I woke up this morning (Saturday) earlier than I thought I should, and I could feel the pain coming on. Again. It's Saturday, so it must be the start of a flare. It's been that way for more than a month.
I'm not happy about it. I've decided to keep more of a record about it here than I otherwise would, simply because things seem to be going haywire, and I've never been good at record-keeping of personal events. I can narrate them after the fact, but while this or that is taking place, I usually don't have a great deal to say about it.
But RA has put me in a state of wonderment and bewilderment. "What is going on?" I keep asking the gods and goddesses. A smirk perhaps plays on their lips and that is about all I can find out from them. They know. They're not telling.
For a year or more I didn't have flares. What would happen is that from time to time, pain would affect one or more joints -- not general joint pain -- I would tell the doctor and she would change my medication and the pain would abate for a varying length of time (generally months) before the sequence would repeat. So I've had several different medication routines, all of which have controlled the pain of RA more or less well -- until now.
I take my usual medication -- with the addition of pain pills that I've had on hand for years -- and it doesn't necessarily control the pain at all. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. You never know.
The doctor wants me on rituxan, a cancer drug that is used for RA when other biologics fail. That's the case with me, apparently. The doctor has gone through the standard list -- with the exception of methotrexate which she has been unwilling to prescribe 1) because of nasty side effects, 2) because of RA induced interstitial lung disease which she says the methotrexate makes worse.
Given that situation, she feels she has no choice at this point but to put me on IV treatment that could -- she says -- cause the RA to go into remission. Well, that would be nice.
But.
There's some kind of hangup with the insurance (again.) Doctor recommended rituxan IV infusion a month ago when the current sequence of flares started. Exactly how to arrange that was left up to a nurse who is adept at maneuvering through the twists and turns of the insurance bureaucracy (prior authorization was required, for example, and getting that could take some doing.) Anyway, she thought she had it all arranged, and I was to get in touch with the financial aid person at the infusion center to see what the costs would be (it's very expensive at rack rates, though insurance apparently pays for all but a couple of hundred dollars. How much insurance pays depends on coverage limits and household income. Apparently.)
I got in touch, "touching base" as they say, and then I heard nothing. Stephanie, the nurse, said there was a hangup and I would have to see the doctor again for an evaluation before prior authorization would be granted, and she made me an appointment a couple of weeks hence.
In the meantime, I received a letter of authorization in the mail the week of my appointment. Got the letter on Monday, the appointment was on Thursday. After the evaluation -- yes, I need treatment because of recurring flares that are at best partially controlled by current medications, at worst are not controlled at all -- Stephanie called the person over at the infusion center, and a very interesting discussion ensued.
Stephanie told her that I had just finished the office visit with my doctor and that I had received an authorization letter a few days previously. What were we to do now?
I shouldn't have received authorization, said the infusion center person (Katrina), as she had personally withdrawn authorization. The letter I received was therefore not valid.
She had withdrawn authorization because she said I needed to be evaluated by a doctor (my own rheumatologist would do) before treatment could be authorized. The earlier recommendation was not sufficient. Needed specific indications that infusion treatment was necessary -- such as the failure of previous rounds of biologics.
OK. So that was done. Now what?
Once Katrina had a chance to review the new evaluation, authorization could go forward, and -- as far as I could make out -- the infusion center would contact me for an appointment. Shouldn't take long.
Or so Katrina seemed to say. You never really know what they're saying when they're talking insurance bureaucracy. It took months and months to get authorization for out of network treatment in Denver (which I likely will not go to) and almost as long to get authorization for out of network treatment in Albuquerque at UNM, and then another several months wait for an appointment (this is for lung disease treatment). So.
Well, a week goes by. I report to the doctor that I am continuing to have flares and the pain is sometimes debilitating when no medication seems to work. She wanted to know what was happening with the infusion center. I told her I didn't know as no one had contacted me. She said she wanted me treated ASAP and had her nurse (not Stephanie) call to find out what was going on.
She was told that the infusion center would contact me "shortly" to make an appointment.
Well, that was Thursday.
No contact yet. Of course I learned long ago that "soon" or "shortly" could be months. It's already been a month. It could be months more.
Patience grasshopper?
Well, what else can you do?
Alternative treatments are looking more and more promising. Trouble is, during the initial period prior to being diagnosed with RA, I tried a number of alternatives, and not only did they not work, some made the pain worse -- Stop Pain for example doubled or tripled the pain on the meter, for example.
Now I'm studying Hulda Clark's protocols for RA treatment (liver and kidney flush, zapping, major lifestyle and dietary changes) and find it somewhat amusing because what she says is that this will work "temporarily" and the way she describes it "working" is essentially the course RA pain flares take -- whether or not you're being treated with standard medicine or alternatives or nothing at all. You have generalized joint pain which evolves into specific joint (or pair of joint) pains which can travel from joint to joint over the course of the flare, and it will typically last for about five to seven days before fading, sometimes even disappearing, until it happens again, which can be anywhere from a week to a month (sometimes more) later. That's how it works. Standard medications -- at least in my case -- were able to control the pain and flare outbreaks relatively well for about a year. Now, I think the doctor believes she's almost out of options as most of the standard medications in the pharmacopoeia have been tried and have ultimately failed. Time for the big guns.
Hulda Clark's protocols, as far as I can tell, actually have no effect on the course of RA at all. Because they are rather complicated, however, and they involve peripheral issues (such as searching for hard-to-get ingredients, preparing and consuming cleansing formulae on a strict schedule, completely changing lifestyle and diet, etc.using a proprietary electronic device -- Zapper -- to kill internal parasites and bacteria) they might be serving in the place of placebos, and from that perspective, they may actually help some patients by diverting their attention from the pain they're experiencing.
Because I can have a severe allergic reaction to walnuts and coconut, two of her required cleansing ingredients, I can't do the organ cleansing she recommends. But there's no indication that even if I could do it, it would have any effect on RA and the pain involved.
That remains the same no matter what you do.
A lot of it is mind control.
Which I don't discount. It can work. For a while, anyway.
But it seems to me that for Hulda and her devotees, the real objective is cultish, not corrective. Basically, by doing all these rituals and observing certain protocols and systematic lifestyle changes, you are put in charge of your condition. It can't really change or affect the condition, but because it is no longer something outside you, but is now inside, you will have a feeling of control over it that you didn't have before. Any failure of the protocols to work is effectively your own fault ("you aren't doing it right") and it's up to you to follow the protocols more strictly, among other things.
Because others are attempting to do the same thing, you have a community of strivers, which can be a benefit compared to the lonely struggle someone attempting the medical route (and failing) might have to endure.
We'll see.
Meanwhile, on the plus side, I've set out trays and trays of Cherokee Purple tomato seedlings. It's a constant struggle to keep them alive and healthy because it is still early enough in the season that overnight freezes are possible (for example tonight) and our feral cat colony is fascinated with these plants and some of its members have taken every opportunity to overturn the trays and destroy the seedings. We've lost surprisingly few, though. So that's good. On the other hand, at our altitude, it is difficult grow tomatoes from seed, so we'll see how this first effort goes. I planted the first group of seeds on March 18; the seedlings from that planting are OK, but they are still very small, almost stunted. Ones I planted after -- at the end of March -- are doing better, are larger, and they appear to be healthier. Interesting.
Learn something new every day.
Showing posts with label Alternatives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alternatives. Show all posts
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Friday, October 23, 2015
Random Notes
A lot of the commentary over the remarkable statements by Israeli PM Netanyahu that suggested that Hitler got the idea for the Final Solution from "a Palestinian" -- ie: the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem -- focused on the idea that "he's delusional," and/or "he's insane."
To the contrary, I think he knows exactly what he is doing, and it's not delusional or insane at all. He's making a spectacle of himself in order to draw attention away from the disaster of his rule on the one hand -- the rash of stabbings by Palestinians in Israel has apparently deeply unnerved the population, and the response by Israeli civilians and security forces is way over the to as demonstrated by numerous viral videos of Israelis committing acts of summary execution in the streets, sometimes of "their own people."
It's yet another domestic catastrophe brought on by a man who apparently lacks any conscience whatever. This is not insanity. This is not delusion. It is pathological in my view, but it isn't an "illness." It is character. Or lack thereof.
It's pathological because a lack of conscience is destructive in the character of anyone who is in a position to wield power over others or to utilize the power of a nation state to accomplish political objectives.
We see this in the political class all the time, this utter lack of conscience, empathy, or even interest in the well-being of anyone outside their own circle, or even beyond themselves. It's not limited to politics, either. We see it in business and finance (especially finance), in the administrative realm generally, in policing theory and practice, and on and on, and I wonder...
Do people in these and so many other fields learn these traits or are they born that way? Is there some kind of eugenic experiment under way that is breeding out the genes for compassion, conscience, and empathy? Truly, I wouldn't be surprised.
In Netanyahu's case, it's been clear for decades that the man sees himself as a Warrior-King on a mission. That mission will not be thwarted by lowly Palestinians (I doubt he considers them to be human) or by anyone else -- who he also seems to doubt are truly human. His mission appears to be the reconstitution of Eretz Israel or its modern equivalent for his own Power and Glory.
If anyone gets crushed in his pursuit of this project, it's their own fault.
And Israelis love him for it.
It's not insanity or delusion. It's purpose and will -- ultimately antithetical to humanity.
It is commonplace in the his realm. While it seems to make no sense to those on the outside, most of those on the inside share his perspective more or less fully. It's dangerous and destructive and deeply immoral,
One of the aspects of its immorality in the Israeli case is that their argument regarding the Nazis seems to accept everything they did -- up to the Final Solution itself. Israelis can therefore justify what they have long been doing to the Palestinians -- which is very closely patterned on Nazi practice toward Jews and other minorities in Germany. That means that the camps were OK, the roundups, deportations, the ghettoization, the prohibitions on actions, employment, travel, etc., the restrictions and/or elimination of civil rights, the confiscations and demolitions, the summary executions, the lynchings, the lootings, the general destruction levied against Jews and other minorities were all perhaps unpleasant, but they were not the Final Solution and therefore were "OK."
Well, no. They weren't "OK." Or justified. Nor has Israel any right to impose similar conditions on Palestinians. But they do it just the same.
They criticize the Nazis for the mass executions, the gas chambers, and the ovens. Not really for anything else. All the rest of it up to that point was... OK.
Jeeze.
Netanyahu is flailing for attention, and he's getting it.
-----------------------------------------
The Clinton Drama continues, and if Hillary is elected, we'll have no end of drama in the nation's capital. What did I see the other day? The radicals will be offering articles of impeachment the day she's sworn in to the presidency? Well, yes. Of course they will. It's what they do. And she'll happily do battle against them. And the attempts to impeach her will be a spectacle to feed the ravenous maw of the media -- which will love it -- for (probably) her entire term in office.
Meanwhile, of course, the nefarious and conscience-free policies of Our Betters will have free rein.
Isn't that the point, after all? Positioning Paul Ryan in the #3 slot -- ie: Speaker of the House -- is a kind of preparatory master-stroke, on the thought that however the drama plays out (she could be assassinated, after all...) there will be a dynamic conscience-free back up at the ready.
Jeebus, no matter how cynical you become, it's really impossible to keep up these days.
--------------------------
Sanders has yet to impress me. He seems to be a sacrificial shepherd leading his devoted flock into a cul-de-sac. No, he will not be allowed to become the president, not on a bet, and if somehow he manages to become the Democratic Party nominee (he won't) he will be left to flounder and fade away. With him go the remnants of a "progressive" Democratic Party. That seems to be the point in any case.
The Democratic Party isn't the same as the Tories of Anglo politics, but it is in many respects the rightful conservative party of the United States. It has always been conservative whereas the Republicans are rightist radicals.
There is no political left in this country with any pretense to power -- perhaps there never has been one. (FDR was not an exception). Without a functioning "left" in this country, it's impossible to move the governing apparatus away from or beyond its nearly exclusive devotion to the interests and demands of the Oligarchy.
The answer is withdrawal of presence and attention and consent. It happens organically, but it takes a long-long time to come to fruition. It doesn't happen in the political realm, it happens in the social realm, and eventually, the established political elements become irrelevant. "All of that" happens almost in another universe, affecting "real life" less and less, until nobody cares.
It's been happening in this country, this withdrawal, for several decades, but it's been fairly marginal in most respects. "Hippies" and such have been doing it since the 1960s, but there are many-many more elements than merely the unreconstructed hippies in the current withdrawals. "Alternatives" are everywhere, and those who pursue them find it's quite possible -- and sometimes a great deal more rewarding -- to simply let go of the necessity to serve the system as it is.
Thus I can't get too excited about the current political hoo-hah.
------------------------------
Police whining has reached a crescendo. The recent incident of road rage in Albuquerque leading to the death of a 4 year old girl seems to have triggered a reaction in the media. That reaction is apparently focused on a restoration of the status quo ante -- prior to the consent decree and all the police reforms that went with it, including a steep reduction in police killings of civilians. The local media seems to want to restore previous police practices -- and the death rates that went with them -- as a means of curbing the "current crime wave."
Well, I call bullshit. There is no "current crime wave." Crime in general, and violent crime in particular, is at or below previous levels, prior to the consent decree and police "reforms." Restoration merely means adding more violence to the mix, not curbing it at all. But Warrior Cops can't help themselves, can they? They want to mix it up, they have to, it's an identity thing. If they aren't out there killing and brutalizing with impunity, what it the point of having police, right?
So they whine and whine and whine, like dogs chained up in the back yard, wanting to kill, kill, and kill some more, to be who they are.
And the media in Albuquerque is clamoring to unchain them. To root out all those criminals running wild.
Bleah.
-------------------
Enough.
To the contrary, I think he knows exactly what he is doing, and it's not delusional or insane at all. He's making a spectacle of himself in order to draw attention away from the disaster of his rule on the one hand -- the rash of stabbings by Palestinians in Israel has apparently deeply unnerved the population, and the response by Israeli civilians and security forces is way over the to as demonstrated by numerous viral videos of Israelis committing acts of summary execution in the streets, sometimes of "their own people."
It's yet another domestic catastrophe brought on by a man who apparently lacks any conscience whatever. This is not insanity. This is not delusion. It is pathological in my view, but it isn't an "illness." It is character. Or lack thereof.
It's pathological because a lack of conscience is destructive in the character of anyone who is in a position to wield power over others or to utilize the power of a nation state to accomplish political objectives.
We see this in the political class all the time, this utter lack of conscience, empathy, or even interest in the well-being of anyone outside their own circle, or even beyond themselves. It's not limited to politics, either. We see it in business and finance (especially finance), in the administrative realm generally, in policing theory and practice, and on and on, and I wonder...
Do people in these and so many other fields learn these traits or are they born that way? Is there some kind of eugenic experiment under way that is breeding out the genes for compassion, conscience, and empathy? Truly, I wouldn't be surprised.
In Netanyahu's case, it's been clear for decades that the man sees himself as a Warrior-King on a mission. That mission will not be thwarted by lowly Palestinians (I doubt he considers them to be human) or by anyone else -- who he also seems to doubt are truly human. His mission appears to be the reconstitution of Eretz Israel or its modern equivalent for his own Power and Glory.
If anyone gets crushed in his pursuit of this project, it's their own fault.
And Israelis love him for it.
It's not insanity or delusion. It's purpose and will -- ultimately antithetical to humanity.
It is commonplace in the his realm. While it seems to make no sense to those on the outside, most of those on the inside share his perspective more or less fully. It's dangerous and destructive and deeply immoral,
One of the aspects of its immorality in the Israeli case is that their argument regarding the Nazis seems to accept everything they did -- up to the Final Solution itself. Israelis can therefore justify what they have long been doing to the Palestinians -- which is very closely patterned on Nazi practice toward Jews and other minorities in Germany. That means that the camps were OK, the roundups, deportations, the ghettoization, the prohibitions on actions, employment, travel, etc., the restrictions and/or elimination of civil rights, the confiscations and demolitions, the summary executions, the lynchings, the lootings, the general destruction levied against Jews and other minorities were all perhaps unpleasant, but they were not the Final Solution and therefore were "OK."
Well, no. They weren't "OK." Or justified. Nor has Israel any right to impose similar conditions on Palestinians. But they do it just the same.
They criticize the Nazis for the mass executions, the gas chambers, and the ovens. Not really for anything else. All the rest of it up to that point was... OK.
Jeeze.
Netanyahu is flailing for attention, and he's getting it.
-----------------------------------------
The Clinton Drama continues, and if Hillary is elected, we'll have no end of drama in the nation's capital. What did I see the other day? The radicals will be offering articles of impeachment the day she's sworn in to the presidency? Well, yes. Of course they will. It's what they do. And she'll happily do battle against them. And the attempts to impeach her will be a spectacle to feed the ravenous maw of the media -- which will love it -- for (probably) her entire term in office.
Meanwhile, of course, the nefarious and conscience-free policies of Our Betters will have free rein.
Isn't that the point, after all? Positioning Paul Ryan in the #3 slot -- ie: Speaker of the House -- is a kind of preparatory master-stroke, on the thought that however the drama plays out (she could be assassinated, after all...) there will be a dynamic conscience-free back up at the ready.
Jeebus, no matter how cynical you become, it's really impossible to keep up these days.
--------------------------
Sanders has yet to impress me. He seems to be a sacrificial shepherd leading his devoted flock into a cul-de-sac. No, he will not be allowed to become the president, not on a bet, and if somehow he manages to become the Democratic Party nominee (he won't) he will be left to flounder and fade away. With him go the remnants of a "progressive" Democratic Party. That seems to be the point in any case.
The Democratic Party isn't the same as the Tories of Anglo politics, but it is in many respects the rightful conservative party of the United States. It has always been conservative whereas the Republicans are rightist radicals.
There is no political left in this country with any pretense to power -- perhaps there never has been one. (FDR was not an exception). Without a functioning "left" in this country, it's impossible to move the governing apparatus away from or beyond its nearly exclusive devotion to the interests and demands of the Oligarchy.
The answer is withdrawal of presence and attention and consent. It happens organically, but it takes a long-long time to come to fruition. It doesn't happen in the political realm, it happens in the social realm, and eventually, the established political elements become irrelevant. "All of that" happens almost in another universe, affecting "real life" less and less, until nobody cares.
It's been happening in this country, this withdrawal, for several decades, but it's been fairly marginal in most respects. "Hippies" and such have been doing it since the 1960s, but there are many-many more elements than merely the unreconstructed hippies in the current withdrawals. "Alternatives" are everywhere, and those who pursue them find it's quite possible -- and sometimes a great deal more rewarding -- to simply let go of the necessity to serve the system as it is.
Thus I can't get too excited about the current political hoo-hah.
------------------------------
Police whining has reached a crescendo. The recent incident of road rage in Albuquerque leading to the death of a 4 year old girl seems to have triggered a reaction in the media. That reaction is apparently focused on a restoration of the status quo ante -- prior to the consent decree and all the police reforms that went with it, including a steep reduction in police killings of civilians. The local media seems to want to restore previous police practices -- and the death rates that went with them -- as a means of curbing the "current crime wave."
Well, I call bullshit. There is no "current crime wave." Crime in general, and violent crime in particular, is at or below previous levels, prior to the consent decree and police "reforms." Restoration merely means adding more violence to the mix, not curbing it at all. But Warrior Cops can't help themselves, can they? They want to mix it up, they have to, it's an identity thing. If they aren't out there killing and brutalizing with impunity, what it the point of having police, right?
So they whine and whine and whine, like dogs chained up in the back yard, wanting to kill, kill, and kill some more, to be who they are.
And the media in Albuquerque is clamoring to unchain them. To root out all those criminals running wild.
Bleah.
-------------------
Enough.
Monday, June 9, 2014
The Oligarch-Fascist-Nazi Axis -- Normalization Phase or "TINA"
TINA: "There is no alternative."
It's become explicit once again. So explicit is the resurgence of the Oligarch-Fascist-Nazi Axis that even private sector propaganda organs are no longer trying to hide it. Only state propaganda obscures or denies what is more and more obvious every day. With the recent election in India, practically the whole earth has now fallen under one or another Oligarchic, Fascist, and/or explicitly/implicitly Nazi rule, and governments by and large are fine with it. They encourage it. They instigate regime change in order to install preferred fascist regimes. They insist that there is no alternative. From a political and big ticket economic sense, they're right. There is only one way forward, and it is monstrous and cruel, and there is no succor or relief for those who can't or won't submit.
Watching events unfold, particularly in Ukraine lately, but in more and more places around the world for a decade and longer, is literally sick making.
How did we come to this point? And what do we do about it?
I'm seeing plenty of indications that Oligarchic/Fascist/Nazi rule is orchestrated at the highest levels of government throughout the West, and that essentially all Western governments have been synchronized and coordinated (in the very German sense of the word "Gleichschaltung") to follow a single path from which none deviate or even think of deviating.
All of these coordinated governments are aligned with one another, but they are by and large governing contrary to the interests of their people. This has been a factor of American governance for many years, and I've made note of the habit of the American governing class to govern contrary to the public interest many times. "Governing contrary" to the public interest is now a feature of governments everywhere in the West. The idea has spread beyond its initial loci. It's like a disease that is unstoppable once the governing classes are infected.
The bulwark against the rule of the Neo- (con, lib, fascist, Nazi)s was thought to be Russia, for reasons I can't understand. Post-Soviet Russia is something of the type-model for what is being instigated and imposed pretty much world-wide.
Public wealth is appropriated by a handful of Oligarchs (or, in many cases, is "voluntarily" handed over after sale by pliant and sometimes eager governments). These Oligarchs then assert their authority and control over governments near and far, governments which must then serve the interests of the Oligarchs while keeping the Rabble in line -- by any means necessary.
The Rabble lose their political rights as well as what was formerly available to them as "public good." Everything of value is seized by those whose greed is as unbounded as their power. There is nothing the Rabble can do about it. None of the formerly effective tools of "democracy" work for them any more. They keep pushing the "democracy" button nonetheless, in the hopes that perhaps someday in the future it will function once again.
It won't.
Keeping the Rabble in line requires clever psychological ploys which are mostly accomplished through propaganda in the media and indoctrination in the civic sphere -- including schools and workplaces and all the other institutions which are coordinated with the ruling parties. Should there be a breakdown in the psy-ops used against the people, and especially should the people rise against the rule imposed upon them, they are routinely given an ultimatum, and if they don't obey, they are crushed with whatever violence The Powers That Be choose to impose. Often enough, the ultimatum step is skipped, and TPTB go right to violence.
It is particularly true in the way policing operates these days: torture, assassination and summary execution are routine. Mass incarceration is standard. Injustice reigns in the courts. Government turns a blind eye to all the suffering and destruction among those who resist or who have the potential to resist.
Everyone else is "coordinated" through patriotism, nationalism, race pride and other such means.
Introducing the notion of perpetual war against shadowy but myriad enemies at home and abroad makes the process of coordinating the non-resistant Rabble to follow the requirements of their rulers that much easier. War reinforces the sense of duty and obedience that many people have quite naturally. There is no alternative to following the orders of those who know better when there is an existential threat to be thwarted, after all.
Those who resist are isolated and ultimately eliminated.
This is all being normalized as we speak. There is no alternative, and even if there were, would the alternative be much different?
Given the current level of propaganda, I'm not at all sure that most Americans are in a position to even begin to sort these things out. We're seeing how difficult or impossible it is for Europeans to do it these days, as the horrors of European austerity regimes cause more and more suffering. The Europeans no longer rise up against it as they once did. Now they are practically mute.
Russians have no greater level of freedom.
Now that India is being "synchronized" with the rest of the neo-con/lib/fascist/Nazi New World Order, we have only some outposts here and there where something else again might be realized, and those places, one by one, are being integrated into the new global normal. Soon enough, will there any alternative anywhere?
The Oligarchs and the Fascists and the Nazis intend that there won't be.
Ever.
 |
| There is No Alternative from Churning the Earth |
It's become explicit once again. So explicit is the resurgence of the Oligarch-Fascist-Nazi Axis that even private sector propaganda organs are no longer trying to hide it. Only state propaganda obscures or denies what is more and more obvious every day. With the recent election in India, practically the whole earth has now fallen under one or another Oligarchic, Fascist, and/or explicitly/implicitly Nazi rule, and governments by and large are fine with it. They encourage it. They instigate regime change in order to install preferred fascist regimes. They insist that there is no alternative. From a political and big ticket economic sense, they're right. There is only one way forward, and it is monstrous and cruel, and there is no succor or relief for those who can't or won't submit.
Watching events unfold, particularly in Ukraine lately, but in more and more places around the world for a decade and longer, is literally sick making.
How did we come to this point? And what do we do about it?
I'm seeing plenty of indications that Oligarchic/Fascist/Nazi rule is orchestrated at the highest levels of government throughout the West, and that essentially all Western governments have been synchronized and coordinated (in the very German sense of the word "Gleichschaltung") to follow a single path from which none deviate or even think of deviating.
All of these coordinated governments are aligned with one another, but they are by and large governing contrary to the interests of their people. This has been a factor of American governance for many years, and I've made note of the habit of the American governing class to govern contrary to the public interest many times. "Governing contrary" to the public interest is now a feature of governments everywhere in the West. The idea has spread beyond its initial loci. It's like a disease that is unstoppable once the governing classes are infected.
The bulwark against the rule of the Neo- (con, lib, fascist, Nazi)s was thought to be Russia, for reasons I can't understand. Post-Soviet Russia is something of the type-model for what is being instigated and imposed pretty much world-wide.
Public wealth is appropriated by a handful of Oligarchs (or, in many cases, is "voluntarily" handed over after sale by pliant and sometimes eager governments). These Oligarchs then assert their authority and control over governments near and far, governments which must then serve the interests of the Oligarchs while keeping the Rabble in line -- by any means necessary.
The Rabble lose their political rights as well as what was formerly available to them as "public good." Everything of value is seized by those whose greed is as unbounded as their power. There is nothing the Rabble can do about it. None of the formerly effective tools of "democracy" work for them any more. They keep pushing the "democracy" button nonetheless, in the hopes that perhaps someday in the future it will function once again.
It won't.
Keeping the Rabble in line requires clever psychological ploys which are mostly accomplished through propaganda in the media and indoctrination in the civic sphere -- including schools and workplaces and all the other institutions which are coordinated with the ruling parties. Should there be a breakdown in the psy-ops used against the people, and especially should the people rise against the rule imposed upon them, they are routinely given an ultimatum, and if they don't obey, they are crushed with whatever violence The Powers That Be choose to impose. Often enough, the ultimatum step is skipped, and TPTB go right to violence.
It is particularly true in the way policing operates these days: torture, assassination and summary execution are routine. Mass incarceration is standard. Injustice reigns in the courts. Government turns a blind eye to all the suffering and destruction among those who resist or who have the potential to resist.
Everyone else is "coordinated" through patriotism, nationalism, race pride and other such means.
Introducing the notion of perpetual war against shadowy but myriad enemies at home and abroad makes the process of coordinating the non-resistant Rabble to follow the requirements of their rulers that much easier. War reinforces the sense of duty and obedience that many people have quite naturally. There is no alternative to following the orders of those who know better when there is an existential threat to be thwarted, after all.
Those who resist are isolated and ultimately eliminated.
This is all being normalized as we speak. There is no alternative, and even if there were, would the alternative be much different?
Given the current level of propaganda, I'm not at all sure that most Americans are in a position to even begin to sort these things out. We're seeing how difficult or impossible it is for Europeans to do it these days, as the horrors of European austerity regimes cause more and more suffering. The Europeans no longer rise up against it as they once did. Now they are practically mute.
Russians have no greater level of freedom.
Now that India is being "synchronized" with the rest of the neo-con/lib/fascist/Nazi New World Order, we have only some outposts here and there where something else again might be realized, and those places, one by one, are being integrated into the new global normal. Soon enough, will there any alternative anywhere?
The Oligarchs and the Fascists and the Nazis intend that there won't be.
Ever.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Drought, The Poors and Economic Confusion
There is talk that New Mexico's economy is "turning around," this despite the continuing federal budget cutbacks due to the sequester and the various local and state government financial difficulties due to the Permanent Recession, the housing market collapse, and other more subtle -- and frankly more New Mexican -- factors; for example, The Drought.
But SpaceX signed a deal at the Spaceport the other day, so things are looking up. And Richard Branson isn't bugging out on the Spaceport like he seemed to be doing, so what's the problem?
Supposedly, private sector hiring and employment are up for the first time in a long time, and government employment is stable -- so long as you don't count the sequester. In our own neighborhood, two of the long time empty places seem to be occupied again, or they soon will be, and another one is possibly going on the market shortly. So may be...
Things are looking up.
I've been reading a novel called "Not As It Seems," by a local writer, Ed Chavez. In it, he describes a drought in this area that began in 1941 and didn't break for 16 years. Locals feel we're in that kind of drought again, perhaps one that will last longer -- who knows, what with Climate Change and all -- and just like before, there will be massive social changes because of it. Part of the likely change is impoverishment.
Things may be looking up in certain sectors and for certain people, but out here in the country, we see clear skies, or clouds that try but don't drop any rain, and we see parched and seer landscape all around and dust and grit filling the air, blowing off the plowed but still barren farm fields. The signs are there, and those who remember the 1950's drought are feeling the weight of history. They know what could happen.
The Rio Grande is already dry below Elephant Butte, and water tables are dropping along the valley limiting irrigation water. Much of Southern New Mexico's commercial farming will be impossible this year -- and for how many more years to come? Nobody knows.
Many people have long pointed out how unsustainable Albuquerque is even in good times, but the city keeps trying to grow. It must do so under the current economic and political regime, a regime that doesn't accept "sustainability" as a fundamental principle -- as opposed to a temporary fashion. "Growth" is the only principle recognized. And perpetual growth is unsustainable.
Albuquerque is actually a relatively modest example of civic unsustainability. Phoenix, Las Vegas (NV), even Los Angeles itself strike me as more fraughtful examples, but we may see a prelude in Albuquerque to what could be in store for many cities in the Southwest and elsewhere as a new weather regime settles in for the long haul.
But things are looking up!
Albuquerque has the advantage of being divided into sectors and ancient barrios and villages. What is now a bloated cityscape grew from tiny beginnings more than three hundred years ago, beginnings that were scattered along the Rio Grande in the shadow of a dozen abandoned Indian pueblos and bordering the two remaining pubeblos, Isleta and Sandia -- the presence of which strictly limits the growth of Albuquerque to the south and north. Those beginnings are still there, whether it's Barelas or Los Ranchos, or any number of others that may have been absorbed by the Albuquerque metroplex, but which still retain their independent character.
In other words, it seems at least psychologically possible to "go back" to the cores of the city's parts. It's not that long ago, after all, when there were still fields beside Old Town, and Rio Rancho, among other suburbs, didn't exist.
On the other hand, when the previous droughts have come, people have abandoned the country-side for the relative comfort and prosperity of the City. At least in the City, they believed, they had a chance, whereas out in the country, they didn't. Without water, without rain, there was no future to be found in the fields, and depending on motor traffic for sustenance, as was the case, for example, along Route 66, is risky at best. When the Drought settles in, that's it. Despite the of best intentions, one can't really ride it out. By the time the Drought breaks, you've long been dead.
What to do, then?
The Drought forces those who depend on the land for a living to consider -- and accept -- some alternative, because the land simply can't provide for them. If they recognize that the City alternative may actually be closed off to them (it's already apparent that Santa Fe, for example, has rolled up the welcome mat -- for some -- for the duration), then thoughts of escape out of the region altogether may be necessary. That's one reason why the Spaceport looms large in the imagination. What better escape than to space?
Well, except for the fact that you have to come back...
One of our neighbors actually works in California. It's a long haul back and forth, but he claims it's necessary, because of the lack of employment opportunity around here... he gets paid a lot more in California, too. They just don't want to live in California. They have an Airstream, the husband works for several months at a time, lives in the trailer, comes back for a few weeks, then he is off to California again. It's an... alternative lifestyle. And at least to my way of looking at it, it's an adaptation to reality. (Well, I should know. Like a lot of people, we've never worked in New Mexico. Almost all our current income is derived from California employment.)
As long as the roads remain open... this kind of alternative is open.
Because of the Interstate, there actually are some employment opportunities where we live now -- and more are coming due to the construction of another truck stop. But the local workers I've talked to are not that enthusiastic about their prospects. Pay is low. Poverty level low. And when you're working in a low-end store or shop where you can't afford to buy anything, it can be severely depressing. One of the workers I talked to the other day says she's going to school full time so she can have a career in the medical field, and she works two low-wage retail jobs so she can afford school and childcare. Thank god, she says, she'll graduate next spring.
Even if there were enough work for everyone who wants a job, this wouldn't be an uncommon situation.
She's poor and she knows it, but she believes her schooling and training should boost her at least one rung up the economic ladder -- so she can "breathe" she says.
I hope so for the sake of her sanity, her health and her kids....
But for so many others, there are neither opportunities nor a future. I've written many times that the Future -- as an image, an idea, a goal -- has been stolen from us by those who deem themselves Our Betters, and they have no intention of giving it back, under any circumstance. The Future -- as it used to be -- is now their sole possession, and their goal now is gaining immortality, so they can hold onto it forever.
The common people have no Future. And the young feel the loss more than any.
For many of the young, there is not only no Future, there is no chance for one.
What will they do?
We see signs of an explosion of anger and despair, even revolutionary murmurings, but not -- yet -- overthrow of the prevailing system of financializing, looting, extraction and rent-seeking by the Highest of the Mighty.
Can't "overthrow" the system without something to replace it with, né?
Well, yes, actually, "overthrow" doesn't require a pre-existing substitute, but will "overthrow" ever happen?
We don't know; no one can foresee well enough to predict the (non-existent?) Future. But we have seen preludes to Revolution, and if we use our peripheral vision, we might see the prefiguring of a Future, not only after the Revolution comes, but what happens then.
In part, the past of New Mexico may be a guidepost to the Future -- if we squint just a little and use our imaginations to visualize what once was and what could be again.
Drought is the ever-present reality we face right now, a drought that may linger for many more years to come. We don't know. Life seems to go on as it always has, the rhythms of the seasons haven't changed, the wind still blows, and we pray for rain as the ancestors have long done. The ancient social and cultural roots in New Mexico have weathered many, many persistent droughts -- and much worse -- and somehow the rootstock has survived. Even flourished.
In other words, there is a cultural/social pattern here that ensures the society as a whole gets through pretty much anything that comes along -- even when people have to move from rougher areas to more benign ones, and various parts of the whole are abandoned temporarily or permanently.
I've mentioned the prevalence of ruins in New Mexico, for example -- abandoned sites falling back into the earth from whence they came litter the place, yet many get reclaimed in the by and bye as other people come along to make do in what was once abandoned. It's a cycle, as natural as the wind.
In the meantime, many, many alternative living sites and intentional communities are inaugurated. Some of them persist. They all have their own quirks and individual characters, and yet they all partake of the spirit of place, so in some sense they're all united. If they depend on farming for survival, they may be facing existential difficulty due to the drought, but many don't rely on their farm fields and livestock to sustain them.
What I see happening, though I can't be certain about it, is that more and more New Mexicans are recognizing the unreliability of the various lifestyle props we take for granted and are shifting into another frame of mind about it.
One factor is the shift of economic expectations. This is as acute here as anywhere else. It's basically a matter of recognizing and accepting the fact that we don't really need all the devices and props we've become accustomed to in order to live well. Living well often doesn't require either material or financial abundance. A sufficiency will do quite nicely, thank you.
It can be confusing to shift expectations from over-abundance to sufficiency, however. That confusion leads to many missteps and misperceptions. So many of us are conditioned to expect more, more, more, more devices, more cars, insurance, cable, new houses, clothes, appliances, and so on. Few of us seem to know how to get by without them, or with fewer of them. So many of us assume that the lack of material and financial lifestyle underpinnings is the definition of poverty, and many assume that no one can live well without lots of money and lots of stuff -- new stuff at that.
The quest for lots of money and lots of stuff is what kept the overall economy going for generations. But now, apparently, that era is over. We might never go back to it, might never have the opportunity to go back to it.
There are now at least two distinctly different -- and quite separate -- economies, one that serves the rich with extraordinary, indeed obscene, abundance, generally through a combination of automatic payments (often called rent-seeking) from the masses, and what amounts to rounds and rounds of thefts from one another. It is medieval on an unprecedented global scale.
The rest of us, quite literally, have a completely separate economy that primarily operates to ensure the perpetual financial indebtedness of the masses to their Betters -- Betters who are becoming their Masters. More medievalism on an unprecedented global scale.
Then there are those who insist on separating themselves from all of it.
The fact that you can still do that is something of a wonder. As things solidify into neo-feudalism (but without the necessity of old-fashioned mutual responsibilities) I doubt that the opportunities for alternatives and intentional communities and so on will be widespread or endure. The point of neo-feudalism is to become universal, with no alternatives available or permitted. This is certainly how conquest was conducted by essentially feudal Europeans in the New World. The Natives could submit, or the Natives could die. Often, the consequence of submission was death in any case. There was no way out.
Right now, we still have alternatives if we choose to take them up, but how much longer that will be the case, I don't know.
There is likely to come a time when only a very special handful of people and communities will be able to withstand the pressure of becoming part of whatever social, economic and political future is being cobbled together for us.
But then, even at the worst of the previous feudal past, there was always resistance.
Things are looking up!
But SpaceX signed a deal at the Spaceport the other day, so things are looking up. And Richard Branson isn't bugging out on the Spaceport like he seemed to be doing, so what's the problem?
Supposedly, private sector hiring and employment are up for the first time in a long time, and government employment is stable -- so long as you don't count the sequester. In our own neighborhood, two of the long time empty places seem to be occupied again, or they soon will be, and another one is possibly going on the market shortly. So may be...
Things are looking up.
I've been reading a novel called "Not As It Seems," by a local writer, Ed Chavez. In it, he describes a drought in this area that began in 1941 and didn't break for 16 years. Locals feel we're in that kind of drought again, perhaps one that will last longer -- who knows, what with Climate Change and all -- and just like before, there will be massive social changes because of it. Part of the likely change is impoverishment.
Things may be looking up in certain sectors and for certain people, but out here in the country, we see clear skies, or clouds that try but don't drop any rain, and we see parched and seer landscape all around and dust and grit filling the air, blowing off the plowed but still barren farm fields. The signs are there, and those who remember the 1950's drought are feeling the weight of history. They know what could happen.
The Rio Grande is already dry below Elephant Butte, and water tables are dropping along the valley limiting irrigation water. Much of Southern New Mexico's commercial farming will be impossible this year -- and for how many more years to come? Nobody knows.
Many people have long pointed out how unsustainable Albuquerque is even in good times, but the city keeps trying to grow. It must do so under the current economic and political regime, a regime that doesn't accept "sustainability" as a fundamental principle -- as opposed to a temporary fashion. "Growth" is the only principle recognized. And perpetual growth is unsustainable.
Albuquerque is actually a relatively modest example of civic unsustainability. Phoenix, Las Vegas (NV), even Los Angeles itself strike me as more fraughtful examples, but we may see a prelude in Albuquerque to what could be in store for many cities in the Southwest and elsewhere as a new weather regime settles in for the long haul.
But things are looking up!
Albuquerque has the advantage of being divided into sectors and ancient barrios and villages. What is now a bloated cityscape grew from tiny beginnings more than three hundred years ago, beginnings that were scattered along the Rio Grande in the shadow of a dozen abandoned Indian pueblos and bordering the two remaining pubeblos, Isleta and Sandia -- the presence of which strictly limits the growth of Albuquerque to the south and north. Those beginnings are still there, whether it's Barelas or Los Ranchos, or any number of others that may have been absorbed by the Albuquerque metroplex, but which still retain their independent character.
In other words, it seems at least psychologically possible to "go back" to the cores of the city's parts. It's not that long ago, after all, when there were still fields beside Old Town, and Rio Rancho, among other suburbs, didn't exist.
On the other hand, when the previous droughts have come, people have abandoned the country-side for the relative comfort and prosperity of the City. At least in the City, they believed, they had a chance, whereas out in the country, they didn't. Without water, without rain, there was no future to be found in the fields, and depending on motor traffic for sustenance, as was the case, for example, along Route 66, is risky at best. When the Drought settles in, that's it. Despite the of best intentions, one can't really ride it out. By the time the Drought breaks, you've long been dead.
What to do, then?
The Drought forces those who depend on the land for a living to consider -- and accept -- some alternative, because the land simply can't provide for them. If they recognize that the City alternative may actually be closed off to them (it's already apparent that Santa Fe, for example, has rolled up the welcome mat -- for some -- for the duration), then thoughts of escape out of the region altogether may be necessary. That's one reason why the Spaceport looms large in the imagination. What better escape than to space?
Well, except for the fact that you have to come back...
One of our neighbors actually works in California. It's a long haul back and forth, but he claims it's necessary, because of the lack of employment opportunity around here... he gets paid a lot more in California, too. They just don't want to live in California. They have an Airstream, the husband works for several months at a time, lives in the trailer, comes back for a few weeks, then he is off to California again. It's an... alternative lifestyle. And at least to my way of looking at it, it's an adaptation to reality. (Well, I should know. Like a lot of people, we've never worked in New Mexico. Almost all our current income is derived from California employment.)
As long as the roads remain open... this kind of alternative is open.
Because of the Interstate, there actually are some employment opportunities where we live now -- and more are coming due to the construction of another truck stop. But the local workers I've talked to are not that enthusiastic about their prospects. Pay is low. Poverty level low. And when you're working in a low-end store or shop where you can't afford to buy anything, it can be severely depressing. One of the workers I talked to the other day says she's going to school full time so she can have a career in the medical field, and she works two low-wage retail jobs so she can afford school and childcare. Thank god, she says, she'll graduate next spring.
Even if there were enough work for everyone who wants a job, this wouldn't be an uncommon situation.
She's poor and she knows it, but she believes her schooling and training should boost her at least one rung up the economic ladder -- so she can "breathe" she says.
I hope so for the sake of her sanity, her health and her kids....
But for so many others, there are neither opportunities nor a future. I've written many times that the Future -- as an image, an idea, a goal -- has been stolen from us by those who deem themselves Our Betters, and they have no intention of giving it back, under any circumstance. The Future -- as it used to be -- is now their sole possession, and their goal now is gaining immortality, so they can hold onto it forever.
The common people have no Future. And the young feel the loss more than any.
For many of the young, there is not only no Future, there is no chance for one.
What will they do?
We see signs of an explosion of anger and despair, even revolutionary murmurings, but not -- yet -- overthrow of the prevailing system of financializing, looting, extraction and rent-seeking by the Highest of the Mighty.
Can't "overthrow" the system without something to replace it with, né?
Well, yes, actually, "overthrow" doesn't require a pre-existing substitute, but will "overthrow" ever happen?
We don't know; no one can foresee well enough to predict the (non-existent?) Future. But we have seen preludes to Revolution, and if we use our peripheral vision, we might see the prefiguring of a Future, not only after the Revolution comes, but what happens then.
In part, the past of New Mexico may be a guidepost to the Future -- if we squint just a little and use our imaginations to visualize what once was and what could be again.
Drought is the ever-present reality we face right now, a drought that may linger for many more years to come. We don't know. Life seems to go on as it always has, the rhythms of the seasons haven't changed, the wind still blows, and we pray for rain as the ancestors have long done. The ancient social and cultural roots in New Mexico have weathered many, many persistent droughts -- and much worse -- and somehow the rootstock has survived. Even flourished.
In other words, there is a cultural/social pattern here that ensures the society as a whole gets through pretty much anything that comes along -- even when people have to move from rougher areas to more benign ones, and various parts of the whole are abandoned temporarily or permanently.
I've mentioned the prevalence of ruins in New Mexico, for example -- abandoned sites falling back into the earth from whence they came litter the place, yet many get reclaimed in the by and bye as other people come along to make do in what was once abandoned. It's a cycle, as natural as the wind.
In the meantime, many, many alternative living sites and intentional communities are inaugurated. Some of them persist. They all have their own quirks and individual characters, and yet they all partake of the spirit of place, so in some sense they're all united. If they depend on farming for survival, they may be facing existential difficulty due to the drought, but many don't rely on their farm fields and livestock to sustain them.
What I see happening, though I can't be certain about it, is that more and more New Mexicans are recognizing the unreliability of the various lifestyle props we take for granted and are shifting into another frame of mind about it.
One factor is the shift of economic expectations. This is as acute here as anywhere else. It's basically a matter of recognizing and accepting the fact that we don't really need all the devices and props we've become accustomed to in order to live well. Living well often doesn't require either material or financial abundance. A sufficiency will do quite nicely, thank you.
It can be confusing to shift expectations from over-abundance to sufficiency, however. That confusion leads to many missteps and misperceptions. So many of us are conditioned to expect more, more, more, more devices, more cars, insurance, cable, new houses, clothes, appliances, and so on. Few of us seem to know how to get by without them, or with fewer of them. So many of us assume that the lack of material and financial lifestyle underpinnings is the definition of poverty, and many assume that no one can live well without lots of money and lots of stuff -- new stuff at that.
The quest for lots of money and lots of stuff is what kept the overall economy going for generations. But now, apparently, that era is over. We might never go back to it, might never have the opportunity to go back to it.
There are now at least two distinctly different -- and quite separate -- economies, one that serves the rich with extraordinary, indeed obscene, abundance, generally through a combination of automatic payments (often called rent-seeking) from the masses, and what amounts to rounds and rounds of thefts from one another. It is medieval on an unprecedented global scale.
The rest of us, quite literally, have a completely separate economy that primarily operates to ensure the perpetual financial indebtedness of the masses to their Betters -- Betters who are becoming their Masters. More medievalism on an unprecedented global scale.
Then there are those who insist on separating themselves from all of it.
The fact that you can still do that is something of a wonder. As things solidify into neo-feudalism (but without the necessity of old-fashioned mutual responsibilities) I doubt that the opportunities for alternatives and intentional communities and so on will be widespread or endure. The point of neo-feudalism is to become universal, with no alternatives available or permitted. This is certainly how conquest was conducted by essentially feudal Europeans in the New World. The Natives could submit, or the Natives could die. Often, the consequence of submission was death in any case. There was no way out.
Right now, we still have alternatives if we choose to take them up, but how much longer that will be the case, I don't know.
There is likely to come a time when only a very special handful of people and communities will be able to withstand the pressure of becoming part of whatever social, economic and political future is being cobbled together for us.
But then, even at the worst of the previous feudal past, there was always resistance.
Things are looking up!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Anarchism Resurgent
Americans as well as peoples around the world seem to be going through a very interesting period of ideological reflection.
The cruelties of the Neo-Liberal/Neo-Conservative triumphs of the past twenty years or so have become so violent and destructive to ordinary people's lives that rebellion and resistance is now pretty much universal -- though not successful yet in overcoming the power of the Neo-Aristocracies and the technocrats that rule nearly everywhere.
Marx is generally considered to have offered the correct analysis of the Crisis of Capitalism, and Marxian critiques of the current state of social and economic affairs are no longer rejected out of hand. Anti-Marxist propaganda has very little effect any more. Nevertheless, standard hierarchical Communism, a la the Soviet Union and Maoist China, is widely repudiated for its own tendency toward cruelty and for its extreme levels of interference in people's lives.
Hierarchies of all kinds are under scrutiny, from that of the Catholic Church to everyday hierarchies in families, schools and government.
The System is under immense strain.
Seemingly suddenly, though it has been building for a long time, "anarchism" is not just back in the news, it is being more and more widely assessed for its potential as a Future social/political organizational model.
Dmitry Orlov has offered up a series of posts called "In Praise of Anarchy" over at ClubOrlov that define and defend anarchism in some of the most potent terms. And his posts have been widely disseminated through the Left-O-Sphere, inspiring a good deal of angst as well as considerable reflection and consideration.
The Left, so called, has a historical problem with Anarchism to be sure; Old Line Socialists tend to reflexively denounce Anarchists and Anarchism as impractical and worthless and the work of the devil and so on, just as they have for more than a century. Yet the European Social Democracies that once were shining examples of hierarchical socialism without the horrors of totalitarianism have all sold out to the Neo-Liberal/Neo-Conservative Masters of the Universe, leaving the People essentially to fend for themselves in an increasingly brutal and violent "struggle for existence."
When Socialists betray the People in such a manner and do so essentially universally, it's no wonder the People reject them outright. So it has been throughout Struggling Europe. But because of the way politics is organized in parliamentary democracies, rejection of the Socialists leads to the re-empowerment of the rightists who carry out same programs of destruction and calamity with somewhat greater relish, cruelty and speed.
In other words, there is no escape from the impositions of the Masters through standard political processes.
What. To. Do?
We've seen massive protests all over the developed and much of the developing world, but they rarely get anywhere, as the "Protest" has become something of an artefact. An exception -- startling really for its exceptionalism -- is in Quebec, where four months of sustained protest in the streets of Montreal and throughout the Province against tuition increases and draconian anti-protest laws resulted in the fall of the Provincial government and rescinding the tuition hikes and the anti-protest laws.
Behold:
But that was one of the very, very few victories for protesters anywhere. Most governments ignore the Will of the People and crush any sort of unapproved protest brutally and violently. Many governments have adopted the Bushevik model of governing contrary to the Will of the People simply because they can, with disastrous results which they refuse to correct.
Justifiably, the People say "WTF?" and seek alternatives. When the political system does not work in any manner to fulfill the needs of the People, something else is necessary. When non-violent protest is met with the levels of cruelty and brutality employed widely to crush the Occupy Movement, people seek redress by other (and perhaps less overt) ways.
We've seen that governments have mostly adopted or adapted to the Bushevik Blank Stare response to the People and the People's Will; we've seen that Protest is useful for gathering support but it does not in and of itself result in appropriate changes of policy.
We've seen that cruelty has become the standard operating system utilized by governments nearly everywhere.
How can the People break this cycle?
One of the ways, which I have mentioned many times, was offered in David Graeber's Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology (pdf): sidestep and make irrelevant the "official government". Create and operate alternatives, take care of one another, limit or eliminate interactions with Government.
While he was using Madagascar as an example of this grassroots version of anarchism, in fact the model has long been standard in the United States. The way the nation expanded during the 18th and 19th centuries was through various peoples cleaving off and forming their own societies in the Wilderness. It was accepted and celebrated as part of American Exceptionalism. In most cases, these little colonies and communities existed -- at least for a time -- in almost complete independence of the Central Government, in fact, though not in ideology (for the most part) anarchist societies.
It's may be much harder to do now that the Frontier is closed and has been for many years, but it is not impossible for civil society to recognize the fact that our political system and its government have divorced themselves from the People and take steps to create alternatives to the standard hierarchical models we're so accustomed to.
That is essentially what happened when the Occupy encampments were so brutally and violently crushed and destroyed. The anarchist ideas that were fundamental parts of the Occupy Movement were dispersed throughout the land, as seeds or spores, and they are beginning to bear fruit.
Some of the thought processes here:
Alternet
FDL
Dmitry Orlov
David Graeber
There is of course much more.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Post Mortem Nostrums
So Walker actually did better in the recall election than he did in the 2010 election. The latest statistic I saw last night before toddling off to slumber was 52/47 Walker -- same as 2010; checking the news this morning it's now at 54/45 Walker.
Oh. Dear.
This despite the fact that Walker is not popular except among the Billionaires as their hired goon, and his policies (well, their policies) are widely deplored -- even by many of those who voted for him.
The post mortems have largely been piles of horseshit and excuses as is the way in the midst of political carnage. It was all that ad money from the Kochs! It was all the dirty tricks! Everyone's tired of recalls! God, if only Russ had run! etc, ad infinitum.
Let's not forget that one of Walker's promises was that he would get rid of the recall process if he was confirmed in office.
Think about that. One of the principal Progressive reforms from long ago, which I believe was first introduced in Wisconsin (or nearby, I'm too lazy to look it up right now) will be on the block now that Walker has been confirmed in office with a bigger majority than when he was first elected. This is insane. But there you are. That's our politics in a nutshell.
The insight I had was that if the People of Wisconsin were really voting based on their disgust with recalls, then ultimately it's an issue of a deeply flawed electoral and political process; they may or may not be thinking of it in terms of rejecting Progressive reforms, but clearly they recognize a systemic problem with the way our politics and elections are conducted. The way it is is not the way it should be.
If, that is, animosity at the recalls themselves was the driving force behind the failure of the voters to recall Walker and his LG. This idea has mostly been the product of Charles Pierce's insights for Esquire. Pierce has long been one of the better writers on topics of this sort, and though he may be wrong in this case, he may be right. If he is, then the broader issue of a deeply flawed political and electoral system must be addressed.
If keeping Walker in office turns out to be a comment on the system itself -- not in any way an approval of him and his policies on behalf of the Billionaires who own him -- then there is a good deal of potential for positive change, though not as long as he and his crew are in office. If Democrats were in office, though, it might be more difficult to address the issues of systemic flaws.
At this point, there's no sign that those flaws will be addressed any time soon, but you never know. People can be spurred to action by all kinds of things, and if the criminal investigation of Walker and his cronies continues and results in indictments, it's quite possible that something unexpected will happen.
Nevertheless, whether the People of Wisconsin decide to do anything about it or not, the problem is systemic. We have a political system that is almost completely unresponsive to the People, and we have an electoral system in which candidates are quite openly bought and sold by a relative handful of plutocrats and oligarchs -- that is when those plutocrats and oligarchs choose not to rule directly themselves.
This is the kind of ersatz "democracy" of the late Roman
People in office are proud of themselves for defying the People's interests and the People's will in order to serve their real constituents: the plutocrats and oligarchs who choose them and get them elected. We, the People, have not had any significant say in the actual political process for many years (some would say since the foundation of the nation), and our access to the governing process -- and even physical access to those who rule us -- is diminishing all the time.
(As a local side note, a "citizens commission" was set up last year to work with city planning consultants on schemes to "improve" the neighborhood's main street, Broadway. The People of the neighborhoods involved had no say in any of this; many had no idea there even was such a thing as a commission until an announcement appeared in the paper, as it hadn't been discussed with or approved by any of the neighborhood associations. The people on the commission were mostly unknown in the neighborhoods, no one was aware of any request to the city that Broadway be "improved," and no one had any idea who these consultants were, and they became alarmed when they researched some of the projects this outfit had done. It was all just imposed from on high, with the appearance of public participation and input. Complaints were made and noted. The commission continues to work with the consultants on plans for improvements nobody seems to want. That's how government works these days.)
When serving the oligarchs is the primary function of elected representatives, their secondary task is to market their unwanted product to the public. We see it all the time at every level of government from the White House on down. One of the points I made about the election of Barack Obama in 2008 was that he was auditioned (for two years) and vetted on his ability to manage the masses -- which he demonstrated he was more than capable of in some of the enormous rallies he presided over at home and abroad.)
Their skill at marketing unwanted product is actually one of the chief means of evaluating the success or failure of various politicians. Viz: the entirety of the Bush/Cheney reign of error and terror.
At no point are the real interests of the People even considered.
This situation can only be addressed if it is acknowledged, and we haven't reached that point in the wider political scheme of things. It is acknowledged among the rebels and those who have consciously withdrawn from the process, but with the political/electoral firmament the real public interests are avoided like the plague; this holds true for both major parties, most especially for the Republicans, but for the Democrats, too. Elections have no effect political recognition of the People and their interests and will in large part because they are marketing campaigns, not policy considerations.
The only way We, the People have found to affect the course of events is through various forms of rebellion outside the system.
But we need to go well beyond rebellion and create living alternatives.
[ * The illustration above is of election graffiti in Pompeii, c. 79AD, when Rome was still sort of something of a Republic -- at least superficially; elections continued under the Empire, of course, until long after they were completely meaningless.]
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Expectations, Clowning and The Crisis of Confidence
Occupy has been a magnet for Crisis since its inception last September.
Of course its predecessor movements in Europe and North Africa, as well as Wisconsin, also focused attention on the Crisis of our times. That Crisis is resolvable into the juggernaut of Neo-Liberalism and aligned dictatorship that are running roughshod over the interests of the People nearly everywhere all around the world. As we've seen in the case of Greece and many other places, it is in essence a neo-colonial enterprise on behalf of a shrinking handful of plutocrats and oligarchs who seek nothing less than to rule the world.
Occupy and its sister rebellions spontaneously arose in opposition to this juggernaut of sadistic cruelty and global exploitation. While there have been several apparent victories, many of us recognize that the struggle has barely been engaged on either side of the yawing gulf between the People and those who have set out to rule them with a rod and staff. The collapse of the Tunisian and Egyptian dictatorships was a step -- but only a step -- toward an eventual resolution of the Crisis that precipitated the rebellions. The root of the problem is still firmly in place, and so far, democratic processes are not able to uproot it.
And the inability to thwart the control of governments by a shadowy international cabal of plutocrats and oligarchs has led to something of a Crisis of Confidence among the many rebel movements around the world aligned to accomplish that thwarting.
In the United States, the pattern of Futility and Failure was set in Wisconsin, where a spectacular and apparently very effective sit in/occupation of the Capitol in Madison, and huge demonstrations in the streets accomplished essentially nothing. Every aspect of the Koch/Walker "reforms" were enacted, no matter what the People had to say about it, and no matter what the People did. The Wisconsin demonstrations were objectively failures.
Not only that, but the follow-up recall elections failed to change the balance of power in the Wisconsin Legislature; whether the current series of recalls slated for this summer will have a more positive effect on behalf of the People remains to be seen. But the lesson here is clear: standard protest and electoral processes don't work any more to change public policies for the better.
The peoples of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece (among other European nations) learned this bitter lesson some time ago; the peoples of North Africa and the Middle East are learning it now as their victorious rebellions (where they have been victorious) have turned into something less than they bargained for -- and in some places much worse for the masses.
What to do? Can the concerted actions of the People actually thwart the progress of the Juggernaut that is crushing them under its wheels, or is there some way to halt it in its tracks?
No one knows yet, and that uncertainty is part of what gives rise to the exploration of alternatives and the Crisis of Confidence that has been afflicting the many rebel movements and especially the Occupy Movement for months now.
But all is not lost.
Here is a wonderful short video of what happened in Portland, OR, the other day as the People marched in solidarity against he depredations of Our Corporate Overlords and their control of government through ALEC:
Here's a longer one that shows a bit more of what was going on in Portland:
It may look tame -- especially compared to some of the events and street battles in Oakland -- but I think there have been some significant changes in the approach to The Revolution This Year.
Those who relish spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about Occupy insist the Movement is "dead" and there is no point in bothering with it any more. The cause of its purported "death" is said to be the "violence" precipitated by Occupiers (with special emphasis on Occupy Oakland), which has allegedly alienated the masses from the Movement.
But you can see from these videos -- and I could post many, many more -- that the Occupy Movement is far from "dead." In fact, it has evolved (or metamorphosed) into something quite different than it once was. It still has a very strong mass appeal and Occupy events can still turn out hundreds or thousands of participants on a regular basis, but it is not the same sort of participation -- nor are the actions quite the same -- as was once the case.
We're seeing far more creative involvement and a great deal of mockery for Authority.
The Clown Police have been around for quite a while, but they are now much more apparent in demonstrations, and not solely in Portland. Their mockery of police overkill against the Occupy Movement is devastating in the videos above. It is a very creative way to highlight the nature of what the The Occupy Revolution is fighting. It's not simply ALEC or Corporate Control or what have you, the struggle is also against police who doll themselves up in Robo-Outfits and prance around on horseback to enforce Corporate Control on the rebels.
In a different way, the Clown Police are as effective in delegitimizing the Authority of the police and the Overlords they serve as the remarkable Shield Wall in Oakland was on January 28:
But there was more going on in Portland. During the march some people stood their ground and refused to be intimidated or moved by The Tsar's Cossacks:
This is another very effective way of delegitimizing the Authority of the Overlords and their Police. For many people, it's very disturbing to witness something like this. It is a completely nonviolent action that asserts the People's authority against the authority of the State -- and the People win. Of course, in Portland and elsewhere you have to be leery of these "wins," because the Tsar's Cossacks are liable to return by stealth after being thwarted (as they did after tens of thousands of Portland's People initially thwarted the eviction of Occupy Portland from their encampment last November). You never know.
Delegitimation of Authority is the principal Occupy strategy for the moment. It works, but it is also frightening to many people, especially if they can't see beyond the delegitimation to what comes next. So far, what comes next is vague at best. What does the Better World we're supposedly intent on building look like?
Delegitimization works, but what then? Until that question can be answered clearly and forcefully with ample demonstrations of Things to Come, the Crisis of Confidence that now afflicts parts of the Occupy Movement will continue.
In some ways it's appropriate and productive because it leads more people to consider, really deeply, what all this hoo-hah is for.
[Note: this video shows a lot more of the Portland F29 actions. Note the presence of a completely nonviolent Black Bloc. Just saying...)
Monday, January 9, 2012
Envisioning That Better Future -- One: Living Well With Less
Stories are going around that "manufacturing is back" in the United States. Apparently manufacturers are hiring again -- at half the wages that industry workers were formerly paid.
As I've said many, many times on this blog and pretty much wherever else I've posted on the internets, it has been the policy of the United States Government from the beginning of this Endless Recession to force down wages and benefits for workers -- while at the same time boosting corporate profits and executive bonuses.
This has been clear as crystal from the get-go, but saying it is impolite, and because some people have not yet faced falling income and living standards, the fact that most Americans have been facing them for years doesn't register.
But it's hard to escape statistics. Half of Americans are now poor or officially low income, half. Almost a quarter of American children now live in poverty. The middle class is being decimated -- quite deliberately as a matter of policy from the top.
Maintaining high unemployment is policy.
Forcing down worker wages and benefits is policy.
Decimating the middle class is policy.
Supporting and expanding the power and reach of the Highest of the Mighty is policy.
And now that hiring is starting to occur in sectors that have long been written off, such as manufacturing, we're seeing wages paid that are no more than half of what was formerly paid in the same or similar sectors. Anybody who's been paying attention, though, has seen wages fall for many of those who have managed to stay employed during the Endless Recession, sometimes by half or more, but typically in the 10% to 25% range. And workers in practically every sector face constant pressure from the top to accept ever lower compensation.
This situation is not going to soon relent.
It is now customary.
We must "compete" globally, after all.
Universal poverty is the new standard to meet.
And they will call it The Greatest Expansion of Wealth in World History!!! Yay!
In fact, they have been calling it that for years. Of course, it IS an expansion of wealth for those on top.
So far, the global uprisings against these policies of governments (and their owners) have not been able to curb the trend, and some of the Revolutions that have taken place have turned out to principally serve the financiers and other wealth extractors they were intended to thwart.
What a mess.
Part of what has to be done in the process of envisioning is to recognize the way things really are, to understand what policies are really in place, and to effectively "shadow" -- if you will -- that reality with an alternative.
Wealth and poverty are relative things, not absolutes. One can get by on very little, one can live well -- and be generous to others -- on next to nothing, compared to the self-serving abundance of the hoarding elites.
In other words, impoverishment -- even the forced impoverishment of contemporary Americans -- is not necessarily a bad thing. Learning to live well on less can be good for the individual, for the community and for the environment. In fact, it is necessary and inevitable given the course of global climate change and other environmental factors.
We do well to envision a Better Future using fewer resources...
Those who have already been doing it for many years have an opportunity to step up to the challenge of helping and teaching others to do well with less. And the demonstration of how to do a great deal with far less money and material resources has begun in earnest all over the country. More of these demonstrations will be needed.
The next step toward envisioning and building a better future is to disconnect -- so far as possible -- from the financial sector that is sucking the life-blood out of communities and societies around the world.
We'll get to that in the next installment.
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