The death of democracy - the rebirth of fascism

by Plot Tracer

Recently I had a "debate" with Prokofy Neva about corporations (and other issues- see http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2007/07/graves.html )

Prokofy said, rather confidently, in my call to ban their disgusting symbols from SL,


"Nike and Nestle and GM have not massacred people like Nazis or Soviets, Plot Tracer. That you may possibly believe they have is a good advertisement for your vulnerability to stupid communist propaganda."

My reply may seem extreme to some, "Oh but they have , you ignorant woman. Perhaps rather than spout your untenable position as the only truth, you can do your first proper learning about the system you love. Look up the longest running boycott in the world to start with- and see why millions of people choose not to buy Nestle. Perhaps another easy one to look up for you would be Coca Cola and why people from south America and India urge westerners not to buy the crappiest symbol of western decadence.
Oh, and turning away from something and allowing it to happen is also reprehensible, especially when it is just to hold on to ones own "lot"."

As I said in my reply, the easy ones to find on the net are Coca Cola and Nestle. Not so easy to find is GM (American corporation General Motors) help to the Nazi's. GM owned Opel AG, and with the help of GM executives in 1937, they transformed the company into an armaments concern. The company produced trucks for the German army- Opel Blitz trucks were used, and were crucial to, the blitzkrieg attacks on Poland, France and Russia. It also built aircraft components including engines for the Luftwaffes Junker "Wonderbomber". GM to this day boasts of its crucial part in the war- though never mentions the fact it profited from both sides.

Recently in SL, workers in the Italian subsidiary of the American company, IBM used the SL platform to publicise their struggle over pay and conditions. IBM helped the Nazi regime when they provided technical assistance in running the Nazi extermination and slave labour programs. It is documented that IBM knew exactly what its machines were being used for, and IBM technicians serviced machines and trained users and supplied punchcards right up until America's entrance in the war. Why? For the bottom line- profit. Corporations do not consider human cost of bolstering dictatorships- they only value or not regimes that help or impede the profit margin. This is seen today with corporations trading, aiding and abetting disgusting regimes world wide. In the late 30's a group of military men and business men drew up plans for a fascist coup in the United States against the New Dealers and what they saw as a left takeover. Politicians in the west thought Mussolini’s definition of fascism was appealing. "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

The coup was thwarted - but the leaders would be happy to see that corporate America has been able to escape the democratic process since. The corporate takeover of America and the world is well under way, and to hell with people. Profit comes first for these corporate elites.

Other recent SL history saw the demonstrations of people in solidarity with the Burmese people fighting for their freedom and lives. In 1998, the State of Massachusetts was forced by a US judge to drop a boycott of trading with the murderous regime. This was done citing an EU appeal to the WTO which argued that the sanctions were unfair bar to trade. George Monbiot, in his book 'captive state' says that state lawyers argued that if current trade rules were in place in the '80's, Nelson Mandela would still be in jail.

And there is the rub. Slowly, stealthily, the world has been taken over by corporatism. Thatchers greed revolution has blighted the lives of many millions, and for the pursuit of profit. Reaganomics and Bushism- fascism with a smiley, "I'm one of you!" smiles. And people are forced to accept it as natural. Because those in power or who have access to what little democracy we have left, say so. To hell with the poor. They are "white trash, neds, chavs" or whatever other derogatory name the press and media are pushing on to the poor and disaffected.

I mentioned Nestle and Nike in my reply to Prokofy Neva. Look for yourselves for their amoral profitering from death and from despotic regimes. Links below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc.#Human_rights_concerns

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/reports/comingclean.html

http://killercoke.org/crimes.htm

http://www.labour.ie/youth/campaigns/index/20040908125109.htmle

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7260.htm
References: Captive State; George Monbiot (2000, PanMacmillan)
The Corporation; Joel Bakan (2005, Constable and Robinson)

(Oh, and Prokofy – just a wee correction – 1.5 MILLION children, not 15…)

http://www.babymilkaction.org/

“The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed. Where water is unsafe a bottle-fed child is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhoea than a breastfed child.”

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