We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, April 16, 2015

'Let's stop Brazil' - workers to stage general strike in defence of their rights

Click here to access article by Orlando Hill from CounterFire (Britain).
...despite the progressive forces having won the presidency, they lost the upper and lower houses of representatives and now Brazil has its “most conservative congress since democracy was reinstated in 1985”.
On Wednesday (8 April), the reactionary forces in the federal congress showed their strength by imposing a massive attack on workers' rights. The bill of law PL 4330 approved by congress extends outsourcing and strips workers of rights they had conquered since 1943.
I was interested in this article mainly because of a rising clamor by some of the most astute geopolitical analysts like Brazilian journalist Pepe Escobar, William Engdahl, Tony Cartalucci, and Mike Whitney who enthusiastically welcome the rise of the BRICS countries. To a certain extent I can sympathize with their position because of the rampaging imperialism exhibited by the US-led Empire. However, the rise of another capitalist gang which doesn't yet exhibit the imperialist tendencies of the advanced capitalist US Empire simply doesn't inspire me. It's more likely to result in a nuclear conflagration.

Our salvation from the nightmares of never-ending wars, a nuclear war, and the disasters that await us from climate destabilization caused by the growth necessity of capitalist economies can only be prevented by a global uprising of the world's Ninety-Nine Percent who comprise the workers of the world.