Instrumentalizing Press Freedom
July 5, 2008
Todays guest feature is an important article on ‘Independent’ Journalism Organizations and the National Endowment for Democracy from Michael Barker.
Most people agree that a democratic public sphere is an essential part of any nominally democratic society, however, what many disagree over are the exact ingredients of such a democratic public sphere. In large part these disagreements are caused by different conceptions of what democracy actually means. So while optimistic scholars believe that democracy is thriving globally, researchers, of a more critical bent – like this author – are more inclined to believe, that while global democratic governance is on the rise, these gains are being overshadowed by the increasing dominance of corporate and political elites over all aspects of life. This gloomy diagnosis does not mean to belittle the significance of progressive victories in minority countries and majority ones, but collectively considered these hard won concessions have been unable to repeal the coordinated neoliberal onslaught waged upon the global citizenry over the last few decades. Subsequently, the political, economic and cultural ascendency of corporate-backed elites has severely limited discussions of what should constitute a democratic public sphere. Thus not surprisingly the corporate voices driving such media discourses provide ‘democratic’ options far removed from radical proposals for a New World Information and Communication Order.
Despite the democratic rhetoric flowing from the world’s most powerful political leaders – which is duly amplified by their corporate media mouthpieces – their actual actions tell an alternative, antidemocratic story, a story that is defined by its dedication to oppression and destruction, and opposition to all but the most minimal interpretations of democracy. That many of our planets ruling politicians are also world misleaders is well documented, yet even these so-called politicians still acknowledge that their voters (that is their secondary constituents after corporate ‘persons’) hold great power to effect dramatic social change. Consequently in a perverse tribute to progressive activism, politicians cloak their antidemocratic actions (particularly their military ventures) under the veil of democracy – stretching their cooptive vocal repertoire almost beyond belief to encompass terms like empowerment and participatory democracy – to describe work which undermines commonly understood conceptions of democracy by promoting polyarchy in its place.
Superclass
June 28, 2008
Doug Henwood reviews David Rothkopf’s book on the Global Power Elite. This argument has already been made in a far more compelling and comprehensive manner by Leslie Sklair in his Transnational Capitalist Class.
Are we now ruled by an international elite that has left national borders far behind? It’s a fashionable view across the political spectrum that enjoys special prominence every January, when the alleged members of that alleged class hold their annual shareholders’ meeting in Davos, Switzerland. David Rothkopf, the author of “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making,” would strike the alleged from the previous sentence. To him, there’s no doubt that this superclass exists and it’s running the show.
We’ve had a series of books in recent years that amount to little more than a pornography of wealth. But the connection of wealth to actual power is rarely explored. Sure, hedge fund managers can deploy billions, and CEOs can hire and fire thousands, but what is the relation of that narrow economic power to broader political, social and cultural power?
Western Delusions
May 27, 2008
Jean Bricmont on ‘The Violent Folly of Humanitarian Interventionism‘.
One can understand why some people might have sincerely thought that the Iraq war would be a “cakewalk”. First, consider WW2 ; the US mercilessly bombed Germany and Japan, including their civilian populations, then occupied those countries militarily, imposing almost total control. Yet, today, Germany and Japan are among the world’s most faithful allies of the US. How deep this alliance really is and how long it will last remains to be seen, but for the moment it is a reality.
Now, consider the Cold War. Remember that, once upon a time, governments from Poland to Bulgaria were hostile to the US. Now, they want nothing more than integration into Nato, advanced US anti-missile shields and participation in the occupation of Iraq. Or consider, even more surprisingly, Vietnam, where US investors are now welcomed with open arms, while, in a not so distant past, the US was ferociously bombing Vietnam, killing millions of people and poisoning the environment.
Even after the bombing of their little country in 1999, the Serbs behaved as desired, by voting out Milosevic and by accepting, at least for a while, pro-Western governments approving implicitely if not explicitely the bombing of their own country.
Latuff: Here Lies US Imperialism
May 14, 2008
People’s History of American Empire
April 3, 2008
‘Empire or Humanity?‘ is the question posed by Howard Zinn as he discusses what he didn’t learn about American Empire in the classroom.
With an occupying army waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with military bases and corporate bullying in every part of the world, there is hardly a question any more of the existence of an American Empire. Indeed, the once fervent denials have turned into a boastful, unashamed embrace of the idea.
However, the very idea that the United States was an empire did not occur to me until after I finished my work as a bombardier with the Eighth Air Force in the Second World War, and came home. Even as I began to have second thoughts about the purity of the “Good War,” even after being horrified by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even after rethinking my own bombing of towns in Europe, I still did not put all that together in the context of an American “Empire.”
I was conscious, like everyone, of the British Empire and the other imperial powers of Europe, but the United States was not seen in the same way. When, after the war, I went to college under the G.I. Bill of Rights and took courses in U.S. history, I usually found a chapter in the history texts called “The Age of Imperialism.” It invariably referred to the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the conquest of the Philippines that followed. It seemed that American imperialism lasted only a relatively few years. There was no overarching view of U.S. expansion that might lead to the idea of a more far-ranging empire — or period of “imperialism.”
The Hell-Disaster
March 19, 2008
After five years of war in Iraq Robert Fisk examines the UK /US record and strongly condemns the criminality and incompetence of the leadership. Comparing the situation with the previous British and crusader occupations he demonstrates that history has been ignored. He then ponders why we are there – was it ‘for Israel?’
Five years on, and still we have not learnt. With each anniversary, the steps crumble beneath our feet, the stones ever more cracked, the sand ever finer. Five years of catastrophe in Iraq and I think of Churchill, who in the end called Palestine a “hell-disaster”.
But we have used these parallels before and they have drifted away in the Tigris breeze. Iraq is swamped in blood. Yet what is the state of our remorse? Why, we will have a public inquiry – but not yet! If only inadequacy was our only sin.
Today, we are engaged in a fruitless debate. What went wrong? How did the people – the senatus populusque Romanus of our modern world – not rise up in rebellion when told the lies about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam’s links with Osama bin Laden and 11 September? How did we let it happen? And how come we didn’t plan for the aftermath of war?
Nonviolent Imperialism: Major Revision
March 10, 2008
A revision to Michael Barker’s earlier article.
On March 8, 2008, I wrote that Professor Stephen Zunes was correct to point out that Stephen Gowans was mistaken to claim that “the governments Zunes really seems to be concerned about (Zimbabwe, Iran, Belarus and Myanmar) are hostile to the idea of opening their doors to unrestricted U.S. investment and exports” (Point 5).
My statement was incorrect, because in Zunes’ first article “Nonviolent Action and Pro-Democracy Struggles”, it is very clear that he is primarily concerned with four counties in particular, that is, Zimbabwe, Iran, Belarus and Myanmar. These are all countries in which the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its democracy manipulating cohorts are highly active. Moreover, judging by NED’s project database, over the past five years the NED has funnelled over $13 million to the following groups working within (and also outside of) these four countries.
Zimbabwe ($1.5 million in 2004, 2005 and 2006 only; in 2006 groups obtained $1 million) Groups funded include: American Center for International Labor Solidarity, Centre for Policy Studies, Crisis Coalition, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Federation of African Media Women – Zimbabwe (FAMWZ), International Republican Institute, Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-ZIM), National Constitution Assembly, National Democratic Institute, Zimbabwe Community Development Trust (ZCDT), Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and ZimRights.
Iran ($1.4 million) Groups funded include: Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, American Center for International Labor Solidarity, Center for the International Private Enterprise, Civic Education and Human Rights, Institute of World Affairs, International Republican Institute, Iran Teachers’ Association, National Iranian-American Council, Vital Voices Global Partnership, and the Women’s Learning Partnership. For further discussion of the NED’s work in Iran, see here.
Belarus ($2.9 million in 2004 and 2005 only) Groups receiving funding are not listed. For further discussion of the NED’s work in Belarus, see here.
Myanmar ($7.7 million – in 2004, 2005, and 2006 only) Groups receiving funding are not listed. For further discussion of the NED’s work in Myanmar, see here.
Needless to say these NED grants represent the tip of the iceberg of the ‘democratic’ monies following into these counties, as their grants topped up by better funded ‘aid’ agencies, like the US Agency for International Development: indeed, total official overseas development aid provided by the United States for 2005 came to $27.6 billion.
Michael Barker is a British citizen based in Australia. Most of his other articles can be found here.
Chavez: “Colombia is the Israel of Latin America.”
March 4, 2008
Israel – the new global benchmark for criminality and imperialism.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez labeled Colombia the “Israel of Latin America” on his Sunday talk show Aló Presidente yesterday. Responding to events on Saturday in which the Colombian military made an illegal attack across the border in Ecuadorian territory, the Venezuelan leader called Colombia a “terrorist state,” and gave orders to mobilize troops on the Venezuelan-Colombian border.
“The Colombian government has turned into the Israel of Latin America,” said Chavez during his show on Sunday.
“Colombia is a terrorist state that is subject to the great terrorist, the government of the United States and their apparatus,” he explained.
The Venezuelan president spoke in response to an attack and killing on the part of the Colombian military of several FARC guerrillas, including top leader Raul Reyes, on Saturday morning. Chavez called the killing a “cowardly murder” and condemned the attack for having illegally crossed the Colombian border into Ecuador.
“They bombed from the north and the south of the border,” he said. “In other words, they attacked inside Ecuadorian territory.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Capitalism in an Apocalyptic Mood
February 21, 2008
Walden Bello on the travails of global capital.
Skyrocketing oil prices, a falling dollar, and collapsing financial markets are the key ingredients in an economic brew that could end up in more than just an ordinary recession. The falling dollar and rising oil prices have been rattling the global economy for sometime. But it is the dramatic implosion of financial markets that is driving the financial elite to panic.And panic there is. Even as it characterized Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke’s deep cuts amounting to a 1.25 points off the prime rate in late January as a sign of panic, the Economist admitted that “there is no doubt that this is a frightening moment.” The losses stemming from bad securities tied up with defaulted mortgage loans by “subprime” borrowers are now estimated to be in the range of about $400 billion. But as the Financial Times warned, “the big question is what else is out there” at a time that the global financial system “is wide open to a catastrophic failure.” In the last few weeks, for instance, several Swiss, Japanese, and Korean banks have owned up to billions of dollars in subprime-related losses. The globalization of finance was, from the beginning, the cutting edge of the globalization process, and it was always an illusion to think that the subprime crisis could be confined to U.S. financial institutions, as some analysts had thought.
