- Details
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 8858
I believe these wise, informed and timeless words by Bertrand Russell are at the heart of neoliberalism and the greedy fat cat capitalists. Hence, their love and passion for de-regulation, self-regulation and privatisation of everything and everybody under the sun.
Today I read a very interesting, albeit, very sad article, on neoliberalism and the huge increases in global loneliness, depression and suicide, which I thought I wish to share with you.
However, before that, I want to take you a few years back to 2003, when I had written a short booklet, mainly on the rise of global neoliberalism and the concurrent rise in ‘Business with no Ethics’. Let me quote you a passage or two from that said booklet, very relevant to a better understanding of the article which I wish to share with you a bit later:
“…The benefits of neo-liberal globalisation are limited and are based on individualism, greed, self-interest and economism (which regards human societies primarily as economic systems in which financial considerations alone govern choices and decisions). Other fundamental values such as faith, spirituality, justice, love, compassion, sympathy, empathy and co-operation are neglected.
Individualism, valued by neo-liberals as a force for good in global capitalism, in fact has a major destructive impact on well- being. A lack of appropriate sources of social identity and attachment results in a tendency to promote unrealistic or inappropriate expectations of individual freedom and autonomy. Much unhappiness is often associated with people who have suddenly become super-rich, whether by winning the lottery, inheriting a fortune, or by fraud.
Neo-liberal capitalism is also anti-democratic; it is extremely harmful to the noble principles of democracy. Democracy believes in equality: it gives one vote to each person regardless of status, colour or creed. It does not matter what that person is, intelligent and educated or illiterate, well-informed, or not. Neo-liberalism aims to reward only the most talented and suc- cessful, thus clashing with the most fundamental principle of democracy.
By promoting individualism and self-centredness, neo-liberal- ism also runs contrary to the principles of community and society. What matters is individual preference. The suggestion is that those who squander their riches on conspicuous consumerism are just as worthy as those who use their wealth to help the needy.
The following is a revealing expansion of the above:
What the Richest Men in the World Don't Know
In 1923, a very important meeting was held at Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Attending this meeting were nine of the world’s most ‘successful’ financiers and businessmen. Those present were: the President of the largest independent steel company; the President of the largest utility company; the President of the largest gas company; the greatest wheat speculator; the President of the New York Stock Exchange; a member of the President’s cabinet; the greatest ‘bear’ in Wall Street; the head of the world’s greatest monopoly; and the President of the Bank of International Settlement. This, we must admit, was a gathering of some of the world’s most successful men – or at least men who had found the secret of making money. Twenty-five years later (1948) let us see what had happenedto these men: the President of the largest independent steel company had died, bankrupt, having lived on borrowed money for five years before his death; the President of the largest utility company had died a fugitive from justice, penniless in a foreign land; the President of the largest gas company was insane; the greatest wheat speculator had died abroad – insolvent; the President of the New York Stock Exchange had recently been released from Sing Sing penitentiary; the member of the President’s cabinet had been pardoned from prison so that he could die at home; the greatest ‘bear’ in Wall Street had died
– a suicide; the head of the world’s greatest monopoly had died
– a suicide; the President of the Bank of International Settlement had died – a suicide
All these men learned well the art of making money but none of them learned how to live, commented the original compiler of this list. It seems that the business world (who should know better, given what was described above) has changed not one iota. For them economic growth, the corporate bottom line and the pursuit of self-interest are what matters most. More recent observations also show that the self-interested pursuit of wealth brings only misery. Since 1950 there has been much economic growth and wealth creation in the West, but also a tenfold increase in the incidence of depression and a massive rise in the number of people suffering from sub-clinical neuroses, anxiety and pro- found self-dissatisfaction…”
What a powerful and telling story! A lesson to all those neoliberals that think whatever matters most is money and money and loads of it!
- Details
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 2070
Photo: Ken Field- esri.com
Those familiar with My Blogs know well that, ‘Corruption’ has been a constant subject of discussion and reflection. Below I have noted a few recent postings, examples amongst many:
Corruption, Corruption,... Corruption, Everywhere
An Open Letter to Prof. Klaus Schwab, WEF, Davos
Open Letter to Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England
On the eve of London Anti- Corruption Summit- Values-led action to eradicate corruption
Today, the subject of my Blog concerns the so-called “The Beautiful Game”, a game that has sunk to its nadir of decadence; where everybody is up for sale: A game that has encouraged greed, lust, malicious envy, gluttony and more at the expense of honour, courage, loyalty, beauty, decency, true championship and achievement.
Let me explain these points a bit more by quoting a few passages from an excellent article by Simon Jenkins in today’s Guardian:
‘The truth of the matter is that these sports reek of money, and money unregulated or uncontrolled soon reeks of corruption. In the absence of self-discipline, and shielded by dubious members of the accountancy profession, these organisations have only one thing to fear – and that is embarrassment’
“I cannot take seriously sports I used to love when I cannot trust what I see before my eyes. I was baffled at the reason for last-minute player substitutions in football matches, until I was told these were fee-sharing deals. Cricket’s dropped catches and no-balls turned out to be paid for. British cyclists who suddenly won gold medals had superior equipment to other competitors. How did Qatar get to hold a summer World Cup, or Russia a winter Olympic games? You can guess. Are we soon to learn that referees are bribed for the inexplicable penalties that decide most rugby matches?
“George Orwell referred to sport as “bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence” – and he was writing when it was amateur. Now there is money at stake, Cameron had to fawn at Sepp Blatter’s door, and confer on IOC bosses the extraordinary honour of Olympic traffic “Zil lanes” across London. Murky organisations may claim to be overseeing “ethics”. But why pay them any heed? When Russia is halfheartedly thrown out of the 2016 Olympics, it retaliates with that new weapon of international conflict, the hacked email and leaked health record. That should make the IOC quake.
“These bodies are run by self-perpetuating cliques sustained in various tax havens by other self-perpetuating cliques in member states. Fifa was rumbled last year only when the media gathered enough evidence for Swiss police, on behalf of the US authorities, to arrest its officials for “racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and corruption” over many decades. The FA cannot have been unaware of the stink of corruption emanating from Fifa.
“As long as the financial and political rewards to international sport are so inflated, it is doubtful whether its rulers will ever truly come clean. The IOC has yet to purge doping in its sports and probably never will. The concept of what is a drug and what is performance enhancement is forever changing. The remedy for an honest sport, or an honest country, is to decline to collaborate with these international junkets. They should play “friendlies” and hope against hope that Fifa and the IOC will one day go the way of cock-fighting and all-in wrestling. The moral is never to trust a governor you cannot remove with a vote.
- Details
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 2664
I was heartbroken to hear the sad news of the passing of my friend, Cemal Usak.
A renowned intellectual, journalist and president of the Journalists’ and Writers’ Foundation (GYV). Cemal, who was amongst the targets of the Turkish government’s ongoing crackdown on the Gulen movement, passed away at the age of 63 while in exile. Cemal had been receiving cancer treatment for the past several years.
I first met Cemal in the early 2000s in Rhodes, Greece. We both had been invited to participate at the The World Public Forum (WPF) "Dialogue of Civilizations"(WPFDC) Conference. I recall that we sat at a joint table having lunch together. We began to talk and converse: Who are you, What do you do, where have you come from? The usual first few questions at these sort of conferences.
It seems, we both enjoyed meeting each other. We kept contact and very soon Cemal invited me to give a series of lectures in Istanbul. Our friendship got stronger and deeper.
Cemal invited me to his house, to meet his dear wife and children. I reciprocated, and we became truly good family friends.
In 2005 I invited Cemal to our GCGI Conference in Kenya, where we enjoyed our dialogue and friendship as we travelled across Kenya, from Nairobi, to Kericho and then to Mombassa.
Group photo- Cemal 7th in from the left, 1st row standing
Photo: av.gnnsj
I always wanted to hold one of our GCGI Conferences in Turkey. Again Cemal was there to help me. With his brotherly assistance we had a magnificently successful and rewarding conference at Fatih University in Istanbul in 2007.
Cemal also had organised a few fantastic evenings of hospitality, dinners, cultural events for the conference, as well as post-conference tour and much more. All greatly appreciated by the conference participants.
Group Photo- Cemal 5th in from the left, 1st row standing
Soon after our initial meeting in Rhodes, both Cemal and I were invited to join the International Coordinating committee (ICC) of the WPFDC, a task that we and other ICC members were delighted to perform, whilst encouraging and nurturing the development of the WPFDC, especially during those very early years. I have many fond memories of our ICC meetings in Moscow, Vienna and other parts of the world, including Rhodes itself.
There are many more stories that I have in my heart to tell about Cemal and our friendship. I give thanks for all the wonderful times we had together, too numerous to recall at this moment. This is a story for another day and another time.
I can only say I have lost a very good friend. I am praying in my own way for Cemal. God grant him eternal rest; he was a lovely man, who, if required, may still be a peacemaker in heaven.