Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Washington's Long War Against Syria

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, October 5, 2017

Washington's Long War Against Syria

Click here to access article by Stephen Gowans from What's Left.

Gowans delivers a talk below on Middle Eastern political developments in the past 30 or 40 years with particular emphasis on the subject of his recently published book by the above title. He was invited by the Hands Off Syria Coalition to give a speech in July at the Solidarity Center in New York City. He has been described as a Canadian writer and activist, but now he can lay claim to be an author. He writes, I believe, mostly for What's Left but his articles have been re-posted frequently on many other websites. It is my opinion that he is one of the world's foremost political analysts.

Gowans begins his approximately 48 minute talk at 12:25m into this video after brief words by other members of the Coalition. He concludes the talk by quoting from another Canadian, Norman Bethune, who served as a medical officer during the Spanish Civil War and the Sino-Japanese War with Mao's armies and said: "...such an organization of society, that permits these enemies of society to exist, must be abolished." Of course, he was referring to a capitalist organization of society. Gowans declares that the theme of his new book is the same.