Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Wikileaks: Israelis ‘Intend to Keep the Gazan Economy on the Brink of Collapse’

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

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Wikileaks: Israelis ‘Intend to Keep the Gazan Economy on the Brink of Collapse’

by Juan Cole from his blog Informed Consent.

Critics of the WikiLeaks leaks have often pointed to the presence of leaks that are supportive of Israeli policies and the absence of leaks that are critical of these policies. One, of course, must see that the gatekeepers of the leaks are largely mass media outlets of NATO countries. It is interesting that this leak was reported by a news agency from a more peripheral member country--Norway.

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenpost has released a March, 2008, US embassy cable describing the Israeli blockade and siege of Occupied Gaza as an attempt to reduce the society to the lowest possible level of functioning without provoking a “humanitarian crisis” (presumably mass starvation).