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Play Pirates of the Arabian Sea in real time!
By Ayers Baxter

I’m here at the Rainbow Center in Karachi, Pakistan, where you can buy a CD or DVD of any music or movie for Rs. 50 - 90. That equals between $0.80 - $1.50 USD. And if you buy in bulk, you cut those prices in half. So, if you want a bargain basement price on CD, DVD or software, including Microsoft, sail or fly into Karachi, now. This opportunity may not last forever.

Take PIA Airlines – they are probably one of the safest airlines on earth, today. When you land, flag down a taxi for Rs. 180 ($3.00 USD) and tell the driver, “Rainbow Center”. Feast your eyes on pirate’s heaven. Fill a shopping cart full of the latest stuff and there is absolutely no one to stop you. Here’s a place where Santa Clause’s helpers are busy copying everything under the rainbow sky.

There are other great buys in Karachi, such as the latest computers, laptops and all kinds of other high tech items, including TV, DVD players and re-writeable machines and anything else you can think of and they are all brand new. Karachi is filled with one of the largest piracy and smuggling shopping centers in the world and it’s all done in day light and in open shops where you can stroll into large centers where 100+ shops are selling the stuff openly. It’s one of the greatest rip offs of high-tech, music, motion pictures and intellectual property in the world, including grabbing the latest best selling books. Join me if you want the latest stuff even before it rolls into retail stores in old USA.

30 December, 2004

I just returned from addressing the Pakistan Press Foundation. They asked me to speak to them about the current Piracy, Smuggling and illegal manufacturing of intellectual property.

After I spoke, I was surrounded by many of the established gentry and press. I got the impression that they seriously want to change the current conditions here and are moving in that direction as quickly as they can. They are doing it for survival.

You see, India and China, two of the biggest pirates in the world, have begun changing their policy and it is benefiting the two countries in big ways. Microsoft, AT&T, SBC, MacDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Nestles’ and the packaging industry are spending big money moving many of the manufacturing and customer services to these countries to use the low wages for labor to compete with the world. They are smart. World economics are playing a big factor, but Pakistan is losing out on the benefits by not following the intellectual property rights laws.


http://www.dawn.com/2004/12/31/local4.htm

Pakistan has made laws against piracy. The question is: will they enforce them? It may take time and a tremendous effort but it seems that the press is going to try to use its influence to encourage the government to move forward as quickly as possible. However, it has little chance of succeeding without some help from the major creators, manufacturers, distributors and government agencies throughout the world.

You see, there are 160 million people in Pakistan. The majority live in poverty. Most families make less than $300 a month.

Pakistan has some similarities to the birth of our nation. Before we revolted from England’s imperialism, the colonies were full of pirates and smugglers. In fact, we, like Pakistan, were the greatest smugglers on earth. But once we broke loose from England’s high prices for goods, we wisely set up laws that could protect our inventors. These intellectual property rights laws in the form of copyright and patents, have been one of the greatest encouragements for people to produce new inventive stuff. In fact, it is these laws which have created our greatest US asset, Intellectual Property. They are the reason the USA leads the world economically, today.

The human mind is the greatest asset a nation can possess. When our country first encouraged people to think and be inventive by rewarding those creators with certain protections of their intellectual creations, it was probably one of the greatest things a government can do for its people. The mind of the people is the greatest resource a country has in its possession. If the children of a nation are the future of a nation, than it is absolutely imperative to develop the minds of those children and encourage them to think, freely.

If a person, young or old, rich or poor, male or female is inventive, it seems only fair to reward them with protection for their minds invention. This can help to give the people of a nation, parity. It is certainly possible for a poor person, who has been educated, to achieve great things if their creative thinking will be rewarded. History has proven this time and again.

Rock and Roll was not invented by the rich. It was invented by the poor of a nation. Soul was its mother. Jazz was its father. Country its home. Elvis was its benefactor and the world its playground.

Many of the highest tech items were created by college kids in blue jeans and t-shirts.

I was born in Tennessee, lived on Lookout Mountain, pumped water from a well, walked on a muddy path in the night to use an outhouse for a toilet, and my mother had to heat cold water from the well for my bath in a metal tub when I was four years old. In other words, I grew up country. If it were not for the US education grants I would never have been able to go to college and then to graduate school. Had it not been for copyright protection, I would not be doing what I am doing today. So, thank god for the US intellectual property rights laws. It gave a poor boy from the back country a chance to explore the world and learn.

Want to see the future of our nation, take a look at our children. They will be the next leaders of business and government. They will be the fathers and mothers of future generations. If the majority of our children are ill fed, unnourished, uneducated and angry then what kind of love do you suppose they will have for us and our country? It is perfectly understandable if they begin to seek reward somewhere else. If our smartest children leave to go somewhere else to find that nourishment and reward, then we, like many countries will loose our greatest resource and our most valuable asset.

Many nations outside the USA have been experiencing this phenomenon for over a century and we have been the benefit of the greatest migration of minds moving to our shores and enriching our lives. We must be thankful that we have these intellectual property rights laws. And all of us as individuals must take heed to the notice of other countries who have suffered greatly due to the fact that they do not protect these fair, practical and just rights.

Living here in Pakistan, a person cannot help but notice most of their greatest talent leaves the country for the West either to study in great schools or for better job opportunities in the workplace. This is a plus for the US; but it is a sad condition for Pakistan who is losing their greatest assets and jeopardizing their countries future.

The World Bank and the United Nations would be amiss to ignore this problem that occurs throughout the world. Pakistan, like many other countries who have the majority of their people living in poverty, is in trouble. If ignored, their poor will rise up out of need and anger. And history of Rwanda, Nigeria, Congo, Somalia, Indonesia, and the Sudan teaches us that a revolution of uneducated people is chaotic and destructive beyond reason, where the poor uneducated people fear those who have education and thus slaughter man, women and child, doctors, lawyers and teachers and even go into schools and kill all children who are educated within those schools. The devastation at times has been so complete that in many of these countries, the sick and poor have no one to help them. It can be considered a necessary cleansing through the survival of the fittest, except that it is the most fit people who are overwhelmed and killed by masses of crippled minds. A kind of helter-skelter leaving these countries in dire poverty. The ignorant poor people eliminate those who could pull them out of such conditions. Thus these countries have little hope of recovering within our lifetime and yet they make babies and more babies and the cycle continues until someone wiser helps or we destroy our world with neglect. Horror such as this is avoidable if we take notice, now.

A simple and effective method to improve education of the minds of a struggling nation is to invest in the poor yet hardy and eager workers within these countries. All they ask for is a chance. With some strong encouragement from the movie, music, TV and high tech companies, including AT&T, SBC, SONY, Microsoft, the US and European governments, I think Pakistan can start upholding international copyright and patent laws, and establish legitimate businesses that will benefit them more than lawless pirates.

Here’s a suggestion: Instead of our USA entertainment business losing 5+ billion dollars a year from Pirates in Pakistan, why not kick 2 billion a year into manufacturing our products here in Pakistan. Part of this process will be to set up schools to educate and train the people who will work within these manufacturing plants. This will not only bring jobs to this part of the world but it will educate and train people to survive this ever changing world we live in. In exchange for our investment in the future health of both of our countries, I am suggesting Pakistan close all manufacturing plants that are not abiding by intellectual property laws, close smuggling rings, including those by sea, and close all shops selling pirated products and destroy all illegal software, DVD, CD and high-tech products. A 2 billion investment that saves us 3 billion a year and enriches Pakistan sounds like a win-win situation and a business proposition that can fly.

Join me in my visits to the Pakistan business community and government leaders. Pakistan is a rich country with many opportunities for investment in the future. Start the New Year with a resolution.

Invest Pakistan 2 Divest Piracy.

Best to you all and Happy New Year!


3 January 2005, Karachi

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz met with the American Business Council in Karachi, today. http://www.dawn.com/2005/01/04/top1.htm  He said the government is addressing the International Property Rights issues and that a lot more needed to be done. So far, the New Year is starting on the right foot.

Ayers

Email me Roy@nohoartsdistrict.com

Copyright January 2005, Roy Ayers Baxter, Jr. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any kind is strictly prohibited without the permission of the copyright owner.