Despots Tremble

Not being one to dabble in optimism, I expect many of the uprisings in the Middle East and Northern Africa to be hijacked by the U.S., with the help of Israel's Mosad, and turned into the usual strong-man protectorates for international corporate interests. Until we have a similar uprising here in the U.S., the rest of the world remains at the mercy of our sociopathic culture and "leadership."But the revolts, while they last, are inspirational.

(This article was originally published as a Crime of the Month column in the Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newletter, Santa Fe, New Mexico, in February, 2010.)

Revolution is in the air. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco: non-violent resistance (on the part of resisters, anyway) is flooding the streets. While in Palestine, civil society has used non-violence as a form of resistance to brutal Zionist colonization for decades. But no thanks are due on any of these fronts to our own government. These despotic regimes being challenged are U.S. protectorates, encouraged and funded as part of our global corporate empire. It remains to be seen what the end result will be of this wave of collective consciousness, but the will of the people, once roused, is a powerful force. We may even see an awakening in this country.

No doubt, the CIA and Israel’s Mosad are working overtime behind the scenes to derail any move toward autonomy on the part of Arab peoples. There is no greater threat to the oppressive policies of these two most virulent rogue nations than the blossoming of social justice and human rights. We talk about freedom and self determination from one side of our mouths while enforcing corrupt, subversive agendas from the other.

Our Crime of the Month is the combined imperial and colonial machinations of the U.S. and its partner, Israel. (The distinction as to which is the puppet and which the puppeteer is debatable.) Our Counter-Crime of the month is the heroic action of the people of the world, making their voices heard over the obstructive racket of the power elite who would suppress them.