At the very start of this pandemic I stated that this was a golden opportunity for us to reshape society, I also said that it was a golden opportunity for the various states to push the boundaries of their control over the civilian population. It would give them a wonderful avenue to create that submissive population. I still believe that and I know I am not alone in that line of thought. What we have to come to terms with is that the state has seized upon that opportunity with a determined single mindedness, but we seem to have fragmented our aims and therefore are failing to to make the most of our opportunity. This could be a disaster for us all, as the few freedoms that we have will be drastically diminished, to regain them, let alone increase them, will be a monumental and brutal task.
The following from 325:
By Gianfranco Sanguinetti
By Gianfranco Sanguinetti
We are sharing, with many thanks to the author, this English translation of an important article written in April 2020.Continue reading:
The conversion of the Western representative democracies to a completely new form of despotism has, on account of the virus, assumed the juridical features of a force majeure (in jurisprudence, as is well known, force majeure is a case of exonerated responsibility). And so the new virus is at the same time both a catalyst for the event and a distraction for the masses through fear. (1)
For all the hypotheses I have put forth, since my book On Terrorism and the State (1979), regarding the manner in which this conversion (ineluctable, in my eyes) from formal democracy to despotism would be made, I must confess that I never imagined it would happen on the pretense of a virus. But the ways of the Lord are truly infinite. As are those of Hegel’s cunning of reason.
The sole reference, it can truly be said, as prophetic as it is disturbing, is one I found in an article by Jacques Attali, former boss of EBRD [European Bank for Reconstruction and Development], written for L’Express during the epidemic of 2009: (2)
If the epidemic becomes a little more serious, which is possible, since it is transmittable by humans, it will have truly planetary consequences, both economic (the models suggest a loss of three trillion dollars, that is a 5% drop in global GDP) and political (due to risks of contagion). It would therefore be necessary to establish a global police force, a global stockpile, and therefore a global fiscal policy. We would then—much sooner than economic reasons alone would have allowed—come to establish the basis for an actual global government.
The pandemic was thus already envisioned: how many simulations were run by the major insurance companies! And by the protective services of the states. Just few days ago former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown again returned to the need for global government: “Gordon Brown has urged world leaders to create a temporary form of global government to tackle the twin medical and economic crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.” (3)
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