Het TTIP verdrag: Niet te stoppen vrije val op weg naar een Corporatocratie

Amerika geldt al decennia lang als de onbetwiste supermacht, wiens invloed zich over de gehele wereld uitstrekt. Nu in het licht van de tanende Amerikaanse economie, de continu oplopende – nu al exorbitante – schuldenlast en de opkomst van nieuwe supermachten die het land naar de kroon steken begint Amerika langzaam maar zeker steeds meer als een kat in het nauw rare sprongen te maken om maar haar macht te blijven consolideren. Niet alleen door middel van de voor ons allen zichtbare oorlogen, maar vooral via economische maatregelen en verdragen.

In allerijl worden er onder de Obama administratie zo veel mogelijk vrijhandelsverdragen gesloten met zo veel mogelijk landen en samenwerkingsverbanden, waarin Amerika nu nog als de “bovenliggende partij” grotendeels de dienst uitmaakt. Dit alles zodat ook na een eventuele ineenstorting van de Amerikaanse economie of bij het dominanter worden van bijvoorbeeld de Chinese en/ of Russische economie de VS al zo veel landen economisch aan zich gebonden heeft dat de wereld en de daarbij behorende economie wel onder diens invloedssfeer moeten blijven en zich naar de regels en maatstaven van de VS zullen moeten blijven gedragen.

Zoals de meeste mensen van ons welbekend is, wordt Amerika geregeerd door het bedrijfsleven en door Wall Street. Zij bepalen onder andere ook wie de volgende president wordt. En zij zijn uiteindelijk degenen die het meeste van dit soort vrijhandelsverdragen profiteren en deze ook instigeren.

Europa ligt al geheel onder de sluier van de Amerikaanse invloedssfeer sinds het einde van de tweede wereldoorlog. Dit onder andere door de invoering van het Marshallplan. Via de EU wordt de macht van de VS steeds verder uitgebreidt met ieder land dat als nieuw lid zich bij de EU aan “mag” en wil sluiten. De Europese naties hebben al jaren geleden hun relatieve eigenheid, autonomie en nationale soevereiniteit opgegeven om een soort “Amerika light” versie te worden. De invloed van Amerika en diens cultuur is alom voelbaar en merkbaar. Als Amerika zegt spring, dan vraagt de EU enkel hoe hoog, wanneer en waar.

De EU heeft veel van zijn globale “marktaandeel” verloren de laatste jaren, maar geldt toch nog steeds als een belangrijke handelspartner mede vanwege zijn internationale invloedssfeer en grote aantal potentiële consumenten. Vanwege de tegenvallende Euro en de crisis is er voor de EU en diens machthebbers geen discussie mogelijk en moeten we met de ogen dicht direct in het diepe van het handelsverdrag springen. Enige behoudendheid van die kant is enkel een schijnconstructie om het volk en de sceptische partijen tevreden te stellen. Door het verdrag van Lissabon (waar wij als volk onder andere in Nederland tegen gestemd hebben) heeft de Europese commissie de macht om voor alle lidstaten te beslissen zonder enige inmenging van individuele Europese natiestaten.

Het TTIP

Het nieuw te sluiten vrijhandelsverdrag tussen de VS en de EU is de TTIP, het Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

In principe is er al zo goed als vrij handelsverkeer tussen de EU en de VS. De redenen voor dit verdrag zijn dan ook wat obscurer dan enkel vrijhandel. Alhoewel de EU en de VS nu nog in de fase van onderhandelen zitten en het dus nog niet 100% zeker is of dit verdrag er gaat komen, kunnen we er gezien eerdere ervaringen wel van uit gaan dat dit verdrag of een dergelijk verdrag zeker in de nabije toekomst wel gesloten zal worden.

Ondanks dat wij hier in de EU onder de vlag van de zogenaamde “vrijheid en democratie” leven, worden de besprekingen over het TTIP akkoord, een akkoord dat ons allen aangaat, onder een sluier van geheimzinnigheid verborgen. Het hele proces van de onderhandelingen is onder een dikke laag mystieke rook bedekt en voor de meeste mensen is dan ook niet duidelijk wat dit voor onderhandelingen zijn, waar ze over gaan en wat het verdrag precies zou gaan betekenen. Pas toen er dingen begonnen uit te lekken, kwam men er mee naar buiten dat er onderhandelingen gaande waren. Nu momenteel zijn de onderhandelingen weer in schaduwen gehuld, want men zorgt er wel voor dat dit soort dingen weer uit de media verdwijnen of dat er geen aandacht meer aan geschonken wordt. Zodra er niks meer over in het nieuws is kan het mensen namelijk niet zo veel meer schelen. Dit betekent desalniettemin dat de onderhandelingen in volle hevigheid verder gaan, alleen geen haan meer die er naar kraait.

Als er al iets van nieuws naar buiten sijpelt, wordt het met de mantel der propaganda bedekt. Het verdrag zou meer banen creëren, de economie een boost geven en over het algemeen enkel gunstig uitpakken voor ons aller naties en ons aller mensen. Dit moet natuurlijk wel beweerd worden want anders krijgen ze geen enkele maatschappelijke en/of politieke steun, wat misschien zou resulteren in protesten of opstanden. De machthebbende elite wil natuurlijk deze maatschappelijke onrust uitstellen tot het verdrag gesloten en geïmplementeerd is, dan is het immers zo goed als niet meer terug te draaien. Het volk zou kunnen weten wat er gaande is maar wil dom gehouden worden, men wil geloven in de beste intenties van onze politici, men wil geloven in onze zogenaamde “vrijheid en democratie”. Echter eerdere door de VS aangegane handelsverdragen hebben al meer dan het tegendeel bewezen. Eveneens de EU farce zou mensen ook al de ogen geopend moeten hebben. De rijken worden rijker en dat is het enige voordeel! Waarom zou het met dit verdrag iets anders zijn, of iets anders verlopen?

De bedoeling van het TTIP verdrag is om de economieën van de EU landen en die van de VS samen te voegen en daarmee te reguleren. Echter bij het samenvoegen van de twee markten zullen de goede kwaliteiten van de beider markten voor zoverre afgeschaft worden en de slechtere kwaliteiten door beiden aangenomen worden. De kans dat de EU het protectionistische van de eigen markt van de VS over zal nemen is nihil evenmin als dat de VS de strengere voorwaarden wat betreft voedselveiligheid over zal nemen van de EU. Hoewel, zoals al eerder genoemd door de machtspositie die de VS (nu nog) bekleedt zullen de aanpassingen vooral aan EU kant doorgevoerd moeten worden en blijft de VS evenwel waarschijnlijk gewoon de baas over de eigen markt. Met andere woorden, de VS mag op oude voet doorgaan en de EU moet aanpassen, zonder de “goede” eigenschap van de Amerikaanse markt over te mogen nemen (te weten het protectionisme).

Er valt eigenlijk maar van 1 clausule met vrijwel zekerheid te zeggen dat deze onderdeel van het verdrag uit zal maken, omdat deze tot nu toe van ieder handelsverdrag deel uit maakt dat de VS gesloten heeft. Te weten; de investeerders-staat geschillenregeling. Dit houdt simpelweg gezegd in dat bedrijven de mogelijkheid hebben om individuele staten – die ondergeschikt zijn aan het TTIP verdrag- voor geheime arbitrage –bestaande uit bedrijfsjuristen- commissies te dagen. Deze commissies staan boven de nationale rechtbanken waardoor overheden verplicht zijn om zich aan de uitspraken van deze commissies te houden zonder daarbij enige verantwoording of verklaring aan het volk af te moeten leggen. Regeringen hebben dus met het TTIP verdrag geen enkele macht of zeggenschap meer en hebben geen enkele mogelijkheid meer om het volk, de natuur, het welzijn, banen etc. te beschermen. Voor zover onze zogenaamde “democratie”, met het TTIP verdrag definitief ingeruild voor de corporatocratie. Er zijn al stappen gezet tot rechtszaken zoals tegen onder andere Duitsland over het willen stoppen met het gebruiken van kernenergie. De kosten van door bedrijven aangespannen juridische zaken kunnen enorm oplopen voor overheden, wat tot gevolg heeft dat sociale en milieuwetgeving worden afgezwakt en de belastingdruk wordt verzwaard.

De corporatocratie

Al vanaf de start van de onderhandelingen wordt het TTIP verdrag geschreven door lobby groepen, waar zij ook zeer trots op zijn en onderling uitgebreid over opscheppen. De bedrijven met het meeste geld, en bereid dat uit te geven, en de bedrijven met de beste lobby groepen hebben dus de meeste macht en zeggenschap binnen het TTIP verdrag en kunnen dus in grote mate de inhoud van het verdrag bepalen.

De commissie verantwoordelijk voor de onderhandelingen heeft tot dusver circa 600+ vergaderingen gehad en overleg gevoerd met vertegenwoordigers van de grote bedrijven en industrieën terwijl er misschien 5 tot 8 van zulke vergaderingen en overleggen met burgerlijke of maatschappelijke vertegenwoordigers of groepen zijn gevoerd. Deze laatste krijgen vrijwel zeker ook gehele andere dingen te horen dan dat de bedrijven te horen krijgen. Dit laat eens te meer zien waar het zwaartepunt van de onderhandelingen ligt. Het moge duidelijk zijn dat ondanks de vele mooie praatjes dat dit verdrag ons allen ten goede zal komen, het enkel ten goede zal komen van de belangen van de grote bedrijven en industrieën. Dit verdrag heeft nooit gedraaid om de belangen van het volk, enkel de belangen van de bedrijven en hun mogelijkheden om bestaande regelgevingen te omzeilen. Eerdere door de VS aangegane vrijhandelsverdragen hebben dit al eens te meer uitgewezen; zoals NAFTA.

Onze nationale regeringen zijn in grote mate medeplichtig aan deze gang van zaken. Ze proberen zich wel – volkomen onterecht- te verbergen achter het onderhandelingsmandaat dat ze aan de Europese Commissie hebben gegeven, maar ze roepen deze commissie ook nimmer ter verantwoording en ondanks dat ze de mogelijkheid wel hebben nemen ze, ze ook geen macht af.

De Europese commissie verantwoordelijk voor de onderhandelingen heeft de individuele lidstaten wel beloofd niet te tornen aan de Europese standaarden voor consumenten veiligheid en milieustandaarden, echter de geschiedenis heeft al eerder uitgewezen dat in Brussel beloftes niets waard zijn. Er wordt namelijk al wel degelijk over onderhandeld. Het zijn loze lege retorische beloftes die enkel als onderhandelingstechniek dienen, omdat Europa als onderliggende partij nu eenmaal weinig overwicht heeft op de Amerikanen. Amerikaanse onderhandelaars evenals hun Europese partners hebben al gezegd dat er grote veranderingen binnen de EU doorgevoerd dienen te worden om tegemoet te komen aan de Amerikaanse eisen.

Het TTIP verdrag gaat zijn stempel drukken op alle mogelijke vlakken van onze samenleving. Van de verplichting tot grotere militaire uitgaven, tot de verplichting van het boren naar schaliegas, tot de verplichting van GGO gewassen en klonen, tot de invoering van SOPA en PIPA.

Een goed voorbeeld hiervan is: De belangrijkste onderhandelaar voor de VS op het gebied van landbouw en veeteelt in deze deal, is de voormalige Monsanto-lobbyist Islam Siddiqui. Dit zou voor ons allen al een duidelijke code rood moeten zijn. In de VS is het gebruik van antibiotica en groeihormonen op zeer grote schaal gemeengoed. De laatste jaren zijn er in Europa juist stappen gezet om dit te verminderen mede vanwege het steeds groter wordende probleem van antibiotica resistente bacteriën. Ook het gebruik van (door Monsanto geleverde) herbiciden en pesticiden op zeer grote schaal is in de VS gemeengoed. Evenals het verbouwen van ggo’s in de VS meer regel dan uitzondering is. Bovendien is het klonen van vee een veelvoorkomend gebruik. In Amerika hebben minder boeren al veel meer land tot hun beschikking dan de Europese boeren tot hun beschikking hebben. Door dit alles is dit verdrag dus ook de doodssteek voor Europese boeren, zij kunnen nooit of te nimmer concurreren met de Amerikaanse boeren. Het verdrag zet niet alleen de deur van de Europese markt open voor onder andere met chloor gewassen kippenvlees, met zuren gewassen rundvlees, genetisch gemodificeerde gewassen die volop bespoten zijn met de meest giftige rotzooi enzovoorts, het trapt de deur geheel uit de sponning.

De EU droom verwezenlijken

Dit verdrag geeft de EU ook de ongekende mogelijkheid om lang gekoesterde wensen in vervulling te laten gaan. De EU probeert bijvoorbeeld al jaren om de watervoorziening te privatiseren. In landen die schulden bij de Trojka hebben is ze dit al gelukt, maar de rest van de bij de EU aangesloten landen zijn nog niet gezwicht voor de druk. Met dit verdrag hebben de lidstaten simpelweg geen keuze meer.

Om de compatibiliteit van de bestaande en toekomstige regelgeving in de hand te houden zal er door de EU en de VS een permanente regelgevende samenwerkingsraad ingesteld worden. Deze raad zal van lokaal tot nationaal niveau de regelgeving beoordelen op de invloed die het heeft of zal hebben op de internationale handel. Het volk heeft geen enkele zeggenschap over de raad of diens leden. Dit houdt in dat bestaande en toekomstige regelgeving buiten het publieke kader om gemaakt en geïmplementeerd zal worden. De enigen van invloed worden de corporate lobby’ers, advocaten en onderhandelaars. Het corporate fascisme heeft hiermee alle macht naar zich toegetrokken. Dit zal enkel resulteren in nog meer deregulatie, liberalisering, het vernietigen van bestaande regelgeving en het stoppen van nieuwe regelgevingen die niet in het straatje passen van de multinationals en oligarchieën.

Net als met het NAFTA verdrag en het GATT verdrag (de voorloper van de WTO) zal er op geen enkel punt in het proces van onderhandelingen en het sluiten van het verdrag enige publieke raadgeving plaatsvinden. Dit verdrag gaat echter verder dan de onderhandelaars bij het NAFTA en GATT verdrag ooit hadden kunnen dromen.

Hier komen we dus eindelijk bij het ware vuige gezicht uit van dit vrijhandelsverdrag. Het ultieme doel is om de kleine beetjes die er nog over zijn van onze nationale soevereiniteit over te dragen aan de grillen van de grootste multinationale conglomeraten ter wereld. Het geeft multinationals en oligarchieën immens grotere eigendomsrechten over het volk en het land dan ieder inlands bedrijf, gemeenschap of individu (behalve dan de rothschilds en rockefellers van deze wereld) ooit zou kunnen krijgen of bemachtigen. Het creëert eveneens een alles overheersend wettelijk systeem dat deze superieure rechten afdwingt en met harde hand handhaaft. Alleen al de dreiging van rechtszaken tegen landen zal de nationale overheden doen sidderen. Alle macht wordt gegrepen en overgedragen aan private handen die geen enkele rekenschap aan het volk hoeven af te leggen.

Conclusie

Ondanks de mooie woorden die politici ons steeds voorhouden dat liberalisering zorgt voor betere producten en diensten die goedkoper zijn, heeft de waarheid de leugen al lang achterhaald en heeft het liberalisme zijn vuige gezicht al lang aan het publiek laten zien. Een ieder die dit niet ziet is; of blind, of verblind of het is iemand die flink van het liberalisme profiteert.

Het voormalige Europese sociale model is in een moordend tempo aan het uitsterven, de participatiesamenleving is al zo goed als een feit. Zoals het er nu naar uitziet zijn de onderhandelingen over het TTIP verdrag aan het eind van dit jaar afgerond. Dit zal de laatste definitieve nagel aan de doodskist zijn. Zodra het verdrag van kracht wordt, zijn wij allen enkel nog consument en producent en zullen wij ook nooit meer worden dan dat. De globale corporatocratie is dan volledig in werking.

De EU commissie heeft al in een memo verklaard dat het bij het TTIP akkoord om de meest verreikende verandering in de Europese samenleving gaat: “HET IS DE EERSTE STAP NAAR EEN NIEUWE WERELDORDE: u dient te weten dat het in dit onderhandelingsproces om veel meer gaat dan slechts een traditionele handelsovereenkomst.”

Het moge duidelijk zijn dat dit verdrag het laatste beslissende gevecht inluidt in de al decennia lang durende klassenstrijd van de heersende klasse om de volledige macht te verkrijgen over het proletariaat en de middenklasse. Multinationals en oligarchieën hebben tot nu toe de gevechten steeds gewonnen, met een bewuste medeplichtigheid van de politieke klasse. Als wij nu niet gezamenlijk als een front opstaan en vechten voor onze rechten hebben we voor onszelf en voor alle toekomstige generaties verloren.

Gustav Landauer his Folkanarchism

Gustav Landauer (1870-1919) was a German anarchist during the German Novemberrevolution. On the 2nd of May 1919 he died a martyrs death, during the fall of the Sovjet republic. His anarcho-socialist ideas can definitely be seen as a solid basis for what we today describe as “folkanarchism”. Landauer is best described as a critical and realistic idealist. He was not deceived by idealist mirages, nor by materialist fallacies.

 

Folk and Culture

In contradiction to most socialists from his time, Landauer never believed that humanity would reach a higher phase of life by the development of technology and science. He didn´t count on the idea that “progress” would be mechanically achieved, but by an eternal rejuvenation and renewal. The peoples never aged, only their cultures did. At a certain time each culture irrevocably lost its lifeforce, through which it froze and fell. Because of this the peoples who were once its bearers fell into a state of “serenity” and forgot that what they had wanted, known and done, untill finally the day came that they were regenerated by a new idea.

When this new idea appeared between them as a real unchanging truth, then the individuals were bound again through worship and love. Through this, human life became lifted to higher forms of organisation and a new culture flourished. In these times the urge to connect with the people got the upperhand and the power over the individual. With this a form of social life came to being that was described by Landauer as “the community of communities”; the organic connection of little, self-governing and, on their own strength acting units, that in turn connected themselves with larger units. This age of great culture was marked by the new idea feeding the “stream of life”, only then the relationships were healthy and life had dignity.

This era was always preceded by a stage in which the spirit of the community dominates. In this stage no brilliant personalities rise above the masses, because the essence of life is uniform. Brilliant personalities come forth from the bosom of the community and the general spirit of the people themselves, therefore the people does not gawk at them as “wonderous animals”, but recognize them as natural fruits from the tree of society. These highlights are rarely reached in humanity its rich and infinitely long history. During these highlights there is no need for an ideal, no craving for the new, because the spirit that gives meaning to life, is present in all its manifestations.

After these era’s of balance, inexorably follows times of demise. The negative forces that are present within each culture, are rigid dogmas, which prevail over the living spirit. The living spirit is killed by them, because people are clinging to one and the same dogmatic form. Organisations, like the State, have contained since their existence the seeds of domination and mechanically rigid centralism. Through the advance of the general decay their bad sides have gotten worse, while they grow in strength. In the masses, the spirit that binds all individuals into a true community, disappears. When the life of the community no longer feeds the individual, the individual gets alienated and lonely. This process of sophisticated individualization on the one hand, and atomization on the other, leads towards a mindlessness of the masses. They can only become a people again, when a new culture flourishes.

 

Progress and Revolution

In contradiction to most revolutionary Marxists, Landauer unconditionally rejected the “Zeitgeist”. Fierce anti-capitalists like Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht accepted the growth of the big-industrial organisation and saw the associated mechanization as “progress” in the spirit of Marx. Their “progress” was nothing more than the “progress” of the bourgeoisie. Landauer´s thought was not based on the historical materialism, which makes the development of technology as the criterion of progress. He didn´t see the development of Western humanity since the Renaissance as an unparalleled triumph. Landauer had his own criteria for progress. He didn´t see progress in materialist terms, but measured life by the content in which people became aware of their connectedness. The modern Zeitgeist he acknowledged as an era of cultural descent, of increasing alienation and upheaval.

However Landauer didn’t believe in the “eternal damnation” of a people. He saw change through renewal as a law of life. Through demise, growth could be born and from dispare new strength could derive. There was only one spirit that could rise the people again: the spirit of justice in community life. Landauer didn’t only see his socialism as the only opportunity to escape the need and social misery of the proletariat, but also as the only opportunity for the renewal of the entire humanity. Only this could stop its demise and alienation.

Landauer considered the revolution as a constantly recurring phenomenon, through which society could escape from the danger of cultural rigidity. Since the Western culture perished, the West mostly survived through violence and centralized State power. During this period the Western humanity also strived for freedom, which was strongly expressed during the revolution. Therefore Landauer considered the revolution as the run-up towards spiritual rebirth. The urge to live, which was suffocated during normal times, was released during revolutionary days.

Although Landauer was convinced of the regenerative function of the revolution, he didn’t see it as the way towards socialism. According to him the great force of socialism was construction: the peacefull reconstruction. When the revolution had destroyed the old strongholds and obsolete forms of life, then her positive forces were enough to ensure the existence and further development of the community.

Landauer’s views on socialism were realistic-idealistic. Realistic was his view that the urge for socialism arose from social relations and the impossibility to which capitalism led us. His view was idealistic because he was convinced that next to these social conditions, another force of a completely different order was needed before socialism could be born: the creative spirit which could produce new relationships between mankind. For Landauer socialism was not absolute. The natural feeling of fraternity between fellow countrymen and fellow human beings he acknowledged, as the active force that gave meaning to life and to the world. Socialism was not build on a certain modus of production or a certain technology, but on a deep and noble urge within human nature: social instincts and social feelings.

This is the socialism Landauer fought for many years of his life and for which he eventually died a martyrs death.

 

Why we are Pagans

What do we see in paganism? Why are we inspired by the age old traditions of the ancient Germanic peoples? In this article we will shortly try to explain this. Germanic paganism offers us a complete cosmography which includes all aspects of human life. However it´s not a rigid dogma, but a worldview that gets shape through a number of norms, values and ethics. These are narrated by the Edda; the only written account about Germanic Paganism. In the Edda we find a collection of mythical and heroic verses from the 10th century, in which the world as the Germanic tribes viewed them was described.

At the foundation of this germanic ethics lies human action; the eternal wisdom that the power over life is in our own hands. In contradiction to modern monotheïst religions such as Christianity, it does not promise a beautifull and perfect hereafter after an empty and disconsolate life, but propagates man as the master of his own soul. in essence Germanic paganism calls for embracing felicity in the here and now. As a consequense of our own actions, we take the happiness which we realize and earn in this life with us to the afterlife. Germanic paganism emphasizes our personal responsibility in the here and now. This Germanic ethics are clearly expressed in “The words of the Exalted” (Hávamál) in the Edda. In these collected verses we find wisdom and advice for human relations.

Some pagans blame us that we are involved in politics. But how can we seperate this from a cosmography that provides us guidelines for all aspects of human life? Germanic paganism, provides us with a clear political alternative. It teaches us that people are no passive sheeps who have to blindly follow the ruling class, but that they have to and can make their own choices. This was also expressed by the political organisation of the Germanic tribes, where noble leaders only existed by the grace of the people and where any Teuton had a democratic participation in “the Thing” which was directed by the Druids. All this was described in detail in Tacitus his book “Germania”. Paganism does not offer us a god to blame for our imperfections, the pagan gods teach us to live our own lives by example, as recorded in the Edda. They teach us that only values such as honour, loyalty, courage and justice can provide us with happiness and prosperity. Noble values that sadly seem to have entirely dissapeared in this modern world.

In a world plagued by an unprecedented environmental pollution and in which nature is destroyed by modern man in a pace that the world has never seen before, paganism also provides us with clear guidelines for a responsible interaction with the environment and the ecosystem. In Germanic paganism nature is a holistic reality: it´s a structure of interconnected worlds woven around each other, intertwined, and responding to each other. Paganism is the worship of nature and all living things, it disapproves greed and suggests modesty in all aspects of life. Germanic culture was immersed in the different natural patrons which determine daily life. It was the recognition of these foundations that drew attention to the gods and the powers they possessed. Germanic paganism teaches us that we have an ancient and enduring relationship with the natural world that surrounds us.

Therefore Germanic paganism does not represent a long lost past, nor a trendy new age cult for us, but an ancestral wisdom and ancient tradition that offers us a clear guideline for contemporary life. We are not longing for a return to a mythical and romantic past, we are progressive, we want to go forward. However with Germanic paganism we are able to fill the spiritual emptyness of our modern time and reclaim our heritage for revolutionairy goals. It promotes a world in which the community and family are central and in which every individual is able to think, choose and act for himself. It offers us the revolutionary worldview that we need in the social emptyness of the 21st century. It teaches us that only through the community we can rebuild all that has value and that it´s only by the community that we can redetermine what is “good” and “evil”. A look at our pagan past, gives us a look at an alternate future.

In this age of globalisation and alienation the people have in many ways been cut off from its ancestral wisdom. Only by reclaiming this legacy and by reinstating it, can we open the path towards a better, more exalted and more fulfilling life. This heritage offers us an alternative cosmography, liberated from the oppressive dogmatism and moral relativism of our modern age. Germanic paganism leads us the way to healthy balance between authoritarian rules and uncontrolled chaos, between individualism and collectivism; it provides us with a good guideline for the realisation of a truly free, peacefull and harmonious society. Being pagan means being in contact with the world around you. With a sense of meaning and community it offers an answer to the disillusionment of a monotone globalized world.

Although Germanic paganism knows a strong particularistic element, it also knows an universalist element. In different forms, but substantially in the same essence, we find the wisdom of Germanic paganism back in all nature religions the world has known and still knows. The great migrations have spread the pagan language, religion and mythology from Northern Europe to Southern Asia. Also the Greek Homerus and the Roman mythology that later on developed from it, show clear parallels with Germanic paganism. Also with other nature religions, like those of the native tribes in parts of Asia and South-America, who have maintained their primitive style of living untill today, we see strong resemblance with the Germanic faith. This is because all these nature religions have in common that they find their inspiration and might in the elemental forces of nature. All are based on the metaphysical reality that nature offers us. And so the diversity of peoples and cultures on this world all know their own ancestral source, in which the basic wisdoms needed for a life in harmony with nature is conserved. Only by learning from our distant past, we can secure an alternate future for ourselves and for humanity.

 

Folkanarchism and Free Communism

Before the 20th century the word “communism” was not equal to Marxism and the Russian bolshevism with its rigid and authoritarian state-socialism. The term can be traced back to the French revolution and early revolutionary theorists such as Gracchus Babeuf (1760-1797). During that time “communism”represented the return to the organic community of voluntary human relations. The idea that primitive men knew a long period of “primordial-communism” was not limited to the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This idea was shared among almost all great classic historians from Greece to China, and is an essential part of the mythological history of almost all cultures of the world.

Our far ancestors who lived in a society of hunter-gatherers could not be anything else than “communist”. The land only supported small groups of humans, who lived of what nature offered them. The division of labour was very limited, the man hunted and the woman gathered. Although one was probably more specialized at its task then the other, no individual within the community could be specialized enough to survive on its own. They depended on each other and therefore there had been a strong natural and organic community. Surplus could only be cumulated limitedly, the surplus of meat simply rotted away before it could be eaten. In such a society simply no class structure could develop itself.

Social stratification within the early agrarian Germanic tribes that arose after the Neolithicum was always within arms length. The tribe leaders or shamans were part of and subjected to the community. Only through the emergence of bigscale systematic agriculture, irrigation and urban revolutions, the castes and classes came increasingly further apart of each other. Within the Germanic tribal life the Ásatrú religion took the form of a group activity in which the whole community participated. However with the growth of bigger cities, religion also became reduced to a ceremonial cult in which fellow community men were merely spectators.

Although since the first Neolithic Revolution daily life was changed greatly due to technological progress, “the primordial-communism” remained still as strongly as in the hunter-gatherer society that preceded it. The class structure and divisions of labour remained very limited and the community was still small, despite surplus allowed a further specialization of individuals. The exploitation of men by the state did not emerge untill the urban revolution drove the agrarian society away; when towns and agriculture started to expand over big areas. Together with the first small cities during the early Middle Ages, kings, priests and a new caste of traders appeared, as well as warfare with organized armies and bigscale irrigation.

Because of the rise of bigscale, agriculture surplus was created which led to the development of a new class of specialized craftsmen. Therefore in the early Middle Ages a primitive form of syndicalism appeared, were craft groups within the community organized themselves in religious guilds. In the end a new class of warriors and priests utilized this increasing specialisation by developing a rigid class structure and by making the peasant work for the maintenance of this new dominationstructure. Here we find the origin of our present alienation: they were forced to do unpaid work for an autority that stood far away from the people.

Before the 18th century men was still forced to co-operate with its environment to survive. However with the emerging industrialization and scientific progress entrepreneurs treated the world and the people more as a mine, that could be exploited unlimitedly, instead of a farm. When the capitalist forms of exploitation broke through the old feudal and mercantile forms, the contradictions between social- and economic content became even larger. The state and the capitalist system used the ongoing technological revolution for a growing industrial, administrative and political centralization, at the expense of the traditional community, resulting in an unprecedented alienation and loneliness of modern men.

The modern world is torn apart by two contradictory tendencies; one towards social death and the other towards the birth of a new society. While centralization and depersonalisation increase within the dominant globalized society, the concentration of capital increases because of the creation of multinationals and local initiative are being replaced by the central (supranational) state, life becomes increasingly unreal, meaningless and empty. However there are still people who have had enough of living a life without any meaning and all over the globe from time to time we witness uprises against alienation. Where the dominant powerstructure of capitalism fails, the general tendency is to replace it with free communism because people revert to basic initiative from the community.

The crisis of modern civilization is a phenomenon that is continiously without the benefit of an ideology. The call for freedom, the tendency towards the own family, the community and the people are mainly rudimentary and social instinctives. Some say the folkanarchist revolution is a revolution without theory and that it’s anti-ideological. In fact the theory and ideology exists in a tradition that is older then capitalism itself, as old as humanity itself. Folkanarchism does not fight the dominant stateorder because it opposes order, but because it opposes dominance structures. It sees the organic local community as a sovereign entity, which is governed and organized from the basis. It provides an answer to the alienation and to the dehumanization. It strives to return to the core of social and voluntary human relations that take shape in the family, the community and the people; back to free communism.

 

St. Nicholas’ day: Hands off our Heritage!

St. Nicholas’ day is deeply rooted in the Dutch culture. Therefore it’s not surprising that the recent discussion about St. Nicholas’ day is accompanied by many emotions. Now the discussion has gone international and even the UN interferes it seems St. Nicholas’ day could truly come to its end.

The discussion around St. Nicholas’ day really erupted around 5 December 2012, when a small group of activists under the leadership of the Antillean Quincy Gario started the initiative “Black Pete is Racism”. Quincy together with some friends got arrested, because they, under the watchful eyes of many children, tried to disturb the St. Nicholas’ day in the city of Dordrecht, he quickly established a platform in the Dutch media. With this the once innocent St. Nicholas festivity became a political joust which painfully exposed the subcutaneous ethnic tensions associated with the multicultural society.

It’s striking that in this politicized debate historians seem to be put at the sideline. Little concrete foundation can be found for the assertion that the caricature of Black Pete would by definition be racist. In the celebration of St. Nicholas’ day archetypes and symbols are found that can be interpreted on many different levels. It’s a centuries old cultural tradition with its roots firmly in our ancestral heritage.

During the Germanic antiquity the god Odin was worshipped in the beginning of the winter. When, with the arrival of the first Christians in the Netherlands, the Christianization began, these celebrations slowly but surely got a Christian character. The figure of St. Nicholas is based on a Christian saint who was born around the 3rd century AD in Myra (in present-day Turkey). According to the ecclesiastical traditions dozens of wonders are attributed to him during the fifty years he was a bishop.

Many similarities can be found between the Germanic god Odin and St. Nicholas. Both Odin and Nicholas were invoked as patrons. Both had miraculous powers and were generous donors: Odin gave the seeds for the harvest, while Nicholas protected his people from famine. Both Nicholas and Odin represented justice and marriage. The omniscience, poetry and runes of Odin (the god of wisdom) we find back in the great book of St. Nicholas, the poems and the chocolate letters. Where in ancient times Odin and his eight legged horse Sleipnir were worshipped, there now was St. Nicholas and his white horse who rejoiced the country. The spreading of gingerbread is a reference to the Germanic fertility ritual, which can also be found in weddings (the throwing of rise).

So in contradiction to what Quincy and his accomplices claim, the figure of Black Pete is not the product of slavery, but a reference to our pagan heritage. Black Pete is a portrayal of Odin his black demons. There was Oel the messenger with a bag, who searched for sacrifices and spread the seeds of life. The demons Hugin and Munin informed Odin about the deeds of people. This is exactly the role fulfilled by Black Pete within St. Nicholas’ day; he informs St. Nicholas, spreads gingerbread and takes naughty children back to Spain in his bag. In countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Slovenia they still know him as a beast-like demon, Krampus, who scares the population on the 5th of December.

In other words Black Pete is no Afro, no Creole, no negro page, not a Moor, not a slave and not even a servant of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas’ day is not racist. It’s an essential part of our cultural heritage and our age old traditions. Nobody will take that away from us: not Quincy and his accomplices, nor the UN! Hands off our heritage!

 

Bio-industry in the Netherlands

At the end of the nineteen forties it became one of the aims of the Dutch government to assure that food was cheap and available for everyone. During the nineteen fifties it became clear that the cattle breeding and agriculture as they knew it, was insufficient to meet these demands and therefore growth and intensification of business was inevitable to meet the, because of the increased prosperity, demand for meat. Intensive farming also known as the bio-industry was born. The Dutch government argued that agriculture and cattle farming had to experience the same kind of growth as seen before in other industries. Mechanization on farms and in agriculture were encouraged, small businesses were liquidated or combined in large industries.

At the end of the nineteen fifties, the European Economic Community was founded, resulting in a larger market for agriculture and livestock products. Expansion, mechanization, rationalization and specialization were the key issues during that time. The Government sent out employees to convince farmers of the alleged need for expansion. The motto of that time, labour rationalization, meant that there had to be an as big as possible production in the least amount of time. The Dutch government hired scientists to investigate how agriculture and livestock production should be changed to increase the production as much as possible. Experimental farms were established where scientists did studies and tests, for example increasing the number of piglets a sow could give birth to annually. These experimental farms still exist today!

The following years many major changes were made in livestock farming and agriculture in the Netherlands. Government employees found inspiration in other countries where after the government decided that it would be economically efficient to introduce so-called “battery systems” to the Dutch farmers. Chickens from then on could be kept in small cages on grids. Then it was the pigs turn, they also were from then on being kept on grids in small cages and sows would be chained. Everything just to generate more revenue per surface with as least as possible human labour involved. Farmers were told that if they didn’t comply with the “inevitable growth” it wouldn’t take long for them to go bankrupt. If they wanted to survive, they had to cooperate. Everything was marked by economic progress, the welfare of the animal was never considered.

Animals in the bio-industry are considered as products, as much animals as possible have to be “produced” in the shortest amount of time whilst taking up the least amount of space and using the least amount of labour. Labour, land and energy has to be saved upon. Most actions in the process, from breeding to slaughter, are carried out by automated machines such as chicken sorters, milk robots, conveyor belts, chicken sweepers, meat machines etc. To prevent animals from hurting each other because of frustration, boredom ore mutual aggression they are “adapted” to their environment. Teeth, wattles, beaks, tails and horns are removed or even burned off without any form of anaesthesia.

The life expectancy of the animals is modified; animals are especially bred for fast growth. This makes it possible to slaughter more animals in a year’s time. Because of this unusual fast growth the animal experiences a lot of health issues and health risks. Many animals don’t even make it to the defined slaughter age, but that is perceived as economically acceptable.

The use of large amounts of antibiotics in the bio-industry can be considered as very alarming. These antibiotics come in handy for farmers, because it works both growth enhancing and inhibitory to viruses. It is estimated that in the Dutch livestock sector 400.000 kg of antibiotics are used annually. These antibiotics end up in the final “product”, and thus ultimately on the consumer’s plate.

The feeding of the animals is artificially made up to enhance the fastest possible growth. Cheap raw materials are imported from third world countries to construct the most economically efficient possible food. Third World countries lose a big part of their available agricultural space to produce the cheapest possible animal feed, and therefore loose a big part of their available agricultural space to feed their own population.

In southern European countries it is possible to slaughter the animals a few cents cheaper than it is in the Netherlands, so many animals are put on horrific transport to foreign countries for those few cents more profit. For days the animals are trapped in the heat or cold, cramped together without any form of food or water.

If at birth it shows that an animal may not be sufficient enough, the animal is killed immediately. Everything just revolves around maximizing profits. The current legislation doesn’t even talk about animals anymore, but about products or kilograms per square meter.

Some examples of the gross animal abuse that takes place within the bio-industry:

Chicks

Tens of thousands of chicks are thrown together in a hall. In the beginning they still have some room to walk around, but chicks grow rapidly. The limited space they had is fast gone. When the chicks reach the age of 6 weeks, they are considered “ripe” for slaughter. So called chicken catchers grab the chicks and stuff them into crates. This happens so roughly that many chicks contract wing or bone fractures. When the crate is closed there is often a chick that has its wing or leg clamped between the crate and the lid of the crate. The crates overfilled with chicks are loaded into trucks and put on transport to the slaughterhouse. On arrival at the slaughterhouse they are thrown from the crate onto a conveyor belt. This conveyor takes them to a place where they are manually put on hooks upside down (by their legs). Then they are run through a low voltage electrified bath with their heads to sedate them. However the strength of the electric shock they are submitted to is very low; so many animals are not sufficiently “anesthetized”. Then the chicks are passed by a rotating blade, where their throat is cut. It often happens that the throat of the chick is not sufficiently cut through, so the “work” is then finished manually.

Calves

Although the Netherlands adopted legislation that prohibits farmers to keep calves in chests anymore, the living environment of the calves haven’t improved that much. Chest calves are placed in a box or a really small cage after birth in which they practically can’t move, so the calf can’t grow any or as least as possible muscular tissue. The calf never gets to drink milk from his own mother; they get fed a bucket of artificial milk twice a day. This milk contains little iron, a nutrient that is necessary for the protection of the calf’s health. Because the calves take in to little iron they are sure to suffer from anemia. This anemia makes sure their flesh stays white instead of turning red as it is supposed to. Because this white meat of the calves brings up more money on the market, the farmers deliberately keep the calves sick.

Ducks and geese

Ducks are confined in individual cages and geese are kept in small communal areas. The ducks two times a day and the geese three times a day get a 30 centimeter long funnel tube stuffed down their throats, by which they get 1 kg of corn porridge immediately inserted in their stomachs each time. Another way to force feed the ducks and geese is by stuffing a tube down their throat which shoots down (by air pressure) dough balls soaked in milk or oil, or grain and fat immediately into the stomachs of the animals. Besides that the ducks and geese only get salted water so more thirst will be generated. All these interventions are used so the liver will experience an abnormal growth.

These are just some of the harrowing stories about how animals are abused and mistreated by the bio-industry. Every animal has its own suffering! It should be clear that the way in which our current society treats animals is inhumane. The amount of pain, stress and atrocities an animal has to suffer can’t even be captured in words.

Overproduction

Because of the many measures applied in the bio-industry the Netherlands has become the most cattle dense country in the entire world. Every year the Dutch bio-industry “produces” 450.000.000 animals. On a daily basis the Netherlands exports 1.000.000 “pieces” of live poultry and in a week’ time 20.000 pigs and 60.000 piglets (the numbers of cows, steers, goats etc. is unknown to me). Approximately 5.2 million living farm animals leave the Netherlands annually to die elsewhere.

Dutch businesses spend approximately 250 million Euros a year for the promotion of Dutch agricultural export products, which is the biggest amount of money a country spends in the entire EU. This exorbitant amount of money easily can be explained if you see the vast amounts of profits these companies make a year. It’s not the farmers who make these profits but the companies who buy up the animals from the farmers.

The Netherlands is one of the biggest meat exporting countries of the world and therefore one of the biggest animal abusers in the world.

Slaughter

It should be adamant that the slaughter of animals causes an immense grief and enormous amounts of stress to the animals. The so-called sedations they receive are generally insufficient, which causes the animals to be fully conscious when they have to walk, be dragged or led towards their deaths, seeing other animals die in front of their eyes. Spaces covered in blood, smelling of death in which many of them won’t even die immediately. Lately more and more footage is surfacing in which it is clear that the last living moments of the animals are filled with coercion, torture, abuse and harassment by their killers.

Also stories about the lack of hygiene and therefore health threats to the people and the unsafe environment people have to work in are appearing about the slaughterhouses. Because of the ongoing pressure and speed in which work has to be done, things like hygiene and safety are the first things to leave the workspace.

Environment

Besides the undeniable vast amount of animal suffering the bio-industry also causes a heavy strain on the environment. Not just the massive manure surplus, also the emission of co2 has become an oversized problem. Nobody seems to know a solution for this. Whilst the only solution is so simple; get rid of the bio-industry!

The biggest cause of the destruction of the tropical rainforest all across the world is the mass production of soy and corn. 94% of this production is to become animal feed. Whilst the bio-industry is getting bigger every year, and has to contain evermore animals, the production of soy and corn have to follow this growth, which will only result in an even bigger destruction of our earthly treasures. All to fulfill the pleasures, desires and meat addictions of the masses and for maximizing profits for the companies.

The bio-industry thus causes massive amounts of co2 emissions and vastly contributes to the evermore destruction of the rainforests, the lungs of the earth. It seems inevitable that if we continue this way we are heading for an unstoppable global environmental disaster.

Conclusion

It wasn’t until the recent decennia that it has become the trend toe at as much meat as possible and as many times as possible. This was once seen as something that was conjoined with status, someone who is poor can’t after all afford meat. However because of the bio-industry the life of an animal has become so cheap and less expensive that for just a few cents you can buy some meat. The unlimited devouring of meat is an excess of capitalism. Animals as a number or a product, and humans just as stupid blinded consumers.

We shouldn´t contribute to this suffering of animals. When you do eat meat, fish or poultry, buy responsible! For that few cents more you at least make sure you´re not co-responsible and therefore just as guilty to this extensive animal cruelty and suffering! Or even better become a vegetarian or vegan.

If you don’t want to do it for the animals, do it for yourself! The amounts of antibiotics, stress hormones, and in the future with the implementation of the TTIP treaty growth hormones, GMO’s and whatnot it’s just NOT healthy to eat meat, fish or poultry on a daily basis. Don’t poison your body.

 

The Belo Monte project: Stop the capitalist destruction of the Amazon

400 km2 rainforest flooded.
1522 km2 rainforest directly influenced.
More than 5000 km2 rainforest cut down.
The amount of surface of the rainforest indirectly influenced is unthinkably big.
Between 20 and 40 thousand people immediately homeless.
Ancient indigenous cultures will disappear.
Many animals will lose their natural habitat and will (make an even bigger chance to) go extinct.
Exploitation of workers.
Human trafficking.
Forced (child) prostitution.
Murder of resisting tribal leaders/members.
Massive import of cheap labour.
Alarming increase of crime.
Big increase of number of disease cases like malaria and different types of skin disease.
Unnatural flooding and droughts.
Huge increase of poverty.

And this list could go on and on and on.

In other words; Capitalism at its “best”.

 

Next to the enormous threat the massive cultivation of (Monsanto’s GMO) soy, the massive cultivation of (Monsanto’s GMO) corn, the massive felling of rainforest, the enormous metal refineries, other types of mining projects, earlier built insufficient dams and the massive animal farms impose on the tropical rainforest and al its inhabitants, there is now the new enormous threat of the Belo Monte dam.

The Belo Monte hydroelectric station should provide the people with “cheap green power”, however a big part of the generated electricity (which will already be far less than what is estimated) will be used for the planned enormous expansion of the mines*. Capitalist interests prevail over the unique nature of the Amazon and the interests of the Brazilian peoples.

 

The Amazon is important to us all!

The (renewed) worldwide protests against the build of the Belo Monte dam, the shocking stories that have emerged about human trafficking, forced prostitution, the murder of Guarani leader Ambrósio Vilhalva, the protests of the people who build the dam for better working conditions and pay etc. all made us decide we had to write an article about this subject, the amazon affects us all directly and indirectly.

25% of all the oxygen on earth exists because of the Amazon.

Under the veil of so-called “green environmentally conscious energy” one of the biggest crimes against the earth and its peoples is happening right now.

 

Brazil on sale

Brazil is ruled by the “workers party” PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores) with President Dilma Rousseff at the helm. This capitalist liberal party hiding behind a social democrat mask has put all the country’s natural resources on sale during the last decade. As one of the last feats the controversial president Dilma Rousseff gave the go-ahead on February 1st of last year for the build of a new hydroelectric power plant: the Belo Monte dam.

The Belo Monte dam is the first of 59 dams to be built in the rivers of the Brazilian rainforest in the near future. The Brazilian government strives to build more than 400 dams in the Amazon by the year 2030; this will dramatically change the whole area.

Ever since the time Brazil was suffering from the military dictatorship there have been plans to build the Belo Monte dam, although it was then known under the name the Kararaô Complex. These plans however were put on hold in 1989 because of fierce protests of indigenous groups and environmental activists. The corrupt Lula regime reintroduced the plans in 2003, they just gave it a new name; the Belo Monte dam.

 

Partido dos Trabalhadores

The Workers Party PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores) first came to power in 2003, under the leadership of Luis Ignacio da Silva (better known as Lula). Currently Dilma Rousseff is in charge of the PT. The PT pretends to be a party for the workers, it is however a capitalist neoliberal monster hiding behind a “socialist” mask.

When Lula came to power he immediately adopted a radical neoliberal course, which meant that social securities would be privatized, pensions and benefits would be reduced, as well as making it easier for companies to fire people etc. This among others caused the life standard of the Brazilian peoples to drastically decline since the PT came to power.

The IMF policy of privatizations has been rapidly implemented under the so-called progressive policies of the PT, everything in close collaboration with the IMF, the World Bank and Wall Street.

Megalomaniac, absurd and for Brazil itself not in the least bit profitable or positive projects, like the expansion of the mines and the building of the dams, have caused the debt of Brazil to foreign investors to explosively mount up during the last decade. The same scenario has occurred in Brazil before and it then led to the crash of the Brazilian Real in January of 1999.

The Partido dos Trabalhadores has put the whole country on sale and they have betrayed all the peoples in Brazil and everybody who voted for them.

 

IMF **

The IMF has had a big finger in the pie with Brazilian decision making now for decades, bought through the given loans and the given guarantees. However the by the will of the IMF implemented reforms have not been “really” implemented until the reign of the PT during the last decade.

The IMF has already been co-responsible for the crash of the Brazilian Real in 1999 and it is also responsible for the free fall Brazil is making into another crisis today.

 

WALL STREET

The big financial and economic institutions of Brazil have been handed over on a silver platter to Wall Street, the big banks, the World Bank and the IMF with the appointment of Lula in 2003.

Henrique de Campos Meirelles a Wall Street financer, president and CEO of the Boston Fleet bank*** was appointed as the CEO of the Brazilian Central Bank. This person had already been in charge of the Brazilian Association of International Banks as chairman during the 1990’s and was then co-responsible for opening up the Brazilian market to foreign banks and international money flows.

A former senior executive of the Citigroup, Casio Casseb Lima was appointed as the CEO of the gigantic state bank Banco do Brazil (BB). This man and Henrique de Campos Mereilles have had close personal ties dating back as far as 1976.

They both follow the same policies: A tight monetary policy, economic cuts, high interest rates (for loans and taxes) to small companies- low interest rates (for loans and taxes) to big companies and a deregulated currency system. Especially the last mentioned has been a big nail in the coffin of the Brazilian economy because it made it possible and encourages speculative attacks against the Brazilian Real and it causes a flight of capital, what eventually results in a spiral of ever growing debts to foreign investors, more flight of capital, more debts etc.

By appointing these men, Lula has given away the economic and financial management of Brazil to the debtors of the country. These people will NEVER defend the interests of Brazil itself. Unlike what the PT claims to stand for, neoliberalism under these circumstances is more alive than ever in Brazil.

Because of the current policy of appointments, Brazil has chained itself in a financial straight jacket and has given the key to it to Wall Street.

 

The Belo Monte project

The Belo Monte project consists of two dams- whereby the smaller of the two will definitely redirect up to 80% of the original flow of the Xingu river-, two sumps of which one is to overflow until now dry land- 668 km2 including 400 km2 rainforest will be flooded by this-, a huge canal of 500 meters wide as well as appurtenant extensive system of dikes- of which some will be so large that they could also be noted as dams- that have to contribute to divert the water of the Xingu river into the canal. All in all a minimum of 1522 km2 (for the people who find it difficult to put this in perspective, this means 228.300 soccer fields or the half of the Dutch ground surface) of the Brazilian rainforest will experience the direct influence of the project, indirectly it will affect an even bigger surface. Between twenty and forty thousand will have to leave their homes and living spaces. Many animals will lose their natural habitats and many of them will (have a greater chance to) go extinct. As it looks right now the dam will already be operational in 2014 and has to run at full force in 2019.

The total costs for this project amount up to 11,8 billion Euros (this amount is rising by the day) and as is seen more often with these kinds of projects, this project will also cost more environmentally and humanely than it will yield “cheap energy” for the Brazilian peoples. Independent research has already proven that the revenues will prove to be zilch. Because of how the seasons elapse in Brazil (drought/ rain) the Belo Monte dam will only produce 10% of its original capacity during the dry season and during the rest of the year only 39%. To reach its full capacity it requires at least an extra three dams up stream to secure a constant supply of water to the Belo Monte dam. Strangely enough these three dams are nowhere to be found in the plans for the build of 400 dams in the Amazon. The government claims that the Belo Monte dam will yield green energy, however according to these same independent researches it will only yield massive amounts of methane emissions, an extremely poisonous GHG. It should be apparent to all that this project moreover is a showpiece of the corrupt Brazilian government, under the direct influence of the IMF, the World Bank and Wall Street.

The rights for the build of this project where sold by auction and are now owned by an international consortium of big national and international companies as well as some small companies. The international capitalist interests with the build of the Belo Monte dam guarantee a big collective corporate crime!

 

BNDES

The Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) is responsible for 80% of the financing for the Belo Monte project by means of a loan to the building consortium. By approving the loan the BNDES has bound itself definitively to yet another project which stands for serious crimes against the environment and the rights of the local peoples.

However to the outside world the BNDES displays itself as having a green and social character.

 

Animals and nature

Because of the radical changes to the natural flow of the Xingu River many animals will get into trouble. Independent research has shown that the impact on the flora and fauna in the Amazon area because of the Belo Monte dam is unprecedented. Fish are already massively dying and going extinct in the area because of the changed water level, the decreasing quality of the water as well as the fact that because of the reclamation and rearrangement the fishes can’t follow their natural migration patterns (to, among others their spawning places). Because of the drying of the natural flows and the decreasing water qualities many animals will lose their watering places. Also the associated withering of the land will contribute to the dying of plants and therefore less food will be available to the animals. Likewise the massive felling of ancient trees – among others to build settlements for the labour migrants- will cause the natural living spaces for the animals to deteriorate even further.

Not only 9 different species of fish are directly threatened with extinction also animals that are already on the endangered species list, like the black bearded saki, the white cheeked spider monkey and various endangered tortoises will probably not make it.

The Belo Monte project is yet another nail to the coffin of the unique flora and fauna of the Amazon.

The consortium responsible for the build denies these effects as loudly as possible and refuses to take any responsibility for this whatsoever.

 

Traditional communities

There are many traditional communities is the endangered area, who are fully dependent on the river, for fish, irrigation, navigation, religion etc. These tribes have been located in the affected area for centuries and know nothing else than their own simple way of life. These communities are generally forced to move, their land is simply confiscated or it turns uninhabitable because of the proceedings.

These peoples received no form of compensation whatsoever for the land that was stolen from them. This however means little compared to the moral, social, cultural and environmental losses these communities have already suffered because of the project.

The consortium responsible for the build denies these effects as loudly as possible and refuses to take any responsibility for this whatsoever.

 

Cities

In the cities in the area the situation is as poignant. Because of the arrival of thousands of labour migrants the number of sexual abuse of children has tripled, the number of violent incidents, including murder, has doubled and the number of drug related incidents and addictions has gone through the roof. The unemployment numbers have also skyrocketed because of the import of cheaper labourers.

These cities can’t handle the massive inflow of people, which causes the already weak local facilities to come under immense strain.

With the plans of the government to build another almost 400 dams a lot of other areas will find themselves encountering the same problems.

 

Labourers

Brazilian officials claim that the Belo Monte project will ensures more employment for the citizenry. However the “lucky ones” of the local population to obtain a job there- that hasn’t already been given to a “cheaper” imported labourer- will find themselves in a situation of exploitation and degrading working conditions. Since the beginning of the build there have been many protests of labourers against the working conditions and the degrading low pay.

 

Lawsuits

Despite the fact that the Belo Monte project defiles all kinds of constitutional principles, all protests and the dozens of filed lawsuits again and again are settled in favour of the building consortium and the government or they are anticipatory declined.

In the past there were a couple of lawsuits that were won by the indigenous people or environmental agencies, however these lawsuits always settle in favour of the building consortium and the government when appealed or in front of the high court.

Yet the Brazilian Supreme Court led by Carlos Ayres Britto is known for the lawsuits they conduct against the suspected corrupt ministers from the Lula era. However the many dismissed lawsuits and decisions in favour of the government, raise doubts about the credibility and integrity of this Supreme Court and mister Britto.

 

Conclusion

The current capitalist neoliberal government of Brazil under the influence of the big multinational oligarchies has conducted the misplaced idea that they have total say about the Amazon and that it is up to them to sell this unique nature for the best interest of a small capitalist elite.

The international finance capital is some sort of supreme mob, which has total control over the world and has total power over practically every government. “Chosen” governments only take decisions in their favour and thereby completely ignore the interests of the peoples. This is abundantly clear in the case of Brazil.

 

We have a choice:

Either; we let it all happen, continue consuming, accepting the fact that peoples all across the world are exploited for the profit of a small international elite and risking and throwing away the future of our posterity and the future of mother nature, knowing that we’re on a collision course towards a global disaster! Deforestation, fracking, pollution of the oceans, wage and interest slavery, destruction of cultures in order to promote a homogenous mush, where does it end?

Or; we fight back! Fight against those who have condemned us to (social, cultural, ecological etc.) death merely for them to make more profit, to secure a durable and just future for ourselves, our offspring and all flora and fauna on earth. We have to stop the madness of the all-consuming and all-destroying capitalism NOW, while we still can.

Don’t get caught in the traps that the bankers, corrupt politicians, corrupt union leaders and all the other dummies for the capitalist elite have set for us.

Destroy the power of the capital!

Stop the capitalist destruction of the Brazilian rainforest!

Solidarity with the Kapayo people, the Xikrin people, the Juruna people, the Arara people, the Guarani people and all the other local peoples in their struggle against the destruction of the Amazon.

Their struggle is also our struggle!

Tradition and medicine: Back to the origin

Traditional medicine is intimately connected to the people and their moral, social and religious order. The body and the mind of the individual are not seen as a loose entity separated from other people, ghosts and natural forces. Within this vision individual health can only be reached through the purification of the moral or emotional status of his/her community. Today this traditional view on medicine is largely repressed by the modern vision. Where traditional medicine tries to restore the balance between the physical and spiritual, modern medicine tries to heal disease with specific medicaments of which the physical effect is the contrary of that of the disease. People are no longer seen in the context of their living environment and community, but rather as a complex machine in which the mind and the body are seen as two entirely different things.

Within the traditional community family and sib-kinsman (the people) stood central. These communities knew a relatively low population density and a mobile existence. The classical hunter-gatherers knew a relatively good physical and mental health. Because of this viral infections and chronic conditions only existed on a very small scale. Most deaths were caused by poisonous organisms, wild animals, trauma’s and fights. For the most common problems they fell back on mostly vegetable remedies. As a consequence of the ecological and cultural changes which came forth from the development into an agricultural society, the variety of herbal medicines became significantly more complex. Because of the higher population density viruses and bacteria could spread more rapidly and infections became more common. This of course led to a further development of traditional medicine, which specialized in these new diseases that were common in the agricultural society.

However, it was not until the Industrial Revolution that an explosion of serious infectious diseases occurred. The urbanization and rapid increase of the population density led to outbreaks of tuberculosis, diphtheria, smallpox, typhoid fever and many other diseases. Although the drop of the death rates at the end of the 19th century, nowadays is commonly contributed to the rise of modern medicine, it is much more likely that it was due to the improvements in the area of sanitation, diet and general living standards instead of vaccinations and other medical developments. At that time the poor workers and farmers simply did not yet have the money to pay for a doctor or new medicine and so even then they mostly used traditional medicine with its herbal remedies. Today diseases such as cancer, heart and vascular disease, caused by an industrial environment (among others by synthetic chemicals, pollution and over-consumption) are the main cause of death among the population. Despite the fact that an expensive and high-quality biomedical industry developed, these diseases are a direct consequence of contemporary life and they are the biggest threat to mankind.

So modern medicine is relatively new and is closely connected with the developments surrounding the Industrial Revolution. In ancient Greece Aristotle and Hippocrates developed a theory about the primary qualities of the body and the balance of body fluids. It was this theory which was decisive for western medicine for over 1500 years. It was not until the emergence of synthetic medicines during the Industrial Revolution, which increased the friction between the medical botany and academic medicine and later on developed into the modern medicine of today. These days the concept of traditional medicine is viewed through the eyes of academic medicine as a dichotomy between the magical-religious and rational. These categorical abstractions, which are the product of the modern western liberal ideology, have drifted far from the traditional worldview of the ancient European people. In the traditional world religion and medicine were strongly intertwined with all other aspects of the folk culture. The separation of the world in the field of the mystical and the rational is therefore a biased view of reality which is largely ideologically determined.

The Germanic peoples did not only use plants and herbs to cure diseases, they also were an important part of the cultural wellbeing and cohesion of the people through legends and folklore. Symbolic plants embodied and expressed the unity of all life. In the Germanic worldview Yggdrasil – the cosmic tree of life – stood central. Yggdrasil represented the universe in the form of an evergreen tree glistening in the dew. Its branches reached over heaven and earth and under its roots there was Helle, the cold land of torture, the cold land of the frost giants and the realm of men, could be found. For the Germanic peoples the holy forests were the center of all religious and political life. With traditional medicine the knowledge and wisdom of our far ancestors is narrated through legends and folklore to our modern era. These old traditions and rituals are rooted deeply in the culture of our people. With the introduction of Christianity and the Christianization that followed they kept on existing and even today they play a humble role in our celebrations and customs.

Now the concern for the environment increases and a new tendency develops which promotes a “green” style of life, and a renewed appreciation for traditional medicine can be seen. However modern society with its shallow hedonism is plagued by the abuse of all kind of herbal stimulants; coffee, marihuana, cocaine, heroin, alcohol and tobacco. While these in the traditional community were only used within a ritual context, snatched from their folk cultural context they seemed to be a disaster in the fast, restless, consumerist modern world of today. Only a return to our folk cultural origin and a general restoration of the systems of belief of our far ancestors can help us learn and use traditional medicine again, so we can use it to enrich our lives and that of our community. In a world which is characterized by the biggest ecological disaster of human history and in which mankind is more than ever removed from his roots, this might be our only salvation.

 

Fiume: The last Pirate Utopia

During the golden age of piracy in the 17th and 18th century, heroic rebels plundered the lucrative shipping routes between Europe and the New World. They operated from free ports, the so-called pirate utopia’s on islands and along unreachable coastlines, outside the grasp of civilization. From these anarchist enclaves these free men organized unseen raids with which they undermined mercantilism and the upcoming system of worldwide oppression, slavery and colonialism.

One of the last of these pirate utopias was founded in 1919 by the celebrated poet and well known Italian national hero Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938). He gained fame during the First World War, where he fought in the Italian army, but refused, as did so many of his generation, to conform himself back to civilian life after the war. Therefore Italy became a pool of nationalist and revolutionary aspirations after the war. Futurists, fascists, anarchists: all tried to create a ‘new’ Italy, based on heroism, national glory and overcoming the class struggle.

Fiume (now known as the Croatian Rijeka) was part of the Habsburg Empire for centuries, before the First World War made an end to this. And although the city was then claimed by the Italians, it was given to the Slaves in Versailles by the Entente. D’Annunzio did not agree with this and moved from words to actions by marching from Ronchi di Monfalcone to Fiume in September 1919 with about three thousand deserted Italian soldiers. The city was conquered without even firing one shot and D’Annunzio and his troops were warmly welcomed by the population of the city.

After the Italian government refused to annexate the city, Gabriele D’Annunzio pronounced Fiume to be a Free State and for sixteen months conducted a revolutionary reign. With this Fiume became a social experiment and pilgrimage for all kind of freethinkers, artists and revolutionaries. Together with the national-syndicalist Alceste De Ambris he created the ‘Carta del Carnaro’, which served as the new constitution of the newly formed Free state. The absolute equality of men and women, freedom of religion and a comprehensive social system based on corporatism were the essential principles of this new constitution. Gabriele D’Annunzio wanted to develop a new civilization that was different from the corrupted, shiftless, vulgar and outplayed politicians of western civilization. His free port had to set the example to create a new spiritual storm which would radically change the western world. This new civilization would no longer be based on mammon and power, but on heroism and individual freedom.

D’Annunzio thought it was of a crucial importance that the population of Fiume introduced a new way of living. Each day parades were held, bonfires were ignited and theatrical speeches were given to inspire the population. A participation-democracy was realized with a decentralized government and many forms of direct democracy. This social experiment became the starting point of departure for universal rebellion. And under the leadership of the futurists, revolutionaries and other adventurers that en masse came to the city, it seemed this could work. After a trade-blockade by Italy to undermine the economy of Fiume, D’Annunzio developed an alternative system which was mainly based on piracy. His land- and sea robbers he called ‘Uscocchi’, after the infamous Slavic pirates from the past, who raided the region. One of the most well-known actions of the Uscocchi took place on the 18th of April 1920, when they robbed 46 expensive thoroughbreds from a riding school of the Italian army. The Italian government was furious and threatened with hard sanctions against Fiume, after which D’Annunzio promised to return the horses. However instead of returning the stolen thoroughbreds, D’Annunzio returned 46 emaciated peasant horses to the Italian government. A provocation which inspired many people.

Gabriele D’Annunzio was ahead of his time when he noticed the newly formed League of Nations (the predecessor of the United Nations) was a conspiracy of thieves and scammers. As an alternative he founded the ‘Lega di Fiume’, a league which had to unify and liberate all the oppressed peoples of the world. Within this league there would be place for the Irish, the Palestinians and other Arab peoples, Asians and of course the Slavic peoples who were oppressed by Serbia. However, these plans came to an abrupt end when in the December month of 1920 the Italian army made a definitive end to D’Annunzio’s pirate utopia, This day became known as ‘Bloody Christmas’.

After the fall of the Free state Fiume, Gabriele D’Annunzio retreated to Italy, where many of his ideas found an entrance in the rising fascism of Mussolini. Although he supported some fascist ideals, he strongly rejected others. The poet supported the corporatist arrangement of the economy and the strife for a new society based on heroism, action and nationalism. However Mussolini’s alliance with the foundations of the ‘old’ Italy – the monarchy and the church – could of course not get his approval. The Free state of Fiume was by no means an example what Italy could expect for the coming two decades. The Free state of Fiume was a social experiment in which the anarchist principles of direct democracy stood at the basis, while the fascism of Mussolini degenerated into a conservative and totalitarian dictatorship. Where the population of Fiume knew an unprecedented individual freedom, many Italians totally forgot the meaning of freedom after twenty years of fascist oppression.

Every attempt to qualify D’Annunzio’s regime as a rightwing or leftwing phenomenon is deemed to fail. The great force of the poet was his ability of acquiring support from a colorful and very diverse companionship that was capable – be it for a short period of time – to create their own reality. With the fall of the Free state of Fiume there came an abrupt end to the glory time of the pirate utopias. In a time in which the influence of modern society seems to be insurmountable and the State seems to influence all aspects of human life, the prospect on such a Free state seems further away than ever before. However, it is exactly because of this that we have to keep on pursuing the ideals of D’Annunzio and other spirited rebels. Only by realizing Free spaces outside the influence sphere of the State – how big or small they maybe -, we can show the people that real freedom can still be achieved.

 

A climate of fear: The path towards the totalitarian police-state

We live in a permanent climate of fear these days, especially since the western leaders have decided to attack the terrorist organization IS(IL) in Iraq and Syria. On a daily basis we get to hear in the media that a terror threat is more evident than ever before, that the army should be deployed on train-stations and the streets and how radicalism and jihadists are an existential threat to the free west. Politicians call for decisive actions and suggest all kind of ‘anti-terrorism’ measures. During a speech at the end of September before the United Nations, the British prime-minister David Cameron said that “non-violent extremism” was just as dangerous as terrorism and should be eradicated with all means the State has at its disposal. From our southern neighbors Armand De Decker, the Belgian envoy for the UN general assembly, suggested that returned jihadists should be locked up in moral re-education camps.

But what exactly are we talking about? In the “Terrorism situation and trend report 2014” of Europol we can read that with the 152 terrorist attacks in Europe during 2013 only seven people died. This in contrast to the many thousands of people who die each year because of traffic-accidents or work-related accidents in the EU. Moreover, only with two of these terrorist attacks religious extremism (jihadism) played a role. If we look at these statistics, it seems the mass hysteria surrounding extremism and a potential terrorist attack is completely unjustified. The nature of man is simply that he has more fear for the unlikely than for the likely. Especially if this fear is fueled on a daily basis by the media and the internet. The daily calls for horror in the media and from the government, have created an irrational climate of fear that forestalls any rational debate about the proposed countermeasures against ‘extremism’.

This is of course very convenient for the State, since they let the ordinary people pay for the economic crisis they – the political and economic elites – have caused themselves. The permanent fear for extremism and terrorism seems to be the perfect lightning-rod for the unprecedented social demolition by the parliament. To privatize the profits and collectivize the charges, democratic methods will not suffice. To make this attack on their own civilians succeed, they need a repressive police-state. So our people is not so much threatened by terrorism or extremism, but by the willingness of our people to let themselves be intimidated by fear, in an attempt by our government to use this so they can take away our freedom. While the State makes it appear as if they are protecting us against terrorism, which they created themselves, they in fact are using it as an excuse to impose authoritarian and repressive structures. With this the celebration of freedom seems to have come to a definitive end.

If we read between the lines of the politicians and other policymakers, their true motives become clear. The specter that surrounds terms like extremism and terrorism are the product of a certain ideology. Extremism is a term that is used to describe the ideas or actions that are considered extreme by its critics. So it is a completely subjective term. On the contrary, terrorism is committing serious violence without a legal ground, to achieve a political goal. Instead of using these words in their original context, their meaning is evermore extended and these terms are becoming more and more connected to each other and made synonymous. Now they are used to point out a violation of certain norms and values, which are contrary to those of the State. Dissidents are branded as extremists by the State and extremism has become synonymous to terrorism. By demonizing, criminalizing and de-humanizing people by using these terms, the State is able to justify silencing them.

It is exactly in this context that we have to see the words of David Cameron and other heads of State. By equating ‘non-violent extremism’ to terrorism, they pave the way for a totalitarian police-state, in which anybody who isn’t a model-citizen and who has a dissident view can be prosecuted. Up until today the measures taken by the State to counter terrorism, have had no single significant effect. The ‘war on terror’ only resulted in more terrorism and the first al-Qaida caliphate the world has ever known. This is because the State is not defending itself against terrorist disaster, but against its own civilians. The totalitarian police-state is already lurking around the corner. The true enemy is the State, who oppresses us and takes away our freedom. The real terrorists are in The Hague and Brussels. And we have to stop them before it is too late!