S U P P L E M E N T
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WTO protest S U P P L E M E N T |
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Who cares if CNNMSNBCFOXNEWS and all of the rest of the phony
cable news channels did not have the guts to cover the globalism riots
in Seattle in real-time.
They're yesterday's way. Late-century frauds that will get washed away
like a bad nightmare in morning light.
[Didn't the same channels go live -- for hours -- to a Seattle shooting
episode last month? That story was on message, I suppose.
GEMURDOCHTURNER like shootings, don't like protests against
world systems -- that they run.]
CNNUN was in a stock market report when a series of explosions
rocked the downtown area as police cast a giant cloud of noxious gas
over the core of Seattle.
Imagine, if you will, that an explosion rocks Pristina. You just know
Christiane Amanpour would rush to the airwaves in breaking news
urgency, with onions under her fingernails, reporting the sound of the
atom splitting. Jamie would be feeding the script in her ear from State.
Ted Turner did not hear the boom -- after all, he sold it years ago for a
few million TIMEWARNER A-class global shares. Who gives a damn
about America when you are making a fortune with POKEMON
profits?
Just as police were firing pepper spray into the crowds and protesters
started blazes in the middle of a downtown Seattle street, NBC's
concern was with officially launching its first public Internet company
bearing its name and branding, NBC Internet, Inc. (NBCi).
In the Year of our Lord Dow Jones 11,000 -- Bob Wright, President
and CEO of NBC and Chairman of NBCi made the announcement
after the successful closing of the transactions to form NBCi.
As if Wright understands one thing about what is driving the Internet
revolution?
[Has anyone checked MSNBC.COM lately? Safe and mushy and late
to everything. If it were not for MSNBC corporate deals with WEBTV --
would anyone have this page as their default? Thought so.]
A wave of breaking bottles crashed across the city street, and
someone cut a cable to a satellite truck that was feeding to a
HANNITY AND COLMES on FOX NEWS.
Late in the day, the channel had exhausted all JonBenet Ramsey,
Mexican graves and Monica Lewinsky topics and was reluctantly
moving into Seattle coverage at the fresh speed of a FOX FLASH.
MTV NEWS was nowhere to be found in Seattle on Tuesday.
After all, MTV youth weren't programmed to get upset about their
corporately conceived destinations. Isn't MTV really just a VIACOM
production -- which will soon marry CBS -- which will own a 1/3 of
everything on the dish and the box?
"This RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE world premiere video is
brought to you by NIKE!"
MTV rebellion is an episode of LOVELINE between bong hits.
Tom Brokaw-aged Kurt Loder will pretend to be concerned, before he
introduces the next Marilyn Manson, brought to you by PEPSI.
ABC's NIGHTLINE did not even mention Seattle Tuesday night.
Viewers who thought they were watching anchor Ted Koppel -- quickly
realized that he had left the building ten years ago.
There was no symphonic soundtrack, no spiffy 'Battle in Seattle'
graphics to tell the story of tens of thousands of diverse protesters
trying to scream above the satellites, trying to get the world to hear a
story the media networks refuse to tell without a sneer on their faces.
"Not since the days of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement
has the entire downtown core of a major American city been seized by
popular uprising; rarely has so diverse an array of groups linked
elbows against a common enemy, in this case the faceless forces of
globalization," a newspaper reported in fresh editions.
"Mad river of people floods the streets of Seattle. Once in a lifetime
experience. Send it to your friends," newspaper vendor Paula Rozner
called out, announcing afternoon headlines in the old/new-spirit of
Extra! Extra!
Organizers credited the Internet with mustering widespread support.
"It has allowed people to communicate at least as regularly as
corporations do," said Denis Moynihan of the Direct Action Media
Collective.
A protester dressed as a sunflower blocked a limousine carrying
Secretary of State Madeline Albright on a Seattle street.
To think that she had once told students at a commencement address
at Harvard: "Those who graduate today will live global lives!"
Albright must have been reassessing the concept, while sipping
lattes, trapped in the lobby of the Westin Hotel as anti-globalism
protesters raged outside.
Us Albright watchers have suspected for some time, that for Madam,
The World is Not Enough.
Her raw lust to control on a geo-political scale is something beyond
ego and ambition and a hot new St. John outfit from Neiman's that
makes your Chinese counterpart forget that you bombed his embassy
in Kosovo.
Strobe and Sidney and Tony and Hillary and all of the other "Third
Way" basketcases should be writing books [that would never sell]
about their visions -- not implementing a world policy.
"We think it's a great challenge to marry our conceptions of social
justice and equal opportunity with our commitment to globalization,"
Bill Clinton declared at summit in Florence, Italy a few weeks ago,
where his wife picked up a "global law" award.
"A way that requires governments to empower people with tools and
conditions necessary for individuals, families, communities and
nations."
Sorry, Mr. Clinton. Here, people empower governments. We thought you knew. |
Reporters win web logs fight
But the U.S. Atty's office dropped the request after learning that Canadian police had completed their
investigation and arrested, according to one source, 3 suspects in the case. Anything that was done in the
U.S., specifically in Seattle, concerning this case was done at the request of Canadian authorities," says FBI field
office spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs. "We never had an investigation here and we were never
investigating the company for violating U.S. laws. We were assisting the Canadian authorities in a case they
had open."
"We were going to file a motion to quash," says Ctr for Constitutional Rights atty Nancy Chang in NYC. "The govt
agreed to a vacation of the order prior to our filing." It's not uncommon for law enforcement to deliver an order to an
Internet provider or telephone co. requesting certain information that it restricts the company from discussing. But
the IMC's attorneys liken this incident to federal agents visiting, for example, the newsroom of NY Times, and
barring the paper from publishing any details of the visit.
U.S. Atty spokesman in Seattle said he was not familiar with the case. The IMC is a collective that includes
hundreds of loosely affiliated journalists who produce audio, video and print reports. It began with the 1999 WTO
summit in Seattle, and then spread to other cities and other political events. According to the IMC's own
description, it's "a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for
promoting social and economic justice."
Electronic Frontier Fdtn atty Lee Tien said the IMC, represented also by Perkins Coie law firm, had not yet decided
whether to sue the feds for what amounts to harassment. Tien pointed out that the allegations of lawbreaking
involved only Canadian law, not that of the U.S. "There's no decision made about what to do," Tien said. "Certainly
there are possibilities of some kind of an action."
Bowling for Columbine acceptance speech
That was the movie they were cheering, that was the movie they voted for. I decided that is what I should
acknowledge in my speech. … Halfway through my remarks, some in the audience started to cheer. That
immediately set off a group of people in the balcony who started to boo. Then those supporting my remarks started
to shout down the booers. L A Times reported that the director of the show started screaming at
the orchestra "Music! Music!" in order to cut me off, so the band dutifully struck up a tune and
my time was up.
I'm sure you've all heard by now that, because the Dixie Chicks' lead singer mentioned how she was ashamed that
Bush was from her home state of Texas, their record sales have "plummeted" and country stations are boycotting
their music. The truth is that their sales are NOT down. This week, after all the attacks, their album is still #1 on
Billboard country charts and, according to Entertainment Weekly, on the pop charts during all the brouhaha, they
rose from #6 to #4.
… There is nothing more important now than to keep voices of dissent daring to ask questions. … The
real point of this film that I just got an Oscar for is how those in charge use FEAR to manipulate the public into
doing whatever they are told.
Feds: Ban ads for Moore flick
Wash.D.C. TV ads for filmmaker Michael Moore's Bush-bashing ``Fahrenheit 9/11'' should be barred
from the airwaves after July 30 because they are political commercials, a top federal legal opinion says. A draft
opinion by the Federal Election Commission's general counsel states that the Moore movie ads should come under
the campaign law provision blocking companies and unions from advertising for or against political candidates 30
days before a primary election.
"We are insisting the law be applied equally to all who are involved in campaigns and elections", said Citizens
United president David Bossie.
Will Michael Moore's facts check out?
… Mr. Moore usually revels in his role as the target of conservative attacks, and his delight in playing the
mischievous, little-guy bomb-thrower has brought him fame, wealth and the devotion of fans more interested in
rhetorical force than precision. But with "Fahrenheit" he has taken on his biggest and best-defended target yet, and
his production staff says that on his orders they have taken no chances in checking and double-checking the film,
knowing Bush supporters would pounce on factual mistakes.
Mr. Moore is readying for a conservative counterattack, saying he has created a political-style "war room" to offer
an instant response to any assault on the film's credibility. He has retained Chris Lehane, a Democratic Party
strategist known as a master of the black art of "oppo," or opposition research, used to discredit detractors. He also
hired outside fact-checkers, led by a former general counsel of The New Yorker and a veteran member of that
magazine's legendary fact-checking team, to vet the film. And he is threatening to go one step further, saying he
has consulted with lawyers who can bring defamation suits against anyone who maligns the film or damages his
reputation.
As proof of its scrupulousness, the Moore team cites adjustments it made to the film's portrayal of Attorney General
John Ashcroft. The film is brutal to Mr. Ashcroft, depicting him as a glassy-eyed architect of efforts to shred the
Constitution, who became Attorney General only after he proved himself so unpopular in his home state of Missouri
that he lost a Senate race to a former Democratic governor who died in a plane crash a month before election day.
"Voters preferred the dead guy," Mr. Moore deadpans in the film, a line that drew belly laughs at recent preview
screenings. (In reality, voters knew they were in effect casting ballots for the governor's widow).
That said, Mr. Moore's fact-checkers does not view the film as straight reportage. "This is an Op-Ed piece, it's not a
news report," said Dev Chatillon, the former general counsel for The New Yorker. "This is not The New York Times,
it's not a network news report. The facts have to be right, yes, but this is an individual's view of current events. And
I'm a very firm believer that it is within everybody's right to examine the actions of their govt." |
4.6.03 Frank Rich NY Times "I keep asking myself where all this personal enmity between GWBush & Saddam Hussein came from," said Richard Gere in Feb. (Maybe it was time for him to start asking someone else.) "I just really hope we all are in agreeance [sic] that this war should go away," announced Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst, at the Grammys. Sean Penn toured prewar Baghdad, then purported to be victimized by a resurgence of "the dark era of Hollywood blacklisting" once he was dumped from a movie project in a contract dispute. (Never mind that the producer who "blacklisted" him, Steve Bing, is a major donor to the Democrats.) Martin Sheen was last seen at a Los Angeles vigil with duct tape emblazoned "Peace" over his mouth. Alas, we shall not see Madonna's long-awaited "American Life" video, whose premiere she abruptly canceled on Monday. According to an MTV News report, "the first & most obvious" statement the star had wanted to make about American life was "that regardless of whether or not she supports Bush, war is a cosmic bummer."
It is times like these that have prompted John McCain to observe, "If Washington is a Hollywood for ugly people,
Hollywood is a Washington for the simple-minded." Ubiquitous comedian Janeane Garofalo complains the media
are deliberately focusing on antiwar actors to brand the entire antiwar movement as silly. Everywhere you turn
there are sightings of a nationwide backlash against celebrities, Exhibit A being Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines,
driven by radio-station boycotts to apologize for dissing GWBush at a London concert.
There were boos but the filmmaker was not hearing them. "When you look at the tape, no one is
booing on the main floor," Mr. Moore said when I caught up with him nearly a week later in NY. He attributes the
ruckus largely to a shouting match that broke out between scattered booers and his own partisans. But he is not
only unrepentant about calling Mr. Bush a fictitious president, he is busy toting up his subsequent good
fortune.
If Mr. Sheen is encountering turbulence with network executives, it is probably not because of his views about the
war, as he has insinuated, but because of the slippage in "West Wing" ratings. For all the tumult about the Dixie
Chicks, their sales remain strong, with "Home" actually moving up the pop-sales chart, from #6 to #4 during last
month's ruckus, according to Entertainment Weekly. The group's spring tour is virtually sold out, as I discovered by
trying to find a seat for such venues as Greenville, SC, and Tampa, FL, through Ticketmaster. "If there's one
thing I've learned, it's that if you tell a free people they can't hear something, read something or see
something, they are going to want to see, read and hear it all the more," said Mr. Moore. "So please,
boycott the Dixie Chicks, try to start a boycott of Michael Moore, and watch what happens."
Bush loyalists, of course, take a different view. Having bought into the myth that the Dixie Chicks are as easy to
defeat as Saddam Hussein's troops, they are now busily consigning Mr. Moore to oblivion. "He'll probably be doing
industrial training films in a couple of years and nobody ever will hear of him again," predicted Fred Thompson,
whose own agreeable career as a character actor, whether as GOP pitchman in his Senate salad days or more
recently on "Law and Order," has yet to earn him an Oscar, Emmy or presidential nomination.
That's a shock to the conservative system. Liberals have been so lame in battling on the mass media's turf that
Democratic fat cats in February ponied up $10 million to finance a talk-show radio network that will field
hosts to counter Rush Limbaugh & Sean Hannity. Yet Mr. Moore, without a talk show, may be just the
lethal heat-seeking show-business weapon they have been looking for. It's telling that conservatives who
deride him as a big, fat idiot sound as worried about Mr. Moore as liberals were about Mr. Limbaugh
when he began his rise to superstardom.
Moore's boorish Oscar night yelling, far from relegating him to obscurity, seems to have enhanced not only his
movie's box office but his own magnitude of stardom. While Hollywood & its acolytes may believe Moore was
(in that now terminally overused word) "inappropriate," there may well be plenty of other Americans who find it
more mischievous than scandalous to break etiquette at a glitzy awards show. Upending a ceremony at which the
high priest is Steve Martin is not, after all, an act of sacrilege quite on a par with disrupting high mass at St.
Patrick's Cathedral.
Such connections "may mean nothing," Mr. Moore concedes. He recalls Jane Mayer's Nov. 2001 New Yorker
article about the private Saudi jet that the Bush administration permitted to fly 24 members of the bin Laden family
out of the country after 9.11.01 before they could be questioned in detail by the F.B.I. "Here's one question I want
to pose," he says. "What if, on the day after OKC, Bill Clinton, suddenly worried about the safety of the McVeigh
family up in Buffalo, allowed a jet to pick them all up and take them out of the country, not to return?" |
Quebec City goes on war footing for Americas trade summit
4.21.01 Colin Nickerson Boston Globe, The Guardian & agencies
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The goal of an American free trade zone from the Arctic Circle to Cape Horn was mooted 7 years ago but lay
dormant after the Clinton administration lost "fast track"
negotiating authority in 1994. Pres. GWBush has declared it a priority but his fellow leaders are
sceptical about what the US is ready to bring to the table.
This weekend's 34-nation gathering is supposed only to rubber-stamp the declaration on the Free
Trade Area of the Americas agreed by officials last week in Buenos Aires. The hard bargaining
comes next, over the 300-page agreement that is the basis for negotiations between now &
Jan. 2005. Along with presidents, prime ministers and roughly 9,000 delegates, 6,000 police and
2,000 journalists, the Quebec City summit is expected to attract 10,000 to 40,000 demonstrators
from the Americas & Europe. While most are committed to peaceful protests against plans to
unite North & South America into a free trade zone, there is deepening fear that radicals will
seek to turn confrontations with the police into full-blown riots. One Web site warned: "Our goal in
Quebec City is to smash capitalism. But a brick through the windows of blood-sucking commerce
or a Gestapo vehicle is also very satisfying." Police have sealed off nearly all the old city and an adjacent neighbourhood of hotels & govt buildings from all outsiders except summit delegates & journalists. Residents are required to carry special passes. All traffic except police vehicles & summit limousines have been barred from the streets for the duration of the summit. Outside the towering chain-link fence cordoning off the summit, streets were unusually quiet as tourists fled and residents bolted themselves indoors. Police surveillance helicopters thudded continuously overhead. Mayor Jean-Paul L'Allier says he regrets that Quebec City agreed to host the gathering, saying he is fearful of violence and thinks the extraordinary security measures will tarnish a reputation for grace and hospitality. "As for the next time world leaders decide to hold a closed meeting," he says, "they should hold it in the desert." |
6.23.01 AP "I think we need to revise the integration process. Is neoliberalism the way to integrate? In Venezuela, we don't think so,'' Chavez said at the opening of the weekend summit in Valencia, Venezuela. The leftist Chavez is convinced that the Andean Community of Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador can gain negotiating muscle by putting their own regional economic integration ahead of the FTAA. But other leaders, including Colombian President Andres Pastrana and Bolivian President Hugo Banzer, said Saturday free trade from Canada to Chile could help spur economic growth in the region and create jobs.
The Andean leaders agreed, however, that something must be done to eliminate the poverty that affects more than
half the region's 113 million inhabitants. About 23 million people live in "extreme poverty,'' defined by the World
Bank as living on less than a dollar a day. "The Andean Community is much more than import tariffs and trade. It is
the anguish, dreams and hopes'' of its people, Pastrana said. The Andean leaders also were discussing the
establishment of common tariffs, ways to fight illegal drugs, border security, political unrest and rebel insurgencies.
The summit will close with a military parade honoring Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan general who campaigned in
Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in pursuit of a single entity called Gran Colombia.
Chavez trumpets Third World unity to confront a "unipolar'' world dominated by the United States. But his fiery
rhetoric has alienated fellow Andean leaders. Pastrana and Chavez have met several times this year to resolve
diplomatic spats over the Venezuelan leader's neutrality toward Colombia's Marxist rebels. In December, Chavez's
attempt to organize an Andean presidential summit to commemorate the 170th anniversary of Bolivar's death
fizzled amid reports that he supported insurgent groups in Bolivia and generals who staged a coup in Ecuador.
Chavez denied the charges and, this time, is determined that the Andean summit will shine. He invited other countries to participate in the military parade that will feature troops from the Amazon jungle marching with Macaw parrots on their shoulders and snakes wrapped around automatic rifles. "We're the same people. Latin America is one bloc. That's what I think and that's what I think we all think,'' said Maj. Gerardo Villanueva, as he organized the festivities amid screeching parrots and other officers barking orders. Also attending were Ecuador's President Gustavo Noboa and Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier Perez de Cuellar. |
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Free-trade bloc framework OK'd in Miami 11.21.03 John Pain AP
Miami Pushing for a victory after failed world trade talks in Mexico, officials from across the Americas
agreed to move forward on a watered-down outline for the world's largest free trade bloc. Trade ministers from 34
countries in the Americas, excluding only Cuba, were originally scheduled to finish their negotiations on the Free
Trade Area of the Americas on Friday. But after days of debate, they said Thursday they had achieved all they
could in Miami. The agreement, which the nations hope to formalize by January 2005, will likely change what food consumers buy in supermarkets as well as help dictate the future jobs of the hemisphere's workers. The declaration will be turned over to negotiators to solidify the details.Ministers hailed their final declaration as a victory, with both U.S. & Brazil, locked in a trade feud, saying it showed there had been progress in bringing countries together since World Trade Organization talks collapsed 2 onths ago in Cancun, Mexico. |
"Of course, people were scared, but the city was prepared," Heriberto Cepero said Friday outside the office where
he works as a concierge. The cheery outlook inside the hotel where the talks were being held Thursday was a
sharp contrast from even a few weeks ago, when ministers had publicly battled over how to reduce agricultural
subsidies and protect patents.
U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Zoellick said ministers had "learned some lessons" since Cancun, and had moved the
"FTAA into a new phase, from general concepts and people talking past each other to positive realities." During
September WTO talks, Brazil led a group of more than 20 nations who insisted that U.S. & Europe eliminate
agriculture subsidies. Since the talks fell apart, the WTO's 146 members have made little progress in breaking the
deadlock.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Thursday's declaration was a good sign that there may be future
movement within the WTO, and he agreed that countries were no longer "dancing to the beat of their own
drummer, trying to explain his or her position."
During the FTAA talks, the Bush administration insisted on keeping negotiations on U.S. subsidies to American
farmers at the global level through the WTO and not have them part of the FTAA. Brazil has done the same with
discussions on investment and intellectual-property rights.
The FTAA declaration, hammered out by deputy ministers on Wednesday, calls for a core agreement that all
countries would sign, but allows each nation to decide its commitment to the more controversial topics.
The international aid organization Oxfam criticized Thursday's final draft as "blind to the needs of the poor."
"The final declaration simply papers over the irreconcilable difference between narrow self-interest on the one
hand, and the urgent need to reduce poverty on the other," spokesman Phil Bloomer said.
Furthermore, within the last eleven years, the coming of a global stock exchange will compliment an evolving global currency and global tax. For those who say world government is far off, you had better point them in this direction. In order to understand what Wednesday really means, let us review structures that have been put in place that compliment a global stock exchange.
When Andrew Jackson was elected President in 1828 he announced in his first message that he would not renew the charter of America’s first central bank. He ended up vetoing the law Congress passed to re-charter the Bank. Jackson pointed out that the bank’s stock, valued at $8 million, was held by foreigners, chiefly in Britain. His concern was that a majority of shares of its stock might fall into alien hands, which if we were involved in a war, could use its influence against the U.S.
In 1913, the question of a central bank came up again. The people involved in this effort included some of the wealthiest people in America: Senator Nelson Aldrich (grandfather of David Rockefeller); Jacob Schiff and Paul Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb and Company, an international banking house; Piatt Andrew, Asst Treasury Sec.; Henry P. Davidson, J.P. Morgan & Co. sr partner; Charles D. Norton, and Frank Vanderlip, President of National City Bank which today is CitiGroup.
Passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was done through chicanery. Those in the Senate who favored the Act did not go home while those that were against it went home for Christmas. In a special session convened with quorum, the Act passed at 11:45 p.m. on Dec. 24, 1913.
With passage of the Federal Reserve Act, our monetary system changed back to one of control by a private corporation and not the U.S. Treasury. Our currency now says, “Federal Reserve Note.” Earlier in the day on Dec. 24, 1913, Congressman Charles A. Lindberg, Jr. stated from the House floor: “This Act established the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President signs this bill, the invisible govt by the Monetary Power will be legalized … Te worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking bill.”
President Woodrow Wilson could have vetoed this bill like Andrew Jackson did, but he was put in power by the same powers that passed the bill.
Since 1913, the Federal Reserve has evolved into a very powerful entity globally. The Federal Reserve Act has been amended over 195 times with greater empowerments in the last ten years that have included more types of discount window loans. The discount window is where banks borrow from the Fed overnight to maintain their stated level of capitalization. The Fed now accepts for collateral: Treasury and federal agency securities, gold certificates, Special Drawing Rights, foreign currencies, and discount window loans made under Section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act.
What this means is that as the indebtedness of America grows, the Fed is willing to take more types of collateral to secure their loans to the govt.
As a result of the Asian Crisis in 1997-1998, the Group of Seven finance ministers, under the direction of President Bill Clinton and then Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin invited the central bank ministers of the G7 countries to join them in their discussions. Since 1998, it is both the G7 treasury secretaries and the central bank ministers who are directing the global economy.
The role of central banking in the U.S. was seen after the crash of the stock market in 1929. The Crash came about as a result of
- America reducing gold content of the dollar by 40%,
- Speculation in the stock market, much of which was financed by credit,
- Foreign investors selling their stocks, and
- the Federal Reserve taking money out of the banking system which the Fed thought would stop the frenzy.
This private corporation used the same technique used to burst the Nasdaq bubble 72 years later; They took money out of the banking system which made the market drop. The Fed or any central bank is able to create market highs or lows by the amount of money they pump into the banking system (they buy U.S. Treasuries, which puts money into the system) or by taking money out of the banking system by selling U.S. Treasuries.
When the Federal Reserve took money out of the banking system, it caused the Depression. British socialist & economist John Maynard Keynes came over to advise President Franklin Roosevelt. His solution was to go into debt in order to stimulate the economy. President Roosevelt financed all of his New Deal programs by borrowing money.
Roosevelt & Keynesian economics' legacy today is that every level of govt is broke: local, county, state, and federal and every level of govt is selling assets in order to pay down debt. In the last several years, the City of Chicago sold the Chicago Skyway toll road to Spain’s Grupo Ferrovial and to a unit of Australia’s Macquarie Bank for $1.8B. Since then other toll roads around the country are being sold. The ports are part of the same equation.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected on his “New Deal for the American People” program, his first act as president on his 3.4.33 inaugural was to declare a national bank holiday. For the next 8 days, banks were closed because of the number of people withdrawing their savings in gold.
A little more than a month later, on 4.20.33, Roosevelt passed the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 which took America off the gold standard. It put an end to the following:
- Convertibility of notes into gold for Americans but allowed foreign countries to convert their gold-backed dollars at any time
- Private ownership of gold was made illegal except if you were a rare gold coin collector.
The American financial system was transferred from a standard of accountability which used gold to guard against excess debt, to a system in which there is no accountability. All a govt has to do is print money. This opened the door for the massive debt which is Keynesian economics at its finest: a world in debt to a private group of bankers.
However, if you really want to control the monetary system of the world, not only do you have to control the banking system, but you have to devalue its money. President Nixon severed any remaining ties the dollar had to the gold standard in 1971. Between 1933 and 1971, foreign countries that owned gold backed dollars were able to redeem them for gold. However, when Nixon closed the “Gold Window”, it changed the monetary system of the world from one in which currency was gold-backed to a paper system.
Nixon defaulted on millions of dollars that those countries held in their vaults. There is no other historic incident that can equate the financial devastation that Nixon did when he took the dollar off the gold standard. Never before in the 6,000 year history of trade, was a piece of paper been used.
During Biblical times and earlier, traders used animals, jewels, expensive clothing, and gold and silver to trade. These all have tangible value. Today, the world is on a fiat monetary system that has nothing of value supporting it. The purchasing power can drop simply by govt printing more paper money.
Tthis was the first phase of changing the monetary system of the world.
The second phase was to internationalize it. In 1944, finance ministers from over 40 countries of the world met in New Hampshire to set up financial international institutions that would deal with a post-War world: the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Their objective was to set in place global institutions that would facilitate the financial and economic integration of the nation-states. That however was not the immediate objective.
Both of these institutions were set in place to facilitate loans to help rebuild war-torn Europe. Today on a bi-annual basis, finance ministers from 186 countries of the world meet to determine the state of the world’s finances. Both of these organizations have been instrumental in “harmonizing” financial growth around the world and redistributing growth from strong countries to weaker countries.
The World Bank established the International Finance Corporation that has established over 60 stock exchanges in third world countries. From an economic standpoint, if you are going to put a global economic infrastructure in place, it must also be political and encompass trade.
The United Nations was established in 1945 and the final piece of a global trading system was birthed in 1994 when our Congress passed the 27,000 page General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs which established the World Trade Organization.
GATT's purpose is to have a completely flat trading system, no barriers of any kind. No longer does the American farmer, accountant, manufacturer, or engineer compete with his competition across town, but he now competes on a global playing field. Since President GWBush II has been in office, 2.7 million jobs have left the U.S.
Open borders supported by the World Trade Organization need for the countries of the world to de-regulate laws that restrict where people can invest.
In 1980, during the Carter presidency, Congress passed the Monetary De-Regulation Act of 1980. It impacted the U.S. in several ways: First, it changed various federal laws as foreigners could now invest in America and Americans could now invest outside U.S.. These changes led to the proliferation of foreign and global mutual funds, global mergers and acquisitions between companies, and $2 trillion in stateless money running around the world daily looking for higher returns and a quick currency play.
Obviously the integration of investments and corporations is part of making the world one and in changing its currency from individual nation-state currencies to a global currency. Secondly, it gave the Federal Reserve more power over the U.S. banking system.
At the 1995 Group of Seven meeting in Halifax, the heads of state and the G7 finance ministers embarked on putting in place a “new international financial architecture.” It included a number of deep empowerments and structural changes being made to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in order to prepare it for a world without borders.
The IMF has the responsibilities which include “surveillance” of the world’s banking systems and the flow of monies worldwide. In addition, the IMF makes available lines of credit for countries in trouble, our Congress graciously made $18 billion available for this purpose.
These changes were touted by both Robert Rubin and his successor Larry Summers as necessary for the 21st century, all part of the evolving global stock exchange.
No take-over of the global economic infrastructure would be possible without changing key laws. In 1999, Congress passed HR10 which was the “Banking Modernization Act”. It helped modernize our banking system by repealing the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial banking from investment banking.
HR10 merged these two activities, thus returning the stock market to pre-1929 times. In addition it provided for foreign banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms to buy American banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms.
So now if you are going to globalize the entire financial architecture, you then need international accounting standards. Using Enron as an exampled, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker called for international accounting standards. He chairs London based International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Board of the Trustees.
Lastly, to facilitate a global financial architecture, you need “market-based democracy”, what Treasury Secretary John Snow called it in Feb. 2004. He basically told the world that every market is dependent on growth in another country and that we need to let market forces work.
Those assets, in some cases, went into the market. The World Bank also developed the market by setting up stock exchanges in many developing countries where there were none: China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, Poland, etc.
At one point in our banking history, banks held the loans they made as part of their portfolio: mortgages, automobile loans, credit card loans, and personal loans. Today, banks have sold loans and transferred the risk they used to assume to the market (you & me). This technique is called “securitization".
In 2002, based on remarks by Dr. Jacob Frenkel, I asked him if he saw a global currency in the market for a globalized world. He told me that before we could have a global currency, we needed harmonization of economies.
Chief economist William White just issued a Working Paper, #193, in which he says the global imbalances that the world economy currently has will lead either to a return to the gold system (which is highly unlikely since you can’t print paper like we are currently doing) or an international currency.
The U.S. is the only country in the world NOT to have a Value Added Tax. This is now part of President Bushes “tax simplification” measures. France is the first country to put a tax on airline tickets to help the poor countries of the world. There are ten other countries that are considering it as well. I asked French President Jacques Chirac what he thought about a tax on airline tickets and he told me that if it was success, “many more global taxes of this kind” were being planned.
The holiday resort of Coolum, 2 hours drive north of Brisbane, has become a fortress as presidents and prime ministers from Britain's colonial club pour into Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Locals & tourists won't be allowed into the 2 main hotel complexes where delegates from St Lucia to Canada will meet in a manicured environment set in natural rainforest. Representatives from govts in the northern hemisphere will enjoy an average of seven hours of sunshine every day, with subtropical temperatures into the mid 30s Celsius and views of sparkling white beaches that go on for miles.
Over enthusiastic police
Protest boomerangs
Then we & our escorts took a ride on a neat little motorised golf buggy which would transport us to the main
summit hotel along private paths lined with security men. We went through an airport-style metal detector & X-
ray check. Then we transferred onto a special bus to take us a couple of miles up the road to another hotel.
Another security check, and another motorised golf buggy, this time to take us direct to the door of the minister's
suite. Outside stood a steely-eyed security officer with an ear-piece and, in the steamy heat of a Queensland
afternoon, a somewhat inappropriate tweed jacket.
Everywhere we saw soldiers, police officers and private security men. Overhead, helicopters clattered and,
so we were reliably informed, out of sight, high in the leaden tropical sky, F-18 fighter planes of the Australian air
force were out on patrol, armed with air-to-air missiles and ordered to shoot down any aircraft with no business to
be there. The interview was the easy bit. The foreign minister was charming, if guarded in what he was prepared to
say. After nearly 25 years in the job, Fathulla Jameel knows how not to rock the boat.
Return to democracy
Legal action
"Formerly known as the British Commonwealth of Nations, the Commonwealth is a loose association of former British colonies, dependencies & other
territories, and Mozambique, which has no historical ties to Britain. Founded: 1931 Members: 54 states Population:
1.7 billion (30% of world population) Smallest: Tuvalu pop.10,000 Largest: India pop. 1 billion Only after
India's and Pakistan's independence in 1947 that the Commonwealth defined its modern shape. It dropped the
word British from its name, the allegiance to the crown from its statute, and became a receptacle for decolonised
nations. The British monarch, however, remained the official "head of the Commonwealth". The Commonwealth
has no constitution or charter, but the heads of govt of its member states hold Commonwealth Heads of
Govt Meetings (CHOGM) every 2 years to discuss issues of common interest. In between the summits, the
London-based Secretariat, Commonwealth's
executive arm, takes responsibility for carrying out programs.
shadow of Zimbabwe
Eldest son of a former NZ army chief, Mr McKinnon was born in London and educated in the U.S. & his
home country. Mr McKinnon's political career has so far spanned more than 2 decades. Before entering politics
in 1978, he worked in real estate and as a farm management consultant. A former NZ minister for Pacific
island affairs, Mr McKinnon successfully brokered a ceasefire and renewed political dialogue in a bloody Pacific
island dispute between Bougainvilleans & Papua New Guinea govt between 1995 & 1997. He was
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 for his part in resolving that conflict.
Zimbabwe split
Benign but limited
Muslim muscle
Absent Mugabe set to overshadow summit
Leaders of most of the 54 Commonwealth nations gather on Thursday in Nigerian capital Abuja for 4 day summit
starting Friday, knowing the event will be overshadowed by one man who has been told to stay away. Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe will instead be presiding from Thursday over a conference of his ruling party.
A Commonwealth panel ordered Zimbabwe's suspension from the organisation's ministerial councils, initially for a
12-month period, after Mr Mugabe's disputed re-election in March last year. The measure was extended to enable
the full Commonwealth to decide this month what to do with its most troublesome member.
Only 2 weeks ago, Mugabe was teasingly saying how he looked forward to the summit. On Tuesday he railed
against what he called "the Anglo-Saxon unholy alliance", in a state of the nation address to the Zimbabwe
parliament.
Nigeria president Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been gaining credit as a regional peacemaker and wants a
successful meeting, said emphatically last week that Mugabe was not invited. Piqued, Mugabe said Zimbabawe
might "say goodbye to the Commonwealth" and tried to rally others to stay away in protest. But Commonwealth
officials said there were no signs of a boycott, with some Mugabe's sympathisers, such as Namibia president Sam
Nujoma, already in Nigeria.
This is the second Commonwealth leaders' meeting to be held in Nigeria, both dominated by Zimbabwe. The first,
in 1966, was called to discuss how to deal with Ian Smith's minority white regime, after its unilateral declaration of
independence in what was then Rhodesia. Zimbabwe joined the Commonwealth when white rule ended and
Mugabe came to power, in 1980.
On the 3 member panel responsible for looking into Zimbabwe's case, Australian PM John Howard has been in a
lengthy stand-off with 2 African presidents: Nigeria's Obasanjo and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki. South Africa,
which has been facilitating low-level contacts between govt & opposition parties in Zimbabwe, is hoping to
ensure enough progress towards a transitional arrangement to justify ending the country's exclusion at the Abuja
meeting.
In the Commonwealth, the issue has become entangled with that of Pakistan, which is also seeking an end to its
suspension, decreed after General Pervez Musharraf's 1999 military coup. "We expect them to lift it. The reasons
for which we were suspended are not there any more," said a Pakistani diplomat, citing the country's move back
towards civilian govt with last year's parliamentary elections.
Mugabe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said the country had more pressing issues to deal with, like
revitalising the economy, AP reported. The Commonwealth's 3 member committee agreed with the "very strong
views" and conclusions in the observers' report which accused Pres. Mugabe, in power for 22 years, of using state
powers & institutions to steal victory. Howard described the suspension as being at the "more severe end of
the range of options available" to the Commonwealth. "We look for change and progress in Zimbabwe. We know it
will be difficult."
The ballot in Zimbabwe saw Mugabe gain a sixth term amid allegations of violence & intimidation against the
MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Generally Western govts have criticised the fairness of the election while African
govts have been less willing to condemn Mugabe. U.S., Britain and E.U. condemned the elections as "unfair &
not free." Mbeki & Obasanjo held talks with Mugabe on Monday to seek compromise. Among proposals
speculated was a govt of national unity. It is not clear yet what the result of the talks were, but both Mugabe &
Tsvangirai, have cast doubt on the plan. Tsvangirai said Tue.: "We arrived at the conclusion that the objective
conditions do not exist for meaningful discussion because (Mugabe's party) ZANU-PF is embarking on mass
retribution against our members in the rural areas." Mugabe said his victory was a mandate to pursue his land
reform program. Howard said land was at the core of Zimbabwe's problems and "cannot by separated from other
concerns."
The Harare meeting came on the same day that a white farmer was shot dead by suspected ruling party
militants. Terry Ford was the first white farmer killed since Mugabe was re-elected and 10th killed since
militants began often-violent occupations of white-owned land 2 years ago. Police said Tue. they had
arrested 4 men and seized firearms linked to the murder, Reuters reported. Denmark, not a member of
the Commonwealth, announced Tue. it was closing its Harare embassy and ending development aid to
the country. Swiss govt is following E.U. & U.S. in imposing travel & financial sanctions on
Zimbabwe govt representatives.
Are diplomatic ties with tyrants more important than civil rights?
I couldn't avoid APEC because I work in the bldg next to the conf. HQ in Canada Place and the Waterfront hotel
where President Clinton, Madelaine Albright and the US delegation took up residence. The conference public
relations people called it a "secure zone." It felt more like a war zone to me. APEC security analysts put a lot of
effort and imagination into identifying any and every potential threat and then set up precautions intended to
prevent them. If those same defences suborned the civil rights of ordinary citizens whose tax dollars were
footing the bill for conference, well that was just too bad.
It's not as if civilians don't voluntarily give up those rights in small, often unnoticed ways on an almost daily basis in
govt buildings, office towers and especially airports. Every time we enter an airport to meet someone else's flight or
fly somewhere on an airplane, we & our belongings are subjected to camera surveillance, metal detectors, x-
rays and searches. Our bags can be confiscated if we put them down in the terminal then walk away from them for
a minute or so too long. No search warrant is necessary because we are assumed to consent to those invasions of
our privacy when we present ourselves at the entrance to the terminal. Everyone has the right to refuse, but
exercising it results in being denied entry & forfeiting the plane ticket. It's hard to condemn airport security
designed to stop people from taking weapons or bombs onto planes. But security is a delicate balancing act
between curtailing public freedoms & rights and ensuring safety. If too much emphasis is placed in one
direction or the other, everything tumbles down, usually hurting the public in the process.
The eyes of the RCMP officers manning the gates at the inner checkpoints, making sure that I wasn't trying to go
anywhere but into my building. The eyes of the RCMP officers in the lobby of my building. The eyes of the police,
RCMP and CSIS and US Secret Service agents congregating in the food court: holding meetings at the tables,
eating McDonalds, drinking Starbucks coffee, listening to instructions through their ear wires and muttering into
walkie-talkies. Eyes watching to make sure that I wasn't going anywhere I didn't belong and wasn't overly interested
in the security personnel. Ignorance & willful blindness of my co-workers both astounded me and added to my
stress. Why didn't they realise that the concrete barricades down the middle of Cordova Street were there to
prevent the car & truck bombs like those used by terrorists in Lebanon, in London and in Oklahoma?
That there were bomb-sniffing dogs wandering around because someone expected there to be bombs? That the
plethora of handguns holstered on uniform belts & beneath suit jackets were there because there was an
expectation that they would be needed & used? That the security was there to protect the APEC delegates
and everyone else was just a potential innocent bystander? … I pushed them into moving away from the
office windows facing onto Canada Place the day I looked down & saw fire trucks idling and military personnel
scrambling around. Afterwards, when tv news announced the military had dealt with 2 bomb threats that day, they
realised that I hadn't been joking after all. And they still managed to feel safe. Friday, Nov. 21, security tightened
further … Complaints about inconvenience & delays, but not a single comment about civil rights infringed
every day of the conference. When the subject was broached, they were incredulous & disbelieving. This was
about protection & safety, wasn't it? How could it possibly hurt them? How could it erode their civil rights? How
could they not see what was happening in front of their own faces?
Indonesian immigrants & supporters ignored threats of retaliation from President Suharto and his Foreign
Minister Ali Alatas against family members remaining in Indonesia, and took to the streets. Lest you dismiss these
threats as vague & unfounded, consider that some observers estimate Suharto & his allies slaughtered
as many as 400,000 Communists, suspected Communist sympathisers and East Timorian peasants. Many
Chinese joined the protests, taking a stand against Jiang Zemin. In an interview with the publisher & 2
reporters from Canadian newspaper The Globe & Mail Sat.11.29.97 shortly after APEC '97, the Chinese
President claimed to be a democrat, and that he thinks himself "quite open-minded". Those protestations
from man who governs a country which encourages forced abortion & murder of female infants; approves the
use of organs for transplants without prior consent from executed prisoners; believes bloody military crackdown in
Tiananmen Square, in which hundreds and possibly thousands died, was necessary. The Globe & Mail, "Had
the then Chinese govt failed to adopt resolute measures, then we could not possibly have enjoyed today's
stability."
Protest was not acceptable to those who organised security for APEC '97. C conditioned to look for conspiracies,
assassins and terrorists saw ample opportunity for both in the most peaceful demonstration. Barricades, fences
and a small army of police kept protesters far from APEC leaders meeting in Museum of Anthropology at University
of Br.Columbia. One person was arrested for posting signs with subversive messages like "Democracy"
& "Free Speech" outside security perimeter. Nov. 25 when demonstrators got too close to security
fence some tore at wire fence, police entered the fray. Using bicycles to force their way into the crowd, they used
pepper spray on protesters, bystanders, reporters. When over, 40 arrested during protests & attempts to block
roads used by motorcades. Most of those people were among the demonstrators, but 2 of them were members of
the Indonesian security team assigned to protect Suharto. What were they doing in the middle of that protest?
None of the press releases or news articles I've found have said anything beyond that they were arrested for
breach of the peace during a demonstration.
"We need an authority that has the power to give guidance to the system in a way that is both rigorous
& intelligent, and bearing the complexity of our economies in mind,'' he said. The Commission, the
guardian of EU treaties, has made such proposals to a convention working on drafting a constitution for
the EU, to be presented for debate in 2003.
Now countries around the world are converting to these new rules.
Secretary Snow was signaling the new market based governance system in which the stock, bond, commodity, and currency markets now rule the world. This change has been coming for some time and began with President Reagan and the privatization or selling off of government assets that he encouraged.
To help these countries have stock to trade on their new exchange, they sold or privatized state owned assets: railroads, banks, telephones in order to list them on their new exchange. According to the World Bank, more than 80 countries are selling state-owned assets.
What this means is that the market now is like the kitchen sink; everything is in it: mortgages, auto loans, credit card loans, home equity loans, stocks, bonds, and now stock exchanges.
18 months later I asked former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker if we needed a global currency. He told me, “For the long term, but it’s a long ways off. If we are going to be successful in a globalized world, we should have an international currency.” Since 2004, I have been asking key officials at the Bank for International Settlements in Basle about a global currency, they have told me it is a long way off.
We have harmonization of world economies now, calls for an international currency, a market based system in which all assets are now traded on the stock or bond exchange and we are seeing now the rise of a global stock exchange.
All we need now is global taxation. That, too, is in the works.
Welcome to the new world order. World govt is not coming. It is here.
My sense of foreboding about APEC '97 started with the melodramatic memoranda circulated on behalf of the
APEC management committee a month before the conference: don't expect to use too many couriers, because
they dress strangely and will have problems getting through the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
checkpoints; don't carry long narrow objects near the windows because it makes the US Secret Service agents
nervous and they are likely to shoot first and ask questions later; don't drive into the area unless you've got photo
identification and a monthly parking decal to show that you have a right to be beneath the building; don't drive if you
don't have to, and allow extra time no matter how you are getting to work because bus routes will be changed
and traffic congested in the entire downtown core due to street closures. Oh, and by the way, you're still expected
to be at work on time. 2 weeks before the conference began, I realised it was going to be far worse than I had
expected. A man carrying a grenade in his hand luggage was captured at Vancouver International Airport in a spot
check. Next day the newspapers announced that the cost of security for APEC had more than doubled. They didn't
say that it was related to the alleged terrorist's arrest, but it seemed like an awfully big coincidence to me. By the
time APEC started on November 19, the 3 buildings in the Waterfront Complex were surrounded by concrete
barricades, chain link fences and gates. In one way, I was lucky. My bus route had not been changed. I only had to
walk 4 or 5 extra blocks around the sealed-off streets to get to work. Others had to walk as many as 15 or 20
blocks. Still, as I walked to work, I could feel the eyes following me. The eyes of the police & RCMP officers
who stood in clumps on every street corner. The eyes of the RCMP officers manning the concrete barricades at the
outer checkpoints.
Life's a beach at CHOGM on sea
3.1.02 Phil Mercer BBC
Holiday brochures describe the beachside township as a paradise. "For those who are seeking a place to retreat from the pace of everyday life, Coolum has everything you can ask for," says one.
But not for the next 5 days as the area goes into security lockdown. 6000 police & military personnel, supported by F/A-18 air force jets & helicopters, will patrol the largest political event ever seen in Australia.
Police trail-bike riders will scour the nearby Yaroomba and Mudjimba beaches. Both will remain open to bathers during the summit but security will be intensified should Tony Blair or any other delegate decide to brave the autumn surf.
A clearance zone has been established between the Sunshine Coast airport and the conference centre.
Delegations flying in from Namibia, Fiji, Tonga and Tuvalu were among the first to be escorted in police motorcades
to their accommodation. Local motorists have complained of over-zealous policing. One woman claimed she was
pulled over by officers and given 14 days to replace a faded number plate. "Rediscover life's pleasures at a pace
that is natural, easy and unhurried," continues the tourist brochure. Workers at the Sunshine Coast's many resorts
have been instructed not to say "G'day" to any of the 1,000 dignitaries. A spokesman for one hotel said the famous
Aussie colloquialism was off-limits for staff. "People hopping off the plane from Africa might be confused to be
greeted with 'G'day'," he said. One up-market hotel has a military-style campaign planned for the kitchen to
keep its international guests happy. It is preparing 1,800 meals a day and expects to serve 2,500 cups of coffee as
its staff face a rolling 24-hour catering marathon.
This gathering of Commonwealth leaders is convened every two years and involves formal and informal meetings.
This is "baby CHOGM". The original conference, scheduled for Brisbane last October, was postponed and scaled
down after 9.11.01. The fight against global terrorism will be under discussion, while the UK's Tony Blair will push
for sanctions against Zimbabwe. But some of the protesters expected to vent their frustrations outside the Coolum
exclusion zone over the next few days have more local issues at heart. There was an outcry when govt,
business and sporting leaders tucked into kangaroo kebabs and crocodile vol-au-vents at a banquet hosted by the
Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie. Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper reported earlier this week that one
animal welfare organisation was planning to bring along a live wallaby as a protest. That was until other activists
planned to demonstrate against the first group's use of the native marsupial.
media diary
It comes as no surprise, in these tense, post 9.11.01, that there is tight security at an
international summit meeting attended by more than 30 heads of govt. But I wasn't quite expecting that it would
take nearly an hour, accompanied by 2 official escorts, to get from the grandly-named Media Centre, which in
reality is simply a very large tent, to the hotel where I was to meet the foreign minister of the Maldives. First, we
were kitted out in bright yellow bibs with a large number on the front, presumably so that we could be easily
identified if we tried to escape. I was number 59.
Kitted out in bibs
3.2.02 Robin Lustig BBC
Getting back to the media centre, as the heavens opened and a tropical storm crashed noisily up & down the
coast, was an even bigger adventure than the outward journey. Security men, it seems, do not like heavy rain - and
by the time we eventually made it back, we were very wet. Oh yes, and the media centre was leaking too.
Commonwealth welcomes Fiji back
Sydney Fiji has been reinstated as a full member of the Commonwealth after the lifting of
suspensions imposed during last year's nationalist coup. A meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group
(CMAG) in London has rewarded the Pacific nation's progress in restoring democracy. The decision to readmit Fiji
into the Commonwealth means its rehabilitation in the eyes of the international community is almost complete.
Sanctions imposed, however, by the European Union remain in place. Fiji's exclusion from Commonwealth
business was a punishment for the overthrow of the elected govt by nationalist gunmen led by George Speight in
May 2000, and the suspension of the country's multi-racial constitution. The stand-off at the parliament compound
in the capital Suva lasted for 56 days. When the deposed ethnic-Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry finally
emerged from captivity, Fiji's political landscape had changed. His govt had been replaced by an interim
administration, installed by military commanders who wanted to strip the Indo-Fijian minority of its political
rights.
12.21.01 Phil Mercer BBC
The Commonwealth SecGen McKinnon has been encouraged by the country's return to democratic rule since a
general election in August returned Laisenia Qarase as the new prime minister. The two men met earlier this month
to discuss Fiji's re-admittance into the organisation. In the past, Mr Qarase has accused the Commonwealth of
meddling in Fiji's domestic affairs. NZ foreign minister Phil Gough said his govt was lifting all remaining political,
sporting and military sanctions on Fiji.
Despite Commonwealth endorsement , the Ingarisay govt is facing court action because of its refusal to allow main
political rival Fiji Labour Party, led by ousted PM Mahendra Chaudhry, into the cabinet. The constitution allocates
seats in cabinet to all major parties in proportion to their numbers in Parliament. A hearing is scheduled to begin in
February in the court of appeal, shortly before the treason trial of coup leader George Speight is due to start. He is
being held with a dozen of his close advisers on a prison island after being arrested more than a year ago.
"Our diversity makes the Commonwealth strong"
Queen E2's Commonwealth Summit opening address
CHOGM SecGen Don McKinnon
Sec.General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, elected to post Nov. 1999. 63 year old New Zealander previously served as his
country's foreign minister & deputy prime minister. Early in his tenure, Mr McKinnon stressed the desire to
modernise the 54-nation organisation, and make it more ''credible". In early 2000, Mr McKinnon told the
International Herald Tribune: "I think the Commonwealth has an amazing relevance. It penetrates every part of the
globe, is significant in terms of ethnicity, culture, and geography. "I want to make it more relevant and credible, but
also able to react to situations, so its flexibility is important, too. I feel the nature of the organisation gives us a
major opportunity to take advantage of globalisation."
2.27.02 profile BBC
The official website of the Commonwealth secretariat says Mr McKinnon's key interests are among other things "actively supporting the Commonwealth's 'Good
Governance' initiatives".
Mr McKinnon's leadership of the Commonwealth has been dominated by one issue, Zimbabwe. The secretary general has had the difficult task of
reconciling the differences of member govts over how to respond to land seizures from white farmers and
continuing political violence. At Commonwealth ministerial meetings, countries such as the UK &
Australia pressed for Harare to be suspended from the organisation. This has been opposed by the African nations,
led by S.Africa & Nigeria. Mr McKinnon has usually taken a pragmatic view of the situation, arguing for
engagement & dialogue with President Mugabe.
After a Commonwealth meeting in January at which a proposal to suspend Zimbabwe was voted down, Mr
McKinnon told the BBC: "The issue revolves around the question of whether we continue to argue about the
principle of Zimbabwe's status [in the Commonwealth] or whether we do the one thing we can do right now, get
observers on the ground for the elections."
During Mr McKinnon's leadership, Fiji was excluded from Commonwealth business. The action followed the
overthrow of the elected govt by nationalist gunmen led by George Speight in May 2000, and suspension of the
country's multi-racial constitution. Fiji was reinstated in December 2001. Suspension of Pakistan from
Commonwealth meetings because of the Oct. 1999 military coup still hangs over the organisation.
Commonwealth credibility at stake
The somewhat reduced Commonwealth conference being held in the well guarded Australian resort of Coolum
north of Brisbane is having to face growing crisis in Zimbabwe and, true to the Commonwealth way,
it is likely to put off a decision about what to do. The conference had been planned for Brisbane itself last year but
was postponed after 9.11.01 and not all its 54 members are fully represented. It is ironic that Zimbabwe finds itself
at the centre of the argument. It was in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare 10.20.91 that the Commonwealth heads
of govt meeting CHOGM committed the member states, in the grandly named Harare Declaration, to "work with
renewed vigour" in support of "democracy, democratic processes and institutions".
3.1.02 Paul Reynolds BBC
Zimbabwe president Mugabe is not expected to be in Coolum. He is too busy running for re-election on
3.9.02. Mr Mugabe was also in power in 1991 when he & his colleagues in CHOGM held their meeting at a
conference centre in a modern hotel in Harare. There was a brief demonstration by students protesting about a
forgotten issue which was promptly put down by the local police and Mr Mugabe brushed the affair off as very
minor. The heads of govt then went off to their traditional "retreat", held that time at the Victoria Falls. Holding a
retreat is very much part of these gatherings, which take place every other year. The idea is that informality
and personal contact should be the style. ¹ Indeed, it is the style of
the Commonwealth. But informality can lead to an inability to take action.
The Commonwealth is a loose grouping of mainly former states in the British Empire. It acts only by consensus,
which means that everybody has to agree and not everybody agrees about what to do with Zimbabwe. The British
& Australians, supported by Canada & New Zealand, have been pressing for suspension, but there is
opposition among African & other states.
The foreign minister of neighbouring Namibia, Ben Gurirab, has told the BBC that others found Mr Mugabe
guilty in advance. Nigerian Pres. Olusejun Obasanjo, who knows a thing or two about repression and has
been trying to lead Nigeria out of the shadows of years of military misrule, said that he wanted "reasonable proof"
of ballot-rigging before he would support suspension. UK PM Tony Blair will therefore be calling instead for a strong
statement of condemnation and a warning of action if the elections are not declared free & fair by the
Commonwealth's own election observers. That is the best he can hope for.
Coups
That the Commonwealth is even having such a debate is a big change from the pattern which once prevailed. For
years, military dictatorships were not barred from membership. It became something of a sick joke that
coups would often taken place during a CHOGM; the leader was conveniently far away. There is a legend that one
Nigerian president was informed by the BBC correspondent that he had been overthrown. BBC Monitoring, the
BBC's foreign broadcast monitoring service, had heard the usual martial music & announcement from the new
rulers. Those days are supposed to be gone. Indeed, Pakistan is currently under suspension because General
Pervez Musharraf overthrew the civilian govt. He is now President Musharraf and, if he holds elections and
is legitimised, presumably he will be allowed back in.
Zimbabwe is making it all very difficult again. The Commonwealth is often criticised for not doing very much. True, it
is not a huge influence in the world. But what influence it has, is usually applied for good. It has tried to support
democracy. It was active against apartheid, though Mrs Thatcher's opposition to sanctions on S.Africa, which
once left the Commonwealth but is now back, almost tore it apart. It is busy in lots of lesser known ways, in
education, policing, distance learning and in monitoring elections it is something of a specialist. Mozambique liked it
so much that it joined. And its small states, spread out across the globe from the Caribbean to the Pacific, certainly
like to have a forum where their voice can be heard. One meeting was startled to learn, for example, that the
Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean would actually disappear if something was not done about global warming. The
Commonwealth's very diversity often makes agreement hard and sometimes only the lowest common denominator
gets accepted.
This time, there is to be a statement against intl terrorism. In the current atmosphere, that should be no
problem and having Muslim nations like Malaysia & Brunei will help in projecting something which is not
entirely driven by what is sometimes called the "old Commonwealth", that is, its white members. But Zimbabwe is in
the front line and a real problem will arise if the elections are not given a pass grade by the observers. Then the
Commonwealth might have to act, something it finds hard to do.
12.2.03 David White FT
Observers are looking for a sign of when & in what circumstances the ageing president might stand aside for a
transitional govt to take Zimbabwe out of its spiralling economic & political crisis and end its intl banishment.
Commonwealth members have argued bitterly up to the last moment about whether Mugabe should be allowed to
join their meeting.
African members, less critical about the elections than observer teams from outside the continent, have been loath
to ostracise Mr Mugabe or question his govt's expropriation of white-owned farms, which has crippled the export
economy. The issue has driven a wedge between Zimbabwe's African neighbours and the "old" or "white"
Commonwealth, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It threatens to undermine the role that the
Commonwealth, a voluntary, non-treaty organisation made up mostly of former British colonies, seeks to play as a
bridge between north & south.
His presence would almost certainly have forced UK PM Blair and other leaders to cancel their attendance, and
would have created a quandary for Queen Elizabeth II, due to open the meeting in her capacity as titular head of
the organisation.
Organisation's secretary-general Don McKinnon is working towards a compromise, which would involve setting up
a mechanism to review Zimbabwe's case. The New Zealander's own position, as he seeks reappointment for a
second 4 year term, is being contested, largely as a result of his handling of the issue.
Many of the Commonwealth's 19 African members view Mugabe's regime as embarrassing, as well as damaging to
investment in the continent. But even the most critical govts, such as Kenya's, are unwilling to take a public stance
against another African state.
Apparently convinced that Mugabe has already decided to stand down, Mbeki has confidently predicted a
settlement by the middle of next year. South African officials argue that attempts to isolate Mugabe have failed to
achieve anything.
But African members say the Commonwealth would be practising double standards by approving a military ruler.
Nigeria, the host, was readmitted 4 years ago only after President Obasanjo, himself a former military dictator, was
elected to power as a civilian.
Commonwealth suspends Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is to be suspended from the Commonwealth for 12 months. The decision was made on behalf of the 54-
nation group by the leaders of S.Africa, Australia and Nigeria after studying the Commonwealth observer mission's
report on Zimbabwe's recent presidential elections. It came on the eve of a planned a 3 day general strike called by
Zimbabwe's main labour federation in protest against what it called post-election harassment of workers.
Announcing the decision in London, Australian PM John Howard said Zimbabwe's membership would be
reconsidered after one year. Zimbabwe will be barred from all the Commonwealth's councils effective immediately.
Howard hoped the international community would encourage reconciliation in Zimbabwe between the main parties
and offer humanitarian aid to its people.
3.19.02 CNN
Zimbabwe faced problems with its economy, food, restoration of political stability, rule of law and conduct in future
elections, he said. CNN's European political editor Robin Oakley said the decision was crucial for Zimbabwe,
southern Africa and the Commonwealth itself which was in danger of being seen as irrelevant if it did not act on the
damning report written by its own observers. Howard, S.Africa's Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo
were appointed to decide what, if any, action the Commonwealth should take against Zimbabwe at a summit
staged before the Zimbabwe election. Commonwealth SecGen McKinnon told CNN that reconciliation between
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was "so important to the future of
Zimbabwe."
APEC next big conference after Quebec A20 scheduled for Honolulu
Life During APEC '97
2.98 Elisabeth Hurst Bad Subjects # 36
Have you heard of APEC '97, also known as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit? It was a major intl
economic conference in Vancouver, Canada 11.19-26.1997. 18 world leaders attended conference and hardly
anyone in N.America knew it was happening. Did you know that during that conference, not only Bill Clinton &
Jean Chretien but also tyrants like Indonesia's Suharto & Jiang Zemin of China
endorsed a deal to supplement the Intl Money Fund to prevent financial meltdown in the East, and discussed trade,
business infrastructure and other matters that will impact your life? Curious? Want more information? Check out official APEC site to get the party line or Canadian govt's APEC '97 site for press releases & other official info about
Nov. conference results. Know more about the other side at APEC-Alert.
Not all of us could pick up placards & take to the streets in protest, but we ought to defend those who did.
Many APEC '97 protesters were Canadian: members of the "People's Summit" (a mainstream anti-
APEC group), of the left wing "No! to APEC Coalition", First Nations people and students
…
Why compromise Canadian civil rights for a forum that is unlikely to ever include human rights on its agenda?
Answer appears to be money. Experts all agree that in ever-shrinking world, Canada must expand its trade
horizons to thrive. APEC's information overview sets the 1996 combined GNP of 18 member countries as over $22
trillion, or approximately 52% of total world output and 40% of global trade. To Canada, with globally
integrated economy, APEC represents a trading bloc which cannot be ignored by those in power …. APEC '97
results more ephemeral than concrete. Other than financial bailout pgm for troubled Eastern countries, geared
toward encouraging further work in the future. No amount of money or promises of future benefits can possibly
make it worth my while to give up my civil rights. Vancouver Sun newspaper article titled "Stephen Hume:
Denounce the Tyrants", Hume talks about willingness of Canadian politicians & financiers to deal with leaders
like Suharto & Zemin, to ignore human rights, environmental standards and workers' rights in return for
discussions of freer trade & financial considerations. In his words, "Out in the blunt-spoken hinterlands we
call this whoring, but this week in the sophisticated city it will be called a necessity of protocol." … when I
sold my body on the streets, I was paid in cold hard cash, not vague promises couched in flowery language.
Noting that Berlin managed to block the Commission's attempt early this year to send an early warning over its
spending plans, Prodi called for giving the Commission the authority to adapt and enforce the rules on its own as
an "impartial referee.''
The head of the biggest parliamentary group, German conservative Hans-Gert Poettering, insisted the rules were
flexible enough already and blasted Prodi for muddying the waters. "The political impression was given that doors
are open to indebtedness once again in Europe,'' he said. "More indebtedness means more inflation, more inflation
means higher interest rates and higher interest rates means our economy can invest less.''
Yet many economists warn that too strict application of the rules hampers the ability of govts to respond
to economic downturns.
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