The NEOLIBERALS HIDDEN HISTORY

1. A presentation by Enrico Tortolano (enricoct@hotmail.com) The NEOLIBERALS HIDDEN HISTORY

2. Rocket Science!

3. MarcosChiapas, Mexico • “Only for the powerful is history an upward line, where their today is always the pinnacle. For those below, history is a question which can only be answered by looking backwards and forwards, thus creating new questions…”

4. Asked what her greatest achievement was. She replied, “New Labour. We forced our opponents to change their minds”. Margaret Thatcher

5. “Change you can believe in”

6. Public in favour of it Yet 3 main parties remain wedded to a failed pro-privatisation policy Privatisation has never been so unpopular Gap between public opinion and position taken by our politicians is now at its greatest Public Ownership Puzzle

7. Manufacturing Consent Over the last 100 years corporate PR has used its skills, techniques and finance to impose business interests on public policy Shrouded in secrecy and deception big business PR operatives have been able to pursue their objectives undetected Corporate propaganda is not simply trained on governments and public servants, but on civil society too.

8. “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country” Edward Bernays: influential early Corporate PR practitioner

9. The Bolshevik Revolution The rise of militant labour The danger of social revolutions What was the Corporate World scared of?

10. The Threat of Democracy

11. The potential of universal suffrage to produce an elected government which might attempt to move against the interests of business What Big Business Feared Most: A Democratic Revolution!

12. Corporate Propaganda, 1911 – 1930 Second Wave Corporate Propaganda, 1936-50 Third wave – Global 3 waves of Corporate Political Action against Democracy

13. A web of business lobby groups were formed which were inter-connected to government, police and intelligence agencies How elites should cope with extended franchise Policy Planning Groups to exert influence on public policy 1stWave: Intensification of Organisation of big business or ‘Robber Barons’

14. The Engineering Employers Federation The British Commonwealth Union The London Imperialists Federation of British Industry National Propaganda Business Organisations to Defeat the Labour Movement

15. Mission: “What is required is some years of propaganda for capitalism as the finest system that human ingenuity can devise, to counteract forty years of socialism” Most PowerfulEconomic League: Pamphlet Crusade for Capitalism

16. This was not a campaign based on arguments and ideas alone. This was a struggle against popular democracy which used violence and intimidation alongside persuasion and propaganda. The most co-ordinated anti-labour machine this country has ever seen Prominent in helping break the 1926 General Strike. Campaign of Violence

17. Working People Not Fooled

18. Trade unions organised against business Wall Street Crash New Deal Roosevelt’s Second Election Attlee Government Working People Fought back

19. “ I should like it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match... I should like it said of my second administration that these forces met their master” President Roosevelt

20. Adopt The National Association of Manufacturers strategy: Break the capacity of Unions Discredit union leaders Mobilise community against union Raising the banner of law and order Corporate Response:2nd Wave: Corporate Political Action

21. The 1936/37 General Motors sit-down strike by the American Federation of Labour Novel for the degree of brutality shown against the union Industrial War: Union Busting

22. Label union leaders as ‘agitators’ Anti-union laws Mass propaganda to get public sentiment against strike Police to use violent tactics Convince strikers their cause is worthless Claim union has a minority of employees The Mowhawk Valley Formula

23. Free enterprise corporate lobby group run by business leaders and FBI UK Secret Services Economic League National Propaganda Aims of Industry

24. “To defend private interests against democratic reform with the explicit aim of countering the emerging pressure for nationalisation of industry”. Goals of AIMS

25. Even in 1945 there was a mass ANTI-NATIONALISATION campaign waged against the Attlee government. Seen as threat to private profits and the British establishment US Administration threatened UK Labour Government - held ace in shape of Marshall Plan Attlee Government and Nationalisation

26. Labour Left and trade unions potential threat to business interests Need to transform Britain so business can do what it likes Government should simply be a mechanism for allocating resources to business Business Targeted the Labour Party and trade unions

27. Once More People Not Fooled

28. Ideological backlash against Keynesian economics and government planning The Third Wave: The Global Case for Capitalism

29. 1947 The Mont Pelerin Society On slopes of Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, Economists, Philosophers, Historians met with the aim of reversing the tide of collectivism “to convince public intellectuals who were perceived as won over by socialism”

30. Result of the Mont Pelerin Society The rise of a remarkable number of right-wing think tanks and Corporate Bodies

31. Friedrich von Hayek: The Road to Serfdom Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom “To alter public opinion you do it through intellectuals first” Propaganda outlet for market fundamentalism underpinned by privatisation of public assets The Institute of Economic Affairs

32. Overwhelmingly rejected within confines of democratic debate Could only be implemented through a violent coup or Shock Doctrine Big Problem: New Right Ideas Rejected

33. Brutal overthrow of socialist president Salvador Allende 1973 Pinochet Coup against Socialist Allende in Chile

34. Friedman saw Pinochet’s psychopathic dictatorship as a laboratory for his neo-liberal experiment Pinochet and Friedman

35. Eduardo Galeano “The theories of Milton Friedman gave him the Nobel Prize; they gave Chile General Pinochet”.

36. Privatisation, Deregulation Public Spending Cuts The Free-market Trinity

37. Privatised 500 companies and banks Cut public spending by 72% Opened economy to world imports Outlawed trade unions Abolished taxes on wealth Privatised Pensions Abolished minimum wage Friedman and the Chicago Boys Neo-liberal Medicine to Chile

38. 1974 Inflation 375% Cost of basics such as bread went through roof Unemployment reached record levels Hunger rampant Real wages declined by 45% Results of The Chicago Boys in Chile

39. Dictators did not destroy economies alone Took years of hard work by the most brilliant minds in world academia Brilliant Minds!

40. Thugs in Uniform running unspeakable regimes also privatised essential public services and cut public spending to disastrous Effect Neo-liberal Medicine Swallowed by Other Right-Wing Dictators in Latin America

41. In some parts of the world, particularly Latin America, waves of resistance to privatisation have spread and strengthened. In some countries social movements grew strong enough to join with political parties, winning national presidential elections. International Resistance to neoliberal dogma

42. Seeds of the new Latin American socialism was sown by this disastrous experience of privatisation and neo-liberalism. The so-called economic miracle was in fact a hoax, a fraud, a fairy tale in which no-one lived happily ever after Led to mass unrest throughout the continent Organised left: Both social and political left - trade unionists, indigenous groups, women’s groups, left-wing political parties etc Privatisation: Defining Issue in Latin America Today

43. Venezuela: Nationalised: Education, Health, Oil and Gas, Banks, steel, ceramics, Food, redistributed land, and expanded public sector. Latin America Leading the Way in Reversing Privatisation and Neo-liberal Economics

44. “Privatization is a neoliberal and imperialist plan. Health can’t be privatized because it is a fundamental human right, nor can education, water, electricity and other public services. They can’t be surrendered to private capital that denies the people their rights” Hugo Chavez

45. Madeprivatisation illegal under the Constitution and expanded the public sector , Made outsourcing illegal and brought in regulations against employing new or temporary labour to undercut national agreements, Increased pay for workers - the national minimum wage to rise 25% in 2010 - highest in Latin America. Removed obstacles to union membership, meaning that union membership has risen from 9% to 23%, Improved pension provisions; with over 1.5 million now having a pension, from just 120,000 previously, Began reducing working hours from 44 to 40 hours a week Venezuela Today: Key Reforms

46. 2000: Cochabamba Water War Popular Insurrection against multi-national water company Bechtel Raised price of water so only 10% of population could afford it. Collecting rain water became a criminal offence – 2 year imprisonment Bechtel’s defeat regarded as the first great victory against privatisation in Latin America Trade Union Leader Evo Morales becomes President December 6, 2009 Morales re-elected by landslide on anti-privatisation agenda Bolivia’s Struggle against Privatisation

47. Bolivian President Evo Morales gave a massive boost to democracy on May Day when he signed a decree nationalising four power companies. "Basic services cannot be a private business. We are recovering the energy, the light, for all Bolivians," declared the president. He said that profits which had been going into private pockets would in future be channelled into social programmes for traditionally marginalised communities in the country. Bolivia