{"id":1762,"date":"2011-07-07T18:59:40","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T00:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=1762"},"modified":"2013-02-18T19:29:35","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T01:29:35","slug":"perpetual-war-corporate-greed-austerity-for-the-masses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/perpetual-war-corporate-greed-austerity-for-the-masses\/","title":{"rendered":"Perpetual War, Corporate Greed, & Austerity for the Masses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 434 of The Black Commentator on July 7, 2011<\/a>
\nRepublished in thepeoplesvoice.org on July 8, 2011<\/a>
\nRepublished in ikkevold.no (Norway) on July 9, 2011<\/a><\/p>\n

By Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n

\u201cPower concedes\u00a0nothing<\/em>\u00a0without a demand. It never did and it never will.\u201d<\/strong>
\n -Frederick Douglass<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCivil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil\u00a0obedience<\/em>…Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves…[and]\u00a0the grand thieves are running the country.<\/em>\u00a0That\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0our problem.\u201d<\/strong>
\n -Howard Zinn<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the corporate\/military U.S. Empire, headed by the nominally black Barack Obama, with the complicity of his Democrat[ic] and Republican party political pimps, rumbles along, crushing the economic needs, human rights, and aspirations of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people\u00a0in this nation and around the world<\/em>, conditions for just plain ordinary people are worsening and deteriorating at lightning speed. Only the avaricious, blood-sucking, bloated rich are financially\u00a0benefiting from<\/em>\u00a0the\u00a0increasing misery<\/em>\u00a0of the masses of ordinary people.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the propaganda arm of the U.S. Government, i.e. the\u00a0corporate-stream media<\/em>, continues incessantly to peddle and parrot the\u00a0distractions, distortions, omissions, and outright lies<\/em>\u00a0of its corporate masters to the enormous detriment of everyday people. At all costs, this corporate-stream media seeks to ignore, marginalize, or discredit those persons who are\u00a0critical thinkers<\/em>\u00a0and who see the need for real\u00a0systemic<\/em>\u00a0change.<\/p>\n

The first casualties in this corporate\/military government\u2019s persistent\u00a0war against everyday people<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0critical thought<\/em>\u00a0and political dissent.<\/em>\u00a0This nation has a president and other politicians whose de facto contempt for the pain and the common sense of everyday people is\u00a0surpassed only by their arrogance, wars abroad, double-speak, and lies.<\/em>\u00a0Their\u00a0actions<\/em>\u00a0repeatedly belie their phony and misleading rhetoric. They, like their\u00a0corporate masters<\/em>, are nothing more than political pimps and economic blood-suckers\u00a0of the people<\/em>, whom they treat as\u00a0perpetual ping-pong balls<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0caged hamsters<\/em>\u00a0endlessly running on the spinning wheel to oblivion.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0U.S.\u00a0corporate\/military government is generally\u00a0feared<\/em>\u00a0by the people of this nation,\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0held accountable\u00a0<\/em>by them. Until this fear is replaced by\u00a0a collective, actualized, and unflinching demand\u00a0<\/em>on the part of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people for\u00a0transparency in government, full accountability, and economic parity,<\/em>\u00a0real change will not be forthcoming. Everyday people will remain as helpless, hapless pawns\u00a0only as long as they\/we\u00a0allow<\/span>\u00a0ourselves to be.<\/em><\/p>\n

Notwithstanding the odious genocide of indigenous people and the slavery of Black people that accompanied the founding of this nation, the U.S. Declaration of Independence pulled no punches when it correctly and explicitly stated that governments must derive \u201c…their just powers\u00a0from the consent<\/em>\u00a0of\u00a0the governed,<\/em>\u201d\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0\u201cThat whenever\u00a0any\u00a0<\/em>form of government<\/em>\u00a0becomes destructive of these ends,\u00a0it is the\u00a0right<\/span>\u00a0of the people to\u00a0alter or abolish<\/span>\u00a0it, and institute new government<\/em>…\u201d Undeniably implicit in the requirement that the \u201cpower[s]\u201d of government\u00a0be derived<\/em>\u00a0\u201cfrom the consent of the governed\u201d is the right of\u00a0political dissent<\/em>. Moreover, it is the\u00a0explicit<\/em>\u00a0\u201cright\u201d of the people to \u201calter or abolish\u201d any \u201cform of government\u201d that is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0what the Declaration of Independence refers to as \u201cjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cynical and callous\u00a0manipulation and domination<\/em>\u00a0of everyday people by the 1 or 2 percent corporate\/military\u00a0elite<\/em>\u00a0of this nation is by no means \u201cjust,\u201d and it is an\u00a0utter mockery and subversion<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>of anything even near to deriving its powers to govern \u201cfrom the consent of the governed.\u201d Additionally, this corporate-government\u2019s perpetual wars of empire, the \u2018Patriot Act,\u2019 \u2018Extraordinary Rendition,\u2019 trillion dollar give-aways to the multi-national Wall Street robber barons, the shredding of any meaningful constitutional rights, attacks on Medicare and Social Security, and other increasing economic austerity measures\u00a0against everyday people<\/em>, are further examples of precisely how the \u201cconsent of the governed\u201d has been brazenly\u00a0subverted<\/span><\/em>\u00a0by the corporate\/military elite of this nation.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, an\u00a0increasing collective<\/em>\u00a0loathing for the dishonest and hypocritical internal and external policies and practices of this\u00a0U.S.\u00a0corporate-government<\/em>\u00a0may<\/em>\u00a0yet very well come to replace lethargy and the fear of said government. For the moment however, this corporate-government is relying upon its formidable ability to manipulate the masses of everyday people by using fear, lies, and constant subterfuge. Also,\u00a0for the moment<\/em>, so many people\u00a0of all colors<\/em>\u00a0in this nation remain, in actual terms, the economic slaves, pawns, and cannon fodder of the U.S. Empire.<\/p>\n

Whether it is the police throughout this country the FBI, CIA, NSA, TSA, etc., this nation\u2019s corporate-government uses fear, subterfuge, and the suppression of political dissent as a means to perpetuate this political\u00a0theatre of the absurd\u00a0<\/em>in order to manipulate, quash, and\u00a0subvert<\/em>\u00a0the \u201cconsent\u201d and will of everyday people. As a long time reader of\u00a0The Black Commentator<\/em>\u00a0recently wrote concerning the present overwhelmingly insane and lethargic state of affairs in this nation: \u201cThe police have now\u00a0niggerized any and everybody<\/em> through fear! This may explain the theatre of the absurd that we are witnessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In due course however, even fear must take a back seat to the increasing joblessness, homelessness, despair, and hunger, etc. of everyday people in this nation. And even the\u00a0double-speak<\/em>\u00a0rhetoric<\/em>\u00a0of the wily Barack Obama\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>his Republicrat [i.e. Democrat and Republican] cohorts will prove to be of no avail in soothing the legitimate rage of the people. For in the words of Langston Hughes: \u201cWhat happens to a dream deferred?\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, the entire\u00a0U.S.\u00a0government, its corporate-stream \u201cnews\u201d media, and most other institutions of the\u00a0United States of America\u00a0are inextricably\u00a0beholden<\/em>\u00a0to the dictates of the tiny, blood-sucking corporate elite of this nation. U.S. wars and military occupations and\/or interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya,\u00a0and elsewhere<\/em>\u00a0have nothing whatsoever to do with the championing of so-called \u2018democracy;\u2019 and they invariably mean\u00a0more<\/em>\u00a0pain and more death to everyday people both at home and abroad<\/em>, while serving to\u00a0enrich the bottomless, blood-drenched coffers of the corporate elite.<\/em> The\u00a0United States\u00a0is a corporate plutocracy whose alleged political\u00a0\u2018leaders\u2019<\/em>\u00a0are the conscienceless bane of this nation and of humanity as a whole.<\/p>\n

Hypocrisy, lies, and subterfuge continue to be the mainstays of this U.S. Empire, but\u00a0only for as long as we, the people, allow it. Despite constant acts of subversion, distortion and subterfuge<\/em>\u00a0by the world-wide octopus-like tentacles of the U.S. corporate\/military Empire to manipulate and subvert the legitimate needs and aspirations of everyday people around the world, our sisters and brothers in Haiti, Palestine, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Mexico, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland,\u00a0and so many other places<\/em>\u00a0on Mother Earth are resisting corporate and\/or military hegemony in \u2018body and soul,\u2019 and they are rising up as a part of the human family.<\/p>\n

Perpetual wars, corporate hegemony & greed, and austerity for the masses of everyday people are absolutely unacceptable. The pillage of our precious planet Mother Earth is also totally unacceptable. It is time to\u00a0make the people\u2019s history<\/em>. It is time to reclaim the narrative of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people\u00a0collectively<\/em>.\u00a0Whether we like it or not<\/em>\u00a0our futures on this planet are irreversibly bound together. The people\u2019s struggle for freedom, justice, and systemic change, irrespective of color, whether it in this nation or anywhere else in the world, is a protracted<\/em>\u00a0one and cannot successfully exist and grow in a vacuum.<\/p>\n

In the words of Malcolm X [el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz], \u201cAny kind of movement for freedom of Black people based solely within the confines of\u00a0America\u00a0is absolutely doomed to fail.\u201d Ours must be an\u00a0international<\/em>\u00a0struggle for justice and human rights. Nevertheless, we must begin it\u00a0right here<\/em>\u00a0in this nation, and link it to our sisters and brothers\u00a0planet-wide<\/em>. It\u2019s certainly\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0easy nor is it short, but then, no serious and effective struggle ever is. As Frederick Douglass said, \u201cPower concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Onward then my sisters and brothers! Onward!<\/p>\n

Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil\/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil\/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania\/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book,\u00a0Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker<\/a>, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read excerpts from the book.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 434 of The Black Commentator on July 7, 2011<\/a>
Republished in thepeoplesvoice.org on July 8, 2011<\/a>
Republished in ikkevold.no (Norway) on \n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1762"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1769,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions\/1769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}