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, January 22, 2016

The empire strikes again?

Click here to access article by David F. Ruccio, professor of economics and rabble-rouser extraordinaire from his website Occasional Links & Commentary.
Apparently, the British public...are generally proud of their country’s role in subjecting the world to colonialism and the British Empire, according to a new poll: 44 percent were proud of Britain’s history of colonialism, while only 21 percent regretted that it happened. 23 percent held neither view.
Because it's often easier to point out the faults of others, it might be easy to look at the "educated" British public and regard what they believe to be true as ridiculous. This article does that precisely. After you are through amusing yourself about the stupid Brits, you might think about all the public opinion survey results here in the US which reveal that many people have unquestioningly swallowed similar lies about the good deeds done by our humanitarians imperialists. 

The great challenge of working people everywhere is to overcome our brainwashing by searching for credible historical information in books, online and offline articles to recover the history of our worker ancestors and the real history of our capitalist masters. And be on guard against the more subliminal messages about our history that permeates all of capitalist media and cultural products.