Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance

http://www.nfb.ca/film/kanehsatake_270_years_of_resistance/


During the months of July and August 1989  Canada faced one of the most serious crises in its relationship with its own native peoples. In the town of Oka, Quebec the local mayor had set about a land grab of unincorporated land that had traditionally belonged to members of the local Mohawk nation. This land grab was so that a local private members golf course could be expanded. In response the Mohawks blockaded a road in Oka and were soon encircled by law enforcement agencies and the army. In a struggle that was to turn violent many of the racial fault lines in Canada were exposed. In a searing endictment of the government and Quebec society, filmmaker Alanis Obomswain records the struggle at Oka.

Gombeen: pejorative Hiberno-English term for a shady "wheeler-dealer"

As Ireland endures the gravest economic crisis since the foundation of the state it is becoming clear that the political and 'entreprenurial' elite of that country have learnt absolutely nothing from their self inflicted crisis.

The beginnings of the crisis can be fond in a massively over inflated property bubbled that bankrupted the Irish banking system. This bubble was cynically encouraged by the Government of the day led by the venal Bertie Ahern. In response to this the Government gave a bank guarantee on the backs of the Irish people, so in order to save the bankrupt banks they bankrupted the country.

Now as the Irish state sets about demolishing the so called 'ghost estate' built during the hysteria of the property bubble, An Bord Pleanala has given planning permission for the biggest gambling complex in Europe to be built in the middle of rural North Tipperary. This has happened despite heritage body An Taisce describing the development as 

"ill-conceived and warrants comprehensive refusal" 

An Bord Pleanala justified their decision by saying

 “All the best enterprises, tourist and employment generating schemes are speculative in nature. In a time where the economic outlook is bleak it is considered that the planning system should encourage and endeavour to facilitate all forms of development which are shown to have positive social-economic impacts” 

It is difficult to see what positive social impacts are provided by gambling. 

The complex will consist of a five hundred bed hotel, horse racing track, dog racing track, golf course, life size replica of The White House, heliport and a casino. This venue will be built on the outskirts of a village with a population of five hundred and fifty. The development will undoubtedly alter the nature of locality irrevocably but in these desperate economic times there appears to be little local opposition. What is even more disturbing than the potential impact of the development is the nature of the people backing it.

The whole project is the brainchild of former police man Richard Quirke who runs a prominent gaming arcade on Dublins O'Connell street, this arcade is notorious for having slot machines which are legally prohibited in Dublin. The Irish Times gave this vivid description of a visit there,

“Boys in school uniform played poker, women with babies in buggies operated two slot machines simultaneously, and a group of Asian men huddled over roulette tables. Everyone was intensely focused and silent”

The other prominent backer is Tipperary politician Michael Lowry, Mr Lowry is a former cabinet member who had to resign his position as a result of a corruption scandal and has since found to be a tax dodger.

It is clear that this whole development is out of proportion to the area, of dubious moral benefit and is backed by people who are not of the highest caliber. But for the Irish political elite these virtues are to be admired and encouraged. Its seems that the only lesson that has been learnt form one disaster is to aim higher for the next one.

Economic Salvation, Only a cut away

One and a half years into the most devastating recession since the 1930s the British elected a government bent on a radical right wing agenda to slash expenditure. This is an agenda that runs counter to  the basics of Keynesian economics and raises the question of how the economy will be provided with a stimulus. 


At the beginning of the month the IMF sent a five person mission to sit in judgement over the British Government's approach to economic salvation. In a 30 minute briefing to the press the mission gave its seal of approval to the radical measures that have been introduced to purge the British economy of the sin of deficit. 

The Government has forged ahead with its post Keynesian programme of severe public spending cuts. This approach has not been copied by any of the other large economies so the blessing of the IMF was one that was very welcome. The British government presented this as vindication for their policy of cutting expenditure and was warmly praised by the majority of the British press. One could be forgiven for believing that George Osborne was creating an economic miracle, and in so doing destroying the fundamental tenets of Keynesian economics.

However there has been plenty of adverse foreign press comment on the British approach. There is a great deal of concern that the cuts are economically counter intuitive. The question that is repeatedly raised is one of how growth can be encouraged whilst so drastically cutting government expenditure. The New York Times even qouting one researcher in a brokerage firm as saying; 

"Mathematically, I just do not see where growth is going to come from,” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/business/global/16pound.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=george%20osborne&st=cse


This devastating critique is echoed in numerous publications across the globe.


In The New Yorker magazine former BBC economic commentator John Cassidy flayed Osborne's approach in an article entitled 'U.K. economy returns to 1930s; IMF applauds' 

Cassidy points out that the public spending cuts have throttled any economic recovery 

"In the four months from October to January, the U.K.’s G.D.P. actually fell. Since then, it has edged up slightly. According to a new report from the non-partisan National Institute for Economic Research, in London, in the three months to May the economy expanded, but by just 0.4 per cent—a miserly rate of growth."

He goes onto to say;

"The N.I.E.S.R. is not expecting output to pass its previous peak until 2013 at the earliest, and even this may well prove optimistic. The independent Office of Budget Responsibility, which the government set up last year to stop the Treasury from cooking the books, is forecasting growth of 1.7 per cent this year and 2.5 per cent in 2012. These figures might sound pretty modest, but with the government busy retrenching and consumers still digging themselves out of debt, they hinge on an upturn in exports and business investment that seems unlikely to materialize. Realistically, G.D.P. growth of one per cent this year and two per cent next year seems about the best that can be hoped for, and, absent a policy change, an even worse outcome can’t be ruled out."

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2011/06/uk-economy-returns-to-1930s-imf-applauds.html


The French equivalent of The Financial Times, Les Echos commented:

"Ce débat existait déjà il ya un an, pendant la campagne électorale, mais il se ravive alors que George Osborne, le chancelier de l'Echiquier, applique sans trembler son plan drastique de baisse des dépenses. « Il n'y a pas d'alternative », disait jadis Margaret Thatcher. « Il n'y a pas de plan B », martèle Osborne en réponse à 52 économistes pour qui le Royaume-Uni risque la rechute."

http://www.lesechos.fr/opinions/edito/0201421303209-la-beaute-du-plan-b-172948.php

Despite the chorus of approval from the British press it is obvious that serious questions remain about government economic policy. British society urgently needs a serious debate what exactly will provide the stimulus that the economy so badly needs.