Heavenly Peace

 Heavenly Peace

by C.A. Matthews

Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright.
‘Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace!

There’s nothing in any classic Christmas carol about “Shop until you drop!” There’s nothing about spending tons of cash on gifts, food, travel, clothing, or general rabble-rousing. There’s nothing about “He who dies with the most toys wins,” or how great it is to send billions of dollars in weapons to a proxy war and drone bomb civilians, either. Carols tend to emphasize qualities such as “silence” and “peace.”   

How did we ever find ourselves in the mess we find ourselves in today? To understand where we are now, perhaps it’s best to unravel the string of events that led us here.  

Let’s travel back in time and see where our Christmas celebrations took a turn away from silence and peace and landed us in a pit of noise and turmoil. What wrong step did we take? How can we get back on the path of peace and stillness, away from this madness that calls itself “Christmas” in the 21^st century?

The idea that Christmas was about going broke every December buying numerous superfluous presents for loved ones, friends, co-workers and bosses is a relatively recent invention. Most place the blame on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s shoulders. Albert and Victoria (both of German descent) introduced the tradition of Christmas trees to the English-speaking world. 

 

Of course, being tremendously wealthy, the royals lavished tons of toys and other gifts on their huge brood of children. The British middle class was coming into its own in the mid-19th century, so they had an overwhelming urge to copy the customs of their young and spendy queen. Hence, the yearly mad rush to the toy and department stores began.

To outdo your middle class neighbors, you had to have the biggest tree with the biggest pile of gifts under it. Competition was not only encouraged in Victorian times, it was practically mandated. This competition started near the beginning of the industrial revolution, and mass-produced items were becoming the “in-thing” to give. Simple gifts of food and drink were seen as inferior and only for the poor and disadvantaged to share with each other on Christmas Eve.

The burgeoning middle class had to have the best their money could buy from the best stores and manufacturers. To aid these not-quite-as-rich-as the-queen folks and guide them toward where  they could purchase the latest mass-produced gift items, a new art form was developed. “Advertising” told the middle class exactly what was the in-thing that year and, more importantly, where it could be purchased and for how much. 

“Be the first family on your street to own this wonderful consumer item!” advertisers shouted, bursting the peace and silence of the beautiful snowy skies.

This is where the Western celebration of Christmas took that big wrong turn.

“Okay,” you say. “Materialism is bad. Unselfish giving of our time and talents is good. We all stop purchasing useless mass-produced goods we never wanted or could use and end this stupid competitiveness, and everything will be hunky-dory, right? We'll start now, and the world will be peaceful before you know it."

But it isn’t, and you know it. We still have hatred, violence, and endless war. What wrong turn did we take there? 

Would you be surprised if I told you it was the same one? 

The same mass production and keeping up with the neighbors and allowing the elites to dictate how we ordinary beings should live our lives has led us into this mess. There can be no “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Humankind” when there’s money to be made creating billions of useless disposable items—from $1 plastic do-dads to $1 billion bomber aircraft.  

By creating an insatiable need to have more and use more via advertising, we perpetuate the modern myth that Christmas is a holiday for commerce. Because what’s the use of having stockpiles of anything—including weapons—if you don’t have the means to deplete them before next year’s big rush to the “toy” store? Ka-boom!

 

Capitalism depends on endless growth in order to make capitalists (the elite) endless profits. Endless resources are needed to produce ever more mass-produced products for consumers to buy (as they're instructed by advertising to demand more and more) year after year. When the natural resources are depleted at home, capitalists must go abroad and take them. 

 

Sure, capitalists could offer others money and a fair trade, but bombing another country to smithereens and destroying their economy is much more fun, isn’t it? Once you’ve destroyed another country's economy via either a "hot" or "cold" war, you can assume all its resources and use its people as cheap/slave laborers. They have to work for you now, or they don't eat. More profits to be made for the "winning" capitalists. Yeah!

To reiterate, advertising drives the middle class into a frenzy of crass materialism each December, which then leads corporations into destroying our environment in search of the raw resources needed to manufacture these items while also making these corporations vast profits, and these resources are being obtained more and more via endless warfare. Rinse and repeat.

 

A holiday to honor the birth of a man of peace has been co-opted by capitalism and endless wars for resources. Totally and completely co-opted.  

Now that we know how we’ve gotten ourselves into this mess, how can we get out of it? Could it be all we have to do is ignore the propaganda that capitalism is the best economic system ever? (Propaganda is simply another name for the advertising put out by our governments to prop up private corporations destroying our earth in their race to obtain natural resources.) Could it be that all it takes is to stop billionaire CEOs and the endless warfare and sue for peace throughout the world? Could it be that simple?

“Sleep in heavenly peace!” By following words of peace and not those of capitalist warmongers, we will find ourselves surrounded by the beautiful silence of Christmas, where only the celebration of the gift of love is needed.

Related pieces:

The Madness of Nuclear War is Alive and Well in America https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/16/the-madness-of-nuclear-warfare-is-alive-and-well-in-america/ 

Raytheon and Boeing Can't Be Voted Out (video) https://revolutionaryblackout.substack.com/p/raytheon-and-boeing-cant-be-voted

 

 * * *

 

Comrades, can you spare a dime? Or the cost of a cup of coffee? Help us keep The Revolution Continues going another eight years by donating once or becoming a regular supporter. You can do so via our Substack account or through the link below. 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TRCblog 

If you prefer Paypal, you can donate to us at  

https://paypal.me/camatthews  

Thank you and a Happy New Year to you and yours! 

  * * *

Seen on Twitter:

It's the final stage of socialism. This ⬇️ but an entire nation, eventually the entire world. pic.twitter.com/LGmjY5koNn

— ♿☭ Nakama Toni 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@bamabulldog21) December 12, 2022

20 million killed in WWI is peanuts compared to the stakes in Ukraine proxy war. With 2000 nukes on hair trigger alert and looming risk of nuclear winter, we're all in the cross hairs. #PeaceNow https://t.co/skq1YiCDLO

— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) December 15, 2022

A Ukrainian Embassy reception was sponsored by Northrop, Lockheed and Raytheon, reports @mideastXmidwest. (Not The Onion) https://t.co/U89y7gER8v pic.twitter.com/fNzika6utb

— Eli Clifton (@EliClifton) December 16, 2022

pic.twitter.com/f9Hvecmohb

— We can have a society that honors life🌲🍄🌻 (@TimOnTheTractor) December 20, 2022

Celebrating Subversively

 

Celebrating Subversively

by C. A. Matthews

With the number of holiday seasons I've experienced, you'd think by now I'd have figured a few things out. But I'm a slow learner, and some lessons in life need repeating until they're finally stuck in your head.

The holidays are not about giving presents.

The holidays are about receiving a gift.

There is a difference.

Commercialism/capitalism tells us that the holidays (whichever ones you celebrate, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, etc.) are all about buy, buy, buy! Supposedly the only way to profess your love for others is by purchasing lots of material things for them. And the more you buy, the greater your love is, or so says Wall Street and Madison Avenue.

It's an endless guilt-o-rama. Once you've climbed into that hamster wheel of consumerism, it's a difficult ride to come off of. Fortunately, some of us get thrown off the wheel--by losing our jobs, our incomes, our homes, our health, and/or our loved ones--and then we realize just how dizzying and soul-destroying that materialistic take on the holidays truly was and is. We begin to appreciate the things that last, and the pursuit of stuff is not one of them.

So, this holiday season I want to encourage you to celebrate subversively. Don't buy into anything the capitalists tell you to. Do the opposite. Give as much of your stuff away as you feel comfortable giving to others who are without and then give a little bit more. I promise it's not as bad as it sounds. Getting past your hoarding instincts can take some effort, but once you open your heart to the concept of gifting material possessions away to others, the more open you'll be to receiving the love and peace that is what the season is supposed to be about in the first place.

No, it's not a contest, and you won't "win" anything by doing so, except possibly the very necessary peace of mind gained from not equating the capitalist concept of accumulating wealth as the end-all and be-all of life.  You will "win" by simply being able to enjoy the season without the burden of trying to outdo your neighbors in the crass commercialism and orgy of endless trips to the shopping mall.

Remember, by staying out of big  public spaces you'll be less likely to catch or spread the coronavirus. And who knows? You might find yourself being gifted by others of a like mind. Thank them profusely and receive their gift in the generosity of spirit that it was given to you.

This year in particular, we all really do need to hear again the message of "Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All People."

In no culture's traditions does it say that peace and goodwill only come about by purchasing numerous consumer items that nobody really wants, needs, or can use when they're stuck on a ventilator gasping for oxygen. Nowhere does it say that destroying the planet we share and denying health care to others on the basis of an evil economic system will bring about peace and goodwill. Just the opposite.

So, relax and skip the gifts and open your heart instead. It's all hands on deck in 2021 to straighten this mess up, so let's help each other stay healthy, sane, fed and warm so we're all up for the task.

Have yourself a merry little Subversive Celebration this holiday season and a Healthy New Year.

 

Related articles to enlighten your season:

Jesus Was A Victim Of Empire

 https://truthout.org/articles/jesus-was-a-victim-of-empire-acknowledging-this-should-transform-christianity/

Dr. Cornel West interview where he talks about how Jesus stood up to the establishment (and how we should, too).  "It's never the wrong time to do the right thing."

https://youtu.be/VHLX2kH9_7k 

Concrete Liberation Narratives

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2020/12/concrete-liberation-narratives-advent-part1/

Ads All Tell Us To Kill Our Future (Ethical Consumerism?)

https://scheerpost.com/2020/12/22/lee-camp-ads-all-tell-us-to-kill-our-future-worth-discussing/

*** 

 Don't Get Your Mouth Washed Out With Soap!

Speak Out, Act Up, and

Support The Revolution Continues! 

Send donations to http://paypal.me/camatthews 

 (Little Ralphie sends his thanks. Keep fighting in 2021 and stay well!)

***

From Faithful America:

On January 20, Donald Trump will leave the White House, and we thank God for that -- but our work as social-justice Christians is far from over.

We must remember that Trump was a symptom, not the actual disease. Yes, he lost, but with a whopping 74 million votes. The forces of white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and the religious right are still as strong as ever.

The past week tells the story. On Saturday, Catholic Archbishop Carlo Viganò and Bishop Joseph Strickland spoke to a right-wing rally in D.C., spreading QAnon theories in a desperate, ill-fated, final effort to undermine democracy and steal the election.

After the rally, the racist Proud Boys tore down and burned Black Lives Matter signs at two local Black churches. Yet instead of speaking out for the "religious freedom" of these churches like he does for anti-LGBTQ businesses, Franklin Graham wrote yet another lengthy Facebook post in praise of Donald Trump.

Make no mistake: The leaders of the religious right are enabling white supremacy, just as they are trying to enable Trump's failed attempted coup. But together, we social-justice Christians can do something about it.

Add your name: I pledge to spend 2021 putting my faith into action, standing for justice and reclaiming Christianity from the religious right

Where there is darkness, there is also light. Despite all of the religious right's lies and Republican attempts to stop people from casting their ballots, voters -- including social-justice Christians -- turned out in record numbers and sent Trump packing.

COVID-19 vaccines are finally becoming slowly available, with most faith leaders encouraging people to get one.

And just this week, Faithful America helped organize 45 organizations and 12,000 people of faith to loudly condemn racist attacks on the Black church in the Georgia Senate runoffs.

From stopping Trump's hateful nominees in the Senate to supporting asylum seekers and taking dangerous COVID-19 misinformation off the air, 2020 has been a year of big victories for this movement. We should never underestimate what we can accomplish when we stand together -- nor should we let our successes lull us into complacency, or the religious right will erase everything we have gained.

Pledge to keep taking action with Faithful America in 2021

Thank you for everything you have done and will keep doing to love your neighbor and reclaim your faith from the right wing!

In peace,
Rev. Nathan and the Faithful America team

 

"When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers." - Proverbs 21:15

 ***

From the GPUS:

After months of devastating delays, Congress' paltry new COVID relief package is a slap in the face of suffering Americans.

A $600 check won't get many families through the month, much less the winter.

Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats are shying away from promoting Medicare-For-All.

We. Will. Not. Stand. For. This.

Contact your representatives in Congress now using our action page if you want real solutions that can't wait! Tell them:

• We demand bold, decisive COVID relief to kick off the desperately-needed Green New Deal
• We demand bold support for Medicare-For-All, including floor votes, without delay. #ForceTheVote!
• Stop spending money on tax cuts and subsidies for billionaires and corporations, stop dumping money into our bloated war machine. Invest in the health, safety and future of our communities!

Then make sure you share the action page so Congress can't ignore these demands!

TAKE ACTION NOW

Like most Greens, you probably never had high hopes for what the Democrats would do with a Biden Presidency, but even we are taken aback by just how quickly they are trying to smack down any hope that their control of the House of Representatives and the White House might lead to some real relief from the ravages of capitalism.

That makes it even more important for the Green Party to reach the year-end goal of 100 new Monthly Sustainers. This pandemic has exposed our country's brutal inequality on a scale we haven't seen in a long time and the parties of War and Wall Street are carrying on with business as usual. And their "business" is selling you out.

Please become a Monthly Sustainer today at whatever level you can afford so you can support our Green candidates and campaigns throughout the whole year!

Monthly contributions from people just like you are the most powerful grassroots fundraising tool we have, since our political independence requires financial independence from corporate lobbyists and PACs.

If signing up for monthly contributions doesn't work for you right now, making a one-time contribution today will still go a long way toward fueling our grassroots campaigns for real COVID relief, a Green New Deal and an end to militarism and oppression in all its forms.

Michael O'Neil
Communications Manager
Green Party of the United States

DONATE

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org/

"Cannon Fodder for Capitalism"

 "Cannon Fodder for Capitalism"

by C.A. Matthews

Sometimes when you hear a particular combination of words you just know it will become the catch phrase that sums up this century.

In a recent podcast interview with The Juice Media, best-selling author and activist Naomi Klein said in a rather matter-of-fact manner, "We're all just cannon fodder for capitalism." Immediately upon hearing this, the warning bells rang in my head. So true… It's so true.

While the term "cannon fodder" generally means the no-name, working class soldiers whose lives are sacrificed in order to win a battle or a war, it applies just as easily to our current society and situation. We, the workers, are indeed the "sacrifice" the billionaire capitalists and their politician puppets are willing to make to keep their offshore bank accounts healthy. 

If you don't understand what I mean, I suggest you browse some statistics on COVID-19 . How many billionaires' names have you heard mentioned in the mainstream media who are sick or dead because of the virus? How many millionaires' names? What percentage of non-white, non-entitled, marginalized people make up the death rate in the US? I rest my case.

Our planet's rapidly warming climate and our swiftly dying animal habitats provide cannon fodder for capitalism as well. The whole object of capitalism is to produce endless consumer goods. We the Cannon Fodder are supposed to consume these unnecessary consumer goods voraciously on this finite world and encourage others to do likewise through the use of excessive advertisement and peer pressure. 

Like a cancer--or a pandemic--ruthlessly consumes lives, capitalism consumes our natural world and spits out toxic pollution and wholesale habitat destruction. How insane is it to destroy your only home in the universe? Capitalism enjoys its insanity and passes it off as "smart" or "innovative." 

And remember, "You can be the first on your block to drive a gas-guzzling, exhaust-spewing mega-truck to the E.R. (Just make sure your private health insurance will cover the cost of your coronavirus treatment.)"

If we of the working/cannon fodder class continue to prop up the pandemic that is capitalism--even after its ugliest side has been blatantly revealed by those currently in power-- there's truly no hope for us. Continually giving in to corporate CEOs who show no conscience in exposing their employees to a deadly virus is a form of mass suicide. Re-opening restaurants and banquet halls that have been proven to be fertile grounds for spreading the coronavirus is just another way of putting a gun to our collective head and following the capitalists' advice to pull the trigger. 

Capitalists seem to love the game of Russian Roulette just as long as it's the working classes, the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the minorities and the immigrants who are the only ones paying the ultimate price.

You might think the majority of people see and acknowledge the immoral and homicidal tendencies of a system that puts profits over the very lives of its people.  Alas, I'm not holding out much hope that most actually do or that things will change drastically anytime soon. Many are simply too comfortable with being dumb, deaf and blind. It's their natural state perhaps?

For as long as workers can binge on Netflix and buy cheap fast-food take-out, the billionaires sleep safe in their beds knowing they will never suffer and never slave like their cannon fodder subjects. Revolutions take effort and energy that a sick and dying class of human beings can ill afford. If we're truly tired of being sacrificed, now is the time to crawl out of the cannon and point it fully loaded at those who are leading us down the path to destruction.

Articles and videos to reflect upon:

Crumbs for the Hungry but Windfalls for the Rich
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-economic-response.html

Covid-19 Profiteers Are Making a Killing
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/63094-covid-19-profiteers-are-making-a-killing 

As Workers Get Sick and Die of COVID-19, McConnell Demands Corporate Immunity in New Stimulus Bill
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/5/4/rob_weissman_public_citizen

Rent Is Still Due in Kushnerville
https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/63095-focus-rent-is-still-due-in-kushnerville

Ohio Daily Cases Jump Markedly as Bowling Alleys and Banquet Halls Get the OK to Open
https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200521/coronavirus-in-ohio-daily-cases-jump-markedly-as-bowling-alleys-banquet-halls-get-ok-to-reopen

We Can Save the Planet By Defunding Pentagon
https://truthout.org/articles/we-can-save-the-planet-by-defunding-the-pentagon/

Amazon to Cut Wages as Jeff Bezos Adds $34.6 Billion to His Wealth (video)
https://youtu.be/WpKNE8k628o

A Crisis We Created Ourselves (video)
https://youtu.be/fJ03MkCkDfM 

Bernie Rips "Nauseating" COVID Commercials (video)
https://youtu.be/L7QvTl2NUnw 

Beanstock's World blog's "Wakeful Video Weekend" has many great videos on the topic of "What comes after capitalism?"
https://beanstocksworld.wordpress.com/2020/05/24/wakeful-video-weekend-2020-05-24-9-videos/#like-8097

***

From Public Citizen:

You really have to wonder if Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is plotting his next move from a secret mountain hideout while stroking some exotic cat, like the supervillain in a James Bond film.

He is the richest person on earth.

In fact — while most of us are suffering through a global emergency unlike anything humanity has faced for at least a century — Bezos has seen his net worth go UP since the coronavirus hit.

By $30 billion in just the past two months.

That’s $365,497.08 every minute!

Nevertheless, Amazon just announced that it plans to stop paying its warehouse workers hazard pay of $2/hour.

Come on, Jeff.

Countless millions of people are using your company to get the things they need during this crisis while doing their part to stay home and limit the spread of the virus.

You’re getting more obnoxiously wealthy (and just plain obnoxious) than you already were.

While your employees put their lives on the line.

You should have been treating them better all along.

But, at the very least, don’t take away their hazard pay while the whole world is still going through this pandemic together.

Tell Jeff Bezos:

Keep giving hazard pay to Amazon workers who are putting their own lives at risk while you sit back and get richer by the minute.

Thanks for taking action.

Stay safe.

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen 

***  

From Faithful America:

President Trump's border wall is now threatening a Catholic orphanage near the U.S.-Mexico border. The Department of Justice has filed an eminent-domain lawsuit against Sacred Heart Children's Home in Laredo, Texas, demanding access to the orphanage's land in order to conduct surveys for the wall.

As an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project told the Laredo Morning Times, the Trump administration seems to be taking cruel advantage of the pandemic to speed up wall construction, since public demonstrations aren't possible during social distancing.

Under eminent domain laws, the government must pay landowners a fair price -- yet Trump's callous administration only wants to give the sisters a paltry $100 to let its construction teams parade around their land.

This orphanage has been run for more than 100 years by the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Poor. As these sisters fight back in court, let's show them that they are not alone, and submit 10,000 signatures demanding the DOJ drop this outrageous lawsuit!

Tell the Dept. of Justice: Drop your border-wall lawsuit against a Catholic orphanage 

Thank you for everything you do to love your neighbor and support those in need.

In peace,
-- Guthrie, Rev. Nathan, and the Faithful America team

***

From Friends of the Earth:

Using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse, the EPA just rolled back an important program on atrazine, a dangerous pesticide. The EPA is allowing the manufacturer of atrazine, Syngenta, to stop monitoring levels of this toxic chemical in Midwest lakes and streams -- for the rest of the year.

Over 16 million Americans are already facing dangerous levels of atrazine in their drinking water. Atrazine is linked to serious health effects like cancer, hormone disruption, and birth defects.

The EPA has shown once again that it’s more concerned with protecting Big Ag’s profits than protecting your health or the environment!

Tell the EPA: Neglecting to monitor pesticide levels in our waterways is unacceptable!

This harmful weed killer contaminates bodies of water across the Midwest. Not only does this chemical cause serious health harms -- it’s a risk to fish, amphibians, and other life.  In fact, it’s such a powerful hormone disruptor it can turn male frogs into female frogs with viable eggs.

Monitoring is a critical scientific tool for understanding how serious the problem is. But the EPA is letting pesticide giant, Syngenta, off the hook for monitoring the pollution caused by its dangerous product.

Demand the EPA put public health over the profits of Big Ag!

The European Union has banned atrazine completely. In fact, some countries banned it as early as 1991!  But in the U.S., 80 million pounds of atrazine are still used each year.

Now, with the EPA’s decision to suspend monitoring, the environmental safeguards that should be protecting us have been even further undermined.

The EPA cannot continue to put people and wildlife at risk. Tell the EPA that Big Ag’s profits should not come before the safety of the American public and the environment!

Tell the EPA: Loosening atrazine regulations is unacceptable!

Standing with you,
Dr. Kendra Klein,
Senior staff scientist,
Friends of the Earth

***

How can we take down the oligarchy? The first thing we need to do is support independent media!

It's hard to know whom you can trust nowadays. Mainstream media has one goal and one goal only: to make money off its viewers/readers/listeners. Independent media exists because indies simply want to share truth without the manipulation of corporate bosses.

Support an indie publication today. Give whatever you can spare to The Revolution Continues.  Every little bit helps. Thank you!

Paypal us at http://paypal.me/camatthews