Ayn Rand called her philosophy “Objectivism”, describing its
essence as “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the
moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity,
and reason as his only absolute”.
When Vasco da Gama invaded the spice market of Calicut and
killed the Arab, Sinhalese and Tamil merchants, the harmonious free market was
destroyed and a policy of Might is Right was introduced to Asia. It persists
even today, led by the IMF and World Bank, and the imperialistic wars in the
world. The markets denoted in Gold, Silver etc., were quickly replaced by currencies
that the majority of the world does not control. Even Jesus rejected the moneylenders
who are today running the world. This was imposed by the colonialists and has
become the neo-colonial agenda.
Thus a philosophy of linear assessment where money was the
arbitrator of development and human achievement was imposed on the world. This
contradicts the age-old philosophy of Asia which was assessed by a philosophy
of cyclicity, making a holistic assessment of development and human
achievements. This harmonious balance of assessment was the basis of
sustainability learnt through evolution, which minimises the environmental and
human costs in any project.
Driving force of this world economy: Creation of Monopoly
money
-
The market
system initialised and forced on the world by the IMF-World Bank with economic
well-being assessed on GDP (Might is Right)
-
Greed and
instant gratification propagated by the media that drives the markets
-
Creative
destruction the philosophy behind markets
-
Money Democracy
that cheats the people
The effect on the world economy is the dehumanisation of
humanity and pollution of the three basic elements of the environment and
making it inhospitable for humanity.
Creative Destruction is the philosophy of the present world economy led by money
economics; it is a linear form of assessment. In its creative accounting the
negatives are not taken into account; only how much money you have earned is assessed
as economic activity or GDP. Large petroleum companies are mainly assessed on
money earned, ignoring the vast number of people who suffer from respiratory
disease, mental problems in the young due to lead-poisoning and cancer, etc.
Alan Greenspan best expresses the absurdity of this
assessment. “In Vermont, the wonderful breeze rendered air conditioning
unnecessary and therefore did not appear as economic activity”. Other things
equal,” he concluded, “the standards of living are the same, but the GDP will
be less in Vermont than it will be in the South.”
Thus the truth is manipulated to the final objective of
earning money, and human suffering ignored as unimportant. In fact, habituation
and mindlessness makes them ignorant of the risks they take as humans. Greed
the final aim and driving force of the neo-colonialists.
The main thing holding us back from reality is the institutionalised
view of our economy and society encapsulated in GDP. Unfortunately this
institutionalised world impregnated our policies in Sri Lanka. We value what is
visible - transacted economic activity - and downplay or ignore what is
invisible. That affects public policy and even our thinking patterns in
insidious ways. We tend to support anything that adds to economic activity, no
matter what the adverse consequences, in environmental degradation or socially
destructive working hours. We have come to see our economy as if it were an
entity separate from the world in which we live; this turns what could be
cooperative, altruistic Homo socialis into selfish, money-grubbing Homo
economicus.
Banks and financial institutions are (still, mostly) macho,
testosterone-fuelled environments where making the quick buck trumps almost
every other consideration. Plenty of power but no responsibility. A company
that buys a forest and cuts it down can, of course, repay its loans faster than
one that plants a new tree for each one it destroys.
This was best expressed by our erudite Minister of Finance, Dr
N M Perera, in the 1970s when questioned by a reporter who asked, “As a former
student of the London School of Economics, what do you think is wrong with the
world economy?” He promptly said,
“London School of economics”. These are the institutions that have brainwashed
our elite who will never question the orders of the IMF and WB.
Cyclical Assessment
In cyclically assessed programmes, a sense of balance is
inculcated to the project and there is a proper accounting system, the
negatives being accounted. Thus changing numbers in a GDP does not necessarily
change the world. The final effect is destruction of nature, the natural wealth
the grand finale, the annihilation of humanity. This is against the majority
Buddhist view in Sri Lanka (ignored by Macaulay-ite politicians) as expressed
in the following view:
…Buddhists believe that humanity and nature are
interdependent, contrary to the present western philosophy of the hubris that
humanity rules nature and that it is in the power of humanity to destroy nature
for her material ends, without paying a price. The poverty of that philosophy
is now gradually dawning on humanity. The Buddhist ecological perspective is
best expressed in the Noble Eightfold Path which is the Right View. This view
is contained in the doctrine of Patticcasamuppada or Dependent
Co-origination, where things exist interdependently, not in their own right.
The Image of the jewelled net of Indra reflects it. This holistic model
undermines the power of the self over others.
Human Development thus is greatly intertwined with nature
and isolated, it can never grow in harmony. Urbanisation in that sense would
never be healthy. Buddhism does not believe in absolutism, it believes in
relativism and therefore expects humanity to act with a view to the ‘Welfare oftThe
Many’. In other words, a Holistic approach to one’s actions.
Present world economy
The present world economy is a progression of colonialism that
is geared to the enslavement of people and not to the liberation of the majority
of people, mentally and physically. The whole world has been enmeshed in a
devious plan to exploit and subjugate humanity by a small group of people who
create the conditions through the IMF and WB. And if anyone challenges, like
Gadhafi of Libya, then the full force of violence is let through.
1) The medium of exploitation seems to be the so-called
international currencies, the monopoly money, thus ensuring that the beneficiaries
are the creators of money. The fuel that runs this economy is money which is
virtual, and has no means of proper assessment of its value. Forced globalization
and open markets geared to sell the birth right of citizens in the market by a corrupt group of
politicians who are there for a short period of 5-6 years. The morality of this
process has to be questioned. It is this immoral money that keeps the world
economy ticking.
2) Secondly markets are encouraged to grow by a process of
brain washing which encourages instant gratification, a form of addiction, not
need. This process is uneconomic as the bought products are not one of need but
of greed.
3) The Christian work ethic - Servants, be submissive to
your masters, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are
unreasonable. The Africans have a saying, ‘when the white man came, he had the Bible
and we had the land. Then he said let us close our eyes and pray. When we
opened our eyes, he had the land and we had the Bible’.
4) Foreign development assistance, where countries borrow
money and build infrastructure so that they can sell the citizens to cheap
labour in an IMF-targeted scheme. In Sri Lanka, it is called Regaining Sri
Lanka.
5) Inequitable distribution of wealth which makes the rich
richer and the poor poorer, makes markets shrink, makes this economy
unsustainable in the future but enslaves the majority by hate and entrapment
because of need. This creates disharmony in society that is best epitomised by
Donald Trump in the US.
Enslavement of mind and new technology
New technology without human emotion is destructive. The
short termism led by globalisation has encouraged the rapid growth of the Internet
and social media. This creates a communication system that lacks emotional
interaction, creating self-centred humans that are the driving force of this economy.
Urbanisation and dehumanisation
Urbanisation and megacity development is the latest advice
for Sri Lanka. The basis is increasing economic activity or GDP assessed by the
international institutions. The increased restriction of space for humans
creates insecurity. In New York, a study has confirmed increased violence in
the home and destruction of family life. Violence has permeated society in ever-increasing
forms from generation to generation, not forgetting the increased divorce rate
and its effect on society and future generations. From an economic perspective,
future job prospects and spending on health care, utilities etc. have been
ignored.
Investment in major cities deprives the rural economies; people
from rural areas have no option to enslavement in the Middle East and into
prostitution in big cities. The growth of spas in Colombo, which are glorified
brothels, is an indication of the deprived rural economy. This social
disruption is a result of enslavement of the people by a class of rulers who
have lost the basic human qualities of compassion and care of fellow human
beings.
Destruction of the three basic elements
The three basic elements of the environment are the soil,
water and air, which are essential for the sustenance of life and maintenance
of bio-diversity. Water is the natural conveyor of nutrients, of the by-products
of nature. Water accounts for 65% of the human body and is the conveyor of oxygen,
nutrients and by-products. Water is the natural life giver. Today pollution
from industrial waste, nuclear by-products, refined medicines, insecticides and
weedicides, has converted it into a conveyor of death.
70% of human cancers are secondary to weedicides,
insecticides and chemicals used in industry and can be prevented according to
the American Cancer Association. The conveyor of these toxins is the life giver,
water. American chemical companies are now charged for selling weedicides that
are causing malignant lymphomas in the USA. Interestingly, these companies
export these chemicals to the third world and promote Genetically Modified plants
which need the chemicals to prevent the diseases these plants are subjected to
in their new environment. Cancer villages in China are a product of rapid
industrialisation. After the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the Pacific Sea was
polluted by the heavy water (nuclear waste) that would carry to humans eating
fish.
Growth of algae in streams and rivers when chemical fertilisers
interfere with the eco-system. These algae deprive oxygen to the fish and other
aquatic animals, and deprive humanity of a natural food. The flesh of fish, a
staple diet of rural people, becomes a carrier of toxic products to humans, causing
diseases such as cancers, kidney disease etc.
In Sri Lanka, deforestation of around 400 hectares of
forests in 10 years, has had major effects on humanity. When ecosystems are
disturbed, new diseases are introduced to human societies. An estimated 24 new diseases
have been introduced. The human-elephant conflict is a well-known problem
created in Sri Lanka
Trees block the flow of rainwater enough for it to be absorbed
by the soil. Flowing rainwater can cause landslides and floods that are a recurrent
problem in China that has industrialised and amalgamated its economy to the
world economy too quickly. Trees also give shade that encourages actinomyces
that prevent soil erosion and allows the soil to retain water and maintain
porosity, which allows water to be absorbed.
Deforestation has allowed the weedicides and fertilisers to
be directed through the Mahaweli scheme to the North central province where
high levels of cadmium and heavy metals from fertilisers have affected 15% of
the population with kidney disease. These are rural people, and till today, no
effective measures have been taken to detoxify the soil.
Mahaweli Scheme was started by an ambitious group of
politicians whose desire to earn commissions outweighed the need to assess the
negatives of the scheme, which has failed to achieve its expectations. The country
still imports fertiliser, as it is absolutely necessary for the tea industry,
one of the main foreign exchange earners in Sri Lanka. All cash crops and mono-cultural
plantations deplete the soil of nutrients and need fertilisers for its maintenance,
compounding the effect on humanity. The heavy metals are now distributed to the
rest of the country via sales of rice consumer.
Human health and disease: the new economic order triggers mental disease due to stress
caused by living in a confined area and a work ethic that promotes enslavement.
In Sri Lanka, the incidence of cancers has doubled from 2005 to 2014. Systemic
diseases have increased, from Diabetes, Sleep Apnoea, Obesity, Hypertension etc.,
all of which are stress-related. There are new vector-controlled diseases such
as dengue etc. Added to this is a new wave of antibiotic resistance due to
industrial agriculture. All these create an extra cost on health care for the
poor who cannot afford it. None of this suffering is reflected in the Lord of
the Economy, the GDP.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the present world economy is inefficient.
Productive work as expressed by the GDP and other statistical data are misleading,
hiding the inefficiency of the system. What humans need is happiness and
contentment, not enslavement. The great Indian philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore,
in his lecture to the Japanese aptly said: Modernity is the freedom of the mind
not the taste in the tongue
Modernisation is Imitation. What we are doing today is
blindly following a defunct western philosophy that has been forced on our
countries despite the destruction and destabilisation of the environment and never-ending
proxy wars. Our rulers lack the wisdom that our ancestors firmly believed would
establish a fair and just economy. It makes no sense to adopt an economy that
increases human suffering but gives the illusion of human well-being, promoted
by fraudulent statistics. The curse of Sri Lanka is that the rulers are far removed
from the Buddhist Philosophy and too close Western Christian philosophy.
