Grand coalition and monopolies

It is not philanthropic capitalism. It is monopolistic concentration.

Edmundo Bal, of Cs, was right when he declared himself "indignant" at the distribution of seats in various state institutions between PP and PSOE, between the traditional right and the socialists. This shameful (for democracy) distribution of seats is a sign of the deficient state of liberties we suffer. Even the newspaper El Mundo unashamedly stressed that "the agreement puts pressure on the PSOE if it wants to control the Constitutional Court in 2022". Only a low-quality democracy and a media already surrendered, supported with our money and against our interests, can bear the shamelessness of sharing out, without light and stenographers, the institutions.

This about-turn by the PP would seem incomprehensible, in view of the polls that show it winning in a possible election and after many months of publicly refusing such agreements with the socialists. They can only be understood within the framework of a reality (not the published one) that pushes towards an anguished re-edition of a two-party system "that way", threatened by the weariness of many Spaniards.

A "grand coalition", by stealth and through the back door, is what we are finding and this hasty distribution of institutional posts as a guarantee that it will be difficult to hold the two main parties accountable for their follies. They are also making sure that "no harm will come to them" with the change of colours. As in the dentist's joke, both formations are conspiring to ensure that not too many corpses come out of the cupboards.

A left that has become an ornament, while enjoying an official car, is throwing millions of workers into the abyss, who do not understand that their elected representatives seem more concerned about this season's make-up than about the collapse of public services, the rise in prices, precariousness and the deterioration of our lives. A handout in the form of a small salary looks good on the news or front pages that fewer and fewer people follow, but it does not provide any future for our young people, beyond dependence on the powerful. 

The leaders are also very happy with this distribution, in exchange for a servility and docility that are embarrassing, as in the face of the demands (which are going to be met) of the political arm of Iberdrola and the big electricity companies: the PNV.  They are shoddy rebels, revolutionaries in designer suits, at the service of the enemy. Let us observe how the same "experts" fabricate almost all these artificial leaderships and let them not fool us with coloured cellophane.

Also on the horizon is the crisis of the official narrative about the pandemic and its economic, political and social implications. Doubts are multiplying for anyone who has not abandoned rational thinking in the face of the panic they have spread. 

Many already realise that COVID-19 is less about health than it is about politics and economic interests. It is less about health than about social control and repression. They are forcing public servants to obey blindly, they have forbidden us to question, debate and even inform ourselves, taking advantage of the enormous power that big technology has over our daily lives and our communications, even the most private ones.

A technology that is part of this project of the big tycoons because it is part of their club. With media that are almost totally integrated, bought, demanding that we abandon any pretence of thinking with our heads and offering censorship mechanisms that silence and denigrate any dissent. One only has to realise that the same people who run these social networks are the ones who finance the "truth-tellers" to understand that they have no interest in the truth but in the goal of turning us into a submissive herd that does not protest. 

There is the Davos Forum, the WHO, the European Commission, or the IMF, threatening us with new pandemics à la carte, with prefabricated economic and social crises to subjugate us, so that we accept their unquestionable direction in a project that wants us to be poorer, more isolated and less.

And behind it, a "philanthro-capitalism" that cannot quite hide the fact that it is monopoly capital, increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. At least a quarter of the 500 largest Western companies are controlled by three major investment funds. Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street are decisive for the whole capitalist system and monopolise, in fact, a large number of sectors where the majority of production and business is in the hands of half a dozen companies. From food to transport, from banking to seeds, from beer to news... we are in the hands of a few. And they are fewer and fewer. For example, in 1983, 90% of the media (press, cinema, radio, TV...) in the United States belonged to 50 companies. In 2021, that percentage will be managed by five. 

This is not philanthropic capitalism. It is monopolistic concentration.

The time has come to start thinking about chopping up these monsters that stifle free competition, free enterprise, freedom, in short. To follow the example of the Pacific Bell of the 60s and 70s so that Google, Facebook or BlackRock and other monopolies stop eliminating their competitors and enslaving their users.

Huge conglomerates that, in addition to the economy, also want to control politics, society and our own lives. They don't just place their politicians: they have a global project and knowing this is the essential principle for defeating it. Because it is not a plan that leads to happiness and freedom. It is quite the opposite, and our future, worthy of the name, is at stake if we do not defeat them.

That is why we can start by doubting what we are told, by informing ourselves, by monitoring the veracity of what the mainstream media say, by creating communication networks and by organising ourselves. By monitoring the cleanliness of elections, voting freely for the option we prefer and holding the tricksters accountable. 

By demanding a democracy that can be considered as such.

Carlos Astiz is a journalist and writer. His latest books are: 'The Soros Project' (2020) and 'Bill Gates: Reset!' (2021)