Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Afghan Elections for Another Fake Regime

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

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Afghan Elections for Another Fake Regime

Click here to access article by Eric Margolis from Common Dreams.

Afghanistan’s national election held this week is a sham. A group of candidates, handpicked by the US, will pretend to compete in an election whose outcome has already been determined – by Washington.

The candidates include US groomed politicians, and drug-dealing warlords from the Tajik and Uzbek north. Chief among them, Rashid Dostam, a major war criminal and principal CIA ally who ordered the massacre of over 2,000 Taliban prisoners.

Margolis focuses only on Afghanistan, but he should make clear that democracy = elections is a prime program method that the Empire uses to legitimatize governments that serve their capitalist interests. I want to make clear that this method applies to the US as well, although the process by which they implement it is a little more sophisticated here in the US and in other advanced capitalist governments.

Looking at the candidates and their backgrounds as described by Margolis, you can see that the Empire will use anybody who is willing to serve the Empire, and then use elections to "certify" them as "democratically elected" and legitimate. Following such "elections" the Empire's media always portray their regimes as democratic which justify all kinds of policies from invading their country to save "democracy", to stationing huge military bases on their land, and to justify giving foreign aid to the regime.

We politically aware activists can view this with cynicism, but it works with the vast majority of American people. Thus, the only way we, and other people, can make progress against this capitalist Empire juggernaut and all ruling class governments is by establishing our own media, and using it to raise the political consciousness of people. There are elements of alternative media all over the place, but they are underfunded, and unorganized. If we are to avoid catastrophic climate destabilization, widespread poverty and misery, wars between contending capitalist regimes, and police states, we must direct our efforts to bring about our own organized and sufficiently funded media. This is our basic task on which all other progressive changes depend.