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, January 13, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, January 13, 2021

  • Amber Waves by Martin Empson from Climate & Capitalism. (Note: This is a review of a book by the same title authored by Catherine Zabinski.) Empson writes: 
Wheat however is no longer simply food. It is a commodity that is both highly profitable and a weapon in the arsenal of imperialist nations — particularly the United States. The vast wheat farms of the American Midwest enabled the US to shape the world in its own interest. Zabinski points out that the “Green Revolution” was less about feeding the world and more about fighting “Red Revolution” in the Global South. Like the ruling classes of the first states the US saw the Green Revolution as a way of ensuring its own [capitalist] ideals dominated around the world. But the experience for many recipient countries was much more negative as home-grown agriculture was undermined. [my insertion]
  • Large US military convoy enters Syria from neighboring Iraq from AMN (Al-Masdar News). My reaction: And the "war-beat" goes on. Self-absorbed, throughly indoctrinated American workers have no idea how various regions of the world suffer US violence because they only watch self-serving US/Anglo/Zionist Empire propaganda from corporate TV. Also, much of the USA ignores the almost daily raids by Israeli airplanes on Palestinians and adjacent countries. Now that the Deep State is increasingly turning against most Americans, hopefully they will awaken to the devastation imposed on them in the future, learn about the worldwide suffering at the hands of the Empire, and identify with all the "wretched of the earth".
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