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

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The Revolution’s Torturers: Systematic Human Rights Abuses in New Libya

Click here to access article by Andrew Bashi from In These Times. 

Because political operatives of the Empire like to frame their imperial adventures as "humanitarian interventions", this article permits us take a hard look at the results of their latest accomplishment of humanitarianism--Libya. There are many links to reports from real humanitarian organizations that are even more useful. 

As one would expect, the current crimes against humanity in Libya have disappeared from US mainstream media. The latter have now moved on to Syria, the Empire's latest project of destabilization.