Is Capitalism Always a Force for Freedom?

More companies are now giving in to Muslim pressure[1] over Geert Wilders’ Islam-critical movie. I keep bashing Marxists in my writings, and they usually deserve it[2]. I honestly believe it is impossible to write anything meaningful about what ails the West without taking the prolonged and highly destructive influences of Marxism into account.

Yet Marxists are not powerful enough by themselves to generate all the problems we are now facing. You would have to be pretty blind not to see the importance of business ties in relations between the West and the Islamic world, certainly in the case of Europe and the Middle East, but also with the United States and Saudi Arabia. Money makes the world go around, after all. One does not have to be a Socialist to see that the short-term interests of Big Business are not always identical to the long-term interests of the nation as a whole, especially not when it comes to immigration. Multinational corporations, which by their very definition have loyalty towards no nation, should not be allowed to direct national immigration policies.

Is capitalism always a force for freedom? It is easy for “conservatives” to think so, but is it always true?

There are several perspectives one can use when trying to understand the European Union, for instance. One is that it is somehow related to the Communist utopia and the unaccountable, transnational bureaucracy of the Soviet Union. This does make some sense, but on the other hand, the EU cannot be properly understood simply as a Marxist organisation. It has always held the backing of Big Business interests who want easy access to greater markets. They do not automatically care about national sovereignty or borders, which are vital to the continued existence of any truly free society.

I am particularly concerned over the recent attempts by various Western corporations to appease Islamic demands for sharia censorship. Both regarding the Danish cartoons and the Wilders movie in Holland, business interests have been among the most prominent in denouncing these attempts to defend Western freedoms because they care only about their market shares and not about the wider issues.

When we also know that many companies support mass immigration because they want easy access to cheap labour, including Muslim immigration, this means that they contribute to Islamisation, at home and abroad. Can we then say that capitalism is always a force for freedom? I think not. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”

Dutch companies have given into a Jordanian boycott by placing newspapers advertisements condemning the film Fitna [3]

De Volkskrant reports that Dutch companies have given into a Jordanian boycott. The companies Zwanenberg and Friesland Foods have placed advertisements in Jordanian newspapers saying they oppose the film Fitna by populist politician Geert Wilders.

Last week the group ‘The Messenger of Allah Unites Us’ brought a case against Wilders in a Jordanian court, accusing him of racism and incitement to hate Muslims. Wilders said he feared Jordan would issue an international warrant for his arrest.

The group, which had already mounted a boycott of Danish products because of the Muhammad cartoons, also began a boycott of Dutch companies. De Volkskrant tells us:

“On Wednesday all travel agencies in Amman received a letter asking that they not do business with KLM. The letter will also be distributed in other Arab countries.”

The chairman of the Messenger of Allah Unites Us, Zakaria Sheikh, says he has printed a million posters calling for a boycott of Dutch products. He says the only way Dutch companies can get themselves off the list is to take out ads in newspapers condemning the film.

In its advertisement, the Zwanenberg Food Group says it “rejects the opinions and statements” in Wilders’ film. “We strongly condemn the anti-Islam comments which we believe don’t have any other purpose than to insult.”

The company also expressed its “Solidarity with the campaign by The Messenger of Allah Unites Us in its attempts to pass international legislation banning insults to religion, including Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be with Him).”

From the Brussels Journal[4]:

VNO-NCW, the Federation of Dutch Employers, has ordered its lawyers to see whether it is possible to claim damages from Mr Wilders for the loss of income which Dutch companies may possibly suffer as a result of a boycott of Dutch products by Muslims who are angry at Mr Wilders and at the fact that the Dutch have not been able to shut him up. “Companies like Shell, Philips and Unilever are easy to recognise as Dutch companies,” VNO-NCW chairman Bernard Wientjes told the newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad. “I do not know how rich Geert Wilders is, or how well insured he is, but if we suffer from a boycott, we will investigate whether it is possible to claim damages from him.” Last November, Doekle Terpstra, a member of the board of Unilever, called upon the Dutch to “rise in order to stop Wilders” because “Geert Wilders is evil and evil has to be stopped.”

Source:

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-capitalism-always-force-for-freedom.html

1. http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Zwanenberg-and-Friesland-Foods-condemn-Fitna.html

2. http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/open-borders-global-future

3. http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Zwanenberg-and-Friesland-Foods-condemn-Fitna.html

4. http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3145

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