Heroic martyrs spur Latin America in new direction

 Christianity, Corporate agenda, Human rights, Latin America, United States  No Responses »
Mar 152007
 

I find Latin America a fascinating continent, though I have never been there. But I am inspired by the stories of the suffering of countless numbers of ordinary people who resisted the authoritarian rule of US-backed right-wing regimes. Many of these regimes served to protect the economic interests of the local (largely white) wealthy elite as well as the economic agenda of US corporations. Thousands were killed or tortured – brutally – at the hands of death squads during the Reagan years. Others simply disappeared. Heroic peace- and justice-loving women and men rose to resist such tyranny and oppression through sheer moral force. And their blood soaked the soil of the continent. People like Oscar Romero (El Salvador), Chico Mendes (Brazil), Ita Ford (El Salvador)… It’s a long list. Today, their sacrifices have inspired a new generation to take a more independent political, economic and social path, rooted in their [Read more]

Dabbling with the dark side

 Human rights, Iraq, Militarism, Neo-liberal economics, United States  No Responses »
Mar 132007
 

It is something of a joke these days to see the US State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Talk about the pot calling the kettle(s) black. Since the 11 September 2001 attacks, the human rights struggle has suffered a beating at the hands of the United States. In particular, the obnoxious practice of detention without trial has been given a new lease of life. The United States is holding close to 14,000 prisoners in Iraq, another 500 in Afghanistan and nearly 500 more in Guantanamo Bay. That’s not counting the unknown number of ‘suspected terrorists’ held by the CIA in secret “renditions” at various locations around the world. God knows how many of them have been tortured. That’s not counting the hundreds of others held without trial by other countries in their own regional ‘wars on terror’. For instance, in Malaysia, there are close to 100 people being [Read more]

Dam-it, what’s going on here?

 Development issues, Environment, Malaysian finance/business  No Responses »
Mar 132007
 

It looks like some of our planners are on a dam-building spree, even though the Bakun Dam is expected to produce electricity that the country does not really need for now. For one thing, Malaysia has a 40 per cent reserve capacity now – even without including the expected excess electricity from Bakun. Even by 2010, we would still have 30 per cent excess capacity. It is only by 2012 that the excess capacity would drop to around 20 per cent. With all this surplus electricity floating around, it is surprising that they are even thinking of building more dams – and in Sarawak of all places. Imagine, they haven’t figured out what to do with all that electricity from Bakun, and they are talking of newer bigger dams. Will Tenaga be forced to buy some of that excess electricity – and at what price? 12 sen per unit (the [Read more]

How the NEP equity targets miss the point

 Corporate agenda, Malaysian finance/business, Neo-liberal economics, Poverty  No Responses »
Mar 112007
 

So is the bumi share of corporate equity 18.9 per cent? Or 45 per cent? Here’s something to think about this weekend. In many ways, the NEP 30 per cent target has become almost sacrosanct. On it hinges much of the political legitimacy of a party like Umno – for persistent underachievement can be used as a clarion call to mobilise support along racial lines But is share ownership a really meaningful indicator of economic well-being for most ordinary Malaysians? This is an extract from a piece I wrote for the Malaysian Herald last October. To measure economic justice by looking merely at equity ownership – i.e. the ownership of shares – among the various communities is misleading Whether we use the par (nominal) value or market value of shares in our calculations, whether we use only listed firms or all firms, whether we include government-linked companies in the bumiputra [Read more]

The Top Five Ways They Block the Real News from Reaching You

 Corporate agenda, Media  4 Responses »
Mar 102007
 

Ever get the feeling that what you read in the newspapers is not really journalism. Well, you wouldn’t be far wrong. Much of what passes itself off as journalism today is actually slick public relations disguised as journalism, or more accurately, Corporate Media Propaganda. It was the Australian social scientist Alex Carey who observed that there were three developments of major significance in the last century: “the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.” This is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for the Malaysian Herald last October: Power is now moving into the hands of the transnational corporations – and the structures that support them. The corporate media’s role is to condition the public into blindly accepting such a fundamental shift in the way our economies are controlled and managed. Edward Herman [Read more]

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