BTW, if you think our referring to the situation as "global slavelization" is overdoing it, click here.
Corporate Globalization? Or Global Slavelization?
About John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
[modified slightly from his website]
John Perkins has lived four lives:
as an economic hit man (EHM); as the CEO of a successful alternative energy
company, who was rewarded for not disclosing his EHM past; as an expert on
indigenous cultures and shamanism, a teacher and writer who used this expertise
to promote ecology and sustainability while continuing to honor his vow of
silence about his life as an EHM; and finally as a writer who, in telling the real-life
story about his extraordinary dealings as an EHM, has exposed the world of
international intrigue and corruption that is forming a global corporate empire allied with the American republic that is despised by increasing numbers of people around the planet.
As an EHM, John’s job was to
convince Third World countries to accept enormous loans for
infrastructure development—loans that were much larger than needed—and to
guarantee that the development projects were contracted to U.S. corporations
like Halliburton and Bechtel. Once these countries were saddled with huge debts,
international corporations and the aid agencies allied with them were able
to control these economies and to ensure that oil and other resources were
channeled to serve the interests of building the global corporate empire.
John Perkins provides profound insight into how economic factors affect our situation. But for a more complete picture, consider the views presented in the videos on these pages:
In this brief interview, Perkins describes in more detail
how economic hit men and jackals actually operated:
If video fails to play left-click here; to download, right-click.
In his EHM capacity, John traveled
all over the world—to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle
East—and was either a direct participant in or witness to some of the most
dramatic events in modern history, including the Saudi Arabian Money-laundering
Affair, the fall of the Shah of Iran, the assassination of Panama’s President Omar
Torrijos, the subsequent invasion of Panama, and events leading up to the 2003
invasion of Iraq.
In 1980 Perkins founded
Independent Power Systems, Inc (IPS), an alternative energy company. Under his
leadership as CEO, IPS became an extremely successful firm in a high-risk
business where most of his competitors failed. Many “coincidences” and favors
from people in powerful positions helped make IPS an industry leader. John also
served as a highly paid consultant to some of the corporations whose pockets he
had previously helped to line—taking on this role partly in response to a series
of not-so-veiled threats and lucrative payoffs.
After selling IPS in 1990, John
became a champion for indigenous rights and environmental movements, working
especially closely with Amazon tribes to help them preserve their rain forests.
He wrote five books, published in many languages, about indigenous cultures,
shamanism, ecology, and sustainability; taught at universities and learning
centers on four continents; and founded and served on the board of directors of
several leading nonprofit organizations.
One of the nonprofit organizations
he founded and chaired, Dream Change Coalition (later simply Dream Change, or
DC), became a model for inspiring people to attain their personal goals and, at
the same time, to be more conscious of the impacts their lives have on others
and on the planet, and for empowering them to transform their communities into
more balanced and sustainable ones. DC has developed a following around the world and has
empowered people to create organizations with similar missions in many
countries.
During the 1990s and into the new
millennium, John honored his vow of silence about his EHM life and continued to
receive lucrative corporate consulting fees. He assuaged his guilt by applying
much of the money he earned as a consultant to his nonprofit work. Arts &
Entertainment television featured him in a special titled “Headhunters of the
Amazon,” narrated by Leonard Nimoy. Italian Cosmopolitan ran a major
article on his “Shapeshifting”workshops in Europe. TIME magazine
selected Dream Change as one of the thirteen organizations in the world whose
Web sites best reflected the ideals and goals of Earth Day.
Then came September 11, 2001. The
terrible events of that day convinced John to drop the veil of secrecy around
his life as an EHM, to ignore the threats and bribes, and to write Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. He believed he had a responsibility to
share his insider knowledge about the role the U.S. government, multinational
“aid” organizations, and international corporations have played in bringing the world to a
place where such an event could occur. He wanted to expose the fact that EHM are
more ubiquitous today than ever before. He felt he owed this to his country, to
his daughter, to all the people around the world who suffer because of the work
he and his peers have done, and to himself. In this book, he described the
dangerous path his country is taking as it moves away from the original ideals
of the American republic and into a quest for a global corporate empire.
John Perkins' Next Book: The Secret History of the American Empire
If video fails to play left-click here; to download, right-click.