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Friday, June 06, 2008

BURMA DISASTER DAY 36: WHY?

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MILLIONS SUFFER, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS DIE, THE JUNTA CONTINUES HOLDING OFF RELIEF EFFORTS

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? WHAT'S WRONG? HOW DO WE FIX IT?

World Governments And Businesses Wring Their Hands And Do Nothing

UNITED KINGDOM: BBC News
"More firms 'have ties with Burma'"
Corporate support for the Junta.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Burma Campaign
"New Burma ‘Dirty List’ - Companies Named and Shamed"
Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

UNITED STATES: Final Call
"Natural gas, oil fuel Myanmar’s military rulers"
More blood for oil.

NORWAY: Asia Observer
"Burma: Country in Crisis FOREIGN INVESTMENT"
How you are killing Burmese people.

UNITED STATES: Human Rights Watch
"Burma: Foreign Investment Finances Regime"
Your gas money buys bullets in Burma.

THAILAND: THE IRRAWADDY
"Foreign Investment in Burma"
Naming names.



First We Have To Understand: The System Works

It just doesn't work for us. The system works for those who own it and control it. That's not you or me, or any Burmese peasants. The system is working really well for the Myanmar Junta, the other "sovereign" governments who are taking part in this disaster, and the corporations worldwide who support and direct the activities of those governments. They're all eating very well, thank you. They have no problem getting medical care, or shelter. The price of energy is fine with them as long as it keeps getting higher. Everything is going just swimmingly.

The survival of a bunch of poor people is not their business, quite literally. While it is necessary to evince some concern, there really isn't any. Obviously, with food, clothing, housing and medical care already in place everywhere in the world that it is needed, or right nearby, there is no problem with supply. The system cranks out plenty of stuff. The system can deliver nearly anything to almost anybody practically any time virtually everywhere. The proviso being, of course, whether there is a profit in it.

The system is designed to provide only for those who can pay. The system is designed only to make money for those who own and control it. The system can feed people, or it can starve people, whichever is more profitable. If making a profit means letting people die, then that is what the system will do.

In the case of Myanmar, the system is making a profit on oil, natural gas and other goods and services. The Junta and the corporations and governments which buy from the Junta and sell to the Junta are all making good money doing so. The Burmese people are not a part of this arrangement. They are not relevant to it. Their welfare is of no concern in the conduct of business between the Myanmar Junta and the various corporations and governments who own and operate this system.

The concerns of other people outside of the system all around the world are of no importance either. They have no control or ownership of the corporations, and no power in the governments. They stand outside of a closed system which goes on about the business of extracting money from them as if they were no more than sheep or cattle. In this system, human beings who stand outside the control and ownership of the system are raw materials, a source of capital and labor, nothing more. They have no say. They do not matter.

Really, you have no right to ask what is going wrong in Myanmar, or Zimbabwe or Macedonia or Columbia or the schools and hospitals and prisons and ghettos of the United States. It is, quite literally, none of your business. You neither own nor control any business or government. You have no voice, no stake, no power, no place at the table. If the system could make more money by starving you tomorrow, you would starve. And there would be nothing you could do about it. The system would not allow you to. Just as now, the system will not allow you to feed or clothe, give shelter or medical treatment to the people of Burma. Do you see how well the system is working, now?

Would you like to do something about it? More next time.
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