il ministro della giustizia holder: «andremo a fondo di questi scandali»
Claire McCaskill, il terrore di Wall Street
La senatrice ha proposto che stipendi e premi dei "big" non superino i 400mila dollari annui, lo stipendio del presidenteElenco di 2 elementi
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Obama: «Irresponsabili e vergognosi i compensi dei top manager Usa» (29 gennaio 2009)fine elenco
Claire McCaskill (Epa)
Claire McCaskill (Epa)WASHINGTON - Per i "big" di Wall street, i responsabili dell'attuale catastrofe finanziaria che con incredibile arroganza si sono divisi quasi 20 miliardidi dollari in premi (versati dai contribuenti per salvarne le aziende), la senatrice Claire McCaskill è un diavolo. Ma per i normali americani è Giovannad'Arco, la purificatrice di un malcostume dilagante, un angelo vendicatore. Claire, democratica, ha proposto che gli stipendi e i premi dei "big" non possanosuperare i 400mila dollari annui, quanto percepito dal presidente degli Stati Uniti. «È immorale - ha protestato - che i capi delle imprese tenute in piedidal denaro pubblico se lo intaschino in parte mentre licenziano migliaia di dipendenti». Non solo: la senatrice ha invitato il ministro della GiustiziaEric Holder, il primo nero a ricoprire la carica, a indagare sulle malefatte dei "big". «Non sarà una caccia alle streghe - ha dichiarato Holder -, maandremo a fondo di questi scandali».
EX PON-PON GIRL - Chi conosce Claire McCaskill non si è sorpreso della sua offensiva contro gli stipendi e i premi d'oro dei "big", a volte di decine dimilioni di dollari l'anno. La senatrice del Missouri è un ex procuratore ed ex revisore statale dei conti, un apostolo dell'equità salariale e del risparmio.Ed essendo sposata a un ricco imprenditore, Joseph Shepard, è al corrente degli abusi dell'industria e della finanza americane. L'attuale crisi le è sembratala volta buona per stroncarli. «I premi - ha rilevato - sono nati come compensi per exploit eccezionali. Non devono essere assegnati a chi causa dei disastri».Claire spera che l'inchiesta di Holder porti alla restituzione del maltolto «agli americani che hanno bisogno di assistenza». A 55 anni, la McCaskill,eletta al Senato nel 2006, è così divenuta simbolo della giustizia economica e sociale. Nell'adolescenza nessuno le avrebbe attribuito tale ruolo: facevala ragazza pon-pon ai match di football e la reginetta di bellezza. Ma dopo due lauree, in Scienze politiche prima e in Legge poi, lanciò una crociatacontro la sperequazione e gli sprechi pubblici e a 29 anni fu eletta deputato al Parlamento locale. Si sposò con David Esposito, un italoamericano, dacui ebbe tre figli e da cui divorziò nel '95 e si creò un vasto seguito (si risposò nel 2002).
«TRUMAN IN GONNELLA» - I media la definirono un "Truman in gonnella", dal nome del più illustre figlio del Missouri, il combattivo presidente Truman, ilvincitore della seconda guerra mondiale. In un certo senso, Claire è il braccio armato diBarack Obama, che la scorsa settimana denunciò con indignazione la condotta dei "big" di Wall Street.Ma difficilmente otterrà che il Congresso adotti il tetto dei 400mila dollari. Gli stipendi e i premi d'oro verranno ridotti, ma di molto meno di quantolei voglia: si parla di un taglio del 40-50% rispetto al 2007, la metà del taglio adottato dalla Ubs in Svizzera. I repubblicani al Congresso fanno quadratoattorno ai "big", dicendo che se non venissero pagati bene passerebbero alla concorrenza. Una giustificazione che fa ridere persino i loro simpatizzanticome David Brooks, il noto columnist del New York Times: «Quale concorrenza? - ha chiesto Brooks - Sono tutti in braghe di tela». In un solo caso la senatricece la farebbe: se da qui a un anno la situazione peggiorasse, cosa che nessuno auspica.
Ennio Caretto03 febbraio 2009
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Obama suffers blow over nominees
Obama suffers blow over nominees
Tom DaschleTom Daschle said he did not want to distract from Mr Obama's agenda
Former Senator Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination as US health and human services secretary after a controversy involving unpaid taxes.
US President Barack Obama said he had accepted his nominee's withdrawal "with sadness and regret".
It was revealed last week that Mr Daschle, an early Obama backer, had failed to pay some $130,000 in taxes.
His move came only hours after Nancy Killefer, nominated as budget watchdog, also withdrew over tax issues.
The two high-profile withdrawals were the latest setbacks for Mr Obama as he seeks to form his new administration.
Ms Killefer said she did not want a personal tax issue - reportedly concerning household help - to distract from Mr Obama's plans.
Tom has made a mistake, which he has openly acknowledged. He has not excused it, nor do I
President Barack Obama
Her appointment as the first chief performance officer was intended to help cut wasteful government spending.
Announcing his withdrawal, Mr Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, said he would have not been able to operate "with the full faith of Congressand the American people".
He also said he did not want to "be a distraction" from Mr Obama's agenda.
In a statement, Mr Obama said: "Tom has made a mistake, which he has openly acknowledged. He has not excused it, nor do I."
The president went on: "Now we must move forward with our plan to lift this economy and put people back to work."
Mr Daschle paid about $128,000 in back taxes and $12,000 in interest last month.
The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says the withdrawal of two nominees in a day appears to reveal the extent to which Mr Obama's public calls fora new era of responsibility are being undermined by the growing number of his nominees facing tax problems.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed last week only after long arguments over his failure to pay $34,000 (£24,500) in taxes he owed untilshortly before he was nominated.
In January, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced he was withdrawing from consideration as commerce secretary after an investigation was launchedinto a state contract that had been given to his campaign donors.
Republican Senator Judd Gregg was on Tuesday appointed instead, the second from his party to join Mr Obama's cabinet.
Tom DaschleTom Daschle said he did not want to distract from Mr Obama's agenda
Former Senator Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination as US health and human services secretary after a controversy involving unpaid taxes.
US President Barack Obama said he had accepted his nominee's withdrawal "with sadness and regret".
It was revealed last week that Mr Daschle, an early Obama backer, had failed to pay some $130,000 in taxes.
His move came only hours after Nancy Killefer, nominated as budget watchdog, also withdrew over tax issues.
The two high-profile withdrawals were the latest setbacks for Mr Obama as he seeks to form his new administration.
Ms Killefer said she did not want a personal tax issue - reportedly concerning household help - to distract from Mr Obama's plans.
Tom has made a mistake, which he has openly acknowledged. He has not excused it, nor do I
President Barack Obama
Her appointment as the first chief performance officer was intended to help cut wasteful government spending.
Announcing his withdrawal, Mr Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, said he would have not been able to operate "with the full faith of Congressand the American people".
He also said he did not want to "be a distraction" from Mr Obama's agenda.
In a statement, Mr Obama said: "Tom has made a mistake, which he has openly acknowledged. He has not excused it, nor do I."
The president went on: "Now we must move forward with our plan to lift this economy and put people back to work."
Mr Daschle paid about $128,000 in back taxes and $12,000 in interest last month.
The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says the withdrawal of two nominees in a day appears to reveal the extent to which Mr Obama's public calls fora new era of responsibility are being undermined by the growing number of his nominees facing tax problems.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed last week only after long arguments over his failure to pay $34,000 (£24,500) in taxes he owed untilshortly before he was nominated.
In January, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced he was withdrawing from consideration as commerce secretary after an investigation was launchedinto a state contract that had been given to his campaign donors.
Republican Senator Judd Gregg was on Tuesday appointed instead, the second from his party to join Mr Obama's cabinet.
Usa, guai per Obama: via ministro Sanità e capo budget per problemi con il fisco - Il Messaggero
Usa, guai per Obama: via ministro Sanitàe capo budget per problemi con il fisco
Il repubblicano Gregg nominato ministro del CommercioSondaggio Usa Today: gradimento alto, ma in calo
Commenti Invia StampaNancy Killefer con Barack Obama
Approfondimenti
¦E alla Casa Bianca un bimbo chiede a Obama la strada per il bagnoNEW YORK (3 febbraio) - Nuovi guai per Barack Obama. L'ex senatore democratico Tom Daschle ha rinunciato alla carica di ministro della sanità per problemicon il fisco. Poco prima la Casa Bianca aveva annunciato oggi il ritiro di Nancy Killefer dalla nuova carica di responsabile del controllo del budget.La Killefer ha rinunciato alla carica dopo che sono emersi problemi di tasse non pagate relative al personale di servizio. E' la seconda persona sceltada Obama a dover rinunciare alla carica: il primo era stato Bill Richardson, governatore del New Mexico, scelto come ministro del commercio e ritiratosiquando è venuta alla luce una inchiesta per corruzione nei suoi confronti.
Obama proprio oggi ha nominato il senatore repubblicano Judd Gregg ministro del Commercio al posto di Richardson. Gregg è il terzo repubblicano della squadracon il ministro della Difesa Robert Gates e il ministro dei trasporti Ray LaHood. «Mi aspetto una conferma rapida in Congresso», ha detto Obama annunciandola nomina. Al posto di Gregg in Senato siederà la collega di partito Bonnie Newman, secondo fonti di Capitol Hill. Quello di ministro del Commercio eral'ultima posizione ancora aperta dell'amministrazione Obama.
La Killefer è la terza persona scelta da Obama ad avere problemi di tasse dopo il ministro del tesoro Paul Geithner e il candidato a ministro della sanitàTom Daschle. Killefer era stata scelta da Obama per una nuova carica alla Casa Bianca centrata sulla verifica "paragrafo per paragrafo" delle propostedi budget per eliminare sprechi.
Oggi intanto Eric Holder ha giurato come ministro della Giustizia, diventando il primo afro-americano nella storia Usa ad occupare tale carica. Il vice-presidenteJoe Biden ha presieduto alla cerimonia affermando che, con Holder, il ministero della giustizia tornerà al suo standard di «non perseguire politica o ideologiama piuttosto una chiara valutazione dei fatti e della legge».
Gradimento alto ma in calo. Partito con un patrimonio di consensi senza precedenti, intanto Obama comincia a risentire della crisi che attraversa l'America.Secondo un sondaggio di Usa Today il presidente americano gode oggi, a due settimane dall'insediamento, di un indice di approvazione del 64 per cento:alto, seppure inferiore alle enormi aspettative della vigilia dell'insediamento.
Secondo la valutazione di UsaToday, due terzi degli americani approvano un cambio di rotta rispetto agli anni di George W. Bush, ma solo il 44 per centoè d'accordo sulla chiusura della base-prigione per sospetti terroristi di Guantanamo entro un anno e solo il 35 per cento è favorevole alla revoca dellerestrizioni degli aiuti all'estero per le organizzazioni di pianificazione familiare che offrono anche servizi di aborto.
Una serie di dubbi hanno raffreddato anche l'approvazione da parte dei cittadini Usa del pacchetto messo a punto dal Team Obama per il rilancio dell'economia:due terzi sono convinti che darà quanto meno un piccolo slancio alla locomotiva Usa in panne, ma questo non significa che gli elettori siano convinti cheil piano li aiuterà personalmente a sbarcare il lunario. Un americano su due, interpellato da Usa Today ha detto poi che le sue finanze familiari non sarannotoccate in meglio dall'intervento federale o che addirittura si aspettano un peggioramento.
Il sondaggio del giornale contrasta con le aspettative stratosferiche che avevano preceduto l'insediamento di Obama. Una raffica di rilevamenti condottiin vista dell'Inauguration Day, avevano mostrato che oltre l'80% degli americani promuovevano la gestione della transizione e la squadra di governo cheObama aveva creato.
Il repubblicano Gregg nominato ministro del CommercioSondaggio Usa Today: gradimento alto, ma in calo
Commenti Invia StampaNancy Killefer con Barack Obama
Approfondimenti
¦E alla Casa Bianca un bimbo chiede a Obama la strada per il bagnoNEW YORK (3 febbraio) - Nuovi guai per Barack Obama. L'ex senatore democratico Tom Daschle ha rinunciato alla carica di ministro della sanità per problemicon il fisco. Poco prima la Casa Bianca aveva annunciato oggi il ritiro di Nancy Killefer dalla nuova carica di responsabile del controllo del budget.La Killefer ha rinunciato alla carica dopo che sono emersi problemi di tasse non pagate relative al personale di servizio. E' la seconda persona sceltada Obama a dover rinunciare alla carica: il primo era stato Bill Richardson, governatore del New Mexico, scelto come ministro del commercio e ritiratosiquando è venuta alla luce una inchiesta per corruzione nei suoi confronti.
Obama proprio oggi ha nominato il senatore repubblicano Judd Gregg ministro del Commercio al posto di Richardson. Gregg è il terzo repubblicano della squadracon il ministro della Difesa Robert Gates e il ministro dei trasporti Ray LaHood. «Mi aspetto una conferma rapida in Congresso», ha detto Obama annunciandola nomina. Al posto di Gregg in Senato siederà la collega di partito Bonnie Newman, secondo fonti di Capitol Hill. Quello di ministro del Commercio eral'ultima posizione ancora aperta dell'amministrazione Obama.
La Killefer è la terza persona scelta da Obama ad avere problemi di tasse dopo il ministro del tesoro Paul Geithner e il candidato a ministro della sanitàTom Daschle. Killefer era stata scelta da Obama per una nuova carica alla Casa Bianca centrata sulla verifica "paragrafo per paragrafo" delle propostedi budget per eliminare sprechi.
Oggi intanto Eric Holder ha giurato come ministro della Giustizia, diventando il primo afro-americano nella storia Usa ad occupare tale carica. Il vice-presidenteJoe Biden ha presieduto alla cerimonia affermando che, con Holder, il ministero della giustizia tornerà al suo standard di «non perseguire politica o ideologiama piuttosto una chiara valutazione dei fatti e della legge».
Gradimento alto ma in calo. Partito con un patrimonio di consensi senza precedenti, intanto Obama comincia a risentire della crisi che attraversa l'America.Secondo un sondaggio di Usa Today il presidente americano gode oggi, a due settimane dall'insediamento, di un indice di approvazione del 64 per cento:alto, seppure inferiore alle enormi aspettative della vigilia dell'insediamento.
Secondo la valutazione di UsaToday, due terzi degli americani approvano un cambio di rotta rispetto agli anni di George W. Bush, ma solo il 44 per centoè d'accordo sulla chiusura della base-prigione per sospetti terroristi di Guantanamo entro un anno e solo il 35 per cento è favorevole alla revoca dellerestrizioni degli aiuti all'estero per le organizzazioni di pianificazione familiare che offrono anche servizi di aborto.
Una serie di dubbi hanno raffreddato anche l'approvazione da parte dei cittadini Usa del pacchetto messo a punto dal Team Obama per il rilancio dell'economia:due terzi sono convinti che darà quanto meno un piccolo slancio alla locomotiva Usa in panne, ma questo non significa che gli elettori siano convinti cheil piano li aiuterà personalmente a sbarcare il lunario. Un americano su due, interpellato da Usa Today ha detto poi che le sue finanze familiari non sarannotoccate in meglio dall'intervento federale o che addirittura si aspettano un peggioramento.
Il sondaggio del giornale contrasta con le aspettative stratosferiche che avevano preceduto l'insediamento di Obama. Una raffica di rilevamenti condottiin vista dell'Inauguration Day, avevano mostrato che oltre l'80% degli americani promuovevano la gestione della transizione e la squadra di governo cheObama aveva creato.
Thirty years since the revolution: Iran and the US From Financial Times FT.com
Thirty years since the revolution: Iran and the US From Financial Times FT.com
Thirty years since the revolution: Iran and the US
By FT reporters
Published: February 2 2009 19:03 Last updated: February 3 2009 12:09
The 1953 overthrow of Iran’s nationalist prime minister, Muhummed Mussadeq, was largely orchestrated by American and British intelligence agencies. It sawpower shift from a democratically-elected government to the US-backed Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose reign continued until 1979 when fundamentalistcleric Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to be religious and political leader of the world’s first Islamic republic. This timeline shows how the 1979revolution has shaped Iranian-US relations.
CopyrightThe Financial Times Limited 2009
Thirty years since the revolution: Iran and the US
By FT reporters
Published: February 2 2009 19:03 Last updated: February 3 2009 12:09
The 1953 overthrow of Iran’s nationalist prime minister, Muhummed Mussadeq, was largely orchestrated by American and British intelligence agencies. It sawpower shift from a democratically-elected government to the US-backed Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose reign continued until 1979 when fundamentalistcleric Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to be religious and political leader of the world’s first Islamic republic. This timeline shows how the 1979revolution has shaped Iranian-US relations.
CopyrightThe Financial Times Limited 2009
Wen Jiabao: does not see it as China’s role to save capitalism from itself. from Financial Times FT.com
Wen Jiabao: does not see it as China’s role to save capitalism from itself. from Financial Times FT.comBy Lionel Barber, Geoff Dyer, James Kynge and Lifen Zhang
Published: February 1 2009 22:00 Last updated: February 1 2009 22:00
Wen Jiaboa
Wen Jiabao: does not see it as China’s role to save capitalism from itself
Wen Jiabao is on the fifth leg of what he calls his “Journey of Confidence” in Europe and he has been up since before dawn jogging in London’s Hyde Park.But the 67-year-old Chinese premier looks sprightly and dapper as he raises his index finger, looks his interviewers in the eye and says: “I am ready tobe open and sincere.”
HisEuropean tripmight come as a welcome relief from political pressures at home. Mr Wen is under fire because of the slump in the Chinese economy – which, he acknowledges,slowed sharply in the period after the August Olympics in Beijing.
But in London he is the man of the moment. Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, and David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservative party, are bothwaiting in the wings at the Mandarin Oriental hotel for an audience, while at Davos, Switzerland, last week the delegateshung on his every word.
In a rare interview, Mr Wen outlined in forceful terms Beijing’s approach to dealing with the global financial crisis – frenetic activity at home, cautiousengagement abroad. International expectations of China are intense – almost on the same scale as those facing US president Barack Obama. But Mr Wen doesnot see China’s role as saving capitalism from itself.
Hopes in London and elsewhere that China would hand over a large chunk of its near $2,000bn (€1,560bn, £1,380bn) foreign reserves to help recapitalise theInternational Monetary Fund are likely to be disappointed. Mr Wen also plays down the idea of signing up to a new environmental treaty at the talks inCopenhagen later this year that would place limits on the country’s carbon emissions.
Asked if China bore any responsibility for causing the financial crisis, as a number of economists believe, he stiffens and says in a low voice: “It isa ridiculous view.”
Inizio blocco con virgolette
For the fulltranscriptof this interview,click hereFine blocco con virgolette
But he makes it clear that Beijing will do whatever is needed to maintain growth at “about 8 per cent” this year. “Running our own affairs well is our biggestcontribution to mankind,” he says. If necessary, some of the country’s huge stash of foreign currency reserves could be put towards this endeavour – anew plan to enable the use of reserves for domestic purposes is under discussion, he says.
Even before the crisis, 2009 was going to be another big year for China. It is laden with important and potentially controversial anniversaries, from the60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. The economy is slowing sharply– the 6.8 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of last year represented the country’s poorest economic performance in a decade. Chinese exports have startedto shrink and tens of thousands of manufacturers have gone bankrupt, sending 12m redundant migrant factory workers tramping home to their villages. MrWen, who was the visible face of the government during the earthquake last year and has intimate knowledge of rural China, is facing his sternest testsince taking the helm as premier in 2003.
“We must take forceful steps. Under special circumstances, necessary and extraordinary measures are required,” he says. “We should not be restricted byconventions. Success or failure depends on the pace and intensity of those measures.”
Stimulating growth before the current slowdown deepens into a prolonged slump is the top priority. Referring to a raft of initiatives that the governmenthas already announced,including a Rmb4,000bn ($585bn, €460bn, £400bn) fiscal spending packageaimed mainly at infrastructure spending, Mr Wen says that further efforts may be required.
The government intends to fight on several fronts. Most important is the infrastructure spending and this, he says, is already well under way. But alsokey is a long list of measures aimed at providing the softer context to a comprehensive stimulus effort – including initiatives to boost consumer spendingand welfare.
The sales tax on vehicles with small engines has been halved. Meanwhile, 74m low-income people have received lump-sum spending subsidies. Former employeesof state-owned enterprises received pension supplements, there have been subsistence allowances for vulnerable groups, and Beijing has significantly increasedthe salaries of 12m primary and middle school teachers in the state system.
China's strengthening currency..
The trick in spurring consumer spending is not to engage in sloganising, Mr Wen says, but actually to put money into people’s pockets. “We do believe thatconsumer spending is vital in boosting economic development.”
Several commentators in the west have called upon China to overhaul its economic model by rebalancing away from its current heavy reliance on investment,savings and exports and embrace a more consumer-oriented system instead. Most observers agree that such a shift would require Beijing to relieve pressureon consumers by beefing up social welfare, healthcare and education provisions.
Mr Wen reiterates his pledge to put in place a “fairly comprehensive social safety net”. He adds that Beijing has already announced an Rmb850bn medicalcare spending plan and would spend Rmb600bn on unspecified technological upgrading.
The rural economy, which offers a livelihood to more than 700m Chinese, is also in for a boost, says Mr Wen, with the recapitalisation of the AgriculturalBank of China, the last of the big five state-owned banks to receive a large injection of state funds. The ABC is receiving an injection of $30bn, he says.
If Mr Wen expresses confidence in the government’s ability to weather the challenge to the domestic economy, he strikes a more defensive note about someof the international questions raised by the crisis.
Shortly before he left office, Hank Paulson, former US Treasury secretary,said in an interview with the Financial Timesthat the huge volume of savings in countries such as China had been one of the root causes of the crisis because it reduced risk premiums around the world.
Mr Wen ishaving none of it.“I think the main reason for this global financial crisis is the imbalances of some of the economies themselves. For a long time they have had double [fiscaland current account] deficits and kept up high consumption based on massive borrowing.” Banks used excessive leverage to reap huge profits. “And when sucha bubble bursts, the whole world has been exposed to a big disaster,” he says.Inizio blocco con virgolette
Path to power: a mandarin’s mandarin
When Wen Jiabao took over as Chinese premier in 2003, one of the few things that people outside of China knew about the former geologist was a famous photographtaken in Tiananmen Square at the height of the 1989 protests.
As a high-ranking official in the Communist party apparatus, Mr Wen worked closely with the reformist general-secretary Zhao Ziyang, and he was with MrZhao on the evening he went to the square for a tearful talk with some of the students.
When Mr Zhao and most of his reformist allies were purged, Mr Wen managed to keep his job. The skills that saved his career were a keen attention to detailand a reputation for unswerving loyalty to his superiors. He was the mandarin’s mandarin.
Since becoming premier, he has shown a different side that has won him considerable popular support. In a political system where the top leaders wear thesame suits and dye their hair the same colour, Mr Wen – the son of rural teachers – has demonstrated a populist touch. He spends Chinese New Year in poorrural areas and is often photographed visiting hospitals or schools.
Within hours of the May earthquake in Sichuan, Mr Wen was on an plane to the disaster zone to direct operations, with television cameras covering his everymove. “This is Grandpa Wen here,” he called down to one child trapped in the rubble. Authoritarianism for a new media age.Fine blocco con virgolette
“It is completely confusing right and wrong when some countries that have been overspending then blame those that lend them money for their spending,” heargues. Mr Wen points to a famous proverb in China about Zhu Ba Jie, a fictitious character in the 16th-century Chinese fable, Journey to the West , whoalways blames others who try to help him. “When I shared this view at Davos with the world business leaders, they all agreed with me on that,” he says.
He gives equally short shrift to the argumentput forward by Timothy Geithner,the new US Treasury Secretary, that China is “manipulating” its currency. “Completely unfounded,” he says: the renminbi had appreciated 21 per cent sinceChina adopted a managed float of its currency in 2005.
Mr Wen refuses to make an explicit commitment not to devalue the Chinese currency during the crisis – as the government did after the Asian financial crisisin 1997, a pledge that helped engineer the eventual recovery and won China a lot of prestige. But he does rule out any big shifts in the value of the Chinesecurrency.
“I want to make it very clear that maintaining the stability of the renminbi at a balanced and reasonable level is not only in the interests of China butalso the interests of the world,” he says. “Many people have not yet come to see this point that if we have drastic fluctuation in the exchange rate ofthe renminbi, it would be a big disaster.”
Mr Wen says that Hu Jintao, China’s president, and Mr Obama spoke late last week on the telephone, but would not confirm reports in the US that Mr Obamahad told his Chinese counterpart that the new administration would not take a confrontational approach over the currency issue. He expresses a hope for“increased co-operation” with the US, but says that there are a lot of different “voices” in the US debate.
Mr Wen says China, which is the largest foreign holder of US Treasury bonds, would continue to be an active participant in the market. “We believe thatit is important to stabilise the current Treasury bond market. To do so will be in the interest of shoring up market confidence, overcoming the globalfinancial crisis and facilitating the early recovery of international markets,” he says.
But he also issues a veiled warning that China might rethink its long-term investment strategy for its reserves once the immediate crisis is over, whensome economists believe the huge borrowing the US is undertaking could lead to a slump in the value of the dollar. “We will take into account China’s ownneeds to maintain the safety and good value of our foreign exchange reserves,” he says.
. . .
China’s new prominence is coming with new responsibilities, yet Mr Wen is keen not to be pushed into too many expensive commitments. He plays down any ideathat China will use a large slice of its reserves to recapitalise international financial institutions, notably the IMF. Any process of reforming the IMFshould start not with capital injections but with reorganising its voting rights to give developing countries a bigger role. Mr Wen also stresses thatChina is still a relatively poor nation with huge development challenges ahead, which will limit its generosity.
He uses the same argument to push back against pressure to sign up for carbon emission cuts under the negotiations for the revised Kyoto treaty, which aredue to be completed at Copenhagen later this year. China will continue to set itself targets for improving its energy efficiency, he says. But it wouldbe difficult for a developing nation “to undertake quantified quotas to reduce our emissions”.
The Chinese government is equally nervous that the crisis will spur calls for swifter political reform and challenge its monopoly on power. That anxietyhas beenevident in the arrest and harassmentof some of the backers of Charter 08, a manifesto that calls for direct elections, the rule of law and an end to the one-party state.
Mr Wen is accustomed to fending off questions about the pace of political reform in China, with broad-brush statements about eventual liberalisation. “Manypeople in the west think that China is afraid of elections and democracy. Only if you have the trust of your people will they be willing to keep you inpower,” he says. But he provides little detail about any timetable for expanding direct elections beyond villages and the few townships where experimentshave been held.
An eclectic reader, Mr Wen says that when he travels he always carries a copy of The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith, the Scottish economist, whichlays out the moral underpinnings for governing societies – and market economies.
“Adam Smith wrote that in a society if all the wealth is concentrated and owned by only a small number of people, it will not be stable,” he says. It isan observation that holds just as well for the crisis-ridden US as it does for China, with its skewed model of development and rising inequality.
CopyrightThe Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: February 1 2009 22:00 Last updated: February 1 2009 22:00
Wen Jiaboa
Wen Jiabao: does not see it as China’s role to save capitalism from itself
Wen Jiabao is on the fifth leg of what he calls his “Journey of Confidence” in Europe and he has been up since before dawn jogging in London’s Hyde Park.But the 67-year-old Chinese premier looks sprightly and dapper as he raises his index finger, looks his interviewers in the eye and says: “I am ready tobe open and sincere.”
HisEuropean tripmight come as a welcome relief from political pressures at home. Mr Wen is under fire because of the slump in the Chinese economy – which, he acknowledges,slowed sharply in the period after the August Olympics in Beijing.
But in London he is the man of the moment. Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, and David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservative party, are bothwaiting in the wings at the Mandarin Oriental hotel for an audience, while at Davos, Switzerland, last week the delegateshung on his every word.
In a rare interview, Mr Wen outlined in forceful terms Beijing’s approach to dealing with the global financial crisis – frenetic activity at home, cautiousengagement abroad. International expectations of China are intense – almost on the same scale as those facing US president Barack Obama. But Mr Wen doesnot see China’s role as saving capitalism from itself.
Hopes in London and elsewhere that China would hand over a large chunk of its near $2,000bn (€1,560bn, £1,380bn) foreign reserves to help recapitalise theInternational Monetary Fund are likely to be disappointed. Mr Wen also plays down the idea of signing up to a new environmental treaty at the talks inCopenhagen later this year that would place limits on the country’s carbon emissions.
Asked if China bore any responsibility for causing the financial crisis, as a number of economists believe, he stiffens and says in a low voice: “It isa ridiculous view.”
Inizio blocco con virgolette
For the fulltranscriptof this interview,click hereFine blocco con virgolette
But he makes it clear that Beijing will do whatever is needed to maintain growth at “about 8 per cent” this year. “Running our own affairs well is our biggestcontribution to mankind,” he says. If necessary, some of the country’s huge stash of foreign currency reserves could be put towards this endeavour – anew plan to enable the use of reserves for domestic purposes is under discussion, he says.
Even before the crisis, 2009 was going to be another big year for China. It is laden with important and potentially controversial anniversaries, from the60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. The economy is slowing sharply– the 6.8 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of last year represented the country’s poorest economic performance in a decade. Chinese exports have startedto shrink and tens of thousands of manufacturers have gone bankrupt, sending 12m redundant migrant factory workers tramping home to their villages. MrWen, who was the visible face of the government during the earthquake last year and has intimate knowledge of rural China, is facing his sternest testsince taking the helm as premier in 2003.
“We must take forceful steps. Under special circumstances, necessary and extraordinary measures are required,” he says. “We should not be restricted byconventions. Success or failure depends on the pace and intensity of those measures.”
Stimulating growth before the current slowdown deepens into a prolonged slump is the top priority. Referring to a raft of initiatives that the governmenthas already announced,including a Rmb4,000bn ($585bn, €460bn, £400bn) fiscal spending packageaimed mainly at infrastructure spending, Mr Wen says that further efforts may be required.
The government intends to fight on several fronts. Most important is the infrastructure spending and this, he says, is already well under way. But alsokey is a long list of measures aimed at providing the softer context to a comprehensive stimulus effort – including initiatives to boost consumer spendingand welfare.
The sales tax on vehicles with small engines has been halved. Meanwhile, 74m low-income people have received lump-sum spending subsidies. Former employeesof state-owned enterprises received pension supplements, there have been subsistence allowances for vulnerable groups, and Beijing has significantly increasedthe salaries of 12m primary and middle school teachers in the state system.
China's strengthening currency..
The trick in spurring consumer spending is not to engage in sloganising, Mr Wen says, but actually to put money into people’s pockets. “We do believe thatconsumer spending is vital in boosting economic development.”
Several commentators in the west have called upon China to overhaul its economic model by rebalancing away from its current heavy reliance on investment,savings and exports and embrace a more consumer-oriented system instead. Most observers agree that such a shift would require Beijing to relieve pressureon consumers by beefing up social welfare, healthcare and education provisions.
Mr Wen reiterates his pledge to put in place a “fairly comprehensive social safety net”. He adds that Beijing has already announced an Rmb850bn medicalcare spending plan and would spend Rmb600bn on unspecified technological upgrading.
The rural economy, which offers a livelihood to more than 700m Chinese, is also in for a boost, says Mr Wen, with the recapitalisation of the AgriculturalBank of China, the last of the big five state-owned banks to receive a large injection of state funds. The ABC is receiving an injection of $30bn, he says.
If Mr Wen expresses confidence in the government’s ability to weather the challenge to the domestic economy, he strikes a more defensive note about someof the international questions raised by the crisis.
Shortly before he left office, Hank Paulson, former US Treasury secretary,said in an interview with the Financial Timesthat the huge volume of savings in countries such as China had been one of the root causes of the crisis because it reduced risk premiums around the world.
Mr Wen ishaving none of it.“I think the main reason for this global financial crisis is the imbalances of some of the economies themselves. For a long time they have had double [fiscaland current account] deficits and kept up high consumption based on massive borrowing.” Banks used excessive leverage to reap huge profits. “And when sucha bubble bursts, the whole world has been exposed to a big disaster,” he says.Inizio blocco con virgolette
Path to power: a mandarin’s mandarin
When Wen Jiabao took over as Chinese premier in 2003, one of the few things that people outside of China knew about the former geologist was a famous photographtaken in Tiananmen Square at the height of the 1989 protests.
As a high-ranking official in the Communist party apparatus, Mr Wen worked closely with the reformist general-secretary Zhao Ziyang, and he was with MrZhao on the evening he went to the square for a tearful talk with some of the students.
When Mr Zhao and most of his reformist allies were purged, Mr Wen managed to keep his job. The skills that saved his career were a keen attention to detailand a reputation for unswerving loyalty to his superiors. He was the mandarin’s mandarin.
Since becoming premier, he has shown a different side that has won him considerable popular support. In a political system where the top leaders wear thesame suits and dye their hair the same colour, Mr Wen – the son of rural teachers – has demonstrated a populist touch. He spends Chinese New Year in poorrural areas and is often photographed visiting hospitals or schools.
Within hours of the May earthquake in Sichuan, Mr Wen was on an plane to the disaster zone to direct operations, with television cameras covering his everymove. “This is Grandpa Wen here,” he called down to one child trapped in the rubble. Authoritarianism for a new media age.Fine blocco con virgolette
“It is completely confusing right and wrong when some countries that have been overspending then blame those that lend them money for their spending,” heargues. Mr Wen points to a famous proverb in China about Zhu Ba Jie, a fictitious character in the 16th-century Chinese fable, Journey to the West , whoalways blames others who try to help him. “When I shared this view at Davos with the world business leaders, they all agreed with me on that,” he says.
He gives equally short shrift to the argumentput forward by Timothy Geithner,the new US Treasury Secretary, that China is “manipulating” its currency. “Completely unfounded,” he says: the renminbi had appreciated 21 per cent sinceChina adopted a managed float of its currency in 2005.
Mr Wen refuses to make an explicit commitment not to devalue the Chinese currency during the crisis – as the government did after the Asian financial crisisin 1997, a pledge that helped engineer the eventual recovery and won China a lot of prestige. But he does rule out any big shifts in the value of the Chinesecurrency.
“I want to make it very clear that maintaining the stability of the renminbi at a balanced and reasonable level is not only in the interests of China butalso the interests of the world,” he says. “Many people have not yet come to see this point that if we have drastic fluctuation in the exchange rate ofthe renminbi, it would be a big disaster.”
Mr Wen says that Hu Jintao, China’s president, and Mr Obama spoke late last week on the telephone, but would not confirm reports in the US that Mr Obamahad told his Chinese counterpart that the new administration would not take a confrontational approach over the currency issue. He expresses a hope for“increased co-operation” with the US, but says that there are a lot of different “voices” in the US debate.
Mr Wen says China, which is the largest foreign holder of US Treasury bonds, would continue to be an active participant in the market. “We believe thatit is important to stabilise the current Treasury bond market. To do so will be in the interest of shoring up market confidence, overcoming the globalfinancial crisis and facilitating the early recovery of international markets,” he says.
But he also issues a veiled warning that China might rethink its long-term investment strategy for its reserves once the immediate crisis is over, whensome economists believe the huge borrowing the US is undertaking could lead to a slump in the value of the dollar. “We will take into account China’s ownneeds to maintain the safety and good value of our foreign exchange reserves,” he says.
. . .
China’s new prominence is coming with new responsibilities, yet Mr Wen is keen not to be pushed into too many expensive commitments. He plays down any ideathat China will use a large slice of its reserves to recapitalise international financial institutions, notably the IMF. Any process of reforming the IMFshould start not with capital injections but with reorganising its voting rights to give developing countries a bigger role. Mr Wen also stresses thatChina is still a relatively poor nation with huge development challenges ahead, which will limit its generosity.
He uses the same argument to push back against pressure to sign up for carbon emission cuts under the negotiations for the revised Kyoto treaty, which aredue to be completed at Copenhagen later this year. China will continue to set itself targets for improving its energy efficiency, he says. But it wouldbe difficult for a developing nation “to undertake quantified quotas to reduce our emissions”.
The Chinese government is equally nervous that the crisis will spur calls for swifter political reform and challenge its monopoly on power. That anxietyhas beenevident in the arrest and harassmentof some of the backers of Charter 08, a manifesto that calls for direct elections, the rule of law and an end to the one-party state.
Mr Wen is accustomed to fending off questions about the pace of political reform in China, with broad-brush statements about eventual liberalisation. “Manypeople in the west think that China is afraid of elections and democracy. Only if you have the trust of your people will they be willing to keep you inpower,” he says. But he provides little detail about any timetable for expanding direct elections beyond villages and the few townships where experimentshave been held.
An eclectic reader, Mr Wen says that when he travels he always carries a copy of The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith, the Scottish economist, whichlays out the moral underpinnings for governing societies – and market economies.
“Adam Smith wrote that in a society if all the wealth is concentrated and owned by only a small number of people, it will not be stable,” he says. It isan observation that holds just as well for the crisis-ridden US as it does for China, with its skewed model of development and rising inequality.
CopyrightThe Financial Times Limited 2009
Monday, 2 February 2009
Obama's promise of ethics reform faces early test - International Herald Tribune
Obama's promise of ethics reform faces early testBy Peter BakerPublished: February 3, 2009 E-Mail Article Listen to Article Printer-Friendly
WASHINGTON: During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher inwhat he would later call in his Inaugural Address a "new era of responsibility." What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.
The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a militarycontractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industryeven if not formally registered as lobbyists.
President Barack Obama said Monday that he was "absolutely" standing behind former Senator Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary,and Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had "no excuse" and wanted to "deeplyapologize" for his failure to pay $128,000 in U.S. taxes.
But the episode has already shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Obama has proved willing tocompromise.
Every four or eight years a new president arrives in town, declares his determination to cleanse a dirty process and invariably winds up trying to reconcilethe clear ideals of electioneering with the muddy business of governing. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules ofany president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case.
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"This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibilityand Ethics in Washington. "He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skepticalof politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual."
And so in these opening days of the administration, the Obama team finds itself being criticized by bloggers on the left and the right, mocked by televisioncomics and questioned by reporters about whether Obama is really changing the way Washington works or just changing which political party works it.
Some Republicans saw a double standard. "What would it be like if Hank Paulson had come in without paying his taxes, or any other member of the cabinet?"asked Terry Nelson, a political strategist who worked for President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain, referring to Bush's Treasury secretary. "Itwould be roundly attacked and roundly criticized."
Several Democrats, including some who have advised Obama, said privately that he had only himself to blame for laying out such an uncompromising standardas a candidate without recognizing how it would complicate his ability to assemble an administration.
In the campaign, Obama assailed Washington's "entire culture" in which "our leaders have thrown open the doors of Congress and the White House to an armyof Washington lobbyists who have turned our government into a game only they can afford to play." He vowed to "close the revolving door" and "clean upboth ends of Pennsylvania Avenue" with "the most sweeping ethics reform in history."
The language, however, was always more sweeping than the specifics. He spoke of refusing campaign money from lobbyists but took it from the people who hiredthem. The ethics plan he outlined, and eventually imposed on his administration, did not ban all lobbyists outright but set conditions for their employmentand did not cover many who were lobbyists in everything but name.
Daschle, for instance, is not a registered lobbyist, but he made a handsome living advising clients seeking influence with the government, including somein the health industry. Obama also gave himself the right to grant waivers in cases he deemed exceptional, most prominently to William Lynn III, an ex-Raytheonlobbyist he nominated as deputy defense secretary. Others were lobbyists more than two years ago, and therefore not covered by the Obama rules.
Some who worked as lobbyists have found places in the administration, including Mark Patterson, who represented Goldman Sachs and is now chief of staffto Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. William Corr, who lobbied for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, has been selected as deputy health and humanservices secretary.
Obama advisers said that the exceptions were minimal given the thousands to be hired and that appointees like Lynn would be barred from work on mattersdirectly related to their former employers. The exceptions, they said, were needed for particular skills and experience.
Some advocates said the rules were still more significant than any previously imposed. "This is a direct attack on the culture of Washington and in an extremelypowerful way," said Fred Wertheimer, founder of Democracy 21, an advocacy group.
As for Daschle and Geithner, who also failed to pay some taxes, White House officials said the errors should not obscure their records. Obama "believesthat both Secretary Geithner and Secretary-Designate Daschle are the right people for very important jobs," said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary,"and he does not believe that that will undercut their ability to move forward on an agenda that makes sense for the American people."
That argument has drawn sharp criticism from left and right. "Is this really the message he wants to convey to voters in just his first month in office,a message that it's O.K. to break or skirt the law just as long as you're a good guy with a special skill set?" asked Andy Ostroy, a blogger writing onThe Huffington Post, a liberal Web site.
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, a liberal magazine, said Obama should withdraw Daschle's nomination to "revive the change brand he campaignedand won on."
Obama is running into crosscurrents that bedeviled his predecessors. Jimmy Carter promised a new day in Washington after Watergate but still found top associatescaught up in scandal. Bill Clinton promised "the most ethical administration in history" and then endured the most independent counsel investigations inhistory. Bush vowed a new era of responsibility only to be accused of selling out to energy and military industries.
Jody Powell, who was Carter's press secretary and later founded a prominent lobbying firm, said it was better to establish lofty goals that might not bemet than to not have any at all.
"If you set standards, you're going to fall short on occasion and you're going to have to compromise on occasion," Powell said. "But you're probably alsogoing to get more done."
David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON: During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher inwhat he would later call in his Inaugural Address a "new era of responsibility." What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.
The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a militarycontractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industryeven if not formally registered as lobbyists.
President Barack Obama said Monday that he was "absolutely" standing behind former Senator Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary,and Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had "no excuse" and wanted to "deeplyapologize" for his failure to pay $128,000 in U.S. taxes.
But the episode has already shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Obama has proved willing tocompromise.
Every four or eight years a new president arrives in town, declares his determination to cleanse a dirty process and invariably winds up trying to reconcilethe clear ideals of electioneering with the muddy business of governing. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules ofany president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case.
Related ArticlesChoice of Gregg creates its own political gameDaschle gives apology over taxes as allies offer supportHolder is confirmed as U.S. attorney general
Today in AmericasBolivia has lithium, and the president intends to make world pay for itObama's promise of ethics reform faces early testHolder is confirmed as U.S. attorney general
"This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibilityand Ethics in Washington. "He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skepticalof politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual."
And so in these opening days of the administration, the Obama team finds itself being criticized by bloggers on the left and the right, mocked by televisioncomics and questioned by reporters about whether Obama is really changing the way Washington works or just changing which political party works it.
Some Republicans saw a double standard. "What would it be like if Hank Paulson had come in without paying his taxes, or any other member of the cabinet?"asked Terry Nelson, a political strategist who worked for President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain, referring to Bush's Treasury secretary. "Itwould be roundly attacked and roundly criticized."
Several Democrats, including some who have advised Obama, said privately that he had only himself to blame for laying out such an uncompromising standardas a candidate without recognizing how it would complicate his ability to assemble an administration.
In the campaign, Obama assailed Washington's "entire culture" in which "our leaders have thrown open the doors of Congress and the White House to an armyof Washington lobbyists who have turned our government into a game only they can afford to play." He vowed to "close the revolving door" and "clean upboth ends of Pennsylvania Avenue" with "the most sweeping ethics reform in history."
The language, however, was always more sweeping than the specifics. He spoke of refusing campaign money from lobbyists but took it from the people who hiredthem. The ethics plan he outlined, and eventually imposed on his administration, did not ban all lobbyists outright but set conditions for their employmentand did not cover many who were lobbyists in everything but name.
Daschle, for instance, is not a registered lobbyist, but he made a handsome living advising clients seeking influence with the government, including somein the health industry. Obama also gave himself the right to grant waivers in cases he deemed exceptional, most prominently to William Lynn III, an ex-Raytheonlobbyist he nominated as deputy defense secretary. Others were lobbyists more than two years ago, and therefore not covered by the Obama rules.
Some who worked as lobbyists have found places in the administration, including Mark Patterson, who represented Goldman Sachs and is now chief of staffto Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. William Corr, who lobbied for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, has been selected as deputy health and humanservices secretary.
Obama advisers said that the exceptions were minimal given the thousands to be hired and that appointees like Lynn would be barred from work on mattersdirectly related to their former employers. The exceptions, they said, were needed for particular skills and experience.
Some advocates said the rules were still more significant than any previously imposed. "This is a direct attack on the culture of Washington and in an extremelypowerful way," said Fred Wertheimer, founder of Democracy 21, an advocacy group.
As for Daschle and Geithner, who also failed to pay some taxes, White House officials said the errors should not obscure their records. Obama "believesthat both Secretary Geithner and Secretary-Designate Daschle are the right people for very important jobs," said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary,"and he does not believe that that will undercut their ability to move forward on an agenda that makes sense for the American people."
That argument has drawn sharp criticism from left and right. "Is this really the message he wants to convey to voters in just his first month in office,a message that it's O.K. to break or skirt the law just as long as you're a good guy with a special skill set?" asked Andy Ostroy, a blogger writing onThe Huffington Post, a liberal Web site.
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, a liberal magazine, said Obama should withdraw Daschle's nomination to "revive the change brand he campaignedand won on."
Obama is running into crosscurrents that bedeviled his predecessors. Jimmy Carter promised a new day in Washington after Watergate but still found top associatescaught up in scandal. Bill Clinton promised "the most ethical administration in history" and then endured the most independent counsel investigations inhistory. Bush vowed a new era of responsibility only to be accused of selling out to energy and military industries.
Jody Powell, who was Carter's press secretary and later founded a prominent lobbying firm, said it was better to establish lofty goals that might not bemet than to not have any at all.
"If you set standards, you're going to fall short on occasion and you're going to have to compromise on occasion," Powell said. "But you're probably alsogoing to get more done."
David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting.
Bob Herbert: A crazy dream - International Herald Tribune
Bob Herbert: A crazy dreamBy Bob HerbertPublished: February 2, 2009
Printer-Friendly
In the documentary film "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," a woman whose family had endured the agony of civil war in Liberia talks about a dream she had in2003 in which someone urged her to organize the women of her church to pray for peace.
"It was a crazy dream," she said.
Prayer seemed like a flimsy counterweight to the forces of Charles Taylor, the tyrannical president at the time, and the brutally predatory rebels who weretrying to oust him from power. The violence was excruciating. People were dying by the tens of thousands. Rape had become commonplace. Children were starving.Scenes from the film showed even small children whose limbs had been amputated.
The movie, for me, was about much more than the tragic, and then ultimately uplifting events in Liberia. It was about the power of ordinary people to intervenein their own fate.
The first thing that struck me about the film was the way it captured the almost unimaginable horror that war imposes on noncombatants: the looks of terroron the faces of people fleeing gunfire in the streets; children crouching and flinching, almost paralyzed with fear by the sound of nearby explosions;homes engulfed in flames.
Today in OpinionObama on Al ArabiyaA new subpoena for Karl RoveAmerica's nativists are getting restless
It's the kind of environment that breeds feelings of helplessness.
But Leymah Gbowee, the woman who had the crazy dream, would have none of that, and she should be a lesson to all of us.
The filmmakers Abigail Disney and Gini Reticker show us how Gbowee not only rallied the women at her Lutheran church to pray for peace, but organized theminto a full-blown, all-women peace initiative that spread to other Christian churches - and then to women of the Muslim faith.
They wanted the madness stopped. They wanted an end to the maiming and the killing, especially the destruction of a generation of children.
They wanted to eradicate the plague of rape. They wanted all the things that noncombatants crave whenever the warrior crowd - in the U.S., the Middle East,Asia, wherever - decides it's time once again to break out the bombs and guns and let the mindless killing begin.
When the Liberian Christians reached out to "their Muslim sisters," there was some fear on both sides that such an alliance could result in a dilution offaith. But the chaos and the killing had reached such extremes that the religious concerns were set aside in the interest of raising a powerful collectivevoice.
The women prayed, yes, but they also moved outside of the churches and the mosques to demonstrate, to protest, to enlist all who would listen in the causeof peace. Working with hardly any resources, save their extraordinary will and intense desire to end the conflict, the women's initial efforts evolvedinto a movement, the Liberian Mass Action for Peace.
Their headquarters was an open-air fish market in the capital, Monrovia. Thousands of women responded to the call, broadcast over a Roman Catholic radiostation, to demonstrate at the market for peace. The women showed up day after day, praying, waving signs, singing, dancing, chanting and agitating forpeace.
They called on the two sides in the conflict to begin peace talks and their calls coincided with international efforts to have the two sides sit down andbegin to negotiate.
Nothing could stop the rallies at the market, not the fierce heat of the sun, nor drenching rainstorms, nor the publicly expressed anger of Taylor, whowas embarrassed by the protests. Public support for the women grew, and eventually Taylor, and soon afterward the rebel leaders, felt obliged to meet withthem and hear their grievances.
The moral authority of this movement that seemed to have arisen from nowhere had become one of the significant factors pushing the warring sides to thepeace table. Peace talks were eventually held in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and when it looked as if they were about to break down, Gbowee and nearly200 of her followers staged a sit-in at the site of the talks, demanding that the two sides stay put until an agreement was reached.
A tentative peace was established, and Taylor went into exile in Nigeria. The women continued their activism. Three years ago, on Jan. 16, 2006, in an absolutelythrilling triumph for the mothers and wives and sisters and aunts and grandmothers who had worked so courageously for peace, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf wassworn-in as the president of Liberia, the first woman ever elected president of a country in Africa.
Liberia is hardly the world's most stable society. But "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" reminds us of the incredible power available to the most ordinary ofpeople if they are willing to act with courage and unwavering commitment.
Printer-Friendly
In the documentary film "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," a woman whose family had endured the agony of civil war in Liberia talks about a dream she had in2003 in which someone urged her to organize the women of her church to pray for peace.
"It was a crazy dream," she said.
Prayer seemed like a flimsy counterweight to the forces of Charles Taylor, the tyrannical president at the time, and the brutally predatory rebels who weretrying to oust him from power. The violence was excruciating. People were dying by the tens of thousands. Rape had become commonplace. Children were starving.Scenes from the film showed even small children whose limbs had been amputated.
The movie, for me, was about much more than the tragic, and then ultimately uplifting events in Liberia. It was about the power of ordinary people to intervenein their own fate.
The first thing that struck me about the film was the way it captured the almost unimaginable horror that war imposes on noncombatants: the looks of terroron the faces of people fleeing gunfire in the streets; children crouching and flinching, almost paralyzed with fear by the sound of nearby explosions;homes engulfed in flames.
Today in OpinionObama on Al ArabiyaA new subpoena for Karl RoveAmerica's nativists are getting restless
It's the kind of environment that breeds feelings of helplessness.
But Leymah Gbowee, the woman who had the crazy dream, would have none of that, and she should be a lesson to all of us.
The filmmakers Abigail Disney and Gini Reticker show us how Gbowee not only rallied the women at her Lutheran church to pray for peace, but organized theminto a full-blown, all-women peace initiative that spread to other Christian churches - and then to women of the Muslim faith.
They wanted the madness stopped. They wanted an end to the maiming and the killing, especially the destruction of a generation of children.
They wanted to eradicate the plague of rape. They wanted all the things that noncombatants crave whenever the warrior crowd - in the U.S., the Middle East,Asia, wherever - decides it's time once again to break out the bombs and guns and let the mindless killing begin.
When the Liberian Christians reached out to "their Muslim sisters," there was some fear on both sides that such an alliance could result in a dilution offaith. But the chaos and the killing had reached such extremes that the religious concerns were set aside in the interest of raising a powerful collectivevoice.
The women prayed, yes, but they also moved outside of the churches and the mosques to demonstrate, to protest, to enlist all who would listen in the causeof peace. Working with hardly any resources, save their extraordinary will and intense desire to end the conflict, the women's initial efforts evolvedinto a movement, the Liberian Mass Action for Peace.
Their headquarters was an open-air fish market in the capital, Monrovia. Thousands of women responded to the call, broadcast over a Roman Catholic radiostation, to demonstrate at the market for peace. The women showed up day after day, praying, waving signs, singing, dancing, chanting and agitating forpeace.
They called on the two sides in the conflict to begin peace talks and their calls coincided with international efforts to have the two sides sit down andbegin to negotiate.
Nothing could stop the rallies at the market, not the fierce heat of the sun, nor drenching rainstorms, nor the publicly expressed anger of Taylor, whowas embarrassed by the protests. Public support for the women grew, and eventually Taylor, and soon afterward the rebel leaders, felt obliged to meet withthem and hear their grievances.
The moral authority of this movement that seemed to have arisen from nowhere had become one of the significant factors pushing the warring sides to thepeace table. Peace talks were eventually held in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and when it looked as if they were about to break down, Gbowee and nearly200 of her followers staged a sit-in at the site of the talks, demanding that the two sides stay put until an agreement was reached.
A tentative peace was established, and Taylor went into exile in Nigeria. The women continued their activism. Three years ago, on Jan. 16, 2006, in an absolutelythrilling triumph for the mothers and wives and sisters and aunts and grandmothers who had worked so courageously for peace, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf wassworn-in as the president of Liberia, the first woman ever elected president of a country in Africa.
Liberia is hardly the world's most stable society. But "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" reminds us of the incredible power available to the most ordinary ofpeople if they are willing to act with courage and unwavering commitment.
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