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, April 21, 2015

TTIP leak: EU proposal undermines democratic values

Click here to access article by Lora Verheecke from Corporate Europe Observatory. 

Although our capitalist masters impugn any attempt by the Ninety-Nine Percent to discern what our masters are doing in various secret gatherings by the derisive labeling of such efforts as pursuing "conspiracy theories", numerous leaks from whistleblowers and inside observers have supplied abundant evidence that our masters are always engaged in conspiring to promote their interests which are often at the expense of our interests. 

Such collusive discussions and planning (conspiring) by our ruling masters is clearly an ongoing activity and is an integral part of class conflict or class struggle spotlighted by social critics in the 19th century such as Karl Marx. Unfortunately after so many decades of brainwashing, it seems that most working people in the US believe this mythology of "conspiracy theories" (which is itself the product of a conspiracy designed to delude people) and uncritically absorb most explanations given by our masters about their policies and actions as interpreted through their ubiquitous media and other institutions. The fact that important decisions are made in secret behind closed doors doesn't seem to make a dent in this majority acceptance of ruling class views of reality.

In this article (which will never be reported in mainstream media, therefore it doesn't exist) we see leaked information that clearly shows how this TTIP trade policy, like all neoliberal policies, will further compromise the anemic processes of really existing democracy in Europe, that is, capitalist (aka bourgeois or liberal) democracy to serve the interests of ordinary people.