Friends, In yesterday's posting, I argued that the BBC article was trying to downplay the real reason for the No vote, which I characterized as being the neoliberal economics issue. I'd like to apologize for over-simplifying the situation - I wrote that piece late at night. There are many other important issues, besides neoliberalism, that are being intentionally downplayed - the increased militarization of the EU being perhaps the most obvious. And upon reflection, I think the 'real' reasons for the rejection are broader than just neoliberalism. Before going on to our next sample article, I'd like to comment a bit further on the material we've already seen. Consider the BBC's first suggested reason, "Dissatisfaction with the current French government", which I characterized as an attempt to attribute the No vote to "internal French politics". In fact, I overlooked here an important theme in the EU propaganda program. On an ongoing basis, not just in response to the No vote, the European media consistently spins the news so as to confuse, in a certain way, the distinction between EU issues and domestic issues. I'll use Ireland as an example. Two problems that concern most Irish citizens are the under-funding of education, and of health care. Class sizes are too large; school buildings are deteriorating; waiting lists in hospitals are too long; patients are often left on gurneys because no bed is available, etc. In the 'public debate' on these issues - i.e., the media articles which are critical of these inadequate conditions - the blame is always placed at the door of the Minister of Education or Health. They are blamed for "not solving the problem". What is not mentioned is that these ministers have no ability to solve these problems - due to EU-mandated budgetary constraints. Also not mentioned is the fact that these kind of 'domestic Irish problems' are also problems throughout the EU. In other words, what are really EU issues - fiscally tight budgets and failing social programs - are presented to the Irish people, and to Europeans generally, as a disconnected collection of domestic "failures" in each separate nation. This same pattern of spin applies to all similar situations, where unpopular policies are compelled by EU laws or directives - which in turn are often compelled by WTO rules. Always the blame is focused on domestic politicians. The politicians play along with this game. They'd lose their next election for being 'incompetent' sooner than they'd offer their legitimate excuse: "Sorry folks, but my hands are tied by the EU." On the other hand, when policies are popular, as in the areas of environmentalism or citizen rights, the EU is given credit for its benevolent influence. Hence problems are blamed on local politicians, and the EU is associated only with good policies - that's the pattern the media is spinning on a day-to-day basis. Thus, even if the French voters were voting mainly against Chirac, that would still be a reflection of public dissatisfaction with EU policies - even if the public didn't realize it. But I think we will find, as our investigation continues, that the people understand a lot more than the media wants to give them credit for. The progress of the EU program has been like the story of the camel that poked his head into a tent. First the head came in, and no one complained. Then came the shoulders, etc., and soon the whole camel was in the tent and the occupants were forced out. There's never been any real public debate about the EU program as a whole. Each step has been sold on its own, by a carefully crafted PR campaign, tailored to the sentiments of each individual nation at the time. The general EU population has gone along with the EU program - partly because there seemed to be no viable alternative on offer and partly because the PR sounded good - and people have had little opportunity to express themselves on the matter. Meanwhile, social programs have deteriorated, unemployment has risen, national governments are losing power to Brussels, and economic prospects seem to be cloudy and worsening. It's not looking very good on the ground; everyone can see that, and meanwhile the governments and political parties want to push the bandwagon even faster, into unknown territory, as specified in an unreadable constitution. I believe, and this is still intuitive, that the people are saying, "We've had enough of this flawed bandwagon ride; we want to stop and reconsider where we're going as a society." What I suspect is that a Pandora's box has been opened; what could not be said can now be said. A European can now question the EU project without being branded a stick-in-the-mud, nationalist, or racist. Not only that, but the newly expanded discussion space begins in a context of common-sense grassroots solidarity, and is imbued with a healthy dose of skepticism regarding those 'experts' on high who've been pushing the bandwagon. I consider the overwhelming Dutch "Nee" vote to be a conscious message from the people to their 'leaders': "If you had any doubt about the French 'Non!', please append this additional exclamation mark!" That's my hypothesis, based my general observations, but it is a hypothesis that has not been substantiated as yet by the evidence we've looked at. In our next posting I'll bring in another media article, and we'll see what we can learn about media spin and about actual public sentiment. My hypothesis may or may not survive scrutiny, but it will in any case provide a focus for our investigation. best regards, rkm -- ============================================================ If you find this material useful, you might want to check out our website (http://cyberjournal.org) or try out our low-traffic, moderated email list by sending a message to: •••@••.••• You are encouraged to forward any material from the lists or the website, provided it is for non-commercial use and you include the source and this disclaimer. Richard Moore (rkm) Wexford, Ireland "Escaping The Matrix - Global Transformation: WHY WE NEED IT, AND HOW WE CAN ACHIEVE IT ", old draft: http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/rkmGlblTrans.html _____________________________ "...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the Reichstag fire." - Srdja Trifkovic There is not a problem with the system. The system is the problem. Faith in ourselves - not gods, ideologies, leaders, or programs. _____________________________ cj list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=cj newslog list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog _____________________________ Informative links: http://www.indymedia.org/ http://www.globalresearch.ca/ http://www.greenleft.org.au/index.htm http://www.MiddleEast.org http://www.rachel.org http://www.truthout.org http://www.williambowles.info/monthly_index/ http://www.zmag.org http://www.co-intelligence.org ============================================================
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