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, November 9, 2017

Politics Makes Strange Bed Fellows

Click here to access article by Stephen Gowans from his website What's Left (Canada).

As history demonstrates, ruling regimes, ruling classes, and government leaders often make compromises with other powerful actors in order to take advantage of opportunities or even just to survive. Gowans, who in my opinion is one of the world's top geopolitical analysts, apparently received private communication from Michel Chossudovsky, founder of Global Research, criticizing (I can't find any online source for Chossudovsky's criticisms.) Gowans' recent article entitled "The US-Led War on Yemen" (I posted it on the 7th of November.). Gowans responds to his criticisms convincingly, in my opinion. See what you think.

I think that Chossudovsky's criticisms may illustrate the immature thinking that many on the left are infected with, that is, the need to find pure, moral heroes (good guys versus bad guys) in the world instead of accepting that all of us, to a greater or lesser extent, often make compromises to powerful people and nations in order to at least survive. When compromises are made with power in order to thrive is where criticism is justified.