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

Sunday, May 29, 2016

From Albrecht to Monsanto: A System Not Run for the Public Good Can Never Serve the Public Good [article of the month]

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from East by Northwest (Britain).

I am awarding this essay as the best I've posted this month of May among many others that were excellent. 

A number of years ago Todhunter first began reporting the devastating effects of corporate farming operations primarily in India where he as lived for many years, and has now arrived at the insight that the real roots of these devastating attacks on societies such as India lay with the tiny class-serving system of capitalism. 

Most informed people for a variety of reasons (securing their careers, wanting the approval of others, or serving the system which could bring them huge rewards of wealth and power) stop short of this deep insight. This fearless truth-seeker has gone all the way by stating a very simple principle which I will repeat: "A system not run for the public good can never serve the public good."--and as such is not legitimate! Hence the vast assembly of propaganda institutions that capitalists use to hide this fact and to deceive the public into thinking that the existing system (they usually don't name it, or refer to it by other bland names such as the "market system") does serve public interests instead of their own interests of profit and power.

Fearless truthseekers like Todhunter usually suffer for their efforts. They will never be hired by corporations, capitalist controlled governments, or non-profit organizations that usually depend on contributions from corporations. They often are socially shunned by most people who blindly or cowardly follow the easy, rewarding path of capitalist norms and values. The only problem is that this path is leading humans over the cliffs of nuclear wars and environmental destruction to extinction. If we as individuals refuse to be driven, then we simply must support people like Todhunter who pursue the truth and write about it. We must support them any way, or extent, that we can.