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

Monday, August 10, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, Aug. 10, 2020

  • What we can learn from the Swedish paradox by Freddie Sayers from UnHerd. (Note: Sayers, who is British, uses a European meaning of libertarians who emphasize individual freedom from government in contrast to the US version which puts more emphasis on laissez-faire capitalism, that is, more emphasis on freedom of capitalist enterprises from government regulation.)
  • The Undoing Of Illusions: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. (Note: Johnstone uses the theme of "narrative matrix" to denote the capitalist ruling class control of all ideological institutions. They do this by using fake news and propaganda that they spread via their ownership and control of media corporations and the control of other ideological institutions (education, entertainment, etc.) in order to control people's minds especially within their US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. This practice is the essence of soft fascism in contrast to the often hard fascism of German and Italian history (reliance on police terror). To be sure, the latter used elements of fake news and propaganda, but they relied on hard fascist methods because of the underdevelopment of propaganda during their rule.) (Editor's note: I edited this note to include comments regarding soft and hard fascism @ 3:50 PM CT.)
  • Who Profits from the Beirut Blast? by Pepe Escobar from Global Research. (Note: Because Escobar's excellent articles in Asia Times are now behind a paywall, I will be posting his articles from secondary sources in the future.)
  • The Jakarta Method: How the U.S. Used Mass Murder To Beat Communism by Daniel Larison from The American Conservative. (Note: I'm posting this mainly because it offers lessons on the US political spectrum, and secondarily because it reminds us of the history of ruling class crimes. The conservatives who write for this website are often labeled as "paleoconservatives" (old-fashioned conservatives) in contrast to neoliberals, often referred to as "ziocons" (Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, etc. most of whom were brought into government during Reagan's administration). Neoliberals or "ziocons" (because of strong Zionist influence) are favored by transnational capitalists who have aggressively pursued an empire compared to more nationalist conservatives who support national capitalist interests. I think that Fox News publishing empire has mixed feelings about Trump because of his more nationalist orientation in contrast with his aggressive foreign policies. Neoliberals have taken over control of the Democratic Party, whereas the paleoconservatives are mostly found in the Republican Party, but there is little of substance to differentiate the two-party system of the capitalist ruling class.)
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