y	Y	Mixed record			Y
Rejects freedom of sexual expression	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y
Rejects homosexual activity	Y	Y	Conflicted		Y	Y
Believes in the sanctity of life before birth	Y	Only if white!	Y		Y	Y
Sanctions or involved in slavery and sex trafficking (See notes below)	Y	N	See notes below			N

 

	Hindu	Buddhist	Atheist	Humanist
Contains large factions which use violence to force conversion or impose dominance aka terrorism/extremism	N	N	Yes in the case of communist insurgency	N
Involved in violent internal struggle between opposing factions	N	N	N	N
Rejects pluralism and represses alternate beliefs	N	N	Yes in the case of communism	Yes in the case of GLBT activism
Associated with genocide (see notes below)	N	N	Yes in the case of communism	N
Associated with violence towards other religions and places of worship	Yes in the case of the recent Hindu nationalist movement	N	Yes in the case of communism	N
Sees women as inferior and/or subordinate	Inferiority based on caste	N	N	N
Rejects freedom of sexual expression	N	N	N	N
Rejects homosexual activity	N	N	N	N
Believes in the sanctity of life before birth	Y	Y	N	N

 

Notes on Genocide: Muslim Turks massacred one million Arminian Christians circa 1910. Javanese security (Muslim) forces massacred a quarter of a million Christian Timorese circa 1975.

Janjaweed militia (Muslim) ongoing genocide of Christians in North Sudan

ISIS/ISIL (Muslim) genocide of Christians and minority Muslim sects in all captured territories ongoing

The Spanish Catholic conquest of South America 500 years ago amounts to genocide but no involvement in anything comparable since that time.

The forced starvation of mass millions of peasants by Communist officials in Russia, China, Cambodia and Vietnam amounts to genocide and is still in living memory.

Zionist Jews (with support from some Protestant groups) are exterminating the Palestinians as a national and ethnic grouping and dispossessing them, but this is not genocide per se.

Christians have not massacred Muslims since the middle ages. Western armies have and continue to wreak havoc in the Middle East but these are national armies and are not religiously motivated.

Notes on slavery: in the nineteenth century both white and black slavery was a major economic activity for Britain and America. Christian activists put an end to slavery in Britain through civic action. The Americans had a civil war. Slavery and sex trafficking continues with semi official endorsement in Turkey and Pakistan. It is a standard activity for ISIS/ISIL and other Muslim militias in Africa, predominantly of Yazadis or Christians. It is also endemic in the culturally Buddhist countries of Thailand and Myanmar though this is not supported by Buddhist leaders.

OK those are the basic comparisons to consider when looking at whose values and track record are most compatible with a pluralist democratic society. Humanists and Buddhist come out rather well, other less so. Christianity’s major conflicts were resolved by the end of the 1700’s. The track record is markedly different to Islam’s. Some other basic facts that you will likely not hear acknowledged on the ABC or SBS are:

FACT: wife beating, honour killings, female circumcision, burning churches, and killing people who convert from Islam is considered socially acceptable or obligatory in parts of Palestine and Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Pakistan, Islamic State of the Levant, and large parts of North Africa.

FACT: the majority of victims of Islamic terrorism are fellow Muslims

FACT: the majority of people fighting Islamic terrorism are Muslims

FACT: the majority of terrorists in the world are Muslims

FACT: the major sponsors of Islamic terrorism are Saudi Arabia and the USA

FACT: Saudi Arabia is a vicious seventh century Islamic state that enjoys complete protection by the USA.

FACT: the ideology behind Islamic ‘extremism’ is a very literal interpretation of the Koran and Hadiths that seeks to return Islam to its ‘pure’ seventh century form. This ideology is sponsored by the Royal House of Saud and the Saudi clerics.

FACT: although loathed by many Muslims this ideology is making massive roads into Islam assisted by Saudi oil money which is sponsoring the construction of up to 400 Mosques in the UK and Germany (historically key Christian countries).

FACT: the Saudi’s sponsor terrorism for ideological reasons, the Americans for geopolitical reasons (get rid of Assad, get rid of Gadhafi, bleed the communists in Afghanistan, punish Serbia, break up the Russian federation etc).

FACT: the causes of violent death in the USA post 9/11 have been in order of greatest number to smallest:

• Abortion

• Domestic/neighbourhood violence

•  Police violence 

• White extremist groups

• Islamic terrorism

(I have not included suicide which is very high among Gulf War veterans and far exceeds any form of terrorism).

….and if you want to find out more about what actually happened at Cronulla ten years ago buy my book.

Now go form your own views. May the force be with you....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Irony and contradictions abound in the sex culture wars

 

 

In case you missed it, a lot of folks are worked up about gay marriage, even people who are neither gay nor married, nor wish to be. So important is this issue that it is to be put to the people (maybe) in a referendum. Let’s put that in context. We, as partners in the coalition of the willing (if that doesn’t describe marriage I don’t know what does) before God, man and John Howard participated in the invasion of Iraq. This invasion turned a relatively stable and prosperous country into a failed State leading to the rise of ISIS, the creation of an Islamic (sic) Caliphate, endless atrocities, and a global refugee crisis. Neither the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia nor the people of Australia got a say. It was a captain’s call.
 

 

Not so gay marriage, and perhaps that’s fair. After all a ‘yes’ vote would for the first time in history amount to a vote that children do not have a right to a father (in a lesbian relationship) or a mother (in a male gay relationship). A ‘yes’ vote would say that these roles are not different, significant or necessary to parenting; or else that the right of adults to have children is more important than the right of children to have a father or a mother. Perhaps mother’s day and father’s day will become person day. Sweden is already making moves in the direction of greater androgyny.[1]
 

Whatever you think of this one thing is certain, heterosexual marriages will not evaporate (well mine won’t anyway) even of some think they will.[2] My generation whose parents all got divorced (well it seems that way) have been pretty shy of marriage but it seems the referendum on gay marriage in Ireland has sparked a renewed interest in the whole idea. Celebrants in States in the US where same sex marriage has been legalized are recording an upsurge in heterosexual marriages across the land. Rates of heterosexual marriage have actually increased, [3] although among our GLBT brethren though the uptake has been modest;[4] partly due to existing civil unions but also because many gay couples find monogamy too cruel a rule.  Meanwhile some male homosexual partners agree to open relationships as a way around this unfortunate demand of marriage.[5] Being men they can do that. Pity us poor heterosexuals who have to give money to Ashley Madison and creep around furtively at night in order to be regularly unfaithful to our…um…wives.
 

Which kind of begs the question: “At what point does marriage cease to be marriage?” Surely monogamy is kind of the basis of the whole commitment thing – unless you are into polygamy which as the anti Bible bashers point out was tolerated in Bible times. At this point the Bible bashers point out the God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve et al which to me is proof that Genesis is not a story that a man made up. If it was, God would have made Adam, Eve, Evelyn, Evita, Elizabeth, and this good looking young bloke called Steve who has a certain quality…
 

So perhaps we need different categories of “marriage” to cater for all. Reflecting on those who I know and have known the following spring to mind: the ‘I have to have you in the public rest room now’ marriage; the ‘We have kids and that’s wonderful so approach me for sex sometime after 2025’ marriage; the ‘no one else will put up with us so we had better stick together’ marriage; the ‘I’m not in love anymore but I’m too old to be bothered breaking up with you’ marriage; and the ‘I still love you dear but I’ll settle for a cup of tea’ marriage. Then, heartbreakingly there are those who marry with the hope of children and can’t have them but are no less married.
 

Then there are those like Kentucky marriage clerk Kim Davis who was recently hailed and jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. According to the ABC, gay activists cheered when she was led away to jail while supporting protestors carried placards demanding religious freedom.[6] So here we have a Christian being jailed for not being tolerant and loving enough while the love and tolerance brigade cheer outside the court house and Christians proclaim that God is loving but perhaps not in the way that their GLBT brethren would like. Love it seems, does insist on its own way.
 

Meanwhile those in organised religion who actually listen and care struggle to reconcile moral boundaries with the vagaries of human need and dysfunction. They seem the only ones willing to talk about the stuff that no one wants to talk about because it’s icky and um doesn’t sit well with the onward march of sexual freedom. Like for example STD’s. In his article Why I will keep fighting the culture war on sexuality[7] conservative psychologist and educator Dr Thomas Lickona argues that sexual restraint is a necessary ingredient of love and a sign of personal maturity. He points out that we create the world children grow up in and blames a variety of factors for heterosexual teen pregnancies and STD’s. According to his review of a raft of studies[8] one of 13 teenage girls in the USA becomes pregnant each year, one in four has a sexually transmitted disease and across the population there are 19 million new infections each year. Some researchers have predicted that a majority of single sexually active female adolescents and adults in the USA will get at least one STD during their life time. For many the consequences are infertility.
 

The figures for Australia are different[9] but where the US goes Australia follows and infection rates in general are climbing.[10]

 

 

Perhaps it’s not surprising in a sex saturated culture. My local shopping centre features a nearly three metre poster of a young model posing in very little. It is at least an image of youth and beauty but it does communicate a message that goes beyond advertising clothing. The picture of the woman in the car magazine at the local library was not so beautiful. When I took my eight year old son he went to the magazine rack and came eye to eye with a picture of a woman presumably modeling prostitution draped over a car bonnet legs apart and mammaries spilling out while pouting seductively at the viewer through heavy makeup. Parents complain that at schools senior kids surf porn on their phones and it often filters down to the younger ones. Chances are someone else’s freedom will rob my children of their innocence. So pervasive has this problem become that some conservatives and progressives have found common concern with the sexualisation of children. Come to think of it, I don’t recall a referendum on becoming a sex saturated culture. Perhaps it time we all made a captain’s call.

 
 

Ultimately people will do as they please with their bodies. It cannot be otherwise. Nor should it be. Why then do sexual issues arouse so much passion? Perhaps it is because sex cuts us to our core; because it is deeply emotional; because it is sacred ground; because our sexual mores confront us with existential questions. What is right and wrong, and ultimately, who are we, and who will our children become?  

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[1] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/youre-a-hen-im-a-hen-gender-neutral-pronoun-gains-ground-in-sweden/article4107472/  See further: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315193/Swedish-school-brings-gender-neutral-changing-rooms-avoid-teenagers-labelled-male-female.html

[2] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-11/christian-couple-vow-to-get-divorced-in-face-of-gay-marriage/6539412

 

[3] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/06/the-gay-guide-to-wedded-bliss/309317/?single_page=true

 

[4] http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/08/21/uk-top-law-firm-says-number-of-same-sex-marriages-in-first-three-months-is-surprisingly-low/ See also

 

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/marriages-in-england-and-wales--provisional-/for-same-sex-couples-q1-and-q2-2014/sty-same-sex-marriages.html Note that the UK Office of National Statistics have not published statistics for the financial year 2014 to 2015.

[5] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/06/the-gay-guide-to-wedded-bliss/309317/?single_page=true

 

[6] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-04/kentucky-clerk-jailed-for-denying-same-sex-marriage-licenses/6748700

 

[7] http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/why-i-will-keep-fighting-the-culture-war-about-sexuality/16695

 

[8] https://www2.cortland.edu/dotAsset/8029dfd4-75db-429d-b068-de7e3810a487.pdf

 

[9] https://kirby.unsw.edu.au/surveillance/2014-annual-surveillance-report-hiv-viral-hepatitis-stis

 

[10] http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features10Jun+2012 Note that statistical increases can also be due to greater awareness and hence greater reporting.

Greece Default - perspective from an economic hit man

OK so all blogs should be original but sometimes an authoritative source is worth copying.  Self confessed “economic hit man” John Perkins explains the current ‘take-down’ of Greece.  I agree with his analysis because it corresponds to what I discovered in the literature on economic development which I studied at undergraduate level.  Perkins takes this analysis to a new level as he is a consummate insider when it comes to IMF based “structural adjustment” aka debt slavery, austerity and asset stripping (aka privatisation). We now have an evidence base of four decades from the 1970's proving conclusively that structural adjustment strangles small economies - which begs some obvious questions.

My only qualification to Perkins' analysis is that he goes pretty easy on the southern Europeans who famously like to take long siesta’s and retire with generous benefits at 55 which only a few advanced industrial economies can ever afford.  On the other hand lenders also have a responsibility to consider the credit worthiness of those to whom they lend.

If you think that what happens to Greece and the EU will have no relevance to Australia think again.  The same types of people have the same agenda for Australia and indeed the rest of the world, they just need to magic up a crisis or get a sympathetic government elected. Happy reading…

John Perkins, author Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

“Greece is being ‘hit’, there’s no doubt about it,” exclaims John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, noting that “[Indebted countries] become servants to what I call the corporatocracy … today we have a global empire, and it’s not an American empire. It’s not a national empire… It’s a corporate empire, and the big corporations rule.”

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26112-an-economic-hit-man-speaks-out-john-perkins-on-how-greece-has-fallen-victim-to-economic-hit-men

John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, discusses how Greece and other eurozone countries have become the new victims of “economic hit men.”

John Perkins is no stranger to making confessions. His well-known book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, revealed how international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, while publicly professing to “save” suffering countries and economies, instead pull a bait-and-switch on their governments: promising startling growth, gleaming new infrastructure projects and a future of economic prosperity – all of which would occur if those countries borrow huge loans from those organizations. Far from achieving runaway economic growth and success, however, these countries instead fall victim to a crippling and unsustainable debt burden.

John Perkins

That’s where the “economic hit men” come in: seemingly ordinary men, with ordinary backgrounds, who travel to these countries and impose the harsh austerity policies prescribed by the IMF and World Bank as “solutions” to the economic hardship they are now experiencing. Men like Perkins were trained to squeeze every last drop of wealth and resources from these sputtering economies, and continue to do so to this day. In this interview, which aired on Dialogos Radio, Perkins talks about how Greece and the eurozone have become the new victims of such “economic hit men.”

Michael Nevradakis: In your book, you write about how you were, for many years, a so-called “economic hit man.” Who are these economic hit men, and what do they do?

John Perkins: Essentially, my job was to identify countries that had resources that our corporations want, and that could be things like oil – or it could be markets – it could be transportation systems. There’re so many different things. Once we identified these countries, we arranged huge loans to them, but the money would never actually go to the countries; instead it would go to our own corporations to build infrastructure projects in those countries, things like power plants and highways that benefitted a few wealthy people as well as our own corporations, but not the majority of people who couldn’t afford to buy into these things, and yet they were left holding a huge debt, very much like what Greece has today, a phenomenal debt.

“[Indebted countries] become servants to what I call the corporatocracy … today we have a global empire, and it’s not an American empire. It’s not a national empire … It’s a corporate empire, and the big corporations rule.”

And once [they were] bound by that debt, we would go back, usually in the form of the IMF – and in the case of Greece today, it’s the IMF and the EU [European Union] – and make tremendous demands on the country: increase taxes, cut back on spending, sell public sector utilities to private companies, things like power companies and water systems, transportation systems, privatize those, and basically become a slave to us, to the corporations, to the IMF, in your case to the EU, and basically, organizations like the World Bank, the IMF, the EU, are tools of the big corporations, what I call the “corporatocracy.”

And before turning specifically to the case of Greece, let’s talk a little bit more about the manner in which these economic hit men and these organizations like the IMF operate. You mentioned, of course, how they go in and they work to get these countries into massive debt, that money goes in and then goes straight back out. You also mentioned in your book these overly optimistic growth forecasts that are sold to the politicians of these countries but which really have no resemblance to reality.

Exactly, we’d show that if these investments were made in things like electric energy systems that the economy would grow at phenomenally high rates. The fact of the matter is, when you invest in these big infrastructure projects, you do see economic growth, however, most of that growth reflects the wealthy getting wealthier and wealthier; it doesn’t reflect the majority of the people, and we’re seeing that in the United States today.

“In the case of Greece, my reaction was that ‘Greece is being hit.’ There’s no question about it.”

For example, where we can show economic growth, growth in the GDP, but at the same time unemployment may be going up or staying level, and foreclosures on houses may be going up or staying stable. These numbers tend to reflect the very wealthy, since they have a huge percentage of the economy, statistically speaking. Nevertheless, we would show that when you invest in these infrastructure projects, your economy does grow, and yet, we would even show it growing much faster than it ever conceivably would, and that was only used to justify these horrendous, incredibly debilitating loans.

Is there a common theme with respect to the countries typically targeted? Are they, for instance, rich in resources or do they typically possess some other strategic importance to the powers that be?

Yes, all of those. Resources can take many different forms: One is the material resources like minerals or oil; another resource is strategic location; another resource is a big marketplace or cheap labor. So, different countries make different requirements. I think what we’re seeing in Europe today isn’t any different, and that includes Greece.

What happens once these countries that are targeted are indebted? How do these major powers, these economic hit men, these international organizations come back and get their “pound of flesh,” if you will, from the countries that are heavily in debt?

By insisting that the countries adopt policies that will sell their publicly owned utility companies, water and sewage systems, maybe schools, transportation systems, even jails, to the big corporations. Privatize, privatize. Allow us to build military bases on their soil. Many things can be done, but basically, they become servants to what I call the corporatocracy. You have to remember that today we have a global empire, and it’s not an American empire. It’s not a national empire. It doesn’t help the American people very much. It’s a corporate empire, and the big corporations rule. They control the politics of the United States, and to a large degree they control a great deal of the policies of countries like China, around the world.

John, looking specifically now at the case of Greece, of course you mentioned your belief that the country has become the victim of economic hit men and these international organizations . . . what was your reaction when you first heard about the crisis in Greece and the measures that were to be implemented in the country?

I’ve been following Greece for a long time. I was on Greek television. A Greek film company did a documentary called “Apology of an Economic Hit Man,” and I also spent a lot of time in Iceland and in Ireland. I was invited to Iceland to help encourage the people there to vote on a referendum not to repay their debts, and I did that and encouraged them not to, and they did vote no, and as a result, Iceland is doing quite well now economically compared to the rest of Europe. Ireland, on the other hand: I tried to do the same thing there, but the Irish people apparently voted against the referendum, though there’s been many reports that there was a lot of corruption.

“That’s part of the game: convince people that they’re wrong, that they’re inferior. The corporatocracy is incredibly good at that.”

In the case of Greece, my reaction was that “Greece is being hit.” There’s no question about it. Sure, Greece made mistakes, your leaders made some mistakes, but the people didn’t really make the mistakes, and now the people are being asked to pay for the mistakes made by their leaders, often in cahoots with the big banks. So, people make tremendous amounts of money off of these so-called “mistakes,” and now, the people who didn’t make the mistakes are being asked to pay the price. That’s consistent around the world: We’ve seen it in Latin America. We’ve seen it in Asia. We’ve seen it in so many places around the world.

This leads directly to the next question I had: From my observation, at least in Greece, the crisis has been accompanied by an increase in self-blame or self-loathing; there’s this sentiment in Greece that many people have that the country failed, that the people failed . . . there’s hardly even protest in Greece anymore, and of course there’s a huge “brain drain” – there’s a lot of people that are leaving the country. Does this all seem familiar to you when comparing to other countries in which you’ve had personal experience?

Sure, that’s part of the game: convince people that they’re wrong, that they’re inferior. The corporatocracy is incredibly good at that, whether it is back during the Vietnam War, convincing the world that the North Vietnamese were evil; today it’s the Muslims. It’s a policy of them versus us: We are good. We are right. We do everything right. You’re wrong. And in this case, all of this energy has been directed at the Greek people to say “you’re lazy; you didn’t do the right thing; you didn’t follow the right policies,” when in actuality, an awful lot of the blame needs to be laid on the financial community that encouraged Greece to go down this route. And I would say that we have something very similar going on in the United States, where people here are being led to believe that because their house is being foreclosed that they were stupid, that they bought the wrong houses; they overspent themselves.

“We know that austerity does not work in these situations.”

The fact of the matter is their bankers told them to do this, and around the world, we’ve come to trust bankers – or we used to. In the United States, we never believed that a banker would tell us to buy a $500,000 house if in fact we could really only afford a $300,000 house. We thought it was in the bank’s interest not to foreclose. But that changed a few years ago, and bankers told people who they knew could only afford a $300,000 house to buy a $500,000 house.

“Tighten your belt, in a few years that house will be worth a million dollars; you’ll make a lot of money” . . . in fact, the value of the house went down; the market dropped out; the banks foreclosed on these houses, repackaged them, and sold them again. Double whammy. The people were told, “you were stupid; you were greedy; why did you buy such an expensive house?” But in actuality, the bankers told them to do this, and we’ve grown up to believe that we can trust our bankers. Something very similar on a larger scale happened in so many countries around the world, including Greece.

In Greece, the traditional major political parties are, of course, overwhelmingly in favor of the harsh austerity measures that have been imposed, but also we see that the major business and media interests are also overwhelmingly in support. Does this surprise you in the slightest?

No, it doesn’t surprise me and yet it’s ridiculous because austerity does not work. We’ve proven that time and time again, and perhaps the greatest proof was the opposite, in the United States during the Great Depression, when President Roosevelt initiated all these policies to put people back to work, to pump money into the economy. That’s what works. We know that austerity does not work in these situations.

“What I didn’t realize during any of this period was how much corporatocracy does not want a united Europe.”

We also have to understand that, in the United States for example, over the past 40 years, the middle class has been on the decline on a real dollar basis, while the economy has been increasing. In fact, that’s pretty much happened around the world. Globally, the middle class has been in decline. Big business needs to recognize – it hasn’t yet, but it needs to recognize – that that serves nobody’s long-term interest, that the middle class is the market. And if the middle class continues to be in decline, whether it’s in Greece or the United States or globally, ultimately businesses will pay the price; they won’t have customers. Henry Ford once said: “I want to pay all my workers enough money so they can go out and buy Ford cars.” That’s a very good policy. That’s wise. This austerity program moves in the opposite direction and it’s a foolish policy.

In your book, which was written in 2004, you expressed hope that the euro would serve as a counterweight to American global hegemony, to the hegemony of the US dollar. Did you ever expect that we would see in the European Union what we are seeing today, with austerity that is not just in Greece but also in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and also several other countries as well?

What I didn’t realize during any of this period was how much corporatocracy does not want a united Europe. We need to understand this. They may be happy enough with the euro, with one currency – they are happy to a certain degree by having it united enough that markets are open – but they do not want standardized rules and regulations. Let’s face it, big corporations, the corporatocracy, take advantage of the fact that some countries in Europe have much more lenient tax laws, some have much more lenient environmental and social laws, and they can pit them against each other.

“[Rafael Correa] … has to be aware that if you stand up too strongly against the system, if the economic hit men are not happy, if they don’t get their way, then the jackals will come in and assassinate you or overthrow you in a coup.”

What would it be like for big corporations if they didn’t have their tax havens in places like Malta or other places? I think we need to recognize that what the corporatocracy saw at first, the solid euro, a European union seemed like a very good thing, but as it moved forward, they could see that what was going to happen was that social and environmental laws and regulations were going to be standardized. They didn’t want that, so to a certain degree what’s been going on in Europe has been because the corporatocracy wants Europe to fail, at least on a certain level.

You wrote about the examples of Ecuador and other countries, which after the collapse of oil prices in the late ’80s found themselves with huge debts and this, of course, led to massive austerity measures . . . sounds all very similar to what we are now seeing in Greece. How did the people of Ecuador and other countries that found themselves in similar situations eventually resist?

Ecuador elected a pretty remarkable president, Rafael Correa, who has a PhD in economics from a United States university. He understands the system, and he understood that Ecuador took on these debts back when I was an economic hit man and the country was ruled by a military junta that was under the control of the CIA and the US. That junta took on these huge debts, put Ecuador in deep debt; the people didn’t agree to that. When Rafael Correa was democratically elected, he immediately said, “We’re not paying these debts; the people did not take on these debts; maybe the IMF should pay the debts and maybe the junta, which of course was long gone – moved to Miami or someplace – should pay the debts, maybe John Perkins and the other economic hit men should pay the debts, but the people shouldn’t.”

And since then, he’s been renegotiating and bringing the debts way down and saying, “We might be willing to pay some of them.” That was a very smart move; it reflected similar things that had been done at different times in places like Brazil and Argentina, and more recently, following that model, Iceland, with great success. I have to say that Correa has had some real setbacks since then . . . he, like so many presidents, has to be aware that if you stand up too strongly against the system, if the economic hit men are not happy, if they don’t get their way, then the jackals will come in and assassinate you or overthrow you in a coup. There was an attempted coup against him; there was a successful coup in a country not too far away from him, Honduras, because these presidents stood up.

We have to realize that these presidents are in very, very vulnerable positions, and ultimately we the people have to stand up, because leaders can only do a certain amount. Today, in many places, leaders are not just vulnerable; it doesn’t take a bullet to bring down a leader anymore. A scandal – a sex scandal, a drug scandal – can bring down a leader. We saw that happen to Bill Clinton, to Strauss-Kahn of the IMF; we’ve seen it happen a number of times. These leaders are very aware that they are in very vulnerable positions: If they stand up or go against the status quo too strongly, they’re going to be taken out, one way or another. They’re aware of that, and it behooves we the people to really stand up for our own rights.

You mentioned the recent example of Iceland . . . other than the referendum that was held, what other measures did the country adopt to get out of this spiral of austerity and to return to growth and to a much more positive outlook for the country?

It’s been investing money in programs that put people back to work and it’s also been putting on trial some of the bankers that caused the problems, which has been a big uplift in terms of morale for the people. So Iceland has launched some programs that say “No, we’re not going to go into austerity; we’re not going to pay back these loans; we’re going to put the money into putting people back to work,” and ultimately that’s what drives an economy, people working. If you’ve got high unemployment, like you do in Greece today, extremely high unemployment, the country’s always going to be in trouble. You’ve got to bring down that unemployment, you’ve got to hire people. It’s so important to put people back to work. Your unemployment is about 28 percent; it’s staggering, and disposable income has dropped 40 percent and it’s going to continue to drop if you have high unemployment. So, the important thing for an economy is to get the employment up and get disposable income back up, so that people will invest in their country and in goods and services.

In closing, what message would you like to share with the people of Greece, as they continue to experience and to live through the very harsh results of the austerity policies that have been implemented in the country for the past three years?

I want to draw upon Greece’s history. You’re a proud, strong country, a country of warriors. The mythology of the warrior to some degree comes out of Greece, and so does democracy! And to realize that the marketplace is a democracy today, and how we spend our money is casting our ballot. Most political democracies are corrupt, including that of the United States. Democracy is not really working on a governmental basis because the corporations are in charge. But it is working on a market basis. I would encourage the people of Greece to stand up: Don’t pay off those debts; have your own referendums; refuse to pay them off; go to the streets and strike.

And so, I would encourage the Greek people to continue to do this. Don’t accept this criticism that it’s your fault, you’re to blame, you’ve got to suffer austerity, austerity, austerity. That only works for the rich people; it does not work for the average person or the middle class. Build up that middle class; bring employment back; bring disposable income back to the average citizen of Greece. Fight for that; make it happen; stand up for your rights; respect your history as fighters and leaders in democracy, and show the world!

Source: this article has been copied to several outlets. I found it here:

 

http://thesaker.is/greece-is-being-hit-theres-no-doubt-about-it/