Corporatocracy: Speaking Out Louder and Louder

Dear Friends,

I wanted to highlight a comment from Elle Bee that was posted regarding my message about the Dubai Ports Deal. I share it, because again it serves as another good example for all of us. Following I offer a few thoughts in response:

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM ELLE BEE:
Is it really about our  "motives", or is it more about who benefits from
these prohibitions?

Legislators are trying to make it illegal for people to go to Canada
(or order from Canada) and purchase their medicine - the exact same
medication they were prescribed in the US.  Why?  Because US
pharmaceutical giants stand to lose big money.

This current administration would like nothing more than to privatize
education - thereby eliminating public schools and its funding.  Who
stands to benefit from this?  Those private firms who will reap the
dollars building these schools, selling their food in them - and hiring
the  "appropriate" teachers.  Who do you think wants that voucher money?

After Hurricane Katrina, who was awarded reconstruction contracts for
the dammage?  Small, independent firms in Louisiana and Mississippi?
No.  Halliburton was called in, and with them they brought foreign
workers from Mexico to do the work (until enough stink was made...).

I could go on.

We have begun to cannibalize ourselves, our own people in the name of
profit. It isn't about an  "american" agenda.  It is about a corporate
profit.  Corporate profit knows no nation.

MY RESPONSE:
I agree. It is important to recognize that as long as large segments of our population go along with the corporatocracy -- buy into their talk about defending democracy and insuring our security -- this will continue. I am so glad that Elle Bee is speaking out.

We all need to speak out more and more and more and louder and louder -- with whatever voice we have. For some it is through writing. For others: music, dance, art, politics, protests, alternative businesses, alternative buying, joining movements, taking to the streets. . .

The important thing is to take action and to encourage everyone you come in contact with to take action. 

Thank you, Elle Bee for sharing your perspective.

John Perkins

Visit the John Perkins Collection at the Global Dialogue Center

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Comments

[Marc Levesque]

I am a canadian lawyer who has worked for various multinational corporations over the past 26 years and I believe there is some good that can come from large corporations and help benefit the world. Obviously profit is the main driver but some corporations have more of a conscience than others and worry about issues such as ethics, workers safety and pay equity and the environment. In Canada, we are lucky to have media that is slightly more objective in showing the other side of coin and the abuses of the capitalist system against the poor countries and within the capitalist countries.

On another subject, did you see the web site on the possible 9/11 conspiracy? It's troubling. Some very serious questions are raised, such as the fact that there may have been some bombs planted in the WTC before the attack, that the Pentagon was hit by a missile, not an aircraft, etc. The allegation is that it could have been an inside job to convince the american people that war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Irak is justified. Is Iran next? Some French writers and Michael Moore in his film have already alluded to the possibility of an inside job. What do you think?

Marc Levesque, Montreal

[Joshuapeaceseeker]

I hope that soon more Americans can start to ask the right questions about 9-11. Those who benifited the most have got a lot of explaining to do. Why was the hole in the petagon only 20 feet across before it collapsed from fire?

What would these power hungry people do for their trillions?

[Jason]

Dear Mr. Perkins,

my name is Jason. I'm a student filmmaker currently residing in Belgium.

I have just finished reading your book, which I would like to say was not only very inspiring, but also extremely accurate and sharp.
I would like to congratulate you for your courage that was necessary to write your book. I can not imagine how hard it was for you to make this decision, with the thought of taking a possible life-threatening risk, considering your past as an EHM.
My view of the world has surely changed and I would like to thank you for showing me more about the corporate past,present and future of the world through your eyes.
As an activist against the war in Iraq, and especially after reading your book and researching for my documentary, I have become deeply concerned with the capabilities of the USA concerning international politics and terrorism, but also concerning freedom of speech.

That is why there is one question I continue to ask myself:
In your book you write: "When 9/11 struck, I had a change of heart. I knew the story had to be told..."
If it was so difficult to come to terms with your previous life as an EHM, then to quit your job at MAIN and eventually publish your book, and to articulate your experiences, thoughts and feelings so precisely, why do you not discuss the possibility, which in 20 years or so will probably become a fact, that the US government let 9/11 happen? Why did you not discuss the possibility of your goverment turning a blind eye to the terrorists, if not helping organise the attack?
To support this theory it is interesting to look up a document called 'Rebuilding America's Defenses' published by PNAC (Project for the New American Century), a neo-con think tank.
Interesting to know is that among the signatories of this document were Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Jeb Bush.
The document states that for the 21st century, the US military requires a transformation for ongoing advancement and dominence and that this progress will be a long one, "absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor".
This is a literal quote.
(see page 51 of the document:
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf)

The question of the US government's involvement in the attacks on the 11th of September has been raised several times, especially outside the United States, but due to the pain it caused to the American people, which was particularly blown up by the corporate media, the question remains to be a question which we are not allowed to ask. I do not mean to bring disrespect to the people who lost there lives on that day, but I find it hard to believe that with the knowledge you have, that you didn't ask yourself that question. Did you purposely not mention it in your book?

Thank you for the time and energy you wish to invest in this comment.

My kind regards,

Jason Boënne