On Monday Adam K. Webb replied,
>
> On Sun, 8 Feb 1998, William Kirk wrote:
>
> > A few years ago there was a TV programme that covered this theme. It was
> > given that six tenth's of all the money in the world was held in three
> > Caribbean islands, all of them British dependencies or former colonies.
>
> Of course I hardly endorse the money laundering practices that you
> condemn, but there is something else worth considering. Over the last
> couple of decades, a large number of insurgent movements have benefited
> from their ability to conceal and transfer large sums of money. (Sendero
> Luminoso, for example, had some $20-30 million stashed away in Swiss
> accounts.) Centralising information may mildly inconvenience the
> gangsters and large-scale tax evaders, but it also may have unintended
> negative consequences for people who wish to see a proliferation of
> antisystemic activity in coming years. Revolution is not cheap. I can
> think of little more beneficial to the powers that be than to be able to
> bankrupt opposing organisations with a single keystroke. Let us not cut
> off our nose to spite our face....
>
> Regards,
> --AKW
I suppose this is too Utopian but my idea of a money system is where
people have a democratic right to detailed knowledge and to end it at a
keystroke. I'd say that if this facility was available the benefits would
override any loss to potential antisystemic groups. In fact the idea of
democratic control of a money system is antisystemic - it is not a
tag-along system of any already existing.
As wealth and resource are concentrated, almost by a natural process, the
inevitable course; the only solution lies in a radical and antisystemic
movement.
I am also worried about the concept of revolution and the perceived
mechanics of what this entails. At a guess, and this is my opinion, the
idea of revolution is unnerving. Alright, you can call me a coward, I'll
sink into feudalism in the hope it might not be just so bad, or I might
fit in, or it might just not happen; how many others have this
Panglossian attitude? Here again this is how I have been brainwashed,
from the vodka adverts of storming the Winter Palace to the coups that
occur world wide, fought with guns and where the 'revolution' is just the
same old system but worse.
A system that allows for democratic control of money is a revolution, and
before it begins it can be said right away it will be different from
anything that exists at present. A democratic system has to be small, and
I see there are rumblings just now over the Euro.
Daily Mail, Monday, Feb. 9th. Report by political editor David Hughes.
'Chancellor Kohl's problems were made worse by reports that a legal
challenge to the single currency mounted by four academics will be
allowed by Germany's highest court.
One of the four, Professor Albrecht Schachtschneider, said the 'Bonn will
shudder' when the ruling is made public.'
'There were also reports yesterday that a prominent member of the
Bundesbank, Reimut Jochimsen, is publishing a book criticising
preparations for a single currency and calling for a delay. For a member
of Germany's central bank to break ranks in such a manner is unheard of.'
The difficulty with this revolution is that it is not front page, and
does not contain the word revolution. While this is going on it looks as
if Scotland, or a large poll at least, have said they agree to tax rises,
as long as it goes to the National Health Service. With that there was a
headline in another tabloid to the effect that perhaps the people should
have a vote on where their tax is spent, not just to say a proportion
should be allocated to the health service. There is no name to this
revolution, how long will it be before the RAIDERS OF THE LAST RESOURCE
figure out it is a revolution?
W. K.