The
Destruction of a National
Consciousness
The
contradiction between a global manufacturing system and
a local national distribution system is growing. The manufacturing
chain of a single product can involve the whole world,
but the social control is local, namely, a tax is paid
and used locally -- in the country of final consumption.
The tax is
what is supposed to protect all participants of the
manufacturing social process, redistributing part of the
income from manufacture and marketing. But in the
majority of cases, the social activity of a nation state
extends only to its borders. This means that
part of the tax, which should socially protect the
participants of the manufacturing process who are
located outside of the nation state, stays in the
consumer state.
In the modern
world the "consumers" are the states of
North
America and
Western
Europe. From year
to year, while accumulating wealth and light-heartedly
thinking that one can live shut off from the world of
poverty and its problems, the governments of the rich
countries have loaned and do loan that same "social"
money to the poor countries, to the extent that, guided
by a national ideal, THEY ARE NOT ABLE simply to give it
up as social aid less than their due, although this
sometimes happens, too. As a result, all
of the developing world "owes" the developed world and
is obligated to pay interest for credits received. The majority of
debtors doesn't have any hope of getting out of debt,
but only to increase it, receiving less than their due
for their labor from the redistributed wealth of
mankind.
The chasm
between the rich and the poor states is growing in an
unprecedented way, threatening with an ethnical in form,
and monetary in content, explosion or revolution of new
times. No
supranational legal agency exists in world society that
acts taking into account the social needs of the
developing states, and all the international banks and
funds per se are business organizations. The situation
reminds one of early, cruel capitalism, with its wars,
barbarous relationship to the environment and that very
same relationship to the rights of man. The distinction
lies chiefly in the fact that if early capitalism were
raging while getting on its feet, among the countries,
then now, not restrained by rigid controls, it has been
"moving without restraint" in interstate space.
Instead of developing and alleviating the
situation in the whole world in the social realm, the
interstate social money not given up overheats the
exchanges of the Western countries and, in any case, in
the final analysis, finds itself in the third world, but
in an already perverted, abnormal form: through
unwarranted high prices for energy resources, through
endless loans or charity, causing corruption,
protectionism and a deep chasm between the wealth of the
elite and the poverty of the masses of these countries.
The most
terrible thing in today's situation is the appearance of
layers of population in a number of states for whom
there just is nothing to lose. In particular, these
layers most easily of all adopt extreme ideas of every
stripe and hue.
The events of
11 September
2001 are a
direct confirmation of this. And just as 100 years ago,
social shifts and the redistribution of abundant incomes
are beginning from the powerful statements of the
deprived layers. But not within countries, but at the
interstate level. It is no accident
that the present supranational extremist trends and
their leaders are similar in threat to those in
Russia and
Europe at the end
of the 19th and the start of the
20th centuries. They are those very same
raznochinetsi ((members of
the professional class not drawn from the nobility))
and Narodnaya Volya ((People's Will)) members,
the same well-to-do classes, but this time not with
homemade bombs, but nearly with atomic, and with not
local, but planet-wide slogans.
The most
alarming consists of the fact that it is not possible to
resolve these problems by the usual intranational means.
Trying to find new, efficient approaches, the developed
countries put into their budgets expenses for the aid of
the needy countries. But they only
insignificantly alleviate the situation, inasmuch as
instead of a clear redistribution of income, at the
legal interstate level it amounts to nothing more, per
se, than charity.
Wishing
somehow to improve their material and social situation,
hundreds of thousands of people from developing
countries by hook or by crook aspire to get into the
wealthy countries, the incomes not reaching them there
where they settle. Thousands perish in sunken ships and
overturned boats, inside railroad containers and
refrigerators. But tens of
thousands nonetheless reach their goal, and they somehow
even are, figuratively speaking, an explosive mix which
can at some time blow up from within the states that
accepted them. Or too in the new place they are
strangers, they are outcasts, in any event, in the first
generation. Among them also are found the faithful
followers of all stripes of extremist, although, it
would seem, immigrants should be thankful to their new
governments for the fact that they even took them in,
gave them work, and provided them with minimum social
guarantees.
In particular
therefore, many developed countries now are in a hurry
to adopt the most rigid immigration rules possible. Will it
help?..
The
conclusion can be found only via compromise. After all,
any movement forward which is not of a revolutionary
nature is possible only owing to the interests of the
upper layers of society, who "distribute," and the
lower, who do not have access to the distribution of the
common wealth, but who "dislodge" either one or the
other benefit or a more equitable payment for their
labor.
The modern
situation is unique in the fact that the "upper" and
"lower" parts of the pyramid are separated, among other
things, by state borders. The "upper"
already have formed: transnational
corporations, the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund and so on. And they are
carrying out a policy of globalization of the world's
economy. The time of the globalization of restrictive
counterbalances, which create a balance of forces that
do not allow destructive elements to "move without
restraint" upon the planet has
come.
In
particular therefore, globalization of the trade union
and social movement, that is, the self-organization of
the global "lower" part - is the most important of
today's tasks. The advancement
of the requirements for business to observe common
social standards in the producer countries and in the
consumer countries and the need for the observation of
these standards will increase the standard of living in
the developing countries and decrease the outflow of
production from the developed countries. The
constructive opposition of commercial activity of the
International Monetary Fund will alleviate the acuteness
of social inequality at the state
level.
The
traditional thought of "we" and "they" today is a direct
route to international terrorism, to bloody revolts.
They are ripening in many countries. People are rising
up against that position when even their unborn
children, for example, in
Brazil, already
owe billions of dollars to some other states, or the
external debt of the country is beyond the extreme. The
generations to come will not pay it. In essence, this is
a form of currency slavery, which at a certain moment
will lead to an explosion and consequences worse than
9/11. Imagine for a moment that
Texas owes
Pennsylvania huge
amounts of money, and anyone who was born in
Texas or who
lives there is obligated to pay back this debt and to
receive correspondingly less than the neighbors. It's an
unpleasant picture, isn't it? Most likely, a border also
would have to be introduced between the states, for in
this case there are few who would want to live in
Texas you see.
That is, the border would become a form of economic
constraint of the creditors on the debtors.
It is difficult,
but nonetheless necessary to realize that poverty and
problems on any part of the planet touch everyone in the
Western world as acutely as their own, domestic
problems. It is impossible to say, "Let them sort out
their own troubles," because it is not "they" and "we,"
because if somewhere there are whole nations who have
nothing to lose, then their pain and despair will
develop into the next bloody nightmare that overwhelms
everyone. Neither an "iron curtain" nor nuclear weapons
will help.
For example, a
whole group of Arab, African and Asian states has been
left outside of the worldwide system of production.
They are in
the situation of those out of work, they have a
poverty-stricken budget, almost a zero level of
education and the very same worthless prospects. Only a unified
worldwide government can find approaches to the
resolution of their problems, and the only form of the
creation of such a government is a global social
movement.
In the
meantime, the consciousness of the modern trade union
and social leaders in any country is deeply
nationalistic and hostile toward globalism. Trying to resolve
the problems of "home" by habit, the trade unions are
losing because of the disassociation of national
accommodations and the narrow-mindedness of local
approaches. There is no comprehension of the fact that
for the
globalism of money, one must answer with the globalism
of the social movement places the modern
anti-globalist movement, which has in its inventory
traditionalism, in the position of a player who has lost
before the beginning of the game. The globalism of
business as not an invention of the "sharks of
capitalism," but an objective phenomenon, the next turn
of world history, today's stage in the development of
mankind, and to try not to give it motion is just the
same as taking umbrage at bad
weather.
The
movement toward an all-planet, socially responsible
government is occurring and will grow from two sides:
as a
globalization of the social and trade union activity in
the developed countries and as a unification of the
developing countries in the struggle for redistribution
of the money flows. At the same time, both those and
others will have to correct their ideological
consciousness and their actions taking into account the
interests of the opposite side.
In the
process of globalization, the modern national idea and
the basis of a nationally-oriented history connected
with it cease suiting whomever. In essence,
because the national model of existence won't allow the
resolution of global social
problems.
The
developing, poor countries begin to become aware of
their own right to social support. But this realization
comes into conflict with the idea of a national state
and full sovereignty. An ever greater
independence from the outside compels the elite of these
countries to support the somewhere gentler forms of
religious or ethnic nationalism, creates international
relations according to the "center-province" type and
leads to the formation of supranational approaches. So
you see, if money is demanded from someone, then on what
basis? For
the fact that in order to receive help, it is necessary
to realize yourself from the start as an indivisible
part of mankind, with all the rights and with all the
responsibility for other nations.
In developed
countries, the struggle for more effective methods of
international business control, born as the
anti-globalist movement, should have as its own result
the creation of a unified government that assures fair taxation and
social protection of the manufacturers throughout all
the planet. One can consider the modern (2002)
traditionalism of the anti-globalist movement as a
reflection for people's primary, natural reluctance to
changes. But with the development of events, it
undoubtedly will be replaced by supranationalism: inasmuch as
business has become global, then also control will
outgrow all national borders.
What dangers
await us along the way?
The impact
of the traditional developing economies depending on
export and import causes structural rebuilding of the
domestic economy and displaces the areas of influence
and power in countries. The traditional national elite
don't want to lose power and intensify the national
idea, trying to defend against the economic onslaught of
the transnational corporations. This phenomenon in the
modern world is called "anti-Americanism," although the
Americans, as a people, have no relation to it. It is
all a matter of the fact that today's global business
political problems are resolved with the help of the
force structures of the U.S. Thus the term was born. The
enemy should have a name, and it
appeared.
Further
ideological development of "anti-Americanism" or, more
correctly, anti-globalism inevitably will lead to the
appearance of economic demands. But it is here in
particular that the chief danger lies in wait: the traditionalism
of the consciousness of people in developed countries,
manifested as an unreadiness of the rich countries to
pay welfare on legal bases to poor regions will evoke a
political victory of traditionalism in the developing
countries and can lead to world war. Therefore, the
distribution of supranational views in the developed
world has a colossal political significance.
The growing
contradictions of American interests as a nation with
the interests of the global government being formed,
while appearing as the whole of international
institutions, is defining the need for the formation of
an independent worldwide political and military machine.
Nationalism of the United States itself already has come
into serious conflict with the essence of global
problems which are being carried out by the American
military machine. And already today it has become a
chief irritant and cause for the actions for
nationalists in all countries. A further deepening of
the contradictions will lead to a total confrontation
with America.
The way out is concealed in the fact that the armies
of the developed countries will be resubordinated to a
single government. This will remove much of the
dissatisfaction and protests. NATO is a fine
prototype of such a structure. Distribution of a
supranational consciousness in the U.S. has a special
meaning.
Thus, the most
prospective solution of the arising worldwide problems
consists of overcoming the national narrow-mindedness of
people, in the formation of a supranational
consciousness, especially in the developed countries
that are ready economically for radical changes. But,
essentially, the question arises about the methods for
achieving this most important goal. In order to define
them, we should ask ourselves: what forms
today's self-determination and what gives modern people
a reason to call themselves by various names? National
history. Every nation has its own collection of events
of the past, often mythological, which proves the
appropriateness of separating itself from all the rest.
A review of the bases for national histories and the
advocacy of these ideas in the media are the only way to
prepare us for future shocks, when the energy of
unification and the energy of dissociation will be
coming into conflict on all the continents of the
planet.
Global
self-determination and the ideas which unite mankind,
often are expressed by businessmen who, having realized
what is occurring, not infrequently become public
figures, trying to accomplish one function or another of
an absentee global government.
Today we are
proposing to these people to define the priorities of
the tasks which lie ahead of mankind and to concentrate
part of their activity on the main ideological problem
of modern time - the formation of a single supranational
self-determination through the realization of our common
past and present.
