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Chapter 15: The Need for Understanding Universal History.Universal history is a subject that is essential to be understood if the present civilization is to survive. An understanding of this history can change the prevailing policies of today which have put mankind on a course of self-destruction. There is a certain irony in the fact that the world is moving towards the greatest breakdown in civilization (that began some 400 years ago) while it totally ignores all signs that this is happening, and closes its eyes to the principles for advanced civilization. Modern civilization is taken for granted, but it shouldn't. It is taken for granted even while it is being dismantled by a huge variety of artificial forces. Whatever fails to develop and be progressive begins to collapse. This describes the modern West. While the walls are crumbling, they are hastily patched up again as society is concerned mainly with surface appearances. Thus, no efforts are made to cure the problem, while every effort is made to hide its evidence. A mind that is trained to look beyond the surface appearance, however, will take note of the shifting foundations. It will notice that some foundations are more useful than others. The world of reality is not the simple black and white world of good and evil that people believe in. It reflects a whole spectrum of shades and colors in-between. There are no absolutes in this world. When one speaks of oligarchism, for instance, a whole spectrum of possible meaning comes to mind that is so wide that the term becomes almost meaningless unless it is more specifically defined. History has shown that distinctly different types of oligarchism can exist simultaneously, as we have it today. One can note one type of oligarchy that exists within the framework of social and national development. This type may be termed the "establishment" oligarchy. China, for example, has a large oligarchy of rich, powerful, and influential people, some of which control great masses of workers in the course of their business activities, and directly affect the lives of many more. Still, one can see in the pursuits of this oligarchy an integrated focus on improving the state of the nation, such as by building new industries or more efficient ones. Their goals are realized within the productive dynamics of their ventures which depend on a healthy social environment. Consequently, this type of oligarchy works within the sphere of the economy of the nation-state and is benefited by its success. Usually, the "establishment oligarchy" is both protected and supported by the state, which the oligarchy in turn supports. One can also note the existence of another type of oligarchy that extends itself around the world, whose goals are shallow and unrelated to social and national development. Such a type may be termed the "transworld" oligarchy. In most cases, one finds its pursuits socially destructive, as for example in the case of free-trade arrangements between nations of unequal wage-cost economies. In such a case every participant becomes impoverished, except the oligarchy. In many such cases the process has had devastating consequences for entire countries. Suppose a labor intensive industry, such as textiles, would want to improve its profits. How would the "transworld" oligarchy related to this industry proceed? It would look for a country that has an abundance of cheap labor, would it not? Or it would look for a country that has the right conditions for 'creating' that abundance of labor? Where there is an abundance of labor, labor is cheap. If the target nation has a large agricultural base, the Empire's cartel companies could be brought in that displace farm workers with industrial style mechanization, who, then, become available as low cost 'feed-stock' for the slavery industries. || - page index - || - chapter index - || - Exit - ||
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