In this
article, we ask: Who are the the world's 1 percent power elite? And to what
extent do they operate in unison for their own private gains over benefits for
the 99 percent? We will examine a sample of the 1 percent: the extractor
sector, whose companies are on the ground extracting material from the global
commons, and using low-cost labor to amass wealth. These companies include oil,
gas, and various mineral extraction organizations, whereby the value of the
material removed far exceeds the actual cost of removal.
We will
also examine the investment sector of the global 1 percent: companies whose
primary activity is the amassing and reinvesting of capital. This sector
includes global central banks, major investment money management firms, and
other companies whose primary efforts are the concentration and expansion of
money, such as insurance companies.
Finally,
we analyze how global networks of centralized power--the elite 1 percent, their
companies, and various governments in their service--plan, manipulate, and
enforce policies that benefit their continued concentration of wealth and
power.
The Extractor Sector: The Case of
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)
Freeport-McMoRan
(FCX) is the world's largest extractor of copper and gold. The company controls
huge deposits in Papua, Indonesia, and also operates in North and South
America, and in Africa. In 2010, the company sold 3.9 billion pounds of copper,
1.9 million ounces of gold, and 67 million pounds of molybdenum. In 2010,
Freeport-McMoRan reported revenues of $18.9 billion and a net income of $4.2
billion. [xi]
The
Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, employs 23,000 workers at wages below three
dollars an hour. In September 2011, workers went on strike for higher wages and
better working conditions. Freeport had offered a 22 percent increase in wages,
and strikers said it was not enough, demanding an increase to an international
standard of seventeen to forty-three dollars an hour. The dispute over pay
attracted local tribesmen, who had their own grievances over land rights and
pollution; armed with spears and arrows, they joined Freeport workers blocking
the mine's supply roads. [xii]
During the strikers' attempt to block busloads of replacement workers, security
forces financed by Freeport killed or wounded several strikers.
Freeport
has come under fire internationally for payments to authorities for security.
Since 1991, Freeport has paid nearly thirteen billion dollars to the Indonesian
government--one of Indonesia's largest sources of income--at a 1.5 percent
royalty rate on extracted gold and copper, and, as a result, the Indonesian
military and regional police are in their pockets. In October 2011, the Jakarta Globe reported that Indonesian
security forces in West Papua, notably the police, receive extensive direct
cash payments from Freeport-McMoRan. Indonesian National Police Chief Timur
Pradopo admitted that officers received close to ten million dollars annually
from Freeport, payments Pradopo described as "lunch money." Prominent
Indonesian nongovernmental organization Imparsial puts the annual figure at
fourteen million dollars. [xiii]
These payments recall even larger ones made by Freeport to Indonesian military
forces over the years which, once revealed, prompted a US Security and Exchange
Commission investigation of Freeport's liability under the United States'
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
In
addition, the state's police and army have been criticized many times for human
rights violations in the remote mountainous region, where a separatist movement
has simmered for decades. Amnesty International has documented numerous cases
in which Indonesian police have used unnecessary force against strikers and
their supporters. For example, Indonesian security forces attacked a mass
gathering in the Papua capital, Jayapura, and striking workers at the Freeport
mine in the southern highlands. At least five people were killed and many more
injured in the assaults, which shows a continuing pattern of overt violence
against peaceful dissent. Another brutal and unjustified attack on October 19,
2011, on thousands of Papuans exercising their rights to assembly and freedom
of speech, resulted in the death of at least three Papuan civilians, the
beating of many, the detention of hundreds, and the arrest of six, reportedly
on treason charges. [xiv]
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