{"id":110341,"date":"2021-01-03T17:06:09","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T00:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110341"},"modified":"2021-01-03T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T00:06:09","slug":"the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c4c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/03\/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c4c\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POHOTTUWA GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA Part 2 C4c"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The USA, we\nare told, has two governments, a visible government and an invisible one. The\nvisible government is the one run by the US President and Congress.   But the real power which drives US policy is\nelsewhere, say analysts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA\u2019s politics is masterminded by a small financial elite, they\nadded, a kind of cabal,  who control just\nabout everything in Washington. They are the invisible government. Many in this\nelite are Jewish. The coterie includes powerful international bankers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nfinancial elite virtually runs the United States government. They operate\nindependently of the elected representatives. They club into submission or\ndrive out of office public officials who refuse to do their bidding.\u201d  It does not matter who become the President\nof the USA, he will simply march to the tune of those who stand behind the\nscenes and pull the strings, said analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The political\nideology of this elite is labeled \u2018neo conservatism\u2019 and its practitioners were\nknown as \u2018neo cons\u2019. The original neoconservatives, believe it or not, were\nformer Trotskyites now turned anti-Trotsky, anti- socialist and ultra right.\nThey were influenced by the ideas of Leo Straus, (1899-1973) a Jewish immigrant\nwho became professor of Political Science at University of Chicago. Strauss\nsaid that masses were an inferior breed who needed to be ruled by an\nintelligent elite. It was the right of the superior elite to rule the inferior\nmasses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The neo cons were also influenced by the journalist, Irving\nKristol (1920-2009).   Kristol is\nconsidered the father of neo-conservatism. He was against the welfare state and\nthe African American civil rights movement in USA. He wanted both squashed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term, “neo-conservatism was coined in 1973. Neo\nconservative ideas began to enter the mainstream thinking in the USA in 1970s. The\nthird generation of Neo-cons emerged in the mid 1990s. These neo-cons are\nactive, aggressive and reactionary said critics. They wish to turn the clock back on the\nliberal gains and achievements.\u201d  They\nsaid welfare programs were breeding a culture of dependency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many \u2018Neo cons\u2019 are leading personalities in the USA. They have\nexceptional intellectual ability. They hold key positions in the administration . They are well placed, otherwise too.  Neo cons dominate Washington\u2019s think tanks\nand the news media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The neo cons, are not conspiratorial. They prefer to write\nvoluminously and act openly with respect to their philosophies and actions,\nsaid analysts. They host policy conferences that attract powerful politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neo-cons are skilled operatives. They\nknow how to obtain steady funding  there\nis an unabating flow of such support. Their\norganizations and projects attract huge funding from donors and foundations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neo-cons have institutions that back them. They own publishing\nhouses and television stations and through these they control the media.  They have publications that disseminate their\nviews and shape public debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neo cons are very skilled propagandists. They use their writings\nto give intellectual legitimacy to policies that are extreme and inacceptable.\nThe neo cons are adept at writing articles that twist any set of facts to suit\ntheir ideological cause. They know how\nto spin facts\u201d in ways that mislead the audience, said critics. The words used\nby neoliberalism often conceal more than they elucidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neo con\nvalues have been accepted inside USA.  a  Pew\nsurvey  of 2011  found that 58%  of the Americans said freedom to pursue\nlife\u2019s goals without interference from the state is more important than the\nstate guaranteeing nobody is in need. Neo cons encourage the strong\nindividualistic tradition in the US. Americans favours liberty more than\nequality. To be free of governmental intervention is far more important than to\nhave a benevolent state provide welfare to the population, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some neo cons\nhave taken an interest in Sri Lanka .Geoge Soros is a leading \u2018neo con\u2019 and his\nOpen Society Foundation is a major source of funding for the Neo-con movement. Soros\nturned up in Sri Lanka at the start of the Yahapalana government of 2015-2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other\nnames which are familiar to Sri Lanka are U.S. National Security Adviser Susan\nRice and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations,\nSamantha Power. Samantha Power visited Sri Lanka in\n2015 and 2019. She said that Sri Lanka has been a true partner of the\nUnited States. She considered Mangala Samaraweera one of the most remarkable\npeople I encountered during my eight years serving in the US government\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan Rice said in 2015 that Sri Lanka was a society in\ntransition. She equated Sri Lanka with Myanmar and Tunisia. Susan Rice is said\nto have been particularly anti-Arab and anti-Islam, and was scathing and\nsneering at the Palestinians in the UN General Assembly when the UN granted Palestine\nobserver status. Rice will serve as the director of the Domestic Policy Council<\/a> in the\nincoming Biden administration<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The neo cons follow the economic policy of \u2018Neoliberalism\u2019.  <\/em>AmericanNeoliberalism is a policy that affects both\npolitics and economics. It seeks to transfer the control of economic factors\nfrom the public sector to the private sector. \nNeoliberalism   firmly supports free market capitalism. It\ninsists on privatization and free trade. \nIt frowns on public ownership.  It\nsets limits to government regulation and demands drastic cuts to government\nspending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USA\u2019s foreign policy includes a neo liberal economic package.\nUS foreign policy demands that\ndeveloping countries follows the free market system which emphasis the\nmaximization of profit and has no state intervention or control of industry. Corporate taxes must be reduced. The country\nmust open itself to global markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There must be privatization<\/a> of state\nenterprises<\/a> and the removal of government subsidies. Government should sell\noff any industrial assets they own. There should be open entry of foreign firms\ninto the local economy. Imports must be liberalized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social\nwelfare schemes must be reduced. Governments should dramatically cut back\nfunding of social programs and privatize pension systems. The tax base should\nbe broadened, which meant taxing as many people as possible. Labor\norganizations and collective bargaining should be brought under control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neo liberal economics have concocted theories to support their\ntactics. They said that the market ensures that everyone gets what they\ndeserve. The market\u201d sounds like a natural system that might bear upon us\nequally, like gravity or atmospheric pressure. But it is fraught with power\nrelations. What the market wants\u201d means what corporations and their bosses\nwant, said critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In neo\nliberalism the rich persuade themselves that they acquired their wealth through\nmerit, ignoring the advantages \u2013 such as education, inheritance and class \u2013\nthat may have helped to secure it. In a world governed by competition, those\nwho fall behind are simply losers. If you don\u2019t have a job it\u2019s because you are\nunenterprising. The poor begin to blame themselves for their failures, even\nwhen they can do little to change their circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nNeoliberalist ideology has increasingly prevailed in large part of the world.\nThis carried the notion that the market knows best, and the business of\nbusiness is business\u201d and government should not interfere. These dogmatic\nbeliefs have been proved wrong. The freedom that neoliberalism offers, which\nsounds so beguiling when, expressed in general terms, turns out to mean freedom\nfor the pike, a large fish, not for the minnows, the smaller fish, said\ncritics. \n<\/em>It is a policy that benefited the wealthy.  Neo liberalism has no plans for helping the\nweak and impoverished groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics note that economic growth has been markedly slower in the\nneoliberal   period in UK and USA, starting\nin 1980 than it was in the preceding decades. Like communism, Neoliberalism is a\nGod that failed. But the zombie doctrine staggers on, complained critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The implementation of Neo-con foreign policy has created\nconsiderable upheavals in people\u2019s lives which had been relatively safe and\npeaceful, poverty where relatively little of it had existed, or it increased\nthe existing levels of poverty. Western\nsocieties which practice neo-liberal economics have epidemics of self-harm,\neating disorders, depression, loneliness, performance anxiety and social\nphobia, analysts observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This neo\nliberal approach is challenged by other models which have proved to be more\nsuccessful. China\u2019s economic policies are the exact opposite of neo liberal\npolicy. China went in for high levels of protectionism<\/a>, no privatization<\/a>, extensive\nindustrial policies planning, and lax fiscal and financial policies through the\n1990s.   This turned out to be\nsuccessful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nremarkable economic growth of the East Asian Tigers was due to the dominant\nrole played by governments. East Asian governments   actively encouraged industry and also\nmanaged to increase domestic savings. These governments had highly\nprotectionist policies that barred foreigners from owning land and from buying\nout national firms.  The East Asian\nTigers showed that mixed, managed economies grew faster and more equitably than\nthose following the neo liberal style, said analysts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Analysts also noted that countries like\nNorway, Singapore, and China have developed “infrastructure-savvy\neconomies” where the government investing massively in infrastructure\nprojects. These countries had large-scale, government-funded investments in\nstrategic infrastructure projects, said analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

US   found that it was not easy to impose Neo\nliberal prescriptions on reluctant foreign countries, given the unpopularity of\nthe neo liberal reforms. The determined US found that it had to impose military\nforce, stealth  and political terror to get the neo liberal\npolicies through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They hit on a deadly tactic, the Shock tactic. The opposition to\nNeo liberal economics is so great that the neo cons decided that only a\nlarge-scale disaster (hurricane, tsunami, military coup) can   help get neo liberal reforms through, while\npeople were distracted. Neoliberal theorists advocated the use of crises to\nimpose unpopular policies. They also supported the actual creation of such a\ncrisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naomi Klein\ncalled this The Shock Doctrine. The shock doctrine\nsuggests that unpopular free market\u201d measures  \ncould be pushed through in periods of chaos following wars, coups,\nnatural disasters and economic panics. During a crisis, neo liberal\nmoves will go unscrutinized, that is the moment when unpopular policies could\nbe rushed through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first country in which the neo liberal economic programme was\ncomprehensively applied was Chile under Pinochet. This was the first test case\nand Milton Friedman the leading neo liberal economist, was there in person. He\nsaw the difficulties of imposing neo liberal policies and had called for shock\ntreatment.  Similarly when Hurricane\nKatrina hit New Orleans, USA, Milton Friedman, described it as an opportunity\nto radically reform the educational system\u201d recorded Kline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who wish to implement unpopular free market policies now\nroutinely do so by taking advantage of certain features of the aftermath of\nmajor disasters, the disaster can be natural or artificial. Klein says that neo liberalists, such as Milton Friedman and\nhis followers have been perfecting this very strategy. They wait for a major crisis,\nand then sell off pieces of the state to private players while citizens were\nstill reeling from the shock, and then quickly make the “reforms”\npermanent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These shocks are intentionally encouraged or even manufactured in\nforeign countries by the US. A major collective shock would help prepare the\nground for an economic shock. The falling bombs, the bursts of terror, the\npounding winds will soften up whole societies, they said in anticipation. The\npopulation goes limp at these times.  A strategist\nfrom Morgan Stanley actually told a conference, \u2018what we need now in Asia is\nmore bad news. Bad news to keep stimulating the adjustment process.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The April 2018 bomb blasts in Catholic churches by Muslims, was immediately\nseen as a shock tactic supported by the USA. The ISIS story was brushed aside.\nThe intelligentsia looked at the link between Muslim extremists in Sri Lanka, funds\nfrom Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia\u2019s link to USA. Instead of going limp as\nexpected, Sri Lanka reacted strongly, hunted out the next set of waiting\nbombers and prevented further carnage. (Continued) <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The USA, we are told, has two governments, a visible government and an invisible one. The visible government is the one run by the US President and Congress.   But the real power which drives US policy is elsewhere, say analysts. USA\u2019s politics is masterminded by a small financial elite, they added, a kind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}