Democracy High-jacked: Neo-Colonialism on the March

| by J Jayasundera

( November 29, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ever since western colonialists embarked on colonising the rest of the world, their actions have been based on a ever changing moral Zeitgeist; but the final aim was domination and exploitation of the vulnerable and trusting people of the world.

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It was this morality that virtually ethnically cleansed America of the Red Indians. It was this same morality that made it legal to kill an Australian Aborigine until the mid-1950s. Closer to home, it was this same morality that made them cut off the hands of Bengali silk weavers as they were a threat to the Lancashire textile industry.

This is best epitomised by Bernard Shaw who spoke about the actions of the British being based on Principals which justified their actions, but the principals changed as and when necessary!

The Moral Zeitgeist at this moment of time is Democracy, and the vehicle for transfer of wealth is fiat money which President Obama most appropriately called Monopoly Money. It is conducted by the incestuous relationship between the bankers, the corporations and the politicians, supervised by the IMF and the World Bank, the gate keepers of this criminal world economy.

Corruption and this criminal economy work hand-in-glove, be it money laundering of illegal wealth gained by drug dealing or people smuggling. The price is ultimately paid by Humanity for the short term gain of a privileged few. The hidden hand of the beneficiaries is unknown, but what is known is that serious attempts have been made to maintain the status quo in spite of the economic problems in the world. The system has now high-jacked even the minimal benefits that ordinary citizens had with Democracy inherited from the colonialists.

Democracy in its entirety is a collection of various interconnected rights, based mainly in terms of equality pertaining to politics, culture and economics. Economics and corruption seem to be the main drivers of both politics and culture, which is fast creating social unrest in the world.

More and more people are revolting against being marginalised in terms of job opportunities, etc., but hardly ever are people mindful of the real culprit, which is the predatory world economic system. Democracy is the cry falsely implying that it means equality, fair play and morality. What is needed is Genuine Democracy and Human Rights. For that the politicians must be made to be morally accountable and that has to be enforced by the leaders of moral authority, especially the religious leaders and civil society.

Democracy and Globalization

In the present world, be it an Autocracy or a Democracy, there is a wide gap between the rulers and the ruled. Highjack the authority of the rulers by corruption, and you highjack the rights of the people. The Macaulay Syndrome during colonialism adapted to the present world order! In countries where authority cannot be imposed through the economic system, violence is the answer for regime change and obedience to the Neo colonial world economic order, imposed as seen in Iraq and now in Libya, in the name of Morality and safeguarding the rights of the people.

The media of course gets its act together. Shock Therapy in Russia, Regaining Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, or Reconstruction in Iraq; all planned and organised by the IMF, Bankers, Corporates, and ‘your obedient’ politicians bought by corruption in the world of politics in the so-called moral west. If not, could Blair have taken Britain to war when millions of British had taken to the streets protesting against the war? Recently in Greece and Italy, unelected technocrats were appointed as Prime Ministers under pressure from the European community. A referendum advocated by the Greek Prime Minister was abandoned - a blatant disenfranchisement of the people of Greece.

The hypocrisy is best epitomised by Italy which signed a friendship treaty two months prior to the NATO bombing of Libya, when Berlusconi kissed the hands of Gaddafi. Yet it had no qualms about abandoning a friend to join NATO against Gaddafi and was the first to send its oil companies even before Gaddafi was fully defeated to share the spoils of the oil wealth of that country.

Democracy in the sub-continent

The method of representation is by universal suffrage, hypocritically admired by the west as it is an easier route to the embezzlement of the wealth of a country, using what Obama called Monopoly Money in a virtual world economy. Much better than colonising and bearing the burden of ruling the country.

Elections however cost money; therefore funding of political parties and funding of individual politicians becomes paramount. Corrupting this process allows access to local and foreign corporates to embezzle the wealth of a country. Politics from being a social responsibility for citizens who have the compassion to serve their country is now turned into a business venture. The purpose is to earn money and this ill-gotten wealth is used for acquisition of more personal wealth.

Thuggery and political patronage and purchase of votes are part and parcel of this business plan. It is said that in the Indian Parliament more than 25% are either accused of criminality or are criminals. Unfortunately, large sections of the electorate are completely alienated and discriminated against. The electorate is kept subservient by positions in public service, contracts etc., given by political patronage. The interference in the day to day affairs of citizens has created fear of politicians amongst citizens. The police, the Army and the secret services are maximally used to suppress dissent. Not surprisingly, a majority of officers appointed by political patronage are inefficient and corrupt; this brings the institutions to a virtual standstill.

Corporate politics and disenfranchisement of the people

Under the guidance of IMF and World Bank, the welfare programmes of every modern society have been gradually reduced. Education is the biggest Trojan horse for continuation of the exploitative legacy of the colonialist. Macaulay achieved his programme of slavery of the mind which continues for over a century. An assessment of young Members of Parliament in India shows that 50% are from Political Families. These MPs who were largely educated in the west had closer connections with their friends in the west than with their own constituencies. What a triumph for Macaulay: Robots that do the bidding of the International establishment.

Embezzlement of citizen’s wealth is the name of the game. It comes in many forms – Privatization, Corporate Land Grab, Loans taken pawning future generations, Major infrastructure projects which are overpriced, and Devaluation of currency by printing etc. The ruling classes, Corporates and lumpens embezzle the wealth and the price is paid by hard-working people not only in terms of the unbearable cost of living, stealing of their pension savings, and of course, the ever increasing suppression and loss of freedom.

In addition, these societies are now brought into a system of an inefficient market where they cannot even go to their doctors for a genuine consultation as the consultations are commission-based. The more the investigations, the greater the commissions, and the greater the doctors’ earnings. What they don’t realise is that there is more wastage and could do more harm than good. This inefficient system pervades every aspect of society. It is immoral, inefficient and unsustainable. Without morals no system is sustainable.

Destabilisation and Disenfranchisement

To maintain any system, society must be destabilised. Any stable society will question the injustices perpetrated on that society. This is unleashed by the powerful nations on the unsuspecting citizenry by covert action through NGOs, terrorism, etc. The citizenry are blissfully ignorant of the hidden hand perpetrating this on the poor masses to exploit their resources. The direct their anger on fellow citizens whilst the real culprits get away.

1. Terrorism – Minority revolts are encouraged and blatant interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states are a daily occurrence. Having dominated the governments and encouraged an immoral economic system, it is not difficult to find injustices. It is interesting that the injustices perpetrated on the majority communities by this unjust system are ignored. If they do, obviously it is going to be the rallying point against the system.

2. Christianisation – There is an active programme of Christianisation and evangelism well subsidised by the west. This is well supported by the Catholic Church, which played a major role in the terrorism in Sri Lanka.

3. To a degree, extremism is funded by Saudi Arabia, a well known agent of the establishment.

4. NGOs subsidised from abroad high-jack moral authority to serve the interests of their masters.

5. Where autocracies not subservient to the world order, they are invaded; governments that serve the world order are appointed to exploit their countries’ resources. The repairs of the destruction caused by the invasion are purely on the heads of the invaded.

Debtocracy and Slavery

The world is run on Fiat Money, be it internal or external. Fiat money is essentially money without any value to back it. International trade is carried out by six currencies led by the Dollar. The dollar dominance is mainly due oil prices being denoted in dollars. The valueless Fiat Dollars perpetrated on the societies of the world brings to question the subservience of the world governments and their disingenuous nature. The ruling classes of these countries benefit by commissions and handouts from the system, but the poor and hard-working pay the price. Future generations are pawned by the ruling classes, Corporate land grabs encouraged, and the environment damaged for the personal benefit of the ruling classes and the international world order. This is daylight robbery.

The conduit for transfer of resources to the international fiat money and international world system is the local fiat money. Globalisation has transferred manufacturing from the west to certain countries in Asia. With it, environmental damage and pollution has been transferred. The workers in these countries are paid slave wages, whilst the corporate in the west enjoys the profits. So the poor are sold to slavery but also have to bear the costs of pollution and environmental damage etc. Some are also displaced from lands they lived in for generations.

Present World Order and Democracy

The high-jacking of Democracy and embezzlement of wealth now pervades the whole world. It is no longer confined to the third world. Occupying Wall Street is a natural response against this immoral system. Good Governance, compassionate rulers who are accountable with the necessary checks and balances are the need of the hour. Development needs to be reassessed in terms of human well-being and not in terms of GDP.

In a very interesting interview with the former enlightened Finance Minister of Sri Lanka in the 1970s, Dr. N.M. Perera was asked:

Q: Sir, as an old student of the London School of Economics, what do you think is wrong with the World Economy?

A: The London School of Economics.

The present state of the world economy and the environment certainly questions the practice of economics by the western-dominated schools of economics. To us in Asia, westernisation is certainly not modernity, but a despicable attempt to enslave our people.