{"id":134810,"date":"2023-06-05T16:11:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T23:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=134810"},"modified":"2023-06-05T16:11:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T23:11:55","slug":"waltzing-wall-streets-bondsmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/06\/05\/waltzing-wall-streets-bondsmen\/","title":{"rendered":"Waltzing Wall Street\u2019s\u00a0Bondsmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Sri Lankan \u2018liberal\u2019 fights for all<\/em> of the social progressivism of the West,<\/em> and none of their\u00a0<\/em>industrial policies<\/em><\/strong> that made such lifestyles possible in the first place.<\/em> They want Western decadence & colonial underdevelopment<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankan unions fight for higher & higher wages,<\/em> but not for the kinds of industrial policies<\/em> that would lead to the production of less & less-expensive goods.<\/em> They envision a high-wage economy, not a low-cost one.<\/em>-Shiran Illanperuma,\u00a0Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US-funded thinktank Advocata wants \u2018Women workers\u2019 to \u2018break\u2019 the \u2018shackles of time limits\u2019. By shackles, they mean the Shop & Office Employees Act<\/strong>, Employment of Women, Young Persons & Children Act<\/strong>, and the Factories Ordinance<\/strong>. US Advocata weeps crocodile tears for such laws that place \u2018restrictions on a woman\u2019s right to engage in night work<\/strong>\u2019. The UNP and SJB agree with the US thinktanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     US Advocata also says \u2018political will\u2019 is \u2018required to abolish the \u2018Period Tax<\/strong>\u2019. This relates to the failure to import lower-priced \u2018feminine products\u2019. The \u2018protection\u2019 of high-priced local products they argue is an attack on women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Advocata, et al, are all part of the forces calling for the abolition of labor laws and trade unions that protect workers. These anti-worker forces are led locally by the\u00a0Employers\u2019 Federation of Ceylon<\/strong>\u00a0(EFC<\/strong>). These are the same people who, following the July 1980 General Strike, advocated the mass sackings that then provided the kindling for the wars that were ignited south & north for the decades to come. Amnesia\u2019s just another word for the media called \u2018mass\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The mainstream media \u2018discovered\u2019 women\u2019s rights<\/p>\n\n\n\n

leading up to the US invasion of Afghanistan,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

inundating the public with imagery of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018burqa-clad women in need of liberation<\/strong>,\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and then \u2018rediscovered\u2019 these women<\/p>\n\n\n\n

following the withdrawal in order to justify sanctions\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the media\u2019s selective focus on \u2018human rights\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

erases the harm caused by the violence of US wars\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 ee Media<\/em><\/strong>, The Role of the Media in the US War on Afghanistan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course the USA discovered women\u2019s rights in Afghanistan even as they were encouraging their \u2018radical\u2019 allies \u2013 \u2018freedom fighters\u2019 \u2013 to throw acid at women going to University, claiming education of women was communist policy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 This week, we hear that England\u2019s Guardian<\/em><\/strong> newspaper has \u2018investigated\u2019 the \u2018hunger\u2019 and squalor\u2019 of Sri Lanka\u2019s \u2018poorly-paid\u2019 & \u2018harsh\u2019 tea \u2018industry\u2019<\/strong> (it\u2019s not an industry! \u2013 ee<\/em><\/strong>). Following the Guardian<\/em> report, some of the \u2018world\u2019s leading tea manufacturers<\/strong>\u2018 said they were \u2018examining\u2019 the conditions of workers on Sri Lanka\u2019s tea plantations. Also note the Guardian<\/em>\u2019s English: \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s once English-owned<\/em> tea industry\u2019. The link between England, the tea party, and our underdevelopment is a priority mystery that Enid Blyton or Agatha Christie never sought to unravel. Their detectives always missed the real criminals. Just like the English media. Will they unravel the accounting forensics of the Exporters & the Multinationals? (see ee<\/em><\/strong> May 2023 Part 2: Unilever\u2019s Tempest)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Last month, ee<\/em><\/strong> wondered about Unilever\u2019s \u2018tampering\u2019 in this tea game. ee<\/em><\/strong> reported on a show trial in Scotland \u2018on behalf of\u2019 workers on James Finlay\u2019s tea plantations in Kenya. Also: on the purported takeover of JFK\u2019s operations by \u2018Sri Lankan firm\u2019 Browns. And further: on the NGO Rainforest Alliance<\/strong>\u2018s suspension of their \u2018certification\u2019 of these tea exporters JFK and Unilever following a expose by England\u2019s state broadcasting service BBC<\/em>. So here they are again. ee<\/em><\/strong> keeps wondering about the who and how these NGOs were anointed with such powers. As usual, suspect greater concentration and monopoly is being exercised over the overall tea business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever happened to the proposal to grant English citizenship to India\u2019s plantation workers in Sri Lanka\u2019s hill-country? A privilege provided to their counterparts in Kenya and Uganda. One of them could be the next English Prime Minister! Or BBC announcer. Not that it matters who is ringmaster in that Three-Penny Opera called English democracy. (see\u00a0ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Altered Native<\/strong>\u00a0Economy<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 All is not lost. A liberal coalition of NGOs, trade unions & academics are proposing\u00a0Alternatives to the IMF<\/strong>. They blame\u00a0consumerism<\/strong>,\u00a0unregulated<\/em>\u00a0free trade, illicit\u00a0capital flows<\/strong>, the\u00a0political class<\/strong>, government\u00a0bureaucracy<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0domestic rentier elites<\/strong>\u00a0for instigating the country\u2019s \u2018ongoing socioeconomic collapse\u2019. They oppose the selling of state assets, and promote the sale of private assets! They lament the lack of a teetotaling entrepreneurial industrial capitalist class of yore, and advocate for\u00a0capital controls<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0import substitution.<\/strong>\u00a0(ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 We cannot expect an English media \u2013 bound hand and foot to the multinational corporations and their banks \u2013 or their economists \u2013 to tell us that it is Wall Street\u2019s \u2018bond\u2019 business that is behind Sri Lanka\u2019s manipulated meltdown. Or about the need for industry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Sri Lanka has failed to effectively promote industrial transformation\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, Sri Lanka in the Trap of Financial Capital)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 We hafta go to China for a report from Tsinghua University\u2019s Department of International Relations: on how\u00a0\u2018international bonds<\/strong>\u00a0have become an important financing tool for developing countries\u2019. ISBs constitute most of Sri Lanka\u2019s debt. Most of the interest Sri Lanka pays on debt, goes to paying interest on such bonds! They \u2018have become the major debt burden on the countries that issue bonds\u2019. Don\u2019t expect English media to tell this. (ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, Sri Lanka in the Trap of Financial Capital)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 This\u00a0ee<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0carries a report from a US Republican Party media organ (yes,\u00a0Breitbart<\/em>!) on the US government\u2019s migration policy. They link such policy to \u2018extractive\u2019 colonial economic needs. Canada let in a million workers last year. The deal is to create an underclass of unprotected workers, fleeced renters and conspicuous consumers to enable the profits of the \u2018big corporations\u2019 and consolidate the upward mobility of a fraction of the\u00a0professional-managerial class<\/strong>. Last week\u00a0ee<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0reported on the strike by truck drivers in Europe, up against the hidden power of truck makers like\u00a0Benz<\/strong>, supplying the warehouses of\u00a0General Electric<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Amazon<\/strong>, etc. (see\u00a0ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Story<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Waltzing Wall Street\u2019s Bondsmen<\/a><\/blockquote>