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

Friday, July 20, 2018

Recommended articles for Friday, July 20, 2018

When a U.S. citizen heard he was on his own country’s drone target list, he wasn’t sure he believed it. After five near-misses, he does – and is suing the United States to contest his own execution.

Pillaging the World. The History and Politics of the IMF

Click here to access article by Ernst Wolff from Global Research

This article gives an excellent summary of the origins, design, and function of the IMF which has played a major role in the post WWII project that left the USA undamaged and the dominant power in the world. The former pro-fascist American "isolationists" came out of the American woodwork to construct their own Empire by using secrecy, deception, and a key ideological component of capitalism--the principle contained in the capitalist version of the Golden Rule: those who own the gold (or control money) [must] rule the world. 
No other financial organization has affected the lives of the majority of the world’s population more profoundly over the past fifty years than the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since its inception after World War II, it has expanded its sphere of influence to the remotest corners of the earth. Its membership currently includes 188 countries on five continents.

For decades, the IMF has been active mainly in Africa, Asia and South America. There is hardly a country on these continents where its policies have not been carried out in close cooperation with the respective national governments. When the global financial crisis broke out in 2007, the IMF turned its attention to northern Europe. Since the onset of the Euro crisis in 2009, its primary focus has shifted to southern Europe.

Officially, the IMF’s main task consists in stabilizing the global financial system and helping out troubled countries in times of crisis. In reality, its operations are more reminiscent of warring armies. Wherever it intervenes, it undermines the sovereignty of states by forcing them to implement measures that are rejected by the majority of the population, thus leaving behind a broad trail of economic and social devastation.
 
You may also be interested in viewing Ernst Wolff talking about the IMF via YouTube.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Capitalism's obsession

by British award winning illustrator and animator Steve Cutts from his website.

Recommended articles for Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Coming Coup Against Trump

Click here to access article by Finian Cunningham from Sputnik. (Thanks go to an activist who alerted me to this article.)

The long campaign by the ruling class to remove Trump from office is finally coming to a head, or at least, that is the opinion of this Irish independent journalist. After reading his arguments, I agree with him.
An American president holds a long-overdue meeting with the leader of the world's second nuclear power. The meeting was a success in terms of opening a friendly dialogue between the two leaders. And yet the US ruling class excoriate this event as a "disgrace" and "criminal collusion".

The interests of ordinary American citizens, as with the mass of people around the world, are not served by irrational hostility towards Russia. It is in our interests to have peaceful dialogue and to develop mutual understanding between the US and Russia to avert confrontations.

It is only an unrepresentative elite who could possibly want hostility.
This showdown promises to be filled with drama--of what kind, it is impossible to tell at this point. I believe that it will be far more dramatic than the historical Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. One thing I am sure of: the political consciousness of many ordinary Americans will never be the same again.