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, July 10, 2013

It’s Not Egypt: the Myth of a Coming Military Coup in Pakistan

Click here to access article by Michael Kugelman from Muftah.

Although the author provides a perspective that coheres with a ruling class political institution of which he is a member--the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars--he does provide many accurate observations about the commonalities and differences between the Egyptian and Pakistani military establishments. While revealing his capitalist bias with references to bourgeois superficial forms of "democracy", i.e. managed elections, he also unwittingly provides evidence of Pakistan's military ties with the Empire. Pakistan's military has like Egypt received the Empire's treatment that includes abundant supplies of weapons, training, and social ties with counterparts in the army of the US.