The Revolution Continues blog is news, views, opinion and other expressions of hope from a leftist point-of-view. (We are not affiliated with any candidate, political party or organization. All are welcome.)
“Why,
sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before
breakfast.”
―
Lewis
Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
It
might not be quite six, but there is one big impossible thing I believe we can accomplish before breakfast. Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but I’d like
to see the Left unite just once and elect a non-duopolist,
non-corporate-owned, non-warhawk candidate for president.
Yes,
I’m talking about Dr. Cornel West. And, yes, I know the odds are
against anyone uniting the American Left anytime this century. A girl can dream
though, can’t she?
Perhaps...the
time has come to bring the entirety of the Left together in order
to mount a strong offense against the duopoly or the “uni-party
with two names.” As a Green, Dr. West cannot accept any campaign
contributions from lobbyists or corporations like the Dems and Republicans regularly do. That fact already makes
him less suspect to persons who view themselves as being on the far left
side of the Overton Window.
So, there’s no chance of Big Oil promising President West a load of cash to sign over more federal
lands (national parks/reserves) to them to drill for oil, such as Biden has
done recently with the Willow Project. Not taking cash from
billionaires/oligarchs and relying solely on the support of regular people like you and
me makes Dr. West seem like an honest candidate who will listen
to the working classes over the wealthy, doesn’t it?
But
where does Cornel West stand on issues such as the proxy war in
Ukraine? To Leftists—and I mean real Leftists, not faux ones
such as A.O.C. and the Squad—this is an exceedingly important
issue. The Military-Industrial Complex or simply “the War Machine” is all about making huge profits at the expense of human
lives and the care of our environment. It’s safe to say that Dr.
West running as a Green is decidedly pro-humanity and pro-environment.
Dr.
West’s Christian belief in seeing the image of God (imago dei)
in the face of every human being and taking seriously the directive
in the book of Genesis of being a “good steward of the earth” prevents him
from starting a senseless war for profit. The
idea of starting a war to grab resources, such as natural gas, while
destroying hundreds of cities and killing thousands of
people—while polluting an entire country’s croplands with depleted uranium shells from US given ordinance in the process—would be anathema to Cornel West. Depleted
uranium is radioactive, and it’s been linked to cancer, birth
defects, and environmental damage in areas it’s been used,
including Iraq, where US forces frequently fired the toxic munitions.
Its
impact
is still being felt there today.
How
refreshing it is to contemplate having a US president who possesses no
desire to shed blood either at home or across the globe! Since Dr. West is running as a
Green, he must agree with its pro-peace/anti-violence and
pro-environment platform. Rest assured, a West administration
will not start another conflict such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Grenada,
Vietnam… just to make the CEOs of Raytheon, General Dynamics,
and Lockheed Martin happy.
The
unhappy faux leftists (a.k.a. the Democratic Party) will try to throw
dirt on Dr. West because of his well-articulated, humanity-loving
beliefs. I have no doubts that some Dems will call him “antisemitic”
because he has openly declared his support of the Palestinian
people and their struggles to live in peace.
Once again, as a
professing Christian, Cornel West doesn’t want to
see any of God’s children suffering and dying. He has said so on
many occasions. He has clearly stated that he supports and cares for
all people—poor, rich, black, white, brown, indigenous, gay, trans,
straight, leftists or right-wingers. Why
would he approve of the modern state of Israel bombing and taking
land away from Palestinians? Why wouldn’t he want to bring about a
peaceful end to the hostilities there and elsewhere?
Podcaster
Briahna Joy Gray asked Dr. West about his support of the Palestinian
people as compared to DNC candidate Robert F.
Kennedy
Jr.’s pro-Israel stance. West answered her quite plainly:
“You
want a presidential candidate… who has a backbone… If [RFK Jr.]
thinks somehow that each [Palestinian] baby who was killed somehow
was never in any way, intentional, deliberate, [Israel] didn't know
what they were doing—he needs to really get off the crack pipe.”
Faux
leftists like RFK Jr. and Marianne Williamson stand to receive a lot
of money from a political action committee funded by the Israeli
government, the
American
Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC. AIPAC
is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the
legislative and executive branches of the United States and has over
100,000 members, 17 regional offices, and “a vast pool of donors”
according to their website. Their annual revenue in 2014 was over $77 million dollars.
Faux
leftists like RFK Jr. and Marianne aren’t necessarily bloodthirsty
or racist or genocidal toward the Palestinian people. It’s just
that they love all the money they get from lobbyists
like AIPAC just by being Democratic Party duopolists.
Why would they give up so much money and their party’s possible
nomination just to save the lives of innocent
Palestinian
children? Remember: “Rich, White Lives Matter” too!
I
could go on about how I believe Cornel West is the candidate to unite the Left because of his integrity and compassion, but I
like to keep these posts
under 10,000 words. Besides,
there’s
plenty of time to articulate many
more
points before November 2024. For now, I just want to plant a seed in
the mind of the American
Left
and
let it germinate and grow, perhaps to blossom into
a strong movement of activists determined to wipe out the corruption
and warmongering that has dwelt for far too long within the halls of government.
Too
many are suffering from hunger, homelessness, lack of
health care, overwhelming student debt… We owe it to them to fight
for a candidate who will speak up for the oppressed both at home and
abroad. Let’s
sit down and talk things over about how a Cornel West presidential
campaign could bring the Left together and attract others to the cause of
building a better world. We owe it to future generations to cooperate now in order to get rid of the “lesser evil” mindset of the duopoly and, in turn, mandate beneficial change for the greater good.
“Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” —Dorothy Day, peace activist
— Steve- living in dystopian times (@abetterworld98) June 14, 2023
Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog: The Little Red Book of Revolution
How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com
If
you don’t think it's possible to write an article incorporating a climate catastrophe story along with the opening bell of an
alternative party presidential run story, then you have another thing
coming to you! It’s also includes poorly written filks of old
tunes as segues. (Sorry about that, but they just seem to fit.)
In
the news climate-wise, people in New York City were forced to
give up breathing this past week due to particulate pollution caused
by Canadian wildfires. The
Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Brooklyn
reached
484 — nearly
double San Francisco’s highest hourly reading during
California’s 2020 fire season. And
it wasn’t just New Yorkers who were gasping for air. The smoky haze
and micro-particulate clouds covered skies from Illinois
to Ohio to Pennsylvania to South Carolina to New York State to Maine…
In fact, just about everybody east of the Mississippi experienced
horrible air quality indices this week.
Who cares though, right? Breathing is for sissies! We're told that unhealthy AQIs can cause serious health issues for vulnerable
populations such as asthmatics and those with COPD as well as
children and the elderly. But what’s more important—keeping poor
working class people alive or growing sociopathic billionaires’
bank accounts? You know which group is more important to please for
those idiots in Washington DC and in your own statehouse, don’t
you? For your sake, I hope you do.
The
fossil fuel industry takes no responsibility for causing
a build up of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere
due to the
polluting by-products which
come from combustion engines and coal-fueled power plants. It’s not like carbon monoxide and other gases have caused the
so-called “greenhouse effect” that bring on heatwaves and dry up
the forests of North America. No, not at all. It’s just coincidence
that record breaking spring temperatures this year occurred. In no
way could they have helped to spontaneously ignite tender-dry forests
that have continued to burn unabated for weeks now. Pure
coincidence.
It’s
also pure coincidence that my garden in Northwest Ohio
hasn’t seen a speck of rain in over 21 days—setting a dry spell record that
is unheard of in the Midwest since the “Dust Bowl” era of the
1930s. The brown, hazy skies and dry winds that smell like a
permanent bonfire have only caused me to reach for my emergency
inhaler a dozen times this week.
Well,
who doesn’t need to quit breathing from time to time? The tears
streaming down my face from my smoke-irritated eyes can go a long
ways in filling our bone-dry rain barrels, too.
If
you’re thinking I’m being facetious, think again. Between the
millions who are still suffering from the lasting effects of COVID-19
and this recent air quality disaster, who knows just how many
Americans have or will suffer a debilitating illness that could
disable them for life? The time to take action to eliminate
the use of fossil fuels and other polluting methods to generate power
isn’t today—it was yesterday. In fact:
A newstudyby 50 leading scientists conducted to supplement the “information gap” betweenIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) reports said globalgreenhouse gas emissionshave soared to a record high and are threatening to push our planet into “unprecedented” global heating.
Which
leads me to the next story…
Oh,
hazy day! Oh, hazy day!
When
Cornel West… came to show us the way!
(*Sung
to the tune of Oh, Happy Day)
Cornel West at BGSU in 2017
This
next story is one that has captured the focus of many a leftist
thinker. Dr. Cornel West, academic, philosopher, and former
Bernie Sanders delegate to the DNC, has announced that he is running
for the presidency in 2024. The biggest controversy at the start of his candidacy is that Dr. West has stated
he is running as a People’s Party (MPP) candidate. He’s not
running as a Green Party candidate or as an independent but as a
candidate for an alternative party that barely exists.
To
say this has caused an explosion of conversation and cursing in
online forums where Lefties hang out is an understatement. Dr. West’s
decision to go with the MPP is being questioned on several levels.
Does he realize that the MPP doesn’t have ballot access (or even
statewide organizations) in more than a handful of states? Would he
be open to becoming a “fusion candidate” that several
left-leaning alternative parties such as the Green Party US would be
glad to nominate, thus giving him broader ballot access and more
experienced organizers? Chris Hedges has said he’d speak to his
good friend about switching to the Green Party. Could we see a
West/Hedges 2024 ticket? We’ll see.
UPDATE:
Chris Hedges did talk to Dr. West and he has decided to run as a Green
after all! The West campaign website doesn't reflect this recent change
in Dr. West's plans yet, so please be patient.
It’s
early days so
Dr. West has time to change his mind about running, or
he could simply
switch his choice in a party
and run in one with less controversy attached to it. The MPP has fallen apart
(in spite of its auspicious start with West, Nina Turner, Paula
Jean Swearingen and other big names supporting it) because of sexual
harassment and financial misuse charges brought against its current
chair
and founder Nick Brana. One would hope Dr. West would address the
harassment mess and that Brana would step down so West could run
without being associated with any nasty business.
Dr. West is a decent and compassionate human being. He might
actually believe the voting public will look past the inadequacies of
the People’s Party and concentrate on his message. One
would hope
that proves true, but for now… The
discussions and debates continue online. (UPDATE:
Even with Chris Hedges talking Cornel West into running as a Green,
things are still relatively up in the air and the discussions are
ongoing. You're not going to please everyone, in other words!)
West posing with friends in 2017 (photo by author)
To
draw these seemingly radically different stories together—hazy, polluted
skies and Cornel West running for office—I’d like to posit that
only a presidential candidate of Dr. West’s moral caliber would
do anything worthwhile to end the reign of the
fossil
fuels oligarchs and help put our ailing
planet back on a path toward wholeness.
My
reasoning? The duopolists
take millions of dollars yearly from capitalists who
don’t
care about the health of the people or our Earth. (I
suppose these rich types expect a ticket on Musk’s or Bezos’
rocket to their “Elysium” in space once they’ve destroyed our
world.) Leftists
candidates like Dr.
West
would more
than likely put
the fates of the poor and working classes before the billionaires’
bank accounts.
During
a Cornel West administration, we’d probably
see action taken to convert our energy
grid from dirty
to clean energy sources, along with punitive measures taken against capitalists who don’t cooperate
in
these lifesaving measures. That’s why it’s imperative those who care
about their lungs, their family members’ lungs, and the health of
the entire planet leave the duopolists’ ranks and join with independent thinkers to destroy the corrupt, planet-killing system
currently in power.
With
cleaner skies, the end ofwars
for oil, health care for all guaranteed,
civil rights assured for the people, we’ll be singing:
Roll
out those non-hazy, crazy, lazy days of summer!
(*And
you thought I was done with the filks? That’s what a lack of
clean air gets you. Bwahaha!)
Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog: The Little Red Book of Revolution
How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com
If
western governments need to keep ramping up censorship, propaganda
and the persecution of journalists in order to defend western freedom
and democracy, is it really freedom and democracy? And, is it worth
defending? —Caitlin Johnstone
Canceling
Free Speech
by C.A. Matthews
The
best thing about being American, in my opinion, is The Bill
of Rights. The
best amendment in
particular is
the
First Amendment and the part where it says that We
the People have
the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. But Americans
can’t even depend on that bit anymore, and
it sucks.
Thanks
a lot, fascists!
If
you don’t equate free speech with our right to assemble and
protest, then perhaps this recent incident involving arresting the
bail fundraisers for the Cop City (Weelaunee Forest) protesters in Atlanta won’t
upset you like it does me:
Rights
advocates warned Wednesday that the arrests of three board members of
an Atlanta-based bail fund could mark the beginning of a new era in
the United States’ treatment of peaceful protesters—one in which
both demonstrators and those who support them are targeted by law
enforcement.
...The
Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department
carried out the
arrests of Marlon Scott Kautz, Savannah Patterson, and Adele
Maclean of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF).
Atlantans
can’t exercise their right of free speech to protest the building
of a “Murder Academy” on the one remaining piece of virgin forest
in their region. They’ll risk arrest if they do, and then their
compatriots will be arrested when they raise funds to bail the
original protesters out of jail. Our government says murder by cops is okay, but the bailing out of peaceful
protesters isn’t to be allowed and those who do bail them out risk being locked up as
well.
So
much for the
First Amendment!
The
fact of the matter is that free speech has been weaponized. (Read
Weaponizing Free Speech for a sample or two of
what I mean.) Anyone expressing an opinion that isn’t sanctioned by
the status quo can expect to be censored, arrested, charged and/or
thrown into jail without even the possibility of being bailed out.
To
this black mark on the First Amendment and The Bill of Rights I say: God
bless America! Let “freedom” ring! (Yeah, right. *cough, cough*)
We’re
living in an era of “Cancel Culture.” Free speech isn’t seen so
much as a right as a suggestion. If
what you say doesn’t upset the powers-that-be and their sycophants and paid trolls, you’re okay, but
don’t you dare express an opinion they don’t like. Oh no. They can't have critical thinkers who can read between the lines, can they?
This
fascistic outlawing of protesters is not
just happening in the US—it’s a worldwide phenomenon. A recent
video from The Juice Media out of Australia demonstrates just how
inventive a “Five-Eyesdemocracy”
can
be when it comes to squashing voices of dissent.
This short video says it well. You
don’t like something your government is doing (or allowing a big
corporation to do) and you and
your friends get out in the streets to protest
it—you’ll
wind up in jail and totally bankrupt. “Cool and normal” as the
Aussies say. That phrase
translates
to roughly, “Bend over and take it,” in American English.
Freedom
of speech and freedom of assembly have
been effectively
canceled. God bless… the fascists, or so it seems.
Persons
of conscience are being
forced into making one of two difficult choices: Go along with whatever those
in charge of our “democracy” tell you is “correct thinking”
nowadays and shut up, or if you can’t “love it” you're told to “leave
it.”
But
where can we go? More importantly, why
should we
be forced from our homes because fascists desire endless wars for oil
and want us to cooperate with the immoral death machine, a.k.a. the
Military-Industrial Complex? Don’t we lovers of peace and harmony
deserve to live here as much as the warmongers?
God bless... those who don't believe the lies.
The
West sure loves to brag about its love
of “freedom
and democracy” and its “free press,” but it sure
doesn’t
act like it gives a flying Flag Day about them. Without independent
journalists and media outlets, we wouldn’t have
known
about the jailing of the
Atlanta protesters
and their bail bond funders. Without the indies' reportage, we wouldn’t know
about
the US national security apparatus funding and endorsing coups
d’etat
around the globe, would we?
Journalists
of integrity are fast becoming a rare and endangered species. They
find themselves harassed and threatened with prison. Journalist Matt Taibbi did after his Congressional committee
testimony concerning the Twitter Files. (Read Digital McCarthyismabout
how Taibbi was called a “so-called journalist” by members of
Congress.)
Reporters Veronica Coit and Matilda Bliss in North Carolina were actually arrested and charged with trespassing while covering the eviction of homeless people in Asheville’s Aston Park. During their trial,
Judge James Calvin Hill refused to acknowledge their press status or
that this was a First Amendment case. He found the duo guilty. In his
decision, Judge Hill stated, “They may be journalists, but there
was no evidence provided to the court that they are journalists.”
American reporter Gonzalo Lira is now sitting in a Ukrainian jail because of
his in-depth coverage of the war in Ukraine. When
asked if
the US
government
would help free Lira,
a government spokesperson wouldn’t say if US officials would
even consider
asking
their Ukrainian counterparts for his release. Our
so-called “representatives” are
okay with letting a journalist rot in jail.
No
precedence there, is there?
Meanwhile
in the UK, journalists can find themselves treated like terrorists,
grilled for hours, and their computer devices taken. This is what
happened to The
Grayzone’s
Kit Klarenburg.
As
soon as journalist Kit Klarenberg landed in his home country of
Britain on May 17, 2023, six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror
officers detained him. They quickly escorted him to a back room,
where they grilled him for over five hours about his reporting for
this outlet. They also inquired about his personal opinion on
everything from the current British political leadership to Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. From British police detain journalist Kit Klarenberg, interrogate him about The Grayzone
Aw...the
smell of “freedom and democracy” wafting in on the early summer’s
air! It covers over the stench of those pesky truth-telling
reporters like Kit, Gonzalo, Veronica, Matilda, and Matt. Kit might even find himself locked up at Belmarsh Prison with fellow
truth-seeker Julian Assange if a judge decides he's “not a journalist.”I
sincerely hope not.
God bless... independent voices who keep reporting what's really happening in the world in spite of threats from the fascist state.
This summer isn’t particularly
a good time of
the year for
me.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy sunshine and picnics, because I do.
It’s
just that I’m
not that into American “patriotic holidays” like
Memorial Day, Flag Day, or
the
Fourth of July. There’s not much to celebrate when your mind
connects theseholidays
with endless wars for American hegemony, senseless killing for
profits, and locking up persons who protest violence and report on war. Others simply
associate
these holidays with hot dog eating contests, fireworks,
parades,
and apple pie, but I just can't anymore.
There’s
little joy to be found in any patriotic holiday pretending to be
supportive of our First Amendment rights like free speech and freedom of assembly while our so-called “elected representatives" are
ripping those very rights out of the people's hands. The fascists in power have ruined things for me. I honestly can’t
see myself wearing red, white, and blue and waving a little
flag while watching an Independence Day parade ever again.
I just
can’t, knowing what I know. I can’t approve of the evil status
quo hiding behind those once sacred symbols of the
flag
and The Bill of Rights. I’ll have to find myself another holiday to
celebrate this time of year.
Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog: The Little Red Book of Revolution
How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com
