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Friday, November 05, 2004
San Pedro: Anatomy of crisis
By Art San Pedro
WE ARE all suffering the pinch of the global crisis. The whole of mankind is feeling the effects of escalating prices. Oil products are increasing almost every week. But the salaries and wages of workers in the government and private sector are at a standstill. No one has that little extra killing even our Samaritan tradition and spirit. Even the government is in dire financial straits.
The business climate is anemic. Investments are not coming in. No new jobs are being generated. Loanable capital is scarce because the savings from the saving public is depleted. Banks are very strict on their lending. Interest rates are high. There is unrest on the labor front because the purchasing power of the worker is gone. The capitalists cannot afford to give additional benefits because business is generally down and volatile. Tax collections are also down. Cash registers do not ring that familiar tune of the holidays.
The innocent child is not getting his usual necessities in the family. The pupils' daily allowance is getting smaller. Our children didn't have new clothes and shoes last All Saints' Day. Children jokingly say, "Kuripot and ninong ko." Santa Claus had become thinner while his bag, that used to be filled with goodies and gifts, had become small and full of holes. The reindeer that pull the sleigh of Santa Claus are malnourished, too. Parents are looking for loan sharks to borrow for the second semester tuition of their children. Payment of electric and water bills are delayed. The basket of mother-market goers is lighter because of the absence of pork and meat. Pati gatas ng mga babies ay maputla! Everybody is blaming the government.
But is the government at fault? What is the participation of government, if any, in this crisis? Nagkulang ba ang gobyerno? Is the government denying us? Is the government holding on to purse strings and making it difficult to all of us, especially the government workers? Is the government guilty of doable standard of morality because it has money for pogi-projects, politicians and bureaucrats while it has no money for utility workers, middle class employees? Or is the government also a victim? Who is the culprit?
I believe that what is pestering the whole world today is global terrorism. Fundamentalist and terrorist organizations control the production, refinery and distribution of oil. They are using their enormous oil revenues to terrorize the world, especially those allied with the United States. They will not stop raising the price of oil products till they bring down the United States and her allies in their knees. They want nothing less than an Islamic Fundamentalist World. They are using oil terrorism to soften our defense.
Today, the world is witness to biological, chemical, infrastructure and cyber terrorism. They have money for biological research. They are now capable of producing weapons of mass destruction. They have the technology to terrorize the world through computers. They can finance suicide bombers. They can slam airplanes on high-rise buildings in the busiest business craters of the world. They have biological technology to propagate all forms of sickness that can kill mankind by the million.
The market forces are not the culprit. They are merely contributing to the problem. It is not our over-dependence on the black gold for our energy requirements that is killing us. What is killing us is the diabolical design of fundamentalists who use terrorism to advance political and religious beliefs. These terrorist groups want to rule the world. They want a new world order where they lord it over us. Believe me, they will not stop raising the prices of oil products. Worst, they will not listen and care even if we die from hardship and poverty. They want to get the whole world.
I do not know how the world can get over these humps. No one knows how to handle this complex global problem. Resources on planet earth are for all of mankind to explore, use and share. Terrorists with fundamentalist orientation who are out to punish the whole world cannot use oil to bring down the world on its knees. They too need the food we produce, the plants we sow, the marine resources in our seas and mines in our mountains.
They do not have a monopoly of the right to live. They have no right to punish the world because they are not God.
(November 5, 2004 issue)
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