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, June 11, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, June 11, 2020 (two "best posts" articles in this mega-post)

Since police exist to protect private property and repress the working class, there needs to be a revolutionary force composed of the working class that opposes capitalism and its violent guard dogs. In the current struggle, though spontaneous and scattered, there is a massive worldwide revolt against police that is forcing major concessions from the state. With this unprecedented solidarity, there is a potential to organize this force into one that directly opposes the police, other state agents, and capitalism itself.
The social-democratic Zuesse emailed me about five years ago to denigrate my website. Since then I've witnessed one exemplary article after another authored by him. He is now using his skills as a trained historian to uncover the many secrets of the military-industrial complex that is a key component of the transnational capitalist US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. Hopefully, he will evolve into a hardcore anti-capitalist and socialist.
I especially like the following paragraph:
Americans are getting a small taste of the fire and fury that the U.S. military and its allies inflict on people overseas on a regular basis from Iraq and Afghanistan to Yemen and Palestine, and the intimidation felt by the people of Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and other countries that have long lived under U.S. threats to bomb, attack or invade them.
Hopefully young people in particular during their confinement to their homes and that of their parents while not having distracting entertainment have become aware of the crimes committed by our ruling class in foreign countries.
I've seen this development over the past five years. I think it is inevitable that the capitalist employed agents of the management of news and information, just as they have done to corporate media, would try to take over Wikipedia. I have used Wikipedia as documentation in the past, but I will now, more than ever, scrutinize for bias in their posts.