Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Pacific FTAs advance amid Sino-Japanese tensions

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

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Pacific FTAs advance amid Sino-Japanese tensions

Click here to access article by Bill Weinberg from World War 4 Report.

This acute observer of world political events offers some interesting views on the ominous current events in the Far East. The title of his blog indicates that he understands that politics in our post-WWII capitalist era is really warfare by another means (compare with Clausewitz aphorism), and he interprets recent events in this area accordingly. However, as he points out, there are two competing tendencies: toward conflict over resources in the East China Sea and toward cooperation in the form of neoliberal policy agreements. Then there is the love-hate relationship between US corporations who love cheap Chinese labor, but worry about the growing power of China as a threat to the Empire's world dominance.

It's all very complicated, and who knows how it will play out. One thing is sure: if we as working people continue to allow ruling classes to manipulate us to serve their interests and dictate our history as we have in the past, then we can expect devastating wars, economic and social disasters, police state rule, and ecosystem destruction to be our future.