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, June 12, 2014

The Price of the World Cup

Click here if you wish to access the source posting of an excellent 29:00m video and brief introduction by Don Quijones on his blog Raging Bull-Shit. (A British blogger residing in Spain)
On the eve of the world’s biggest sporting circus, here’s Mikkel Keldof’s hard-hitting documentary The Price of the World Cup. The film offers a slice of the other reality in Brazil, the reality that neither FIFA nor the Brazilian authorities want global viewers — whether football fans or not — to see.


I wonder why Pepe Escobar, an outstanding, independent Brazilian journalist, has never reported on such realities found in his home country (I've never found any) as he has for many other parts of the world. I'm not suggesting hypocrisy on his part. Journalists all over the world are under tremendous political pressure to write material that does not threaten ruling classes, and many are killed that refuse to comply.