Unite

Friday is First of May. On first May we should unite and read out aloud the verdict on capitalism. Capitalism, or rather, Western capitalism is a failure. A big F-A-I-L-U-R-E. The US is almost bankrupt. It could have collapsed by now had rivers of money not flowed into the country from foreign sources. Unbridled capitalist practices in the West, especially in the US gave birth to the latest world financial crisis and many people lost their jobs, homes, life savings and even their families. Factories closed down and businesses shuttered. Those who who hold secure jobs in government or in business or industry were lucky but the same cannot be said of the majority of the working class. Those who suffered along with the workers include people who operated small family businesses. Some had to close shop and others were forced to borrow from loan sharks and there those who were unfortunate enough to lose everything to rioters or looting mobs. During the previous major financial crisis, which affected parts of East Asia, minority businessmen were the targets of government-backed rioters. Properties were burned, belongings were seized and people senselessly murdered. It was not at all a one-off occurrence as such anti-minority mayhem was enacted on many previous occasions usually helped by instigators from local government figures. Western business practices dominate world trade and unhealthy ways or methods to earn big money in the shortest time possible are chiefly responsible for the financial collapse seen today. Such ultra capitalist practices are favoured by the West on account of the hallowed capitalist principle that clever people should be allowed to surge ahead without restrictions in a capitalist society. This gave rise to market manipulation, market speculation, artificially inflated prices, very rapid and sharp fluctuations and of course very fat bonuses. In a matter of just barely four months, crude petroleum prices went from US$147 to below US$45 mainly due to 'paper barrels' dominating the trade in the petroleum market. This very great fluctuation in the price caused huge economic stress in many countries that resulted in leaders losing their jobs and people becoming violent and riots and anger ruled the streets. The insistence on the use of the dollar to conduct world trade is also a big contributor to the crisis. The US could afford to not impose fiscal discipline on its own self since it is the country that owns the dollar. Huge sums of money went to the military to procure huge mountains of hardware, proliferate the American military presence abroad and escalate tensions in various regions around the world. Meanwhile, US media put the blame on others, and US politicians pointed fingers at everyone else except themselves. The US had forgotten that exactly a century ago, Americans were playing exactly the same blame game.

The US suffered an economic depression around the turn of the century most possibly due to the prolonged after-effects of the American Civil War, and Asians living in America, especially people of Chinese descent were accused of being responsible. Murder, riots, assaults and arson were carried out against the minority presence and even politicians and officials joined in the fray. Nobody ever mentioned human rights or anything close to it. Nobody ever reminded the public or even the government that the minority presence had chiefly being composed of very hardworking and industrious people who had built up businesses and trades by din of hard work and honest toil. They did not steal, rob or loot from others. They did not even possess any kind of political clout either. They were always at the mercy of others instead. The people in the journalistic trade also joined in the attacks on the minorities who had little to fall back on for their own defence. Even as late as the 1920s, writers like Lothrop Stoddard railed at the minority presence and threw all sorts of unfair and unfounded accusations against them. Today, in other parts of the world, this ugly scenario is often repeated time and again, especially when there is an economic crisis hanging over our heads. The minority gets the finger but capitalism is never blamed. The minority is thrown all sorts of accusations just like in the US a century ago. They are accused of monopolising the economy. Nobody ever reminded themselves that people who are industrious and possesss the capacity to toil for long hours naturally are able to succeed. They are not able to gain or obtain political power and mainly not interested either. Thus they put their focus on things that they know best. Toil and toil till they succeed in seeing the fruits of their labour. Yet in a crisis the minorities are the first targets of rioters and murderers. Nobody ever blamed the local politics or the capitalist system. The West is also to blame for the plight of the minority presence in many societies. The Western media encouraged by Western leaders often try to demonise selective races and thus instigate others to use violence to solve problems. Words like 'goons', 'bullies' are used. Minorites that concentrate on business and trade are the ones most likely to be at the receiving end of goons and bullies, not the other way round. There are minorities who prefer to get involved in powerful labour unions and political parties but these are the exceptions. A university graduate from a minority group once said in reply to the accusation that the minority group dominated commerce. He said that his family operated a sundry store in a rural area. And the family saved money by eating the vegetables and other perishable items in the store that customers had refused to buy. Many people fail to understand that running a business like in the

sundry store business is a very tough occupation. Customers often take items on credit and there are the ones who take without paying. And then there is the problem of security and safety. People in this kind of business are often very vulnerable to local toughs who often work hand-in-glove with the local cops. The minorities in the world must unite and stand up against the falsehoods spread by the big capitalist interest groups and their apologists. Unbridled capitalism and the perennial false picture or image that is the favourite presentation of the Western media is the main cause of all modern financial crises. Not minorities. The world needs to move away from the Western model and to put more focus on barter trade and clamp down on market manipulators. Otherwise we will forever be exposed to the sneezes coming out of Washington or New York or London or Paris. Minorities of the world unite. Down with unbridled capitalism !