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, May 26, 2014

The Illegality of NATO

Click here to access article by John Scales Avery from Transcend Media Service.

Of course, all of what Avery writes is true. What must be understood is that the "rule of law" has very little to do with a world ruled by privileged elites. It is only window dressing they use to hide the ugliness of their use of force, or their threats to use it, in order to increase their wealth and power. Their privileged status is wholly dependent on the capitalist system which makes it possible for these people to live off the work of others, and in the process, to accumulate so much power over us. The system must be dismantled and a new system which supports egalitarian relationships must be created if humans wish to continue to exist in peace, or even exist at all.
In recent years, participation in NATO has made European countries accomplices in US efforts to achieve global hegemony by means of military force, in violation of international law, and especially in violation of the UN Charter, the Nuremberg Principles.