Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Creeping annexation, ethnic cleansing and ‘the politics of fragmentation’ inflicted by criminals who strut the world stage and thumb their noses at international law

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, December 27, 2013

Creeping annexation, ethnic cleansing and ‘the politics of fragmentation’ inflicted by criminals who strut the world stage and thumb their noses at international law

Click here to access article, posted on Fig Trees and Vineyards, which features an interview with international law authority Richard Falk. (Note: this article is prefaced by a report entitled "Temper Tantrums in US, Canada over Falk Comments to RT", which is interesting in itself, but far more interesting is the interview which follows.)

The implications of Falk's observations about the UN with regard to the Palestinian people illustrates the sad fact that world's capitalist ruling classes, for all their pretenses about the rule of law, still rule according to the principle that "might makes right". Therefore, there will be no advances in human welfare, and indeed, the very existence of the human race is now at stake if the tiny population of "owners" and their system of capitalism, or any other class system, is allowed to continue.

The bottom line is that we live in a world in which the primacy of hard power prevails in the relationship among states.

Of course, we should add the obvious: "hard power within states as well, in addition to the pervasive use of soft power in the form of ruling class indoctrination".