Who Do Politicians Take Money From?

We live in what’s called a democracy, but is owned by the people who provide the money. — George Monbiot

The parties are beholden to the people providing them with their election funding. — George Monbiot

Who owns our politicians?

Russell Brand in conversation with George Monbiot.

The pantomime season is drawing to a close, at least in the theatre, in the House of Commons it is a year-round spectacle, apart from when they take their long recesses.

Mainstream news coverage is no better, giving a platform to the clowns.

None of which bears any resemblance to the lives of real people.

Nothing guaranteed more to turn people off.

And can anyone tell the difference between Tories and ToryLite, between Tweedledee and Tweedledum?

Why vote, when all you are doing is choosing who will act for Big business, then expected to keep quiet until the next election?

If you play their games, you are playing by their rules.

We have to get dirty money out of politics.

They do not even need the money, apart from to line their own pockets. What does it get spent on? Er, the stupid Road to Ruin poster the Tories launched.

Politicians should follow the example of Caroline Lucas and crowd fund.

We should limit any money going to a political parties to the membership fee. One member, one fee, one vote.

The mainstream media has to learn life exists beyond the pantomime at Westminster.

You can vote, you can protest, and nothing ever happens, because our corrupt politicians are accountable to their paymasters, not us.

The infantile attack on Russell Brand by BBC Politics Editor Nick Robinson in the Radio Times is indicative of all what is wrong with the political-media establishment.

• Creative direct action
• Remove money from politics!

George Monbiot and Russell Brand discuss TTIP

#noTTIP Hands off Democracy

Stop TTIP

An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations. — John Hilary, Executive Director of War on Want

Do our corrupt politicians act for us, or are they merely pimps and whores plying their trade out of the Big Businesses brothel?

ConDem creation of temporary de-skilled, part-time, low-paid, zero-hours, soul-destroying McJobs.

Deafening silence from useless Ed Miliband and ToryLite Labour.

TTIP is not a trade treaty, it is treaty to allow rapacious global corporations to rape and pillage at will. The Vikings had nothing on global corporations.

Secret courts, corporate lawyers, reach settlements on behalf of global corporations.

Romania fracking, Greece gold mining, resemble war zones, with locals who are trying to defend their way of life, safeguard their drinking water, being attacked by tooled up para-military cops.

Monsanto stopping farmers in Ghana saving seeds.

In Vermont Starbucks and Monsanto attempting to strike down state law requiring food labelling.

Ecuador sued when it shut down an oil company for failing to comply with Ecuadorian law.

In Hawaii. Monsanto is trying to overturn a democratic decision to place a moratorium on genetically modified crops.

The Australian government, after massive debates in and out of parliament, decided that cigarettes should be sold in plain packets, marked only with shocking health warnings. The decision was validated by the Australian supreme court. But, using a trade agreement Australia struck with Hong Kong, the tobacco company Philip Morris has asked an offshore tribunal to award it a vast sum in compensation for the loss of what it calls its intellectual property.

Argentina imposed a freeze on people’s energy and water bills (does this sound familiar?). It was sued by the international utility companies whose vast bills had prompted the government to act. For this and other such crimes, it has been forced to pay out over a billion dollars in compensation.

In El Salvador, local communities managed at great cost (three campaigners were murdered) to persuade the government to refuse permission for a vast gold mine which threatened to contaminate their water supplies. A victory for democracy? Not for long, perhaps. The Canadian company which sought to dig the mine is now suing El Salvador for $315 million – for the loss of its anticipated future profits.

In Canada, the courts revoked two patents owned by the American drugs firm Eli Lilly, on the grounds that the company had not produced enough evidence that they had the beneficial effects it claimed. Eli Lilly is now suing the Canadian government for $500 million, and demanding that Canada’s patent laws are changed.

The Swedish company Vattenfall is suing the German government for shutting down nuclear power.

The Stop TTIP petition has nearly a million signatures, the 38 Degrees petition has nearly a million signatures. A few weeks ago, there were 450 protest actions across 24 member states. The undemocratic unelected European Commission was forced to hold a public consultation about the most controversial aspect, and 150,000 people responded.

If you have not signed these anti-TTIP petitions please sign. Please also share with your friends, family and colleagues.

It is not terrorists who threaten us, it is rapacious global corporations.

• TTIP Day One
• TTIP & transparency
• Elite Insurgency
• This transatlantic trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy
• The lies behind this transatlantic trade deal
• All Give and No Take
• What is TTIP? And six reasons why the answer should scare you
• The British government is leading a gunpowder plot against democracy