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, September 3, 2013

An Eye-Witness Account of the Real War in Syria

Click here to access article by Don Quijones from Raging Bull-Shit.
When they took control of a neighbourhood, the rebels would expel the children from the schools, which they would then turn into makeshift bases. On one occasion we visited one of those bases and I got speaking to the commander. At first he didn’t want to grant us an interview but I told him that I was Columbian and that Columbia was a friend of Israel.

His concerns duly allayed, he gave us a tour of the place, showing us their weapons stash, which included sub-machine guns, as well as a group of Al Qaeda fighters in one of the rooms.

During our conversation, the commander never stopped asking for support from the U.S. and Europe.