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

Saturday, February 1, 2020

A.K. 47 - 47 Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai

Click here to access the podcasts by Kristen R. Ghodsee who is a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. 

She reads her selection of 47 writings of Alexandra Kollontai (occasionally interspersing explanatory comments), a Russian revolutionary author nearly a century ago. In these writings Kollontai, among other subjects, explains how even our emotional lives and social relations have been determined by societies with ruling classes (especially Episodes 8-15) after humans settled in agricultural communities. Kollontai writing nearly a hundred years ago even extrapolates into the future what these will look like in a classless socialist society. (Note: I encountered a few technical problems in this series.)

Unfortunately the Soviet Union, under constant attacks (invasions and trade embargoes) by the Western capitalist nations, soon came under the authoritarian control of Stalin after Lenin died from wounds in an assassination attempt in 1918. The socialist revolution degenerated under the rule of this dictator who surrounded himself with supporting bureaucrats which eventually became a self-serving ruling class. However, under Stalin's rule women were still better off than their Western counterparts as Ghodsee explains in another article entitled No Scrubs.

Also unfortunately, we as a species, and most others, are destined to become extinct due to the trashing of our environment by capitalist nations before a socialist society can even be realized.

Friday, January 31, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, January 31, 2020

Blogger's Note: Because the bigger, more imminent threat (more than the pollution of carbon) to the human species is a global nuclear war, I am forced to post many articles related to world geo-political events in what I think is now the start of the disintegration of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. We live in a very dangerous world.

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Note: Today I have been overwhelmed with articles that appear essential reading. I must eliminate some posts. This problem may be expected, and more, as the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire is threatened by disintegration.
  •  Moksha by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.
  • “Shit-Life Syndrome,” Trump Voters, and Clueless Dems by Bruce E. Levine from CounterPunch. (Note: This is an archetypal example of liberal views that are frequently posted on CounterPunch. Notice the condescending view of most poor people in the USA: "shit-life syndrome". They are poor people who are surviving victims of a capitalist ruling class "education" and easily influenced by sophisticated, constant Deep State propaganda.)
These are two posts for people who have advanced knowledge of the Middle East:

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Monday, January 27, 2020