05 May 2015

Globalisation in Indonesia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5uYCWVfuPQ

This is a great little documentary on Nike and their operations in Indonesia. It gives some good perspective on globalisation. I appreciate the guy's integrity. There aren't many people that are willing to stand up like that.

They could have said a whole lot more and this video represents just one tiny facet of the whole system, but in twenty minutes they (at least briefly) hit on some of the main issues.

It leads me to ask...

Is it valid for Christians to work for a company like Nike? Is it valid for Christians to own stocks in a company like this, making money in this way? Is this not exploitation? How does this comply with the imperatives of Philippians 2.3-4?

No wonder so many Christians laud economists like Thomas Sowell. He would attack the arrogance of these Westerners coming and telling these people they should make more money. I'm not sure you could even get these Indonesians to understand his point and it's not because they're dumb. It's just that his argument (and it's one I often hear) is just that blind, immoral, and even obscene. Sowell is a Social Darwinist and it's unfortunate that such a repugnant framework has been baptized by Christ's Church.

As I watch a video like this I think of the Christians I hear on the radio and on podcasts talking about how being a financial advisor is their 'vocation'. It's almost as bad as hearing Tim Keller praise investment bankers and insist their skills will be utilized in heaven. I suppose it's easy to say things like this when you shut your eyes to what the system is really all about. Like Sowell to keep their sanity and feigned integrity they have to stick to the ivory tower definitions and ignore the application of these systems to the reality of a sinful world. You have to sear your conscience to flourish in a system such as this.

They view the creation and management of stock portfolios as an act of worship. The whole system is rooted in exploitation, usury, financial trickery and manufactured perception. Nike is hardly some unique example. This kind of exploitation is ubiquitous. This is the American System. This video doesn't even touch on what happens if a nation tries to resist these forces. This video doesn't show the assassinations, death squads and bombs the American empire will use to back up this model.

This immoral system has only exacerbated the suffering in many parts of the world as multinational corporations have figured out how to steal resources, pollute, exploit labour and buy the protection of local government. And then of course all their trade and political concerns are backed by US military might and the diplomatic corps. Who is serving whom? The Establishment transcends these spheres and it is the elites who sometimes run corporations, sometimes hold office and sometimes have previous military connections that are the real masters of America's bestial empire.

A related link: http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2014/03/regulators-investigators-and-cover-ups.html