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...states their military, paramilitary and police forces. Violence against those who resist the expansion of finance imperialism--whether labourers, trade unionists, women's groups, the unemployed, peasants or national leaders--is swift and brutal. If the military and police of nation state cannot suppress those who protest against and resist the depredations of the multinational corporations and the institutions and agencies of globalisation, such as the World Bank (WB), the World Trade Organisation, the IMF and the regional `development' banks, then the military and paramilitary forces of imperialism, either in the form of a `regional army' or joint force, such as NATO, will step in.
As finance imperialism extends its extractive and exploitative ventures into little known underdeveloped countries, their peoples will begin to resist their exploitation, often up to the level of armed resistance. To defeat such local resistances--armed or otherwise--and to make these countries safe for capital `investment', a huge military, paramilitary and police infrastructure/network has been developed that can be adapted to different circumstances. Such an international military force will have to work in tandem with the military and police of the local government or nation state. In many such cases, the national government, whether a right-wing `democracy' or a military dictatorship, is itself kept in power by the military assistance of imperialist countries.
For the military forces of different nations to learn to operate in defence of multinational capital across the globe, a central training school for their personnel is necessary. The most significant and influential military training school is the US Army School of the Americas (SOA). Founded in 1946 and originally located in Panama, it was moved in 1984 to Fort Benning, Georgia. Thus far, it has trained more than 60,000 officers from various countries, the majority of them from Central and Latin America. Officers trained at SOA have been the mainstay of repression in a number of countries. (1) An appendage of SOA, where helicopter pilots can train to carry out, among other duties, machine gun attacks on people on the ground, is based at the Helicopter School Battalion at Fort Rucker, Alabama. (2)
The school provides special military training in, and ways of countering, guerrilla warfare, controlling populations, prisoner interrogation, torture, espionage and counter-espionage, blackmail and execution. Such methods are known to have been used against leaders of peasant organisations and left-inclined trade unionists. Upon return to their countries, these military leaders, working in conjunction with native paramilitary and police forces, lead the armies of their native lands against those who resist the process of globalisation. The armaments for practically all such armies and paramilitaries are supplied by the US and other imperialist powers. Graduates of this military academy--there are reported to be some 10,000 in the Colombian army alone--have been responsible for the murders of many thousands throughout Latin and Central America. A UN truth commission report into El Salvador found that more than two-thirds of the worst human right violators were graduates of the SOA, while the Guatemalan truth commission noted that 93 per cent of human rights violations were committed by the military or death squads linked to SOA graduates. (3) A number of officers have served in the security apparatus of such dictators as Noriega (Panama), Galtieri (Argentina), Pinochet (Chile), Rodriguez (Ecuador), Fujimori and Alvarado (Peru). (4)
Several protests have been held outside the SOA demanding its closure, such as that on 21 November 1999, when more than 12,000 people converged on Fort Benning to protest against the murders committed by SOA graduates. (5) On 18-19 November 2000, over 10,000 gathered outside the main gate. The annual vigil commemorates the killing, on 16 November 1989, of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter by the Salvadoran security forces. More than 500 SOA graduates have been cited as some of the worst human rights abusers in the hemisphere. (6) Due to the frequency of demonstrations, the school was officially closed in December 2000, but was reopened on 17 January 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation (WHISC). (7)
Other active clandestine military training programmes also exist. Indonesian military and paramilitary have received training in the US under a covert programme; military pilots have been trained in Britain at a cost of millions of dollars. Since New Labour came to power, the Blair government has approved eleven arms deals with Indonesia; details are restricted under the Official Secrets Act. (8) In addition, `specialised' police or paramilitary forces are trained for counterinsurgency, hostage rescue and to suppress protests against the existing economic order instituted at the behest of the WB/IMF and the MNCs: in Bolivia, the special forces are called `Dalmatians'--Special Security Group (GES); in Colombia, they are called Self Defence Units (AUC) and work closely with the regular Colombian army. The armies of both countries are armed and trained by the US; this includes the use of attack helicopters. The AUC has been using helicopters and a small spy plane to support its ground troops. (9) In the Philippines, such special forces are called Scout Rangers and are trained by 1,200 American troops stationed there to fight the Muslim guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf. (10) Specialised weapons for these forces are also supplied by the US and other arms-exporting countries.
Today the US is the mightiest imperialist country in the world, with according to Department of Defense figures, 1,417,558 military personnel. (11)
The Pentagon has spent 19 trillion dollars on the military since 1940 ... And now, having spent all of that, they propose to spend an additional $1.2 trillion in the next four years. The purpose of this military build-up is to provide security for corporate America's far-flung empire. It is part of the globalization strategy. (12)
It has been estimated that around forty cents in every dollar ends up with the Pentagon which, in the financial year 2002/3, will spend over $400 billion on its war machine. (13)
Bringing a government to heel
Outright military attack or intervention usually comes after more indirect methods of attempting to bring a recalcitrant Third World government to heel have failed. Various destructive pressures are applied to make a country submit to the conditions of finance imperialism. Direct military attack is postponed for later when such measures do not bring about the desired outcome. Below we note a few of the tactics, devices and methods that have been used against underdeveloped countries to bring about the desired result prior to military intervention.
One method is to impose credit and/or economic sanctions that freeze a country's assets and credits internationally. Thus, it can no longer import food, oil and other necessities, entailing great hardship for the people, especially the poor and the lower classes. This, in turn, leads to protests and revolts by...
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