Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Injustice Handed Out To Julian Assange Must End

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

Friday, June 19, 2015

The Injustice Handed Out To Julian Assange Must End

Click here to access article by John Pilger from Information Clearing House.

Once again we are witnessing the results of class power. This capitalist class happens to be one that is located in the US Empire, who by default inherited world hegemony after WWII, and are now showing signs of being thoroughly addicted to power. This is just another illustration among many.

I am often asked if I think Assange has been "forgotten". It is my experience that countless ordinary people all over the world, especially in Australia, his homeland, understand perfectly well the injustice being meted out to Julian Assange. They credit him and WikiLeaks with having performed an epic public service by informing millions about what the powerful plan for them behind their backs, the lies governments and their vested interests tell, the violence they initiate. Power that is corrupt loathes this, because it is true democracy in action.

The only thing I would like to add to this brief protest piece is that power always corrupts. I'm specifically referring to power based on violence or threats of violence, on money, on "ownership" of substantial economic properties--every relationship other that the support of ordinary people in one's location. Hence, human survival demands the construction of radical egalitarian societies to replace class power systems in order to create real "democracy in action" all over the world.

Another illustration--should you need one--is that of the arrest of FIFA officials in Switzerland initiated by the US Dept. of Justice (?). Margaret Kimberly from Black Agenda Report provides this illustration in an article entitled "Freedom Rider: America Prosecutes the World". She writes:

On May 27, 2015, the Swiss government arrested seven men in Geneva at the behest of the United States. The individuals were officials from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) the body which governs international soccer.

The United States Justice Department charged these FIFA officials with corruption in awarding soccer World Cup sites. The existence of bribery in awarding international sporting events such as the World Cup and Olympic games has been an open secret for many years. It was the American claim of jurisdiction to carry out these prosecutions which caught the world by surprise.