You are free to do as we tell you.

There is an agreement in Belgium to sign the CETA deal with Canada, we can all go back to sleep now, the power of global economics has beaten local worries and questions about sovereignty yet again. The whole debate made it clear to me that 'europe' is not and can not -ever- be for the people it claims to represent. We call it the E.U. 'European Union' we used to call it the EEC, which was a little bit more honest, because that included the extra 'E' for economic. It's all about trade and economy and that takes first place above local and cultural concerns, or working practices.
Multinationals rule the world, for them it's easy , more and more produce is being concentrated in less and less hands, hands that don't have to reckon with 'democratic' elections -all the CEO's and corporate magnates have to do is make sure the shareholders keep increasing their dividends and they are in the clear. Politicians have to get elected every few years so they have to -at least have to pretend to be representing the people that elect them. That is a difficult job.

Multinationals and global concerns have one goal -profit- end of story. OK they might -here and there- give in to local or international concerns about ecology or human rights , working conditions etc, but only if that still leaves enough room for building profit -otherwise they are off to other places with their investments and production.

Poor old politicians have to placate local communities and suck corporate dick at the same time to attract these 'wealth makers' to their area for jobs, it's an equation that is bound to fail and lead to less and less democratic demands on the multinational concerns so as not to scare them away.

All this bullshit comes from the fact that 'money' and the ability to 'produce' -is concentrated in too few hands with too narrow interests, and regional politics has surrendered a lot of it's powers to global companies. We are all prisoner in this system ,and nobody knows how to get us out of it.

As a comedian it's fun to watch politics, once you realize how the relationship politics and world economy is like trying to get a round pin in a square hole.

The defiance from the Walloon regional government against the CETA arrangement might have been principled, I hope it was- but why don't we see such principled defiance in other agreements, like for instance weapons to Saudi Arabia, it's probably coincidence that FN -the biggest weapon producer in Belgium is in the Walloon region , coincidence I tell you! stop smiling.

Also the role of the E.U. toward member states is hilarious , "every member state has the right to vote against agreements as long as they ratify it when we tell them too". It's like 'you are free to do as we tell you'
as Bill Hicks once described 'democracy' as we know it.

All good fun, more people should get interested in politics, but there again that might start putting us comedians out of work.