Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Afghanistan – ‘Small’ Western Propaganda Lies, Huge Impact

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

Monday, April 3, 2017

Afghanistan – ‘Small’ Western Propaganda Lies, Huge Impact

Click here to access article by Andre Vltchek from New Eastern Outlook.

After more than 15 years of brutal Western occupation, Afghanistan appears to be thoroughly ruined. Not only in terms of its infrastructure and standards of living, and not only when it comes to all basic indicators like life expectancy (15th lowest in the world, according to the WHO, 2015) or education: all those things I expected.

But perhaps even more significantly, the country is destroyed morally and intellectually.

The only resistance the West is facing here, comes from extremist groups and movements such as the Taliban and Daesh (ISIS). All intellectual and artistic struggles against the occupation have been destroyed, contained, bought, or frightened into near absolute silence.

While reading this article thoughts entered my mind that what Vltchek was describing occurring in Afghanistan applies to all the world's lands and people who are under US Empire domination--and, that includes the USA! The directorate of the transnational capitalist class at the controls of the Empire have stumbled upon a near perfect way to control much of the planet for their tiny class and those approximately 9% just below them as described in yesterday's post.

These are the people who the Empire directors have at great expense trained, thoroughly indoctrinated, and rather lavishly rewarded to staff the key sectors of Afghanistan. The Empire directors use these people as enforcers in the military and police agencies; and key positions in the government, the media, and educational institutions. All the efforts of these thoroughly colonized upper middle class loyally support the dominant capitalist Empire not to improve the living conditions of the people of Afghanistan, but to secure their allegiance to the Empire's transnational capitalists and their obsession with profits, power, and control.

While reading the article, some rather disturbing questions entered my mind. Should such people not be identified as a colonial comprador class who serve the ruling class of the Empire's transnational capitalists? Isn't that what is precisely happening in the US? Are we ordinary people in the US also not colonial subjects?