THE RECORD
August 01, 2001

Fiat Lux

by Ed Deak

The major spiel in Gordon Campbell's pre election repertoire was that he is going to turn the economy around. He never said what he meant by this and how he was going to accomplish it? Well, he started the turning around right after taking office by giving huge tax breaks to those who didn't need it in the first place. The promise was that with the extra cash the public is going to go on a spending spree and everything is going to take off.

The problem is that the few bucks for most won't buy anything and with the planned downsizings and privatization for every dollar in tax breaks they'll spend $4 or $5 paying for services they now receive from taxes. The precedents are all there right across Canada and the USA. The turned around economies are filling the bank accounts of multinational service providers, now drooling in the wings, waiting for the quick passing of the GATS.

Deputy Premier Christy Clark was on BCTV the other night, wearing her customary sarcastic smile. She promised that her government won't be swayed by so called "special interest" groups, like working people and environmentalists, from following the program of wealth creation for major corporations. It seems that in the weird imagination of the propaganda machine we the working, old and sick people are special interest groups, but big business who have poured millions into the BC Liberals coffers are not?

What does the expression "good government" mean to these corporations? Healthcare and social services, or increasing profits to jack up their stocks on the markets? Democracy and public control over necessary services and public decision making, or corporate control over all life and resources?

The Prince Edward Island government just found out that the multinational seed company Aventis has been conducting secret trials of genetically modified wheat on the island. When the Minister of Agriculture wanted to know where, he was told to back off and shut up. It wasn't his business. Is this democracy?

Women across North America now will have to pay $3,800 for the genetic examination of breast cancers, that used to cost $1,200. The shareholders of Myriad Genetics demand more profits and who get hurt in the process is nobody's business. Of course, according to Ms Clark, these are not the actions of special interest groups. Is this democracy?

Our media, right across the world, and especially in North America, is controlled by a few moguls who decide what the public is allowed to see, hear and read. Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship so can become a British lord, yet he is still permitted to pull the strings and control what millions of Canadians can read.

While millions of people suffer, starve and die, our TV shows car accidents and petty crime scenes. When hundreds of thousands hit the streets to protest against the daily growing poverty around the world, or media shows a few hooded punks breaking windows and setting cars on fire. Of course, they would never mention that the so called Black Bloc of anarchists are most likely planted provocateurs to cause damage for the benefit of TV cameras.

These mostly German speaking people move from country to country, wearing their black masks causing mayhem at selected places unhindered by all the police forces. At Genoa they were photographed and observed as they were talking with the police, who literally escorted them from place to place, moving with military precision to the orders of a few leaders. They never attack the police in any country and are never arrested. Does our media ask who they really are?

While the burning cars in Genoa have been reported in detail, not a word has been written about the police raid on a school where the independent journalists were housed and reporting the real facts. They beat up hundreds of sleeping people. The pictures show pools of blood on the floor where they were caught sleeping.

They confiscated their cameras and tapes, broke up their computers, then took hundreds to the police station where it is reported that they had to salute the picture of Mussolini. The women were threatened with rape with batons, they were urinated on and had to lie in their own feces for long hours. Then they were released, as there were no charges against them.

There was also no mention of the huge demonstrations in 30 cities across Italy over the police riots in Genoa. The figures are from Reuters: 50,000 in Rome, 45,000 in Milan, 15,000 in Bologna, 6,000 in Florence, 5,000 in Genoa, 5,000 in Naples, 2,000 in Palermo, 2,000 in Trieste and so on to an estimated total of 150,000.

After the events in Genoa Tony Blair of Britain complained that the "democratically elected leaders of eight countries" were so rudely interfered with. How many officials having been urinated on or forced to lie in their own mess?

Copyright (c) 2001, West's International