With so many unanswered questions, privatisation is not the way forward for helping people. But then again, that’s not the point, is it? It’s about profit above humanity: The private company that runs the Christmas Island detention centre should be stripped of its contract, and control of the network returned to the Commonwealth, says the…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
The good mercenary life in Africa
Who said being a private security thug wasn’t profitable in the age of capitalism on crack (via South African paper The New Age)?: Thirty-five Special Forces-trained South Africans were responsible for this week’s audacious operation that spirited Muammar Gaddafi’s wife and three children from Libya to safety in Algeria. The “battle hardened Iraq veterans”, who…
Fighting back against those raping the Earth
It’s encouraging that growing numbers of communities globally are challenging the right of unaccountable corporate raiders to pillage the natural resources of the world. This is the definition of the resource curse and it’s vital that indigenous peoples challenge the outrage. This recent piece in the UK Guardian by Melody Kemp highlights the trend: Have…
Anybody care that countless billions wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan?
American multinational KBR has its tentacles everywhere, including in Australia. The US-based Project on Government Oversight laments the over-reliance on suspect corporations with little or no accountability. This is the definition of disaster capitalism: At least one out of every six dollars spent by U.S. taxpayers on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past…
When you say “liberating” Afghanistan, you mean privatising the lot?
The future of warfare, led by America and the West, is fueled by unaccountable corporations: At least one in every six dollars of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, or more than $30 billion, has been wasted. And at least that much could again turn into waste…
Climate change linked to rising violence and private firms will benefit
People will be insecure and demand “security”. Private firms will provide this, for the rich, of course. Climate change will barely be addressed, wild weather will only worsen but gated communities will become far more common in the Western world. Democracy Now reports: A new study has found that war is associated with global climate.…
How America has no clue about the wars it is fighting, part 75432
From Wired: It’s no secret that the U.S. Army has a language barrier to overcome in Iraq and Afghanistan. A decade of war has led an English-constrained military to seek all kinds of quick fixes, from translator gadgets to private contractors — something Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lamentedthis week. But more galling is the fact…
With Serco in charge, abuses are guaranteed
Another day and another serious allegation: A former Serco employee at Curtin Detention Centre says treatment of detainees by some staff members was “outrageously brutal” and they were bullied constantly. Seven asylum seekers were flown from Curtin and put in isolation on Christmas Island on Tuesday night because of increased tensions at the remote centre,…
The tangled web of so-called freedom in Libya
So here’s how it works. Find a dictator, love him then hate him, bomb him to smithereens and look for unique business opportunities. Asia Times: Think of the new Libya as the latest spectacular chapter in the Disaster Capitalism series. Instead of weapons of mass destruction, we had R2P (“responsibility to protect”). Instead of neo-conservatives,…
KBR is company that needs investigation and yet officials love ’em
KBR is a leading contractor that operates in America, Australia and across the world. Its human rights record is constantly found wanting time and time again and yet governments continue giving them contracts. That’s privatisation on crack. Read this and weep: The skirmishing has not yet subsided in the high-profile suit brought by Jamie Leigh…