Death of a Brazilian and the increasing desperation of the elites

[JohnyCanuck]

Death of a Brazilian or how to massage the facts to fit the crime

by William Bowles • Saturday, 30 July 2005

<snip>

.....I would like to offer the following observations on the government’s tactics that point I think to some serious flaws in the government’s calculations that first and foremost hinge around the disastrous debacle of the Menezes murder.

In the first instance, it is clear that as the situation goes from bad to worse in Iraq, it has revealed the strategic disaster that is the ‘war on terror’ from which the USUK alliance is unlikely to recover. All attempts to bring the other leading capitalist states onboard have failed miserably, so with every passing day, the ‘coalition of the killing’ finds itself ever more isolated and most dangerous of all, desperate. Those who scorn the idea that 7/7 was in actuality instigated by the security services of the ‘Axis of Terror’, the US, UK and Israel, need to bear this reality in mind, never mind alleged forged photos, airbrushed images and the like.

And if we need proof of this we need only note the change of tack announced this week; goodbye to ‘the war on terror’, hello to ‘the war on violent extremism’. Extremism of course is a much wider and even vaguer definition than ‘terror’, for clearly this change in tactics is designed to prepare us for the next stage in the creation of a full-blown police state simply because it is inevitable that resistance to Blair’s policies will increase as the implications of the failed invasion sink in.

The announcement of new and even more repressive state powers this week, are a clear indication of the increasing desperation of the ruling elite’s situation, justified by the ‘convenient’ events of July 7 (and what I still consider as the accident of the botched and obviously amateur copycat attempts on July 21).

More at: http://www.williambowles.info/ini/ini-0354.html

My advice to everyone, don't just bookmark important articles or links, save to your hard drive and/or print out hard copies. When they close down dissent on the internet at least we can still do like the Russians under the old dictatorial Soviet regime, photocopy and circulate hard copies of "subversive" literature. Reputedly it helped bring down the old USSR when the internet was still just a twinkle in Al Gore's eye.

[Cha]

1. This is very good!

William Bowles nails it, imo.

But, :wtf: does this mean?

"There is nothing patriotic about our pretending that you can love your country but despise your government.” – President Bill Clinton

Something else I disagree with Bill Clinton on.

My government can go take a flying fuck in the outer stratosphere.:patriot:

[asianmale]

3. My government can go take a flying fuck in the outer stratosphere

Does this also mean that the majority of Americans can also
take a flying fuck into the stratosphere? Not likely.
Just calm down, take a deep breath and work with us calmly for
change. You will never convince a middle of the road voter to
come our way with that sort of attitude. Who would want you or
someone like you with that attitude in office. That is what
Pres. Clinton is referring to and also is the meaning of the
quote by Gov Dean at the bottom of your post. We are after all
a democracy. Hate of the opposition will only widen the gulf
and prevent liberal ideas from gaining traction. The other
side has the machine gun. Lets not hand them the ammo.

[JohnyCanuck]

4. "We are after all a democracy," to me that's debatable .

What you have is a pseudo democracy where the "free" press has been co-opted into a sick joke by its corporate owners so that debate is controlled, elections can be rigged and choices limited by the powerful economic interests and forces whose main goal is to funnel more wealth into fewer and fewer hands.

Not that I am saying we in Canada are not increasingly running into the same types of problems where the business and economic elite set the tone and the press and politicians follow along. It's just that in the US, it's becoming ever more blatantly obvious as to the true state of affairs as to who runs the show.

Recognising al-democratiyya al-shakliyya (facade democracy) in America

Americans like to see themselves as the models and champions of democracy in the world. Every four years the US presidential elections are hailed as proving the strength, vibrancy and success of democracy in America, although the image was somewhat tarnished by the fiasco of the elections in 2000, won by Al Gore but hijacked by George W. Bush with the help of the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, the Americans’ self-image remains undented, as does their determination – according to American propagandists – to maintain the promotion of democracy as the underlying objective of US foreign policy. Democracy is seen as the key to reforming the Muslim world of its backward commitment to Islam and its stubborn refusal to accept the inescapable reality of benevolent American hegemony. Anyone would think that Arabs and Muslims know nothing about democracy and elections; in fact, the Arab world has become the acknowledged centre of a particular kind of democratic institution and process that appears to be spreading to the US rather more effectively than supposedly liberal or secular democracy is spreading to the Muslim world.

Al-democratiyya al-shakliyya – usually translated as ‘facade democracy’ – has long been a recognised phenomenon in the Arab world, and the use of the term has been taken up by political scientists discussing Middle Eastern political structures and processes, and similar processes in other authoritarian countries. It refers to the establishment of institutions and processes that have all the trappings of democratic politics without making any genuine difference to the established power structures in the country. Egypt is perhaps the classic example in the Arab world. It has several competing political parties, regular elections to a parliament, known as the People’s Assembly, and, through this parliament, an indirectly elected President. In reality, no one believes that this apparatus is any serious check on the power of the system: serves not to make the government accountable to the people, but to secure and legitimise the position of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and the military elites who control it. Egypt was once hailed as a model of political liberalization that would lead the way for democratization in the Middle East. Such claims are more muted now, as people have recognised that supposedly democratic institutions have actually become instruments by which Egypt’s authoritarian rulers channel the patronage that greases their power, and have done nothing to make them less authoritarian. Despite the Egyptian experience, similar processes of political liberalization are being promoted as processes of democratization in Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that facade democracy –also known, tellingly, among political scientists as ‘controlled democracy’ – is all the democracy the US and the West really want in Muslim countries; the simplest logic would confirm, after all, that genuinely representative and accountable government in the Muslim world would be extremely unlikely to accept US hegemony for long.

In truth, the emergence of this model of facade democracy in the Muslim world is nothing very surprising. Political scientists have long recognised that one of the strengths of democratic systems is that they can cope with popular dissent and anger at states and governments without the actual systems of government being threatened; whereas authoritarian systems of government are difficult to change without being actually overthrown. For an authoritarian state to use democratic mechanisms to absorb popular demands for participation and accountability to save themselves from being more seriously threatened is logical and obvious. The question which arises is whether this understanding might not also offer insights into the working of democracies in the West, particularly the modern home of democracy, the United States of America.

<snip>

There is, of course, increasing unrest about this status quo among some in the US, especially since the particularly blatant manipulation of the elections in 2000 by a small clique within the elite. However, this unrest will not be allowed to seriously challenge the system; at most some minor reforms may be permitted to allay the disquiet. Fundamentally, the elites in the US are as secure in power as those in Egypt, with the advantage that they have two analogues of the NDP to offer the public in lieu of any genuine contest for political power. This is a quality and sophistication of facade democracy that the ‘controlled democracies’ of the Middle East have yet to achieve.

http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/editorial04/editor179b.htm

[Ms. Clio]

5. Al-democratiyya al-shakliyya -- it's not just for the Middle East anymore

What a fascinating piece, thanks very much for posting it.

[Karenina]

6. Required reading. n/t

[wli]

7. that's exactly what's going on

We are in a fascist dictatorship. The spectacles in Washington, D.C. are a sham.

[forwardthinker]

8. What saddens me...

about this and many other discussions here on DU is the overwhelmingly defeatist attitude. I for one still feel free. Is that only because I'm a straight white male? I work for a living, I've been without health insurance going on nine years now, but I still feel like we live in a free society where opportunities abound for the motivated. The 2000 elections were a sad sham, it's true... the same thing nearly happened in the governor's race in my native Washington state.

There will be another election.

The past is behind us, the present is all we've got.

Right now, I live in Colorado and I intend to put more effort into getting a democrat elected Governor here in '06 than hating the loophole in the system that passed power to Bush in '00.

[asianmale]

9. The past is behind us, the present is all we've got

Correct
I too am free although not white. Never wanted to be white. Just free.
When I think of what my parents went through to get me here I am always enraged by the narrow minded stupidity of those that haven't a clue as to the preciousness of their freedom to say and do as they please. Where my parents came from you could be murdered in your bed or hauled off and never heard from again for the mere crime of having an education. Dissent--ha! Use the word as a synonym for death. One post in a forum like this would lead to oblivion. I consider myself to be incredibly fortunate to have grown up in America. To have been educated here. To have an opportunity to raise my own family without fear. Nothing is perfect. Our government will always need improvement and monitoring provided by the people.
Bush may not be the ideal leader for America but I believe we can and must work together in a rational positive manner to elect those we can trust to safeguard our children and grandchildren. Niggling negativism only creates a clique of mis-trust and fosters insane conspiracy theories which eclipse common sense and prevents us from working efficiently toward our ideal goals.
Ok so start flaming me. I am a liberal Asian guy with a brain and an education. If I am not part of the team you are on I guess I should know it now.

[JohnyCanuck]

10. That's the beauty of the system from their point of view

Well intentioned good hearted people will continue to plug away in the expectation that they can and will make a difference, but nothing fundamental will change until and unless their is some type of total economic collapse similar to what happened in the USSR and Eastern Europe in the 80s. In the meantime the corporations and money will continue to control the system, shove their genetically modified food down our throats and their establishment propaganda BS into the heads of the zombified populace via the co-opted Pravda media, so that no real, long term, meaningful change will occur.

That doesn't mean of course that I just sit back without trying to do what I can to make a difference, unfortunately I've pretty much given up on any of the established political parties either in Canada or the US as being able to make a real difference as to the way things are being run. So I just do my bit to spread the word as I can by doing such things as handing out or leaving around deception dollars www.deceptiondollar.com and articles I've found on DU and the web in waiting rooms, restaurants, newspaper boxes, public transit, book stores and libraries. I also talk to as many people as I can from friends, relatives to the cable guy when he came to work on my cable TV problem. I am currently talking to my British teenage relatives, both thinking about joining the Territorial Army (i.e. the British equivalent of the reserves), about the hazards of depleted uranium munitions http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4124449 and showing them how the establishment doesn't really give a tinker's damn if they get poisoned with the shit as they would just be two more insignificant and expendable pawns in the ongoing war to control the remaining oil resources.

However while I am hoping for the best, I am still expecting the worst. I fully expect as the Peak Oil issue plays out that we see ever more drastic controls on our traditional freedoms such as freedom of speech and freedom to travel etc. I actually do feel like I am and Austrian living in the Austria of the early 1930s and wondering when the Anschluss is going to come. Not that I am expecting a full scale military invasion from South of the border, but rather a further integration of the Canadian armed forces and security services, customs and immigration etc. with their US counterparts as appears to be taking place right now with the connivance of the sell-out Canadian political establishment and business interests.

Loss of Canadian Sovereignty : US Interference in Canadian Criminal Law and Canadian Policy in the arrest of Marc Emery, advocate for Legalization of Marijuana

by Connie Fogal, Leader Canadian Action Party
July 31, 2005

The arrest of Marc Emery and two others on July 29, 2005 in Canada to serve the questionable USA War On Drugs is a wake up call for Canadians. Marc Emery is a serious activist promoting the legalization of Marijuana use in Canada. The significance for Canadians of his arrest is not about anyone's personal attitude to the legalization of marijuana. The significance speaks to the core of being Canadian, being a sovereign nation, being able to make decisions we choose in our interest, in our own time, on our own terms.

<snip>

Canadians are entitled to be protected from the over-reach of any foreign jurisdiction, including the USA. It is time Canadians put the reigns on our government's complicity with the unification of North America into one union under US dominance and control. It is time our government ceased its endless cow-towing to Canada's corporate elite of anti Canadians, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, who are leading the charge in Canada to unify North America in their interests.

From its inception in 1997 the Canadian Action Party has a commitment to act on taking back the sovereignty of Canada, to living up to the citizen protections that exist in our Canadian Constitution. We are not content to give just lip service to the warnings and information coming from think tanks like the Center for Canadian Policy Alternatives, or nonprofit organizations like the Defence of Canadian Liberty Committee, the Council of Canadians, or from Canadian lawyers like Rocco Galati, and Canadian academics like Michel Chossudovsky, William Krehm, Mel Hurtig, Naomi Klein, Murray Dobbin, Linda McQuaig. We say it is time to take back our country for our own people. It is time to rid ourselves of the clout of the anti Canadians.

The Canadian Action Party demands a national referendum to decide if we want Canada to end as an entity, and to decide if we want to be a part of a common union of North America under US control. We say it is tantamount to treason for national leaders and bureaucracy and the CEOs of major Canadian corporations to be setting in process the demise of Canada without the knowledge and consent of Canadians.

http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20050731224537889

[tabasco]

11. Incorrect, the past is with us each and very day.

We abide by a Constitution ratified in 1789.

The education you speak of should have impressed you with the importance of history to current events.

The past cannot be changed but to disregard it is stupid.

"Bush may not be the ideal leader..." The understatement of the century. Bush is the nominal leader of a corporate cabal that will destroy all of the wonderful things about this country. As an educated person, if you fail to acknowledge this, you are part of the problem. Dissent in a democracy is not niggling negativism. Your statement reminds me of a republican criminal named Spiro Agnew.

I served this Nation as an infantryman for many years. If you have not already done so, perhaps it is time to stop proclaiming your love of country on message boards and back it up with action.

[Beam Me Up]

2. Excellent article. Nominated n/t