Click here to access article by Andy Rowell from Oil Change International.
Just last week I watched a re-run of the 2011 PBS TV special entitled, "Deadliest Tornadoes", which was heavily funded by David Koch who also sponsors other NOVA science programs along with Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Lockheed Martin Corporation.
The show's focus was all about solving the problem of advanced warnings which is currently only about 13 minutes of lead time. At one point in the program the narrator made the emphatic statement that tornadoes are a "freak of nature and they cannot be stopped". Another questionable statement made was that we can expect more destruction from tornadoes simply because there will be more population growth and buildings to destroy. Only at that the end of the program there was a very brief general statement that global warming could be a factor.
Clearly David Koch had a material conflict of interest in sponsoring a program on this subject and the results were evident. But, this is "business as usual" for all media in the US whether commercial or government media--the latter is clearly controlled by the One Percent and reflects their interests in coverage of major issues.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Bush & Associates Found Guilty of Torture
Click here to access article from Global Research.
This independent war crimes tribunal based in the capital city of Malasia has officially declared what many of us already knew: the Bush administration committed war crimes and are judged to be war criminals.
This independent war crimes tribunal based in the capital city of Malasia has officially declared what many of us already knew: the Bush administration committed war crimes and are judged to be war criminals.
The Tribunal finds that the prosecution has established beyond a reasonable doubt that the Accused persons are individually and jointly liable for all crimes committed in pursuit of their common plan and purpose under principles established by Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal (the Nuremberg Charter), which states, inter alia, “Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit war crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any person in execution of such plan.”
The boycott will work, an Israeli perspective
Click here to access article by Ilan Pappé from Ceasefire Magazine.
...Ilan Pappé, celebrated Israeli Historian and author, argues that the BDS movement [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] is the best means to end Israel's oppressive occupation and prevent another Nakba.After reading this article, you may want to follow up with some boycott action: see this handy guide.
Protesting NATO: What to Know About the Secret Service and H.R. 347
Click here to access article by Gabe Rottman from American Civil Liberties Union.
The forthcoming summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, set for May 20 and 21 in Chicago, could be the first public test of H.R. 347, the recently passed law that expanded the ability of the Secret Service to suppress protests in or around certain restricted zones near individuals under its protection.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Sanctions Against Iran: A Duplicitous "Alternative" to War
Click here to access article by Raha Iranian Feminist Collective from Jadaliyya. (An online magazine produced by the Arab Studies Institute based in Washington DC and Beirut, Lebanon.)
The Western drumbeats of war are a death threat hanging over their heads, and sanctions erode living standards and hope for a viable future. In this context, we feel it is necessary to lay bare sanctions against Iran for what they really are—the consolidation of geopolitical hegemony and war by other means. This article responds to the stated justifications for sanctions and outlines the impact of sanctions on ordinary people. As feminists, we insist that lasting peace and security will be built by people on the ground in Iran who are mobilizing for political and economic justice—democratizing Iran “from the inside out.”
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The meaning and necessity of revolution in the 21st century
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
This is not a posting that one should read in haste or superficially. This is a posting that offers a powerful overview of all the problems that are currently facing the human race across the globe. It also shows that the human spirit is alive and well and fighting for its continued existence and dignity everywhere. The author connects...
This is not a posting that one should read in haste or superficially. This is a posting that offers a powerful overview of all the problems that are currently facing the human race across the globe. It also shows that the human spirit is alive and well and fighting for its continued existence and dignity everywhere. The author connects...
the dots between the crisis of global capitalism, the Arab Spring, and the movements in Europe, North America and elsewhere, I will try to address one overarching theme: the meaning of the word ‘revolution’ in the 21st century. What does it mean to be a revolutionary today?
12th of May: the “Indignados” are back
Click here to access article, videos, and pictures from Eagainst.
This website has given us a lot of material to show that the Spanish people have no intention of accepting austerity, public spending cuts, and selling off of public assets as proposed by the One Percent and banksters.
This website has given us a lot of material to show that the Spanish people have no intention of accepting austerity, public spending cuts, and selling off of public assets as proposed by the One Percent and banksters.
A year after the birth of the 15M movement, the Indignados returned to the streets of Spain.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Madrid and marched to the square of Puerta del Sol. The protesters intend to remain there for at least four days, setting up a “permanent assembly” ignoring the official ban, according to which no protest should take place after 22:00.
Protests were held in Seville and Valencia. El Pais reported protests in at least 80 cities of Spain, while the Spanish media report that strong police force is expected to grow in all areas of demonstrations.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Greece’s media crisis
Sourced from Eagainst that appears to originate among mostly Greek activists.
Clearly the Greek people are learning that control of the media is a key objective of the capitalist governing class. Where this class fails to exercise control, they shut it down and fire journalists as they have in Greece. But the Greeks are learning the important lesson of setting up their own media. This video briefly tells this story.
Clearly the Greek people are learning that control of the media is a key objective of the capitalist governing class. Where this class fails to exercise control, they shut it down and fire journalists as they have in Greece. But the Greeks are learning the important lesson of setting up their own media. This video briefly tells this story.
The Great Dictator Speech
Posted by #Clownbloq on OccupyNet featuring Charlie Chaplin in a 4:41m video.
From Wikipedia we learn:
From Wikipedia we learn:
During the era of McCarthyism, Chaplin was accused of "un-American activities" as a suspected communist. J. Edgar Hoover, who had instructed the FBI to keep extensive secret files on him, tried to end his United States residency. FBI pressure on Chaplin grew after his 1942 campaign for a second European front in the war and reached a critical level in the late 1940s, when Congressional figures threatened to call him as a witness in hearings. This was never done, probably from fear of Chaplin's ability to lampoon the investigators.[150] In February 2012 an MI5 file on Chaplin was opened to the public which revealed that the FBI had contacted the British secret service to provide them with information which would enable them to ban Chaplin from the US.[151] In particular, it wanted MI5 to find out where Chaplin was born and pursue suggestions that his real name was Israel Thornstein. MI5 searched, but to no avail. A suggestion that he "may have been born in France" also came to nothing.
In 1952, Chaplin left the US for what was intended as a brief trip home to the United Kingdom for the London premiere of Limelight. Hoover learned of the trip and negotiated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to revoke Chaplin's re-entry permit. Chaplin decided not to re-enter the United States, writing: "Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States."
Friday, May 11, 2012
What Americans can Learn from Eurocrisis
Click here to access 13:37m video interview with Michael Hudson on the Real News Network.
The interview begins with a discussion of the results in the recent European elections, then moves to the political scene in the US, and finally a general discussion of the extreme difficulty of effecting change within Western countries. Hudson explains how all the left parties, regardless of names suggesting real alternatives such as various "socialist" parties use, are caught up in the same dynamics of a political process controlled by the One Percent. Hence, none of the parties allowed to participate in elections can ever offer any true alternative policies.
Michael Hudson is about as far left as the ruling One Percent class will tolerate--actually barely tolerate. Although he is allowed to keep teaching at the U. of Missouri and is hired by various foreign government agencies as a consultant, he is never provided an opportunity to appear in any mainstream media programs.
As a political liberal who wants to preserve the capitalist system, he sees the current reign of the financiers as the bad guys who interfere with the operations of the capitalist system while corrupting the political process. He doesn't see that the evolution of capitalism, a system that appropriates socially produced wealth for private "owners", from wealth extracted by industry into wealth extracted by obscure debt instruments--financial capitalism--as anything other than an aberration of capitalism which could easily be solved by returning to an earlier model of a regulated industrial capitalism.
Capitalism has reached the final stage of wealth accumulation which is now in the hands of financiers who have nothing more to offer ordinary people than more debt, austerity, endless wars, and a climate of fear. Meanwhile, they pretend to be concerned about "greening" the economy as they continue to pillage the ecosystem. If we of the 99 Percent allow them to have their way, this will all result initially in a nightmarish fascist dystopia, and eventually in the destruction of conditions that can support human life.
Capitalism at any stage has always meant misery for the vast majority of people. The system of capitalism cannot return to an earlier stage no more than can an individual who has turned out to be a criminal return to earlier age when he was such a cute little boy.
The interview begins with a discussion of the results in the recent European elections, then moves to the political scene in the US, and finally a general discussion of the extreme difficulty of effecting change within Western countries. Hudson explains how all the left parties, regardless of names suggesting real alternatives such as various "socialist" parties use, are caught up in the same dynamics of a political process controlled by the One Percent. Hence, none of the parties allowed to participate in elections can ever offer any true alternative policies.
Michael Hudson is about as far left as the ruling One Percent class will tolerate--actually barely tolerate. Although he is allowed to keep teaching at the U. of Missouri and is hired by various foreign government agencies as a consultant, he is never provided an opportunity to appear in any mainstream media programs.
As a political liberal who wants to preserve the capitalist system, he sees the current reign of the financiers as the bad guys who interfere with the operations of the capitalist system while corrupting the political process. He doesn't see that the evolution of capitalism, a system that appropriates socially produced wealth for private "owners", from wealth extracted by industry into wealth extracted by obscure debt instruments--financial capitalism--as anything other than an aberration of capitalism which could easily be solved by returning to an earlier model of a regulated industrial capitalism.
Capitalism has reached the final stage of wealth accumulation which is now in the hands of financiers who have nothing more to offer ordinary people than more debt, austerity, endless wars, and a climate of fear. Meanwhile, they pretend to be concerned about "greening" the economy as they continue to pillage the ecosystem. If we of the 99 Percent allow them to have their way, this will all result initially in a nightmarish fascist dystopia, and eventually in the destruction of conditions that can support human life.
Capitalism at any stage has always meant misery for the vast majority of people. The system of capitalism cannot return to an earlier stage no more than can an individual who has turned out to be a criminal return to earlier age when he was such a cute little boy.
Obama backs gay marriage
Click here to access article by Joseph Kishore from World Socialist Web Site.
Rather than a principled stand, the author argues that his backing for gay marriage is all about winning back the more advantaged liberals that Obama has lost since the last election because of his policies serving the interests of the One Percent. This backing offers a way to distract such people from the more vital issues facing the 99 Percent.
Rather than a principled stand, the author argues that his backing for gay marriage is all about winning back the more advantaged liberals that Obama has lost since the last election because of his policies serving the interests of the One Percent. This backing offers a way to distract such people from the more vital issues facing the 99 Percent.
The pro-Democratic Party organizations seek to promote issues of identity and lifestyle as a means of obscuring the basic class issues and diverting attention from the thoroughly reactionary policies of the Obama administration on every front. In doing so, they seek to exploit the general support for equality and the expansion of marriage rights, particularly among young people. The Democratic Party uses such issues in the attempt to establish points of difference with the Republicans, under conditions in which the two parties agree on all fundamental issues.
The Portland Community Begins to Fight Austerity
Click here to access article by Shamus Cooke from Workers Action.
Here is some evidence in one locale that members of the 99 Percent are awakening to the necessity of organizing on their own behalf outside of permitted politics in the two party capitalist political system.
Here is some evidence in one locale that members of the 99 Percent are awakening to the necessity of organizing on their own behalf outside of permitted politics in the two party capitalist political system.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Israeli generals revolt against Israeli obscurantism
Click here to access article from VoltaireNet.
Members of the Israeli security establishment have been making some unusually candid attacks on the credibility of Netanyahu's key policies toward Iran and Palestinian. This is the latest attack reported in the Haaretz newspaper and VoltaireNet provides a PDF link to access the newspaper article.
Members of the Israeli security establishment have been making some unusually candid attacks on the credibility of Netanyahu's key policies toward Iran and Palestinian. This is the latest attack reported in the Haaretz newspaper and VoltaireNet provides a PDF link to access the newspaper article.
The former head of the Shin Bet security service has accused Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister Ehud Barak of deceiving the people on both Iran’s nuclear program and the peace process with the Palestinians, saying he has no faith in their leadership.(For a briefer online version of the Haaretz report, click on this link.)
Firing Alan Greenspan
Click here to access 3:37m video and transcript by Michael Hudson from his blog.
Prof. Hudson describes an incident back in 1966 that he personally experienced with Alan Greenspan. It reveals some questionable character traits that our Wall Street government apparently likes to have in people they put in charge of the economy.
Prof. Hudson describes an incident back in 1966 that he personally experienced with Alan Greenspan. It reveals some questionable character traits that our Wall Street government apparently likes to have in people they put in charge of the economy.
World powers rush to plunge Syria into war
Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.
I am always a bit reluctant to post satire articles because in these Orwellian times, when the political operatives of the Empire have only lies to offer, satire is too easy. But Escobar does it so well, and this is one of his best.
I am always a bit reluctant to post satire articles because in these Orwellian times, when the political operatives of the Empire have only lies to offer, satire is too easy. But Escobar does it so well, and this is one of his best.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Greece at the global forefront
Click here to access article by Stathis Gourgouris from Al Jazeera.
The author argues that there is more at stake in Greece than a national economy and a parliament.
The author argues that there is more at stake in Greece than a national economy and a parliament.
...what is especially important is the broader social and historical context of these elections. The collapse of credibility in the entire political system underlies the essential paradox of these elections: a bankrupt country, whose population is profoundly disaffected with the political system, gathers to exercise its democratic right to elect officials that are to preside over a national terrain that has effectively lost its sovereignty.Of course, the author is referring to capitalist "democracy" which is a fake form of democracy instituted in the late 18th century to seduce working people into assisting the bourgeoisie fight against the aristocracy which led to the latter's downfall and numerous revolutions.
We are witnessing a dramatic articulation of the essential contradiction between democracy and capitalism. More than ever, this is the essential political problem of our times.
How This Democracy Of Ours Works
Click here to access article by David Glenn Cox from The Leftist Review.
The author reviews some important history lessons for us to reflect on and consider their implications.
Following the article there is the usual commentator who defensively declares that there is no mention of "democracy" in our Constitution. Instead it refers to a "republic". To his credit, he reports on the thinking of the founders of this new republic and their fears and detestation of "democracy". This view is absolutely correct. But the commentator ignores how the fake ideology of "democracy" was spread by this new ruling class throughout the land and in every institution since then to deceive and manipulate people to support the policies of the One Percent.
The author reviews some important history lessons for us to reflect on and consider their implications.
Following the article there is the usual commentator who defensively declares that there is no mention of "democracy" in our Constitution. Instead it refers to a "republic". To his credit, he reports on the thinking of the founders of this new republic and their fears and detestation of "democracy". This view is absolutely correct. But the commentator ignores how the fake ideology of "democracy" was spread by this new ruling class throughout the land and in every institution since then to deceive and manipulate people to support the policies of the One Percent.
After Americans become outraged with TSA, CIA announces airplane bombing thwarted
Click here to access article from RT.
The article examines the timing of this widely reported airport security breach, and questions whether it is coincidental or contrived to counter complaints about TSA.
The article examines the timing of this widely reported airport security breach, and questions whether it is coincidental or contrived to counter complaints about TSA.
What does appear to be in danger, however, is the TSA itself. The Transportation Security Administration has been marred with scandal after scandal since its development after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and some reports even suggest that Americans are actively seeking train tickets and scrounging for bus fare in lieu of letting Uncle Sam play grab ass with every airport patron in the country. So was this alleged bomb plot actually in the works?Could this be just another example of managing the consent of the people? Noam Chomsky expressed this well when he wrote, "the more 'free and popular' a government, the more it becomes necessary to rely on control of opinion to ensure submission to the rulers."
Jared Polis, the Democratic Party and Bowles-Simpson
Click here to access article by Jim O’Reilly from Comments on Global Political Economy.
This surprising blogger who retired from a long career in banking and finance goes after his local congressman from Colorado and the Democratic party for all their deceptions regarding the Bowles-Simpson budget proposal.
So, who are you going to vote for? Tweedledee or Tweedledum? Isn't it wonderful that we live in a democracy where one can vote?
This surprising blogger who retired from a long career in banking and finance goes after his local congressman from Colorado and the Democratic party for all their deceptions regarding the Bowles-Simpson budget proposal.
Bowles Simpson slashes social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other vital programs while cutting taxes substantially below where they would be if the Clinton era tax rates were simply continued. It imposes a maximum spending level as a percent of GDP at historically low levels and is designed almost like a constitutional amendment in that it will require a 60% super majority in the senate to overturn. While it may close some corporate tax loopholes, it eliminates taxes on foreign operations, a gigantic giveaway given how easily corporate flows can be manipulated in the global economy.Obviously, this represents another attempt to fool the American people in more "change we can believe in". (sarcasm)
So, who are you going to vote for? Tweedledee or Tweedledum? Isn't it wonderful that we live in a democracy where one can vote?
Majority of Americans reject new US-Afghan security pact: poll
Click here to access article by Ben Arnoldy from The Christian Science Monitor.
I doubt that this piece of news will ever make it into any of the six o'clock evening news programs of the TV networks. The US ruling class care very little about what their subjects think--except to monitor their thoughts with the intention of manipulating them in favor of ruling class objectives of power and profit.
I doubt that this piece of news will ever make it into any of the six o'clock evening news programs of the TV networks. The US ruling class care very little about what their subjects think--except to monitor their thoughts with the intention of manipulating them in favor of ruling class objectives of power and profit.
By a margin of 63 percent disapproval to 33 percent approval, respondents rejected a description of the deal that will include a US troop presence and billions of dollars in monetary support for Afghan forces in the decade after 2014, according to a Monitor/TIPP poll conducted April 27 to May 4.
Everything you know about Anonymous is wrong
Click here to access article by Gabriella Coleman of McGill University in Canada posted in Al Jazeera.
While government officials and law enforcement are painting Anonymous as one of HL Mencken's "imaginary goblins" poised to menace the public, it's worth noting that national governments around the world have aspired to control the internet, and have been developing statutes that erode individual rights and privacies, long before this entity came to prominence. Anonymous is more a reaction to these trends than a cause. The brutal, depressing and dire fact of the matter is that an expansive surveillance state is not here to come but is already in our midst.Despite the deterioration of journalistic standards in this online source (Al Jazeera) due to its owner-- the Empire's closely aligned government of Qatar--they still occasionally run articles of outstanding quality. No doubt many who have remained in Al Jazeera--and many have left--are fighting to maintain high standards of journalism.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Plutonomy and the Precariat On the History of the U.S. Economy in Decline
Click here to access article by Noam Chomsky from CounterPunch.
...the world is now indeed splitting into a plutonomy and a precariat — in the imagery of the Occupy movement, the 1% and the 99%. Not literal numbers, but the right picture. Now, the plutonomy is where the action is and it could continue like this.But that is not the only thing we must concern ourselves with. There are two other major threats that he cites in the article.
If it does, the historic reversal that began in the 1970s could become irreversible. That’s where we’re heading. And the Occupy movement is the first real, major, popular reaction that could avert this.
Gadhafi’s crime: Making Libya’s economy work for Libyans
Click here to access article by Stephen Gowans from What's Left.
In some parts of the world, the arrangement is different...governments have organized their economies to serve their citizens, rather than organizing labor, the country’s markets and its natural resources to serve outside investors and foreign corporations.In this excellent piece the author exposes the real factors driving the Empire's policies and actions throughout the world.
For refusing to give their citizens’ lives over to the enrichment of foreign titans of finance and captains of industry, these countries are made to pay a price.
Afghanistan: Permanent Occupation Planned
Click here to access article by Stephen Lendman from Progressive Radio Network.
The recent news broadcast in US mainstream media about Obama's quick trip to Afghanistan to conclude an agreement with President Karzai, the local puppet, was widely celebrated by mainstream pundits. The agreement formalizes conditions that will keep Afghanistan firmly as a colonial outpost in the Empire. The author explains this in more detail.
The recent news broadcast in US mainstream media about Obama's quick trip to Afghanistan to conclude an agreement with President Karzai, the local puppet, was widely celebrated by mainstream pundits. The agreement formalizes conditions that will keep Afghanistan firmly as a colonial outpost in the Empire. The author explains this in more detail.
The European elections and the struggle against austerity
Click here to access article from World Socialist Web Site.
Are the left electoral wins in Europe the real thing? Or, are they the European version of "change we can believe in". (Actually, François Hollande's (the French candidate for President) campaign slogan was "change now".) Did they oust Tweedledee only to vote in Tweedledum? About the only thing that is certain about the election results is as follows:
Are the left electoral wins in Europe the real thing? Or, are they the European version of "change we can believe in". (Actually, François Hollande's (the French candidate for President) campaign slogan was "change now".) Did they oust Tweedledee only to vote in Tweedledum? About the only thing that is certain about the election results is as follows:
The outcome of elections throughout Europe has demonstrated the deep popular opposition to austerity measures that European and American finance capital have implemented ruthlessly since the outbreak of the global economic crisis.Australian Nick Beams from the same website suggests, in his article entitled, "The European 'growth pact' fraud" is the current theme among some European establishment policy makers who are supporting this new "growth pact" and the winners of the weekend's European elections, but have a hidden agenda in mind for European workers: a plan to drive down wages in Europe as the US has done under the Obama administration.
Monday, May 7, 2012
How Occupy Wall Street Has Already Won
Click here to access article by Molly James from Policymic.
Further on down this path lies the revolutionary awareness that capitalist governments and capitalism must be completely demolished and new people-centered institutions must be designed and created.
...the extremely power[ful] notion that citizens need not rely on governments or corporations to seek a better world is out of the bottle and won't be corked again.I think this thesis really captures the significance of the current zeitgeist. The Occupy movement is still a minority, still rudimentary in form; but this initial step is very much on the road to revolution. Many others are about ready to take this step. It will only take more business-as-usual from the political operatives of the One Percent to convince more to take this all important step in the right direction. And this will surely happen simply because more business-as-usual is on the agenda--capitalism is ideologically bankrupt.
Further on down this path lies the revolutionary awareness that capitalist governments and capitalism must be completely demolished and new people-centered institutions must be designed and created.
Want to cleanse your city of its poor? Host the Olympics
Click here to access article by Ashok Kumar from Ceasefire (UK).
This is an excellent, fact-based report on how the premier athletics event is transformed into measures to serve the interests of the One Percent: clearing out the poor from inner cities and inflating real estate prices in order to replace long established organic communities with new communities based solely on income and high consumption.
This is an excellent, fact-based report on how the premier athletics event is transformed into measures to serve the interests of the One Percent: clearing out the poor from inner cities and inflating real estate prices in order to replace long established organic communities with new communities based solely on income and high consumption.
The Games are not simply hosted to ‘clean up’ the city, but to fundamentally reconfigure it, to ‘cleanse’ it of its poor and undesirable; to not only make way for a city by and for the rich, but to expand the terrain of profitable activity.The political operatives of the One Percent shrewdly use social values supporting public demonstrations of athletic prowess and affirming national loyalties in order to reclaim cities for higher income people. Apparently, the latter want to return to gentrified inner cities from the suburbs where they previously went to flee the inner cities. And private enterprise is all too willing to accommodate them and reap fabulous profits in the process while sticking governments with more debts--owned by the One Percent.
In Defense of Occupation: Dealing with skeptics
Click here to access article by Mickey Z. from World News Trust.
Or, "How to talk to your skeptical co-workers". The author models some excellent responses to give to questions posed by people who look to mainstream media to understand their world.
Or, "How to talk to your skeptical co-workers". The author models some excellent responses to give to questions posed by people who look to mainstream media to understand their world.
So, you took off from work on May 1 but opted to not explain about May Day to any of your co-workers. Little did you know that you'd be recognized in footage on the evening news and find yourself face-to-face with a skeptical colleague, who ponders: I don't get it. What do the occupiers want? Why is there no clear agenda?
Global warming: New research emphasizes the role of global economic growth
Click here to access article by Diane Swanbrow from University of Michigan News Service.
More research shows the obvious (to me) link between economic growth and carbon emissions.
This will be the tragic scenario if we of the 99 Percent continue to follow the authorities of the One Percent like sheep to the slaughterhouse.
But, there is hope. Over the internet people are getting some valuable information that is helping them to connect the dots:
More research shows the obvious (to me) link between economic growth and carbon emissions.
It's a message no one wants to hear: To slow down global warming, we'll either have to put the brakes on economic growth or transform the way the world's economies work.Oh um, so who cares? The global One Percent class whose power and wealth derive from the current economic system of capitalism which depends on growth are mainly the ones who don't want to hear this, and they won't. After all, "there is no alternative!" This report, like the many preceding it, will never make the 6 o'clock evening news on any major TV or radio network. But we will hear our media pundits saying that we need growth to create more jobs, and that will be sufficient to maintain "business as usual". Or as Bill McKibben recently wrote about the vacuous reporting of mainstream media:
So here’s a prediction: next Sunday, no matter how big and beautiful the demonstrations may be that we’re mounting across the world, “Face the Nation” and “Meet the Press” won’t be connecting the dots. They’ll be gassing along about Newt Gingrich’s retirement from the presidential race or Mitt Romney’s coming nomination, and many of the commercials will come from oil companies lying about their environmental efforts.It appears that only when the ocean laps up onto Manhattan streets, when tornadoes wreck more havoc on a daily basis, when vast areas of the Midwest deteriorate into deserts and we can't grow enough food, only then will there be sufficient number of people who are determined to change "the way the world's economies work". But, it will be too late.
This will be the tragic scenario if we of the 99 Percent continue to follow the authorities of the One Percent like sheep to the slaughterhouse.
But, there is hope. Over the internet people are getting some valuable information that is helping them to connect the dots:
Last Words to an America in Decline
Click here to access article by Ernest Callenbach from TomDispatch. (Revised commentary, 8;30 PM Seattle time.)
These are the last words from someone who was one of the first to recognize that the US and apparently much of the world was on a path to unsustainability. The essay starts out addressing the decline of America and its empire, but about half way through he seems to suggest that the problem is wider. Referring to a book he authored back in the 1970s, he writes:
These are the last words from someone who was one of the first to recognize that the US and apparently much of the world was on a path to unsustainability. The essay starts out addressing the decline of America and its empire, but about half way through he seems to suggest that the problem is wider. Referring to a book he authored back in the 1970s, he writes:
Ecotopia is a novel, and secession was its dominant metaphor: how would a relatively rational part of the country save itself ecologically if it was on its own? As Ecotopia Emerging puts it, Ecotopia aspired to be a beacon for the rest of the world. And so it may prove, in the very, very long run, because the general outlines of Ecotopia are those of any possible future sustainable society.
The "ecology in one country" argument was an echo of an actual early Soviet argument, as to whether "socialism in one country" was possible. In both cases, it now seems to me, the answer must be no. We are now fatally interconnected, in climate change, ocean impoverishment, agricultural soil loss, etc., etc., etc. International consumer capitalism is a self-destroying machine, and as long as it remains the dominant social form, we are headed for catastrophe; indeed, like rafters first entering the "tongue" of a great rapid, we are already embarked on it.Here he clearly argues that one cannot save the ecological system in only one country. His essay suggests that he doesn't hold out for much hope for the present social-economic system, but he seems to be unreasonably optimistic about some sort of death and renewal, like the cycle in nature of death, destruction and renewed life forms. The following statements increase the confusion about whether he is referring only to the US or to humanity:
So I look to a long-term process of "succession," as the biological concept has it, where "disturbances" kill off an ecosystem, but little by little new plants colonize the devastated area, prepare the soil for larger and more complex plants (and the other beings who depend on them), and finally the process achieves a flourishing, resilient, complex state -- not necessarily what was there before, but durable and richly productive.
...All things “go” somewhere: they evolve, with or without us, into new forms. So as the decades pass, we should try not always to futilely fight these transformations. As the Japanese know, there is much unnoticed beauty in wabi-sabi -- the old, the worn, the tumble-down, those things beginning their transformation into something else. We can embrace this process of devolution: embellish it when strength avails, learn to love it.So, who is "us" in the last paragraph. Americans or humanity? And, likewise when he concludes on this more optimistic note:
Since I wrote Ecotopia, I have become less confident of humans' political ability to act on commonsense, shared values. Our era has become one of spectacular polarization, with folly multiplying on every hand. That is the way empires crumble: they are taken over by looter elites, who sooner or later cause collapse. But then new games become possible, and with luck Ecotopia might be among them.Of course, life forms will continue one way or another, but what I fear--and I think it a very reasonable fear--is that all human life will not continue if radical changes are not made soon to create a new, sustainable social-economic system capable of existing in harmony with nature..
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Extractive Capitalism and the Divisions in the Latin American Progressive Camp
Click here to access article by James Petras from Canadian Dimension.
The author explores the more independent minded Latin American regime's and their unusual relationship with both their indigenous social movements and the multinational corporations (MNCs).
North American leftists may be mislead by the recent expropriation of Repsol, the Spanish oil corporation, by the Argentine government and get the wrong idea about all the regimes' relationships with the MNCs.
Although the relationships vary by country among these progressive regimes, they share certain commonalities which he describes in some detail:
The author explores the more independent minded Latin American regime's and their unusual relationship with both their indigenous social movements and the multinational corporations (MNCs).
North American leftists may be mislead by the recent expropriation of Repsol, the Spanish oil corporation, by the Argentine government and get the wrong idea about all the regimes' relationships with the MNCs.
Although the relationships vary by country among these progressive regimes, they share certain commonalities which he describes in some detail:
...the progressive regimes have pursued a multi-faceted double discourse: an anti-imperialist, nationalist and populist rhetoric for domestic consumption while putting into practice a policy of fomenting and expanding the role of foreign extractive capital in joint ventures with the state and a rising new national bourgeoisie. The progressive regimes articulate a narrative of socialism and participatory democracy but in practice pursue policies linking development with the concentration and centralization of capital and executive power.
The progressive regimes preach a doctrine of social justice and equity and a practice of co-optation of social leaders and clientalism via poverty programs for the poorest sectors of society.
The Civil Wars in the U.S. Labor Movement
Click here to access article--a book review by Peter Brogan from Canadian Dimension.
The book entitled, The Civil Wars in the U.S. Labor Movement: Birth of a New Workers’ Movement or the Death Throes of the Old? by Steve Early is reviewed.
The book entitled, The Civil Wars in the U.S. Labor Movement: Birth of a New Workers’ Movement or the Death Throes of the Old? by Steve Early is reviewed.
In the name of streamlining its organizing efforts, SEIU has carried out a widespread program of merging locals, opening call centers to service current members (ostensibly to free up staff and resources for new organizing and political work), and signing “neutrality” or other partnership agreements with employers, usually from positions of weakness that have led to the exchange of major concessions (like the right to strike) for union recognition.Early also suggests ways to revitalize unions.
The importance of focusing on these new “innovations,” as Early does in Civil Wars, is significant because such practices have been seen, to our detriment, as pointing the way forward for the union movement in both the United States and Canada. Civil Wars offers a searing critique of these practices....
Perhaps the most important lesson Early highlights in his concluding chapter is that what most animates workers to struggle is a “sense of organizational ownership, a willingness to take risks and make sacrifices because the union they were trying to build, extend, defend, or reclaim inspired strong allegiance based on relationships of trust and mutual respect.” If we take nothing else from Civil Wars, it should be that: “Workers do not unite and fight – for organizing rights, a first contract, a better contract, or a better functioning and more democratic union – unless they have reason to believe in each other and the leadership that has emerged from their own ranks….
Facebook & your privacy
Click here to access article from Consumer Reports magazine.(Note: I think this article is accessible by non-subscribers; but in case it isn't, you can read it here.)
In this age of full spectrum surveillance, Facebook users need to be aware of the pitfalls of its use and some measures to take to protect their privacy.
You may also want to view this 39:11m C-Span interview with author and privacy expert, Lori Andrews.
In this age of full spectrum surveillance, Facebook users need to be aware of the pitfalls of its use and some measures to take to protect their privacy.
You may also want to view this 39:11m C-Span interview with author and privacy expert, Lori Andrews.
MAY 12TH GlobalMay Statement
Click here to access article from Interoccupy.
I am posting this article not because I think it offers constructive ideas about real change. To the contrary, it offers a recipe for no change. But, the problem it poses is that it will influence others into following this dead-end strategy. While advocating every social benefit they can think of and demanding "democratic control", they carefully exclude any mention of dismantling corporate institutions which serve private interests by expropriating socially produced wealth in a system that justifies private ownership and control of an economy. Look at item 2 in which they state...
The set of demands proposed by this group illustrates why the broader Occupy movement has thus far refused to issue demands. So much needs to be done to raise the consciousness about the dire issues confronting people today before any demands can be articulated.
I am posting this article not because I think it offers constructive ideas about real change. To the contrary, it offers a recipe for no change. But, the problem it poses is that it will influence others into following this dead-end strategy. While advocating every social benefit they can think of and demanding "democratic control", they carefully exclude any mention of dismantling corporate institutions which serve private interests by expropriating socially produced wealth in a system that justifies private ownership and control of an economy. Look at item 2 in which they state...
To achieve these objectives, we believe that the economy should be run democratically at all levels, from local to global. People must get democratic control over financial institutions, transnational corporations and their lobbies.Then read the specific proposals they propose to carry this out. There are no demands about taking apart corporations and putting them under the control of the people. It's all rehashed liberal proposals mostly from the New Deal era. This view offers pie-in-the-sky social benefits without touching the core institution of concentrated wealth that makes any kind of real democracy meaningless. I think this illustrates the profound influence of capitalist ideology and its latest theme, "there is no alternative" on many in the current generation of US activists.
The set of demands proposed by this group illustrates why the broader Occupy movement has thus far refused to issue demands. So much needs to be done to raise the consciousness about the dire issues confronting people today before any demands can be articulated.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Common Sense: What We Choose Now Matters
Click here to access article by Dan Hind from New Left Project. (This is the introduction to his new book entitled, Common Sense: Occupation, Assembly and the Future of Liberty, which unfortunately for me is available only in the Kindle edition.)
I think that this British author really captures the spirit of our times (zeitgeist), probably better than anyone else. I haven't read the book, but this introduction makes a very important statement: there is now occurring a real revolution in the minds of many ordinary people.
However, there is also much confusion and pain that people are experiencing because of this latest capitalist economic bust, the never-ending wars, the full spectrum surveillance over our communications, and the dissonance between the reality of our experience and the discourse carried over corporate media networks. Our past complacent understanding of reality (weltanschauung) that has been propagated by the media and educational institutions of the One Percent is now being seriously challenged. It is an ideologically challenging time for many people. Some simply give up and go along with their programmed thinking. Some vacillate, and others, such as those in the Occupy movement, are actively exploring new ideas to gain some measure of control over their sense of confusion.
I think that this British author really captures the spirit of our times (zeitgeist), probably better than anyone else. I haven't read the book, but this introduction makes a very important statement: there is now occurring a real revolution in the minds of many ordinary people.
However, there is also much confusion and pain that people are experiencing because of this latest capitalist economic bust, the never-ending wars, the full spectrum surveillance over our communications, and the dissonance between the reality of our experience and the discourse carried over corporate media networks. Our past complacent understanding of reality (weltanschauung) that has been propagated by the media and educational institutions of the One Percent is now being seriously challenged. It is an ideologically challenging time for many people. Some simply give up and go along with their programmed thinking. Some vacillate, and others, such as those in the Occupy movement, are actively exploring new ideas to gain some measure of control over their sense of confusion.
The pursuit of truth in defiance of widely accepted errors is a kind of self-harm. If those whose opinion must be taken into account say one thing, it is painful for us to believe another. And there is more to it, even than this. We have made ourselves out of claims that are unsafe. To call things by their proper names makes a revolution in us, before it changes anything else. If we are to be free, we must change, and to change is to kill some part of ourselves. It is no wonder that we hesitate.
The Power of Plutocracy
Click here to access article by Rob Urie from CounterPunch.
The author provides a good assessment of the current reign of the plutocrats, and the broad reforms they could enact if they were at all serious about turning our economy around. But then he errors fundamentally by proposing a set of more specific reforms that should be instituted to start the process of "undoing the existing economic / political order that has created current conditions...."
This is a liberal prescription for change. It assumes 1) a rational ruling class (plutocrats) that could be interested in strengthening the US economy, and it assumes 2) the possibility of creating fundamental change within their existing system. These are profoundly wrong assumptions, and they are assumptions which retard any progress toward changing the system and preventing it from devolving into a dystopia for most people and the destruction of the planet.
The error in number one is that the ruling class has, or could have, any interest in improving the US economy. They are globalists. Capitalism, in case you haven't noticed, has gone global. They don't need American workers any more to reap their profits and associated power. American workers are more expensive and more organized than workers in countries such as Bangladesh, China, and Indonesia. Also, the latter countries have much less in the way of environmental regulations that hamper the pursuit of profit. From their limited perspective informed by their addiction to power and profits, plutocrats are acting rationally in the pursuit of their interests. Hence, for them pursuing our interests is irrational.
They find such efforts at reforming the system laughable. They heap scorn on, and mock the recent efforts of the Occupy movement to change political-economic arrangements. The following commercial running almost hourly on Bloomberg TV illustrates this attitude of smug arrogance and scorn:
Publicly they like to voice their affirmation of "democracy" and "human rights", but behind closed doors they frankly boast about their newly created "plutonomy" as revealed in leaked documents such as the following from Citigroup:
Only an organized, inclusive, grassroots movement such as the Occupy movement has the potential to force fundamental changes on our nation and other nations of the world. Because capitalism, and the Empire which enforces the system on the world, is global, we, as working people, must organize globally in order to fight effectively for new classless societies in which we can live in harmony with each other and with nature.
The author provides a good assessment of the current reign of the plutocrats, and the broad reforms they could enact if they were at all serious about turning our economy around. But then he errors fundamentally by proposing a set of more specific reforms that should be instituted to start the process of "undoing the existing economic / political order that has created current conditions...."
This is a liberal prescription for change. It assumes 1) a rational ruling class (plutocrats) that could be interested in strengthening the US economy, and it assumes 2) the possibility of creating fundamental change within their existing system. These are profoundly wrong assumptions, and they are assumptions which retard any progress toward changing the system and preventing it from devolving into a dystopia for most people and the destruction of the planet.
The error in number one is that the ruling class has, or could have, any interest in improving the US economy. They are globalists. Capitalism, in case you haven't noticed, has gone global. They don't need American workers any more to reap their profits and associated power. American workers are more expensive and more organized than workers in countries such as Bangladesh, China, and Indonesia. Also, the latter countries have much less in the way of environmental regulations that hamper the pursuit of profit. From their limited perspective informed by their addiction to power and profits, plutocrats are acting rationally in the pursuit of their interests. Hence, for them pursuing our interests is irrational.
They find such efforts at reforming the system laughable. They heap scorn on, and mock the recent efforts of the Occupy movement to change political-economic arrangements. The following commercial running almost hourly on Bloomberg TV illustrates this attitude of smug arrogance and scorn:
Publicly they like to voice their affirmation of "democracy" and "human rights", but behind closed doors they frankly boast about their newly created "plutonomy" as revealed in leaked documents such as the following from Citigroup:
Regarding the author's 2nd assumption, only a fool would think that the ruling One Percent will permit any such reforms to the existing arrangements. Around election time they sometimes allude to such reforms, but they are completely forgotten afterwards. In fact, what we have seen after elections are accelerated efforts by the One Percent to attack Medicare, Social Security, any efforts to increase taxes on the wealthy while they pursue more foreign wars and military interventions abroad.
- “Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances” Oct. 16, 2005 (35 pages)
- “Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer” March 5, 2006 (18 pages)
- “The Plutonomy Symposium — Rising Tides Lifting Yachts” Sept. 29, 2006 (64 pages)
Only an organized, inclusive, grassroots movement such as the Occupy movement has the potential to force fundamental changes on our nation and other nations of the world. Because capitalism, and the Empire which enforces the system on the world, is global, we, as working people, must organize globally in order to fight effectively for new classless societies in which we can live in harmony with each other and with nature.
The Corporate Hijacking of America’s Land-Grant Universities
Click here to access article by Tim Schwab from Civil Eats.
This fairly brief article shows how the One Percent is taking over public educational institutions of higher learning in the US to serve their interests. With the focus of this website on food, their treatment of this subject is limited to corporate control over information and research about the food we eat. Their recommendation for correcting this insidious trend of private influence is the following:
This fairly brief article shows how the One Percent is taking over public educational institutions of higher learning in the US to serve their interests. With the focus of this website on food, their treatment of this subject is limited to corporate control over information and research about the food we eat. Their recommendation for correcting this insidious trend of private influence is the following:
So how do we weed out the agribusiness influence? A good place to start would be increasing federal support for agriculture research—and directing this money to projects that serve the public interest. This would go a long ways toward reducing land-grant university’s dependence on corporate funding and allow researchers more independence.This is another example of a very superficial analysis that informs thinking about solutions. First of all, the privatization of education not only affects the food we eat, but even more importantly the ideas we hold. Secondly, the One Percent is taking control of all our institutions including the government. So, to advocate less direct funding from private sources will change little. Finally, private interests will never retreat from taking direct control of institutions unless forced to by an aware, militant, and organized public.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Of Conspiracies, Critics, and the Crisis: Reflections on the 99% Spring
Click here to access article by Edmund Berger from Dissident Voice.
This is a highly intelligent examination of various groups in the US trying to co-opt and distract the Occupy movement into more acceptable actions that will not interfere with business as usual. Some among them are simply are not conscious of the fundamental problem that informs so many disasters awaiting us if we fail to change the capitalist system.
This is a highly intelligent examination of various groups in the US trying to co-opt and distract the Occupy movement into more acceptable actions that will not interfere with business as usual. Some among them are simply are not conscious of the fundamental problem that informs so many disasters awaiting us if we fail to change the capitalist system.
Recent and influential treaties, such as The Shock Doctrine and The Corporation, or the articles published in progressive magazines such as The Nation and Mother Jones, have raised awareness about the destructive tendencies of neoliberalism, showing how they dissolve national boundaries, exploit poor and undeveloped countries, and curtail representative democratic practices by buying off politicians. Yet these publications, for the most part, tend to equate capitalism with its current neoliberal incarnation, and also serve to position corporations – not the underlying structures of the capitalist mode of production – as the problem.Only groups and people who support horizontal democracy deserve our support and, more importantly, our participation. See this, and this.
Do You Know Who Owns Your Congressional Representative?
Click here to access article by Robert Oak from the Economic Populist.
Even Bloomberg News, the premier TV news program of US capitalists, find bank funding of the astroturf Tea Party as a bit over the top. I can clearly imagine capitalists having a good chuckle over playing the 99 Percent for fools once again.
Otherwise, the article is about this:
Even Bloomberg News, the premier TV news program of US capitalists, find bank funding of the astroturf Tea Party as a bit over the top. I can clearly imagine capitalists having a good chuckle over playing the 99 Percent for fools once again.
Otherwise, the article is about this:
To see how little the people matter and elections are more about voting for the least objectionable corporation, check out open secrets. Look up your own representative. Following the money can finally explain your representative's nonsensical voting record.
Bottom line elections and representation, including legislation, is the battle of the corporate lobbyists and big money special interests. Regular people, or what plain makes common sense, doesn't stand a prayer's chance. The only difference here is a new twist, manipulating you so severely you actually vote for your own economic destruction.
US Health Care Still Radically More Expensive Yet Not More Effective
Click here to access article by Jon Walker from FireDogLake.
Few issues in the US can illustrate the contradiction better between capitalists' concern about cost-effective programs and the public good as does medical insurance for its citizens. The apparent contradiction reveals that capitalists are much more interested in the private accumulation of wealth, not the public good. In other words, capitalism only serves one small class of people--the One Percent.
Of course, the other countries are run by capitalists, but they were forced to compromise with much more militant members of the 99 Percent than has existed here in the US.
However, the article from this liberal source misses the point with its exclusive emphasis on regulation of prices. All of these countries, including Japan, have some major form of government involvement in medical coverage of its citizens and have excluded the private sector believing correctly that profit-making enterprises have no place in healthcare. Looking at the Japanese plan, according to Wikipedia the government does regulate prices, but it also forbids private ownership of hospitals; and from my reading of the Wikipedia entry, it also forbids private health insurance for employees--they are covered by non-profit plans such as the following:
Few issues in the US can illustrate the contradiction better between capitalists' concern about cost-effective programs and the public good as does medical insurance for its citizens. The apparent contradiction reveals that capitalists are much more interested in the private accumulation of wealth, not the public good. In other words, capitalism only serves one small class of people--the One Percent.
Of course, the other countries are run by capitalists, but they were forced to compromise with much more militant members of the 99 Percent than has existed here in the US.
However, the article from this liberal source misses the point with its exclusive emphasis on regulation of prices. All of these countries, including Japan, have some major form of government involvement in medical coverage of its citizens and have excluded the private sector believing correctly that profit-making enterprises have no place in healthcare. Looking at the Japanese plan, according to Wikipedia the government does regulate prices, but it also forbids private ownership of hospitals; and from my reading of the Wikipedia entry, it also forbids private health insurance for employees--they are covered by non-profit plans such as the following:
- Union Managed Health Insurance
- Government Managed Health Insurance
- Seaman’s Insurance
- National Public Workers Mutual Aid Association Insurance
- Local Public Workers Mutual Aid Association Insurance
- Private School Teachers’ and Employees’ Mutual Aid Association Insurance
A Maple Spring?
Click here to access article by Jane Gatensby from Ceasefire. [Part 1 of ?]
Quebec is a place where people fight for the things that matter to them. That’s something you don’t see very much any more in North America, and it, along with Quebecers’ stubborn insistence to go on speaking French while surrounded by Anglo-American cultural dominance, is what makes this Canadian province (or nation, as it often refers to itself) unique.
New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years
Click here to access article by Abrahm Lustgarten from ProPublica.
A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, concluding that fracking chemicals injected into the ground could migrate toward drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously predicted.(Note: Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is the blasting of water with chemicals additives in underground rock layers such as sandstone, shale, limestone, etc. to create fractures in order to release natural gas and oil. According to Wikipedia,
"Although hundreds of chemicals have been used, some that are known are: benzene (causes cancer, bone marrow failure), lead (damages the nervous system and causes brain disorders), ethylene glycol (antifreeze, causes death), methanol (highly toxic), boric acid (kidney damage, death), 2-butoxyethanol (causes hemolysis).")
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Punishment and Profits: Immigration Detention [23:52m video]
Click here to access 23:52m video from Al Jazeera, a Fault Lines production.
The system based on the private appropriation of socially produced wealth is now into the business of exploiting immigrant labor. The video shows how corporations commit a variety of other crimes against humanity while pursuing their exploitation of immigrant labor.
Because Al Jazeera is essentially owned by the Emir of Qatar which has close ties with the US Empire, the video does not make any direct connection to the fact that immigrants are people forced out of their countries of origin by the destruction of their home economies under neoliberal policies.
The system based on the private appropriation of socially produced wealth is now into the business of exploiting immigrant labor. The video shows how corporations commit a variety of other crimes against humanity while pursuing their exploitation of immigrant labor.
Because Al Jazeera is essentially owned by the Emir of Qatar which has close ties with the US Empire, the video does not make any direct connection to the fact that immigrants are people forced out of their countries of origin by the destruction of their home economies under neoliberal policies.
Let the Games begin: London’s Dystopian Olympics
Click here to access article by Matt Carr from Ceasefire.
The largest peacetime security operation in British history cannot be simply attributed to paranoia and an overzealous desire to protect the public. On the one hand it reflects an overlap between homeland security and corporate profiteering that has become a feature of the post 9/11 world.
Occupy May Day: the march on Wall Street — in pictures
Click here to access pictures from Reflections on a Revolution.
"Connecting the Dots" Between Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Click here to access article by Jamie Henn from Huffington Post.
...in the United States, 82 percent of Americans say that they've experienced a natural disaster or extreme weather event first-hand.
Of course, mainstream which is owned by the One Percent, can never connect climate change with the imperative of growth built into the system that provides them with so much power and wealth.
The author goes on to argue what needs to be done to connect the dots. (Clue: it's up to us.)
...in the United States, 82 percent of Americans say that they've experienced a natural disaster or extreme weather event first-hand.
Yet, despite a few notable exceptions, the mainstream media has failed to connect the dots between this string of extreme weather events and global warming. Instead, coverage of climate change has dropped precipitously.
Of course, mainstream which is owned by the One Percent, can never connect climate change with the imperative of growth built into the system that provides them with so much power and wealth.
The author goes on to argue what needs to be done to connect the dots. (Clue: it's up to us.)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
May 1st and an Independent Workers Movement
Sourced from Real News where you can follow the transcript of this 15:33m video discussion with Leo Panitch and Sam Gidin.
They discuss the necessity of bringing in workers to support the activism started by the Occupy movement.
They discuss the necessity of bringing in workers to support the activism started by the Occupy movement.
Only a Populist Movement Will Lead to True Freedom and an Inclusive Democracy
Click here to access article by Greg Ruggiero from Buzzflash.
This is a revised introduction to a new book by Noam Chomsky entitled, Occupy, which attempts to assess the accomplishments, explain the significance and the possibilities of the Occupy movement.
This is a revised introduction to a new book by Noam Chomsky entitled, Occupy, which attempts to assess the accomplishments, explain the significance and the possibilities of the Occupy movement.
Underlying Occupy's success has been its focus on the daily details of organizing. Major protests, civil disobedience and arrests are key parts of movement strategy, but the day-to-day activities of discussion, working groups and general assemblies are the deep structure, the ongoing forces adding mass and momentum to Occupy's wave. ...It's truly gone global, even reaching places like New Guinea. And online technology, like that used to create InterOccupy.org, is connecting Occupy forces around the country and helping to facilitate regional gatherings, strategies and actions.
Unemployment in Europe. Where will it stop?
Click here to access article by Merijn Knibbe from Real-World Economics Review Blog.
What I think is really significant here are the high rates of unemployment for youth (under 25 years of age)--they are usually double the rate for the general working populations across Europe. Thus, it seems reasonable to expect to see the most militant activism taking place in Spain, Greece, and Portugal as well as in Europe in general. However, in this age of instant communication and electronic social networking, ideas and methods to combat the ravages of capitalism and imperialism will spread rapidly from one country to another.
What I think is really significant here are the high rates of unemployment for youth (under 25 years of age)--they are usually double the rate for the general working populations across Europe. Thus, it seems reasonable to expect to see the most militant activism taking place in Spain, Greece, and Portugal as well as in Europe in general. However, in this age of instant communication and electronic social networking, ideas and methods to combat the ravages of capitalism and imperialism will spread rapidly from one country to another.
The Business of War in Afghanistan
Click here to access article by Antony Loewenstein from Al Akhbar (Beirut, Lebanon).
It appears that private militias and spy services in alliance with a local bought-and-paid-for oligarchies is the model being used by the Empire to secure its newly won colonies in the Middle East. The end result is chaos, social disintegration, and widespread suffering by ordinary people. The author describes the model as applied in Afghanistan.
It appears that private militias and spy services in alliance with a local bought-and-paid-for oligarchies is the model being used by the Empire to secure its newly won colonies in the Middle East. The end result is chaos, social disintegration, and widespread suffering by ordinary people. The author describes the model as applied in Afghanistan.
Privatized security and intelligence is now a natural part of Western war making. America simply cannot and will not launch missions without the backing of often unaccountable companies that compliment its defense industry.The story is similar in Pakistan as described by the same author in the last half of this report.
It is a nuclear-armed nation which is seemingly always on the verge of collapse due to both a desperate need for American money and its need to secure its regional position against India and Afghanistan. The result is a quasi-police state, backed by private security, silencing critics of its politics of capitulation toward militants and Washington. Courageous journalists and human rights activist are lone voices of dissent.
Over a decade of manoeuvring has left the state divided by ethnic tensions, insurgent activity, corruption, and self-censorship. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have compounded the problem by treating the nation as little more than a testing ground for new weapons against supposed terrorists. Tragically, civilians have born the brunt of the onslaught and turned the country into a cauldron of poverty, resentment, elite disdain, and silence.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The Working Class Hero Takes a Bow
Click here to access photos celebrating Lebanese workers from Beirut based Al Akhbar.
This is an illustration of how international May Day is: workers all over the world are celebrating it. It all began in Chicago in 1886 with the one of the first battles of the class war against capitalists called the Haymarket riot and massacre.
This is an illustration of how international May Day is: workers all over the world are celebrating it. It all began in Chicago in 1886 with the one of the first battles of the class war against capitalists called the Haymarket riot and massacre.
Workers' Rights
A poem by David Chalk.
So far I haven't been able to find out much about this British poet except that he has written some great poems.
Workers’ Rights
In the not-so distant past
Workers had no rights
To achieve them they organised
To win them they had to fight
From Tolpuddle and Unions
And the right to strike
Working folk won their rights
Against greedy financial might
But what they won was a victory
In a battle not the war
As some seek to re-set the clock
To what there was before.
What they won was fairness
And dignity for all
But these rights were limited
And then restrained and worn
And slowly these rights were reduced
Gradually made weak and small
And now financial privilege claims
They should not exist at all.
They say removing rights is necessary
It’s what our country needs
They say it’s to restore the economy
That such rights are economic weeds
Thus does greedy financial might
Try to steal what has been won
With lies and excuses about our plight
And what must be done.
Those who believe in justice
Those who support what’s fair
Must fight these lies with honesty
And forever remain aware.
Here is David Chalk reading his poem.
So far I haven't been able to find out much about this British poet except that he has written some great poems.
Workers’ Rights
In the not-so distant past
Workers had no rights
To achieve them they organised
To win them they had to fight
From Tolpuddle and Unions
And the right to strike
Working folk won their rights
Against greedy financial might
But what they won was a victory
In a battle not the war
As some seek to re-set the clock
To what there was before.
What they won was fairness
And dignity for all
But these rights were limited
And then restrained and worn
And slowly these rights were reduced
Gradually made weak and small
And now financial privilege claims
They should not exist at all.
They say removing rights is necessary
It’s what our country needs
They say it’s to restore the economy
That such rights are economic weeds
Thus does greedy financial might
Try to steal what has been won
With lies and excuses about our plight
And what must be done.
Those who believe in justice
Those who support what’s fair
Must fight these lies with honesty
And forever remain aware.
Here is David Chalk reading his poem.
A short history of May Day
Click here to access article from Libcom.
Then there were other statements made in the PBS program such as "It was very frightening to many people throughout the world" which implied that they were frightened by rioting anarchists. They were frightened mostly by the police repression. And, "Throughout the nation Americans were almost unanimous in the repression of the anarchists...they were seen to be a threat of the first order." This refers to mainstream media coverage and spokespeople for the One Percent. As you can see, some things have not changed much since 1886.
Generally, I think that too much emphasis was placed on the conflict at the McCormick Harvester plant which tended to suggest that the strikers were Luddites, that this was what caused the riots. This emphasis served to downplay the fight for an eight hour workday that workers had been struggling to obtain starting in 1863 when workdays for many were 12 hours. The conflict at the McCormick plant was a spark, but the fuel behind worker protests was the eight hour day objective.
Many working people felt that the bomb thrown at the police was by an agent provocateur to justify the extreme police crackdown.
PBS Part 1: Haymarket Martyrs--Origin of International Workers Day [5:13m]
PBS Part 2 [4:50m]
PBS Part 3 [5:17m]
The history of the world holiday on the 1st May - May Day, or International Workers Day, held in commemoration of four anarchists executed for struggling for an 8-hour day.There is also a 3 part PBS video series that does quite a good presentation of the history of this event. Because PBS is under US government control (which, of course, is controlled by the One Percent), you need to make allowances for statements such as in Part 2 where carefully selected narrators and historians, while making reference to public reactions to the Haymarket riots, make statements like "Labor's largest paper called them [rioters] 'wild beasts'". Very likely this was in the newspaper of the AFL, a very conservative, pro-business labor union. Most other labor newspapers in the US, and indeed throughout the world, were very sympathetic to the protesting workers in Chicago. All were shocked by the barbarous response of the police and the extreme reaction by the legal establishment of the One Percent.
Then there were other statements made in the PBS program such as "It was very frightening to many people throughout the world" which implied that they were frightened by rioting anarchists. They were frightened mostly by the police repression. And, "Throughout the nation Americans were almost unanimous in the repression of the anarchists...they were seen to be a threat of the first order." This refers to mainstream media coverage and spokespeople for the One Percent. As you can see, some things have not changed much since 1886.
Generally, I think that too much emphasis was placed on the conflict at the McCormick Harvester plant which tended to suggest that the strikers were Luddites, that this was what caused the riots. This emphasis served to downplay the fight for an eight hour workday that workers had been struggling to obtain starting in 1863 when workdays for many were 12 hours. The conflict at the McCormick plant was a spark, but the fuel behind worker protests was the eight hour day objective.
Many working people felt that the bomb thrown at the police was by an agent provocateur to justify the extreme police crackdown.
PBS Part 1: Haymarket Martyrs--Origin of International Workers Day [5:13m]
PBS Part 2 [4:50m]
PBS Part 3 [5:17m]
Monday, April 30, 2012
The Egyptian Revolution and Neo-Liberal Economics
Click here to access transcript from Real News.
Egypt has received more in US aid more than any other country except Israel in the past 35 years. (Total of $28 billion.) Most, of course, has been military "aid" tied to business with the US military-industrial complex. But, there has also been substantial non-military aid, but clearly this has ended up benefiting the Egyptian oligarchy to insure their support of privatization policies, which, in turn, has resulted in the concentration of wealth and power.
The Egyptian uprising last year succeeded in removing Mubarak, but it is clear that the problem was not Mubarak. It was and remains the close ties of a concentrated wealthy Egyptian elite with US imperial interests. It appears that many Egyptians are connecting the dots.
Since early 2012, international financial institutions have been negotiating loans for what they say will help rebuild Egypt’s ailing economy. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, [also called the EBRD], is awaiting approval from its shareholders to provide $1.5bn in annual loans to Egypt. This will be the first time since its establishment that the EBRD has lent to the Middle East. On February 2012, the EBRD published its technical assessment of the country, recommending the continuation of more than 20 years of privatization policies.
Egypt has received more in US aid more than any other country except Israel in the past 35 years. (Total of $28 billion.) Most, of course, has been military "aid" tied to business with the US military-industrial complex. But, there has also been substantial non-military aid, but clearly this has ended up benefiting the Egyptian oligarchy to insure their support of privatization policies, which, in turn, has resulted in the concentration of wealth and power.
The Egyptian uprising last year succeeded in removing Mubarak, but it is clear that the problem was not Mubarak. It was and remains the close ties of a concentrated wealthy Egyptian elite with US imperial interests. It appears that many Egyptians are connecting the dots.
10 Big Businesses That Barely Pay Taxes
Click here to access article from MBA.
While the average American may be shelling out thousands of dollars each year in taxes to the federal government, many businesses are paying incredibly low tax rates, or none at all, despite raking in hundreds of millions in profits. What allows this to happen? While corporations may be considered people in other ways, they are given tax breaks and loopholes that the average person just can’t get, and with huge teams of lawyers and accountants on staff, they’re more than ready to game the system to get all they can.
West Coast Unions Cave In to Democrats [Taxing the Rich]
Click here to access article by Shamus Cooke from Workers Action.
The big public sector unions of California and Oregon had their courage examined recently — both were found lacking. The unions backed down from a challenge from their respective Democratic governors, before any fight could be waged. The issue at stake was whether to tax the rich of both states to offset the state deficits caused by the Great Recession, itself caused by the rich.
Why I refused to return to fight in Afghanistan's brutal occupation
Click here to access article by Joe Glenton from The Guardian.
Those sending our young men and women to die or be mutilated for nothing have no authority to say what is honourable, courageous, heroic, or cowardly. You can volunteer, and you can un-volunteer.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Apple: Mega-Profit, Curiously Modest Taxes
Click here to access article by Kristina Chew from Care2.
Investors have made piles of money from Apple stocks, but governments that fund education, health, and welfare have not. Aren't austerity policies of the One Percent wonderful? Well, they are...for the One Percent.
Investors have made piles of money from Apple stocks, but governments that fund education, health, and welfare have not. Aren't austerity policies of the One Percent wonderful? Well, they are...for the One Percent.
Apple avoids paying billions of dollars in taxes to the US and other countries thanks to a number of legal strategies that include setting up subsidiaries far from its headquarters in Cupertino, California. According to the New York Times, Apple has set up offices in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands to reduce the amount of taxes it pays.
Banks cooperate to track Occupy protesters
Click here to access article by Max Abelson from San Francisco Chronicle.
So, what else is new? Banks and other industries have a long and infamous history of collaborating with public and private police agencies to intimidate workers. The Pinkerton company, a prime example of the latter, has the longest history of all, and is still at it. (See this, this, and this.)
So, what else is new? Banks and other industries have a long and infamous history of collaborating with public and private police agencies to intimidate workers. The Pinkerton company, a prime example of the latter, has the longest history of all, and is still at it. (See this, this, and this.)
After evictions and arrests from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to London that began last year, the movement against income inequality and corporate abuse will regain strength, said Brian McNary, director of global risk at Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations.
He works with international financial firms to "identify, map and track" protesters across social media and at their assemblies, he said. The companies gather data "carefully and methodically" to prevent business disruptions.Intimidation hasn't worked in the past and I don't think it will be successful this May Day. People all over the world are seeing through the lies of mainstream media, are becoming aware of the theft of the wealth they create, the social havoc and environmental disasters that capitalism causes, and are tired of the never-ending wars. Workers are increasingly aware of the illegitimacy of rule by, and for, the One Percent. They are fighting back everywhere in the world.
Mind the Gap
Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.
Sometimes a graph is worth a thousand words.
Sometimes a graph is worth a thousand words.
The author's conclusion is great, but not possible within a capitalist system. Thus, the system needs to be changed.
“I do have an opinion. I just haven’t been told what it is”
Click here to access the brief article and 1:05m video. By Hicham Yezza from Ceasefire (UK).
I think the author's perspective is a bit short-sighted. This video reports on an incident that clearly illustrates how control of speech functions in hierarchically organized societies to shape what authority figures say in all areas of society. Being immersed in such milieus will over time serve to shape even the thoughts of ordinary people about public issues.
This example strikes us as comical only because it is so obvious. In most cases a person will already know what the acceptable answers (to authority figures) are when asked any question. Those who are more independent minded can be subject to discipline ranging from verbal reprimand, to social isolation, and to loss of career and income.
Thus, it follows that it is complete nonsense to talk about democracy in such hierarchically organized, class-structured societies.
I think the author's perspective is a bit short-sighted. This video reports on an incident that clearly illustrates how control of speech functions in hierarchically organized societies to shape what authority figures say in all areas of society. Being immersed in such milieus will over time serve to shape even the thoughts of ordinary people about public issues.
This example strikes us as comical only because it is so obvious. In most cases a person will already know what the acceptable answers (to authority figures) are when asked any question. Those who are more independent minded can be subject to discipline ranging from verbal reprimand, to social isolation, and to loss of career and income.
Thus, it follows that it is complete nonsense to talk about democracy in such hierarchically organized, class-structured societies.
In New U.S. “Bioeconomy”, Industry Trumps Environment
Click here to access article by Carey L. Biron from Inter Press Service.
It's clear that capitalists must have energy to feed their addiction to profits regardless of the consequences for others.
It's clear that capitalists must have energy to feed their addiction to profits regardless of the consequences for others.
The White House on Thursday announced the formulation of the National Bioeconomy Blueprint, aimed at shoring up the U.S. commitment to bioscience-related research.
But critics warn that the new programme focuses too much on economic concerns, placing too little emphasis on either social issues or on the environment itself.Meanwhile, scientists see things differently as reported in this piece entitled, "Scientists call for rethink on consumption, population".
May Day Events!
Click here to access report from InterOccupy.
A list of May Day events in major cities across the US.
A list of May Day events in major cities across the US.
Progressive Media Outlets Pledge Coverage Of May Day Protests Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/progressive-media-outlets-pledge-coverage-of-may-day-protests.html#ixzz1tSAKmoli
Click here to access article by Beth Buczynski from Care2.
Although OWS has been in full effect since September, 2011, mainstream media outlets have consistently refused to cover its actions, or intentionally distorted coverage by focusing only on participants who thwart the movement’s mandate against violence and vandalism. That’s why more than 25 independent media outlets belonging to The Media Consortium are collaborating to provide coordinated, national coverage of the nationwide May Day strike and other related events.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Samir Amin: The US imperial project is to destroy the Arab nations
Sourced from Newsclick website based in India. (I recommend that you skip the rather long-winded introduction by starting at 2:25m into the video, thus reducing its length from 15:01m to 12:36m.)
Professor Samir Amin in conversation with Aijaz Ahmad on the realignment of the reactionary forces -- the US and NATO, the Monarchies in the region, and Israel. In his view, the Islamists -- either in Turkey or the Muslim Brotherhood -- are part and parcel of this reactionary block.Amin gives provides an excellent overview of various imperial interests that are driving the war crimes and the destruction of countries in the Middle East.
Revolution In The Air [18:04 video]
Click here to access the video of John Pilger's speech from Pacific Free Press. This distinguished independent journalist was invited by an Australian Marxist conference to speak on the theme of "Revolution in the Air". Mostly what he talks about is the clever ways the ruling One Percents have used extreme individualism, "divide and rule" and co-optation (especially of feminism) to divert our attention away from their crimes against the world's 99 Percents and the Earth.
1,000 Reasons to Strike on May 1: A day without the 99%
Click here to access article by Mickey Z. from World News Trust.
This isn’t about skin color, gender, sexual preference, or what parcel of geography you happen to have been born on. I'm not talking about party affiliations, incremental reform, or what sky-god you've chosen to worship (or not). It's all about recognizing a crisis and taking the appropriate measures... now.
And it all starts with us. How lucky are we? We've been trusted with the most vital mission in the history of human struggle: survival.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Confronting the Big Empty
Click here to access article by Phil Rockstroh from ConsortiumNews.
This is like opening a jewelry box of the mind and being enthralled by all the gems of insight and by the brilliant imagery that sheds light on our individual and collective plights. Look at each paragraph as one of these gems to see which ones dazzle you the most, that help to awaken you from the stupor induced by the cultural drugs of the One Percent.
This is like opening a jewelry box of the mind and being enthralled by all the gems of insight and by the brilliant imagery that sheds light on our individual and collective plights. Look at each paragraph as one of these gems to see which ones dazzle you the most, that help to awaken you from the stupor induced by the cultural drugs of the One Percent.
Oblivion: manifesto for the OVNI festival in Barcelona
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections of a Revolution.
The article describes two films--The Mahabharata and La Commune, scheduled to be shown at this event in Barcelona in May--that serve to raise consciousness about the current state of affairs facing people all over the world. Cultural work that raises people's awareness of their power as well as their dire situations is critically important revolutionary work.
The article describes two films--The Mahabharata and La Commune, scheduled to be shown at this event in Barcelona in May--that serve to raise consciousness about the current state of affairs facing people all over the world. Cultural work that raises people's awareness of their power as well as their dire situations is critically important revolutionary work.
The Mahabharata...deals with conflict but rather than taking a historical approach it positions itself outside of history, outside of linear time. It plays out in mythical time, the time of constant return and of the dialectic tension between the oblivion and remembrance of true human nature.
La Commune offers a vision of contemporary conflict that transcends political oblivion. A cinematic reflection that looks back to a historical milestone – the emergence and disappearance of the 1871 Paris Commune and, at the same time, questions our own social reality and its representation in the media....
Why anti-authoritarians are diagnosed as mentally ill
Click here to access article by Bruce Levine from Infoshop News.
The author explains how mental health professionals are educated and indoctrinated to view anti-authoritarianism as mental illness. All education in capitalist societies is loaded with indoctrination in values and beliefs that serve the One Percent. Few "educated" people are aware of their own indoctrination.
The author explains how mental health professionals are educated and indoctrinated to view anti-authoritarianism as mental illness. All education in capitalist societies is loaded with indoctrination in values and beliefs that serve the One Percent. Few "educated" people are aware of their own indoctrination.
Gaining acceptance into graduate school or medical school and achieving a PhD or MD and becoming a psychologist or psychiatrist means jumping through many hoops, all of which require much behavioral and attentional compliance to authorities, even to those authorities that one lacks respect for. The selection and socialization of mental health professionals tends to breed out many anti-authoritarians. Having steered the higher-education terrain for a decade of my life, I know that degrees and credentials are primarily badges of compliance. Those with extended schooling have lived for many years in a world where one routinely conforms to the demands of authorities. Thus for many MDs and PhDs, people different from them who reject this attentional and behavioral compliance appear to be from another world -- a diagnosable one.(This subject has been explored in greater detail by Jeff Schmidt in his book, Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-battering System That Shapes Their Lives.)
Can renewable energy sustain consumer societies?
Click here to access article by Samuel Alexander from Energy Bulletin.
...any transition to a just and sustainable world requires a vastly reduced demand for energy compared to what is common in the developed regions of the world today, and this necessitates giving up growth-based, consumer societies and the energy-intensive lifestyles they support and promote.It's difficult to know if the author is playing it safe by his use of circumlocutions as illustrated in the above paragraphs or if he is really as naive as his statements suggest. What he is only hinting at is the basic incompatibility of capitalism with ecological sustainability, and the necessity of revolution by whatever means necessary if human life is to continue.
The implications of this can hardly be exaggerated. It means that the global consumer class must learn how to live ‘simpler lives’ of reduced resource and energy consumption, as well as build new economic systems based on notions of sufficiency rather than excess.
Second Coming Shocker! Karl Marx Returns to Earth Instead of Jesus!
Click here to access article by Susie Day from MR Zine.
Humor is always a precious resource to sustain our challenging lives. I didn't know that Marxists have such a great sense of humor.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Humor is always a precious resource to sustain our challenging lives. I didn't know that Marxists have such a great sense of humor.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
A History of the World, BRIC by BRIC
Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from The Huffington Post.
There are few people who can cut through the haze of official rhetoric and mainstream media propaganda like this author can. He is a master at describing the real power plays on this chessboard of big power politics, also known as the 21st century's Great Game. I truly respect his knowledge of the game.
Unfortunately, salvation for the human race does not lie in the outcomes of these games. In fact, I think they will lead to the demise of the human race. A positive outcome lies elsewhere--with ordinary people. Are the 99 Percent going to passively wait and see how these games are played out? Or are they going to take control away from the One Percenters who are playing these dangerous games? Stay tuned,,,or better yet, stay active.
There are few people who can cut through the haze of official rhetoric and mainstream media propaganda like this author can. He is a master at describing the real power plays on this chessboard of big power politics, also known as the 21st century's Great Game. I truly respect his knowledge of the game.
Unfortunately, salvation for the human race does not lie in the outcomes of these games. In fact, I think they will lead to the demise of the human race. A positive outcome lies elsewhere--with ordinary people. Are the 99 Percent going to passively wait and see how these games are played out? Or are they going to take control away from the One Percenters who are playing these dangerous games? Stay tuned,,,or better yet, stay active.
Wall Street has always been War Street
Click here to access article by Mickey Z from World News Trust.
Did you know that the infamous CIA is a direct creation of Wall Street people? Read The Old Boys by Burton Hersh and The Mighty Wurlitzer by Hugh Wilford for the details.
There's plenty that feels new and fresh about Occupy Wall Street (OWS): the younger participants, the scope of the coalition, the endurance, the creativity, and the outrage. What's not new is the target of that outrage: Wall Street, Corporate America, and the politicians they fund have been at this deadly game for more than a century.
Mic Check: The pursuit of profit long ago transcended national borders and well... anything resembling justice, community, solidarity, or morality.The headline is especially true if Wall Street is a synonym for capitalism, or its brutal sibling, fascism.
Did you know that the infamous CIA is a direct creation of Wall Street people? Read The Old Boys by Burton Hersh and The Mighty Wurlitzer by Hugh Wilford for the details.
A Nation of Morons
Click here to access article by Stephen Lendman from his blog.
The author reports on the appalling ignorance of ordinary Americans. He makes numerous statements that suggest that this is intentional, but fails to really delve into that dangerous topic, that is, dangerous for a liberal critic of capitalism. The following is as far as he is willing to go in that direction:
All class structured societies function through some combination of violence and disinformation. The solution lies in efforts devoted to transforming such societies by establishing our own media, our own educational systems, and creating models that insure full participatory involvement of all citizens in social-economic arrangements. Given that capitalism is fast approaching ecological crises of profound consequences for human and other life forms, it is now urgent that such efforts being undertaken immediately. Now, more than ever, Francis Moore Lappé's statement must be heeded:
The author reports on the appalling ignorance of ordinary Americans. He makes numerous statements that suggest that this is intentional, but fails to really delve into that dangerous topic, that is, dangerous for a liberal critic of capitalism. The following is as far as he is willing to go in that direction:
Today, it's a national disaster by design. So-called education reform's a fraud. It masks privatization schemes, a society of growing haves and have nots, and no desire to educate masses for low pay, low skill jobs if they can find one.It appears to me that most of his article focuses on blaming the victims--ordinary Americans.
All class structured societies function through some combination of violence and disinformation. The solution lies in efforts devoted to transforming such societies by establishing our own media, our own educational systems, and creating models that insure full participatory involvement of all citizens in social-economic arrangements. Given that capitalism is fast approaching ecological crises of profound consequences for human and other life forms, it is now urgent that such efforts being undertaken immediately. Now, more than ever, Francis Moore Lappé's statement must be heeded:
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, Time for Progressives to Grow Up
Behind the Mexican Drug War
Click here to access 50:00m audio interview at KPFA (Berkeley, CA) with author John Gibler.
I think that there are few other subjects so mystified and obscured by mainstream media than the so-called drug wars that have been waged by US, Mexican, and other government administrations in the past 40 years. Of course, this has happened before involving other ruling classes. Probably the most notorious and widely obscured was the British opium imposed trade with China in the 19th century.
The present drug-related incidents of violence in Mexico have grown in scale so large that we simply must understand the realities behind the violence and the fictitious reports coming from mainstream media. Although drug trafficking and the so-called drug wars are intimately a part of capitalist exploitation and social control, it is a complicated story. I assure you, that this interview can only serve as an outline that must be followed up by reading books on the subject such as the one this author has written.
I think that there are few other subjects so mystified and obscured by mainstream media than the so-called drug wars that have been waged by US, Mexican, and other government administrations in the past 40 years. Of course, this has happened before involving other ruling classes. Probably the most notorious and widely obscured was the British opium imposed trade with China in the 19th century.
The present drug-related incidents of violence in Mexico have grown in scale so large that we simply must understand the realities behind the violence and the fictitious reports coming from mainstream media. Although drug trafficking and the so-called drug wars are intimately a part of capitalist exploitation and social control, it is a complicated story. I assure you, that this interview can only serve as an outline that must be followed up by reading books on the subject such as the one this author has written.
It's incredibly bloody -- and incredibly misunderstood. What has come to be known as the Mexican drug war, but would be better viewed as the US-Mexico drug trade, has claimed nearly 50,000 lives since 2006, including those of many journalists. Mexico-based writer John Gibler talks about the politics and economics of an industry that involves enormous sums of money, territorial violence, mega-profits, and the collusion of governments and banks.
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