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CounterPunch
October
17, 2002
Identify the
Enemy!
The Business in Bali
by JERRE SKOG
The bomb on the "paradise-island" of
Bali in Indonesia recently is predictably being blamed on Al
Qaeda by US, Australian and Indonesian officials under a lot
of pressure. Very conveniently an identity card, pointing in
the "expected" direction, namely Moslem fundamentalists,
is reported to have been found near the site of the blast. There
is the obvious contradiction that people who act very professionally
in assembling a bomb and delivering it to the chosen target should
(again) be so careless and stupid that they are not only carrying
identification cards on such an operation but are so clumsy that
they drop it for the investigators to find. We ought to be a
bit suspicious by the continuing habit by some western nations
of blaming all acts of violence on Al Qaeda. Links or no links!
Identity cards or not! Even though it is very convenient to think
so and, no doubt, comforting. One organization with a leader
and some order of command can be fought and eradicated.
But Al Qaeda is not General Motors or
the CIA, with Bin Laden sitting in a cave in Pakistan surrounded
by CEOs planning terrorist acts around the globe and supervising
operations with logistics, funding, training and recruiting being
handled by diverse departments with access to sophisticated intelligence
and communications. We have to stop allowing ourselves from being
deceived into believing one organization is behind all attacks
on "western interests". Comforting it may be but the
truth is another. The truth is that millions, if not billions,
of people, from Papua New Guinea to Colombia, have well-founded
reasons to hate the greedy western imperialism. Some of them
will finally get desperate enough to turn that hate into action,
as the moral right that is on their side doesn't get them far
when the adversary is backed by IMF, WTO, the World Bank, not
to mention the Armed Forces of US, UK and a few more. Little
does the wellbeing of the Iraqis or the Palestinians, the Indonesians
or the Congolese, count when oil, minerals or power is at stake.
The people on the receiving side of oppression have a limit.
When they have had enough and justice is denied them, no one
should be surprised that some of them turn to bombs and guns.
Some to kill anyone they connect to the oppressors. Some prepared
to die themselves in the process. They may be Moslems, Christians,
Hindus or something else, but they are human beings who finally
had enough. Don't call them Al Qaeda, call them desperate!
I'm talking about the arrogant terror
of multinational corporations into the game of stealing valuable
resources from less powerful countries, reaping the profits and
leaving their populations to live with the poison and destruction
while going on to the next profitable venture. I'm talking about
the game of "strategic interests" played by countries
that are prepared to walk over dead bodies to achieve what some
of their amoral leaders deem is important. US, UK, Australia,
some Europeans countries and Canada play both games, more or
less ruthlessly and more or less successfully, but they play
them and as a result they have to expect being hit by foul play
when the oppressed side finally finds out that the rules are
tailored to benefit the oppressors.
Now identify the REAL enemy! Let's turn
our perspective 180 degrees and try to imagine being on the receiving
side of the stealing, robbing and oppression. Some examples give
some clues on where to look for the enemy.
Australian Normandy Mining Ltd mines
gold in Bergama, Turkey. In the process thousands of tons of
cyanide comes out, in the air and the water. The poisoning of
the area is destroying the olive harvest and causing thousands
of farmers to lose their livelihood. When the mine is empty,
NM goes to the next site leaving the dead protesters and destruction
to the farmers and their offspring. The profits leave too.
Senegalese farmers were forced by western
banking institutions to grow much more peanuts to get some loans.
The west wanted salt peanuts with the beer and drinks in front
of the TV. Result: Peanuts produced in abundance, price goes
down and the farmers have to import expensive rice and other
food on credit from the west (bought cheap in Vietnam or Thailand).
A country is again on or over the limit to starvation. A few
corrupt politicians get a handout but the main profits go elsewhere.
We all remember the terrible accident
in Bhopal, India '84, when 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate leaked
out from Union Carbide's pesticide factory. So far the accident
has claimed more than 10,000 lives and 100,000 still live with
severe health damages. Union Carbide got away with a settlement
of $470 millions and US refused to extradite chairman Warren
Anderson, apparently with a nod from bribed Indian officials.
Canadian Ivanhoe Mines Ltd is one of
the biggest investors in the military junta's Myanmar (Burma).
According to Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi "foreign
capital lines the pockets of the generals". Villagers in
Myanmar has filed a lawsuit accusing another company, American
Unocal of using forced labor in construction of a pipeline. Cost
cutting is really the word these days!
Exxon Mobil is accused of knowing about
but not trying to stop its gas fields security forces (Indonesian
military) from committing murder, torture and other crimes in
the Aceh province of Indonesia. The Bush administration tries
to assist Exxon Mobil by influencing Indonesia. Do some Indonesians,
who are not on the bribed side, get mad? One thing is sure. After
all the years of American weapons exports, that country must
be loaded with hardware and explosives!
In Papua New Guinea transnational mining
giant Rio Tinto is accused of environmental and human rights
abuses. So as not to "interfere with ongoing peace process
and adversely affect American foreign policy" an American
federal court is reported to have dismissed the lawsuit.
There are more! Many, many more examples!
There's no shortage of information about what western corporations
are involved in, and anyone who has learned about what some of
them are prepared to do for profit in their own countries should
not be surprised that human lives matter less the further from
home they are. Anyone wanting to learn more about international
mining ought to visit: <http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Company/company.htm>
In most less developed/poor countries
the same goes on, over and over again. In the Mideast and some
other places it's oil that is wanted by the west and causes one
intervention after another. How many people in Iran, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, Venezuela have a chance to share in the resources of
their own country? And how much is controlled by the western
oil dinosaurs? In Africa and Asia it's mainly minerals, diamonds
and gold. Congo, Angola, and many other African states are blessed
with more natural wealth than are US. Sadly that wealth is not
helping the Congolese and Angolans but running in wide streams
to London's City and Wall Street. It's coffee, cocoa, peanuts,
bananas, copra, rubber and cheap labor elsewhere. Forced on poor
countries by the WTO, IMF and the World Bank or by US forces.
Do we expect those countries to be thankful that we in the west
sell them expensive food and machinery after forcing them to
produce coffee and peanuts cheap for us to the exclusion of needed
eatables? Do we think that selling weapons to the rulers is adequate
compensation for taking the oil from under the sands that the
forefathers of their people walked?
We protect our vital industries and agriculture
with tariffs, but blackmail poor nations to be wide open to our
trade demands. Cause for concern or anger? Just imagine! To make
it even more stupid we saturate those areas with weapons too!
All in the name of Greed.
. . . and be aware that WE are the guilty
bystanders! The CEOs and owners of the companies that profit
from the imperialism, just as the leaders of the countries that
encourage it, have nothing to fear from enraging the world. They
just collect the winnings and the power and stay in their guarded
bunkers and palaces and armored Mercedes and Cadillacs. They
never order anyone killed. Thy just tell underlings they want
a "problem" solved. Mercenaries prepared to kill for
money are easier to find than terrorists prepared to kill for
god.
WE are the people who are tricked to
give power to the greedy. WE are the ones who get killed when
the desperation and hate overflows as a result of their greed.
And WE are the ones who are not paid for that risk and are badly
protected besides! But WE have, in our ignorance and indolence
let the guilty ones get away with it. WE share the guilt!
Terrorists prepared to kill because of
fanatic religiosity are not many. Their percentage of the world's
population is probably smaller than the percentage of people
in US going off on killing sprees or committing murder for other
insane reasons. They might be convenient for propaganda purposes
but still constitute a limited problem. The normal people whose
land is stolen, fields and water is poisoned and sisters and
brothers are tortured or murdered are the powder keg whose fuse
is rapidly burning. If they ever decide enough is enough, we
westerners will have a price to pay. They might be a few billion!
We, or more correctly, our greedy capitalists
are the real enemies! Why should we or anybody suffer because
of them?
The west is continuing to rape the poor
people of the world. Are they supposed to say "thank you"
afterwards? Do we expect them to take it lying down?
Jerre Skog
is a Swedish writer, musician and alternative observer living
in Germany since 1999. More articles, political and satirical
can be found on: Jerre´s Thinktank www.skog.de
Comments are welcome at: jerre@skog.de
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