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 2, 2013

Change in Qatar?

Click here to access article by As'ad AbuKhalil from Al Akhbar.
There has been an unprecedented campaign of festive coverage in the Western (and paid oil and gas Arab) media for the ascension of a new emir for Qatar. The event is treated (especially but not exclusively in Qatari-paid media) as part of the supposed march of the “Arab Spring.” Little mention is made to the history of Gulf dynasties in which a brother surrenders power to another brother, or a father to a son. For some reason, the abdication of the unelected emir – an absolute ruler – to another unelected emir – an absolute ruler – is treated bizarrely as a democratic event. 
The hidden hand of Empire operatives is hinted at all over this article.
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