Our real master

There’s an obscure movie called The Mutant Chronicles.  It isn’t very good (even though it does star Ron Perlman).  I mention it because it presents, in a very simple story, a futuristic view of how our planet could be divided among corporate interests rather than along political lines.

I have long believed we are headed that way (minus the mutants).  Corporations gain greater power over political systems since the economy takes precedence over everything – health care, education, the environment, equality, quality of life, and human rights.  This isn’t likely to change unless the world is at the brink of complete destruction.  The very small percentage of people who have the bulk of the money and power will do everything they can to keep and strengthen their advantages.

Well, guess what?  What many of us have suspected for some time is actually backed with evidence.

A newly-released diplomatic cable exposes some of the very deliberate planning and manipulation the Unites States began in earnest in 2006 when they saw a weak party and leader they could shape into “more useful partners” to forward their own agenda.

Some of the US interests the cable points out that the US wanted to advance:

 - law enforcement and continental security,

 - developing Canada as a more useful partner in the Hemisphere and around the globe,

 - cross-border law enforcement initiatives of interest to the US,

 - enhanced information-sharing,

 - joint maritime operations

 - keep Canada “in the game in Afghanistan as the mission turns more difficult and possibly more bloody”

 - work together to keep the pressure on Iran

 - increase support to the new government in Haiti

 - getting Canada to begin “engaging more actively in other hemispheric trouble spots such as Venezuela, Colombia, and Cuba.”

In 2007, the Harper government made the Americas one of its first international priorities, a major and surprising shift in Canadian foreign policy after decades of work in Africa. Among the positions adopted included cooler relations with the Venezuela and even Cuba, and stalwart economic, development and political support for Colombia—all of which reflect US policies.

Why is the US so interested in these things?  (emphasis mine)

At the SPP meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in March 2006, leaders agreed to a number of initiatives, such as the creation of a powerful advisory group composed of the continent’s largest businesses, a cross-border emergency and disaster management agreement, and a commitment to improving security at the border without making trade more difficult.

How can a powerful group made up of private corporations hold such power?

“I suggest quietly working such cooperation with the new government through official, non-public channels, and that we focus on a handful of priority areas...”

This is why we end up with excellent Bills being killed in Parliament, such as Bill C-300, The Corporate Accountability of Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries Act.  Can’t have little things like human rights and Canadian values getting in the way of making a profit.

So our troops didn’t step up the fight in Afghanistan and stay on despite heavy losses because they were fighting for democracy.  No, they stayed because of an American agenda.  Our military is like the reserve for the US.

This highly unbalanced partnership is almost impossible to remove ourselves from once it has begun.  Too much money backing it, and far too many control systems set in place.  Here are a few:

Joint security:  sounds like a good idea on the surface – pooling resources to protect our countries from attacks.  But when those joint security systems consider peaceful protests as an attack against the corporate interests, then we see incidents like those at the Toronto G-20 where peaceful citizens who wish only to express concern are told they have no rights. 

Those charged with security are encouraged to view citizens as potential threats, and encouraged to protect whatever vague, secretive interest they are told to.  The interests of the powerful corporate backed groups trump everything and everyone, including fundamental rights of individuals.

This show of force is practiced and publicized over and over so that security forces come to believe that the public is the enemy, and citizen are taught that they will be severely punished for any expression of disapproval.

Kill the arts: can’t have people being creative, developing and expressing original ideas, analyzing actions, or questioning government.  Can’t have talented, creative people expressing those ideas in ways which capture the interest and imagination of other Canadians.

Promote sports:  gives people the illusion that they are passionate about something, that they belong to something important.  Great non-productive outlet for emotion.

Military engagement:  wars are great not only to line the pockets of corporations, but to mindlessly rally the public behind a government, and to stop people from complaining about their problems.  How dare you complain about anything when our brave troops are dying for you in some awful foreign country?

Kill education:  reduce it to something that makes a population of workers/consumers, but cut out anything that causes people to develop independent or critical thought.  Get people to believe that higher education is unpatriotic, elitist.  Turn words like academic into insults.

Keep the bulk of the population poor, or just above poverty:  hard to care about anything else when you are just struggling to survive.  Not much time to get involved in protests or with political opposition.  This has the added advantage of shifting even more money over to the small percentage who hold the bulk of power and wealth.

Look at what the cuts to public service jobs will accomplish:  lay off 100,000 public servants, then hire a bunch back because someone needs to do the work, but hire them through private agencies.  You don’t have to give them benefits, and the agencies get a big percentage of the worker’s hourly pay.  The workers will accept this, because they need the work, and agencies generally have no set wage for particular jobs.  They get pretty much what a public servant would get for the job, then pay the worker as little as they thing the worker will accept.  The extra benefit of such a system is that the worker will put up with just about anything since they have no union, and even going to the Labour Board will end up blacklisting them with the agencies.

Push religion:  people will put up with a lot of suffering and deprivation if you tell them it’s a god’s will.  You can also get them to commit horrible acts against other people, all in the name of a god.

Push happy pills:  double reward there, as pharmaceutical companies make a killing and the population is numb.

Have enemies within and without:  keep people afraid of crime (unreported crime, if necessary), keep them afraid of terrorists, immigrants, invaders.  Make sure the fear factors are linked to crime and/or war.  Corporations can make big bucks off tax dollars spent to protect citizens from fantasy threats.  Don’t encourage reality-based fears such as infectious diseases or contaminated food sources.  Too expensive to fight, corporations don’t like that, no money benefits.

Control the message...always.

So how many of these systems are already in place or in progress in Canada?

More here with Alison at Creekside