George Monbiot joins the chorus of criticism against right-wing think tanks

by Charlie Smith on September 13th, 2011 at 1:01 PM

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Secretive right-wing think tanks are crushing our democracy. This is the headline above George Monbiot's latest column in the Guardian.

It's not a new story, of course. Several years ago, David Brock, a former right-wing journalist himself, chronicled the impact of conservative think tanks in his landmark book, The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. Brock, who helped create the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America, demonstrated that the think tanks were part of a wide arsenal of tactics used by the right to crush progressive politicians.

"In the 2000 presidential campaign, the Republican Noise Machine, which worked for years to convince Americans that the Clintons were criminally minded, used the same techniques of character assassination to turn the Democratic standard-bearer, Al Gore, for many years seen as an overly earnest Boy Scout, into a liar," Brock wrote. "When Republican National Committee polling showed that the Republicans would lose the election to the Democrats on the issues, a 'skillful and sustained 18-month campaign by Republicans to portray the vice president as flawed and untrustworthy' was adopted, the New York Times reported. Republicans accused Gore of saying things he never said—most infamously, that he 'invented' the Internet, a claim he never made that was first attributed to him in a GOP press release before it coursed through the media. Actually, Gore had said, 'During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet,' a claim that even former House Speaker Newt Gingrich verified as true.

Here in Canada, retired Simon Fraser University communications professor Donald Gutstein ripped the lid off think tanks in his meticulously researched Not a Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy.

Gutstein, an occasional contributor to the Straight, demonstrated in 2009 how the right relies on think tanks to engage in "treetops propaganda", in which the goal is to influence elite media commentators to embrace right-wing concepts.

People like Peter Mansbridge, Andrew Coyne, Rex Murphy, and Margaret Wente are targeted in these treetops propaganda campaigns.

Now Monbiot is raising a similar alarm in Britain. He writes:

We know that to understand politics and the peddling of influence we must follow the money. So it's remarkable that the question of who funds the thinktanks has so seldom been asked.
There are dozens of groups in the UK which call themselves free-market or conservative thinktanks, but they have a remarkably consistent agenda. They tend to oppose the laws which protect us from banks and corporations; to demand the privatisation of state assets; to argue that the rich should pay less tax; and to pour scorn on global warming. What the thinktanks call free-market economics looks more like a programme for corporate power.

The next time you read a report from some think tank like the Fraser Institute or the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, ask yourself this: who's signing the cheques?

Of course, that's not easy to answer in Canada because the federal government has not seen fit to provide real financial transparency. These outfits must file a T3010 form with the Canada Revenue Agency, which is public, but it doesn't provide detailed information about the identity of the donors.

The major chartered banks like to make a point about how they donate one percent of their pretax profits to charity. But with the Fraser Institute being a registered charity, does this just mean that the bankers are contracting out their research to the think tanks, and then claiming tax credits?

Don't expect Prime Minister Stephen Harper to shake up the status quo in this area. But perhaps the federal Liberals or the NDP will look into this if they ever form government.

After all, as Monbiot says, these right-wing think tanks are crushing our democracy. That's reason enough for someone to take action ensure that taxpayers—who ultimately finance these tax credits—know who's paying for the "research".

If we're allowed to know who is financing political parties, why shouldn't we also know who is financing entities like the Fraser Institute?

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.

Comments

11 Comments

Rob Roy

Sep 13, 2011 at 2:08pm

They are called 'think tanks' because they think like a tank: they are designed to crush the opposition, by any means necessary. Using flamethrowers, mortars or machine guns, and all-round brute force, these tanks serve but one purpose.

They seek to destroy their targets. Lying is just half of it.

Statistics are usually the other half. It comes as no surprise to learn that the biggest donors are rightwing, closed and secretive corporations. They attempt to buy public opinion by the manufacturing of a false consent. The notorious Koch Brothers in the States are but another example of this dangerous trend.

The 'reports' of the Fraser Institute are regularly used on California radio shows to justify American reliance on private health care models.

Strangely, the Fraser Institute never -- ever -- mentions that, because of universal health care, we Canadians live on average FOUR YEARS longer than our American cousins.

The operant word is 'tank', Charlie.

sleepswithangels

Sep 13, 2011 at 2:26pm

Interesting topic...especially as it relates to the domestic environmental movement and the quislings within that movement that the right wing has co-opted. The two mass media darlings that come to mind are Tzeppy Berman, aka Reader's Digest "Green Queen" and the Vancouver Sun's favourite Green "spoiler", Adrienne Carr. I'll never forget how much the corporate media embraced Carr in their efforts to undermine any hope the NDP could knock off their "boy"...Gordon Campbell.

That's the other side of the dirty tricks coin, isn't it? On the one hand you relentlessly attack those who are threats to fascist hegemony and then you "balance" the mass media book by boosting the fortunes of malleable half wits like Berman and Carr. You have to credit the Fraser Institute and their puppeteers for being shrewd. They knew that the personal ambition and egos of these two would over ride any common sense or feelings of guilt they might have for allowing themselves to be used.

As for Carr...I heard she plans to run for a position on the Vancouver Parks Board. What is it with the Green Party and losing? They can't seem to attract any winners. Is this because people like Carr and her posse won't relinquish their iron grip? Wake up Green Party voters. It's pretty obvious that this party exists for two reasons: To stroke the egos of the losers who control it and to siphon support away from the only party that can defeat the right wing entity that is raping the land and sea.
SMBs

NoLeftNutter

Sep 13, 2011 at 2:52pm

Moonbeam Monbiot is another left-wing elitest - free speech is acceptable only if it agrees with his. An attitude Charlie is dangerously close to. Both sides of the discussion are entitled to their opinions, after all there is only one set of facts.

sleepswithangels

Sep 13, 2011 at 2:55pm

Mea culpa:

1) It's actually Adriane Carr
2) She's running for Vancouver city council in a long shot bid to help out the NPA.
SMBs

Goldorak

Sep 13, 2011 at 5:39pm

"Sir Crispin was President of the Royal Geographical Society from 1990 to 1993 and Warden of Green College, Oxford between 1990 and 1997, where he appointed George Monbiot and Norman Myers as Visiting Fellows. Green College merged with Templeton College in 2008 to become Green Templeton College, located at what was previously Green College."

Sir Crispin is a trustee of the Woodbridge Foundation, the multi billion dollar investment arm of... the Thomson family, the richest in Canada! Ah Monbiot, such an obliging fellow!

Some Guy Named Bob

Sep 13, 2011 at 6:38pm

Does anyone else miss the days when conservatives were actually conservative? Today it seems conservatives are anything but. They're a new brand of radical, pushing for policies that have never been tried anywhere without failing the vast majority of those populations miserably. Yet they continue to believe in them - such is the power of think tank propaganda, I suppose.

Re: Goldorak

Sep 13, 2011 at 6:55pm

My dear Goldorak, an effective ad hominem is succinct and unambiguous. Moron.

Mark Fornataro

Sep 13, 2011 at 8:17pm

Re:"Secretive right-wing think tanks are crushing our democracy"-this is an extremely important issue that I hope candidates for the leadership of the federal NDP address by pledging to bring in transparency regarding these think tanks. The same kind of transparency we expect from government lobbyists and after all, aren't they one and the same.