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

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Labour to open re-education camps?

Click here to access article by Jonathan Cook from his blog the Blog from Nazareth.

Cook is a Britisher who spends a lot of time in Israel. Thus he knows well both the political establishment of Britain as well as happenings in Israel. In this piece he offers an illustration of how a governing capitalist class in their fake democracies deal with the occasional candidate who manages to squeak through their political filters. This especially applies to those who do not serve their interests either because they advocate policies that would burden their government with costly social services or candidates that might be criticizing the defects of capitalism too much for the comfort of the ruling class. 

Emma Goldman, that flaming red anarchist of the early 20th century in the US, was right about the futility of voting in capitalist elections ("If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal"). I have strong doubts that Bernie Sanders really threatens the US ruling class, but I am sufficiently convinced that Jeremy Corbyn is doing this in Britain. Hence the vigorous attacks by their media on Corbyn and his faction of the Labour Party. I don't see that happening yet with regard to Sanders in the US. He is mostly labeled by US media as some who cannot win in the presidential election, especially against the billionaire ogre Donald Trump. 

In any case, think what could happen if Corbyn continues to gain popular support in Britain or if the followers of Sanders caused numerous problems for our masters? The ruling capitalist classes might suspend elections altogether, take their soft kid gloves off and put their genuine class preference for fascism into practice. (Especially here in the US where they have already built the police state structure that would support it.) That might wake people up!