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

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Sunday, February 28 , 2021

  • Socialism-in-Practice Was a Nightmare, Not Utopia by Richard M. Ebeling from American Institute for Economic Research. (Note: I am posting this as an example of an anti-socialist propaganda that is often used in various forms to put-down any hint of support of socialist aspirations reflected in the writings of mostly young people.) My commentary follows:
I was immediately turned-off when I read this post about the Soviet Union. It is a piece which illustrates anti-Russian propaganda and the way in which socialism is taught in US schools beginning in elementary school through major universities, throughout every other institution, and throughout much of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. It is almost impossible for students to escape being taught this history of the Soviet Union. I sensed this in my own education, and consequently I relied mostly on university libraries and from original writings about Russia’s Revolution of 1917 to obtain an accurate history about their revolution. Nowadays, writers about the subject, and even most radical activists, have a severely distorted history of this constantly maligned country by all the institutions of capitalism.

It obvious that education in capitalist countries must of necessity distort knowledge of this subject because the true history of this period reveals the most heinous acts of Western capitalist countries against the Soviet Union following their revolution. Socialism/communism is the direct opposite of capitalism. The former advocates public control and ownership of the economy whereas in the latter the economy is owned and controlled by private parties which inevitably results in what we have today: gross inequality of wealth, income, and opportunities, that is, a tiny class of powerful billionaires who control everything throughout the capitalist empire among an ocean of powerless, poverty stricken people and indebted nations to banks controlled by capitalists. Only a few nations have resisted this trend--Russia, China, and Iran. But to leaders of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire, any independence from their control of the world is unacceptable.

Eberling ignores, or is missing, the real history of these recalcitrant nations. Anywhere in the world where socialist-minded leaders have taken power, they were immediately met with powerful opposition from capitalist nations: in Cuba, Chile, Iran, Russia, China, etc. Lessor nations that evince any independence will be crushed in one way or another (debts to the IMF, sanctions, subversion, color revolutions), and failing all these methods—outright military invasions.

The Soviet Union was a first intentional socialist project that was attempted by dedicated revolutionaries. After their revolution in 1917 they we were met with invasions from 14 different capitalist nations, primarily Britain but including substantial military forces of the USA, Czechoslovakia, and Japan. Russia was already experiencing severe hardships from their participation in WWI, and following the revolution they had to deal with the White Army of the opposition that were mostly funded by the British. The revolutionaries had to contend with a civil war in an impoverished nation while fighting off the invasions of other countries.

The leaders, mainly Lenin and Trotsky, had no illusions about the prospects of victory. They saw that they needed revolutions in advanced capitalist countries, mainly Germany, to have a chance at all. But after the assassinations of Germany's radical leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebnecht, the German revolution was defeated. A few years after the successful Russian Revolution Lenin soon died after being wounded in an assassination attempt, and that left Trotsky as the only ideologically inspired leader of the government. Stalin managed to take control of the bureaucracy and, as they say, the rest is history. Stalin’s control of the Soviet Union was characterized by a ruthless, one man rule, and resulted in a gross distortion of socialism that relied on a bureaucracy inherited from Czarist Russia. Although the Russians in WWII broke the back of the invading Nazi armies and was responsible in large part for the defeat of Nazi Germany, after the war the bureaucracy evolved into a self-serving, privileged ruling class in control of workers and the rest of Russian society. An accurate history of the Russia revolution and subsequent events, which I, with difficulty, managed to obtain from original sources, supports this interpretation.
  • America Condemns Putin & Xi but Supports Gangsters by Eric Zuesse from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Note: Zuesse, like all writers for major online weblogs, have to use circumlocutions for the word ruling class. Here he uses the feudal term "aristocracy" which means ruling class. This is because the latter words are verboten in polite intellectual society, or any word that is in the Marxist lexicon. That is because Marxism is strictly verboten or any related concept like communism or "socialism" in the Marxist definition. Socialism is often currently used, but the ruling class authorities have redefined the concept from that of public ownership of the economy to the current meaning: a more generous capitalist ruling class that provide extra welfare support for the workers--the provision of nationalized medical benefits is the latest related concept. Such intentionally used Marxist words are thought-crimes in the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire.) 
My reaction: This an adult take on political reality. If you believe that "authorities" are good and you believe what they tell you to believe, you are indulging in childish fantasies. The reality is that we are being ruled by organized gangsters like Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud or prominent political friends of sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. These gangsters, through their well-paid hacks (def--see nouns), go to great lengths to make you believe in their legitimacy or the legitimacy of their government or their social arrangements.
  • Precedent Trump from his weblog The Corbett Report featuring James Corbett (via a 47:32m video) making progress by piercing through political illusions that have been created by the ruling class for (at least) the last 75 years. (Note: If you want to learn about that large segment of the US population who are confused about political issues, you must listen to this post. At least Corbett has reached an understanding that voting is not a solution to our many problems. However, Corbett has not destroyed all illusions of capitalist rule to reach an understanding that capitalism is the problem, but he is making progress.)
  • Privatizing Emotions by John Steppling from his weblog. (Note: Steppling (who now lives in Norway) has had a long career in theater mostly as a playwright. He shares his insights, and those of others, about power and powerlessness.)
  • US NED 2021 - Thailand: More Money, More Sedition featuring Brian Berletic, an ex-Marine who is now living in Thailand, from his weblog Land Destroyer Report reporting in a 8:58m video on NED's funding of agencies interfering in Thailand politics. (Note: NED funds agencies in every nation that the Deep State, the secretive directorate of the capitalist ruling class, regards as important for their strategic interests. This is only one example. See the next example, Ecuador, in the post that follows this.)
  • How We Go Extinct, a 3:13m video (via YouTube) featuring retired scientist Guy McPherson from his channel on YouTube.
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