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Colombia: Pillage, Promise and Peace
James Petras
Invited paper to be presented to the “Encuentro Nacional de comunidades Campesinas, Afrodescendientes e Indigenas por la Tierra y la Paz de Colombia”
“El dialogo es la Ruta”
12 al 15 de agosto 2011
Barrancabermeja – Colombia
Introduction:
We live in a time of great destruction and grand economic opportunities and Latin America is no exception. In the global context, the US Empire is engaged in destructive wars (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Haiti). In contrast China, India, Brazil, Argentina and other “emerging economies” are expanding trade, investments and reducing poverty. The European Union (EU) and the United States (USA) are in deep economic crises. The EU “periphery” (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain) are totally bankrupt. The US “dependencies” in North America (Mexico), Central America and the Caribbean are virtual narco-states plagued by mass poverty, astronomical crime rates and economic stagnation. The US dependencies are plundered by foreign multi-nationals, local oligarchs and corrupt politicians.
Colombia stands at the crossroads: it can follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, narco-President Alvaro Uribe and remain a military dependency, a lone outpost of the US Empire in South America. Colombia can remain at the margin of the most dynamic world markets and at war with its people or via a new socio-political leadership it can effect a profound reorientation of policy and consummate a transition toward greater integration with the dynamic markets of the world.
Vilifying Muslims in America
by Stephen Lendman
Judge nations by how they treat all people, whether equally, or advantaging some over others. Judge them harshly if they persecute some for political advantage.
In America, people of color and Muslims are fair game. It's longstanding policy based on prejudicial attitudes, stereotypes, deep-seated racism, and notions of corrupted Western values, high-mindedness, and moral superiority.
Post-9/11, in fact, Muslims are perceived as barbaric, violent, uncivilized, gun-toting terrorists, easily targeted, accused, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned - not for wrongdoing, for their faith in American at the wrong time. As a result, it's no surprise that when suspects are named, media reports automatically convict them in the court of public opinion.
Still Positive After All These Years!
By Tim Murray
Yes, you too can be optimistic and successful in this Post-Apocalyptic World!
Having trouble coping with the collapse of our civilization?
Has terrorism, biological, chemical and nuclear war ruined your day?
Has the die-off of your friends, loved ones and 6.99 billion other people gotcha down?
Has the fact that you are now living in Cormac McCarthy’s nightmare (“The Road”) made you depressed because you refused to see it coming two decades ago and that as a consequence you might end up on somebody’s menu?
Has the fact that you were complicit in these events by imbibing the idiot techno-optimism of the green movement made you wracked with guilt and moral culpability?
Permaculture ends meat-vegan debate, promotes anarchy
By Rady Ananda
Review of Meat: A Benign Extravagance by Simon Fairlee (2010, 322 pp.); and
Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale Integrative Farming and Gardening by Sepp Holzer (2011, 232 pp.)
Notice: PBS is rebroadcasting Food, Inc. on Tuesday, August 9 and is kicking off its new Food site. Check local listings here.
While the Bush reign may be described as a war on privacy, Obama’s is clearly a war on food freedom.* As his Monsanto administration arrests organic farmers and distributors, seizing and destroying healthy foods privately contracted and sustainably grown, this tyranny is not unique to the United States. All over the world, organic, sustainable farmers are under attack by large agribiz actors who, through government and trade agreements, are regulating them out of business and destroying the environment in the process.
Two farmers arguing against ecocidal hyper-regulation and “conventional” and “orthodox organic” farming are Simon Fairlee of England and Sepp Holzer of Austria. Both have written seminal books that should grace the bookshelves of everyone who gardens, farms or cares about the impact of agriculture on the biosphere.
Rude Awakening
by Stephen Lendman
In 2008, a protracted global depression began, criminally manufactured by Wall Street and Washington scoundrels, complicit with major European partners.
Why? To permit greater financial and other corporate consolidation, more power, and ability to buy favored assets cheap, profiting hugely at the expense of millions of working households.
At the same time, Washington's got it own agenda. As White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel (now Chicago's mayor) told the Wall Street Journal on November 6, 2008:
Spain’s ‘Indignados’ at the Vanguard of a Global Nonviolent Revolt
By Pablo Ouziel
Last night Madrid’s city centre offered a glimpse of what Western democracies have become, as thousands of unarmed nonviolent civilians with their hands up in the air shouting “these are our weapons” and “this is a dictatorship” were beaten by police commandos in full riot gear. This event was the culmination of a month of intense mobilizations across the country by the popular movement known as the ‘Indignados’. People, whom despite being ignored by the government have made their voices heard, as banking cartels, European bureaucrats, rating agencies and the country’s elites continue in their frantic push to sell-off Spain’s remaining public wealth, and persist in the implementation of drastic cuts to the welfare state.
Who would trust Standard and Poor's?
Standard and Poor's finally did it. They downgraded the credit rating of the United States from AAA to AA+. There are serious questions about the reliability of S&P. The White House pointed out that there is a $2 trillion error in the calculations used for the downgrade. Ths is of interest since the two other agencies failed to change the AAA status of the US. (See Robert Oak, Economic Populist)
Jack Tapper of ABC News reported late this afternoon:
"A third official says that S&P made a "serious mistake" in its analysis, "based on flawed math and assumptions," so the Obama administration is pushing back. But even though "S&P has acknowledged its numbers are wrong, it's unclear what they're going to do.," the official said.
"S&P's numbers were off by "roughly $2 trillion," the official said.
Fitch and Moody's reaffirmed the AAA US rating earlier in the week.
Israeli Street Protests: Suppressed by US Media
by Stephen Lendman
Well, almost. Virtually nothing shows up on US television. Some gets print coverage, but not enough to explain a major story accurately and fully. More on that below.
For weeks, tens of thousands of Israelis have been protesting high prices, especially unaffordable housing, creating an intolerable burden for growing numbers being priced out of a place to live.
A previous article explained, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/08/israel-rogue-state-land-of-inequality.html
Filling Prison Beds for Profit
by Stephen Lendman
At yearend 2010, America's prison population topped 2.4 million, including federal and state facilities, local jails, Indian, juvenile, and military ones, US territories, and numbers held by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In addition, over seven million more are under correctional supervision, and over 13 million pass through US prisons and jails annually. About 70% are for nonviolent offenses. Nearly half of those are drug-related. In 1980, 40,000 drug offenders were imprisoned. It's now over 500,000, victimized by unfair "war on drugs" laws.
Fight To End The Most Base Form Of Exploitation
by Brian McAfee
One of the most significant ongoing scourges that befalls humanity worldwide is the ongoing exploitation and sexual abuse of over two million girls and boys through sex trafficking. UNICEF estimates that two and a half million children, most of them girls, are tricked or forced into the multibillion dollar global sex industry.
The struggle to save, protect and defend the safety and well-being of children at risk for this type of travesty is and will remain an ongoing, sometimes uphill battle. Yet it is, obviously, a necessary fight.
One of the individuals fighting this battle is Nepalese writer and journalist Kamala Sarup. In one of her articles, Lost Daughters-An Ongoing Tragedy In Nepal, Kamala describes the situation in Nepal as follows: "Nepal girls are cheaper to buy, much more cooperative and much easier to control and enslave. Girls from the rural regions are known to be much more obedient and considered more attractive for brothel owners who may want to resell them." In relation to this problem, Kamala has organized activities addressing issues of HIV/AIDS and sex trafficking in Nepal.
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