The Brooklyn Free School on BCAT News
The Brooklyn Free School on BCAT News. BFS believes that all children are natural learners and they are fully supported to pursue The Brooklyn Free School on BCAT News. BFS believes that all children are natural learners and they are fully supported to pursue any interest they have, in the manner they choose, at their own pace, and for as long as they want to, as long as they do not restrict any other person’s right to do the same.
www.BrooklynFreeSchool.org
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The Autobiography of Jesus
All philosophical, theological and political discourse issues from a presuppositional matrix. The communicator’s ideas are characterized, influenced and motivated by a preexisting corpus of antecedent beliefs. I commence with the presupposition that Jesus understood perfectly and clearly who he was. His auto-noetic frame was accurate and complete. From such a substratum his ipsissima verba would proceed. Filtered through an Occidental mindset, in particular, a pragmatic philosophy, the words of Jesus have been denuded of their intrinsic authority and regenerative power. The context in which we read the words of Christ must change, from a techno-centric, hedonistic and democratic state to a matrix of First Century Judaism. When the words of Christ are heard within the context of his day, and understood against the backdrop of rabbinic Judaism, his words blaze with unsurpassed authority and creative power (Isa. 49:2). He spoke with an authority unprecedented within the history of Israel (Ps. of Sol. 17:36, 43, Matt. 7:29, 24:35, Mk. 1:22, 27, Lk. 4:36).
Utilizing a Messianic designation from the Old Testament and a title rich in apocalyptic color, Jesus would identify himself to his Judaic world. Jesus’ autobiographical designation, utilized 81 times in the gospels, was the title Son of Man. Through this Messianic prism, we shall see the transcendent dimension of Jesus’ nature as defined by him. “Jesus chose it [title Son of Man] as the ideal expression for progressively and, to some extent, retrospectively, revealing the nature of his person and work.” (D. A. Carson, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 213). Jesus adopted and repeatedly alluded to the figure Son of Man from Daniel 7:13-14, “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.” Daniel in vision sees four empires in succession depicted as bestial. Verses 1-12, characterize the savage, rapacious nature of their rule. But another figure comes upon the scene, he is conducted to the Ancient of Days, the Son of Man. In Hebrew, the phrase Son of Man is bar enosh. Enosh emphasizes the mortal, frail, anemic, suffering and incurable nature of man in the bondage of corruption. This figure is in stark contrast to the four preceding images, depicting the arrogant brutality of totalitarian power. An autocratic power exercised in the establishment and continuance of an empire’s reign, dictatorial violence that stamps out any residue of resistance. But this figure, Son of Man, has acquired a kingdom not by military might or dictatorial tyranny, but through humiliation and suffering. In the title Son of Man there is a unitive exegetic presented, the multi-faceted significance of the humiliation and glorification of the Messiah is revealed. “… while Daniel 7:13-14 indeed speaks of the glorification of the Son of Man, it is in context a glorification and vindication through suffering. Both aspects of 1) humiliation and suffering, on the one hand, and 2) vindication and glory on the other, are signaled by the expression ‘Son of Man’…” (Richard N. Longenecker, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity, p. 87-88).
In Rabbinical literature much is said regarding the Messianic passage of Daniel 7:13. In the Talmud of Babylon Sanh. fol. 98.1, Daniel 7:13-14 is reconciled with Zechariah 9:9. Joshua ben Levy said, “If Israel are worthy, the Messiah comes with the clouds of heaven; but if they are not worthy, he comes poor, and riding on an ass.” Samuel ben Nachman (270 C.E.) said that according to Daniel 7:13, the angels accompany the Messiah as far as their precincts allow, while God then conducts him to Himself, according to Jeremiah 30:21 (Midrash on Ps. 21:7). In Zohar, Gen. folio 85.4, reference is made to Daniel 7:13 as referring to the Messiah. The Hebrew name “Anani” meaning “clouds” is a name for the Messiah (alluding to Daniel 7:13) in the Targum translation of I Chron. 3:24. Mention is made of the name of a person, Anani, it is added, “Who is the Messiah that is to be revealed,”-a direct reference to Daniel 7:13. In the Talmud of Babylon Sanh. 96b the Messiah is named Bar-Naphle, the cloud-man. Rabbis Jarchi, Saadiah, Gaon, Aben Ezra, and R. Joshua expounded the text of Daniel 7:13 as referring to the Messiah. Outside of Rabbinical literature, Justin in his Dialogue 32.1 reports that the “one like a son of man” of Daniel 7:13 was identified with the King Messiah in mid-Second Century Judaism.
“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” (Matt. 18:11)
Jesus said unequivocally that he had the authority to forgive sins because he was the Son of Man (Matt. 9:2, 5-6, Mk. 2:5, 9-10, Lk. 5:23-24, 7:47-48). Authority is the Greek word exousia. The root meaning is literally, “out of substance or nature,” indicating an intrinsic right and power of execution. The exousia was his because he identified himself as the Son of Man. As the long-awaited Savior of Israel, Jesus would embody the saving nature of God, forgiving sins on the merit of his own intrinsic nature. “… All the good which I will do unto you I do through the merit of the Messiah who was kept back all those years. He is righteous and filled with salvation.” (Zech. 9:9) (Pes. R. 146b, 159b.) Jesus exercised an atoning authority in forgiving sins redemptively, a salvational act considered exclusively Divine. The Jews unwaveringly believed that “God keeps Salvation in His own power.” (Talmud of Babylon Sanh. 113a) “But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.” (Ps. 130:4) “Forgiveness is solely with the Lord; He alone is capable of forgiving. The mouth of a mortal who, after all, is himself in need of forgiveness, cannot pronounce the sinner pure, much less render him pure. Only He, Who is as omnipotent as He is gracious, in the abundance of His grace and almighty power, can perform for man that miracle of miracles, the blotting out of the consequences of his past mistakes.” (Samson Raphael Hirsch, The Hirsch Psalms, pg. 396).
“And behold, they were bringing to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven.’” “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, and walk’? ‘But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’-then He said to the paralytic-’Rise, take up your bed, and go home.’” (Matt. 9:2, 5-6, Mk. 2:5, 9-10, Luke 5:20, 23, 24, 7:47-48). No sinful mortal can pronounce a condemned sinner forgiven and free from sin’s consequences. A sinner can share his knowledge of a savior but the saving act of forgiveness and pardon is exclusively Divine. To forgive sins is solely a Divine prerogative that Jesus unhesitatingly asserted. A salvational act no rabbi, priest, or prophet would have dared imitate for fear of committing blasphemy. (Luke 5:21, Matt. 9:3, Mk. 2:6-7) “… the word used in Hebrew for ‘forgiven’ is the Hebrew salach, literally, nislechu lecha chatoteicha (forgiven are your sins). Today, in Hebrew, a person may say to another, ‘Ani soleach lecha’ (I forgive you), but in the time of Jesus this expression for forgiveness was only used of God’s forgiving someone (cf. Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35). “…in the healing of a paralyzed man he used words of forgiveness reserved strictly in the Law to God.” (Dr. Robert Lindsey, Hebrew scholar, from 1945-1990 Pastor of the Narkis Street Baptist Congregation, Jerusalem, Israel, Jesus Rabbi and Lord, p. 48, 50.) The idea that the redemptive act of forgiving sins is within the human domain, “Is alien to the mind of Judaism and of early Christianity.” (Vincent Taylor, The Gospel According to Saint Mark, p. 199) Jesus recognized His own saving task as summed up in his words at the house of Zaccheus, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Lk. 19:9-10).
To exercise the authority to forgive sins, as illustrated in the healing of the paralytic (Matt. 9:2, 5-6, Mk. 2:5, 9-10, Lk. 5:20, 23, 24, 7:47-48), was not a salvific work foreign to his nature as the Son of Man. Every Jew, confronted with the ministry of Jesus, understood the implication of the salvational acts of forgiveness that he singularly offered, “…the early Jewish believers in Jesus appreciated the fact that as the Messiah, he was the one who had embodied and effected the salvation promised of old…” (Richard N. Longenecker, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity, p. 103). The healing and redemptive work of forgiving sins was an exercise of authority over the physical and spiritual realm of human malady, preadumbrating the Son of Man’s role as the eschatological judge of men and nations. “This expression [Son of Man] goes beyond self-reference and, seen in the light of the post-resurrection period, surely indicates that the eschatological judge had already come on earth with the authority to forgive sin.” (D. A. Carson, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 222) As holder of the intrinsic right and power of execution as the Universal Judge (Matt. 16:27, 25:31-46), to heal the sick and forgive sins did not tax his authority.
“The one like a man [the Son of Man] who sits upon the throne of God’s glory, the sublime eschatological judge, is the highest conception of the Redeemer ever developed by ancient Judaism.”–David Flusser, Jesus, p. 103
In the Jewish Apocalyptic book, The Parables of Enoch, the date of authorship is considered to be pre-70 C.E. (see James Charlesworth, Jesus Within Judaism, p. 40, ff), the Son of Man is presented as pre-existent from all eternity. He is specially related to God, in that he shares both the heavenly glory of God and is God’s chosen agent of vengeance and judgment. The picture of his exalted greatness and authority is overwhelming to behold. “And there I saw One who had a head of days, and His head was white like wool, and with Him there was another whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, and why he went with the Head of Days? And he answered and said unto me: ‘This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness, with whom dwelleth righteousness, and who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden, because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, and whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness forever. And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen shall put down the kings and mighty from their seats, and the strong from their thrones, and shall loosen the reins of the strong and break the teeth of sinners. And he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms because they do not extol and praise Him, nor humbly acknowledge when the kingdom was bestowed upon them. And he shall put down the countenance of the strong, and shall fill them with shame. And darkness shall be their dwelling, and worms shall be their bed, and they shall have no hope of rising from their beds, because they do not extol the name of the Lord of Spirits.’” (I Enoch 46:1-6) “And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who was hidden. For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, and the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might, and revealed him to the elect. And the congregation of the elect and holy shall be sown, and all the elect shall stand before him on that day. And all the kings and the mighty and the exalted and those who rule the earth shall fall down before him on their faces, and worship and set their hope upon that Son of Man, and petition him and supplicate him for mercy at his hands.” (I Enoch 62:3-8) “And he sat on the throne of his glory, and the sum of judgment was given unto the Son of Man, and he caused the sinners to pass away and he destroyed from off the face of the earth, and those who have led the world astray. With chains shall they be bound, and in their assemblage-place of destruction shall they be imprisoned, and all their works vanish from the face of the earth. And from henceforth there shall be nothing corruptible; for that Son of Man has appeared, and has seated himself on the throne of his glory, and all evil shall pass away before his face, and the word of that Son of Man shall go forth and be strong before the Lord of Spirits.” (I Enoch 69:26-29) In the above cited passages the Son of Man is seated on the Throne of Glory. He exists before the sun and stars were created, executes universal judgment, and brings salvation at the end of ages, when he will be enthroned as king of the world. “The son of man has a superhuman, heavenly, sublimity. He is the cosmic judge at the end of time; seated upon the throne of God, he will judge the whole human race with the aid of the heavenly host, consigning the just to blessedness and sinners to the pit of hell; and he will execute the sentence he passes.” (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 15, p. 160) The authority of this figure Son of Man, far transcends any anointed office in the Old Testament or the entire angelic order. He stands signally alone in all Judaism as the final arbiter of the destiny of men and nations. “The image of this Bar-Enosh is fascinating and unique. It is the figure of an almost super-human judge, who is to sit on the throne of God and to separate the righteous from the wicked. He is to deliver the righteous to everlasting life and the wicked to everlasting punishment.” (David Flusser, professor of early Christianity, Hebrew University, Jewish Sources in Early Christianity, p. 56) In attempting to define the nature of this One, the Gordian Knot, consisting merely of a human evaluation, looms large in Judaism. Can he be the cosmic judge of such unlimited authority and simply be super-human? Is this description a trivialization of his true character?
The authority that the Son of Man is portrayed as being invested with, as cited in the above passages, far transcends any delegated authority to adjudicate legal disputes, wage war, or interpret the Torah. The Son of Man’s judicial exercise encompasses the entire earth, in its execution of the justice of God. The Father has vested all judiciary powers in the Son of Man (see Targum on Genesis 49:11, Targum on Isa. 11:4, 10:27, 14:29, Targum on Ps. 72:1-2, Psalms of Solomon 17:21-30, II Baruch 72:2-6, John 5:22-24, 27-30). “Thus it seems that the concept [the eschatological figure Son of Man] preceded the final identification of the Son of Man with the Messiah, which became common at the end of the second temple. It was so applied in the time of Jesus, who used to speak of the Son of Man as the heavenly judge and it seems that finally he identified himself with this sublime figure.” (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 15, p. 160).
Jesus states unequivocally that he has an all-encompassing judicial authority. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son. In order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life.” “…and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:22-24, 27-30) The above passages are startling in their boundless import. Jesus claims that he has universal judicial authority as the Judge of all, because he is the Son of Man. No prophet, priest, scribe, or rabbi has ever executed such a judicial authority. No mere man or angelic being operates in such a realm. In the Old Testament, the prerogative of judgment belongs exclusively to God (Gen. 18:25, Judges 11:27, Ps. 9:8, 50:60, 82:8, 94:2, 98:9, 110:6, Isa. 33:22, I Chron. 16:33, Aboth 4:29).
Jesus’ use of the Messianic title Son of Man, encompasses the full breadth of his nature: preexistent, suffering, atoning death, exaltation, glorification, and enthronement as the coming King and Judge. In consequence, no devised category can contain Jesus. He bursts forth and declares that he is illimitable. Prerogatives that are solely Divine are affirmed by him. A trilemma confronts anyone who undertakes a serious investigation of the Person of Jesus. Either he was a fraud, self-deceived, i.e., nut or he was who he says he was. There can be no other options. The good moral teacher category, utilized to neatly dismiss Jesus, demands by definition truthfulness and sanity. If his declarations are untrue, they would nullify such a classification. “The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man. If you think you are a poached egg, when you are looking for a piece of toast to suit you, you may be sane, but if you think you are God, there is no chance for you.” (C. S. Lewis, essay: “What Are We to Make of Christ?” God in the Dock, p. 158) A rubicon decision is demanded by him, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15) Jesus leaves no one in a moral no-man’s land. May his spirit grace us with a vision of his nature, a Divine unveiling from the Father. “And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon bar Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’” (Matt. 16:16-17).
“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” (Matt. 18:11)
lawrence hilliard
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/the-autobiography-of-jesus-131867.html
The "inclusive" Revolution
The term “inclusive” has now acquired wide currency in our country. It is used to refer to the need for the incorporation of many backward ethnic groups into the mainstream of the country. But, I have used it in this article to refer to the need for something other than “the inclusion of backward ethnic groups”. More specifically, my indirect reference is to the need for the incorporation of many other revolutions in addition to the two revolutions-a political revolution and an economic revolution- into the purview of our leaders’ understanding of a set of revolutions that is a sine qua non for turning the old Nepal into a New Nepal. Though the need of our time is to struggle relentlessly to bring about a set of revolutions in many other realms besides the politics and the economics, the set of revolutions that our leaders talk about consists of the two above-mentioned revolutions only. Therefore, the kind of the revolution they advocate is not inclusive. Nowadays, most of us frequently say that Nepali society should be inclusive; there should be inclusive democracy. There is nothing to be worried about it. However, confining ourselves to the inclusive democracy by turning a blind eye to the need for what I call “inclusive” revolution is definitely something to be worried about. Establishing a New Nepal is impossible if we gloss over the inclusive revolution. It is therefore important that we advocate both the inclusive democracy and the inclusive revolution.
A need arises for a revolution in a certain area of a society when people do not benefit from the system under which it functions in many important ways. The system under which the political realm of Nepali society worked before Nepal was declared as a “Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal” was abhorred by a vast majority of people because it did not benefit them in many important ways for many reasons-both known and yet to be known. The “demonstrated” (probably not necessarily inevitable) lack of the link of this system with their overall welfare accounts for their active participation in the April 2006 People’s Uprising that culminated in the end of the kingdom that had been in existence for about 250 years in different forms. In our country, there are still many other areas beyond the two realms- politics and economics- that a majority of people are not benefiting from. It is obvious from this that there is a need for many revolutions in many areas of our society. Materializing our common goal of establishing a New Nepal requires our leaders to broaden the parochial purview of their understanding of the complete set of revolutions needed at the present stage of the history of our country.
Given the critical situation that our country now finds itself in, a detailed delineation of a complete set of revolutions in all of the important areas of Nepali society(e.g. education, health, communication, bureaucracy etc) that are a sine qua non for transforming the present Nepal into a New Nepal is a very important responsibility of intellectuals in our country. I think it is time for “real” intellectuals specialized in their respective fields of learning to analyze the various “ailing” areas of our society in order to conceptualize what I call “a complete set of revolutions” required to ensure the transformation of Nepal into a variously prosperous country. The present critical situation of Nepal is an opportunity to test themselves practically as a genuine intellectual. To them, this opportunity is very important because there are some people who doubt their identity as a real scholar. The government is responsible for creating a condition in which real scholars collaborate on the conceptualization of the complete set of revolutions in question.
In this article, I will endeavour to set forth a general outline of the revolution needed in one of the areas of the broad field of education-higher education. Higher education is one of the “ailing” areas that need to be rationalized in many important ways. One of the problems facing the sector of higher education in Nepal is the tendency for the intellectuals themselves- who are very important aspects of higher education-to act irresponsibly for their personal aggrandizement. I prefer to call it “intellectual corruption”. More specifically, I define intellectual corruption as a set of irresponsible behaviours shown by intellectuals as well as those who wield the official power to influence the educational sector, which make it impossible for what may be called “intellectual progress” to take place. For an analytical purpose, I define “intellectual progress” as a condition in which the intellectual community goes beyond the acquisition of knowledge already produced to produce new knowledge that would be a contribution to the existing cumulative whole of knowledge.
Some of the aspects of the intellectual corruption appertain to the way university teachers are appointed, the way they teach, and the way carry out their duty other than teaching.
Let me first discuss the intellectual corruption related to the way universities teachers are appointed. If we are to think without going beyond the fact that university teachers in Nepal are appointed through a competition, we may think that there is nothing wrong with the process involved in their appointment. To understand that there is something wrong with that process, we must go beyond this rather misleading fact, and take into account the question of what lies behind this competition. The kind of competition through which they are appointed is not the competition proper. This may perhaps be rightly described as “the so-called competition” because it is not intended to select the best of all the applicants aspiring to an academic career; it is no more than a seemingly appropriate tool to make an explicitly inappropriate decision to bring arbitrarily into the faculty those who use special influence to get employed as a university teacher without taking into account a set of comprehensive scientific criteria for assessing the suitability of an individual as an ideal university teacher. Nepotism, favouritism, and cronyism are the characteristic but hidden features of its selection process.
The other aspect of intellectual corruption relates to the way university teachers carry out their responsibility as a university teacher. A university teacher has a responsibility not only to teach knowledge already produced but also to produce new knowledge. Those university teachers who are not capable of producing new knowledge have no a moral right to occupy the intellectually most challenging position of a university teacher. Most university teachers in Nepal have not proved to the intellectually conscious people that they have contributed to the knowledge base of the academic discipline they belong to. Generally, it is true to say that they do not get involved in the process involved in the production of genuine future scholars. They neither think themselves nor cause the students to think. Here I have not used the term “think” in its widest sense in which everyone thinks. I have used it in the strictest sense in which logicians use it. According to them, thinking consists in pondering over a given set of facts so as to elicit their connexions.
Even when we judge them against another criterion, i.e. quality of teaching, most of them are blameworthy. Most of them do no more than teach a very insignificant portion of the course they are required to teach. By the “inadequate teaching”, I mean the kind of teaching in which they teach less than is practically possible within the period of time fixed in the course of study.
They explain their inadequate teaching by saying that it is the responsibility of an ideal student to learn independently what is left after they finish teaching. Their argument for the inadequacy in their teaching is built on a logic ostensibly created, which implicitly implies that it is not necessary for them to teach in a way that is “practically adequate”. “The deliberate inadequacy” in their teaching essentially results from two things-the arbitrary selection of university teachers that results in many disqualified people being employed as a university teacher and perception of a teaching profession as something like business guided by profit. The unfair selection of university teachers makes it impossible for most highly intellectually qualified people to pursue an academic career. It is not the disqualified teachers employed through arbitrary selection but the highly qualified teachers abstracted from a large pool of prospective university teachers who are capable of teaching the course in a way that is as complete as practically possible. The perception of a teaching profession as something like business guided by profit makes most of the university teachers only pay heed to what they can get in return in economic terms from their teaching, as opposed to what the students can get in intellectual terms from their teaching. Given the paltry amount of time they spend on their teaching profession, we feel as if they were a full-time employer in another place and a part-time employer at a university.
The above account gives an incomprehensive and broad panorama of the intellectual corruption that exists in the sector of higher education in Nepal. That my only intention here is to stir up an academic debate on what I call “the inclusive revolution” and its specifics accounts for the incomprehensive and broad nature of this article. There is a strong need for the end of the intellectual corruption, which is necessary but not sufficient condition for bringing about a revolution in the field of higher education. Making the higher education free from the intellectual corruption is a very important part of the broad attempt to bring about the broad educational revolution needed to ensure the educational progress, which is the engine of social progress because it is the head of the whole educational sector, so to speak.
Ajit Rai
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/the-quotinclusivequot-revolution-692467.html
Rep. Tom Price speaks against the tyranny of the majority
Rep. Tom Price (GA-06) speaks on the House floor Thursday afternoon against the tyranny of the Democratic majority and their agenda of excessive spending and taxes. (July 9, 2009)
Duration : 0:5:33
Analysis of Governance Issues in the Housing Market in Sierra Leone
Macro-Economic and Political Environment
The sluggish financial and economic progress of 2008, under the Koroma administration, nevertheless holds the possibility of strong and broad-based economic growth as the economy struggles to rebuild from the war years, together with moderate inflation levels. Over the medium term, any improvement in key sectors will offer hope that the economy will bottom out of aid dependency, given credible internal reform, strong policy-making and institutional investment. The country’s macroeconomic and financial policies devised and put to work within the context of the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement show the potential to accelerate trends that are promoting broad-based economic recovery.
The current democratic dispensation has created an enabling opportunity for the administration of Koroma to make a significant step in advancing economic and social development. Even better is the concept of “public value” and the “strategic triangle” approach adopted by the British international agency, Public Administration International, to have each Ministry and Department of the new administration in Sierra Leone to address and align questions of strategic goals and priorities in terms of public value outcomes to be achieved (Public Administration International). But the pervading deficiencies in the public administration are not a positive indication of good governance.
An aggressive effort, however, to involve the Diaspora resource in national development is gaining significance with the administration—a strategy likely to be more helpful. The current Diaspora engagement has opportunities to it for the economy and businesses. In addition, the PRGF recovery tool used by the Government of Sierra Leone—monetary and fiscal stimuli—will be relatively effective under the circumstances. This strategy of engaging the Diaspora has put the Koroma administration model of a free-market economy in the public interest.
With this new development in Sierra Leone’s political environment, the financial system is seen to be promising; and the regulatory framework, as having the potential to be fixed to curb widespread corruption. Now, searching for growth, the Koroma administration is opening up to ideas from the Diaspora to a degree that differentiates it from previous administrations. The government is turning a historic corner and heading into a period in which the role of the Diaspora will be formidable. The Office of Diaspora Affairs which has literally been recognized as an official agency of the government and is working “towards linking Sierra Leoneans from the Diaspora to different business opportunities, agencies, ministries, and departments in Sierra Leone” (Office of Diaspora Affairs) can be made to work better. The Office of Diaspora Affairs’ Diaspora Trust Fund, for instance, as a development vehicle for Diasporans to make an impact can be sufficiently used with specific terms of reference to mobilize Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora to pool their remittances to buy into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Sierra Leone that are slated for privatization.
As it is the case, President Koroma has been quite open-minded, as well as the appeal of his style of democracy, appears to be restorative. Although Sierra Leone is fortunate that her governance problems have now being assumed with the promise inherent in the election of this insurance broker as president, historical forces—and the endemic nature of corruption in society—will pose a serious threat to his presidency regardless.
Indeed, the macroeconomic outlook is promising. The country shows the promise to benefit economically from the PRGF arrangement but only with unwavering commitment by the APC administration. The real estate sector is a growth market in Sierra Leone if given the attention it deserves. The export markets have the potential to grow as well and the overall growth rate of the tourism market and the service industry can also do very well with good governance. But the country is still rather stressed by unwilling cabinet ministers and public servants.
The balance of payments with higher merchandize imports is seemingly showing an increase accounted for mainly by an increase in imports of machinery and transport equipment, chemicals and manufactured goods; and mineral fuel and lubricants constituting the largest share of total imports look encouraging. Exports growth shows potential with diamond and gold exports forming by far the largest share of total exports. This relatively promising balance of payments position gives the country the opportunity to solidify its strategic advantages as the government struggles to rebuild. At the same time, this PRGF arrangement and the growing balance of payments may lead to a stable economy. Corruption minefields may be diminished, which may quicken the growth of the economy. And it is likely that, with Koroma less distracted by a corrupt cabinet, his administration will see more clearly than its predecessor that strengthening the economy by addressing corruption head on should become his government’s most important good governance strategy. The administration should now truly show commitment to lead efforts to improve Sierra Leone’s Human Development Index rating and expand the benefits of sound economic management to be felt at the household level in the form of improved income and job prospects as well as improved basic services that support the growth and productivity of the informal sector on which 80% of the active working population survive.
Underutilized Housing Market Sector
Sierra Leoneans are squeezed by a confluence of pressures, especially those with low incomes and uncertain formal access to secure land. There are images of famished existence seen in many places. Kroo Bay, for instance, is one of Sierra Leone’s largest informal settlements, with an estimated population of about 10,000 inhabitants. It is also the most impoverished and neglected area, with no supply of drinkable water, no electricity and lacking all public services. Kroo Bay is part of the urban core, located on the coastline in central Freetown. Informal settlements are also present in the Bormeh, Government Wharf and Susan’s Bay easements and on both private and public lands. The characteristics of these settlements share common features that are more evident in some areas than others. They are located on marginal land (including under bridges and flyovers) with poor drainage and extremely poor housing conditions with few foundations, makeshift roofs and impermanent building materials.
The government has a lot of work to do to make the housing sector in Sierra Leone viable. The country’s housing market crisis portends a combination of a much disorganized land tenure system and poorly developed mortgage market. The disorganized land tenure system reflects the Ministry of Land’s overly corrupt handling of land estates. The poorly developed mortgage market reflects, among other factors, a weakness in housing and nonresidential construction in Sierra Leone. Policy makers apparently lack appreciation for a stable mortgage market and has not created the enabling environment to encourage banks to reform bank business models and practices to accommodate the intricacies of commercial and mortgage banking. But it is obvious that access to land and housing for most Sierra Leoneans is still tantamount to the ultimate form of social security. It is for this reason that most urban and rural Sierra Leoneans would sell their houses only under the direst of circumstances, and they are generally comfortable with customary ownership of land. In reality, widely shared social values affect attitudes towards the marketability of land and housing.
Escalating prices on land with legitimate titles on the one hand, and multiple disputed sales of land with phony titles on the other, are especially inconvenient risks, especially in urban areas. A general lack of security, whether social, legal, or economic, is inimical to financing housing, and land problems in Sierra Leone represent the highest risk to the development of a vibrant housing system. Land banking by developing an integrated management information system with detailed property information for property development is essentially one critical response to the current inefficient land management system. Fundamentally, this requires also a sophisticated construction management and loan product development program in place.
Sierra Leone does not have a source of home loan money. Even though the Sierra Leone Housing Corporation (SALHOC) as a parastatal (semi official) body that “follows government housing policies is designed to create partnerships with the private sector, NGOs and the public sector to make housing services accessible to all sectors of society, particularly the poor” (Report on Country of Return Information), it does not have a matured mortgage operation that provides borrowers with major mortgage loans.
Facing the underutilized housing market in Sierra Leone, the government can act responsibly by promoting the growth of home ownership and facilitating the provision of a secondary mortgage market. This is how Fannie Mae succeeded to help millions of Americans achieve the dream of home ownership. A secondary mortgage market exists in the buying and selling of a mortgage from one lender to another. A bank or mortgage company that provides a loan turns around and sells that mortgage to the government parastatal that has to be properly set up to handle such purchases. This frees up their cash to make another mortgage loan. And the cycle of growth is expanded and sustained in this manner. The idea and concept worked for Fannie Mae, SALHOC can therefore adapt some features of the Fannie Mae concept to set up its mortgage operation in Sierra Leone as a privately held, stock ownership company that will promote the growth of the housing industry by making it possible for many low-to-middle income Sierra Leoneans to own homes. Investors, especially Sierra Leoneans at home and in the Diaspora can purchase stock in the Sierra Leone Housing Corporation, and this will not only increase their own wealth, but will also help to fund the home ownership possibilities for a new generation of Sierra Leoneans. Through the issuance of mortgage backed securities, for instance, the reformed Sierra Leone Housing Corporation can guarantee investors a return on their investment, and at the same time, providing a source of funding for issuing further mortgages. This provides the nation’s lenders with a steady stream of cash to continue to make mortgages available to the consumer thus supporting a steady and continual cycle of growth.
With a sustained flood of mortgage money, there will be a growth in residential and commercial real estate. Most Sierra Leoneans are squeezed by a variety of pressures, especially low income individuals and those with uncertain access to secure land. Urbanization has been a contributing factor to poor housing with more than 60% of communities in metropolitan Freetown, for instance, living in informal housing. There is sufficient evidence, however, to suggest that communities are able to become sufficiently organized to drive settlement upgrading in partnership with government and the private sector.
Rough-and-Tumble of Sierra Leone’s Economic Politics
It is increasingly evident that the government has to work to stave off a sustained slump in Sierra Leone’s economy. The healing wounds of war are still being used by politicians to justify Sierra Leone’s rating in the Index of Economic Freedom which remains significantly below the world average in seven areas. The judicial system is riddled with corruption (as is virtually all of the civil service). The labor market is highly inflexible and Sierra Leone is one of the world’s least free. Liberalization of the trade regime is progressing, but import taxes and fees, non-transparent regulations, inefficient customs implementation, inadequate infrastructure, and corruption add to the cost of trade. Sierra Leone has relatively high tax rates. The budget deficit has been somewhat reduced, but better spending management is needed as reiterated by the president himself that “it is no secret that due to … poor management of national resources, Sierra Leone has lagged behind in the areas of social and economic development” (Sierra Leone Web).
Inflation is high, averaging 10.6 percent between 2004 and 2006. Unstable prices explain most of the monetary freedom score. Corruption is perceived as pervasive. Sierra Leone ranks 142nd out of 163 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2006. International companies cite corruption in all branches of government as an obstacle to investment. Official corruption is exacerbated by low civil service salaries and a lack of accountability. Inflexible employment regulations hinder overall productivity growth and employment opportunities. Sierra Leone’s labor freedom is among the world’s 20 lowest. (Source: 2008 Index of Economic Freedom).
The Koroma administration has a responsibility to clear up the clouds of economic gloom and despair which have gathered over Sierra Leone’s economy for decades. The administration has to propel the engines that could pull the nation out of her chronic gloom. Even though some fear the worst: that “the real GDP growth for Sierra Leone is forecast to slow from an estimated 6% in 2008 to 4.8% in 2009, as post-war recovery tails off and the global financial crisis reduces demand for Sierra Leone’s exports” (Economist Intelligence Unit) as reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a division of London’s Economist Group; all is not lost.
The pessimism may be overdone. Sierra Leone is still one of the most resourceful parts of the world in terms of natural abundance. Even though the country faces such daunting economic difficulties that do not seem to go away, Koroma only has to prove the pessimists who see the regime change as all mouth and no trousers—that much of it made up by old budget commitments, double-counting and empty promises—wrong. He has to prove that it was not mainly propaganda; and to convince Sierra Leone’s own people and the outside world that his government is serious about stimulating development and is ready to take radical steps to spend infrastructure money and providing a decent social safety net for Sierra Leoneans, especially in housing, education and health care.
Financial Sector and the Housing Market
Sierra Leone’s financial sector holds promise for reaching broader and deeper into the housing market. The vast majority of Sierra Leoneans evidently do not have access to asset-backed finance or mortgage finance, but low and moderate income households are beginning to participate broadly in the maturation of the microfinance industry. The (PRSF), initiated in 2002, is one indication of the commitment of the government, the Bank of Sierra Leone, and the donor community to support financial sector development. The PRGF project was undertaken primarily to support concessional lending practices and debt relief under the joint Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The targets and policy conditions in a PRGF-supported program are drawn from the country’s PRSP. “Key policy measures and structural reforms aimed at poverty reduction and growth are identified and prioritized during the PRSP process” (IMF).
There is apparent need for improved housing conditions in Sierra Leone, especially for lower income Sierra Leoneans. There are potentials for the sector if the government could commission the Sierra Leone Housing Corporation and interested investors with substantial microfinance experience to assess trends in public and private sector delivery of affordable housing in the country and to make strategic recommendations for tangible, replicable and sustainable interventions that would enhance the amelioration of housing conditions for the majority of Sierra Leoneans. A technical assessment to broadly examine the trends, risks and opportunities to meet the critical challenge of affordable housing in Sierra Leone is critical at this point in time. The specific objectives for such an assessment is to:
· analyze the strategies, experience and roles (public and private) for the delivery of affordable housing in Sierra Leone;
· determine the main reasons for any constraints in the delivery of affordable housing solutions (including costs, appropriate construction approaches and materials, finance and land);
· understand the extent and the characteristics of the potential market for affordable housing in Sierra Leone; and
· recommend tangible strategies to the Government of Sierra Leone and other potential key players to meet current demand for affordable housing, focusing on the appropriate housing typologies, financing, and the legal and regulatory framework.
The government should be open-minded in terms of understanding of the optimal factors that comprise an “enabling environment” in which a vibrant and equitable housing sector may develop. A stable macro-economic and political environment in which low and moderate income people are able to create effective demand for housing finance and other inputs into the housing improvement process is a necessary condition for such an enabling environment. The right policies to ensure efficient and equitable land markets will promote a sense of security for all sectors of society and therefore spur household investment. Such supportive legal and regulatory frameworks will also promote broad community and private sector participation in housing development and upgrading processes.
The way out of the current economic woes of Sierra Leone is to have a macroeconomic policy designed to accelerate the process of growth and transformation of the economy under competitive conditions. A stable political environment has already been created with the successful democratic dispensation of 2007. In spite of some economic risks due to increases in oil prices, Sierra Leone possesses the potential for a stable macro-economic and socio-political environment under which an affordable housing sector could take off. The government only has to embark on a comprehensive macroeconomic stability strategy. The main thrust is to create wealth and reduce poverty as defined in the government’s PRSP, which was introduced to ensure the country benefited from debt cancellation. The PRSP supposed to be a demonstration of the government’s long-term commitment to reduce poverty and enhance economic and social growth in both rural and urban communities. Therefore, a developer-driven and household-led incremental housing or community-led settlement upgrading should be aligned with this strategy which seeks to protect the vulnerable segments of society. Improving public expenditure management and fiscal resources mobilization; and pursuing price and exchange rate stability are measures needing to be put in place by the government. The administration has to keep trends in the key economic parameters stable in order to grow the economy and to keep fiscal position in line with budget projections and revenue generation by the responsible agencies.
The bottom line is that the economy has to create jobs in order for people to afford a range of housing opportunities. Positively, Sierra Leone’s major exports of bauxite, diamond and gold enjoyed favorable prices in 2007 and 2008 which, together with inflows from both foreign donors and private remittances, have helped to improve the country’s import cover and reduced exchange rate volatility. The impact of remittances is equally phenomenal. Official private remittances are growing according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on remittances (IMF). Even though, therefore, Sierra Leone’s financial system has been a shadow of itself for many decades and the depreciation of the Leone has been dramatic, the potentials for growth exist. There are possibilities of investment opportunities with predictable inflation, exchange and interest rates to impact the housing market in Sierra Leone.
Reducing inflation to single digits thus has to be one of the corner stones of the present government. For this to happen, Koroma and his government must seriously commit to creating a dynamic private sector to fuel economic growth and improve people’s living standards. This commitment should be expressed in terms of closer collaboration and partnership with the private sector and the privatization of many state-owned enterprises (including the Sierra Leone Housing Corporation (SALHOC), the Sierra Leone Airport Authority, the Sierra Leone Telecommunications Company (SLTC), the Sierra Leone State Lottery Company, the Guma Valley Water Company Limited, the National Power Authority, the Sierra Leone Ports Authority, Sierra Leone Postal Services, the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (SLCB), the National Insurance Company (NIC), the Rokel Commercial Bank (RCB), and the Sierra Leone Road Transport Corporation (SLRTC). In line with this vision, the mandate of the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA), which now replaces SLEDIC, in addition to providing a range of services that aim at assisting exporters to source market and penetrate overseas markets, should be expanded to facilitate the development and growth of a competitive and vibrant private sector and also to help reduce the cost of doing business in Sierra Leone.
The land ownership system in Sierra Leone which is governed by a complex operation of customary, statutory, and common law also needs to be given considerable attention. Corruption and land disputes, especially involving public lands in urbanizing areas, have been experienced by significant majorities. The lack of uniformity, complex codes, administrative requirements, and the dualism in land tenure is a risk to an effective housing finance market due to the uncertainties and litigation potential. What could be an interesting response to the current inefficient land management system is to manage a comprehensive land banking system for an efficiently coordinated property development program. It is not clear at this time what the relationship is or will be between the government’s inventory-taking exercise and the current land banking efforts. A significant development within such a program is the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) and its underlying interests in the country’s housing sector.
The National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) is a quasi-public entity involved in the government’s inventory-taking exercise and the current land banking efforts. “It is a Statutory Public Trust set up by the National Social Security and Insurance Trust Act No. 5 of 2001 to administer Sierra Leone’s National Pension Scheme. The trust was established to provide retirement and other benefits to meet the contingency needs of workers and their dependants” (NASSIT). It is the sole legally authorized institution that manages a pension scheme for workers in Sierra Leone, in accordance with Act No. 5 of 2001, which requires Sierra Leonean employees of companies operating in Sierra Leone to be members of the scheme. In addition, to collection of contributions (30% of the insured’s average earnings for the first 15 years of coverage, plus 2% of the insured’s average earnings for each additional 12-month period) and administration of benefits. It also manages the assets of the scheme. These assets include real property of various forms, including the development of a housing stock of formal rental units in the country in a joint venture with the American firm ‘Regimanuel Gray Constructors’ which has a plan of investing over 50 Million US Dollars in the country’s housing market in five years.
Policy Recommendations
One is tempted to deliver a whole host of recommendations for improving affordable housing policy and processes in Sierra Leone. A policy that stimulates more innovative and more intensive use of land in or nearby urban centers or in built-up environments can help the housing market in Sierra Leone. The national housing market should be understood and analyzed according to various market segments to enable more people to benefit from housing investment, whether personal or institutional. A developer-driven housing conventional strategy for the supply of separate and semi-detached housing can be geared toward the formally employed professionals—a segment that could be served rather efficiently by the real estate development industry and the commercial banks, with mortgage finance. The majority of Sierra Leoneans are building, extending and improving their houses as circumstances and household resources warrant. Financing incremental housing may therefore be facilitated through forging a link with commercial banks.
The government should also facilitate informal settlement upgrading for areas like Kroo Bay, Bormeh, Susan’s Bay, and Government Wharf by the different groups that reside there with technical support from specialists in this field. Such a decision will release an enormous amount of good will. The ensuing results will be striking. The country needs a well managed settlement upgrading and “de-densification” or resettlement of families program.
Wholesale financing arrangement between mainstream commercial banks and other qualifying private institutions that will ensure sustained funding for the market segment of incremental housing is also strategic. Such an arrangement takes advantage of the proportional benefits of each level in the finance system as well as the strengths of government. Market-related interest rates that will be charged at both the wholesale and retail levels, and accompanied by sound financial and risk management, will permit the possibility of an enabling financial sector integration. The use of market-related interest rates will enable the wholesale operation to gear additional private savings from other private institutions and develop a sound secondary market. Likewise, more low-income households will have the opportunity to establish sound, transferable credit histories and become repeat borrowers.
Also, a privatized Sierra Leone Housing Corporation can be very instrumental in institutionalizing the modern mortgage system in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Housing Corporation can be transformed to a leading home loan supplier in lending to underserved populations in Sierra Leone. If done well, the reengineered Corporation can be a darling of socially responsible investing with lending policies that should not be a barrier to home ownership in Sierra Leone.
The problem, however, of urban households lacking sustainable access to finance and appropriate financial arrangements to improve their housing and shelter-related environments cannot be ignored. Because many households are generally financially challenged, lending institutions must understand that this incipient market is high risk. Taking on greater risk may therefore require wholesale financial institutions to undertake sophisticated risk management practices and investment strategies to protect stock holders and end-user clients.
Kenday S. Kamara
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/analysis-of-governance-issues-in-the-housing-market-in-sierra-leone-741529.html
Is Poverty a Black Thing?
The poor performance of African economies and economies where the people are of colour other than whites have prompted people to ask whether poverty is a black or a colour thing.
This question about poverty being a black thing has gained credence in many circles. This question is also asked about Africa because it is the poorest continent on earth. It is a continent where for 30 years there has not been any concrete economic development compared to the rest of the world. It lags behind all the other continents in terms of economic and social development. Most if not all the countries African continent have similar economic problems namely high unemployment, high inflation, higher deficits, poor state of economic and social infrastructures including roads, harbours, education, airports, telecommunication, health and sanitation and rail system. Africa is a continent where people die for lack of food, water, and against common preventable diseases. It is a continent full of misery, desperation and hopelessness. It is a continent where very few children under the age of five survive the menace of the six killer diseases. It is a continent where people have no access to basic necessities of life. It is a continent where people walk several miles for water and children have no access to education and medical services. It is a continent where rural life is nothing but a condemnation to abject poverty. It is a place where people live in mud/thatched houses with bamboo/raffia leaves as roofing sheets. It is a continent full of wars and armed conflicts. It is a continent of dictators and kleptocrats, a continent where corruption is rewarded and achievement is shunned, a continent where entry into public life/service is seen as a means to acquiring wealth and a means of getting top positions. It is a continent where life expectancy is low and corruption very high.
So is it a colour or race thing? I must say that I do not agree or subscribe to the notion that poverty has any colour inferring in it and that the underdevelopment and impoverishment which is prevalent on the African continent is deeply rooted in centuries of slavery and colonialism, coups, armed conflicts, brain drain, endemic corruption and mismanagement, dictatorial rule, Kleptocracy, foreign interventions and the fight for control of the natural resources.
Slavery and Colonialism
Centuries of slavery and colonialism deprived the continent of her able human and economic resources. The able men and women were carried away to work in the plantations of the Americas (in all about 30 – 40 million people) and they helped to make America and Europe what they are today. Millions of young Africans were forced to abandon the continent of their origin and were transported several thousands of miles away unto a land where they had no historical attachment with. They travelled in very deplorable conditions, without adequate food, water and air. When they reached the so called new worlds they were made to work from morning till sun set the only time they had on their own was Sundays in which they had to everything that they needed on their own such planting their crops, repairing their homes. It was a very nasty experience having to work for ours without pay. Some even worked till they dropped dead. The slave trade deprived the continent of her energetic men and women a vital resource in any development process and sunk the continent into intellectual wilderness.
Looting of Resources
About the same time that slavery was being vigorously pursued, the natural resources including timber, gold, diamond, tin ore, ivory and many more were looted in large quantities by the European countries namely Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy. After slavery was abolished the looting of the natural resources continued. The irony is that virtually all the income from these resources was used to finance the economic and the infrastructural development of the European countries with little or nothing at all being used to develop the various countries where these resources came from. A clear example is the case of Democratic Republic of Congo where King Leopold II of Belgium enslaved the Africans, forced them to work without pay, killed about 10 million and looted the country of her resources and virtually nothing was used to invest in the country except guns which the Belgium army used to terrorise and kill the Africans. When the DRC was transferred from Leopold II to the Belgium state the looting and killing continued till DRC gained her independence in the 1960s. In fact DRC (Congo Free State) was the main supplier of rubber a vital raw material for the tyre industry and all the money from the sale of the rubber went to Belgium. King Leopold II was able to transform Belgium as one of the poorest countries in Europe into one of the wealthiest courtesy the enslavement and looting of Africans and their resources.
Belgium was not alone in what she did to the continent. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy all looted Africa of her gold, diamond, ivory, timber, cobalt, coltan, tin ore, bauxite, manganese and all the minerals you can think of. The Africans who resisted the illegal activities were killed in their millions as happened in South West Africa (now Namibia) where the Germans in 1904 to 1907 committed the first genocide of the 20th Century by killing the Herero and the Namaqua people. While Europe became richer Africa became poorer and the trend continued till the 1950s when the African countries started to gain their ‘independence’ beginning with Libya in 1951, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia all in 1956 and Ghana in 1957.
With little or no investment in the continent the various post colonial governments inherited countries with practically no infrastructure: roads, rails, harbours, telecommunications, education, health and sanitation and airports. The only areas which saw some few infrastructure investments during the colonial days were those where raw materials were heavily extracted. The attainment of independence did not come on silver Plata. Algeria, Zimbabwe, Angola, Kenya, Namibia and to some extent South Africa all attained their independence from their colonial masters through arm struggles and in most cases the few infrastructures that existed were destroyed due to the conflicts.
Foreign Involvement
As if slavery, colonialism and the looting of the continent’s resources were not enough the continent became a battle ground during the Cold War as the two super powers and their allies battled for influence and control on the continent mainly for her resources. As a result many African governments who were deem to be pro-Russia or America were overthrown using the military. A case in point was the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana on February 24th, 1966. Another example is the overthrow and assassination of Patrice Lumumba of Congo on January 17th 1961.Other leaders such as Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for either advocating for independence or improvement of conditions of Africans. CIA and the western intelligence community have been implicated for engineering the assassinations and overthrow of elected leaders of Africa. For example Larry Devlin, the CIA Station Chief in Congo during Patrice Lumumba’s days spoke to Washington Post in December 2008 saying he refused an order to assassinate Patrice Lumumba but his refusal did not stop the CIA and the Belgium government from overthrowing and assassinating him. The assassination attempt on Gamal Nasser of Egypt on 24th October 1954 and the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 were alleged to be the work of Britain’s M16 due to their refusal to hand over the administration of the Suez Canal to the British.
The CIA, KGB and their allies encouraged and financed wars and political instabilities throughout the continent. Angola became the battle ground for the CIA, KGB and the Chinese as each tried to gain control over the country, her people and resources. The civil war that engulfed Angola in 1975 only ended in 1991 after 26 years of conflict. When the war ended the few infrastructures that remained after the war of independence (1961-1974) were gone.
On March 7, 2004 Simon Mann a British citizen, a veteran mercenary and former officer of Britain’s elite Special Forces (SAS), and 69 other mercenaries were arrested at a military airfield outside Harare, Zimbabwe .Their destination was Equatorial Guinea in West Africa. Their mission was to overthrow Teodoro Obiang Nguema, president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, a nation of 600,000 people. During his defence he mentioned some powerful members of the British establishment as his financiers and backers including Jack Straw UK Justice Minister, Peter Mandelson former European Union Trade Commissioner and now Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise &Regulatory Reform, Sir Mark Thatcher a businessman and son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Jeffrey Archer a key Tory member who was convicted for perjury and Ely Smelly Calil a Lebanese oil trader accused of bankrolling the plot. Mark Thatcher was arrested in South Africa and charged with supplying the aircraft that carried Simon Mann to Harare. Mr. Thatcher pleaded guilty in South Africa and was later made to pay 300,000 pounds in exchange for a prison sentence. The coup plotters were to put Severo Moto, an opposition leader living in Spain in charge of the country. The coup was to give both the plotters and their backers unquestionable free access to the oil resource in the nation. If the coup had succeeded Mann and his cronies would have turned Equatorial Guinea into one of the usual sad stories in Africa- bloodshed, corruption, mismanagement, poverty and what have you. The governments of Spain, South Africa and others in the west were seriously implicated for being privy to the plot. Thanks to the vigilance of the Robert Mugabe regime the coup was nip in the bud. Unfortunately, most resource rich countries on the continent have not been all that lucky.
Among those mercenaries who sought to return Africa to their former colonial masters was Bob Denard. In fact, Simon Mann is just a small fish compared to Bob Denard, a French who made a career as a mercenary overthrowing leaders in Africa. When Bob Denard died in 2007, he had more than a dozen of coups to his credit. Four of those coups took place in Comoros Island alone. French author Jean Guisner, who has followed Denard’s career and written extensively about the French government, says Denard did nothing that was contrary to French interests – and he allegedly acted in close cooperation with intelligence services. Denard’s mercenary career took place between the 1950s and the 1980s. During that period, he is reported to have been involved in post independence Nigeria, Benin in 1977, Angola, Zaire – now DRC and the former Rhodesia – which is now Zimbabwe. Registering their frustration and lack of justice for the Comorians, Mr. Abdou Soule Elbak, former president of Grande Comoro said “This man sullied our history”, referring to Denard. “I regret he was not made to answer to all the crimes he committed in our country, the murders and the torture which he was guilty of,” said Moustoifa Said Sheikh, leader of the Democratic Front Party. All these mercenary activities took place on the continent because of the natural resources.
The product of all these were the political instabilities and the wanting destruction of lives and property that have bedevilled Africa till today. As the elected leaders of the continent were assassinated, overthrown and subjected to all forms of cold war tactics including bribery, arm twisting and blackmail the continent degenerated and faulted on all aspects of human endeavour. The new crop of leaders who replaced the post colonial independence leaders and who were largely puppets of the European and American governments became increasingly authoritarian and corrupt. Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko who became the choice of the Americans after they help to assassinate Lumumba ruled Congo for 32 years and in those years the country became poorer as Mobutu and his cronies got richer and the western countries notably USA and her allies had free hand looting the mineral resources most importantly cobalt a very important mineral needed for missile development. Little development activities was carried out by Mobutu. As a result Congo today can only be accessed by boats and canoes mainly through the River Congo.
As tyrants and dictators gained the support of western governments and did whatever they wanted with their economies without questions their people became poorer and hopelessness and desperation were the hallmarks of their lives. As the little money that came into government coffers were taken by corrupt government officials and civil servants there were almost no money to carry out infrastructural development and the poverty deepened. Poverty, desperation and hopelessness visited the people and coupled with their inability to change their leaders democratically, dissents were sowed among the population which serve as breeding grounds for more coups, civil wars and civil disturbances. This was evidence in Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, Algeria, Gabon, Togo, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sierra Leone all experienced coups in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and even in the early 1990s. These waves of coups were followed by civil wars that hit Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Congo, Chad, CAR, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Angola, Niger and Guinea. These wars apart from it human cost also contributed to the destruction of roads, harbours, airports, rail lines, telecommunications, hospitals, schools and the livelihoods of the people. With the absence of infrastructures the countries have been unable to make any headway in terms of economic development.
World Bank, IMF & the Role of Foreign Corporations
The World Bank and the IMF (Bretton Wood Institutions) and foreign companies have also played their part in making poverty endemic on the continent. Most African countries incurred billions of debt through loans contracted from the Bank and IMF. Most of these conditional loans were used to service debts already owned by these poor countries. The loans were also used to pay foreign expatriates who came to the continent as ‘technical experts’.
Some of these loans were also used to undertake projects and programmes that benefited only the rich. Again part of the loan was also siphoned away by corrupt politicians and civil servants.
The structural adjustment programme (SAP) forced on the poor African countries by the Bank and the IMF forced the various governments to abandon their support for the public sector with serious consequences. The withdrawal of farm subsidies in particular has made it difficult for farmers to compete with their Western counterparts who receive millions of dollars of government subsidies every year. The unrests and disturbances over food shortage and high food prices that occurred in Egypt, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mauritania, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia and Sierra Leone in 2008 were the direct result of the Bank and IMF bitter pills prescribed to these poor countries.
Due to SAP and other policies of the Bank and IMF investment in education, health, transportation and other sectors of the economy declined considerably. The governments were also forced to privatise state owned companies. The sad aspect of this exercise was that almost all the companies went to foreigners and the proceeds used to settle debts already owned by these poor nations. Unable to pay their debts and more cash trapped these poor countries turned to the bank and IMF for more loans and the Bank response was open up your markets for foreign goods and accept globalisation. As a result the continent has become a dumping ground for foreign goods. Unable to compete with the influx of cheap foreign goods most local firms have no choice but to close down, laying off several millions of workers and devastating many families. Mr. John Jenkins the author of the ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’ has written extensively about how the Bank, IMF and the various big cartels and corporations conspired to keep Africans and the developing world in the state in which they are today. Please watch John Jenkins on youtube as he tells his extraordinary story on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8
The presence of companies such as Shell, Mobil, Chevron, BP, Total, Rio Tinto, Texaco, BHP Billiton, Anglo-American and others have contributed to the high poverty levels on the continent. These companies who are mostly resource extraction in nature have destroyed the once rich soils of Africa, forcing many farmers to abandon their farms and loosing their livelihoods. Rivers, wells and streams used by the people for their everyday activities such as washing and drinking have been polluted by these profit making companies. Fishing in most mining and oil drilling communities has ceased as pollution has killed fish stocks in these rivers and lagoons rendering the fishermen unemployed. Communities which were once beaming with life are now ghost communities as land, rivers, lagoons and wells have been destroyed. Respiration, nausea and other mining related diseases are on the increase in many communities where mining and oil drilling are taking place but these profit making companies have abandon their corporate social responsibilities which they owe to the people. In August 2006 a Dutch company called Trafigura dumped highly toxic waste in Abidjan, Ivory Coast killing 17 people and sickening thousands. Such inhumane acts byTrafigura is just a tip of the iceberg.
Brain Drain
The poverty on the continent has also come about as result of serious brain drain that has hit the continent in recent times. The flight of doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers, judges, bankers, accountants, teachers, nurses, planners, agricultural experts and others have limited our ability to implement development projects and programmes. The flight of these intellectuals has rendered many government agencies very weak. In some communities there are hospitals without doctors and nurses. In others there are universities and colleges without lecturers and teachers. Countries like Malawi, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia have lost so much of their professionals to the very rich countries of Europe and America so much so that many of their sectors have resorted to hiring foreign expertise in order to cope. For example there are more Malawi doctors in Manchester City alone than the whole of Malawi combined. The irony is that governments use scarce resources to train these intellectuals only for them to leave the country for greener pastures abroad. Britain and the US are major recipient of these brain drain and even though they are aware of the tremendous negative effect it is having on these poor developing countries, they have done nothing to discourage it, in most cases they have encouraged it.
Corruption and Mismanagement
Corruption is another cancer that has tragically made the continent very poor. From South Africa to Egypt there is no country where corruption is not endemic. According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by its leaders and civil servants. In 2006 Forbes’ list of most corrupt nations had 9 out of the first 16 countries coming from Africa. Since oil was first discovered in Nigeria about 50 years ago, several billions of dollars have been realised from its but today the whole population continue to live in abject poverty and the country has nothing to show for it. As a result able men and women are battling dangerous seas just to enter Europe and try their luck. Others have resulted to 419 a popular scam used to trick people into given out their money and valuables. Those who seem to have benefited from the oil are corrupt politicians, civil servants and the big oil corporations such as Shell, Mobil, BP and their American counterparts. In fact Nigeria has consistently featured in the top 1% of the most corrupt nation on the planet. Between 2005 and 2007 several state governors and their immediate families were arrested by Scotlandyard in London on corruption and money laundering charges. Among them are James Ibori of oil rich Delta State and his wife Theresa who had their 35 million dollar asset frozen by the English court. Mr. Ibori earns about a thousand dollars a month but during his eight years as a state governor he managed to acquire wealth to the tune of $35m and was a key financial contributor to the campaign of the current president of Nigeria. He owns a private jet and lavish London home. Another corrupt governor is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governor of oil-rich state of Bayelsa who was also arrested in London for money laundering charges. Mr. Alamieyeseigha broke his bail conditions and evaded capture in Britain by dressing up as a woman. When Police conducted a search in his London home they discovered one million pounds worth of cash in his home. Another governor who was arrested in England was Joshua Dariye of Plateau State. He was arrested in a London hotel for stealing money meant for development of his state. In South Africa Jacob Zuma is still battling it out with the court for his part in the multi-billion arms deal in 2001 in South Africa. He was forced to resign as Deputy President of South Africa. The late Mobutu in his 32 years as President of Zaire, now DR Congo amassed several billions of dollars belonging to the Congo people. In 2006 former president of Malawi Bakili Muluzi was arrested for pocketing $12m donated to his poor country by foreign governments. Again former Zambia president Frederick Chiluba was arrested together with two business men Aaron Chungu and Faustin Kabwe and charged with 11 counts of stealing money meant for the Zambia’s development. In Equatorial Guinea where oil export has earned the country billions of dollars, the 600,000 people living in the country continue to live in poverty while Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies continue to siphon the oil revenue with no accountability. Gabon and Angola both Oil exporting countries are no different. In fact, the governments in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea can best be described as Kleptocracy that is government by thieves. In countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sudan, Uganda, Libya, Tunisia a Kleptocracy class of people have replaced anything democracy. In these countries very few people continue to remain in power and the people have no say in the way their country is govern or run. For example Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Omar Bongo of Gabon 31 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years, Paul Biya of Cameroon 26 years, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda 22 years, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan 19 years, Iddriss Derby of Chad 17 years, Yahya Jammeh of Gambia 14 years, and the list is unending. What is clear is that these unelected leaders continue to amass wealth at the expense of their poor countries and continue to mismanage whatever remains of their corrupt acts. Because most of the leaders are former military officers or former rebels with no grasp of economics and management, they are unable to formulate any good economic policies that will make their economies grow hence poverty has become a part of the people but their leaders know not what poverty is. A visit to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria shows that majority of the people are unemployed. Years of oil spills have made the soil unfit for any agricultural activity. Their streams and wells are polluted and the people have no access to basic necessities of life even though billions of dollars is realised from the sale of oil from that region every year. In the 1990s economic hardship, abject poverty, and destruction of the environment forced the people of Ogoniland to demand a say in which Shell operates but the military regime led by Gen. Sani Abacha arrested the environmentalists led by Ken Sorowiwa and executed them. It is these monies meant for the development of the states that these state governors were caught trying to bank away in Europe. Every effort to get the Nigeria government to develop the oil rich areas fell on death ears until the unemployed youth took up arms against the federal state. They kidnapped foreign oil workers and demanded ransom before their victims were released. They disrupted the oil production forcing the oil companies to move several miles offshore for their own safety but they were not safe either. Eventually, the companies had to reduce their output by 25% in 2007-8. These disruptions affected supply of oil in the world market forcing the price to skyrocket to $140 a barrel in the summer of 2008.
In DR Congo it is estimated that gold and diamond deposits alone could fetch the country 23 trillion dollars not to mention the abundance of timber and other several minerals that are found in large quantities such as columbo-tantalite (coltan) and cassiterite (tin ore) yet years of corruption, mismanagement, conflicts and foreign involvement have made this resource rich nation one of the poorest in the world. Coltan for example is used in every mobile phone and a number of electronic devices in the world. Cassiterite used in electronic circuit boards is the most traded metal on the London Stock Exchange. It is often said that western nations cannot maintain their current level of lifestyle without Congo and most corporations in the west can easily go bust without Congo. The question is if Congo is the blood line of the west and the west is rich because of Congo then why is Congo so poor? And where are the billions of dollars from the sale of these minerals? The answer lies in the history of the nation which is corruption, slavery, colonialism, assassinations, armed conflicts and foreign involvements. Since her independence from Belgium in 1960 there has not been peace in the country. Several millions of Congolese have died about 4 million of them in the last eight years alone and most of the dead are civilians. The conflict in Congo is largely about who controls the vast resources in he country. The huge size of the country has made its administration very difficult. And the problem is exacerbated by weak, ill-trained, undisciplined and very corrupt Congolese army who abduct, terrorise, rape and murder the people instead of protecting them.
The various militia groups operating in the east of the country have made life very difficult and unbearable for the civilian population. These armed groups with backing from Rwanda and Uganda have largely operated in the region with impunity – abducting, raping, massacring and stealing from the poor people. Jean Pierre Bemba who is now facing war crimes in The Hague was a notorious warlord whose activities have not escaped the international criminal court (ICC). Another notorious warlord who is still operating with impunity is Laurent Nkunda. A visit to Walikale town in the east of the country explains in vivid terms why the people are so tragically poor. People have abandoned their farms and moved to the mines but whatever is made from the mining is taken away from them by the Congolese army and the ever present predators i.e. the armed groups. These armed groups force the people to mine the minerals without pay. Unable to farm and not paid for their toil, most of them have to credit food in order to survive. Everyday in Walikale about 16 aircraft fly out of the city with loads of minerals bound for Rwanda. These stolen minerals further find their way in the western mineral market in London and Switzerland. The proceeds are shared by the warlords in Congo, the Generals, politicians and the businessmen in Rwanda and the rest is used to acquire weapons that are used to terrorise the people and prolong the war. Please click the link below to watch a video of Congo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8c81xHLmw
Recommendations and Conclusion
It is clear that several forces within and outside the continent have contributed to making the continent the poorest on earth. But there is no time to look back but a time to look forward and get our acts together, organise ourselves and start doing something. The progress that has been made by China, India, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia the Gulf countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the last 30 to 50 years shows that poverty has got nothing to do with colour or race. Nations become poor because their leaders fail to formulate policies and programmes that address their problems.
To reverse the negative impact of centuries of slavery and colonialism on one hand and decades of coups, civil wars, corruption, mismanagement and foreign interventions on the other hand, the governments should focus their attention on reforming their democratic institutions and allow free and fair elections to be organised. They should do more to fight corruption and mismanagement, establish independent corruption watchdogs, strengthen the judiciary, and be accountable to the people.
They should curtail the power of the army and embark on concrete, sound and result driven policies and provide more incentives to discourage brain drain.
The governments should embark on building social and economic infrastructures – schools, hospitals, roads, rail lines, telecommunications, airports, harbours, markets, that will lay the foundation for economic and social development. They should establish research institutions to find out how best to use the various natural resources to benefit the people. As the saying goes ‘resources are not but they become’ that is to say you may have all the natural resources in the world but if you do not have the ability to convert them into useful commodities/ consumables to benefit the people they are nothing.
The AU should be more concerned about fighting poverty than just been a talking shop for corrupt, kleptocrats and dictators.
Lord Aikins Adusei
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/is-poverty-a-black-thing-728359.html
Indian Judiciary: Tyrrany or Activism
INDIAN JUDICIARY: TYRRANY OR ACTIVISM
A democratic government bends in itself three organs in order to maintain transparency in between these organs. The rule making, rule interpreting and rule protector comes to be known as the legislature, executive and the judiciary respectively. Law making powers lies over the legislature, whereas the executive is there to execute these made laws as orders, procedures, bye-laws, ordinance etc. And the Judiciary comes to protect these laws for the welfare of the citizens, where even the judiciary receives independence in order to protect the rights of the citizens without the involvement of any of the organs. Such a formula of transparency is said, to be known as Doctrine of Separation of Powers, which came into existence by the famous thinker Montesque.
In India, the doctrine of separation of powers was not adopted in its absolute rigidity, but the ‘essence’ of that doctrine with the doctrine of constitutional limitation and trust implicit in the scheme was duly recognized in the Delhi Laws case, AIR 1951 SC 332. Separation of judiciary from the executive is mandated in article 50 of the Indian Constitution, with the independence of judiciary from the other organs of the government as a necessary corollary: Chandra Mohan v. State of U.P., AIR 1966 SC 1987. Later on, the doctrine of separation of powers was elevated to the status of a basic feature of the Indian Constitution in the landmark case of Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain, AIR 1975 SC 2299, wherein it was observed, thus: “… the exercise by the legislature of what is purely and indubitably a judicial function is impossible to sustain in the context even of our co-operative federalism which contains no rigid distribution of powers but which provides a system of salutary checks and balances”.
As India became the 105th nation to achieve its independence, it adopted the multi-tier judicial system as was practiced by the Britishers. Since independent India had to undergo a political turmoil in the early 70’s, as a student of law I can draw a line of demarcation, the first of which can be marked as the post-independence period or the pre-emergency period, where the Indian Judicial system was more in tune with the parliament i.e. the legislature, when a seven judges bench held “the parliament is supreme, it can change any part of the constitution including the fundamental rights but cannot change its basic structure (Keshavanandan Bharti vs. State of Kerala) by overruling its 5-judges bench’s earlier decision of Gopalan’s case and was a period of parliamentary hold over the judicial system. Time changed soon after there were suppressions of Justice Hegde, Shelat, and Grover, which was later again repeated in the case of Justice H.R.Khanna, who was superceded as had given an opposite view towards the government in the famous case of A.D.M Shukla . Soon changes were expected and came a period of post-emergency period, were the judiciary no where remained under the dominion of the parliament and soon came several judgments against the governments wish and hence was marked as Judicial Activism.
The word judicial activism, judicial overreached, judicial credibility sounds to be quite synonymous to judicial review and judicial creativity. Until and unless the judiciary works with its full competency and honesty. The judges should not in any manner fail to police themselves. It was Hon’ble Speaker Mr. Somnath Chatterjee who had marked that the M.P.’s are working hard to destruct the democracy. But after the happening of several cases of corruption of the judges it’s hard to say the judiciary is working with its full credibility. A learned judge of today marks that when we had joined the judiciary there were less than 20% of corrupt judges and when the time comes towards his retirement after serving the nation for more than three decades he with tears in his marks that today we have more than 80% of corrupt judges in the system. It’s shameful for the nation when we see a sitting Supreme Court Judge involved in the Ghaziabad case, when we see a Chief Justice of a certain High Court as among one of the most corrupt judges in the system. It was the then Hon’ble President Mr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, who had refused to elevate such a judge but sooner or later he was there.
Time has come when there came three inquiries at a time, going over the corruption of judges in order to get their impeachments done by the parliament. Even the Judges Inquiry (Amendment) Bill has been introduced in the parliament and has been approved, which comes as per the Canadian Law. Where now even a novice could complain against a corrupt judge, where the Chief Justice of India will head such a council with some senior judges of the Supreme Court. The judiciary has realized its corrupt practices after six decades of India’s independence. It was Justice H.R.Khanna, who in his book “NEITHER ROSES NOR THORNES.” had marked over the corruption of two judges when he was in the Delhi High Court, and when he reported such matter to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court of that time then he transferred such corrupt officers rather taking any action against them.
The authority of a judge comes for the public as he being only a mere public servant, his authority comes from public confidence based on their own conduct, their integrity, impartiality, learning and simplicity. No other vindication is required in a democracy and there is no need for them to display majesty and authority”. In the neo-liberal era, all organs of the state ooze ruling or elite class ideas and this is true for the judiciary as well. Unfortunately the filth of liberalization like corruption has affected our judiciary severely. This is a fact accepted by some of the prominent judges themselves. Hence it is time that measures should be taken for ensuring accountability and transparency in the judicial system. It is a fact that our judicial system still embraces the reminiscence of British aristocracy after completion of six decades of its complete independence.
The Indian Judiciary has become a den of corruption. The extortion of litigants has become a regular business of today’s judicial servants. The whole money extorted from the litigants is beings collected with the Reader of the court. From this booty, lunch is being served for the Judiciary; their monthly households are met. The remaining booty is being distributed among the staff of the judge. The litigants should be protected from this exploitation by the system. It should be the judges who should police themselves without any kind of discrimination on any basis.
The real question lies in, whether such a judicial system goes towards a reign of tyranny or just activism. As far as the system is working towards nation building and in national interest it cannot be called as a tyranny but as judicial creativity. Judicial activism can be called as quite synonymous to judicial credibility or creativity. Where judiciary is known as the paterfamilias of the organs of the government and the nation, it should work for the welfare of the nation and its citizens, in order to protect the rights of the citizens. And such a system should not be obsolete in nature; changes, reformations are must for a better today and tomorrow, with a balanced amount of checks over each other.
SHEIKH WALI-UZ ZAMAN
http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/indian-judiciary-tyrrany-or-activism-700939.html
Is the Bilderberg Group really planning on creating a New World Order?
Is the Bilderberg Group really planning on creating a New World Order? Are they really wanting to create an oligarchy and dominate the world?
I’ve been told that it doesn’t matter whether we have a Democratic or Republican president … that they’re all puppets of the Bilderberg Group. Is this true?
very true, ive looked up everything about it..its been planned for like 50 years, they are all puppets, even obama..
i don’t think it will be over night but the first step is taking over private businesses then nationalize the banks and healthcare..
bush and obama already started taking over the private sector and obama is wanting to nationalize healthcare and banks
Churchill, His Conservatism and Freedom
Churchill was the 20th century’s most influential person, because he personified, defended, and extended the franchise of the orthodox Anglo-Saxon inspired [big L] Liberal-Parliamentary order. Yet his lessons, attitudes and beliefs are already forgotten. In this sense he was indeed the last of the ‘Conservatives’.
The Liberal-Parliamentary order is not the ‘end of history’ but merely the most successful method of organising society yet developed. But we need to clarify some terms. First big L ‘Liberal’ in my usage does not mean the sick modern small l liberalism of left wing Marxists and chattering media elites with their empty headed politically correct rhetoric and matchless support of corrupt political friends. ‘Liberal’ in my vocabulary references the orthodox Enlightenment based Liberalism of the 18th and 19th centuries – small government, low taxation, a strong military, a society keen on progress, innovation and self-reliance. In essence these ideals are branded in today’s parlance by the term ‘Conservative’ used as a pejorative by the weak-minded and power hungry. I in no way support the modern welfare or mommy-state as espoused by small l liberalism or the legal-gay-feminist axis that runs roughshod in today’s politics. Neither would or did Churchill.
Second I use ‘parliamentary order’ on purpose. I am not a big fan of ‘mass democracy’ which in my view leads to mob rule, socialist pandering to buy votes and widespread ignorance. Representative parliamentary and republican processes and institutions are necessary for society to develop. ‘Parliamentary order’ references legal, political, and systemic processes that allow a society to progress morally, spiritually, legally, economically and militarily. When politicians blather about mass democracy I have the suspicion that few know what they are talking about and that even fewer understand that it is systemic processes [as opposed to an all knowing liberal elite, educated at Ivy League schools reshaping society in their vanity], and institutions which are far surer guides to progress, then vacant rhetoric about mass democratic mob rule. In any event mass democracy has led not only to the emasculation of systemic processes and virtues but also to the establishment of a massive system of welfare and vote-buying which breaks society apart into little groups that must be catered to and bought. Mass democracy leads in short to corruption and the curtailment of freedom.
In contradistinction to what we have today, orthodox Liberals or Conservatives in the common parlance believe that systemic processes, virtues and respect for individual rights and private property ownership trump socialist vote buying and pandering to ‘rights’ groups. Churchill was one of the great defenders of systemic Conservative human progress based on orthodox Liberal ideas. This creed is premised on millennia of experiences, millions of social, economic and moral transactions and the affirmation that collective results premised on freedom of information and the accumulation of literally billions of decisions, coupled with parliamentary institutions, are far better guides to enlightenment and progress than following the utopian dreams and dictums of a self-appointed and self-absorbed corrupted elite who desire to create the mommy-state to accrete power and control.
In the age of fascist Islam, moral equivalency, United Nations corruption and support of illiberal forces, and the sad moral relativity embedded in socialist governance, there is no guarantee that freedom will survive. Churchill embodied the best spirit and hopes of mankind precisely because he defended the Conservative order and view of the world. He expressed clearly and consistently over a 60 year career in politics the belief that systemic and parliamentary forces are the only methods to move society forward in the right direction. Such forces are of course the most reliable means of increasing wealth, justice and morality for all. Though an aristocrat Churchill understood that the Conservative vision – which is so at odds with the modern welfare liberalism and mommy-state creations we have today in the West – was the only path to ensure societal dynamism and freedom for the mass. He also understood that international institutions are limited and that fascism is not reduced by endless jawing and discussions, but only through war.
Many however disagree. Hollywood airheads, pop singers, social-reductionists, leftist’s, Marxists, academics, and defender’s of the Third World’s self induced malaise, these critics and more descry Conservatism, Western history and Enlightenment ideals as being little more than white racist tripe. Such groups hate a man like Churchill who was full of pomp, addicted to empire and war, too manly, and incomprehensibly ignorant in dealing with modern socio-political issues – or so such groups claim. These criticisms take aim at Churchill’s policies; the fact that he was a white Anglo; his aristocratic lineage; his fondness for military affairs to defend empire and civilisation; his penchant for self promotion; his [admittedly] indefensible objection to India’s self-rule; and the politician’s flair for changing goals and objectives in order to succour election. Most of these critics contend that history is shaped by dialectical forces that overwhelm weak human leadership and initiative and in that regard Churchill was not brilliant but only lucky. They maintain that Churchill only rode the ‘tide’ of events and that any thinking politician did or would have done the same. One can analyse these criticisms and perhaps give them fair play but in general they are pathetic, insipid and largely worthless.
Freedom and liberty is a difficult concept to fully comprehend and defend – but they are not premised on ‘dialectical theories’ or luck. In the West it is simply taken for granted that freedom will flourish. There should be a debate however on how free people really are in the mommy-state creations of the 21rst century where tax, spend and programs of all sizes erupt yearly from self aggrandizing bureaucrats and officials. The more government power that we have, the less likely it is that prosperity will march on in a linear progression. The more mommy-state programs that are implemented the less reliable past systemic virtues, institutions and processes become. In the mommy-welfare state Conservative and systemic institutional ideals fade into irrelevance as history is rewritten and codes of conduct reshaped.
Though many people still live in poverty, filth, corrupt kleptocracies and desperation, to quote Churchill, ‘their liberation is sure.’ However, it will only be ‘sure’ if the current system of nation state and international governance does not mutate into anti-Western, anti-republican, or anti-parliamentary socialism and we defeat militant fascist pagan Islam in the Middle East and anywhere else it presents itself. These twin threats are very real. Many Western nations in the world that profess a faith in ‘orthodox liberalism’ are in reality top-down socialist constructs. Unsurprisingly most of these nations are also lax or non-participants in the war on terror against the fascistic elements of Islam preferring to free-ride off the Anglo-Saxon military. There is no evidence in history that socialism is a moral or successful construct yet it has sadly become the de-facto standard of political organisation.
In many countries socialist dogma has little in common with freedom, or what allowed the West to flourish and control history. For instance national defence, projectionable military force and pride in our collective Western greatness and historical dynamism have been jettisoned to establish immoral international or ‘post-modern’ groups, replete with unaccountable and expensive Orwellian programs and double-talk. We have replaced the philosophies of Churchill with the smirking incoherence of ‘mommy figures’ and immoral liars and centralists like Kofi Annan, Clinton and Chirac. The threat to Western freedom lies not only in fascist Islam, but in the oppressive socialism marked by post-modern welfare states, ‘managed’ trade, overbearing government, corrupt politicians and the imposition of the mommy-nanny state to turn individuals into narcissistic automatons and men into half female creatures unable to think and act like their forbears.
The values that Churchill stood for and defended, and in some sense allowed to survive and flourish, are under attack. Freedom is ephemeral and in mankind’s long journey only the late modern era has unshackled the average person’s life from tyranny. Socialism, government control, state managed trade, tariffs, regulations and unaccountable world bodies are as much of a threat to our prosperity – economic, moral, environmental and spiritual – as is pagan fascist Islamic fundamentalism. I hope we can all learn a lesson from one of mankind’s more interesting personalities and not take for granted what we have today and roll back the corrosive tides of socialist and fascistic tyranny. If we fail we deserve our fate. If we don’t understand history and realise that the fascist and illiberal ideas of the 1930s have indeed resurfaced in Islam and in small l liberalism than we truly are, as Churchill said about the human race, ‘un-teachable from infancy to the tomb.’ Unfortunately it may come to pass that Churchill was indeed the last of the Conservatives as the world falls prey to eco-fascist cults; post modern socialist silliness; and the onward march of militant pagan Islam.
C. Read
http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/churchill-his-conservatism-and-freedom-699606.html
Rescuing Gm
According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, bailing out America’s Big Three automakers should not be considered “as life-support to sustain a dying industry, but a jump start for an industry that is essential to our country’s economic health.” Really, Madam Speaker? America, let’s face it, the proposed bailout isn’t about rescuing GM, it’s about preserving the UAW, its toxic contracts, and its political ties with the Democratic Party. A bailout of the Big Three is a mistake of monumental proportions as it subsidizes a failed business model and supports continued mismanagement. Jack Kemp, former United States Representative and founder and co-director of Empower America, a public policy and advocacy organization, stated it best:
“If you tax something, you get less of it. If you subsidize something, you get more of it. The problem in America today is that we are taxing work, saving, investment, and productivity; and we’re subsidizing debt, welfare, consumption, leisure, and mediocrity.”
According to conservative industry estimates, GM alone is bleeding $1 billion of cash per month. If you give GM a $10 billion lifeline, they’ll burn through it in 10 months!
A bailout clearly is not the answer. GM’s primary foreign rivals (BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, and Toyota) all build vehicles in the USA using American labor. The key difference is they maintain leaner and more adaptable organizational structures than GM, and can perform the same operations better, faster, and with fewer resources. In the current business environment of global competition, rapid technological change, and uncertainty, this is unacceptable. GM’s multi-layered, bureaucratic organizational structure is crippling its ability to compete effectively in a global marketplace.
If a bailout is not the answer, what can GM do?
o GMAC must stop originating, securitizing, and servicing insurance and mortgage products and focus on automotive financing.
GMAC lost $2.3 billion in 2007; unfortunately, it will be difficult for GM to force any changes at GMAC. (Cerberus acquired a controlling 51% stake in 2006.) In order to return GMAC to profitability, the subsidiary must reduce exposure to the foreclosed assets, impaired loans, loan commitments, and reserve requirements inherent in their insurance and mortgage product portfolio. The business of GMAC is borrowing and lending money, and that’s not GM’s business.
o Alternatively, GM could swap a portion of its remaining 49% equity stake in GMAC to Cerberus for ownership of Chrysler.
According to its 2007 Form 10-K, GM has 184 directly or indirectly owned subsidiaries. As a result, there’s plenty of room for asset sales and internal consolidations to generate cash and to enhance operational efficiencies. Ownership of Chrysler would enable additional asset sales and consolidations beyond what GM already can do on its own. In particular, GM and Chrysler can consolidate or dispose of assembly plants, automotive retailers, brands, duplicative corporate assets, employees and layers of management, and parts suppliers. For instance, the All-American Chevrolet and Dodge brands can be merged, as can the iconic Hummer and Jeep brands. The Chrysler nameplate can be sold to generate cash, as can Global Electric Motors. GM can swap Mopar to Delphi for forgiveness of GM’s remaining financial (including pension) and other obligations and expedite Delphi’s emergence from bankruptcy. Finally, Chrysler Financial can either be left with Cerberus or sold after the swap.
Not only is GMAC not as critical to GM’s operations as it once was, “GMAC’s business requires substantial capital”1 GM doesn’t have and cannot get. Additionally, it draws management attention away from the firm’s core operations and its reason for existence. This is something Sears discovered long ago, leading to their decision in late 1992 to divest their capital intensive non-core financial services network (i.e., Allstate, Coldwell Banker, and Dean Witter/Discover.) Please refer to Outsourcing the American Dream by Christopher M. England for additional information related to Sears’ failed venture into retail financial services.
1General Motors Corp 2007 Form 10-K
o GM must invest heavily in intellectual property and research and development.
In my July 2008 article, “Rescue the American Dream from the Tyranny of Foreign Oil,” I outlined several initiatives that are essential to the survival of America’s Big Three automakers, including investments in breakthrough automotive technologies and commercially-viable alternative-fuel sources. For example, GM can drive up Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) thresholds in a couple of ways. One is by substituting the same lighter-weight carbon-fiber composite body panels used by our military for steel. Another is by harnessing kinetic energy from the natural motion, rotation, and vibration of the vehicle and its parts as a supplemental power source. GM also must replace current “flex-fuel” (a.k.a. E85) vehicles with “multi flex-fuel” vehicles capable of using any pure or blended fuel source. Alternative-fuel sources can include ammonia, bio-diesel/bio-fuels, compressed natural gas, gas/electric hybrids, plug-in electrics, etc.
While hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, most of it remains locked up in more complex compounds such as ammonia, methane (natural gas or propane), or water. Not only does it require tremendous amounts of energy to separate the hydrogen from its natural compounds, it requires tremendous amounts of energy to liquefy and condense hydrogen; however, scientists are experimenting with electrolyzers, genetically-engineered bacteria, and various reactive metals that might one day lead to an abundant alternative-fuel source. According to Kevin Mayhood in a June 30, 2008 article in The Columbus Dispatch, Gerardine Botte, director of Ohio University’s Electrochemical Engineering Research Laboratory, is working on a method to pull hydrogen from the ammonia in animal and human urine. This is important for several reasons. First, we already have the infrastructure in place to distribute ammonia to retail gas station pumps, as it’s been used to make fertilizer for decades. Second, separating hydrogen from ammonia does not produce “greenhouse gases” as long as the required electricity comes from a source which produces no greenhouse gases. (The same can be said for gas/electric hybrids and plug-in electrics.) Third, ammonia is more easily liquefied and condensed than hydrogen.
o GM should consider Chapter 11.
Filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code should present GM with an enhanced opportunity to restructure its business model and dump its burdensome union agreements. GM can enter and re-emerge from Chapter 11 without enormous job losses, something the UAW and the pro-bailout Democrats chose to ignore. We’re not talking about Chapter 7 here. We’re talking about an opportunity to reign in the massive healthcare, pension, and other legacy costs that are draining GM of value and leaving it at a competitive disadvantage. Chapter 11 should be considered even if it means freezing defined benefit pension funds to new employee participation, beefing up 401(k) plans, and increasing cost sharing with employees and retirees. If GM leaves legacy costs untouched, employees and retirees ultimately will be the ones who suffer. That being said, GM also must redesign performance management and reward systems to ensure workers are compensated in the most appropriate ways. Despite suffering a net loss of $38.7 billion in 2007, Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman and CEO of GM, earned $15.7 million in total compensation. Something’s definitely wrong with this picture.
If a bailout is not the answer, what can the Federal Government do?
o Put an end to America’s unilateral free-trade policies.
We should practice free-trade only with nations who practice it with us. Why do we allow Japan full access to the American economy, when Japan puts up barriers to American ownership of Japanese corporations or restricts the number of automobiles GM or Ford can sell in Japan? If Japan puts up barriers, we need to do the same. If China implements a 25% import tariff making our automobiles more expensive in Chinese markets, we need to do the same making Chinese automobiles more expensive in American markets. This isn’t protectionism; it’s good economic sense.
o Rescue the American Dream from the Tyranny of Foreign Oil
In my July 2008 article, “Rescue the American Dream from the Tyranny of Foreign Oil,” I not only outlined several initiatives that are essential to the survival of America’s Big Three automakers, I also outlined numerous initiatives we must undertake to simultaneously diversify sources of oil supplies, dramatically slash oil consumption, and increase production of alternative-energy sources to clean up the environment, increase our energy efficiency, protect national security interests, reduce the military and political leverage of OPEC oil, revitalize the U.S. economy, and shrink trade deficits.
Christopher M. England
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/rescuing-gm-690521.html