[R-G] Close the Mis-named National Endowment for Democracy

[Anthony Fenton]

Close the Mis-named National Endowment for Democracy
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/7046/1/340/
By James Jordan
6-19-08, 9:31 am

Haven’t heard of the National Endowment for Democracy? Not many people  
have. Yet the NED is taxpayer funded and carries out foreign policy  
with no meaningful public oversight or transparency. In fact, it does  
more to undermine democracy than not.

The NED…

* …spent more than $20 per voter in Nicaragua in 1990--more than had  
been spent by both candidates in the 1988 US Presidential election!
* …funded and set up meetings between organizations involved in the  
2002 attempts to overthrow the elected government of Venezuela.
* …funds far right parties in Eastern Europe, even working with  
convicted Nazi collaborators like Lazslo Pasztor, of the NED funded  
Free Congress Foundation.
* …funded, created, and trained most of the groups involved in the  
overthrow of Haiti’s elected government in 2004, through its core  
institute, the International Republican Institute, chaired by John  
McCain. This led to the bloodiest year in Haiti in modern history.
* …spends almost half its budget in support of the occupation of Iraq.

Here in the United States, we care about democratic rights. We fought  
a revolution against colonialism and we fought a civil war against  
slavery. In the 20th century we fought for women’s right to vote and  
we waged a civil rights struggle to secure the vote for people of all  
ethnicities. We were knocked down a few times when we got a president,  
in 2000, who actually lost the popular vote, only to turn around and  
force us into a war that the US people didn’t want. But we’re still  
here, still struggling on behalf of real democracy!

We care about democracy—at home and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the  
political-corporate-military machine tries its best to keep us from  
learning about US efforts to undermine elections in other countries.  
These efforts are aimed at making sure other governments adopt  
policies granting easy access for big corporations to natural  
resources, cheap labor, and new markets. This is backed up with US  
military power. Michael Plattner, a vice-president for the NED,  
explains, “Liberal democracy clearly favors the economic arrangements  
that foster globalization ….The international order that sustains  
globalization is underpinned by American military predominance.”

While the NED is only a small part of the US so-called “democracy  
promotion” efforts, its influence reaches far beyond its annual budget.

The NED is…

1) …Unconstitutional–

* The NED sets a dangerous precedent by privatizing US foreign  
affairs. The constitution is clear that international relations are  
carried out on behalf of the US people by the executive and  
legislative branches.

2) …A “Black Box” of Democracy Interference that violates the public  
trust–

* Because of it’s publicly-funded, yet “private” character, the NED is  
not subject to any meaningful oversight. In fact, the core institutes  
of the NED also receive funding from USAID and the US State  
Department. Funneled through these institutes, and then further  
subcontracted, even non-NED funding can get laundered so that it is  
almost impossible to track.

3) …A web of military, political, espionage, and corporate media that  
obstructs the free flow of information for the sake of corporate  
interests–

* The boards of the NED and its core organizations are full of Spin  
Doctors from public relations firms, big advertisers, corporate  
headquarters; political analysts and advisors; and ex-CIA and military  
personnel. Vin Weber, NED Board Chair, works for a public relations  
firm that is part of the Omnicom Group, the world’s 3rd largest  
advertising agency. The Center for International Private Enterprise,  
an NED core institute, includes an executive from Google and a major  
contractor with Google. The International Republican Institute,  
another NED core institute, includes a former Senior Advisor to the  
CIA and various representatives from the military-industrial complex.  
These are just a few examples. The NED is able to coordinate campaigns  
of misinformation and bring together a diverse coalition in order to  
manipulate foreign elections. If that fails, the NED empowers that  
coalition to overthrow elected governments—like it did in Haiti and  
like it is trying to do in Venezuela.

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The sole mission of the NED is to “fix” other countries’ elections,  
and most US residents would agree that is unfair. USAID also builds  
schools, roads and has other projects that are an obligation for rich  
countries to provide to the poor countries since our wealth was  
extracted from them in the first place. The NED mission, on the other  
hand, is limited to the manipulation or other countries’ democratic  
institutions and processes.

In the playing field of democracy, two competing forms have met head  
to head: neoliberal vs. participatory democracy. The kind of democracy  
that the NED favors is the neoliberal kind. Its proponents, such as  
Plattner, refer to it as liberal democracy, but that is incorrect  
terminology. Liberal democracy is the philosophy of government on  
which the US was originally founded. It is flawed, but still more  
democratic than its neoliberal permutation. One still has had to  
struggle pretty hard to win the right to vote, be it through colonial  
revolt, civil war, or suffragist and civil rights movements. But once  
the less-than-assured right to vote is won, elections are more or less  
decided along the lines of “one person, one vote” and “majority rule.”  
Another goal of real liberal democracy is the protection of minority  
rights. But the only minority neoliberal democracy aims to protect are  
the rights of big corporations.

Neoliberal democracy replaces the motto of “one person, one vote” with  
“one dollar, one vote.” For instance, in Iraq, the US is advocating  
for passage of oil laws that are opposed by two thirds of the Iraqi  
population. Passage would result in the biggest give-away of oil  
profits that the Middle East has witnessed. Union membership in the  
oil and public sector was also outlawed by the occupation government.

Conversely, participatory democracy directly empowers community  
structures and cooperative ventures. When I think of participatory  
democracy, I think of Susana and Cesar Achique, from Tacaraigua de la  
Laguna in Venezuela. Susana Achique is the elected president of the  
Grupo Turismo y Aventura Dios y Yo (or, the God and I Tourism and  
Adventure Group), a local coop that was founded on a government credit  
of just under $140,000 US dollars. With that money, they bought and  
outfitted three motor boats, an office and launching dock, and set up  
a cooperative that takes tourists on ecological and fishing trips.

Cesar, the driver and tour guide for our boat, was enthusiastic,  
telling us how their lagoon had been damaged by over-fishing by  
commercial trawlers, depleting both fish and bird populations that  
depend on the fish for food. Jobs were scarce—the commercial fishing  
industry brought the town little benefit. Cesar’s eyes radiated a  
confident pride as he told about the return of the fish and bird  
populations following the Venezuela’s reform of fishing laws that  
stopped the trawlers from entering such environmentally sensitive  
areas. As if to underscore what he was saying, thousands of birds  
started their evening descent into the mangrove swamps around us as  
the sun began to set.

Back on shore, Susana explained to us how members run the coop  
democratically. Profits from the venture are used to pay the workers  
and to provide community benefits. This is something I heard over and  
over in Venezuela—how coops and worker owned and operated factories  
don’t just benefit the people directly involved, but the whole  
community. Revenues fund schools, health clinics, and more. Media  
centers, food subsidy centers, health clinics, and a whole variety of  
government missions are not just serving but are being implemented by  
community members.

While Venezuela is engaged in a massive effort to diversify its  
economy, it still remains dependent on oil profits which, under  
participatory democracy, support social spending. Community members  
are involved in decisions about whether or not to develop oil  
resources and, for the first time in Venezuelan history, indigenous  
nations most affected by oil development, take part in these decisions.

Has participatory democracy been good for Venezuela? Since the people  
gained popular power in 1998, the poverty rate has dropped from 54% to  
38.5%--30% if food and health subsidies are factored in; millions have  
gained access to free health care; half the population is enrolled in  
free, public education; and over 5 million acres of fallow land have  
been turned over to rural people for agricultural development. The  
economy has been growing steadily since NED funded attempts to  
overthrow the government in 2002.

The Alliance for Global Justice has begun a project called the Respect  
for Democracy Campaign, and one of our primary goals is to close the  
NED. This campaign has been endorsed by many groups and individuals,  
including Howard Zinn, author of the Peoples’ History of the United  
States, Eva Golinger, author of The Chavez Code and Bush Vs. Chavez,  
Rev. John Fife, co-founder of the Sanctuary Movement and former  
Moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA, the Venezuela Solidarity  
Network, the Campaign for Labor Rights, the Worker to Worker  
Solidarity Committee, and the Nicaragua network.

Of course, ending democracy manipulation and winning participatory  
democracy must be built upon participatory struggle! In other words,  
what this campaign needs is…YOU!

Neoliberal democracy and economics has put the future of the world at  
stake. We have a choice: corporate globalism and elitist power or  
community autonomy and people power.

Which of these is in YOUR future?

--James Jordan is coordinator of the Respect for Democracy Campaign.  
For More information: www.respect4democracy.org. Email: respect4democracy at afgj.org 
. Phone: 202-544-9355.