Chris Hedges is a writer and thinker whom I greatly admire. In the past I have written about his book War is Force that Gives us Meaning. Recently I came across an article he wrote at Truthdig, Democracy in America Is a Useful Fiction, which is both insightful and depressing. About a year ago I started listening to the History of Rome podcast. Even a slight acquaintance with Roman history indicates that the US republic has long gone and we live in the days of empire. However, as Hedges points out the US emperor is a mere figurehead. Wolin’s idea of inverted totalitarianism is the best model of US society I have yet encountered. I am not convinced however, that we are in the period of decline. The US elites are quite resourceful. The barbarians are not yet at the gate….
Tags: Human Rights, US Politics
I have cited Colin Dayan’s book Cruel and Unusual several times. Here is a lecture by the author herself:
Tags: Human Rights
Real News Network does a good job presenting the significance of the possible prisoner exchange:
Professor Tony Judt at NYU, whose writings have often appeared on this site, recently gave a lecture at NYU. As always, it is well worth reading. In fact I would argue it is mandatory reading for anyone who considers themself “leftist” or “progressive.” Judt provides the historical background for the political debates of today. He also provides a response to those (on the left) who believe the collapse of the current system is the only way to change it:
We too have lived through an era of stability, certainty, and the illusion of indefinite economic improvement. But all that is now behind us. For the foreseeable future we shall be as economically insecure as we are culturally uncertain. We are assuredly less confident of our collective purposes, our environmental well-being, or our personal safety than at any time since World War II. We have no idea what sort of world our children will inherit, but we can no longer delude ourselves into supposing that it must resemble our own in reassuring ways.
…We find it hard to conceive of a complete breakdown of liberal institutions, an utter disintegration of the democratic consensus. But it was just such a breakdown that elicited the Keynes–Hayek debate and from which the Keynesian consensus and the social democratic compromise were born: the consensus and the compromise in which we grew up and whose appeal has been obscured by its very success…The first task of radical dissenters today is to remind their audience of the achievements of the twentieth century, along with the likely consequences of our heedless rush to dismantle them.
Tags: Activism, Left Politics, Solutions
Photographer Platon photographs dozens of the world’s leaders at the recent General Assembly meeting. Be sure to listen to his commentary on each of the photos. Listen to the audio interview with him first, by clicking on the last icon of the thumbnails.
Tags: Art
November was a very busy month for me so I haven’t had time to write extended commentaries. Meanwhile I am posting links and short comments on articles that interest me on Twitter. If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in the widget on the lower right hand side of this page. One article which I read this month which I highly urge everyone to read is this piece in the New Yorker by Lawrence Wright. It is well worth listening to the interview with him as well. Personally, I am a bit more optimistic since there is a possibility that Marwan Barghouti is about to be released. If that happens I will comment more extensively on the positive implications.
As I’ve noted many times my blood starts to boil when so-called progressives start talking about how we need to return to being “a nation of laws.” As we see in the video, Israel has scrupulously followed the law in perpetrating this crime against innocents:
Tags: Human Rights, Hypocrisy, Logic of Occupation, War Crimes
The attacks against Judge Goldstone’s report on the Gaza war fall into three categories: personal attacks against him, attacks on the accuracy and veracity of the findings and attacks against the UN body that commissioned the report. In this recent interview with Bill Moyers, Judge Goldstone responds to all these attacks and others as well. The more I hear him speak, the more impressed I am with the man’s intelligence, integrity and moral courage:
Tags: Human Rights, War Crimes
I realize its been a month since I’ve posted here, and I have restricted myself to posting articles in Twitter. I’ve been extremely busy with a move and with work, so I just haven’t had time to write more extended pieces. Just to share a bit of where I’ve moved, what folows are a copy of photos showing the view from my new apartment’s window.
As I noted in my twitter postings, Judge Goldstone’s report on the Gaza invasion condemns both Israel and Hamas for war crimes. As reported in the NY Times:
The report called Israel’s military assault on Gaza “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”
Tags: Feature, War Crimes
Relevant Quotes
Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz: Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace -- Benito Juárez
It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. -- Eleanor Roosevelt
Let them call me a rebel and welcome. I feel no concern from it. But should I suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul -- Thomas Paine