[lbo-talk] This will have a large political impact

[Wojtek S]

""What is significant is the picture it helps to paint of the way
corporations operate," Bichlbaum told Reuters. "They operate with
complete disregard for rule of law and human decency."

[WS:] This is not exactly news, especially for those already opposing
neoliberalism.  The others either do not give a flying fuck or will
dismiss it as left wing propaganda.

Wikileaks is basically a Gandhian strategy adopted to the internet
age.  This strategy rests on appeals to "public opinion" and a belief
that such opinion will bring a political change.  Both are based on
false assumptions.  First, there is no such thing as "public opinion"
as Graeber aptly observed in "Direct Action," criticizing the Gandhian
approach.  Second, bourgeois democracies developed immunity for any
type of "public scandal" as I argued here
http://wsokol.blogspot.com/2012/01/from-amritsar-to-derry-bloody-sundays.html

So the only time when an information leak will result in a political
change is when there is already a politically powerful group poised to
implement that change and using the leaked information as an excuse to
act (cf. Watergate.)

Wojtek