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 25, 2010

A Doctored History: An Interview With William F. Pepper [20m audio]

from Truthout. Be sure to listen to the 20 minute interview. Dr. Pepper has a real understanding of US government and society.

If working people are going to build an alternative to this current criminal capitalist system, they must make the effort to uncover their real history as opposed to the contrived history they get in the media and educational institutions

If one thinks about it, one should not be surprised by the US practice of assassinating its own citizens. They have practiced this for a number of years on opposition leaders in other countries, and they continue to do so, both here and abroad. They made several hundred attempts to kill Castro. The character of this ruling class has taken on the qualities of the Mafia with whom they do business when their services are required.

They don't take out people like Dr. Pepper because he has been effectively silenced in that no mainstream media will go near him, and they need to maintain the fiction of "freedom of speech", etc. Police states are much more expensive to operate. Nevertheless, the US is definitely headed in that direction with its elaborate prison system, surveillance of communications, more aggressive control of protest demonstrations, etc.