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 2, 2012

Political Imaginaries in Saudi Arabia: Revolutionaries without A Revolution

Click here to access article by Rosie Bsheer from Jadaliyya. 

Here is a report on a subject which is totally suppressed in US mainstream media--anti-regime protests and activities in Saudi Arabia. I was particularly drawn to this statement:
US-trained and armed security forces have been dispatched more thoroughly throughout the country to thwart any potential signs of public gatherings or protests.
Clearly it is to the US security forces that oppressive regimes look to for training to suppress any popular opposition. Likewise, I am sure that US security forces have learned much from Israeli security agencies in their suppression of Palestinians. 

However, in the US the enforcers of the One Percent are curbed to some extent by what is left of Constitutional legal defenses and media reporting. Hence, during the past decades we have witnessed ongoing attacks on these institutions with the result that they offer diminished protection on our ability to oppose the ruling class of the One Percent. It seems clear to me that we must counter this development by organizing our own forms of security and our own media.