Nexus - 1405 - New Times Magazine-pages

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could be sitting at a table, say, in the Hotel Panama, knowing that WARS AND THE CORPORATOCRACY we're both here to win these guys over, but we also had our official AG: You talk about the so-called defeats in Vietnam and Iraq and jobs, which were to do studies on the economy to show how, if the what they mean for corporations. country accepted the loan, it was going to improve its gross national JP: Yeah, well...we, you and I, look at them as defeats, perhaps, product... and certainly anybody who lost a child or a sibling or a spouse in So we were producing these economic reports that would prove to _— these countries looks at them as disasters, as defeats, but the the World Bank and to Omar Torrijos that if he accepted these huge — corporations made a huge amount of money off Vietnam—the loans then his country's gross national product would just mushroom —_ military industry, huge corporations, the construction companies. and pull his people out of poverty. And we produced these reports And, of course, they're doing it in a very, very big way in Iraq. So which made sense from a mathematical econometric standpoint. In —_ the corporatocracy, the people that are in fact insisting that our fact, it often happened with these loans that the GNP, the gross young men and women continue to go to Iraq and fight, they're national product, did increase. making a tremendous amount of money. These are not failures for But what also was true—and what Omar knew and Jaime Roldés them; they're successes from a very strong economic standpoint. knew and I was coming to know very strongly—was that, even if the | And I know that sounds cynical. I am cynical about these things. general economy increased, the poor people with these loans would _I've been there. I've seen it. And, you know, we must learn not to get poorer. The rich would make all the put up with that any more. All of us. money, because most of the poor people AG: It's the 40th anniversary of the 1967 weren't even tied in to the gross national Israeli-Arab war. You talk about Israel being a product. A lot of them didn't even make "Fortress America” in the Middle East. income. They were living off subsistence JP: I think it's very sad and very telling, farming. They benefited from nothing, but "But the fact of the once again, that the Israeli people, for the most they were left holding the debt, and because of wae . part, are led to believe that they've been given these huge debts their country in the long term matter is: our having this land as a pay-off, basically, for the would not be able to provide them with health this military base in Holocaust, because they deserve to be care, education and other social services. recompensed. And, of course, the Holocaust Israel has been a huge was terrible, and they do deserve to be taken CHEAP COLTAN AND DEATH IN THE defence for us. care of and recompensed and have stability. CONGO ' But why would we locate that place in the AG: Talk about Congo. It s been a place middle of the Arab world, their traditional JP: Oh, boy. The whole story of Africa and where we could really enemies? Why would we locate that place in the Congo is such a devastating and sad such an unstable area? It's because it is one. And it's the hidden story, really. We launch attacks, serving as a huge fortress for us in the in the United States don't even talk about nd rel n. It' n biggest oil fields known in the world Africa; we don't think about Africa. a d e yo . t s bee today, and we knew this when Israel was our equivalent of the crusaders’ castles in Congo has something called coltan, located there... the Middle East." which probably most of your listeners So, in fact, we built this vast military may not even have heard of but every base, armed camp, in the middle of the cellphone and laptop computer has coltan Middle Eastern oilfields that are in it. surrounded by the Arab communities, and And several million people in the last in the process we've obviously created a few years in the Congo have been killed tremendous amount of resentment and over coltan, because you and I and all of anger and a situation where it's very us in the G8 countries want to see our difficult to see any positive outcome computers and our cellphones there. But the fact of the matter is: our inexpensive. And of course, the having this military base in Israel has companies that make these sell them on that basis, that "Oh, here, been a huge defence for us. It's been a place where we could really mine's $200 less than the other company's". But in order to do that, launch attacks, rely on. It's been our equivalent of the crusaders’ these people in the Congo are being enslaved. The miners, the castles in the Middle East. And it's very, very sad. I think it's people mining coltan—they're being killed. There are these vast extremely sad for the Israeli people that they're caught up in all of wars going on to provide us with cheap coltan. this. I think it's extremely sad for the American people. It's And I have to say, you know, if we want to live in a safe world, extremely sad for the world that this is going on. we need to, we must be willing to, and in fact we must demand that AG: As we crisscross the globe, John Perkins, which is exactly we pay higher prices for things like laptop computers and cellphones — what you did in your years as an international consultant, having and that a good share of that money go back to the people who are been groomed by the National Security Agency but then becoming a mining the coltan. And that's true of oil. It's true of so many top economist in an international consulting firm, you have also resources that we are not paying the true cost, and there are millions —_ written books about shamanism. You also write about Tibet. Where of people around the world suffering from that. Roughly 50,000 —_—_ does Tibet fit into this picture? people die every single day from hunger or hunger-related diseases JP: Well, you know, I was just in Tibet a couple of years ago, and curable diseases that they don't get the medicines for, simply and it was an interesting thing because I took a group of about 30 because they're part of a system that demands that they put in long people into Tibet with me as part of a non-profit organisation... Of hours and they get very, very low pay, so we can have things course, Tibet right now is very depressing because the Chinese cheaper in this country. And the Congo is an incredibly potent presence is extremely strong and you see how the Tibetan culture example of that. has been put down. And you're always aware that there are Chinese matter is: our having this military base in Israel has been a huge a een eT It's been a place where we could really i eee a Dr launch attacks, and rely on. It's been our equivalent of the crusaders’ castles in 14 = NEXUS "But the fact of the defence for us. the Middle East." www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2007