BIS Warns of Deepening Contraction...world wide

BIS Warns of Deepening Contraction (Not for the Fainthearted)

The newly-released annual report of the Bank of International Settlements sounds as if it is unusually lively reading. Most official documents strive for an anodyne tone, while this one appears to be unusually blunt. However, while some reporters have their hands on it, the report is not yet up on the BIS website, so those of us among the great unwashed will have to wait a day or two.In the meantime, we'll turn to Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's write-up at the Telegraph, and assuming his summary is faithful, the BIS author, Bil White, is a man after my own heart. There is a lot of meaty stuff in the BIS report: criticism of bubble-enabling central banks, a forecast of a burst of inflation followed by nasty deflation, and skepticism about the wisdom and viability of fiscal stimulus (explicit and implicit government obligations are already too high). The BIS also charges the regulators (the Fed appears particularly guilty) with having excessively low policy rates and being asleep at the switch as the shadow banking system grew in size and importance.Not even goldbugs can take cheer from this survey. From the Telegraph:
A year ago, the Bank for International Settlements startled the financial world by warning that we might soon face challenges last seen during the onset of the Great Depression. This has proved frighteningly accurate.The venerable body, the ultimate bank of central bankers, said years of loose monetary policy had fuelled a dangerous credit bubble that would entail "much higher costs than is commonly supposed".In a pointed attack on the US Federal Reserve, it said central banks would not find it easy to "clean up" once property bubbles have burst.If only we had all listened to the BIS a long time ago. Ensconced in its Swiss lair, it has fired off anathemas for years, struggling to uphold orthodoxy against the follies of modern central banking.Bill White, the departing chief economist, has now penned his swansong, the BIS's 78th Annual Report, released today. It is a disconcerting read for those who want to hope the global crisis is over."The current market turmoil is without precedent in the postwar period. With a significant risk of recession in the US, compounded by sharply rising inflation in many countries, fears are building that the global economy might be at some kind of tipping point," it said."These fears are not groundless. The magnitude of the problems yet to be faced could be much greater than many now perceive," it said. "It is not impossible that the unwinding of the credit bubble could, after a temporary period of higher inflation, culminate in a deflation that might be hard to manage, all the more so given the high debt levels."Given the constraints under which the BIS must operate, this amounts to a warning that monetary overkill by the Fed, the Bank of England, and above all the European Central Bank could prove dangerous at this juncture.European banks have suffered worse losses on US property than American banks. Their net dollar liabilities are $900bn, mostly short-term loans that have to be rolled over, a costly business with spreads still near panic levels. Mortgage and consumer credit has "demonstrably worsened".The BIS cautions the ECB to handle its lending data with great care. "The statistics may understate the contraction in the supply of credit," it said.The death of securitisation has forced banks to bring portfolios back on to their balance sheets, while firms in need are drawing down pre-arranged credit lines. This is a far cry from a lending recovery.Warning signs are flashing across Eastern Europe (ex-Russia) where short-term foreign debt is 120pc of reserves, mostly in euros and Swiss francs. Current account deficits are 14.6pc of GDP."They could find it difficult to secure foreign funding if global financing conditions were to tighten more severely," it said. Swedish, Austrian and Italian banks have drawn on wholesale markets to lend heavily to subsidiaries across the region. This could "dry up".China is not immune, although the BIS has dropped last year's comment that growth is "unstable, unbalanced, unco-ordinated and unsustainable".The US accounts for 20pc of China's exports, but that does not capture the inter-links across Asia that ultimately depend on US shopping malls. "There is a risk that China's imports overall could slow down sharply should the US economy weaken further," it said.Global banks - with loans of $37 trillion in 2007, or 70pc of world GDP - are still in the eye of the storm."Inter-bank money markets have failed to recover. Of greatest concern at the moment is that still tighter credit conditions will be imposed on non-financial borrowers."In a number of countries, commercial property prices are beginning to soften, traditionally bad news for lenders. These real-financial interactions are potentially both complex and dangerous," it said.Do not count on a fiscal rescue. "Explicit and implicit debts of governments are already so high as to raise doubts about whether all non-contractual commitments will be fully honoured."Dr White says the US sub-prime crisis was the "trigger", not the cause of the disaster. This is not to exonerate the debt-brokers. "It cannot be denied that the originate-to-distribute model (CDOs, CLOs, etc) has had calamitous side-effects. Loans of increasingly poor quality have been made and then sold to the gullible and the greedy," he said.Nor does it exonerate the watchdogs. "How could such a huge shadow banking system emerge without provoking clear statements of official concern?"But there have always been excesses in booms. What has made this so bad is that governments set the price of money too low, enticing the banks into self-destruction."The fundamental cause of today's emerging problems was excessive and imprudent credit growth over a long period. Policy interest rates in the advanced industrial countries have been unusually low," he said.The Fed and fellow central banks instinctively cut rates lower with each cycle to avoid facing the pain. The effect has been to put off the day of reckoning.They could get away with this as long as cheap goods from Asia kept a cap on inflation. It seduced them into letting asset booms get out of hand. This is where the central banks made their colossal blunder."Policymakers interpreted the quiescence in inflation to mean that there was no good reason to raise rates when growth accelerated, and no impediment to lowering them when growth faltered," said the report.After almost two decades of this experiment - more or less the Greenspan years - the game is over. Debt has reached extreme levels, and now inflation has come back to life.The easy trade-off has metamorphosed into a vicious trade-off. This was utterly predictable, and was indeed forecast by the BIS, which plaintively suggested in this report that central banks might like to think of an "exit strategy" next time they try such ploys.In effect, this is an indictment of rigid inflation targets (such as Britain's), which prevent central banks from launching a pre-emptive strike against asset bubbles. In the 1990s, they should have torn up the rule-book and let inflation turn negative in light of the Asia effect.The BIS suggests that a mix of "systemic indicators" should be used. The crucial objective is to slow credit growth and make sure that the punchbowl is taken away before the drunks run riot. "We need policy measures to lean against credit-drive excess," it said.If there are going to be more bail-outs on both sides of the Atlantic - as there will be - the "socialised risks" should be taken on by political systems, and not dumped on the books of central banks."Should governments feel it necessary to take direct actions to alleviate debt burdens, it is crucial that they understand one thing beforehand. If asset prices are unrealistically high, they must fall. If savings rates are unrealistically low, they must rise. If debts cannot be serviced, they must be written off."To deny this through the use of gimmicks and palliatives will only make things worse in the end," he said.Let us all cheer Dr White off the stage.
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:23 AM
Topics: Banking industry, Economic fundamentals, Federal Reserve, Regulations and regulators

MSG: The Slow Poisoning of Humanity..MSG..hides behind 25+ names...

MSG
- The Slow Poisoning Of America
MSG Hides Behind 25+ Names,
Such As 'Natural Flavouring' MSG
Is Also In Your Favorite Coffee Shops
And Drive-Ups 9-12-5

I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, so did a friend of mine, John Erb.

He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government.

He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called "The Slow Poisoning of America".

In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates; causing rats (and humans?) to become obese. They even have a title for the fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats".

I was shocked too. I went to my kitchen, checking the cupboards and the fridge. MSG was in everything: The Campbell's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavoured potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones.

The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called ''Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein'', which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.

It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. They hide MSG under many different names in order to fool those who carefully read the ingredient list, so they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG: 'Accent' - 'Aginomoto' - 'Natural Meet Tenderizer', etc) But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items had MSG.

Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere:

Burger King
McDonalds
Wendy's
Taco Bell

And every restaurant like: TGIF, Chilis', Applebees and Denny's use MSG in abundance.

Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in EVERY chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin, their secret spice was MSG.

So, why is MSG in so may of the foods we eat?

Is it a preservative or a vitamin?? Not according to my friend John. In the book he wrote, an expose of the food additive industry called "The Slow Poisoning of America" he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body. http://www.spofamerica.com

Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG at: http://www.msgfactscom/facts/msgfact12.html explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people EAT MORE OF THEIR PRODUCTS.

A study of the elderly showed that people eat more of the foods it is added to.The Glutamate Association lobby group says eating more benefits the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us? 'Betcha can't eat just one', takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight?

The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.

Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance! Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday.The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount. How can they claim it safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these? :-

'The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity'. GobattoCA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA.Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.

'Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats'. Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.

'Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: an animal model of multiple risk factors'. Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, IchikawaK, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar.

'Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity'. Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K, Kusunoki Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct.

Yes, that last study was not a typo, it WAS written in 1978. Both the "medical research community" and "food manufacturers" have known about MSG's side effects for decades! Many more studies mentioned in John Erb's book link MSG to Diabetes, Migraines and headaches, Autism, ADHD and even Alzheimer's. But what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see?

Even as you read this, G. W. Bush and his corporate supporters are pushing a Bill through Congress called the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" also known as the "Cheeseburger Bill", this sweeping law bans anyone from suing food manufacturers, sellers and distributors. Even if it comes out that they purposely added an addictive chemical to their foods. Read about it for yourself at: http://www.yahoo.com. The Bill has already been rushed through the House of Representatives, and is due for the same rubber stamp at Senate level. It is important that Bush and his corporate supporters get it through before the media lets everyone know about 'MSG, the intentional Nicotine for food'.

Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada. While sitting in the Government office, the official told him "Sure, I know how bad MSG is, I wouldn't touch the stuff." But this top level government official refused to tell the public what he knew.

The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing legal issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive. But what can I do about it?... I'm just one voice.

What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us.

This e-mail is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you the truth that the corporate owned politicians and media won't tell you. The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic, is to forward this email to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us. The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on Nicotine?

If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us, and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine, at http://www.pubmed.com. Type in the words "MSG Obese" and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.

We the public, do not want to be rats in one giant experiment and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry's bottom line, while waiting for the heart transplant, diabetic induced amputation, blindness or other obesity induced, life threatening disorders. With your help we can put an end to this poison. Do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail or by distribution of this print-out to all your friends all over the world and stop this 'Slow Poisoning of Mankind' by the packaged food industry.

Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, get the word out.



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World Muslim Population by Country/Region

An analysis of the World Muslim population by Country / Region

Region
Country
Total Population
%age Muslim pop.
MuslimPop.
Asia & Pacif.
Afghanistan
26,813,057
99.0%
26,544,926
Eur
Albania
3,510,484
70.0%
2,457,339
N.Af. & M.E.
Algeria
30,791,000
99.0%
30,483,090
Africa
Angola
10,366,031
25.0%
2,591,508
L.Am.&Carib
Antigua Barbuda
66,970
0.0%
-
L.Am.&Carib
Argentina
37,384,816
2.1%
785,081
Asia & Pacif.
Armenia
3,336,100
1.0%
33,361
L.Am.&Carib
Aruba
70,007
5.0%
3,500
Asia & Pacif.
Australia
19,357,594
0.1%
19,358
Eur
Austria
8,150,835
2.2%
181,764
Asia & Pacif.
Azerbaijan
7,771,092
93.4%
7,258,200
L.Am.&Carib
Bahamas, The
297,852
0.0%
-
N.Af. & M.E.
Bahrain
645,361
100.0%
645,361
Asia & Pacif.
Bangladesh
131,269,860
88.0%
115,517,477
L.Am.&Carib
Barbados
275,330
0.0%
817.00
Russian states
Belarus
10,350,194
5.0%
517,510
Eur
Belgium
10,258,762
3.6%
369,315
L.Am.&Carib
Belize
256,062
0.0%
-
Africa
Benin
6,590,782
20.0%
1,318,156
Asia & Pacif.
Bhutan
2,049,412
5.0%
102,471
L.Am.&Carib
Bolivia
8,300,463
0.0%
-
Eur
Bosnia-Herzegovina
3,922,205
60.0%
2,353,323
Africa
Botswana
1,586,119
5.0%
79,306
L.Am.&Carib
Brazil
174,468,575
1.1%
1,919,154
Asia & Pacif.
Brunei
343,653
67.0%
230,248
Eur
Bulgaria
7,707,495
11.9%
914,880
Africa
Burkina-Faso
12,272,289
50.0%
6,136,145
Asia & Pacif.
Burma
41,994,678
4.0%
1,679,787
Africa
Burundi
6,223,897
20.0%
1,244,779
Asia & Pacif.
Cambodia
12,491,501
1.0%
124,915
Africa
Cameroon
15,803,220
55.0%
8,691,771
N. Amer.
Canada
31,592,805
1.5%
473,892
Atlantic Ocean
Cape Verde
405,163
0.0%
0
Africa
Central African Republic
3,576,884
55.0%
1,967,286
N.Af. & M.E.
Chad
8,707,078
85.0%
7,401,016
L.Am.&Carib
Chile
15,328,467
1.0%
153,285
Asia & Pacif.
China
1,273,111,290
3.0%
38,193,339
Asia & Pacif.
Christmas Island
2,771
10.0%
277
Asia & Pacif.
Cocos (Keeling) Island
633
57.0%
361
L.Am.&Carib
Colombia
40,349,388
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Comoros
596,202
98.0%
584,278
Africa
Congo, Dem. Rep. of the
53,624,718
10.0%
5,362,472
Africa
Congo, Republic of the
2,894,336
15.0%
434,150
L.Am.&Carib
Costa Rica
3,773,057
0.0%
0
Africa
Cote d'-voire
14,762,445
60.0%
8,857,467
Eur
Croatia
5,004,112
1.2%
60,049
L.Am.&Carib
Cuba
11,184,023
0.0%
0
Eur
Cyprus
744,609
33.0%
245,721
Eur
Czech Republic
10,264,212
2.0%
205,284
Eur
Denmark
5,352,815
2.0%
107,056
Africa
Djibouti
427,642
94.0%
401,983
L.Am.&Carib
Dominican Republic
8,581,477
0.0%
0
L.Am.&Carib
Ecuador
13,183,978
0.0%
0
N.Af. & M.E.
Egypt
69,536,644
94.0%
65,364,445
L.Am.&Carib
El Salvador
6,237,662
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Equatorial Guinea
431,282
25.0%
107,821
Africa
Eritrea
3,427,883
80.0%
2,742,306
Eur
Estonia
1,423,316
0.7%
9,963
Africa
Ethiopia
57,171,662
65.0%
37,161,580
Asia & Pacif.
Fiji
782,381
11.0%
86,062
Eur
Finland
5,175,783
0.2%
9,316
Eur
France
59,551,227
10.0%
5,955,123
Africa
Gabon
1,172,798
1.0%
11,728
Africa
Gambia
1,204,984
90.0%
1,084,486
N.Af. & M.E.
Gaza Strip
923,940
98.7%
911,929
Asia & Pacif.
Georgia
5,219,810
11.0%
574,179
Eur
Germany
83,536,115
3.7%
3,090,836
Africa
Ghana
17,698,271
30.0%
5,309,481
Eur
Gibraltar
28,765
8.5%
2,445
Eur
Greece
10,538,594
1.5%
158,079
L.Am.&Carib
Guatemala
12,974,361
0.0%
0
Africa
Guinea
7,411,981
95.0%
7,041,382
Africa
Guinea Bissau
1,151,330
70.0%
805,931
L.Am.&Carib
Guyana
712,091
15.0%
106,814
L.Am.&Carib
Haiti
6,964,549
0.0%
0
L.Am.&Carib
Honduras
6,406,052
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Hong Kong
6,305,413
1.0%
63,054
Eur
Hungary
10,106,017
6.0%
606,361
Eur
Iceland
277,906
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
India
1,029,991,145
14.0%
144,198,760
Asia & Pacif.
Indonesia
228,437,870
88.0%
201,025,326
N.Af. & M.E.
Iran
66,094,264
99.0%
65,433,321
N.Af. & M.E.
Iraq
21,422,292
97.0%
20,779,623
Eur
Ireland
3,840,838
2.0%
76,817
N.Af. & M.E.
Israel
5,421,995
14.0%
759,079
Eur
Italy
57,460,274
2.4%
1,379,047
L.Am.&Carib
Jamaica
2,665,636
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Japan
125,449,703
1.0%
1,254,497
N.Af. & M.E.
Jordan
4,212,152
95.0%
4,001,544
Asia & Pacif.
Kazakstan
16,916,463
51.2%
8,661,229
Africa
Kenya
28,176,686
29.5%
8,312,122
Asia & Pacif.
Korea, North
21,968,228
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Korea, South
47,904,370
1.0%
479,044
N.Af. & M.E.
Kuwait
1,950,047
89.0%
1,735,542
Asia & Pacif.
Kyrgyzstan
4,529,648
76.1%
3,447,062
Asia & Pacif.
Laos
5,635,967
2.0%
112,719
Eur
Latvia
2,385,231
0.4%
9,064
N.Af. & M.E.
Lebanon
3,776,317
70.0%
2,643,422
Africa
Lesotho
1,970,781
10.0%
197,078
Africa
Liberia
2,109,789
30.0%
632,937
N.Af. & M.E.
Libya
5,445,436
100.0%
5,445,436
Eur
Lithuania
3,610,535
0.1%
5,055
Eur
Macedonia
2,104,035
30.0%
631,211
Africa
Madagascar
13,670,507
20.0%
2,734,101
Africa
Malawi
9,452,844
35.0%
3,308,495
Asia & Pacif.
Malaysia
19,962,893
52.0%
10,380,704
Africa
Maldives
270,758
100.0%
270,758
Africa
Mali
9,653,261
90.0%
8,687,935
Eur
Malta
375,576
14.0%
52,581
Africa
Mauritania
2,336,048
100.0%
2,336,048
Africa
Mauritius
1,140,256
19.5%
222,350
Africa
Mayotte
100,838
99.0%
99,830
N. Amer.
Mexico
101,879,171
0.0%
0
Russian states
Moldova
4,431,570
0.2%
8,863
Asia & Pacif.
Mongolia
2,496,617
4.0%
99,865
N.Af. & M.E.
Morocco
29,779,156
98.7%
29,392,027
Africa
Mozambique
17,877,927
29.0%
5,184,599
Africa
Namibia
1,677,243
5.0%
83,862
Asia & Pacif.
Nepal
22,094,033
4.0%
883,761
Eur
Netherlands
15,568,034
5.4%
840,674
Asia & Pacif.
New Zealand
3,864,129
1.0%
38,641
L.Am.&Carib
Nicaragua
4,918,393
0.0%
0
Africa
Niger
9,113,001
91.0%
8,292,831
Africa
Nigeria
126,635,626
75.0%
94,976,720
Eur
Norway
4,438,547
1.0%
46,161
N.Af. & M.E.
Oman
2,186,548
100.0%
2,186,548
Asia & Pacif.
Pakistan
144,616,639
97.0%
140,278,140
L.Am.&Carib
Panama
2,655,094
4.0%
106,204
Asia & Pacif.
Papua New Guinea
5,049,055
0.0%
0
L.Am.&Carib
Paraguay
5,734,139
0.0%
0
L.Am.&Carib
Peru
27,483,864
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Philippines
74,480,848
14.0%
10,427,319
Eur
Poland
38,633,912
2.0%
772,678
Eur
Portugal
10,066,253
0.5%
50,331
L.Am.&Carib
Puerto Rico
3,937,316
0.0%
0
N.Af. & M.E.
Qatar
547,761
100.0%
547,761
Africa
Reunion
679,198
20.0%
135,840
Eur
Romania
21,657,162
1.0%
216,572
Russian states
Russia
145,470,197
10.2%
14,837,960
Africa
Rwanda
7,312,756
14.0%
1,023,786
N.Af. & M.E.
Saudi Arabia
19,409,058
100.0%
19,409,058
Africa
Senegal
9,092,749
95.0%
8,638,112
Africa
Sierra Leone
4,793,121
65.0%
3,115,529
Asia & Pacif.
Singapore
3,396,924
17.0%
577,477
Eur
Slovakia
5,414,937
0.2%
10,830
Eur
Slovenia
1,951,443
1.6%
30,247
Africa
Somalia
9,639,151
100.0%
9,639,151
Africa
South Africa
41,743,459
2.0%
834,869
Eur
Spain
40,037,995
1.2%
480,456
Asia & Pacif.
Sri Lanka
18,553,074
9.0%
1,669,777
Africa
Sudan
31,547,543
85.0%
26,815,412
Asia & Pacif.
Suriname
436,418
25.0%
109,105
Africa
Swaziland
998,730
10.0%
99,873
Eur
Sweden
9,800,000
3.1%
303,800
Eur
Switzerland
7,283,274
3.1%
225,781
N.Af. & M.E.
Syria
15,608,648
90.0%
14,047,783
Asia & Pacif.
Taiwan
22,370,461
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Tajikistan
5,916,373
85.0%
5,028,917
Africa
Tanzania
29,058,470
65.0%
18,888,006
Asia & Pacif.
Thailand
58,851,357
14.0%
8,239,190
Africa
Togo
4,570,530
55.0%
2,513,792
L.Am.&Carib
Trinidad and Tobago
1,272,385
12.0%
152,686
N.Af. & M.E.
Tunisia
9,019,687
98.0%
8,839,293
Eur
Turkey
66,493,970
99.6%
66,254,592
Asia & Pacif.
Turkmenistan
4,149,283
87.0%
3,609,876
Africa
Uganda
20,158,176
36.0%
7,256,943
Asia & Pacif.
Ukraine
48,760,474
0.5%
219,422
N.Af. & M.E.
United Arab Emirates
3,057,337
96.0%
2,935,044
Eur
United Kingdom
58,489,975
2.0%
1,169,800
N. Amer.
United States
278,058,881
3.5%
9,732,061
L.Am.&Carib
Uruguay
3,360,105
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Uzbekistan
23,418,381
88.0%
20,608,175
L.Am.&Carib
Venezuela
23,916,810
0.0%
0
Asia & Pacif.
Vietnam
79,939,014
1.0%
799,390
N.Af. & M.E.
West Bank
2,090,713
75.0%
1,568,035
N.Af. & M.E.
Western Sahara
222,631
100.0%
222,631
N.Af. & M.E.
Yemen
13,483,178
99.0%
13,348,346
Eur
Yugoslavia
10,677,290
19.0%
2,028,685
Africa
Zambia
9,159,072
15.0%
1,373,861
Africa
Zimbabwe
11,271,314
15.0%
1,690,697

Total
6,036,972,881
0.0%
1,480,083,062

Investment Property Specialists / Project Development & Finance & Off Plan Sales

World Fact Book

Legend: Definition Field Listing Rank Order

Introduction
Panama
Top of Page
Background:
Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela - named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When the latter dissolved in 1830, Panama remained part of Colombia. With US backing, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903 and promptly signed a treaty with the US allowing for the construction of a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure (the Panama Canal Zone). The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the US to Panama by the end of the century. Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility over the Canal were turned over in the subsequent decades. With US help, dictator Manuel NORIEGA was deposed in 1989. The entire Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and remaining US military bases were transferred to Panama by the end of 1999. In October 2006, Panamanians approved an ambitious plan to expand the Canal. The project, which began in 2007 and could double the Canal's capacity, is expected to be completed in 2014-15.

Geography
Panama
Top of Page
Location:
Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica
Geographic coordinates:
9 00 N, 80 00 W
Map references:
Central America and the Caribbean
Area:
total: 78,200 sq km land: 75,990 sq km water: 2,210 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than South Carolina
Land boundaries:
total: 555 km border countries: Colombia 225 km, Costa Rica 330 km
Coastline:
2,490 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm or edge of continental margin
Climate:
tropical maritime; hot, humid, cloudy; prolonged rainy season (May to January), short dry season (January to May)
Terrain:
interior mostly steep, rugged mountains and dissected, upland plains; coastal areas largely plains and rolling hills
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Volcan Baru 3,475 m
Natural resources:
copper, mahogany forests, shrimp, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 7.26% permanent crops: 1.95% other: 90.79% (2005)
Irrigated land:
430 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
148 cu km (2000)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 0.82 cu km/yr (67%/5%/28%) per capita: 254 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards:
occasional severe storms and forest fires in the Darien area
Environment - current issues:
water pollution from agricultural runoff threatens fishery resources; deforestation of tropical rain forest; land degradation and soil erosion threatens siltation of Panama Canal; air pollution in urban areas; mining threatens natural resources
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note:
strategic location on eastern end of isthmus forming land bridge connecting North and South America; controls Panama Canal that links North Atlantic Ocean via Caribbean Sea with North Pacific Ocean

People
Panama
Top of Page
Population:
3,292,693 (July 2008 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 29.8% (male 500,579/female 480,635) 15-64 years: 63.6% (male 1,061,446/female 1,033,675) 65 years and over: 6.6% (male 100,780/female 115,578) (2008 est.)
Median age:
total: 26.6 years male: 26.3 years female: 26.9 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.528% (2008 est.)
Birth rate:
21.15 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate:
5.52 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate:
-0.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.87 male(s)/female total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 15.62 deaths/1,000 live births male: 16.95 deaths/1,000 live births female: 14.22 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.17 years male: 72.71 years female: 77.73 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.65 children born/woman (2008 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.9% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
16,000 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
fewer than 500 (2003 est.)
Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: intermediate food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A vectorborne disease: dengue fever and malaria water contact disease: leptospirosis (2008)
Nationality:
noun: Panamanian(s) adjective: Panamanian
Ethnic groups:
mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 70%, Amerindian and mixed (West Indian) 14%, white 10%, Amerindian 6%
Religions:
Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant 15%
Languages:
Spanish (official), English 14%; note - many Panamanians bilingual
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 91.9% male: 92.5% female: 91.2% (2000 census)

Government
Panama
Top of Page
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Panama conventional short form: Panama local long form: Republica de Panama local short form: Panama
Government type:
constitutional democracy
Capital:
name: Panama geographic coordinates: 8 58 N, 79 32 W time difference: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
11 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia) and 1 territory* (comarca); Bocas del Toro, Comarca Kuna Yala, Comarca Ngobe-Bugle, Chiriqui, Cocle, Colon, Darien, Herrera, Los Santos, Panama, San Blas*(Kuna Yala), and Veraguas
Independence:
3 November 1903 (from Colombia; became independent from Spain 28 November 1821)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 3 November (1903)
Constitution:
11 October 1972; major reforms adopted 1978, 1983, 1994, and 2004
Legal system:
based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court of Justice; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Martin TORRIJOS Espino (since 1 September 2004); First Vice President Samuel LEWIS Navarro (since 1 September 2004); Second Vice President Ruben AROSEMENA Valdes (since 1 September 2004); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Martin TORRIJOS Espino (since 1 September 2004); First Vice President Samuel LEWIS Navarro (since 1 September 2004); Second Vice President Ruben AROSEMENA Valdes (since 1 September 2004) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president and vice presidents elected on the same ticket by popular vote for five-year terms (not eligible for immediate reelection; president and vice presidents must sit out two additional terms (10 years) before becoming eligible for reelection); election last held 2 May 2004 (next to be held on 3 May 2009); note - beginning in 2009, Panama will have only one vice president election results: Martin TORRIJOS Espino elected president; percent of vote - Martin TORRIJOS Espino 47.5%, Guillermo ENDARA Galimany 30.6%, Jose Miguel ALEMAN 17%, Ricardo MARTINELLI 4.9% note: government coalition - PRD (Democratic Revolutionary Party), PP (Popular Party)
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (78 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms); note - in 2009, the number of seats will change to 71 elections: last held 2 May 2004 (next to be held 3 May 2009) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PRD 41, PA 17, PS 9, MOLIRENA 4, CD 3, PLN 3, PP 1 note: legislators from outlying rural districts are chosen on a plurality basis while districts located in more populous towns and cities elect multiple legislators by means of a proportion-based formula
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (nine judges appointed for 10-year terms); five superior courts; three courts of appeal
Political parties and leaders:
Democratic Change or CD [Ricardo MARTINELLI]; Democratic Revolutionary Party or PRD [Hugo GUIRAUD]; Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement or MOLIRENA [Gisela CHUNG]; Panamenista Party or PA [Juan Carlos VARELA] (formerly the Arnulfista Party); Patriotic Union Party or PU (combination of the Liberal National Party or PLN and the Solidarity Party or PS)[Jose Raul MULINO and Anibal GALINDO]; Popular Party or PP [Rene ORILLAC] (formerly Christian Democratic Party or PDC)
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Chamber of Commerce; National Civic Crusade; National Council of Organized Workers or CONATO; National Council of Private Enterprise or CONEP; National Union of Construction and Similar Workers (SUNTRACS); Panamanian Association of Business Executives or APEDE; Panamanian Industrialists Society or SIP; Workers Confederation of the Republic of Panama or CTRP
International organization participation:
BCIE, CAN (observer), CSN (observer), FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Federico HUMBERT Arias chancery: 2862 McGill Terrace NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 483-1407 FAX: [1] (202) 483-8416 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Honolulu, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Tampa
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador William A. EATON embassy: Edificio 783, Avenida Demetrio Basilio Lakas Panama, Apartado Postal 0816-02561, Zona 5, Panama City 5 mailing address: American Embassy Panama, Unit 0945, APO AA 34002 telephone: [507] 207-7000 FAX: [507] 227-1964
Flag description:
divided into four, equal rectangles; the top quadrants are white (hoist side) with a blue five-pointed star in the center and plain red; the bottom quadrants are plain blue (hoist side) and white with a red five-pointed star in the center

Economy
Panama
Top of Page
Economy - overview:
Panama's dollarized economy rests primarily on a well-developed services sector that accounts for two-thirds of GDP. Services include operating the Panama Canal, banking, the Colon Free Zone, insurance, container ports, flagship registry, and tourism. Economic growth will be bolstered by the Panama Canal expansion project that began in 2007 and should be completed by 2014 at a cost of $5.3 billion (about 30% of current GDP). The expansion project will more than double the Canal's capacity, enabling it to accommodate ships that are now too large to transverse the transoceanic crossway and should help to reduce the high unemployment rate. The government has implemented tax reforms, as well as social security reforms, and backs regional trade agreements and development of tourism. Not a CAFTA signatory, Panama in December 2006 independently negotiated a free trade agreement with the US, which, when implemented, will help promote the country's economic growth.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$34.51 billion (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$19.74 billion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
11.2% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$10,300 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 6.6% industry: 16.4% services: 77% (2007 est.)
Labor force:
1.362 million note: shortage of skilled labor, but an oversupply of unskilled labor (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 15% industry: 18% services: 67% (2006)
Unemployment rate:
6.4% (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line:
37% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.7% highest 10%: 43% (2003)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
56.1 (2003)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.2% (2007 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
20.1% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $5.505 billion expenditures: $4.822 billion (2007 est.)
Public debt:
52.8% of GDP (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products:
bananas, rice, corn, coffee, sugarcane, vegetables; livestock; shrimp
Industries:
construction, brewing, cement and other construction materials, sugar milling
Industrial production growth rate:
10.5% (2007 est.)
Electricity - production:
5.661 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - consumption:
4.735 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports:
51 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports:
55 million kWh (2005)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption:
93,000 bbl/day (2006 est.)
Oil - exports:
4,140 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports:
92,170 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves:
0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2005)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Current account balance:
-$1.579 billion (2007 est.)
Exports:
$9.312 billion f.o.b.; note - includes the Colon Free Zone (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities:
bananas, shrimp, sugar, coffee, clothing
Exports - partners:
US 39.8%, Spain 8.1%, Netherlands 6.7%, Sweden 5.6%, Costa Rica 4.5% (2006)
Imports:
$12.63 billion f.o.b. note: includes the Colon Free Zone (2007 est.)
Imports - commodities:
capital goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, chemicals
Imports - partners:
US 27%, Netherlands Antilles 10.1%, Costa Rica 5.1%, Japan 4.7% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient:
$19.54 million (2005)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$1.935 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external:
$10.45 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$NA
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$NA
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$5.074 billion (2005)
Currency (code):
balboa (PAB); US dollar (USD)
Exchange rates:
balboas per US dollar - 1 (2007), 1 (2006), 1 (2005), 1 (2004), 1 (2003)
Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications
Panama
Top of Page
Telephones - main lines in use:
432,900 (2006)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
1.694 million (2005)
Telephone system:
general assessment: domestic and international facilities well developed domestic: combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity is approaching 70 per 100 persons international: country code - 507; landing point for the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1), the MAYA-1, and PAN-AM submarine cable systems that together provide links to the US, and parts of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); connected to the Central American Microwave System
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 101, FM 134, shortwave 0 (1998)
Television broadcast stations:
38 (including repeaters) (1998)
Internet country code:
.pa
Internet hosts:
7,078 (2007)
Internet users:
220,000 (2006)

Transportation
Panama
Top of Page
Airports:
116 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 54 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 18 under 914 m: 29 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 62 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 50 (2007)
Heliports:
2 (2007)
Railways:
total: 355 km standard gauge: 77 km 1.435-m gauge narrow gauge: 278 km 0.914-m gauge (2006)
Roadways:
total: 11,643 km paved: 4,028 km unpaved: 7,615 km (2000)
Waterways:
800 km (includes 82 km Panama Canal) (2007)

Merchant marine:
total: 5,764 ships (1000 GRT or over) 159,649,801 GRT/240,190,316 DWT by type: barge carrier 2, bulk carrier 1,940, cargo 1,034, carrier 3, chemical tanker 507, combination ore/oil 6, container 710, liquefied gas 191, livestock carrier 7, passenger 46, passenger/cargo 72, petroleum tanker 522, refrigerated cargo 288, roll on/roll off 129, specialized tanker 22, vehicle carrier 285 foreign-owned: 4,949 (Albania 1, Argentina 8, Australia 4, Bahamas 2, Bangladesh 1, Belgium 11, Bulgaria 1, Canada 17, Chile 8, China 473, Colombia 4, Croatia 6, Cuba 11, Cyprus 15, Denmark 32, Dominican Republic 1, Ecuador 2, Egypt 13, Estonia 3, France 15, Gabon 1, Germany 38, Greece 505, Hong Kong 137, India 25, Indonesia 37, Iran 4, Ireland 1, Israel 2, Italy 10, Jamaica 1, Japan 2,151, Jordan 11, South Korea 316, Kuwait 1, Latvia 5, Lebanon 3, Lithuania 5, Malaysia 14, Maldives 1, Malta 2, Mexico 4, Monaco 11, Netherlands 14, Nigeria 6, Norway 60, Oman 1, Pakistan 5, Peru 15, Philippines 12, Poland 15, Portugal 9, Qatar 1, Romania 8, Russia 9, Saudi Arabia 14, Singapore 83, Spain 61, Sri Lanka 3, Sweden 9, Switzerland 26, Syria 24, Taiwan 306, Thailand 10, Turkey 53, Turks and Caicos Islands 1, Ukraine 8, UAE 108, UK 35, US 115, Venezuela 10, Vietnam 10, Yemen 5) registered in other countries: 1 (Venezuela 1) (2007)
Ports and terminals:
Balboa, Colon, Cristobal

Military
Panama
Top of Page
Military branches:
no regular military forces; Panamanian Public Forces or PPF includes the Panamanian National Police (PNP), National Maritime Service (NMS), and National Air Service (NAS) (2008)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 851,044 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 673,103 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
males age 16-49: 30,348 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1% (2006)

Military - note:
on 10 February 1990, the government of then President ENDARA abolished Panama's military and reformed the security apparatus by creating the Panamanian Public Forces; in October 1994, Panama's Legislative Assembly approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting the creation of a standing military force but allowing the temporary establishment of special police units to counter acts of "external aggression"

Transnational Issues
Panama
Top of Page
Disputes - international:
organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia operate within the remote border region with Panama
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - (2008)
Illicit drugs:
major cocaine transshipment point and primary money-laundering center for narcotics revenue; money-laundering activity is especially heavy in the Colon Free Zone; offshore financial center; negligible signs of coca cultivation; monitoring of financial transactions is improving; official corruption remains a major problem
This page was last updated on 19 June 2008

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control
the issue of their currency,

first by inflation,

then by deflation,

the banks and corporations that will grow up around them

will deprive the people of all property

until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

The issuing issuance of the currency power

should be taken from the banks
and restored to the people,
to whom it properly belongs."
- Thomas Jefferson,

Letter to Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin (1802)

In Panama today, we are being robbed
of our national territory,
natural resources and left propertyless
by private banking and corporate interests, national and foreign.

work for the public interest

Elections, Capitalism, And Democracy
By Charles Sullivan26/06/08 "ICH" -- -

Because so many of the people on the political left fear that John McCain will become the next president, they have allowed themselves to see the very moderate democratic candidate, Barach Obama, as a desirable alternative to the decidedly ghoulish McCain, rather than supporting a genuine progressive like Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, or Ralph Nader.

They thus perceive Obama to be far more progressive than he really is. Such comparisons lead us down a dichotomous pathway that assures a continuous drift to the right.Each election cycle the people on the left find themselves out-flanked by those on the right by allowing them to frame the debate and to define who we are. So each election we end up supporting a very moderate candidate rather than a truly progressive one.

Because all of the mainstream candidates are intensively influenced by corporate lobbyists and the electoral system is owned by capital, democracy has remained as elusive as capturing the ghost of a saint with a piece of duct tape.According to Ambrose I. Lane Sr., host of Pacifica radio’s “We Ourselves,” John McCain has the third most conservative voting record of anyone in the senate. Running an extremist from the opposite end of the political spectrum forces the democratic candidate further to the right than he or she already is.

So when progressives fall into this trap, as they so often do, it is a win-win for the corporate lobbyists pulling the strings behind the curtain. They end up supporting a candidate they think can compete against extremists rather than one who actually represents their values.

If you have to become like your opponent in order to defeat them, what can you honesty say has been won?Progressives cannot gain ground by ceding their ideology to their conservative opponents in order to gain office. Without having a viable candidate coming from the far left of the Democratic Party, progressives cannot reasonably expect to push the debate back toward the political center, much less to the left of center. You can make a good case, however, that the democratic leadership under Howard Dean has no real desire to move to the left or to represent traditional progressive values. It likes the status quo just fine; a position that has served its corporate funders well.

Because it has been co-opted by corporate lobbyists—who always hedge their bets—the Democratic Party no longer houses a genuine left-wing faction that can effectively compete for votes in a way that emulates the success of the far right. Because right-wing extremism and corporate fascism are portrayed in the corporate media as reasonable centrist positions beneficial to the people—that is how they are perceived by those who receive their political education from those sources.

Thus extremism packaged as democracy is widely considered to be the norm when, in fact, it is not; it is fanaticism couched as something much more benign or beneficial, even if it is a poison pill. Yet it is this extremism that undermines the interests of the nation’s working class people and keeps them subservient to corporate fascism. Voting for meaningful change is like running on a treadmill and expecting to actually go somewhere.

The problem is that capital, rather than informed citizens interested in democracy, is in control of the electoral process. Capital furthers the interest of capital, rather than the interest of the people, and this creates an irreconcilable conflict with genuine human interests. So we end up with a sociopolitical system that is not only fundamentally unjust; it is also predatory and cannibalistic. It consumes the very people who feed it and give it the appearance of legitimacy: the great unwashed working class.

Capitalism flourishes, for a short time, at least, by socializing costs and by privatizing profits and this concentrates and centralizes power into the hands of a select few. Its real purpose is not to serve people; it is to exploit them. Capitalism isn’t even a natural system; it is a purely human construct that has no basis in nature. It is a synthetic system and, as we have seen through chemistry, synthetic systems tend to become mutagens, and thus promote cancer.Due in part to their extreme political naiveté and to delusional thinking, too many people have accepted corporate fascism as a centrist or “normal” position.

Thus they have unwittingly allowed predatory and cannibalistic forces—unregulated markets—to determine the fate of the nation and its people. Neoconservatives and neoliberals, alike, have defined the free market as an unregulated market, which has become their concept of democracy. The so called free market is not under the control of human beings in any meaningful sense, and it does not respond to human needs. Like a creation of Frankenstein, it is a man-made monster that has escaped from the laboratory and is wreaking havoc across the countryside, menacing everyone and everything in its gargantuan steel-booted path.By themselves, markets are not necessarily a bad thing.

Certainly people need commerce and trade. However, it is when markets are deregulated—as required by the adherents of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics—that they turn upon people and become predatory, undemocratic, and cannibalistic. When markets are given more power and more rights than people, people will cede not only their power to them, but also their humanity. This is how markets have become all-powerful entities that have no soul or conscience and are answerable to no one: monstrosities in every sense of the word.

I would argue, however, that the object of commerce and trade should be to serve people and to benefit the whole of society, rather than to generate enormous profits for the benefit of a select few. Commerce without democracy cannot help us toward a free and democratic society; it can only undermine our every effort at genuine democratization.Either you work for the public interest or you work for self-interest. It is this assertion that finally brings us back to our starting point—the electoral process. Because the process is under the control of capital rather than working class people, it undermines the democratic process and substitutes something else in its place. That process has led us to where we are and it can never take us back to where we started from. Nor can it ever lead us to genuine democracy or to justice. It can only bear the fruit of its own seeds; it can only provide us with more of what it has already produced.

If we the people are serious about real democratic government, we must work for it outside of the electoral process, as well as from within.

We must organize a revolutionary force so powerful that it cannot be ignored or denied. We must institute effective and prolonged economic boycotts. We must organize work slow-downs, work stoppages, and general strikes in order to make corrupt government feel our pain. We must create labor unions that genuinely fight for worker’s rights while simultaneously transitioning the country away from an exploitive and self-destructive capital economy toward a people-oriented economy based upon need, rather than privatized profit subsidized by public funds.

These are the means to creating a democratic workplace and bringing malignant capitalism to a grinding halt.

The electoral process does not provide the tools for revolution; it subverts the process and only delays the inevitable.While Barach Obama has run for the presidency on the premise of change, his ideology is fundamentally the same as the presidents who came before him: the economic theories of Milton Friedman and the belief in corporate deregulation; profits before people. Obama’s economic advisers subscribe to the same economic theorem that brought us the trickle down economics of Ronald Reagan and his disastrous foreign policy.

Obama’s foreign policy advisers subscribe to the same philosophy that brought us the invasion of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestine; every one of them a war-mongering imperialist with close ties to the military industrial complex with its nexus of profiteering.

His energy policy team has great faith in clean coal and safe nuclear energy, neither of which exists.Because the Obama team is anything but revolutionary, it is unreasonable to expect them to produce polices significantly different than the ones that are already in play. We saw this with Bill Clinton who campaigned on promises to do one thing but, once elected, did another. Clinton won office by being more right-wing than his republican opponent. That was no victory for progressives. How could it be?This is not to say that Barach Obama is a bad person in any way.

Certainly, he is an intelligent man of reasonably good character and a fine orator, but that does not qualify him as representative of the people or the democracy they so desperately need.

Is he a better choice than John McCain? Without doubt he is. But then, so is almost anyone else. A toadstool would be a better choice than McCain. We must remember that Obama has been groomed to become president some day and that grooming was provided by special interests whose unstated purpose is to undermine genuine democracy by substituting an imposter in its place. They are convinced that the American people won’t know the difference. So don’t expect any significant changes under Obama, despite all of the campaign rhetoric to the contrary.The presence of McCain makes the very moderate Obama an appealing alternative and that assures victory for the status quo.

It frightens progressive voters away from supporting real progressives like Dennis Kucinich or Cynthia McKinney. Barach Obama was the real choice of the established orthodoxy all along. The marketing strategists have used John McCain to funnel the votes toward Obama and away from genuine progressives. That is where the real fight was.

You can call it voting in the absence of real choice because that is precisely what it is. The same policies that have been in play for decades will continue on and we will keep getting a similar result.Obama’s recent endorsement of warrantless wire-tapping is not only evidence of his belonging to the established orthodoxy; it directly connects him to the draconian policies of the Bush regime and to those of Senator McCain. No true progressive would want to be associated with the unlawful and unjustified surveillance of law-abiding citizens. This is a red flag that must not be ignored.

This is why the country continues to quietly drift further to the right: there is no real choice in elections and we continue to behave as if there are. It is the capitalist system that is at fault, not the candidates themselves who play the game according to the dictum of its inventors. They, too, as despicable as some of them are, are its unwitting victims.

What hope is there for genuine progressives in a game that is rigged? If we are ever to become responsible citizens, we must learn how to separate the contents of the box from the fancy packaging. The same old ideology, regardless of who espouses it, will not lead to meaningful change; nor will pursing the same old methods. If we are going to be satisfied with that, then we can continue to be pawns in a rich man’s game and accept the results of the game without complaint.

If we expect better, then we must begin by demanding better of ourselves by recognizing what is being done in our name and doing something about it. But first we must awaken from our stupor and come to the realization that democracy means direct citizen action.

Charles Sullivan welcomes your comments at csullivan@copper.net

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The Pentagon's Stealth Corporations
By Nick Turse,
26/06/08 "Tomdispatch"

-- - At $34 billion, you're already counting pretty high.
After all, that's Harvard's endowment; it's the amount of damage the triple hurricanes -- Charley, Ivan, and Jeanne -- inflicted in 2004; it's what car crashes involving 15-to-17-year-old teenage drivers mean yearly in "medical expenses, lost work, property damage, quality of life loss and other related costs"; it's the loans the nation's largest, crippled, home lender, Countrywide Financial, holds for home-equity lines of credit and second liens; it's Citigroup's recent write-off, mainly for subprime exposure; it's what New Jersey's tourism industry is worth -- and, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, it's the minimal figure for the Pentagon's "black budget" for fiscal year 2009 -- money for, among other things, "classified weapons purchases and development," money for which the Pentagon will remain unaccountable because almost no Americans will have any way of knowing what it's being spent for.

Now, imagine that, due to a little more Pentagon/Bush administration wizardry, even this black budget estimate is undoubtedly a low-ball figure. One reason is simple enough: The proposed $541 billion Pentagon 2009 budget doesn't even include money for actual wars.

George W. Bush's wars are all paid for by "supplemental" bills like the $162 billion one Congress will soon pass -- so the Department of Defense's $34 billion black budget skips "war-related funding." This means that even the overall figure for that budget remains darker than we might imagine (as in "black hole"). The Pentagon not only produces stealth planes, it is, in budgetary terms, a stealth operation. If honestly accounted, the actual Pentagon yearly budget, including all the "military-related" funds salted away elsewhere, is probably now more than $1 trillion a year.

There is, however, another stealth side to the Pentagon -- the corporate side where a range of giant companies you've never heard of are gobbling up our tax dollars at phenomenal rates. Nick Turse, author of the single best account of how our lives are being militarized, our civilian economy Pentagonized, and the Pentagon privatized -- I'm talking about The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives -- now turns to the stealth corporate side of the Pentagon to give us a glimpse into the larger black hole into which our dollars pour. Tom
Billion-Dollar BabiesFive Stealth Pentagon Contractors Reaping Billions of Tax DollarsBy Nick Turse

The top Pentagon contractors, like death and taxes, almost never change. In 2002, the massive arms dealers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman ranked one, two, and three among Department of Defense contractors, taking in $17 billion, $16.6 billion, and $8.7 billion. Lockheed, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman did it again in 2003 ($21.9, $17.3, and $11.1 billion); 2004 ($20.7, $17.1, and $11.9 billion); 2005 ($19.4, $18.3, and $13.5 billion); 2006 ($26.6, $20.3, and $16.6 billion); and, not surprisingly, 2007 as well ($27.8, $22.5, and $14.6 billion). Other regulars receiving mega-tax-funded payouts in a similarly clockwork-like manner include defense giants General Dynamics, Raytheon, the British weapons maker BAE Systems, and former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, as well as BP, Shell, and other power players from the military-petroleum complex.

With the basic Pentagon budget now clocking in at roughly $541 billion per year -- before "supplemental" war funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the President's Global War on Terror, as well as national security spending by other agencies, are factored in -- even Lockheed's hefty $28 billion take is a small percentage of the massive total. Obviously, significant sums of money are headed to other companies. However, most of them, including some of the largest, are all but unknown even to Pentagon-watchers and antiwar critics with a good grasp of the military industrial complex.

Last year, in a piece headlined "Washington's $8 Billion Shadow," Vanity Fair published an exposé of one of the better known large stealth contractors, SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation). SAIC, however, is just one of tens of thousands of Pentagon contractors. Many of these firms receive only tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Pentagon every year. Some take home millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

Then there's a select group that are masters of the universe in the ever-expanding military-corporate complex, regularly scoring more than a billion tax dollars a year from the Department of Defense. Unlike Lockheed, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, however, most of these billion-dollar babies manage to fly beneath the radar of media (not to mention public) attention. If appearing at all, they generally do so innocuously in the business pages of newspapers. When it comes to their support for the Pentagon's wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are, in media terms, missing in action.

So, who are some of these mystery defense contractors you've probably never heard of? Here are snapshot portraits, culled largely from their own corporate documents, of five of the Pentagon's secret billion-dollar babies:

1. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.
Total DoD dollars in 2007: $3,360,739,032
This is billionaire investor Ronald Perelman's massive holding company. It has "interests in a diversified portfolio of public and private companies" that includes the cosmetics maker Revlon and Panavision (the folks who make the cameras that bring you TV shows like 24 and CSI). MacAndrews & Forbes might, at first blush, seem an unlikely defense contractor, but one of those privately owned companies it holds is AM General -- the folks who make the military Humvee. Today, says the company, nearly 200,000 Humvees have been "built and delivered to the U.S. Armed Forces and more than 50 friendly overseas nations." Humvees, however, are only part of the story.

AM General has also assisted Carnegie Mellon University researchers in developing robots for the Pentagon blue-skies outfit, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's "Grand Challenge," an autonomous robot-vehicle competition. Last year, AM General and General Dynamics Land Systems, a subsidiary of mega-weapons maker General Dynamics, formed a joint venture "to compete for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program." AM General has even gone to war -- dispatching its "field service representatives" and "maintenance technical representatives" to Iraq where they were embedded with U.S. troops.

As such, it's hardly surprising that, earlier this year, the company received one of the Defense Logistics Agency's Outstanding Readiness Support Awards. Nor should anyone be surprised to discover that a top MacAndrews & Forbes corporate honcho, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer Barry F. Schwartz, contributed a total of at least $10,000 to Straight Talk America, the political action committee of presidential candidate John McCain, who famously said it would be "fine" with him if U.S. troops occupied Iraq for "maybe a hundred years" (if not "a thousand" or "a million").

Perhaps hedging their bets just a bit, MacAndrews & Forbes is diversifying into an emerging complex-within-the-Complex: homeland security. Recently, AM General sold the Department of Homeland Security's Border Patrol "more than 100 HUMMER K-series trucks for use in border security operations."

2. DRS Technologies, Inc.
Total DoD dollars in 2007: $1,791,321,140
Incorporated during the Vietnam War, DRS Technologies has long been "a leading supplier of integrated products, services and support to military forces, intelligence agencies and prime contractors worldwide"; that is, they have been in the business of fielding products that enhance some of the DoD's deadliest weaponry, including "DDG-51 Aegis destroyers, M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks, M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters, AH-64 Apache helicopters, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters, F-15 Eagle tactical fighters… [and] Ohio, Los Angeles and Virginia class submarines." They even have "contracts that support future military platforms, such as the DDG-1000 destroyer, CVN-78 next-generation aircraft carrier, Littoral Combat Ship and Future Combat System."

In addition to 2007's haul of Pentagon dollars, DRS Technologies has continued to clean up in 2008 for a range of projects, including: a $16.2 million Army contract for refrigeration units; $51 million in new orders from the Army for thermal weapon sights (part of a five-year, $2.3-billion deal inked in 2007); a $10.1 million contract to build more than 140 M989A1 Heavy Expanded Mobility Ammunition Trailers (to transport "numerous and extremely heavy Multiple Launch Rocket System pods, palletized or non-palletized conventional ammunition and fuel bladders"); and a $23 million deal "to provide engineering support, field service support and general depot repairs for the Mast Mounted Sights (MMS) on OH-58 Kiowa Warrior attack helicopters," among many other contracts.

Fitch Ratings, an international credit rating agency, recently made a smart, if perhaps understated, point -- one that actually fits all of these billion-dollar babies. DRS, it wrote, "has benefited from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan…"

3. Harris Corporation
Total DoD dollars in 2007: $1,501,163,834
Harris is "an international communications and information technology company serving government, defense and commercial markets in more than 150 countries." It has an annual revenue of more than $4 billion and an impressive roster of former military personnel and other military-corporate complex insiders on its payroll. Not only does Harris assist and do business with a number of the Pentagon's largest contractors (like Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems), it is also an active participant in occupations abroad. On its website, the company boasts that "Harris technology has been used for a variety of commercial and defense applications, including the War in Iraq where the [Harris software] system provided detailed, 3-D representations of Baghdad and other key Iraqi cities."

Last year, Harris signed multiple deals with the military, including contracts to create a high-speed digital data link that transmits tactical video, radar, acoustic, and other sensor data from Navy MH-60R helicopters to their host ships. It also supplies the Navy with advanced computers that provide the "highly sophisticated moving maps and critical mission information via cockpit displays" used by flight crews.

In the first six months of this year, Harris has continued its hard work for the Complex. In January, the company was "selected by the U.S. Air Force for the Network and Space Operations and Maintenance (NSOM) program" for "a base contract and six options that bring the potential overall value to $410 million over six-and-a-half-years" to provide "operations and maintenance support to the 50th Space Wing's Air Force Satellite Control Network at locations around the world."

In May, the company was "awarded a three-year, $20 million contract by [top 10 Pentagon contractor] L3 Communications to provide products and services for a next-generation Tactical Video Capture System (TVCS)" -- a system that integrates real time video streams to enhance tactical training exercises -- "that will support training at various U.S. Marine Corps locations across the U.S. and abroad." That same month, Harris was also "awarded a potential five-year, $85 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the U.S. Navy for multiband satellite communications terminals that will provide advanced communications for aircraft carriers and other large deck ships."

In addition, Harris is now hard at work in the Homeland. Not only did the company pick up more than $3 million from the Department of Homeland Security last year, but national security expert Tim Shorrock, in a 2007 CorpWatch article, "Domestic Spying, Inc.," specifically noted that Harris and fellow intelligence industry contractors "stand to profit from th[e] unprecedented expansion of America's domestic intelligence system."

4. Navistar Defense
Total DoD dollars in 2007: $1,166,805,361

Still listed in Pentagon documents under its old name, International Military and Government, LLC, Navistar is the military subsidiary of Navistar International Corporation -- "a holding company whose individual units provide integrated and best-in-class transportation solutions." While the company has served the U.S. military since World War I, it's known, if at all, by the public for making some of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles designed to thwart Iraqi roadside bombs. As of April 2008, the U.S. military had "ordered 5,214 total production MaxxPro MRAP vehicles" from Navistar and, that same month, the company was awarded "a contract valued at more than $261 million… for engineering upgrades to the armor used on International MaxxPro MRAP vehicles."

But Navistar makes more than MRAPs. Just last month, the company signed a "multi-year contract valued at nearly $1.3 billion" with the U.S. Army "to provide Medium Tactical Vehicles and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army, and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense." This followed a 2005 multi-year Army contract, worth $430 million, "for more than 2,900 vehicles and spare parts."

Quite obviously, the company is significantly, profitably, and proudly involved in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. As Tom Feifar, the Global Defense and Export general manager for Navistar Parts, put it late last year, "It's an honor to be a part of the effort to support our troops."

5. Evergreen International Airlines
Total DoD dollars in 2007: $1,105,610,723
A privately held global aviation services company, it has subsidiaries in related industries such as helicopter aviation (Evergreen Helicopters, Inc.), as well as a few unrelated efforts like producing "agricultural, nursery and wine products" (Evergreen Agricultural Enterprises, Inc.). Evergreen has been on the Pentagon's payroll for a long time. Back in 2004, Ed Connolly, the executive vice president of Evergreen International Airlines, stated, "Evergreen has flown continuously for the [U.S. Air Force] Air Mobility Command since 1975 and is proud to continue its long standing history of supporting the U.S. Armed Forces global missions with quality and reliable services."

Not surprisingly, Evergreen has been intimately involved in the occupation of Iraq. In fact, in 2004, the company received "approximately 200 awards for its support of international airlift services during the Iraq war" from the Air Force's Air Mobility Command. An Air Force general even handed out these medals and certificates of achievement to Evergreen's employees.

In Amnesty International's 2006 report, "Below the Radar: Secret Flights to Torture and ‘Disappearance,'" the human rights organization noted that Evergreen was one of only a handful of private companies with current permits to land at U.S. military bases worldwide. That same year, the company even airlifted FOX News personality Bill O'Reilly and his TV show crew to Kuwait and Iraq to meet and greet troops, sign books and pictures, and hand out trinkets. And just last year the company was part of a consortium, including such high profile commercial carriers as American, Delta, and United Airlines that the Pentagon awarded a "$1,031,154,403 firm fixed-price contract for international airlift services… [that] is expected to be completed September 2008."

Under the Radar
All told, these five stealth corporations from the military-corporate complex received more than $8.9 billion in taxpayer dollars in 2007. To put this into perspective, that sum is almost $2 billion more than the Bush administration's proposed 2009 budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. Put another way, it's about nine times what one-sixth of the world's population spent on food last year.

Tens of thousands of defense contractors -- from well-known "civilian" corporations (like Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Dell) to tiny companies -- have fattened up on the Pentagon and its wars. Most of the time, large or small, they fly under the radar and are seldom identified as defense contractors at all. So it's hardly surprising that firms like Harris and Evergreen, without name recognition outside their own worlds, can take in billions in taxpayer dollars without notice or comment in our increasingly militarized civilian economy.

When the history of the Iraq War is finally written, chances are that these five billion-dollar babies, and most of the other defense contractors involved in making the U.S. occupation possible, will be left out. Until we begin coming to grips with the role of such corporations in creating the material basis for an imperial foreign policy, we'll never be able to grasp fully how the Pentagon works and why we so regularly make war in, and carry out occupations of, distant lands.

Nick Turse is the associate editor and research director of Tomdispatch.com. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Adbusters, the Nation, and regularly for Tomdispatch.com.

His first book, The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, an exploration of the new military-corporate complex in America, was recently published by Metropolitan Books. His website, Nick Turse.com has been newly revamped and expanded.
Copyright 2008 Nick Turse

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By Alex Kingsbury
Wed Jun 25, 11:41 AM ET

Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.

Agents searched Hogan's luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any digital media cards or drives in his pockets?

"Then they told me that they were impounding my laptop," says Hogan, a freelance investigative reporter whose recent stories have ranged from the origins of the Iraq war to the impact of money in presidential politics.

Shaken by the encounter, Hogan says he left the airport and examined his bags, finding that the agents had also removed and inspected the memory card from his digital camera. "It was fortunate that I didn't use that machine for work or I would have had to call up all my sources and tell them that the government had just seized their information," he said.

When customs offered to return the machine nearly two weeks later, Hogan told them to ship it to his lawyer.

The extent of the program to confiscate electronics at customs points is unclear. A hearing Wednesday before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on the Constitution hopes to learn more about the extent of the program and safeguards to traveler's privacy. Lawsuits have also been filed, challenging how the program selects travelers for inspection. Citing those lawsuits, Customs and Border Protection, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, refuses to say exactly how common the practice is, how many computers, portable storage drives, and BlackBerries have been inspected and confiscated, or what happens to the devices once they are seized.

Congressional investigators and plaintiffs involved in lawsuits believe that digital copies?so-called "mirror images" of drives?are sometimes made of materials after they are seized by customs.

A ruling this year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that DHS does indeed have the authority to search electronic devices without suspicion in the same way that it would inspect a briefcase. The lawsuit that prompted the ruling was the result of more than 20 cases, most of which involved laptops, cellphones, or other electronics seized at airports. In those cases, nearly all of the individuals were of Muslim, Middle Eastern, or South Asian background.

Travelers who have their computers seized face real headaches. "It immediately deprives an executive or company of the very data?and revenue?a business trip was intended to create," says Susan Gurley, head of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, which is asking DHS for greater transparency and oversight to protect copied data. "As a businessperson returning to the U.S., you may find yourself effectively locked out of your electronic office indefinitely."

While Hogan had his computer returned after only a few days, others say they have had theirs held for months at a time. As a result, some companies have instituted policies that require employees to travel with clean machines: free of corporate data.

The security value of the program is unclear, critics say, while the threats to business and privacy are substantial. If drives are being copied, customs officials are potentially duplicating corporate secrets, legal records, financial data, medical files, and personal E-mails and photographs as well as stored passwords for accounts from Netflix to Bank of America. DHS contends that travelers' computers can also contain child pornography, intellectual property offenses, or terrorist secrets.

It makes practical sense to X-ray the contents of checked and carry-on luggage, which could pose an immediate danger to airplanes and their passengers. "Generally speaking, customs officials do not go through briefcases to review and copy paper business records or personal diaries, which is apparently what they are now doing now in digital form?these PDA's don't have bombs in them," says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

More troubling is what could happen if other countries follow the lead of the United States. Imagine, for instance, if China or Russia began a program to seize and duplicate the contents of traveler's laptops. "We wouldn't be in a position to strongly object to that type of behavior," Rotenberg says. Indeed, visitors to the Beijing Olympic Games have been officially advised by U.S. officials that their laptops may be targeted for duplication or bugging by Chinese government spies hoping to steal business and trade secrets.

Basta Ya! USA! "..partida de electoreros criminales..."

- - - Servicio Informativo "Alai-amlatina" - - -
El “directorio político” y las elecciones en EEUU

Marco A. Gandásegui, h.
ALAI AMLATINA,
27/06/2008, Panamá.-

En abril de 2008, Borack Obama ya había ganado la mayoría de los delegados a la Convención del Partido Demócrata que se efectuará en agosto de este año. Ese triunfo lo obtuvo con los votos que depositaron los miembros del Partido en la mayoría de las primarias y “caucus” presidenciales. Se necesita una mayoría de los delegados estatales en la convención del Partido para designar el candidato en las elecciones nacionales de noviembre de 2008.

A pesar de los triunfos de Obama, el establishment que toma las decisiones en última instancia no se atrevía a legitimar la candidatura del joven político, brillante, pero poco conocido y, para colmo, hijo de un africano. Obama sólo podía triunfar sobre su contrincante, Hilary Clinton, si lograba ganar a un sector del establishment que todavía se mostraba reticente a entregarle su confianza para ser el presidente de EEUU con poderes prácticamente imperiales.

En su libro La elite del poder, C. Wright Mills explica como se mueve el establishment norteamericano en un proceso electoral. Llega a la conclusión que en EEUU hay un “directorio nacional” (que maneja ambos partidos) que, mediante un complicado sistema de comités electorales locales, controla las decisiones políticas del país.

Según W. Mills, en EEUU “no existen partidos donde los políticos profesionales enfocan los problemas de índole nacional de un modo claro, responsable y continuo”. Agrega que “los dos partidos políticos de EEUU no son organizaciones centralizadas nacionalmente.

Han funcionado como estructuras semifeudales, trocando su patronazgo y otros favores por votos y protección. Los políticos de menor monta manipulan los paquetes de votos de que disponen por una porción mayor de patronazgo y favoritismo. Pero no hay un jefe nacional y menos aún un líder responsable ante la nación en cada uno de los dos partidos”.

La pregunta que surge de inmediato es ¿cómo candidatos como Obama y McCain movilizan el sistema político norteamericano si no existen partidos políticos? Wright Mills señala que en el lugar de los partidos políticos, se articula, a nivel nacional y en forma jerárquica, el “directorio político”. Según Mills, “en los centros ejecutivos donde se toman las grandes decisiones no hay ahora políticos de partido profesionales, ni burócratas de profesión. Dichos centros se hallan en manos del directorio político de la elite del poder”.Es claro que el directorio político decidió que el candidato del Partido Republicano sería John McCain, poniendo fin a las pretensiones de los conservadores religiosos. En el caso del Partido Demócrata, a Obama le tomó más tiempo para amarrar el aval de un sector importante del “directorio político”.El establishment, a su vez, determina quienes serán los miembros de los consejos de gabinete, los altos funcionarios de la burocracia, los embajadores y los cargos más delicados de la administración y seguridad de EEUU.

Según Wright Mills, ante la ausencia de verdaderos partidos políticos, quienes ocupan estos puestos son “advenedizos” cuyos lazos con las organizaciones partidistas son muy débiles, si es que existen. No hay forma de adiestrar, especializar o seleccionar cuadros políticos con capacidad de dirigir la política del país. “Se ha recurrido a los advenedizos, es decir, a hombres extraños a la burocracia”. Estos son, en gran parte, ejecutivos (CEO) de las grandes trasnacionales que saben muy bien cuales son los intereses del “directorio político” pero desconocen el funcionamiento de la burocracia y tienen ideas vagas sobre las necesidades del país.

Los partidos políticos en EEUU tienen funciones limitadas a un nivel local, debatiendo necesidades de los hombres de negocio en las comunidades y las demandas reivindicativas de obreros así como de aspectos puntuales (género, ambiente, etc.) Los partidos, según Mills, constituyen “una constelación de organizaciones locales, curiosa e intricadamente unida con bloques representativos de distintos intereses. El miembro del Congreso es, por lo general, independiente de los jefes parlamentarios de su partido... Los comités nacionales de cada partido importante se componen sobre todo de nulidades políticas...”

Mientras que los partidos pueden funcionar a nivel local, son totalmente inoperantes para enfrentar los problemas nacionales. Incluso, los enfoques de los dos partidos – cuando responden a las demandas populares como la política económica, la guerra y la paz y las cuestiones sociales - tienden a enredarse. “Las diferencias entre ambos partidos, en lo que se refiere a los problemas nacionales, son muy pequeñas y confusas... El político profesional no se ocupa de la línea nacional del partido, si es que existe. No se halla sujeto a una disciplina nacional de partido...”La situación se complica aún más cuando las demandas populares se encuentran en conflicto con los intereses del “directorio político”.

El manejo de la opinión pública requiere un trabajo muy especial a nivel de los medios de comunicación y en los pasillos del poder. La movilización de recursos y la creación de un perfil adecuado de los candidatos requiere fuertes inversiones. En la campaña por la conquista de delegados en las primarias del Partido Demócrata en 2008 se invirtió una suma inédita cercana a los US$500 millones.

No es sólo la opinión pública la que desconoce los problemas, los mismos políticos que llegan a los puestos de elección popular ignoran la realidad nacional e internacional. “Cuando los problemas fundamentales llegan al Congreso para su discusión suelen estar estructurados de tal modo que reducen el debate e incluso quedan pendientes de solución. Ante la ausencia de partidos sólidos y centralizados, es difícil constituir una mayoría en el Congreso”.

Según Mills, no es extraño que el Congreso necesite con frecuencia una enérgica intervención presidencial para impulsar iniciativas legislativas que se refieren a problemas nacionales.Durante la campaña primaria se criticaba a Hillary Clinton por no renunciar a sus aspiraciones. Se decía que el Partido Demócrata estaba perdiendo tiempo.

El drama de la campaña, sin embargo, era otro. El “directorio político”, como lo llama Wright Mills, que concentra el poder y toma las decisiones, estaba indeciso y no se ponía de acuerdo.

Elecciones y partidos en EEUU – 2008
El mundo observó como los candidatos Hillary Clinton y Barack Obama, así como John McCain y Mike Huckabee, buscaron recursos y se presentaron ante el público en la campaña presidencial norteamericana que culminará en noviembre de 2008.

Todos fueron sorprendidos después del martes de Carnaval electoral (Super Tuesday) cuando la senadora demócrata Clinton no pudo imponerse a Obama y donde McCain se proclamó candidato del Partido Republicano.En 2008, con la misma pasión de siempre, la campaña política se organiza en torno a la elección del nuevo presidente que asumirá el poder en enero de 2009. Se calcula que las diferentes campañas tendrán un costo que, por primera vez, suma más de mil millones de dólares. Quienes le dieron seguimiento a las primarias se percataron que el éxito de un candidato depende de la capacidad que tiene para recaudar fondos.El que más recauda es el que tiene más probabilidades de ganar.

La mayor parte de los recursos salen de los cofres de las grandes empresas financieras e industriales que dictan los contenidos de los debates. Los candidatos, quienes le piden a sus seguidores que hagan contribuciones individuales, responden a los intereses de los grandes comités de acción política (PAC).Los partidos políticos en EEUU – Demócrata y Republicano – se organizan en torno a una amplia red formada por numerosos “comités” que se dedican a recoger fondos.

Según el sociólogo Maurice Duverger, el sistema de comités políticos apareció en EEUU a principios del siglo XIX y todavía tiene plena vigencia. Duverger señala que los “comités electorales” en EEUU son los partidos políticos.Los fondos invertidos en la campaña se recuperan gracias al “sistema de despojos” que le garantiza al partido vencedor todos los puestos públicos. Duverger compara la experiencia inglesa donde la corrupción reforzó la estructura de los grupos parlamentarios con lo ocurrido en EEUU donde consolidó los comités electorales.Los partidos descansan sobre comités poco extensos, bastante independientes unos de otros, generalmente descentralizados. No tratan de multiplicar sus miembros ni de organizar grandes masas populares, más bien pretenden agrupar personalidades. Su actividad está orientada totalmente hacia las elecciones.

El armazón administrativo del partido es embrionario, el poder real usualmente está en manos de grupos formados alrededor de un líder en el Congreso y la vida del partido reside en la rivalidad de estos pequeños grupos.Los partidos norteamericanos, para Duverger, son antes que nada maquinarias electorales, que aseguran la designación de candidatos. Cada partido reúne gentes de opiniones muy diferentes y de posiciones sociales muy diversas.El partido y su maquinaria es una empresa con sus gerentes y especialistas técnicos. Se trata, en el fondo, de equipos de técnicos que se especializan en la conquista de sufragios y de puestos administrativos que provee el spoil system.

Los técnicos a menudo se pasan de un partido a otro. “Los capitanes ponen a menudo su competencia al servicio del partido rival, como un ingeniero que cambia de patrono”.El candidato que tiene más recursos estará en mejores condiciones para conquistar los comandos, los wards de las ciudades y los comités oficiosos formados por los bosses y las machines a lo largo del país.

Se trata siempre de pequeños grupos de notables, cuya influencia personal importa más que su número.-

Marco A. Gandásegui, hijo, es docente de la Universidad de Panamá e investigador asociado del Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos (CELA) Justo Arosemena.

Ver artículo completo en: http://alainet.org/active/24953&lang=es
Más información: http://alainet.org
Agencia Latinoamericana de Informacion
email: info@alainet.org

100 años del natalicio de Salvador Allende..

Allende: la última vez
José Vicente Rangel
http://us.mc373.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=jvrangelv%40yahoo.es http://www.ultimasnoticias/ .com.ve

Él estaba al pie de la escalera, al finalizar el acto protocolar de toma de posesión del presidente electo Héctor Cámpora, el 25 de mayo de 1973. Saludaba con sobriedad a quienes se le acercaban, con las buenas maneras de siempre. Bien plantado. Sin que su rostro reflejara las tensiones que vivía. El acoso a que estaba sometido. Lo confieso: quise evitarlo por razones de discreción, y para no obligarlo a prodigarse con su proverbial calidez hacia los amigos. Pero él me divisó unos escalones más arriba y me saludó. Entonces me le acerqué. Me tomó por el brazo izquierdo, con firmeza, y me dijo: "Te espero a las cinco de esta tarde en la embajada".El 25 de mayo de 1973 me hallaba en Buenos Aires invitado junto con Anita, Petkoff y otros dirigentes del MAS a la juramentación de Cámpora.

Abandonaba el poder -o mejor, huía una Junta Militar corrupta y represora, y las calles olían a pólvora, a lacrimógenas y las cruzaba el ruido ensordecedor de los cantos y gritos de miles de gargantas. Cantos de libertad y gritos reclamando justicia. A duras penas ingresamos a la Casa Rosada. El peronismo duro, la juventud, las columnas "montoneras" , los trabajadores, todos aquellos que venían de una cruenta lucha contra la opresión, copaban Plaza Mayo.

La situación era complicada.Se escuchaban disparos y había vehículos y motos volcados e incendiados. Todos los espacios estaban ocupados. Por eso decidimos, ya dentro del edificio, escaparnos por una escalera a la terraza. Ingresamos a ella justo cuando los ex jefes de la Junta, Lanusse a la cabeza, y los restantes miembros, la Aviación y Marina, escapaban en helicópteros. En la inmensa plaza la masa popular se movía en oleaje de pasión y euforia.Cuando la multitud se dio cuenta de que los represores se fugaban brotó un sonido compacto. Parecía como si estallase la tierra y escalara un rugido de tormenta eléctrica mientras miles de manos crispadas, movidas como aspas gigantes, clamaban castigo para los militares.

Ese día fuimos testigos, sin proponérnoslo, de un espectáculo alucinante y fugaz: el desmoronamiento ante nuestros ojos del poder; de su vertiginoso desplome, graficado en los uniformados empavorecidos que poco antes lo dominaban todo.A las cinco de la tarde, en el ambiente congestionado de la sede diplomática de Chile, donde todos querían saludar a Allende y requerir noticias sobre lo que ocurría en su país, apareció el Presidente. Sereno como siempre. Saludando con recato a los desconocidos y con extrema afabilidad a los amigos. Al poco rato un edecán me ubicó en la compacta asistencia y dijo que el Presidente me aguardaba en un despacho habilitado al efecto. Un abrazo y el recuerdo, por parte suya, de cuando lo acompañé en Caracas, siendo yo parlamentario, durante la toma de posesión de Rómulo Betancourt a la que asistió como invitado especial.Hizo un chiste sobre aquella visita y rememoró la relación con el ex presidente venezolano. Luego me preguntó por amigos comunes y sobre nuestro proyecto político.

Para entonces yo era candidato presidencial del MAS, y la propuesta que hacíamos de socialismo en libertad y democracia -parecida a la suya- despertaba interés en Latinoamérica.

Rápidamente le expliqué algunas cosas, y de inmediato pasé a lo que me interesaba: la inquietante situación de Chile.Allende estaba convencido -me lo dijo, consciente de ser parte de un proceso irreversible debido a la esperanza despertada en el pueblo por su opción- que Chile vivía una confrontación político-social indetenible que pronto tendría un desenlace.

Situación esta en la que el imperio norteamericano y la oligarquía chilena estaban dispuestos a arrasar con la tradición democrática del país para impedir los cambios planteados. No lo noté pesimista. Mostraba una inusitada claridad para calibrar el poder del adversario y una profunda fe en los chilenos y en la causa que defendía. No había fatalismo alguno en sus palabras. Sólo realismo y el convencimiento de que se jugaba la vida. No había en él amargura y menos artificio verbal para impresionar al interlocutor. Se expresaba con sobriedad. Convencido del papel que le tocaba jugar.Era, sin duda, un hombre que marchaba con lucidez al encuentro de lo que el destino le depararía, algo indescifrable para aquel momento. Hablaba sin dramatizar, con la convicción de que la suerte, para bien o para mal, estaba echada.

Cuando nos despedíamos exclamó con firmeza: "Cuando se asume una responsabilidad con el pueblo hay que jugarse el todo por el todo y lo que menos cuenta es la suerte personal". No me habló de los "grandes alamedas", pero el 11 de septiembre de ese mismo año, casi cuatro meses después de aquel encuentro, caía en el palacio presidencial defendiendo el Estado de Derecho y al pueblo chileno.Andaba yo ese día en campaña electoral y tenía un mítin en La Grita, frente a la iglesia del Cristo Milagroso. Durante las horas dramáticas del combate en La Moneda escuchábamos por las emisoras locales las noticias: el alzamiento de los militares traidores, la miserable jauría civil que los acompañaba en la aventura, el feroz bombardeo, la masacre y su muerte peleando con un coraje del que no alardeaba pero que demostró en el momento decisivo.

Cuando las circunstancias lo colocaron ante el dilema de ser leal al compromiso que juró de defender al pueblo y a las instituciones democráticas al asumir el cargo de Presidente de Chile, o simplemente traicionarlo. Mas para Allende no hubo dilema alguno: simplemente optó por el sacrificio y entró en la historia. Ahora se cumplen cien años de su nacimiento -26/06/1908- y treinta y cinco de su muerte.

Canto de amor para Colombia, vecina..."versos que duelen..."

Rép. : [nuestramerica] Colombia, cuando terminara el calvario indigena?Niño Embera Katío muere en la comunidad Conondo, Resguardo Tahamy, Chocó
Thursday, June 26, 2008 6:30 PM
From:
"Torres Hector" Add sender to Contacts

Un canto de amor para Colombia
Oh América, te desangras en la dulzura de un canto
Allí donde late el universo palpitan tus heridas
Muy cerquita de macondo donde los gallos pelean
Sigue cantando la vida ¡pero la muerte golpea!

Allí la alegría no esta muerta pero se amarga la vida
¿Quien apuesta con migo?, ¡quien apuesta a nacer!
Quien apuesta a morir, si vivir es tan urgente
No, aquí nadie se queda, aquí se alza Colombia
Esa verde muchacha que canta y que baila
Que esta herida de lluvia pero no baja su guardia

Yo que vengo desde el sur, adivino sus pasos
Me alborota su ritmo y su forma de andar
Yo traigo en mis sueños, yo llevo mi voz

Un canto de amor para Colombia, un canto de paz
Quiero ver la juventud enamorarse de su risa.
Un verso de tiempo, en a la raza que resiste
Y su fluir profundo entre el verde del paisaje...
Aquí, quiero oír que amanezca, un canto de infancia
Aquí urge la vida hermanos, y ay que apura la muerte

Quiero un sur bailando de dicha, sin un norte de muerte
Quiero verte vida parir, quiero que reías, y escupas
Frente a la muerte insolente que vigila los mercados
¡Cuidado! Cuando el horizonte flamee de estrellas
¡Cuidado! puede ser otra vez, la cloaca de los cuentos

Aquí planto una bandera en símbolo de paz
Aquí no se acaba la historia, sigue galopando Bolívar
Aquí escribo un poema, con las manos de la vida
Y con un grito sepulto los gemidos de la muerte

Que viva Colombia digo, que viva siempre el amor,
Aquí te dejo estos versos que duelen, pero sí vivirán....

Héctor TorresToro --- En date de : Jeu, 26.6.08,

Con Todo Ahora <polosurdelexterior@ yahoo.com> a écrit :De: Con Todo Ahora <polosurdelexterior@ yahoo.com>Objet: [nuestramerica] Colombia, cuando terminara el calvario indigena?Niño Embera Katío muere en la comunidad Conondo, Resguardo Tahamy, ChocóÀ: "a" <sandinovive@ yahoogroups. com>, "a" <solidariosconelpueb locolombiano@ yahoogroups. com>, "ayu" <corresponsalesapp@ gmail.com>, "Ayu" <nuestramerica@ yahoogrupos. com.mx>, "Ayu" <porlabatalladeideas @gruposyahoo. com>, "ayu" <sigueahoraporellos@ yahoo.es>, "Ayu Ayu" <dignidadnacionalper u@yahoo.es>, "a" <redlatinasinfronter as@yahoo. es>, "Unidad Latinoamericana Grupo yahoo" <unidad_latinoameric ana@yahoogroups. com>, "ayu" <resteadosconchavez@ yahoo.com. ar>

Date: jeudi 26 Juin 2008, 8 h 16
Niño Embera Katío muere en la comunidad Conondo, Resguardo Tahamy, Chocópor ONIC.comunicaciones@ onic.org. co +(57) (1) 2811845 Calle13 # 4-38 Bogotá D.C.

Siguen a la ESPERA DE RESPUESTA DE LA COMISIÓN QUE ESTA EN BOGOTÁ HACE MAS DE 20 DÍASEl

problema de los indígenas Embera Katio de Conondo, tanto en Bogotá como en el Chocó se sigue agudizando. La falta de respuesta real del gobierno a una comunicad que muere lentamente por la desidia en medio de tanta riqueza, es la causa de que 144 indígenas de la comunidad de Conondo del resguardo Tahamy del Municipio de Bagadó, estén resueltos a permanecer en Bogotá hasta tanto no haya garantía para su regreso. Ensartan chaquira por chaquira del collar multicolor de la esperanza, mientras esperan la reunión con las instituciones que tienen resorte para responder las peticiones que desde la semana pasada fueron entregadas por los indígenas.

Pero… el collar multicolor se rompió, es señal que hay mala noticia. Aureliano Arce, vocero de esta comunidad en Bogotá, les cuenta que ayer (17 de junio), un niño de tan sólo año y medio murió del mismo mal en el resguardo, desnutrición; de física hambre, en medio de tanta riqueza. Como si fuera poco, "16 menores más pueden sufrir la misma suerte, ya que en el resguardo no hay atención en salud ni en nutrición, y como las fuerzas armadas siguen en el territorio, no podemos salir a cazar, ni pescar, seguimos acorralados; por lo que también pedimos de carácter urgente una brigada de salud, sobre todo con médicos que se vallan a quedar en Aguasal, en el resguardo para más de 600 miembros de nuestra comunidad que espera respuesta efectivas en medio de la guerra".

Mientras los que están en hospitales de Chocó y Pueblo Rico – Risaralda se recuperan, "los nuestros en el territorio esperan respuestas concretas del gobierno central, por esos ratificamos que no nos vamos hasta tanto el Gobierno Nacional nos garantice la vida y la realización de nuestros derechos, nosotros no podemos regresar para que nos masacren y continuar muriéndonos de hambre".

Por ello, esperamos respuestas concretas a las acciones que desde la semana pasada requerimos al Gobierno Nacional:

1. Que el ejército colombiano respete nuestros territorios y autoridades tradicionales. Que no acampe en la comunidad, no impida la movilidad, no restrinja la entrada de nuestros mercados; no coja los animales y productos agrícolas de los indígenas, no quite las remesas ni los medicamentos, no se enfrente con la guerrilla en los poblados de la comunidad. Que los helicópteros del ejército no aterricen dentro de la comunidad dañando nuestras casas. No queremos que nos protejan asesinándonos y matando a nuestros niños de hambre.

2. Garantías plenas para el retorno.

3. Atención humanitaria para nuestros niños, tanto para los que se encuentran en situación de desplazamiento forzado, como para aquellos que se encuentran en nuestro territorio.

4. La realización integral de nuestro Plan de Vida. Estableciendo programas de adecuación de tierras, producción agrícola y pecuaria de acuerdo con los usos y costumbres de nuestro pueblo, entre otras actividades productivas para nuestra pervivencia.

5. Reparación y construcción de 150 viviendas para la comunidad indígena de Conondo. Entre ellas 13 casas dañadas por los helicópteros del ejército.

6. Construcción y dotación del puesto de salud, la escuela y la casa comunitaria para la comunidad de Conondo.

7. Establecimiento con plenas garantías y financiación un programa de becarios para que los miembros de los pueblos indígenas del Choco, accedan a la educación superior.

8. Saneamiento básico acueducto y agua potable y alcantarillado, para la comunidad de Conondo.

9. Restitución del equipo medico del Centro de Salud de Aguasal del Municipio de Bagado y recuperación y ampliación de su infraestructura física; así como de su dotación.

10. Construcción de una cancha deportiva y un puente colgante sobre el río Aguasal.

11. Reparación integral y colectiva por un niño asesinado por el ejército, seis heridos y una niña lanzada al río por el ESMAD de Pereira.

12. Procesos de capacitación para promotores de salud, y en asuntos productivos sostenibles y limpios.

13. Dos mulas para transporte de alimentos del restaurante escolar y desayunos de los niños.

14. Una comisión humanitaria de acompañamiento y verificación. Después de recibir atención humanitaria de varias instituciones de la capital, el pasado 10 de junio fueron ubicados oportunamente en el Coliseo del parque el Tunal, por las autoridades Distrital; donde esperan hasta que sus peticiones sean resueltas.

AUTORIDAD NACIONAL DE GOBIERNO INDÍGENA –

ONIC Comunica ONIC. Contacto: 315-7582995
Consejero Mayor ONIC / 2811845 /
ALBERTO ACHITO: 310-8399089.www.onic.org.
co"LATINOAMERICANOS UNIOS"

LA USAID EN PARAGUAY. ¿QUE ES EL PLAN UMBRAL?

[nuestramerica]
LA USAID EN PARAGUAY.
¿QUE ES EL PLAN UMBRAL?
Friday, June 27, 2008 7:30 AM

From:
"Revista Koeyu Latinoamericano"
revistakoeyulatinoamericano@gmail.com

To:
koeyu@cantv.net
"Del Che nunca se podrá hablar en pasado" Fidel Castro Ruz

La USAID en Paraguay¿QUE ES EL PLAN UMBRAL?

Uno de los grandes dilemas que enfrentará el presidente electo Fernando Lugo

Por Consejo Editorial de la Revista Koeyú Latinoamericano

Este mes de agosto, la asunción de Fernando Lugo como presidente de Paraguay trae aparejado varios hechos y uno, no menor, es que inscribe al país en una senda democrática tras 61 años de usurpación. Sin embargo, justo es decir que la oligarquía -esa vieja hetaira que controlóal país durante decenios- no ha sido más que derrotada en la circunstancia electoral, por lo que el mandatario se verá confrontada por ella y por quienesfueron prohijados y se beneficiaron a su sombra.

Asimismo, concurrirá al concurso de esa clase y sus grupos conspicuos la ambición hegemónico-imperial de Washington, presta a la continuidad balkanizadora que las potencias dominantes de distintas épocas nos han impuesto de distintas formas, sin eludir la injerencia directa a través de sus instrumentos. De uno de ellos nos ocuparemos a continuación:la Agencia Internacional para el Desarrollo (USAID).

Gregorio Selser -el gran periodista argentino-, escribió y publicó un libro en el que repasó las acciones injerencistas de Estados Unidos a partir de los inicios del siglo XIX. Selser anota la primera intervención estadounidense, en nuestros territorios en 1831, en Malvinas, dos años antes de que la ocuparan los marinos del imperio inglés.Sin embargo, los latinoamericanos no olvidamos otros hechos a los que nos remite la historia, donde Estados Unidos fue el agresor.

Uno en particular marca dicha relación hasta la fecha: el denominado Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo que le fue impuesto a México el 2 de febrero de 1848. Con ese acto ignominioso quedó marcada, por el río Bravo, la frontera con Texas, corolario de la agresión de que fue objeto México con el propósito de despojarlo de cerca de 2 millones 300 mil Km2 de territorio. Las áreas robadas son, actualmente: California, Nuevo México, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Utah, y parte de Colorado, Wyoming y Oregon. Como "indemnización", Estados Unidos pagó 15 millones de dólares.

La construcción de un ferrocarril y el canal interoceánico en la provincia colombiana de Panamá y la posterior secesión de este país ístmico, se combinaron con diversas ocupaciones territoriales, como las que hubo en Nicaragua en los siglos XIX y XX o la anexión de Puerto Rico.Sin embargo, las intervenciones de Washington en la Patria Grande no siempre han revestido el carácter de las habidas en Cuba en el contexto de la guerra contra España o las directas y por cuenta de terceros en Guatemala –contra el gobierno de Jacobo Arbenz- o en 1965 en Dominicana, por citar las más evidentes y recordadas.

El paso del tiempo y las circunstancias cambiantes del escenario internacional obligaron a Washington a recurrir a otros instrumentos para consolidar su hegemoníaEl cambio de estrategia en América latinaLas corporaciones creadas por la Casa Blanca o que cuentan con su aquiescencia, abarcan desde el Instituto Republicano Internacional (IRI) como el Fondo Nacional para la Democracia (NED) y suman las contribuciones y dirección de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA) el cuerpo diplomático y la Agencia de Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID). La injerencia de la USAID en la zona tiene un antecedente a finales de los 70 en Uruguay, adonde con una credencial de la institución llegó Dan Anthony Mitrione (junto con Richard Fernándes, con igual acreditación), para adiestrar torturadores y constituir un escuadrón de la muerte. En eso estaba cuando fue retenido, juzgado y ajusticiado por los Tupamaros.

La "ejemplar" institución está sumida en un escándalo por corrupción en Estados Unidos, lo que obligó a la renuncia de Adolfo Franco, que desempeñaba tareas de dirección. Su reemplazante es José Cárdenas, hijo de colombianos oriundos de la ciudad de Medellín, conocido referente de la Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana (FNCA). Los Angeles Times citan que la auditoria del GAO (General Accountability Office ) sobre las actividades anticubanas de la USAID reportó varias compras "inconvenientes" (incomprensibles) : suéteres de cachemira, chocolates Godiva, juegos de Nintendo y PlayStations de Sony, supuestamente destinados a los informantes de la Sección de Intereses Estadounidenses de La Habana.Los fondos de USAID contra Cuba, fueron canalizados a la Universidad de Rutgers en Miami, a la Fundación Internacional para Sistemas Electorales (IFES) y al Consejo Empresarial Estados Unidos-Cuba.En otra geografía, Venezuela, la USAID abrió su oficina en Caracas el primero de Agosto de 2002, con el previsible fin de "proveer asistencia oportuna y flexible para fortalecer la democracia", objetivo que como es bien sabido se ha traducido, con ayuda del IRI y de la NED, en movimiento para atacar el gobierno legitimo de Hugo Chávez mediante un golpe de Estado o por un referéndum, entregando dinero a organizaciones derechistas, muchas de ellas de cuño empresarial.El presidente de Bolivia Evo Morales, acusó en reiteradas oportunidades al embajador Philip Goldberg de utilizar a la referida institución para intervenir y desestabilizar a su gobierno.Los malos precedentes de EEUU en ParaguaySi nos atenemos al caso paraguayo, hasta donde se ha podido corroborar, la asistencia privada -como antecedente de lo hecho en la postguerra por la USAID- para "el desarrollo de Paraguay" se remonta a junio de 1923, cuando la Fundación Rockefeller firmó un acuerdo de cuatro años con el Departamento de Higiene y Asistencia Pública para realizar una campaña para el control de parásitos intestinales.La petrolera que da nombre a esa fundación inspiró y sufragó la matanza entre paraguayos y bolivianos (Guerra del Chaco; 1932/1935) que costó cien mil muertos sólo para decidir -según el escritor estadounidense Teodoro Dreiser-, si Deterding (de la Shell) o Rockefeller (de la Standard Oil) se quedaban con los hidrocarburos del Chaco Boreal.La presencia e influencia estadounidense en tierras paraguayas se extendió a esferas políticas y económicas e incorporó al gobierno del país a la alineación anticomunista y apoyó la cruel represión en el marco interno.El respaldo a la dictadura militar de Alfredo Stroessner se hizo desde su inicio, facilitándole experimentados torturadores como el coronel Robert K. Thierry, quien armó el aparato represivo del Ministerio del Interior.La Casa Blanca redobló su apoyo al régimen liberticida decisivamente para sobrellevar las crisis internas, especialmente después de 1956, cuando en Panamá, Stroessner se reunió con Dwight D. Eisenhower, consiguiendo éste la promesa de que Paraguay se convertiría en el portaviones anticomunista de Sudamérica.

Hay que comprender que lo que la dictadura concretó en infraestructura –por poco que fuera-, estuvo anclado en la contribución privilegiada a los intereses de Washington en su enfrentamiento con Moscú.Como ejemplo se puede citar el telegrama cursado a Washington desde su embajada en Asunción, el 16 de mayo de 1956, señalando que Stroessner informaba al embajador Ageton -y a Estados Unidos- sobre los cambios en el gabinete, tiempo antes que se enteraran sus colaboradores y más lejanamente la opinión pública paraguaya.El pago por esos servicios, las donaciones a los represores, se encubrían bajo la forma de créditos otorgados por instituciones financieras del gobierno estadounidense: la USAID, el Export-Import Bank, el Inter-American Development Bank, el Internacional Monetary Found y el World Bank.El Paraguay actualEn el tiempo de la postdictadura, controlando el presunto combate al narcotráfico, la prensa local, subsidiaria de la National Endowment for Democracy, la Justicia Electoral y por otra parte a tribunales y Ministerio Público con la excusa de la "anticorrupción", el imperio amplió su influencia más allá de la agricultura y las Fuerzas Armadas. Llegando, incluso, a colocar plazos a las empresas paraguayas para su apertura formal y a la aceptación de maquiladoras.En estos planos, el asesor económico de la presidencia de Nicanor Duarte Frutos, Carlos Walde declaró que la USAID administró una donación de 34 millones de dólares para combatir la corrupción.Otro estamento fuertemente identificado con los intereses de Washington en Asunción es el periodístico, con individualizados operadores de los intereses imperiales y receptores de donaciones de la NED, que es quien dota del discurso ideológico a la USAID.La USAID también desvió dinero destinado para filantropía a financiamientos no gubernamentales, fondos que llegaron a las cuentas del Partido Movimiento "Al Socialismo" (PMAS), mediante su llamada Casa de la Juventud, que en 2004 aceptó una partida de alrededor de 127 mil dólares (aplicable al período 2004-2006), para -según declaración pública- dar "apoyo institucional, educativo y técnico a organizaciones para jóvenes".El apoyo le fue dado por la Fundación Interamericana (IAF, por sus siglas en inglés) organización de ayuda externa del gobierno de Estados Unidos para América Latina y el Caribe que declara que entre sus principios está "(...) fomentar el establecimiento y crecimiento de instituciones democráticas, privadas y públicas, congruentes con los requisitos de todos los países soberanos de este hemisferio", agregando luego que ésto se ofrece para "fortalecer los principios democráticos".En este caso, apuntan los beneficiarios, la donación de la IAF fue destinada a apoyar la participación de los jóvenes en audiencias públicas, fortalecer sus destrezas para la búsqueda del consenso y financiar el diseño de campañas públicas de información y el otorgamiento de pequeñas donaciones a jóvenes paraguayos de aproximadamente 10 localidades. “ `La Casa´ espera beneficiar -declaraba en 2004- a cerca de 4 mil 200 jóvenes de vecindarios de bajos ingresos”. Para la campaña electoral que llevó a Lugo a la presidencia, el P-MAS se unió a la coalición triunfante, pese a lo cual no alcanzó representación legislativa.La injerencia encubierta o desembozada de la USAID y otros organismos washingtonianos en las elecciones indican que Estados Unidos no renuncia a ejercer influencia en las decisiones que rozan sus intereses en la nación guaraní.http://www.programaumbral.gov.pyhttp://www.abc.com.py/articulos.php?fec=2008-06-23&pid=426614&sec=7http://paraguay.usaid.gov/espanol/noticia_jonhbeed.htmlEl gobierno paraguayo denunció el 28 de marzo que Estados Unidos busca presionarlo a través de las donaciones de USAID para que le permita manejar desde Washington la identificación de los ciudadanos paraguayos, consintiendo la adjudicación de una licitación para la confección de documentos de identidad a una empresa norteamericana.La presión se produce como una herramienta más de la Embajada, para penetrar las instituciones disfrazándola de cooperación bilateral en un denominado "Plan Umbral".

El manejo de la identificación de personas posibilitaría a Estados Unidos influir en los comicios de Paraguay, resolviendo las elecciones desde Washington.Es común que Estados Unidos determine en Paraguay la utilización que se dará a sus supuestas donaciones, que en realidad son negociados entre sus agentes diplomáticos y empresas de ese país adjudicatarias de la ejecución con dichos aportes.El Plan Umbral, aplicado a través de la USAID, es una más de las formas de penetración y lucha ideológica contra las fuerzas del cambio, populares y progresistas, que sistemáticamente desarrolla el gobierno de los Estados Unidos. Apunta claramente a reformar y profesionalizar el ámbito de las instituciones del Estado, para que abran camino a la profundización de las políticas neoliberales, como por ejemplo la promoción de las maquiladoras que acaban con conquistas sindicales y sociales de los trabajadores.

El proceso selectivo y el destino de fondos del Plan Umbral, como todos los que le antecedieron y funcionan paralelamente, incluso como auxiliares de inteligencia militar -como los Cuerpos de Paz- se da con base en una clara identificación con los principios ideológicos de la supremacía estadounidense, el mercado capitalista y la democracia liberal.Se señala que el denominado Plan Umbral "… brinda asistencia a un grupo limitado de países que todavía no calificaron para la asistencia de la Cuenta del Desafío del Milenio (Millennium Challenge Account o MCA) pero que han demostrado un compromiso a los principios de gobernar con justicia, invertir en el bienestar de la gente, promover libertades económicas, y realizar reformas claves necesarias para alcanzar tales objetivos".

Este es uno de los grandes dilemas que enfrentará Lugo al tomar posesión como Presidente constitucional de Paraguay, el primero después de la larga noche del stronismo.A continuación, presentamos una parte de la "ayuda" de la USAID:Fondo competitivo de veeduria/incidencia ciudadanaLISTADO DE ONG/OSC GANADORAS Nombre de la Organización: Apoyo al Fortalecimiento a la Sociedad Civil - AFOSCI Título de la Iniciativa: Acceso Ciudadano a la Inscripción en el Registro Civil Representante de la OSC: Carlos Bareiro Objetivo: Fortalecimiento y promoción de las inscripciones en el Registro Civil Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 49.942 U$ Resultados: 1- Oficina de atención ciudadana recibiendo denuncias, investigando y dando respuestas; 2- Seguimiento y control ciudadano a las oficinas del Registro Civil de Misiones; 3- Campaña de comunicación implementada Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 4 Nombre de la Organización: Asociación Tiempo Nuevo Título de la Iniciativa: Difusión sonora para la transparencia y la gobernabilidad democrática - Monitoreo y control ciudadano de la información pública Representante de la OSC: María Angélica Cano Radil Objetivo: Contribuir al empoderamiento y capacidad de incidencia social promoviendo el control, el acceso a información y la transparencia a través de herramientas de comunicación Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 47,175.11 U$ Resultados: 1- 3 organizaciones de mujeres capacitadas y empoderadas como veedurías ciudadanas; 2- sociedad civil participa en temas de corrupción y conoce las Convenciones Anticorrupción; 3- Compilación, publicación y registro de casos de corrupción. Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 3 Nombre de la Organización: Centro de Estudios Ambientales y Sociales - CEAMSO Título de la Iniciativa: Veedores ciudadanos para la integridad Representante de la OSC: Ofelia Yegros Objetivo: Instalar procesos de transparencia y lucha contra la impunidad a través de incidencia en las instituciones de control y seguimiento a los hechos punibles denunciados Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 48,662.04 U$ Resultados: 1- Modelo instalado de veeduría ciudadana; 2- Programa incorporado en los medios de comunicación; 3- Observatorio ciudadano consolidado y fortalecido Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 3 Nombre de la Organización: Centro Interdisciplinario de Derecho Social y Economía Política de la Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (CIDSEP/UCA) Título de la Iniciativa: Conozcamos el centro de atención a víctimas y testigos del Ministerio Público Representante de la OSC: Dr. Carlos Alberto Gonzalez Objetivo: Difusión de información y mejoramiento del Centro de Atención a Victimas del Ministerio Público Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 40,713.58 U$ Resultados: 1- Difusión de información sobre el Centro de atención a las victimas; 2- Informe de situación elaborado y propuestas de mejoras publicadas y presentadas Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 1 Nombre de la Organización: Fundación Casa de la Juventud Título de la Iniciativa: Jóvenes estudiantes de la educación media investigando e identificando la corrupción en el Paraguay Representante de la OSC: Sunia Valinotti Objetivo: Instalar el análisis y la discusión entre los estudiantes sobre el rol del Ministerio Público en la lucha contra la corrupción Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 45,226.96 U$ Resultados: 1- 50 docentes capacitados en el rol del MP; 2- 1000 estudiantes sensibilizados; 3- 100 estudiantes capacitados y 40 trabajos de investigación realizados; 4- Material publicado Componente del programa al cual aplica: 1 Nombre de la Organización: Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales del Paraguay (INECIP Py) Título de la Iniciativa: Fortalecimiento, Socialización e Incidencia Ciudadana sobre las Responsabilidades Jurídicas del Proceso de Contrataciones Públicas Representante de la OSC: Roque Orrego Objetivo: Instituciones publicas fortalecidas contra la impunidad en hechos de corrupción Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 47,930.00 U$ Resultados: 1- UCNT publicando los desvíos en las contrataciones; 2- Normas relativas a hechos de corrupción por adquisiciones compiladas y comentadas; 3- sistemas on-web desarrollados Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 3 Nombre de la Organización: Instituto Desarrollo Título de la Iniciativa: Ojo ciudadano de la Justicia Representante de la OSC: Cesar Cabello Objetivo: Monitoreo ciudadano del cumplimiento de las actuaciones procesales en el ámbito penal de la adolescencia en San Lorenzo, Luque y Lambaré Duración: 8 meses Monto del proyecto: 49,999.57 U$ Resultados: 1- Mecanismo con base informática en funcionamiento; 2- Despliegue y divulgación del sistema de monitoreo; 3- OSC capacitadas para el uso de la información; 4-Replicabilidad de la iniciativa para su uso por otras OSC Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 2 Nombre de la Organización: Tierra Nueva Título de la Iniciativa: Cuidando lo nuestro Representante de la OSC: Ricardo Rodríguez Objetivo: Promover condiciones para la participación de la Sociedad Civil en la auditoria de las instituciones publicas Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 48,210.00 U$ Resultados: 1- OSC adquieren herramientas para una veeduría incidencia ciudadana; 2- Instancias de trabajo SC y CGR conformadas; 3- OSC presentan a la CGR y al MH y MAG propuestas de políticas de control y transparencia Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 3 Nombre de la Organización: Transparencia Paraguay Título de la Iniciativa: Seguimiento a la implementación de recomendaciones de la auditorias de la CGR al MOPC Representante de la OSC: Pilar Callizo Objetivo: Control e incidencia sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones de la CGR a las auditorias al MOPC Duración: 8 meses Monto del proyecto: 36,961.00 U$ Resultados: 1- Metodología diseñada y desarrollada; 2- Información recopilada del estado de implementación de las observaciones de la CGR; 3- Ciudadanía ejerciendo mayor control sobre la adm. de los bienes públicos Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 3 Nombre de la Organización: Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción - UCA Título de la Iniciativa: Ojo Ciudadano Representante de la OSC: Antonio Tellechea Solis Objetivo: Incrementar la participación ciudadana en los procesos de Veeduría Ciudadana apoyando los esfuerzos de la Unidad de apoyo de la CGR Duración: 10 meses Monto del proyecto: 45,000.00 U$ Resultados: 1- Publicación y difusión de los indicadores creados para la investigación y los resultados; 2- Se reconocen los hechos que infringen el art 82 de las ley 1535/99 Componente del Programa al cual aplica: 3 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Enviado porRevista Koeyú Latinoamericanorevistakoeyulatinoamericano@gmail.com
Tel. (58 212) 481 7740Cel. (58) 412 7332730Caracas. Venezuela

PRESENTE, Don White

Activist Don Small has died. Without his tireless contributions Coalition for World Peace would not have been possible. More on his life and work http://www.ooa.org

Asesores de Elidenis de Gomez con el desarrollo de su Plan de Negocios

Fotos: josefponce@yahoo.com

Secretario de Organizaciones Unidas Pro Salvaguadia del Distrito Histórico de la Ciudad de Panama (OUPSAF) y la Profesora Rócio de la Rosa, investigadora economista periodista dando ayuda voluntario a Elidenis Gomez en preparación de su plan de negocios, la parte contable.

Fotos: josefponce@yahoo.com

Elidenis de Gomez con la Profesora Rócio de la Rosa armando las ojas de calculo digital en Excel. El trabajo de hacer planes annuales de proyecciones mensuales se hace mas simple con ojas de calculo digital, como Excel. Facility muchas cosas como hacer presentaciones de datos en formas visuales en varios formatos y colores.

Aspirante empresarial Sra. Elidenis de Gomez en curso AMPYME seminario de crear microempresa

Yo, Elidenis de Gomez, soy Madre de 4 hijos, varones de 10, 12, 15 y 20 años.

Para desarrollar mi proprio negocito y ampliarlo, me dirigi a un curso de capacitación empresarial, patrocinado por las Partidas del Gobierno Nacional para los corregimientos.

El curso fue muy interesante e util por que me amplio mis conocimientos en el area de mi negocio. Me ayudo a proyectar un plan de trabajo por un año para tener una idea de como evaluar las finanzas del negocio. Tambien me oriento a como ver y dirigirme hacia mi mercado y conocer y satisfacer a mis clientes y potencial clientes.

Comprendi la importancia de la fiel contabilidad de los costos, gastos e ingresos. Me di cuenta que al ser más fiel y más meticulosa que sea la contabilidad de los costos, gastos, e ingresos; mejores son la posibilidad de rastrear hasta el ultimo centavo, las utilidades, las ganancias. Esto permite mejor planificación control de costos y gastos. Permite mejor administración del negocio, de los productos y los servicios a los clientes.

Ahora tengo mejor conceptos de la contabilidad de la empresa y su administración. Ahora tengo mejor idea y vision de renglones contables que impactan las entradas y salidas de ingresos.

Tambien aprendi sobre la importancia de atención al cliente y lo impactante de la presentación de los productos a servir.

Ahora tengo mejor idea de adonde sale la ganancia.

Yo espero que de este esfuerzo mio en el seminario con la contribución del Gobierno Nacional por medio de AMPYME, amerite clasificar mi plan de negocio y me apoyen con un capital semilla y un posible micro prestamo bancario para expandir y mejorar mi local del negocio.

Me parece que este programa de orientación empresarial es muy importante para desarrollar y cultivar micro emprendedores, en particular mujeres, en nuestras comunidades; donde nos ofrece un aliento de esperanza para mejorar nuestra calidad de vidas, contribuyendo a autogenerar mejores ingresos.

Saludo con mucho amor a mi Esposo Marco y mis Hijos por su apoyo incondicional.

elidegomez@yahoo.com 6608-1136 para su ayuda o commentarios

Proyecto de Ley contra la discriminación en empleos presentado HD Hermicenda Perea, Lunes, 23 Junio 2008 6pm Asamblea

Mr. Juan Fagguete and Mr. Enrique Sanchez.

Mr. Sidnez and Business Partner.

Mr. Enrique Sanchez, HD Hermicenda Perea, Mr. Sidnez, Ms. Sonia Brown, Bishop Murray and others after HD Perea introduced legislation against discrimination in employment.

After the introduction of legislation against discriminination in employment, I found Artist Victor Bruce at one of the entrances to the Mercado de Artesanias at 5 de Mayo Plaza, painting recollections of the Monuments in Calidonia, like the CASA Mueller (Miller). Personnally have very fond memories of the building from the years mid 1950´s to late 1960´s, due to assisting my Mother, Maestra Virginia Montilla de Ponce q.e.p.d. 1910-2002, shopping at the Mercadito. Afterwards would walk up the Calle 25 to Avenida Central at Casa Mueller turn to Plaza 5 de Mayo and stop at about the fourth door, where a little old Black woman with grey hair made the most delecious coconut items and cocadas, sometimes with different colors. I had to have 2 to 3 cocadas every Saturday, of course depending on my grades in school.

Mr. Victor Bruce painting a pollera among his many oil pastel portraits that he accomplishes while posing on site for about an hour. Very reasonable cost for the portrait, if you pose on the spot. The price for a portrait is still reasonable, if he does the portrait from a photo. A little more, if the photo is deteriorated or faded.

Representatives and Members of Black Community Organizations at the National Assembly in support of Legislation outlawing employment discrimination.

Another view of Afro representatives and members of community organizations with "firefighters" in the background.

Child accompanying parent firefighters in support of legislation completely restructuring the Panama Fire Fighters financial, organizational and operational structures. It seemed to me that what Minister of Government and Justice was really saying is that they were "militarizing the fire fighters and other emergency and related services. He also clearly stated that the new militarized structures would be under 'professional uniformed' leadership, rather than civilian, as present.

The next morning at the Fundacion San Felipe, I witnessed an very upset young black Mother, with a 2-3 or y.o. infant. Completely distressed. She was so upset, that due to the "ethnic cleansing" that has taken place in the Historic District of the City of Panama, there are no families, friends or older people left in the community, that could help her take care of her child for two hours, from 8am to 10am, while she attended an introductory course in computer basics at the Fundación San Felipe. The Fundación San Felipe has been around for over a decade and still don´t get it that poor people need more than symbolic help, they need integral and sustainable help when needed.

As part of the struggle to overcome the obstacle of racism, marginalization, exclusion and discrimination and others, I would urge that the Fundación San Felipe be contacted and ask that the Damas de la Sociedad, order their Fundación administrator to find a way to solve the 2 hour child care for that young black mother, so she can take that class without having to worry about how the child is doing.

She was so upset that her husband had enrolled her at the cost of $8 and she would lose the enrollment fee. She could not take the girl to the computer lab any more, because the first day, the child was distracting to the other neighboring students.

It seems to me, that given that a "uniformed bombera" had to take her child to the assembly for lack of child care after work, that we should look into all the problems of young mothers, especially young black mothers applying and enrolling in these training programs with no support for their offsprings.

In the case of the this young woman at the San Felipe Foundation, I would ask to have an audit to see how many other applicants or aspiring applicants need the child care help to enroll in any training program.

Mr. Victor Bruce posing next to his "Casa Mueller" acrilic painting.

mrmattic@hotmail.com a HIP HOP rapper from Charlotte, North Carolina who has moved to France and is now touring with a French disco avant guard group Max Taylor.

Most happy autograph seekers and admirers to share a photo with mrmattic@hotmail.com
Longtime neighbor from San Felipe having coffee at the Fundación San Felipe.

Fundación San Felipe seamstress class students and instructor doing patchwork quilts. Very beautiful carefull work.

These young families need the backing of legislation, state resources and its enforcement outlawing discrimination, to guarantee access to education, health care, recreation and above all dignified employment to enjoy a possible better world.

Kuna University student aspiring to be a professional in the service of our national community.

Young woman from Vacamonte, inquiring about how to enroll in a school to train to work in computer repair. I sent her to the Silvio Bedova Escuela Laboral at the University of Panama.


Mr. Victor Bruce displaying his polleras and I displaying my Basta Ya! USA! poster.

Tourism students visiting San Felipe and posing on the people´s side of the Bolivar Monument. As future guides, tourism operators and hospitality administratos; I point out the biases of the time and the artists, when they sculpted and casted "the people" who did the liberation; "the armies fighting" behind the liberators, as "all europeans." A stark contrast to the realities of who were the troops, for instance that accompanied Bolivar across the Andes. Those army of liberators who fought at Junin, the last silent mayor battle in the Americas fought with clubs, knives, machetes, swords and spears.

I mention to visitors and students that the whole city was walled, streets and plazas leveled by the sweat, blood and lives of 148 black slaves and 4 bosses, of which one was the Spanish military architect directing the project. The other construction administrative and field assitants.

Need to have a project to track down the names and the descendants of those 148 slaves. Where is their return on their family investment. Who were the builders of the old Panama, where are their descendants?

sheep pen foto experiment

Note: this is a sheep pen foto experiment

My Poem

For your and my family, for our communities and a peaceful future for humanity; I stood up to the EVIL corporate usurpers of Old Glory; usurpers of our Revolutionary Declaration of Independecence; usurpers of our Constitutional Liberties and Justice under the Bill of Rights; usurpers of our State and Federal, legislative, judicial and executive powers; usurpers of all our ruling institutions; usurpers of our Treasure, privatizers of our monetary-credit-currency system; usurpers and privatizers of our military might.

For decades I had to live and bear the consequences of standing up to corporate enslavement at home and abroad.

Today, When"the EVIL corporate USA" bares its FEMA camps: black ski masked, terrorizing militarized police; arbitrary check points; mass arrests; taser tortures; executions; disappearances: I am old, broken and hurting.
Now I can use some help!!!

Buddy, "amigo," friend, "vecino," where are you?

Your are gone, nowhere to be found!

Basta Ya! USA!...the IV Reich
--
josefponce@yahoo.com
(507)6599-5679
http://sanfelipeahora.blogspot.com/
http://www.pww.org/
http://www.cpusa.org/
http://www.alternativabolivariana.org/
http://www.congresobolivariano.org/
http://www.granma.cu/
http://www.arcoiris.tv/ (TeleSur)
http://www.globalinfo.org/
http://www.emancipacion.org/
http://www.thepowerhour.com/
http://www.infowars.com/
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/
http://www.suntracs.org/

South Africa and her neighbors..."la luta continua"

Umsebenzi Online, Volume 7, No. 10, 18 June 2008
In this Issue:

* Honouring the 16 June 1976 contingent: People's Education for
People's Power in South Africa's transition to democracy

* For the SACP, the recall of President Mbeki is not an obsession

* Mbeki exacerbates our objective problems: he must go!

Red Alert

Honouring the 16 June 1976 contingent: People's Education for People's
Power in South Africa's transition to democracy
by Blade Nzimande, General Secretary

During this week and for the rest of this month, our country will be
celebrating the role of our youth in the struggle for national
liberation and reconstruction of our country.

Indeed the SACP wishes to pay tribute to the class of 1976, and all the subsequent youth
generations who have played a truly heroic role in these struggles.

In our last edition we wrote about the tasks and challenges of building
street, block and village committees as part of building people's power
in the locality, and as an important platform to fight the scourge of
crime in our country. We located this task within the overall context of
some of the complexities and challenges facing (former) national
liberation movements now in power. Of particular importance in this
struggle is the continuing role of youth from within the ranks of the
working class.

In essence what we are calling for in building street committees is a
return (but not a mechanical one) to the struggle to build working
class-led, people's power in the locality as the key platform upon which
to consolidate the advances made in Polokwane to advance and deepen the
national democratic revolution.

If there is one major lesson from the 1976 student uprisings, it is that
they were the foundation for the mass semi-insurrectionary struggles of
the 1980s and provided the platform upon which we built organs of
people's power that spearheaded the final onslaught against of the
apartheid regime.

In these struggles it was the working class and the
youth, particularly that drawn from the ranks of the workers and the
poor, that played a leading role on this front. As we commemorate 16
June 1976, we still expect the youth from the urban and rural working
class and the poor playing a more prominent role, as we consolidate the
gains of the 1994 democratic breakthrough.

Youth is not homogenous: Socialism for the youth, and youth for
socialism


Much as it is important to seek to unite all strata of our youth, it is
absolutely imperative to remember that youth is not a homogenous social
and political category, but is made up of youth drawn from various
classes in society. Since 1994 there has been a further stratification
of our youth, as a result of the contradictory realities of, on the one
hand, upward mobility of black youth, and, on the other hand, the high
levels of unemployment amongst youth, including retrenchments and
casualisation. The opening up of new opportunities since 1994, there is
a growing layer of black youth drawn from the sections of a rapidly
upwardly mobile black middle classes and a small, albeit growing layer
of an emergent black section of the bourgeoisie.


Addressing the problems facing South African youth today in essence
calls for intensified and not lessened focus on youth drawn from the
ranks of the workers and the poor. The intensity of the many social ills
facing our youth today continues to be acutely felt by youth drawn from
the ranks of the working class and the poor; the scourge of HIV/AIDS,
unemployment, casualisation and poverty are all acutely felt by youth
drawn from the ranks of the (urban and rural) workers and the poor.

It has now become fashionable to talk about 'youth' devoid of its class
content, mainly as a means to advance and privilege the notion that the
solution to the problems facing youth is narrow BEE and affirmative
action. This obscures the fact that it is not narrow BEE and affirmative
action that is the primary solution to the problems facing our youth
today, but a radical restructuring of our economy in a manner that will
prioiritise the interests of the workers and the poor of our country.
BEE and affirmative action has on the whole benefitted the youth that is
already upwardly mobile and has left the majority of urban and rural
poor youth in the same socio-economic condition as before.


The current capitalist trajectory, with all it's claimed 'growth
credentials', has hardly transformed the socio-economic conditions
facing the overwhelming majority of the youth of our country. It is not
only black youth whose condition has not improved, if not deteriorated,
but the overwhelming majority of young black women has remained at the
bottom of the ladder of the current 'growth' path in our country.

The youth of 1976 never fought for the co-option of a small section of
the youth into the capitalist echelons of society, but for the radical
transformation of the South African economy in line with the vision of
the Freedom Charter.

For our youth, in 1976 and today, their struggle was at its core a
struggle not just against national oppression, necessary as this was,
but a struggle for a radical transformation of the South African
economy. To us this can be nothing else but a struggle for socialism.
That is why when we reconstituted the Young Communist League a few years
back, we did this under the slogan, 'Socialism for the Youth, and Youth
for Socialism'.

People's education for people's power
Much as the front of struggle opened by the June 1976 uprisings laid a
further basis for the overall offensive against the apartheid regime, we
dare not lose sight of the fundamental issue raised by the 1976
uprising, that of a call for the complete abolition of the bantu
education system, a call that laid the foundation for the later, and
more advanced, struggles for people's education for people's power. We
cannot reduce the 1976 student uprisings to the single issue of the
transformation of education, as the impact of these struggles went far
beyond that, but at the same time we should not obscure the meaning of
1976 for educational transformation.

The above should also be a reminder that much as the national democratic
revolution is an overarching struggle to liberate and reconstruct our
country, at the same time it is made up of a multiplicity of dynamic
sectoral struggles, in education, in health, in the communities, in the
factories, students, youth, women's struggles and so on. In other words,
progressive sectoral struggles are an integral part, and not a
diversion, from the national democratic revolution.

We have indeed come a long way since 1976, with the 1994 democratic
breakthrough providing a unique opportunity to implement the vision of
the Freedom Charter that the 'doors of learning shall be open'. Indeed
we have made many advances on the education front. We have done away
with the more than 18 apartheid education departments, we have outlawed
racially and ethnically based schools; universities are now open to all,
irrespective colour, with the establishment of the national student
financial aid scheme for higher education; and we have laws and
institutions that create space for democratic participation by parents,
teachers, students and communities in the running of the education
system.


However despite all the above advances and many others, our education is
still beset with many problems and challenges. We only wish to highlight
only two for purposes of our argument here. The first and most insidious
are the class glaring and continuing inequalities in our education
system, that unfortunately often reproduce the racial inequalities of
the apartheid era, given the coincidence between class and race in our
society. The second is the progressive demobilisation of the motive
forces that were in the forefront of the struggle for educational
transformation, especially between 1976 and 1994.


The previously white education institutions have done relatively well
since 1994, whilst many of the schools and universities that previously
served black people have remained stagnant, and in some instances, have
experienced serious decline both in terms of resources and quality of
outputs.


Class inequalities and class bias towards the middle classes continues
to afflict our education system across the board. For instance apart
from the fact that it is largely black middle class students who have
accessed the better resourced former white schools, even progressive
curriculum interventions, like the 2005 curriculum changes, have largely
benefitted the better resourced schools, as they are the only ones with
the necessary text-books and other resources to properly implement these
changes. Even the public discourse on educational transformation has
been disproportionately dominated by middle class concerns, with the
voices of township and rural education communities generally muted.


For example, researchers recently conducted into the cohort of young
people who undertook the matriculation examinations in 2003. Of this
cohort, with almost 1 million learners entering the system in Grade 1,
only 7% of these children would emerge from the system in a position to
apply for study at an institution of higher education. The overwhelming
majority of the learners who do achieve a matric exemption are children
from the middle classes. The probability of a working class child
(overwhelmingly black) achieving a university exemption is much less
than 1%. This is indeed a deeply disturbing state of affairs.


Amongst other things, the above situation calls for an accelerated focus
on provision of basic minimum resources for all our education
institutions, including elimination of the many infrastructural backlogs
in schools and other educational institutions, mainly those serving
black children and students. One possible method of achieving this is to
redirect, at least for the next five years, most the extended public
works programmes towards the provision of such educational
infrastructure.


Whilst government has correctly identified issues of quality as being at
the heart of our education system, this should not be seen in isolation
from the challenge of providing the necessary infrastructure. As part of
reviewing our performance in the education system we need to undertake a
public evaluation of how we are doing as a country towards the
attainment of the United Nations Millenium Development goals.


The ANC Polokwane conference resolved, inter alia, that education must
be treated as a priority, with the ANC NEC January 8 statement correctly
calling for 'Education must be elevated from being a departmental issue,
or even a government issue, to a societal issue - on that occupies the
attention and energy of all our people'. To this end the ANC is calling
for a campaign centred on a 'Code for Quality Education' which outlines
the role, responsibilities and discipline required from all the key
stakeholders in the education system. This Code must contain what the
ANC further calls 'non-negotiables' in education where departmental
officials, teachers, learners, parents and communities commit themselves
to certain basic minimum goals and performance standards in order to
accelerate the transformation of education.


The idea of a commitment to key 'non-negotiables' (teachers must teach,
learners must learn, departmental officials must carry out their duties
fully in support of our educational objectives, parents to actively
participate in school governing bodies, and for communities to ensure
that every school-going child goes to school and protect our schools) is
indeed an important step towards revitalisation of our education system.


But this 'Code of Conduct' will require that we reclaim the spirit and
vision of the 1976 student uprisings and the subsequent struggles for
people's education. This means that such a code and implementation of
these 'non-negotiables' will not be realised unless we focus on building
local education committees throughout the country as organs of people's
education for people's power. The single biggest weakness in our
struggles to transform education has been the large-scale demobilisation
of our communities in participating and taking forward our education
agenda. The key challenge therefore is the remobilisation of our
communities!


It is through this that we shall truly honour and protect the legacy of
the class of 1976!
Asikhulume!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For the SACP, the recall of President Mbeki is not an obsession
By Cde Jeremy Cronin


Joel Netshitenzhe ("Rush to remove Mbeki smacks of opportunism", Cape
Times, June 9) singles out the SACP as part of a band of craven vultures
circling over "a political-death-in-the-making". We are accused of
"irrationality" and of "trashing a legacy". All of this because we have
suggested President Mbeki should be recalled.


The SACP has not made this proposal lightly. We are aware of several
potential pitfalls. "While there is not yet support from our allies in
this regard", the recent SACP central committee statement asserts, "the
SACP continues to believe that the President of the country should be
recalled. Quite how this should be done without creating more
instability is a matter to be considered soberly - perhaps the calling
of an early election could be considered."

That is the collective view of the SACP leadership. Netshitenzhe greatly
underrates the resonance of our call within COSATU (which has said that
it does not YET support the SACP position) and indeed within the ANC's
senior leadership. However, it is true that without our allies'
wholehearted support, the implementation of a recall is unlikely. In any
case, as Netshitenzhe correctly notes, President Mbeki's term is now
fast approaching an end.


So does that mean that the SACP's position is purely academic? Not so.
In the first place it establishes a bench-mark, not just for the
present, but for any future incumbents. The right of recall must be a
fundamental cornerstone of our democracy.

Note we have suggested a recall, not an impeachment as Netshitenzhe
continually implies. But let's be honest with ourselves, if we were
living in a more mature democracy, the events surrounding the
Selebi-Pikoli affair would have long been the subject of an impeachment
inquiry. The SACP has not called for impeachment proceedings, and we do
not want to pre-judge the findings of a hand-picked Ginwala commission.
Still less do we want to speculate on where the German and the now
fast-tracked UK inquiries into the arms deal might lead. Suffice to say
we cannot be complacent about these matters, either as a movement or
country.


Among the dangers in making our recall proposal is that it will be used
to divert attention from the substantial issues at hand. It is a danger
that Netshitenzhe seeks to exploit to the hilt. He wants to assure us
that everything is on track. Government is busy consolidating its Medium
Term Strategic Framework and the ANC will hold a lekgotla in July. We
can all chug along guided by the State of Nation address apex
priorities. In short, although the slogan is "business unusual", there
is a profound sense of complacency. "With all of these ducks neatly in a
row", Netshitenzhe asks, "why then the clamour for political
instability?"


Clearly in Netshitenzhe's estimation political instability is what the
SACP is intent on stirring up artificially in an otherwise serene
environment. Things are fine in Khutsong. All is well in the SABC, the
judiciary, and the SAPS. The hundreds of township revolts have not
really taken place. Yes, there might be a problem or two, but, as
President Mbeki assured Parliament in January in regard to Zimbabwe, all
that remains are a few "procedural matters".


I respect Netshitenzhe's loyalty to his political principal. Without
agreeing, I also respect an argument that a presidential recall might
add to (rather than help resolve) the current political drift. What is
deeply disappointing, however, is the blend of complacency and denialism
- hallmarks of the Mbeki presidency - that Netshitenzhe brings to his
argument. Even more disturbing are his inclinations, once the
complacency is threatened and the denialism wears thin, to rubbish and
demonise alternative views.


Why is there a proposal for a recall, is the basic question Netshitenzhe
reiterates throughout his intervention. Flashing a polemical sword, he
then wades into straw-persons in all directions. "There are some who
seem to have expected Mbeki to line up behind the MDC and its
international backers in pronouncing Morgan Tsvangirai the outright
winner in the March presidential election." Well, there might have been
some who had this expectation, but certainly not the SACP. However, that
is not the issue. The issue is that, by this sleight of hand,
Netshitenzhe seeks to divert us away from any substantial evaluation of
President Mbeki's past and continuing Zimbabwe policies.


Netshitenzhe continues: "There will be ongoing debate about"
(spin-doctor's code for "okay, there might be a tiny problem here") "the
president's public relations activities. But this can hardly be an
argument for impeachment." Well said, comrade Joel! Yet another
straw-person be-headed! But, on second thoughts, who on earth has
actually argued that the president should be impeached for his PR
limitations?


Could the recall proposal be based on Mbeki's belated response to the
attacks on foreign immigrants, Netshitenzhe rhetorically wonders. He
then answers his own question: "Objective observers know that the
president cannot wave a magic wand to prevent economic migrants from
Zimbabwe, Mozambique and elsewhere."


Again a straw-person. Again a sleight of hand that avoids asking
fundamental questions like: Has Mbeki presided over an effective
migration policy?


"Or is it about the electricity emergency?", Netshitenzhe wonders. "But
how", he responds, "will an immediate change of president resolve this
complex problem?"


Of course President Mbeki is not single-handedly to blame for the
electricity crisis, or HIV denialism in our country, or the implosion in
Zimbabwe, or the arms procurement fiasco. And therefore, of course, a
recall will itself not be the silver bullet that miraculously resolves
any of these deep-seated challenges.


However, if Mbeki is not single-handedly responsible, he certainly
presided over these and other crises. For instance, it was Mbeki's
cabinet that in its 1998 energy white paper came up with the
preposterous claim that "the most significant international shift in
consciousness is a realisation that commercial energy sources will not
become scarce in the short or even medium term. The 'limits to growth'
school of thought has receded." (Who advised them on this? Enron?) From
this the Mbeki government concluded that national energy sovereignty was
irrelevant and Eskom could be sold off. When COSATU and the SACP
protested, we were accused of trying to overthrow the state (by those
who were trying to sell it off).


For the SACP, the recall of President Mbeki is not an obsession. It is a
suggestion. We do have obsessions, like the rocketing food and energy
prices. Our concern in this regard is about a truly obsessive Reserve
Bank that persists in firing blanks at the price of a barrel of Brent
Crude, and a government that imagines externally-driven inflation can be
curbed with self-defeating macro-economic measures instead of
micro-economic interventions that aim to ensure as much food and energy
sovereignty as possible.


Unless there is an honest reflection on what President Mbeki continues
to preside over, the challenges we face on so many fronts will persist
and deepen - regardless of who happens to be the incumbent.

Mbeki exacerbates our objective problems: he must go!
By Cde David Masondo


The nub of Joel Netshitenzhe' s article (06 June 2008), is that Mbeki
should not be recalled as President the Republic because problems that
beset South Africa and the Southern African region, particularly
Zimbabwe, are beyond his control. '...how will an immediate change of
president resolve' the problem of electricity, Netshitenzhe asks. So
change of leadership will not change anything, we are told. We are also
re-assured that South Africa is still safe under Mbeki's stewardship.


To politically legitimise his argument, Netshitenzhe goes at length in
showing that the opponents of the ANC agree with the SACP on the recall
of the state president; thus implying that the SACP is right wing.
Unfortunately this is the old trick and sleight of hand by what we call
the 1996 class project, which has brought us the many crises we face
today, especially in governance. It was this habit that directly led to
the Polokwane revolt, as it evaded dealing with problems facing us, thus
alienating the majority of the constituencies of our movement.


The SACP is pointing to Mbeki's inability to lead in order to save
ourselves from sinking into an abyss. If we were to follow
Netshitenzhe's logic we can equally lump together Mbeki and the ANC
opponents because the latter supports him on many issues, eg on the SABC
Board (virtually now supported only by the DA), GEAR, the firing of
Jacob Zuma from government, etc.


It is true that politics of personalities may neglect objective
structural conditions that produce problems that beset Southern Africa.
What eludes Netshitenzhe's tirade though, is the failure to see a
correlated relationship between the roles of individuals in reproducing
those objective conditions. Of course removal of Mbeki will not
immediately obliterate the underlying structural causes of poverty,
inter-and intra-national migration, energy crisis, corruption, and
absence of democracy in Zimbabwe. But certainly, it will eliminate some
of the precipitating conditions arising out of his inept leadership.


Leadership is also about facilitating subjective conditions necessary
for human beings to exorcise themselves from undesirable objective
conditions. So the led elects the leadership to do exactly that. Has
Mbeki succeeded to lead? No! Mbeki has actually contributed to the
emasculation of our capacity to deal with our problems. How has
criminalisation of dissent within the ANC, Alliance and society in
general served the mandate of our people? How is the 2004 electoral
mandate served by appointing an SABC Board which is factionalist and
unrepresentative? How is the selective rule of law serving the mandate
of 'movement'? How is HIV-AIDS denialism serving the people? Why didn't
he listen to people's objections on the restructuring of ESKOM? How will
the 53% electricity tariff hike serve the mandate of the people? Mbeki
and Netshitenzhe's answers on these are muted with deafening silence.


Netshitenzhe does tell us how Mbeki's leadership is helping in dealing
with the Zimbabwean crisis. No one has ever said, at least from the
SACP, Mbeki must side with the MDC as Netshitendze alleges. Mbeki's
collaboration with the Mugabe regime has actually precipitated the
Zimbabwean crisis, which he still denies its existence. Lack of prompt
and firm response to the xenophobic attacks has laid conditions for the
escalation of the xenophobic violent attacks.


Lack of decisive action and the selective application of the rule of law
in dealing with corruption have accentuated lack of confidence in the
state institutions, thus undermining our constitutional democracy. How
do we for instance explain that more than a year after the surfacing of
the 'Special Browse Mole' and the subsequent findings by parliament on
this, no action has been taken against those who compiled the document?
In actual fact, the 52nd ANC elective conference Polokwane outcome was
also a vote of no confidence on the President on how government has
allowed blatant abuse of some of the state apparatuses to undermine
democracy within the ANC and in society. And therefore the ANC
membership is not content with his state leadership.


Unlike the Mandela-to-Mbeki transition, the Mbeki-Zuma transition is
complicated by the fact that the current leadership in the state clearly
did not want the current leadership to be elected. This explains why the
state leadership under comrade Mbeki successfully failed to provide
correct and principled political leadership to state apparatuses. The
state was deeply implicated in fighting Mbeki's political opponents.


So the issue here is not about Mbeki per se. But about principle of
revocability, which is part of our democratic practice. This means if
the new ANC president precipitates our objective problems; the power to
recall him must be duly exercised. This will set us apart from
Netshitenzhe's obsession with defense of an individual at the expense of
South Africa and her neighbours.


However, the critical issue raised by the SACP is how we overcome, inter
alia, the many crises created by the 1996 class project by transforming
the current economic growth path and building capacity for a
developmental state. Part of moving towards this objective in the
current period is by creating the necessary conditions, including a
recall of any leader deployed by the ANC in government. No one is above
the organization!

Educate, Organize, Mobilize or Die!

Umsebenzi Online, Volume 7, No. 09, 4 June 2008
In this Issue:
A perspective on street committees
Red Alert
Blade Nzimande, General Secretary

The call by the ANC President, Cde Jacob Zuma, for the formation of street committees as part of a crime-fighting strategy is indeed an important call and initiative. As we have pointed out before this is perfectly in line with the SACP's own 2008 programme of action, to build safe and healthy communities.

However, there seems to be very little visible activity in this regard, yet this is a very urgent task if we are to urgently deal with the scourge of crime, and other pressing local challenges. It is therefore important that we simultaneously launch a debate on the character, tasks and challenges in building street, village and block committees.

Some of the questions we have to pose and answer, both theoretically and practically, include, but not limited to, the following:

a. What lessons do we need to learn from our 1980s experiences of such committees, and what are the challenges in building these post-1994?

b. What should be the relationship between street committees and Community Policing Forums (CPFs)?

c. What should be the relationship between such street committees and ward committees, and what are the possible areas of conflict between the two, and how can these be overcome?

d. How do we rebuild such committees as organs of people's power and a new platform to intensify the struggle for the renewal of the revolutionary values of our movement?

e. What relationship, if any, should exist between street committees and a progressive civic movement?

f. Should street committees only be limited to dealing with crime or should they be broadened to play a much broader developmental role?

Whilst it is important to debate the form and character of street committees, we must also bear in mind that such structures may take different forms in different localities and therefore we should not be too prescriptive. In addition, it is through practical work on the ground that we can better learn about the shape, character and role of such structures post 1994.

But at the same time we do need to develop some broad guidelines and shared perspectives on our strategies in building such structures. It is to some of the above questions that this edition seeks to provide some answers, hopefully as part of initiating a debate.

For purposes of this edition, the term "street committees" will be used to also include block and village committees.

Liberation movements as ruling parties and mass driven organisations
It is important to state up front that street, block and village committees should not be built as part of party political structures, as they should seek to organise our people irrespective of their political affiliations. But at the same time, our movement has an important leading role to play in building these structures, not through a bureaucratic imposition, but through hard organisational work in our communities.

Before seeking to answer some of the questions posed above, it is important to locate the task of building street committees within the context of challenges facing (former) liberation movement now in power. The SACP has consistently pointed out that one of the more serious fault lines that emerge after liberation movements ascend to (state) power, is the tension, and often conflicts, between, on the one hand, the role of such movements as ruling (and governing) parties, and, on the other hand, maintaining their character as mass driven movements. The tension between these two roles is not necessarily a negative thing, but is a healthy, and sometimes necessary, tension for any dynamic liberation movement.

Unfortunately in many instances former liberation movements now in power have chosen to resolve this tension through the progressive demobilisation of the movement, and privilege the role of the movement as a ruling party over the day to day mobilisation of the people. This in itself has tended to create a gulf between the movement and its mass base, and, in a number of cases, leading to the very same constituencies turning against the movement itself. Indeed it is not the issue of the breaking down of this relationship alone that has led to the degeneration of many liberation movements, but also conservative and anti-people policies pursued by some of the liberation movements in power.

Our own ANC and the alliance it leads has not been immune to these tensions, and the outcomes of the Polokwane Conference can, inter alia, be regarded as an expression of dissatisfaction by ordinary ANC members in what they saw as the demobilisation of the movement and attempts to turn it into a narrow ruling political party driven by the agenda of elites, both within and outside the state structures.

To its credit the ANC decided to remain and strengthen its character as a broad-based, mass driven national liberation movement even after 1994. This was informed by the fact that there is no necessary contradiction between being a ruling party and a mass based liberation movement. However our experiences show that there has been serious conflicts arising out of the progressive demobilisation of ANC structures, outside of election campaigns, and concentration of power within a narrow circle of comrades in the state, often working together with elements of the black and white sections of the bourgeoisie.

The above tensions within our movement have sharply manifested themselves in what was a clearly deteriorating relationship between the ANC and its alliance partners in the run up to Polokwane. However, these conflicts were not necessarily always between the ANC and its allies, but more often a tension between certain government policies and the policy perspectives of allies. This is because the ANC itself was often sidelined in the adoption of some of the key policies by government at all levels.

Another manifestation of the difficulties surrounding the relationship between the ANC as a broad liberation movement and a ruling party has been the weakening of the mobilisational capacity of ANC structures on the ground. Sometimes the mobilisation of ANC structures to, for instance, confront a corrupt ANC ward councillor, has been seen as mobilising the ANC against itself. As a result, this has led to a political vacuum in many of our localities, giving rise to the emergence of 'concerned groups' and unguided mass mobilisation, sometimes resulting in violence and destruction of property.

It is important to locate the task of rebuilding street committees within the above challenges, as these structures, even if led by our cadres, may have to now and again raise problems and challenge some of the decisions of local ANC structures. Also, much as these structures must not be ANC structures, it is only the ANC and its allies that have the capacity to rebuild such street committees. By taking a lead in rebuilding such structures, the ANC will be affirming its "dual", but necessary, roles as both a ruling party and a mass mobiliser of the people. Much more important we are seeking to rebuild street committees in a vastly changed terrain than in the 1980s.

Our attitude should indeed be to re-affirm the Alliance's own perspectives that there is no inherent contradiction between governing and mobilising the people at the same time. In fact, governing that is not buttressed by mass power and activism is bound to degenerate into a bureaucratic and technocratic process that is divorced from the people. Put differently, consolidating and deepening the national democratic revolution requires governance buttressed by a mobilised and vigilant people. It is failure to consistently implement these perspectives that have, in many instances, created a fertile ground for patronage, careerism and corruption.

Street committees and CPFs
There is indeed a potential for conflictual relations between street committees and Community-Police Forums (CPFs). In order to avoid this it is important that street committees must not be seen as a substitute or parallel structures to existing CPFs, but as the revolutionary nucleus of such CPFs. It is true that in a number of instances where CPFs exist, they tend to "float" above communities that they are supposed to serve, without a dynamic involvement of the community. Usually this is because CPFs tend to be populated only by a narrow circle of activists and volunteers who happen to take an active involvement in such structures. Street committees have the potential of rooting CPFs in every street, block or village where they operate. Where CPFs do not exist, it is street committees that should play a leading role towards the formation of such CPFs.

As we know from our past experiences in the 1980s, a number of street committees that sprung up quickly degenerated into vigilantism. It is absolutely important that such committees must be vigilant against the emergence of vigilantism! Vigilantism tend to arise in instances where such street committees degenerate and are captured by taxilords, shacklords, warlords and such other similar regressive and opportunitistic elements in our localities. That is why it is absolutely essential for our own cadres to play a leading role in the formation and functioning of these structures.

Failure to guard against vigilantism will not only weaken and kill CPFs, but can quickly turn street committees into the opposite of what we intend them to be, thus providing a fertile ground for counter-revolution as was the case in some instances during the 1980s.

Street committees and municipal ward committees
As with the CPFs we should guard against a "fight for turf" between street committees and municipal ward committees. Like CPFs in a number of instances, ward committees are very distant from the communities they claim to represent. They have in such cases become nothing more than an "advisory council" to the local councillor, and less of a voice of a community in a ward.

The SACP's 12th Congress in 2007 adopted a far-reaching resolution of restructuring the SACP branches away from ward based branches into branches based on voting districts. This is indeed a tall order but this resolution was, amongst other things, informed by the fact that in most cases municipal wards, especially in rural areas, are too large to forge a closer relationship between the SACP branch and a ward community. The same challenges face the ANC and its councillors.

Given the lack of adequate resourcing of local government in general, and councillors in particular, in many of our municipal wards, local meetings tend to take place closer to where a ward councillor resides. This tends to marginalise the rest of the community in a ward.
One critical role therefore of street committees is to bring the ward committee and local councillor closer to the community. There should therefore be a dynamic link between street committees and ward committees, even though such street committees are not a substructure of a ward committee as such.

Street committees and a progressive civic movement
It is indeed correct that the initial priority focus for street committees must be on crime. This will give such structures a dedicated focus, thus laying the basis for building viable, dynamic and strong street committees.

However, as we know from our 1980s experience, because of the proximity of street committees to the people, they are better placed to begin to identify and act upon a whole range of other challenges facing households in a street, including levels of poverty, orphans and child-headed households, need for social grants, domestic problems including domestic violence, etc. Even if street committees initially prioritise the fight against crime, they cannot turn away from tackling many of these other problems, especially those facing poor households. Local challenges and people's need are, after all, indivisible!

The above realities pose very serious challenges that need to be carefully thought through. This must include a deliberate strategy to progressively expand the role of street committees to become broader organs of people's power and revolutionary nuclei to deal with the many developmental challenges facing our localities.

Expanding the role of street committees beyond focusing on a single issue "crime" obviously carries the danger of defocusing such structures.

Another challenge will be that of the relationship between street committees and a progressive civic movement, where these still exist. Again, such street committees should have a dynamic link with such civic organisations. Perhaps such street committees should be consciously and progressively strengthened and transformed into the nucleus of (re) building a progressive civic movement.

We do indeed need to pose the question of whether such a street committee-based civic movement should be a revived SANCO or a completely new initiative. For instance one main weakness of SANCO was that it became a "nationally" driven rather than a "locally" driven civic movement. That is why, conflicts amongst leaders of SANCO at higher levels have actually destroyed whatever has been left of a SANCO driven civic movement on the ground.

Street committees may well be, in the medium term, an answer to this anomalous situation.
Most importantly, street committees have a huge potential to rebuild and deepen revolutionary morality and consciousness of our movement and people as a whole. They can also act as guardians for development, and an important counter to patronage, careerism and corruption. We should rebuild these structures with this in mind.

However, what is urgent is to debate and begin to build street committees whose priority focus must be to defeat the scourge of crime.
Asikhulume!!
Please forward Umsebenzi Online to your comrades and friends
Umsebenzi Online is a free, twice-monthly e-mail publication from the South African Communist party.
To subscribe, click here <http://amadlandawonye.wikispaces.com/Plug-in+City+On-line+Publications# AD> , then enter your e-mail address and click "Subscribe"
Or, go to the SACP web site <http://www.sacp.org.za/> and find the Umsebenzi Online box in the left-hand panel.

How to Organize your Street, Block...

How are Street Committees to be organised?
Street committees are public structures and do not belong to any party, but organising is still organising.

The generic name “Street Committee” includes Block and Village Committees, and perhaps more varieties than that, as we shall see.This Youth Day CU post, marking the Anniversary of the organised township youth uprisings that started in Soweto 32 years ago, is the beginning of an investigation into the technical means that can assist young people to conceptualise, and then to execute, a systematic approach to organising Street Committees.

The work of organising the people must once again largely fall upon young shoulders.To the title above this post we could add “Know Your Neighbourhood”, “Door To Door”, Red October Campaign, Imvuselelo Campaign, Voter Registration Campaign, 2009 Election Campaign, and all kinds of public things, not excluding business, that involve people as they are found, socially organised on the ground.It helps to see this social organisation in various ways, including in the “plan” view, meaning the vertical view, as if from an eye in the sky.

The first document linked below is a view of a part of Johannesburg where one of the Communist University’s participants lives. It is taken from the Johannesburg Metro’s free “GIS” map service which is at http://eservices.joburg.org.za/joburg/eservices/#clkCntrl (or go to the “Joburg” site and click “e-Services”).The GIS online image can be zoomed down to the level of individual stands and it shows street names and stand numbers, as well as political ward boundaries and many other things besides. This example has been scaled and sized for demonstration purposes. A bigger scale would show more detail.

The second linked document is made from images generated by Google Earth, a free service that you can get by first downloading free software from http://earth.google.com/. It is much more spectacular than the GIS map. It shows buildings, trees, sports fields, the true extent of the roads, paved and unpaved, and many other interesting things. It shows the inequality of South African society. It is sharp from a height of 2 kilometres or more (try zooming the image in Word) but gets grainy when you magnify it too much. It does not show street names, stand numbers, and political boundaries.With these two kinds of imaging, one can start to literally “plan” possible street committee territories. Immediately, different possibilities are visible. One can imagine centring a “street committee” on a café, community hall, crossroads or open space, to give just a few examples.

The third linked document is a simple Excel spreadsheet (which can be modified, and which is sortable by any category of data) for listing the details of the residents in a chosen area for a “street committee. (All these documents will be made downloadable from the linked web pages, or if you want, by e-mail.)If you have people’s cell numbers in a locality you can SMS them all at once when there is an event, or if a baby is born, or if somebody is in distress, or to invite them to “umrabulo”. Likewise with e-mail.

Communication, education and organisation are inseparable. They make the fabric of the kind of popular socialisation that can break free of the imposed social framework that oppresses the people.

The last two items are
a) Jacob Zuma’s remarks today about Joe Gqabi, which are relevant to the above, as you will see if you read it; and

b) the current reading from Karl Marx, which we may discuss next Monday, unless there is a new Umsebenzi Online by that time. There being no available image of the great Joe Gqabi, the ANC logo must stand for him.Click on these links:Johannesburg Ward 81, River Park and LE Extension, Jhb Metro GIS map (1 page)Johannesburg Ward 81, River Park and LE Extension, Google Earth image (1 page)Draft Street Committee contact list form (Excel Spreadsheet)Remarks at renaming of a region after Joe Gqabi, ANC President (1153 words)Capital Volume 1, Chapter 10, The Working Day, parts 5 to 7, Karl Marx, 1867 (11734 words)
-- Posted By DomzaNet to Communist University at 6/16/2008 10:52:00 PM


The Communist University meets tonight (Monday 23 June 2008) at 17h00, in the SACP Boardroom, 3rd Floor, COSATU House, 1 Leyds Street, Braamfontein.

We offer for discussion a compilation of SACP GS Dr Blade Nzimande’s Red Alert from the latest Umsebenzi Online (18 June 2008), and COSATU President Sdumo Dlamini’s speech given at the YCL Youth Day Rally on 21 June 2008.Click on the link below to read the document.

The key phrase in Cde Nzimande’s text, “People's education for people's power”, is music to the ears of the Communist University. So are the concluding paragraphs of Cde Dlamini’s address, as follows:“We must go back to organize in our communities because it is through mobilization that people become actors in the stage of revolution. Without organization, despair, disillusionment and disgruntlement will creep in.

This creates fertile ground, as we have seen recently with the xenophobic attacks, for reactionary forces to take advantage of the situation.“The key message that I want to leave with you today comrades is that we must mobilize, organize and educate.

Further, we need a Plan to take forward the transformation of our society.“On behalf of COSATU I wish you success in all your work and pledge our unwavering support to the cause of organizing young people. Equally we expect from you to encourage your members to belong to COSATU unions in the workplace.

We must rebuild the workers-student-and youth alliance of the 1980s.

We must rebuild the all-round cadres of the movement of the 1980s.”Comrades, Asikhulume!!
Click on this link:16 June 2008, Education for People's Power, Blade Nzimande & Sdumo Dlamini (3177 words)
-- Posted By DomzaNet to Communist University at 6/22/2008 10:13:00 PM

Military Commissions Act of 2006
To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of war, and for other purposes.
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 or higher is required to read these documents. If you do not have this software on your PC, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html to download a free copy of the reader.
President’s Message to Congress (H. Doc. No. 109-133)
Statements before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Senator Patrick Leahy; MG Scott C. Black, Mr. Steven G. Bradbury, RADM Bruce MacDonald, MG Jack Rives, BG Kevin M. Sandkuhler)
Statements before the House Committee on Armed Services (MG Scott C. Black, Mr. Steven G. Bradbury, MG Charles J. Dunlap, JR., RADM Bruce MacDonald, BG James C. Walker)
H.R. 6054 (The bill as introduced in the House, referred to the Committee on Armed Services and the Committees on the Judiciary and International Relations)
H. Rep. No. 109-664, Part 1, to accompany H.R. 6054 (Report of the Committee on Armed Services…)
H. Rep. No. 109-664, Part 2, to accompany H.R. 6054(Report of the Committee on the Judiciary…)
H.R. 6166 (As introduced)
H.R. 6166 (As passed by the House)
H. Res. 1042 (Rule for consideration of H.R. 6166)
H. Rep. No. 109-688 (Report to accompany H. Res. 1042)
S.3930 (As placed on the calendar)
S.3930 (As passed)
Senate Floor Debate (September 27, 2006)
Senate Floor Debate and Passage (September 28, 2006)
House Floor Debate (September 27, 2006)
House Floor Debate and Passage (September 29, 2006)
P.L. 109-366 (Military Commissions Act of 2006; October 17, 2006)
The Manual for Military Commissions (January 18, 2007)
Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States [regarding Combatant Status Review Tribunals] (June 12, 2008) New!
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Pentagon: The internet needs to be dealt with
as if it were an enemy "weapons system".
by Brent Jessop
Global Research, February 2, 2008
Knowledge Driven Revolution.com - 2007-11-19
Information Operation Roadmap Part 3
The Pentagon's Information Operations Roadmap is blunt about the fact that an internet, with the potential for free speech, is in direct opposition to their goals.

The internet needs to be dealt with as if it were an enemy "weapons system". The 2003 Pentagon document entitled the Information Operation Roadmap was released to the public after a Freedom of Information Request by the National Security Archive at George Washington University in 2006. A detailed explanation of the major thrust of this document and the significance of information operations or information warfare was described by me here.

Computer Network Attack From the Information Operation Roadmap:
"When implemented the recommendations of this report will effectively jumpstart a rapid improvement of CNA [Computer Network Attack] capability." - 7 "Enhanced IO [information operations] capabilities for the warfighter, including: ... A robust offensive suite of capabilities to include full-range electronic and computer network attack..." [emphasis mine] - 7
Would the Pentagon use its computer network attack capabilities on the Internet?

Fighting the Net
"We Must Fight the Net. DoD [Department of Defense] is building an information-centric force. Networks are increasingly the operational center of gravity, and the Department must be prepared to "fight the net." " [emphasis mine] - 6 "DoD's "Defense in Depth" strategy should operate on the premise that the Department will "fight the net" as it would a weapons system." [emphasis mine] - 13

It should come as no surprise that the Pentagon would aggressively attack the "information highway" in their attempt to achieve dominance in information warfare. Donald Rumsfeld's involvement in the Project for a New American Century sheds more light on the need and desire to control information. PNAC Dominating Cyberspace The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was founded in 1997 with many members that later became the nucleus of the George W. Bush administration. The list includes: Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, I. Lewis Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz among many other powerful but less well know names. Their stated purpose was to use a hugely expanded U.S. military to project "American global leadership." In September of 2000, PNAC published a now infamous document entitled Rebuilding America's Defences. This document has a very similar theme as the Pentagon's Information Operations Roadmap which was signed by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

From Rebuilding America's Defenses:
"It is now commonly understood that information and other new technologies... are creating a dynamic that may threaten America's ability to exercise its dominant military power." [emphasis mine] - 4 "Control of space and cyberspace. Much as control of the high seas - and the protection of international commerce - defined global powers in the past, so will control of the new "international commons" be a key to world power in the future. An America incapable of protecting its interests or that of its allies in space or the "infosphere" will find it difficult to exert global political leadership." [emphasis mine] - 51 "Although it may take several decades for the process of transformation to unfold, in time, the art of warfare on air, land, and sea will be vastly different than it is today, and "combat" likely will take place in new dimensions: in space, "cyber-space," and perhaps the world of microbes." [emphasis mine] - 60

For more on Rebuilding America's Defences read this. Internet 2 Part of the Information Operation Roadmap's plans for the internet are to "ensure the graceful degradation of the network rather than its collapse." (pg 45) This is presented in "defensive" terms, but presumably, it is as exclusively defensive as the Department of Defense. As far as the Pentagon is concerned the internet is not all bad, after all, it was the Department of Defense through DARPA that gave us the internet in the first place. The internet is useful not only as a business tool but also is excellent for monitoring and tracking users, acclimatizing people to a virtual world, and developing detailed psychological profiles of every user, among many other Pentagon positives.

But, one problem with the current internet is the potential for the dissemination of ideas and information not consistent with US government themes and messages, commonly known as free speech. Naturally, since the plan was to completely dominate the "infosphere," the internet would have to be adjusted or replaced with an upgraded and even more Pentagon friendly successor. In an article by Paul Joseph Watson of Prison Planet.com, he describes the emergence of Internet 2.

"The development of "Internet 2" is also designed to create an online caste system whereby the old Internet hubs would be allowed to break down and die, forcing people to use the new taxable, censored and regulated world wide web. If you're struggling to comprehend exactly what the Internet will look like in five years unless we resist this, just look at China and their latest efforts to completely eliminate dissent and anonymity on the web."

Conclusion
The next article will examine the Pentagon's use of psychological operations or PSYOP and the final article in this series will examine whether or not there are any limits to using information operations on the American public or foreign audiences.
Brent Jessop is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Brent Jessop
Please support Global Research Global Research relies on the financial support of its readers.

UNESCO Media

The Mass Media Division of UNESCO
By Brent Jessop
Knowledge Driven Revolution.com
June 22, 2008

"Public opinion is no phenomenon sui generic. It is in part the result of government policies and by definition politicians cannot hide behind their own creation. If some sectors of public opinion in the industrialized countries are immersed in the rhetoric and slogans associated with misunderstanding, then much of this may be inherited from their political leaders. And if these leaders are in part responsible for a situation which impedes acceptance of the need for change, then they themselves must be held responsible for changing this situation." - RIO: Reshaping the International Order: A Report to the Club of Rome, 1976 [1]

Julian Huxley: “Taking the techniques of persuasion and information and true propaganda that we have learnt to apply nationally in war, and deliberately bending them to the international tasks of peace, if necessary utilising them, as Lenin envisaged, to ‘overcome the resistance of millions’ to desirable change.”

As the first Director of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (1887-1975) wrote a paper entitled UNESCO Its Purpose and Its Philosophy (1946) [2] in which he outlined his vision for the newly created international organisation (which grew out of the League of Nations’ Institute of Intellectual Co-operation). According to Huxley, the guiding philosophy of UNESCO should be what he termed, World Evolutionary Humanism. Part 1 in this series described this philosophy and its relation to eugenics.

The second article outlined the purpose of UNESCO, which is to mentally prepare the world for global political unification under a single world government.

Part 3 described the use of education by UNESCO, as an essential technique of forming the minds of the young as well as the old.

The previous article examined the importance of the creative arts and sciences in guiding society towards predetermined goals. This final article will examine UNESCO’s use of the mass media and other forms of communication towards obtaining its goals.

Julian Huxley, an evolutionary biologist, humanist, and ardent internationalist held many titles including: Secretary of the Zoological Society of London (1935-42), first president of the British Humanist Association (1963), Vice-President (1937-44) and President (1959-62) of the British Eugenics Society. He was also a founding member of the World Wild Life Fund, coined the term "transhumanism" (as a means of disguising eugenics) and gave two Galton memorial lectures (1936, 1962). Huxley also received many awards including the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society (1956), UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize (1953) and the Special Award of the Lasker Foundation in the category Planned Parenthood - World Population (1959) to name but a few. He is also the Grandson of Thomas Huxley (Darwin’s Bulldog) and brother of author Aldous Huxley.

Creating A Creed

with the Techniques of Persuasion and Propaganda
From UNESCO Its Purpose and Its Philosophy:
[Italicised text is original emphasis and bolded text is added by author.]
"Taking the techniques of persuasion and information and true propaganda that we have learnt to apply nationally in war, and deliberately bending them to the international tasks of peace, if necessary utilising them, as Lenin envisaged, to "overcome the resistance of millions" to desirable change. Using drama to reveal reality and art as the method by which, in Sir Stephen Tallent’s words, "truth becomes impressive and living principle of action," and aiming to produce that concerted effort which, to quote Grierson once more, needs a background of faith and a sense of destiny.

This must be a mass philosophy, a mass creed, and it can never be achieved without the use of the media of mass communication. UNESCO in the press of its detailed work, must never forget this enormous fact." - 60

The mass creed that Huxley called world evolutionary humanism, is the same eugenics based creed that Charles Galton Darwin outlined in his book The Next Million Years (1952) [3]. Among other things, C. G. Darwin was president of the Eugenics Society (1953-59) before handing over responsibilities to Julian Huxley (1959-62).

From The Next Million Years:
"The detailed march of history will depend a great deal on the creeds held by the various branches of the human race. It cannot be presumed with any confidence that purely superstitious creeds will always be rejected by civilized communities, in view of the extraordinary credulity shown even now by many reputedly educated people. It is true that there may not be many at the present time, whose actions are guided by an inspection of the entrails of a sacrificial bull, but the progress has not been very great, for there are still many believers in palmistry and astrology. It is to be expected then that in the future, as in the past, there will be superstitions which will notably affect the course of history, and some of them, such as ancestor-worship, will have direct effects on the development of the human species.

But superstitious creeds will hardly be held by the highly intelligent, and it is precisely the creed of these that matters. Is it possible that there should arise a eugenic creed, which - perhaps working through what I have called the method of unconscious selection - should concern itself with the improvement of the inherent nature of man, instead of resting content with merely giving him good but impermanent acquired characters? Without such a creed man’s nature will only be changed through the blind operation of natural selection; with it he might aspire to do something towards really changing his destiny." - 202

For more on the importance of creeds in shaping the future please read this article about C. G. Darwin’s The Next Million Years.

Mass Media Created Common Creed

This common creed, or philosophy referred to by Huxley and C. G. Darwin is described in detail in part 1 of this series (World Evolutionary Humanism, Eugenics and UNESCO).

Below Huxley describes the use of the Mass Media division of UNESCO to create this common world philosophy and how it is necessity to "enlist the press and the radio and the cinema to the fullest extent".

"What are the main effects of these innovations [in mass communication], of which UNESCO must take account? First, the possibility of a much wider dissemination of information of every sort, both within and across national boundaries. This means that public opinion can be built up more rapidly and can be better informed than ever before. [...]

Above and beyond all other interests and needs at the moment is the need for peace and the interest of large groups in every country in achieving peace. Merely by preaching peace we shall not achieve much. We can achieve much by indirect methods - by demonstrating the fact that interests and needs transcend national boundaries, and by building a world in which international co-operation is actually operative, and operates to promote better health, and full employment, and the provision of adequate food for all, and safety and ease of travel, and the spread of knowledge.

Finally, however, we can achieve a good deal more if we can give people the world over some simple philosophy of existence of a positive nature which will spur them the act in place of the apathy, pessimism or cynicism which is so prevalent to-day, and to act in common instead of in separate groups." - 58

"There are thus two tasks for the Mass Media division of Unesco, the one general, the other special. The special one is to enlist the press and the radio and the cinema to the fullest extent in the service of formal and adult education, of science and learning, of art and culture.

The general one is to see that these agencies are used both to contribute to mutual comprehension between different nations and cultures, and also to promote the growth of a common outlook shared by all nations and cultures." - 60

Other Form of Information Dissemination
"[...] documentary film as a form of public relations service" - 60
"As libraries grow, and as they become internationally more linked up, the need for a highly developed and uniform standard system of classification and cataloguing becomes urgent.

UNESCO must facilitate the search for such a system, and its international adoption." - 56
"There is already in existence a trend away from the old conception of a library as just a place to house books and other materials to the new conception of a library as part of a public service. UNESCO must seek to promote this trend, must help in exploring ways by which librarians can anticipate the demands of the most varied groups, must help the movement towards popular and travelling libraries, and in general must help in discovering the right ways of making people use the library service in their everyday lives.

UNESCO must seek to find new fields in which the technique of the museum can be useful. The Scandinavians have successfully developed the Folk Museum. But there are many other specialised types of museum possible - the local museum, the museum of history, of prehistory, of health, of education, of agriculture, of natural resources; a beginning has been made with some of these, but the principle needs developing in a comprehensive way, and with the latest techniques." - 56

[1] Quote from page 110 of Jan Tinbergen, RIO: Reshaping the International Order: A Report to the Club of Rome (1976). ISBN 0-525-04340-3
[2] Quotes from Julian Huxley, UNESCO Its Purpose and Its Philosophy (1946). Preparatory Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. pdf from UNESCO.
[3] Quote from Charles Galton Darwin, The Next Million Years (1952).
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11 Responses to “The Mass Media Division of UNESCO”

Summer Solstice, Fiesta de la Musica, 21 June 2008

Panamanian construction worker and partner enjoying Rock La K´Shamba.

American HIP-HOP singer from Charlotte, North Carolina USA, now in living in France touring with Wax Taylor techno-euro disco urban sounds. Will promote history and culture of blacks in Latin America and especiallyshowed and interest in those who Latinos that have served in the USA military. How to honor them and the new struggles for a better world possible during Memorial Day in May and Veterans Day in November.

mrmattic@hotmail.com with admirers after Teatro Nacional performance

Picketing for Peace and ending the USA war on Iraq and Afghanistan on Catedral Church Steps.

The first "periquito," POPI, that I ever held in my hand, since I let my 2 periquitos loose when I was about 12-13 y.o. "I let their clipped wings grow, till one day I decided to open up the cage and give them a choice: You can stay or you can go!" They squacked and screamed holy rollers, climbing all over the cage. A group of periquitos landed on a near by tree and the commotion started my two periquitos screaming and arguing, it seemed. They both kind of knodded around the cage door and streched their beacks and heads towards the screaming flocks and fluttered away! Foreever!

Popi died the next night after going to the Panamanian National Assembly and waiting for hours in a very cold air conditioned building. Popi, first victim of the crusade against the programmed building of dams, mining projects and residential communities for foreigners; not consulted with the affected populations.

French musicians, singer, cellist and flutist after the performance.

Hostel owner Virginia with friend and Basta Ya! at Teatro Nacional entry doors.

Hostel owner Virginia and friends

Group La K´Shamba at the Parking lot stage.
Jose, construction worker and friend enjoying Rock in the parking lot.

Summer Solstice Celebration Casco Viejo 2008, 21 June 2008

Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Panamá, Inauguración de la Fiesta de la Musica (Summer Solstice) 21 Junio 2008 en el Teatro Nacional.

"Fuego sobre Santa Ana, " un atardecer el Jueves, 19 Junio 2008, 18:45 horas.

Licenciados Quintero y Cerrud Sanchez, Coordinador OUPSAF/Pres. AUCA ante la UNESCO-WHC; con "Basta Ya! USA!" en el Cafe Coca Cola, San Felipe. Foto: Aníbal Chacón, Sect. General OUPSAF.

Marcha a la Presidencia por Maestros y Profesores, Jueves, 19 Junio 2008.

"Basta Ya! USA! contra las Guerras Imperialistas en Iraq y Afganistan.

Desbandados http://www.desbandados.com/ tocando privadamente en el Parque Bolivar, Centro Histórico de San Felipe.

"Desbandados"

"Basta Ya! USA!" con Profesora de Artes Teatrales y Poeta internacional "Gaviota," Kátia Aparicío.

Profesora Kátia Aparício con nuevas amistades Dominicana y Panameña.

Hermanos Españoles en Concierto de Inauguración de Fiesta de la Musica en el Teatro Nacional.

Familia de periodista Vasco con los Desbandados, la joven toca violoncelo, mientras visitan San felipe de noche.

Profesora "Gaviota" escaramuzando entre exposición de artes plasticas en La Casona.

Entre las mujeres, "algunas no se encuentran en todo enteras." "Gaviota" con jovenes.

Los Desbandados, tocando privadamente en Parque Bolivar

IEELTALC: Biblioteca Virtual

http://www.ieetalc.com.ve/obras1.htm

Biblioteca Virtual
Organización Control y Consejo de Trabajadores
Índice Alfabético
[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [LL] [M]
[N] [Ñ] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z]
B[B]
Autor
Obra
Descargas

Berneri, Camilo
Marxismo, clases y Estado
Descargar
Brendel, Cajo
El comunismo de consejos y la crítica del bolchevismo
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Brendel, Cajo
Anton Pannekoek, una redefinición del marxismo
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Bonanno, Alfredo
Después de Marx
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C [C]
Canne, H. Meijer
La Revolución alemana
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D[D]
Di Giminiani, Daniele
La Nueva Geometría del Poder
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G[G]
GIKH
Del comunismo de Estado a la asociación de productores libres e iguales
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GIKH
Objetivo
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GIKH
Revolución y Contrarrevolución en España
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GIKH
Del Comunismo de Estado a la asociación de productores libres
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Gorter, Herman
Carta abierta al camarada Lenin
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Gorter, Herman
La revolución mundial
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L[L]
La Izquierda Comunista Germano-Holandesa
La revolución no es un asunto de partido
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M[M]
Mattick, Paul
Crisis y teoría de la crisis
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Mattick, Paul
Bolchevismo y Stalinismo
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Mattick, Paul
Crítica de Marcuse
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Mattick, Paul
El capitalismo de Estado y la economía mixta
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Mattick, Paul
El comunismo de consejos
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Mattick, Paul
El nuevo capitalismo y la vieja lucha de clases
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Mattick, Paul
El partido y la clase obrera
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Mattick, Paul
Espontaneidad y Organización
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Mattick, Paul
Ideología y conciencia de clase
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Mattick, Paul
Introducción a Comunismo antibolchevique
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Mattick, Paul
Introducción a los Principios Fundamentales de Producción y Distribución Comunistas
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Mattick, Paul
Karl Kautsky desde Marx hasta Hitler
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Mattick, Paul
Kropotkin sobre el Apoyo Mutuo
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Mattick, Paul
La gestión obrera
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Mattick, Paul
La hez de la humanidad
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Mattick, Paul
La inevitabilidad del comunismo
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Mattick, Paul
La leyenda de Lenin
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Mattick, Paul
La sociedad sana de Fromm
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Mattick, Paul
Las armas y el capital
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Mattick, Paul
Las barricadas deben ser retiradas
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Mattick, Paul
Las masas y la vanguardia
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Mattick, Paul
León Trotsky
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Mattick, Paul
Los Límites de las Reformas
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Mattick, Paul
Marxismo ayer hoy y mañana
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Mattick, Paul
Una excentricidad marxiana
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Moss, Sam
La impotencia del Grupo Revolucionario
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P[P]
Pannekoek, Anton
Acciones de masas y revolución
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Pannekoek, Anton
Capitalismo de Estado y dictadura
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Pannekoek, Anton
El acto personal
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Pannekoek, Anton
El Marxismo como Hecho
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Pannekoek, Anton
El fracaso de la clase obrera
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Pannekoek, Anton
El Grupo de Comunistas Internacionales de Holanda
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Pannekoek, Anton
El nuevo blanquismo
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Pannekoek, Anton
El sindicalismo
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Pannekoek, Anton
El socialismo y la religión
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Pannekoek, Anton
Esperanza en el futuro
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Pannekoek, Anton
Hay reformas y reformas
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Pannekoek, Anton
La destrucción como método de lucha
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Pannekoek, Anton
La nueva clase media
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Pannekoek, Anton
La revolución alemana
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Pannekoek, Anton
La socialización
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Pannekoek, Anton
La teoría del derrumbe del capitalismo
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el conocimiento de la realidad objetiva que determina la conducta a seguir

De: editora [mailto:editora.embacuba@pa.inter.net]
Enviado el: Jueves, 19 de Junio de 2008 09:54 a.m.
Asunto: Reflexion La hormiga y el elefante
Importancia: Alta Adjuntamos nuevo documento del Co. Fidel Castro Ruz.
Saludos, Cros de la Embajada de Cuba

REFLEXIONES DEL COMPAÑERO FIDEL
LA HORMIGA Y EL ELEFANTE

Uno cree que no hay tema que valga la pena comentar sin cansar a lospacientes lectores después de la Mesa Redonda del 12 de junio, que divulgóla nueva edición de un libro publicado en Bolivia hace 15 años, esta vez conun prólogo mío. Se leyó en ese programa una introducción elaboradaposteriormente por el presidente Evo Morales y un mensaje de la prestigiosaescritora argentina Stella Calloni, que se incluirán en una próxima edición.Seleccioné cuidadosamente los datos que utilicé en ese prólogo.

Desde los primeros años de la Revolución Cubana se desarrolló un fuerte espíritu internacionalista, que tuvo sus raíces en el numeroso contingentede cubanos que participó en la lucha antifascista del pueblo español e hizosuyas las mejores tradiciones del movimiento obrero mundial.No solemos divulgar nuestra cooperación con otros pueblos, aunque tampoco habría forma de impedir que la prensa hable a veces de la misma. Está motivada en sentimientos profundos que en nada se relacionan con lapublicidad.

Algunos se preguntarán cómo es posible que un país pequeño con pocos recursos puede llevar a cabo una tarea de esa magnitud en campos tandecisivos como la educación y la salud, sin los cuales no es concebible lasociedad actual. El ser humano creó los bienes y servicios indispensables desde que vive ensociedad, y esta se desarrolló desde las formas más elementales hasta lasmás avanzadas a lo largo de muchos miles de años.

La explotación del hombre por el hombre fue inseparable compañera de ese desarrollo, como todos sabemos o debemos saber.Las diferencias en el modo de percibir esa realidad dependieron siempre del lugar que cada cual ocupara en la sociedad. Se veía como algo natural y la inmensa mayoría no tomó nunca conciencia de esto. En pleno auge del capitalismo en Inglaterra, que iba a la vanguardia con Estados Unidos y otros países de Europa, en el mundo dominado ya por elcolonialismo y el expansionismo, un gran pensador y estudioso de la historiay la economía, Carlos Marx, partiendo de las ideas de los más prestigiosos filósofos y economistas alemanes e ingleses de la época ―entre ellos Hegel, Adam Smith y David Ricardo, con los cuales discrepó―, elaboró, escribió y publicó sus ideas sobre las relaciones de producción e intercambio en el capitalismo en el año 1859 bajo el título Contribución a la crítica de la Economía Política.

En 1867, continuó divulgando su pensamiento con el primer tomo de su obra cumbre, que lo hizo famoso: El Capital. La mayorparte de su extenso libro, a partir de notas y apuntes suyos, fue editado por Engels, que compartía sus ideas y como un profeta divulgó su obradespués de la muerte de Marx, en 1883. Lo publicado por el propio Marx constituye el análisis más serio que seescribió nunca sobre la sociedad de clases y la explotación del hombre porel hombre.

Nació así el marxismo, que ha sido el fundamento de los partidosy movimientos revolucionarios que proclamaban el socialismo como objetivo,entre los que se contaban casi todos los partidos socialdemócratas que alestallar la primera guerra mundial traicionaron la consigna enarbolada porMarx y Engels en el Manifiesto comunista, publicado por primera vez en 1848:“¡Proletarios de todos los países, uníos!”.Una de las verdades que el gran pensador expresaba textualmente de formasencilla es: “En la producción social de su vida los hombres establecendeterminadas relaciones necesarias e independientes de su voluntad,relaciones de producción que corresponden a una fase determinada del desarrollo de sus fuerzas productivas materiales. No es la conciencia del hombre lo que determina su ser, sino por el contrario, el ser social es lo que determina su conciencia.

Al llegar a una fase determinada de desarrollo de las fuerzas productivas materiales de la sociedad, entran encontradicción con las relaciones de producción existentes… Deformas del desarrollo de las fuerzas productivas, estas relaciones se convierten entrabas suyas y se abre así una época de revolución social… Ninguna formación social desaparece antes de que se desarrollen las fuerzas productivas que caben dentro de ella y jamás aparecen nuevas y más elevadas relaciones de producción antes de que las condiciones materiales de su existencia hayan madurado dentro de la propia sociedad antigua.”

Yo no podría explicar con otras palabras esos conceptos claros y precisos emitidos por Marx de modo tal que, con una elemental explicación de sus profesores, hasta un joven cubano de los que ingresaron el pasado sábado 14 de junio en la Juventud Comunista, pueda comprender su esencia. Sobre el desarrollo concreto de la lucha de clases, Marx escribió La lucha de clases en Francia de 1848 a 1850 y El 18 Brumario de Luis Bonaparte, dos excelentes análisis históricos que deleitan a cualquier lector. Era unverdadero genio.

Lenin, continuador profundo del pensamiento dialéctico y las investigaciones de Marx, escribió dos obras fundamentales: El Estado y la revolución y El Imperialismo, fase superior del capitalismo. Las ideas de Marx, puestas enpráctica real por él con la Revolución de Octubre, fueron igualmente desarrolladas por Mao Tse Tung y otros líderes revolucionarios en el TercerMundo. Sin las ideas de Marx la Revolución Cubana tampoco habría estallado en el traspatio de Estados Unidos.

Si el pensamiento marxista se hubiese circunscrito simplemente a la idea deque “ninguna formación social desaparece antes de que se desarrollen todas las fuerzas productivas que caben dentro de ella”, el teórico del capitalismo Francis Fukuyama habría tenido razón al proclamar que, la desaparición de la URSS era el fin de la historia y de las ideologías y debía cesar toda resistencia al sistema capitalista de producción.

En la época en que el creador del socialismo científico expuso sus ideas, las fuerzas productivas estaban por desarrollarse plenamente, la tecnología no había aportado todavía las mortíferas armas de destrucción masiva capaces de provocar el exterminio de la especie; no existía el dominio aero espacial, el derroche sin límites de hidrocarburos y combustibles fósiles no renovables; el cambio climático no se conocía en una naturalezaque parecía infinita al ser humano, ni se había presentado la crisis mundial de alimentos para compartir entre incontables motores de combustión y unapoblación seis veces superior a los mil millones que habitaban el planeta elaño en que nació Carlos Marx.

La experiencia de Cuba socialista tiene lugar cuando el dominio imperial se ha extendido por toda la Tierra. Al hablar de la conciencia no me refiero a una voluntad capaz de cambiar la realidad sino, por el contrario, el conocimiento de la realidad objetiva que determina la conducta a seguir. Decenas de millones de personas habían muerto en la guerra provocada amediados del siglo XX por el fascismo, que nació de la entraña antimarxista del capitalismo desarrollado, previsto por Lenin.

En Cuba, como en otros países del Tercer Mundo, la lucha por la liberación nacional, bajo la dirección de las capas medias y la pequeña burguesía, y laque ya venían librando por el socialismo los sectores más avanzados de la clase obrera y los campesinos, se sumaron y potenciaron mutuamente.Afloraron igualmente las contradicciones ideológicas y de clase. Los factores objetivos y subjetivos variaban considerablemente en cada proceso. De la última contienda mundial habían surgido las Naciones Unidas y otros organismos internacionales, en los que muchos vieron una nueva conciencia en el planeta. Era un engaño.

El fascismo, cuyo instrumento el propio Hitler llamó Partido Nacionalsocialista, renació más poderoso y amenazante que nunca. El imperio envía y mantiene portaviones en todos los mares del mundo paraintervenir militarmente. ¿Qué decide a fin de competir con Cuba en el área de nuestro hemisferio? Enviar un enorme barco convertido en hospital flotante que trabaja diez días en cada país.

Un número de personas pueden ser ayudadas pero está muy lejos de resolver los problemas de un país; no compensa tampoco el robo de cerebros ni puede formar los especialistas quenecesita para prestar verdaderos servicios médicos cualquier día de lasemana y del año. Todos los portaviones juntos, que ahora son instrumentosde intervención militar en los diversos océanos de la Tierra, convertidos en hospitales no podrían prestar esos servicios a los millones de personas quelos médicos cubanos atienden en lugares apartados del mundo, donde paren mujeres, nacen niños y hay enfermos que necesitan atención urgente.

Nuestro país ha demostrado que puede resistir a todas las presiones y ayudar a otros pueblos. Meditaba sobre la magnitud de nuestra cooperación no sólo en Bolivia, sinoen Haití, el Caribe, varios países de Centroamérica y América del Sur,África, y hasta la lejana Oceanía, a 20 mil kilómetros de distancia. Recordaba igualmente las misiones de la Brigada Henry Reeve, en casos degraves emergencias, viajando en nuestros propios aviones, transportandopersonal y otros recursos. El millón de operados gratuitamente de la vista cada año en América Latina yel Caribe de que hemos hablado, no está lejos de alcanzarse. ¿Puede acasoemular Estados Unidos con Cuba?

Utilizaremos la computación no para fabricar armas de destrucción masiva yexterminar vidas sino para transmitir conocimientos a otros pueblos. Desde el punto de vista económico, el desarrollo de las inteligencias y las conciencias de nuestros compatriotas, gracias a la Revolución, nos permitenno sólo cooperar con los pueblos que más lo necesitan, sin costo alguno, sino también exportar servicios especializados, incluidos los de salud, a países con más recursos que nuestra patria.

En ese terreno Estados Unidos no podría competir jamás con Cuba.

Nuestro pequeño país resistirá. En pocas palabras: ¡La hormiga pudo más que el elefante! Fidel Castro Ruz

Junio 18 de 2008
7 y 35 p.m.

Alternativa Bolivariana de las Americas "resueltos a vencer."

Enviado el lunes, 14 de noviembre a las 17:03:58 Tema: Unidad latinoamericana e integración

10 puntos para conocer el ALBA
CONSTRUYENDO EL ALBA DESDE LOS PUEBLOS
Por Fernando Bossi.
Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos.

Exposición de Fernando Ramón Bossi, Secretario de Organización del Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos, en el Foro que se realizó en la III Cumbre de los Pueblos,
Mar del Plata, 3 de noviembre de 2005.

Antes de comenzar con la exposición, quiero agradecer a los organizadores de este evento el haberme invitado a participar y compartir con ustedes algunas reflexiones con respecto al ALBA.

Asimismo debo manifestar que es un verdadero honor poder compartir esta tribuna con dirigentes de la talla de Jorge Ceballos, coordinador nacional del Movimiento Barrios de Pie y miembro del Secretariado Político del Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos, como también con el amigo Aníbal Mellano, genuino representante de las pequeñas y medianas empresas argentinas, hombre comprometido con la causa de los pueblos.

Normalmente sucede que en las conferencias donde el tema central es el ALBA, la Alternativa Bolivariana para la América, no se habla del ALBA, sino que se habla sobre el ALCA. Se expone sobre el ALCA, se plantea todos los males que conlleva esta propuesta imperialista y se concluye afirmando que el ALBA es todo lo contrario. A lo sumo se mencionan algunos ejemplos: Petrosur, Telesur o Banco del Sur. Pocas veces se intenta explicar la propuesta bolivariana de integración, y cabe aclarar, que el ALBA no es solo una respuesta al ALCA, no es solo eso, sino que la trasciende en todos sus aspectos.

Es por esto que, con la intención de no repetir la tradicional conferencia sobre el ALBA pero donde no se habla del ALBA sino del ALCA, es que me tomé la tarea de bosquejar 10 puntos de aproximación a la propuesta ALBA y el rol de los pueblos en su construcción.

1) El ALBA es un proyecto histórico
Si bien nace como propuesta alternativa al ALCA, el ALBA responde a una vieja y permanente confrontación entre los pueblos latinoamericanos caribeños y el imperialismo. Monroísmo versus Bolivarianismo, tal vez sea la mejor manera de plantear los proyectos en pugna. El primero, aquel que se resume en “América para los americanos”, en realidad “América para los norteamericanos”. Ese es el proyecto imperialista, de dominación, saqueo y rapiña. El segundo es la propuesta de unidad de los pueblos latinoamericanos caribeños, la idea del Libertador Simón Bolívar de conformar una Confederación de Repúblicas. En síntesis: una propuesta imperialista enfrentada a una propuesta de liberación. Hoy ALCA versus ALBA.

Por lo tanto debemos de entender que el ALBA reconoce sus antecedentes en la mejor tradición de las luchas independentistas y por la unidad.

Ahí aparece, entonces, la figura del Precursor, Francisco Miranda, con un Plan de Gobierno para esta región, a la que él llamaba Colombia. Y nos encontramos, sin duda, con la obra y el pensamiento del Libertador Simón Bolívar. Es necesario leer, estudiar, reflexionar sobre la “Carta de Jamaica”, su discurso en el Congreso de Angostura, la carta a Martín de Pueyrredón, la Convocatoria al Congreso Anfictiónico de Panamá, los acuerdos Mosquera-Monteagudo, Mosquera-O Higgins, Santamaría-Alaman, la correspondencia con José de San Martín y tantos otros documentos que anuncian el camino del ALBA.

Y no nos podemos olvidar tampoco de Sucre, de las proclamas de Hidalgo y Morelos, del general San Martín, de Artigas y su reforma agraria, de la “Ley Gaucha” de Güemes, del Plan de Operaciones de Mariano Moreno, de los escritos económicos de Belgrano, de la obra de Simón Rodríguez, del proyecto de Federación de Bernardo Monteagudo, de la obra del hondureño Cecilio del Valle y de la lucha por la Confederación Centroamericana de Francisco Morazán. En todo ese período, de no más de 20 años, se generó, a través del pensamiento y la acción, doctrina revolucionaria, programas, proyectos, emprendimientos y leyes conducentes a la integración y la independencia con justicia social. Creo que es uno de los períodos más brillantes de nuestra historia.

Pero también, en esa dirección, luego de la derrota del proyecto bolivariano, las fuerzas populares se recomponen y vuelven a la histórica lucha. Levantan banderas de unidad Eloy Alfaro en Ecuador, Martí en Cuba, Ezequiel Zamora en Venezuela, Felipe Varela en Argentina, Ramón Emeterio Betances en Puerto Rico… y tantos otros.

El mismo gran patriota y revolucionario nicaragüense “El general de Hombres Libres”, Augusto César Sandino, escribirá su proyecto de unidad latinoamericana: “Plan para la realización del sueño supremo de Bolívar”. Y esto solo para mencionar algunos mojones de nuestra historia.
Al buscar lo más contemporáneo, lo más reciente, aparecen Perón y Getulio Vargas con el ABC; Salvador Allende y la Universidad Latinoamericana; la voz de Fidel diciéndonos “Sólo habrá salvación en la unidad”; Francisco Caamaño desde la República Dominicana; Velasco Alvarado desde el Perú mariateguista y tupacamarista; Torres y Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz desde Bolivia; Omar Torrijos desde Panamá; Carlos Fonseca desde Nicaragua; João Goulart desde el Brasil; Gaitán desde Colombia; el Che Guevara desde toda Nuestra América… En fin… voces, guías que marcan un rumbo claro hacia la unidad y la segunda y definitiva independencia.

Es por eso que el ALBA tiene antecedentes gloriosos, viene de lo profundo de la América insurgente, tiene raíces, hondas raíces que lo convierten en un proyecto histórico de construcción de la Patria Grande.

2) El ALBA es creación heroica
Como bien lo señalaba el amauta peruano José Carlos Mariátegui, la revolución en esta parte del mundo será “creación heroica, nunca copia o calco”. “O inventamos o erramos”, nos decía Simón Rodríguez. Vale decir que la tarea de construir el ALBA será sin manuales ni “fórmulas mágicas”.
De nada nos sirven los ejemplos de la Unión Europea, ni mucho menos la forma en que Estados Unidos alcanzó su unidad, a costa de rapiña, genocidio indígena e invasiones. La Unión Europea tampoco, porque esa unión se establece de manera defensiva, bajo los parámetros del capitalismo y solo para acumular fuerza en su competencia con Estados Unidos y Japón. La Unión Europea es una estrategia de una serie de naciones en el marco de la lucha intercapitalista e interimperialista. Ninguno de estos son modelos de integración que nos puedan servir a los latinoamericanos caribeños.

Es por esto que los americanos del Sur tendremos que inventar, bucear en nuestra historia, escuchar las “voces del pasado que nos señalan el futuro”, al decir de Eduardo Galeano; implantar un modelo endógeno regional que conduzca a una unidad que sea producto de nuestra propia obra, para cubrir nuestras necesidades y representar nuestros intereses.

3) El ALBA se sostiene en las potencialidades de América Latina y el Caribe
América Latina y el Caribe es una de las regiones más ricas en recursos naturales del planeta. Aprovechar nuestras potencialidades es la clave para el desarrollo y bienestar de nuestros pueblos.

¿Dónde están nuestras potencialidades y de qué manera las aprovechamos hoy? Donde quiera que busquemos encontraremos riquezas inmensas en nuestro continente; pero también encontraremos que esas riquezas no son usufructuadas por nuestros pueblos. Es por ello que en inmensas sabanas, llanos y pampas, con tierras inmejorables para la agricultura y la ganadería, con una potencialidad infinita para producir alimentos, conviven millones de nuestros hermanos que padecen hambre.

Por otro lado, nuestra región es rica en energía y minerales. Petróleo, gas, carbón y energía eléctrica, gracias a los enormes recursos hídricos. Tampoco nos falta hierro, cobre, estaño, zinc, aluminio, oro, plata, cemento, cal. Sin embargo la ausencia de industrias y el proceso de desindustrialización desatado por la implementación de las políticas neoliberales es otro dato de la realidad.

Tenemos la mayor reserva de agua potable del planeta, un recurso que hoy es estratégico y lo será mucho más en los próximos años. Pero pese a tener esa inmensa riqueza, más de un 30% de los 500.000 niños que se nos mueren por año, por razones que serían fácilmente evitables, mueren por diarrea infantil; a causa de falta de agua potable.

Somos una de las regiones más ricas en biodiversidad. Por otro lado también somos la región donde más especies se van extinguiendo por la acción irracional de las empresas multinacionales.
Tenemos una cultura de miles de años que ha sido sistemáticamente negada por la cultura elitista y extranjerizante. El aporte de las culturas de los pueblos originarios, su relación con la naturaleza y su cosmovisión, tienen que ser incorporadas urgentemente por nuestras sociedades, en la lucha por el mejoramiento de la convivencia humana y la vida en armonía con el ambiente. La diversidad y la originalidad son los pilares fundamentales de una frondosa cultura latinoamericana caribeña que hasta hoy ha sido secuestrada y negada para los propios latinoamericanos caribeños.

Y también contamos, dentro de las enormes potencialidades, con una historia digna de un pueblo que nunca se ha resignado a la sumisión y el vasallaje. Mientras los europeos se jactan de haber parido a un Alejandro Magno, a un César, a un Napoleón, nosotros, los latinoamericanos caribeños, podemos decir con orgullo que ésta ha sido tierra de Libertadores y nunca de conquistadores.

En síntesis: tierras fértiles, ríos imponentes, biodiversidad, energía, minerales, una cultura milenaria y una historia heroica de lucha son las riquezas principales que sostienen la construcción del ALBA.

4) El ALBA se apoya sobre valores anticapitalistas
La mesa del ALBA está asentada en cuatro elementos, que son impensables dentro de los parámetros del capitalismo:

a) La complementación. b) La cooperación. c) La solidaridad. d)El respeto a la soberanía de los países.
Ejemplifiquemos con base en los acuerdos ya alcanzados.

a) Complementación: Aquí se encuentran entre otros los acuerdos de Argentina y Venezuela. Argentina produce alimentos que hoy Venezuela necesita y Venezuela tiene combustibles que para la Argentina de hoy son indispensables. Complementación en base a nuestras potencialidades.

b) Cooperación: Acuerdos petroleros entre Brasil y Venezuela. Brasil se especializa en la explotación petrolera “mar adentro”; Venezuela en la producción en “tierra firme”. Ahí entonces se produce un acuerdo de cooperación, cada uno socializa sus conocimientos en las áreas que más se ha especializado.

c) Solidaridad: Petrocaribe. Los países caribeños tienen muy poca riqueza en hidrocarburos. Venezuela, de manera solidaria –sin regalar nada-, ayuda a estos países a adquirir combustibles a precios justos.

d) Respeto a la soberanía: Todos los acuerdos sin excepción se realizan respetando la soberanía y el derecho a la autodeterminación de cada nación firmante.

5) El ALBA es una construcción popular
El ALBA es inconcebible sin la participación de los pueblos, que es “vital, como el oxígeno para los seres humanos”, dijo el comandante Chávez.

Ya hace muchos años atrás, el general Perón se había manifestado sobre este tema, planteando la importancia de la participación popular en la tarea de la integración. Decía, el tres veces presidente de los argentinos, en la misma dirección que lo plantea Chávez, que la presencia de los pueblos en la lucha por la unidad latinoamericana caribeña es lo esencial, “porque los individuos mueren, los gobiernos pasan, pero los pueblos quedan”.

Y en esa tarea titánica es que los pueblos definirán su futuro.

6) El ALBA es un capítulo del proceso revolucionario mundial
La tarea de los pueblos es titánica, colosal, como consecuencia de los desafíos que impone el momento. Veamos por ejemplo:

Sin la participación activa de los pueblos es imposible, para cualquiera de nuestros países, alcanzar la verdadera independencia. Porque no puede haber independencia sin justicia social, “¡de qué vale la independencia, Simón, si los pobres siguen mendigando, si los indios siguen extendiendo la mano para pedir limosna!”, le escribía Manuela Saenz al Libertador, cuando este marchaba ya hacia su tumba, derrotado por los intereses egoístas de las oligarquías nativas y el colonialismo.

Pero esa independencia sin justicia social no se alcanzará si los pueblos no avanzan hacia la unidad latinoamericana caribeña, porque solo en esa unidad es que se consolidará la verdadera independencia y justicia social.

Y esa unidad de Nuestra América tampoco será suficiente si no logramos un nuevo orden mundial, no capitalista, que alcance la armonía entre las naciones, la convivencia pacífica entre los seres humanos y una nueva relación con el ambiente y la naturaleza.
Vale decir, que la tarea de los pueblos es de lucha permanente hasta lograr un mundo con justicia, libertad e igualdad. El ALBA entonces, es un suceso, un eslabón en esta cadena de objetivos, del proceso revolucionario necesario para conservar la especie humana y enterrar cualquier forma de explotación del hombre por el hombre.

7) El ALBA es una forma de integración que no parte de lo mercantil
Lo primero que hay que hacer, en la nueva propuesta de integración, es romper con la lógica capitalista, la lógica del lucro y la ganancia, la lógica de la competencia, la lógica de la economía como crematística . El ALBA debe partir de la integración, en primera instancia, desde lo político y desde lo social. Y esto implica la movilización popular.

Ahí tenemos, desde lo social, tareas que ya se vienen llevando y otras que deberán acometerse con la movilización de las fuerzas populares: campañas de alfabetización, de vacunación, de atención médica, la red de universidades populares, los talleres de artes y oficios, la red de medios de comunicación alternativos, la central de trabajadores latinoamericanos caribeños, la central de campesinos de Nuestra América, la red de defensa de nuestros recursos naturales, en fin, una cantidad de emprendimientos que deberán salir del seno del pueblo y los gobiernos progresistas del continente.

Asimismo, desde lo político, debemos alentar iniciativas como la conformación de la Red de Parlamentarios para la Integración, constituida en El Salvador, a iniciativa del Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberaci&oacut e;n Nacional (FMLN) y el Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos; contribuir a conformar una poderosa red de alcaldes e intendentes latinoamericanos caribeños, que impulsen mecanismos de integración desde el poder local; el apoyo y la solidaridad permanente con las fuerzas políticas progresistas que aspiran a lograr buenos resultados en las elecciones que se avecinan en todo el continente… Ahí están los compatriotas Evo Morales, Andrés Manuel López Obrador y Daniel Ortega, futuros presidentes de Bolivia, México y Nicaragua, respectivamente.

Resumiendo, cada vez es más necesario que las fuerzas políticas y sociales de la América Latina Caribeña, las fuerzas democráticas, patrióticas, antiimperialistas, revolucionarias, se constituyan en un poderoso movimiento popular latinoamericano y del Caribe y actúen coordinadamente, como verdadero Estado Mayor de la revolución en Nuestra América.

Esa es la propuesta del Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos.

8) El ALBA es una herramienta política
El ALBA debe ser una herramienta política para la liberación. Ahora, como toda herramienta deberá ser eficiente y flexible ante las circunstancias ¿Porqué digo esto? Porque creo que el ALBA deberá actuar también como barrera de contención ante las nuevas tácticas que el imperialismo utilizará para dominarnos. Por ejemplo: ante la derrota imperial de querer imponer el ALCA de un solo manotazo, aparecen los “alquitas”, los Tratados de Libre Comercio (TLC) como un camino indirecto para alcanzar el ALCA.

El gobierno estadounidense pretende aprovechar la mayor debilidad que tenemos los latinoamericanos caribeños: la desunión. Entonces aplican la fórmula, inteligentemente yo diría, de derrotarnos uno a uno.

Pero ante esa nueva iniciativa colonialista, ante esa propuesta de veintipico de alquitas o TLC, que en la sumatoria parirían el ALCA, nosotros, los pueblos de Nuestra América, con los gobiernos progresistas y las organizaciones populares, tendremos que imponerles 100 “albitas”, 1000 “albitas”, 10000 “albitas”. Cada uno de estos acuerdos que se realicen con el espíritu del ALBA, serán ladrillos sólidos en la construcción de la Confederación de Repúblicas Latinoamericanas Caribeñas. Esa es la tarea de hoy de las fuerzas populares por la integración.

9) El ALBA es el programa de la Revolución Latinoamericana Caribeña
Los pueblos de Nuestra América hemos pasado a una nueva etapa. Debemos dar el salto de la etapa de la protesta (sin dejarla de lado, por supuesto), a la etapa de las propuestas. La resistencia es necesaria, pero es hora ya de pasar a la ofensiva.

Por eso el programa ALBA debe ser construido con los pueblos y debe ser divulgado entre los pueblos. Las tres etapas propias de toda lucha revolucionaria debe ser trabajada también en la construcción del ALBA:

a) Educar, convencer sobre la necesidad del ALBA.
b) Propagandizar y difundir entre las masas populares la “buena nueva” del ALBA.
c) Organizar y movilizar en torno a la construcción concreta de la integración entre los pueblos.

Como muy bien decía el Canciller venezolano Alí Rodríguez, “es necesario que los pueblos sientan los beneficios de la integración”. Esa es tarea de las fuerzas populares, hacer llegar los beneficios de la integración a través de las campañas y misiones sociales.

Recomiendo que leamos el folleto “Construyendo el ALBA desde los pueblos” , un verdadero programa revolucionario de integración, que surgió de las propuestas de las organizaciones populares latinoamericanas reunidas en infinidad de eventos y a través de varios años de lucha y esfuerzos. Ese material no es un material acabado, sino que se enriquece cotidianamente a través de las nuevas experiencias, aportes, estudios y emprendimientos que llevan adelante los diferentes artífices de la integración.

10) El ALBA es un salto estratégico a una nueva etapa.
El ALBA ya está instalado, les guste o no les guste a los imperialistas y a las oligarquías. De nosotros dependerá que avance más o menos aceleradamente. El ALBA cuenta con un dispositivo fundamental a la hora del combate:

a) Cuenta con un líder decidido y que ya ha dado suficientes muestras de convicción y coraje: el comandante Hugo Chávez.

b) Cuenta con un Estado Mayor de calidad, que son los dirigentes de las organizaciones populares de América Latina y el Caribe.


c) Y cuenta con un ejército de millones de soldados: el pueblo latinoamericano caribeño, dispuesto a construir, en paz, la Patria Grande de los Libertadores.

Es por esto que la alternativa hoy ya no es “vencer o morir”; la alternativa de hoy es mucho más exigente, mucho más tremenda, de mayor responsabilidad aún. Como decía el patriota venezolano José Félix Ribas: “necesario es vencer”.
Muchas gracias.

ALBA: What is Alternativa Bolivariana de las Americas?

________________________________________________________________________________
Ministro de Estado para la Bancoex
Integración y Comercio Exterior
1
ÍNDEX
I. What is the ALBA?
II. Governing principles of the ALBA
III. The Caribbean ALBA.
IV. Initiatives within the framework of the Caribbean ALBA
V. Conclusion
"It is necessary to advance towards the stability of the Continent:
________________________________________________________________________________
Ministro de Estado para la Bancoex
Integración y Comercio Exterior
2
in politics, in economic, and in social matters,
This model, EL ALBA, aims towards the stability.
and quoting Jesus Christ words:
“The only way to Peace, is Justice;
the brotherhood, the equality...
There will be no Peace, while there is not Justice in the world”
"Hugo Chávez Frías

II.. What is the ALBA?
The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) is based, fundamentally, upon a
model of politic, economic and social integration of countries, as the Caribbean and Latin
American, which share geographic spaces, historical and cultural bonds, necessities and
common potentialities.

The ALBA is then, a new scheme of integration based on principles of cooperation,
solidarity and complementariness and it arises as an alternative to the neo liberal model,
which has not done but that to deepen the structural asymmetries and to favor the
accumulation of wealth in privileged minorities in detriment of the well-being of countries.

The ALBA is based on the creation of mechanisms to foment cooperative
advantages among the nations allowing compensating the existing asymmetries between
the countries of the hemisphere. ALBA looks for attacking the obstacles that prevent true
integration such as the poverty and the social exclusion; the unequal interchange and the
lack of equity conditions in the international relations, the free access to the information, to
the technology and to the knowledge; it aspires to construct consensuses, to rethink the
agreements of integration based on reaching a national and regional endogenous
development to eradicate the poverty, to correct the social inequalities and to assure and
to increase life quality for all the countries.

In that sense, the construction of the ALBA in the Caribbean will strengthen the
endogenous development, sovereign and balance, of the countries of the region.
ALBA principle is based upon the cooperation through compensatory founds to
correct the disparities and disadvantage of underdeveloped countries compared to those
developed countries.
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3
Therefore the proposals of the ALBA grants them priority to Latin American
integration and privilege negotiation in sub regional blocks, opening new consultation
spaces in the aims to deepen the knowledge of our positions and to identify spaces of
common interest that they allow to constitute strategic alliances and to stand similar
positions in the negotiation process.

The ALBA proposal is a focused in constructing consensuses that entail to rethink
the agreements of integration based on reaching a national and regional endogenous
development that eradicates the poverty, corrects the social inequity and assures an
increasing quality of life for all.

The proposal of the ALBA adds efforts waking up of the conscience expressed in
the developing of a new political, economic, social and military leadership in Latin America
and the Caribbean; today more than ever, it agrees to re launch the Latin American and Caribbean Union.

President Hugo Chávez in his intervention in ALADI has summarized the principals
of the ALBA as the following topics:
1. To promote the fight against the poverty
2. To preserve the autonomy and Latin American identity
3. The transference of technology, the technical assistance
4. The formation of human resources
5. To prioritize national companies us public beings suppliers
6. The agreements could not be obstacle to the diffusion of the scientific and
technological progress
7. To face the abuse of the monopolies and oligopolies through effective
mechanisms that assure fare competition
8. The foreign investors will not be able to demand the countries by the
handling of state monopolies of public interest
9. Treatment special and differentiated to unequal economies to open
opportunities to the weakest
10. Process of wide social participation, which can be characterized like
democratic
11. Economic, social, cultural and civil rights should be interdependent,
indivisible and can not be waived
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4
12. The commercial interests of the investors will not be able to have
supremacy over the human rights or over the sovereignty of the States
13. Creation of founds of structural convergence for the correction of
asymmetries

II Governing principles of the ALBA
1. Neo liberal integration prioritizes the liberalization of the commerce and the
investments; however the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America (ALBA) is
a proposal that focuses its attention on the fight against the poverty and the
social exclusion.

2. In the proposal of the ALBA a crucial importance to the human rights, labor
rights, the woman rights, and to the defense of the atmosphere and physical
integration.

3. In the ALBA, the fight against the protectionist policies and the ruinous
subsidies of the industrialized countries cannot deny the right of the poor
countries to protect to its farmers and agricultural producers

4. For the poor countries, where the agricultural activity is fundamental, the
conditions of life of million farmers and natives would be seen irreversibly
affected if it happens a flood of imported agricultural goods, still in the cases
in which subsidy does not exist.

5. The agricultural production is much more that the production of
merchandise, is the base to preserve cultural options, is a form of
occupation of the territory, defines modalities of relation with the nature and
has to directly do with the security and nourishing self-sufficiency. In these
countries agriculture is, rather, a way of life and it cannot be treated like any
other economic activity.

6. ALBA must attack the obstacles integration from its root, that is to say:
a. The poverty of most of the population;
b. The deep inequalities and asymmetries between countries
c. Unequal Interchange and conditions of international relations
d. The weight of an “impossible to pay” debt
________________________________________________________________________________

5
e. The imposition of the policies of structural adjustment of the IMF and
the WB and the rigid rules of the WCO that undermines the bases of
social and political support.

f. obstacles to access information, the knowledge and the technology
that are derived from the present agreements of intellectual
property; and,

g. To pay attention to the problems that affect the consolidation of a
true democracy, such as the monopolized social mass media

7. To face such a call Reformation of the State that only took us to unfair
processes of deregulation, privatization and disassembling of the capacities
of public management.

8. As an answer to the brutal dissolution that the State suffered for more than
one decade of neo liberal hegemony, the fortification of the State and
governments, on the bases of the participation of the citizen in public
matters, prevails now

9. It is necessary to question the vindication to the free market and commerce,
as if only these concepts were enough to automatically guarantee the
advance towards greater levels of growth and collective well-being.

10. Without a clear intervention of the State directed to reduce the disparities
between countries, the free competition between unequal countries will lead
us to make the damage of weakest worst.

11. To deepen in Latin American integration requires an economic agenda
defined by the sovereign States, outside all ominous influence of the
international organisms.

III The Caribbean ALBA
The ALBA acquires a special dimension in the Caribbean by the existence of
objective conditions that would allow advancing fast in the process of integration through
the development of an integrated and consistent program of cooperation, oriented to
construct the bases of the sustainable socioeconomic development and the consolidation
of a community of nations.
________________________________________________________________________________

6
The Caribbean is reservoir of energy, water and strategic mineral deposits. The
Caribbean region is called to become a world-wide tourist power and services due to its
geographical strategic location, is also, a rich zone of cultural and ethnic profile.

On the other hand, the Community of Caribbean Nations shows an important
political weight in international and multilateral organisms, the UN and the OEA, owning an
important negotiation capacity at the moment of the decision making.
Without a doubt, all these capacities would be harnessed within the framework of
an integration process like which it proposes the ALBA.

The Caribbean is a relatively small market, of 36,25 million inhabitants. Adding the
CARICOM (15.7 million), Cuba (11,3 million) and Dominican Republic: (9.1 million). The
region reaches the 62.8 million inhabitants, if we included Venezuela; the GIP of the region
reaches 80,000 MM USD of which the 36,25% (28,000 MM USD) are contributed by the
15 member countries of the CARICOM and the rest 63,75% (52,000 MM USD) by Cuba
and Dominican Republic.

We found disadvantages in the fact that the countries of the Caribbean have
always presented trades balance of deficit goods and in the circumstance that the
intraregional commerce is very low as what they exports represent 11,75% of the total
exported and what they imports represents the 5.15%.

In fact, 71% of the exports of the Region have North America and Europe as
destiny and just 12% goes to Center America, a 4% goes to South America.
Sectors that shows the higher r indices of export are: mineral products (It includes
petroleum and its derivatives), textile, chemical agents, diverse manufactures, drinks,
foods and metals.

We must emphasize that potentialities of complementariness and substitution of
originating imports of third countries exist intraregional, by elaborated products, inasmuch
as demanded sectors exist that have intraregional production, but that is commercialized
with third part countries.

For the pointed reasons, we can conclude that a great challenge exists, as well as
ample opportunities for the development and the deepening of the intraregional
commerce, which would allow carrying out an efficient substitution of originating imports of
third countries, by products of intraregional origin.

Without a doubt, and as we have indicated the sectors corresponding to "Mineral
Products", "Common Metals" and "Tourism", they present a greater potentiality of
________________________________________________________________________________
7
development and complementariness among the countries of the Caribbean due to the
comparative advantages contributed by each one of the parts.

In social matter also we can affirm that necessities exist and puts common
inasmuch as all the countries of the region require contributing to the development of
Basic Education, to complement the elementary school and to overcome the deficiencies
in high school, which has been historically low in the Caribbean, as well as improving the
schooling averages.

Health is also a common challenge: the Caribbean is the zone after Africa Sub-
Sahara affected the most by the AIDS; in Haiti the prevalence is of 4% whereas in
Bahamas is of 6% (World Bank 2002).

IV Initiatives within the framework of the Caribbean ALBA
The concrete initiatives within the framework of the Caribbean ALBA are follows:
a) The fight against the poverty and the social exclusion. To organize basic
programs of Housing, Services (water, electricity and road), Alphabetization,
Health. To design the Plan of technical and financial support for the development of
the Program of worthy House, taken into account the ethno cultural characteristics
of the region, as well as to establish the bases of the technical and financial
support for the provision of the basic services, fundamentally water and electricity,
road infrastructure and primary attention in the health sector.

b) Joint plan in the matter of alimentary security. To implant a joint plan of
alimentary security through the elaboration of a normative frame, that guarantees
the conditions for the development of the production and food processing
according to norms of correct manufacture, analysis of risks and critical control
posts, as well as the trade and commercialization of nutritional products with low
prices for less resources population of the region.

c) Power and mining development to advance to joint initiatives for the power and
mining development to traverse the joint of chains of aggregation of value
integrated, that add value to the raw materials and impel the endogenous
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8
development in the region base on in the technological innovation, in order to
obtain the productive sovereignty. To rise to a mining-metallurgical map of the
Caribbean and study its industrial potentialities, as bases of a mining strategic plan
of the region. To implement joint strategies of trade and re engineering of logistic
means for the transport, crude storage and distribution of products in the
Caribbean region. To extend the options of primary energy in the Caribbean with
emphasis in the natural gas. To establish the bases for the creation of a found of
mining development towards the technical, financial attendance, investigation and
scientific and technological development of the sector.

d) Portfolio of integrated investments To design and to promote a portfolio of
investments oriented to construct the integrated industrial chains of aggregation of
value to the raw materials.

e) An Academic and Cultural interchange To combine efforts to extend the radius
of action of the Caribbean University, through the opening of Campus in other
countries of the region. To stimulate the efforts of cultural interchange among our
Countries with a looking forward to fortify historical and cultural bonds. To establish
strategic alliances oriented to the formation of human resources in different
sectors, taking advantage of as well as sharing the common capacities and
potentialities in the sector.

f) Tourism To share experiences and development accomplished by the tourist
industry in the region, to lay the foundations of an integrated management taking
advantage of the own capacities in each country. To establish strategic alliances
oriented to the formation of human resources in the tourist sector, to develop the
logistic infrastructure of transporting and, in general, the constitution of a Caribbean
regional air line to construct of a tourist capacity in the region. To explore the
integration initiative, through the services of management, promotion, certification,
logistic and commercialization of the tourist services in the Caribbean.

g) Environmental conservation. To elaborate joint programs of ecosystems
conservation and monitoring, as well as to promote the establishment of support
systems of the communitarian environmental management and the formation of
human resources in this matter.

h) Caribbean regional market. To develop program of incentives to support the
producer and the consumer as well as tributary, financing and access on the credit,
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9
guarantees, promotion, intelligence of market, facilitation of the commerce,
infrastructure of support to the production, establishment of productive circuits
based on the endogenous development new program of incentives.

i) Prevention and management of disasters. Construction of a prevention system
and management of disasters in the region, by means of the establishment of a
system of monitoring and joint operation.

IV Conclusion
We can end saying that the proposal of the President of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias, implies an historical and important
fact rooted in the dreams of integration of ours father liberators, it provides a true
option of development and a luminous way to the future of Latin America and the
Caribbean.

Marcha de Educadores a la Presidencia, Panama, Jueves, 19 Junio 2008

Necesidad Panameña de un Comite Bolivariano de Informatica "Iromi Smith"

Entrevista a José Lisandro AguilarEnviado el viernes, 20 de junio a las 08:27:00 Tema: Ciencia y tecnología

"TENEMOS QUE PENSAR EN PROYECTOS QUE NOS PERMITAN IR APUNTALANDO UN NUEVO MODELO DE SOCIEDAD SOBERANA, INDEPENDIENTE Y SOCIALISTA"Por Reporteros Comunitarios de Mérida

Recientemente el centro nacional de tecnologías libres, ha concluido, con sus primeras jornadas de prospectiva en tecnologías libres, actividad en donde la población venezolana ha participado con ideas y propuestas que permitan la creación de un modelo de gestión científico tecnológico con el concursos de todos.

Es así, como para conocer un poco del avance y los planes en esta materia, que entrevistamos a José Lisandro Aguilar, destacado ingeniero, investigador venezolano, quien luego de una acertada gestión de seis años al frente de la Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia y la Tecnología de Mérida (Fundacite-Mérida), por instancias oficiales, hoy le toca ocupar la presidencia del primer Centro Nacional de Desarrollo e Investigación de Tecnologías Libres- CENDITEL (nodo Mérida).Cenditel, es inaugurado por el presidente Hugo Chávez, el 10 de noviembre del 2007, la nueva institución científica nace en el marco del proceso revolucionario y socialista, como un espacio para impulsar la reflexión, investigación, desarrollo y apropiación de las llamadas tecnologías libres pertinentes, con el objetivo de alcanzar con apoyo de esta inédita experiencia en al país y Latinoamérica, de la tan ansiada soberanía tecnológica, acordes con la nueva visión de crecimiento existente en el país.

A través de este centro se crearán redes de trabajos regionales, nacionales e internacionales, con la participación de los grupos de investigación multidisciplinarios y las iniciativas originadas desde las comunidades organizadas con sus saberes autóctonos. Con este aporte del gobierno nacional, se abre un nuevo espacio para el debate sobre políticas para el uso y desarrollo de las tecnologías libres, el impulso a la investigación y desarrollo tecnológico nacional con estándares libres, permitiendo además el estimulo y apoyo al talento nacional el cual permita garantizar la soberanía tecnológica.

- Considerando la exitosa receptividad demostrada por parte de las comunidades y grupos de investigación, en las Primeras Jornadas de Prospectiva de Cenditel, ¿cuáles serian ahora los planes a seguir por el primer centro nacional de tecnologías libres del país?

JA: “"Básicamente, en este momento estamos haciendo un análisis exhaustivo de toda la información que hemos recibido a partir del ejercicio de Prospectiva Tecnológica, en la cual hemos solicitado al País en general, y a todas las diferentes organizaciones sociales que hacen vida en el, para que aporten sus ideas alrededor del deber-ser científico - tecnológico nacional, y así, conjuntamente con nosotros pudiéramos estar dando la discusión sobre las áreas, los ámbitos, las consideraciones, en cuanto a donde deben darse esas actividades del desarrollo científico y tecnológico en el marco de la soberanía tecnológica de nuestro país, inspirados en las bases filosóficas del conocimiento libre. En ese sentido, este análisis nos debe permitir definir los proyectos estratégicos que nos permitan dar un salto cualitativo y fundamental en el proceso de transformación del País.”

“Es importante en este momento pensar, que no podemos limitarnos, a generar proyectos muy específicos, y con un impacto reducido, sino tenemos que pensar en proyectos de transformación nacional, fundamentales. Proyectos que nos permitan como país, ir apuntalando la conformación de un nuevo modelo de sociedad, soberana, independiente y socialista, un modelo que transforme lo que ha sido la dinámica de nuestra vida en un espacio que nos dé soberanía, que nos de capacidades internas, que nos permita construir nuestro devenir, sin crear lazos de dependencia, sino mas bien, creando espacios en donde podamos nosotros ir generando todo ese saber necesario en la construcción de una patria soberana”.

“Por eso este esfuerzo de Prospectiva, por un lado, nos debe definir los ámbitos iníciales de acción necesaria para emprender este proceso, y por el otro lado, identificar esas capacidades que tenemos como país, y en función de ellas, como fortalecerlas, para este gran reto que nos estamos planteando". - Sabemos que Cenditel desde diciembre de 2007, ha decidido emprender un plan de apoyo a investigación en Tecnologías Libres, donde participan organismos oficiales y privados, grupos de investigación y fundaciones, los cuales llevan adelante proyectos de interés en diferentes áreas del quehacer humano, podría usted informarnos como marchan esos proyectos, con el uso de Tecnologías Libres?

JA: "Todos esos proyectos son objeto de una permanente reflexión por parte del equipo de CENDITEL, de hecho, se viene cumpliendo con un calendario de jornadas de trabajo internas con la personas que vienen desarrollando estos proyectos, para ir identificando las potencialidades, dificultades, y todo lo que se viene generando desde estos proyectos. Además, dentro de los espacios de las jornadas de reflexión, investigación y divulgación de todo el quehacer de Cenditel, como parte de la política de contraloría institucional que aspiramos que se nos haga, también hacemos que todos estos proyectos de investigación que se están financiando sean presentados, que muestren todo ese quehacer que viene dándose, y los resultados que se van obteniendo.

““Algo importante a clarificar es que estas son iniciativas, que a diferencia de los proyectos tradicionales, tienen un componente fundamental dentro del marco de todo lo que tiene que ver con la promoción del conocimiento libre, ya que son proyectos que deben hacerse, de tal forma de garantizar, de alguna manera que todo ese conocimiento que se genere, pueda ser apropiable por todos los actores comunitarios, las instituciones públicas; así que básicamente, lo que se busca es garantizar que todo ese conocimiento se convierta en patrimonio de la humanidad. Que sea un conocimiento que nos permita dar cuenta de todo un conjunto de aspectos que tienen que ver con las dinámicas sociales que se viven en nuestro país y el continente latinoamericano.” “Así que es un conocimiento pertinente, necesario, que promueve nuevas normas de vida social y que nos permite crear un modelo de desarrollo de ciencia y tecnología incluyente, el cual esté arraigado en las necesidades del país, que este vinculado a nuestras realidades, y que a su vez, vaya potencializando ese bagaje de elementos cognitivos que requerimos para impulsar procesos de desarrollo soberanos.”“Así que son proyectos, que tienen perfiles bien específicos, que tienen requerimientos bien particulares en cuanto a las características que se deben dar dentro del marco del conocimiento libre, garantizando que se conviertan en patrimonio del país, en patrimonio de la humanidad, todos los resultados de estos proyectos".

¿Qué otras líneas de investigación para el fortalecimiento del conocimiento libre está desarrollando CENDITEL?

JA: "Además de todo el lo que es el software y hardware como conocimiento aplicado, y que fueron las líneas que dieron origen a Cenditel, llevamos una profunda reflexión sobre el tema pedagógico, sobre el tema de transferencia tecnológica y los modelos de apropiación tecnológica, me refiero a este último tema, porque eso se refleja en esas formas pedagógicas tradicionales que se nos han ido imponiendo con las que debemos romper”.

“En el caso pedagógico, venidos trabajando sobre la practica aprender-haciendo y como eso lo vamos vinculando a los procesos de transformación de los modelos de generación y apropiación del conocimiento que se vienen dando en el país. Eso tiene implicaciones, no solo en el ámbito de desarrollo de tecnologías e innovaciones, desarrollo científico, también en el modelo educativo nacional.

Así que este trabajo lo venimos haciendo focalizado en los niveles de la educación primaria y secundaria, para eso hay un proyecto denominado Maestro Virtual (hay un evento en julio alrededor de este tema, dentro del marco de las Segundas Jornadas Nacionales de Investigación de Tecnologías Libres), y también en una red de estudio y reflexión sobre los modelos de transferencia tecnológica, para ello venimos trabajando con instituciones como "Venezolana Internacional de Tecnologías" (VIT), responsable del desarrollo del computador bolivariano."Pero no solo en ese ámbito, también venimos trabajando sobre el tema de la agro-ecología, pues particularmente todos los avances que se han venido dando desde esa comunidad, hacen una aproximación a la tecnología que es de mucho interés para el quehacer de Cenditel. Por eso es que nosotros tenemos todo un plan de trabajo en el tema agroecológico, para apropiarnos de todas esas reflexiones y dinámicas que se han venido dando sobre su aproximación al tema tecnológico.

Particular, esa forma de ver el tema tecnológico, no como un modelo que se impone, o choca, o reta a la naturaleza, sino que busca acoplarse para hacer sinergia con la madre tierra. De esta manera, la tecnología se convierte en un elemento que fomenta formas de vida, prácticas sociales, que promueva valores sociales, que está muy en torno a los elementos fundamentales del conocimiento libre. Alrededor de estos procesos tecnológicos alternativos la madre tierra pasa a hacer un elemento primordial del proceso, y no algo que es agredido por elementos tecnológicos, que se le incorporan de manera violenta. **

También nos aproximáremos al tema de los fármacos, en donde Cenditel inicialmente está promoviendo becas a nivel de postgrado vinculados a este tema, que nos garanticen una seguridad en el ámbito de la salud, así como sucede con el tema agroecológico como forma de garantizar la soberanía alimenticia.“Por otra parte, alrededor de los proyectos de software y hardware, están proyectos que se vinculan directamente con la pertinencia de esos proyectos de software y hardware. También hay una gran reflexión sobre los modos organizacionales que se dan en nuestro país es lo diferentes ámbitos del quehacer nacional (políticos, educativos, etc.) es lo que algunos autores han llamado las tecnologías sociales.

Allí básicamente lo que estamos haciendo es reflexionando sobre esos modos tecnológicos de organizaciones sociales y políticas, para ir introduciendo elementos incluidos en la Constitución de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, como son los modelos de democracia participativa y protagónica establecidos en ella. Así que estas premisas nos están permitiendo identificar modos de desarrollo social alternativos, que pueden ser enriquecidas por tecnologías de Hardware y Software, que generen nuevas formas de gestión social y de gobierno, inspirados en la idea de poder popular".*

Es necesario también agregar que debemos hablar de los modelos jurídicos, en donde también hay mucha tecnología social, cuales son las condiciones que nosotros debemos ir estableciendo, que viabilicen todo lo que en este momento se viene haciendo en el país, a favor de la promoción y divulgación del conocimiento libre. Por consiguiente, esas formas jurídicas, deben ponerse a tono, que permitan que el conocimiento pueda ser patrimonio de la humanidad, y no que al conocimiento se le creen límites artificiales como las patentes… Detrás de esto, esta la idea de la propiedad intelectual. El modelo jurídico que se nos ha impuesto restringe ese conocimiento universal, es una realidad que debe ser enfrentada por esa nueva sociedad socialista que estamos tratando de construir.

- ¿Conociendo que usted comparte la docencia universitaria, la presidencia de Cenditel, con la investigación científica y tecnológica, que nos podría adelantar, como se vinculan todas estas actividades?

JA: "Básicamente, hay una área de investigación que vengo llevando a cabo desde hace tiempo, que se relaciona directamente con mi quehacer en Cenditel., es el área que venimos desarrollando en el centro sobre los modelos emergentes, y cuando hablamos de modelos emergentes, son modelos que impactan a toda la dinámica de la sociedad, en base a procesos que se dan internos en ella misma, es decir, son modelos flexibles de auto-organización, que se ven en diferentes ámbitos de lo que es la vida humana, por ejemplo, la forma como se organizan las sociedades, nosotros como individuos, con sus funciones orgánicas, como las ciudades, las comunidades y las redes sociales se van conformando en torno a un tema específicos.

Esto nos ha permitido aproximar parte de ese quehacer nuestro, que viene más vinculado al área de la inteligencia artificial distribuida, que viene vinculado a los sistemas emergentes, que lo que buscan básicamente es poder ir caracterizando esos procesos que se han venido observando emergentes, sobre realidades en concreto. Indudablemente que el quehacer de Cenditel, que promueve formas tecnológicas autoproyecticas, que se puedan autogenerar, que lo haga sustentable, es decir, que promueve un modelo científico y tecnológico,… autóctono,… independiente, es obligante en pensar en modelos sociales con esas características, que le permitan enriquecerse por sí mismas, sin que entren actores externos a incidir para nuestra realidad”

“Hablamos de procesos naturales emergentes, en los cuales, a partir de las capacidades y necesidades internas, deben irse generando nuestros propios modelos”.“Los sistemas emergentes hacen un aporte fundamental…. Desde la perspectiva de los modelos matemáticos y computacionales, ya que nos permiten caracterizar y comprender, y sobre todo predecir el acontecer”.

“Ya se han realizado trabajos a partir del cerebro, en colonias de insectos, han habido estudios, y muchos modelos matemáticos; recientemente se han aplicado el estudio de los sistemas emergentes a los ámbitos sociales. Este bagaje de estudios, podemos ir incorporándolos en procesos de planificación y gestión de gobierno, y ejercicios de prospectivas, es vital. Es necesario incorporar desde la inteligencia artificial distribuida, todo ese conglomerado de aprendizaje y de herramientas que se han venido desarrollando en simulación y modelado; eso hace que todo el trabajo que yo vengo realizando a nivel científico, se inserten de manera natural en las actividades propias de Cenditel”.

“Por otro lado, en estos últimos tiempos me he vinculado mucho a los estudios sobre las formas de desarrollos tecnológicos, modelos democráticos de gestión de la tecnología y la ciencia, una dinámica muy natural y trascendentales dentro de Cenditel; de hecho, esto forma parte de las actividades más importantes que se dan en el centro; entrando en esa dinámica la filosofía de la tecnología, la sociología de la tecnología, es un proceso ha pensar , es un elemento fundamental, tanto en mi hacer, como en el hacer del centro, allí volvemos a encontramos con el ser científico, y el quehacer científico de Cenditel”
De rebelion.org

March to regulate the web, "pay per use"

Secret Plan To Kill Internet By 2012 Leaked?
Some question if report that pay-per-view system to be introduced is a hoax, but wider march to regulate the web is documented

Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet June 11, 2008
ISP’s have resolved to restrict the Internet to a TV-like subscription model where users will be forced to pay to visit selected corporate websites by 2012, while others will be blocked, according to a leaked report. Despite some people dismissing the story as a hoax, the wider plan to kill the traditional Internet and replace it with a regulated and controlled Internet 2 is manifestly provable.

"Bell Canada and TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP’s all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These ‘other’ sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet," warns a report that has spread like wildfire across the web over the last few days.

The article, which is accompanied by a You Tube clip, states that Time Magazine writer "Dylan Pattyn" has confirmed the information and is about to release a story - and that the move to effectively shut down the web could come as soon as 2010.
Watch the clip.

People have raised questions about the report’s accuracy because the claims are not backed by another source, only the "promise" that a Time Magazine report is set to confirm the rumor. Until such a report emerges many have reserved judgment or outright dismissed the story as a hoax.

What is documented, as the story underscores, is the fact that TELUS’ wireless web package allows only restricted pay-per-view access to a selection of corporate and news websites. This is the model that the post-2012 Internet would be based on.

People have noted that the authors of the video seem to be more concerned about getting people to subscribe to their You Tube account than fighting for net neutrality by prominently featuring an attractive woman who isn’t shy about showing her cleavage. The vast majority of the other You Tube videos hosted on the same account consist of bizarre avante-garde satire skits on behalf of the same people featured in the Internet freedom clip. This has prompted many to suspect that the Internet story is merely a stunt to draw attention to the group.

Whether the report is accurate or merely a crude hoax, there is a very real agenda to restrict, regulate and suffocate the free use of the Internet and we have been documenting its progression for years.

The first steps in a move to charge for every e mail sent have already been taken. Under the pretext of eliminating spam, Bill Gates and other industry chieftains have proposed Internet users buy credit stamps which denote how many e mails they will be able to send. This of course is the death knell for political newsletters and mailing lists.

The New York Times reported that "America Online and Yahoo, two of the world’s largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. The senders must promise to contact only people who have agreed to receive their messages, or risk being blocked entirely."

The first wave will simply attempt to price people out of using the conventional Internet and force people over to Internet 2, a state regulated hub where permission will need to be obtained directly from an FCC or government bureau to set up a website.

The original Internet will then be turned into a mass surveillance database and marketing tool. The Nation magazine reported in 2006 that, "Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets–corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers–would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out."

Over the past few years, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the Internet and further lead it down a path of strict control has spewed forth from numerous establishment organs:
Time magazine reported last year that researchers funded by the federal government want to shut down the internet and start over, citing the fact that at the moment there are loopholes in the system whereby users cannot be tracked and traced all the time.

The projects echo moves we have previously reported on to clamp down on internet neutrality and even to designate a new form of the internet known as Internet2.
In a display of bi-partisanship, there have recently been calls for allout mandatory ISP snooping on all US citizens by both Democrats and Republicans alike.

The White House’s own recently de-classifiedstrategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence.

The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltratethe Internet and propagandize for the war on terror.

In a speech last October, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a "terror training camp," through which "disaffected people living in the United States" are developing "radical ideologies and potentially violent skills."His solution is "intelligence fusion centers," staffed by Homeland Security personnel which will go into operation next year.

The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress. Criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year could be the punishment for non-compliance.

A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government.

A landmark legal ruling in Sydney, Autralia goes further than ever before in setting the trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy.
The European Union, led by former Stalinist and potential future British Prime Minister John Reid, has also vowed to shut down "terrorists" who use the Internet to spread propaganda.
The EU data retention bill, passed last year after much controversy and with implementation tabled for late 2007, obliges telephone operators and internet service providers to store information on who called who and who emailed who for at least six months. Under this law, investigators in any EU country, and most bizarrely even in the US, can access EU citizens’ data on phone calls, SMS messages, emails and instant messaging services.

The EU also recently proposed legislation that would prevent users from uploading any form of video without a license.

The US government is also funding research into social networking sites and how to gather and store personal data published on them, according to the New Scientist magazine. "At the same time, US lawmakers are attempting to force the social networking sites themselves to control the amount and kind of information that people, particularly children, can put on the sites."
The development of a new form of internet with new regulations is also designed to create an online caste system whereby the old internet hubs would be allowed to break down and die, forcing people to use the new taxable, censored and regulated world wide web.

Make no mistake, the internet, one of the greatest outposts of free speech ever created is under constant attack by powerful people who cannot operate within a society where information flows freely and unhindered. Both American and European moves mimic stories we hear every week out of state controlled Communist China, where the internet is strictly regulated and virtually exists as its own entity away from the rest of the web.

The Internet is freedom’s best friend and the bane of control freaks. Its eradication is one of the short term goals of those that seek to centralize power and subjugate their populations under tyranny by eliminating the right to protest and educate others by the forum ofthe free world wide web
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201 Responses to “Secret Plan To Kill Internet By 2012 Leaked?”

Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon.

Dear Reader,

Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is not the wacky proclamation of a doomsday cult, apocalypse bible prophecy sect, or conspiracy theory society. Rather, it is the scientific conclusion of the best paid, most widely-respected geologists, physicists, bankers, and investors in the world. These are rational, professional, conservative individuals who are absolutely terrified by a phenomenon known as global "Peak Oil." --> -->
Peak Oil is also called "Hubbert's Peak," named for the Shell geologist Dr. Marion King Hubbert. In 1956, Hubbert accurately predicted that US domestic oil production would peak in 1970. Source#1 Source #2 He also predicted global production would peak around the year 2000, which it would have had the politically created oil shocks of the 1970s not delayed it for about 5-10 years.

For more information:
A mere 15% shortfall in oil production will spike oil prices by 550%
Robert Hirsch on CNBC: Gasoline will soon be $12-to-$15 per gallon
"Big deal. If gas prices get high, I’ll just drive less. Why should I give a damn?"

Because petrochemicals are key components to much more than just the gas in your car. As of the year 2002, approximately 10 calories of fossil fuels are required to produce every 1 calorie of food eaten in the US. Source The size of this ratio stems from the fact that every step of modern food production is fossil fuel and petrochemical powered:

Pesticides and agro-chemicals are made from oil;
Commercial fertilizers are made from ammonia, which is made from natural gas, which is also peaking in the near future. Source

Most farming implements such as tractors and trailers are constructed and powered using oil-derived fuels.

Food storage systems such as refrigerators are manufactured in oil-powered plants, distributed using oil-powered transportation networks and usually run on electricity, which most often comes from natural gas or coal. Like oil and natural gas, coal too is peaking in the near future. Source

In the US, the average piece of food is transported almost 1,500 miles before it gets to your plate. Source In Canada, the average piece of food is transported 5,000 miles from where it is produced to where it is consumed. Source

A recent article published by CNN documented just how much fossil fuel energy is used to produce our food. Emphasis added:
In the U.S., up to 20 percent of the country's fossil fuel consumption goes
into the food chain which points out that fossil fuel use by the food system
in the developed world "often rivals that of automobiles". To feed an
average family of four in the developed world uses up the equivalent
of 930 gallons of gasoline a year - just shy of the 1,070 gallons that
same family would use up each year to power their cars. Source

According to the Organic Trade Association, the production of one pair of regular cotton jeans takes three-quarters of a pound of fertilizers and pesticides. Source

In short, people gobble fossil fuels like two-legged SUVs.
For more information, see:
Why our food is so dependent on oil
Will the end of oil be the end of the end of food?
How will we grow food after Peak Oil?
Hungering for natural gas

"Are all forms of modern technology actually petroleum products?"
Yes.

It's not just transportation and agriculture that are entirely dependent on abundant, cheap oil. Modern medicine, water distribution, and national defense are each entirely powered by oil and petroleum derived chemicals.

In addition to transportation, food, water, and modern medicine, mass quantities of oil are required for all plastics, all computers and all high-tech devices. Some specific examples may help illustrate the degree to which our technological base is dependent on fossil fuels:

Automobiles:
The construction of an average car consumes the energy equivalent of approximately 20 barrels (840 gallons) of oil. Source Ultimately, the construction of a car will consume an amount of fossil fuels equivalent to twice the car’s final weight. Source
It's also worth nothing that the construction of an average car consumes almost 120,000 gallons of fresh water. Source Fresh water is also rapidly depleting and happens to be absolutely essential to the petroleum refining process as each gallon of gasoline requires almost two gallons of fresh water for refining. Source

Computers:
The construction of the average desktop computer consumes ten times its weight in fossil fuels. Source
Microchips:
The production of one gram of microchips consumes 630 grams of fossil fuels. According to the American Chemical Society, the construction of single 32 megabyte DRAM chip requires 3.5 pounds of fossil fuels in addition to 70.5 pounds of water. Source
The Environmental Literacy Council tells us that due to the "purity and sophistication of materials (needed for) a microchip, . . . the energy used in producing nine or ten computers is enough to produce an automobile." Source

In his book "The Nine Nations of North America", author Joel Garreau explains in graphic detail just how much energy it takes to fashion a typical microprocessor:
. . . microchips are not made one by one. They are printed in a batch on
a silicon wafer, say, four inches in diameter. Each time a layer of stuff is
printed on this silicon wafer, the wafer must be treated so the stuff you've
laid on will stay there. This process is achieved through the application of
monumental quantities of energy. In effect, as each layer of the circuit is
laid on, the whole wafer is "baked" at temperatures sometimes high
enough to reach the outer limits of technology. Source

The Internet:
Contrary to popular belief, the internet consumes tremendous amounts of energy. Author John Michael Greer explains:
The explosive spread of the internet, finally, was also a product of the era
of ultracheap energy. The hardware of the internet, with its worldwide
connections, its vast server farms, and its billions of interlinked home and
business computers, probably counts as the largest infrastructure project
ever created and deployed in a two decade period in history. The sheer
amount of energy that's been been invested to create and sustain the
internet beggars the imagination. Source

Recent estimates indicate the infrastructure necessary to support the internet consumes 10% of all the electricity produced in the United States. Source The overwhelming majority of this electricity is produced using coal or natural gas, both of which, as explained momentarily, are also near their global production peaks. Source #1 Source #2 Source #3 Source #4 Source #5

Concrete, Asphalt, Highways, and Modern Cities:
It is hard to precisely quantify how much energy is necessary to construct and maintain a modern city. Some of NASA's recent images of cities, however, hint that the volumes energy invested in modern cities is almost unfathomably prodigious. Consider, for instance, the following NASA image of Los Angeles:
Image of Los Angeles, courtesy of NASA's Visible Earth Site
When studying the above image, keep in mind that the manufacturing of one ton of cement requires 4.7 million BTUs of energy, which is the amount contained in about 45 gallons of oil or 420 pounds of coal. Source

"What about alternative energy systems like solar panels and wind turbines? Are they also manufactured using petroleum and petroleum derived resources?"

Yes.
When considering the role of oil in the production of modern technology, remember that most alternative systems of energy — including solar panels/solar-nanotechnology, windmills, hydrogen fuel cells, biodiesel production facilities, nuclear power plants, etc. all rely on sophisticated technology and energy-intensive forms of metallurgy.

In fact, all electrical devices make use of silver, copper, aluminum and platinum, each of which is discovered, extracted, and fashioned using oil or natural gas powered machinery. For instance, in his book, The Lean Years: Politics of Scarcity, author Richard J. Barnet writes:
To produce a ton of copper requires 112 million BTU's or the equal of 17.8
barrels of oil. The energy cost component of aluminum is 20 times higher.
Author Joel Garreau, in the same chapter of his book "The Nine Nations of North America" that was cited above, explains how energy-intensive the manufacture of aluminum is:
The manufacturing of aluminum requires inexpensive energy as its most
important raw material. It takes twelve times as much power to create a
pound of aluminum as it does to make a pound of iron. A good sized
aluminum plant uses as much power as a city of 175,000 people. Source
Nuclear energy requires uranium, which is also discovered, extracted, and transported using oil powered machinery.

For more information on metals shortages and energy production, see:
Scarcity of aluminum, copper threaten solar installations
Scarcity of highly refined silicon threatens solar industry
Dwindling supply of rare metals imperils innovation

World running out of platinum, common elements
Global shortage of metals looming
Most of the feedstock (soybeans, corn) for biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol are grown using the high-tech, oil-powered industrial methods of agriculture described above.
In short, the so called "alternatives" to oil are actually "derivatives" of oil. Analyst John Michael Greer offers the following rather lucid explanation of this often over-looked relationship: --> -->

The issue is not one of "running out" so much as it is not having enough to keep our economy running. In this regard, the ramifications of Peak Oil for our civilization are similar to the ramifications of dehydration for the human body. The human body is 70 percent water. The body of a 200 pound man thus holds 140 pounds of water. Because water is so crucial to everything the human body does, the man doesn't need to lose all 140 pounds of water weight before collapsing due to dehydration. A loss of as little as 10-15 pounds of water may be enough to kill him.

In a similar sense, an oil based economy such as ours doesn't need to deplete its entire reserve of oil before it begins to collapse. A shortfall between demand and supply as little as 10 to 15 percent is enough to wholly shatter an oil-dependent economy and reduce its citizenry to poverty.

The effects of even a small drop in production can be devastating. For instance, during the 1970s oil shocks, shortfalls in production as small as 5% caused the price of oil to nearly quadruple. The same thing happened in California a few years ago with natural gas: a production drop of less than 5% caused prices to skyrocket by 400%.
Fortunately, those price shocks were only temporary.

The coming oil shocks won't be so short lived. They represent the onset of a new, permanent condition. Once the decline gets under way, production will drop (conservatively) by 3% per year, every year. War, terrorism, extreme weather and other "above ground" geopolitical factors will likely push the effective decline rate past 10% per year, thus cutting the total supply by 50% in 7 years. Source

These estimate comes from numerous sources, not the least of which is Vice President Dick Cheney himself. In a 1999 speech he gave while still CEO of Halliburton, Cheney stated:
By some estimates, there will be an average of two-percent annual growth
in global oil demand over the years ahead, along with, conservatively, a
three-percent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That
means by 2010 we will need an additional 50 million barrels per day.Source

Cheney's assesement is supported by the estimates of numerous non-political, retired, and now disinterested scientists, many of whom believe global oil production will peak and go into terminal decline within the next five years, if it hasn't already. Source

Many industry insiders think the decline rate will far higher than Cheney anticipated in 1999. Andrew Gould, CEO of the giant oil services firm Schlumberger, for instance, recently stated that "An accurate average decline rate of 8% is not an unreasonable assumption." Source Some industry analysts are anticipating decline rates as high as 13% per year. Source A 13% yearly decline rate would cause gobal production to drop by 75% in less than 11 years.
If a 5% drop in production caused prices to triple in the 1970s, what do you think a 50% or 75% drop is going to do?


Estimates coming out of the oil industry indicate that this drop in production has already begun. Source The consequences of this are almost unimaginable. As we slide down the downslope slope of the global oil production curve, we may find ourselves slipping into something best described as a "post industrial stone age." Source --> -->
--> -->

Some people believe that no new refineries have been built due to the efforts of environmentalists. This belief is silly when one considers how much money and political influence the oil industry has compared to the environmental movement. Do you really think Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush were going to let a bunch of pesky environmentalists get in the way of oil refineries being built if the oil companies had really wanted to build them?

The real reason no new refineries have been built for almost 30 years is simple: any oil company that wants to stay profitable isn't going to invest in new refineries when they know there is going to be less and less oil to refine.

In addition to lowering their investments in oil exploration and refinery expansion, oil companies have been merging as though the industry is living on borrowed time:

December 1998: BP and Amoco merge;
April 1999: BP-Amoco and Arco agree to merge;
December 1999: Exxon and Mobil merge;
October 2000: Chevron and Texaco agree to merge;
November 2001: Phillips and Conoco agree to merge;
September 2002: Shell acquires Penzoil-Quaker State;
February 2003: Frontier Oil and Holly agree to merge;
March 2004: Marathon acquires 40% of Ashland;
April 2004: Westport Resources acquires Kerr-McGee;
July 2004: Analysts suggest BP and Shell merge;
April 2005: Chevron-Texaco and Unocal merge;
June 2005: Royal Dutch and Shell merge;
July 2005: China begins trying to acquire Unocal
June 2006: Andarko proposes buying Kerr McGee
July 2007: BP-Shell "Mega Merger" rumored

While many people believe talk of a global oil shortage is simply a conspiracy by "Big Oil" to drive up the prices and create "artificial scarcity," the rash of mergers listed above tells a different story. Mergers and acquisitions are the corporate world's version of cannibalism. When any industry begins to contract/collapse, the larger and more powerful companies will cannibalize/seize the assets of the smaller, weaker companies.
(Note: for recent examples of this phenomenon outside the oil industry, see the airline and automobile industries.)

The Big Oil companies have also been (quitely) buying back their own stock at an alarming rate. According to an Bloomberg News article dated October 1st, 2007: --> -->
--> -->
As mentioned previously, this is exactly what happened during the oil shocks of the 1970s - shortfalls in supply as little as 5% drove the price of oil up near 400%. Demand did not fall until the world was mired in the most severe economic slowdown since the Great Depression. The only thing that alleviated the economic crisis was the discovery of the world's last few "elephant" sized oil fields in the North Sea and Alaska as well as increased production from nations like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Once global oil production peaks (if it hasn't already) turning to new sources of supply won't be an option.

As affordable oil is necessary to power any serious attempt at an a switchover to alternative sources of energy, these extreme prices will severely hamstring if not - completely cripple - the ability of the market to handle these problems. The economic fallout from high prices will almost certainly geopolitical tensions (i.e. war) thereby futher hampering the development of large-scale alternative sources of energy. Worse still, in a global environment characterized by massive energy-wars, the bulk of the world's financial capital is likely to be disproportionately invested in weapons technologies over alternative energy technologies.

For more information, see:
Big Banks preparing for Peak Oil by investing in weapons-makers
The markets begin facing Peak Oil
Our highly-efficient economy is highly-susceptible to catastrophe
Fundamental errors of free market ideology in regards to energy --> -->
--> -->
It is becoming evident that the financial and investment community begins to accept the reality of Peak Oil, which ends the first half of the age of oil. They accept that banks created capital during this epoch by lending more than they had on deposit, being confident that tomorrow’s expansion, fuelled by cheap oil-based energy, was adequate collateral for today’s debt. The decline of oil, the principal driver of economic growth, undermines the validity of that collateral which in turn erodes the valuation of most entities quoted on Stock Exchanges. Source --> -->

Commentator Robert Wise explains the connection between energy and money as follows: --> -->
It's not physics, but it's true: money equals energy. Real, liquid wealth represents usable energy. It can be exchanged for fuel, for work, or for something built by the work of humans or fuel-powered machines. Real cost reflects the energy cost of doing something; real value reflects the energy expended to build something.

Nearly all the work done in the world economy, all the manufacturing, construction, and transportation, is done with energy derived from fuel. The actual work done by human muscle power is miniscule by comparison. And, the lion's share of that fuel comes from oil and natural gas, the primary sources of the world's wealth. Source --> -->

In October 2005, the normally conservative London Times acknowledged that the world's wealth may soon evaporate as we enter a technological and economic "Dark Age." In an article entitled "Waiting for the Lights to Go Out" Times columnist Bryan Appleyard reported: --> -->

Oil is running out; the climate is changing at a potentially catastrophic rate; wars over scarce resources are brewing; finally, most shocking of all, we don't seem to be having enough ideas about how to fix any of these things.

Almost daily, new evidence is emerging that progress can no longer be taken for granted, that a new Dark Age is lying in wait for ourselves and our children . . . growth may be coming to an end. Since our entire financial order from interest rates, pension funds, insurance, to stock markets is predicated on growth, the social and economic consequences may be cataclysmic. Source --> -->

If you want to understand just how cataclysmic these consequences might be, consider the current crisis in the UK as a "preview of coming attractions." The London Telegraph recently reported: --> -->

The Government has admitted that companies across Britain might be forced to close this winter because of fuel shortages. "The balance between supply and demand for energy is uncomfortably tight. I think if we have a colder -than-usual winter given the supply shortages, certain industries could suffer real difficulties." The admission was made after this newspaper revealed that Britain could be paralysed by energy shortages if the winter is colder than average.

The Met Office says there is a 67 per cent likelihood of prolonged cold this year after almost a decade of mild winters. That, coupled with high fuel prices, raises the fear that industry will not be able to cope. Source --> -->

In May 2007 the London Times published excerpts from a study about the future of Britain's electrical grid. According to the study, fears of a catastrophic energy crisis occuring within the next 10 years can no longer be dismissed as "apoclyptic fantasies", emphasis added: --> -->

Across Britain, cities are plunged into darkness. In London, the Underground grinds to a halt, leaving panicked commuters stranded in oppressively hot carriages. In office blocks, lifts stop operating and the air-conditioning shuts down. Employees swelter in stifling conditions.
This is not the postapocalyptic vision of some film-maker, but a realistic scenario as Britain grapples with a looming energy crisis. The statistics are frightening. In only eight years, demand for energy could outstrip supply by 23% at peak times, according to a study by the consultant Logica CMG. The loss to the economy could be £108 billion each year. Source --> -->
The severe consequences of these shortfalls have prompted the UK government to look into draconian energy conservation measures that would be enforced via house-to-house searches by a force of "energy-police."

Parts of the US are facing similarly dire possibilities. For example, US News and World Report recently published a six page article documenting the nightmarish scenarios soon to unfold across North America. According to the normally conservative publication, people in the northeastern US could soon be facing massive layoffs, rotating blackouts, permanent industrial shutdowns, and catastrophic breakdowns in public services as a result of shortages of heating oil and natural gas. Source

For more information:
The age of technological revolution is coming to an end
Pentagon physicist: "We are entering a dark age of innovation"

"What does all of this mean for me?"
What all of this means, in short, is that the aftermath of Peak Oil will extend far beyond how much you will pay for gas. To illustrate: in a July 2006 special report published by the Chicago Tribune, Pullitzer Prize winning journalist Paul Salopek described the consequences of Peak Oil as follows: --> -->
. . . the consequences would be unimaginable. Permanent fuel shortages would tip the world into a generations-long economic depression. Millions would lose their jobs as industry implodes. Farm tractors would be idled for lack of fuel, triggering massive famines. Energy wars would flare. And carless suburbanites would trudge to their nearest big box stores, not to buy Chinese made clothing transported cheaply across the globe, but to scavenge glass and copper wire from abandoned buildings. Source --> -->

Journalist Jonathan Gatehouse summarized the conclusions of Oxford trained geologist Jeremy Leggett, author of The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Financial Catastrophe, in a 2006 Macleans article as follows, emphasis added: --> -->
. . . when the truth can no longer be obscured, the price will spike, the economy nosedive, and the underpinnings of our civilization will start tumbling like dominos. "The price of houses will collapse. Stock markets will crash. Within a short period, human wealth -- little more than a pile of paper at the best of times, even with the confidence about the future high among traders -- will shrivel." There will be emergency summits, diplomatic initiatives, urgent exploration efforts, but the turmoil will not subside. Thousands of companies will go bankrupt, and millions will be unemployed. "Once affluent cities with street cafés will have queues at soup kitchens and armies of beggars. The crime rate will soar. The earth has always been a dangerous place, but now it will become a tinderbox."

By 2010, predicts Leggett, democracy will be on the run . . . economic hardship will bring out the worst in people. Fascists will rise, feeding on the anger of the newly poor and whipping up support. These new rulers will find the tools of repression -- emergency laws, prison camps, a relaxed attitude toward torture -- already in place, courtesy of the war on terror. And if that scenario isn't nightmarish enough, Leggett predicts that "Big Oversight Number One" -- climate change -- will be simultaneously making its presence felt "with a vengeance." On the heels of their rapid financial ruin, people "will now watch aghast as their food and water supplies dwindle in the face of a climate going awry." Prolonged droughts will spread, decimating harvests. Source --> -->

If you are focusing solely on the price at the pump, buying a hybrid car, or getting some of those energy efficient light bulbs, you aren’t seeing the bigger picture.
For more information, see:
Peak Oil: The biggest event of the century is now upon us
The most important thing you don't know about "Peak Oil"
The unspoken role of Peak Oil in the current financial crisis
A permanent energy crisis is rapidly developing
--> -->
. . . there will be an average of two-percent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead, along with, conservatively, a three-percent decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional 50 million barrels a day. Source --> -->
To put Cheney’s statement in perspective, remember that the oil producing nations of the world are currently pumping at full capacity but are struggling to produce much more than 85 million barrels per day. Cheney’s statement was a tacit admission of the severity and imminence of Peak Oil as the possibility of the world raising its production by such a huge amount is borderline ridiculous.

A report commissioned by Cheney and released in April 2001 was no less disturbing: --> -->
The most significant difference between now and a decade ago is the extraordinarily rapid erosion of spare capacities at critical segments of energy chains. Today, shortfalls appear to be endemic. Among the most extraordinary of these losses of spare capacity is in the oil arena. Source --> -->

In light of this information, Cheney knew the only way for Western oil majors to stay oil majors was to use force to grab what's left in the Middle East and then give the contracts to pump that oil to the oil majors. Four years after the invasion of Iraq, this is exactly what is happening. U.K. Independent journalist Geoffrey Lean explains: --> -->
"So where is this oil going to come from?" Cheney asked His answer: the Middle East was "where the prize ultimately lies".

Lest there be any doubt about what was at stake, the man who was to become one of the most powerful proponents of the invasion of Iraq went on: "Oil is unique because it is so strategic in nature. We are not talking about soapflakes or leisurewear ... The Gulf War was a reflection of that reality."

Well, seven years on, Mr. Cheney's solution to the impending oil crisis is well on its way to being implemented. In the aftermath of another war, Iraq's Council of Ministers is today expected to throw open the doors to the country's oil reserves - the third largest in the world - to private companies, the first time a major Middle Eastern producer has ever done so. Source --> -->

Not surprisingly, George W. Bush has echoed Dick Cheney’s sentiments. In May 2001, Bush stated, "What people need to hear loud and clear is that we’re running out of energy in America." Source

One of George W. Bush's energy advisors, energy investment banker Matthew Simmons, has spoken at length about the impending crisis. For instance, in an August 2003 interview Simmons was asked if it was time for Peak Oil to become part of the public policy debate. He responded: --> -->

It is past time. As I have said, the experts and politicians have no Plan B to fall back on. If energy peaks, particularly while 5 of the world’s 6.5 billion people have little or no use of modern energy, it will be a tremendous jolt to our economic well-being and to our health — greater than anyone could ever imagine. Source --> -->

When asked if there is a solution to the impending natural gas crisis, Simmons responded: --> -->
I don’t think there is one. The solution is to pray. Under the best of circumstances, if all prayers are answered there will be no crisis for maybe two years. After that it’s a certainty. --> -->

In May 2004, Simmons explained that in order for demand to be appropriately controlled, the price of oil would have to reach $182 per barrel. Simmons explained that with oil prices at $182 per barrel, gas prices would likely rise to $7.00 per gallon.

If you want to ponder just how devastating oil prices in the $200/barrel range will be for the US economy, consider the fact that one of Osama Bin-Laden's primary goals has been to force oil prices into the $200 range. Source (Could this goal really be Int Oil Cartels?jfp)

Oil prices that far north of $100/barrel would almost certainly trigger massive, last-ditch global resource wars as the industrialized nations of the world scramble to grab whatever oil is remaining. This may explain why the director of the Selective Service recently recommended the military draft be expanded to include both genders, ages 18-to-35.

A March 2005 report prepared for the US Department of Energy confirmed the dire warnings of the investment banking community. Entitled "The Mitigation of the Peaking of World Oil Production," the report observed: --> -->

Without timely mitigation, world supply/demand balance will be achieved through massive demand destruction (shortages), accompanied by huge oil price increases, both of which would create a long period of significant economic hardship worldwide. Waiting until world conventional oil production peaks before initiating crash program mitigation leaves the world with a significant liquid fuel deficit for two decades or longer. --> -->

The report went on to say, emphasis added: --> -->
The problems associated with world oil production peaking will not be temporary, and past 'energy crisis' experience will provide relatively little guidance. The challenge of oil peaking deserves immediate, serious attention, if risks are to be fully understood and mitigation begun on a timely basis. . . the world has never faced a problem like this. Without massive mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and will not be temporary. Previous energy transitions were gradual and evolutionary. Oil peaking will be abrupt and revolutionary. --> -->

As one commentator recently observed, the reason our leaders are acting like desperados is because we have a desperate situation on our hands.

If you've been wondering why the Bush administration has been spending money, cutting social programs, and starting wars like there's no tomorrow, now you have your answer: as far as they are concerned, there is no tomorrow.

In 2003, the BBC filmed a three-part, relatively apolitical, documentary entitled "War for Oil" about the role the Bush administration's knowledge of Peak Oil played in their decision to invade and occupy Iraq. As the documentary explains, in private the Bush administration sees the war in Iraq as "a fight for survival." From a purely Machiavellian standpoint, they are probably correct in their thinking.

For what it's worth, Bush's Crawford ranch has been completely off-the-grid since 2002. The ranch is equipped with the latest in energy saving and renewable power systems. It has been described as an "environmentalist's dream home." The fact a man as steeped in the petroleum industry as Bush would own such a home should tell you something.

On a similar note, Dick Cheny's personal investments indicate he (or more accurately, whoever handles his money) is expecting economic collapse.

Neither Bush or Cheney (or really, any administration) can be honest with the American people about the severity of what is unfolding. If they were honest with the country, half the nation would refuse to believe them while the other half would likely panic.

For more information, see:
Dick Cheney's banker sees market collapse
Why did Dick Cheney change his mind about invading Iraq?
Former Director of the CIA: "Peak Oil will produce economic horrors"
Secret report by Chase Manhattan Bank on Peak Oil published in 1956

"How do I know this isn't just fear mongering by loony-environmentalists and 'the end is nigh' types?"