Pandora Papers<\/i> is not the entire Pandora\u2019s Box; but a part of it only. The full picture is yet to emerge, in one sense, and in another sense, the whole is already perceptible.<\/p>\n
The way the rich have their wealth, the way they accumulate, the way they hide, the way they deceive, the way they deprive, the way they lie are in the Pandora Papers<\/i>. It\u2019s not a tale of only a king, of a few powerful and a few politicians \u2013 a section of seemingly magicians. The Papers<\/i>, as like their earlier friend, Panama Papers<\/i>, convey a single fact: Exploitation, an exploitative system, the system\u2019s power.<\/p>\n
If that wealth of the rich is compared with the \u201cwealth\u201d the poor of the world own, if that power is compared with the \u201cpower\u201d the poor of the world \u201cwield\u201d, the inequality\u2019s brutality stands under sun \u2013 open, stark, it\u2019s barbaric. The lie, the deception are two of the sharpest, most effective and functional weapons the rich employ against the people, the working people \u2013 the social force that produces the wealth at societal level but stolen by the rich.<\/p>\n
Whose hands are behind the exposure \u2013 is not the only question related to the exposure. The exposure explains itself \u2013 the exposure is a part of factional fight among the wealthy at world level. But, the question that should also be in agenda is the system itself \u2013 what and how is the system that gives birth to such richness, such theft, such deception, such lie? The question that should also be in agenda is the \u201cwealth\u201d and \u201cpower\u201d, if any, and even, if non-existent, of people, the poor, especially the working persons producing wealth and being deceived by the wealthy. The question that should also be in agenda is the relations between such wealth and power, essentially political power, used to do misdoings \u2013 theft, lie, deception. This is the question of inequality of political power \u2013 the question missed most of the time by most of the mainstream economists discussing inequality. An amazing business it\u2019s!<\/p>\n
There\u2019s law, a gamut of law; and the purpose pronounced powerfully and forcefully behind enacting the gamut of law is execution of justice, execution of equity, kick out theft and deception. All the business the Pandora Papers show is an execution of law \u2013 the way it\u2019s executed. No enactment could prohibit the deception. Whatever was done by the rich \u2013 floating of companies, transfer of money or capital, etc. \u2013 was by faithfully following all laws. The system of law, so, can\u2019t escape the very question: what were you doing Sir when such a great business with such a great amount of money was transacted? Are you ineffective or a party to it? A sleeping partner, are you? Has this been enacted only to hoodwink the ordinary tax payers, the person begging on a street in Karachi, the mother with her hungry children in Lebanon, the person searching for medical treatment in a dysfunctional health care system in a capitalist economy that accumulates profit from the health care system it has elaborately set up?<\/p>\n
There are executioners of law enacted to stop theft and \u201cflying away\u201d of capital. There\u2019s supervisory authority keeping eyes open so that all laws related to theft and deception are executed properly. What were these executioners and supervisory authority doing while the theft, the deception \u2013 dodging taxes \u2013 were carried on by the rich with smile in their faces? Are they, the executioners and the supervisory authority, thus, party to this great job? They are part of the system of taxation and ensuring proper implementation of taxation, revenue, etc.; and thus, haven\u2019t they made the system party to the lie, deception, dodging of tax, loss of revenue? Who the criminals will be, then?<\/p>\n
Politics was obviously there behind these thefts, deceptions. Without political clout this system couldn\u2019t have operated, couldn\u2019t have operated for months and years, and thefts, the dodging of taxes, weren\u2019t done in a day, weren\u2019t done once, weren\u2019t done by a single person.<\/p>\n
These are difficult questions \u2013 difficult to the powerful, the owners of the system that creates and sustains with loopholes to lie, to deceive, that sustains with unequal political power sharing between the exploiter and the exploited.<\/p>\n
These are questions unknown to the unaware, to the disorganized, to the political-powerless millions \u2013 the masses struggling with hunger in Afghanistan, struggling with poverty in Brazil, struggling with inequality in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
But, these questions, instead of superficial and trivial issues, should reach them. But, these questions, in most cases, don\u2019t reach them. The facts are hidden from them \u2013 the millions whose labor is stolen by a few.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the exposure or the factional fight, whatever that\u2019s. It has provided some facts \u2013 facts to understand the system, not only loot, not only theft \u2013 dodge tax. The Papers<\/i> has opened up the powerful\u2019s Pandora\u2019s Box \u2013 a system full with theft, deception, lies, and inequality.<\/p>\n
Loot \u2013 appropriation and expropriation \u2013 the exploiters continue with, tricks they follow and lies they propagate to hide their loot, agents they employ to keep people demobilized, to make people fail perceiving the loot-facts and sources and relations of the facts get exposed everyday if the exploiters\u2019 acts and pronouncements are closely observed.<\/p>\n
To keep the power of loot intact, the exploiters\u2019 first tact is to wipe out the question of appropriation and expropriation from discussion, and stuff whole agenda with whatever rubbish they produce and collect. This move distracts the exploited, the part of society falling prey to the exploiters, keeps the exploited busy with issues not related to the existence of the exploited, serve the exploiters\u2019 interests, make the exploited get busy with the agenda helpful to the exploiters. The question of loot withers away, thus.<\/p>\n
The question of loot is connected to the question of the exploiters\u2019 economic interests \u2013 dominance of exploitative system. The question of loot is connected to the question of the relations the exploiters establish \u2013 exploitative relations with private property \u2013 in the sphere of economy. Private property \u2013 capital, made by reproduction of surplus value as a result of exploitation of wage labor, \u201cnot a thing, but rather a definite social production relation, belonging to a definite historical formation of society, which is manifested in a thing and lends this thing a specific social character.\u201d (Marx, Capital<\/i>, vol. III) \u2013 is part of the economy. The question doesn\u2019t move without politics \u2013 politics of the exploiters. The entire question withers away when these aspects don\u2019t find place in agenda.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s regularly, thus, observed in most lands: these questions, essential and urgent to people, regularly go without discussion while questions related to people \u2013 of economy and politics \u2013 are discussed. Non-essential questions, questions related to the exploiters interests, questions serving the exploiters are discussed in a manner and with such force that push back questions related to people\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n
Here are the tricks the exploiters employ: overwhelm the exploited with problems, so that people don\u2019t get respite \u2013 the space required to summarize the hostile situation; make non-questions questions, engage adventurers with the task of raising fiery slogans instead of proper analyses and well-thought out ideas \u2013 a task that subverts people\u2019s initiatives for having well-composed ideas and getting organized. A tricky job it\u2019s. The adventurers turn \u201cfriends\u201d and \u201cwell-wishers\u201d, theoreticians advocating measures that torpedo people\u2019s initiatives, and at the same time, camouflage self-face.<\/p>\n
There are persons subverting organizations people have or whatever initiative people take to claim space while the persons pose as friends of people. Engaging such persons is one of capital\u2019s tasks to counter people. The engaged persons hide self-identity, in the payroll of masters, and spread lies, misinterpret and create confusion.<\/p>\n
The question is: What should people do in this perspective? History presents lessons: Get aware, get organized, have organization, have leadership, foil attempts subverting people\u2019s initiatives.<\/p>The post Pandora Papers<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pandora Papers is not the entire Pandora\u2019s Box; but a part of it only. The full picture is yet to emerge, in one sense, and in another sense, the whole is already perceptible. The way the rich have their wealth, the way they accumulate, the way they hide, the way they deceive, the way they [\u2026]<\/p>\n The post Pandora Papers<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":552,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,469,726],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/552"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340473,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340390\/revisions\/340473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}