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, September 5, 2014

US created ISIS to topple Libya

Click here to access a 21 minute video presentation on the origins of ISIS posted on Brasscheck TV.

To tell the story of the Empire's promotion of terrorist groups in the Middle East and Eurasia in 21 minutes necessitates a rapid fire delivery which is evident in this video. This works best for an audience of people who are reviewing bits and pieces of information that they have been exposed to in the past, but I question its effectiveness in reaching people, the vast majority of Americans, who have relied on mainstream media for their information. And, of course, the promotion and use of terrorist groups in only one part of the picture. 

A much broader effort is required: an effort sustained over significant periods of time which includes oil and gas pipelines, the history of the Empire's efforts at destabilizing nations, an understanding of climate destabilization, and an examination of the engine of the Empire, capitalism, that is driving these all these actions. Nothing short of an organized global effort by an independent media network designed to raise people's consciousness will be sufficient to change the nihilistic course of capitalist activities that are now promoting endless wars which could easily lead to a nuclear war, actions that are creating islands of the rich among oceans of the poor, and causing catastrophic climate destabilization.

This is not meant to be critical of the overall effort of Brasscheck who are busy providing other consciousness raising videos. It is meant to be critical of an attitude evident in the concluding remarks of this video that seem to suggest that the problem of terrorism is both isolated from other issues and that it can be solved by talking to our neighbors, etc. We the people of the world's Ninety-Nine Percent must be aware of the enormous task ahead in order to prepare an adequate response. I am convinced that nothing short of a global network of independent media will be adequate to change the deadly course we are now on.