"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave."

Unfit To Be a Slave

by C. A. Matthews

For being the shortest month of the year, February certainly packs a lot of punches.

Most of them are gut punches, too. I received some great news this week from a friend who has been given a second chance to prove himself, but that good news was almost instantly nullified by some heartbreaking news from another friend that made the tears flow freely. Life is a series of ups and downs. No doubt about it.

The news cycle—the real news cycle, not the pretend mainstream media one—hasn’t been all that joyful, either. What to write about this week? Hmm…

The US is still funding a horrific genocide in Palestine and helping Israel to steal all the land in both Gaza and the West Bank. The US is openly starving Cuba into submission for God-knows-what reason. Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife are still prisoners, and the US government is giving their oil to Israel, of course. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE are purchasing hundreds of empty warehouses to imprison immigrants and perhaps citizens as well. And the latest Epstein files dump tells us that our “ruling class” is into cannibalism besides child rape, torture, and murder. So many wonderful topics to choose from!

I decided finally to ignore the gut punches and think about better things happening in February, such as Black History Month. It’s a good time of the year to sit back and reflect on how the United States became the complete and utter shithole it is today by honoring those who fought hard to rise above its racist-fascist shittiness.

The inspiration came from the meme at the top. It popped up on my UpScrolled feed. (Join today—UpScrolled doesn’t shadow-ban.) Frederick Douglass definitely knew what he was talking about. Once you know something—you really know all there is to know about it—you can’t let go of that knowledge. It changes you. It becomes a part of you, for better or worse...

 

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This article is the 558th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another eleven years. Thanks!

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Our Children Are Not Disposable Playthings For The Ruling Class

by C. A. Matthews

Butch Ware, the Green Party candidate running for governor in California, made a statement about the recent Epstein files dump that sums up what I and many others believe:

x.com/ButchWare

As Governor of California I will direct the Attorney General to immediately open investigations into any and every California resident mentioned in the Epstein files.

Human trafficking, s*xual abuse of children, women…humans…by powerful people demands accountability. They must face the consequences for these heinous, unspeakable crimes.

The Democrats and Republicans are protecting the billionaire predators that own them.

With God as my witness, I will go to WAR on p*dofiles and traffickers.

Our children are not disposable playthings for the ruling class.

His last sentence really says it all: Our children are not disposable playthings for the ruling class. It demonstrates just how the corrupt capitalist system operates. It allows the members of the ruling class, a.k.a. the elite or the oligarchy, to use human beings seen as inferior as their “playthings” and then casually dispose of them when they’re no longer wanted.

We’re so advanced now in the West that we’ve become willing to let the wealthiest and most powerful of our society abuse children in the most heinous ways purely for their own sick enjoyment. Those who possess large quantities of currency or positions of power know that only they are entitled to act out their most horrific fantasies with impunity.

Is it any wonder now that Western capitalists support a live-streamed genocide in Palestine? What’s another dead child to them...

 

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This article is the 557th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another eleven years. Thanks!

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Boycotting Capitalism

by C. A. Matthews

I’m waiting to hear some good news about the outcome of the Economic Black-Out that happened this past week. Did record numbers of shoppers stay home—and offline—denying profits to the corporations that have been partners in genocide? I’d like to think so.

I’d like to think that folks shopped locally on Black Friday and didn’t waste their time and money on whatever-expensive-thing the mega-corps are pushing this holiday season, because it’s not like we’re all drowning in money this year. Am I right? What struggling family has anything leftover to spend on frivolous things after scraping up just enough pocket change to buy this week’s groceries? If you can eat whatever you like, whenever you like, and buy without back-breaking interest whatever it is you like, you know you’re truly blessed, don’t you?

But even if only a handful of us boycotted the genocide-enabling corporations this week, it was well worth it. It’s always worth it to free one’s soul from the never-ending cycle of consumerism. Face it, we don’t need to own the latest widget or gadget or thingamajig in order to survive. We just need a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. All the rest is superfluous.

And dangerous. How so? If we find ourselves addicted to amassing more and more material goods or lusting after the “latest thing,” we could discover a greed that will never die. The monster of greed will just grow within our soul and grow and grow… Soon, we could find ourselves owning everything and nothing at the same time.

If our lives become nothing but an excuse to shop and spend, very soon we could have an overflowing shed or rented storage space and nobody to share any of the contents with. We wouldn’t have spent much time or effort on relationships. We’ll just have stuff. And stuff can’t snuggle with you on a cold winter’s night or hold your hand when you’re sick or be there when you’re in need of companionship. Stuff just sits around and gathers dust.

Useless, absolutely useless, stuff is, which is why it’s not worth accumulating much of it in the first place. In order to save our precious souls and the souls of others, it’s time for us to stop this destructive accumulation and cult-like worship of stuff, and instead focus our energies on making the world a better and safer place for us all.

That’s why the BDS or boycotting/divesting/sanctioning movement is so vital...

 

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Diagnosis: Moral Insanity

by C.A. Matthews

When you call someone “insane” in a court of law, it means something different than what we usually think of as “crazy.” A person can hear voices, hallucinate wildly, speak in a word salad, but if that person still understands the difference between what is right and what is wrong, then that person is considered legally sane and responsible for their actions. For example, if you know that killing people is wrong and against the law, but you still go ahead and do it, then you are legally sane and must accept your punishment. Even if you spout off a lot of nonsense trying to justify your murderous activity, you are still legally sane and responsible for your actions.

What do you call a person (or group of persons) who declare outright that they are legally sane (they indicate they know the difference between right and wrong), but they behave in a manner that suggests that they really don’t? I’m not sure there is a legal term for that kind of behavior, so I’ve come up with my own. I say that person/group of persons is “morally insane.”

Something isn’t quite right with morally insane folks in their hearts or souls or what-have-you. They understand they’ve committed crimes (or at least have taken adverse actions) against others, but they couldn’t care less about the pain, chaos, and destruction they’ve unleashed. They may not have pulled the trigger themselves, but they’ve financed, promoted, and encouraged hit-men to do the deed for them, and they’re happy with the results. In fact, some are quite proud of their violent accomplishments and openly brag about their crimes to anyone willing to listen.

It’s downright sickening to observe so much moral insanity in the world in the year 2025. One would hope humanity had grown up by now, but it seems not. If you’re still not certain what I mean by moral insanity, here are some recent incidents that sum up the concept...

 

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Remember The National Day of Mourning: https://www.uaine.org/

What If The Empire Ended?

 

What If The Empire Ended?

words and protest photos by C. A. Matthews 

I was driving to a local college this past week to hear a talk by a friend about her time living in Haiti when a intriguing song came on the radio. It was totally unexpected. I was listening to a smooth jazz station run by the local school district and usually the songs are instrumentals. But the lyrics of this song struck me as being extremely relevant to the situation we find the world in today. The opening lyrics went something like this:

What if the world ended? Would those I had befriended be my friends anymore?

This wasn’t a sentiment I expected hearing in a contemporary jazz song. I wanted a copy of it*, and I was sorry there was no identification given of either the artist or the song title by the time I reached my destination. (I drive an old car. My car’s radio doesn’t have an electronic readout. It’s primitive, but it does the job. I like my car’s CD player, too.)

Anyway, the song’s lyrics intrigued me in a slightly different way than considering the end of all life on Earth. What if the empire ended? What would life be like without the US empire? What if today—not next year or the next decade—the US empire came to a crashing halt? That’s it—it’s dead and gone. What would life be like for the vast majority of us?

For one thing, I’m sure my friend’s story about her time in Haiti would have a happier ending. The US empire has meddled, couped, invaded, and generally taken advantage of that small Caribbean country over and over and over again. (Read Major General Smedley Butler’s War Is A Racket to see how he felt about his part in it.) I believe the US government owes reparations to the Haitian people for our imperialist treatment of them—and to many others as well.

So, what if the empire ended? Would those whom Americans have betrayed become our friends again? What would the world be like if the driving force behind empire building (that is, capitalism) no longer existed?

Let’s do a thought experiment with some recent headlines...

 

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The Winning Team

It’s been a long and stressful week. Rain and pain have been my personal challenges. I know I have nothing really to complain about when compared to the hell others are enduring in places such as Gaza or Sudan. Still, you have to wonder what life would be like if it wasn’t always an uphill climb or an endless fight against the forces of darkness with no light at the end of the tunnel. What would it be like if, just this once, we could be members of “the winning team”?

The Winning Team

a poem by C. A. Matthews

When life is tough and you want to scream
It’s best to join the winning team.
When genocide isn’t all it seems
Know that’s because of the winning team.
The winning team makes all the rules
And those who ignore them are the fools.
Since those that have deserve the rest
Their demands are sacrosanct and blessed—
By God. It’s because of their skewed worldview
That innocent people’s lives have been screwed.
But who cares? Life on top is pure cream
Because you’ve joined the winning team.

 When fossil fuels are getting lean
It’s time to join the winning team.
Those with wanted oil are evil regimes
That must be destroyed by the winning team.
The winning team always knows what’s best.
Others’ self-determination is put to the test.
Colonizers may come and then they’ll go
But don’t resist your betters—that’s a big no-no!
Any lame excuse can start a resource war—
Don’t you what “false flags” are really for?
The devastating results are seldom seen
Through Western eyes. 

The mass media’s on the winning team.

To read the rest of the poem and find out who are this week's "winners and "losers", please copy or click on the following link: 

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This article is the 544th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

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To find out more about the Uniting for Peace resolution that President Petro proposed at the UN, watch this video webinar: https://www.youtube.com/live/5q-8pqiofPY  

 

SHUT IT DOWN!

rants and original photos by C. A. Matthews

After several late nights watching the livestreams from the various boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla, cringing as the activists were pummeled with skunk water before being kidnapped by the Israeli Navy and taken to prison to be beaten and called “terrorists,” I’m in the mood for screaming:

SHUT IT DOWN!

The very last of the first flotilla boats was boarded by the Israelis by very early Friday morning Eastern time. But the next wave of boats to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza, a flotilla called “Thousand Madleens to Gaza”, had already launched, and are on their way. (Learn more about them at https://www.thousandmadleens.org/) There’s no stopping a good idea and good people who want to help others live a good life.

And keeping the Israeli Navy busy hunting for the small boats of the flotilla in the Mediterranean has actually helped the starving in a measurable way. Gazan fishermen were able to slip their boats out into the sea and fish without being shot at by the IOF! Even if the Israelis threw the humanitarian aid into the bottom of the sea, the flotilla really did break the blockade after all.

Greta and the others did what they intended to and weren’t persuaded to stay home and sit on their backsides. They worked hard and suffered much to—

SHUT IT DOWN!

Palestinian supporters in Europe have been marching in record numbers protesting their countries’ lack of help for the victims of Israel’s ethnic cleansing. In Amsterdam alone a quarter million were in the streets. In Italy over a million turned out. Workers and students demonstrated after the largest unions called for a one-day general strike. Hundreds of trains were cancelled or delayed, some flights were cancelled, and many schools were closed.

These same sorts of actions should be happening everywhere. In North America, we’re slow on the uptake. No major shut downs yet. No general strike. A meme says, “The problem with American protests is that we schedule protests one by one instead of showing up every night until the change happens.”

Word! We should show up every night until we—

SHUT IT DOWN!

 

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Would you risk arrest to SHUT IT DOWN?

 

An Anthem For Our Times

by C. A. Matthews

I wanted to do something different this week just to see where it would take me.

Last week’s post was on the longer side, and fact-heavy articles tend not to get re-posted as much. So I decided this time ‘round to share some more of my poetry, but this time by putting it to a tune. (Maybe this kind of audio post will help me break into the Substack Top 100? I’d be happy just to get my subscriber count over 2,000, including a few more paying subscribers.)

I won’t claim to be a poet. I’ve had some of my poetry published before, such as last year’s poem Dust From Gaza in For All, the Revolutionary Poets Brigade anthology. I know a lot more talented poets here on Substack (such as Dan Denton) who make my attempts at poetry pale by comparison. But I was inspired by two recent events to write this poem, which quickly became the lyrics to a song, an actual honest-to-goodness protest song.

I thought: “Every generation has a protest song, a song that sums up what’s really important and needs to change to make the world a better place. Why can’t I write that song?”

I know that sounds a bit arrogant, but one can always dream of being remembered for more than just writing a weekly sociopolitical column for the past ten years and pissing off more strangers, friends, and acquaintances than there are grains of sand on the beach in Gaza. I’d like it if people could say at my passing: “Wow, she cared enough to put herself out there and write a pro-Palestine protest song that made even more people hate her.”

The inspiration for my song came from Caitlin Johnstone’s brilliant in-your-face essay, Nobody Say “Fuck Israel, Free Palestine” which was in turn inspired by the Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap’s brilliant in-your-face protest screen at the recent Coachella music festival. Caitlin and Tim (they’re a writing team, so I don’t want to leave either of them out) stated that one should never say the phrase “Fuck Israel, Free Palestine,” as this could be considered hurtful by those folks who think “genocide is good.”

Well, let me state for the record that I’m certainly not one of those immoral, sadistic, sick and twisted bastards who thinks “genocide is good.”

 

To listen to a recording and read the protest song lyrics, continue reading the rest of this article on Substack. Copy or click on this link: 

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This article is the 518th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

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Connect The Dots…

 

So much suffering that never should have happened all because Palestinians were never given equal rights and were dehumanized. Wars for oil during a climate crisis. --White Rabbit 2587 on X

Connect The Dots… or Wars For Oil During A Climate Crisis

by C.A. Matthews 

227 Dead from Hurricane Helene (109 in North Carolina alone)

118,908+ Palestinians dead in the Genocide of Gaza by Israeli Forces (5.4% of the total population, estimated by 99 US doctors who have been to Gaza in the past year. Other estimates are over 200,000+ dead.)

2000+ Lebanese dead by Israeli Forces

$725 promised to Hurricane Helene victims by FEMA

$20 billion+ promised to Israel to continue its bombing campaigns of Gaza, West Bank, and Lebanon 

2024 will probably be the “Hottest Year on Record” beating 2023, the current record holder.

The list of top ten countries with the most petroleum reserves:

1. Venezuela 2. Saudi Arabia 3. Iran 4. Canada 5. Iraq 6. United Arab Emirates 7. Kuwait 8. Russia 9. United States 10. Libya

The list of countries that US and/or NATO-align countries have had or are currently picking a fight with in order to gain control of petroleum reserves: Venezuela, Russia, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen

122 trillion cubic foot of natural gas along with an estimated at 1.7 billion barrels of oil are located off the coast of Gaza. This resource legally belongs to the Palestinian people, not Israel.

The US Military is one of the biggest polluters in the world with a huge carbon footprint. In 2017, the US military used 269,230 barrels of oil a day and emitted more than 25,000 kilotons of carbon dioxide by burning those fuels.

What have these seemingly random facts or “listicles” got to do with each other? Read them again and see if you can’t connect the dots.

Can you guess what was behind the strength and destruction of Hurricane Helene (and as of this writing, Hurricane Milton)? What if I told you that the Gulf of Mexico is super hot this year, hotter than it’s ever been in recorded history. The heat of the gulf’s water fueled Helene’s strength, causing it (and now Milton’s strength) to jump from a Category 1 to a Category 4 hurricane in less than a day. The rapidly heating Earth will continue to increase the flooding, tornadoes, and assorted storm damage.

The climate crisis—or more accurately the climate catastrophe—is doing more than making your air conditioner work overtime. It’s causing droughts, floods, and killer storms like Hurricane Helene. The burning of fossil fuels is making things worse by adding to the “greenhouse gas effect” that is heating up our planet. Humanity needs to kick the oil habit—and fast—if we want to even begin to turn things around and save our children’s futures.

Now do some more connect-the-dots...

 

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That Level of Cruelty Is Where We’re At

 

Israel apologists have been amazingly defensive about its latest acts of terrorism in Lebanon. It’s extremely important to them that everyone believe it’s awesome and good to turn electronic devices into thousands of bombs placed throughout unsuspecting civilian populations. --Caitlin Johnstone, Biden Didn't "Fail" To Get A Ceasefire; He Never Tried

As someone who has just spent the last 3 years completing a PhD on how tech can be used for international crimes, I never thought blowing up civilian (including hospital staff and children’s) devices would be something to consider. But, apparently that level of cruelty is where we’re at. --Sarah Zarmsky on X

That Level of Cruelty Is Where We’re At

by C.A. Matthews

It’s not the plot of a science fiction novel or an action movie. It’s not an advanced level in a spy-thriller video game. It’s not even some poorly-written fan-fic that others gleefully critique on a deeply-hidden Reddit board. This actually happened. Within two days there were at least 32 human beings killed and thousands severely wounded in Lebanon. (As of September 23, the death toll has risen with 274 more people, including 21 children, 39 women and 2 paramedics killed in southern Lebanon today. 1,024 people, including 15 paramedics, were wounded according to the Lebanon Health Ministry.) Children and doctors and nurses and paramedics murdered indiscriminately and without warning.

According to the United Nations...

 

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The Fight

 

 The Fight

by C.A. Matthews

 

Nowadays there are so many things coming at us all at once—climate disasters, political disasters, personal disasters—that it sometimes becomes so overwhelming that all you want to do is shout, “ENOUGH ALREADY! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Only once you’re free from the stress will you be able to walk away from everything with your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed as you curl up with your favorite blanket in a corner of your bed like you did when you were three years old and then forget that the world even exists.

Too bad the world never forgets about you.

The world has a way of finding us no matter how much we try to hide from it, like it or not. It won’t leave us alone if we have half a brain cell or even a tiny gram of integrity. It will call to us and plead with us to take part in its happenings. It will call to us saying, “Help me get rid it of these evil and immoral elements and replace them with just and moral ones.”

And we’ll feel obligated to do so, until it all becomes too much for us again. Then we’ll curl up in a fetal position and sob, “Enough! Please?”

I’ve been hovering over the “Enough!” cliff edge for quite some time now, so I really appreciated reading Caitlin Johnstone’s latest poem. Here it is in case you haven’t read it yet...

 

To read the rest of this article, click on this link to go to our Substack page: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com  There you'll also see the related article and video links, all the images, and be able to leave comments. You can subscribe to receive the weekly blog post in your email box as well. Subscribe today! Power to the people!