FOR YOUR EYES ONLY - Business Spotlight
Transkript
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY - Business Spotlight
18–21.qxd 17.9.2008 8:42 Str. 18 ■ GLOBAL BUSINESS ECONOMIC MAFIA FOR YOUR EYES ONLY John Perkins podle vlastních slov dříve zařizoval špinavé obchody pro americkou vládu. VICKI SUSSENS-MESSERER s ním hovořila a představuje jeho knihy. I t reads like something out of a James Bond novel. John Perkins’s book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man tells a story of political bribery, sex, and murder. Perkins claims that, in the 1970s and 1980s, he was indirectly employed by the U.S. government to help cripple the economies of developing countries so that America could take control of their resources. “We called ourselves ‘economic hit men’ because we worked like the Mafia,” says Perkins, who claims that EHMs — as he calls them — are more active than ever before. Perkins’s job was to corrupt leaders of strategically important countries so that they promoted the interests of what Perkins calls the “corporatocracy” — a coalition of the U.S. government, aid organizations, and corporations. He traveled to places like Indonesia, Iran, Ecuador, and Panama, persuading leaders to take huge loans from the World Bank and other aid organizations to invest in infrastructure. To obtain the loans, Perkins produced exaggerated forecasts showing how much the investments would make the economy grow. But most of the money never left the U.S. “About 90 percent went directly into the pockets of U.S. corporations like Bechtel, Halliburton, and General Electric to build things like highways, airports, or industrial parks,” says Perkins, who has no problem naming names. And the promised economic growth did not happen, trapping the countries into debt, and making them slaves to U.S. policies. “We would go back and say, ‘You can’t pay back the money, so sell your oil to our oil companies real cheap. Vote with us in the next UN vote. Or, send troops in support of ours to some place like Iraq.’” He says that, if the hit men failed to bring a leader around, the U.S. government would send in “jackals,” shadowy people trained to overthrow leaders or assassinate them. If the jackals failed, as Perkins claims happened in Iraq, then the military would be called in. The political, social, and environmental destruction caused by this system has been enormous, he says. “The infrastructures only benefit the very rich who own and use them; the poor tend not to be connected to electricity, or to use the highways and airports, or have the skills to work in industrial parks. They suffer most because, with so much debt, the governments have little money for health, education, and other social services.” Leaders, Perkins says, mostly know what the game is. “When they get elected, we tell them: ‘If you play the game, we can make you and your family very rich. If 18 Business Spotlight medium US you don’t, remember what happened to Jaime Roldós (president of Ecuador from 1979 to 1981), remember what happened to Omar Torrijos (leader of Panama from 1968 to 1981).’” Both died in plane crashes that Perkins claims were assassinations. “We played a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions with globalization,” says Perkins, who writes in his book that he had always planned to enjoy the benefits of the job and then to “become a hero” by telling all. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man was on The New York Times best-seller list for 70 weeks. Its success led him to write The Secret History of the American Empire. Published in May this year, it tells the stories of others like Perkins who have worked to promote the “American empire” but now feel the need to confess. For the most part, the mainstream media have either ignored Perkins’s books, or have questioned his authenticity. “Luckily for mankind, Perkins has retired from his job as an infidel dog and now works on the side of the angels,” wrote Joe Queenan in a particularly sarcastic book review which appeared in the International Herald Tribune. But Perkins’s books have hit a nerve with the public: “I think that, generally, people want to aid organization [ ed r n ze n] angel [ end l] around: bring sb. ~ [ raυnd] assassinate sb. [ s snet] assassination [ s s ne n] bribery [ brab ri] corporation [ k rp re n] corporatocracy [ k rp r t kr si] cripple sth. [ krp l] empire [ empa r] environmental destruction [nva r n ment l di str k n] exaggerated [ z d ret d] forecast [ f rk st] hero [ hi roυ] hit a nerve [ ht n rv] hit man [ ht m n] infidel dog [ nfd l d ] jackal [ d k l] loan [loυn] mainstream [ menstri m] overthrow sb. [ oυv r θroυ] review [ri vju ] shadowy [ doυi] trap sb. into debt [ tr p nt det] organizace na pomoc, podporu anděl přemluvit zavraždit atentát, politická vražda úplatek podnik [kvůli výslovnosti] ochromit světová říše; zde také: dějiny světové říše ničení životního prostředí přehnaný prognóza, předpověď hrdina tít do živého nájemný vrah, zabiják přibližně: kacíř šakal úvěr, půjčka hlavní, etablovaný svrhnout recenze nejasný přivést někoho do dluhů 5/2008 17.9.2008 8:42 Str. 19 Isifa 18–21.qxd “We called ourselves ‘economic hit men’ because we worked like the Mafia” A shadowy mission: John Perkins says his job was to corrupt leaders