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

Thursday, June 5, 2014

The New Age of Banana Republicanism

Click here to access article by Maria Camila Morales and apparently translated from Spanish by Don Quijones and posted on his website Raging Bull-Shit. 

While many political observers have been celebrating the turn to the left and independent policies of many Latin American governments, Morales argues that these are lies when one looks below the surface. She hints that the hidden hand of the US Empire still operates to stifle any real change.
Most Latin American republics continue to be dominated by people who govern out of pure self-interest while paying lip service to the needs and well-being of the general public.