Greece, Cradle of Civilization 2.0

GREECE, CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION 2.0

Greece is many aspects an interesting country. Lately it seems to have bought a permanent spot on the daily international news, not necessarily because new archeological treasures were discovered or an Onassis family member married a celebrity. Greece has become the problem child of the European and world developed countries.

What happened to the place considered  by many the cradle of civilization? Where did they go wrong? How can we safe them?

I am sure a lot of people already answered these questions. All too often, however, their analysis happened from a Calvinistic, patronizing and demeaning thinking pattern, blaming the Greeks for their lack of discipline and seriousness.

All the Greeks were put in the same basket: "Lazy, sun loving, tax evading troubadours". Some even said Greece embraced a new political ideology: Diogonesism. 

The rest of the European partners could not tolerate such behavior. Everything had to be put into place to safeguard corporatism and the financial markets. Serfdom of the people was at stake and Greece was the weakest link in a perfectly designed serfdom system.

Power had to act. The "puppets" (Merkel, Sarkozy, EU Commission) were called in and ordered to blackmail, I mean Help, Greece with the same medicine that was killing the patient, more Debt. More debt yes but this time designed in such a way that it would cripple Greece so strong they would never dare challenge orders from their "protectors" again.

So, the helping hand acting together with their local cronies (Papandreu, Venizelos and other politicians) started taking away wealth of the Greek people. Thousands of companies closed, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs. Infrastructure and natural resources of Greece started to be given away for pennies on the dollar to the "foreign savers".

The humiliation and punishment had to be strong and merciless. No other country should dare to follow the same path and Greece had to be taught a lesson. How dare Greece challenge the sovereignty of the ruling system? No victims were to be accepted, even when the Greek prime minister demonstrated weakness (asking for a referendum) he was immediately dismissed. The message was so clear that even Italy dare not to question the imposition of Monti. Papademos and Monti, bankers, i am sorry again, I meant technocrats knew how to administer a country at least better than democratically elected politicians. Again the actual crisis had nothing to do with the recklessness of the financial system, no, democracy, the will of the people, was the problem.

Greece has definitely contributed to the civilization of society, defining moral, ethics and common sense (logic). It has been, at least documented, one of the first civilization that experimented freedom of people and thinking. Today we still cite many of their philosophers when we talk about justice and even about a fair system. It might be true that Greece has been for many years living of the legacy of these great thinkers. Unfortunately, copyright laws did not exist back then, otherwise we would all be in debt with Greece.

After last weekend's, 6 May 2012 elections however, I think Greece is again at the forefront of civilization. Civilization 2.0.

The Greeek have understood that there is only one way to regain their sovereignty: Bring down the system. Greeks seem to have understood what the Achilles heel of the system is. Ungovernability. Although many commentators "usual suspects" might say that this is a problem for the actual situation of Greece. Actually, this is the only peaceful way to break the system. No powerful government is the best that can happen at this moment because Greeks seem to have understood that their biggest enemy is: government. Governments can enforce the directives of the powerful through their executive mechanisms, EU, IMF, ECB, laws.

A lack of enforcement power will generate a self-working society, where personal freedom will flourish and create the wealth and society that Greeks want and not a society imposed by a destructive blood-life sucking system.

Don't worry, the system will fight back. It will find ways to continue imposing harm on the Greeks but the Greeks have found the weak spot and I think the next protest of the Greeks will not be so peaceful if they feel that their sovereignty is under attack. The next step will be much more violent.

Greece, keep hanging in there. Don't let the politicians fool you. Keep atomizing power and rebuilt your own country without interference and impositions. Thank you for questioning the system, than you for asking "Why". Socrates would be proud of you.

Thank you for illuminating us again and showing us the way. Greece, cradle of civilization 2.0.

James Tector

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

Uncovering the enemy

UNCOVERING THE ENEMY

After a few months into 2012 and almost four and a half years after the financial meltdown of 2008 the economic situation does not seem to show signs of improvement.

Different governments have been replaced since 2008 in almost every election held in Europe. The elections have most of the times been a punishment for the ruling parties and voters chose, almost everywhere, the opposition party, who promised to do things better.

Nevertheless, daily life of citizens is not improving. Rampant unemployment, lowering residual income, increasing fiscal pressure and harassing banks are all contributing to frustration among the population.

Normally the newly chosen ruling parties start blaming their predecessors for all the problems inherited but when they run out of ammunitions, politicians always find new enemies.

Markets, terrorists, anti-patriotic opposition parties, foreigners, unions, public servants, demonstrators, anarchists, occupiers, etc. etc, are all conspiring against them. Not only is it pathetic to have to listen to these lame excuses but the "real problem" is that too many people buy their stories.

How often can we see people defending or attacking the arguments fed to them by unscrupulous politicians? It is understandable that if we vote for a specific party, we feel like defending their policies. Voters are able to defend austerity measures, increase in taxes, loss of freedom and other "so needed" attacks on the individual to justify their choice. Instead of accepting that our vote was meaningless we prefer to focus our anger on outside causes like terrorism, immigration, neighbor, etc.

WAKE UP PEOPLE! YOU ARE FIGHTING THE WRONG ENEMY!

Stop believing these so called politicians.  They are administrators paid by the "fiat money vigilantes". We the people are like Human Resource managers making the final decision in the process of choosing the new "puppet" presented to us by the powerful. The "puppets" however are paid by the real rulers. We choose them in elections but they are accountable to others.

STOP FIGHTING AMONG EACHOTHER, UNITE TO DEFEAT THE REAL ENEMY

Who is the real enemy and what can we do to fight it?

It is tough to pinpoint a specific person or organization. The enemy is a "system" that has found a way to perpetrate itself. This very "system" is perceived to be more important than the individual or human life.

How else can we explain that we prefer to have people starving or dying than to question the "system"? We prefer to have wars, austerity, inflate the value of our savings, pushing millions of people into slavery than harm the system.

But what is the system and how is it designed?

Ask yourself a simple question. Do you agree with the statement: MONEY IS POWER

If you do, like most of you will you are getting closer to uncovering the enemy but let's start with the top of the hierarchy.

1. CENTRAL BANKS

Imagine that you would have the power to create money out of thin air. Wouldn't this give you unlimited power? Do you know who can do this in our actual world?

The FED, ECB and comercial banks through the fractional banking system.

Even governments do not have this power anymore. If governments want to create money central banks loan them that money with an interest rate. So if money is power and governments get a good part of the new money from independent central banks; doesn't this make the money creators more powerful than governments?

2. CENTRALIZED POWER

Now, imagine, you would have the power to write laws? How many laws would you write to harm your interests or the ones that rule your wellbeing?

When you give sovereignty away to a central power, it is very probable that with time that central power will drive you into slavery. They will gain more and more power so that they can guarantee a "safer society". A safer society translating into paying taxes and obeying central commands. The more power is centralized, less freedom the individual has. A democracy is especially vulnerable to this situation since it is the imposition of the will of a majority on minorities. We need a constitution that guarantees our civil rights, even and specially against democratically elected governments. No excuse is acceptable to strip the individual from his liberties.

"I rather live a life of unsafe destiny than a safe life in slavery."

3. CENTRALIZED RESOURCES DISTRIBUTION

Although there is competition in private markets, some companies have gained such a position that their power has run out of control. Some companies exploit and control natural and primary resources, have such amounts of wealth that they can buy anyone they want. These companies are not a real treat if point 1 and 2 are brought down but they are now making part of the system and fight hard to keep it standing.

But let's face it. Although we could actually understand that we have to bring down the centralized rulers of the world by asking for sound money, minimizing the scope of government action and limiting natural resources control of corporations, we still would have to fight the toughest of all enemies:

WE THE PEOPLE

We the people believing the lies of our politicians, mass media or opinion makers.

We the people living in fear, dare not to speak up and question.

We the people that have accepted the status of consuming machines.

We the people that have lost faith in our capacities and accepted serfdom.

WE THE PEOPLE, ARE THE REAL ENEMY.

BUT…..

WE THE POEPLE, ARE ALSO THE SOLUTION.

Never in history has humanity have so much access to knowledge, technology and wellbeing. Never in history have the powerful been exposed, on a worldwide basis, like now.

A better world is possible but a better world can only been possible if we start respecting and enforcing the individual. Only by claiming our individual freedom and liberty can the actual system be defeated. We need a new worldwide “constitution” (see revolution) that guarantees individual freedom and civil rights.

Inform yourself. Analyze, understand the consequences of our actual system in your life and fight to change it. If you don't do it for yourselves, do it for your children. Give them a reason to be proud of their parents.

James Tector

Humanity Fraud Detective
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

CORRALITO (BANK RUN, BANK HOLIDAY)

CAUTION:
The following story might become real in the near future

After another frenetic week in the stock markets all around the world, people were preparing for a well deserved weekend.  It seemed like a normal weekend. Getting home for the weekend, many started their weekend routines, spending time with kids, planning a night out with friends, go to the movies with their future wife/husband or just simply watch television.

The population had been looking forward for this particular weekend. It had been a week of abundant bad economic data with a midweek’s reassuring president’s speech, promising to have total control, the people must consider itself lucky to have such visionary, strong and caring leaders.

The one’s that decided to go out on some kind of social happening were the first ones to start experiencing strange circumstances. There were a lot more policemen on the streets than normal and somehow, they had problems finding a working ATM. The system was probably down in the neighborhood.

The one’s that stayed at home, watching television, on the other side were surprised when the sports game they were watching was interrupted for a special announcement from president himself. What is going on? Are we under attack?

PRESIDENT: Quote:

“Ladies and gentlemen”, as I am sure you are aware of, the past years have been difficult on many fronts and lots of people have been suffering from the economic situation. This past week we have been under attack by heartless speculators that targeted our country to rip the people off their wealth but we will not allow this to happen. I will personally make sure that these financial predators will face all the legal consequences of their acts.

This is why, after careful consideration with the best economic experts, long talks with different world leaders, my administration has decided that it was in the best interest of the country and of the citizens to call for a bank holiday.

All bank accounts in our country will be frozen till further notice so that we can stop the plundering of these heartless financial speculators.

The president went on for a few more minutes explaining the latest executive order trying to stop the financial meltdown happening not only in his country but all around the world.

Of course this move had an immediate effect on the population and televisions commentators were trying to calm people and others blaming the president. The Internet crashed under searches for an explanation. A word became "trending topic" on the net: “Corralito”. 

Corralito was the informal name for the economic measures taken in Argentina at the end of 2001 by Minister of Economy Domingo Cavallo in order to stop a bank run, and which were fully in force for one year. The corralito almost completely froze bank accounts and forbade withdrawals from U.S. dollar-denominated accounts. (Source Wikipedia)

Are we at the level of Argentina? Could this be true? Is it possible? We thought we were superior and our leaders were much smarter than the one’s in the south.

Shit, let’s see what else the “Corralito” caused in Argentina:

• The corralito caused an immediate backfire on the government. Even more people started trying to withdraw their money from the banks, and many ended up in court fighting for their right to have their funds (and being granted that right on occasion).
• The main reason for ending up in court was that, after the corralito, and after Economy Minister Cavallo resigned, the new government led by Eduardo Duhalde and his Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna converted those funds nominated in US Dollars, into Argentine Pesos at a 1 Peso = 1 US Dollar exchange rate, while the exchange rate was liberalized (immediately going to 4 Pesos = 1 US Dollar).
• The same was done with debtors, so many private enterprises and also the Province of Buenos Aires were favoured by this measure as they managed to decrease their debts. Nine years later, several people have not yet been able to recover their savings because of the pace of Justice in Argentina. However, debtors were able to purchase properties and other items by paying their debts at the 1 to 1 exchange rate.
• At the time, the average Argentine did not employ the banking system for daily uses; many did not have a personal bank account, and dealt only with cash. Debit cards were not popular and many businesses did not have the equipment to accept them. Thus the cash restrictions only exacerbated the recession and angered the public. President Fernando de la Rúa was forced to resign on 20 December 2001 after violent riots, but the restrictions of the corralito were not lifted at the time. (Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito)

Our currency is US Dollars, I guess this is not going to affect us and we have a good functioning justice system too. Government will never be allowed to do this…… oh shit, they just did!

Could it be that the government is using this to devalue the USD and lower its debts artificially? That is smart but my savings will loose value too…, what is going on, what else could happen?

• Because of this allowance limit and the serious problems it caused in certain cases, many Argentines became enraged and took to the streets of important cities, especially Buenos Aires. They engaged in a form of popular protest that became known as cacerolazo (banging pots and pans). These protests occurred especially in 2001 and 2002. At first the cacerolazos were simply noisy demonstrations, but soon they included property destruction, often directed at banks, foreign privatized companies, and especially big American and European companies. Many businesses installed metal barriers because windows and glass facades were being broken, and even fires being ignited at their doors. Billboards of such companies as Coca Cola and others were brought down by the masses of demonstrators.
• Amid rioting, President Fernando de la Rua resigned on 21 December 2001.
• Confrontations between the police and citizens became a common sight, and fires were also set on Buenos Aires avenues. Fernando de la Rúa declared a state of emergency,  only to get the situation worsened, precipitating the violent protests of 20 and 21 December 2001 in Plaza de Mayo, where clashes between demonstrators and the police ended up with several people dead, and precipitated the fall of the government (Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_economic_crisis_(1999%E2%80%932002))

This is not possible. This is not happening to us. What can we do? What should we do? When will our money be unfrozen again? How am I going to eat tomorrow? How can I pay the gas to make it home tonight? What do they mean with state of emergency? Martial law?

A lot of questions and no reassuring answer.

It is interesting that after all what happened in the past years, basically since the start of the financial crisis in 2008, which turned into a sovereign and economic crisis, so many people continue to trust the people that put us into this situation. Not only do they vote for them with new elections but they still think that they have the solution. They also continue to trust their banks. 

How can this be? How can you put the arsonists in charge of the fire fighters. 

The financial industry took over the world and little by little, populations are becoming slaves to the orders of the financial masters that use politicians as foremen. 

Understand who the real enemy is. Let me reassure you, it is not the one they say or try you to focus on. It is not the immigrants, it is not the Muslims, it is not a specific country, it is not a particular political party, it is not the poor. 

It’s the centralized money printing mafia, FED, Central Banks and their puppet foremen, politicians.

The population is on the road to serfdom if they don’t understand what is going on and stop accepting the rules imposed on to them by the system. Reject their Fiat Money and perpetual debt system. Reject the dictatorship of the loan sharks.

Declare yourself independent of the financial system or you will be slaves to the financial masters. Stop using their system, start using alternatives.

By the way, the one’s that were keeping gold, silver or any other precious metal, somehow came out winning from the Corralito.

James Tector
Critical Citizen

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité


(Note for my spanish friends, although I don't like to put dates on certain predictions I make, but I think 2012 Spain will experience his very own Corralito, Bank run)

AND THEN THEY TOOK US TO WAR

In my next article I will be talking about what I think will eventually be the result of the change we are experiencing. But today let’s talk about the next-to-last step.

We are experiencing how the western world is getting totally out of control. Politicians have lost all credibility, trying to burn their last ammunitions killing supposed terrorists around the world, increasing their control of the population preparing themselves for the people’s revolution. In February 2011, I wrote an article about the Arab spring, “Tunis, Thank you for showing us the way”, and was predicting that this horror scenario for the power structures would be emulated by more countries. Later came Egypt, Libya, Yemen, 15M in Madrid, demonstrations all around Europe, especially in Greece and now we are seeing the United States finally joining the revolution with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

The mass media, like in every country, first ignored them, later ridiculed them and finally did not have any other choice than covering the movement. The most common critic all over the world used by mass media was that the movement does not have one voice, one message or clear claims.

I understand the mass media’s complaints. They have been used to repeat simplistic propaganda feed to them by their usual sponsors: multinationals, banks, governments, public entities, and the like, that all of a sudden a complete change in their modus operandi is just too much for the media too handle.

Well, let me give you a little hint, what about Frustration or Anger as a common denominator for the protests?

The continuing meltdown of the global financial system will definitely have its consequences on the global economy, whipping out middle class. Millions of citizens will awake to a new reality. They will find out that they thought they were wealthy, some of them even thought they were rich.

Many people are already in this situation and these are the people protesting, joined by some of the “early discoverers”, folks who are still enjoying security the system offers but know it is a matter of time before they too will make part of the jobless, futureless losers.

Yes, some people call the jobless, losers, because they are not good enough to get a job, or not qualified enough for some company to hire them. A lot of folks still do not understand that the game is rigged, that the system is causing this situation, not necessarily the lack of skills of the unemployed.

At the moment we are experiencing the perfect storm:

MONETARY INFLATION

+ PRODUCTIVE DEFLATION

(Strong increase of money supply in the financial industry and an even stronger decrease of capital in the real economy)

This has a direct consequence on companies. No matter how good a company or professional is, there is just not enough money to sustain everybody in the system. It is not necessarily the wrong or bad management of companies that will cause them to shut down; the system does not have the money to support them.

So my conclusion is simple: no matter what the politicians try to do and they have done everything they could to speed up the end of the system: “FIAT” is collapsing.

The question that presents itself: Will the actual powerful accept the end of an era and help create a new an more equal world?

Well, I don’t think so. They are not going to abandon their power just like that.

FIAT is not a love story, it’s much stronger than that

FIAT is blind faith.

So, what is the next step?

They will take us to war!!

Yes, it is my strong believe that when they will understand that people will continue to protest and revolt until they bring down the system, they will come up with some kind of scheme to take us to war.

We can already see how countries are getting more and more xenophobic. Just look at the increase of the anti alien rhetoric of politicians or political parties or at more stringent immigration laws voted in the past couple of years.

Some “opportunist” or “wannabe” politicians play the immigration card bluntly, blaming the problems on outsiders, forgetting the hundreds of years the so called “civilized countries” have been exploiting natural resources and lower wage labor of poor countries.

I don’t know yet who is going to be the scapegoat this time. The Jews were the last victims, this time it could very well be the Arabs with a preference for Iran, Southern Europeans, Latin Americans or the Chinese.

They might actually go for religion and our Muslim brothers would seem the easiest target to sell to a bunch of lamming’s in the western world.

This of course would be the easiest type of war but who knows this time they might even go further and simply declare war on the “anti-social” movements, targeting their own people and repressing the protesters that disobey the system. This war is tougher because this would bring guerilla like confrontations and I guess they would prefer to play the patriotic card and I think they would prefer to go for a whole region rather than wars at home.

Well, it is difficult to predict which one they will come up with but they will definitely try.

Be prepared. It is up to us the people to say NO. Don’t let them fool you. Don’t buy into their propaganda. We are all human beings. We all live on this earth and we should embrace change and work on a better system. A war is only going to bring back the Status Quo, with less a few million people but the problem would remain.

FIAT is dying and not only because of the SPECULATION ON STEROIDS but simply because there is a natural limit to artificial growth. FIAT does not take the economic logic into account (management of scarcity) since there is no physical limit to worthless printed money.

Don’t forget, we are all human beings and we have more things that unite us than that separate us. Be aware for fear mongering, false accusation, finger pointing or false flag attacks.

Stand up and join the movement.

James Tector

Critical Citizen

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

2011, the year Youth began the new (r)evolution.

After a few months deeper into economic recession after the late 2008 burst, finally in 2011 new civil movements start to show up. These movements can be found all over the world but are stronger in North Africa (Tunis, Egypt) but also Europe showing stronger commitment in Spain which has been one of the countries hit the strongest by the economic recession or should I say depression with more than 20% unemployment rate.

A common denominator for the civil movements could be the age range of the demonstrators together with the form they decided to gather and communicate. Although Internet and especially some applications like Facebook and Twitter have been an enabling force behind the demonstrations, what is more important is the age of the organizers and followers. A vast majority of young people took the streets to voice their frustration to a system that misled and deceived them.

The system, still controlled by the old powers, does not seem to understand the vindications of the protesters and underestimate the strength of the movement. Although the majority of the demonstrators are young people, they will very soon find strong supporters in other adults that are also suffering the consequences of a system built upon deception.

Although many people have not yet been hit by the devastating deflation in the real economy, it is a matter of time before they too will be confronted to what soon will be their new reality. They will find out they are not as wealthy as they thought they were. The beloved capitalistic system thought to be the final of all systems is only profiting to a few, not necessarily the ones supposed to thrive on the system. Not the hard working, competitive, stronger, more intelligent, fittest are the ones profiting but basically the ones that own the capital: big banks, multinationals and big corporations.

Too often do I hear commentators blaming the youth for their situation because they don’t make enough efforts, don’t want to work, study, are simply labeled as lazy. The people who say such things should ask themselves who contributed more to this situation: the new generation or the generations before? The older generations (the ones controlling and managing the system) cannot act as if it is not their problem because their future depends fully on the younger generations. Pensions and medicare can only survive if the young accept to pay a majority of their income to maintain the welfare of older generations.

It is an unsustainable situation. Pressure is/will coming/come from everywhere, demography, energy, overpopulation, scarcity of natural resources and why not a lack of solidarity from the young with the oldest. A situation that the actual capitalistic system has no solution for, although the believers want to convince you about the contrary.

A logic system cannot leave aside variables of nature. We need to take into account the psychology of the human being, the reality of how much nature can give us, changes in population and other variables that nature imposes on us.

• We need to understand that we cannot take away freedoms and dignity of the human being.
• We need to understand that the world is round and not expandable.
• We need to understand that the Earth “economy” means saving, it is a science that administers scarcity.
• We need to understand that money is a great instrument as long as it is a means to distribute scarcity and not the objective of the economy.
• We need to understand that money needs to have a physical collateral, otherwise it is fake and unfair.
• We need to understand that administrators of nations need to run them for the wellbeing of the people and not for the wellbeing of a few. Politicians, do you get the message?

The population also needs to wake up from their sleep and understand that they are submitted to constant propaganda of the powerful. This is no fight between left or right, democrats or republicans, white or black, young or old, indigenous vs. foreigners, this is a fight for the survival of human race. 

Again the world population needs to understand the consequences of the actual system, reshape and rethink their own value system, because it is impossible to continue the pilferage of natural resources.

So, let there be no doubt, this revolution has nothing to do with anarchism or a bunch of hippies. It’s a genuine revolution for a better world, the start of a new system based on a symbiosis of natural laws instead of striving for a fake dream.

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

With the Earth’s consent

So far, 2011 has been a busy year. We have experienced:

• The awakening of the Arab world.
• An earthquake, followed by a Tsunami and finally a nuclear catastrophe in Japan.
• The beginning of a new war with Libya
• In Europe the Euro seems unstoppable in its downfall

Any of these happenings could have been the most important event  of the year just some time ago. These happenings however bring fundamental changes to the status quo and modern society has to be keen in analyzing these events and question why they are happening.

Although an Earthquake is a natural disaster and the human influence cannot be proven, these signs have to be interpreted in the right way. We have seen how insignificant the human being is against mother nature. We need to be living in better harmony with the source of our life and stop destroying it for an illusion of wellbeing. 

Can we go on exploiting natural resources in such a way that we do not take into account the damages we are inflicting the Earth? Is the Earth going to be watching us impassibly without fighting back? Can we measure the human being’s wealth without putting nature into the equation?
Is money the right measurement unit? Especially if we know that money is fake and artificially controlled by a few players. Players that are losing the grip on the events and don’t understand why? Even the rich and powerful are children of nature and that although they can think they are preferred children, they are still insignificant if put into perspective with the power of nature.

We will see in the future a steady increase in food prices which will lead to more riots. We will also see more natural disasters, this due to an increase the sun’s activity. This will generate a shift in human values and I hope finally understanding that we have to take nature into our equation when evaluating our wellbeing. I foresee the end of fiat money and the beginning of an era where economy follows natural rules and is not manipulated by a cartel of central banks or powerhouses. The capital holders try to make us think that we can only live within the parameters they give us but they will soon see that even if they control the minds of the population they do not control nature and nature will trigger the changes. And when I talk about nature I am also talking about the natural logic of economy that is based on natural resources, scarcity and sustainability and not on the fake capital system they try to impose on us.

Soon we will be confronted to nature and I hope the population will finally wake up, turn off the propaganda machines and understand that there is no way we can survive as a species if we think we can control and manipulate nature.

The human being can only survive with the Earth’s consent.

JAMES TECTOR
Critical citizen

TUNIS

TUNIS
Thank you for showing the way

Tunis has definitely been this month’s center of attention. Years of oppression, robbery, corruption, power abuse ended abruptly after a few days of popular manifestations caused by the immolation of a desperate citizen, the reaction to the abuse of a system favoring the super rich and especially the family of the (now former) president Ben Ali.

What happened in Tunis, although many observers might see it as an isolated popular revolution, is in my opinion the start of a new era, an era where the people demand justice and finally voice their right to choose their own existence.  Rights made impossible for too long by corrupt leaders assisted by the active interference of a complacent international community.

Where was the “civilized” western society in all this? Well, as usual, trying to keep friends with the dictator that allowed “civilized countries” to exploit the Tunisian people up to the last second. This time however, their strategy failed and popular revolution and the people’s determination were stronger than an imposed corrupt system.

And now after the change in Tunisian leadership we can hear voices calling for the West to support the new formation of a new democracy in Tunis. Let’s hope for the Tunisian people that the west stays far away from this development. The only thing that the so called “civilized world” has been good in, in the past decades, is keeping dictators in place so that they could exploit the country’s natural resources and benefit from cheap labor.

Tunis, don’t look at the West for help but show the West the way

Let’s hope that the neighbor countries will learn and find hope in the Tunisian revolution and rise to the occasion by starting their own revolution. Some uprisings are happening in the neighboring countries and let’s hope that the people there will follow through and regain or finally gain power. This century, or at least the first half of the century will be the one of the fight among classes. The population will fight against the powers that dominate them. This power has been capable of maintaining its position because a majority of people have not yet been able to really identify the source of their increasing decrease of wealth. Too many citizens are still trying to blame the situation on a political party, politician, neighbor, foreigner or whatever seems plausible to justify their worsening situation.

The solution however is not in solving the problem the power is trying to sell us, the solution lies in changing the power and reshape the way we live. Fellow citizens there is no sacred cow in this fight, we need to really assess what brought us here and change it.

Tunis has shown us the way, not only has it opened a window of hope for the North African countries but it has shown that no government can maintain its credibility If its final goal is not the well being of its people.

Thank you Tunisia again and let’s hope that for humanity’s sake, “civilized nations” will follow your example.

For your own good, Tunisia, just another advice: keep the Western countries far away, do not allow the West to deteriorate your natural democratic development no matter how many nice promises or threats they make.

JAMES TECTOR
Critical citizen