Donald Trump claims the U.S. presidential election is “rigged,” drawing condemnation from the political/media establishment which accuses him of undermining faith in American democracy. But neither side understands the real problem, says Robert Parry.
12. The choice is bullets or ballots, so it’s a no-brainer. The Department of Homeland Security has just used the authority that you delegated to the government when you voted, to purchase 450 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition that cannot be used in combat by law and therefore can only be used against US citizens. Your ballots authorized those bullets. There is a third option: not voting, not fighting, but simply withholding our consent. That has the result of delegitimizing a government that doesn’t represent us and demonstrating that it does not have the consent of the governed. It is a legal, nonviolent, effective option called noncompliance. Noncompliance can take other forms, such as not paying taxes or creating alternative systems, but these cannot delegitimize a government. Since governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed,” withholding our consent is the only way to nonviolently delegitimize a government that fails to represent us.
The mismanagement of the UK economy by both the New Labour and Tory governments’ that followed the global crash of 2008 led to the poorest and weakest in society disproportionately picking up the pieces by way of savage cuts and austerity resulting from this incompetency.
For over 50 years, farmers and locals have resisted the building of a new airport for the French city of Nantes (which by the way already has one). Now in these rich fields, forests and wetlands, which multinational Vinci want to cover in concrete, an experiment in reinventing everyday life in struggle is blossoming. Radicals from around the world, […]
He didn’t ask for it, but Tommy has been a celebrity for much of his life. In the 80’s, he starred alongside Matthew Broderick in the film Project X. Later, he was a well-known circus performer in upstate New York. After he ceased to be of use to the entertainment industry, he was forced to live in a cage on […]
I don’t read the Guardian anymore, just as I don’t lick around the toilet bowl or engage in dalliances with farm animals. On Wednesday I made a reluctant exception, after discovering that arch-Blairite sycophant and former arms trade lobbyist Luke Akehurst had written a pub-bore piece about New Labour, Jeremy Corbyn and his vision for the party. Akehurst starts off by recalling […]
Only days after the Nice atrocity on 14 July, French warplanes carried out several air strikes near the IS stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria. However, Syrian government sources claimed that the strikes resulted in over 100 civilians being killed. Damascus sent a letter to the UN Security Council condemning French violation of humanitarian law, as well as its sovereignty in carrying out the air raids.
Police officers carry out random acts of legalized murder against poor people of color not because they are racist, although they may be, or even because they are rogue cops, but because impoverished urban communities have evolved into miniature police states. Police can stop citizens at will, question and arrest them without probable cause, kick down doors in the middle […]
Across the Continent, the unelected officials who have usurped the power of national governments and asserted their right to determine the fates of countless millions, through their adherence to the damaging creed of neoliberalism, have wrought suffering on an unimaginable scale, casting millions into poverty and removing the last vestige of dignity people cling to in an economy that has fallen prey to the voracious claims of big business.
Russophobia is composed of ignorance, a failure of scepticism and reasoning, pride, hypocrisy, condescension and churlishness, turned to the service of the military-industrial complex and NATO. It supports a one-sided Cold War against a country which is only just getting on its feet after collapse, is primarily focused on improving the living conditions of its people, wants war nowhere, and has no desire to be our enemy unless forced to defend itself. I wish it well.
He’s like a postmodern minstrel (he even has a ukulele which is a bit like a lute) wandering from town to town sharing his thoughts, stories and insights; sparking deep thought in his audiences and managing to be both profound and playful – the man’s a fucking genius!
Rabbi Michael Lerner gives us all a lesson in Speaking Truth to Power at Muhammad Ali’s funeral – much to the discomfort of front row audience member Bill Clinton. Touching on justice for Palestinians, a basic income, and challenging Hillary Clinton to reverse America’s murderous foreign policy, Lerner wasn’t ever going to just go after Trump, but spoke of universal […]
