Confucius told his disciple Tzu-Kung that a good ruler should hold on to trust even if he had to give up power over weapons or food. The trust should be guarded till the last as without trust we cannot stand. This holds true even today.

The economic system propagated by the west throughout the world as globalisation has created the cancer of mistrust permeating every aspect of human life both in the developed and underdeveloped world. The greatest deception is the propaganda that this is the way out of poverty. Latest statistics show that another 44 million people have been pushed below the poverty line. In day-to-day life, ordinary citizens no longer trust their public services, their professionals, their politicians, etc., which is bringing about a system of ever growing mistrust and deception. Their word is doubted and their motives questioned.

This corrupt system is not only destroying the earth but destroying humanity. Humanity has been emasculated to a state of inaction by violence and propaganda. Every attempt by the so-called civilized world to control this corrupt system in the form of transparency, accountability, adherence to Human Rights, have failed, proven to be vehicles of deception to continue this corrupt system. The American Empire that patronised this system has failed humanity and has lost the moral right to lead the world. The world is on a path of self-destruction under the militaristic rule of the west. It is interesting how this immoral world order has impregnated every aspect of civil society throughout the world.

Trust and the International monetary system

The capitalist system is based on capital and the producers of capital control the system. Thus international currencies from the West, led by the Dollar, have hijacked the world economy. Ordinary citizens do not have the right to own an account in a currency other than that of their country of residence and country of which he is a citizen, but they could hold an account in international currencies. A Sri Lankan cannot own an account in Indian Rupees although the nations are neighbours. Thus the monopoly of capital creation has been given to the West.

The Dollar or any other currency is a promissory note that is given to the recipient with a guarantee it will maintain its value. Since 1971 when the gold standard was removed by the Nixon administration, the value of currency is determined by the vagaries of the market. The gambling dens of the currency markets thus determine the value of the most important world currencies, currencies that have been called MONOPOLY MONEY by none other than Mr Barack Obama, President of the United States. In a market with ever increasing liquidity because of the continuous printing of money, can we rely on the gambling dens of the currency market to determine the value of money that ordinary people invest their savings and pensions? The answer is no!

Interestingly, the value of commodities as against the dollar shows that the value of commodities is 75% higher in terms of the Dollar than in the year 2002. The resulting impact has been that food prices have risen to such a degree that 20% of even American Citizens are living below poverty lines. If that is the case for Americans, what impact must it have on ordinary people in the Third world? 

If the currencies cannot be trusted to maintain value, can you trust the guardians of the currencies, the Banks, to look after your hard-earned savings and investments? The recent Banking Crisis and the Asian crisis have confirmed that the Banks are run by a gang of thieves that live on deception. The open economy and liberalisation of banking laws have allowed Bankers to deceive many customers. Selling Toxic assets as triple A bonds to savers and pensioners was a criminal act for which no one has been prosecuted. A Goldman Sachs executive described the Toxic Bonds sold to foreign investors thus, “I think I found a White Elephant, Flying pig and Unicorn all at once”. The ordinary citizen, the victim of this banking scam, had to come to the aid of the banks as they were too big to fail.

At a recent lecture, Coming Collapse of the Middle Classes, Prof Warren of Harvard University, now advisor to President Obama, says that for the same standard of living both the husband and the wife had to work in 2005 as against a single worker family in 1970. In addition, the family in 1970 had a saving of 16%. The question is - who has run away with the earning of one of the workers and what impact will it have on society? All this is sold on the illusion of progress and human development.

The IMF and World Bank are the other western institutions that have circulated Monopoly money. In the name of development these two have successfully destroyed the value system of most poor countries. It started with the invasion of corporates in the name of Globalisation, open economy, Privatisation. Once the corporates infiltrated society, they institutionalised corruption. Commissions were the determinant of every project in society, not the ultimate objective. The cycle of commissions has been the driving force of corruption in every society which has affected every aspect of society from Politics to Development. The philosophy practiced was creative destruction, justified by creative accounting, with a view to showing the illusion of Progress. Can you trust these two international institutions that have destroyed the environment, displaced millions and pushed more people below the poverty line in the name of development and alleviation of poverty?

Human Rights and Trust

The latest WMD is Human Rights; hijacked by the greatest abusers of human rights who hide behind exceptionalism. The abuse is justified on this western zeitgeist that they are not liable, as whatever abuse happens is collateral damage in pursuing justice. This exceptionalism is bought by their citizenry who do not feel that the actions of their governments are illegal. Quite to the contrary, the rest of the world considers the West the prime cause of violence in this world.

Terror and Trust

Every human being should have the basic right to life. Terror creates mistrust and destabilises society to such a degree that justice suffers. Unfortunately, the Regional Powers and Major Powers use terrorism to achieve their geo-political objectives. They consider it their god-given right to destabilise countries. Millions have been victims of violence in this world, most of which has been planned and executed from the defence establishments in the West. The purpose of these Proxy wars or direct violence is hegemony and exploitation. There is blatant violation of international law, but this lawlessness goes unquestioned.

This hypocrisy is best exemplified by recent allegations of war crimes against the Sri Lankan Government. It is alleged that many civilians died during the final stages of the war. A war that started 30 years ago, which ended with 100,000 killed. In the initial stages, the insurrection was started by India which armed and trained the Tamil insurgents. Later, the Tamil insurgents had their offices in the West and were allowed to fund the war on behalf of the insurgents. At the same time, these same governments supplied and funded arms sales to the government. After the end of the war, the citizens have regained their right to freedom of movement anywhere in the country.

Whatever the merits and demerits of this allegation, it would be unfair to only consider the human rights violations by the government if the original violations of sovereignty by the big powers that who instigated and funded the whole insurrection are not called to account. How can the world accede to the demand for accountability by America which is responsible for the killing of thousands of Iraqis? How can this country of Abu Ghraib fame, characterised by a hooded Iraqi standing with electric wires hanging out, have the courage even to make an allegation of this nature? Of course these allegations were made by the permanent representative at the UN, who is of African descent, the acceptable face to convince the world. This is no different than Colin Powell convincing the world of the elusive WMDs of Saddam Hussein. Can we trust this hegemonic world power to mete out justice in the world?

The immorality of these surrogate wars was best expressed by Ayn Rand in her article Global Balkanisation, “There is no surer way to infect mankind with hatred - Brute, Blind and Virulent hatred by splitting them into ethnic groups and tribes”. This is exactly what the present global and regional powers stand accused of.

Trust and Religious Extremism

If Ayn Rand’s statement was true of terrorism, it is equally true of religious conversion. If religious extremism is used to destroy roots or cultural inheritance by bribing people to convert, it is immoral and unethical. It is well known how religious extremism was used to dismember the Soviet Union.

Catholicism in Poland, Jewish extremism in Russia and Islamic extremism in the Central Asian Republics were instigated and exploited by the west. This is the modus operandi of this new world order. This destabilisation is maximally used for the exploitation and domination of countries. Saudi Arabia and the West are the main culprits in this programme best exemplified by American journalist Ann Coulter’s statement after 9/11. She said “INVADE THE COUNTRIES KILL THE LEADERS AND CONVERT THE REST INTO CHRISTIANITY”. A blatant statement but a policy conducted by other means, mainly through poverty, right through the so-called western civilisation.

Trust and Freedom from Want

The basic human right is food security. Basmati Rice that has evolved over thousands of years has now been modified and sold in the world market and sold for seed paddy as Texmati. An inheritance of thousands of years of evolution corrupted by a greedy corporate. The original is stored and the genetically modified sold to dependant countries under pretext of higher yields. But the use of pesticides and the long term effect on biodiversity is never addressed. The original genome is patented and registered with the WTO, all with the connivance of the incestuous relationship between Corporates, Banks and Governments.

Trust: Development and Corporate Philosophy

The basic philosophy of this globalised world economy is one of Creative Destruction which is justified by Creative Accounting to give the illusion of Progress in terms of Monopoly money. All this is geared to Corporate and Bank profit.

How efficient is a system that creates increased blood cholesterol by industrial agriculture, which then produces drugs to control the raised levels, or create stents to reduce the effect of blocked arteries. This human suffering is created to fill the pockets of a few bankers and corporates. This is an absolute waste of human resources. This is madness sold to a gullible public as progress.

Terrorism and the recent infrastructure destruction in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya is the same philosophy geared to embezzlement of the oil and mineral wealth of those countries. It does not make any sense in terms of human development and progress.

In the book, The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein talks of the Policy of Regaining Sri Lanka, funded by the World Bank, USAID, and sold to the public as the way to economic development by a servile government. This policy was to go hand in hand with the CFA signed by Ranil Wickremesinghe government and the Tamil Tigers. It was to make Sri Lanka a tourist resort with the displacement rural populations, and opening up of large tracks of forests for eco-tourism, roads etc.

As usual 40% of the borrowed money would have filled the pockets of politicians and administrators. The country would have been pushed deeper in to debt with a vast ecological damage, borne by the poor and dispossessed. As a poor man recently said, “This country is cursed when elephants die on trees,” a concern expressed as a result of a dead calf elephant found stuck on top of a tree after a recent flood. This is a result of IMF/World bank instigated development programmes which have been blindly followed for the last 30 years. The question whether the insurrection was part and parcel of this programme will never be answered. But if the book Economic Hitman is to be believed, this is a distinct possibility.

Trust: IMF and the basic human right to education and healthcare

Sri Lanka ranked 27th in the quality of life in the 1970s. Under the guidance of the IMF and servile politicians, the subsidy on education and healthcare was reduced, which caused a 2-tier system, one for the rich, another for the poor. The logic of this cannot be explained when Rs. One Billion is spent on education abroad as compared to the 1970s when so little was spent. This encourages slavery of the mind, the aim of which is domination and exploitation. The same is true for health care. Could the IMF and World Bank be trusted to safeguard the Rights to Education and Health Care if this is their policy?

Pseudo Democracy, Dictatorships and Trust

It is the right of every citizen to have a say in the governance of his country. But most citizens are disenfranchised by Debt, Corrupt Democracies and Dictatorships which thrive under destabilised societies. Interestingly, one of the mechanisms used by the pro-Western Mubarak regime was to get its secret service to attack Coptic Christian churches to create instability and gain an opportunity to stamp their authority on moral grounds and carry out programmes to infiltrate the system to entrench themselves. This reminds one of the inaction of J.R. Jayawardena, another lackey of the Americans, in the 1983 Tamil riots, when he did nothing for days when riots were occurring all over the country, mainly instigated by his party.

A recent book on India talks of the age divide in the Indian parliament. MPs over the age of 50 years went into politics with the prime objective of service; those under the age of 30 years are from corporate political families. These families have a system where goons, financial supporters and supporters manipulate the system, all geared to appoint children of established politicians. The majority of them are educated abroad and interact with their foreign friends, but have no connection to the poor of the country. The aim of these families is to amass wealth at the expense of the nation, a part of the corporate cycle of commissions well in tune with the international financial system. The aim is a continuous system of disenfranchisement and embezzlement of wealth and subjugation of citizens.

Trust and the Media

In this age of mass communication, information is abundant, mixed with misinformation and disinformation. One expects the media to be impartial, accurate, fair, with Editorial independence and respect for privacy and standards in decency and taste. The free press is not a licence to Deceive. Unfortunately that seems to be the case. The partial reporting in the run up to the Iraq war and other wars, the channel 4 reporting of the Sri Lankan civil war whilst ignoring the blatant violations of the West in Afghanistan and Iraq, are a few instances where public confidence has been abused. This was best exemplified by a human rights activist of Croatia who said that the Corporate Media of present day Croatia was worse than the State Media under Communism. It has come to a stage where journalists are the most unpopular profession in the UK and the most celebrated BBC is called the Biased Broadcasting Corporation!

Conclusion

It is time all right thinking people give adequate thought to the risks to humanity from the present world order. With world economy in disarray, vast ecological damage, ever increasing risks to the health of humanity, the present system has failed. The affluence of a few has been at the expense of the majority. We cannot expect the present world leaders who are responsible for this state of affairs to rescue humanity. An alternative order is the need of the hour, with genuine accountability, genuine transparency and genuine Human Rights.

Unfortunately, Corporate India and Corporate China are clones of the Western Corporates and cannot be trusted to save the world in the New Asian Century. The biggest curse of Asia is that her ruling classes are too close to the Americans and too far away from their own native philosophies.

The writer is a Sri Lankan national