Kenneth T. Tellis: The U.S. Corporate Gulags in our midst

VHeadline commentarist Kenneth T. Tellis writes: It's called the NEW AMERICAN SYSTEM, but in effect it is not really different to the Soviet Gulags that dotted Siberia. Only the venues are different, in that it is not in Siberia but in almost every part of the world where U.S. Corporations have built manufacturing plants.

Recently, I was in conversation with a friend that I had worked with some quite a few years back, and we began to discuss the great changes that had taken places in manufacturing plants owned by U.S. Corporations.

Yesterday has long passed and in its place there is now a rigid security system that would be really apt at an army, navy or air force installation in the U.S. One has to use a security card and that is only the beginning. You have to pass through several security devices all controlled by a guard in a control room and even then that was not enough.

As I said, there were all sorts of electronic devices that made a Soviet Gulag look archaic.

What were the reasons why this high-tech security system was introduced?

Why of course, to stop ordinary employees from pilfering ... or that was the excuse being used by these Corporations.

Ever been into one of these U.S. Corporate Gulags? Then you can understand what I am talking about. Because the biggest thugs in these manufacturing plants are Corporate Bums, like the CEO, the President, the Vice President, who just walk in and help themselves to goodies that the plant is manufacturing.

Of course, this is going to be blamed on the employees lower down the ladder, because that way, no one has to account for stuff that is being pilfered by the people in top management. The poor old sucker, who works all day trying to eke out a living, is also the same person who gets blamed for something they have not done.

In these concrete Gulags there are also monitoring devices that keep watch on your every move. This concrete Gulag is really a prison not a manufacturing plant at all. Here you have no rights, because the rules are laid down, just as in a Soviet Gulag, and a breach of the rules could get you fired without notice.

Are there any UNIONS in the Gulags? Certainly not!

The Corporate establishment that owns these Gulags will not allow a UNION to be formed by employees, for the simple reason that a UNION would demand better conditions and wage increases, which would cut into the profits of the Corporation.

• Of course they always talk of the freedoms that you never have as being there, but they are totally absent as in the Soviet Gulag.

Just attempt to talk about the forming a UNION and you are in big trouble, because that was enough to get you fired from your job without notice.

Just think a few years ago, how U.S. Corporations were having their death squads make raids on dissident communities in Latin America, to bring people into line. But those that challenged the Corporations did not realize the power of these Corporate Thugs. These Corporations controlled the very police and the courts, and no judge would ever think of going against them, thus these Corporations in effect ruled lands with an iron fist.

• Whole villages that dared to rebuff the Corporations were simply eradicated by their Death Squads and the population simply disappeared into thin air.

This scenario was repeated many times over, but nothing was ever done, to bring these Corporations to justice, because even the government of the country in question was in the pay of the Corporations. People were living in fear of their lives and obeyed blindly.

For a long time Latinos who opposed these Corporations took to the jungle to continue their fight, but their efforts were impeded by sell-outs like Alberto Fujimori of Peru and others like him in other Latin American states.

Just consider the Cuban experience, where a dedicated band of patriots worked for change by ousting the representatives of a foreign power in 1959. Follow that trail to Bolivia in 1967 and Chile in 1973, and see how dedicated men died for their belief in true freedom. That struggle has been repeated time and time again by others who took up the torch and carried on the struggle for a caring society in Latin America.

That journey to freedom has been joined by others in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador ... but among these heroes there are also those who could not care about their own people, so long as their bank accounts were secure.

Just look at Peru or Colombia and one can see the handiwork of these agents provocateurs who work against the interests of their own people and country, to feather their own nests, it's called personal greed, and their loyalty is to no one but themselves.

The present leaders of some Latin American countries are really SOCIALISTS and their goal is to work for the good of their people. But there are also those that hang on pretending to be SOCIALISTS as long as it gives them returns.

Many of these misguided people belong to what is loosely called the opposition in Latin America.

The news media is under foreign control and works to destroy the Socialist bent of the NEW and ENLIGHTENED leadership that want to introduce change and improve the lot of their fellow countrymen for the better.

Let those who are sabotaging the efforts of the NEW leadership; know that they cannot stop this overwhelming tide that will eventually finally engulf everything in its path. There is a big change coming and it is one that heralds a better way of life for all peoples under a socialist system.

The secret war that the Corporations have launched on socialism has the full backing of the U.S. government and Corporations, and they usually don't take prisoners, because it would mean the end of the Corporate system and that is what these Capitalists fear most.

Socialism today! Socialism tomorrow! Socialism forever!

Kenneth T. Tellis
kenttellis@rogers.com