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Iran, Obama, Gaza, And MPs’ Expenses

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Posted in Commentary | Tagged Commentary

In a recent alert, we described how the modern corporation is an inherently predatory, even psychopathic, entity. We noted that business managers are legally obliged to subordinate human and environmental welfare to profit.

(See: http://www.medialens.org/alerts/09/090615_the_guardian_climate.php)

Inevitably, then, corporations do not restrict themselves merely to the arena of economics. Rather, as John Dewey observed, “politics is the shadow cast on society by big business”. Over decades, corporations have worked together to ensure that the choices offered by ‘representative democracy’ all represent their greed for maximised profits.

This is a sensitive task. We do not live in a totalitarian society - the public potentially has enormous power to interfere. The goal, then, is to persuade the public that corporate-sponsored political choice is meaningful, that it makes a difference. The task of politicians at all points of the supposed ’spectrum’ is to appear passionately principled while participating in what is essentially a charade. Thus, in a moving piece, Daily Telegraph journalist Con Coughlin lamented of Iran’s recent elections:

“… the democratic hopes of all those brave Iranians who have taken to the streets will ultimately be in vain. Even if Mr Khatami were to sacrifice Mr Ahmadinejad in the interests of preserving the regime, the president would simply be replaced by another Iranian leader whose first priority would be to protect the ideological foundations of Khomeini’s Islamic revolution.” (Con Coughlin, ‘Iran’s brave revolutionaries can change nothing but the faces,’ Daily Telegraph, June 17, 2009)

A Guardian leader shared the Telegraph‘s pain:

“Iranians do not want another revolution. They wanted the Islamic republic to respond and evolve. But there is a limit to the number of times you can go to a well which always turns out to be dry.” (Leader, ‘Iran: Regime against change,’ The Guardian, June 20, 2009)

Unmentioned by the Guardian, the “well” is also bone “dry” in Britain and America. Consider our political system:

1. Meaningful political choice for people opposed to US-UK militarism and wars of aggression: None.

2. Choice for people opposed to socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor: None.

3. Choice for people serious about subordinating maximised corporate profits for +genuine+ action to halt catastrophic climate change: None.

4. Choice for people seeking mainstream media supporting genuine change: None.

5. Choice for people eager to elect politicians with ‘ring of confidence’ smiles and charisma: Substantial.

It is because of point 4 that points 1-5 are swamped in confusion and mendacity. Some readers may even now be wagging a corrective finger at us insisting that action is most certainly being taken on climate change. How dare we misrepresent the facts so starkly? Why so negative? Obama, for example, has surely made a serious commitment to greening the US car industry. In a forthcoming alert we hope to report the responses of climate scientists to some elementary questions. We asked how far governments have thus far +really+ gone towards tackling climate change: were they 5%, 10%, 50% of the way there? One of the world’s leading climate scientists responded starkly: “0%”.

To read the rest of this media alert, please go to:

http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php

Best wishes

The Editors