Atlantica - Straight From Orwell's Imagination?
Posted on Friday, December 24 at 08:46 by Perturbed
Atlantica is a proposed economic zone.
www.atlantica.org/
www.atlantica.org/library.asp?cmPageID=93&fd=0&id=1049&p=1
www.atlantica.org/library.asp?cmPageID=93&fd=0&id=1052&p=1
From Vive's FurGaia:
Very unsettling to note that Mr. Crowley, the founding President of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, is also a Salvatori Fellow:
www.aims.ca/aboutaims.asp?cmPageID=125
of the Heritage Foundation:
www.heritage.com/
the US Conservative Think Tank, where he is one of “Your online resource to conservative experts on every issue ”
www.policyexperts.org/intl_experts/intl_experts.cfm
I also found this disturbingly nonchalant set of paragraphs regarding Canadian confederation in 1867--call it the "Business" version of why Canada was created and what it means--evidently not much to them:
Atlantica: the International Northeast Economic Region (AINER) is defined chiefly by geography, economic trends and trade patterns; common problems and experiences; and politics. Much of this wedge of territory has been outside the charmed circle of North American prosperity for years.
The reasons are buried deep in our history. Especially after the Americans rejected Reciprocity and Confederation was born, the continent was divided into two national projects. Each sought to open up its half of the continent on an east-west axis. Each had a funnel on the East Coast (Montreal and New York respectively) that caught the energies of Europe and channelled them toward the conquest of the continent. Atlantica was bypassed.
But now, continental free trade and globalization could put an end to the isolation of Atlantica. The east-west axis for development of North America is being supplemented by a drive to stitch back together the old north-south trade routes that had flourished across the continent before 1867..
(I'd like to think there were other reasons for confederation, and that we've built meaning for Canada since then, but talk about a wake-up call. Some people do think this way. There is more work to do than perhaps we even realized.)
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RickW
They have been a have not province for decades and now they want thier cake and eat it too !
Shame on Danny Willams for having the Canadian Flag removed from all provincial offices !
Ever heard of Treason !
I do realize that Canadian business had a hand in confederation, and the 1911 free-trade election, but that doesn't mean that was the ONLY reason. There are many Canadians who have gone to the U.S. and made money. You sound like Joel Bakan of "The Corporation" fame.....but yes, our business elites are hardly patriotic.
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RickW
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"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men" - George Orwell
In a reasonable Canada of course people would be cheering Newfoundland since the more successful they become they will stop being a have not province and then start contributing. After all, a little investment goes a long way.
I'm no fan of grandstanding though, but all canadians love toughness, Brian Tobin was a nobody until he 'stood up' to those nasty spanish who were doing the same thing our government and every other government was doing (wiping out fish stocks). In conclusion, the real problem with Newfoundland is the same as with Quebec, those who will benefit most from separating will be those in charge of provincial governments, which have the same systemic problems as the federal government. However, we KNOW the federal government is in fact harmful, perhaps moving the government closer to the people will help.
Just as an aside, I've been reading about the 1915 election when women, natives, and non-property owners were first given the right to vote - but only if they had sons or daughters in the war effort or were members of a pro-war organization. Interestingly enough, many canadians also lost their right to vote if they were members of anti war groups. So much for the theory that progress is linear.
A final thought is that by any reasonable standards, Orwell would have recognized Canada right now. While a satire of totalitarian russia its themes were present during his life in Great Britain, a fact shown in the introduction which was later taken out of the publication.