Caitlin delivers yet another gem, another masterpiece exposing the rot of empire, the rot the elite monsters deliver day after day - the rot that continues to kill and maim fellow human beings and the planet we live on. The light at the end of the tunnel snuffed out . . . for what?
Sinwar didn’t give up. He fought evil until his very last breath. And although he did not live to see Israel fall, he lit the match. He exposed Israel for the sham that it is and the rest of the dominoes are now falling. If a Palestinian refugee born in a concentration camp can ignite a revolution, it means all the Joe Schmoes in the entire world have matches as well. All we have to do is light them up.
“Republicans win and they still act like underdog victims. Democrats win and they act like Republicans. Meanwhile any real political opposition which starts getting its legs underneath it gets stomped into the dirt in its infancy.”
Perhaps the most frustrating thing isn’t how hard it is to win any of these battles, it’s how hard it is to get more people to even realize they need to be fought.
As things get worse and standard of living continues to decline, perhaps that will be the impetus for people shake out of their collective apathy and take meaningful action to change things. At least, I hope
Well I would still reserve that to the Gestapo's reign of terror in Germany 30s & 40s. But what's been coming out of Israel these last few years is beginning to reach that horrific level of evil. Which one would have hoped, humanity would never revisit again.
I keep on, hoping that at least enough of the rest of us will reach some level of civilizational maturity to stop this ugly thing and turn the corner to a better path. Right or wrong, the struggle is the only worthwhile thing to keep doing. And taking care of ourselves, and finding joy in the process. In times like these it's deeply meaningful.
Exactly right. The criterion determining whether we should do something is not "Will it succeed?" or "Will my 'team' 'win'"; it should only ever be "Is this the morally right thing to do?"
If we put a person in chains and they struggle against their confinement so fervently that they bloody themselves against their shackles, though they come no closer to breaking their bonds, we may tell them that:
their response is irrational,
their resistance is futile,
their behaviour a symptom
of mental illness -
but where does the insanity lie?
In the person or in the chains?
Is defiance a disorder? Or is it an essential element in all living things? Isn't the ceaseless struggle against adversity a common thread running through our ancestors? A vital energy, without which you would not be here to read these words?
The insanity lies within the person that chained them, not within the one chained. Being chained is not a natural state - it is imposed by another person, not by nature.
As the divine William Blake wrote in his powerful poem ‘London’ we need to cast off our ‘mind-forg’d manacles’, the almost totalizing propaganda that ‘there is no alternative’ to the capitalist system. As the Rosa Luxemburg presiently understood, ‘Socialism or Barbarism.’
I am reminded of the line from Oblivion: “And how can men die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods “.
Interesting how words take on different meanings in different minds. That quote is from the poem "Horatius", which, as it happens, was Churchill's favourite. I imagine he thought of himself as defiant, even as he worked to project the might of the Empire across the world. What a complex and textured reality we find ourselves in!
This is so true. Disappointing, but true. Yet, over the long run, I think our efforts to resist will create change. It's a cumulative effect. And what better choice do we really have?
I think "resistance" is a waste. What you need is an organization, a voting block with money that persists from election to election and can punish those who don't follow the line.
What is possible changes moment by moment. What could never happen just did, and creates new possibilities. The more people involved in the process, the more possibilities arise.
Those in control have a monolithic view of the world, therefore they see very little. We, the people, are far more varied, and therefore the more we are and do, the more everything becomes possible.
To do or think any less is capitulation, which is not my thing. It’s clearly not Caitlin’s. I’m thinking it’s not yours either. Am I right?
"They ALL think the same as the Pope, as spoken by Cardinal Manning (you can definitely see Trump in this):
"'I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince; I claim more than this – I claim to be the supreme judge and director of the consciences of men – of the peasant that tills the field, and of the prince that sits upon the throne; of the household of privacy, and the legislator that makes laws for kingdoms; I am the sole, last supreme judge of what is right and wrong.'"
"There are no easy fights. No wins by first-round knockout. At best it’s a grinding slog from bell to bell where you’re spitting out blood between rounds and sucking wind through your gum shield with broken ribs and a busted nose."
All true and yet isn't there a lesson here? When our opponents fail they desperately develop new strategies and tactics and then deploy them with a startling class unity of purpose. In this conflict, the wage slaves must meet their opponent at every turn. To date, the opposition to the Imperialist genocidal system in power throughout the West has been confused, unorganized and without unity of purpose. Hyper focused on single issues, we are constantly trying to pull babies out of the river without focusing on simply taking out the man up stream putting them there. On top of that protest has totally replaced strikes and work stoppage. Their is noone in power there to respond to our protests, yet we keep doing it without result. The core problem is after identifying the social class of our masters we are unable to recognize our own shared class position and it's inherent strengths and weaknesses in the struggle. Put simply, beyond all the individual outrages of the Imperialist system of the West, lies a clear class struggle for power. If everyone of your readers could accept just that fact, I imagine our successes would multiply quickly. Instead of crying to master about his bad behavior, we'd be explaining things to wage slaves where we live and work, taking whole neighborhoods, towns and even cities from the Imperialist Democratic party and their counterparts abroad. We'd be organizing workers at military production centers, hospitals, ports agriculture and schools. Broadly, this is the ground work required to turn our ideas into a material force and build up our capacity to remove and expropriate the ruling class which will require force. They respect nothing else.
That prescription - waiting for some turning point - when force will be the grand saviour is a remedy for failure. Certainly, at some point in the struggle to shift the balance of class forces some form of violence might be necessary, but in the meantime there is work to be done buiding radical Left parties and movements that actually achieve the kind of class unity you rightly call for. And there are examples like the Workers Party of Belgium, a Marxist-inspired party, that has built real mass support, that has increased its presence in Belgium’s national, regional and local parliament as well as in the European parliament, that has created a common front for militant unions and peace, environmental and community defense organizations.
I’d like to agree, but there were other candidates in the U.S. presidential elections that may not have been part of the Empire… Jill Stein for instance.
If Stein for example was not part of the Empire, then what stopped the electorate from voting for her ?
If you meant people who build walls, then yes and I would add that when most people build walls that the builders find in the end that they have built walls around themselves…
The KISS principle tells it all… and as Noam Chomsky once repeated, there are 3 important things in the world.. the first is Money, the second is Money, and if there are any doubt as to the third, ……mmmmmmmm !!!!!
I understand what you imply… and of course I agree with most of your comments…
As much as we can be manipulated by Empires, even though the idea of a credible democracy may be an illusion, or perhaps even a delusion, if there is in essence a vote in which the majority is awarded power, then it is by default a democracy indeed.
Bottom line is that in the election people did have a choice, and they chose Trump. Money rules our lives, no matter which political entity governs. If Money doesn’t rule the human landscape, then I will admit being delusional . … And the Empire has it… .
Those people get emotionally corrupted to go along and channel funds to 'the good cause'.
That 'good cause' is the lobby 'tax' collector that funds the next wave.
The IRS of global corruption.
Expose the lobby, stop the lobby, then clean up the corrupted.
All of this while dealing with the fallout. All the people who were abused by this bullshit need A LOT of help, support, oppertunities, respect. And THAT is what is missing.
Caitlin delivers yet another gem, another masterpiece exposing the rot of empire, the rot the elite monsters deliver day after day - the rot that continues to kill and maim fellow human beings and the planet we live on. The light at the end of the tunnel snuffed out . . . for what?
Sinwar didn’t give up. He fought evil until his very last breath. And although he did not live to see Israel fall, he lit the match. He exposed Israel for the sham that it is and the rest of the dominoes are now falling. If a Palestinian refugee born in a concentration camp can ignite a revolution, it means all the Joe Schmoes in the entire world have matches as well. All we have to do is light them up.
Well said, Ms. Seikaly.
Keep fighting against the machine. TY all.
We have to keep talking about it—I mean the genocide in particular. And taking whatever action we can. Kia kaha.
“Republicans win and they still act like underdog victims. Democrats win and they act like Republicans. Meanwhile any real political opposition which starts getting its legs underneath it gets stomped into the dirt in its infancy.”
Perhaps the most frustrating thing isn’t how hard it is to win any of these battles, it’s how hard it is to get more people to even realize they need to be fought.
People wake up when their standard of living drops. That's what they mainly care about. Inflation is about to get worse.
As things get worse and standard of living continues to decline, perhaps that will be the impetus for people shake out of their collective apathy and take meaningful action to change things. At least, I hope
That is certain. The question is, a change for the better?
tina (there is no alternative) to bringing it down.
It's like we are living under the most sadistic Mafia operation in history. ...No, it's not "like". We ARE living under the most sadistic Mafiosa.
Well I would still reserve that to the Gestapo's reign of terror in Germany 30s & 40s. But what's been coming out of Israel these last few years is beginning to reach that horrific level of evil. Which one would have hoped, humanity would never revisit again.
There are worse things. Much worse.
Yes there are. But they keep it under control. Think Digital ID, chatcontrol, etc.
X act ly
I keep on, hoping that at least enough of the rest of us will reach some level of civilizational maturity to stop this ugly thing and turn the corner to a better path. Right or wrong, the struggle is the only worthwhile thing to keep doing. And taking care of ourselves, and finding joy in the process. In times like these it's deeply meaningful.
Exactly right. The criterion determining whether we should do something is not "Will it succeed?" or "Will my 'team' 'win'"; it should only ever be "Is this the morally right thing to do?"
OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER
If we put a person in chains and they struggle against their confinement so fervently that they bloody themselves against their shackles, though they come no closer to breaking their bonds, we may tell them that:
their response is irrational,
their resistance is futile,
their behaviour a symptom
of mental illness -
but where does the insanity lie?
In the person or in the chains?
Is defiance a disorder? Or is it an essential element in all living things? Isn't the ceaseless struggle against adversity a common thread running through our ancestors? A vital energy, without which you would not be here to read these words?
The insanity lies within the person that chained them, not within the one chained. Being chained is not a natural state - it is imposed by another person, not by nature.
As the divine William Blake wrote in his powerful poem ‘London’ we need to cast off our ‘mind-forg’d manacles’, the almost totalizing propaganda that ‘there is no alternative’ to the capitalist system. As the Rosa Luxemburg presiently understood, ‘Socialism or Barbarism.’
Beautifully expressed! ❤️🙏
I am reminded of the line from Oblivion: “And how can men die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods “.
Interesting how words take on different meanings in different minds. That quote is from the poem "Horatius", which, as it happens, was Churchill's favourite. I imagine he thought of himself as defiant, even as he worked to project the might of the Empire across the world. What a complex and textured reality we find ourselves in!
This is so true. Disappointing, but true. Yet, over the long run, I think our efforts to resist will create change. It's a cumulative effect. And what better choice do we really have?
I think "resistance" is a waste. What you need is an organization, a voting block with money that persists from election to election and can punish those who don't follow the line.
Isn't that what you have right now, Patrick Powers?
Indeed, resistance merely slows things down while it keeps getting worse.
What is possible changes moment by moment. What could never happen just did, and creates new possibilities. The more people involved in the process, the more possibilities arise.
Those in control have a monolithic view of the world, therefore they see very little. We, the people, are far more varied, and therefore the more we are and do, the more everything becomes possible.
To do or think any less is capitulation, which is not my thing. It’s clearly not Caitlin’s. I’m thinking it’s not yours either. Am I right?
"Addiction to wealth and power is a common theme…
"They ALL think the same as the Pope, as spoken by Cardinal Manning (you can definitely see Trump in this):
"'I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince; I claim more than this – I claim to be the supreme judge and director of the consciences of men – of the peasant that tills the field, and of the prince that sits upon the throne; of the household of privacy, and the legislator that makes laws for kingdoms; I am the sole, last supreme judge of what is right and wrong.'"
https://griobhtha1.substack.com/p/the-polyglot-of-evil
"There are no easy fights. No wins by first-round knockout. At best it’s a grinding slog from bell to bell where you’re spitting out blood between rounds and sucking wind through your gum shield with broken ribs and a busted nose."
All true and yet isn't there a lesson here? When our opponents fail they desperately develop new strategies and tactics and then deploy them with a startling class unity of purpose. In this conflict, the wage slaves must meet their opponent at every turn. To date, the opposition to the Imperialist genocidal system in power throughout the West has been confused, unorganized and without unity of purpose. Hyper focused on single issues, we are constantly trying to pull babies out of the river without focusing on simply taking out the man up stream putting them there. On top of that protest has totally replaced strikes and work stoppage. Their is noone in power there to respond to our protests, yet we keep doing it without result. The core problem is after identifying the social class of our masters we are unable to recognize our own shared class position and it's inherent strengths and weaknesses in the struggle. Put simply, beyond all the individual outrages of the Imperialist system of the West, lies a clear class struggle for power. If everyone of your readers could accept just that fact, I imagine our successes would multiply quickly. Instead of crying to master about his bad behavior, we'd be explaining things to wage slaves where we live and work, taking whole neighborhoods, towns and even cities from the Imperialist Democratic party and their counterparts abroad. We'd be organizing workers at military production centers, hospitals, ports agriculture and schools. Broadly, this is the ground work required to turn our ideas into a material force and build up our capacity to remove and expropriate the ruling class which will require force. They respect nothing else.
That prescription - waiting for some turning point - when force will be the grand saviour is a remedy for failure. Certainly, at some point in the struggle to shift the balance of class forces some form of violence might be necessary, but in the meantime there is work to be done buiding radical Left parties and movements that actually achieve the kind of class unity you rightly call for. And there are examples like the Workers Party of Belgium, a Marxist-inspired party, that has built real mass support, that has increased its presence in Belgium’s national, regional and local parliament as well as in the European parliament, that has created a common front for militant unions and peace, environmental and community defense organizations.
It’s not ‘us’ against ‘Them’ it’s ‘us’ against ‘us ‘. In a democracy, you get who you vote for, and you chose president Trump..
Except the game is rigged. You can only vote for the shitbag candidates the empire puts in front of you.
I’d like to agree, but there were other candidates in the U.S. presidential elections that may not have been part of the Empire… Jill Stein for instance.
If Stein for example was not part of the Empire, then what stopped the electorate from voting for her ?
Trump is the clown that fools the people in his circus.
Its an act.
It’s not Trump that fools the people as much as Trump is a fool who is a perfect puppet decoy for the empire.
Yes, the clown dus not own the circus, there is a 'CEO' that is under control by the bank where he keeps his money.
You used the magic word…. Money… no other word comes even close in its significance to the human way of thinking…
Wall brickers?
If you meant people who build walls, then yes and I would add that when most people build walls that the builders find in the end that they have built walls around themselves…
The KISS principle tells it all… and as Noam Chomsky once repeated, there are 3 important things in the world.. the first is Money, the second is Money, and if there are any doubt as to the third, ……mmmmmmmm !!!!!
John Turcot, It is delusional to think that you live in a democracy. A veritable mass of manipulation went into 'choosing' Trump.
Indy,
I understand what you imply… and of course I agree with most of your comments…
As much as we can be manipulated by Empires, even though the idea of a credible democracy may be an illusion, or perhaps even a delusion, if there is in essence a vote in which the majority is awarded power, then it is by default a democracy indeed.
Bottom line is that in the election people did have a choice, and they chose Trump. Money rules our lives, no matter which political entity governs. If Money doesn’t rule the human landscape, then I will admit being delusional . … And the Empire has it… .
"Lots of losses and no clean wins." The new Israeli/American way of governing.
Israel is like the tax system.
Israel has a lobby.
The lobby finds people who consume the narrative.
Those people get emotionally corrupted to go along and channel funds to 'the good cause'.
That 'good cause' is the lobby 'tax' collector that funds the next wave.
The IRS of global corruption.
Expose the lobby, stop the lobby, then clean up the corrupted.
All of this while dealing with the fallout. All the people who were abused by this bullshit need A LOT of help, support, oppertunities, respect. And THAT is what is missing.