Antonia Hildebrand, author of The Nine Eleven Handbook, explores how the neo-liberal worldview was created and for what social, political and economic purposes it came into being. Going back to the Great Depression of the thirties, Hildebrand describes an agenda devoted to the creation of an elite which is now so insulated by its power that it is largely unaccountable and owns a large slab of the world's wealth. In the United States at least, it controls the law, the military, the media and the banking system, leading to widespread injustice, social instability and financial collapses that are all the more threatening because they are now global. This elite now wants to rule the world and is attempting to give its tyranny the appearance of legality by creating 'free trade agreements' which render national governments impotent and the outcomes of elections null and void. Drawing on historical fact, Hildebrand lays bare the desire for untrammelled power that lies behind such catch cries as 'the level playing field', 'workplace flexibility' and 'deregulation' while exploring the ubiquitous intrusion of free market economics into every area of 21st century life. To many people the unravelling of democracy and national sovereignty may seem random, even inevitable, but in The Blind Colossus, the methodical plan to re-create a feudal system and turn the entire world into a vast labour hire firm is clarified and dissected, revealing that none of it is random. It is, rather, a carefully constructed plan to render democracy and even the rule of law irrelevant and archaic. For this elite, anything that doesn't increase its wealth and power is to be swept into the dustbin of history.
