Matt Kennard - The Racket A Rogue Reporter vs. the American Elite

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matt Kennard is a fellow at the Centre for Investigative Journalism in London. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Irregular Army and has worked as a staff writer for the Financial Times in London, New York and Washington, DC. He has written for the New York Times , the Chicago Tribune and the Guardian . He graduated as a Stabile investigative fellow from the Columbia Journalism School.

MORE PRAISE FOR THE RACKET

The Racket is an engaging insiders account of how the United States has spent the past 70 years constructing an intricate web of economic control across the globe enforced by violence as a last resort which sucks wealth and resources from the poor world to the rich.

Julian Assange, founder and editor-in-chief of Wikileaks

Kennard brings home in vivid and illuminating detail the reality of life and struggles of much of the worlds population, their defeats and victories, their suffering and vitality and hope.

Noam Chomsky, author of Hegemony or Survival and Failed States

A crucial expos of the powerful, of injustice, and of the war against the poor. It should inspire all of us to fight back.

Owen Jones, author of Chavs and The Establishment

The Racket is tough, angry, relentlessly researched and riveting, in the grand Chomskyan tradition but with the added value of the journalists mobility and on the spot coverage. Kennards range is wide, both geographically and topically, but with a single target the depredations of the US superpowers corporate and political elites on their own home turf and abroad that the lap-dog media rarely touch.

Susan George, author of The Lugano Report: On Preserving Capitalism in the Twenty-first Century

Like the best work of John Pilger, George Monbiot and Naomi Klein, The Racket is investigative, passionate journalism with a purpose to defend the powerless against rapacious power. A hugely important tour de force, it will inform and inspire resistance movements for years to come.

Ian Sinclair, Red Pepper

With this, his second book, Matt Kennard has announced his presence on the scene as the next generations John Pilger Kennard does a brilliant job of tying the strands together and joining the dots between disparate struggles against corporate greed and imperial power around the world.

Asa Winstanley, Middle East Monitor

Timely and readable Kennard ranges widely in his attempt to show the scope and depth of the Racket. From the disaster capitalism imposed on an earthquake-traumatized Haiti to the undermining of democracy in Bolivia, Kennard lays bare the mechanics of the scam This book is a valuable tool for anyone wishing to engage in the worldwide struggle for justice.

New Internationalist

Kennard decided to leave his comfortable job at the Financial Times and start to do some real journalism instead. The Racket , his second book, is very much the result of this transformation and it is nothing sort of marvellous. Angry, scornful and yet optimistic about the potential for change the book makes a good case for Kennard being a true heir to John Pilger and the older generation of muckrakers.

Morning Star

The Racket is an expos of the murky collusions between global high-finance and the militarised US state in the post-war era.

Olivia Arigho Stiles, Alborada

Matt Kennard threw away a cushy career with an establishment newspaper just to let you in on a secret: you dont get the story, you get the cover-up.

Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Vultures Picnic

A brilliant atlas of what Kennard calls heavy history the hurricane-like path of global destruction wrought by neoliberalism and wars against the poor.

Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums and In Praise of Barbarians: Essays against Empire

Matt Kennard exposes the failure of US neoliberalism and a major reason why Chinas star is rising while American foreign policy is imploding into a black hole.

John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman

This firecracker of a book, written by a former insider journalist who realised the true, exploitative agenda of corporate media, unleashes a gonzo journey across the world of US empire. Read this book, be startled and then take action.

Antony Loewenstein, Guardian columnist and author of Profits of Doom

I congratulate Matt Kennard for this brutally honest work.

Nawal El Saadawi, author of Woman at Point Zero

Matt Kennard reveals the criminal and ruthless dynamics of global imperialism. His analysis is richly researched, keenly illustrative, and consistently on target. May this book get the wide readership it deserves.

Michael Parenti, author of The Face of Imperialism

A masterpiece of engaged journalism.

Walden Bello, member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines

Matt Kennard puts no deodorant on the reptiles waste in the imperial barnyard.

Gavin MacFadyen, director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism

Includes unusually candid interviews with members of the World Bank and other financial institutions.

Publishers Weekly

THE RACKET

A ROGUE REPORTER VS
THE AMERICAN ELITE

MATT KENNARD

Zed Books
LONDON

The Racket was first published in 2015 by Zed Books Ltd.

This edition was first published in 2016.

Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR

www.zedbooks.co.uk

Copyright Matt Kennard 2015, 2016

The right of Matt Kennard to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro by seagulls.net

Index by Rohan Bolton

Cover designed by www.alice-marwick.co.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-78032-987-1 pb

ISBN 978-1-78032-989-5 pdf

ISBN 978-1-78032-990-1 epub

ISBN 978-1-78032-991-8 mobi

For Ana and Dylan,
who wrote this with me

And Chelsea Manning,
for helping us see the truth

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book has been a decade in the making and involved travel to all corners of the globe. The overwhelming feeling I came away with is that our world judged by how it treats its human family is in dire straits. But wherever Ive gone Ive been filled with hope by seeing the brave and courageous individuals and groups resisting the violence and misery inflicted by the US-led military and economic machine. From Palestine to Honduras, from South Africa to Haiti, Id like to thank all the people who have filled me with faith against the odds, often in the face of great danger. They have been resolute in the face of an ideological system that endlessly tells them their pain is for their own benefit. Thank you for resisting the power and the lies.

I am a fellow at the Centre for Investigative Journalism, which is a dream place to work. The CIJ is an institution dedicated to furthering adversarial and revelatory journalism in a media setting that increasingly ignores it. In particular its director, Gavin MacFadyen, has been an inspiration for his passion and courage in supporting whistleblowers and journalists working in difficult environments. He is the model of what a journalist should be. Also at the CIJ Ive been lucky enough to work closely with a great investigative journalist, Claire Provost. The Bertha Foundations support, meanwhile, has allowed me to pursue controversial stories and concentrate on doing the journalism I love. Kika Sroka-Miller at Zed Books was brilliant in helping me form the ideas and structure of the book, so a big thank you to her. Also at Zed, Jonathan Maunder and Dan Och made countless invaluable and insightful suggestions to get the book in shape. Janet Law gave the text a rigorous and stringent copy-edit. As has probably been the case for millions of people around the world, Noam Chomsky has been the most influential person in my intellectual and political development. Since I was a student journalist in the middle of my political awakening he has responded consistently and over many years to my enquiries with patience and unfailing insight. Thanks for everything, Professor.