"The Invisible Hand of Power
Support for democracy is the province of ideologists and propagandists. In the real world, elite dislike of democracy is the norm. The evidence is overwhelming that democracy is supported insofar as it contributes to social and economic objectives, a conclusion reluctantly conceded by the more serious scholarship.
Elite contempt for democracy was revealed dramatically in the reaction to the WikiLeaks exposures. Those that received most attention, with euphoric commentary, were cables reporting that Arabs support the U.S. stand on Iran. The reference was to the ruling dictators. The attitudes of the public were unmentioned. The guiding principle was articulated clearly by Carnegie Endowment Middle East specialist Marwan Muasher, formerly a high official of the Jordanian government: "There is nothing wrong, everything is under control." In short, if the dictators support us, what else could matter?" Naom Chomsky 2011
A long article, typical of Chomsky but as usual penetrating and matter of fact about the ways of the powerful. The elite of the world have become a problem specially for the environment. It is no longer East verses West, world wide power is being excercised by the few over the many. The concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands is as anti democratic as the system can become. The powerful are unbelievably greedy. unbelievably selfish and ruthlessly committed to staying in power. The really powerful are not the Presidents, Secretary Generals and other high officials but the people who put them there and the people who put them there were not the general populace. This is a system screaming to be changed anf if it cannot be changed then the world is headed for its biggest disaster ever.
Khusro
Thursday, April 21, 2011
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