Building an Independent Left Movement
The “Shock Doctrine” author tells Laura Flanders, “We have to build that independent left. It has to be so strong and so radical and so militant and so powerful that it becomes irresistible.”
Month: September 2010
Europeans Protest Budget Cuts
Tens of thousands of European workers protested austerity measures by the EU throughout the continent – the largest demonstrations taking place in Brussels and Spain.
An Alternative Environmental Future for Haiti
Haiti is famous around the world primarily for its problems, one being advanced ecological destruction. However, Haitian citizens are working to turn this around and create a healthy environment.
Cuba and the US: Memories of Overdevelopment
A new film trails a Cuban exile in New York who could not remain in Cuba, but who can barely survive in the swashbuckling consumerism of the United States.
Violent Clash Averted in Western Sahara Stand-Off
“I have just lived through one of the most terrifying experiences of my life” renowned Spanish actor Willy Toledo, tells me over the phone in the early hours of September 28. He, together with six other international observers had just accompanied 28 Saharawi human rights defenders on their trip back from an international conference in Algeria to their home in Layoune, Western Sahara, the mineral-rich former Spanish colony controlled by Morocco.
“As we came out of the airport we were surrounded by about 150 policemen” said Toledo. “They eventually let us pass but when we got into town we were confronted by even more police blocking us from getting to the house where a reception had been organized for the activist’s return.” There was a tense stand-off as hundreds of Saharawi supporters gathered to protect the activists, helping to forge a path to the house. “The police were pushing and shoving us, shouting abuse and spitting on the women” says Toledo breathlessly. “Once we were inside the house they tried to force their way in, beating on the door with batons.”
Retribution for a World Lost in Screens
Source: Truthdig
Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution. She exacted divine punishment on arrogant mortals who believed they could defy the gods, turn themselves into objects of worship and build ruthless systems of power to control the world around them. The price of such hubris was almost always death.
Nemesis, related to the Greek word némein, means “to give what is due.” Our nemesis fast approaches. We will get what we are due. The staggering myopia of our corrupt political and economic elite, which plunder the nation’s wealth for financial speculation and endless war, the mass retreat of citizens into virtual hallucinations, the collapsing edifices around us, which include the ecosystem that sustains life, are ignored for a giddy self-worship. We stare into electronic screens just as Narcissus, besotted with his own reflection, stared into a pool of water until he wasted away and died.