There has been something rolling around in the back of my mind that I couldn’t put my finger on. And then I read this article by Naomi Klein. Please read it. Or, if you prefer, you can listen to her reading excerpts from it here, but the complete article is better.
Coincidentally, I found this article while sharing a video on twitter that has since been removed. It was about what scares the powerful, and how we need to meaningfully embrace our power together.
It was about taking over existing businesses as co-ops, and governing ourselves on that kind of day to day level. It was about asserting our power to do things without needing to be directed. About un-atrophying those muscles.
From Naomi Klein’s article:
On what precisely do they (the ruling class) all agree? What are they uniting behind? What are they all defending when they speak of Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’?
It’s too simple, I’m afraid, to say they are united in defense of a single state. They are, of course, but they are also united in defense of a shared belief system. Amidst the reality of global economic apartheid and accelerating climate breakdown, they are united in a shared supremacist vision of safety and security for the few. This vision is the flip side of their steadfast refusal to in any way address the underlying drivers of these crises: capitalism, limitless growth, colonialism, militarism, white supremacy, patriarchy.
As Sherene Seikaly puts it, we are ‘In the age of catastrophe’ and ‘Palestine is a paradigm’.
Our political leaders and mainstream media here in the west are in lockstep in a way I’ve never seen before.
It matters how this ends, and not just for Palestinians, although the barbarity Israel is inflicting upon them absolutely must stop.
What kind of a world will we be living in if Israel gets away with committing genocide?And if the belief that being against this genocide is anti-semitic becomes the norm, and the use of brute force and lies take precedent over international law?
Which country will be next? And how much worse will it get for all countries of the western world?
More from Naomi Klein’s article:
I believe that this fear is why our governments have united in such an unprecedented fashion to assert their central belief system: That might will make right. That he who has the most advanced weaponry and the highest walls will succeed in containing and controlling the billions in dispossession and desperation. This belief system, more than anything else, helps explain why the governments of the wealthy world have joined Israel’s revenge frenzy with such unshakable enthusiasm, and why so many have refused, months into this slaughter, to even call for the barest of minimums: a permanent ceasefire.
The security of the gilded bubbles of luxury
They understand that Israel’s unending campaign is also a form of mass communication – that it is a message. And the message is being sent not only by Israel’s government but by every government that has blessed this onslaught – with words, with votes and vetoes at the United Nations, with photo ops, with weapons, with money, and with domestic attacks on Palestine solidarity. The message being broadcast is a simple one: That the gilded bubbles of relative safety and luxury that are dotted across our cruelly divided and fast-warming world will be protected at all costs. Up to and including with genocidal violence.
The narrative and reality being pushed is that might is right, that we are to be obedient, and pretend that protesting actual genocide is really anti-semitism, and other equally preposterous lies.
And when we look at the past few decades — deregulation, increased costs of living, housing becoming a commodity instead of a right, the dizzying concentration of wealth, the Overton window moving ever further to the right — we see that dehumanization, profit and power have been increasingly taking precedence over everything else.
The ruling class and its mouthpieces are telling the rest of us we don’t matter, the planet doesn’t matter, and that they can do whatever they want. This includes committing genocide, and supporting torture, starvation, and bald faced lies.
The video talks about what we need to do to reclaim our power. And many of us are doing that. Many are seizing power in various ways, and this is not being reported on mainstream media. The demonstrations, boycotts and other actions we’re taking are only being shown on social media.
We need to amplify these voices, and allow ourselves to be inspired and empowered by these actions. We have to be resolute in our commitment to show up at this critical historic moment.
We are in a very dangerous dance.
Thank you for sharing both Naomi Klein's post and your own thoughts thereon. I point to one key conclusion: << And when we look at the past few decades — deregulation, increased costs of living, housing becoming a commodity instead of a right, the dizzying concentration of wealth, the Overton window moving ever further to the right — we see that dehumanization, profit and power have been increasingly taking precedence over everything else. >>
This is capitalism with no restraints: an economic system that inevitably leads to the fascism, authoritarianism, and militarism that enable it. We stand at the precipice; the return of Trump to power will probably doom the planet's struggling ecological systems and environment irreparably...AND THEY DON'T CARE. Neonicotinoids are killing the bees on which we depend, but Bayer, Syngenta, et al. are making money on the product, which means they're good for "business." The glyphosate in Round-Up has brought the monarch butterfly to near-endangered status, but Monsanto are profiting, which means it's good for "business." Our dependance on fossil fuels has contributed to nine consecutive months of record temperatures...our turn to electric automobiles requires lithium, nickel, copper, and other minerals that can be mined only with enormous damage to the environment...etc. ad nauseam.
The system is rotten, but we must find away to resist.
I have long said that we are ruled by glorified sociopaths, except that a Blinken or Macron has powers that would make a Beria or Hitler weep hot salty pony tears of envy.
And yes, money and prosperity can paper over a lot of problems. It's when the money runs dry that the knives come out.