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, June 7, 2013

The Pentagon pivoting dance

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from RT

Once again Escobar shears the thick veils of Empire propaganda and reveals what their words really mean. Meanwhile, China's leaders are making it clear that it too understands what the Empire is up to, and will not tolerate interference in their interests.

Clearly the Empire has demonstrated its proneness to wars and creating social chaos, but there are no real "good guys" here. Only "governments" that are built on the foundation of grass-roots participation can guarantee peace and social justice. Until such people-powered "governments" are established, there will never be peace or social justice. There will only be national or international ruling classes competing for dominance. This means endless wars, chaos, suffering, and deprivation for ordinary people throughout the world. This means that as long as people are willing to permit ruling classes to determine their lives, we can look forward to more of the same.

Actually, it's worse than that--now we are confronting unprecedented environmental and climatic catastrophes created by the reigning system of capitalism which all dominant players are using, and this will propel us to our extinction.

Progressive thinkers must not be fooled by phoney "left revolutions" represented by the populist governments of Venezuela or Bolivian. We are now seeing the "Bolivarian socialist" government of Venezuela pivoting toward the Empire; no doubt because its rulers sees many rewards coming their way if they "suck up" to them.