Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Dreams Deferred; Co-opting the Mideast Revolts

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

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Dreams Deferred; Co-opting the Mideast Revolts

Click here to access article by Yousef K. Baker from Muftah.

This is the best political analysis of the events related to the Arab Spring phenomenon that I have seen to date. It offers so many important insights on how political operatives of the Empire function to contain and co-opt resistance movements throughout the world to serve the interests of globalized capitalism.

As people march in the streets and occupy main squares, their dreams are in danger of being deferred once again. The form that many of the revolts took, combined with the interests and strategies of the U.S. and other Western powers, make the revolts susceptible to co-optation by elites. This assertion might be premature given that these struggles are currently unfolding; these processes are neither finished nor inevitable. This analysis is not an attempt to explain, describe in full, or in anyway fully represent the different movements. Rather it aims to sound a preliminary alarm given observations of common trends across the region.