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, October 6, 2015

It’s Alive! TPP Gets Signed, Democracy Dies A Little More

Click here to access article by "Don Quijones" from his blog Raging Bull-Shit.
If you are a resident (the word “citizen” no longer seems fitting) of the U.S.A, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Brunei, Peru, Chile, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Australia or New Zealand, your elected government just sold you, your family, friends and everybody else you know down the river. Without a paddle. ....

Grasping for a ray of hope, Naked Capitalism’s Lambert Strether points out that the text of TPP has not yet been finalized and once it has, it will have to be ratified by lawmakers in each country against a backdrop of intensifying public opposition. ...the pressure on TPP’s 12 signatory nations to comply over the coming months will be almost unbearable. After all, the success of the U.S. empire’s so-called “Asian pivot” hinges on the signing of TPP. 
For more comments on this agreement, see this article entitled "Nine Thoughts On the TPP Agreement Being Reached Today" by Nick Deardon. 

"It's Ba-ack!" Editorial cartoon by Gregory Crawford. From World News Trust.