The Trilateral Commission

1. The Trilateral Commission Professor Pacas

2. Domestic Effects of the Peace Movement. • “In 1960 only 18% of the public said the government was spending too much on defense, but in 1969 this jumped to 52%.” (Zinn, pg. 559… from a report by Samuel Huntington a political science professor at Harvard University and consultant to the White House on the war in Vietnam)

3. The Anti-Government Upsurge • “In the sixties, Huntington wrote, there was a huge growth in citizen participation ‘in the forms of marches, demonstrations, protest movements, and ‘cause’ organizations.’ There were also ‘markedly higher levels of self-consciousness on the part of blacks, Indians, Chicanos, white ethnic groups, student and women, all of whom became mobilized and organized in new ways’…There was a marked expansion of white-collar unionism, and all this added up to a reassertion of equality as a goal in social, economic and political life.” (Zinn, 559).

4. Cont’d • These domestic social movements gained impetus as domestic developments served to materialize the populations greatest fears- that government was intrinsically corrupt. • They found solidarity with international INRMs seeking to institute needed social changes that would improve the standard of living for the majority of their [INRMs] domestic population.

5. Samuel Huntington’s Analysis… • “The essence of the democratic surge of the 1960’s was a general challenge to existing systems of authority, public and private. In one form or another, this challenge manifested itself in the family, the university, business, public and private associations, politics, the governmental bureaucracy, and the military service. People no longer felt the same obligation to obey those whom they had previously considered superior to themselves in age, rank, status, expertise, character, or talents.” (Zinn, 559)

6. The Trilateral Commission • The Trilateral Commission was organized in early 1973 by David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brezinski. Rockefeller was an official of the Chase Manhattan Bank and a powerful financial figure in the U.S. and the world; Brezinski, a Columbia University professor, specialized in international relations and was a consultant to the State Department. (Zinn, 560)

7. “The initiative for the Commission came entirely from Rockefeller. According to George Franklin, the Commission’s executive secretary, Rockefeller ‘was worried about the deteriorating relations between the U.S., Europe and Japan.’ Franklin explained that Rockefeller began to present his ideas to another elite fraternity…at the Bilderberg Group-a very distinguished Anglo-American group…he thought things were in a very serious condition in the world and couldn’t some kind of private group do more about it?” (Zinn, 560-61)

8. Analyzing the Trilateral Commission • The main mitigating factor for the creation of the Trilateral Commission was, “the need for greater unity among Japan, Western Europe, and the U.S. in the face of a much more complicated threat to tri-continental capitalism than a monolithic Communism: revolutionary movements in the Third World. These movements had directions of their own.” (Zinn, 561)

9. The Threat of These Movements… • These INRMs threatened capitalist interests by challenging globalization. • “In these 20 postwar years, we have come to recognize in action, though not always in words, that the political boundaries of nation-states are too narrow and constricted to define the scope and activities of modern business.” (Zinn quoting George Ball Undersecretary of State for economic affairs under Kennedy and director of Lehman Brothers a large investment banking firm, 561)

10. “The Trilateral Commission apparently saw itself as helping to create the necessary international links for the new multinational economy. Its members came from the highest circles of politics, business, and the media in Western Europe, Japan and US.. They were from Chase Manhattan, Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, Banque de Paris, Lloyds of London, Bank of Tokyo…” (Howard Zinn. A People’s History of U.S…. 561)

11. 1976 • Fearing the growing dissatisfaction of the American people with geo-political developments the Trilateral Commission met in Japan to discuss the governability of democracies- this was an attempt to try to curb domestic revolutionary spirit akin to the counter culture and peace movements of the 60’s.

12. Samuel Huntington’s analysis of the 60’s and how to avoid a repeat of grass roots involvement in politics • Samuel Huntington’s conclusion was that there had been, “an excess of democracy and he suggested desirable limits to the extension of political democracy.” • Democracy • Highly educated public • Active participation from the population in politics…were viewed as detrimental to the interests of the capitalists in the CIC nations.

13. The Governability of Democracies…The Yoke of Personal Responsibility Instructor Pacas

14. The Analysis • Many advocates of civil rights, human rights, revolution, intellectuals in academia, etc. eventually reached a conclusion that the type of ‘predatory capitalism’ system employed by many CIC nations of the northern hemisphere were responsible for exploitation, oppression and overall miserable conditions of the southern hemisphere. • They further added that the population within the CIC nations should actively challenge that system. • They reached this conclusion by developing the following line of thinking:

15. If these CIC nations are democracies then the people have a responsibility to educate themselves concerning what policies their elected officials will pursue domestically and internationally. • As an example take the U.S. • Because our nation employs capitalist system of socio-economics, ‘We the people’ are also partly responsible for the negative effects of the system domestically and internationally.

16. Capitalism • This system benefits the population of the U.S. at the cost of other people around the globe that suffer exploitation politically, economically and socially. • Capitalism- economic system in which the production and distribution of goods depends on invested private capital and PROFIT MAKING. • Predatory Capitalism- bottom line profits the only interest/impetus for policies pursued.

17. How this affects the world • By our nation adopting the predatory capitalist system, as it has traditionally existed, we need to come to terms with some of the effects of the system on the world stage. • First- that the system is exploitative (and because it is exploitative) - it will create much resentment domestically and abroad.

18. Second • This exploitation is hidden from the nation’s population by the use of vague rhetoric championing what are deemed ‘beneficial democratic ideals.’ • The exportation of these vague ideals are presented as a system of justification for intervention in other parts of the world.

19. Any nation that opposes the presence and control of U.S. over their region are labeled negatively. • This in turn is communicated to the U.S. population to build a ‘national consensus’ for government actions abroad (mostly military). • Government actions are described as ‘benevolent interventions’ for the benefit and safety of the people in the region.

20. Third • Supplementing the system described above is consumerism and popular media- tools of social control. • The Media- shapes popular opinion- forms consensus. • Consumerism- granting enough monetary freedom to shift focus/attention away from other socio-political issues. • This usually has the effect that- U.S. public is either not acquainted with global and domestic politics or their level of understanding of these issues are skewed. • PAROCHIALISM

21. Fourth • Because we claim to be a democracy fostering a belief and image of collective ‘individual consent’ for government actions abroad is necessary. • Tools of social control- Media, public education, popular culture, etc. play a huge role in creating this image. • Any group opposed to the ‘System’s agenda is vilified. This vilification is accepted by the population (value assigned to this [mis]perception).

22. Vilification as a Tool of Social Control to Vindicate the North/ South Dynamic

23. The Need for Vilification • Judeo-Christianity- basically creates a world that is divided between good vs. evil (bad). These two forces are constantly at odds with each other. The message is that rewards (salvation) await individuals who lead ‘good’ lives vs. punishment awaits those that lead ‘bad’ lives.

24. Problem Cont’d • For the past 1500 years the European-Christian-Western Civilizations conquered much of the known world and exported their belief system to these regions. • Though the Enlightenment did much to undermine religiosity- the ETHICS, MORALS, and VALUES of Western societies and the societies they influenced adopted the Judeo-Christian systems of ethics, morals and values.

25. Collectively humanity wishes to identify itself with the good as opposed to the bad. • Because our nation and many social aspects of our society and culture are influenced by ‘Christian Western Civilization’ a need to justify ‘government actions’ is required for the ‘moral and ethical value system’

26. Cont’d • This is communicated in the collective desire of all the components in society to view themselves as the ‘Good” vs. any system that runs counter to national interests as the ‘Bad.’ • This then is a crucial problem for U.S. society and its policies: The need to acquire self fulfillment to be viewed domestically and abroad as the embodiment of the ‘Good.’

27. Cont’d • By the U.S. adhering to an exploitative system, this desire is self defeating. • Capitalism by nature is exploitative therefore within the moral and ethical value system of Christian Western Civilization it is actually an embodiment of the ‘Bad.’

28. The Birth and Significance of Liberation Theology • Many intellectuals and revolutionaries that have been discussed eventually reached this conclusion. • Liberation Theology- The Civil Rights movement of Martin Luther King Jr. and finding fertile soil in the Catholic Church priesthood of poor areas in Latin America • Liberation Theology bridged the gap between socialist revolutionary movements in Latin America and the people. • These theologians argued that Christ was a revolutionary.