Marking the fortieth anniversary of MLK's assassination made me rethink other assassinations knowing I fear one coming on, Is the right behind all of these? As some of you know, I am increasingly pessimistic about the real history of events involving America since the advent of George W. made me realize nothing is as it seems or as we are told. realizing that we not only do not know the truth as to who assassinated MLK but RFK and JFK. The only one we know for sure and its motivation and who was behind it was Reagan's. What a coincidence! Knowing I absolutely expect Obama to be assassinated if it looks like he may get elected by the powers behind the right as they will not allow a unifier as President let alone a Black, I was compelled to delve into past assassinations.
Assassinations and Attempts in U.S. Since 1865
- Lincoln, Abraham (president of U.S: Shot April 14, 1865, in Washington, DC, by John Wilkes Booth; died April 15.
- Seward, William H. (secretary of state): Escaped assassination (though injured) April 14, 1865, in Washington, DC, by Lewis Powell (or Paine), accomplice of John Wilkes Booth.
- Garfield, James A. (president of U.S.): Shot July 2, 1881, in Washington, DC, by Charles J. Guiteau; died Sept. 19.
- McKinley, William (president of U.S.): Shot Sept. 6, 1901, in Buffalo by Leon Czolgosz; died Sept. 14.
- Roosevelt, Theodore (ex-president of U.S.): Escaped assassination (though shot) Oct. 14, 1912, in Milwaukee while campaigning for president.
- Cermak, Anton J. (mayor of Chicago): Shot Feb. 15, 1933, in Miami by Giuseppe Zangara, who attempted to assassinate Franklin D. Roosevelt; Cermak died March 6.
- Roosevelt, Franklin D. (president-elect of U.S.): Escaped assassination unhurt Feb. 15, 1933, in Miami.
- Long, Huey P. (U.S. senator from Louisiana): Shot Sept. 8, 1935, in Baton Rouge by Dr. Carl A. Weiss; died Sept. 10.
- Truman, Harry S. (president of U.S.): Escaped assassination unhurt Nov. 1, 1950, in Washington, DC, as 2 Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to shoot their way into Blair House.
- Kennedy, John F. (president of U.S.): Shot Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Tex., allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald; died same day. Injured was Gov. John B. Connally of Texas. Oswald was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby.
- Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (black activist): Shot and killed in a New York City auditorium, Feb. 21, 1965; his killer(s) were never positively identified.
- King, Martin Luther, Jr. (civil rights leader): Shot April 4, 1968, in Memphis by James Earl Ray; died same day.
- Kennedy, Robert F. (U.S. senator from New York): Shot June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan; died June 6.
- Wallace, George C. (governor of Alabama): Shot and critically wounded in assassination attempt May 15, 1972, at Laurel, Md., by Arthur Herman Bremer. Wallace paralyzed from waist down.
- Ford, Gerald R. (president of U.S.): Escaped assassination attempt Sept. 5, 1975, in Sacramento, Calif., by Lynette Alice (Squeaky) Fromme, who pointed but did not fire .45-caliber pistol. Escaped assassination attempt in San Francisco, Calif., Sept. 22, 1975, by Sara Jane Moore, who fired one shot from a .38-caliber pistol that was deflected.
- Jordan, Vernon E., Jr. (civil rights leader): Shot and critically wounded in assassination attempt May 29, 1980, in Fort Wayne, Ind.
- Reagan, Ronald (president of U.S.): Shot in left lung in Washington by John W. Hinckley, Jr., on March 30, 1981; three others also wounded. Assassinations and Attempts in U.S. Since 1865
I started wondering if it has become common to at least attempt to assassinate the leader of the other Party if they appear to be too much of a threat to your beliefs. More importantly I am seeing disturbing patterns. we are having civil Rights leader and Activists killed along with FRK and JFK and not only are they inadequately investigated but the truth never known as to who was behind their killings and why.
Although James Earl Ray was convicted of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., there are persistent doubts that he was the assassin, and the family of Dr. King now believes Ray is innocent. They are calling for a new trial for Ray, and investigation into the truth behind the event. This page is a collection of materials and links that discuss this tragic event, but even if the case is never solved to the satisfaction of everyone, the investigations have served a useful purpose: to reveal deficiencies in our institutions, processes, and officials that require corrective action. Our focus will be on what needs to be done to correct those deficiencies.
- Citizens for Truth about the Kennedy Assassination (CTKA) — Their Probe magazine online, with material on the assassinations of RFK, MLK, and others.
- Who Shot Martin Luther King? — in six chapters.
- Coalition on Political Assassinations — Researches JFK, RFK, MLK and other assassinations. Researches JFK, RFK, MLK and other assassinations
The truth is never lnown and I am finding out that RFK's assassination was and still is a major cover up. This is mind-blowing! The extensive cover up
Knowing we never learned the truth behind the assassinations of MLK, RFK, and JFK, and knowing how openly corruptive and underhanded the right is today I am increasingly believing that the powers behind the right are behind the killings and I am willing to bet I'm right. I would like to know what you think about that? knowing that and knowing those powers can not let the abusive power gained under Bush to get in the hands of Democrats I expect the right to do something underhanded to stay at the helm of these just beginning Forever Wars. As a last resort I fully expect those powers whoever they are to assassinate Obama too.
James Joiner
Gardner Ma
16 comments:
The 60's were devastating having JFK, Malcom X, MLK, and RFK assassinated in one decade. That effectively killed the dream. Who knows how far that set back America. Those assassinations handed America to the right wingers. We've been firmly in their grasp ever since as FDR's New Deal has been unravled.
That grip is starting to loosen with the prospect of a shift in power back to the people, at least perceived.
Hard to say how desperate the powers at be will get or what they will do if their precious war monies go away or their precious oil profits evaporate. Hard to say what the military industrial complex is capable of if they see their bloated budgets cut.
But we will likely find out unless McCain wins in which case they'll be partying like it's 2000 again while they plot more wars and more ways to keep us dependent on oil.
The first assassination that really jolted me into a state of shock was JFK. I was modeling hats for the newspaper and the manager at the fancy store, Aurbaches, and I were working to try to find the next most exotic and expensive hat for me to have my photograph taken in again by the news paper photographer.Somehow he heard that JFK had been shot in Dallas. We were the first two people to hear the news in our little frivolous world, and it took us both to our knees. She started wailing and I just doubled over leaking tears, unstoppable tears for days. We just left the store, told no one. We went to her house and watched the news coverage, listening to every second of coverage. I slept on her couch for a couple of days. We watched everything unfold. LBJ and Ladybird on Air Force One. It seems as if from beginning to end it was moments, maybe a couple of days but it has been going on since then at a pretty steady clip, still playing out. I never saw a sadder funeral. We were so stunned, sick with grief. Then Jack Ruby kills Oswald. Then Bobby. Then Martin, and I remember again the second I heard about Martin Luther Kings assassination. I was living in Venice Beach on the canals. I heard it on TV, then ran outside to lean over the garden gate, and my neighbor come running over to tell me the "good News." I cannot repeat the things he said about Dr. King, but his happiness, his delight that he could run through the neighborhood to spread the happy news pushed me into a rage I had no idea I was capable of. I clawed his face, I kicked him and eventually pushed him in the canal. I used language I can't repeat. And he sat in the shallow muddy water and laughed at me.
Before that moment, I had not really understood the hatred of white men, who think they just might loose their entitlement to feel superior to other men. Now it really seems about to slip away. Women almost escaped being the last reliable repository of male authority and entitlement, but, not so fast. No ERA for us. Just endless vows to trust and obey. Hard won protections against discrimination stripped away quietly and the bombs in mid air.......
Obviously i've been made to feel fear, but not ever of an outside enemy. I've always known it resides in the soul of this nation. It works in DC. I used to call it J Edgar Hoover. I have no idea who it is now except, Rove, Libby, Cheney,Rummy, Yoo, Gonzales, too many to name, and all the anonymous replacements, as the thugs and liars slipped out of our White House as if they were cat burglars.
my mom lived in those times and she said that some felt at the time it was government ordered hits on the kennedys. evidence filters out and is denounced by the government as conspiracy theories- but i can't imagine that all of the evidence can be chalked up to that. when you have talking heads like hannity and hasslebitch of the view openly talking about an obama assassination and limbaugh and the rest attempting to compare him to the kennedys- i think you may want to pay attention.
shifter
I was just reading Larry's post on McCain at Lydia's. It is good of course and he links to you so people can learn so good. I hope we can make a difference but I am afraid speaking the truth will again just label you as unpatriotic or anti American. We cannot afford him in office.
Knowing what happened in the 60's is why I fear for Obama and the country if I'm right. Just think about it. That would give Bush the re4ason to take control!
Wow Utah that's a heck of a recount. After researching today I came to the conclusion that whoever the hell it is behind the powers on the right are the ones that had MLK,RFK, and JFK, killed. Did you read the cover ups?
I am afraid you are right about Rove Cheney and the rest. I absolutely 100% expect Obama to be assassinated if it comes to that. Just imagine the country exploding then and Bush can take total control of us.
betmo
After researching this I am convinced those behind the right had it done and I fully expect it to happen to Obama too. Just imagine the eruption in America and Bush will be able to take total control of all of us and use those FEMA concentration camps.
As usual as we see in every instance today as you hit on the truth you are simply labeled as a conspiracy theorist as the greatest conspirasy in History, the stealing of America continues!
Re: Maverick?
Thank you so much for answering the questions I posed in my piece. This is the good life for a lazy old liberal and technologically challenged dabbler.
Your welcome and you deserve the good life. I am a truth seeker turned writer of the truth and political and news analyst after 9/11 because we are living an obvious lie. No one can be as technically challenged as me I hate these things!
Jim,
I also fear an assassination if Obama gets the nomination and he begins to bury McCain in the polls.
The neocon elite will do anything to maintain control, and anything means anything.
Here is paydirt Jim:
Is there a secret world government?
Svetlana Kuzina
Effedieffe
A book written by former British intelligence officer John Coleman was recently released in Russia. Coleman details a conspiracy of the world's elite against mankind
The Committee of Three Hundred
Many people no longer believe that presidents, premier ministers and other "visible" officials rule their countries. Instead, they suspect that the real authority – one that is powerful, unwavering and secret – is concentrated in the hands of others. Like the masons for example. The truly paranoid have devised the so-called "International Conspiracy Theory," which tells how a handful of wealthy, highly positioned individuals rule the world. This group of decision-makers launches wars, invents deadly diseases and pumps the population full of narcotics, alcohol and pornography to get rid of the world's dead weight. Consequently, a population of 1 billion select individuals will someday remain. They will freely enjoy the blessings of nature – clean air, freshwater and natural food.
It seems ludicrous, but recently a British intelligence officer from M16 has asserted that this secret international organization does exist in his book, "The Conspirators Hierarchy: The Committee of Three Hundred."
"During my career as an officer in British intelligence," Coleman writes, "I received access to strictly confidential documents on numerous occasions. Their contents were unexpectedly straightforward. I learned that there are powers that control the governments of many nations. I was taken aback and decided to inform a world living in ignorance. Imagine a powerful group that doesn't recognize any national borders that is involved in the financial, insurance, coal-mining, pharmaceutical and oil industries -- whose members only answer to the group. This is the ‘Committee of Three Hundred,' an elite group that has ruled the world from 1897. Its backbone today is the world's 300 most influential people."
Powerful conspirators
Coleman writes that secret organizations and think tanks work for the Committee of Three Hundred. A list of these institutions follows.
As of 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has consisted of the most influential individuals in the U.S. and Western world, ranging from current and previous presidents to CIA officials. The CFR was established by the American banker J.P. Morgan, and controls the U.S. Federal Reserve system, New York Stock Exchange and leading mass media.
In 1954, the Bilderberg Group held its original conference uniting the American and European elite. (The organization was named after the Hotel de Bilderberg in Oosterbeek in the Netherlands where the meeting took place.)
In 1973, a third influential structure came into being – the Trilateral Commission – consisting of representatives from the U.S., Europe and Japan. The organization's goal is to "create a mechanism of global planning and long-term repartition of resources."
Since 1968, the Club of Rome has been one of the most important foreign affairs divisions of the Committee of Three Hundred. The organization unites scholars, globalists, futurists and internationalists of various suites. The organization has its own private intelligence agencies and "borrows" information from Interpol, the FSB and Mossad.
The millionaire executive David Rockefeller controls the activities of these organizations.
A short list of periphery organizations lending assistance to these four intelligence giants are: Round Table, David Millner Group, Order of St John, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, The China Fund, Inc., Fabian Society, Black Nobility, Mont Pelerin Society, Hellfire Club and the Masons.
The mother of all international think thanks and research institutions is the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, which is beginning to help the Stanford Research Institute.
Coleman writes that past and present members of the Committee of Three Hundred include the Queen of England, the Queen of the Netherlands, the Queen of Denmark, European royal families, George Bush, Edward Carter, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Francois Mitterrand, Jean Monet, Ernest Oppenheimer and his heir Henry.
In the mid-1990s, Russia was invited to participate in establishing a single world state.
"Boris Yeltsin adhered to the decrees of the Committee of Three Hundred in an experiment to bind Russia to the will of the ruling elite," writes Coleman.
Heap of plans
Coleman describes the new world order as seen by the Committee of Three Hundred.
Leaders: There will be a single world state and monetary system ruled by unelected oligarchs and their royal lineage, who will appoint leaders from their own ranks in a feudal system as existed in the Middle Ages.
Religion: Only one religion will be permitted in the form of a state church. The church has existed secretly since 1920. All Christian churches will be prohibited.
Control: All individuals will have an identification number. The numbers will be entered into a composite file at NATO in Brussels together with details dossiers.
Family: Marriages will be canceled. Children will be taken from their parents at an early age. They will be raised at special institutions like state property. Free sex will be compulsory.
Children: If a woman gets pregnant after having two children, she will be immediately sent for an abortion and sterilization.
Resources: Only members of the Committee of Three Hundred and select individuals will have the right to make use of natural resources. Agriculture will be completely controlled by the Committee of Three Hundred, and food processing will be strictly controlled.
Social Policy: At least 4 billion "useless individuals" will be exterminated by 2050 as a result of territorial wars, organized deadly epidemics, quickly spreading diseases and hunger. Electrical energy, food and water will sufficiently provide for the white population of Western Europe and North America and only later different races. The populations of Canada, Western Europe and the U.S. will decrease more quickly than on other continents until the population reaches the controllable level of 1 billion. Of these individuals, 500 million will be Chinese and Japanese, who will be "chosen" as they have been subject to strict regulations and unquestioningly obeying authorities for centuries.
Current situation
Coleman asserts that individuals who are party to the single world state are strenuously brainwashing the population, rewriting history, creating ideal individuals and working to decrease the population.
Profiling is a method developed in 1922 by an order of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The method was based on principles similar to today's NLP, which helps to influence people's ideas and decisions. The method was used by Major John Riz, British military specialist, on 80,000 "guinea pigs" from the British Army and prisoners of war, who were subjected to many types of psychological testing. Later, a special brainwashing center for the civil population was established at the University of Sussex. This super-secret organization was called the Institute of Scientific Politics.
The Rockefeller Fund subsidized scholarly work to create an ideal history after the end of World War II, when Anglo-American troops naturally came out the winners.
The Rockefeller Fund is also sponsoring genetic maps of the qualities of the ideal human in closed laboratories on the basis of the genome to grow test-tube geniuses and docile invincible soldiers.
A program regulating the growth of the population was approved at a conference of the world state. Its main goal is to ensure a low birth level in countries outside Western civilization. The program covers 100 countries and utilizes measures such as the forced sterilization of men and women.
Military Officer's Opinion
Vladimir Nikiforov, former KGB colonel, senior officer of the First Division of the Fifth Department of the Committee of Foreign Economic Relations, says the Masons have bought everything.
"In the 1980s, I was a supervisor in Southeastern Asia. I worked in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and China. Of course, I met with my colleagues from intelligence agencies and worked with the states of these nations. And on numerous occasions I was told about the existence of a world state in personal conversations. All presidents resist its dictatorship, but they know that they have long been puppets of this ruling system composing only 2 percent of the world's population – the richest individuals. I know for sure that the Queen of England and King of Spain and his wife are members. This so-called world state bought everything. They wage wars under the pretense of huge state interests and safety and invent artificial diseases such as the Bird Flu to control people and get rid of human dead weight. As a result, as I've been told, this secret world state will create a controllable mass. The center of the organization is in New York on Fifth Avenue in a large temple not far from where the twin towers were destroyed in 2001. They meet there from time to time."
Try this Jim:
Bad Samaritans – The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
Review of Ha-Joon Chang's Book
By Jim Miles
Bad Samaritans – The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism. Ha-Joon Chang. Bloomsbury Press, New York, 2008.
Every now and then a ‘prize’ of a book comes along that includes all the elements of good writing. Bad Samaritans is one of them. Using straightforward language that generally avoids using the lexicon of economists, and explains it well when it is used, Ha-Joon Chang writes a strong narrative about the ills of the capitalist world. It is a combination of anecdotal history and comparative history that uses many good statistical elements to support his common sense arguments. Most chapters begin with an interesting anecdotal tale that illustrates the theme of that chapter, and all chapters end with an effective summary of his arguments. His title is most appropriate as he readily supports his position that free trade is a myth, and a realistic presentation of the history of capitalism demonstrates the reality behind the myth.
The main underlying position that demolishes the myth of capitalist free trade and its supposed successes with globalization is that all the current wealthy countries achieved their wealth not through free trade, but through the use of highly protective tariffs and effective use of subsidies and laws that regulated foreign business within their own country. He starts with his own country, Korea.
According to the neo-liberal economists – the supporters and apologists for free trade capitalism – Korea succeeded because “it followed the dictates of the free market.” The combination of this belief with Korea’s export success created a “popular impression” of this ‘truth’. As clearly explained by Chang, “The Korean miracle was the result of a clever and pragmatic mixture of market incentives and state direction.” Extending the same argument further he states what is his main theme on the history of capitalism as being “so totally rewritten that many people in the rich world do not perceive the historical double standards involved in recommending free trade and free market to developing countries.”
Chang then starts his journey around the globe. Along the way, he exposes this double standard, as well as debunking myths about democracy as an accompaniment to free trade and economic development, and also eliminates culture as a reason for success or lack thereof, and corruption as an excuse for failure. Using per capita income as his measure, rather then the neoliberals’ cherished GDP figures, he journeys through Hong Kong, Africa (with its “damning indictment of the neoliberal orthodoxy”), on to Taiwan, Singapore, China, India and Chile to sum up that “the truth of post-1945 globalization is almost the polar opposite of official history…peddled in order to mask the failure of neo-liberal policies.”
Using Britain, and an anecdotal tale of Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe), to answer the question “How did rich countries become rich?” Chang concludes “Britain adopted free trade only when it had acquired a technological lead over its competitors ‘behind high and long lasting tariff barriers.’” The next step is to the United States and an examination of the policies of Alexander Hamilton, Lincoln, and Henry Clay where “Despite being the most protectionist country in the world throughout the 19th century and right up to the 1920s, the US was also the fastest growing economy.” Both Britain and the U.S. had the highest tariff protection of all countries ever (except for Spain in the 1930s).
From these leading examples and conclusions it is easy to further the argument that free trade is not working because it forces developing countries to eliminate the very same protective barriers that the rich countries used to gain their wealth. Mexico is the main example at this point, before Chang turns to more ‘pure’ arguments on free trade theory and carefully deconstructs them. Rather than free trade, the argument turns to support the idea of using protective tariffs and subsidies in areas where undeveloped countries need them, in order to grow their economies as the rich countries initially did.
At this point the reader also needs to consider the tendencies of “full spectrum dominance” both militarily and economically as an imperial tendency of the United States. There is no real desire on the part of the American neo-liberals (nor their counterparts elsewhere) to actually aid the world. In geographical terms it becomes a heartland – hinterland relationship with the poorer countries remaining poor and supplying raw materials to the gathering wealth of the heartland. There is no genuineness for the current western governments to help developing countries become economically stronger and more competitive.
The arguments against free trade then become more specific concerning different aspects of the arguments. First, the regulation of foreign investment is considered, with the prime example being Nokia in Finland. The free trader arguments are reversed and applied common-sensically – if the rich countries believe in free trade so much, why not let the developing countries decide if they want to restrict foreign investment or not rather than impose non-restrictive regulations through trade agreements? Ending back on Nokia, which was protected for 17 years and is now a world leader in communications, Chang concludes that restricting regulations of foreign investment “is likely to hinder, rather than help, their economic development.”
Looking more specifically at private versus public enterprise, and again journeying around the world via Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, China, Europe, South America, a strong case is made for public enterprise and highlights some of the “pitfalls of privatization.” In sum, “State-owned enterprises are often more practical solutions than a system of subsidies and regulations for private-sector providers…[and]…may be superior to private sector firms.”
The next focus is on intellectual ‘rights’, the idea of borrowing ideas. Once again, historical examples show that the rich countries previously copied much information and technological information while denying protection to foreign ideas in order to create their own wealth. Simply put, if the neoliberals truly believed in promoting development they would make it easier to acquire the information needed to do so rather than prevent its acquisition.
Democracy’s relationship with economic prosperity takes a strong hit, with a discussion of corruption and its various forms (bribery, employment, voting). Chang, using examples from America to Zaire, effectively argues against the neoliberal excuse that poor countries are poor because of corruption, citing several examples to show the converse, that “economic development does not automatically reduce corruption”. He extends the argument into democracy, saying that the “market runs on the principle of one dollar, one vote,” rather than the democratic one man, one vote. He concludes that democracy and markets, rather than being inseparable as argued by the neoliberals, actually “clash at a fundamental level.” As he has already demonstrated by this time that free markets “are not good at promoting economic development” by extension there is no “virtuous circle linking democracy, the free market and economic development.”
In fact, “The Bad Samaritans have recommended policies that actively seek to undermine democracy in developing countries,” with a corollary that “it is unlikely democracy will promote economic development through promoting the free market.” In other words, given a democratic choice, the people of the world would choose something other than the ‘free market’ as envisioned and dictated by the wealthy neoliberal supporters of the world. Chang provides two strong examples of re-directing government spending away from military spending to education, health, or infrastructure development, or promoting economic growth through creating a welfare state (which supports working mothers, children, education, hospitals, retirement and all those other nasty socialist ideas that the people of the world want but the neoliberals say hinder development). It all depends on your definition of development – more GDP for the transnational corporations, or more security and safety for the general populace.
Chang’s final conclusion is that if the neoliberals truly believed in creating economic wealth and development within the developing world, it would be in their best interest to “accept those ‘heretical’ policies.” While Chang holds out hope for changing the minds of neoliberals, I cannot be as optimistic, as the cumulative entrenched interests would require a strong midcourse correction from some major event – a catastrophic war, a major financial downturn….hmmm.
I would hope that peaceful persuasion as per Chang would succeed, but the state of the world today does not hold hope for optimism on this front. The rhetoric of free trade continues, while the wars to back it up and the unequal and oppressive regulations to control it continue to defy its very basic premise of freedom and democracy.
A wonderfully accessible work, Bad Samaritans should be read by anyone and everyone paying any attention to either national or global political affairs. Those wishing to refute free trade have a readily accessible volume. Those supporting “The Myth of Free Trade” had better take a second look at how their own wealth developed…if they did not already know the “Secret History of Capitalism.” An excellent work, it should become a cornerstone of the discussion moving forward to a more democratic and equal world.
Look at this Jim:
The Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreement: NAFTA Plus Homeland Security
By blackandred
The Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreement: NAFTA Plus Homeland Security
By Harsha Walia and Cynthia Oka;
The SPP was founded in March 2005 at a summit of the Heads of State of Canada, the US, and Mexico with the backing of powerful lobby groups including US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), and Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. Robert Pastor, co-chairman of the CFR, wrote an influential book in 2001 "Toward a North American Community" where he laid the foundations for the SPP through the idea of "North American institutions". In January 2003, CCCE released its North American Security and Prosperity Initiative which essentially became the template for the SPP.
The SPP calls for maximization of North American economic competitiveness in the face of growing exports from India and China; expedited means of resource (oil, natural gas, water, forest products) extraction; secure borders against "organized crime, international terrorism, and illegal migration"; standardized regulatory regimes for health, food safety, and the environment; integrated energy supply through a comprehensive resource security pact (primarily about ensuring that the US receives guaranteed flows of the oil in light of "Middle East insecurity and hostile Latin American regimes"); and coordination amongst defence forces.
Unlike other continental free trade agreements, the SPP is not an official treaty; rather, it is presented as a vague "dialogue based on shared values". Made operational through nineteen working groups that are outside the legislative process, the SPP has escaped any public debate. The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) is the only formal advisory board to the SPP and is made up exclusively of corporate CEOs. A September 13, 2006 story in Maclean's magazine describes the NACC as a "cherrypicked group of executives who [are being] asked to come up with a plan for taking North American integration beyond NAFTA." Members include the CEOs of Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Home Depot, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, and Wal-Mart. The NACC, representing private corporate interests, has therefore been "institutionalized" as a policy-making body, thus formalizing the patterns of existing corporate influence.
POLICIES
Over 300 policies and agreements have been scheduled and/or implemented to realize these priorities.
One of these is the integration of military and police training exercises, cooperation on law enforcement, and the expansion of the North American Aerospace Defense Command into a joint naval and land Defense Command. This also includes redesign of armed forces for combat overseas and greater cooperation in global wars as part of the 'external' defense strategy of the security perimeter.
Moves have also been made towards regional border militarization as part of the 'internal' security perimeter. In 2001, Canada's Deputy Prime Minister John Manley and US Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge signed the Smart Border Declaration, a 30-point plan which includes adoption of coordinated border surveillance technologies with major contracts provided to military suppliers. Other initiatives include fly-overs of the border by U.S. helicopters and a $101-million plan to arm Canadian border guards. The physical enforcement of such policies has been accompanied by the implementation of biometric programs, coordination of no-fly lists (the U.S no-fly list has grown to half a million names), a North American Border Pass, and increased tracking and intelligence-gathering on foreign nationals and 'high risk' people. The Canadian Advance Technology Alliance Biometrics Group has estimated that the biometric market has risen to US $2.6-billion.
Legislation to restrict the movement of people has extended to the integration of refugee policies, including information-sharing on asylum claimants through fingerprint records. In addition, the Safe Third Country Agreement, implemented in December 2004 between the US and Canada, has resulted in at least a 40% decrease in refugee applications in Canada. Notably, this agreement has recently been struck down by the Federal Court of Canada. Under the United States-Mexico "Voluntary Repatriation Program" more than 35,000 persons have been deported with increased border enforcement against Mexican migrants. The SPP also calls for 'sealing' of the southern Mexico border with Guatemala and Belize through Plan Sur.
This has led to huge profits for corporations involved in the 'Homeland Security' industries. Indeed, the role of the private sector in security initiatives was highlighted as one of the priorities at the NACC Trilateral Private Sector meeting, "As 85% of the United States critical infrastructure is owned or operated by the private sector, it is vital to our economic and national security that business is actively involved in the formulation of homeland security policies". For example, on Sept. 21 2006, Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced that a consortium headed by Boeing had won a multi-billion dollar contract to install sensors and radars along the U.S. border.
Meanwhile, to facilitate movement of extracted natural resources, good, and "preferred citizens" around this new North American zone, initiatives such as the "Business Resumption and Partners in Protection Program" and the "Fast and Secure Trade Pass" have been designed. Infrastructural development includes the "NAFTA Superhighway", a several hundred mile-long corridor including rail lines and pipelines from Mexico to the Canadian border. Transportation companies such as CN Rail have much to gain; in Western Canada alone CN plans to invest nearly Cndn $350 million in track infrastructure. CN Rail and its expansion has been the targets of various indigenous blockades by communities opposed to the project of nation-building through infrastructure development that leads to further expropriation of indigenous lands.
The SPP also calls for rapid expansion of temporary guest worker programs that are required to ensure cheap labour in light of the repressive migration and security controls. Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program is seen as the 'model' to implement, despite widespread documented abuse including being tied to the "importing" employer; facing deportation if workers assert their rights; and exploitative working conditions including low wages, long hours, substandard housing, and overt discrimination.
As is evident around the world, militarization is needed to ensure the goal of privatizing natural resources; in this case the primary targets being Mexico's nationalized oil sector and tar sands production in Alberta. The tar sands ("oil sands") are one of the world's largest petroleum resource basins. Oil sand operations currently produce around one million barrels a day; for Suncor -- one the corporations on the NACC -- that means daily gross revenue of $6 million. The SPP calls for a fivefold increase in tar sands production despite the fact that the tar sands have become the largest contributor to Canada's increase in greenhouse gas emissions and surrounding indigenous communities have documented high cancer rates. Carla Lewis of the Wet'suwet'en Nation writes, "Perhaps even a greater tragedy is occurring as our youth turn knives to their wrists and guns to their heads, as the loss of land and of cultural continuity lead to a devastating loss of hope."
Finally, harmonization of health and environmental regulations to lower standards and a less stringent "North American alternative" to the Kyoto Protocol are core features of the SPP. Recently, for example, a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration report claims that meat and milk from cloned animals is safe and it is expected that Canada and Mexico will follow suit under the SPP "food safety coordinating mechanism". Similarly, in 2007, Canada raised its limits on pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables in order to harmonize levels with that of the US, despite the greater health risk.
NAFTA ON STEROIDS
The SPP is premised on a particular articulation of "neoliberal economic freedom", which is constituted through practices such as biometric pre-clearance programs, the liberalization of rules-of-origins under NAFTA, and the development of trilateral policy frameworks to enhance freer movement of goods, capital, and electronic commerce. The exceptional freedom and mobility of corporations and businesspeople is dramatically contrasted with proliferating restrictions imposed on marginalized communities. Ironically, border controls are deployed against those whose very recourse to "illegal" migration resulted from the license afforded by free trade agreements to corporations to ravage entire economies and displace entire communities in the South. Similarly, the focus on resource extraction and development in the SPP will work to further dispossess and displace indigenous communities.
Neoliberalism is intensified in the SPP through an increased reliance on labor flexibility as a means of increasing profits; for example by undermining labor laws through employment of contract and part-time labor, as well as through the enforcement of exclusionary citizenship through Temporary Foreign Worker Programs. The expansion of guest worker programs allows for capital interests to increasingly access cheap labour that exists under precarious conditions, the most severe of which is the condition of being deportable. Given their unstable legal status, government and businesses are able to hyper-exploit migrant workers by denying them basic rights afforded to citizens. They also maintain the sanctity of the fortified national security apparatus and the racist regime of border imperialism by legalizing the 'foreign-ness' of migrant workers. HOMELAND SECURITY PLUS Pastor stated in an interview with Poder y Negocios, "The 9/11 crisis made Canada and the United States redefine the protection of their borders... What I'm saying is that a crisis is an event which can force democratic governments to make difficult decisions like those that will be required to create a North American Community." It is fundamental to understand this relationship between the SPP and notions of "Catastrophic Emergency", to which security policies are tied. In 2006, as part of the SPP, the Department of Homeland Security awarded a $385 million dollar contract to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, to support "Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency", including detention facilities in the event of an "immigration emergency." In the post 911 climate, the construction of a constant imminent threat to North America is a critical condition for the SPP and the justification for increased security measures; however, the implementation of these measures must not interfere with its economic hegemony.
Here we find the crucial relationship between security and prosperity: not only does the SPP facilitate the exceptional mobility of economic goods including through "Resource Security" regimes (especially ensuring access to oil through the Energy Security Pact); it also subsidizes production through state-sanctioned indentured labour programs (i.e migrant workers). These initiatives are paralleled by security measures that demobilize and marginalize racialized populations. The actual "criminal" or "terroristic" deeds of "high-risk" individuals never has to be proven; their transgression of the white colonial boundaries are sufficient sources of insecurity, as such the SPP increases state militancy in deporting "illegals" as a means of social discipline.
RESISTING THE SPP
A radical contestation of the SPP requires us to think and act beyond the state to avoid calling for the expansion of state control as a means of counter-acting corporate expansion. Instead, we need to recognize the state itself, particularly in North America, as a fundamentally repressive, racist, and colonial site that remains indispensable for the perpetuation of capitalist exploitation. Despite the image that neoliberalism has constructed for itself as autonomous from the state, it is in fact heavily reliant on the state to regulate a deeply racialized and gendered labour market on behalf of corporations.
State power has been most markedly deployed in the policing of territorial borders and the project of imperialist occupation; in shaping the population's productivity through the power to grant or withhold citizenship; in expropriating indigenous lands and resources for economic development; and finally, in protecting exploitative social and class relations. Therefore critics are mistaken in their assessment of declining state power; indeed, state power articulated strongly in the military adventures and societal securitization explicitly endorsed by the SPP.
While the SPP poses a formidable challenge, it also provides an opportunity to build a wider movement of resistance that can transcend the systemic exclusions produced by nationalism, Western imperialism, white supremacy and global capitalism. Instead, an explicitly anti-colonial, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist resistance constitutes the possibility for re-imagining community beyond the bounds of citizenship; the political beyond the state; freedom beyond the market; and humanity beyond Whiteness.
Larry
I am a lot more than concerned about assassination. I absolutely 100% expect it if they can't steal it in a growing number of ways. Just think about how the country will blow.
Bush, McGoon, the right, whoever will be able to totally control us and finish implementing this nightmare new order scenario! We are called conspiracy theorist to dismiss us when we hit the truth but we have been right on all along.
Larry
This is absolutely true but!
Many people no longer believe that presidents, premier ministers and other "visible" officials rule their countries. Instead, they suspect that the real authority – one that is powerful, unwavering and secret – is concentrated in the hands of others. Like the masons for example. The truly paranoid have devised the so-called "International Conspiracy Theory," which tells how a handful of wealthy, highly positioned individuals rule the world. This group of decision-makers launches wars, invents deadly diseases and pumps the population full of narcotics, alcohol and pornography to get rid of the world's dead weight. Consequently, a population of 1 billion select individuals will someday remain. They will freely enjoy the blessings of nature – clean air, freshwater and natural food.
I believe this 100% but you have to ask a few questions. I refuse to believe that after all this time there have been no leaks first and of course if there was it would be dismissed off hand as conspiracy theory then simply continued.
Also when this all said and done those idiots whoever they are can't be stupid enough to think there will be any clean air, food, and water. Which brings me back to they have to purposely be bringing about the end of days as mutual destruction seems to be the goal today and not a deterrent!
Either that or they have another planet in mind and after a space war no one will be able to escape so I don't believe that either. I do believe everything is controlled by an elite world body and that would lend credence to our one world market and Government theory.
larry
This is why this will never work! At this point the reader also needs to consider the tendencies of “full spectrum dominance” both militarily and economically as an imperial tendency of the United States. There is no real desire on the part of the American neo-liberals (nor their counterparts elsewhere) to actually aid the world. In geographical terms it becomes a heartland – hinterland relationship with the poorer countries remaining poor and supplying raw materials to the gathering wealth of the heartland. There is no genuineness for the current western governments to help developing countries become economically stronger and more competitive.
It only makes sense that you would have to keep poor countries and producing the goods for the wealthier countries. How ever as you see happening today as the world increasingly sees what is going on that no one wants to be the poorer supply Nations.
In the same token as you see Russia, China, and others rallying to take Bush on Because they do not want to lose their Autonomy or want to be subservient, All would want to be the controller and this is only going to end as I keep saying with world war and no one will get their way or have a viable planet to live on ensuring mutual destruction and end of days!
Larry
You know the SPP along with a one world Government,a secret world leadership, all of it is at this point a given. Hold on! The SPP calls for maximization of North American economic competitiveness in the face of growing exports from India and China; expedited means of resource (oil, natural gas, water, forest products) extraction; secure borders against "organized crime, international terrorism, and illegal migration"; standardized regulatory regimes for health, food safety, and the environment; integrated energy supply through a comprehensive resource security pact (primarily about ensuring that the US receives guaranteed flows of the oil in light of "Middle East insecurity and hostile Latin American regimes"); and coordination amongst defense forces.
This is why as I said, this will only end in w3orld war. All the different entities are designed to compete with the rest of the world but no one wants to be subservient but the leader which is only natural. take the three conflicting theories you submitted and my standard response, meld them together, and you get the truth the big picture. You know I am a big picture guy. All the theorists and so called experts have to realize their selfish beliefs are tunnel and server their selfish biases and interest. All sides must be included to get the unbiased, true, big picture!
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