Just Because You're Paranoid

  You have almost certainly heard about the reaction to the latest Supreme Court decision relating to the infuence of corporations. In a recent poll, around 80% of Americans (from both sides of the two-part divide) opposed the decision. When you listen to what Bill Moyers has to say about the current state of affairs, remember that this is not some alarmist ratings-grabber.



The Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, once said that "fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power".

  Unlimited lobbying power for those with unlimited funds means that the interests of the private citizen will no longer be considered (if we assume that has not been the case until now). I suppose some would argue that this is an extension of the so-called free market, or laissez-faire capitalism. In reality, the new rulers are emerging from the shadows.
  Credit card companies are busy changing their rules to sidestep new legislation. The big investment banks are laughing in our faces as they pay out huge bonus payments to their staff while the rest of the economy self-destructs.
  We have been willing participants in the creation of these monsters. Consumerism makes the task of separating us from our money so much easier. This over consumption burns through the planet's natural resources and leaves us in debt, not content like TV  and billboards tell us. Was it good for you?



I've just just completed a few new designs on similar topics, so take a minute or two to have a look at the latest arrivals here

The Living Dead

The topic of consumerism has been on my mind again recently, and I discovered an interesting (and short) film which i thought I'd share:



This topic of consumerism and indoctrination has been discussed on the big screen for decades. When we watch the classic, Network, it feels so relevant today because little has changed! Freedom of choice, when it is between 100 brands of fabric softener, is no choice at all. If our lives are centered on consumption, we enter into an endless cycle of work, shopping, and debt. We are complicit in the destruction and pollution of our natural resources. We are ignorant of what happens 'behind the scenes' while we are busy buying things we don't need.

I have been challenged to add something positive, and to give some resources for those who want to make a change.  I'll start with a couple of great websites. The first is Adbusters , and the second is Mother Earth News .
A positive step which anyone can take is, after reading a blog or watching a film or just drawing your own conclusions, to pass the message on. After all, consumerism is about illusions. Free (and truthful) information is a sign of true freedom, not the disease of mindless consumerism.

I've posted this before, but it fits this topic perfectly - The Story Of Stuff:

Haiti, 1915

  Haiti has a troubled past. The US has a long history of imperialism. Unsurprisingly, the US has been involved with Haiti's history for decades. In 1915, Haiti was invaded by US marines to "protect American and foreign" interests. For PR purposes, the occupation was labeled as a mission to “re-establish peace and order... and has nothing to do with any diplomatic negotiations of the past or the future”.
From wikipedia:
  "Through American manipulation, 40% of the national income was used to alleviate the debt repayment to both American and French banks. Despite the large sums due to overseas banks, this economic decision ignored the interests of the majority of the Haitian population and froze the economic growth the country needed. For the next nineteen years, advisers of the United States governed the country, enforced by the United States Marine Corps."

  One famous participant in the occupation was General Smedley Butler. He was the author of War Is a Racket, a publication with condemned the use of US military might to defend the interests of a small number of very wealthy people. Here is one of many memorable quotes: 

  "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for theNational City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

  Interestingly, a condensed version was printed in Reader's Digest in 1935, in which he was praised for his "moral as well as physical courage". How times change.

Take a look at some great War Is a Racket and US Intervention shirts if you're in the mood.

  

The Blue Closet

  Our seas and oceans have been popular dumping grounds for many decades. People have dumped all manner of waste: raw sewage, household trash, medical waste, explosives, chemicals (including chemical weapons such as nerve agents) and varying levels of radioactive materials.
Household trash, and in particular plastic, is one of the more visible and widespread pollutants of the "blue closet".
  It is becoming apparent that efforts to reduce the scale of the problem have failed, and it continues to get worse. For example, "20,000 tons of waste finds its way into the North Sea alone, primarily from ships and the fishing industry". Of course, the problem is a global one, and I'm sure we've all heard about the giant floating garbage patches in our oceans. On average, there are "18,000 visible bits of plastic floating on every square kilometer of sea", according to one study. Like our disappearing icebergs, there is more below the surface. In fact, "up to 67 percent of the trash sinks to the sea floor".
  The volume of plastics and their ingestion by wildlife is not the only problem facing us. The plastics attract some of the many chemical pollutants in the water, concentrating them to levels up to "a million times higher than normal".
  As those toxins enter the food chain, the concentrations only increase in the creatures at the top. That would be you.

You can read the full article here or just view the accompanying photos here.
You can find shirts on this issue here and here.

Soldiers Of God

In 1998, a twenty-four part documentary, entitled "Cold War", was first broadcast. Each episode dealt with a different aspect of the Cold War and covered the entire span from it's origins prior to 1945, to the fall of the Wall in 1989 and beyond. This series was available on VHS, but Bush II had some footage re-classified, and this is probably the main reason why it is no longer available for sale. Episode 20, Soldiers Of God, dealt with the US-supported resistence to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. I really should have posted this yesterday (since it was Groundhog Day).



From Wikipedia: "Episode 20, "Soldiers of God", shows Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1980, giving a speech to the mullahs and mujahideen fighters between the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan encouraging the Muslim mujahideen fighters through his Pakistani translator saying "We know of their deep belief in God and we are confident that their struggle will succeed. That land over there is yours. You will go back to it one day, because your fight will prevail and you'll have your homes and your mosques back again, because your cause is right and God is on your side." — while assuring them of unconditional American government support; and interviewed State Department officials confirming that the United States uncritically supported the Pakistani government for the sake of American interests in Afghanistan."