We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Manuel Noriega - from US friend to foe

from the Guardian. The article illustrates what happens to The Empire's puppets when they don't follow orders sufficiently or exhibit too much independence. Noriega, by the way, was just extradited to France. See this. The article lists only 200 ordinary Panamanian citizens who died in the US invasion--I remember at the time many other independent sources estimated around 10,000 of Panama's poorest were listed as casualties, and many homes destroyed by bombing in the poor neighborhoods to capture Noriega.