Saturday 16 May 2015

WHO'S PUMPING SUNSHINE UP YOUR ASS ?


How to Fight Western Propaganda



By Andre Vltchek

May 15, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - First they manufacture monstrous lies, and then they tell us that we should be objective!

Is love objective; is passion?

Are dreams defendable, logically and philosophically?

When a house is attacked by brigands, when a village is overran by gangsters, when smoke, fire and cries for help are coming from every corner, should we award ourselves with the luxury of time to calculate, analyze and aim at complete logical, ethical, holistic and objective solutions?

I strongly believe no! We are obliged to fight those who are burning our dwellings, to hit with full force those who are attempting to rape our women, and to confront fire with fire when innocent beings are slaughtered.

When the most powerful and the most destructive force on earth employs all its persuasive might, utilizing everything from the mainstream media to educational facilities, in order to justify its crimes, when it spreads its poisonous propaganda and lies in order to oppress the world and suppress hope, do we step back and begin endless and detailed work on precise and objective narratives? Or do we confront lies and propaganda with our own narrative, supported by our intuition, passion and dreams for a better world?

***

The Empire lies continuously. It lies in the morning, during the day, in the evening, even at night, when most of the people are sound asleep. It has been doing it for decades and centuries. For grand deceits it relies on countless numbers of propagandists who pose as academics, teaches, journalists and “public intellectuals”. Perfection in the art of disinformation has been reached. Western advertising (so much admired and used by the German Nazis) has some common roots with propaganda, although propaganda is much older and “complete”.

It appears that even some leaders of the Empire now believe in most of their fabrications, and most of the citizens certainly do. Otherwise, how could they sleep at night?

The western propaganda apparatus is enormously efficient and effective. It is also brilliant in how it ensures that its inventions get channeled, distributed, and accepted in all corners of the world. The system through which disinformation spreads, is incredibly complex. Servile local media and academia on all continents work hard to guarantee that only one narrative is allowed to penetrate the brains of billions.

The results are: intellectual cowardice and ignorance, all over the world, but especially in the West and in its client states.

***

What are we, who oppose the regime, supposed to do?

First of all, things are not as hopeless as they used to be.

This is not the morbid unipolar world that we experienced in the early 90’s. Now Venezuela, Russia, China, and Iran support large media outlets that are opposed to the Empire. Powerful television stations emerged: RT, Press TV, TeleSUR and CCTV. Huge English language Internet-based magazines and sites in the United States, Canada and Russia are also exposing the lies of the official Western propagandists: Counterpunch, Information Clearing House, Global Research, Veterans News, Strategic Culture, New Eastern Outlook quickly come to mind. And there are hundreds of important sites doing the same in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and French languages.

The fight is on: the fight for an intellectually multi-polar world. It is a tough, mortal fight! It is a crucial battle, simply because the metastases of the Western propaganda cancer have spread everywhere, contaminated all continents, and even some of the most courageous countries and brains that are earnestly fighting against the Western imperialism and fascism! No one is immune. To be frank, all of us are contaminated.

Unless we win this battle, by first clearly identifying and proving “their narrative” as fraudulent, and later by offering humanist and compassionate perceptions, we cannot even dream about the revolution, or about any significant changes in arrangement of the world.

***

How do we achieve victory? How do we convince the masses, those billions of people? How do we open their eyes and make them see that the Western regime is dishonest, toxic, poisonous and destructive? Most of humanity is hooked on the Empire’s propaganda; that propaganda which is not only spread by mainstream media outlets, but also by pop music, soap operas, social media, advertisement, consumerism, ‘fashion trends’ and by many other covert means; cultural, religious and media junk that leads to total emotional and intellectual stupor and is administered like some highly addictive narcotic, regularly and persistently.

Do we counter the tactics and strategy of the destructive and ruthless Empire with our honesty, with research, with telling and writing meticulously investigated facts?

The Empire perverts facts. It repeats lies through its loudspeakers and tubes. It shouts them thousands and thousands of times, until they sink into the sub conscious of people, penetrate the skin, spread all through their brains.

Good will, naive honesty, “speaking truth to power”, could this change the world and the power itself? I highly doubt it.

The Empire and its power are illegitimate, and they are criminal. Is there any point of speaking truth to a gangster? Hardly! Truth should be spoken to people, to masses, not to those who are terrorizing the world.

By talking to villains, by begging them to stop torturing others, we are legitimizing their crimes, and we are acknowledging their power. By trying to appease gangsters, people are putting themselves at their mercy.

I absolutely refuse to be in such position!

***

To win over billions of people, we have to inspire them, to fire them up. We have to outrage them, embrace them, shame them, make them laugh and make them cry. We have to make sure that they get goose bumps when they see our films, read our books and essays, listen to our speeches.

We have to detox them, make them feel again, wake up natural instincts in them.

Simple truth as a detox agent will not work. The poison of our adversaries has sunk too deeply. Most of the people are too lethargic and too immune to simple, quietly stated truths!

We have tried, and others have tried as well. My acquaintance (but definitely not my comrade) John Perkins, former US apparatchik educated by the State Department, wrote a detailed account of his horrid deeds in Ecuador, Indonesia and elsewhere – “Confession of An Economic Hitman”. It is a meticulous, detailed account of how the West destabilizes poor countries, using corruption, money, alcohol, and sex. The book sold millions of copies, worldwide. And yet, nothing changed! It did not trigger a popular revolution in the United States. There were no protests, no demands for regime change in Washington.

In the recent past, I wrote and published two academic, or at least semi-academic books, packed with great details, quotes and tons of footnotes: one on Indonesia, a country used by the West as a model horror scenario for the rest of the world, after the 1965-US-sponsored military coup. The coup killed 2-3 million people, murdered all intellectualism, and lobotomized the 4th most populous country on earth. The book is called “Indonesia – Archipelago of Fear”. The second book, unique because it covers an enormous part of the world – Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia (“Oceania – Neocolonialism, Nukes and Bones”), showed how the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and France, literally divided and destroyed the great South Pacific island cultures and the people. Now classes are being taught using my books, but only a very limited number of people are influenced by the facts exposed in them. The elites in both Indonesia and Oceania made sure that the books are not widely read by the people.

I have spent years and years compiling facts, researching, investigating. The revolutionary effectiveness of my academic work is – I have to admit – nearly zero.

It is easy to see the contrast: when I write an essay, a powerfully crafted, emotional essay, demanding justice, accusing the Empire of murder and theft, I get millions of readers on all continents, as well as translations to dozens of languages!

Why do I write this; why do I share this with my readers? Because we should all be realistic. We have to see, to understand, what people want – what they demand. The people are unhappy and scared. Most of them don’t know why. They hate the system, they are lonely, frustrated, they know that they are lied to and exploited. But they cannot define those lies. And academic books, exposing the lies are too complex for them to read since the masses have no time to read thousands of indigestible pages or the necessary education to allow them to understand what they are reading.

It is our duty to address those people, the majority, otherwise what kind of revolutionaries are we? After all, we are supposed to create for our brothers and sisters, not for a few researchers at the universities, especially when we realize that most of the universities are serving the Empire by regurgitating official nomenclature and supporting demagogues.

***

The Empire speaks, writes and then repeats some outrageous lies, about its benevolence, and exceptionality of its rule, or about the “evils” of the Soviet Union, China, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea or Cuba. This is done daily. In fact it is designed so that almost every human being gets his or her dose of the toxin at least several times a day.

We feel we have to react – we begin spending years of our lives, meticulously proving, step by step, that the Empire’s propaganda is either one big fat lie, or exaggeration, or both. After we compile our arguments, we publish the results in some small publishing house, most likely in the form of a slender book, but almost nobody reads it because of its tiny circulation, and because the findings are usually too complex, too hard to digest, and simply because the facts do not shock anybody, anymore. One million more innocent people were murdered somewhere in Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia; what else is new?

Researching and trying to tell the truth, fully and honestly, we feel that we are doing great, professional, scientific work. All the while the propagandists of the Empire are dying of laughter watching us! We are representing little danger to them. They are winning effortlessly!

Why is that? Doesn’t the detailed truth matter?

It does – from the point of higher principles it matters. Ethically it matters. Morally it matters. Philosophically it matters.

But strategically, when one is engaged in an ideological war, it does not matter that much! The truth yes, always; the truth matters! But simplified, digestible truth, presented powerfully and emotionally!

When immorality is ravishing the world, when it is charging mercilessly, when innocent millions are dying, what matters is to stop the slaughter, first by identifying the murderous force, then by containing it.

Language has to be strong, emotions raw.

When facing murderous hordes, poetry, emotionally charged songs, and patriotic odes have always been more effective than deep academic studies. And so were political novels and films, passionate documentaries, even explicit cartoons and posters.

Some would ask: “Just because they are lying, should we lie as well?” No! We should try to be as truthful as we can. But our message should be often “abridged”, so the billions, not just those selected few, could understand it.

It does not mean that the quality of our work should suffer. Simplicity is often more difficult to achieve than encyclopedic works with thousands of footnotes.

Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” is short, just a pamphlet, straight to the point. And so is the “Communist Manifesto”, and ‘J’accuse!”

Our revolutionary work does not have to be necessarily brief, but it has to be presented in a way that could be understood by many. I am constantly experimenting with the form, while never compromising on substance. My recent book, “Exposing Lies of the Empire” has more than 800 pages, but I made sure that it is packed with fascinating stories, with testimonies of people from all corners of the globe, with colorful description of both victims and tyrants. I don’t want my books to collect dust in university libraries. I want them to mobilize people.

***

I truly believe that there is not much time for “objectivity” in any battle, including those ideological ones, especially when these are battles for the survival of humanity!

The lies of the enemy have to be confronted. They are toxic, monstrous lies!

Once the destruction stops, millions of innocent men, women and children will cease being sacrificed, and we can return to our complex philosophical concepts, to details and to nuances.

But before we win our final battles against imperialism, nihilism, fascism, exceptionalism, selfishness and greed, we have to fully and effectively utilize our most powerful weapons: our visions of a better world, our love for humanity, our passion for justice. Our determination and our beliefs have to be presented in a loud, potent, even “dogmatic” manner, our voice should be creative, artistic, powerful!

The house is on fire, comrades! The entire town is turning to ashes. The entire planet is plundered, devastated, lobotomized.

We cannot confront bigots with nukes and battleships. But our talents, our muses, and our hearts are here, with us, ready to join the battle.

Let us outsmart our enemies; let us make sure that the world begins laughing at them! Have you seen them, those pathetic losers, the buffoons – the CEO’s? Have you listened to those Prime Ministers and Presidents, those servants of the “market”? Let us convince the masses that their tyrants –the imperialists, the neo-colonialists and all their dogmatic preachers – are nothing more than pitiful, greedy, poisonous fools! Let us discredit them! Let us ridicule them.

They are robbing and murdering millions. Let us begin by at least pissing on them!

Let us fight Western propaganda by first exposing those who are really behind it. Let’s get personal.

Let’s turn this revolution into something creative, hilarious, truly fun!

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”.Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania – a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.





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RECOVERY FROM THE BRIT PROVO SWASTIKA


From experience, I have learned, that no one has a monopoly on the truth, including myself, that is why I detest censorship, along with political internment, which has been used so much, by the Blueshirts, up to the present day revisionist provos, to enforce the Bad Friday Agreement, for the British. In ancient Athens, they might spend days, discussing among themselves, some moot point, in order to ascertain the truth of the matter. Today the time factor of contemporary life, is often used to censor ongoing debate. It is coming up to the anniversary of Ray McCreesh, another particular hunger striker, with whom I feel a particular affinity, because of local history. 

After the death of Bobby and Francis, there were elements of the stickies, who were strong in Newry, still going around the housing estates of the people of no property in Newry, pulling young lads, who supported the hunger strike, into vans such as the above, (photo connected with Dublin, sent to me by a friend). Don't get me wrong, there were many good people with positive contributions, from the Officials but they certainly had elements like todays provos, that remind me of recent events in Belfast. 

They would go around the estates in their van, and pull young lads, who supported the Hunger Strikers, into the back of the van and give them a beating. They would justify it on spurious grounds, like some sort of anti-social behavior. They were simply spirited young lads, who were rebels, who simply needed to have a chat about a  better ways to rebel and needed to be listened to, who often had a drop too much of the Buckfast, supplemented with valium. 

This is what the present day provies in collaboration with the RUC/psni seem to be doing today. This started to change after the death of Raymond McCreesh. I honestly believe, some form of dialogue, needs to be initiated with these youth and they need to be patiently listened to. They have much to offer but are being manipulated for political reasons by British Intellegence and their collaborators. Perhaps if they were invited to some voluntary meetings of the 12 fucked steps on the right of this post, organized by some genuine Irish people, as opposed to British collaborators, it might be a start. I qualify this by saying, that communities may be forced, to give a clear warning to heroin dealers before any action is taken, to leave and go somewhere else, to get treatment, that the present Stormont Junta, does not provide. It requires a lot of patience, listening to talking heads, to hear the essence of the Spirit of Freedom.


The Perfection of Truth

by Gil Fronsdal

Without a commitment to truth there is no Buddhist path. Dharma is a synonym for truth and Dharma practice is synonymous with living a life of truth. In Buddhist mythology, it is said that, in his many lifetimes of training, the Buddha-to-be never lied. While there are stories in which he transgressed other ethical precepts, his dedication to truthfulness was unwavering.

One of the primary characteristics of psychologically or spiritually mature people is that they never lie to themselves. Being honest with oneself is a prerequisite to personal growth and a genuine liberation of the heart. This is so important that we can safely say, as an absolute truth in Buddhist practice, that deceiving oneself is never acceptable. Serious practitioners strive to be impeccably honest with themselves.

Truth brings inner peace by overcoming the conflicts and turmoil we carry within our own minds. Truth can bring an inner security that frees us from neurotically defending, apologizing for, hating, or hiding ourselves from ourselves. Truth can also help overcome conflict between people, as we have seen with the profound work done by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Truth is not the same as facts. Facts alone carry no power whereas truth does. Mahatma Gandhi expressed this in coining the term “satyagraha” or “the power of truth.” (Inspired by Gandhi, Martin Luther King translated truth as “soul,” and satyagraha became “Soul Power” in the American civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s.)

A variety of forces come together to give truth its power. One is the force of inner purity and calm that can only be found in truth and honesty. Another is the confidence that comes with knowing what is true. Yet another is the strength of the good intentions that stand behind speaking the truth. Still another is the way that truth makes reconciliation and forgiveness possible. And finally there is the impact of the many beautiful qualities of heart released when truth helps liberate us from fear, hatred, or greed.

One place we see the power of truth is in AA and other twelve-step meetings. AA may have saved more lives than any other spiritual tradition in our modern times. It insists that alcoholics tell the truth. By admitting their powerlessness over the addiction and making a careful moral inventory, alcoholics learn how to use the truth to release themselves from their compulsions.

Buddhism also uses truth as a way to find release from clinging and the suffering that ensues. The Four Noble Truths are not meant to be truths in the sense of a creed that a Buddhist must believe. They are pragmatic truths, much like how it is true that if you cut yourself deeply with a knife, you will hurt and if you keep the wound clean, you promote its healing. The Four Noble Truths is the Buddha’s way of saying that, if you cling or grasp to anything, you will suffer; if you let go of that clinging, that suffering will end. The Four Noble Truths have no value in the abstract. They are verified through direct experience, by discovering how to be directly honest about our suffering and its causes.

The need for personal honesty is the reason that Buddhist practice depends on mindfulness. Mindfulness is sometimes defined as the practice of being honest about what is happening in the present moment. The awesome freedom and profound peace toward which the Buddhist path moves has nothing to do with how much we know, whom we know, how rich, smart, or beautiful we are, or who admires or even loves us. Rather, this path has everything to do with telling ourselves the truth and, in doing so, becoming a true person.

Through mindfulness we discover a truth that is deeper than beliefs. These truths will transform our character, our deepest sense of being. What we say and do comes to be in harmony with who we are. If we donĂ­t become someone who is true, we have no peace nor freedom. When our life is firmly based on truth, peace is not something we have-it is who we are.

Friday 15 May 2015

POWER TO THE PEOPLE OF NO PROPERTY





“The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures."William Fulbright
"When shall it be said in any country of the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance or distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes not oppressive; the rational world is my friend because I am friend of its happiness. When these things can be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and government ." Thomas Paine



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Plagiarized with Pleasure


Forest swallows the Beatles' Indian retreat

  • 7 hours ago
  •  
  • From the section Magazine


Beatles ashram

The ruins of an Indian spiritual retreat in northern India have become a place of pilgrimage - but not because of the guru who once lived there. It's all about the Beatles, and the time they spent there meditating and writing songs in 1968.
In the wooded hills near India's holy city of Rishikesh, a 67-year-old British man trudges gingerly through a forest. He is on his way to a derelict ashram where his musical idols once stayed.
He first saw the Beatles in the summer of 1963, he says, when he was one of about 200 people in the audience at a seaside resort. The ticket cost 7d (3p).
Half a century later, he has brought his family from Wales to the ashram on the banks of the Ganges once run by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - one of the most flamboyant of the self-styled gurus to emerge from the era of hippiedom.
The Fab Four were there, according to a newspaper report, for an course in "transcendental meditation, which the guru promises can cure anything that ails the Beatles or the world".
"This place is a pilgrimage for Beatles fans," says the British tourist. "They come from all over the world. I had to bring my family here."


Beatles ashram

The Beatles had planned a three-month-retreat at the sprawling 18-acre estate. According to some accounts, it descended into a fiasco.
Ringo Starr went home after 10 days complaining about the spicy food - even though he had packed a suitcase full of baked beans. His wife, Maureen, also had a phobia of flies, and both missed their children.
Paul McCartney stayed for a month, while John Lennon and George Harrison left abruptly after six weeks - there were financial disagreements, apparently, and there have long been unverified reports of the Maharishi groping another guest, the actress Mia Farrow. Lennon later wrote a scornful song, Sexy Sadie, about the guru. "Sexy Sadie, what have you done? You made a fool of everyone," goes one line.


The Beatles at Rishikesh in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, March 1968.
From left to right: Unknown, Lennon, McCartney, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Harrison, Farrow, Unknown, Donovan
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The Beatles and their wives at the Rishikesh in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, March 1968.
The Beatles and their wives at the Rishikesh with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, March 1968.

Other accounts are more upbeat. Paul Saltzman, author of The Beatles in Rishikesh, says the band wrote some 48 songs in fantastic burst of creativity, many of which made it on to the White Album.
"I was there when they were working on Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," says Saltzman, who spent two weeks at the ashram.
"Then it was grass and gardens. There were monkeys and emerald green parakeets in the trees."
Today the ashram is a ghostly relic of those days.
Mildewed and grotty stone and concrete buildings peep out of overgrown bushes and thick forests in a national park where some 1,700 elephants live, alongside tigers and leopards.
But the place remains a big draw with Beatles fans. A dilapidated meditation hall christened The Beatles Cathedral Gallery, by fans has become the beating heart of the ruins. Its walls are ablaze with colourful graffiti, many of them riffing on Beatles songs, "And life flows on with you and without you," says one.


Beatles ashram
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Beatles ashram

The roof is peeling off and sunlight streams through the cracks.
Fans sing and play guitar, and a cow lazily ambles out of the woods and across the hall.
A bunch of teenagers in low-slung jeans and tight T-shirts, practise hip-hop dance moves. "We know this place is about the Beatles, but it is good for us too," one of them says. Outside, in another tumbledown building, a yoga teacher shoots a promotional video.
A Russian fan talks about the Beatles' "positive energy", while an Australian student admires the graffiti and hails the band as "rebels".
Legends about the Beatles' time here abound.
One has it that Lennon used to live in an orb-shaped stone-floored hut. In reality, the ashram was pretty comfortable, with "ultramodern apartments tastefully furnished with hot and cold water" according to one account - and the Maharishi's residence was rumoured to have cost £35,000 ($55,000 at today's exchange rate).


Meditation caves at Rishikesh
Meditation caves at Rishikesh, photographed in 2008

A helicopter flew guests in and out and a special European kitchen served up vegetarian meals three times a day. Among other star guests were singer Donovan and Beach Boy, Mike Love.
According to Donovan, the Beatles wore "embroidered overblouses, fanciful brass pendants, cotton pyjama trousers broadly striped in bright colours, robes for all occasions". He adds: "They looked like gypsies."
The Maharishi had promised to turn the pop stars into "fully qualified teachers or semi-gurus of Hindu meditation". One journalist reported that Lennon and Harrison were on a course of instant mysticism, and being "fed high-level philosophy in simple words".
The ashram itself - leased to Maharishi by the government in 1957 - was abandoned by the guru and his followers in the mid-1970s and gradually reclaimed by nature. The yogi himself died in 2008.
"The gods have left the place," says the guard at the main gate, "but the devotees keep on coming."


Beatles ashram
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Beatles ashram
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The Beatles fly in

The Beatles received a tumultuous reception when they landed in Delhi on their way to Rishikesh, in February 1968.
A "hysterical mob of Delhi's teenagers gave the mop-headed, lovable Beatles a tumultuous welcome", reported the Times of India.
"As soon as the announcement of their arrival came over the amplifier system, the teenagers ran helter-skelter, yelling and shouting: 'They are here, they are here.'"
The Beatles were dressed in their "fancy shirts, their hair as shaggy as ever," The Statesman noted.
In a Delhi hotel, the Beatles registered under the name of Brown and party. Reporters later found a Sikh sitar player giving lessons to George Harrison, while John Lennon was found trying to play a snake-charmer's flute.
"Women are just beautiful here," said Lennon. "In what way?" the reporter asked. "Oh their saris and they just glide. And they are so different," Lennon replied.


The Statesman

The Times of India reporter asked Lennon whether the Beatles would perform in Delhi.
"Our instruments are not with us," he said.
"Would you have given a performance if you had your instruments with you?" the reporter persisted.
"We don't give performances just like that. They have to be arranged beforehand," Lennon said.
Reaching the end of that line of questioning, the reporter asked about Beatles' ambitions.
"We don't have any ambitions," said Lennon. "We are not a missionary group."

Our Right to be Marxist-Leninists

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution expresses his profound admiration for the heroic soviet people who provided an enormous service to humanity

By Fidel Castro Ruz

May 14, 2015 "
Information Clearing House" - The 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War will be commemorated the day after tomorrow, May 9. Given the time difference, while I write these lines, the soldiers and officials of the Army of the Russian Federation, full of pride, will be parading through Moscow’s Red Square with their characteristic quick, military steps.

Lenin was a brilliant revolutionary strategist who did not hesitate in assuming the ideas of Marx and implementing them in an immense and only partly industrialized country, whose proletariat party became the most radical and courageous on the planet in the wake of the greatest slaughter that capitalism had caused in the world, where for the first time tanks, automatic weapons, aviation and poison gases made an appearance in wars, and even a legendary cannon capable of launching a heavy projectile more than 100 kilometers made its presence felt in the bloody conflict.

From that carnage emerged the League of Nations, an institution that should have preserved peace but which did not even manage to stop the rapid advance of colonialism in Africa, a great part of Asia, Oceana, the Caribbean, Canada and a contemptuous neo-colonialism in Latin America. Barely 20 years later, another atrocious world war broke out in Europe, the preamble to which was the Spanish Civil War, beginning in 1936.

After the crushing defeat of the Nazis, world nations placed their hopes in the United Nations, which strives to generate cooperation in order to put an end to aggressions and wars, such that countries can preserve the peace, development and peaceful cooperation of the big and small, rich or poor States of the world. Millions of scientists could, among other tasks, increase the chances of the survival of the human species, with billions of people already threatened by food and water shortages within a short period of time. We are already 7.3 billion people on the planet. In 1800 there were only 978 million; this figure rose to 6.07 billion in 2000; and according to conservative estimates by the year 2050 there will be 10 billion.

Of course, scarcely is the arrival to Western Europe of boats full of migrants mentioned, traveling in any object that floats; a river of African migrants, from the continent colonized by the Europeans over hundreds of years. 23 years ago, in a United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development I stated: “An important biological species is in danger of disappearing given the rapid and progressive destruction of its natural life-sustaining conditions¬: man.” I did not know at that time, how close we were to this.

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, I wish to put on record our profound admiration for the heroic Soviet people, who provided humankind an enormous service. Today we are seeing the solid alliance between the people of the Russian Federation and the State with the fastest growing economy in the world: The People’s Republic of China; both countries, with their close cooperation, modern science and powerful armies and brave soldiers constitute a powerful shield of world peace and security, so that the life of our species may be preserved.

Physical and mental health, and the spirit of solidarity are norms which must prevail, or the future of humankind, as we know it, will be lost forever. The 27 million Soviets who died in the Great Patriotic War, also did so for humanity and the right to think and be socialists, to be Marxist-Leninists, communists, and leave the dark ages behind.

Wednesday 13 May 2015

IRELAND IN BELLY OF THE BEAST





Since the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, it’s time for the American living beings (aka, the real people) to recognize the toxic impact of granting what amounts to sociopathic monsters in the human realm control over the government.

Corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to make a profit, to put their economic and profit interests first above all else. Clearly, civilization and democracies are not built on the premise that money takes precedent over all else.

In the movie “The Corporation” they use the personality diagnostic checklist DSM-IV to test corporations for pathological symptoms:


Callous disregard for the feelings of others. Check.

Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships. Check.

Reckless disregard for the safety of others. Check.

Deceitfulness: repeated lying and conniving others for profit. Check.

Incapacity to experience guilt. Check.

Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors. Check.

Result? Corporations are Psychopaths.

Watch the trailer here:

Watch the first chapter of the film, “What is a corporation?” here:

This brings up Colbert’s joke that if corporations are people, than Mitt Romney is a serial killer. It’s funny, but it’s not. Because in reality, modern day corporations are monsters killing human beings in the name of profit.

The “conservatives” who advance the corporate agenda will straw man their way out of having a real discussion about the inevitable result of granting legislative power to entities whose sole purpose is to make a profit by taking refuge in faux capitalism, America-is-great cheers.

But capitalism is an economic system, and does not equate to fascism (and I do not use this word lightly or hyperbolically, but rather literally) or giving corporations the right to govern the people, influence elections, and buy access to legislators in order to advance their agenda.

Capitalism can exist and has existed within the framework of a democratic republic; it’s just not happening right now. Capitalism and corporatism are not the same systems, contrary to the convenient leap made by those desperate to sell corporatism as patriotism.

In America, we have an entire party devoted to turning the government over to corporations, and another party barely able to maintain even the smallest of struggles against this push. In a system where money can buy elections and the people aren’t awake enough to look past the corporate memes being sold under the auspices of religion and entertainment “news”, a politician has to play along to some degree or be rendered impotent.

But here’s where it gets interesting. The Occupy movement is the one movement that really took hold and gave the people some power. In order to distract from the Occupy movement, and with the luck of a cold winter dimming the Occupy voice, corporations have had their puppets assail the American people with shock and awe courtesy of a mountain of legislation meant to attack assumed rights.

Political fascism is defined as “a nationalistic, authoritarian, anti-communist movement founded by Benito Mussolini in Italy in 1919. Fascism was a response to the economic hardship and social disorder that ensued after the end of World War I. The main elements of fascism were pride in the nation, anti-Marxism, the complete rejection of parliamentary democracy, the cultivation of military virtues, strong government, and loyalty to a strong leader.”

It’s important to distinguish that just because the Nazis were a form of Fascism by no means suggests that I am calling Republicans Nazis. That’s quite a stretch, but I guarantee that readers who aren’t paying attention will scream Godwin’s Law in order to avoid having a necessary discussion about the direction of this country under Republican rule.

I am not accusing Republicans of genocide. I am accusing them of ruthlessly promoting social Darwinism via policies of inequality (the view that natural selection applies as much to human society as it does to biological organisms) and corporatism, traits that indicate their push for economic Fascism.

We are discussing the political and economic systems advanced by the party, not the tragic, unthinkable results of Fascism as employed by the Nazis. Although it can hardly go unsaid that fostering psychopathy as nationalism won’t likely end well, and we already see the results in less dramatic fashion as quietly, the poor and disabled are cut off from resources, the elderly left to die while waiting for services, public education for all being privatized for the few, and of course, using corporations as paid for profit military police accountable to no one with billions of taxpayer dollars overseas.

The economics of Fascism reveal how closely Republicans defending corporatist plutocracy as “free market capitalism” are simulating Fascism in this respect. According to Alexander J. De Grand in his book Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, (pp. 47-51), Fascism operated from a Social Darwinist view of human relations. Their aim was to promote superior individuals and weed out the weak. As applied to economics, this meant killing trade unions and other voices for the working class while promoting the interests of the businessman.


Fascism socializes business losses while privatizing profit (bail outs that aren’t paid back, federal subsidizes for oil companies that are making record profits, etc.). Private enterprise is valued more than the people. In this vein, it could be argued that tax rules set up to benefit the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the middle class and poor as pushed by Republicans is just another form of socializing losses, funding corporations on the backs of the working class.

Fascism is highly militaristic and we see that Republicans are sounwilling to cut military funding that they gave up on the DebtSuper Committee after trying to run an end game around the automatic kick in of military cuts, which came as a result of their pushing our country into a lowered credit rating over the deficit. Republicans want to cut everything for the people, while increasing military contracts and spending.

A straw man would now insert an argument about how we are under attack, and insert nationalism here spiced up with requisite fear. But as a fiscal conservative, allow me to point out that the military wastes money just like any government agency, and it wastes even more money when it privatizes services to known abusers like Academi (formerly infamous as Blackwater and formerly also known as XE), DynCorp, and others. On top of wasting money, when we privatize, we lose accountability and oversight, which naturally result in the loss of even more money for the payor (the government; i.e., the taxpayers).

If nothing else, government contractors like Halliburton et al demonstrate exactly what kind of monsters corporations are and why some services were designed to be kept out of the profit industry. A true fiscal conservative would never argue that unregulated, for profit corporations should be given unlimited access to government money with no accountability under the guise of “small government”. That is, in essence, economic Fascism. It socializes losses and privatizes profits, and it also gives corporations the power to police citizens in other countries, with immunity and zero oversight, with their singular purpose being to make a profit.

If that isn’t psychopathic, what is?

Citizens United opened the door for the Republican vision of America as social Darwinism grants ungodly profits to corporations and public money props the corporations up for the good of the Republican Party. That is one way Republicans differ from economic Fascism; the Fascists demanded that the economic activities of the corporations served the public interest, as defined of course by the party/leaders in charge.

Economic Fascists often don’t even have an ideology, and Republicans often appear as if they no longer subscribe to their own ideology of limited government, but rather to political expediency. Their agenda is purely driven by the endless needs and hunger of the Corporation.

They can change the dogma to fit the situation, easily adapting and redefining the party line to fit the latest agenda of the Corporation. In order to achieve this, they sell the narrative with emotional and often religious dogma, which serves to distort how the fundamental values are being betrayed or don’t even exist.

Thus, it’s disingenuous to point out how Republican economic “theory” or “values” differ from other infamous Fascist regimes. The objective is promoting social Darwinism for the purpose of those in power; however this is achieved, disguised or justified is not the point. In fact, the relative “ideas” of the movement are often only pushed for the real agenda, and as such, are irrelevant to the larger issue.

This isn’t conservatism, it’s not Republicanism, and it’s not small government. It is economic Fascism, or corporatism.

If corporations are people, then they are serial killing psychopaths who should never be granted the right to govern the people. Corporations are predators plundering the people and Republicans want to give them full control over our government. Corporatism is not patriotic and it’s not a necessary part of Capitalism or free market ideology.

In a bitter twist of irony, corporatism is the monster Republicans keep telling their base about. Our freedom is at stake. But it’s not Marxists who are hiding under the bed.

Under the collective beds of Americans, greedy corporate monsters without a conscience lie in wait while Republicans sell social Darwinism as the path to economic success, as if the profits of the few were all that this proud country represents.

This pathological pursuit of political power at the expense of the people must stop. This is not capitalism, it’s corporatism.


Follow Sarah Reese Jones on Twitter.

POPE & GAA VETO ADDAMS FAMILY MAFIA



Gerard 'Jock' Davison: GAA and church step back from 'tribute' to murdered ex-PROVO IRA leader

BY SARA NEILL – 13 MAY 2015
The GAA has distanced itself from a message of support for former IRA commander Gerard 'Jock' Davison, who was gunned down last week.

A Catholic church also sought to disassociate itself from a youth club based on its premises that also signed up to the tribute.

A full page tribute to the 47-year-old appeared in Saturday's edition of The Irish News. Signed by 63 groups, it paid tribute to the "highly esteemed" father-of-three.

Mr Davison was shot dead while walking in the Markets area of Belfast last Tuesday morning. Police are still hunting the killer. Davison was a leading republican and was linked to the murder of Robert McCartney outside Magennis's bar 10 years ago - claims he always denied. It is claimed he was ousted from the IRA following the brutal killing, and he became well-known as a community worker in the area.

The advert in the paper claimed it had been written to do "justice to the memory" of Jock Davison.

The statement said: "They say that the hardest thing for a man to do is change with the times. Jock not only managed and adapted but managed to thrive in difficult circumstances, without compromising an iota of his deeply held principles."

St Malachy's GAC joined other organisations, including residents' associations, women's groups and youth projects in putting their name below the message.

Mr Davison was a senior figure at the club, and a spokesman for the GAA said it was "not uncommon" for clubs to take out death notices for members.

He said: "This decision was entirely up to the discretion of the committee of the club. The tribute is community-orientated. I think this individual was involved in the club and he's being remembered in his capacity at the club."

He added that the page-long tribute was in "recognition of the deceased".


"The club has nothing to do with anything [Mr Davison] does away from it. When people cross the door of a GAA club they leave their past outside."

When asked if he agreed with St Malachy's decision to lend its support to the page, the GAA spokesman said: "St Malachy's hasn't breached any GAA rule."

A Catholic church also declined to put its full weight behind the tribute while Clonard Monastery Youth Centre also appears on the list supporting Mr Davison.

A spokesman for Clonard Monastery said: "The signatory was acting in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the management of the youth centre. The Clonard Monastery Youth Centre is a voluntary youth centre governed by a management committee."

POOTS HOOTS GERRY ADAMS CHILD RAPE ENABLER


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PPS urged to explain why it didn't prosecute Gerry Adams for withholding paedophile brother information





Gerry Adams

BY SUZANNE BREEN – 12 MAY 2015
Former Health Minister Edwin Poots is demanding that the Public Prosecution Service immediately publishes a report into its decision not to prosecute Gerry Adams for withholding information about his paedophile brother, Liam.

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Mr Poots said that the PPS "risked losing public confidence" if it didn't quickly release the material which has been in its possession for around a year.

"This is the gravest possible matter, it concerns the safety and welfare of children, and a senior politician disgracefully not passing on vital information in an abuse case for nine long years," he added.

He said the PPS's previous reason for not publishing the report - Liam Adams' outstanding appeal - no longer held as he lost his appeal last week.

The DUP MLA said he would be raising the issue as "very urgent business" at Thursday's Justice Committee meeting in Stormont.

A PPS spokeswoman last night said: "We are committed to publishing the report and it will be announced shortly."

After Liam Adams' conviction in 2013 for raping his daughter Aine, the Attorney General John Larkin began a review of the PPS's decision not to prosecute Gerry Adams for withholding information in the case.

Gerry Adams said that his brother confessed to him in 2000 that he had sexually abused Aine. But the Sinn Fein President did not report this to police for nine years.

Liam Adams was sentenced to 16 years in prison for raping and sexually abusing Aine from 1977 to 1983 from when she was four years old until she was nine.

Mr Poots said: "Liam Adams has been found guilty of the most serious child abuse at both his original trial and now appeal.

"There is grave public concern that Gerry Adams had information that could have brought this evil paedophile to justice years ago.

"Instead, the police were deprived of information which could have seen Liam Adams behind bars a lot sooner.

"We must immediately have access to the Attorney General's findings on the PPS's decision not to prosecute Gerry Adams.

"The PPS had previously indicated that it couldn't publish the report because of any impact it might have on Liam Adams' appeal of his conviction.

"Liam Adams lost his appeal last week. His legal proceedings have now concluded and there are no possible reasons for the PPS to continue letting dust gather on this report."


The Belfast Telegraph understands that the Attorney General's findings and a number of recommendations were forwarded to the PPS around a year ago.

Gerry Adams gave evidence for the prosecution during his brother's first trial in April 2013.

Untruths and evasions in Mr Adams' account of his dealings with his brother Liam were exposed under cross-examination.

That trial collapsed for unconnected legal reasons.

The prosecution decided not to call Gerry Adams as a witness during the second trial.

After four hours' deliberations, the jury found Liam Adams guilty of all 10 counts of sexual abuse by a majority of 11 to one.

Liam Adams did not appear in court for his appeal verdict last week but watched proceedings via video link from Maghaberry.

Neither he, nor his wife Bronagh who was in the public gallery, showed any emotion as his appeal was refused.

In their judgment, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, Lord Justice Gillen and Lord Justice Coghlin said: "The court has not been persuaded that the verdict of the jury was unsafe and, consequently, the appeal must be dismissed."