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, July 5, 2018

Recommended articles for Thursday, 7/5/2018

The open talk of U.S. meddling in other countries around the world was so commonplace that the U.S. mass media spent no time covering the hearing, even though the speakers did encounter some pushback. Not all members of Congress are on board with the programs.
The "open talk of US meddling in other countries" and the fact that it is absent in corporate media is not because it is so commonplace. It is because media corporations are controlled by the same ruling class as are government agencies. They simply don't want the public to know about the "democracy promotion" activities of their NGOs. They have never publicized such activities.
The only comment I have to make is that this phenomenon of increasing concentration of ownership/wealth/power is inevitable for those who are ruled by a capitalist system. Thus, this is the story of not only the past 10 years, but it is the story of capitalism. And, the end result is always fascism.