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 LappĂ©, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, December 10, 2010

Wikileaks: A Big Dangerous US Government Con Job

by William Engdahl from Global Research.

The author presents a very good argument that the WikiLeaks event may be essentially a COINTELPRO type of operation. I, for one, have been expecting an attack on the open, equal access internet for some time. It is one of the last bastions of free, open media that anyone like myself can access and have our voices heard, and, as such, it is a major challenge to the power of capitalist ruling classes. The latter can never tolerate threats to their power, and it is probably the last remaining threat to the control of their respective populations that are becoming increasingly antagonistic to their rule. 

Because the internet is so extremely popular among ordinary people, I have been wondering how they would attack it and bring it under their complete control. There have been moves by corporations to be able to limit access. See this and this. Just as the 9/11 disaster (read this) prepared the American population to launch aggressive wars in Eurasia, so may the WikiLeaks affair provide a perfect excuse to accomplish the takeover of the internet to serve only private interests. 

Of course, it is too early to tell if this thesis is correct. But we, the people, must be ever vigilant in this class war that we keep losing. Remember, it is no longer only a matter of social justice, our survivability as a human race is also now at stake.

Others in addition to Engdahl are skeptical. Read this from a former FBI translator and whistle-blower who was stationed in Turkey.