Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
State Capitalism: A “Religion” Now Collapsing
Having been in New York, USA for almost three months now, I am so amazed on the outpourings of information that I have been exposed to by reading books, by non-stop viewing of TV interviews of human right defenders, environmentalists, social activists and of the world’s number one intellectual, Dr. Noam Chomsky. I was so surprised to know that the United States is not engaged in Capitalism as such is self-destructive but in State Capitalism which has produced the MASTERS OF MANKIND: the multi-national corporations and the financial institutions.
Noam Chomsky
It was underscored by Dr. Noam Chomsky that the State Capitalism is the architect of government policies that include the shocking information of the government’s position that, “war is the health of the state.” This is so because “it automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense. Other values such as artistic creation, knowledge, reason, beauty, the enhancement of life, are instantly and almost unanimously sacrificed, and the significant classes who have constituted themselves the amateur agents of the State are engaged not only in sacrificing these values for themselves but in coercing all other persons into sacrificing them.” State Capitalism has created so much crises already in the world, so much social injustices, gross inequities, and abject poverty that is now being questioned by the awakened Americans themselves. They found out lately that it was not Lee Harvey Oswald who assassinated Pres. John F Kennedy in the Sixties but the CIA and the FBI in cohort with a corporation-manufacturing armaments which was massively profiting out of the Vietnam War then. They killed Kennedy because he decided to end the Vietnam War. For them, “war is the health of the State.”
A people-powered movement called, “Occupy” began in New York City in 2011 and rapidly spread to thousands of locations worldwide. “Occupy,” says Noam Chomsky “is the first major public response to thirty years of class war. Although most of the original sites have been raided by police as some 7,762 people have been arrested, the movement had already transitioned from occupying tent camps to occupying the national conscience.” The movement has now come of age in awakening humanity from deep slumber, buried by the State Capitalism through corporate globalization in unbridled materialism and consumerism. The number one doctrine of the corporate globalization is that of giving high reverence to the profit-oriented market, based on their firm belief that “market knows best” and that the Multi-National Corporations and Financial Institutions are “the MASTERS OF THE LAND,” to perpetuate “DOMINION OVER THE EARTH,” as Yahweh ordered in Genesis. Through that domination, GAIA (Mother Earth) is now described in the doomsday clock as “one minute before midnight.”
In the Philippines, such doctrine that is giving high veneration to the profit-motive, a market-driven paradigm has already replaced the natures and sustenance economy that for thousands of years have taken-cared of the needs of the Filipinos, treating nature as like a “home” where their basic needs are provided for. For these State capitalists, the earth is to be dominated; nature and the people are just means to acquire instant wealth, fame, and power. If you are an intellectual and is committed to serve the poor and the oppressed, you will be isolated, mocked and even imprisoned or killed. State capitalism is brandishing the power of money, rationalizing that if you are an intellectual, use your talent and skills to enrich yourself. That seems to be the prevailing mindset now, even of religious groups.
Dr Chomsky has provided the people with information that in the last 30 years, State Capitalism has enriched some 1,000 corporations tremendously at the expense of the struggling people. The combined wealth of the top eight billionaires in the USA is equal to the total wealth of 3.6 billion people on earth or half of the world ‘s population. The combined wealth of the 1,000 corporations is greater than the wealth of 7.2 billion people. Through this truism, it is the apt time for all of us to reflect on issues of poverty and hunger not only nationally but globally. As embodied in the report of the United Nations, the nations in the world have targeted the eradication of poverty as the number one priority. This is so because out of the 4.4 billion people in the developing countries, 1.3 billion live on less than $1 per day, 2.8 billion on less than $2 per day. Close to 790 million people struggle to meet their basic food need requirement on daily basis. Each year, 15 million people die of poverty-related causes, most are children. There are even those advertising the sale of their organs to survive. These painful realities are happening because of the Satanic stranglehold through State Capitalism.
Can civilization survive existing capitalism? To quote Dr. Chomsky, “A future historian would look back on a curious spectacle taking shape in the early 21st century. For the first time in human history, humans are facing significant prospects of severe calamity because of their own actions, they are battering the foundations of decent survival. There is a range of reactions. At one extreme, some seek to act decisively to prevent possible catastrophe. At the other extreme, major efforts are underway to deny what is happening and to dumb down the population so that they will not interfere with short term profit. Leading the effort to intensify the likely disaster is the richest country in the world history, the USA. Leading the effort to preserve conditions to which our immediate descendants might have a decent life are the so-called primitive societies – the Indigenous Peoples.”
The categorical statement of the number one intellectual in the world is indeed correct, especially when he mentioned that the Indigenous Peoples are so concerned as they live in oneness with nature. But we have a big problem here in our country, especially here in Mindanao. Every time they go against corporate globalization that is grabbing their ancestral domain, every time they stand-up against illegal logging and illegal mining, they are being killed. In fact, more than one hundred IP Chieftains have already been murdered since 2016.
This “religion” that gives so much reverence to profit-oriented, market-driven globalization must now be opposed by the Filipinos like what the Americans are doing now. Let us oppose the tremendous commercialization of land in Mindanao through the enclosures of the commons, using brutality and violence as in the case in Butong, Quezon, in Mirayon, Talakag, in San Vicente, Sumilao and in Kibaritan, Kalilangan, Bukidnon, among others. Look at our wily politicians in cohort with State Capitalism who dare to monopolize power through political dynasties.
While our Fundamental Law prohibits political dynasties, the same cannot be translated into laws for the simple reason that such goes contrary to the policies of State Capitalism. I wonder how much of the outpourings of funds go the pockets of these deceitful politicians, that is why some, if not many, were buying votes. Like vampires, they suck the country dry. They make gargantuan rakings from contracts on special projects from cartels, corporations, or monopolies – the vanguards of State Capitalism – that they have given favor to. Well, if you are in control economically, you must also be in control politically. So, if you cannot run because politics is not your forte, better support a winning candidate who will protect your interest.
That is res ipsa loquitor. Many candidates were backed up by big business and corporations, like what happened here in the USA when Barrack Obama who won the Presidency, having been backed-up by the One Percent Regime of State Capitalism. Then as US President, he lowered down the taxes of these corporations at the expense of the struggling Americans. As declared by the Americans fighting for their rights, “that in a Republican and Democratic State, it should be the sovereign people who should be the architect of government policies, NOT THE CAPITALISTS.” That should also be the voice of the Filipino people.
Enough is enough of global abject poverty, of manufacturing armaments that can kill humanity 40 times over, of rising global inequities where the most powerful empire in the world, the Modern-day American Imperialism is in control. Enough is enough of unbridled materialism and consumerism based on the dogma that “market knows best” and “the market is always right.” Debunk the ego, go to the sublime, be one with nature as it is sacred – that’s what true spirituality is: to CONNECT WITH THE UNSEEN, FORMLESS BEING, THE CONSCIOUSNESS CALLED GOD, TO SERVE THE LEAST OF OUR BRETHEN, NOT THE EGO THAT HAS BURIED HUMANITY IN COLLECTIVE INSANITY THROUGH STATE CAPITALISM. You are Consciousness and that consciousness should be one with all life!! Know thy deeper self -CONSCIOUSNESS which is eternal!
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