Here’s what attempted co-option of OWS looks like

Click here to access article by Glenn Greenwald from Salon.

Having SEIU officials — fresh off endorsing the Obama re-election campaign — shape, fund, dictate and decree an anti-GOP, pro-Obama march is about as antithetical as one can imagine to what the Occupy movement has been.

I was shocked to see Mary Kay Henry of SEIU make her pro-Obama statements the other day on TV (see this video and interview on MSNBC. Surely the American people are not so politically naive as to fall for this brazen attempt at using the Occupy movement to support a ruling class puppet. Because it is hard for me to believe this mainstream union official is completely out of touch with reality, I am left with the only other alternative: she is making a colossal blunder by making such an obvious attempt to function as a political operative of the ruling class. Surely, this will backfire on her to the discredit of all such union officials.

Breaking the Silence

Click here to access article by Michael Pooler from Red Pepper (UK).

Humans are by nature peace loving, cooperative, and desire to produce goods and services for the well-being of their families and communities. Thus, in order to prepare its young people to serve as enforcers of a system of oppression and exploitation, a ruling class must carefully eliminate such impluses and cultivate fear of others through comprehensive campaigns of indoctrination in the family, in education, and the media. This article illustrates how such indoctrination functions in Israel to brutalize their young people who, in turn, brutalize and dehumanize Palestinians.

Through an organization called Breaking the Silence, former Israeli soldiers are attempting to recover their humanity by speaking out about their experiences.

Full of tales of abductions, humiliation within homes and the beating of children perpetrated by soldiers, the testimonies make for shocking and at times harrowing reading. In doing so they uncompromisingly reveal the day-to-day of life under occupation for Palestinians - subject to measures justified under the banner of 'security' - from the unusual perspective of those meting the treatment.

Food Policy, Economists, and the Hazards of Assuming a Can Opener

Click here to access article by Anna Lappé from Civil Eats. 

The author challenges the capitalist assumptions that serve to justify industrial agriculture.

The arguments are based in flawed assumptions, obfuscated by fancy charts, big words, and complex calculations.

Neo-Paramilitary Gangs Ratchet Up Their Threat to Colombian Civil Society and the Long Term Survival of Civic Rectitude in the Public Arena

Click here to access article by Denise Fonseca and Candiss Shumate from Council on Hemispheric Affairs.

This article brings us up-to-date on affairs in Columbia. It seems that nothing has changed since Uribe's administration (see this, this, and this for details). The Empire's satrap in South America continues to use paramilitaries to terrorize any opposition to the military clique trained and indoctrinated in the US.

Likewise, contrary to earlier reports in 2008 after a Colombian army raid on a FARC camp, this article reports that FARC seems to be alive and well.

Occupy London takes over empty UBS bank – live

Click here to access article from The Guardian.

The British Occupy movement demonstrates more creative militancy by entering a new phase of struggle--occupying capitalist property.

Occupy London demonstrators have opened up a new front in their campaign against the banking industry and the government's response to the financial crisis by taking over a complex of buildings owned by a subsidiary of UBS bank just north of the City of London.

 

Tens of thousands protest in Egypt

Click here to access article from Al Jazeera.

The demonstration, dubbed as the "Friday of One Demand," was called in response to a document of "supraconstitutional" principles floated by the government which declares the military the guardian of "constitutional legitimacy", suggesting the armed forces could have the final word on major policies even after a civilian parliament and president are elected.

The first phase of revolution in Egypt happened when the people ousted Mubarak, but now the second phase begins with the conflict against the Empire's satrap in Egypt, the military council. This contest will be much more difficult to pull off; but Egyptians, like most other people in the world, have no other choice but to fight to stop further descent into fascism and barbarism. People everywhere must continue to join the Occupy movement if we are to reclaim control of our lives and that of future generations. 

We are now in a critical period of this struggle. The Empire is both attempting to take advantage of the chaos and trying to divert attention away from the struggle. I am referring to the increasing vitriolic propaganda attacks on Iran and Syria, and the further extension of military bases in Africa, Australia, and Asia. FireDogLake has also noticed this--read their brief article entitled, "Trainers, Marines, Troops Everywhere; More US Deployments Around the Globe".

Warsaw protester launches drone to spy on police

Click here to access article by David Edwards from The Raw Story. 

I never cease to be excited and inspired by the creativity of activists throughout the world. Check this out.

The Rush for Oil in West Africa – The New Wild West?

Click here to access article by Meena Bhandari from Inter Press Service. 

...the history of oil in Africa has so far been a tumultuous one. A recent EU report found that the negative impacts of the oil industry in sub-Saharan Africa were a major concern, for the health and livelihoods of local communities.

It also stressed the need for better accountability, transparency and governance, and came hot on the heels of the United Nations findings highlighting the impact of oil spills in the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta is said to be one of the most polluted sites in the world with oil spills over the last 50 years, having a devastating impact on human and wild life. A clean up is estimated to take 30 years at a cost of around one billion dollars, according to the U.N.

As more discoveries of oil occur in Africa, many worry about whether such discoveries are a blessing or a curse given the history of oil on this continent. Perhaps there is some connection between these discoveries and the new US military mission in the heart of Africa. See especially this article entitled, "Scramble for Africa", for much more background on the involvement of Western countries and China in the continent.

Obama moves to legalize cluster munitions

Click here to access article by Scott Martin from World Socialist Web Site.

Although the US is not a member, the Obama Administration is now leading an effort to invalidate what modest effect the CCM treaty has had. It has proposed a treaty, as part of the CCW, which would allow the use of all cluster munitions made after 1980 for twelve years after the treaty comes into force. This covers practically all the stockpiles of cluster munitions, as weapons older than 1980 are past their service life anyway. Moreover, all recent usage of the weapons has been with models made after 1980.

Meanwhile, the US military-industrial complex is constantly developing more weapons with which to impose its domination over the world. See this for the latest weapon.

We Power

Click here to access article by Julie Ristau & Alexa Bradley from On the Commons.

Through our experience with numerous community projects, we’ve come to see how deeply contemporary society is immersed in the market mentality. So long as market fundamentalism remains the lens through which most Americans see the world, it will be very difficult for people to envision a commons-based society, let alone work to revive actual commons that are under threat in their communities.

This realization led us to examine how people’s social, political, and even personal consciousness is conditioned by their belief in the market as the only efficient system to organize society, and to look for points of entry for introducing commons-based ideas to the wider public.

The authors suggest that a revolution in consciousness is mandatory if we, the people, are going to survive the attacks on our families, communities, and society. People are beginning to see the necessity of recovering the values of the commons which sustained humanity for more than 98% of its historical existence.

David Leonhardt’s fairytale of austerity

Click here to access article by Jim O’Reilly from his blog, Comments on Global Political Economy.

The author deconstructs an opinion piece about the economy published in the NY Times and reveals what many in the OWS movement are now understanding: the one percent are hoarding and denying the fruits of technological wealth created by working people to working people--unless or until they can derive sufficient profit from it.

The earth is a great casino for the owners, nothing more, and human society will be allowed to fall to the dark ages if the species becomes no longer profitable.

The Struggle for Syria

Click here to access article by Joseph Massad from Al Jazeera. (Joseph Massad is Associate Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University in New York.)

Those who see the Syrian popular struggle for democracy as having already been hijacked by these imperial and pro-imperial forces inside and outside Syria understand that a continuation of the revolt will only bring about one outcome, and it is not a democratic one....

This assessment of current Syrian events makes so much sense given everything else we know about US foreign policies in the region--both overt and covert. Apparently the US-friendly Oman ruling family's sponsorship of this media source has not yet limited the opinion pieces that they allow to be published.

Occupy and Anarchism’s Gift of Democracy

Click here to access article by David Graeber from The Guardian.

...we have to understand that there's always been an enormous gap between what those ruling America mean by "democracy", and what that word means to almost anyone else. According to the official version, of course, "democracy" is a system created by the founding fathers, based on checks and balances between president, Congress and judiciary. In fact, nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or Constitution does it say anything about the US being a "democracy". Most defined democracy as collective self-governance by popular assemblies, and as such, they were dead set against it, arguing it would be prejudicial against the interests of minorities (the particular minority that was had in mind here being the rich). 

So true! The new capitalist class of North America were profoundly fearful of the town meetings and other popular assemblies. They countered such democratic tendencies by establishing huge voting districts or even state-wide candidates for the election of representatives. Given that roads were poor and the means of communication were rather primitive, it was difficult for ordinary people who might have the right to vote, such as small farm landholders, to organize any effective political action. (Nowadays, ruling class control of all major media insures their continued rule.) This new ruling class found that such an arrangement encouraged voter apathy since only the wealthy were known by most of the people in these huge districts. Some people of the ruling class even went so far as to claim that this was America's single greatest contribution to political theory.

Originally the gathering of the young nation's ruling class in 1787 was publicized as intended only to reform or revise the Articles of Confederation which was the constitution of the 13 colonies. Instead, this new landed and commercial aristocracy decided on a revolutionary course of their own design by crafting a whole new Constitution which centralized control over the nation under their supervision. Only by tacking on the Bill of Rights and the use of political chicanery, could they get the state assemblies to ratify it. 

Contrary to official doctrine, the designers of the Constitution intentionally structured the government into three branches (a so-called system of "checks and balances") not to impede the development of authoritarian rule, but to serve as a bulwark against democratic influences from below. (One of the best single sources for further study on this subject that I know of is historian Woody Holton's book entitled, Unruly Americans.)

Politburo uber alles

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from OpEd News. 

The eurozone is now in fact run by an eight-member politburo. What a sterling job. This Gang of Eight is accountable to no one, except mythical Zeus with his trademark thunderbolts. In the liquid modernity era, Zeus goes by the name of the God of the Market. The only thing that matters to the Gang of Eight is what financial markets -- run by the God -- want; mere mortals, as in European voters, are at best a nuisance.

Ergo, eurozone national governments are totally meaningless. The shots are called by a troika formed by the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Commission (EC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). All of them gloriously unelected.

Could it be that the capitalist "politburos" really want to balkanize Europe--the better to control it? The author uses his typical sardonic writing style to suggest not only that capitalists are dropping the usual pretenses of "democratic" processes by openly using politburo-like panels to impose their interests, but may have decided to break up the European Union into something more manageable.

Occupy Wall Street: police violence reveals a corrupt system

Click here to access article by Penny Laurie from The Guardian. 

Better-off Occupy Wall Street protesters are learning something about the relationship between citizen and state

The Great Putsch: welcome to post-democratic Europe

Click here to access article by Jérôme E. Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.

With the removal of European leaders elected in ruling class managed elections, it has become even clearer what "democracy" is to the ruling elites: merely a facade for them to hide behind. When the facade no longer serves their purposes, they ignore it and show the reality of capitalist class rule.

Having pushed through “technocratic” regime change in Greece and Italy, the EU is paving the way for the diktak of an unaccountable clique of bankers.

Paul Feldman in his article entitled, Goldman Sachs adds Italy and Greece to its portfolio, reports
that the newly appointed puppets on stage are connected with Goldman Sachs--hence, he makes the argument that the puppeteers who are directing the stage play from behind the curtain in Europe are Goldman Sachs.  

He concludes his essay with some hopeful comments:

As the present political system is ossified, alienated and generally in someone else’s pockets, then it follows that entirely new forms of democracy are needed. The assemblies that have been a feature of 2011’s uprisings are an experiment in democracy that actually works.

Democracy here is not an add-on, to obscure some other power relations, but a conscious effort to do things better. The general assemblies have the potential to go further than the spaces they currently occupy. People’s Assemblies can become not just the voice but also the power of the silenced, disenfranchised 99%.

They could reach out to neighbourhoods and communities and offer new forms of representation, participation and direct democracy. A network of assemblies could begin to draw up strategies and plans for a democratic alternative to the power and rule of the market capitalist economy.

Syria In Western Strategy For Global Military Supremacy

Click here to access article by Rick Rozoff from Stop NATO. 

I find the author's writing style--his use of lengthy, complex sentences--rather difficult to read, but in this piece he provides considerable evidence of NATO's penetration into the MENA region. While he offers no specific evidence, he provides a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that NATO is now targeting Syria as their next victim and addition to the Empire.

If indeed Syria becomes the next Libya and a new Yemeni regime is installed under the control of the Gulf Cooperation Council, then the only nations remaining in the vast stretch of territory known as the Broader or Greater Middle East, from Mauritania on the Atlantic coast to Kazakhstan on the Chinese and Russian borders, not tied to NATO through multinational and bilateral partnerships will be Lebanon (see above), Eritrea, Iran and Sudan.

Egypt to IMF: ‘Topple their debts’

Click here to access article by Eric Walberg from Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt.

...the loans propped up the economy as it was being gutted under an IMF-supervised privatisation programme from 1990 on, allowing foreign companies and Mubarak cronies to pocket hundreds of millions of dollars and spirit them abroad. Meanwhile, what investment that trickled down from the loans went to financing prestige infrastructure projects like the Cairo airport expansion, which was riddled with corruption and serves only the Egyptian elite. Virtually all the loans from this period should be considered liable for writing off.

Egypt is only one illustration of how international banksters have placed citizens of entire countries into debt slavery.

The limits of objectivity: Qatari rulers reassert control over Aljazeera

Click here to access article by A.E. Souaiaia from OpEd News.

This article essentially announces what many others have sensed during the past several months--Al Jazeera has ceased to exist as an independent Arabic news source.

This morning I was surprised to find a video on their site entitled, "The US and the new Middle East: The Gulf" with a descriptive sentence following it that reads "Fault Lines travels to Bahrain and asks why the US backs democracy in one Arab country, but not another." Hence, I was intrigued to find out what kind of spin they put on this subject. I wondered if the reporter didn't spin it well enough because the video doesn't function on my computer.

Lying to Eat

Click here to access article from American Civil Liberties Union.

Dishonesty, in its various incarnations, is not an admirable trait. But in moments of desperation, a lie can seem like the only option. Anita McLemore, a Mississippi mother of two, faced one of those unfortunate moments when filling out her application for food stamps — and now she’ll pay the price, by spending three years of her life behind bars in federal prison.