Nexus - 0210 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS shareholders of a company to sue, if that company violates international law. the Government and the Opposition for combining to defeat calls in the Senate for a Royal Commission of investiga- tion. Shame on all of us for keeping up our support for these same banks that know no loyalty save that of greed! (ICAC) released a damming report detailing how banks, insurance compa- nies, government departments, private investigators and public utilities have traded in confidential information of our personal details. A trade turning over millions of dollars. Damages have not been set, but the judgment may force all French arms firms to be extremely cautious in their arms exports. (Source: Pegasus Computer Networks, peg.military.index, 3rd Sept 92) Small wonder why many of us trust the current Federal and State proposal to introduce a national health commu- nication network, similar to the Physician's Computer Network as out- lined on the Beyond International Special. * SYSTEM Many readers I hope watched the recent Beyond International Special titled "You Have No Secrets". Shown just after the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption THE TV THAT WATCHES ITS VIEWERS A Japanese company has patented a television that watches its viewers. The company, Kabushikigaisha Shogakuikueisha Kyoikukenkyusho, has filed a British patent application (2 250 117) on a system, designed to log viewing habits for market research. (Source: New Scientist, 29 Aug '92) OPINION POLLS AS PSYWAR The average person doesn’t want to get embroiled in a war, especially in a far-off country. This resistance to being dragged into a military adven- ture is a problem on which the imperialist rulers of the U.S. have been working for a long time. They had to find a way to break down the resis- tance. A mass media campaign portraying the target country as cruel, brutal, uncivilised, dangerous and insanely aggressive is indispensable — but not enough, How can the war planners be sure it is working? And how can they convince a big chunk of the population — who, it should be remem- bered, never thought of going to war in the first place — that everyone is cheering on “our troops” so they too should get with the program, go with the flow? Enter the public opinion poll. Ever since the shamelessly racist and lopsided U.S. outrage against the little island of Grenada, the public opinion poll has played a key role in mobilising pro-war sentiment. Every evening for weeks, ABC-TV’s “Nightline,” a relatively new program at that time, interviewed officials who argued that the U.S. should carry out a “surgical” operation to get rid of the danger posed by these Black revolutionaries and their Cuban back- ers. And then, after the audience was sufficiently softened up, came the public opinion polls. Not enough support for invasion? Give them another week of lies, turned up full blast. Since then, the technique has been used for the invasion of Panama, the war in Iraq, and now the threatened intervention in Yugoslavia. Batter down popular resistance to war with massive propaganda barrages. Then measure how successful it’s been with “public opinion polls.” So when the bombs start to fall, it’s not the cabal of military men, politicos and the super-rich ruling class that is responsible. No, the “public” was clamouring for war, and the Pentagon just had to go along. No one should be discouraged or fooled by these polls. They do not reg- ister the true sentiment of the masses but only their level of resistance — or lack of it — to a propaganda onslaught. If those who know the score, who understand the cynical nature of what is going on, refuse to be swept along and exercise political courage, if they concentrate their energies on exposing the lies and the propaganda — then the anti-war movement can again take to the streets and prove by its very existence and audacity that the polls lie just as the mass media do. (Source: Workers World Service, 46 W. 21 St., New York, NY 10010. USA) BANKING CONSPIRACY AGAINST MEDIUM TO LARGE BUSINESSES? This news item comes from Nexus. There is no particular source for this item, except for several thousand bank- rupted businesses and many more farm- ers forced off their land. Nexus has received many letters and examples of ‘bank fraud’. What is chill- ing is that there is a consistent pattern emerging, as follows. Mid to late '80s: Banks, particularly the bigger ones, go to financially secure medium to large businesses. Banks BEG these businesses to borrow money, citing asset growth, business expansion etc as good reasons to do so. A couple of years later: Banks start demanding money back, in many, if not most cases, breaking many verbal and written agreements on the terms of their loan. Result: Thousands, yes thousands, of medium to large, formerly secure and sound businesses are now gone. Assets seized were sold for ridiculously low prices, most of the time never coming near to repaying the principal amount of the loan. Shame on the media for its deafening silence on this destruction of our nation's welfare. Shame on the politi- cians for turning blind eyes to this in each and every electorate. Shame on NEXUS¢9 BIG BROTHER & THE HEALTH OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1992