The barefaced lie about Gadaffi being killed in the crossfire bodes ill for the openness, transparency and good government we can expect to see now in Libya. But today I am worrying about the effect on our society of human death as entertainment. I have never been an apologist for Gadaffi, but if his regime tortured and murdered, the remedy is not to torture and murder him – even the Nazis were given due process.
This murder is becoming the norm. It was a NATO air strike which took out Gadaffi’s escaping convoy and first wounded him. Two days ago two teenage sons of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical US/Yemeni cleric executed without trial last week, were executed by a US drone attack as they had dinner. They were aged 16 and 19. They had committed no crime I can find alleged against them. There has been no publicity.
All this killing brings triumphalist politicians smirking on our screens. We seem to have become as dehumanised as ancient Rome. Little human pity is expressed for the way Gadaffi was killed – indeed there is notably less media reflection of pity or revulsion than there was at the (at least judicial) hanging of Saddam Hussein. Is that a measure of the descent into bloodlust barbarism in our society? The complete lack of empathy towards the traveller families being torn from their homes at Dale Farm is part of the same brutalism towards “the other”. Why don’t we go the whole way and have them eaten by lions in the ring?
History shows that bloody appetite once aroused feeds upon itself. We have already had Defence Secretary Hammond on Sky News today positing NATO action now against Syria, while the current US proto-pretext for attacking Iran – the fantasy plot against the Saudi Ambassador – is as believable as Gadaffi’s death in the crossfire.
More death is on the way, to keep the circus going. Then the crowds may not notice there is no bread – no jobs, and their earnings and income eaten up by huge state enforced transfers to the bankers, whether by bailouts or “quantitive easing”.
Quantitive Easing is the best con of all for the ruling classes. In the UK, the £225 billion of printed money to date under quantitive easing has been – every single penny – given to the bankers. Good money for bad, used to buy up the junk bonds which the bankers bought in their terrible investment decision making, and for which fake assets they had awarded themselves many, many billions in personal bonuses. They are rescued from the consequences of their disastrous judgements by the Bank of England printing (in old parlance) new, good money to buy the rubbish they invested in. The result – more rounds of huge personal bonuses for celebrating bankers!! Hooray!!! For you and I, stagflation.
30 months ago, when I explained that Q.E. was another huge transfer to the bankers and predicted it would lead to stagflation, I was widely ridiculed across the web. Now we have the stagflation and everything I predicted has come to pass.
All of which you would normally expect to make people pretty unhappy at the biggest transfer of wealth from poor to rich in history.
Quick! More War! More Militarism! More Blood! More Executions! More Victory for Democracy! Keep the Peasants Happy!
Get a Move On There! Come On!! Come On!! More Blood!! More Blood, Quick, Damn You!!
UPDATE
You are not alone. On the average of the last three hours, 900 people per hour were reading this article and fifty others are at this moment reading this, invisibly alongside you. Those who understand what is happening are not given a mainstream media or political voice, but we are more than you may think. Don’t feel alone in your perception of the tricks of those who govern us, and leave a comment so we can start to feel each other’s support.
Yes ‘anyone who wanted’ Mary – and now the ‘wanted’ are many and motivated across the world. This time, Mary, This time…
Sorry I mean’t Wendy.
Stephen,
You have stated that there have been a lot of opposition to the idea of ‘banks too big to fail’, but have all this opposition made any difference. Banks have been given billions of public money and everyone else now from students to pensioners have to pay for this. If British government was indeed putting public interests first would not they put all these billions (which they have borrowed and by this increased public debt) to a better use of a wider society? So basically when banks need money we forget that they are private institutions that have nothing to do with public BUT when public demands fairer financial responsibility and no multibillion bonuses suddenly banks ARE private institutions and public CANNOT interfere in their policy. Does it not occur to you that someone in the government is putting interests of very tiny but influential minority FIRST before interests of a wider public (those who vote and supposedly elects government)?
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There are certainly different meaning of Fascism. One that is classically pictured is either Italian or German. But Fascism in both of these societies was also something to do with ideology but beneath it was just a collaboration between those who govern the country (tax, issue law and provide order) and those who are involved in money making (banks and big businesses). If you recall there were big businessmen that not only allowed but helped Hitler to establish government in Germany.
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What I mean to say is that it is very dangerous when government is in very close collaboration with tiny but influential minority and in times of crises it might turn out that in the interests of this tiny minority whole nation or even nations are sacrificed.
How it works
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5799&pid=50850&st=0&#entry50850
The photographs of what has happened in Sirte are horrifying.
But never mind, what a business opportunity! As long as the ‘victors’ can agree on the shareout, that is.
And with Cameron and Sarkozy at loggerheads, the Americans will probably cash in.
On a slightly different tack, will the Americans continue with their possible interference in Iran – or will they try for Africa? As they’re supposedly leaving Iraq, could they do both?
Syria next. This hideous old war monger suggests it might be.
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McCain Raises Specter of U.S. Military Action in Syria
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Senator John McCain of Arizona has become the most-high profile U.S. lawmaker to date to raise the possibility of U.S. military action in Syria. Speaking at an event in Jordan, McCain said: “Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria. There are even growing calls among the opposition for some foreign military intervention. We hear these pleas for assistance.”
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http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/24/headlines#4
[I believe I already posted that further up the page, Mary. From Haaretz.]
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Are there no Mods on duty? And if there are, why do they refuse to answer my question about being held “awaiting moderation” on the ethnic cleansing thread?
Sorry Nuid but I missed it. This thread is now so long that it takes ages to scan through.
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One new allegation has surfaced about the execution of Gaffafi – that he was sodomized. If true, and I find the video unbearable to watch, a new low was reached. Like Iraq, Libya follows and then what?
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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20124758-503543/globalpost-qaddafi-apparently-sodomized-after-capture/
@Suhayl Saadi: All of the wars of history have been between or among or within those four: every war is a religious war of one dimension or another.
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Hajj, that is what you wrote – “all of the wars of history” – but thanks for the clarification.
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What I wrote was this:
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God has established four permanent faiths among humanity that, functioning according to their unique and distinguishable characters, turn the world into a Garden for some and a Fire for others, and individuals choose as they wish. All of the wars of history have been between or among or within those four: every war is a religious war of one dimension or another.
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“God has established” sovereign dominions that the dominion of men cannot remove. All the wars of history have been between, or among, or within those dominions.
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On the other point, so, you regard Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the religion of the Sabeans as the four permanent faiths and all the rest as transient?
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All the rest have either been or become the dominions of men.
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This, in spite of the fact that some of the others – paganism, Hinduism (in one or other form) and some of the ‘Eastern’ religions have been around for longer than any of those four.
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Mystery religions have been formulated to ordain or sanction, and then support, dominions of men since the time of Nimrod, and later to obscure the religions of Abraham to divide them into sects; but the very name “Nimrod” means “We rebel” ~ against the already-established dominion, vested long before Abraham, of the Saba’een.
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“History” today is a story about what people said they saw ~ it is not about what they didn’t see.
Thanks Craig, great article as usual.
Nuid,
sorry, there is nothing in the “pending” queue. It really isn’t sinister – the software glitches sometimes.
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/free-pfc-bradley-manning-accused-wikileaks-whistleblower/kX1GJKsD
Please sign
Uzbek in the UK
Just because businesses – banks and others try to influence the government and might be succesful in doing so does not make the Government fascist. It was trying to be argued that there was no opposition to not breaking up the banks – I have pointed out quite clearly that is not the case. Personally, I think more shoudl be done to regulate the banks – and the argument about breaking them up/ring fencing them is something of red herring – but that is not what was being debated.
Fascism comes with a lot more than corporatism – what about the extreme nationalism and racism, the repression of dissent and alternative viewpoints, the suspension of democratic institutions and the curbs against opposition. If you want to look for those can I suggest that there are other places to look before the western democracies (not that I’m against eternal vigilance on our part – but the thing is this can be done).
Perhaps if people really want to oppose the actions of this Government as they do, then they should properly understand its nations. Resorting to silly name calling and Toy Town Trot protests really just plays into their hands and strengthens their hand – which is why from time to time I do believe that some of the perpetrators are really Tories at heart, becuase surely they cannot really be that stupid.
Mark
you start my asking me whether my words about you calling western governments fascist were conjecture or disinformation.
No they were statements of fact as you so obligingly demonstratated later in the same post. Mary frequently descibes the UK and US government as fascist. Perhaps rather than playing your silly games you could do something more positive and set out what alternative you are proposing or aspiring to – so that others can describe whether they prefer that alternative to the western democracies that you clearly detest.
Let me remind you Stephen of your words:
‘…we live in a fascist regime worse than that of their hero Gadaffi…’
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Gaddafi of course is not my hero. And I do not ‘detest’ Western democracy; I ‘detest’ the corruption of ‘democracy’ because government is clearly not of the people, by the people, and for the people. The main political parties are 80% subservient to the 1% banking elite who through incompetence, greed and a strict reliance on the status quo calculate conflict, power and hegemony will replenish their empty coffers and war chests.
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I have already proposed a solution, a new path, a step change; in fact a metamorphasis, the rebirth of a resource based economy which starts with an inventory of our depleted planets assets – not so illusionary as some suggest as deposit multiplication is now unstable and has lead to indefinite economic growth and hence environmental degradation on a massive scale and of course people have to be in debt for new money to be created or we print money and increase price inflation. This corrupt system also relies on perpetual conflict to steal from other countries resources by force which also ensures these depleted countries are in long term debt to the imperial or domineering forces.
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I rest my case on these facts and the constant reminder of agony, anguish, and the pain of dying children, together with the suffering and upheaval of future generations.
Some interpretations of what is meant by the word ‘fascism’.
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“My father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I’m going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you. And no fascist-minded people like you will drive me from it. Is that clear?” : Paul Robeson (1898-1976) – from testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, June 12, 1956
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“The history of mankind is a history of the subjugation and exploitation of a great majority of people by an elite few by what has been appropriately termed the ‘ruling class’. The ruling class has many manifestations. It can take the form of a religious orthodoxy, a monarchy, a dictatorship of the proletariat, outright fascism, or, in the case of the United States, corporate statism. In each instance the ruling class relies on academics, scholars and ‘experts’ to legitimize and provide moral authority for its hegemony over the masses.” : Ed Crane
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Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power: Benito Mussolini
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“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism – ownership of government by an individual, by a group,” : Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Fascism is capitalism plus murder.” : Upton Sinclair
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“I wouldn’t call it fascism exactly, but a political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either.” — Edward Zehr – (1936-2001) Columnist
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“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” — Justice Joseph Story : (1779-1845) US Supreme Court Justice 1833
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“In relation to the political decontamination of our public life, the government will embark upon a systematic campaign to restore the nation’s moral and material health. The whole educational system, theater, film, literature, the press and broadcasting — all these will be used as a means to this end.” — Adolf Hitler : – (1889-1945) German Nazi Dictator Source: Volkischer Beobachter, 23 March 1933
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My own definition of fascism – the subjugation of an individual’s will and freedom by an
overweening state.
Mark and Mary
By whatever definition of fascism you may provide any rational analysis of the facts would show that the likes of Saddam’s Iraq, Gadaffi’s Libya, Assad’s Syria, Ahmenjinabad’s Iran could all quite easily accommodated, and the degree to which those societies could be considered fascist is considerably in excess of the Western democracies on which you repeatedly sick the fascist label. Please explain why you are so selective in the application of the fascist label and in which fascist you are prepared to condemn and stand up to? There were always plenty of those who claimed to be on the left who supported the Soviet Union and while attacking the “imperialist” and “fascist” western democracies turned a blind eye and silent tongue to what their “heroes” were doing. Who says history doesn’t repeat itself! I’m afraid staying silent on the behaviour of tyrants while attacking that of those who oppose and stand up to them does amount to hero worship in my books ( though of course to be fair it might just be possible to qualify for useful idiot status as an alternative)
Mark
If that is your cogent and fact based model for future development then perhaps the kindest thing I can say is that it requires a little development before it has any chance of getting more than the tiniest sliver of democratic support – you may wish to say that deposit driven model of expansion is broke, but if you really think that any modern market based economy is able to run without using savings and investments as a the mechanism for redistributing surpluses and avoiding disconnections in the economy as a whole then you are talking gibberish. There are other models such as barter and centralised state allocation – but the historical precedents are not good. None of means that sustainable development should be ignored, and as a social democrat I’m quite happy for the State to have a role in directing and regulating markets, but that doesn’t mean that you just reject market capitalism in its entirety.
Interesting, well-researched and footnoted story of an alliance between the first black President of the US and anti-black racists.
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Curiouser and curiouser:
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http://www.zcommunications.org/free-libya-the-rise-of-natos-racist-executing-liberators-by-michael-mcgehee
Dear Mr. Murray,
I wasn’t aware that your criticism of ‘Q.E.’ had been lambasted and for the life of me I don’t know why. As a working class “worker and saver” I am one of the victims of this theft-crime and I would invite anyone who wonders why I use the word crime to contemplate what would happen to them if they paid their council tax with dosh freshly printed in their garage.
Furthermore, I am equally horrified by the pornographic display of blood and violence to which we are constantly subjected. But I would take issue with one thing – the use of the word ‘execution’ in connection with Gadafi (a man who was up to his tricks when I was in Grammar School 40 years ago and for whom I formerly held no great sympathy). He wasn’t executed, he was murdered, and we should say so.
Best wishes
Yes, indeed, he was murdered. And tortured beforehand, according to accounts on the net.
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This just in:
Wed, 26 Oct 2011, 12:06 GMT+3 – Libya
The bodies of 267 people, many of them believed to have been summarily executed, have been found in Sirte, the hometown of slain Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, a Red Cross source told the online Libyan newspaper Qurynaew on Wednesday.
Officials from the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, now in Sirte, had documented the bodies before they were buried in mass graves, the source told the Libyan paper.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-oct-26-2011-1206
What goes around comes around
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First
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7582484/Four-Afghan-civilians-killed-after-Nato-troops-attack-bus.html
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Second
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/world/asia/deadly-attack-strikes-nato-bus-in-kabul.html
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How long till someone sticks a knife up Sarkozy’s arsehole?