2008: LECTURE & SYMPOSIUM

Learning Outcomes demonstrated by this exhibit:

1. Cover the lecture concerning the economic hitman 2. I covered the event, wrote the story for the Echo and submitted it for Seminar.

The goal of this project was not only to cover the story for the Echo, but also to satisfy the requirement of my seminar assignment. The lecture was a real eye-opener. I have been skeptical of Wall Street and corporations for many years now, but the stories he told were well beyond anything I had imagined.

Hearing him talk about what he had done, what continues to go on and what we can do was inspirational. It reinforced my internal commitment to bettering not only myself but also other people through my actions and my words.

___JTB___

This exhibit reflects my best work in the areas noted above.

___JTB___

This exhibit reflects a high degree of professionalism in general writing skill, grammar and organization.

ECONOMIC HITMAN ON CAMPUS
By Jeremiah Bannister
Originally printed in the Olivet Echo

“A good hit man has no conscience at all.” This famous quote from Pete “The Greek” Diopoulis in a 1976 interview on 60 Minutes was echoed by author and activist John Perkins during his Oct. 22 lecture at Olivet College. Perkins, author of the best selling “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” gave students a first-hand account of the Orwellian activities and Machiavellian characters he was associated with over the years. He also discussed what he believes must be done if citizens, both national and global, wish to overthrow the rich and powerful currently running the world as “the first global empire.”

According to Perkins, individuals are being trained by the rich and the powerful, a group he referred to as the “corporatocracy,” to identify Third World countries with rich natural resources. These resources, oil being amongst the most prized, are the envy of politicians and entrepreneurs alike. In hope of taking control of these sought after resources, Western nations would offer lopsided deals to host countries. These deals would typically be rejected by leaders not willing to have their resources taken from them in what they believed to be a grossly unfair trade agreement.

Enter the economic hit men. After being rejected by the host country, the corporate interests would commission men and women to work with international money lenders such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). They would coordinate with these banks to create tailored loans that would, at least in wording, play on the economic hardships and populist frustrations of the host nations. The principle focus of the loans would appear to seek little more than economic betterment of the nation with the sought after resources. In short, these loans were meant to be, as Don Vito would say in “The Godfather,” offers they could not refuse.

Perkins went on to admit that aside from the appearance of altruism, these loans were attempts to undermine the host nation’s initial refusal to allow the pillaging of their resources by the rich and powerful. These funds were strategically distributed to create little more than a crushing debt for the nation it was supposed to help. “We coordinated huge loans,” he said, “but they went to our corporations.”

This would inevitably leave the debtor countries unable to pay back the lenders. “The rich become rich on the backs of the poor,” he said, leaving the poor little choice but to succumb to the new demands of repayment. The lender, wishing to get the money back one way or another, offers new terms for repayment. These new terms are almost always identical to the initial demands of the unfair deal first advanced by Western interests, with the inclusion of new, more expansive demands.

In his concluding remarks, Perkins insisted that this reality and that these tactics could be overturned, but that the citizenry bears the brunt of responsibility as they are the core to the solution.

Seeing what he believes to be a modern movement much like populist movements that ignited the Agricultural outcry of the 19^th century as well as the call for humane labor conditions during the Industrial Revolution, Perkins considers civilization to be on the verge of what he referred to as the “Sustainable Revolution.” This paradigm shift is, in his estimation, driven by the ever-increasing demands of globalization and national interconnectivity. “We need to be globally minded,” he said, “we are citizens of one world.”

While granting the slow nature of incremental reform and social change, Perkins is confident that humanity will shake itself free of its adolescence and boldly move towards maturity. “We can move forward,” he said, “and we will.”

NARRATIVE

This exhibit was rather unique. I not only had the responsibility of attending a lecture about economic shenanigans (which just so happens to be a curious fascination of mine), but I was also under obligation by the Olivet Echo to write a story about the event.

With a laptop, a notepad, and a press pass, I was ready to go. The next hour and a half were spent attempting to pace with the speaker, knowing that my shorthand would be a handicap. At any rate, I did rather well, catching key facts and noteworthy quotes.

The actual article took only a few hours to write. This was the case on account of my difficulty with details. While Nichole Babcock told me that she wanted the story submitted for the upcoming edition of the paper, I was under the impression that I had much more time. Suffice it to say that it turned out being a last minute project, and one that I believe to have turned out very well.