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

Friday, January 27, 2012

Presidency of Arab League seeks to bury own experts’ report

Click here to access article from Voltaire Network.
Since the outbreak of the events that have cast a dark shadow over Syria, two interpretations stand in opposition to each other: for the West and their Gulf allies, the regime crushed the popular revolution in blood, while for Syria and its BRICS allies, the country is assailed by armed groups coming from abroad.
Because we do not have access to the report of the Arab League Observer Mission, it is difficult to be 100% sure whose version is correct. Fortunately, we also have had some access to independent journalist coverage provided by Voltaire Network journalists. But it doesn't take much in the way of intelligence to know that if the Arab League report confirmed Western media coverage that the report would be made public. So, in its absence Western media can keep on with their story line of the Syrian government's oppression of their people in order to prepare citizens in the West to support another Libya type of operation.