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

Monday, June 17, 2013

JPMorgan calls for authoritarian regimes in Europe

Click here to access article by Stefan Steinberg from World Socialist Web Site.

As of the time of this commentary I have been unable to locate the document that the author refers to. Although I consider this web site reliable, I am always irritated by their frequent practice of not providing any links to documents.

The author's interpretation of this report and its historical context is in sync with my own views as to the reasons behind the aggressive austerity policies being imposed on European governments. The Empire's directorate want to fully integrate Europe into the Empire; but in order to do this, they need to eliminate the strong social supports and left-wing inspired laws, the origins of which, are rooted in the European post-war political conditions as accurately described by the author.
...Europe’s discredited ruling classes were well aware that the Russian Revolution remained a political beacon for many workers. They felt compelled to make a series of concessions to the working class to prevent revolution—in the form of precisely the social and constitutional protections, including the right to protest, that JPMorgan would now like to see abolished.