John Perkins: YEAR-IN-REVIEW MESSAGE

Dear friends,

What a year!
For me personally, 2006 had some great highs including...

1. Watching "Confessions" complete its 59th week on the New York Times bestseller lists and knowing that it opened readers' eyes;


2. Seeing movies like "Blood Diamond" expose the corporatocracy in such a riveting manner;


3. Listening to people across the country become increasingly aware of the need to shapeshift ourselves;


4. Walking down the aisle with my daughter and being graced with her husband, my new son, and a month later completing my next book "The Secret History of the American Empire" (out in June 2007) which carries a message of hope for shapeshifting the world our grandchildren will inherit.

And some lows including:

    1.  Talking to other economic hit men and jackals who emerged from the
         shadows to share their own terrible confessions with me;

    2. Witnessing my country become more deeply embroiled in exploiting people
        in foreign lands;

    3.  Trying to purchase sweaters and other holiday gifts that people need and
         finding that nearly all of them are made in "slave labor" sweatshops.

Then there were the in-between things, like the elections. They sent a strong message that we the people want change; but the rhetoric that followed demonstrated that too many of us believe that a new congress (or another president) will straighten everything out.  The election brought home the sad reality that many of us are naïve enough to believe that elected officials will reign in the people who finance their campaigns.

It is time that we face the facts of our world. Only when we understand that we must change the corporations, will we create a place our children will want to inherit. We - you and I - must learn to vote through our purchases, insisting that those who run our biggest companies - and through them, our country - abide by principles of democracy and transparency. We must turn a dream that says a few rich people deserve to make all the decisions and most of the profits into a more equalitarian one, a reality that insists on the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

LOOKING TO 2007
I enter 2007 with a renewed commitment to creating a stable, sustainable, and peaceful world, to shopping less and much more consciously, speaking out with a louder, clearer voice, and taking every action I can think of to wake myself and all those I come in contact with up.  I commit to enjoying life in ways that will help all the children who will be born in 2007 - for I recognize that my child and her children cannot expect a good life unless every child born today in Indonesia, Nigeria, and Bolivia has the same expectations.

I commit to holding your hand, asking you to keep me on this path, and urging you to do the same. I look forward to marching with you into 2007.

John

John Perkins, author, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Visit the John Perkins Collection at the Global Dialogue Center
Confessions of Economic Hit Man with new material in paperback

Comments

[Madeleine Parry]

Dear Mr Perkins,

I'd like to say thankyou for writing your book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" and that I am looking forward to reading your most recent publication.

Even before I read your book last week I was at a point where I brought nothing but neccesities, or products of which i knew had a moral source, and shared your frustration over the Christmas season. I share your enthusiasm for this year (as I've just completed High School and have a lot of time to spend on 'shapeshifting' endeavours) and assure you that many others in Adelaide, Australia will be reading your bookdue to my recommendation.

Thanks again,

Madeleine Parry

[John Perkins]

Dear Madeleine,
Thank you for your message and for all you are doing! I'm inspired! I included your message along with my response to you in my latest post, so it could be shared with others around the world.
John

[Ray Tapajna]

For a perspective from the streets of USA, please review and pass on Tapart News and Art that Talks at http://tapsearch.com/tapartnews/ and Explore the lost worlds in the Flat World of Globalist Free Traders Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, the Clinton from the Land of "is" and the Bush League at http://tapsearch.com/flatworld/
Related articles are at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Ray_Tapajna and view the topical art that talks at http://arklineart.fotopages.com
For an overview about the voids in education and workers having no voice in the process of Globalization see
http://www.experiencedesignernetwork.com/archives/000636.html