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1. Exuberant nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic images, slogans
and symbols - National flags are seen everywhere in public display.
Territorial aggression is explained to be mere destiny -- an unbidden
greatness thrust upon the nation by history.
It is this burden of unique responsibility that now raises the fascist
state above all previous constraint, no longer bound by international
obligations, treaties or law.
2. Enemies Identified
This national cause is identified as unity against enemies - The people
are rallied around a unifying patriotism directed against some common
threat: communists, liberals, a racial, ethnic or religious minority,
intellectuals, homosexuals, terrorists, etc.
The state's message is sometimes couched in an easily recognized
religious theme. Amazingly, this language is used even when the full
context of the teaching shows the meaning to be diametrically opposed.
Any dissent is "siding with the enemy", and therefor treasonous.
3. Rights Disappear
Disdain for human and political rights - Fascist regimes foster an
artificial climate of fear by intentionally amplifying stress and
anxiety. Citizens naturally feel a strong need for security and are
easily persuaded to ignore abuses in the name of safety. The few still
willing to question are met with bullying and smear campaigns of
intimidation.
Legislative bodies, if still in existence at all, are cowed into
rubber-stamp submission with occasional ceremonial opposition. The
judiciary tends to become activist in support of state views. The
public often looks away, or even enthusiastically approves as rights
are stripped away.
The concept of the individual inevitably yields ground, exchanged for the promised safety of the all-powerful state.
4. Secrecy Demanded
Obsession with secrecy and national security - The workings of
government become increasingly hidden. Questioning of authority is
discouraged at all levels of society. From office talk at the water
cooler up through the entire apparatus of rule, guarded speech and
secrecy become ends in themselves.
Troubling questions are muted and entire areas of scrutiny are placed out of bounds by simply invoking "national security".
5. Military Glorified
Supremacy of the military - The military establishment receives a
disproportionate share of government resources, even as pressing
domestic needs are neglected. Individual soldiers and military culture
are glamorized and made constantly visible.
This provides both an object for public glorification, as well as sharp
warning to possibly restless citizens that the power of the state
stands close at hand, ready to use its great potential for violence.
6. Corporations Shielded
Corporate power is protected - Typically, a segment of the business
elite plays a major role in bringing fascists to national leadership,
often from an unsavory obscurity. This marriage of big money and raw
violence is often considered by historians to be the hallmark and
backbone of fascism.
As these business-government-military interests meld, the significant
threat of organized labor is clearly recognized. Labor unions and their
support organizations are either co-opted successfully or ruthlessly
suppressed and eliminated as soon as possible.
7. Corruption Unchecked
Rampant cronyism and corruption - Fascist states maintain power through
this relatively small group of associates, mutually appointing each
other to interlocking and rotating positions in government, business
and the military.
With this degree of control, they make full use of both official
secrecy and the ready threat of state violence to insulate themselves
from any meaningful criticism. They are not accountable and are
shielded from scrutiny in a way unthinkable in a democratic society.
8. Media Controlled
Controlled mass media - Sometimes the media are controlled directly by
clumsy government functionaries. At other times, sympathetic corporate
media insiders shape the themes indirectly, and therefor more
skillfully. Image regularly trumps content as the "news" is presented
breathlessly and with flashy stage effects.
A practiced formula of tenacious repetition brings even the most absurd
lie into acceptance over time. By design, the very language itself and
the coloration employed will push alternate views "out of the
mainstream".
The terms of any remaining debate are narrowly defined to the state's
advantage, making it easy to marginalize a truly differing perspective.
Censorship and "self-censorship", especially in wartime, is common.
9. Rampant Sexism
Rampant sexism - Governments of fascist states tend to be almost
exclusively male-dominated. Traditional gender roles are made even more
rigid and exaggerated.
10. Intellectual Bullying
Disdain for intellectuals - Fascist society tends to create an
environment of extreme hostility to critical thought in general, and to
academics in particular.
Ideologically driven "science" is elevated and lavishly funded, while
any expression not in line with the state view is at first ignored,
then challenged, then ridiculed and finally stamped out.
It is not uncommon for academics to be pressured to attack the work of
their insufficiently patriotic peers. Writings are censored; teachers
are fired and arrested. Free artistic expression in new works is openly
attacked, and existing works deemed unpatriotic are often publicly
destroyed.
11. Militarized Police
Obsession with crime and punishment - Fascist society is often willing
to overlook police abuses and forego civil liberties in the name of
patriotism. Long jail sentences for clearly political offenses, torture
and then assassination are at first uncomfortably tolerated, and then
start to pile up to become the norm.
Often a national police force is given virtually unlimited power to
snoop through the civilian population. Networks of surveillance and
informers are employed, both for actual intelligence gathering and also
as a means to keep neighbors and co-workers isolated and mistrustful of
each other.
12. Elections Stolen
Fraudulent elections - In the disordered time as fascists are rising to
power, the electoral arena becomes increasingly confusing, corrupted,
and manipulated.
There is rising public cynicism and distrust over what are widely
believed to be phony elections manipulated by moneyed influence,
obvious media bias, smear campaigns, ballot tampering, judicial
interference, intimidation, or outright assassination of potential
opposition. Fascists in power have been known to use this disorder as
the rationale to delay elections indefinitely.
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Daniel Taylor
Old-Thinker News
"Although technological powers will be vast and progress will likely be made, the normal level of social resistance and political stalemate is likely to oppose change. Thus, it may take an occasional environmental collapse, global wars and terrorism, or yet unknown calamities to force the move to global consciousness." — William E. Halal, Emerging Technologies and the Global Crisis of Maturity
The technological revolution that will re-shape humanity and our world is well underway. A cacophony of crises, both real and manufactured, are being heralded as birth pangs of a new global order. Some analysts say that we can no more fathom the political, technological, and social world that will emerge as "…chimpanzees in the forest can comprehend what goes on among humans in a nearby village." [1]
We witness piecemeal examples of the steady buildup to this catalyst every day in the media. However, they fail to connect them in a coherent picture to demonstrate their interwoven nature. The "big picture" gets lost to many. We leave it to the "experts" to interpret these events and developments, but they often present solutions that come directly from the establishment.
To begin, let’s take a look at the technological revolution. Nanotechnology, biotechnology, information science and cognitive science (NBIC) are converging to form what has been called the largest leap in technological progress in human history. The Transhumanist movement is eagerly anticipating this revolution. Some foresee the fusion of the human brain with computer circuitry as leading "…to a truly revolutionary upheaval for the human race." [2] Brain-machine interfaces; cloning; genetic engineering of food, plants, and animals; artificial intelligence; nanomaterials; these all stem from the NBIC convergence.
Some countries are currently serving as testing grounds for technologies that are expected to be implemented globally in the near future. For example, South Korea’s "U-city" or "ubiquitous city" called New Songdo - hailed as the city of the future - is nearly fully functional. The city is wired from the ground up with RFID sensors and other advanced computing devices to automate traffic, surveillance and e-government. The marketing campaign for the city is heavily focused on consumer convenience aspects of the technology, reminiscent of the sci-fi thriller Minority Report. The U-city model, being tested in New Songdo, is anticipated to be exported world-wide. There is a reason this technology is being tested in South Korea. As the New York Times reports,
"Much of this technology was developed in U.S. research labs, but there are fewer social and regulatory obstacles to implementing them in Korea," said Mr. Townsend [a research director at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California], who consulted on Seoul’s own U-city plan, known as Digital Media City. "There is an historical expectation of less privacy. Korea is willing to put off the hard questions to take the early lead and set standards." [3]
Some believe that ubiquitous computing technology, also known as the "Internet of Things", is heralding the beginning of a "unified global intelligence." This global intelligence will consist of a vast network of places, things and people that have been given a virtual representation in a computer network. William E. Halal, professor emeritus of science, technology and innovation at George Washington University writes,
"Even with the turmoil that is sure to follow, this will mark the serious beginning of a unified global intelligence, what some have forecast as the emergence of a "global brain" - a fine web of conscious thought directing life on the planet." [4]
Brain-machine interfaces
The current and ongoing technological revolution has - as shown with the above example - a whole array of implications attached to it. Advancements in brain-machine interfaces provide one of the most startling examples. Fred C. Ikle, former undersecretary of defense for policy under the Reagan administration, and author of The Ultimate Threat to Nations: Annihilation from Within,is anticipating the development of advanced brain-machine interfaces. It is this development that Ikle sees as the most revolutionary. He writes,
"In my judgment, the greatest, most profound transformation of the human condition will not derive from the prolongation of life, or from the anxiously debated - and probably vastly overrated - possibilities of human cloning and "designer babies." Instead, I see an effective synthesis of the computer with living human brains as the agent that will lead to a truly revolutionary upheaval for the human race."[5]
These interfaces, Ikle writes, could spark a race between superpowers to create a super-advanced think tank. This brain-computer symbiosis would come from a group of individuals connected to a central computer.
"Its purpose would be greatly to enrich and expand what advanced computers can do by creating a symbiosis between, on one side, a computer system designed for this purpose, and on the other side, the judgmental capacities and essential emotive functions of the human brain. The contribution of the living human brain would probably not come from one individual "hooked up" to a computer, but from computer linkages to an expert committee or group of policy advisors. Such a symbiosis would be far more advanced than the latest brain-computer links."[6]
Transhumanism
Brain-machine interfaces lead us inevitably to the Transhumanist movement, which sees technologies like this as heralding a new era of human enhancement. Most researchers anticipate these technologies to be developed at first to serve a medical purpose - such as restoring sight, allowing paralyzed individuals to move robotic arms using their minds, etc. The initial focus on providing aid to disabled individuals is giving technologies like brain-machine interfaces public acceptance and support because of its benevolent nature. Eventually, however, these technologies will be used for enhancement purposes and not out of any specific medical necessity.
The June 2002 conference Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, organized by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Commerce, discussed this NBIC (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information science and Cognitive science) revolution. The lengthy report demonstrates the intense attention that is being given to these rising technologies. The report calls for the training of a new generation of scientists to aid in the coming convergence.
"Education and training at all levels should use converging technologies as well as prepare people
to take advantage of them. Interdisciplinary education programs, especially in graduate school,
can create a new generation of scientists and engineers who are comfortable working across fields
and collaborating with colleagues from a variety of specialties… education projects need to be launched at the intersections of crucial fields to build a scientific community that will achieve the convergence of technologies that can greatly improve human capabilities." [7]
The Knowledge NBIC Project, funded by the European Union, is conducting research into the political and social implications of the NBIC convergence. One of the project’s recent reports details the potential applications of these enhancement technologies,
"…people may come to think of themselves as ‘always already disabled’, that is, on the verge of falling behind in a social world where regular neurochemical upgradings are expected as a precondition for adequate performance. The first stirrings of this general problem have already entered public view in controversies concerning the use of drugs to enhance competitive athletic and academic performance. The political responses so far suggest that this… agenda may well be subject to considerable regulation but it is very unlikely that its advance will be stopped altogether."[8]
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defense report DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007-2036 is also anticipating the use of this technology.
"By 2035, an implantable information chip could be developed and wired directly to the user’s brain. Information and entertainment choices would be accessible through cognition and might include synthetic sensory perception beamed direct to the user’s senses. Wider related ICT developments might include the invention of synthetic telepathy, including mind-to-mind or telepathic dialogue. This type of development would have obvious military and security, as well as control, legal and ethical, implications."[9]
The RAND corporation has its sights on this technological revolution as well. RAND’s 2001 report, The Global Technology Revolution: Bio/Nano/Materials Trends and Their Synergies with Information Technology by 2015 covers these issues. Among other trends, it foresees expanded globalization, reduced privacy and potential societal unrest as a response to revolutionary technologies.
"The results could be astonishing. Effects may include significant improvements in human quality of life and life span… continued globalization, reshuffling of wealth, cultural amalgamation or invasion with potential for increased tension and conflict, shifts in power from nation states to non-governmental organizations and individuals… and the possibility of human eugenics and cloning."[10]
The Scientific Planners
"Man’s conquest of Nature, if the dreams of some scientific planners are realized, means the rule of a few hundreds of men over billions upon billions of men. There neither is nor can be any simple increase of power on Man’s side. Each new power won by man is a power over man as well." — CS Lewis, The Abolition of Man
The influence of wealthy and important interests in shaping current and past events cannot be ignored when studying what the future may hold. Elites have always sought to project their dominance into the future, and this modern world is no different. Trends can either be products of an organic process or a deliberate method.
As we progress into the future, prominent analysts see a trend toward global government and a "global consciousness" as a natural, logical, and organic process of evolution. What these experts often fail to mention is the fact that it has been a prime directive of institutional schooling to prepare and condition youth to accept world governance for decades.
In 1954 the Reece Committee, chaired by Carroll B. Reece, produced its findings regarding the influence of tax-exempt foundations in the field of education. The Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Carnegie Foundation and others were discussed during the Committee hearings. A predominant theme in the Committee’s findings was the desire of the foundations and those behind them to create a system of world governance. The use of propaganda and social engineering were identified as the means to achieve this goal.
The Reece Committee cited a report from the President’s Commission on Higher Education, published in 1947. The cited report states,
"In speed of transportation and communication and in economic interdependence, the nations of the globe are already one world; the task is to secure recognition and acceptance of this oneness in the thinking of the people, as that the concept of one world may be realized psychologically, socially and in good time politically.
It is this task in particular that challenges our scholars and teachers to lead the way toward a new way of thinking. There is an urgent need for a program for world citizenship that can be made a part of every person’s general education.
It will take social science and social engineering to solve the problems of human relations. Our people must learn to respect the need for special knowledge and technical training in this field as they have come to defer to the expert in physics, chemistry, medicine, and other sciences." [1]
Futurists and government analysts often point to global warming and terrorism as defining crises of our time, as a natural part of the "global crisis of maturity." Today, these issues are often presented as a justification for a system of world governance. William E. Halal writes,
"Intercultural conflict, weapons of mass destruction, and threats of environmental collapse are likely to force the move to some form of global community as the best means for managing such nagging problems." [2]
Again, what we are not being told is that these issues were identified by powerful interests many years ago to serve as a pretext to prepare the way for "global solutions." In a 1991 report titled "The First Global Revolution", published by the Club of Rome, we find the following statement:
"In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…. All these dangers are caused by human intervention… The real enemy, then, is humanity itself." [3]
In order to gain a deeper perspective, let’s take a look at the earlier 1976 Club of Rome report "Rio: Reshaping the International Order" which details a strategy to create a system of economic and world governance. The report states,
"At the highest level, the level of world affairs, international institutions must form the prime movers of planned change."
"The achievement of this global planning and management system calls for the conscious transfer of power - a gradual transfer to be sure - from the nation State to the world organization. Only when this transfer takes place can the organization become effective and purposeful."[4]
Halal continues in his Futurist article, praising the Club of Rome for its anticipation of these events,
"The major conclusion from this analysis is that the world is facing a global crisis of maturity, the most salient example being the near-collapse of the global banking system in October 2008. Warnings of massive transformations have been anticipated for decades by the Club of Rome and many others. Today, however, the acceleration of change seems to be producing a mounting series of severe global disruptions - energy shortages as oil supplies peak, impending climate change and environmental decline in general… continuing terrorism… as globalization inexorably strains old systems to the breaking point."[5]
As these crises develop amidst the rising technological revolution, we are entering an "Age of Transitions" in which the elite of society - who have foreseen, and in many cases manufactured these crises - hope to emerge on top.
The Great Transition
"It will be necessary to replace today’s cumbersome social systems, religious dogmas, heated emotions, partisan ideologies, and other commonly outmoded forms of thought and consciousness that now form the major obstacles to progress." — William E. Halal, Emerging Technologies and the Global Crisis of Maturity
There are several futurists, think tanks and high level government analysts that are both eagerly anticipating and warning that there will be great social conflict during this "great transition". They are nearly uniform in calling for a casting aside of "outmoded forms of thought" to pave the way for a new era. By holding on to "ancient ideas" of government and religion, people are holding back the progress of the great technological revolution and a resulting "planetary civilization". Some have compared the potential impact of this transition to the social and political impact of the Industrial Revolution. This new revolution, however, is on a much grander scale.
Some call it the "Age of Transitions", others the "Global Crisis of Maturity". Zbigniew Brzezinski called it the "Technectronic Era". However it is labeled, it brings with it major change and upheaval to humanity. Fred C. Ikle, author of The Ultimate Threat to Nations: Annihilation from Within, sees a widening gap between the "two souls" of society. One is dedicated to the scientific outlook that has been freed from religious and political bindings, while the other clings to the "stubborn past" of tradition and religion. Ikle sees this expanding gap as a great danger to all governments world-wide. Ikle writes,
"This widening chasm is ominous. It might impair the social cohesion of societies, and of nations, by drawing the human psyche in two directions: to the personal and national identity that resides in acquired beliefs, memories, and traditions of the past; and to the promise of greater wealth and power offered by untrammeled technological progress… In the scientific sphere, we are neither emotionally tied to our cultural and religious heritage, nor pining for a final redemption. But when animated by the world’s old soul, we seek to protect our identity by clinging to ancient artifacts from our ancestors and hallowed legends from the distant past."[1]
William E. Halal stated in the March-April 2009 edition of The Futurist that, "Some new form of global order is needed to avert disaster." He continues, "The transition could happen anytime, but it is hard to conceive of a future in which today’s systems could survive much beyond 2020, let alone 2030." Halal writes,
"It will be necessary to replace today’s cumbersome social systems, religious dogmas, heated emotions, partisan ideologies, and other commonly outmoded forms of thought and consciousness that now form the major obstacles to progress."[2]
Halal cites prominent pollster John Zogby’s new book The Way We’ll Be as he discusses the rise of a new "global generation." His description of this generation fits current economic trends that point to dramatically lower standards of living, but frames this as a "sustainable" lifestyle. The "First Globals" as he calls them will be "…intent on living sustainable lives in a unified world." Zogby writes,
"…we are in the midst of a fundamental reorientation of the American character… away from wanton consumption and toward a new global citizenry in an age of limited resources." [3]
Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist and futurist, believes that the globe is moving towards what he calls a "Type 1" civilization. This civilization, according to Kaku, will be technologically superior and constitute a world-wide system of governance, a global language, culture, and global economy. The transition may not be smooth, however. As kaku has repeatedly stated, there will be resistance to the rise of this "Type 1" civilization. In a 2006 interview Kaku stated,
"It’s the most dangerous of all transitions because there are some people who don’t want to be in type 1. They instinctively in their gut know that a type 1 system will be a system of different discourses, of different ideas and clashes of ideas and so on and so forth and these people who don’t want this transition are the terrorists.
In their gut, the terrorists know that we’re headed for type 1. They can’t articulate it, they don’t know the larger outlines of it, but in their gut they don’t like it."[3]
In an earlier 2005 BBC interview Kaku said,
"…look at the economies. NAFTA, European Union, Trading blocks, the birth of a new economy is taking place.
Now there are people who don’t like this transition, who feel in their gut feel more comfortable being in a Type minus 1. They’re the terrorists. They in their gut realize that a Type 1 civilization has flowing ideas, challenging orthodoxies, new bigger, wondrous ideas popping forth. That’s Type 1." [5]
As the world faces unparalleled economic turmoil, America’s decline is marking a historical geopolitical time period. The re-ordering of the globe is underway. The "Global Crisis of Maturity" - as envisioned by the elite - is ushering in a new world order as advancing technologies dramatically alter society.
It is vitally important that everyone, especially young people, gain their own understanding of what we are facing. The school system may prepare you for the future, but only in a manner that is self-serving to the establishment and kept within safe confines to prevent organic change. This study must involve not just a study of potential technological developments, but an understanding of the nature of power and the elites that wield it. Social engineers and opinion molders will be working overtime to shape society during this "Age of Transitions" as societal norms are broken and reshaped, and the political battlefield is thrown into chaos.
Citation:
The Technological Revolution:
[1.] Ikle, Fred Charles. The Ultimate Threat to Nations: Annihilation from Within. Columbia University Press, 2006. Page 33
[3.] "Korea’s High-Tech Utopia, Where Everything Is Observed." The New York Times. October 5, 2005. Available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/05/technology/techspecial/05oconnell.html?_r=1>
[4.] Halal, William E. "Emerging Technologies and the Global Crisis of Maturity." The Futurist. March-April 2009.
[7.] Mihail C. Roco and William Sims Bainbridge, National Science Foundation. "Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance." Arlington, Virginia 2002. Page 21. Available here: <http://www.wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies/1/NBIC_report.pdf>
[8.] Project coordinator: Nico Stehr Ph.D. F.R.S.C. "Knowledge Politics and New Converging Technologies: A Social Science Perspective." Available here: <http://www.converging-technologies.org/docs/Knowledge%20NBIC%20D1.pdf>
[9.] "DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007-2036."
[10.] Philip S. Anto´n, Richard Silberglitt, James Schneider. "The Global Technology Revolution: Bio/Nano/Materials Trends and Their Synergies with Information Technology by 2015." RAND Corporation. 2001. Available here: <http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/2005/MR1307.pdf>
The Scientific Planners:
[1.] United States. Cong. House Special Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations. 1954.
[2.] Halal, William E. "Technology’s Promise: Highlights from the TechCast Project", The Futurist, Nov-Dec 2006.
[3.] Alexander King & Bertrand Schneider. The First Global Revolution. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. Page 115.
[4.] Jan Tinbergen. RIO: Reshaping the International Order: A Report to the Club of Rome. 1976. Page 100.
The Great Transition:
[4.] 2006 interview with the Conscious Media Network. Available here: <http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=641879988>
[5.] BBC Hard Talk Extra. Gavin Esler interviewing Michio Kaku. April 22, 2005. Available here: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/4483221.stm>
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The following is based on a report by Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media. Elite members of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, recently considered a proposal for a new global television network to usher in a state of “global governance.” The concept strikes some as authoritarian, even totalitarian. But the parent company of Fox News was one of the sponsors of this year's gathering.
The media proposal, which was included in “The Global Agenda 2009” report, is to create “a new global network” with “the capacity to connect the world, bridging cultures and peoples, and telling us who we are and what we mean to each other.” Several prominent U.S. media figures signed on to the alarming and controversial proposal.
Isn’t it nice that we might have a TV network telling us “who we are?” And “what we mean to each other?” Perhaps we will learn that we are global citizens. Perhaps a global leader of some sort will tell us that. Who might that be?
This proposal doesn’t come from a fringe organization. The WEF is an exclusive club of very rich and powerful people from around the world. It describes itself as “an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”
This year’s conference featured speeches by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Chinese Premier We Jiabao. Many U.S. corporations, including some getting Wall Street bailout money, were sponsors. News Corporation, the parent of Fox News, was a “strategic partner” of the event.
Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison, represented the Obama Administration at this year’s event and called leaders from all nations to “seize gladly” the duties of collaborating and boldly embrace “a new era of global financial responsibility.”
But the WEF also envisions cooperation and collaboration
in global media ventures. It asks, “How can we save journalism to help it save the world?” Clearly, this is advocacy journalism on a global scale.
Indeed, the list of “Recommendations” says it is imperative to start “Communicating a global agenda, and motivating and mobilizing people to support it…”
Is this journalism? Or is it brainwashing and propaganda?
It says that “a genuine, global voice” is needed that shares a “fundamental commitment” to being an international media voice, and makes mention of “the media voices we think of as international” coming from London (the BBC), Qatar (Al-Jazeera) or Atlanta (CNN).
BBC is known for its anti-American programming, Al-Jazeera for its pro-terrorist slant, and CNN for its left-wing and pro-Democratic bias.
It will take “innovative public-private funding” to bring this new network into being, apparently meaning that the taxpayers in the U.S. will have to be soaked in order to help bring this about. But no price tag is put on the venture and no objection was apparently raised to government funding of such a network on a global basis. An “overview” statement does, however, decry “censorship and self-censorship.”
Elsewhere in the report (page 31) the idea of “international taxation” is proposed for “global action” of various kinds. Perhaps this is a vehicle for raising revenue for the new “global voice.”
The media proposal was developed by one of several “Global Agenda Councils” under the auspices of the WEF. The new TV network proposal was issued under the supervision of Pat Mitchell, the president of the Paley Center for Media and former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Public Broadcasting Service. She was the chair of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media.
Other members of the Council on the Future of Media were Betsy Morgan of the left-wing Huffington Post (former general manager of CBSNews.com); Rui Chenggang of China Central Television, an official political propaganda arm of the communist regime; and Zafar Siddiqi of CNBC Arabiya, a subsidiary of General Electric which is described as a 24-hour Arabic language financial and business information channel.
There is no indication in the published report that the Huffington Post executive raised any objection to working hand-in-glove with the communist propaganda channel. Is the Chinese media model a precedent for the new “global network?”
The conference was covered by media organizations such as CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Forbes and Fox, but no coverage that we could find was devoted to the proposal for a government-financed global media network. Talk about self-censorship!
John J. DeGioia, President of Georgetown University
and the “Rapporteur of the Global Agenda Councils focusing on Society and Values,” summarized the work of Mitchell’s panel. He says (page 46) that, “We believe that this new moment also calls for a new media platform, across all media channels, a global non-profit ‘CNN’ providing a new form of independent journalism to inform, illuminate and deepen knowledge about issues that improve the state of the world.”
According to DeGioia’s biography, he walks the walk and is dedicated to helping “prepare young people for leadership
roles in the global community.” His bio adds, “He is a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO and Chair of its Education Committee and he represents Georgetown at the World Economic Forum and on the Council on Foreign Relations.”
The media council took advantage of what a description of its work said was an “enormous opportunity” to “redefine the media and its roles in a global, interconnected society.”
Under the title of “Recommendations” (page 182), the Council on the Future of Media declares that “The Council is championing a new global, independent news and information service whose role is to inform, educate and improve the state of the world?one that would take advantage of all platforms of content delivery from mobile to satellite and online to create a new global network.”
It goes on, “In a world where there are calls for global governance as a response to a global financial crisis, where scientific research, capital flows and production chains are globalized, the media and the communities in which we imagine ourselves remain fiercely localized.” Hence, a global network will work against “localized” or national-based systems and convince people to go “global” with their outlook and solutions. In other words, the new network will help undermine old-fashioned notions of national sovereignty and patriotism.
There are 22 members (page 183) of the Council on the Future of Media. In addition to Mitchell and Morgan, American members include:
* Alex S. Jones, former media reporter for the New York Times and now Director, Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
.
* Susan King, former Washington correspondent for ABC News and now Director, Journalism Initiative, Special Initiatives and Strategy, Carnegie Corporation of New York.
* John Lavine, Dean, Medill School of Journalism Northwestern University
.
* Nicholas Lemann, former Washington Post reporter and now Dean, School of Journalism, Columbia University.
* David Nordfors, Director, Innovation Journalism and Senior Research Scholar, Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, Stanford University.
* Monroe Price, Director, Centre for Global Communications Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, the University of Pennsylvania.
* Orville H. Schell, Director, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society.
There doesn’t appear to be one identifiable conservative member on the list. Of course, everyone on the list is a certified objective media proessional, neither liberal nor conservative. Just ask them.
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