Where does the US meddle?
Where the populace organizes or threatens to organize to confront its own state, economic order, or local elite. Where the locals aren't extracting resources for the benefit of the wealthy, or for the benefit of the right factions of wealthy people.
Brazil's ruling factions used to have worry about being structurally adjusted. Now they're so well valued the President of the United State stays for dinner, even when he's getting his war on. Breaking unions, freeing up the currency and creating cosmopolitan ties with foreign investors is like working miracles, or something. You will also note, one hopes, that the House of Saud is as hateful and despicable a client elite as imaginable. You might also observe, just perhaps, that NATO hasn't bombed them or sent in its sky death robots. They didn't threaten to create a pan-African currency backed by protected gold. Maybe that has nothing to do with anything...
Why does the US meddle?
Because the local and regional elites serve an obvious function. They are corporate factors. They are, also, work camp kapos. Sometimes it's cheaper to extract the tin, timber, petroleum, or cheap labor with new local headmen than it is with the too-comfortable older ones. Sometimes the old bosses are no longer useful idiots; or maybe they've doddered off into senility, and have failed to bribe and/or properly oppress their captive populations. Sometimes they're too generous with the bribes. Sometimes they're not generous enough with the captive populations. Sometimes, it's just smart business to use the stick. Power unused is power lost.
Is it our responsibility to obstruct this meddling?
Short answer: yes. We are the collective beneficiaries of it. Our standard of living is not unlike blood money, and we owe the blood debt for taking it. Longer answer: figure it out for yourself. If you don't have what it takes to pay the debt, or if your ideology and worldview leave you pretending to be a lone wolf instead of a human person, you've made your choice by avoiding a decision. When the authorities come around, at least keep your mouth shut. That isn't too much to ask, is it?
How do we obstruct this meddling?
By making it too expensive, at home, for them to meddle so efficiently abroad.
Crow's Eye: Maintaining a commitment to Pointless Acrimony™ and Hate Filled Invective™! Also available in corvid mischief and traditional sly dog's mistrust.
7 comments:
I have nothing to add other than that I read, understood, and benefitted from this.
By making it too expensive, at home, for them to meddle so efficiently abroad.
What are your thoughts? What can be done to make it too expensive?
Yeah, how?
What to do?
Lots of stuff. For reasons of [has children who are not of age not to end up in foster care] I'll stay away from the verboten stuff, but, for starters:
1. Build towards general strikes.
It's late. More tomorrow.
The West Coast port strike back in 2002 shows the potential of coordinated action - according to some estimates it cost an estimated billion dollars a day. That strike lasted 10 days. Can you imagine a strike lasting a month? Six months?
The problem is, of course, that the US labor scene is severely crushed and it is difficult to get Americans out in the streets for more than a day or two and for anything more than symbolic actions (see the recent, pointless mass arrests in DC over the tar sands pipeline).
Of course, as the economic screws tighten and more and more Americans feel they have nothing to lose, we may see people become more open to radical action. Sadly things may have to get much worse before they get better. Skyrocketing food prices probably had more to do with the revolution in Egypt than twitter.
Wading through the final waves of an unexpected migraine. Hope to have enough head space restored to good order by tonight.
Shadowplay,
Well written.
I had this image of myself spelling out a detailed progression from localized organization to general strike, but I'm just not up to it anymore. Fucking migraines.
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