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, July 20, 2012

The Afghan bottomless pit

Click here to access article by Manlio Dinucci from Voltaire Network. 

With the support of military contractors, war hawks, and Zionists, Empire operatives continue to turn Afghanistan into a prime military base for further expansion of the Empire. Meanwhile...
To convince Americans and Europeans, already severely affected by cuts in social spending, that it is necessary to remove from public funds more billions of dollars and euros to spend in Afghanistan, they are told that these amounts serve to improve the lives of the Afghan people, especially their women and children. That is the fairy tale told by Hillary Clinton, accompanied by the sound of birds in Kabul and by the chorus of those who benefit from these funds.