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| Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah |
By Ekow Yeboah
Take it or leave it, the signs are that September 21,
the birthday of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, first President of the Republic of
Ghana, may no longer be officially celebrated as Founder’s Day.
This is because about 60 per cent of the current
membership of Parliament does not accept Nkrumah as the founder of modern
republic of Ghana.
They claim that Ghana was founded by a mythical big six
including Obetsebi –Lamptey who was convicted of terrorism, Justice Edward
Akufo-Addo, Kwame Nkrumah, J. B. Danquah, Ako Adjei and William Ofori Atta.
The Founder’s Day declared by former President John
Evans Atta Mills in 2009 has been stoutly opposed by the New Patriotic Party
(NPP). The NPP now has 169 seats in the 275 seat parliament giving it a
majority of 60 per cent.
The problem is that Founder’s Day was declared
administratively by the Mills Government without any law backing it. Interestingly,
President John Mahama also failed to give the declaration any legal backing.
Any attempt to secure parliamentary approval for the
observance of September 21 as Founder’s Day is expected to be seriously
resisted by the majority side in Parliament.
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| Osagyefo with Fidel Castro |
In 1969, Parliament sat under a certificate of urgency
to criminalise the possession and circulation of photographs of Nkrumah.
After February 24, 1966, the Convention Peoples Party
(CPP) was banned and its activists were also banned from holding office for 10
years.
Books written by or about Nkrumah were also set ablaze
as part of the effort to bastardise progressive politics.
Over the last 15 years, the Socialist Forum of Ghana
(SFG) has marked September 21 as Founder’s Day and February 24 as Ghana’s Day
of Shame.
The SFG says that it will continue to mark Founder’s Day
no matter what the Government or Parliament does.
Editorial
BRAVO!
The decision by the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) to
continue the observance of Founder’s Day no matter what the current Government
decides is highly recommendable.
This is an era of plural politics and citizens are
entitled to disagree with governments and to act on the basis of their
conviction.
Like the Socialist Forum of Ghana The Insight believes
firmly that Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah is the Founder of the modern republic of
Ghana and we shall support any effort to observe September 21 as such.
It is our hope that the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and
all other political parties which accept Nkrumah as the founder of Ghana will
act together to give honour to one of Africa’s greatest sons.
Founder’s Day must not be allowed to die because of
official disdain for Nkrumah and his achievements.
We will celebrate Founder’s Day on September 21, 2017
whether some people like it or not.
Local News:
AFRICAN VOICES FOR
PALESTINE
Jackie Ankrah
Confirms Participation And…
 |
| Jackie Ankrah |
By Gifty Agyemang
The beautiful Ghanaian songstress, Jackie Ankra has
confirmed her participation in a solidarity concert with the people of
Palestine scheduled for Friday July 14, 2017.
The event dubbed “African Voices for Palestine” will
feature some of Africa’s most talented musicians and is intended to show case
the plight of Palestinians living under Israeli colonial occupation.
The event sponsored by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
(Ghana) was initiated by the Ghanaian music maestro, Amandzeba and the award winning
superstar, Dr Knii Lante Blankson.
Mieta Fambuley, from Liberia has also confirmed her participation
alongside Gyedu Blay Ambulley, Blakk Rasta and stone Boy.
Organisers say that they have huge surprises for music funs
and these will be revealed in due course.
Amandzeba has already composed a Palestinian solidarity
song which would be launched at the concert.
 |
| Palestinian girls protest Israeli Occupation |
It is expected that leaders of political parties in
Ghana, youth and gender movements, labour organisations, members of the
diplomatic corps, Chiefs, progressives and Pan-African organisations will
participate in the event.
The event is also expected to be given extensive
coverage by the international media.
Last week, hunger-striking Palestinians prisoners
suspended their hunger strike following an agreement with the Israeli
authorities.
About a third of the prisoners has been detained without
charge or trial and a huge part are made up of women and children.
Israel is also building illegal settlements on
Palestinian lands.
Entrance to the concert is absolutely free.
Africa:
Struggles over
Macroeconomic Policy and Gender Equality
By Prof Marjorie Mbilinyi
The 2016 Africa Human Development Report: Accelerating
Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa provides a welcome analysis
of the impact of macroeconomic policy and structures on gender relations and
structures of inequality and power.
According to the report, “… fiscal policy and public
expenditures may be the first and most important litmus test of a government’s
commitment to gender equality.” Indeed, civil society organisations in Tanzania
and elsewhere such as TGNP Mtandao have taken the lead in carrying out gender
analysis of the budget process at district and national level, and advocating
for gender responsive budgeting by central and local governments.
A growing number of regional, national and local
organisations carry out budget and performance tracking – thereby furthering
the democratisation and accountability of government. However, the outcomes
have been mixed; this article challenges the report’s assumption of a
conflict-free harmonious process for gender equality in participatory budgeting
and corporate programmes.
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| A Ghanaian trader at a local market |
Contradictory outcomes: Participatory engagement with
the budget process has led to increased knowledge about how things work among
citizens, and increased information about the mobilisation and allocation of
resources and budget implementation, beginning at grassroots level. There have
been impressive results in specific locations where local government
authorities have become more responsive, attentive, and knowledgeable, and even
cooperate to demand more local control over resources. A lot depends on local
leadership however.
In other cases, grassroots activists have faced a back
lash from local authorities who are not accustomed to having their power
challenged, especially by women or young people.
What is missing is a powerful pressure group or
movement representing marginalised women and men from grassroots to national
level, which can demand and get real change in structures of power at national
and regional level. In contrast, the private commercial sector does organise
itself successfully to advance its own interests vis-à-vis policy, plans and
budgets. Part of the difference may also be the government’s growing dependence
on private corporations for tax and non-tax revenue, given the steady decline
of external donor support, giving them increased leverage to make demands.
These demands often run opposite to those of the majority of poor Tanzanian
women and men.
The public-private-partnership myth: Mainstream
discourse projects a picture of harmonious conflict-free understanding of PPP
which is far from the truth. In the case of land policy, for example, private
corporations including banks are lobbying for further liberalisation and
privatisation of land tenure and ownership, which local communities and their
organisations resist in defending their rights to land and livelihoods. The
private sector consistently lobbies for lower corporate taxes and non-tax
payments, which would deprive the government and the majority of people of
necessary resources to support public social and economic services.
Corporations aim to reduce production costs associated
with labour, by reducing or abolishing minimum wages, removing workers
entitlements such as maternity/paternity leave and the right to organise in
independent labour unions.
Private employers in both the informal and formal
sector also benefit from sex discrimination in occupations and wages by
systematically paying women lower wages, often for the same work, with similar
levels of education and experience. According to the 2016 Africa Human
Development Report a gender wage gap persists outside of agriculture in
sub-Saharan Africa, such that on average, men earn 30 per cent more than women
in manufacturing, services and trade. Ultimately the employer benefits by
hiring women and paying them lower wages; the same goes for buyers of goods and
services produced by women in the market place. This is especially relevant now
when agriculture and non-agriculture enterprises are shifting from full-time
permanent labour to casual labour systems.
Capital’s search for flexible labour is happening at
higher levels of employment status and wages as well, especially in the form of
contract and consultancy work. Employers’ production costs are reduced by not
paying for administrative overhead costs, and fringe and other benefits
normally provided to regular employees, and the longer hours which contract
workers and consultants often work.
The fact that women often prefer ‘at home’ work
because it allows them to combine care work at home with ‘paid work’ does not
discount the reality of self-exploitation involved. This leads me to be
sceptical about strategies for gender equality which rely on self-monitoring by
the corporate sector, same as ‘responsible investments’ in large-scale
agriculture and land.
Source: All Africa
Western Sahara: Seizure of a cargo of phosphate rock destined for New
Zealand
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| Phosphate mining in Western Sahara |
The Saharawi people and their representative
organizations, including the democratically elected SADR government, have long
protested the illegal mining and export of high quality phosphate rock from an
area of Western Sahara which has been under armed occupation by Morocco since
1975. The trade has continued despite the commitment of the United
Nations in 1991 to ensure for the people of Western Sahara a self-determination
process, something otherwise achieved throughout Africa.
Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara (4 May 2017). The government
of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (the SADR) and the Saharawi national
liberation movement, the Polisario Front, announced that they have secured
through legal means in South Africa the interception and detention of a
shipment of phosphate mineral rock exported from Western Sahara which had been
destined for a New Zealand importer.
The cargo, at an estimated 54,000 tonnes and worth
just over $5 million (US), is a commodity used in the manufacture of
agricultural fertilizer. It had been loaded aboard the Marshall Islands
flagged bulk carrier NM Cherry Blossom on the coast of occupied
Western Sahara last month. Saharawi authorities initiated legal
proceedings in South Africa when it became clear that the ship would call into
Port Elizabeth to reprovision during a month-long journey. The ship
remains at Port Elizabeth.
The Saharawi people and their representative
organizations, including the democratically elected SADR government, have long
protested the illegal mining and export of high quality phosphate rock from an
area of Western Sahara which has been under armed occupation by Morocco since
1975. The trade has continued despite the commitment of the United
Nations in 1991 to ensure for the people of Western Sahara a self-determination
process, something otherwise achieved throughout Africa. A handful of
companies worldwide remain involved in the trade, including two in New Zealand.
Emhamed Khadad, a member of the Polisario leadership,
remarked that “the mining and export of what is a non-renewable resource from a
place under occupation where the UN has tried to pursue the peaceful assurance
of a basic right to the Saharawi people is wrong on many levels. It is a
violation of well-settled principles of international law. It is morally
indefensible. And it’s bad business, in that the few companies involved
face reputational risks, and – as we have seen in several European countries –
investor withdrawal.”
Saharawi authorities have attempted to engage the
companies involved, and did so in New Zealand along with the government because
of that country’s historical support for self-determination in East Timor
(Timor-Leste) and Western Sahara. In September 2015 and September 2016
position statements about Western Sahara, the Fertilizer Association of New
Zealand – a representative agency of both New Zealand companies involved –
claimed the purchasing of the phosphate rock had a legal basis. Despite
this, the companies have never responded to Saharawi requests for dialogue, and
would not disclose a purported legal opinion justifying the purchasing of the
commodity.
Khadad went on to note: “This is a non-renewable
resource, one which needs to stay in the ground until the Saharawi people are
given what is the basic commitment of the international community to choose
their future.”
The seizure of the cargo under court order comes after
Saharawi authorities successfully concluded a case against the European Union
for extending a free trade agreement with Morocco into Western Sahara. In
that case, the Court of Justice of the European Union noted in its December
2016 decision that Morocco did not have governing competency or any territorial
claim to Western Sahara. The territory, the Court found, is to be treated
as a separate entity from Morocco and the consent of its people (the Saharawi people
and not more recent settlers) required for development and export of
resources.
“The interdiction of this shipment is a further use of
peaceful means to apply the law, for Saharawi people denied the most basic of
rights in a nearly decolonized world, and who must endure a brutal occupation
with widely documented human rights violations”, remarked Khadad. “We
have tried to patiently engage with the companies involved, and with some we
have prevailed. The New Zealand companies are responsible for a
substantial share of the trade. It was right to pursue legal action to
vindicate a clear legal right to this commodity, and important our people
relied on a well-regarded justice system in an African country to do that.”
For additional information and media contact:
Kamal Fadel
Polisario (Western Sahara) Representative to Australia
and New Zealand
Phone: +61416335197
Britain: Election 2017
Labour Lures Young
Voters
Labour is promising to end university fees as soon as
this autumn, in a bid to lure young voters with the registration deadline fast
approaching.
More than 2 million people have applied for ballot
papers in the month since Prime Minister Theresa May called for the June 8 snap
elections. Over the last week alone more than 100,000 people have filled in the
form, with nearly 40 percent under 25. Online registration runs until the end
of Monday May 22.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party looks to have slashed a Conservative poll lead of 20 to a mere nine
points over the last month, with YouGov pollsters
recently revealing that 18-34 year-olds are more likely to vote Labour.
“We will make sure that as of September, students that
are going to university will not have to pay tuition,” Labour’s shadow
education secretary, Angela Rayner, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
The estimated £9.5 billion (US$12.35 billion) that the policy will cost annually “is a
small price to pay when it comes to ensuring that our young people are not
saddled with £45,000 of debt when they leave university,” she added.
University fees are set to rise to £9,250 a year for
anyone starting a degree in September. An estimated 400,000 students would
benefit from Labour’s move.
“We will scrap tuition fees and ensure universities
have the resources they need to continue to provide a world-class
education,” Corbyn said.
“Students will benefit from having more money in their
pockets, and we will all benefit from the engineers, doctors, teachers and
scientists that our universities produce."
But both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have
condemned the policy, after overseeing the trebling of annual tuition fees from
£3,000 to £9,000 in 2010.
Middle East:
Iran voted Rouhani
again – now what?
 |
| Iranian President Hassan Rohani |
By Catherine Shakdam
For a country labelled a theocracy, Iran certainly
knows how to throw a presidential election. One more cynical than I may even go
so far as to posit that Iran has mastered the art of democracy, right down to
the posters and caps.
Yes, I said it, and at the risk of sounding smug, I
will continue to say it: the Islamic Republic of Iran is democratic. I realize
what a disappointment it must be for neocons everywhere, but the great enemy of
the West is in fact a fierce defender of pluralism and political self-determination.
And while I will grant you that the Islamic Republic
has borne many great crosses since its inception – no one in Tehran has ever
claimed that perfection was anyone’s birthright – much can be said for a nation
that has existed amid struggle and war, for it imagined itself free from the
tyranny of imperialism.
If I may stray a little from the subject at hand, I
would like to remind the reader that since Iranians spoke their Islamic
Revolution to life, they were never given the opportunity of a break – rather,
their institutions and sovereignty were challenged so that the nation could be
reverted to a state of dependency.
Let’s not fool ourselves into believing that Iran’s
bid for independence in 1979 did not profoundly upset the balance of powers –
and by that, I mean imperialism. It was never Iran’s institutional choice that bothered western capitals, but rather the Islamic Republic’s stubborn determination to stand
sovereign over its land, natural resources, traditions, and history.
Now perhaps you will better appreciate the bile our
very own Western complex has thrown at a nation whose ambitions are not
different from its own, while it has courted those very regimes that seek the
annihilation of freedom itself. Need I name that land that US President Trump
descended upon in Air Force One?
Iran, I repeat, is a functioning, thriving, and
pluralist democracy. My statement is made not out of misplaced sympathy, but
actual experience. As it happens, I was lucky enough to follow one of the
presidential hopefuls – Seyed Ebrahim Raisi – on the campaign trail, and what I
saw was nothing short of inspirational.
What I witnessed was a nation in control of its
political future, in tune with its system of governance, and in harmony with
its many differences. If Iranians do in fact disagree on how their country
should be led and by whom – which is kind of the point in a democracy – they
have not reduced themselves to running an episode of the Real Housewives…
As the Western world has struggled with political
apathy and pandemic disenfranchisement, Iran has remained politically aware,
politically savvy, and more importantly, politically sound, despite a litany of
interferences.
An article by the Wall Street Journal crassly called on Iranians not to vote – an interesting stance
from a nation that calls itself the Land of the Free. The title read, ‘An
Iranian Voter’s Guide: Don’t Vote.’
Regardless of what one may think of Iran or its system
of governance – the Governance of the Jurist (Wilayat al-Faqih) – it remains nevertheless true that the Islamic Republic has managed
to build a democracy amid a barrage of sanctions and vicious misinformation
campaigns.
In the land of Ayatollahs – a term I’m sure has made
more than one ethnocentric Western bigot smirk with gleeful disdain – elections
are meant as an exercise of sovereignty and pluralism. For all the criticism
that experts, politicians, and foreign officials may have hurled against Iran
over its alleged democratic shortcomings – which you will note have yet to be
substantiated by facts – none can accuse the Islamic Republic of electoral
incorrectness.
With a turnout of over 73 percent, Iran is
overwhelmingly more engaged than its western counterparts – that, of course, we
seldom are told.
Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani was elected for a
second term… now what? What happens next, and more to the point, what will
America’s Trump do with that reality?
Are we really buying the timing of President Trump’s
visit to the very theocratic, and very lethal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
We better not, otherwise we all would be missing the
Washington-Riyadh passive-aggressive overture against Iran, and Iran’s
democratic reality. Timing, as they say, is everything.
Indeed… just as Iranians were busy discussing the
latest debates to determine which candidate they felt was most suited for the
job, the Kingdom and America were playing target practice on innocent civilians
to gauge just how much chaos they could raise and wield as a weapon of
political mass manipulation.
Thankfully, America is just not as imaginative as it
used to be – or maybe it is that the neocons played too many tricks for anyone
to be under any illusions anymore. Recycling the same narrative against one’s
enemy to assert one’s imperialistic narrative has only ever served to unveil
that very agenda one intends to hide. But hey, it’s just a big conspiracy
theory, right? America would never lie about its true intentions, and never
would it support regimes that stand Democracy’s way.
If only…
So, what now?
Not much actually. Now that election fever has
dissipated, Iran will pick up where it left off, meaning that Tehran is still
very much committed to upholding the terms of the JCPOA, that Syria and
Iraq both remain important military flashpoints against ISIS, and that the
Islamic Republic will work to assert its independence within the framework of
international law.
I will leave you with Seyed Raisi’s comments from our
interview, as I believe he best encapsulated what Iran envisions for its
future.
“We are open to have relations with all countries,
however, an honorable relationship. This kind of relationship requires that any
agreement, any accord, any deal be treated with dignity and respect, and we
will not allow any such agreement, in every activity, we will not permit that
the honor of our country be put in harm’s way.”
Palestine:
India Calls for Early Resumption of Israel-Palestine Talks
 |
| A Palestinian youth displays Palestinian flag |
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held extensive talks on several bilateral
and international issues of mutual interest. The two leaders discussed the
Middle East peace process as India wants an early solution to the
Israel-Palestine conflict.
During the talks with Palestinian President
Abbas, Prime Minister Modi stressed for the early resumption of talks between Palestine and
Israel.
"President Abbas and I have concluded useful and
detailed discussions that will add further strength to our partnership. We
had extensive exchange of views on the situation in West Asia
and the Middle East Peace Process. We agreed that the challenges in West
Asia must be addressed through sustainable political dialogue and peaceful means. India hopes for early resumption
of talks between Palestine and Israeli sides to move
towards finding a comprehensive resolution," Prime Minister Narendra
Modi said, after meeting the Palestinian President Abbas in New
Delhi.
India has assured Palestine help to build its
economy and support the development and capacity-building efforts.
India has also agreed to provide assistance
to Palestine in the areas of information technology, youth and
skill development. India is undertaking projects assistance for a flagship
techno-park projects in Ramallah which will serve as an IT hub
in Palestine.
Palestinian President Abbas also met President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari
and Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. President Abbas is
on a four-day visit to India.
Europe:
New World Disorder –
The Next 20 Years: Hope or Despair?
 |
| Houses destroyed in Libya war |
There is no doubt that the world is facing a wave
of unprecedented uncertainties from political and civil unrest, conflict and
terrorism to seemingly never-ending financial turmoil, climate change, the
struggle for resources and disruptive technologies. Like it or not, no matter
where we are, we are living in a new world disorder.
But the big question is how will the world
fare over the next twenty years or so amid a global environment that is
changing and developing at an unrelenting pace. The greatest immediate
tests are emerging from the transition of a disintegrating post-war
political system that fostered a massively increased trade and cultural
exchange system that is now driving change and increased tensions on the
geo-political chessboard. At the same time we are distracted from the demise of
our home planet, ravaged by the decades long effects of greed
driven globalisation, the consequences yet to fully unfold.
Strategic Forecasting predicts that the European Union will not so much collapse but
splinter into four distinct groups; Western Europe, Eastern Europe,
Scandinavia, and the British islands as relations break down and they become
increasingly estranged from each other. It predicts that China will face
political chaos as economic growth declines, that Russia will fall
apart as it struggles to keep control of the worlds largest
federation and that the U.S. will take a more isolationist stance.
I’ve spoken with some of the world’s foremost
commentators as they reflect on the past and look forward on the current
trajectory of political and economic fortunes for the next 20 years in the
regions where they live or work in the Middle-East, America, Europe and
Asia more widely and the results are more complex than Strategic Forecasting
predicts.
First up is award winning British journalist Jonathan Cook located in Nazareth, Israel. Known for his de-coding of
official propaganda and outstanding analysis of events often obfuscated in the
mainstream, which has made him one of the most reliable truth-tellers in the
Middle East:
“Our
increasingly globalised world means it is difficult – and probably unrealistic
– to disentangle geo-strategic problems. Can the Palestinians’ hopes of living
in dignity really be separated from what happens in Syria, Washington, Europe
and Iran?
Two conflicting global trends will intensify over the
next 20 years, and the fates of Israelis and Palestinians – and the rest of us
– will hinge on how they play out.
The first is what might be termed the evolution of the
“fortress state”, or the “homeland security” syndrome.
The elites in the most powerful states are moving into
survival mode: externally against rival states as key resources deplete, and
internally as resource shortages and climate change risk turning their own
publics against them.
This requires a mix of outward belligerence and inward
repression in which Israel already excels. State elites are likely to look to
Israel for solutions based on its long experience of destabilising neighbours
and using Palestinian areas as laboratories for experimenting in methods of
subjugation, surveillance and control. This expertise could, in the words of
Israeli analyst Jeff Halper, make Israel “indispensable” and provide it
with continuing diplomatic and financial cover.
A second trend cannot be discounted, however. A
globalised, interconnected world is one where information is much harder to
control or suppress. The evident power of social media to bypass traditional
media gatekeepers is already worrying these same elites. They are reacting,
claiming that new media – rather than corporate and state media – are the
purveyors of “fake news”.
The democratising role of social media is awakening
larger sections of the population, especially the young, to the neo-imperial
role of the US and its allies, to the inability of capitalism to address its
own internal contradictions, and to key injustices, such as the case of the
Palestinians. This trend will be hard to stop without overt censorship and
repression.
The fate of the Palestinians will depend on the
outcome of this wider clash: of the elites v’s the people. We see the first
signs of this coming confrontation in the rapid growth of the international
grassroots BDS movement – boycott, divestment and sanctions – and the backlash
from western governments. They have quickly jettisoned their supposed
commitment to free speech (remember Charlie Hebdo?) in favour of measures to
suppress support for boycotts of Israel. The polarisation between leaders and
led will intensify.
Despite all the evidence, I remain optimistic – both
because that is my nature, and because history, however fickle, has a habit of
eventually favouring those with justice on their side.”
Next is Felicity Arbuthnot, a British freelance
journalist who has visited, written and broadcasted widely on Iraq, one of
the few journalists to cover Iraq extensively even in the mid-1990’s during the
sanctions and reported on the devastating effects that took place prior to
America’s attack that killed over one million civilians:
“It is
impossible, given the level of heartbreak and destruction wrought on the Middle
East, not to be beyond all shame and mired in pessimism. From the religious
zealots in Europe who launched eight major invasions, the Crusades, in the
region, between 1095 and 1291 to “liberate” the Holy Land from the majority
Muslim inhabitants, to the religious zealots led by George W.
Bush and Tony Blair, in a second declared “Crusade” in 2003. It seems
the lands of such an eye watering history of humanity, beliefs and wonders are
never to be left to flourish amid the beauty and culture.
Fast forward to Winston Churchill who said
of the Kurds and the inhabitants of Northern Iraq: “I do not understand this
squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at
the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a
permanent method of warfare…. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas
against uncivilised tribes.” (War Office minute, 12th May 1919.)
Lawrence of Arabia meddled in the region on behalf of
the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Gertrude Bell, British spy
amongst other things, it is forgotten, was busy creating the “New Iraq” after
the fall of the Ottoman Empire. In August 1921 she wrote with supreme
patronisation: “We have finally crowned our little King.” He was not, of
course, an Iraqi. Sykes-Picot redrew the borders, severing families and
ancients bonds.
Oil was discovered and fast forwarding again, the
Project for the New American Century and all the indescribable horrors that
have befallen the region since, with further threatened, based on lie after
lie, with the UN either ignored or near mute.
But in spite of all, there is perhaps still hope in a
region of towering pride, culture, spirit and ingenuity. It was Paul William
Roberts who wrote of Iraq after the 1991 decimation, a haunting tribute that
equally applies from Tehran in the East to Palestine’s Jerusalem in the West:
“But for all the horrors, illegality, destruction,
shame on the invaders and collective shame shared by so many, there is
something Iraq will never lose”… the old people with resignation stamped across
their foreheads, who can’t go on yet will go on; the young married couples who
still hope for a better life yet don’t hope too hard lest it break their
hearts, the countless unremembered acts of kindness and of love that fill
desolate days, and I realise I would far prefer to be here than in any house
where this war is justified. For it cannot be justified. But this region
has always led to somewhere worth going. Baghdad is just as glorious in its
ruin as it was in its glory, for something noble crawls from the rubble to
spread golden wings in the light of dawn. The Gate of God opens wider.”
John B. Cobb, Jr. is an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist
described as one of the two most important North American theologians of the
twentieth century:
Currently the threat of war between the United States
and Russia is high. Fortunately, the recognition of Mutual Assured Destruction
may hold both powers back from the use of nuclear weapons unless one side
thinks that some kind of first strike could prevent a response. From time to
time, continuous U.S. provocations of North Korea could start a nuclear war
there that would be hard to contain. These are the most immediate threats
to human survival.
I find myself assuming, without much justification,
that our species will avoid this ultimate insanity, and concentrating on the
threats that follow from the now well-known fact that our collective behaviour
on the planet is unsustainable.
That means that if we continue in the deep ruts we are
now in, our current global civilisations will collapse, if not in war, then by
famine and disease. We are poisoning the ocean, the land, and the
atmosphere. We are exhausting or destroying the sources of fresh
water.
The battle of biochemistry against the evolution of
new plant and animal diseases will not always be won. Much of the best
farmland will be lost to rising sea levels and spreading deserts. Rising
temperatures will make large parts of the planet uninhabitable. We
will be more and more dependent on technology that will be more and more
vulnerable. Meanwhile the middle class is already disappearing, and the rich
and powerful will exploit the poor more and more ruthlessly. The poor
will be less passive than in the past. Their struggle to survive will
include violent resistance to the violence of the powerful. Population will
plummet. The remnant will fight over what is left. The technology available for
this fighting grows more and more comprehensively destructive. Since we
collectively have shown little willingness to change our ways radically, this
seems to be the most probable scenario.
Accordingly, if I must choose between pessimism and
optimism, I am a pessimist. But I stand in a tradition that calls for us to
trump pessimism with what we call “theological virtues.” These are faith, hope,
and love. I live in hope. Hope discerns hopeful developments here and there,
new departures that, if pursued, could pull the world back from the brink. It
delights in the emergence, now and again, of leaders who, if followed, would
bring about the needed changes. It sees that history is unpredictable, full of
surprises. To love in the context of hope is to care deeply about the whole and
do what we can to participate in promising breakthroughs. It is also to generate
what joy is possible in the here and now in acting for the flourishing of the
whole.
Andre Vltchek is a political analyst, journalist, author and a filmmaker. He has
reported and filmed armed conflicts in every corner of the world, served
as a Senior Fellow at the Oakland Institute and is interviewed by major news
and TV outlets across Asia for his incisive personal accounts:
Where do we go from here? The world seems to be
heading towards the final showdown between the reactionary forces of the
Western imperialism and those countries/nations that are determined to defend
their rights to maintain their independent course, to protect their cultures
and preserve interests of their people.
In a long term I remain very optimistic. In a short
term, the confrontation may be inevitable, even brutal, but for more than five
centuries, the world has been shouting in horror and pain, tormented by the
Western colonialism and neo-colonialism. Most of the victims used to be
invisible; they were suffering “somewhere there”, far away, where they
“belonged”. Now people are refusing to suffer and to die in silence. They’d
rather die standing, struggling, than to live in permanent agony and on their
knees.
Powerful new media outlets, in Russia, Latin America,
the Middle East and China are now confronting all orthodox Western mass media
channels, challenging with determination and courage all official imperialist
propaganda dogmas, while unveiling the devastation and killings caused by the
Western imperialism in all corners of the globe.
Resistance is growing and the new coalitions are being
constantly forged. It is definitely not good news for the West and for its
collaborators. But it gives new hope to the rest of the world. I strongly
believe that if left alone, the rest of the world would easily and quickly find
the way to coexist peacefully, even to find solutions to many urgent ecological
problems.
Without imperialism and savage capitalism, we would be
already, for many decades, living in much gentler, peaceful and optimistic
world.
There may have to be one more battle – a battle for
survival of our human race. I only hope that if there has to be one, it would
be the very last one: decisive and brief, with as little casualties as
possible.
Jeff J Brown lives in China, he has been a speaker at TEDx, the Bookworm
and Capital M Literary Festivals, the Hutong, as well as being featured in
an 18-part series of interviews on Radio Beijing AM774, with former BBC
journalist, Bruce Connolly:
China’s long march to postwar prominence began with
communist liberation in 1949. Previously, life expectancy was only 35 years and
literacy was 20%. It was brutally colonised, exploited and addicted to opium,
principally by Britain and America. By the end of the Mao Era in 1978, life
expectancy for one-fourth of humanity skyrocketed to +65 years and literacy to
+70%. The CPC had melded China into a formidable agricultural, industrial,
technological and military powerhouse to be respected, in spite of inhumane,
Cuba-esque sanctions.
While the economy grew over 6%/year, the population
doubled, so per capita, China was still consumer poor. Deng’s 1978 reforms were
designed to keep China on its path of socialism, while profiting from market
methods, to create the wealth needed to eventually transition into being a rich
communist country.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics has
breathtakingly shattered almost every socioeconomic and trade record in the history
of civilization. Over 90% of the world’s people brought out of poverty in the
last 40 years are Chinese.
China is Earth’s biggest (PPP) economy, creditor,
manufacturer, exporter and trader. There is no end in sight, as the CPC is on
track to meet its 2049 centennial goal to be the rich, communist society the
country’s constitution promises to deliver to its citizens. Unlike the West,
China has done all this without occupying, colonizing and destroying other
countries.
For 5,000 years, the Chinese have shown to have zero
global imperialism in their DNA. For the sake of Earth’s survival into the 21
st century, we need to jettison 500 years of Western tyranny, war and genocide,
for responsible and visionary global leadership. China’s proven record of win-win
cooperation and social justice is a global model we can all benefit from. Time
to jump aboard!
Nozomi Hayase Ph.D., is a former WikiLeaks Central contributing writer who has been
covering issues of freedom of speech, transparency and the vital role of
whistleblowers and cryptocurrencies. She is also a member of the
editorial board of The Indicter:
Noam Chomsky – “it’s disgraceful to keep Julian
Assange holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy. I did visit him there once and in
many ways it’s worse than imprisonment.”
I am optimistic about the next 20 years, because we
live in a world where now there is true investigative journalism. WikiLeaks
opened a door for a future that can be envisioned by everyday people. This whistleblowing
site that rose to prominence in 2010 with the release of the Collateral Murder
video, provided an avenue for those with conscience inside institutions to come
forward and reveal fraud and abuse of the powerful without fear of political
retaliation. Through the method of transparency, WikiLeaks brought a new form
of scientific journalism. By employing cryptography and creating a technical
infrastructure that is decentralized, they innovated journalism in the age of
the Internet and became a global 4th estate resilient to censorship.
For so long, the press, purported watchdogs for power
has been co-opted through media consolidation and acting as gatekeepers. In the
last 10 years WikiLeaks, with its perfect record of document authentication,
liberated free speech from institutions that failed to protect it. When people
are informed about real actions of governments, they can withdraw consent and
chart a path for self-determination.
Those in power work in secrecy, manipulating
perception to engineer people’s consent. From Chelsea Manning, Jeremy
Hammond to Edward Snowden, we have seen waves of contagious courage.
Despite coordinated attacks, WikiLeaks stays strong and keeps publishing. I see
tremendous hope in this growing network of people who have begun taking the
reins of their own destiny.
Graham Vanbergen – TruePublica Editor:
Since the signing of the Maastricht treaty in 1992, 65
parties in Europe rose to appose the union and the Euro, including UKIP who
ultimately caused Brexit causing political chaos and fractured relationships in
the 28 nation bloc.
The transition from the evidently disintegrating
post-war rules based system to a more complicated and international system that
America and the West insist on leading will be messy – dangerous even in the
years ahead.
To date, the most powerful advocates and institutions
to this system have made some disastrous decisions leading to increased
tensions in almost every region of the world. The power brokers of the West are
now facing an unprecedented challenge, particularly as rising discontent is
gathering at an unstoppable pace within their own territories from disaffected
but re-engaged citizens, much to the alarm of the ruling elite. Brexit, Trump,
the elimination of the traditional establishment in the French elections
and the rise of non establishment political parties is evidence
of the rapidly changing political environment we now face.
The globalisation project is facing off against
nationalism and protectionism headed up by populist movements, whilst
traditional political power is being replaced by transnational social movements
who increasingly dominate global politics – all of which adds considerable
pressure to an already weakened structure.
The worry is that America and its Western allies could
do the unthinkable in a desperate attempt to regain economic and political
control and attack its perceived opponents in a typically aggressive show of
force with catastrophic consequences.
The big problem is that the American policed security
order and European inspired legal order have both fractured at the same time
with no real candidates to replace them, thereby, creating a void that
could be filled with dangerous ideologies pushed by dangerous individuals.
As Antonio Gramsci wrote from his Roman
prison cell just before the last world war: “Disorder, war and even disease can
flood into the vacuum that forms when the old is dying and the new cannot be
born” – these words are truly relevant today.
The next 20 years will be more than just challenging
but from this new world disorder, as we peer over the precipice, we may see the
birth of new human collaboration and collective participation as technology
combined with a more enlightened generation strive for global peace – an
ideology not tried before.
Peoples across the world are trying to wrangle free of
globalisation, colonialism, imperialism and the inequality it delivers.
From the aforementioned collective commentary it is clear that the immediate
future may well be confrontational and certainly testing, be it from political
strife, conflict, famine, poverty, climate change and the like but there
is considerable optimism that from the very edge, humanity may just come to its
senses, and as Nozomi Hayase rightly observes that there is “tremendous
hope in this growing network of people who have begun taking the reins of their
own destiny.”
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