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, February 8, 2018

Recommended articles for 2/8/2018

  • Propaganda! Pardon Me, Is Mine Really Bigger than Yours? by Andre Vltchek from New Eastern Outlook. Vltchek reviews his life journey to illustrate how be developed from a "totally indoctrinated, endlessly brainwashed by Western propaganda" in his youth in Czechoslovakia where, as a dissident, he listened to Western capitalist propaganda spread by BBC, Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, West German television channels and other European radio stations. Now after living in 160 countries and seeing reality first hand, he is free to write about his own perceptions. He differentiates two types of propaganda: 1) carefully crafted news and information designed by the rich and powerful to convince you of their virtue and to support their interests; and 2) people honestly and sincerely writing about how they perceive the various realities that they experience. It is a journey of discovery of realty that is far different from his early conditioning by Western capitalist propaganda.
  • Syria - U.S. May Have Arranged "Self Defense" Attack On Syrian Government Forces by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama. The author carefully examines the evidence of an attack by US forces from their occupied territory in Syria on Syrian government forces that suggest that the US military are playing dirty while issuing a steady stream of anti-Assad propaganda. Meanwhile, the American people are fed only the latter by media corporations.