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During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just Those Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico!
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To combat the rise of the Civil Right Movement, the “war on poverty” was first launched in 1964 along with the concept of “Black Politicians”. Malcolm X described this process in his Jan. 7, 1965 speech The Prospects for Freedom, at the Militant Labor Forum, in New York City (For complete an audio of the speech go here.):
They have a new gimmick every year. They’re going to take one of their boys, black boys, and put him in the cabinet so he can walk around Washington with a cigar. Fire on one end and fool on the other end. And because his immediate personal problem will have been solved he will be the one to tell our people: ‘Look how much progress we’re making. I’m in Washington, D.C., I can have tea in the White House. I’m your spokesman, I’m your leader.’ While our people are still living in Harlem in the slums. Still receiving the worst form of education. But how many sitting here right now feel that they could [laughs] truly identify with a struggle that was designed to eliminate the basic causes that create the conditions that exist? Not very many. They can jive, but when it comes to identifying yourself with a struggle that is not endorsed by the power structure, that is not acceptable, that the ground rules are not laid down by the society in which you live, in which you are struggling against, you can’t identify with that, you step back. It’s easy to become a satellite today without even realizing it. This country can seduce God. Yes, it has that seductive power of economic dollarism. You can cut out colonialism, imperialism and all other kind of ism, but it’s hard for you to cut that dollarism. When they drop those dollars on you, you’ll fold though. After the assassination of Martin Luther King and the subsequent rebellions in the inner cities protesting his assassination, the Democratic Party’s “war on poverty” started laying dollars on any potential Black leaders and grooming Black Candidates. John Lewis, formally of SNCC, became enlightened, he forgo the Black Panthers and saw the Democratic Party, symbolized by a jackass, as his party. Most of what W.E. B. Dubois described as the “talented tenth” were bought off by this process. The more radical concepts that Martin Luther King and Malcolm X had developed at the time of their deaths disappeared from the scene. No one took up where they left off. The governmental policy, directed towards the ‘leaders’ of the civil rights movement, of the carrot (dollarism) and the stick (assassinations) had proven to be successful. — Roland Sheppard, The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights Movement
The essence of the problem was reported in the November 29, 1997 New York Times . In his article “Asian Pollution Is Widening Its Deadly Reach”, Nicholas Kristof captured the degree of pollution from the burning of the forests in Southeast Asia:
“‘We have no health problems and no drop-off in attendance,’ Ratnajuwita, the matronly principal of a private school in the Sumatran city of Jambi, said as she sat on a couch in her office. ‘Everyone is fine. The only problem is that we can’t use the blackboards in the classrooms.’ Why? ‘The smoke is so thick in the classrooms that students can’t see what is written,’ Ratnajuwita explained patiently. Then she smiled reassuringly and added, ‘But there are no health problems.’ The smoke is so thick…that the students can’t see what is written.” This horrifying description is a graphic example of the extent of the pollution caused by the burning of the forests throughout Southeast Asia. The statement: “But there are no health problems”, just reflects the position of the Indonesian government and the ruling rich. It is estimated that Indonesia’s forest fires, these past few months, have released as much greenhouse gas as the whole continent of Europe will emit this entire year. The escalation of “forest burning”is fueled by the drive to produce more goods (such as palm oil and rubber etc.) at a lower cost for the world market. Forest fires are being lit by the profit motive throughout the world’s rainforests. Rainforests are a basic resource that consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen through photosynthesis. This destruction of the forests takes away the natural means of dealing with “greenhouse effects”. Along with the fires, the growth of industry throughout Asia, with no controls over the burning of coal, gas, and wood, has led to a huge increase in greenhouse gas emissions. At its present rate, Asia will soon become the world leader in the production of these emissions. The rapid development of industry in China and the rest of Asia has been done with no controls. Cars and other motor vehicles are being run with leaded gas. Factories are pouring their toxins into the rivers and sending toxins into the air. This is being done despite the present knowledge about pollution. Capitalists, on a world-wide basis are well aware of the dangers of pollution, but they act like sharks in a feeding frenzy as they enter new markets in their quest for maximum profits. What we are witnessing is the impact of capitalism through out the world and the logic of the “New World Order”opening up new markets on a world scale. Capitalism, at the present time, is running unchecked. Forests, never to return, are being turned into deserts. Streams are being turned into cesspools of industrial waste throughout Asia as a by-product of its “economic boom”. — Roland Sheppard, The Burning of Southeast Asia (1997)
Videos of the Day:
Oh No No, You’re Political, We Can’t Do That! A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon The nonprofit industrial complex basically owns the US social movement and the spaces in which it operates. In the realm of most places people can hold public meetings it enforces a curious standard of what is and is not “political.”
Trump Pushed Conspiracy Theories, Now Liberal Detractors Do Too Donald Trump’s path to the White House was paved by his embrace of conspiracy theories, most notably the “birther” lie. Sarah Jones of the New Republic warns that an alarming number of Trump’s liberal detractors are following suit
U.S.:
Seth Rich, Craig Murray and the Sinister Stewards of the National Security State Which is the more likely scenario: That a frustrated employee leaked damaging emails to embarrass his bosses or a that foreign government hacked DNC computers for some still-unknown reason? by Mike Whitney
Donald Trump’s extravagant trip to Saudi Arabia is a desperately-needed distraction from his crisis at home The events planned for the President’s summits in Riyadh are pretentious and reek of hypocrisy. There’s even one dedicated to Twitter – in a nation that locks up anyone who uses the social media platform to criticise the government By Patrick Cockburn
This is the aim of Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia – and it isn’t good for Shia communitie The Sunni Saudis and the Gulf kings possess immense wealth, the only religion that Trump really respects, and they want to destroy Shia Iran, Syria, the Hezbollah and the Houthis – which is a simple ‘anti-terrorist’ story for the Americans By Robert Fisk
The Secret Sharer Donald Trump is the sharer of secrets, most compulsively, and fatally, his own. Trump puts the implausible into deniability. The president, who suffers from an advanced case of Tweet-and-Mouth disease, has the habit of undermining his own legal defenses only hours after they are erected. Driven by the gnawing hunger of his own ego, Trump has now manufactured a political crisis which will pitch those associates who lied on his behalf into the grinder of a prosecutorial inquiry. Some of them even deserve it. by Jeffrey St. Clair 
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Capitalism in Tts Quest For Profits cannot Stop Burning Southeast Asia: Vanishing Borneo: Saving One of the World’s Last Great Places Borneo’s magnificent rain forest is being decimated to make way for oil palm plantations. Consumers of the countless products made with palm oil, from toothpaste to chocolate bars, hold the key to protecting the most ancient forest on earth. By Alex Shoumatov
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Labor:
Don Blankenship, Fresh Out of Prison, Begs Trump to Have Mercy on Coal Execs Don Blankenship, who just wrapped up a year in federal prison for criminal conspiracy to violate mine safety and health rules — a coordinated and concealed series of violations that lasted for at least 15 months leading up to the tragic Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 coal workers — emerged from his incarceration unrepentant, and none the humbler. By Ben Jervey
Economy:
As Fiancée Looks On, Mnuchin Faces Hostile Senators on Banking Committee If the plan was to soften the grilling by Democratic Senators at yesterday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing by bringing along his Stoic-faced fiancée Louise Linton, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was disappointed. Neither Linton nor Mnuchin should have been surprised. Mnuchin had faced an equally hostile reception from Democrats at his January 19 confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Commentary: The fallacy of endless economic growth. The idea that economic growth can continue forever on a finite planet is the unifying faith of industrial civilization. That it is nonsensical in the extreme, a deluded fantasy, doesn’t appear to bother us. By Christopher Ketcham 
World:
Sweden Withdraws Arrest Warrant for Julian Assange, but He Still Faces Serious Legal Jeopardy By Glenn Greenwald
Iran elections reveal deep anger amongst the masses Iranians are going to the polls today in presidential elections. President Hassan Rouhani has been leading t polls followed by the main principlist unity candidate, Ebrahim Raisi. Yet the result is not the most important aspect here—the elections have brought forward the enormous contradictions in Iranian society. Hamid Alizadeh
Slavery Now: Migrant Labor in the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia I am Syrian, but I was born and raised in Dubai where my parents worked. When I was in grade school we often collected donations to give to the migrant laborers in a construction camp near our school. We went to visit the camp to deliver the donations, and I witnessed with my own eyes the miserable conditions of the laborers. I could not believe my eyes—it was a dump. A twelve by ten room shared by eight men. Forty-five workers shared one toilet and a shower. The toilet and the shower were filthy. by Christiane Saliba
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
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Environment:
