Jan 2013: New Year’s Visions

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Ralph Metzner

Updates from the front lines of the Drug War insanity.

The number of people in prison in America declined last year for the second year in a row, according to a  new report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of prisoners at the end of 2011 dropped to just under 1.6 million, a 0.9% decrease over the previous year. Of those 1.6 million prisoners, some 330,000 were doing time for drug offenses, including nearly 95,000 doing federal time. Drug offenders constitute 48% of all federal inmates, or some 94,600 inmates. There were 15,023 fewer inmates at the end of 2011 than a year earlier, but that number is more than accounted for by a single state, California, which reported a decline of 15,493 prisoners due primarily to an incarceration realignment program that has sent what would have been state prisoners to county jails instead. Counting just state prison populations, 2011 saw a decline of 21,164 prisoners, or 1.5%, again with California accounting for 72% of the decrease. (Source: Alternet, December 26, 2012)

From the Department of Inspiration – economic survival

On a trash dump in Paraguay, where a musical instrument costs more than a house, youngsters have made violins, cellos, flutes and other instruments from landfill cast-offs and are playing heavenly music. http://vimeo.com/52711779

Bolivian President Evo Morales on the meaning of the 2012 solstice

In a speech at the time of the Winter Solstice, Bolivian president Evo Morales said December 21 marks ‘end of an anthropocentric life and the beginning of a bio-centric life. It is the end of hatred and the beginning of love, the end of lies and beginning of truth’. In an open invitation to celebrate the day, Morales explained that “the Mayan calendar’s  21 of December is the end of the non-time and the beginning of time. It is the end of the Macha and the beginning of the Pacha, the end of selfishness and the beginning of brotherhood, it is the end of individualism and the beginning of collectivism.”

The Bolivian government has hailed the solstice as the start of an age in which community and collectivity will prevail over capitalism and individuality. Those themes have long been present in Morales’s discourse, especially in the idea of vivir bien, or living well. He has stressed the importance of a harmonious balance between human life and the planet, though some people question its application in Bolivia, where the economy depends heavily on mining, oil and gas industries. Source:  Friday, December 21, 2012 by Common Dreams

2012: Year of Indigenous Resistance in Mexico
In a almost step-by-step replay of their New Years’ Day 1994 uprising, tens of thousands of masked and uniformed members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) marched in military formation into five Chiapas towns. A big difference between this year’s action and the one nearly 19 years ago is that the Mayan Zapatistas of 2012 did not carry guns or utter words. And according to Proceso magazine, their numbers this year- estimated between 30,000 and 50,000 people- were many-fold greater than the several thousand fighters who launched the 1994 revolt on the day that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.The emblematic Zapatista spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos, who mysteriously vanished from the public limelight during the past four years, delivered a brief but ironic message issued by the EZLN’s Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee-General Command that declared in part, “Did your hear? This is the sound of your world being torn down, and of ours resurging…” Source: http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/8769. Posted on: 27/12/2012 by Kent Paterson And: http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/8775 Posted on: 30/12/2012 by Gloria Muñoz Ramírez

From the Department of Inspiration – political

An Israeli activist produced a 2-minute video on the Internet,  in which he speaks directly, heart-to-heart, to the Iranian people offering peace, love and understanding. Within days, the video peace offering produced thousands of responses with pictures, from Iranians in all walks of life, as well as citizens from other countries.

Lincoln and Django Unchained – a comparative review.

Two movies hit the big screens this year dealing with the history of slavery in the USA.  Lincoln, made by Steven Stielberg,  is focused on the battle Abraham Lincoln waged in Congress to pass the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery for ever. Django Unchained, made by Quentin Tarantino, situated in time two years before the start of the Civil war on a Southern Plantation, paints a vivid picture of the violence and human degradation endemic to the institution of slavery, through the eyes of an amoral bounty-hunter and a freed slave bent on revenge.  Both movies could be said to be “anti-slavery,” and thus pass the basic ethics test in film criticism.  Viewers and reviewers can then freely appreciate the dramatic flair,  cinematic  story-telling skill and acting, without any deeper reflection on what is being shown and what it means for our  common humanity.

There is a world of difference however between the two films in how they present the ethical and human implications of the history of slavery in the US.  Spielberg’s film is framed, at the beginning and the end, by two scenes of masses of dead soldiers in the Civil War. It is as much an anti-war movie as an anti-slavery movie. The rest of the film plays indoors, focusing on the political struggle Lincoln and his allies waged in Congress to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Tarantino’s film is filled from beginning to end with relentless, dramatic violence – slavers against slaves, liberators against slave owners. Fountains of blood gush spectacularly, in vivid red color, as our pair of amoral heroes go from one deadly encounter with repulsive bigots to another.  The two liberating heroes seem to never get hit themselves, though they regularly and casually shoot dozens of armed men. There is obvious exhilaration in the characters (and in the audience of the film) as really bad evil guys get their just deserts – and the liberated slave hero rides off into the sunset with the liberated female slave that he loves.  To my mind, Tarantino’s film is a prime example of what has been called the “pornography of violence. ” Under the guise of deploring violent abuse and killing of others,  it dramatizes and glorifies it, leaving viewers with a clear conscience to imagine how they too might have found satisfaction killing really bad, evil guys.

Patriotism as the propaganda mask for militaristic capitalism

In an article published January 3, 2013 by Common Dreams  Michael Moore scathingly skewers the hypocrisy involved in offical claims and calls to support our troops. Moore points to the ways our government utterly fails the young men and women it solicits to join the military – issues that are finally hitting the news with increasing urgency:

One – the staggering suicide rate among vets  – an estimated eighteen veterans kill themselves each day.  This figure is likely an underestimate, because the VA doesn’t keep records on those who have been discharged and choose not seek contact.

Two – there are more soldiers killing themselves than soldiers being killed in combat.  Military suicides jumped 50 percent between 2001 and 2008 and reached new highs this year (2012): The 26 suicides in July more than doubled the Army’s total from the previous month.  Fortunately, these numbers have led to alarming reports from Department of Defense and in Congress, and new funding allocated to the VA for suicide prevention and mental health and services.

Three – A staggering number of females in the military are raped by fellow soldiers: 19,000 (mostly) female troops are raped or sexually assaulted every year , and the rapes often officially ignored and unreported.  These figures too have recently become front-page news, and the services have taken some steps to ameliorate  the situation.

Four –  The Huffington Post reports http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/bank-of-america-illegal-foreclosures_n_1118471.html, that banks may have illegally foreclosed on nearly 5,000. This surely qualifies as a most devastating and callous blow to the soldiers and their families: go fight for your country, get killed or wounded, receive inadequate treatment, and while you’re over there, you and your family may lose their home to a bank.

Five –  A staggering number of veterans are homeless: on any given night, at least 60,000 veterans are sleeping on the streets.

The lessons from this situation are clear: One, for those young men and women who are considering joining up – think again, get informed, consult with Veterans for Peace and other groups, to find out what the wars are really like (refer to link on website). Two, as the hippies already said in the 1960s: Support the troops – bring them home! and let’s take care of the wounded and traumatized and help them re-integrate into their communities.

From the Department of Inspiration – cosmic/historical

Click on this link and you will see an amazing 2-minute video portraying, purely in images, the history of the cosmos, evolution and humanity. It was made by a pair of French videographers and is truly awesome. http://marcbrecy.perso.neuf.fr/history.html

The only film I can compare it to is Brian Swimme’s film Journey of the Universe – Epic Story of Cosmic, Earth and Human Transformation  which takes 55 minutes to tell the same story, with commentary of course. ( See review at GreenEarthFound.org)

Filed under: Current Events, Economics & Finance, Films, Holistic Healing, Modern History, Politics, Science, Spirituality | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

The OWS movement may presage the end of capitalism as we know it

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Ralph Metzner

This brilliant and visionary commentary by Richard Wolff, a self-described Marxist professor of economics, provides his customary lucid and insightful thoughts on our current situation and some provocative previews of possible breakthroughs to come.  (In fairness, I should add the above title is mine, not his).

Occupy Wall Street has already weathered the usual early storms. The kept media ignored the protest, but that failed to end it. The partisans of inequality mocked it, but that failed to end it. The police servants of the status quo over-reacted and that failed to end it – indeed, it fueled the fire. And millions looking on said, “Wow!” And now, ever more people are organizing local, parallel demonstrations – from Boston to San Francisco and many places between.

Let me urge the occupiers to ignore the usual carping that besets powerful social movements in their earliest phases. Yes, you could be better organized, your demands more focused, your priorities clearer. All true, but in this moment, mostly irrelevant. Here is the key: if we want a mass and deep-rooted social movement of the left to re-emerge and transform the United States, we must welcome the many different streams, needs, desires, goals, energies and enthusiasms that inspire and sustain social movements. Now is the time to invite, welcome and gather them, in all their profusion and confusion.  So permit me, in the spirit of honoring and contributing something to this historic movement, to propose yet another dimension, another item to add to your agenda for social change.

To achieve the goals of this renewed movement, we must finally change the organization of production that sustains and reproduces inequality and injustice. We need to replace the failed structure of our corporate enterprises that now deliver profits to so few, pollute the environment we all depend on, and corrupt our political system.

We need to end stock markets and boards of directors. The capacity to produce the goods and services we need should belong to everyone – just like the air, water, healthcare, education and security on which we likewise depend. We need to bring democracy to our enterprises. The workers within and the communities around enterprises can and should collectively shape how work is organized, what gets produced, and how we make use of the fruits of our collective efforts. If we believe democracy is the best way to govern our residential communities, then it likewise deserves to govern our workplaces. Democracy at work is a goal that can help build this movement.

Yet, for decades now, we have failed to similarly question, challenge, criticize and debate our economic system: capitalism. Because a taboo protected capitalism, cheerleading and celebrating it became obligatory. Criticism and questions got banished as heresy, disloyalty or worse. Behind the protective taboo, capitalism degenerated into the ineffective, unequal, crisis-ridden social disaster we all now bear.

Capitalism is the problem – and the joblessness, homelessness, insecurity, and austerity it now imposes everywhere are the costs we bear. We have the people, the skills and the tools to produce the goods and services needed for a just society to prosper. We just need to reorganize our producing units differently, to go beyond a capitalist economic system that no longer serves our needs.

Humanity learned to do without kings and emperors and slave masters. We found our way to a democratic alternative, however partial and unfinished the democratic project remains. We can now take the next step to realize that democratic project. We can bring democracy to our enterprises – by transforming them into cooperatives owned, operated and governed by democratic assemblies composed of all who work in them and all the residents of the communities who are interdependent with them.

Published on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 by The Guardian/UK

by Richard Wolff

Filed under: Current Events, Economics & Finance, Modern History, Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The dead-end collapse of capitalism and the socialist alternative

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Ralph Metzner

The blatant and escalating failures of the mis-named “free market” policies pursued by our so-called political leaders, the vassals of the global multinational corporations, are now manifesting in the continuing instability in the financial markets, stubbornly rising unemployment, drastic cuts to state-supported social, educational, welfare and environmental programs. Here are some sane comments pointing a way out of our insane dilemma, from Professor Richard Wolff, self-avowed socialist, economist and academic.

Austerity: Why Capitalism Is Choosing Plan B
Across US states, governors are forcing through Greek-style austerity measures. Corporations wouldn’t have it any other way. Plan A entailed a crisis-response program of bailing out the banks, insurance companies, large corporations and stock markets to achieve “recovery”. The theory behind Plan A – we used to call it “trickle-down economics” – was that recovery would spread from financial markets and financiers to everyone else. It never did. So now the same servants of capitalism who imposed Plan A are dishing out Plan B. Governors Cuomo in New York and Malloy in Connecticut had very similar Plan Bs. They threatened the public employee unions and the people of their states in nearly identical ways. Either the unions accept new contracts with wage freezes and raised contributions to their health insurance plans (and other declines in their basic remuneration) – or the governors would fire tens of thousands of unionized state workers. …Let’s be really clear on what the two governors were doing. They were forcing a very painful “either/or” onto the mass of people who elected them. Each governor said: I will either fire many thousands of state workers and thereby impose drastic cuts in public services on the entire citizenry, or I will subject tens of thousands of state employees to significant cuts in their wages and benefits. Each governor spoke and acted as if those were the only two choices – even though that is blatantly untrue.

 

Each governor refused to even consider an obvious alternative Plan C: increasing taxes on corporations and the rich enough to avoid either public service cuts or wage cuts. Instead, each governor snubbed his nose at the public by forcing unions to choose between two awful options. The public employees unions voted to accept serious cuts in pay and benefits. …These are serious reductions in state workers’ standards of living. They will thus reduce their expenditures, thereby hurting communities, businesses and other workers. The states will thus learn the same lessons learned in Greece and Portugal and wherever austerities are governments’ Plan Bs. Austerities make difficult, painful and unjust capitalist crises more so. Corporations and the rich bankroll the parties and governors who design and impose Plans A and B, while avoiding Plan C.  And so matters will remain unless and until corporations’ profits are no longer available to their boards of directors to enrich themselves and major shareholders and to buy politicians’ servitude. The best response to capitalism’s crisis, to its failed Plan A and to its unjust Plan B (and the improbable Plan C) would be a Plan D: to change how we organize productive enterprises in our society. Profits should be distributed by the democratic decision-making of all those who produce and depend on them, the workers and affected communities.

 

The twists and turns of this global capitalism system, painful as they are to endure, nonetheless also move it toward a confrontation with the alternative Plan D. The real question is whether the advocates and supporters of Plan D can be organized, mobilized and focused on achieving their goals in that confrontation.

Published on Monday, August 22, 2011 by The Guardian/UK

Filed under: Current Events, Economics & Finance, Modern History, Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

David Korten on the conflict/choice between Wall Street and Main Street

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Ralph Metzner

This is a brilliant and incisive summary of the crucial differences between the current bankrupt capitalist model (as also portrayed in the recent film Inside Job which won Best Documentary) and a viable real-market alternative.

In America we are taught from birth that capitalism is synonymous with markets, democracy, and individual liberty. Whatever its flaws, the only alternative is communism, or so we are told. This sets up a false and dangerously self-limiting choice between two economic models both of which create concentrations of power that stifle liberty and creativity for all but the few at the top. Communism is dead. As we now look for solutions to our current economic crisis, the relevant distinction is not between capitalism and communism, but rather between Wall Street and Main Street.

The Wall Street economy is centrally planned and managed by big banks and corporations for which money is both means and end. The primary goal is monopoly control of markets, physical resources, and technology to maximize profits and bonuses. Main Street economy is comprised of local businesses and working people who self-organize to provide livelihoods for themselves, their families, and their communities producing real goods and services in response to community needs. Main Street exemplifies the market economy envisioned by Adam Smith; Wall Street is the antithesis.

The stronger the relations of mutual trust and caring and the more equitably power is distributed, the more the market becomes self- policing and the less need there is for formal governmental intervention. Smith believed that people have a natural and appropriate concern for the well-being of others and a duty not to do them harm. He also believed that government has a responsibility to restrain those who fail in this duty. Smith and the political economists who followed in his tradition developed an elegant theory of the market’s capacity to self-organize in the community interest based on a number of carefully articulated assumptions, including the following:

  • Buyers and sellers must be too small to influence the market price and must honor basic principles of honest dealing.
  • Income and ownership must be equitably distributed.
  • Complete information must be available to all participants, and there can be no trade secrets.
  • Sellers must bear the full cost of the products they sell and incorporate it into the sale price.
  • Investment capital must remain within national borders, and trade between countries must be balanced.
  • Savings must be invested in the creation of productive capital rather than in speculative trading.

These are the characteristics of a real market economy. Wall Street capitalism violates them all.

Published on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 by YES! Magazine

Filed under: Current Events, Economics & Finance, Films, Modern History, Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,446 other followers