People do not need governments: rulers serve banks and corporations and do not care about the well-being of their citizens, believes Jeff Monson, a famous American mixed martial artist, who positions himself as an anarchist.

In an interview with RT he says American policy is all about imperialism and money making.

RT: It's the 10th anniversary of US invasion to Iraq. You were arrested for vandalism after you spray-painted the anarchist symbol on one of the government buildings, protesting against the war and economic inequalities. Do you think these two are the two main problems of the US? 

Jeff Monson: We can't maintain ourselves. The United States has military bases in 125-130 countries right now worldwide. It's not about government, it's not about the military, it's about keeping the spread of capitalism, of 'American democracy', which means our corporations go and exploit as many people as they can. They keep talking about so many people getting out of poverty, but in fact, statistics show that the gap between the richest and the poorest has never been worst that what it is now, even in the feudal age.

RT: Meanwhile the US starts wars, sends drones to one country and bombs another...

JM:  We are an empire. Like I said, we are trying to spread American capitalism, American 'democracy' throughout the world, to let free trade of money, our businesses and corporations, infiltrate other countries, have new markets open up all over the world. I think it's all a part of a master plan.

Countries with dictatorship regimes are terrible to their people and jail their people - we sell them more arms than any other country of the world. I think it's around 78 per cent of the world's military supplies: missiles, defense systems etc. that come from the United States. It's about money. And who gets that money? Meanwhile they keep us entertained with other things, and we are just blind to what is going on around us in the world. 

A protester steps on an American flay during a march in the downtown financial district to mark the one-year- anniversary of the Occupy.(AFP Photo / David McNew)

RT:It's been two years since the uprising in Syria. America and its allies are openly supporting forces fighting against Bashar Assad, but at the same time they confirm that Al-Qaeda is operating in the country and while they spend millions of dollars on counter-terrorism, it's clear this money could potentially fall into the hands of terrorist groups. Where is the logic here?

JM: It really makes perfect logic. They make enemies of other people. You see the intolerance now for anyone of Muslim background, anyone who even looks like they are from the Middle East.

RT: Do you think anybody will be held responsible for all those mistakes?

JM: No! Who is responsible? When people had their businesses foreclosed and taken away, everything they worked for their entire lives, their farms were closed, they were asking “Who do we fight?” They wanted to fight the police. But the police said “It's not us, we're just doing our job!”

We always blame the government, and of course they are to blame, but - and it's not a conspiracy - they are working for the corporations, they are working for the banks.

RT: Should we expect change from Obama's second term?

JM: No! I think he showed us his true colors during his first term. On the eve of his election people were literally crying: Oh my gosh, we have a black man in America, someone who's going to bring social changes, someone who's not going to be caught in the system, he'll resist the corporations and the banks. But I say - he's just part of the system! He might have a good heart, but I can only judge by his actions.

He wanted to close Guantanamo Bay, he was going to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we are still there. Now they are talking about drones over the United States to watch their own people, it's a police state, it's really George Orwell's '1984'. It's happening in front of us. It's surreal! It's unimaginable!

They want to scare us, saying "they are to get us, we are doing it for your own protection,” they make us scared of one another. Scared of what our neighbors are doing.

RT: Are you disappointed at what 'Occupy' movement managed - or rather failed - to achieve?

JM: For the first time it showed that people can come together from all walks of life. There were doctors, there were unemployed people, teachers, students, all kinds of white-collar, blue-collar workers, saying “We are the 99 per cent! We are being exploited.”

People hold a banner at the Occupy Wall Street.(AFP Photo / Stan Honda)

RT:But they achieved almost nothing. Aren't they more frustrated and disappointed now?

JM: I think they planted a seed of solidarity. Maybe, now it needs to be watered, it needs to be fed, but it's there! Before I don't think it was there. 

RT: Will it resurface? 

JM: It has to resurface! Unfortunately, the climate that is going to make it resurface is the middle class being squeezed out even more in the United States, or another bank failure or something like this. Squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. And when cannot be squeezed any more, then they are going to fight back. I think it's going to spread.

Look at what happened in Egypt and Libya. Never in my lifetime that I expected it could happen to those dictatorships. But it spread like wildfire.

RT: You think 'American Spring' is possible?

JM: I do think so! Not in my lifetime though. But I said that about those other countries too, so... We'll see.

RT: Do you think more pressure is needed to bring about the social changes? More crises? 

JM: We have to educate ourselves!

Being an anarchist gives me hope. What's my biggest fear in life? I think it would be dying without thinking I've contributed enough to something that I know was true. We know that killing someone is wrong. We know that helping someone who is in need is good. These are the absolutes.

We don't need the governments to do the work! The government doesn't do the work! The corporations don't do the work! Banks don't do the work! We are the ones that get our hands dirty. Why then can't we make the decisions?
 

A participant in Occupy Wall Street protest is arrested by police during a rally to mark the one year anniversary of the movement in New York.(AFP Photo / Emmanuel Dunand )

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