Seeing through Transparency International

Pledged to fight corruption worldwide, the NGO is in danger of revealing its own political agenda in a recent report on Venezuela...Calvin Tucker of http://www.21stcenturysocialism.com/ reveals

The credibility of Transparency International, a global "non-partisan" organisation which "promotes transparency in elections, in public administration, in procurement and in business", is on the line. Their latest report on Venezuela, which was produced after months of research, is factually inaccurate in almost every respect. TI say that they "stand by their report" and stand by the person who compiled the data, an anti-Chávez activist who backed the 2002 military coup against democracy.
The full report, dated April 28 2008 and titled Promoting Revenue Transparency examined the published accounts of oil companies in 42 different countries, and ranked them according to whether they were of high, medium or low transparency. Venezuela's state-owned oil firm PDVSA was given the lowest possible ranking. Transparency International say that "comprehensive corporate reporting diminishes the opportunities for corrupt officials to extort funds".
PDVSA was directly accused of failing to disclose basic financial information such as their revenues and how much royalties they paid, and of not producing properly audited accounts. The international corporate media considers TI to be a reliable source, despite the fact that almost all their funding comes from western governments and big business. The British government is one of the major donors, contributing £1 million in 2007. Other donors include the US government, Shell and Exxon Mobil. Unsurprisingly, TI's damning report was seized upon by rightwing newspapers and websites and used as another stick with which to beat Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chávez.
When Dan Burnett, a New York-based blogger who runs the popular Oil Wars website, read the TI report, he almost choked on his cornflakes. Burnett had been analysing PDVSA's accounts for several years, and regularly writes about the financial information that TI claims does not exist.
I checked the PDVSA website. Burnett was right to be astonished. On page 127 of their financial statement it says that revenue for 2007 was $96.242bn, and that they paid $21.9bn in royalties. On page 148, PDVSA's auditors state that the accounts were prepared in accordance with international accounting standards. Further research showed that PDVSA's financial statements are also published in hard copy, and are widely reported in the domestic media, both in newspapers and on television.
I was perplexed. How could Transparency International, which claims that its report was subject to a rigorous "quality control regime" and had been checked for accuracy by "industry experts", have got it so wrong? I called them and asked.
A spokesperson explained that their report was published two weeks before PDVSA submitted their 2007 accounts on May 12 2008. This explanation implied that TI are unfamiliar with basic financial reporting procedures. Before company accounts can be submitted, the data has to be collated, analysed and audited. It is normal for this process to take several weeks or months. For example, Transparency International's own audited financial report for 2007 is not yet publicly available on their website.
However, TI's explanation for their inaccurate report on PDVSA contained a much more serious problem. It was wrong. The March 29 edition of El Universal, a major opposition newspaper, featured a report on PDVSA's financial statement, together with a photograph of PDVSA's president, Rafael Ramirez, holding up a copy of the 2007 report and accounts. The information that TI claimed was being withheld by PDVSA, was published four weeks before they made their allegations. Armed with this additional information, I attempted to contact TI's press spokesperson again for a comment. My calls were not returned.
Despite Transparency International's less than transparent behaviour, was it still possible that there was an innocent explanation for the errors in their report? I began to wonder whether their spokesperson had got the dates confused and was actually talking about a previous set of accounts.
I checked the historical records which are freely available on the PDVSA website. Their audited 2006 accounts were published on September 8 2007, a full seven months before TI published its report accusing PDVSA of non-disclosure. The 2006 accounts also contained the information that TI claimed was not disclosed. The 2005 accounts were also available, as were all the annual accounts going back to 2000.
In the past, there have been problems with PDVSA's accounts, and in particular with late submission. In late 2002, just months after the failed coup attempt, PDVSA oil executives went on strike in an attempt to bring down the Chávez government. It became clear that the strike would not succeed, but PDVSA's operational equipment was sabotaged, causing millions of dollars of damage. A massive amount of data was destroyed, including the files containing PDVSA's financial information and accounts. PDVSA was forced to rebuild its financial infrastructure from scratch, and for several years this caused delays in producing accounts. However, TI's accusation is that PDVSA does not disclose information, not that previous accounts were submitted late. This accusation, which forms the basis of TI's report, is demonstrably wrong.
Transparency International denies that they pursue an anti-Chavez agenda. "We are not a political organisation", their spokesperson told me. Despite this denial, TI's Venezuela bureau is staffed by opponents of the Venezuelan government (pdf). The directors include Robert Bottome,(right) the publisher of Veneconomia, a strident opposition journal, and Aurelio Concheso of the Centre for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge, a conservative thinktank funded by the US government. Concheso was previously a director of the employers' organisation, Fedecamaras. The president of Fedecamaras, Pedro Carmo, led the failed 2002 coup and was briefly installed as Venezuela's dictator.
The data in TI's report was gathered by Mercedes de Freitas, (left) the head of their Caracas bureau and a longtime opponent of President Chávez. De Freitas' previous job was running a US government funded opposition "civil society" group. The Nation reported on her response to the 2002 military coup: "... on the night of April 12 - after Carmona suspended the assembly - Mercedes de Freitas, a director of the Fundacion Momento de la Gente, a legislative monitoring project subsidized by NED [National Endowment for Democracy, a US government agency], emailed the endowment defending the military and Carmona, claiming the takeover was not a military coup."
In July 2006, Freitas issued a press release on behalf of Transparency International, which argued against the passing of a draft bill that proposed making it illegal for Venezuelan "civil society" organisations to receive funding from foreign governments, including from the US government. "If it becomes law, civil society would be subject to considerable restrictions, with government allowed to interfere in their objectives, activities and funding sources" the press release asserted.
Documents released under the US freedom of information act show that the Bush administration gives $5m a year to organisations opposed to the Chávez government.
Transparency International has a choice. They can continue to defend their indefensible report and refuse to answer legitimate questions about their activities in Venezuela. Or they can come clean and provide full disclosure. As TI's own report diplomatically puts it: "Disclosure improves a company's image, making it less vulnerable to unsubstantiated attacks on its reputation."

Moscow 2008...The Fruits of 'Freedom' ?

Thanks to US based blogger Nicholas for alerting me to this very disturbing video from what I presume must be some kind of Trotsykist punk band. It depicts the reality of existence for the hundreds of street orphans, the so called 'bezprizorniki', who now live completely feral existences on the Moscow Metro. Sixteen years on from being subsumed into the capitalist world, this is the reality of life in Moscow for many of these street kids. Some aspects of life in Russia, for some, may have improved, that is indisputable, but this video shows that the weak and the vulnerable are most definitely not better off.


The USSR had many many problems, but one thing that was widely acknowledged was that children were cared for and educated to an admirable standard, with the state intervening in families where either through alcoholism or abuse, parents were unable to cope with their responsibilities. When right wing free-market enthusiasts smirk over the triumph of 'capitalism' over socialism, they are cheering on the restoration of a system which is designed to force the weakest to the wall, watching this video shows just what that actually means in reality.

McCann's One Year On-Yet Another Incongruous Media Moment?

I watched the interview on BBC 1 with Madeleine McCann's grieving parents Kate and Gerry McCann, and listened with sympathy to how they had 'steeled themselves' for the interview with the BBC, how they had ' nearly not gone' to the interview.
There then appears a moment when the interview is clearly over, but the camera continues to roll, this appears at 2 minutes and 44 seconds into the clip , at that moment the demeanour of the couple appears to change dramatically, from sombre steely solemnity, to what can only be described as expressions which are something akin to a moment of bar-room bonhomie.



I still have an open mind as to the fate of young Madeleine, but I have always expressed the sincere belief that eventually the truth will out, as to how this young girl disappeared.
I do have to confess however to being continuously wrong footed by the body language of this couple. They appear to be able to adopt one persona one moment and another a few seconds later. Is there something innate to the humanity of us all that allows us to perceive sincerity?Speaking personally, when one fails repeatedly to receieve the usual visual cues which signify this quality of sincerity, is it any wonder that ones normal default position of sympathy and belief is challenged?
The premise of the interview was that the couple had struggled with the emotional challenge of discussing the anniversary of their daughters disappearance at all, then when the interview appears to end, the visual image that leaps from the screen completely undermines that premise.
It is also interesting that the editors at the BBC chose to retain that section of the footage on screen, that surely was not an error.
I would rather not have seen it, because as with the other jarring incongruities about this couples body language throughout the past year, it makes disturbing viewing. Why? Because it rakes up that nagging doubt once more as to why these discrepancies continue to arise, disjunctures between what this couple say they are feeling and how they actually look.

THANKS TO THE IMMORTAL SOUND OF FELA KUTI....

I have resisted the temptation to turn this blog into the sort of personal diary that some bloggers favour...thats ok its up to them..I suppose because of the political nature of the title, the bulk of the articles have hitherto had a political flavour.
But I am breaking with that tradition for this post to pay sincere tribute to the late great Nigerian afro-beat musician Fela Kuti for contributing enormously for being my constant and much loved companion on ny return to fitness since September last. I realised in August last year whilst climbing the Great Wall of China, as one does, in sweltering heat that I was about three stone overweight. That experience made it clear to me that it was getting beyond the point of being able to simply deny the evidence of my own eyes.In September I set about altering diet and doing some regular gym based exercise. The results have been most pleasing, I am now a svelte 13 stone, having previously been over 16 stone. Where does Fela Kuti come in? Well, gym based aerobic exercise,(I favour the rowing machine and the cross trainer torture engines), is ok....but on a regular basis it is incredibly boring, and the gym I go to has TV3's diet of reality makeover and celebrity shows on permanently, which is enough to sap the will to live.I needed something that would consistently motivate and hypnotise me into rhthmic and intense exercise.
Fela Kuti's music fitted the bill perfectly. I found that listening to the wonderful charged music of Fela Kuti was just amazingly good for exercise, the tracks are long and provide a powerful and intelligent backing sound to exercise. Furthermore, and this surely is testimony to the sheer quality of Fela's music, it stands endless repetition...tracks such as ODOO, the anti-imperialist 'ITT' and 'Coffin for a Head of State' amazingly sound as good after 9 months of repeated listening as they did at the beginning of this exercise odyssey.
Fela Kuti was born on October 15, 1938 in Abeokuta, Nigeria, to parents who were political activists. His mother was a feminist and anti-colonialist, and his father was active in the Nigerian teachers' union. Fela Kuti died in 1997 of AIDS.
In 1958, Fela Kuti moved to London, where he began studying music. He soon formed a group called Koola Lobitos, which was later renamed Nigeria 70. They played a kind of music which Fela named "Afrobeat", which was American jazz, pop and funk blended with West African highlife music.Fela Kuti was a gifted multi-instrumentalist, playing, among other things, saxophone, keyboards, trumpet, drums and guitar. He was also a talented singer and a highly energetic live performer. His lengthy songs (most were over 10 minutes long) were backed up by a consistent groove of drums and bass, a style which heavily influenced the genre of hip-hop.The first video below is of a part of 'Army Arrangement' a satirical attack on the politically corrupt intervention of the Nigerian army into the countries political life.

In 1961, Fela Kuti married Remilekun Taylor. They had three children, Femi, Yeni and Sola. Femi Kuti went on to become a well-known Afrobeat musician in his own right. Later in his life, Fela would become a strong believer in polygamy, and married dozens of women.Many of whom appeared on stage with him as part of his huge ensemble of musicians and dancers. Fela despite a prodigous marijuana intake, was a disciplined musical arranger, and it is obvious the more one listens to his music, that the sound has been achieved only after intensive rehearsal and repetition, it is just too crisp and tight to be ONLY the exuberant spontaneity that it appears to be at first listening. No, its power and intensity is derived in no small part from the perfect timing of the interactions between musicians, vocalists, and chorus singers, a tightness that could only be achieved by intense rehearsal and discipline.The clips reproduced below have no video but have a higher audio quality and sample 'Lady' a tribute to African women, and 'Water No Get Enemy'.

Fela Kuti was a major activist for Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism, and because of his socialist beliefs, had many run-ins with the authorities of several African countries. His struggles made him a veritable icon of the Black Power movement. Fela Kuti attempted to run for Nigerian President several times, but was never allowed to.
Fela Kuti died of complications from AIDS in 1997 in Lagos, Nigeria.
This musician is in my opinion the creator of some of the greatest music of the 20th century I strongly recommend readers who have not heard his music before, seek him out, he can change and perhaps even save your life..:))

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_m/105-4902152-4413249?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=Fela+Kuti&x=18&y=18

HAPPY MAY DAY !

This is the first May Day for the Blog and its an opportunity to extend traditional May Day Greetings to all the readers of this blog...

1916 Rising's First Casualties- Ballykissane Co Kerry.

Last Saturday I attended a commemoration in Ballykissane near Killorglin to commemorate the first casualties of the 1916 Easter Rising. It was well attended and a stirring atmosphere was ensured by the presence of the excellent Smith/Hehir/Harford/Doherty and Bell Republican Flute band who travelled all the way from Dublin for the event. The story of these first casualties in the 1916 Rising is intriguing for a number of reasons, not least the great 'what if' factor of wondering what might have happened had their mission not ended so tragically arising from a Hardyesque case of wrong directions. On Good Friday 21st April 1916, six men set off from Dublin by train to Killarney, Charlie Monaghan, Donal Sheehan, Con Keating, Dennis Daly, Thomas McInerney,and Colm O'Lochlainn. According to the memoirs of Gerry Plunkett, they were to travel by car to Cahirciveen, in order to seize control of the wireless station on Valentia Island. From there, the plan was that they would signal to the British Navy a German naval attack on the Scottish coast. The purpose of this would be to distract the British naval presence from the Kerry coast , thus facilitating the landing of 2000 German rifles , and 10 machine guns, at Banna Strand from the U-boat 'The Aud'. On board that U-boat a small group of Irish Republican's led by Sir Roger Casement were then to liase with Austin Stack in Tralee, so as to ensure that the weaponry was distributed throughout the country to coincide with the Easter Rising in Dublin on Easter Sunday. The men travelling to Kerry from Dublin had each been selected for their particular expertise, Keating originally from Cahirciveen was a radio expert and had been a radio officer on a number of ships. Monaghan was a mechanic and a wireless installation expert, Sheehan had worked at the War Office and knew the Admiralty codes.

On arrival at Killarney the group transferred into two motor vehicles. Denis Daly drove the first car with Colm O'Lochlainn, Thomas McInerney drove the second car carrying Con, Charlie, and Donal. Since Denis knew the route, McInerney was to follow his tail-lights. However, as is often the case in life, plans began to unravel when a breakdown and a curious RIC officer held up the lead car. Somehow the second vehicle lost sight of the second car, just outside Killorglin McInerney asked a young girl for directions to Cahirciveen. She told them to take the first turn on the right, not knowing the road Thomas mistook the turn leading to the quay. In the darkness he only realised his mistake when the two front wheels of the car went over the unprotected edge into the River Laune, which is deep and wide at this point. It is said that in the moonlight, the reflection of the water resembled a continuance of the road, and having been there I can confirm that the pier is extraordinarily continuous to the road. In the ensuing panic the car became unbalanced and fell into the River with its four passengers still on board. Totally disoriented Thomas McInerney started to swim heading in the wrong direction, only for the intervention of local man Thady O'Sullivan, who guided him back to the shore. At this stage it was clear that the three other occupants of the car had somehow become trapped in the vehicle, and had sadly in all likelihood quickly drowned.Other local people among them Patrick Begley and his son Michael, an Irish teacher based in Limerick had made strenuous efforts to rescue them, but this proved impossible. Cold and disheartened, the one survivor and the rescuers gathered in the O'Sullivan's kitchen. McInerney was advised to go to the RIC barracks and report the incident. Whilst away, McInerneys wet overcoat was picked up, and a revolver was discovered in it, Patrick Begley soon realised that there was more to the nights events than at first thought. At that moment the RIC arrived at the cottage, Begley hid the revolver by sitting on it under a cushion, . The RIC had arrested a man in Tralee, and were alert to the possibility of some Fenian related activity in the area. McInerney stuck to his story that he had been driving tourists around Kerry, and that he did not know the occupants of the car personally. On a wet Holy Saturday morning the bodies of Con Keating and and Donal Sheehan were located by fishermen, no trace of Charlie Monaghan was found until October, some six months later, when his body was discovered on an island in the River. That same morning McInerney tried to retrieve his revolver from Patrick Begley, but Begley said that if the RIC returned it would be better if he was not carrying a weapon. As predicted, they did indeed return and arrested Thomas McInerney, he was transferred after the Rising was suppressed to to the prison camp in North Wales, Frongoch, which was to be the destination of the bulk of those Republicans captured after the Rising. McInerney on release from Frongoch rejoined the IRA and was later killed in County Tipperary.

What we will never know is what would have happened if the unit had succeeded in their mission. Would they have managed to divert the British navy, if they had succeeded in this, then landing the weaponry at Banna would have had a greater chance of success. However to be fair, the arrest of Austin Stack in Tralee would have made distribution well nigh impossible, since he was the key link between the Aud and the local Irish Republican Brotherhood organisation. Nevertheless it is an interesting and little told tale, which is moving for the fact that it illustrates the way in which human error often plays a significant part in determining historical events.

Northern Rock...The Man Who Broke the Bank Cleans Up.

Waves of relief rippled through the North East of England yesterday when it became clear that those whose jobs are under threat in Northern Rock need have no more sleepless nights as to their futures. Over 2000 staff at Northern Rock, are anticipating that they will be made redundant in the next six months as the troubled finance house battens down the hatches to ensure commercial survival following its nationalisation. The relief felt by many Northern Rock employees was prompted by news of the terms of the first wave of redundancies being released. If these initial redundancy settlements are harbingers of the terms of all the severances to be announced in the coming time period, then many facing redundancy and wondering how they will make ends meet once they are laid off by 'The Rock' will be able to sleep easy in their beds, confident that the company will be applying the same spirit demonstrated in the terms offered to the first redundant employees to all others facing the chop. Demonstrating particular generousity and compassion Northern Rock is giving, what some unkind commentators have described as 'disgraced' former chief executive Adam Applegarth ( top left- looking quietly replete )a £760,000 pay-off, a £346,000 pension top-up and continuing to honour his cut-price staff mortgage.
The pay-off is much larger than the sum foreshadowed in December, when sources close to the bank insisted Mr Applegarth would get less than six months' pay, and no doubt will be good news for all other Northern Rock staff, who had feared erroneously it would appear that they would receive a miserly statutory pay-off.
It was'nt just a one off flash of benevolence though, Bryan Sanderson ( depicted right looking quite pleased with himself), who was appointed chairman on 19 October and stood down to make way for Mr Sandler last month, will be allowed to keep his £315,000 fee and up to £85,000 for office costs. Paul Thompson, (depicted bottom right pissing himself laughing ) who was heading a company-preferred buy-out vehicle for Rock, was paid £100,000 for his services as a non-executive director from 17 January to 22 February - for five weeks' work.
Mr Applegarth, who was responsible for devising and implementing the bank's disastrously flawed strategy, is being paid the golden goodbye in 12 monthly instalments of £63,000, according to the annual report published yesterday. The value of his pension pot increased by £346,000 last year, the annual report also reveals, and now stands at £2.6 million. The accrued pension entitlement is £305,000 a year. Mr Applegarth, 45, will also continue to enjoy a concessionary staff interest rate on £75,000 of his mortgage from the bank, Rock said, without disclosing the precise terms. The pay-off is equivalent to a year's base pay for Mr Applegarth, who left his job in December after announcing plans to step down in November. He had run the bank for the previous six years.
That surely is great news for all hard working Northern Rock staff members, it gives one a warm glow to know that theres at least one employer out there who knows how to ensure that its former employees are compensated for the loss of their livelihood. In fact if this is the sort of pay-off for the jokers whose visionary leadership led to the Northern Rock's near demise, then the hard working blameless people who carried on the Rock's day to day service to customers can surely expect such consummate generosity will be extended to them? No ?
NB....This piece was posted on 1st April 2008.....but its not an April Fools Joke..