Sinister Interests are a political concept developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) from 1794, when his project to build a panopticon prison in Millbank(London) was approved by the English parliament. This prison was never built because two important aristocratic families (Spencer and Grosvenor) used the state apparatus to preserve their own speculative interests in that area of London. Bentham appreciated that rulers, rather than being motivated by achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of their subjects, sought to promote their own happiness above and at the expense of the well-being of the community.
In a modern sense of the term a touch of mass manipulation is added using political lies to make civil society believe that the particular interests of rulers are those of civil society. In this sense three centuries before Christ Sun Tzu already wrote in "The Art Of War":
Generally in the method of war, the fundamental principle is to make the measures of government prevail supremely. If this is done, then the affected people will have no quarrel between them, and having no disputes will not be aware of their own interests while retaining the government's interest in mind.
The sinister interest is manifested with three rules:
- The right of the vote converted by the media into the duty of the citizen to the rule, being excluded, when exercised, of political freedom.
- The speculative versus productive economy bearing the interest of financial capita.
- Finally, the state of autonomy, which has promoted the interest of local oligarchies by destroying civil society with the goals of exclusionary nationalisms.
A democracy establishes two measures that directly affect the sinister interest: the imperative mandate and the ability of citizens to depose their rulers.