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

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The World Order and Revolution

Click here to access a book review by Robert J. Burrowes posted on Global Research.

Unfortunately, the authors of a book by this title and the reviewer, Burrowes, all believe that the US-led Empire is the problem, and like Pepe Escobar, William Engdahl, and others look to Russia and China (and others) for salvation. This despite the fact that both countries depend to a large extent on the engines of capitalism under governing elite control to drive their economies. Thus, you won't find any discussion about capitalism itself, only that of neoliberal capitalism which to these people is the exclusive characteristic of the Empire. So, I guess the "revolution" they are advocating is only a revolt against the US-led Empire.

To be sure this view will echo in the chambers of many victims of the Empire, but it is a very short-sighted one. Such a view if carried out can only lead to a nuclear conflagration by pitting the Russia and China, or maybe the BRICS, against the Empire. This goes further than Escobar and Engdahl who cherish a "multipolar world". Vltchek, Black, Koenig, and Burrowes apparently want a destruction of the Empire even though Burrowes diplomatically mentions only the "destructive forces of Empire".
The Empire has already taken over our streets and invaded our homes (where even those of us who feel least affected are still bombarded by its propaganda to infest and befuddle our minds). Will you join these three authors and me in resisting the destructive forces of Empire?