Nov 26 2010

Please, pass the monkey wrench: Political vs. Financial Crises

(11AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

We need a repertoire of transgressive contention.

Because Ilargi is spot on:

Debt always has to be paid down, restructured or solved through some combination of the two. For now, the negatives of both options are laid squarely on the shoulders of the people of the various afflicted nations, instead of on those of the folks who incurred the debt.  It seems unlikely that this will continue much longer. Surely, there must be one nation where enough voices can come together to say: no mas?! So far, little action. Protests in Britain, Ireland, Portugal, but nothing anywhere near massive. Nothing that even seriously disrupts an economy or society.

I saw some footage early this morning on BBC that sort of says it all. The news presenters compared the student protest marches outside yesterday with those inside, some sort of sit-down. The latter were praised for being peaceful, the former derided for being violent. Which they weren’t really, there were just the odd few token people who threw stuff, a few among many thousands who just marched. And those few could easily have been paid to throw that stuff by the government. The message being that both the BBC and the government had rather see you sit in a room than march on a street. Much easier to control.

As long as we don’t escape that sort of controlled environment, nothing will happen. It’s all about the difference between a financial crisis, which most people continue to believe this is, and a political one, which it actually is. This crisis is entirely political because, for instance, politicians don’t protect their electorate from predatory institutions and practices. Because those predators are the ones who have the real political power (re: campaign finance). Because, see Ireland, banks and their stockholders are still being made whole on their losses, without restructuring, without haircuts, at the cost of the people. Who still have no clue what is going on. It would be a good thing if that would change. A very good thing. For you. For your children.

Where do you think the €100 billion or so or more involved in the Irish bailout ends up? This money is used to pay off the gambling debt of Irish bankers to global banks, to Deutsche, Société Générale, and eventually to the same Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan that are in the center of all these miserable stories all over the globe. That is what has to stop. And until that happens, it makes no difference who you vote for in your elections, no matter where you are.

And if anyone tells you it’ll all be alright, you just ask them what they suggest we do with the debt. Shoveling more and more into your own kids’ graves doesn’t sound like a great idea, so why do you do it? You’re not going to change this one with a sit-down protest.

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    • Edger on November 26, 2010 at 03:48
    • #

    of Frank Herbert’s story “The Dosadi Experiment” and his character Jorj X. McKie, an agent for The Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab):

       In Herbert’s fiction, sometime in the far future, government has become terrifyingly efficient. Red tape no longer exists: laws are conceived of, passed, funded, and executed within hours, rather than months. The bureaucratic machinery has become a juggernaut, rolling over human concerns and welfare with terrible speed, jerking the universe of sentients one way, then another, threatening to destroy everything in a fit of spastic reactions. In short, the speed of government has gone beyond sentient control (in this fictional universe, many alien species co-exist, with a common definition of sentience marking their status as equals).

       BuSab begins as a terrorist organization, whose sole purpose is to frustrate the workings of government and to damage the incredible level of efficient order in the universe in order to give sentients a chance to reflect upon changes and deal with them. Having saved sentiency from its government, BuSab is officially recognized as a necessary check on the power of government.



       First a corp, then a bureau, BuSab has legally recognized powers to interfere in the workings of any world, of any species, of any government, answerable only to themselves (though in practice, they are always threatened with dissolution by the governments they watch). They act as a monitor of, and a conscience for, the collective sentiency, watching for signs of anti-sentient behaviour and preserving the essential dignity of individuals.

    The Monkeywrenchers Party?

  3. I have thought about this alot. The problem is:  what can be done?

    All of us here are concerned. Most of us are active either in direct protests or relaying information to others.

    A global bank run would work, but getting everyone organized to do it will be tough.

    The oligarchy owns the banks, the politicians, and the media. There is almost no way to reach the marginally informed or uninformed.

    By the time Illargi’s Wile E Coyote moment hits – it will be too late.

    Look, we are on the verge of a financial crisis, a political crises, a climate crisis, a food crisis, a water crisis … and most people carry on BAU.

    People suffering most are not even in field of vision and that will be the majority of us before long.

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