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

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, October 21, 2020

  • ‘TRUTH’ With RFK, Jr. and Mark Crispin Miller: Propaganda, Censorship and the ‘Lockdown Left’ in a 54:58m video-discussion that is posted on Children's Health Defense. (Note: Prof. Miller, a leftist professor at NY University, and Robert Kennedy, Jr. discuss the closing of public inquiry and questioning of government health authorities. Both apparently (my old ears didn't understand a lot of Kennedy's comments) they see this as an historical trend that has been closing during the past recent decades. Even the "left", particularly in America, are going along with this trend. During this discussion, Prof. Miller reports (beginning at 19:12m) on this own case at NY University where he is currently being pressured to resign because he has asked his students to examine research studies that are not in conformance with government diktats.) My reaction: This trend has been reinforced by the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of transnational capitalists. In other words, this is an inevitable trend wherever capitalism exists.
  • Chomsky: OPCW cover-up of Syria probe is ‘shocking’ by Aaron Maté of The Grayzone. (Note: This post features Noam Chomsky giving his comments regarding the imposition in the UN Security Council of censorship by the Empire's ruling class to ban testimony of a former director of the OPCW (Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) regarding possible violations of treaty obligations by the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire's use of chemical weapons in Syria.
The censorship recently extended to the UN Security Council, where the US, UK, and France blocked former OPCW Director General José Bustani from testifying in support of the inspectors whose findings were kept from the public.
What does it say about our federal regulatory structure when the same dangers that blew up the U.S. financial system, the U.S. economy and the U.S. housing market in 2008 are still with us today? What does it say about who is really in control of Congress?
Capitalism is in more trouble now than it ever was when it was fighting against socialism. What Marx had to say about the crisis in capitalism is truer now than ever before. 
On the whole, if you’ve held on to the American Dream, we hope you’ll realize the American Dream is over. Capitalists have “left the building” and have gone on to invest in other countries. We say this not to say you cannot dream. Rather, we’d like you to join us in another kind of collective dream.
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