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

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Avaaz: manufacturing consent for wars since 2011

Click here to access article by Vanessa Beeley from her blog The Wall Will Fall.

Beeley reports on her personal experience with an NGO and provides documentation to illustrate its use of propaganda in support of a "humanitarian" effort to establish "no-fly zones" in Libya to protect its people from atrocities committed by their leader Qaddafi. This led to NATO's "humanitarian" bombing and destabilization of Libya into what is now a country ruled by various terrorist gangs. The NGO, of course, is Avaaz, which is funded by rich advocates (such as George Soros) of the Empire and it has been used in variety of places to promote the imperial interests of the Empire (simply enter "Avaaz" into one of my search boxes to find out more).
Four years ago I received an email from the internet campaign group Avaaz which read:

“Together, we’ve sent 450,000 emails to the UN Security Council, “overwhelming” the Council President and helping to win targeted sanctions and a justice process for the Libyan people. Now, to stop the bloodshed, we need a massive outcry for a no-fly zone.” [Bold as in the original.] 
Now such advocates are calling for "safety zones" in Syria.