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Against empireAGAINST EMPIRE Michael Parenti was born in 1933 into a tightly-knit, working class Italian community in New York's East Harlem and obtained a PhD at Yale in Political Science. Having experienced at firsthand the force of political thought-control in the USA, he has, in his writings, sought with relentless intensity to document this relatively ignored phenomenon. Against Empire is an eloquent and well-reasoned expose of the exploitation by multinational corporations of the majority of human beings currently on earth. Profits are pursued to the detriment not only of vast numbers of 'Third World' citizens, but also of most Americans and Europeans. It shows how those who benefit from these mega-corporations deliberately and consistently undermine democracy both in the USA and throughout the world to maintain global capitalism. It also shows how the mass media and the US academic world largely support these aims and, even worse, how the vast US power machine, including the military, the CIA and the FBI, are always on hand to further this agenda both in the USA and abroad: 'US leaders profess a dedication to democracy. Yet over the past five decades, democratically elected reformist governments in Guatemala, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Haiti, and numerous other nations were overthrown by pro-capitalist militaries that were funded and aided by the US national security state.' . Progressively, public-owned assets worldwide are being sold off to mega-corporations, which purchase assets in various countries to avoid paying taxes at home. 'Multinationals do not have to pay US taxes made in other countries until these profits are repatriated to the USA - if ever they are. Taxes paid to a host country are treated as tax credits rather than mere deductions here at home ....' (p. 56). Furthermore, they utilise cheap labour abroad, while inflating prices to the level of equivalent items manufactured at home. For this reason, the producer nations benefit no more than consumer nations. The result is the depletion of Third World resources, destruction of the environment, exploitation of the labour force and the ripping-off of consumers at home. Social justice'The Admiral International colour television sets assembled by low-paid workers in Taiwan do not cost us any less than when they were made in North America. As the president of Admiral notes, the shift to Taiwan 'won't affect pricing stateside but it should improve the company's profit structure, otherwise we wouldn't be making the move' (p. 57). The final chapter suggests possible ways of transforming public policy and building truly democratic institutions. All in all, the author makes a highly compelling case for his rejection of these malpractices. Unfortunately, he does not tackle the matter of personal morality, which is indispensable for anyone seeking rigorously to pursue social justice. For instance, he appears to dismiss anti-abortionists as supporters of 'compulsory pregnancy' (page 205). Simply because many anti-abortionists in the USA show no concern about many other forms of social injustice does not make the practice of abortion right. Parenti concludes: 'Not only must we love social justice more than personal gain, we must also realise that our greatest personal gain comes in the struggle for social justice. And we are most in touch with our own individual humanity when we stand close to all of humanity' (p. 210). Fallen human beingsStirring words these may be, but unfortunately only half true. For instance, he fails to explain how a fallen human being is capable of loving social justice more than personal gain. And it is simply not true that our greatest personal gain comes in the struggle for social justice. Our greatest personal gain comes in giving up all to God, who can then commission his people to fight for social justice more effectively than all the revolutionaries in the world together. But we also have to ask this: where are those among the Lord's people of this generation who are called to fight social injustice? Perhaps they are doing so unseen, but I suspect that the Lord may be calling some to this task who have yet to take up the call. Furthermore, it is not true that 'we are most in touch with our individual humanity when we stand close to all of humanity'. On the contrary, as Jonathan Swift confessed, the opposite is often true. To Alexander Pope, he wrote (on September 29 1725): 'I have ever hated all nations, professions and communities, and all my love is toward individuals; for instance, I hate the tribe of lawyers, but I love Counsellor such a one, and Judge such a one; 'tis so with physicians (I will not speak of my trade), soldiers, English, Scotch, French, and the rest. But principally I hate and detest that animal called Man, though I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and the rest.' Indeed, we are most in touch with our own individual humanity and we are closest to all of humanity when we are closest to our Creator through the death and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus. Conspiracy theoriesThe most effective attack upon social injustice must come through those who devote themselves first to God and then to living out the second great commandment. These criticisms apart, this book is undoubtedly a masterpiece. It leads Bible-believing Christians of today to face the question as to why Christian conspiracy theorists almost invariably gravitate toward blaming New Ageism, socialism, or even 'Illuminati' for the reduction of democracy in the world today. This book clearly turns the spotlight on a far more obvious and visible enemy of democracy and local self-determination in the world today, namely, global capitalism. Which other force so effectively lays waste local self-sustaining economies in order to create opportunities for international investors and speculators? Truly, 'the love of money is a root of all [kinds of evil' (1 Timothy 6.10). Mike Taylor© Evangelicals Now - November 1997 |