{"id":138421,"date":"2023-11-19T18:04:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T01:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=138421"},"modified":"2023-11-19T18:04:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T01:04:20","slug":"the-unilever-elephant-in-the-teacup-battles-the-ghost-in-the-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/11\/19\/the-unilever-elephant-in-the-teacup-battles-the-ghost-in-the-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unilever Elephant in the Teacup Battles the Ghost in the\u00a0Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy\u00a0 e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Posted byee ink.<\/a>Uncategorized<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e-Con e-News 12-18 November 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Guess what? Karl Marx turns out to be the ghost in the machines of the largest and most strategic technological corporation in the world today. But first\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     There\u2019s a lot unsaid about the visit of England\u2019s Trade Envoy to Sri Lanka, Mervyn Evan Davies. This \u2018Lord\u2019 is said to have come to \u2018experience\u2019 the wonders of Unilever\u2019s Horana factory & Rupee printer De La Rue. Both Unilever and De La Rue are English multinational corporations (MNCs). Yet Davies didn\u2019t grace the monopoly Ceylon Tobacco Co (CTC) factory, owned by England\u2019s British American Tobacco (BAT). It is perhaps not good for Davies \u2018brand\u2019 to be associated with a cancer-maker who refuses to pay its share for the country\u2019s ill-health. Davies, also former head of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB)<\/strong>, did however meet with the CTC\u2019s Suresh \u2018The Cancer\u2019 Shah. Cancer Shah is the man who directs the selling off of the country\u2019s national enterprises at the State Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SERU!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Davies is another criminal \u2018lord\u2019 from a Welsh \u2018coastal seaside resort\u2019 where social services have been ruined after being turned into a \u2018tourist hotspot\u2019 for English carpetbaggers. Indeed, we should recall that the English word \u2018welsh\u2019 is \u2018often offensive\u2019, meaning a failure to honor (a debt or obligation<\/strong> incurred through a promise or agreement), \u2018on account of the formerly alleged dishonesty of Welsh people<\/strong>!\u2019 The Welsh had to wear that infamous \u2018Welsh Knot\u2019 of wood around their necks if they dared speak Welsh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Welshing the Banks<\/strong> \u2013 This week it was announced that control over the Bank of Ceylon & People\u2019s Bank was to be \u2018opened up\u2019 to \u2018strategic investors.\u2019 Who could be more \u2018strategic\u2019 than the Welsher Davies, a man linked to the top English banks, once the SCB boss of their local \u2018coolie\u2019 & CEO Bingumal Thewarathanthri, who also happens to be chairman of the very untransparent Sri Lanka Bankers\u2019 Association (SLBA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Thewarathanthri, this week, bravely called for the jailing of tax evaders (like \u2018in other countries\u2019). And yet there are no greater vanishing \u2018tax magicians\u2019 than English MNCs like Standard Chartered & Unilever etc, who basically employ the top auditors and accountants in the country to beatify their \u2018transfer pricing\u2019 and fake invoicing. This week even saw the CEO of PickMe point to unnamed \u2018global digital companies\u2019 operating within Sri Lanka, who \u2018\u2018legally\u2019 remove huge \u2018digital\u2019 \u2018revenues to safe havens in other countries.\u2019 That these are the same digital MNCs opposing a so-called Online Safety Bill, needs further exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In fact, both media & politicians are healthily avoiding to mention the brutal removal of exchange controls in 2017, leading to the hemorrhaging of foreign reserves out of the country \u2013 which Cancer Shah is very much implicated in. They are also zealously avoiding the prevention of these banks\u2019 investment in and sabotage of modern (machine making) industry, which is the scandal of the century & those centuries preceding, choosing instead to finance importers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Joke after joke it is then, how this week also saw the Supreme Court rule the \u20183 Rajapaksa brothers\u2019 \u2013 as former President, Prime Minister & Finance Minister \u2013 along with former top banking & treasury officials, were \u2018responsible for the economic crisis in the country\u2019, and \u2018violated public trust\u2019. An \u2018unelected\u2019 government this week also bypassed the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) and set up yet another \u2018national labour tripartite body\u2019 to draft a New Employment Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018In my opinion, the private sector is a bit reluctant to make investments in new technologies, as they depend on poor labour<\/strong>. Certain industries & businesses encourage poor labour<\/strong> and we need to be honest about that\u2019 \u2013 Labour & Foreign Employment Ministry Shan Yahampath at the Shippers\u2019 Academy Colombo Forum (see ee Workers<\/em><\/strong>, Govt calls for private sector participation)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now remember: \u2018poor\u2019 is an Elizabethan construct for English people chased out of their villages by \u2018farmers\u2019 (aka bailiffs) \u2013 \u2018poor\u2019 is a term ee <\/em><\/strong>never uses. The minister Yahampath however does not name these \u2018certain industries & businesses\u2019 that \u2018encourage poor labour\u2019<\/strong>. But we can easily guess who sets these trends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018A 51%-owned subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever in India, Hindustan Lever Ltd<\/strong> (HLL) is India\u2019s largest manufacturer of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs)<\/strong>, such as shampoo, detergent, toothpaste, shaving cream, soap. After a merger with Brooke Bond Lipton <\/strong>in 1996, HLL also became the largest producer of tea in India<\/strong> and the largest company in the Indian private sector<\/strong> as measured by market capitalization. (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 So\u2026so\u2026so\u2026Who\u2019s Afraid of Unilever?<\/strong> This ee<\/em><\/strong> therefore examines \u2013 with that English \u2018trade commissioner\u2019 in Colombo \u2013 the games Unilever (who supposedly for over \u201885 years has been raising the industrial<\/em> sector\u2019s <\/strong>contribution to the national economy\u2019) plays with a country\u2019s workers & economy, \u2018with its over 100,000 outlets & 50 distributors in Sri Lanka\u2019. Unilever claims their most famous brands are \u2018manufactured here\u2019. Not true! They operate through third-party sweatshops, importing chemicals, machines, etc. In fact, given the sellout of our so-called scholars and the failure to dig deep, we have to almost \u2018astrologically\u2019 conclude that most large companies in Sri Lanka \u2013 eg, palm-oil-plantation-linked Sunshine Holdings, whose chief Vishy (Vicious?) Govindasamy was recently made a Central Bank governor of Sri Lanka \u2013 are actually \u2018fronts\u2019 for Unilever, the world\u2019s biggest buyer of palm oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This week, 2 major English newspapers carried an advertisement \u2013 fancy-dressed as a news item \u2013 by Unilever: \u2018World\u2019s number one tea brand Lipton Yellow Label with expertise of 130 years of tea blending<\/strong>\u2019. The key word here is blending<\/em><\/strong>. The story fails to mention that Unilever is in fact \u2018sophisticating\u2019 (despoiling) Sri Lankan tea, mixing it with other countries\u2019 teas, nor is there anything reported about major changes in tea plantation labor relations worldwide midst their near-religious prevention of the use of technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The Planter\u2019s Association<\/strong> \u2013 one of the most powerful lobbies in the country \u2013 claims tea workers are far better off than other plantation workers. ee<\/em><\/strong> therefore looks at some history of the state subsidizing the plantation interests \u2013 yes, welfare for Unilever. (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     ee<\/em><\/strong> figures they cannot let it be known how tea sector actors & media are afraid to criticize the multinational giant that keeps operating outside the laws of the country. Worse, there is also a failure by our trade economists & academics to analyze the major role Unilever plays in both the politics & economics of the country. Hence, let\u2019s call these ee<\/em><\/strong> insights, \u2018strategic astrology\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     This week ee<\/em><\/strong> heard that far more welfare<\/em><\/strong> is given to capitalists than to the impoverished:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Given that the tax exemptions mainly benefit the shareholders of corporations who are not merely rich, but are super rich, Sri Lanka typically extends welfare for the rich & the super-rich that far outweighs the small amounts the government transfers to the poor through programs like Aswesuma<\/strong>\u2019 \u2013 Sharmini Coorey (ee Economists<\/em><\/strong>, SL continues to flout key principles of tax policy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then why is the media so full of saturation around the welfare stipends provided to the daily impoverished? With all this talk of banks & MNCs, this ee<\/em><\/strong> examines another major \u2018debt\u2019 issue: the entrapping of rural people, particularly women, in the Fatal Flaw <\/strong>of the Microfinance & Credit Regulatory Authority, which claims to regulate money-lending<\/strong> & microfinance business<\/strong> and provide protection to borrowers. Apparently, this Regulatory Authority \u2018cannot handle the mess<\/strong> that big finance<\/strong> has created; instead\u2026 lets the culprits go scot-free<\/strong> and eliminates \u2018space for innovative and productive community lending<\/strong>\u2019 (ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>). And guess what people are getting into debt for? More foreign equipment & other industrial goods\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The more these so-called \u2018modern\u2019 goods & foods, and their salesmen (at one level all are men<\/em>, tho farther down in the chain they use women as well), are allowed to enter villages (all over the world!), the worse people\u2019s health and wellbeing get. ee Focus<\/em><\/strong> continues sharing the Communist Party of Sri Lanka\u2019s Alternate Program \u2013 this week looking at Health<\/strong>. The CPSL points out, \u2018Despite low national income & low level of health expenditure, Sri Lanka improved basic health indicators to levels that are comparable to more-developed countries in the world.\u2019 These indicators are however under major attack by the biotech & pharma capitalists and their chief importers, like more Unilever zombies such as Hemas, etc. The USA, with its scandalous all-for-profit health (disease) system, is perhaps jealous?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2022 Traders, Traitors\u2026 & the Budget<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Imagine, what would happen if local media in a nano-moment of forgetful honesty added Trader<\/em> to their names? The Sunday Trader, Island Trader, TraderNext, The Trader Times, The Morning Trader, Trader1st, Tradevocata \u2013 Ada <\/em>(or is it Ado<\/em>?) Velendha!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Indeed, this week we learn that local manufacturing dropped even further down due to increased imports! And yet, Capital Alliance Ltd (CAL), a \u2018leading investment bank in Sri Lanka\u2019, called for \u2018allowing more vehicle imports<\/em><\/strong>\u2019, which they said \u2018could garner Rs450billion tax revenue\u2019! Ha!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Budget & Cricket<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s no wonder that this thrada trader media provided more diversion on cricket rather than these issues ee<\/em><\/strong> highlights. The enormous amount of paper and electrons dedicated to cricket \u2013 which has been corrupt from the very first ball, in a game where ball-guards preceded helmets by a century \u2013 shows what really excites our trade media. Of course, even this cricket \u2018scandal\u2019 (it\u2019s no scandal, it is a bookie operation!) does not breakdown the fact that none of the bats & balls & other equipment (let\u2019s not even mention the TV industry!) are even made in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     And so, this trader media, with their trader economists & \u2018postcolonial\u2019 trader academics, are suddenly running Gaza-shy here, after all that talk of rule of law, democracy, human rights..<\/em>. The choirs & the twittering birds have gone silent, as if a major deluge is on its way. Even Anglo-Yankee-soaked liberals now recall yet another English \u2018opium war\u2019 criminal & Prime Minister, Palmerston<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We have no eternal allies,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and we have no perpetual enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our interests are eternal and perpetual,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and those interests it is our duty to follow.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2022 Finally, and lo & behold<\/em>, ee<\/em><\/strong> learned this week about the real historical force behind Europe\u2019s richest tech company and key computer chip machine maker ASML<\/strong> \u2013 Karl Marx!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Apparently, the physics & materials research laboratory of the Dutch electronics conglomerate Philips<\/strong>, is called NatLab, much like AT&T\u2019s famous Bell Labs. Through NatLab, ASML<\/strong>\u2019s tradition of machine knowledge originated under the Philips industrial empire. NatLab was founded in 1914 by the founders of Philips themselves, the brothers Gerard & Anton Philips, who had founded the company with their father in the 1890s to manufacture lightbulbs<\/strong>. T<\/strong>heir father was a first cousin of Karl Marx<\/strong>; and their grandfather Lion Philips<\/strong>, a wealthy tobacco merchant, was Marx\u2019s main financial sponsor!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Actually, he was not just Marx\u2019s main financial sponsor; he held the key to Marx\u2019s mother\u2019s inheritance. And he was delighted to learn from Marx that it is the making of machines that is the true wealth\u2026 So, how\u2019s that for this week\u2019s resonating revelation about the real ghost in the machine<\/strong>? (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018If money comes into the world with a congenital bloodstain on one cheek,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

capital comes dripping from head to toe, from every pore, with blood & dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Karl Marx, Capital<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sri Lanka, one of the truly richest countries in the world \u2013 rich in land & labor \u2013 has been tainted as bankrupt, and after 500 years of invasion, the imperialists demand further ransoms. Note here the silence of the rating agencies in West Asia. Why haven\u2019t they downgraded Israel like they have Sri Lanka? Are war\u2019s terrors, productive investment, or\u2026? And what of that pimp\u2019s intangible \u2018investor confidence.\u2019 Given people\u2019s horror at the US wars in Palestine a& Ukraine, shouldn\u2019t the US Dollar \u2013 which trusts in god \u2013 have been bunker-busted?! But, no\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2018I think it\u2019s about time we stopped\u2026 apologizing for our support for Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no apology to be made. None. It is the best $3bn investment we make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were there not an Israel, the USA would have to invent an Israel<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

to protect her interest in the region. The US would have to go out & invent an Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Senator Joe Biden, 1986<\/strong>, c-span.org\/video\/?45851-1\/senate-session<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Contents: \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Unilever Elephant in the Teacup Battles the Ghost in the Machine<\/a><\/blockquote>