RAVE: Book of the Month - "Foul!" by Andrew Jennings

My rave for tonight is with regard to the best book I read during this month of May. Its entitled "Foul! - The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals" by Andrew Jennings, a top UK-based investigative journalist.

It seems so utterly appropriate to have my last post on this particular issue on the very eve of the World Cup here in South Africa.

This book just puts the entire shameful 2010 World Cup debacle (as I discussed at length in an earlier post on this blog) into such sharper focus.

The blurb on "Foul!" on http://www.amazon.com/ describes the book very well: "Andrew Jennings, the world's foremost investigative sports reporter, spent four years delving into the dark side of 'the beautiful game'. The result is this explosive and damning expose of the officials that run football's world governing body FIFA - a story of how the 'men in suits' put personal ambition and money before the fans on the terraces. No individual has managed to penetrate the secret world of FIFA. Until now. Andrew Jennings, the world's leading sports investigative reporter, has unearthed the stories that FIFA doesn't want told. He blows the whistle on an international cash-for-contracts scandal and reveals how some football officials have been urged to secretly repay the sweeteners they received. He asks why FIFA President delayed acting against troubled marketing company ISL, who wrongly withheld GBP 45 million of FIFA's cash. He exposes the vote-rigging that went on behind closed doors in the fight for control of FIFA. Jennings has researched in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. He has uncovered damning evidence and persuaded FIFA insiders to talk to him about the questionable business practices they've witnessed. "Foul!'s" mix of world-class probing journalism, compelling storytelling and dark humour make this the most important book ever written about the men who control the people's game." 

It's suffice to say that the book is pure genius. Jennings takes no prisoners in what is a stunning and insightful expose of the putridly corrupt organization that is FIFA. This is page-turning, gripping and compulsive investigative journalism at its best.

Jennings previously blew the lid off another putrid world sports organization, namely the International Olympic Committee (IOC), entitled "The Great Olympic Swindle: When the World Wanted Its Games Back", co-written in 2000 with Clare Sambrook. That is one book I simply must get my hands on ASAP, if his brilliant book :Foul!" is anything to go on!

It is one scandal after another, with a particular focus on the current President of FIFA, one Herr Sepp Blatter and his posse of cronies and lackeys, all corrupt and venal to some extent or another. Blatter comes off mightily badly - as he should do, given the overwhelming evidence of his explicit and tacit dealings in the corrupt cesspool that is FIFA today.

Former President of FIFA, the odious Brazilian, Joao Havelange, and the head of the CONCACAF football federation (the federation for North and Central America and the Caribbean), a certain Jack Warner from Trinidad and Tobago, also come off particularly badly, corrupt bastards that they are.

Jennings shows in no uncertain terms just how tarnished and muddied the Beautiful Game has become. Awash with money and influence, yes, but rotten to the core.

His writing style is crisp, easily read and unravels itself, layer by enticing layer, like a top-class whodunit.

Besides, what's not to love and admire about a man who write a book that FIFA wanted banned?!

Enough said. He's a class act, is Mr. Jennings. And his book is a class read.

NOT the Man of the Day: Sepp Blatter

Sepp Blatter is an unethical and corrupt man with much power and influence on the world sporting stage. This little Swiss man is the much-reviled President of FIFA, the world governing body for football, the Beautiful Game.

And he is most certainly NOT my Man of the Day.

I have total contempt for this man given that under his tutelage FIFA has simply gone from bad to worse. His predecessor, the Brazilian Joao Havelange, was no angel. In fact, Havelange set the stage and the momentum for FIFA becoming the insanely corrupt and greedy organization that it has now become. That was one big, corrupt swine of a man. The seemingly innocuous and 'pleasant' Sepp Blatter seemed to be a breath of fresh air when he took office in 1998, but that notion was very short-lived. The man puts even Havelange to shame. And that's stiff competition.

The man seems to attract scandal like George W. Bush attracts contempt. His tenure at the head of FIFA has been rife with allegations of corruption and backroom dealings, including:

- His 2008 election in which he beat Lennart Johansson, the Swedish and much-respected and, initially, favoured head of the European football federation, UEFA, is mired in allegations (and much evidence, by the  way) of election rigging, vote-buying and even false delegates at the election (i.e. the absent delegate from Haiti having a woman who happened to be a mate of the head of the CONCACAF federation, and huge Blatter supporter, stand in to vote as the Haitian 'proxy'!)

- His 2002 election mired by even more election-rigging and vote-buying allegations. Yet again, the Haitian delegate was not present, this time with the French-speaking nation 'represented' at the election conference by none other than a delegate with a decidedly Jamaican accent!)

- Ditto more allegations at the 2006 election.

- Head of a FIFA that is anathema to its slogan of 'Fair Play for a Fair Game' when it comes to its own business dealings. FIFA is today the very embodiment of unfair play in the way it extorts money for copyrights during a World Cup, with the upcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa its most extreme and disgusting display of monopolistic, Mafia-style flexing of its corporatist brand clout. There are countless other examples of just how corrupt and unethical FIFA is in many of its dealings. And Sepp Blatter is centre stage every step of the way.

It is only fitting that I revile this man in my blog on the eve of the World Cup in South Africa. After all, his falsely benign, even beatific visage is going to be splashed all over our screens and newspaper and online print for weeks to come. It's the very least I could do against the corrupt little weasel. A weasel of a man who was the leading force in the collusion of FIFA with the super-corrupt and super-rich elite of this country in making sure that they all pocketed the biggest profits to be made from the country playing host.

World football deserves so much better than this man of little stature, both physical and moral.

Sepp Blatter is the epitome of everything I deplore about Switzerland and the Swiss - a smug little nation made of rude, smug people which parades its 'squeaky clean', super-efficient facade before the world as if it were superior to everyone else. Yet, just like Herr Blatter, it hides its true self - secretive, corrupt and full of skeletons in its gilded closet.

Herr Blatter looks decidedly drawn and worried in the picture of him in this post. So he should be - the contemptible little man that yields way too much power and influence that he is.

RANT: World Cup Sham(e)

I have been putting off writing this particular post for nearly a month now. It is so overdue. And now I simply must get it written...

This rant is about what should have been and what, unfortunately, and much to the detriment of an entire nation, has actually happened.

The FIFA 2010 World Cup to be hosted here in South Africa is almost upon us. In just over ten days the eyes of the world will be upon this southern tip of Africa as it becomes the first African country to host the world's biggest sporting extravaganza, barring the Olympic Games. The atmosphere here in Johannesburg is palpable, as I'm sure it is in other major cities in the country - flags billow from just about every corner and business, and even small flags flutter from the sides and tops of people's cars, the refrain of 'Our Time Has Come' is endless and constant.

Ever since South Africa won the vote to host the Cup back on May 15th 2004 this country has been readying itself for this momentous occasion. And the momentum has been gathering pace, especially in the past few months. Just saying '2010' has become synonymous with a nation's destiny, it would seem.

And now the time is almost here.

And what a huge disappointment it is all turning out to be.

That is not to say that South Africa won't put out all the stops to ensure a great show and even make a success of being host to the World Cup. I'm quite sure South Africa will do well, even very well, as host. There will almost certainly be a few hiccups. And one can only hope that cowardly terrorist bastards won't use the Cup to set off bombs or otherwize terrorise innocent fans and people. That is my most fervent wish for this Cup. South Africa should do well - very well, in fact. And it deserves that.

It's all the promises and nonsense hype and selling out of this nation and its people by the government and elite that upsets me no end. South Africans were promised a world event that would change this country, somehow fantastically transform it in its post-apartheid nation-building. What crap. The World Cup in this country has come to mean corruption, false promises and outright greed, both corporate and governmental.

The list, unfortunately, is endless.

Enter FIFA...

1. The South African organizers have sold out this country lock, stock and barrel to one of the most corrupt, disgusting professional bodies on the planet, namely FIFA. This Zurich-based organization for world football would make the Mafia blush, so secretive, unethical and corrupt are its business practices. More on that another time. For the purpose of this post, it is enough to state that , thanks to the sell-out by South Africa to FIFA, the following words are copyrighted exclusively to FIFA here in South Africa:

- '2010'
- 'football'
- 'soccer'
- 'World Cup'
- 'FIFA World Cup'
- '2010 World Cup'
- ' June 11th to July 11th 2010' [the duration of the World Cup)
- and any similar words

And this for the entire duration leading up to and including the entire period of the World Cup. That means that any company, corporation, person or any entity whatsoever that wishes to use those words in their promotions or for their products can only do so after paying royalties to FIFA. And I mean any.

Already countless organizations, companies and people have been threatened with legal action and even taken to South African courts for 'infringing' these copyrights held by FIFA for the World Cup. An entire program on one of the most popular South African radio stations last week was dedicated to just this astounding state of legal affairs. It was reported that South African courts are already getting jammed with these lawsuits and injunctions by FIFA and the organizing committee here in South Africa against companies and individuals. And it is known that South African judges won't even look at the merits of the defendant's case when they learn that FIFA et al are the litigants. No case. FIFA has copyright. Next.

FIFA got mega-lucky in that South African law courts are notoriously pro-property rights over individual rights. Thanks very much, you local legal bastards.

2. Stories I have personally heard, almost all concerning black entrepreneurs or local businesses, abound as to how people thought they could make a little money (or even, heaven forbid) a lot of good money out of South Africa being host nation, only to be stopped in their tracks by the FIFA crowd brandishing their copyrights. These include:

- a female entrepreneur who tried to get trinkets made by local artists in the shape of footballs over a year ago only to be told that she was forbidden to do so as she had no copyright from FIFA;

- another female (as well as black, let it be known) entrepreneur who bought a fast food franchise near a host stadium, hoping to cash in on early 2010 business, as well as, obviously, on business during the Cup itself, only to face an injunction ordering her not to open until after the World Cup is finished. That is, have a fast food joint ready but not open for business for five months or more. She has stated she will almost certainly be forced to go out of business even before she's allowed to open for business;

- a local airline threatened with litigation by the FIFA Mafia only on the basis that they were using copyrighted words (you know, standard words like 'World Cup' and '2010' and even the stated time period) to promote off-peak sales for tickets on national routes during the World Cup. More on that one another time.

And on and on and on and on the stories continue of South Africans being shafted by the FIFA behemoth.

3. The hype surrounding how much money this country was going to make because of the World Cup was outrageous in its proportion. Hotels jacked up their prices for the period by up to 400%. Homeowners in the leafy, upmarket northern suburbs of Johannesburg suddenly told their existing tenants to get the hell out of their properties in preparation for the fortunes they were going to make for rates of up to R1000 per person per day for each hapless football tourist. And blocked off the entire months of June and July just for this purpose. As if any tourist in their right mind would want to spend more than the absolute minimum amount of days necessary in this boring, sprawling and crime-ridden city that is Johannesburg!

At first we all bitched about the sheer stupendous greed of pretentious hotels and homeowners in Cape Town (after all, in the South African lexicon Cape Town is pretentiousness), typical money-grabbing Joburgers and basically stupidly greedy people and businesses throughout the country. And all of these people were ridiculously greedy. BUT, let it be known, all of this insane greed was built around all the ridiculous hype surrounding the Cup and fueled to the hilt by both the SA government and, especially, it now transpires, FIFA and the local organizing committee.

4. The greed of FIFA in full collusion with the South African government and the disgusting super-elite of this country continues: all those top, highly lucrative FIFA copyrights are basically in the hands of just a handful of South Africa's elite, as well as, of course, Sepp Blatter (Head Capo of FIFA) and his henchmen. This has become public domain knowledge and widely reported in our national media in recent months.

5. Remember that black female entrepreneur stuck with a fast food franchise near a stadium that she cannot open for business? It gets much worse. It transpires that within a full square kilometer of the said stadium, there is an absolute block on anyone selling any type of soda, beer, etc, or any food, because both McDonalds and Coca-Cola have a total blanket on sales of food and drink in said 'exclusion zone'. Talk about monopolistic, fascistic uber-capitalism at its worst! So there goes any opportunity for any local vendor, including hundreds if not thousands of the local poor, wanting to capitalize on selling a few Fanta Oranges or Castle Lager beers or boerewors rolls (a spicy South African sausage in a roll) near the stadium during World Cup matches. Not to mention no local or other African artists allowed to sell their artwork anywhere near any of the stadia. To hell with them - they don't f***ing count, right?

6. Match, the company set up and owned by FIFA to primarily sell World Cup tickets, as well as other package tour-type promotions, etc, for the Cup has left South Africa high and dry. Just a few days ago it was divulged that they had suddenly released a further 150 000 tickets for sale, due to poor sales (not to mention at exorbitant prices and on the back of ridiculously priced package tours from Europe and other destinations to South Africa). This after the first 'release of remaining tickets' by the organizers just a few months ago. Price tickets have come down, sometimes dramatically so, as organizers realized that tickets and packages for hotels and flights, etc, simply were not selling.

And those selling estimates and forecasts were made by Match itself, with, of course, the full blessing of FIFA itself. The huge problem (not to mention bloody scandal) is that all of these tickets, hotel beds and flights to South Africa, etc, were all block booked ages ago by Match and its authorised subsidiaries and 'partners', including the national airline, South African Airways. That means promises were made of huge bookings at huge profits for the World Cup and now - just weeks and even days from the opening ceremony - Match is suddenly dumping all of these block bookings on South African and international airlines, hotels, tour operators, and the like. No explanation, no apology. And so these very companies (who, let's face it, bought into all the mass hype and outrageous promises by FIFA due to their own bloody greed) must now scramble around in these dying days prior to the World Cup just to try and sell these suddenly available tickets, etc.

The list of World Cup 2010 scandals goes on and on and on. They are being divulged now on an ongoing, seemingly daily basis. It's disgusting, even tiresome now. And such a shame when one considers how much there was by this country's poor and even not-so-poor with regard to being host of the 2010 World Cup.

All the corruption, all the politics, all the selling out of a nation's poor with over-hype and false promises, are a further indication of what a disgrace FIFA has become. And yet further proof of just how corrupt and self-serving a very select ANC-coddled elite exists and thrives in this country, a super-rich, super-powerful elite clique that is making a mockery of the liberation struggle by millions of South Africans, not to mention the unforgivable daily grind of the millions of poor in this country of supposed plenty.

This despicable elite has sold South Africa out to an unaccountable, unethical organization like FIFA - and they should be bloody ashamed of themselves. FIFA is the embodiment of a protectionist, corporatist racket masquerading as 'modern business'. The South African government and elite are more than ever the embodiment of a sham liberation democracy.

Yes, the Beautiful Game will almost certainly be beautiful at times. Yes, there was a surge of (temporary, mostly unsustainable) jobs in construction and infrastructure in this country, which was (to a certain extent) a buffer for the country's economy against the global financial crisis. And, yes, I am quite sure South Africa will do a proud job as host. Of all that I am quite sure. And so it should be.

But, in the end, when the games have been played and the tourists have gone and the magic dust has settled, the vast majority of South Africans will look around and ask themselves: What was the big deal? Where is all the money we should have made? Why didn't I, Mr. or Ms. Tshabalala or Mr. or Ms. Botha or Mr. or Ms. Chaterjee, make more hay whilst the sun shone on our nation? What's wrong with this picture?

In the end, this nation promised so much will get so very little. And that's a crying sham(e).

Do you get my point?

RAVE: Quit Facebook Day - Hurrah!

Today is May 31st and is being marked by many around the world as 'Quit Facebook Day'. Simply, many users of this (horrible, venal, creepy) online social networking site are shutting down their Facebook accounts in protest over new allegations and proof that Facebook did not fully protect users' personal information in their profiles and, worse still, may have even sold said details to other online entities.

As of this morning, and as according to Russia Today, more than 22 000 people had already pledged to shut down their Facebook accounts in protest.

Hurrah!

I am getting an especially big kick out of this worldwide protest against Facebook given my own quite vociferous anti-Facebook post on this very blog just over a month ago. At the time I ranted at how inane, boring and vapid, even downright creepy, I had found the site in just under three months of use. I had simply hated it. And, yes, there had been something decidedly unnerving about all the incessant rumours going around that Facebook did not protect users' information.

My mother, who seems to become more and more the vocal social activist with each passing day, immediately told me to cancel her Facebook account when I told her about the campaign this morning. She made that perfectly clear - and it had to be today, given the said international protest.

Never one to pass on an opportunity to stick it to the Big Ugly Corporate Man, I seized the opportunity to do just as instructed by my mother. It was with some glee that I went through the process of deactivating her account.

Thanks for that, mom. It was most enjoyable.

However, I use the word 'deactivate' with a big, fat caveat - after all, as I found out to my dismay when deactivating my account last month, one never really deactivates one's account on that despicable little site. That is a most disconcerting realization to have to confront. Especially when one has such a contemptible opinion of the site and cannot wait to be rid of it in one's life.

But, at least for now, I have had the pleasure of yet again giving Facebook just a tiny little middle finger.

And I did so with relish.

RANT: Israel & Its Entebbe Complex

I awoke this morning to the most shocking news I have heard in ages. And this in a time when the world seems to be going mad anyway. And I was angry beyond belief. A-N-G-R-Y!!!

Al-Jazeera and the BBC were full of the breaking news that a group of Israeli commandos had stormed a ship filled with humanitarian aid and bound for the blockaded city of Gaza in Palestine. Furthermore, in a shootout that had ensued when the Israeli he-men had stormed the ship, up to sixteen of the pro-Palestinian activists on board has been shot and killed.

Outrageous!!!

There was a time when Israel commanded the respect and even awe of most in the civilized world. The Entebbe Raid undertaken by crack Israeli special forces at Entebbe airport in Uganda on July 4th 1976 continues to live on in international lore. An Air France flight with 300 passengers had been hijacked by Palestinian terrorists a week earlier and, upon landing, all non-Jewish passengers had been freed. Only Jewish passengers, almost all Israeli citizens, remained on board at the mercy of the madmen.

After backwards and forward negotiations the Israelis decided to take matters into their own hands. And so the late night raid, brilliant, even awe-inspiring, in its execution and results, took place. And most of the world applauded Israel for having gone out and saved all its citizens, whatever the cost and with such precision and bravery.

Entebbe was an amazing feat for Israel. And its resonance was even more palpable given what had transpired just a few years earlier when 11 Israeli athletes had been attacked and then eventually killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. It was the darkest day in Olympic history and a very dark day for humanity. Entebbe was moral vindication, sweetest retribution for the shocking events that took place at Munich.

But Israel is locked in a vicious cycle that I dub the 'Entebbe Complex'. Its crack commandos continue to do their brilliant and lethal operations, saving Israeli 'interests' all over the place and at whatever cost, but now without the moral justification borne of Munich and Entebbe. Now they do it as part of their own hyper-paranoid, hyper-hysterical national defense strategy. Not to mention almost always in complete violation of international law and norms of just retaliation.

And now this.

Who the hell do these bloody Israelis think they are in storming a ship full of citizens of Europeans and other Middle Eastern countries at break of dawn, guns a-blazing and killing people left and right? How dare they! The following has to be considered:

1. The blockade of Gaza by Israel is illegal under international law. Whatever the Israelis might say about their need for 'security' and how many 'Palestinian terrorists get shelter in Gaza', there is absolutely no legal precedent in international peacetime law to support the Israeli policy of slowly starving out and slowly killing Palestinians living in Gaza, many of whom now live well below the poverty line thanks to this inhumane and barbaric Israeli policy of 'self-defense'.

2 Self-defense for Israel my ass - it's Israel flexing its almighty United States-backed muscles as it has done for decades now in that region. No wonder Palestine is a breeding ground for anti-Israel terrorism and counter insurgency. What the hell do the Israelis expect with draconian and outrageous policies like those in Gaza?

3. What the hell is Israel doing attacking a civilian ship and killing civilians in international waters?! Do these arrogant Israelis have absolutely no respect whatsoever for international maritime law? Israel is today contending that there were 'terrorists' on board the ship and that they could not allow them into Gaza which is, after all, 'Israeli' territory. Oh yes, and what of international law and accepted norms of international customary law that are a damn sight older than your sorry little excuse for a state, Israel? Yet again, it's the 'pre-emptive strike' mentality all over again. Many thanks for making that demented military 'strategy' now more acceptable by states like Israel, Mr. George W. Bush. That idiot's legacy continues full steam ahead, heaven help us all.

4. If Israel is so 'correct' in what they have done, then why has been immediate diplomatic consequences regarding relations with Israel from countries like Sweden, Denmark, Spain and France, countries who had nationals on that ship brimming over with terrorists just waiting to annihilate poor little Israel? Not to mention the outpouring of shocked disbelief and outrage all over the Middle East, including in Turkey, which was the main sponsor of the humanitarian aid ship, and once Israel's most powerful and staunch ally in the region. Talk about total disrespect for a valued friend.

5. Israel also contends that their soldiers came 'under fire' by those on board. I bet. Bazookas and all, you lying bastards. I saw the footage showing the Israeli commandos whizzing down ropes onto the ship like Ninjas Clad in Black from Hell and then being fended off by some of the activists on board with sticks and pipes. What the hell did the Israelis expect after parachuting in like gonzo extras from a Schwarzenegger film? What exactly? Canapes and chilled French champagne on ice, with bunches of red roses for good measure? Those bastard commandos got the response they deserved. It was a violent and illegal invasion of a foreign civilian vessel. Period.

Israel is out of control. It is a rogue state. I will say it again here - Israel is a rogue state. It has no respect for international law. It invades Lebanon at will and as a 'pre-emptive' measure, something that is NOT recognized under international law. It sees fit to murder politicians it does not like in luxury hotels in Dubai. It allows its despicable Mossad agents to use forged passports of other nations, all of them allies to Israel. It sees fit to raid a civilian ship in international waters and use live ammunition to quell and terrify and kill those on board. The list goes on and on and on.

Heaven forbid if Iran or North Korea had pulled off a similar stunt in their own waters, never mind international waters. Oh...my...word...how the self-righteous wrath of the United States and the Western world, the sanctimonious Israel included, would come raining down on those states...

When is this madness going to end? When is Israel going to be condemned fully and without undue prejudice or favour by the international community? Where are the sanctions against this rogue nation that has in recent years escalated its absolute contempt for those who do not share in its policies of human rights abuse and violations?

Iran is a rogue state to many. So too North Korea, Myanmar and a few others. All very well. But Israel too is a rogue state. If there is indeed an 'Axis of Evil', what more must Israel do to find itself included in that unsavoury group of rogue and very dangerous nation states?

It is so unfortunate that the state of Israel has come to this. A nation that is remarkably pluralistic, democratic and modern (albeit mainly for the benefit of its Jewish citizens, or at least those who toe the national party line) is also one that is schizophrenic beyond belief - racist, religio-elitist and arrogant, Israel today is undoubtedly an apartheid state in more ways than one.

The shocking events of today are unpardonable. They are unpardonable in terms of international law. They are ethically and morally unpardonable. Israel is a victim of its own paranoia and inability to be a peaceful member of the region in which it finds itself. It is a threat to the region and a threat to international peace and stability. And in its wake it leaves countless dead, disenfranchised and devastated. And it has no right to do so.

Israel must be fully condemned without reservation and must pay the full price of international diplomatic and economic reprisals. Any nation that does what it did today deserves no less.

Enough is enough. Basta!

Do you get my point?

PERSONAL: R.I.P. Chica

The death of a loved one is always very difficult. Somehow, for many of us the death of a pet is as painful and as devastating as that of a person. This past weekend, one of my mother's cats, a lovely tabby by the name of Chica, passed away.

Chica (or 'Xica' as my mother would spell her name in an alternative Portuguese spelling) meant the world to my mother. My mom had literally saved her life back in 1997 when she was a barely alive kitten found in a factory in a suburb of Cascais in Portugal. An acquaintance of my mother had said that that cat would forever adore my mom for having saved her life. How true that was.

Hardly a night would go by when Chica would not make a point of getting onto my mom's lap so that she could be stroked and adored once more. With an amazing pair of emerald green eyes and the funniest nasal squeak-groan for a meow, Chica was the decidedly overweight, hardly beautiful and yet irresistible feline matriarch of the house. Her ungainly waddle and heftiness her hallmark, she somehow commanded respect from the other cats, and she was a constant presence, a presence that only a cat can muster.

Chica lived too short a life. 13 years for an overweight cat with chronic health problems for many years may seem a long, good life, but it was always going to be far too short. Her sudden death swept through our household on Saturday, and I know that my poor mom will ache over her death for many days to come. She was almost certainly the cat who loved my mom the most intensely and the most intently. And she will leave a void. Not only in my mother's heart, but in mine too.

Many people simply do not understand nor empathize with the loss of a pet. They are all the poorer for it - I sincerely pity them for that poverty of spirit.

Bless you Chica, for you were a special one.

It has been over three weeks since I last posted on this blog. It seems very fitting that my first re-post is one that could hardly be more poignant or more personal, even if so sad.

RANT: The Murdoch Media Massage

Today's UK election IS the 'Murdoch Election'...

My rant for today is a continuation of my assessment of the UK election, which is being held today. I use the word 'assessment' most tentatively, given that other peoples' 'assessments' tend to be quite different to mine with regard to this UK election. Now we're all entitled to our opinions, of course, but it's when the opinions being 'assessed' are those of the 'voter' by pollsters for 'political analysis' that we enter very murky waters indeed.

The assessments in question here are those notorious political opinion polls. And this UK election has been rife with them. And I have found them to be suspect...at best. Polls have come out almost every day since this election was announced about a month ago. Not to mention months before that. And they seem to be coming out by the hour in the last few days. It's a veritable torrent of polls.

At first I took very little notice of these polls, even into the election period. Polls are dicey, polls can change as the end nears, we know how often polls have been quite mistaken in the past, etc. I also have a problem with them in a democratic state, but I'll touch on that later.

But it's been in the last week that I have taken more and more notice of these polls. And, oh my, how interesting they have been. What I found most peculiar is how the polls immediately declared Cameron for the Tories as the 'winner' of the third and last debate. Really? Based on what? I happened to see that last debate on TV for two reasons: (1) I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and (2) it was taking place in the Grand Hall at the University of Birmingham, my alma mater and a place in which I spent three really good, enjoyable years filled with good varsity memories. I was quite proud watching the debate take place in a grand hall and a setting with which I was so familiar.

But, quite frankly, I could hardly have judged David Cameron the 'winner' based on his performance that night. If anything, I though Gordon Brown availed himself rather well and with quite a lot of aplomb. He did far better than expected. Nick Clegg came across well, although somewhat the petulant 'schoolboy debater' at times, even if he seemed the most sincere, and Cameron came across...well, flat, really. Yet. he was quite distinctly the 'winner' of that debate. Based on what?

Aaahh, yes, those polls. For us here outside the UK the TV station that has given the most coverage on this election has undoubtedly been the pappy tabloidesque Sky News. But it has made for interesting TV from afar. In giving us more coverage, they've also deluged us with polls. The interesting thing is that Sky News is owned by News Corp. The Fuhrer...ahem...founder of News Corp? Rupert Murdoch. And the most pollster that most consistently gave the best 'findings' to the Conservatives was yougov, the polling arm of that outstanding daily newspaper of such high repute, The Sun. If one looked up the words 'tabloid gutter press' in the dictionary, there would be a picture of The Sun newspaper. Who does The Sun belong to? Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. And what party did the Sun endorse just a few days before this election? The Conservatives, but of course.

Other polls somehow tended to follow similar, if less 'Tory-favourable', trends in their polling. But who's to say what political interests are behind the others, besides the likes of yougov? Am I to believe that pollsters these days are objective, fair and unbiased in whom they poll? Call me cynical, but I'll take a rain check on that.

Even more disturbing, even galling to me, is how the Lib Dems are being discussed as being 'in trouble' in certain of their marginal seats. And who would be their biggest opposition in most of these seats? The Tories, of course. And who reported this 'disturbing trend' for the Lib Dems, just two days before the actual election/ Sky News, of course.

As for Gordon Brown - well, his Labour Party can't seem to break through the 30% barrier in these 'opinion polls'. It's known as a psychological barrier. Interesting word that - psychological.

Subtly, subtly, the opinions of people are formed. And how are they formed? By the perception of what is, rather than what could be. And it is that mis-perception that can make the difference in the minds of certain of those critical, key 'swing' voters. Why vote for the 'underdog' or the 'loser' when the polls keep telling you that the other party is looking 'certain' to win, right?

I don't see a conspiracy. That's why I didn't go as far as to title this post the 'Murdoch Media Manipulation', which would have had as good alliteration! I opted for the word 'massage', because that is what I have been sensing in the days leading up to this election. It's the gentle massage of public opinion and the collective subconscious of that public by pollsters and news media of which a significant part are under the control of Rupert Murdoch, a notorious little rightwing neo-conservative when it comes to journalism and an avowed supporter of the Tories.


Opinion polls are undemocratic. They totally undermine the democratic process b creating certain misconceptions and preconceived ideas about 'where the election is going'. I really do not believe that voters have 'the right' to know what other voters may or may not vote, even if those being polled remain anonymous and could change their minds. That is of no consequence in this debate. Opinions are formed based on perceptions and perceived notions of a given situation - that is human nature.

These highly suspect pollsters, in collusion with media, are milking perception and opinion for all that it's worth. It is their possible agenda, however subtle, however 'massaged', that unnerves me no end.

The UK, like any other nation, should do as France does and ban opinion polls during an election process. That would certainly go some way to salving the uneasiness which some may feel that this is nothing more than 'A Murdoch Election'. Nothing less than a better democracy could be at stake.

The French have the right idea, ne c'est pas?

Do you get my point?

RAVE: The Greeks Who Shout OXI!

OXI, OXI, OXI! NO, NO, NO!

That has been the resounding shout by thousands of Greeks in their protests against massive public spending cuts by the Greek government. A massive rejection to the capitulation by the Greek government to both the IMF and the EU on a crisis that is very little the doing of Greek citizens themselves.

OXI! NO!

I have spent the last few days being shocked and angered by what the Greek people are being put through. But I have also been genuinely impressed by the sheer passion and the visceral outrage of ordinary Greek citizens in their streets. Impressed because less and less one sees this in the world, particularly in the West, and never before in recent history has there been a time when mass protest by citizens has been more necessary and more justified.

I admire the Greek people for their powerful vitriol, as well as for their clearly intelligent political discourse. Slogans on banners and signs show that the Greeks understand perfectly the evil incarnate that is the IMF. The Greeks understand perfectly how unfair and socially devastating the current globalized economic reality is for a European country like Greece. They understand perfectly how economically devastating Wall Street investment bankers and international speculators and other financial terrorists have been to their economy. They understand it all.

And they are totally on to the sell-out and the cop-out that is the Greek government's capitulation to the nefarious IMF (and, also, by the way, the shameful EU).

One of the most interesting and indeed commendable aspects of the general strike that hit Greece today was the fact that the entire private sector came out in support of the strike, even though the majority of the proposed cuts for this highly unpopular deal will be done on the public sector. All Greeks understand what is at stake here, even if it does not directly affect them...for now. That is the spirit of true community, that is the spirit of true nationhood and citizenship.

And I am duly impressed by that. A nation that is so politically savvy and so socio-economically passionate is one that is to admired and respected.

I mean, how can one not respect a people who saw fit to storm the Parthenon yesterday and allow all tourists free entry, so as to deny the state any money that day from the country's most iconic monument! It may have been the actions of the Greek Communists with their own 'anti-capitalist agenda' (whatever the hell that means in this day and age), but it was highly visual and effective drama. Brilliant!

Many Greeks seem ready to keep this fight with their government going. At least that is how it looks for now. May their pressure be unrelenting in their opposition to this IMF deal, a deal that will assuredly a very, very, very bad deal for most Greeks.

I can only wish them the very best of luck. And continued courage and belief in what they are doing.

For now, the Greek protesters in the streets of their country have my utmost respect and admiration. And support.

RANT: Athens is Burning

Athens is burning. Protesters are going out into the streets of the capital in their thousands to demontsrate their outright anger at the proposed austerity cuts by the Greek government. Petrol bombs have gone off in the Greek capital and three people have died when a petrol bom was thrown inside a bank in the downtown area. How totally tragic.

The Greek people are showing just how much anger they have at the news that these austerity measures are going to include massive cuts to public worker pay, cuts in health and education spending, and many other public spending cuts. I was stunned yesterday to learn that Greek public school teachers have been told that their monthly salaries will be slashed to just 540 Euros - yes, a month. 540 Euros a month?! Who the hell can live on that in a modern European country?

And who do we to thank for all of this? Three little (ghastly) letters - IMF.

The International Mafia Fund has insisted that the multi-billion euro loan it is giving Greece is absolutely contingent on massive public spending cuts by the Greek government. No surprises there at all - this has been the modus operandi sine qua non for this legal Mafiosi financial cartel run out of Washington D.C. for years now. It's blandly referred to as 'structural adjustment' of a national economy. Typical unthreatening econospeak. It's nothing less than the rape, pillage and eventual evisceration of a nation's social welfare systems, social protections and public spending.

Goodbye public health, public education, the protection of workers' and labour rights. Hello privatization, slashed public spending and the whoring of your economy to the sharks that are international investors and banking. That's what you get when you allow the predator, the financial vampire that is the IMF into your country's finances.

Guatemala has been there. Argentina has been there. Countless other countries, nearly all in the developing world, have been there in one way or another since the 1970s. Now it's the turn of Greece.

The poor Greeks. This is what they get for having the corrupt governments they've had for nearly 30 years now. This is what they get for believing in the EU. This is what they get for becoming a member of the eurozone. This is what they get done to their hard-fought social welfare system and labour protections.

Greece has been sold right down the line. By its own governments, by the EU, by the European Central
Bank, by that greatest villain of all, the IMF. And the Greek people know it. Oh boy, do they know it.

There are reports from some Greek citizens that the riots are being 'overblown' by the media and that the protests are largely 'peaceful'. That may have been the case until today and, who knows, may yet be mainly the case...but I do have my doubts. The images on TV, as 'over-manipulated' as they might be by international news stations are nevertheless very disturbing when one remembers that this is a capital city in the EU that one is seeing before one's eyes. And it looks bad enough.

Can anyone really blame ordinary Greek citizens for their outraged anger and need to vent in the streets of their ancient capital?

And so parts of Athens burn. At least for now. I find it tragic to watch on TV. And it makes me so angry.

Just how much worse this crisis will become for Greece only time will tell. Sometimes time does not heal - sometimes time can be downright frightening.

Do you get my point?

RANT: Rue Britannia

The British election is tomorrow. It's a choice between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Labour, Tories, Lib Dems. And it's the tightest race in years. Or so those over-hyped (rather suspicious?) polls keep telling us.

The Brits are a notoriously dour bunch when it comes to their general elections.After much hype and anticipation most election years, it's all rather a damp squib. Election after election it swings backward and forth between the Labour and Conservative parties, for what has seemed like eons now. Dull, dull, dull.

Blame it on the British electoral system.

The British election system of first-past-the-post is archaic and even potentially undemocratic. Any system which is based on constituency votes and in which the person with the highest votes in the constituency wins (i.e. the first-past-the-post principle) is bound to be a failure, even a farce. How? Very simple. You can have four candidates contest a seat and one of the candidates can still win by getting less than 30% of the vote. In fact, theoretically, you could have one party win 51% of the vote and another party win 49% of the vote but, due to the first-past-the-post principle, the party with 51% of the vote may win 95% of the seats. Theoretically, they could win 100% of the seats! What of the 'losing' party and it's still substantial vote?

It's just silly and, yes, undemocratic.  I know many Brits obsess about keeping their beloved 'local MPs' (fat lot of good it's done them in the recent expenses scandal debacle) but I believe the value of having a 'local MP' is highly overrated. And the system is frankly unrepresentative of the true wishes of the electorate. The European-style proportional representation electoral system (i.e. a party gets 10% of the vote, therefore they obtain 10% of the seats in parliament) is far better. It does indeed have its drawbacks (e.g. who gets on the 'party list' can be controversial and appear undemocratic) but at least it doesn't lead to such skewered results as in the UK system.

And, very importantly, it is fair to say that proportional representation leads to far less 'tactical voting' than occurs in the UK system. Ah yes, the joys of tactical voting. It's as British as scones with cream and jam (once were). After all, why vote for Labour in a seat which is predominantly Conservative and where Labour stands no chance? A Labour supporter in this instance would be forced to either vote Liberal Democrat or some other party or even opt out of voting altogether or suffer having what is triumphantly referred to as a 'wasted vote' should they decide to vote Labour anyway. And this is repeated with all the possible permutations between the parties across the land. Very democratic.

For as long as the Liberal Democrats have been the Liberal Democrats there has been the constant braying that voting Lib Dem would indeed be a 'wasted vote' in many seats. It is almost certainly single-handed biggest reason why the Lib Dems have never seriously challenged the Big Two Dinosaurs of British politics. How could they in such a system? No wonder the Lib Dems have made a referendum on changing the voting system to one of proportional representation one of their biggest platform issues for years now.

The three debates between the three Big Party leaders in the UK these past few weeks were supposed to have 'opened things up'. To a certain extent, they probably did. For one, the leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, came across the best in the first debate, thereby shooting his party up the opinion polls. For another, it showed the beleaguered British voting public just what disheartening choices they have. Poor things. That's modern democracy for you.

Certainly if the choice is (yet again) between Labour and the Tories, then it really is wrist-slitting time. Gordon Brown has been a very unpopular PM and, quite frankly, it's high time that Labour paid the price for having sold out their working class, socialist roots and in some ways becoming more conservative than the Conservatives.

As for the Tories - quite frankly, I puke on them. Conservative is conservative and I simply cannot warm to the party that unleashed the Biggest Bitch of the 20th Century, Maggie Thatcher, and the Grayest Man of the 20th Century, John Major, on all of us.

Talk about YUCK! I have always seen the Conservatives as what is most patronizing, petty and provincial about the British. They are the very worst of the British character - that prissy Little England know-it-all twat who only cares about me, me, me that all we foreigners love to hate. The British have always been capable of so much more and yet, time and time again, they succumb to the self-serving and selfish temptations of the Tory Whore.

David Cameron in all his red-cheeked, bright-eyed and earnest deceptiveness is the very embodiment of the latest incarnation of the Tory party. Hard as he tries to be earnest and caring and sincere he just comes across smug, smug, smug. I can't stand the man. If he becomes the next British Prime Minister, then the British deserve every damn thing they get.

I lived in the UK for five years from 1989-1994, right at the (merciful) end of the Thatcher quasi-dictatorship and the first part of the Major(ly) Gray Years. The country was in a constant pall of economic downturn, the underclass was growing before one's very eyes and Britain was slowly becoming a tatty, nasty little place, losing so much of what I'm sure was its former proud heritage and true sense of self. I felt it whilst living there - I felt the loss of identity, it was that palpable. And we had the Conservatives to thank for that. It was sad.

The Thatcherite demolition of the more equitable, social democratic state to be replaced by a neo-liberal, neo-conservative, monetarist economic framework is what the UK is today. Lost and confounded. Confused about what country it should be. Thank you, Maggie - you gigantic bitch.

David Cameron is just the latest incarnation of that Thatcherite legacy. Of that I have absolutely NO doubt.

The Labour party are a pitiful shadow of their former selves. Yes, Tony Blair allowed them to win a huge landslide victory in 1997 and they have held power until now. But at what a cost to their heritage, to the social democratic ideals of their party and to the leftwing in Britain. They deserve to lose tomorrow.

If I were a British citizen my vote would certainly go to the Liberal Democrats. They are by far the only one of the three parties that speak any of the language and policy beliefs that mean anything to me. They're all for education, taxing the rich, breaking up the banks, having far greater vigilance on the City of London, they're pro-Europe, pro-green and strident about renewable technologies...not perfect, but good enough. I was a Lib Dem supporter when I lived in the UK and now, twenty or more years later, they're still my choice.

Oh, and there's that little matter about proportional representation that they're all about too...

So, my wish for the 2010 UK election?

Let the Tories bloody win, what do I care if they do, but without a majority. Let the big prize be snatched away from them from right under their twitchy lily white noses due to their ridiculous electoral system - fabulous! Hurrah, old chap!

Let the Lib Dems and Labour do well enough that they can still forge a coalition (horror of horrors - a coalition, Britain! How do those Europeans manage it?). It may mean Gordon Brown stays on in power. That hardly makes me happy but one can hope that the Lib Dems will prove a handful as coalition partners.

For what it's worth, ANYTHING is better than having David Cameron and his bunch of neo-conservatives running that country next week. It will not bode well for the UK, it will not bode well for Europe and, given the clout that the City of London still has in the world economy, it will not bode well for the rest of us.

Rue Britannia or Rule Britannia? Tomorrow the British voters decide. Let us hope they decide with more true heart and with less tactical thinking.

Do you get my point?