Robert Arnold

Money Reform Activist in Britain

Robert, you're the Chairman of the British Association of Monetary Reform, (BAMR) please tell us a little about yourself and how you became involved in money reform....

Born in 1935 in south London, the war years dominated my childhood and it is likely that the seeds of an insatiable, inquiring mind were sown. From a very early age, with bombs and 'doodlebugs' dropping all around, this was very much a 'kids should be seen and not heard' period. Finding out the basic 'why' of so many non-optimum and confusing phenomenon (which seemed to spin-off from war) became what I now recognise as a life-long pursuit if not obsession. I would never be 'fobbed-off' with platitudes or answers which I considered irrational. I initially went into engineering and, by nature, that is still where my heart lies. But my predilection for uncovering the 'whys' of so many non-optimum situations helped me develop communication skills which I eventually put to use in sales and marketing. And much of my working life was spent selling electrical switch-gear to industry and then building materials to construction companies.

Two horrendous tragedies in the family, the second of which got me investigating first a psychiatrist, and then psychiatry as a 'profession'. I very soon found myself confronted with a very big 'why'. Why does a 'profession' with such a grotesquely negative success rate -- thousands dead or vegetablised per year and none made well -- enjoy similar respect to the medical profession?

I researched the whole evolution of psychiatry and discovered that it is in fact all about social control. I discovered that the Rockefeller Foundation played a key role in making respectable this fraternity by setting up the World Federation of Mental Health, and not for benevolent reasons. This was just after WW2.

I very quickly found myself heading up a human rights organisation for 'mental patients' specifically to expose psychiatry for the charlatanry that it is. It was during this time 1992-1997 that I got to know Dr Edward Hamlyn, who had already been researching the money system for many years and was already well aware of psychiatry's real purpose.

He would constantly urge me to get an understanding of the money system as it 'underpinned psychiatry'. I eventually took the good doctor's advice, and read his book Money or Your Life and I began to see more of the big picture. I then began reading everything I could get on the subject, and quickly realised that virtually every social and global ill is either created by, or exacerbated by, the present money system.

After becoming pretty 'au fait' with the subject, I set about getting some colleagues interested who were not entirely uninitiated and eventually we decided to set up BAMR for the express purpose of disseminating what we now know, to as wide a public as possible. Much time in that first year was spent examining all the obstacles that prevented the truth becoming common knowledge. Our prime focus today is streamlining methods of breaking through those obstacles. BAMR's contention is that without a groundswell of outrage from the grassroots there ain't gonna be no monetary reform.

What is the BAMR approach to money reform?

The BAMR approach to monetary reform is perhaps unique in that we approach it as an engineer would approach a technical problem. That is: we have looked at what is, and discovered that we have a horrendously unjust monetary system. Then we look for the why and discover that King William sold out the responsibility of creating and issuing our currency 300 years ago, and since that time the banks have slowly but surely gained control of the whole world.

Then we look for the why governments are not repealing the Act of King William and restoring unto themselves the right and duty to create and issue their nation's money....
We discover that governments, particularly of the 'Western World' are unwilling to initiate any change in the system or even discuss it. This presents another why? BAMR members will not get embroiled in discussions as to how the transition from bank created credit to government created money (whatever shape and form this takes) will be implemented, because such discussions pander to the absurd notion that the why is lack of know-how, and not lack of willthrough demand.

Unwillingness by politicians can only be reversed by a demand from the electorate. So why is there no demand from the electorate? There is no demand from the electorate because they have no knowledge of how they and the rest of the world are being defrauded by the banks....
And why have they no knowledge?
The electorate has no knowledge because no one is telling them, and they are educated in the belief that the monetary system is far too complex to be understood by anyone but the 'experts'. This perceived complexity is the present system's greatest protection against exposure.

BAMR is changing that. With our dissemination methods and in language that the average person understands, the grossly unjust monetary system, which underpins virtually all social and global ills from 'inflation' to genocide, is now rapidly being exposed for the gargantuan fraud that it is.

What does the BAMR aim to achieve?

To bring an end to monetary illiteracy by making the word 'economics' socially acceptable by making it rational. Highlighting the absurdity of antiquated and unrealistic paradigms that outlived their dubious usefulness generations ago.

BAMR publishes booklets. What titles have appeared so far?

Thus far we have published six booklets :

• The Spoils of War in Yugoslavia
• Frankenstein Foods (includes Dismantling of UK, Farming Third World Debt, Commercial Warfare)
• Monetary Reform Not Monetary Union
• Money Or Your Life
• Monetary Reform Or Else Armageddon
• Your Business Under Siege

Soon to come is a booklet primarily focussing on fuel prices and where the money (tax) goes, and Kieron McFadden is currently working on The Prize, which will be a conceptual scenario of what might be expected after MR.

What is the role of your booklets?

Our original intention was, of course, to get 'ordinary' peoples' interest and awaken them to the fact that 'something is seriously wrong', and to get them reaching out to complete their education in the subject. All the booklets contain enough data to present the essence of the problem in plain language but hopefully not so long as to become tedious. This is now working well.

The advocacy of money reform has a long history. Do you think we are entering a new stage in the campaign?

I certainly do -- and, of course, the Internet is playing a key role in this. There is a growing awareness amongst people and this is fuelled by their inherent scepticism about single currencies and the drift toward 'globalisation'. How long can the mainstream media continue avoiding the subject with the growing mountain of Internet pages spelling out the truth?

What's your advice to help us win?

The Monetary Reform fraternity in the UK -- indeed, the world -- is fragmented into small groups of very worthy people, each playing their own, but similar, tunes. Bringing all of our collective energy together and speaking with one voice on the central issue, makes us infinitely more effective. We are all agreed that 'Joe Blow' has to know, and Joe has a short attention span.

The Bromsgrove Group meeting this year could be an excellent starting point for a more unified approach. The MR movement in the UK and elsewhere is now awash with brilliant, even inspired, works on this subject and it is gratifying to know we have such great education tools. I think our attention should now be on creating the learning curve from monetary illiteracy to full conceptual understanding, and the beginning is the toughest part.

Please make cheques, postal orders etc. payable to BAMR (South East).

Telephone :   01342 410962
Fax :   01342 302149
E-mail :  bamr1@globalnet.co.uk

BAMR (South East)
27 Imberhorne Lane
Felbridge
West Sussex RH19 1QX