The emperor is dancing on his own grave

News

This link leads to the top story in today's "Independent" here in Britain and comes hot on the heels of yesterday's vain attempt by Blair to prove he has any real influence in the emperor's court. In the face of a future that apparantly does not extend beyond the next presidental nap, we are served platitudes that simply amount to a re-allocation of existing aid funds for Africa and the formal cancellation of some third world debt that could never be recovered anyway.

Bush and Blair agree that the ending of world poverty is a good idea. They also agree that climate change is becoming a serious problem. Beyond that, the only thing they seem to have in common is the belief that divine intervention will somehow provide the technological changes that will enable the progress of human life to take care of itself. It is complacency of the worst kind.

Despite the loud, well-meaning and influential voice of Bob Geldof and friends, the G8 leaders will be gathering in private for some communal masturbation before emerging with a further consensus on trivialities and the details of process. There will be enough snippets to keep the media happy and the onus on tackling world poverty (for such is the pre-ordained focus) will to used to mask the fact that nothing much more is being done to tackle climate change itself.

In reality, the G8 countries are the biggest culprits in and of themeslves. Their insatiable drive for more energy resources to drive the core of their market-led consumer economies is itself responsible for the rape of the planet. Eliminating world poverty is now seen as a device for opening new markets to service the out-of-control capitalism that cannot actuallly survive without the divide between rich and poor. The poverty will continue - it will simply be, as always, a relative factor in the materialistic hierarchy.

Most symptomatic of all in this hypocritical idealogy is the rise of corporatism as the engine used to maintain globalisation. It is not so much a "beast", as a broken mindless machine that will simply cease functioning when its power fails. It's drivers have become something less than human - they are part of the machine and have no concept of a time when the engine will fail. All that remains is blind faith!

Behind all the phony wars and crusades of modern times, there is a groundswell of world humanity that wants this machine to be retired as soon as possible. Some would simply destroy it and hope for the best! Others seek to dismantle it in stages while alternative systems are created. Yet, for both, it is a matter of extreme urgency. The convention of its drivers will ultimately offer people nothing and continue to be a charade.

Heck - that's a long one! Makes up for nothing yesterday I guess.

Later.