Borders on privatization
Dr. H. Salari

Brutal exploitation of oppressed peoples of the world, business of usury and rampant plunder of natural resources of the planet by monopolies, led to the accumulation of enormous amounts of money.
This finance capital which by the nature of imperialism is not used for the well-being of the masses inevitably makes its way for more benefits through the purchase of everything from the fortunes of other companies, to buy off the public assets and institutions of every nation. Otherwise, this corporation will be devoured by another monopoly.

As the international monetary monopolies like IMF and World Bank, increasingly compel countries to privatize their public assets and institutions, these states become subject to the WTO’s various agreements to open themselves to big monopolies.

In nature, lands, underground resources, forests, lakes, seas, rivers, mountains, space… are becoming the property of private owners.

In the societies, hospitals, medical facilities, schools, universities, roads, bridges, railways, airports, communication services, transport services, factories, social institutions… are eventually swallowed by the private sector.

It is in the private sector that profit takes precedence over people, for instance as a result of privatization of the social security in the U.S., senior citizen’s retirement benefits mostly go to the pockets of private companies.

Thanks to the advances in medicine, the number of senior citizens is increasing astronomically, and taking care of that population is going to create a huge expense.

Thus in the face of continuous cuts in social securities’ expenditures by the private sector, we will witness a very tragic future for this portion of the population.

Meanwhile, the lives of children, youth and adults will not be better than the elderly.  To take another example, “in 1970, only 2o% of rancher’s production in the U.S., was under the control of big firms, now it is 80%, hence small ranchers are going bankrupt.  Cattle, poultry & pig farming are more and more under the control of big corporations.  They can not compete against big companies, and it is important to know that suicide among ranchers is 3 times of the national average.” (BBC News, July 09, 2004)
But this is not the end of the road for privatization.  To secure its privileges and consolidate its steps for taking the next gait, not only private sector restrains civil liberties, but also creates its own tools of suppression:  the army, police, interrogators and prisons.

Nowadays, between fifteen and twenty thousand mercenaries are fighting against the people of the occupied Iraq.  Private armies are the second largest army present on the field after the U.S. itself.
In the case of felony they are not accountable to the U.S. military laws  or court marshals.  On paper they are accountable only to local laws,  but there are no independent and forcible laws in colonies like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Private armies are directly and indirectly responsible for the death of about five million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998.

Some of these mercenaries were detained in Zimbabwe, before carrying out a private coup-d’état, in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.  BBC News reported on March 11, 2004, that these people were security providers destined to the “Internationally Running Mines”, in the diamond and coltan-rich Democratic Republic of Congo.   A new name for the mines that are controlled by private armies for the private sector, in an independent country.

According to the Guardian Newspaper (June 06, 2004), South African based firm, “Meteoric Tactical Solution” provides these services, which include security for U.K. officials in Iraq.  Some of the contractors of this firm openly have a history of criminality during the apartheid era.

Mercenaries also are employed by Armour Group, Black Water corp., Titan Corporation, California Analysis Center Incorporated (CACI), giant U.S defence contractor Northrop, and others.

As BBC News reported, “the rules are blurred in Iraq in ways never seen before.  It might be called the first privatised war of our modern times… in Abu Ghraib prison – where contractors are reported to have run interrogations – that means unclear lines of legal responsibility… private companies might be able to do things government forces found unacceptable and deniable”, (may 10, 2004)

In the month of May 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that in Iraq brutality against prisoners, took place in battle group unit stations; the military sections of Camp Cropper and Abu Ghraib Correctional Facility; Al-Baghdadi, Heat Base and Hubbania camp in Ramadi governate; Tikrit holding area (former Saddam Hussein Islamic school); a former train station Al-Khaim, near the Syrian border, which was turned into a military base; the Ministry of Defence and Presidential Palace in Baghdad, the former Mukhabarat office in Basra, as well as several Iraqi police stations in Baghdad.
Recently The New York Times published a confidential report that explains torture was used during interrogation of prisoners in occupied Guantanamo Bay (November 30, 2004).

Right now, the private army industry is training native mercenaries in countries around Sudan for the purpose of future interventions and occupation of the oil-rich Darfur region,(a similar scenario is written for the oil-rich Iran).  Native mercenaries have committed severe criminal acts in places like Colombia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan.

In the U.S. itself, the prison industry has become an extraordinary profitable business and is booming.  That is why two-thirds of inmates are serving sentences for non-violent crimes.  More prisoners mean lesser wages and greater benefits.

The system feeds on crime.  As stated by The Seattle Times, “the Washington Supreme Court is taking another look at a law that allows the state Department of Corrections to award preferential contracts to private companies, giving them the unique advantage of using prison labour to compete against other private businesses in our state.” (December 30, 2003).

Companies like Boeing, Dell (the PC giant), MicroJet, Microsoft, CMT Blues, TWA and Victoria’s Secret are using prison labour for everything from making aircraft components, computers and lingerie to telemarketing and even booking reservations.

CMT Blues a garment business is operating a sweatshop in the maximum security R.J. Donovan State Correctional Facility outside San Diego California.  The company is paying minimum wage to prisoners and if inmates complain about their work conditions and corruption at the plant, they will face retaliation from prison officials like solitary confinement.

“In a Texas prison operated by one company, guards were videotaped beating, shocking, kicking and settings dogs on prisoners.  While private prisons hardly have a monopoly on such violence, critics argue that hiring low wage untrained guards – some of them with criminal records of their own – makes brutality more likely.” (www.CorpWatch.org – October 28, 1999).

The same contractors lured for higher wages are sent to countries like Iraq, to impose the American way of life and democracy.

Private prisons, private torture chambers and private armies are expanding fast.  The better services they provide the better contracts they can get.  Companies like Nashville based Corrections of America (CCA), has become a transnational which operates private prisons in U.K., Australia, Puerto Rico …
Finally, here comes a question, where are the borders on privatization?  The answer is, if there was no devastating inter-imperialist war, and as long as those who still can vote do so for their misery, we will witness the emergence of a very big slave-master company, and the entire people of the world will serve as slaves, slaves who are intoxicated and genetically malformed, living in a shrunken planet.
However this scenario will not take place, because there exists a big conflict, a conflict between capitalism, which is governed by biologic laws – law of jungle – and the society which is formed of thoughtful human beings who are no longer ruled by their animal instincts.

The conflict will be solved by the people who struggle for a better life, and the struggle will be pushed ahead by our ever-growing high-level of science and technology.  It is inevitable, and the name to the solution is global socialism! 

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