Re: [FixGov] cj#1150,rn> Guidebook: How the World Works and How We Can C

Richard, I do hope that you are open to feedback on this so that others
may voice their opinions on List; I have included a comment here.   

Hi Everyone -  Thanks to Richard Moore for writing this and sharing it
with the FixGov List.  In reviewing Chapter 1, it seems to nicely sum up
what we have discussed previously with regard to Globalization and the
role that elites play.  However,  it seems to 'soft-pedal'  the role of
the U.S. in a manner that makes it 'a victim' along with the rest of the
Western world.  Whereas, other views see the U.S. as being the
'ring-leader' in globalization with the elites having  incorporated their
planning into our government since long before the U.S. Constitution was
written.  This planning on the part of the elites has allowed for the
cooption of our government and the ability to use the strength of its
military today to enforce their globalization legislation -- but largely
without the knowledge of the American people that this has taken place --
at least until Seattle.   

Richard, do you plan to elaborate more on the role the U.S. plays in
later chapters?  

marguerite 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

On Mon, 20 Nov 2000 00:22:58 +0000 "Richard K. Moore"
<richard@cyberjournal.org> writes:
> 
>
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===
> 
>       A GUIDEBOOK: HOW THE WORLD WORKS AND HOW WE CAN CHANGE IT
>       Richard K. Moore
>       http://cyberjournal.org
> 
> 
> Chapter 1:
>     HOW DOES THE WORLD WORK TODAY, AND WHERE IS IT HEADED?
> 
> 
>     "Globalization is not a policy choice; it is a fact." 
>         -U.S. President Bill Clinton, UN Building, Geneva, May 1998.
>      
>     "To the extent that the United States was governed by anyone
>     during the decades after World War II, it was governed by
>     the President acting with the support and cooperation of key
>     individuals and groups in the executive office, the federal
>     bureaucracy, Congress, and the more important businesses,
>     banks, law firms, foundations, and media, which constitute
>     the private sector's 'Establishment'."
>         - Samuel P. Huntington, The Crisis of Democracy, 1975
> 
> 
> A. GLOBALIZATION AND THE WEST - A COVERT COUP D'ETAT
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> At the center of world events today is a process called
> globalization. Few topics are so frequently discussed and at
> the same time so little understood. The generally accepted
> view, reflected in Clinton's words above, is that
> globalization is primarily a matter of economics, and that
> it is inevitable - forced by revolutionary developments in
> communications and other technologies. In fact,
> globalization is neither inevitable nor is it primarily
> about economics or technology. Globalization _is a policy
> choice; the process of globalization is being carefully
> managed and directed - and its economic aspects are merely
> symptoms. At its core globalization represents a coup d'etat
> - a covert political revolution led from above and bringing
> a profound restructuring of power, globally and nationally.
> 
> Under this new global system, national sovereignty is
> becoming meaningless, and real decision-making power is
> being transferred to a centralized global regime dominated
> by a wealthy elite - the expanded global version of
> Huntington's postwar U.S. "Establishment." This centralized
> regime is already established as a network of faceless
> bureaucracies, the most familiar of which are the World
> Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World
> Trade Organization (WTO). These agencies make no pretense of
> being democratic and are dominated by representatives from
> large transnational corporations and banks. This regime is
> rapidly consolidating its power and systematically
> establishing legal precedents for its authority. Already,
> both the USA and the European Union (EU) have been compelled
> by the WTO to annul various of their health and
> environmental laws. Most of the third world has been forced
> to adopt entire legislative agendas dictated by the IMF.
> 
> The source of this regime's authority comes from what are
> called "free trade" treaties, and from conditions which are
> attached to loans given to third-world countries by the
> regime's agencies. "Free trade" is in fact a Trojan Horse -
> in the guise of economic modernization, its true purpose is
> to smuggle sovereignty away from elected governments and
> deliver it to the new corporate-controlled regime. Such
> transfers of sovereignty should rightfully be the topic of
> intense national debates - they shake the foundations of
> national constitutions - yet instead these treaties have
> been adopted with little public comment, in obscure
> conferences attended by little-known trade officials. It
> wasn't until the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle
> that most people first became aware of the World Trade
> Organization - despite the immense power it already wields.
> This is one reason why the globalization revolution can be
> called covert.
> 
> One might wonder why Western leaders go along with this loss
> of sovereignty - why they seek to diminish the constitutions
> which they were elected to defend. This brings us back to
> Huntington's words above about who really runs America -
> words which apply equally to the leading European nations,
> and to the the European Union. Western politicians depend on
> corporate funding to run their media campaigns, and the top
> leaders are themselves part of elite circles. It is a
> corporate agenda - an elite agenda - that guides the major
> policies of Western nations. The job of Western politicians
> is not to decide society's agenda, but rather to find ways
> to sell the elite agenda to the masses. And the elite agenda
> today is globalization - the usurpation of global power by
> the WTO and its sister agencies.
> 
> Protest demonstrations against globalization are becoming
> frequent in the West, and these are being met with police
> suppression of unprecedented brutality. In the third world,
> where globalization has devastated the lives of millions,
> such protests have been far more extensive and more violent.
> And in the third world it is not only in the streets that
> globalization finds opposition - governments themselves
> often try to defend their national interests against the
> encroaching global regime. Increasingly, third-world people
> see globalization as simply being another name for Western
> imperialism. We will return to this theme after we look into
> the economics of globalization and the nature of capitalism.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Recommended reading.
> 
> Holly Sklar ed., "Trilateralism - the Trilateral Commission
> and Elite Planning for World Management," South End Press,
> Boston, 1980.
>      This well-researched anthology explains the role in
> global planning played by such elite organizations as the
> Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and
> the Bilderbergers. Examples from various parts of the world
> are used to show what kinds of considerations go into the
> formation of on-the-ground policies.
> 
> Jerry Fresia, "Toward an American Revolution - Exposing the
> Constitution & other Illusions," South End Press, Boston,
> 1988.
>     If you're an American - whether on the left or the right
> - then you haven't been fully awakened until you read "Toward
> an American Revolution. " In 200 fully referenced and
> readable pages, Fresia cuts through the matrix of American
> political history - revealing a continuous pattern of elite
> manipulation that began even before the Constitution was
> written. Did you think "checks and balances" were designed to
> prevent tyranny? Guess again. "...the Constitution was
> designed to ensure that real political power in this country
> would always be held by the handful of very large property
> owners and it is no coincidence that that is the case today."
> 
> Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith, eds., "The Case Against
> the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward The Local," Sierra
> Club Books, San Francisco, 1996.
>      This fine collection of forty-three chapters by
> knowledgeable contributors analyzes the broad structure of
> globalization and its institutions, and explores locally
> based and sustainable economic alternatives. An excellent
> introduction, textbook, and reference work.
> 
> Hans-Peter Martin & Harald Schumann, "The Global Trap,
> Globalization & the Assault on Democracy & Prosperity," St.
> Martin's Press, New York, 1997.
>      A best-selling European perspective on globalization.
> Recommended for American audiences in order to understand
> more about the European context.
> 
> William Greider, "Who Will Tell the People, the Betrayal of
> American Democracy," Touchstone - Simon & Schuster, New York,
> 1993.
>      This best seller shows in detail how the American
> democratic process is subverted at every stage by corporate
> interests. Greider was a highly respected journalist for many
> years at the"Washington Post and his high-level contacts
> permit him to present an insider's view of how the
> influence-peddling system actually operates. A chilling
> eye-opener.
> 
>
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Marguerite Hampton
Executive Director - Turtle Island Institute
EcoPilgrim@juno.com
http://tii-kokopellispirit.org