Bob Marley sang it, "Come down, Babylon!"

Every person taking part in the recent global actions has admitted to seeing the Great Whore for who she is, for seeing beyond her glitzy, star-studded presentations to the godless core of what is being offered. When everything is a commodity, the world now sees, nothing ---including basic human rights --- is sacred. Despite the Madison Avenue homilies, there is no morality to the model of freebooting hyper-capitalism being offered to the world by the United States. In fact, it is immoral to its very heart of darkness.

Let's look at some of the evidence.

The facts below will put this treatise into perspective and, also, explain why others around the world wag their heads when the United States jingoistically proclaims "We should lead the world! We are the number one nation on earth!" I believe that people of good will, presented with facts, will draw the right conclusions.

THE WEALTH/POVERTY OF NATIONS

Worse yet, America has demonstrably spent the last forty years in a conscious social and political effort to "colonize" its own people --- and then the rest of the world.

1. What is the true wealth of the most prosperous nation on Earth? According to a working paper prepared for the US Federal Reserve Bank in 1997, less than 3 million Americans owned more of the property (after the principal residence, which is not a "liquid" asset,) stocks, bonds, businesses and other assets than the other over 250 million of us. Get the picture? EVEN IF we all pooled our resources, over 250 million of us would not have the same "clout" as less than 0.05 percent of the population. I'll get to how that translates socially and politically below.
2. Work longer and harder, earn less. While the stock market is booming and the economy has, as President Clinton said in his State of Union, gone through its longest period of sustained growth in history, AND productivity is at an all-time high --- the average working American doesn't seem to be doing too well. Why is that? Economist Lester Thurow has an interesting take on the situation: "Since accurate data has been kept, beginning in 1929, America has never experienced falling real wages for a majority of its work force while its per-capita GDP [Gross Domestic Product] was rising. In effect, we are conducting an enormous social and political experiment --- something like putting a pressure cooker on the stove over a full flame and waiting to see how long it takes to explode." The Conference Board, April, 1998.
3. "For the Children." The "family values" mantra of United States politicians has been ridiculed in these pages before. You know our position here: America eats its young. These facts from the Children's Defense Fund should give you an idea of what we mean: every day six children commit suicide, thirteen are victims of homicide, fourteen are killed by firearms, eighty-one babies die, two hundred eighty children are arrested for violent crimes, four hundred forty-three children are born to mothers who received late or NO prenatal care, seven hundred eighty-one babies are born at low birthweight, one thousand four hundred three babies are born to teen mothers, two thousand four hundred thirty babies are born into poverty (using the skewed government statistics --- more on that below,) eight thousand four hundred seventy children are reported abused or neglected, 11.3 million children are completely without health insurance coverage. "For the children."

   THE REAL DEAL: The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) which does comparative and "relative" analysis of income for countries around the world reported in 1995 that a full 70% of the poor children in the eighteen richest industrialized countries live in the United States of America. Can that be accidental? Get real.

Classic Example: The "poverty rate" for Americans hasn't been changed by our government since the 1960s. In other words, according to the government of the richest nation on earth, in order to be living in "poverty" if you have a family of four you have to be earning less than $16,400/year. (1997 Figure via US Census Bureau.) Think about that for a second.

In other words, according our government, ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES, LESS THAN SIXTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS PER YEAR could provide for food, clothing, housing, medical care, recreation, transportation and childcare for a man, his wife and two children. WHERE? A bayou in Louisiana? Or Dollar Bill's Arkansas? No place I've ever lived or that you do today!!!

If the "new Rome" will treat its own people with such brutality and carelessness, what has it planned for the rest of humanity?

THE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY

Why was this significant? Well, the Bretton Woods deal tied the world economy to the US dollar --- one of the few remaining healthy currencies after World War II. And the dollar was backed by the gold in reserve in America. By separating the dollar from gold, Nixon made US currency a speculative currency like all the other standards in the world economy. You can find a brief fact sheet on what that means here.

For the last twenty years there has been a concerted effort by the United States to undercut the authority of other treaties we have made (I'm sure that sounds familiar to Native Americans) in favor of these revised-Bretton Woods institutions. In other words, truly representative institutions like the United Nations and the World Court have been subverted in favor of the IMF, World Bank and WTO --- which are little more than secret societies. And these secret societies are controlled by --- guess who?

This, in our view, represents a clear threat to the establishment of any form of true democracy on the world stage.

People of good will have to ask themselves important questions, as many thinkers and dissidents around the world have started:

• Do we want to model our economies on one that so clearly focuses on plunder over people?
• Are there sustainable alternatives that also allow for MORE prosperity and more civic involvement?
• Is the world ready to submit to another era of imperialism?

At The World's Magazine, our answers are: no, yes, no.

That's why we support action, commitment, involvement.

Instead, as the statistics presented above suggest, that elite club at the top of pyramid --- who can buy armies and elections --- continues to spread its control on a global level. As George (Bush) the First said, "A New World Order." And that's the talk of Empire, not of Democracy.

As Cato said in ancient Rome, the Republic is dead.

DELUSIONS ON THE RIGHT/DISARRAY ON THE LEFT

In our view, as radicals, we believe that humanity and morality are prime principles worth defending. This creates our disgust for the American right and the American left.

The religious right wants to delude itself that average "business people" are part of the hyper-capitalist ideology. What a joke! Small businesses continue to fail at an alarming rate in American society. Bankruptcies are now increasing 20% a year according to Federal Reserve figures. The average person in America is one serious medical problem (for themselves or a family member) away from penury and homelessness.

Yes, a few televangelists have emulated the corporate dons and in the process made an impact on the political process. Has it helped their worshipers? Look, again, to the Clinton Administration for your answer.

THE FACT is, much as Hitler commented snidely after invading country after country about the complaints of the Pope, corporate plutocracy says: "How many divisions can [they] field?" End of story.

The religious right in America has either never known or forgotten what happened to the Papal state: the barons and kings ----after using religion to their advantage --- pushed it back into an impotent Vatican City and then forced it to validate their decisions. OR, like Henry VIII said: "Who cares?"

Meanwhile, on the left we find few serious dissidents. They are afraid to be called radical, because of the images produced by decades of hyper-capitalist propaganda, and even shy away from "tame" appellations like liberal and progressive. What is one to think? (Cowardice?)

Rather than being forthright in the support of the average working person, they argue among themselves about whether choice (abortion,) women's rights, civil rights (racial and ethnic equity,) gay and lesbian rights, animal rights, the labor movement, child protection, the environment, healthcare, or civic involvement should be at the top of their (supposedly collective) priorities. Lest I puke!

The so-called left has made itself a joke because it IS a joke! That's why I proudly call myself a radical.

LET US BE PERFECTLY CLEAR: The Evil Empire has no such divided agenda. It wants you exploited or gone. Period. While you quibble over priorities and what is politically correct, you are losing ground every day.

THE SOLUTION: Focus on bringing down or overwhelming the system that threatens the lives of all of humanity. Focus on finding common cause instead of disagreement, or go back and turn on your VCR.

Otto von Bismarck succeeded in Prussia with one simple strategy: he co-opted the agendas of all of his opponents OSTENSIBLY. He was known as the Iron Chancellor because he made it appear that he offered the solutions of both right and left to the people WHILE CONTINUING TO FOLLOW HIS OWN LIGHTS.

Oh! I forgot: you don't pay attention to history.

A COMMUNITY OF DISSIDENTS

I am not certain because this effort was meant to engage you enough to encourage the creation of a community of dissidents. That is what is needed now.

But a community of dissidents, especially standing against such a powerful Empire, must also be discreet. As Shakespeare said so well, "Discretion is the better part of valor."

I have now acknowledged, I did last night while having these words roil in my mind, that many, many sacrifices will have to be made to achieve this vision of a humane democracy which I so long to see. In fact, like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Paul Robeson before him, I no longer expect to see it in my lifetime. I believe it will take many, many lifetimes to achieve.

Unlike the last totalitarian Evil Empire, the one which exists today is so far ahead of us as to be staggering and almost induce hopelessness. But I cannot be hopeless because I continue to believe that the people of the world are basically good.

I continue to believe that there is a common moral fiber which has supported our fight for democracy, freedom, and universal human rights. In the last century, we came together after the bloodiest war in history to draft a document called the Universal Agreement for Human Rights. Even the United States signed it. According the US Constitution, it is the rule of law in this country. It says that every human being has the right to a sustainable living, medical care, food, and housing for one's family. This is not a lot to ask on an abundant planet like our own. I continue to believe we can do this together.