Blind Colossus

By Antonia Hildebrand

Antonia Hildebrand, author of The Nine Eleven Handbook, explores how the neo-liberal worldview was created and for what social, political and economic purposes it came into being. Going back to the Great Depression of the thirties, Hildebrand describes an agenda devoted to the creation of an elite which is now so insulated by its power that it is l

• Language: English
• Publisher: Debbie Lee
• Release date: Mar 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781740279130

Antonia Hildebrand

Antonia Hildebrand is a poet, short story writer and essayist. She was born and educated in Toowoomba, Queensland. She married Reinhard Hildebrand in the early seventies and moved with him to Hamburg, Germany. She lived and worked in Europe for three years and also travelled in Europe and Asia before returning to Australia. She then studied at the Toowoomba Technical College, going to evening classes before gaining admission to the University of Queensland and graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1987 with a major in English literature. In 1993 she graduated Master of Letters (German) from the University of New England. Her first published short story, 'Nothing Ever Happens', appeared in Woman's Day in 1981 and Downs Images in 1982 and she has since been widely published in journals, magazines and anthologies in Australia as well as Britain and the USA. Her poems have appeared in Coppertales, Iodine Poetry Journal, Poetrix, Harvester and Squidink. From 2000 to 2002 she was a member of Crime Writers Queensland and had two stories published in their books - 'The Weeping Madonna' in Menace in the Mulga and 'Second Nature' in Bad to the Bones. Her short stories have appeared in Downs Images, Woman's Day, Shortz, First Edition Magazine, Tirra Lirra and Four W Seventeen. An essay on John Howard, 'Ordinary Australians', was published in Overland in 2003. In 1998 she won the University of Southern Queensland Library Poetry Prize and in 1999 the Fellowship of Australian Writers' Marjorie Barnard Short Story Award. In 2002 she began contributing to Radio National's Bush Telegraph program. Many of her short stories have been broadcast by Queensland Storyteller on Radio 4RPH and by Words and Music on Radio 91.3 FM. Her Radio National pieces and her film reviews and essays were collected for her book The Past is Another Country: Viewpoints, Essays & Reviews published in 2003. She has also explored growing to adulthood, living in Europe and returning to Australia in the years 1951 to 1975 in her memoir Beautiful Life. In 2004 she co-wrote, with John Boshammer, Boshy and Me, a biography of his rugby legend father, Kev Boshammer. A poetry collection, The Sweet Time, was published in 2006. Other publications include The Blind Colossus, an essay collection, 2015; To Breathe and Other Stories, 2016; and War Stories, a poetry collection, 2017. She was elected president of the Fellowship of Australian Writers Queensland (2015-2016).

Book preview

John Perkins and the Empire of Debt

It has often been observed that capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction. So much so, that Lenin, Marx and Engels fully expected it to implode sometime in the twentieth century. It almost did in 1929 but was eventually saved by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal. Subsequent implosions were dealt with by various politicians in various ways, but the fundamental flaws and contradictions in capitalism were not only not dealt with, but these very flaws became the basis of a new economic model and a fanatical ideology which has laid waste to social justice and economies all over the world.

John Perkins, in his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, describes how debt is deliberately created in Third World countries. And he knows exactly what he is talking about because he was an economic hit man himself for years. He worked for a company called Chas. T. Main Inc., an international consulting firm. His task was explained to him when he joined the firm:

Claudine told me that there were two primary objectives of my work. First, I was to justify huge international loans that would funnel money back to Main and other US companies (such as Bechtel, Halliburton, Stone & Webster, Brown & Root) through massive engineering and construction projects. Second I would work to bankrupt the countries that received those loans (after they had paid Main and other US contractors of course) so that they would be forever beholden to their creditors and so they would present easy targets when we needed favours, including military bases, UN votes or access to oil and other natural resources.¹

At first blush, this seems so bizarre that it reads more like fiction but Perkins gives an incredible amount of historical fact and economic detail that bears out his claims. The entire book is a condemnation of how America does business in the Third World and in the Middle East. The usual pattern was to send in the EHMs and, if that didn’t produce the desired result, then the CIA went in to effect ‘regime change’. If that didn’t produce the result America wanted, then eventually military intervention would follow.

A good example is what happened in Iran in 1951. Iran rebelled against a British oil company that was exploiting Iranian natural resources. This company was the forerunner of today’s BP. The popularly elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, nationalised Iranian petroleum assets. Britain turned to America for help and both countries feared that the Soviet Union would intervene to protect Iran. The CIA then sent one of their agents, Kermit Roosevelt (grandson of Teddy), in to Iran to turn people against Mossedegh using pay-offs and threats. He then used these people to organise street riots and violent demonstrations which created the impression that Mossadegh was unpopular and inept. Mossadegh lost office and spent the rest of his life under house arrest and was replaced by the American puppet, Mohammed Reza Shah.

Since Roosevelt was a CIA operative, if any of this had come to light at the time it would have been disastrous: to avoid this problem, the EHMs were created. They would not be government employees but would nominally be employed by international corporations. The corporations that hired them were paid by government agencies and their multinational banking counterparts (with taxpayer money) but the entire program was shielded from all scrutiny and accountability by ‘legal initiatives’ – trademark, international trade and freedom of information laws.² The debt which is deliberately created is achieved by encouraging corrupt politicians to consolidate their own position by ‘bringing industrial parks, power plants and airports to their people. The owners of US engineering and production companies become fabulously wealthy’.³

This seems like a conspiracy but Perkins points out that it’s worse than that. This whole system is not driven by conspiracy but by a concept:

…the idea that all economic growth benefits humankind and that the greater the growth the more widespread the benefits. This belief has a corollary: that those people who excel at stoking the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded while those born at the fringes are available for exploitation.⁴

Of course the keen observer of history and human affairs will already know how it all works. In most Third World countries only a small group, members of that nation’s elite, benefit from the ‘assistance’ of the US, and the majority of the population are often reduced to economic desperation.

The term ‘send in the Marines’ takes on a whole new meaning when one considers America’s history of military interventions. Most people immediately think of World War I and World War II, Korea and Vietnam. But these conflicts are very much the tip of the iceberg.

US Military Interventions Since 1890

1890

South Dakota: troops – 300 Lakota Indians massacred at Wounded Knee.

Argentina: troops – Buenos Aires interests protected.

1891

Chile: troops – Marines clash with nationalist rebels.

Haiti: troops – black revolt on Navassa defeated.

1893 (–?)

Hawaii: navy, troops – independent kingdom overthrown, annexed.

1894

Chicago: troops – breaking of rail strike, 34 killed.

1898–1910 (–?)

Philippines: navy, troops – seized from Spain, 600,000 Filipinos killed.

1898–1902 (–?)

Cuba: navy, troops – seized from Spain; navy base at Guantanamo Bay still held.

1898 (–?)

Puerto Rico: navy, troops – seized from Spain; occupation continues.

Guam: navy, troops – seized from Spain, still used as base.

Minnesota: troops – army battles Chippewa at Leech Lake.

1901–14

Panama: navy, troops – broke off from Colombia 1903; Canal Zone annexed 1914.

1903

Honduras: troops – Marines intervene in revolution.

1906–09

Cuba: troops – Marines land in middle of a democratic election.

1908

Panama: troops – Marines intervene in election contest.

1911–41

China: navy, troops – continuous occupation with flare-ups.

1912

Panama: troops – Marines land during heated election.

1912–33

Nicaragua: troops, bombing – ten-year occupation, fight against guerillas.

1914–34

Haiti: troops, bombing – nineteen-year occupation after revolts.

1916–24

Dominican Republic: troops – eight-year Marine occupation.

1917–33

Cuba: troops – military occupation, economic protectorate.

1919

Honduras: troops – Marines land during election campaign.

1920

Guatemala: troops – two-week intervention against unionists.

1920–21

West Virginia: troops, bombing – army intervenes against mine workers.

1925

Panama: troops – Marines suppress general strike.

1932

Washington DC: troops – army stops WWI vet bonus protest.

1941–45

World War II – first nuclear war.

1947–49

Greece: command operation – US directs extreme right in civil war.

1951–53 (–?)

Korea: troops, navy, bombing, nuclear threats – US/South Korea fights China/North Korea to stalemate; A-bomb threat in 1950 and against China in 1953; bases still exist.

1953

Iran: command operation – CIA overthrows democracy, installs Shah.

l960–75

Vietnam: troops, navy, bombing, nuclear threats – fought South Vietnam revolt and North Vietnam; one million killed in longest US war; atomic bomb threats in l968 and l969.

l962–

Cuba: nuclear threat, navy blockade during missile crisis – near-war with Soviet Union.

1963

Iraq: command operation – CIA organises coup that killed president, brings Ba’ath Party to power and Saddam Hussein back from exile to be head of the secret service.

l964

Panama: troops – Panamanians shot for urging canal’s return.

l965

Indonesia: command operation – one million killed in CIA-assisted army coup.

1965–66

Dominican Republic: troops, bombing – Marines land during election campaign.

l969–75

Cambodia: bombing, troops, navy – up to two million killed in decade of bombing, starvation and political chaos.

l971–73

Laos: command operation, bombing – US directs South Vietnamese invasion; carpet-bombs countryside.

1973

Chile: command operation – CIA-backed coup ousts elected president, Salvador Allende.

l986

Libya: bombing, navy – air strikes to topple nationalist government.

Bolivia: troops – army assists raids on cocaine region.

l987–88

Iran: navy, bombing – US intervenes on side of Iraq in war.

1989

Libya: navy, jets – two Libyan jets shot down.

Virgin Islands: troops – St Croix Black unrest after storm.

Philippines: jets – air cover provided for government against coup.

1989 (–?)

Panama: troops, bombing – nationalist government ousted by 27,000 soldiers, leaders arrested, 2,000-plus killed.

1990–91

Saudi Arabia: troops, jets – Iraq countered after invading Kuwait; 540,000 troops also stationed in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Israel.

Iraq: bombing, troops, navy – blockade of Iraqi and Jordanian ports, air strikes; 200,000-plus killed in invasion of Iraq and Kuwait; large-scale destruction of Iraqi military.

1991

Kuwait: navy, bombing, troops – Kuwaiti royal family returned to throne.

1991–2003

Iraq: bombing, navy – no-fly zone over Kurdish north, Shiite south; constant air strikes and navy-enforced economic sanctions

1992

Los Angeles: troops, army – Marines deployed against anti-police uprising.

1992–94

Somalia: troops, navy, bombing – US-led United Nations occupation during civil war; raids against one Mogadishu faction.

Yugoslavia: navy – NATO blockade of Serbia and Montenegro.

1993–?

Bosnia: jets, bombing – no-fly zone patrolled in civil war; downed jets, bombed Serbs.

1994

Haiti: troops, navy – blockade against military government; troops restore President Aristide to office three years after coup.

1996–97

Zaire (Congo): troops Marines at Rwandan Hutu refugee camps, in area where Congo revolution begins.

1998

Sudan: missiles – attack on pharmaceutical plant alleged to be ‘terrorist’ nerve gas plant.

Afghanistan: missiles – attack on former CIA training camps used by Islamic fundamentalist groups alleged to have attacked embassies.

Iraq: bombing, missiles – four days of intensive air strikes after weapons inspectors allege Iraqi obstructions.

1999

Yugoslavia: bombing, missiles – heavy NATO air strikes after Serbia declines to withdraw from Kosovo; NATO occupation of Kosovo.

2000

Yemen: navy – USS Cole, docked in Aden, bombed.

2001

Macedonia: troops – NATO forces deployed to move and disarm Albanian rebels.

2001–?

Afghanistan: troops, bombing, missiles – massive US mobilisation to overthrow Taliban, hunt Al Qaeda fighters, install Karzai regime and battle Taliban insurgency; more than 30,000 US troops and numerous private security contractors carry our occupation.

2002

Yemen: missiles – Predator drone missile attack on Al Qaeda, including a US citizen.

2002–?

Philippines: troops, navy – training mission for Philippine military fighting Abu Sayyaf rebels evolves into combat missions in Sulu Archipelago, west of Mindanao.

2003

Liberia: troops – brief involvement in peacekeeping force as rebels drove out leader.

2003–?

Colombia: troops – US Special Forces sent to rebel zone to back up Colombian military protecting oil pipeline.

Iraq: troops, navy, bombing, missiles – Saddam regime toppled in Baghdad; more than 250,000 US personnel participate in invasio; US and UK forces occupy country and battle Sunni and Shi'ite insurgencies; more than 160,000 troops and numerous private contractors carry out occupation and build large permanent bases.

2004–05

Haiti: troops, navy – Marines land after right-wing rebels oust elected President Aristide, who was advised to leave by Washington.

2005–?

Pakistan: missiles, bombing, covert operation – CIA missile and air strikes and Special Forces raids on alleged Al Qaeda and Taliban refuge villages kill multiple civilians; dDrone attacks also on Pakistani Mehsud network.

2006–?

Somalia: missiles, navy, covert operation – Special Forces advise Ethiopian invasion that topples Islamist government; AC-130 strikes and Cruise missile attacks against Islamist rebels; navy blockade against ‘pirates’ and insurgents.

2008

Syria: troops – Special Forces in helicopter raid five miles from Iraq kill eight Syrian civilians

2009–?

Yemen: missiles, command operation – Cruise missile attack on ‘al Qaeda’ kills forty-nine civilians; Yemeni military assaults on rebels.⁵

These interventions bring into focus the imperial agenda of the corporate/military elite that rules America, beginning in 1890 and continuing to the present day – with disastrous consequences for those unfortunate to possess resources that America wants or who want to control or profit from their own resources. John Perkins, as an economic hit man of many years standing, is very clear-eyed on what it’s all about.

This is what EHMs do best: we build a global empire. We are an elite group of men and women who utilize international financial organizations to foment conditions that make other nations subservient to the corporatocracy running our biggest corporations, our government and our banks. Like our counterparts in the Mafia, EHMs provide favours. These take the form of loans to develop infrastructure – electric generating plants, highways, ports, airports or industrial parks. A condition of such loans is that engineering and construction companies from our own country (USA) must build all these projects. In essence most of the money never leaves the United States, it is simply transferred from banking offices in Washington to engineering offices in New York, Houston or San Francisco.⁶

And he doesn’t shy away from naming this system for what it is:

We are being exploited by the economic engine that creates an insatiable appetite for the world’s resources and results in systems that foster slavery.⁷

And, of course, in this empire built on war, debt, assassination and slavery, Americans suffer too – at least the majority, the 70% of working-class Americans, do. They have been cannon fodder in a war fought between labour and capital for hundreds of years and that is a war