Before 'terrorism' became a name to hang our fears on, I and many other people were anxious about something else.
It might seem bizarre to the outsider, but my fears centred around institutions that spoke not in a language of 'good and
evil', 'deliverance and retaliation', but rather in words such as 'fiscal policy', 'harmonisation' and 'corporate citizenship'.
In other words, they were global financial institutions, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), The World Bank (WB) and
International Monetary Fund (IMF), The World Economic Forum (WEF).
Institutions whose public relations strategy is twofold: a squadron of police greet the masses on the streets with batons
and riot gear, whilst smiling faces reassure the TV cameras that they care deeply about the world's poor and are actually
fighting poverty.
Like the terrorist protagonists that had entered our midst, such institutions are faceless: bureaucrats and corporate lobbyists
scheme behind closed doors using 'invisible hands'. Their decisions fundamentally shape our 'way of life', and that of our
world.
For all you historians who shook your heads at the Imperial European carve-up of Africa in 1884, seeing its continuing tragic
consequences: Stand awake! Many decisionmakers now are just as greedy, and just as sheltered from the effects of their decisions
as those people were then. It is up to us to ensure that it is not another repeat of history.
