[onlooker]

http://overgrowthesystem.com/when-will- ... e-rise-up/
The above link is not to a book rather an article which I found to clearly and accurately relate the current impasse between the will of the people and the will of the elites which are in conflict with each other. What strikes me and should strike any thoughtful person is how the intentions and policies of the wealthy, powerful and elite are basically more of the same business as usual in which consolidation of power and wealth seems to be a main objective. This in turn is pure madness as already the Earth stands on the threshold of truly catastrophic outcomes and the powers that be simply wish to continue with the same though these ideologies and policies are what precisely have bought us to the precipice. Just an article but illuminating.

[onlooker]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/0 ... ts-policy/
Here is a link to how the US government listens to the wealthy and their lobbyists rather then you and me. I hope that others can include more articles and links to how the will of the people is being ignored and the desires of the powerful and wealthy people and institutions are what drive government policies and actions throughout the planet.

[Withnail]

There are no masses any more.

They've been successfully fragmented into numerous special interest groups.

[Withnail]

I don't believe the Arab Spring had anything to do with the March of Non-Violent Solidarity. People were angry because food became too expensive. And the people had weapons.

The Arab Spring only really happened in Tunisia, and even there they are now back to Islamist parties being elected.

The main purpose of the Arab Spring label as applied ad nauseam by the Western media was as cover to launch a series of bloody overthrows of regimes in the Middle East.

Regimes that were more secular and less repressive than the West's allies in the region. The West's allies did not experience an Arab Spring, rather the opposite.

[Withnail]

Withnail, does that include the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak? Are you saying his ouster was orchestrated or carried out by the West?

Nope, that one was real. Forgot about that.

But obviously nothing's changed in Egypt.

It's Libya and Syria I meant where the West have engaged in bloody opportunism using jihadists on the ground under a spurious 'Arab Spring' banner.

[onlooker]

I think it is now quite evident now that nothing has or is moving people to unite in common to rise up. Rather just a diaspora of varied protests all legitimate and warranted but failing to unite to address the common threats facing all people. I now think only a recognition by most people around the world of an existential threat coming their way will unite everyone to rise up and demand drastic change. Because at that point their will be nothing to lose in the minds of the masses and they will finally all be united via the realization that everyone is on the same boat. Of course by that time it may truly be too late.

[Withnail]

I think it is now quite evident now that nothing has or is moving people to unite in common to rise up. Rather just a diaspora of varied protests all legitimate and warranted but failing to unite to address the common threats facing all people. I now think only a recognition by most people around the world of an existential threat coming their way will unite everyone to rise up and demand drastic change. Because at that point their will be nothing to lose in the minds of the masses and they will finally all be united via the realization that everyone is on the same boat. Of course by that time it may truly be too late.

In America, you would first of all have to find a way to destroy all the televisions or the TV stations.

The British watch a lot of TV but Americans are more brainwashed with television than any other nation, I think.

On the plus side, I do think a lot of intelligent Americans who have been to Europe do understand that the American way of life is shit, along with the built environment and the media.

I myself have no desire to ever visit America. What would be the point? I already know what it's like. If I want to see a Starbucks or a McDonalds I can do that here.

[onlooker]

Yea White your not missing much. The only thing though we do still have nice panoramas and natural settings. Come see them before their gone too. Just a little gallows humor.

[Ibon]

On the plus side, I do think a lot of intelligent Americans who have been to Europe do understand that the American way of life is shit, along with the built environment and the media.

I myself have no desire to ever visit America. What would be the point? I already know what it's like. If I want to see a Starbucks or a McDonalds I can do that here.

Withnail, I am from the US and have lived 30 years out of my country. 10 years in Europe. I don't need to defend my country of birth as I don't live there even today but I will enlighten you on one of the basic mistakes that Europeans often make in reference to America. They see the stupidity of the masses from far away, actually from the very media that they say we are obsessed by, and then stereotype this as typical American. I recall a number of European friends and colleagues that have traveled to the states, rented a car, driven thousands of miles purely for the pleasure of watching obese Americans at the mall and reinforcing this stereotype of the clueless American consumer. The European will then go back home and tell all his buddies funny stories of these warped out Americans. And therein lies the problem that always arises with stereotypes. You miss out completely on the vast numbers of Americans who have checked out of this reality, who are living unplugged lives no longer connected to consumption or the media and who you never get to connect with if you superficially drive around the country or watch the US from the other side of the pond.

You would be surprised on how many Americans have stepped out of this stereotype. I would say that Americans have an easier time jumping out of their consensus reality of consumption culture than the average European has of jumping out of his consensus reality.

I am thinking right now of my road kill eating cousin who shoots squirrels from his back yard when they eat his tangerines, of course he eats the squirrels grilling them with their heads on as he would never waste meat. He lives in Florida, is 60 years old, and never installed an air conditioner in his home. He is a funny combination of liberal and red neck, a very colorful personality and not very much beholden to society at large. You probably are already forming a stereotype of who this cousin of mine is. But what if I told you he has a PHD. Which he does. Europeans rarely can break out of their social conditioning in this kind of way.

But I wont argue that the European is definitely better socialized at living at a reduced consumption levels than Americans are. That is worthy of respect.

[Withnail]

I recall a number of European friends and colleagues that have traveled to the states, rented a car, driven thousands of miles purely for the pleasure of watching obese Americans at the mall and reinforcing this stereotype of the clueless American consumer. The European will then go back home and tell all his buddies funny stories of these warped out Americans.

That's just messed up on the part of those Europeans.

Personally I want Americans to do whatever makes them happy, even if that means being obese and going to the mall.

I just wish they would keep their culture at home. Oh, and their military too.

[Plantagenet]

The oppressed masses have already risen up.

The workers rose up in Poland and chucked out the communists. They rose up in Czechloslovokia and booted out the communist Russia puppets. They rose up in East Germany, and Romania and Hungary and overthrew the communist thugs. Eventually, they even rose up in Russia and booted out the communists party bosses.

[Apneaman]

Overpopulation, climate change caused drought and loss of oil revenue are root causes that have been capitalized on by the empire - same as it ever was.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Color Revolutions”: US State Department Document Confirms Regime Change Agenda in the Middle East

"The Obama Administration has been pursuing a policy of covert support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other insurgent movements in the Middle East since 2010. MEB has obtained a just-released U.S. State Department document through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that confirms the Obama Administration’s pro-active campaign for regime change throughout the Middle East and North Africa region."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-state-d ... st/5388948

[Apneaman]

Food is defiantly # 1 on the list and 210 is a number to watch. If your kids were starving, how far would you go to feed them?
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Math That Predicted the Revolutions Sweeping the Globe Right Now

"Just over a year ago, complex systems theorists at the New England Complex Systems Institute warned us that if food prices continued to climb, so too would the likelihood that there would be riots across the globe. Sure enough, we're seeing them now. The paper's author, Yaneer Bar-Yam, charted the rise in the FAO food price index—a measure the UN uses to map the cost of food over time—and found that whenever it rose above 210, riots broke out worldwide. It happened in 2008 after the economic collapse, and again in 2011, when a Tunisian street vendor who could no longer feed his family set himself on fire in protest."

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/a-comp ... lobe-right

[Withnail]

The workers rose up in Poland and chucked out the communists.

No they didn't. There was some activism sure.

It was a Reagan administration PR ploy for a while round about 1983.

Fuck all happened for 7 years until the Soviet Union started collapsing under its own weight.

[Apneaman]

Chris Hedges says America on road to revolution, even in Baltimore

"Pulizer Prize-winning writer, Chris Hedges was a long-time war correspondent for the New York Times and when he looks out on the landscape of America today, he sees revolution...even in Baltimore. "

25 min Audio.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the- ... -1.3072170

[Apneaman]

Here is a link to an excellent podcast on many revolutions. The presenter, Mike Duncan, started about a decade ago with another great pod cast "The history of Rome" and it caught fire. Accurate and well presented.


Revolutions
A weekly podcast series examining great political revolutions.

http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/

[Outcast_Searcher]

Food is defiantly # 1 on the list and 210 is a number to watch. If your kids were starving, how far would you go to feed them?
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Math That Predicted the Revolutions Sweeping the Globe Right Now

"Just over a year ago, complex systems theorists at the New England Complex Systems Institute warned us that if food prices continued to climb, so too would the likelihood that there would be riots across the globe. Sure enough, we're seeing them now. The paper's author, Yaneer Bar-Yam, charted the rise in the FAO food price index—a measure the UN uses to map the cost of food over time—and found that whenever it rose above 210, riots broke out worldwide. It happened in 2008 after the economic collapse, and again in 2011, when a Tunisian street vendor who could no longer feed his family set himself on fire in protest."

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/a-comp ... lobe-right

Yeah, right. So after you set yourself on fire or burglarize a grocery store once -- THEN what is your plan to feed your children? Right, I thought so -- no plan won't work.

[Withnail]

Yeah, right. So after you set yourself on fire or burglarize a grocery store once -- THEN what is your plan to feed your children? Right, I thought so -- no plan won't work.

But in the past, barbarians really have moved into organised civilised societies and completely fucked them up.

There doesn't need to be a plan. There just needs to be enough barbarians.