Western Priorities

Peace and our well-being is not priorities here in the west.

The writing’s on the wall.

From the genocide in Gaza, to AI data centres, to the skyrocketing cost of living, here in the west we citizens are not the priority of those who control our systems of governance and economics.

What’s government for anyways? Isn’t democracy supposed to mean something like government ‘for the people, by the people’?

We have no say about increased austerity while the elite class gets richer every day, while AI data centres with no business case spring up all around us, and while our countries wage senseless wars and support an ongoing genocide.

Yesterday I was talking with someone else who pays attention to geopolitics, and we discussed what will probably soon happen to our community, and what we need to do. I wonder how many other conversations like this are happening all over the world.

Our western governments are complicit in Trump’s stupid war against Iran, and that has caused the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz for the products our economies depend upon, which will most likely result in a global depression.

Yes, it’s Trump who bears the responsibility, but western and many other political leaders have been complacent if not downright supportive of his war against Iran, and support his and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They kill, torture children, women, health workers, reporters and anyone else they can get their hands on. It’s unimaginably terrible for them, and a moral injury to those of us helplessly watching these atrocities take place on our screens.

Our mainstream media makes excuses for them, and blames Iran for this mess that was initiated by the USA’s and Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran.

And let’s be clear: the USA lost the war, signed an MOU agreeing to Iran’s terms, and has violated almost every single one of those terms. Trump had no plan, and did not have an accurate understanding of Iran’s capabilities, and now we witness the man boy’s lies and bluster as he tries to find a way out of this situation. Iranians are fed up with this, as are so many of the rest of us.

Now he and his team are lying, saying that Iran is breaking the agreement, and they expect the rest of us to believe him. This guy, who went bankrupt six times before running for office, who is implicated in the Epstein files and violates all laws — national, international; he doesn’t care — calls this 5D Chess.

He and Netanyahu are joined at the hip even though they’re reportedly upset with each other. The USA and many of our countries supply Israel with the weapons it’s using and send Israel money, while our mainstream media makes excuses for Israel and its allies.

Meanwhile, AI data centres are springing up everywhere, even though they have no business case, and no way of making their investment back. Western governments are pouring our tax dollars into a technology designed for war and for spying on us. It sucks up our precious water — even while communities go without drinking water — and our electricity, with the rest of us paying higher utility bills because of this.

And now here we are, looking over the cliff we’re all about to fall over. To top it off, it’s July, and many of us in the western hemisphere are packing our go bags in case of wildfire. We can’t wait to see the end of summer, a season we once looked forward to, and cross our fingers that our homes and communities won’t be burnt down. The heat is stifling and we’re checking online for wildfires, especially on days when it’s hot and windy.

Go ahead and call me bitter. It’s true. In this moment, I’m beyond pissed off. At the stupid governments we call democracies, on the economy that funnels our money to the rich while so many of us are hungry and homeless, and at the senseless wars which are the only way left for the rich to continue making money.

As Avi Lewis says, it’s time for our governments to God damn govern. It’s time for public options for food and housing so we can afford them. It’s time for a green care economy, so that no one has to die of exposure to sky high temperatures, or wildfire smoke inhalation, or other kinds of natural disasters. And it’s time for real diplomacy.

We have the money, but our governments have different priorities. It’s time to change those priorities.

And, yes, it pisses me off that so many of us are gullible or indifferent, and are going to be shocked when the next next shoe drops. Admittedly, we’re awash in propaganda, and it’s harder to find accurate information about what’s going on. I’ve felt like a voice in the wilderness for decades.

This was so predictable. We’ve had lobbyists and moneyed interests making de facto government policies while we have faux democratic processes that mean nothing. There are no qualifications for those running for office. Many of them promise peace and prosperity and then deliver more goodies to the rich, the military and the fossil fuel industry, despite our worsening environmental conditions. Look at Canada’s Prime Minster, Mark Carney, who exemplifies this phenomenon.

If there’s a silver lining it’s that the western elite have revealed themselves and their values for what they are. Many are named in the Epstein files, support Israel as it commits genocide, and support wars that kill its own citizens and citizens in other countries for no good reason, and support AI data centres.

These people have no right to be in charge of anything, let alone our economies and governments. How do we move to a place where we have societies that are based on care and democracy, that stop sending our tax dollars to the rich and that rebuild our infrastructure and support systems instead? How do we make healing ourselves, our societies and our environment a priority instead of war?

How long will it take us to assimilate this information and create an effective resistance?

Here’s what I want to see out of all this:

• an end to Israel’s and the USA’s wars on Iran, Palestine and Lebanon

• Trump, Netanyahu and all those who supported them on trial in the Hague

• money out of politics

• release of the Epstein files and all who are named for crimes in them prosecuted

• highly regulated corporations so they can no longer cause harm

• money out of the military and into our infrastructure, social support systems and environmental restoration

• green jobs installing heat pumps and creating robust electrified public transit

• good, just relationships with other countries.

And I want to see every single person on earth with a roof over their head, good food to eat and opportunities for a meaningful life.

This is doable. We have the technology, the information, and the people power to do this. But we have to harness this power, plan accordingly, and then follow that plan. This is just common sense. It’s the way people want to live — with dignity, health and community.

And I want to see a free and restored Palestine where the people there can heal themselves and their land in exactly the way they want to, with full reparations from the USA, Israel, and Zionist organizations.

We owe Palestinians so much! They’re the ones who exposed what Empire is all about, and they’ve paid such a huge cost. We are forever in their debt.

In the meantime, let’s prepare ourselves for what seems inevitable at this point. Build community, grow and preserve food, and find ways of helping each other. We need to be prepared.

#FreePalestine

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I love the BDS campaign and the effect it’s having on Israel’s economy.

Here’s an excellent list of products from Israel: https://boycott.thewitness.news/categories

Here are some factsheets about Israel: https://www.cjpme.org/factsheets

And here’s where you can support Palestine by buying a kufiya: https://www.kufiya.org/

Here are some tips for hard times that might come in handy.

And you can find links to news sources I trust here and here.

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A big thank you to my paid subscribers. Your support really encourages me! I so appreciate you, and am glad you value my writing.