GHANAIAN WOMEN: Please Stop Their Abuse in the Middle-East

Otiko Afisa Djaba, Minister Designate for Gender and Social Protection

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has raised concern about increasing reports of Ghanaian female migrants being abused in the Middle East.

The organisation says 2,000 women departed from Ghana to work in the Middle East between September 2014 and January 2015 alone but over 350 of them have returned from countries like Kuwait and Jordan with cases of inhumane working conditions, physical and emotional torture, as well as sexual exploitation.

The Project Officer at the IOM, Kojo Wilmot, has, therefore, called on government and other agencies to address the problem immediately.

“These stories are rampant. We keep hearing about it day in and day out and we feel that something really need to be done to really manage this situation,” he told Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gakpo.

This is not the first time IOM has raised this alarm.

Last year, the organisation, in partnership with the Walk Free Foundation (WFF) called on governments to take more concrete action to protect migrant workers amid worsening conditions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In a report titled ‘The Other Migrant Crisis: Protecting migrant workers against exploitation in the Middle East and North Africa’ the two non-governmental organisations exposed the conditions faced by migrant workers who are trafficked and exploited across MENA.

“The data compiled from interviews with 162 victims reveals alarming trends: 100 per cent of workers had their passports withheld, 87 per cent were confined to their workplace; 76 percent had wages withheld; 73 percent suffered psychological abuse; and 61 percent endured physical abuse,” according to a statement released about the report.

Speaking to Joy News, Kojo Wilmot urged the government to intensify sensitization on the issue.

"We have partnered with the Ghana Immigration Service to set up a Migration Information Centre in Sunyani which the one-stop-shop where potential migrants can go for accurate and reliable information so that they will travel informed.

“Most Ghanaian migrants also fall prey to fraudulent recruitment agencies so they can also check the legitimacy of these recruitment agencies before they even engage their services,” he said.

IOM is the leading inter-governmental organisation in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.

Editorial

GHANAIAN WOMEN

Mr Wilmot, the Project Officer of the International Organisation for Migration (IMO) has sounded the alarm bells about the abuse of Ghanaian women in the Middle East and North Africa and called on the government to take steps to protect them.

The Insight shares the anxiety of Mr. Wilmot and is deeply worried about what Ghanaian women allegedly go through in these parts of the world.

However, our views is that these women are driven out of the country largely by poverty which finds expression in joblessness, lack of educational opportunities and lack of access to health and housing.

We propose that the best way of protecting Ghanaian women is to fight poverty in all manifestations.

If Ghanaian women had good jobs, access to health, housing and education, they would not be escaping the harsh conditions here to places where they are abused.

Please let our government get to work.

Association Pleads For Adequate Medical Supplies For Rural Facilities

Anthony Amissah

By Rachel Fosuah Osei/ Mispah Tumtuo

The government has been asked to do more to ensure adequate medical supplies to health facilities in the rural areas.

Mr. Anthony Amissah, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Physician Assistants Association (GPAA), said they should be provided with the needed equipment and consumables for their smooth and efficient operation.

Speaking at their quarterly meeting in Kumasi, he indicated that, this was the way forward to assure the rural population of quality healthcare.

He complained about the prevailing situation, where many of the rural facilities were without laboratory, transport, drugs and kits including gloves.

He said that was fueling the practice of referral of patients to hospitals in the cities for laboratory test and asked that every effort was made to make sure this was discontinued.

Mr. Amissah pointed out that many of such patients often ended up not going for the test at all because of financial constraints.

He also renewed the call for prompt payment of national health insurance claims to aid the smooth running of the facilities.

He invited his colleague physician assistants to work with total commitment and to be professional in the performance of their duties of soothing the pain of the sick and saving lives.

Haruna Atta Writes on Incompetence and Dishonesty

Ambassador Haruna Atta

By Abdul-Rahman Harruna Attah| arhatah@hotmail.com

In one of my last chats with her before I left Windhoek for Accra, my wife (34 years of marriage) said to me, “When you return, keep an even temper”. She made a lot of sense – women do, most of the time.

But how do you keep an even temper in Ghana these days? I have observed it 

becoming distressingly unattainable with each passing political year since 1992. I choose this particular year because it was in that year that we reverted to constitutional governance after many years of unstable military incursions into partisan politics. We have kept at it since.

Even as we have seen some consistency in holding violence-free elections seven times, we have not grasped the fact that democracy without an even temper leaves a polity bruised, tired and unable to put the nation first, leading to the loss of the many opportunities that could speed up progress.

In the months, weeks and days leading up to Election 2016, as the political parties vied for the eyes and ears of voters, it was the platform of nastiness that ruled the day. Facts, truths, personal insights into issues were clobbered viciously so long as they did not meet with the approval of political Rottweilers! Campaign rhetoric, perhaps, but also very much a manifestation of the vile temper that is now ingrained in our way of doing things. It has become a culture of attack and insults when actually, “no comment”, “I don’t know”, “I have no idea”, “I don’t know the source” or“I have to investigate further” should settle matters. This is not restricted to “working class” homes or platforms like beer/akpeteshie bars, trotros, but in some of the gleaming homes and offices where wealth, power and “sophistication” are on display.

Very much was made about “incompetence” during the campaign period. Whether it helped sway the outcome of those elections or not, the analysts would work that out in due course but it was a smear that was difficult to shake off…Even in the bright glare of the many positive additions to our country’s development, high international approval ratings, nd sub-regional leadership, we were constantly being regailed with accusations of “incompetence” which as the days wore on became even more strident. Cynical it was, but as a campaign sloganeering tactic, it could not be missed.

Then something happened on January 7, 2017! Plagiarism! No need to go into the details here for “social media” and the traditional media sources have chewed and spat it out ad nauseam, but on day one, the charge of “dishonesty” had entered the records. This is going to define for a long time the image of the “change” that Election 2016 brought to Ghana, for how do you shrug off evidence that was delivered to hundreds of millions of people worldwide? If “incompetence” was served as a local dish, “dishonesty” was an international banquet.

I was winding up at post when my attention was called to it by a colleague African diplomat and then another, and another… As the modern terminology says, it had gone viral. A quick consultation among us Ghanaian diplomats yielded a nice way out: Yes, we should admit it because it was out there, but explain it away as an oversight by a not too careful speechwriter which should not distract from the very major achievement of peaceful elections and smooth transition in Ghana, feats that we should be proud of and commended…Plausible deniability, but the good name of our country had to be defended.

Hopefully, the international community has forgiven, forgotten and moved on, BUT have we and can we in Ghana?

“Incompetence” and “Dishonesty” are now the two sides of the Ghanaian coin…A pity and a shame because the Ghanaian coin should be more edifying and ennobling than that…The coin that was minted 60 years ago was clearly engraved with “Freedom” and “Justice”, one on each side. So what happened 60 years later with the coin being defaced with the patina of “Incompetence” and “Dishonesty”?

A prize-winning journalist blogging on the issue said he prefers incompetence to dishonesty. Obviously, there are many others who would see virtue in dishonesty and defend it, but as a country don't we do ourselves much harm if we allow our inability to “keep an even temper” to sink us into the quagmire of “incompetence” and “dishonesty”? It is not right because I know we are neither incompetent nor dishonest!!!

Disturbingly, the vetting of nominees taking place in parliament is revealing yet again, the bogey of people who should know better and “keep an even temper” but are very deliberately perpetuating the intemperance of the campaign period. Wisely some are retracting and apologizing but shamefully some are persisting with the notion that the refusal to “keep an even temper” is a sign of loyalty to the party. No, at that level, it is loyalty to Ghana that is paramount!

Namibians call their country the “Land of the Brave” and they rally behind it in addition to the flag and anthem. They go another step by flying the AU flag at all major events and playing the AU Anthem in recognition of and solidarity with their membership of our continental fraternity. Symbols that we can all buy into would take precedence over political party posturing and promote the pursuit of our national interest with an even temper!

Ghana @ 60 is only a month or so in the future; would it be organized in the atmosphere of an even temper? Ghana @ 50 certainly wasn’t and ended up in prosecutions for “economic crimes against the state”. Recriminations, boycotts and bad temper characterized Ghana @ 50; would the intervening years have evened the tempers enough to avoid history repeating itself…?

As we strive to get “incompetence” and “dishonesty” to cross each other out for a clean slate of “Freedom” and “Justice”, we can for the moment savour the elevation of a Ghanaian to the Deputy Chair of the African Union in this 60th year of our Independence. The Osagyefo must be turning in his grave, this time with joy and like the Namibians the“Land of Freedom and Justice” should be engaging us more than whether I am NDC or NPP!

PS

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, The Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey MP has taken a positive lead in these first few weeks. One of the first things she did on the assumption of office was to organize a farewell for her predecessor The Hon. Hannah SerwahTetteh and Deputy, Hon Bombande at which ceremony she presented them with citations of appreciation…

WE WANT OUR NATION BACK

By Lindela Mashumi Figlan

South Africa no longer belongs to the people but to the rich few. The hopes of the liberation struggle have evaporated. Only a new leadership that is guided by the interests of the citizens will save the nation.

This is the land of our fathers, grandfathers and mothers, the land where some sacrificed their lives to make sure that everyone can enjoy their life without any discrimination whatsoever, where diverse cultures united. But that is not yet achieved. It is so bad to still listen to the same very sad scream we heard before 1994.

South Africa is the country where the leaders are not keen to attentively listen to the voices of the people. South Africa is a country where leaders are only willing to feed their friends and their families. Those who gave them the right to be in power are forgotten. How can our government waste so much money instead of uplifting the lives of the poor?

South Africa is facing job losses, hunger and many social difficulties. Outside countries export their products to our country and that is leading to more job losses that haunt our country. Is there any need for an economic system that makes our people poor? Why do we continue to support a system that only allows the elites to enrich themselves? Are these elites really proud of South Africa or they just are using our country to get rich?

Look at Rainbow Chickens. Now that the cheap imports from America are coming in our people are losing their jobs. Where are all these PEOPLE going to find jobs? What is our government doing to protect our people? We are so unlucky because of the government we have. It is a ‘yes yes’ type of government.

The veteran freedom fighter Solomon Mahlangu promised everyone that his blood would nourish the tree of freedom! Is that the reality? Why are people not even feeling guilty for exploiting the sweat and blood of those who died for this country? Why is there so much corruption from the head to the toes? Why are we being told that this corruption means ‘economic freedom’ when it is only making the elites richer and the poor poorer?

For sure the people who died for the struggle are not sleeping in peace. One day they will show us that they are not happy and their anger will target those who are enjoying themselves while other people sleep on the roads. Oliver Thambo, Solomon Mahlangu, Martin Thembisile Hani, Clarence Makwetu and Steve Biko send your powers to emancipate us from this corrupt government!

Everyone sees what is going on but they don't want to come clean. That is why there are camps all over. They protect their ambitious behaviour. That really destroys our country. We need a president with a real backbone, somebody who will be led by the interest of the people, who puts the interest of the people first; somebody who is not going to defy our humanity. We need somebody who is not going to hide with apartheid but who is going to face the challenges facing us.

We need a country where women will feel safe, where there will be no poverty, where jobs will be created instead of destroyed. We need a country where there no one will come to our country to nominate ministers. Oh, shame on those who are nominated! They are traitors of our beloved country!

Domestic workers and security guards are working tirelessly but with no proper remuneration. Some companies don't pay their labourers on Sundays. The government is quiet about all that. We need people who are not recommended by their husbands or relatives nor their political parties to lead us. We need this country to be under the people of South Africa, not under just two families who are only interested in becoming richer and richer with the people’s wealth. We need this county to be free from ethnic tension, not where when somebody does wrong some say its because he is from this or that ethnic group. We need our food producers to be encouraged to produce more and not to vandalise what they already have.

We need a country where everyone will be equal and the economy will be shared amongst the people.

* Lindela Mashumi Figlan (Mayibuye Peoples Movement, Eyabantu) is a long-time activist from Durban, South Africa.

What Does Canada Want In Africa?

By Yves Engler

Canada’s announcement that it intends to send 600 troops on a peacekeeping mission in Africa has elicited little enlightened discussion about Ottawa’s history in the continent. In addition to Canadian extensive mining interests, the country has a growing military footprint in Africa over the past decade - working closely with the new United States’ Africa Command (AFRICOM).

The media’s foreign affairs motto often seems to be ignorance is bliss. The Toronto Star, for instance, has devoted significant attention to the Trudeau government’s plan to dispatch 600 soldiers to Africa, but it has largely ignored the most relevant information.

In a recent instalment of its “Should Canada go to Africa?” series the Star quoted former Royal Military College board member Jack Granatstein saying, “wherever we go in Africa is not where we should be going” and Canada’s contribution will “achieve nothing.” Countering Granatstein’s Afro-pessimism, the story cited Royal Military College professor Walter Dorn’s blanket support for UN missions since “the image of the peacekeeper is key to the Canadian identity.”

While Canada’s most progressive English daily offers its pages to embarrassingly simplistic pro and con positions, the Star has all but ignored the economic, geopolitical and historical context necessary to judge deploying 600 troops to the continent. While the Star published 19 stories last year discussing a potential Canadian peacekeeping mission in Africa, only one mentioned Canada’s main mark on the continent and that story simply noted, “officials also considered the extensive business interests of the Canadian mining industry” when deciding not to deploy troops to the Congo seven years ago.

That’s it? Even though Canada is home to half of all internationally listed mining companies operating in Africa. Even though Canada’s government has paid for geological education, joint NGO–mining company projects and extractive sector policy initiatives, as well as opposing debt forgiveness and negotiating Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with a dozen African countries — all to support corporate Canada’s $30 billion in mining investment. Even though the two most cited possible destinations to send troops – Mali and Congo – are home to a significant Canadian mining presence.

In addition to Canadian mining interests, Star coverage has ignored Canada’s growing military footprint in Africa over the past decade. Working closely with the new United States’ Africa Command (AFRICOM), Ottawa has funded and staffed various military training centres across the continent and Canadian special forces have trained numerous African militaries. The Canadian Forces Operational Support Hub also moved to establish small permanent bases on the east and west coasts of the continent and the Canadian Navy has expanded its presence, particularly off the coast of Somalia.

Evaluating Canada’s current military and economic role on the continent is a prerequisite for having a proper debate about deploying troops. So, is a critical look at past UN missions, which has also been absent from the Star.

For example, in 1960 the UN launched a peacekeeping force that delivered a major blow to Congolese democratic aspirations by undermining elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. As detailed in Canada, the Congo Crisis, and UN Peacekeeping, 1960-64, Canadian soldiers played a significant role in the mission that enabled Lumumba’s assassination by US and Belgian-backed forces.

In 1992, about 900 Canadian military personnel joined a US-led humanitarian intervention into Somalia, which later came under UN command. While the soldiers who used the N-word and tortured a teenager to death received significant attention, the economic and geopolitical considerations driving the deployment did not. In 1993 Project Censored Canada found the prospects for extracting oil – Chevron, Amoco, Phillips, and Conoco had exploration rights to two-thirds of Somalia – the most under-reported Canadian news item that year. Alongside securing hydrocarbons from the ground, planners had an eye to the oil passing near Somalia’s 1,000-mile coastline. Whoever controls this territory is well placed to exert influence over oil shipped from the Persian Gulf.

Three years after the Somalia debacle Canada led a short-lived UN force into eastern Zaire. Presented as a way to protect one million Hutu refugees, it was really designed to dissipate French pressure for a UN force to deal with the refugee crisis and ensure Paris didn’t take command of a force that could impede Rwanda’s invasion of what’s now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Washington proposed Ottawa, with many French speakers at its disposal, lead the UN mission since it didn’t want pro-Joseph-Mobutu-Sese-Seko France to gain control of the UN force. 

Ultimately, most of the Canadian-led UN force was not deployed since peacekeepers would have slowed down or prevented Rwanda, Uganda and its allies from triumphing, but not before Canadian, British and US officials “managed the magical disappearance” of half a million refugees, to quote Oxfam Emergencies Director Nick Stockton. That 1996 US-backed Rwandan invasion of the Congo and reinvasion in 1998 led to a deadly eight-country war and is the reason UN forces are there today.

But, little context — economic interests, past military involvement or critical history in general — has been presented.

While it’s published two editorials promoting the planned UN mission, Star coverage of the issue demonstrates Canada isn’t ready to deploy troops to Africa. The public is almost entirely ignorant of this country’s role on the continent and our political culture gives politicians immense latitude to pursue self-serving policies there, present them as altruistic and face few questions.

Canadians who want a foreign policy that is a force for good in the world (or at least does no harm) must demand better of our media.

* Yves Engler’s latest book is ‘A propaganda system: How Canada’s government, corporations, media and academia sell war and exploitation’. His previous book is ‘Canada in Africa: 300 years of aid and exploitation.’

THE POISON OF NATIONALISM

By Brendan Mee 

In the struggle to win the minds of the working class Socialists have to contend not, on the whole, with rational critiques of the Socialist position but with deeply held and unquestioned values. A few of these, for example, might be religion, "human nature", "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work" or the association of Socialism with Russia. One of the strongest of these sacred beliefs, and one of the biggest obstacles to the establishment of Socialism, is nationalism ― the loyalty felt by many members of the working class to "their country", the political unit in which they happen to reside.

Socialists hold that the only real divisions which exist in the world are horizontal ones, between different social and economic groups. In advanced capitalist countries this consists in a division between the capitalist class, which owns and controls the means of production, and the working class, which owns none of them and which has to sell its mental and physical labour-power to the capitalist class in order to live. Feelings of loyalty to a nation-State are purely subjective, having no basis in reality; the working class in Britain has more in common with the workers in other countries than it has with the British capitalist class.

Classes not Kingdoms

There, is however, an alternative view of the world. This is the belief that the important divisions are not horizontal, between different classes, but vertical, between various nations. A "nation" consists, according to this view, of a hierarchy of men and women who, although having differing incomes, social status and power, all have a common interest in working in harmony for the benefit of the whole unit and, if necessary, in fighting against other nations to defend this interest. This completely erroneous outlook is the one held by most members of the working class and nearly all political parties (including the Labour Party). Most historians reject Marx's declaration that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle", preferring instead to see history as a succession of struggles of nations against foreign domination, of subjects against tyrannical kings and of nations and races against each other.

Broadly speaking, nationalist ideologies and movements represent the interests of the capitalist class. Nationalism as such did not exist in pre-capitalist society and its growth and development represents the parallel development of the capitalist class. Nationalism as we know it today first made its appearance during the French Revolution. In the early stages of the revolution cosmopolitan ideas were prevalent ― it was believed that the rest of Europe would be inspired by France's example and would likewise overthrow the old order. When this failed to materialise strong feelings of nationalism developed; France was seen as a chosen nation, picked out to be the standard-bearer of revolution throughout Europe.

Ambidextrous Creed

Politically, nationalism is ambiguous, in that it can take on a "rightwing" or a "leftwing" form. This depends upon the position of the capitalist class in the particular time and place. If political power is held by the aristocracy or nobility, and the middle-class is struggling to assert itself, then nationalism will have "leftwing" connotations. This was the case in Europe until 1848, when nationalism was a romantic, revolutionary force against the traditional ruling class. However, once the bourgeoisie has captured and consolidated its power, then nationalism becomes a conservative and rightwing force.

. . . and in Ireland now

Although every nationalist movement believes it is unique, there exist basically these two forms of nationalism side by side. In the advanced parts of the world ― the United States, Britain, Western Europe ― nationalism is conservative, whilst in pre-industrial countries engaged in struggles against a foreign ruling class, nationalism is a "leftwing" force.

The World Socialist Movement opposes all nationalist movements recognizing that the working class has no country. There are certain other groups ― the Communist Parties of the world, and the so-called revolutionary left ― which, though claiming to have a class outlook, have a wholly opportunist and ambiguous attitude to nationalism, which reflects not so much the interest of the working class as it does Russian or Chinese foreign policy. These groups fully accept the mythology of the existence of "the nation". For example, from an Anti-Internment League pamphlet:

"The people of each nation have the right to determine how they shall be governed. Foreign interference is a fundamental attack on that right. When one nation takes offensive action against another, by introducing troops or in any other way, we cannot sit on the fence . . . And so to Ireland: Ireland is a nation; Ireland is not Britain; and the Irish have a right to decide whether or not they wish to have any association with the rest of these isles."

This attitude is a complete denial of Marxism; it is almost incomprehensible that people who describe themselves as Socialists should write of the "right to re-establish Irish nationhood" (from the same pamphlet). The Irish republican movement is in essence no different from any other nationalist movement; it was brought into being because of the need of a fledgling capitalist class to break away from Britain and erect protective tariff barriers in order to build an industrial economy. Socialists give the IRA and Sinn Fein no support whatsoever.

What Marx Meant

It will be argued that Marx and Engels supported nationalist movements and that therefore Socialists should do so today. Such an assertion is based on a faulty understanding of the materialist conception of history. Marx and Engels were living in an era when the bourgeoisie was engaged in a struggle to assert itself against the old feudal regimes. The victory of this class was a historically progressive step at that time in that it brought about the re-organization of society on a capitalist basis, the essential precondition for the establishment of Socialism; and it created an urban proletariat, the only class which can bring about Socialism. This was why Marx supported the rising capitalist class in their bid to capture political power.

However, once capitalism reaches the point where Socialism is a practical proposition, there is no need for Socialists to advocate the capitalist industrialization of every corner of the globe; they can concentrate fully on the task of establishing Socialism. Hence we give no support to any nationalist group, and in place of the opportunism and hypocrisy of the myriad Bolshevik groupings in advocating "national self-determination", Socialists echo the rallying cry of Marx and Engels, "Workers of All Countries, Unite!"

Predatory Capitalism is Killing America

By Nancy O'Brien Simpson

Dear reader, your faithful columnist has occasion to dine with wealthy men.  Being of a curious nature I love to ask questions.  One of my favorites is, "What are your top two hot buttons, or issues?  Things like the second amendment, poverty, the environment, immigration, abortion...."  

A surgeon I was dining with last summer said, "That's an interesting question, let me think."  He thought a minute and then looked up at me and said, "Welfare.  It really pisses me off to think of my hard earned money going to women who sit on their asses and do nothing."  

Where do I even begin to tell you, dear reader, my thoughts on this.  And, his response is not isolated, not by any means.  There is a seething resentment of the corporate elites towards the poor.  Christian charity?  Not on your life.  Socialist compassion, forget it.
This is America, they can get friggin' job like everyone else.  And, they can work their way up like I did.  There is an Ayn Randian survival of the fittest, and the not so fit be damned mentality.  This is, of course, the heart of predatory capitalism.  This is America.  Who can make the most money?  Who can move up the ladder?  Who can drive the best car?  Who can live in the coolest house.

America is not like Nordic countries

This attitude is why America is not like the Nordic countries.  Why we do not have universal health care.  Why moms and dads whose baby gets leukemia and cannot pay the medical bills end up in foreclosure or bankruptcy.  

According to Investopedia:
A study done at Harvard University indicates that this (medical expenses) is the biggest cause of bankruptcy, representing 62% of all personal bankruptcies. One of the interesting caveats of this study shows that 78% of filers had some form of health insurance, thus bucking the myth that medical bills affect only the uninsured.

Rare or serious diseases or injuries can easily result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills - bills that can quickly wipe out savings and retirement accounts, college education funds and home equity. Once these have been exhausted, bankruptcy may be the only shelter left, regardless of whether the patient or his or her family was able to apply health coverage to a portion of the bill or not.

 This mentality of ruthless capitalism is why we had predatory mortgages that went bust and destroyed lives, while those who doled out the said mortgages were bailed out and paid their usual bonuses. 

This is why we can ship jobs overseas for slave labor wages and not give a rip about the American workers left behind, or the slave labor wages paid to the third world workers.  This is why the corporate ruling class can see the cities of America die in the Rust Belt and look away without batting an eye.

These predatory capitalist directors, presidents, owners, executives exalt in American inequity, "We made it to the top, you did not.  Sorry about your luck."  In a nation that has become blinded by by its own mind-speak, the workers fight for their prison of servitude and will defend our American capitalism against the evils of socialism, while the elites laugh all the way to the bank in their limos.    

With predatory capitalism failing, and it is, we distract ourselves with the panacea of consumerism that the corporations shove at us to numb our souls. 

The hopelessness of the lower middle class to crave out a piece of the pie has created a huge epidemic of heroin addiction. And, th heroin/oxycotin epidemic is no longer confined to the ghettos of our cities or the redneck hills of Kentucky.  Children of middle mangers and lawyers and everyone else are dying of overdoses in their twenties.  

Mass unemployment

There is mass unemployment which is masked by those working just enough hours so that employers do not have to pay for health care.  And, in the richest damn nation on the earth those workers pay around six hundred dollars a month of their small, slim pay checks for insurance that has a six thousand dollar deductibles which is like having no insurance at all. 
We, the richest nation in the world (read richest for those at the top) have one of the highest child poverty rates on the planet.  15 million American children live in poverty, fully 21 percent of all our children.  That is an abomination.  And, remember the gentleman who told me that welfare mothers were the number one burr under his saddle, trust me when I tell you he does not give a damn about that number.  As long as he and his family have theirs. 

This is predatory capitalism.  This is what is infinitely better than those at the top sharing their wealth with the less fortunate.  Or, workers sharing in the profits of their companies.  No, no, never that!  The fruit of their labors should go to the 10 million dollar a year salaries of their leaders.  Yes, we are that myopic in America and that brainwashed that predatory capitalism is not only thriving, but righteous and holy.  

"The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil."  Albert Einstein

Einstein continues in "Why Socialism?" Monthly Review, 1949:

"The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists...leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career. 

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals....The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow-men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society." 

Today America has abandoned any meaningful sense of labor unions, workers’ rights, economic equity.  Gone.  We have even given up on a single payer health care and insanely praise Obamacare with its horrific premiums and deductibles. We gladly accept that the corporate elite rule.  We know that congress is bought and sold by lobbyists, that the corporations own the media, that the military had an insane part of our budget and we simply do not care.  We aquiese to the idea that predatory captialism is socially responsible in any way.  We laud capitalism that has eviserated the middle class and created a huge underclass of poverty, we defend the status quo that gets more dangerous by the day. 

How did this happen?  How did we get so blind?  Much of Europe figured it out, Canada has universal health care and does not have over seven hundred military bases in over 125 countries.  Canada does not drop bombs all over the earth.

Part of it is manipulation and distraction.  Manipulated by the corporate media into what we should be doing.  Which is leading the good life.  Go to yoga, make sure your yoga pants are the most hip brand.  Get your artisan bread at the local farmer's market.  Be sure to hate Donald Trump.  

I told you about our child poverty rates in America. Want to know what we do spend our money on?  Well, last year we dropped over 22,000 bombs in seven countries.  

The National Priorities Project states: 

In fiscal year 2015, military spending is projected to account for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending, a total of $598.5 billion. Military spending includes: all regular activities of the Department of Defense; war spending, nuclear weapon spending, international military spending, and other Pentagon-related spending.

Our schools our floundering.  Our inner cities are rife with poverty and violence.  And, finally, women are beginning to come together to protest.  And, what are they protesting?  Pay?  Nope.  Health care?  Guess again. Child poverty?  Wrong.  Free tuition for college?  Nah.  They are going to march, millions of them, to demand that Donald Trump shows them his little ole tax return.  Yep, that's right.  His tax return!  Who cares?  Who cares if the man paid zero taxes or massive taxes.  The world is burning down and millions of women are mobilizing to force Donald J. Trump to share his tax return. 

Add to this that to make their point the ladies have taken to cutting out vaginas from cardboard, painting them pink and sticking their heads through them to make their point.  I kid you not.  

In America, the real problems of poverty, the eroding middle class, the out of control military spending, the polluting of the environment, the economic stranglehold of the corporate elites are completely gone from the discourse save for a few commentators like Chris Hedges of Truthdig, Richard D. Wolff, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now).  Even the revered Noam Chomsky was deluded into saying he would vote for Hillary over Trump.  And, we all know in the end Bernie Sanders, our one light in the darkness, our one almost real socialist, sold out to Clinton.  

The population, when it is not wearing pink cardboard vaginas and demanding Trump's tax returns is distracted by popular culture.  The corporations with the ad campaigns and their media tell us what we need to buy, and how we need to think.  In the meantime, things are going to hell, but we have our cell phones and our yoga mats.  

The corporations have created a matrix that we all scramble around in.  It appears like everything is wonderful, and it is for the top earners, but for the vast middle class and below ...not so much.  It is like a prison that was created just for us to be lulled to sleep in.  An inverted dictatorship of corporate rule. 

As Ricardo Rezende states: 

"The perfect dictatorship would have the appearance of democracy, a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not dream of escape. A system of slavery where, through consumption (Apple, Rolex, Nike, Johnnie Walker, Armani, Ferrari, Louis Vuitton, BlackFriday...) and entertainment (Marvel, Disney, NFL, Star Wars, Adele, NBA, Pokemon GO, Game of Thrones, UEFA...and in some cases, religion). The slaves would love their servitude (producing dictatorship without tears, a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies). That system is our enemy. It is all around us. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth (a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch, a prison for your mind). 

This system organizes our economy, our politics, our habits, our lives, and even provides us with rates and credit cards and gives us the appearance of happiness... Like everyone else you were born into bondage. It seems that we have been born only to consume and to consume... we are auto-marginalized. And many are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.That's how it is with people - nobody cares how it works as long as it work.. Fact is that when we are mesmerized by someone (corporations) we lose all sense of analysis and reflection. It is important to realize that everyone is born with a brain, so I'm being pragmatic by saying no one has the right to be ignorant. Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools.."

Sadly, tragically we have become a nation of fools duped by the corporate elite to drop their bombs, pop their over priced prescriptions, eat their GMO-ed food, watch their propaganda news to preserve the status quo, botox ourselves to their standard of beauty, prop up their income inequity as noble and American, and if we feel a roar or a rage in us, cut out a cardboard vagina, paint it pink, stick our heads through it and chant to Donald Trump, "Show us your tax, or we'll give you the axe!" 
Heaven help us.