Michelle Goldberg, in the NYT podcast, “The argument,” said something that put the first five months of this year into stark perspective. She said that 2020 started off like 1974 (an impeachment crisis), quickly became 1918 (a pandemic), turned into 1929 (economic crash), and is now 1968 (massive urban unrest).”
And we just are in June, the year its not over!
On my past blog I wondered, after the Covid-19 pandemic the World at large is suffering, what new disaster we will be facing next?
Due to the long list of problems we face as a challenge, at our failure to address them properly, and solve them, for a lack of willingness to do so, on the part of us, individually, and the blindness from most Governments who refuse to hear the Cassandra’s outcry, warning us of impending doom.
I wrote:
So the question, not what the next crisis will be? But which of all the above will be next?
Well the next disaster did not took too long to rear its ugly head.
What about Social unrest?
A simple arrest, transformed into manslaughter, was the spark that set the fire, and explode around the US, as fast as a wildfire all over our cities.
Yes, a spark it’s all you need to set a fire of gigantic proportions, when the conditions are ripe for such event to occur.
The reasons are many and of diverse manufacture, but they all come to a head after George Floyd killing.
The list is long as a year has days; Michelle Goldberg quote on top give us an insight of the maladies we being suffering in just half a year. But all with long roots into unresolved problems we still face today.
I will only state that after a long quarantine, and the loss of jobs.
Friday’s U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department is expected to show U.S. employers shed nearly 30 million positions from payrolls this spring as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and related shutdowns—but that is just one of several varying estimates of job destruction.
Other data suggest layoffs might have topped 40 million, while another count shows only about 20 million are tapping unemployment benefits. No matter the measure, job loss triggered by the pandemic is historically high and likely to leave a lasting effect.
Needless to say those more affected are the people who depend from paycheck, to paycheck just to solve their immediate needs, with no extra funds for emergency contingency.
Here is an article that sums up our troubles Worldwide:
What about our governments?
And what is the root of the problem?
“Parents in despair because they can’t pay the fees at the privatized neighborhood school…
Families left without healthcare because the mining company that pollutes their river also dodges the taxes that could pay for their treatment…
Women getting four hours of sleep a night as they try to balance caring for their families and homes with earning income…
Whole communities thrown off their land to make way for a foreign company…
Workers paid so little by employers that they’re suffering malnutrition.
These are just a few of the reports I’ve heard from my colleagues in recent months.
We see people frustrated by the surge in the power of the plutocrats.
Plutocracy is a society or a system ruled and dominated by a small minority of the wealthiest. The rich have always been powerful; some element of plutocracy has been present in all societies.
But the degree of control being exercised now; the number of the ultra-rich essentially buying political power; the nearly impossible persistence required to overcome the legal, public relations, and technical resources controlled by corporations and the richest individuals; the much denser concentration of wealth in even the largest countries; and the global nature of the resources, power, and connections being accumulated have combined to foreclose meaningful democratic options and space for a life independent of the materialistic values of the plutocracy.
The economy no longer facilitates human society; humans live to serve the economy.
The logic that undergirds all of this — the greed for money, power, and control — is antithetical to preserving an environment in which living things can thrive. Through most of human history we have endured various unbalanced political and social systems.
Today’s market economy has roots going back centuries, but only in this one has it become so monolithic, with virtually the entire world under its spell.
We are living in an age of hyper-capitalism: we have gone beyond industrialization and value-addition to a point where the rules are written by the financiers, and the finance industry, rather than a sector that actually makes something, has become arguably the most politically powerful industry in history.
A brief period of relative equality in the richer countries after World War II gave way from the late 1970s to a powerful ideology of competition, unending growth, and unhindered profit. This ideology was charted deliberately by institutes lavishly funded by aspiring plutocrats.
The denial of limits, the privileging of competition and profit over cooperation and public goods, and the capitulation of governments to the power of money has made the modern plutocracy a dominant reality, and one that must be reversed.
Commentators now routinely speak of how people can “contribute to the economy.” The economy no longer facilitates human society; humans live to serve the economy. “Freedom” has been reconfigured to refer to consumer choice rather than the ability to determine how to order one’s life.
A few years ago there was considerable debate about the concept of “peak oil” — the possibility we were reaching the beginning of the end of usable petroleum supplies. We may be reaching a more dangerous point: peak plutocracy, where society and the environment can sustain no more concentration of power and resources.
The now predominant and powerful ideology of competition, unending growth and unhindered profit was charted deliberately by institutes lavishly funded by aspiring plutocrats.
So it is worrying to hear so consistently from colleagues around the world the extent to which the power of people is being curtailed by the people with power.
We see the evidence of peak plutocracy in:
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the so far largely successful efforts of business interests to prevent meaningful action on climate change;
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the push for high-input, high-tech, restricted-ownership agriculture that excludes smallholder farmers — a great portion of them women — who feed most of the world’s people;
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the collusion of governments and companies in taking control of land and natural resources from communities in order to generate profits for privileged outsiders;
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the “race to the bottom” among governments to sacrifice revenues through blanket “tax holidays” in order to lure foreign investment, even when the benefits are unclear or negligible;
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the failure of governments to establish laws that protect workers from abuses ranging from trafficking to unlivable wages to unacceptably risky working conditions, with women workers in the most precarious, low-paid and inhumane jobs;
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the failure to recognize the systematic abuse of women’s rights in many areas — but in particular the deep uncompensated subsidies women provide to all economies with their unpaid and low-paid care work that keep families and societies functioning;
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the pressure put on countries — and more recently the collusion between governments and companies — to change commercial and consumer-protection laws so that foreign companies can dominate markets;
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the use of coercion, including violence, by powerful elites in private enterprises, fundamentalist movements, and repressive regimes to control women’s bodies and sexual and reproductive choices, their labor, mobility and political voice;
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the pressure to privatize schools at the expense of decent public education, despite the complete absence of evidence that the results will be beneficial to anyone beside the owners;
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the unwarranted scorn directed at the public sector, and the pervasive recourse to the notion of “private sector led development” by most donor countries and inter-governmental institutions, even in the absence of positive models
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the fetishization of foreign direct investment in low-income countries despite compelling evidence that no country has achieved sustainable development with foreign capital;
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the increasing congruence of interests among governments, corporations, and elites in limiting the freedom of action of social movements and public interest groups, constricting political space in all parts of the world;
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the increasing domination of wealthy corporations and individuals in United Nations debates and processes.
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the brazen ideological defense of inequality and massive concentration of power and resources by wealthy individuals and the institutes they fund;
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the increasing number of disasters and emergencies are turned into profit opportunities, as affected areas are remade according to the plutocrats’ rules.
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the refusal of governments to combat the global youth unemployment crisis with public jobs programs to address the widely-acknowledged looming crisis of deteriorating infrastructure;
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the fallacy of scarcity revealed by the capacity of governments to find massive public financial resources for war and bank bailouts, but seldom for programs that would employ people, combat hunger and disease, and foster renewable energy.
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The hyper-concentration of wealth in the hands of the few has corrupted democratic systems, in rich countries as well as in poor ones.
We need to democratize power. But that doesn’t mean just better monitoring of elections. It means making power more horizontal, more accessible to more people, the people who are affected by the decisions made.
There is no one-off recipe for making this happen. It has to happen over and over again, every day, everywhere, with increasing connections so that we won’t be crowded out by those with money and influence. We have to occupy space and not leave it, and then occupy some more.”
From Our World United Nations University. Soren Ambrose April 2005.
As you can see the roots of the ongoing problem are many, and have deep roots on the Hegemony of the plutocratic model that the few uphold against the many. Protest broke out in the 47 countries that experienced an uptick of unrest in 2019. And logically will continue to rise if the root of the problem its not addressed.
Now we are seeing the poisonous fruit these state of affairs has brought all over the World, the time for reckoning its here now.
Kone, Krusos, Kronos 
When the collapse finally comes, it will be immediate and brutal. As you’ve set out so well here in your post, we cannot claim that we didn’t see it coming.
No unfortunately we saw it a mile away, but most people could not believe a day of reckoning will catch to us, I guess, otherwise how can we explain it?
Simply put, people, and governments were busy doing what they know best, doing money, having fun, and the hell with anything else!
Well, here we are, time to pay for it!
Even if we did not make money, or had any fun!
Thanks Rosaliene for your comment. 🙂
Perhaps this time there will be positive outcomes for the people… Or maybe not.
I believe in the end, everything is positive, even if it’s a hard lesson to learn from it.
But yes, I agree with you, the future seems to be plagued with maybe’s, all we can do is to remain, at peace, and brace for whatever may be.
Thank you Don, for your comment. 🙂
A thought provoking analysis covering many relevant issues which needs to be addressed rather than shy away from.
Yes, the key point as you say: “issues which needs to be addressed rather than shy away from.”
Thank you for your comment. 🙂
“Michelle Goldberg, in the NYT podcast, “The argument,” said something that put the first five months of this year into stark perspective. She said that 2020 started off like 1974 (an impeachment crisis), quickly became 1918 (a pandemic), turned into 1929 (economic crash), and is now 1968 (massive urban unrest).”
Exactly as predicted by the Mayan Calendar:
https://gypsycafe.wordpress.com/2020/05/26/the-maya-energy-pyramid-2020-to-2025-energy-outlook/
Thank you for this analysis, Mr Anaya. I will add some comments shortly – J.J.
The Maya were wiser, unlike the powers that be today.
Thank you Jean-Jacques. 🙂
Sadly only too accurate.
As I have been commenting on it to my friends for several years:
They keep pushing the envelope to the edge, eventually will tip, and fall.
So here we are. 😦
Oh look! A strawberry! Mmm. (If you don’t know this story I am happy to enlighten you.)
Hello Mr Anaya, I think you touch on some very importtant aspects of this crisis. I prefer to (also) look at things from another angle. I think humanity is being tested right now the objective is to make people more self-aware. The question is only whether people will be honest enough with themselves about what is being revealed.
This may have been about the race related-incident at first, but has long since morphed into something else.
I think what we are witnessing is the self-destruction of a nation. There is no question that plutocracy is one side of the problem, but the other side (the one we are in denial of) is that most people support it.
We have entered prophetic times and the universe is holding up a mirror to mankind – and what can we see? That people rightfully protest againstracism, but only when it is done by one race against another, but not vice-versa (in South Africa for example …) and only in some instances, not others.
We can see that ‘protesters’ (rioters) destroy small business and shops that belong to hard-working (non-plutocratic) people who are just trying to earn a living. We see how some of these rioters shotan African-American policeman when he tired to protect a shop from being looted and we have seen rioters beating up a Caucasian lady who tried to protect her store.
And still those who claim to be against racism and violence continue to commit it – and those who are in support of the ‘protests’ (riots) do not condemn the gratuitous violence andracism of the rioters and the looters themselves.
We see ‘selfie-seekers’ getting just the right pose to transmit to their social media networks what great ‘activists’ they are. Everyone ‘against plutocracy’ carries around devices that are made with rare-earth materials by big tech conglomerate monopolies – devices that cannot be recycled and which in their hundreds of millions (or billions) are causing a huge increase in the demand for more fossil fuel energy.
We see environmentalists going quiet about what was exposed in the latest MichaelMoore documentary. We see that the biggest supporters of Neo-liberalism has become those that used to be against it. We see hypocrisy and self-destruction – and the collapse of morality and credibility. We see the end of Western Civilization. The writing is on the wall.
R.I.P Land of the Free.
Jean -Jacques , first at the top of my blog I wrote:
“On my past blog I wondered, after the Covid-19 pandemic the World at large is suffering, what new disaster we will be facing next?
Due to the long list of problems we face as a challenge, at our failure to address them properly, and solve them, for a lack of willingness to do so, on the part of us, individually, and the blindness from most Governments who refuse to hear the Cassandra’s outcry, warning us of impending doom.
I wrote:
So the question, not what the next crisis will be? But which of all the above will be next?”
As you see, we are all responsible, and we are all on the same boat, called Planet Earth, neither I claim the looting was right, or that racism is only directed to people of color, am just saying we being hearing the Cassandra alarming cries all over, and still, we have collectively do little to prevent it.
Now about Plutocracy, a system not elected democratically, but imposed on us by a minority, by using money, and raw power, on the World at large, where the little guy its swept by the strong current, and the perfidious incisiveness of the plutocratic regime, to have a firm grip on the pockets of ordinary people, and therefore control them through multiple ways, no different from the old Roman saying: “panem et circenses.” to the people “Bread and circuses” or bread and games, or bread and trinkets, although today the price of the bread, and the trinkets are out of reach to many people the World over.
There is today by design an effort to keep education out of reach to the masses, a plutocratic old scheme, to keep people ignorant, they know the more ignorant the better for the few.
But the plutocracy is as old as society, an evil that we have endured throughout our history, but at times more crude, than others, like today.
And therefore, it is time to tackle the problem, and harshly pull the reins of the runaway horse. Or else… as you imply when you say R.I.P. Land of the Free, that by the way since the white men arrival in America, the land has never being free, but property to be sold to the best bidder.
Thanks by your comment Jean-Jacques. 🙂
Thanks for your long reply Mr Anaya. It is good to have this kind of debate, because few people are prepared to do it, which is part of the problem, My comment was to provoke some thoughts in yiour readers, also to provoke some discussions, even if just with one-self about these issues.
Ok, so let me be even more ‘challenging’ 🙂
I do not believe everyone is equally responsible. I think that is a kind of collectivization of responsibility which shifts the responsibility from the more responsible to the less responsible. It means that everybody becomes responsible, but nobody had to actually take the full blame or actually do something about it. And I think this is the result with a lot of collective thinking.
So, let me give you an example which touches on something we discussed in one of your previous posts – about overpopulation. So, everybody says (well, most people say) that this is our biggest global problem, but it’s not really true. Yes, it’s true on a planetary scale, but not on a country level for many countries. See where I’m going with this? Now that we say it’s a global problem it clearly to big to deal with, so we just continue without knowing how to solve it and knowing that know-one else knows either.
Now, what happens when we look at the situation closer – when we look at population density per nation compared to its surface area and in relation it its resources we can only come to the conclusion that most countries are vastly under-populated, but that there are some several countries and a few smaller ones that are overpopulated with a very high density of people – and that those large countries also draw on the resources of other countries more, because they cannot sustain their own populations on their own.
Then we end up seeing that the overpopulation problem is actually being cause by less than 20% of the nations in the world. To approach it from a different angle we could ask the following question: Why should a small country like Uruguay with its 3.5 million people take the blame for the large populations of Cbina or India or Nigeria, etc? And what about all those island nations that make virtually no impact at all on the planet in terms of climate change, compared to the highly industrialized countries.
My view is that to socialize the blame across the board even to the virtually blame-less (comparatively speaking), while at the same time getting the most benefits from using more resources than everyone else is an obscenity. If and when we start taking a more critical approach to the problems of the world we would see which nations should actually do more in respect to which crises – and responsibility (not blame) can then be evaluated more objectively.
Of course there is no doubt that this approach would be avoided, because nobody really wants to take responsibility, especially not those who benefit the most (as nations), but everyone is benefiting in some respects more than others.
This is just one example of how we need to shift our thinking.
See Part 2 Below 🙂
Well, that for which we are all responsible, is a way of not appearing arrogant, but as Jesus said: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” So we are responsible in a mayor, or minor way, Errare humanum est, and I am human.
About overpopulation, what you say its true, but I am not asking to subject everybody to birth control, but definitely, few will benefit, otherwise they will have even a bleaker future.
We live in a finite World, and countries have borders, self rule, interests, and how they enforce those borders it’s up to them, even if they can be guilty of producing the most pollution globally, but a question to you how will you face that challenge, specially with the bad governments we have, right?
For that we will need better governments, consensus, a sense of fairness, and justice, plus cooperation, without them, well we just will go from bad, to worst. Idealistic may be, but there is no other way. But I believe Mother Nature will have no favorites, and one way, or another we all will be suffering.
Consciousnesses its needed, but Mr.Trump has suspended funding to the World Health Organization over its covid-19 response!
As I was telling someone yesterday, I grew up were floods were the order of the year, and up to these days stills happens, last one was just last year, and the Hurricane season it just started on June 1st.
I am with you not about shift thinking, but about shift consciousness! 🙂
Well, for me it our resistance to take responsibility as individuals, groups, nations, and governments combined with our tendency to project that what we are huilty of onto others which is the problem. The only way that we can improve in these areas is to become more self-aware of our behaviour, which is why I try to make the effort to point out double-standards. Double-standards and hypicracy can only be resolved on an individual level. Whether it can be resolved on a political level is doubtful, because that is the nature of politics, but if we can have fewer people who hold double-standards in society in general and who call it out all the time, we may even end up with politicians who would avoid it. But, we are running out of time to reform ourselves and as you said, nature will take care of us, but there is also the danger that those with the biggest ego and weapons will end up destrying half-of-humanity through some impuslive action. There are only a handful of nations who have that power – not the whole world is equally power hunry or dominance seeking, so not all nations can be put under that banner. With (more) power comes (more) responsibility. By the same token the bigger the carbon footprint or the higher the use of resources or pressure on the envioronoment, the bigger the onus is on starting to improve before making it a ‘global problem’.
Let’s hope that conscioussness will rise for all through a natural process because to try and motivate humans to raise their own consciousness is an almost impossible task with litte impact from what I can see – yet I can only remain hopeful and try to do my best towards that eneadvour.
One again, thanks for the discussion! 🙂
I totally agree with you , changing consciousness its an individual effort, but its manifested, also in a collective struggle, and you know better than most, when the time for change is demanded on us by Spirit.
Therefore the prophecies of Native indigenous people through the World.
And it’s our responsibility to educate those who are ignorant, regardless, of deaf ears.
There is a messenger for every community (Q 10:47). god sends a messenger to every people (Q 16:36; cf. 4:41; 16:89; 28:75; 39:69).
So there’s no excuse., here continuing with the theme, Cornel West preaching at MIT two years ago.:
Take care Jean-Jacques. 😉
It is good that Mr Cornell stands for justice. (in general I hope) In South Africa 600 Africans lost their lives during the struggle against apartheid (this was the final figure that was calculated by the Truth and Reconcialition Comission headed by Rev Desmond Tutu). The rest of the causlaties, approx 20 000 were attributed to Africans fifgting Africans in their competition to dominate S. Africa once they ge power (all confrirmed by Truth and Reconsilaition Comission and can be verfirried as factually correct – factions were: Inkatha vs. ANC, etc)
Since 1994 – that means after democracy have been achieved – more than 3000 wh|te farrmers have been … (they did not live) … and … (it was not without pain) …
I wonder if Mr Cornell or indeed Mr Martin Luther King (who I admire) would say about that – because that was not what Martin Luther King stood for.
Well, Luther King, we will never know, and never heard Cornel West talking about South Africa after the change, however you can ask him about it.
He frankly admit Obama was a fraud, and furthermore he advice everybody not to drink the Kool-Aid just because someone is black, to believe he will do the right thing. 🙂
Part 2:
Mr Anaya, your questions (at the beginning of your reply above) are very pertinent. And with this new crisis we can see very clearly – as you make the point very well – that we are unwilling to deal with the problems, but moreover – we contribute to, participate in and cultivate the problems – and that incudes plutocracy.
People LOVE plutocracy!! … ‘We the people’ claim we hate it, but we don’t at all. Well, we don’t see anybody frog-marching people off to the stores to go and que for Black Friday deals in order to beat each other up over the last cut-price Smart (I.O.T. – 5G enabled) HDTV. People don’t hate their (name big brand Smartphone) or ultra-thin trendy (famous fruit logo) white tablet or laptop! Neither do people abandon their social media accounts because someone is making money of all their info – NO! Not at all – although they claim to be somewhat annoyed People vote with their wallets and they make the billio-naires that they love to hate to so much.
As for the riots: people in the U.S. especially, but also globally, have grabbed this opportunity to break the virus lock-downs and to have a reason to be out protesting. If this was about race or fighting against plutocracy they would not have attacked working class and stores owned by ethnic minorities – and the fact that they refuse to be critical of that makes show it all to be a fraud – on the part of the rioters. The authorities are letting them vent their steam on their own community infrastructure – a massive own-goal for the looters and rioters who are only hurting those within their own social class. Who can take them seriously?
What we can see is that this is a major crisis within the people themselves – within the collective/s. It is a spiritual and moral crisis that can only be resolved by each individual person internally. There will always be pluto-crats and oily-gargs (as you expressed so well) – they will never disappear, because there will always be enough citizens (most) who will bring about their rise through their admiration and support.
I made similar comments under a few other blog posts a couple of days ago on other blogging-friends’ pages and may have burned a couple of bridges, because I inquired why it is that people are not able to be critical of the gratuitous violence of the looter – or their raci-ist actions. No clear replies – mostly silence. My point was that anybody who really (REALLY) is against racism or violence would condemn all such acts, not only some – and by not condemning all it means that they support some of it. Well, it’s probably true, because most people probably silently hope that this crisis will end up removing Mr Trump from power (and perhaps they think that destroying half the country and their own stuff would be worth it in the end.) Well, I guess they must really hate him, but can they really be sure someone better will replace?
People love the Bread and Circuses and for that reason they probably deserve their own responses to it …
If I left something out I will continue again on another day – perhaps on another post 😉
Thanks for the debate, Mr Anaya! 🙂
Well, the 1% love Plutocracy, the rest of us we just want to have the best of it, to our abilities, and instincts of survival!
And no, I do not condone the looting, but I understand the social, and political conditions of the moment, foster that type of behavior, by the same bad example we see in our leaders, who lie, cheat, and steal with impunity, and never stand in front of the judge, nor visit prisons.
And Jean-Jacques, you are preaching to the choir, no need to convince me the World needs a Spiritual Renascence.
Do not get confused by my political tune, sometimes, in Spanish we have a saying:
” A Dios rogando, pero con el mazo dando!”
Loosely translated as yes we are Spirit, but we are living in a body a Human experience, and we need to take care of the material things, like politics, just as Socrates did, challenge his fellow Athenians to be better, and he paid with his life for his convictions. 🙂
I have wrote in the past on many blogs about it, here is one of them:
https://konekrusoskronos.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/ignorance-the-human-condition/
I understand the frustration with the lock-downs, but I do not understand the indiscriminate destruction (as I mentioned before) and in my opinion there can be no excuses or blaming it on politicians – those actions are the responsibility of the rioters and looters themselves – there’s not much more I can say aboiut that, except that most of the people protestimg now supported the lock-downs impose by the WH0 – and the WH0 is funded mainly by plutocracy (so there’s yet another conflict of interest).
As Mr Trump, well like I mentioned before, both the Left and Right support ne-liberalism (plutocracy), so if Mr T is replaced by a democrat politician there will still be pplutocracy – it will be the same ‘fries’, but with different ‘sauce’.,, And anyway, why not just vote DT out of power in the upcoming elections? WHy the need for the destruction?
Too many contradictions …
Will add a few more ideas later!
🙂
Jean-Jacques to condone, and understand, are two different things, uprisings an riots in the US, have a long History, it happens periodically, with a regularity, through the years , in different cities, or many of them like today, due to the fact, the root of the problems are never really addressed, and after every riot, there are gains, just to be eroded through the years after a while, and it has a name, and History:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement
Here a person who I admire, and my opinion it pretty much goes with my thinking:
Thank you Mr Anaya. I have seen some clips of Cornel West, but I do not know his work very well – I will watch this.
So, let me say that my own experiences have made me very cynical (unfortunately) about the the anti-racism movement/s.
First I would like to give you a link to an essay I wrote that expresses some of my disappointment, but would also give you a very good idea about my general thoughts on race relations, non-racialism and especially Unity in Diversity which I fully support, but which I have come to learn is an ideal that is rather fragile when applied in practice – and believe me, this subject has given me sleepless nights:
http://gypsycafe.org/2019/06/08/unity-in-diversity-vs-disunity-in-ideologies/
And in relation to the above – by now it has been made clear to us here where I am (it has been stated verbally) that the intention was never really to have Unity in Diversity. Claiming that was the objective was just a strategic move – the real objective was power and dominance. I’m not going to go into too much detail now, but there are African Americans who fully support extreme ethnocentric actions against non-African minorities here – openly.
The concept of racism has become a blunt instrument that is used to achieve political objectives through identity politics and other strategies which has little to do with actual racism. Identity politics itself (predominantly practiced by ethnic minorities in North America & Europe but by an ethnic majority here in S.A.) is in itself racial, because it’s ethic groupism that sets itelf in opposition of other ethnicities – and it leaves no room for actual unity in diversity, as I set out in my essay above as well as in another one titled: ‘Through the Eye of the Needle’
Due to all this and many various experiences here and in other countries where I have been disappointed in my idealism and quite frankly,my naivete in believing that those that profess to want ‘non-racialism’ want non of the sort in practice. That doesn’t mean I don’t still hold the ideal, but I do not give the benefit of the doubt anymore that that is truly what it is about when it is presented as such.
Finally, I have also come to observe that the wanting of revolution is a drive and a force within especially collective-minded people and that drive will always find a reason to have a(nother) revolution – even when objectives have been achieved – as in the S. of A.
Of course now that the tide has completely turned down here in the opposite direction (we now have Apartheid no. 2, with more discriminatory laws in place against the w-minority now than there were in place against the b-minority under Apartheid no.1 before 1994) nobody has any interest whatsoever in the subject.
This has contributed to my viewing double standards on race issues very critically – and would put all my comments so far in context. (I hope you find the time to read my essay for more context).
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts, Mr Anaya. I’m going to take a break from the discussion/s for now, but I’ll be back! 🙂
Before you may read the answer Jean-Jacques I warn you its the same answer I wrote at your post, to save me time to write another, but similar answer, these is just so my readers can share the answer. I just will add, I am of a certain age you can call me an old men, and share the natural cynicism, that come with age, despite of it, try to keep the flame of idealism in me, otherwise we would set a bad example, specially with youth, who learn from us, the old ones to shape their behavior, and yes its hard to be a hero, and keep our convictions despite our many disappointments, but fortunately, or unfortunately if you wish, we only can teach by example, and why our greatest heroes, end up on Mount Calvary, crucified. 🙂
I read this post of you some time ago, and read it today once again.
Totally agree with you, and one of the reasons I sent you the video where Cornel West is talking about Parochialism, at MIT, you can substitute the word ethnocentric, for parochialism, even if different words both convey the need to transcend their limits, to a higher concept, like its Unity in Diversity.
And also agree with you that ideals are hard to achieve, when confronted by Ignorance, that is at the bottom, when it comes to limit ourselves, and become fractured, and divided by it, when we loose the sense, that we are all share the same humanity, regardless of ethnicity , religion, political creeds, ideologies, or whatever else you may think, separate us.
I appreciate that you read the article again Mr Anaya. I did not manage to watch all of the Cornel West video yet, but will watch the rest tonight and keep in mind your notes about parochialism & ethnocentrism. I have rewritten that article at least 50 times, but I had to finally accept that it would not lead me to any final answer or solution – and to avoid ending up in a depression about … I decided to rather concentrate on the metaphysics behind it (where I was able to find the answers, but it was not easy to arrive there: I wrote about that in: ‘Unity Through Autonomy’ – I think you already read it).
The problem with racism is that it can never be solved – it will always be with us, because of ethnocentrism which is a built-in mechanism that generates diversity (various types of differences between people). So all the conflicts and debates are to an extent futile, because racism will always rear its head again and again. Even though the concept of ethnocentrism is a basic concept which is in Sociology 101 text-books, people never consider it as the reason for racism or xenophobia. Racism is the symptom, but ethnocentrism is the cause – once we understand that we might look at racism from a different perspective. Although I’m not holding my breath, because racism is a very useful tool for reaching various political objectives as I mentioned before. Since humans are absolutely driven to politics and the social life (Aristotle) people will always get themselves caught up in these circular issues which come around again and again without ever being resolved.
Finally when individual start seeing it for what it is – a Mind-Trap caused by duality – they can free themselves – and as you say, transcend it – and arrive at personal sovereignty and autonomy, but the majority does not arrive there and so the polarization continues. Frankly I would like to stay as far from polarization as possible (and not be sucked back into the unsolvable Mind-Trap), but then situations like what is happening in the States right now come up and its difficult to ignore. No need to reply to this one Mr Anaya, I think wind down this very fruitfil discussion – a lot has been said 🙂
BTW, a week or so ago I managed to find e-book copies of ‘The Universal Tree’ and ‘The Bezels of Wisdom’ by Ibn Arabi – I had just a quick look since I must make the time to read them at some stage, but I can see that I will be enriched by the content and look forward to it. Thank for making me aware of his works! Muchas gracias también por tu tiempo!
Well, you may be right about the problem maybe never to be resolved, however being a problem of the mind, therefore it’s not a real problem, as by Bodhidharma teachings to his disciple Huike.
But I am sure you understand that, when you say:
“Finally when individual start seeing it for what it is – a Mind-Trap caused by duality – they can free themselves – and as you say, transcend it – and arrive at personal sovereignty and autonomy, but the majority does not arrive there and so the polarization continues.”
Which I totally agree It’s just a construct, and therefore individually we can all get rid of it, if we apply ourselves to it. If many of us can abandon parochialism, and transcend ethnocentrism, then we all can do it with the proper education.
And return to the ancient days in Greece, when education meant Arete, not only for the pecuniary benefit, but to elevate the Human Spirit, and remember that man does not live on bread alone.
And the more educated the better, and more virtuous they will be.
Hopefully maybe one day our Governments will realize that their richness lays on the Knowledge, and Virtue of their people and not on their material resources, or mercantilism.
I am glad you will read Ibn Arabi, but I should warn you, it is better to read first an introduction to his thought, than to start reading him directly unless you are familiar with Islam, and Qur’anic Hermeneutics. Two authors that I will recommend to you , will be Henri Corbin, and William C. Chittick.
Peace be with you Jean-Jacques. 🙂
I am in full agreement with your asessment and you summarised it perectly – this is also why I believe that all evidence points to this eartly realm being a training ground and university for human souls with very many routes to follow towards sould development and refinement.
I will keep your suggestions in mind regarding Ibn Arabi when I arrive at exploring his work.
All the best, Mr Anaya 🙂
Please let me know, about your reading.
Hasta pronto, Jean-Jacques 🙂
The Hopi prophecy:
“The present world is separated into two paths. The lower path is followed by the One-Hearted people, and leads into a Paradise on Earth. The upper path is that of the Two-Hearted people and leads to self-destruction. It is the path of technology without spirituality.
Three world-shaking events are depicted by two circles and an half-circle.
The last circle is an event known as the “mystery egg” or Day of Purification, the severity of which will depend on how many spiritual people are working toward peace when it occurs.
The one-hearted people will try to lead the two-hearted people (shown as a headless people) back to the eternal path (lower path). If the two-hearted people persist in living in ignorance, it will lead to chaos and self-destruction (jagged path).”
https://heavenawaits.wordpress.com/hopi-prophecy-in-the-rock/
Thank you a great post Jean-Jacques.
Today a friend on the Spiritual path, sent me these lines:
What is most beautiful is when a human
is being undone as an ego,
when the belief in a personal self is merging
with its own source—the universal Being.
When the tribal is absorbed in the universal,
the human being has moved from person
to pure presence and is in harmony with the Whole.
This is the real yoga.
Every person belongs to some tribe
—a tribe shaped by personal identity and conditioning.
But the universal mind transcends the tribal mind.
On the surface, such a one may appear
to belong to some tribe, but internally
they are the Self Supreme.
Beloved
Remember
Love without clinging
Give without demanding
Receive without possessing
Perceive without projecting
Witness without judging
Focus without tension
Work without strain
Relax without laziness
Play without competing
Enjoy without craving
Reflect without imagining
Serve without demonstrating
Surrender without hesitating
Challenge without dominating
Meditate without identity
Correct without blaming
Overcome without pride
Master without enslaving
Laugh without cynicism
Cry without pity
Confront without hatred
Guide without superiority
Enter without self-importance
Depart without regret
Live without arrogance
Exist without self-image
Awaken to the Real
Be one with God.
EXELENTE MAESTRO , ☆☆☆☆☆.
EXELENTE COMENTARIO MAESTRO .☆☆☆☆☆.
Gracias señor Flores! 🙂
This post has such extensive reach, reminding me of all the intertwining circles and labyrinthine paths that have gotten us here. There have been times of reckoning before, though, that have sort of petered out. Hopefully the world-wide energy of this one will not wind down before some real adjustments have been made. I feel optimistic, albeit tentatively.
It was interesting going through your back and forth with Jean-Jacques. I’ve always found it interesting when a negative situation (especially racially) has been reversed and some folks always have something negative to say. I remember when Affirmative Action had been in practice for, like, five minutes and non-ethnic people started complaining that it was racist against them. This after hundreds of years of systematic racist practices perpetrated on African-Americans and other ethnic people. So not only is the point missed, but the frustration and resentment on the complainers’ parts highlighted their ongoing sense of entitlement, but worse, an impatient lack of understanding or empathy.
Knowing what went on in South Africa before the changes…then to hear complaints from the non-ethnic minority is jaw-dropping. It’s very similar to how we “freed the slaves” in the 1800s and then said, “Well, good luck,” and sent them off without providing any support, education, guidance–zilch. And in South Africa, although a black middle class has risen, it’s been glacial, and the majority of Africans still remain impoverished and in the lowest stratum of society.
Also to point out the sporadic minority of troublemakers today during the uprisings–people attacking a white woman who was protecting her business, etc., and calling the uprisings “riots” is another usual path taken by those who seem to need to diminish or undermine the movement as simply “more of the same” when the vast majority of crowds and protestors–not rioters–are peaceful. The decisions made in South Africa and any anti-non-ethnic strictures out of it obviously aren’t the pleasant, sweeping, egalitarian resolutions that one would prefer to see.
But to consider yourself oppressed in a country that wasn’t even yours to begin with is fairly amazing and even comical. And I don’t exclude the U.S. in this judgement: the people who are always yelling out “Make America great again” are all descendants from people who came here and either enslaved or murdered all others who weren’t “like them” and now, hundreds of years later, want everyone else to get out.
Race and “supremacy” issues have long, deep roots everywhere, and one thing that would help us begin to pick-ax our way through the tangled mess, even more than discussing which consciousness is rising and which isn’t, is simply admitting to our various hypocrisies and “bubble vision” points of view first. If you’ve never been followed in a store by a store owner or had a woman pull her purse away from you, think about living your life that way. Can you imagine it? And those are just the small, everyday things. Not even life-threatening. Admitting we do see life through our own personal prisms first–that would go a long way to shine the light down some path of illumination that we could all–or mostly all–agree on.
I hear you, racism, bigotry, class, economics, education, gender, nationality, politics, and Ignorance, to mention the most obvious, continue to divide us, and rather than try to abolish them, significant amount of people want to keep it that way.
Our own president, that can be described as a figure out of a cartoon comic book, a total joke, and a jerk, that unfortunately seats on power, and try to rule us, totally clueless at his role as a president, with values, and ideology that belong to an era, in my view decades behind the times, and a set of politicians curmudgeons, from the past, with ossified ideas on what clearly is a World they no longer understand, or ready to take the challenge, to new ideas, just simply are out of touch, not only with the people they try to lead, but totally clueless, to realize the World has changed, and its high time for them to pass the torch, to a new generation, Biden if elected he will be a 78 year old president. Trump whose birthday is today is 74 years old…
Age supposedly brings wisdom, but if you are stupid? Well let’s just say you are a better fit to worry about Alzheimer disease, than trying to be elected for political office.
As for what is next?
Well, lets hope it may bring if not much, at least some small positive change, after such a bad year so far, we urgently need some good news!
But regardless, we all need to be the best we can, educate ourselves, be of service, and build consciousness, and be fit to be a vehicle for good change, and not an obstacle.
Thank you Stacey for your explicit comment. 🙂
Dear selizabryangmailcom
I would like to invite you to read my essay about the situation in post-Apartheid South Africa:
http://gypsycafe.org/2019/06/08/unity-in-diversity-vs-disunity-in-ideologies/
There is a lot to say, but let me say this – in a nutshell: Racism is racism and violence is violence (if not done in self-defence). If I was against Apartheid – which I was – then I must also be against race-based legislation today in South Africa, especially because there are more race-based laws (about 5 times more) today in the country than under Apartheid. Moreover, racial violence (by African citizens) in the form of xenophobia against other Africans, immigrants from countries north of S.A. (who stream into South Africa for work) is much worse than it ever was under the old regime.
If I claim to stand for human rights, equality and justice then I have to be able to call out all acts of injustice and violence. In addition the amount of caucasian people (specifically far m ers) who have died due to eth nic viole ce upon them) is 6 times higher than the that of African people who under the old system died at the hands of the old regime. These are the facts.
(recorded by the Truth and Reconciliation commission supervied by prominent African civil rights activists only manage to find around 600 such cases). The fact that this is simply ignored raises a lot of questions about the one-sided morality especially on the part of the people who have claimed to be aginst opression and racism. The self-appointed moral emperors are wearing no clothes!
I am authentic, not a fraud. Therefore I cannot ignore human rights abuses, no matter who commit them – and I will not excuse them. BTW, like most people I have come accross, you seem to know precious little about the history or settlement and migration to and in South Africa – and like most people, most likely when you are presented with the facts you would simple ignore them. Nevertheless, I would like to share this video with you -about migration patterns – it is about the continent in general:
Keep an eye on the far South-West of Africa, It was not settled by Africans at all (except for Khoi-San). White people arrived from the Netherlands (as merchants) and from France (as protestant refugees (my descendants) who were persecuted in Europe at the time … these Eropeans arrived before the Africans in that part of the continent. The first time they met Africans was 100 years after they arrived. Don’t believe me? Most likely not, (I’m sure it sounds like outrageous revisionism) but these are the historical recorded facts and a bit of research would prove it (but, you have to ask yourself why is this history so unkown …?)
Best wishes,
Jean-Jacques
PS: Here is my essay:
http://gypsycafe.org/2019/06/08/unity-in-diversity-vs-disunity-in-ideologies/
“But regardless, we all need to be the best we can, educate ourselves, be of service, and build consciousness, and be fit to be a vehicle for good change, and not an obstacle.”
Thank YOU, Burning Heart. So beautifully said. You really get to the heart of matters. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks dear, best regards, and keep the spirit, and hopes up. 🙂
Inequality has existed since the dawn of humanity. At first, it was physical strength and survivor’s gene. Then it quickly became possessing more than others, being smarter and gaining more power.. Very soon, having more meant also more power. We could trace back any inequality and any humiliation to the fact that money means power and that means one is at the top with all opportunities and the others can go whatever way they like, but it’s impossible to beat the power-money system. We’ve seen attempts to make society equal, and that never worked. It’s in human nature to try to be better, stronger and more talented than others and that leads to being richer and more powerful than others. Otherwise: why would we bother?
I am originally from a country where there never were any races, only one, but that didn’t mean equal opportunity for everybody regardless of what was said. Also now, the root of this all is deep down the same old.
Just like always, excellent, thought-provoking post.
There is the saying:
“The more things change they stay the same.”
So in that respect, there is true on it, and myself of certain age also, a total cynic, nevertheless I will describe myself as an idealist cynic, or better yet Quixotic.
In fact you, and me, on our blogs, we try to give advice to people in how to do this, or that, and we try to educate, and help people find their way, through a maze, or labyrinth, that is life, Always throwing at us new challenges, until we die.
And the trouble with life, it’s seem to be designed as an school for living.
Through my blogging, I have wrote post about many subjects, remember writing explaining just what you said, with different words, in it I point out as the title indicate “Ignorance the Human Condition.” Where I point out the problem with us Humans we need to start from zero, when we are born, and need to learn EVERYTHING…and we cannot skip anything! Otherwise we are gone screw up on whatever we missed.
And the lesson we learn, its not shared by anybody but ourselves, and maybe the lucky few who may follow your advice.
So generations, come, and generations go, and we are always like Sisyphus, at the bottom of the hill. (also wrote a blog about it.)
And why I believe education should be the main priority of any government, and teach that to everybody, and do not slack here, or there.
Above in the responses there is a great video, with Cornel West about transcending Parochialism at the ITM “Speaking Truth to Power”
Watch it when you may have the time.
There is also a philosopher David Pearce Project Utopia, July 2017 in my blog, who even go further, and says we should fix every new born at birth, in his manifesto outlines a strategy to eradicate suffering in all sentient life. The abolitionist project is ambitious, implausible, but technically feasible.
So, bottom line we all have a chance at life, and we should do our best to live it.
Thank you Inese, for your mindful response. 🙂
Unfortunately, injustice it’s all around the World, and do not respect colors, sex, or age. 😦
Good point, Mr Anaya. I suppose you are familiar with this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_slave_trade
Oh yes!
Historically a common practice everywhere, Worldwide, you were a captured enemy, if you were not killed you become, a captive slave, look at ancient Rome, the Emperors and Generals, will be received in triumph back in Rome with the spoils of the conquered people, and the survivors in chains, to be sold as slaves, a common practice the World over.
Even in pre-Columbian America, the tribes will fight each other and the captive enemies will be converted into slaves:
Some white colonizers become also slaves: Like the famous Explorer Alvar Nuñez Caveza de Vaca, who from a slave from the Indians for some years, he become a medicine man, to them, and few others:
Hell! Even Cervantes our Spanish Shakespeare, was captured by pirates and made a slave:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160421-when-cervantes-was-captured-by-pirates
Cortez when landed in Yucatan before conquering Tenochtitlan, he found two Spaniards shipwrecked previously.
The ship sailed with a complement of sixteen men and two women. They were shipwrecked near the Yucatán Peninsula due to hitting a sand bar. The crew and passengers got into a small boat, hoping to reach Cuba or Jamaica, but strong currents brought them in their ship’s boat to the coast of the modern-day Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Aguilar and 11-12 other survivors were captured by the local Maya and scheduled to be sacrificed to Maya gods. Valdivia and four others met this fate. Others died of disease and, in the case of the women, overworked as slaves. Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero (a sailor from Palos de la Frontera in Spain) managed to escape, later to be taken as slaves by another Mayan chief named Xamanzana who was hostile to the first tribe.
Here, he and Guerrero were able to learn the language of their captors. Aguilar lived as a slave during his eight years with the Maya. His continued fidelity to his religious vows led him to refuse the offers of women made to him by the chief. Guerrero became a war chief for Nachan Kaan, Lord of Chektumal, married a rich Maya woman and fathered the first mestizo children of Mexico..
Anecdotally, supposedly he was killed years later by the Spaniards, because he preferred to die fighting with the Maya, against the Spaniards.
And the first intervention by the US across the sea was to fight the Barbary coast pirates who held US boats and crew for ransom, in 1801-1805.
In Mexico slavery supposedly was abolished in 1821, after Independence, but continued, until early on the Twenty century through a cruel system of subservience, and a company store, employees, were basically slaves, and could be disposed, and physically punished, and tortured, even killed, until the Mexican Revolution.
But unfortunately slavery has not died yet, in some places still is active, not to talk about slave salaries to too many people over the World.
Take care Jean-Jacques! 🙂
VERY good insights – thank you Mr Anaya! There is modern-day slavery happening right now, today, in the most advanced democracies where undocumented migration laborours are exploited. The difference between the past and present is that present injustices can be resolved.
We hope, they can be resolved, but its not a sure thing, unfortunately.
Thank you, Jean-Jacques. 🙂
Also you should check the conversation below, I had with Debra, Ptero9, about what’s going on Astrologically.
Let’s just hope that the protests will actually lead to some changes, to a better world and more power to the people.
We can only hope, Otto, unfortunately, I am afraid that as a Human race the common denominator that rules it’s not our virtues, but our imperfections, and the fact we can only answer for our own actions, not anyone else.
Therefore the great need for the individual effort on each of us, to be better, and that may be utopia.
Thank you Otto for your comment. 🙂
Thank you for the post. I may (or may not) agree with all of it, but it sure sounds interesting. I saved the page to read carefully. What is defintiely sure, is that many things have to change. Now. Stay safe. 🙏🏻
Hey, is fine, to disagree, we are all entitled to our personal opinions, that is what makes the World interesting, diversity.
Thank you for your comment, and best wishes also. 🙂
👍🏻
Perhaps what we are seeing now is the start of a much needed unraveling of what has become global economics based on growth and profit. I do hope that the much needed changes might come about peacefully, but that is so rarely the case in “moving mountains.” The corruption in the US government, from the local level all the way up to the federal level, has been in the making since the end of WII when the US loaned money to European countries for rebuilding. The loans gave the US a way to secure, not only wealth from the interest, but cooperation enough to allow the military to coerce corporate interests to buy into a paranoid fantasy that prioritized the domination of all countries that have natural and human resources needed to build an empire. It’s shameful, and many Americans do not, and cannot see it.
Power, as well as creature comforts, are one of the most seductive traps we humans have fallen into, and we certainly have fallen so deeply that it seems like we are entrenched in quick sand. The astrology tells us that Pluto and Saturn want deconstruction and reconstruction, but that doesn’t tell us how to get there. I do pray for a peaceful transition that will alleviate some of the suffering, not only to humans, but to the entire planet.
I try not to get too caught up in the 24/7 news cycle, but seeing what happened to George Floyd and then the protests is hard to ignore. That any human being could so deliberately take another’s life over a $20.00 bill is astounding. It’s not something that I can begin to comprehend.
Thank you, as always, for your highly relevant posts!
Well, people now seem to see the picture more clearly, when they are affected by what is going on, it’s different to know there’s some war, or problems in Afghanistan, sometimes instigated by our own government, than seeing your own streets set on fire by an angry mob, and after suffering severely by the bad manhandling of the pandemic, and the police reaction against peaceful protesters, when the looters mainly were allowed to do whatever they wished.
All these meanwhile we suffer isolation and pandemic, losses of jobs, no income, and an uncertain future, with a crass, vulgar and ineffective president, concerned with himself and his own reelection.
On top a plutocratic corporate elite, who they, like Nero sang meanwhile Rome burns, these guys may not sang, but get richer in the middle of all this mayhem.
I do not believe things will change over day, but, as you say, the path has being open, so people may join and look for a solution for a better government, who actually is for the people, by the people, not for the infamous 1%, who so far are the only beneficiaries.
For years I have told friends, that if they keep pushing the envelope to the edge, eventually it will tip and fall, I guess we are right there at the moment.
But as I mention, it will not be easy, there’s too much things to straighten up, and reform, before things start turning in our favor.
Not the time to be complaisant, with the system in place, just because they throw a bone, and some crumbs, at us.
“These planets, especially in the cardinal sign of Capricorn, January 12th 2020 will force us to take action against those who aim to control us or hold us back. Finally, later in the day, Saturn and Pluto come together. This Saturn-Pluto conjunction is particularly important. This is the fight. The rage against the machine. This is where we will unchain ourselves from the constraints or status quo of society and speak our minds, With the political climate being super heated, we can expect protests against the government and the patriarchy. This energy will set off the birth chart of the U.S.A., and force voices throughout the country to be heard.”
Pay attention to the headlines all through the year, this was wrote by Astrologers on the days before the conjunction in January, tell me if it’s not accurate?
“All of these planets want to expose the abuses of power in order to transform the world.”
Today Saturn is retrograde back in Capricorn, Sept. 29 will be at 25 degrees of Capricorn, near Pluto and Jupiter squaring Mars in Aries, both very strong because in their own sign, before it goes direct, and leave Capricorn on December 17 2020. Will see what will happen through the rest of the year, expect upheaval, and change around the World, even wars maybe.
2020 will go into History as a year of crisis.
Thank you Debra for you comment. 🙂
Yes to all. …and the Cancer/Capricorn eclipses fell right on the ascendant of the US birth chart, all culminating in the final eclipse of this nodal series on July 4/5, depending on where you live, which is the traditional beginning of the US. You can’t make this stuff up! Mars in Aries, I believe is key, including the extended stay due to retrograde. Fasten your seatbelt, and yes, we all need to be vigilant and pay attention.
Imagine!
And there’s millions of people who arrogantly dismiss this Magna Science!
Astrologers may be busy as hell with all these things happening, and saying: “I told you so!”
OTAR: is Listen (from the Greek “otarion”). The resulting axiom: “Keep an eye on the Wheel of Destiny and work.” Other meanings that result from combining the four letters are: ORAT: is the Verb (from the Latin “oratio”). From the TARO, ROTA; ATOR; OTAR, etc. just changing the position of the letters
Vivamus Videre= Live and you will see. 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂
Yes, quite an excellent quote you use: Michelle Goldberg, in the NYT podcast, “The argument,” said something that put the first five months of this year into stark perspective. She said that 2020 started off like 1974 (an impeachment crisis), quickly became 1918 (a pandemic), turned into 1929 (economic crash), and is now 1968 (massive urban unrest).”
The death of John Lewis reverberates and can’t help but provide guidance: “I learned from Rosa Parks and from Martin Luther King Jr. I found a way to get in the way. To cause good trouble. Necessary trouble.”
Thanks, for your comment, we appreciate it. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Craiglock's Weblog and commented:
Great photos on your various posts. Interesting thoughts too
Happy writing/blogging + all the best
c
http://www.craigsblogs.wordpress.com