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, February 1, 2018

Former British Ambassador Weighs in on Assange, Russia Hacking and Israel

Click here to an interview with Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, that is conducted by Randy Credico and Dennis Bernstein. The interview is posted on Mint Press News

Craig Murray is a very well informed and conscientious person and author who reveals much of what he has learned on various issues from his experience with the British government. For example:
It is fair to say that the establishment stick together.  In fact, I believe that the government and the judiciary are closer here than they are in the United States to some extent.  There is quite a closed circle of the ruling class.  They attend all the same schools and they are closely linked in various ways. So once you take on [any part of] the establishment, you are taking on the entire establishment.
At the risk of distracting from the substance of this excellent interview, Dennis Bernstein use an expression that always pushes my hostility buttons. He used the cowardly term "the powers that be". Unless one is completely uninformed, the use of this expression shows cowardice. It is self-censorship. It is playing along with the capitalist ruling classes avoidance of any terms that might be used to shed reality about their class's overwhelming power over the billions of people trying to secure some kind of existence in spite of the overwhelming threats to their lives posed by this tiny class. Bernstein is not uninformed! It's like he is saying, "I know who really runs this country, but I won't say it because it might damage my career".