Category Archives: Corporatocracy

Corporatocracy, Dakota Access Pipeline, DAPL, Earth, Human, Indigenous People, John Trudell, Movements, Natural Rights, Nonviolence, Pine Ridge, Standing Rock, Veganism

That’s Where Our Safety Will Come

2016-11-14 Vegan Trove

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Partial transcript

“We’re faced with a very serious situation in this generation. There are insane people who wish to rule the world. They wish to continue to rule the world on violence and repression, and we are all the victims of that violence and repression. We, as the indigenous people of the western hemisphere have been resisting this oppression for 500 years. We know that the Black people have been resisting it for at least that long. And we know that the white people have had to endure it thousands of years. And now it’s come full swing to this generation that we live in: the nuclearization of the world.
https://www.facebook.com/TheConsciousResistance/videos/1410979678942203/

You see, this cannot be. We cannot allow this to continue to go on. We cannot do it. We cannot expect that the pro-nuclear oppressor, that other side, we cannot expect that they’re going to change for us. They are going to become more brutal. They are going to become more repressive because it’s a matter of dollars and their illusionary concepts of power.

We have to re-establish our identity. We have to understand who we are and where we fit in the natural order of the world, because our oppressor deals in illusions. They tell us that it is power, but it is not power. They may have all the guns, and they may have all the racist laws and judges, and they may control all the money, but that is not power. These are only imitations of power, and they are only power because in our minds we allow it to be power. But it’s all an imitation. Racism and violence, racism and guns, economics – the brutality of the American Corporate State way of life is nothing more than violence and repression and it doesn’t have anything to do with power. It is brutality. It’s a lack of a sane balance. The people who have created this system, and who perpetuate this system, they are out of balance. They have made us out of balance. They have come into our minds and they have come into our hearts and they’ve programmed us. Because we live in this society, and it has put us out of balance. And because we are out of balance we no longer have the power to deal with them. They have conquered us as a natural power.

See, we are power. They deal in violence and repression, we are power. We are a part of the natural world. All of the things in the natural world are a natural part of the creation and feed off the energy of our sacred mother, Earth. We are power. But they have separated us from our spiritual connection to the Earth, so people feel powerless. We look at the oppressor and we look at the enemy because they have the most guns and the most lies and the most money. People start to feel powerless.

We are power, we are a natural part of the creation, we were put here on the sacred mother Earth to serve a purpose. And somewhere in the history of people we’re forgetting what the purpose is. The purpose is to honor the Earth, the purpose is to protect the Earth, the purpose is to live in balance with the Earth, the Earth is our mother. And we will never free ourselves as human people, we will never free ourselves as sexual people, we will never free ourselves until we address the issue of how we live in balance with the Earth. Because all our resistance and all of our struggle is hollow, it’s false, it’s another one of the oppressor’s hypocrisies. If we do not look out for the welfare of the Earth first, because I don’t care who it is, any child who turns on their mother is living in a terrible, terrible confusion. The Earth is our mother, we must take care of the Earth.

They pollute – this oppressor, this machine that has gone mad and run amok, it is beserk. They keep telling us, “progress.” They keep telling us “face reality.” Well, let’s deal with reality. Reality is the Earth can no longer take this attack. We can no longer allow this Thing to continue when it’s polluting the air, it’s polluting the water, polluting our food. They pollute the air, they pollute the water, they pollute our food, they pollute our minds. They put us out of balance.

They have made us be insecure with ourselves. They have put us into a situation where we have to play many roles. You know, we gotta be chauvinist, or we’ve got to be on some kind of a class trip, or some kind of illusionary power trip. We’ve gotta play a role, see? We’ve gotta play a role to communicate with other people. We’ve got to go through this charade because they have attacked our self confidence. They have attacked our self confidence and they have made us to listen to *them.* They have made us to believe that they are power. But they are not – they are violent and they are brutal, but they are not power.

We are a natural part of the Earth. As a natural part of the Earth, we have the energy and the power that IS the Earth. The Earth will take care of us if we will remember the Earth- in more than just our words. If we will remember the Earth in our way of life; we are all here to play a role. And all of the animals, and all of the life on the Earth is playing it’s proper role except the human people. Somehow we are betraying, we are betraying our purpose here and that is why we live in the confusion that we live in. They tell us, they want us to believe, that we are powerless.

We are a natural part of the earth, we are an extension of that natural energy. The natural energy which is Spirit, and which is power.

Power.

A blizzard is power.

An earthquake is power.

A tornado is power.

These are all things of power that no oppressor, no machine age, can put these things of power in a prison. No machine age can make these things of power submit to the machine age. That is natural power. And just as it takes millions and billions of elements to make a blizzard to happen, or to make the earthquake, to make the earth to move, then it’s going to take millions and billions of us.

We are power.
We have that power.
We have the potential for that power.

I remember in the 60s and 70s I heard all these things about “power to the people” and I never really understood because everyone was saying “power to the people” when they were talking about demonstrating, they were talking about votes, they were talking about dealing on the terms of the oppressor. Our power will come back to us, our sense of balance will come back to us, when we go back to the natural way of protecting and honoring the Earth. If we have forgotten how to do it, or we think that it looks overwhelming, or think that we can never accomplish it, then all we have to do, each one of us, as an individual, we can go and find one spot on the Earth that we can relate to.

Feel that energy, feel that power.
That’s where our safety will come.

The Earth will take care of us. We have to understand that the American Corporate State will not take care of us. They do not care about us. Maximize their profit, that is where their whole life’s value is placed upon- maximizing the profit. They will turn us against each other to maximize the profit, because they have done it in the past.

Nuclear energy. It’s the final assault. Nuclear energy should tell each and every one of us that they have gone beyond the reasons of sanity. That they are no longer sane. That they no longer deal with the real, natural world. Because they want to create a radioactivity that is going to make it impossible for the mother earth to take care of our life. We will not destroy the world. We are arrogant and we are stupid and we are foolish if we believe that we will destroy the world. Man has the ability to destroy all of the people’s ability to live on the Earth, but we do not have the power to destroy the Earth. The Earth will heal itself. The Earth will purify itself of us. If it takes a billion years to get rid of the radiation the Earth will do it, because the Earth has that kind of time. We do not.

Our obligations and our loyalty have to be to the earth, and they have to be to our sense of community and to our people and to our relations. Our obligations and loyalty should not be to a government that will not take care of our needs. Our obligations and loyalty should not be to a government that has proven time and time again that it is the enemy of the people unless the people are rich in dollars. That has been the consistent history of Western civilization and the American Corporate State Government – that’s reality. They are not our friends, they do not care about us. We have to face the reality that we have an enemy.

We all want to talk about nuclear war, everyone’s afraid of nuclear war, and it’s going to come between the Americans and the Russians or the Chinese or whoever. But are they not waging nuclear war on us now when the miners die from cancer from mining that Uranium? Are they not waging nuclear war with Three Mile Island? When they release that stuff into the air? Are they not waging nuclear war when they build these nuclear reactors and it’s not safe? Are they not waging nuclear war when they attack the Indian people on their land, militarily attack the Indian people, racistly attack the Indian people, so they can get at the natural resources to feed their radioactive machines? That is war, and they are waging it against us. They bribe congress, they bribe your elected officials, they terrorize and intimidate your elected officials by getting the FBI to blackmail them. Those are acts of war. We have to come to a time in our lifetime, and it will come in our lifetime, where we are going to have to deal with the fact that the enemy has taken over your government. The government is not your ally. The government will use you, chew you up and spit you out.

You think that we are wrong? You think that we are talking unrealistically? Then go look at your elders and see what has happened to your elders in your machine age society. See what kind of respect that they get. See what kind of a voice they are allowed into your society, what kind of input they have. See what their final reward of happiness is after working for this slave state for 30 or 40 years and allowing someone to exploit their labors.

What is racism? Racism is an act of war. What is sexism? Sexism is an act of war. It’s a war against our human dignity and our rights to self respect. This is the war that they wage there. War! They are war-like. And we have to understand that the American Corporate State got to where it’s at through the act of war. The next war… you wanna worry, you wanna think about a war? The next war that you better be concerned about is the one that they’re gonna fight here. Here in the continental United States. They have fought many wars here. They fought us all along, see, because we said ‘it’s ours and you haven’t got a right to it.’ They fought us. Now you all are claiming that it’s yours under this illusionary concept of private ownership of property and they’re gonna fight you. But they’re going to call it “national security” and “national energy crisis.” They’re going to call it “constitutional rights” and they’re gonna call it “judicial proceedings.” They’re going to nationalize… you know, your military coupe is going to come there. They’re going to nationalize the police departments, there’s your military coupe. In the name of “violence.” “Rising crime.” But all we must do is look in the corporate office and see the rising crime that is taking place there and nobody’s going to jail for it. So we’ve got to understand that they are arming themselves to wage a war against us and it’s going to be called the war of “law and order.” Because they’re twisting it around.

For 500 years my people have resisted. For 500 years we will resist again if it becomes necessary. We want to be able to relate and communicate with all of the people who are living on this land, but we want to be able to relate and communicate from a position of truth. You all gotta face the truth. We have had to face it through 500 years of genocide, we have had to face the truth, we have had to live the truth. We have had to die the truth, before we’re gonna ever see our evolutionary liberation, the people that call themselves Americans are gonna have to face the truth also.

They tell us to “be realistic,” that “progress” means that all these things have to happen. They tell us that we can’t go back to the old way. They tell us “be realistic.” But there is no old way, no new way, there is a way of life. We must live in balance with the earth. We MUST do it. We have no choice. If we allow ourselves to be apathetic, or we allow ourselves to be lied to, or tolerate their lies about what they’re doing to the Earth, then we are betraying our intention. We are betraying our purpose here. We cannot protect that 7th generation if we do not protect the Earth. We cannot protect ourselves if we do not protect the Earth. The Earth gives us life, not the American government. The Earth gives us life, not the multi-national corporate government. The Earth gives us life, we need to have the Earth. We must have it, otherwise our life will be no more. So we must resist what they do.

They want to break our spirit. They will do everything and anything to break our spirit, our will to live. We must learn to resist, we much learn to see, we must learn to look. We must learn to step out of this reactionary-ism. All of our lives they’ve had control of us through their schools, their TV, their electronic media. They’ve had control of us all of our lives. They have programmed us, they have made us become reactionary. We don’t think, we react to what they do. We don’t think, we react. To everything that they do- we react to it. They’re setting us up in the 80’s because they know consistently throughout the past the people have always reacted to their manipulations of circumstance. They know that the people always react. They’re counting on it in the 80’s.

See, and they outnumber us with guns. They outnumber us with money. They outnumber us with votes. They control all the machines that count the votes. They’ve got it all stacked in their favor. Except there’s a key. The key is we must start thinking, and stop reacting. The oppressor has no thinkers, they have no philosophers, it’s all scientific, it’s all economic, it’s all manipulative. They have no thinkers. You go look and you deal with the enemy and what the enemy does is: the enemy will send somebody out on the street to hit you in the head and the guy says “I’m only taking my orders.” And if you can come from a position of strength to this guy whose hitting you in the head and say “Hey, you’ve got to stop hitting me in the head, we want to talk.” then he says “Well I have to go to my superior to see.” They have no thinkers, either.

If we will start to think we will learn to see, to see what reality really is, and we will outnumber them through the thinking process. We will take our minds away from them. Because through their manipulation of our minds they control our spirit, and they know this is true. They tell us, see, they want us to believe that we are powerless. They want us to believe that we are becoming overwhelmed, that they can overwhelm us. You see, but they are paranoid. They are more paranoid than any of us are, no matter what happens to us. You see, because they have to put people in here to come and listen to what we’re saying, so they can go back and tell.

See, so they’re afraid! They’re afraid because they know we’re talking about reality! Now why are they afraid? They are afraid because they know they are dealing with the illusions of power which are based on the realities of violence and brutality. They’re afraid! See, they don’t want people to think, they don’t want people to be talking, and they don’t want people to think about what they talk about.

Because they know. They’ve known it all along, that they built their whole Thing on illusions. And because they have drawn us in to giving this illusionary world all this power, they have taken our power away from us. Because we believe in the illusions.”

John Trudell,
Thanksgiving address (1980), Activist and author, 1946 – 2015)

Please go vegan, start here HowToGoVegan.org

Animal agriculture, Arctic, Chris Hedges, Climate Change, corporate media, Corporatocracy, East Siberian Arctic Shelf, Extinction, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases, Human overpopulation, Kleptocracy, Methane emissions, Near Term Extinction, Overshoot and Collapse, Paris UN Climate Summit, Permafrost, Sixth Mass Extinction, Speciesism, The Paris Agreement, Veganism

No one Left to Remember, No one To Tell.

2015-07-09 Vegan Trove

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This Earth will grow cold,
A star among stars
and one of the smallest,
A gilded mote on blue velvet-
I mean this, one great Earth.
This Earth will grow cold one day,
not like a block of ice
or a dead cloud even
but like an empty walnut
It will roll along
In pitch-black space.
You must grieve for this right now –
You have to feel this sorrow now –
For the world must be loved this much
If you’re going to say “I lived”

Nazim Hikmet (Excerpt poem “On Living” Feb, 1948
———————————————————–

I’m not one for making dramatic statements at all but for the last few years I’ve been reading various (non-sugar coated) scientific reports on climate change, and in view of the dire reports on methane emissions escaping the East Siberian Arctic shelf (I’ll get to that shortly), as well as the sixth mass extinction which is currently underway — I think it’s pretty clear that our brief time as a species on this planet is coming to an end and soon. I think some of my friends probably think I’m far too pessimistic when it comes to what I -and some others- see as near-term human extinction but that’s OK. I don’t really mention it much any more because I don’t think most people want to hear it or think about it. Most of us know on some level something terrible is going to befall us as a species but most think it’s going happen toward the end of the century. On the rare occasion I have raised the issue of near-term human extinction to anyone, they either go quiet, glaze over and it goes into a black hole, or they say to me: “No I think it’s going to be very bad for our children and their children.” Have you had that experience? Some people just don’t want to think about it and that’s understandable. But at the same time if we had a terminal disease, wouldn’t we want to know? I would. I think it’s important that we are at least given the information. Of course we are all terminal because we are organic organisms and we are all impermanent 😉 but what’s been happening in the Arctic in recent years puts a different light on everything. What it means is that most likely none of us will get to live out our natural lives – however long that might have been for each of us individually. What it means is that everything, the “history”, music, books and so forth, every trace of humans will vanish. Even the huge pile of swirling plastic in the ocean will vanish eventually. Eventually the pyramids will vanish, Stonehenge will vanish, there will be very little trace of us. There will be no one left to remember, or to tell.

If one looks at the most recent (non-sugar-coated) scientific information coming out in recent years about METHANE emissions, particularly research on methane emissions from the EAST SIBERIAN ARCTIC SHELF, one really has to be in some kind of major denial to think this is not going to be apocalyptic for all species on the planet including ours. One has to be in some kind of major denial to believe scientists will be able to “fix it”, or that corporate-dominated government has any intention of addressing it let alone being able to “fix it”. I think we’ve just seen too many Hollywood films, too many Hollywood heroes saving the day. Sadly there will no miracle fix. There will be no miracle geo-engineering that will save us. There will be no Rapture. There will be no time or the capability of colonising another planet. There will be no bunker big enough or resourced enough to last over a few 1000 years or more. There will be no extra-terrestrial intervention on our behalf. Jesus will not be returning to save us. There will be no hero. There will be no one who will be able to save us from ourselves and what is –in all likelihood — going to happen. And even if all GHG emissions stopped tomorrow, it is literally too late. It was too late in 2000. Sadly it’s true as Pulitzer prize recipient and (ethical) vegan Chris Hedges said in his essay “This time we’re taking the whole planet with us.” We have managed to do what the inhabitants of Easter Island did before their civilisation collapsed except we have done it on a global scale. Of course the planet will still go on without us. New, diverse and different species will evolve once again in a few million years and the planet will thrive once more, but just *without us*. And I suppose that’s where the silver lining is. Let’s be honest, our human species as a whole (I’m sure some would agree) is clearly dysfunctional and inherently violent. Putting aside how appallingly we treat one another (perpetual wars, rape, incest, paedophilia, stealing each other’s resources, imprisoning, oppressing the vulnerable based on race, sexual orientation, gender etc, murdering each other and so forth), look at what we have been doing to 100s of billions of nonhuman individuals each year whom we have bred into existence for totally trivial reasons to be used as food, clothing, entertainment etc. And those we haven’t domesticated, we hunt, torture, imprison or murder. But as I said there’s a silver lining, even when talking about our own species extinction. When we are gone, future nonhumans will not have to experience our violence anymore.

About these vids I’m sharing (please watch here) :

and

Climate Change: Have We Reached the Point of No Return?

The first is from the Lima Peru climate conference. It talks about the millions of square miles under the East Siberian Arctic shelf which is CURRENTLY releasing large amounts of methane due to the melting of the ice. There’s 500 to 5000 GIGATONS of methane under the shelf. (A gigaton is one billion tons). Even if only 1 to 2% of the ‪#‎methane‬ under the East Siberian ‪#‎Arctic‬ shelf was released – which can easily occur as the sea continues to warm – we will see a catastrophic increase in global temperatures e.g 5 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius. That would be an increase from 440ppm (as it is now I believe) to 800 – 1000ppm which is untenable for life. Sadly the vid also contains some unrealistic “hopium” toward the end on how we can possibly prevent this. Of course they say it would require global co-operation and a cessation of fossil fuel use, but since drives to increase fossil fuel exploration and drilling are increasing continually, any cessation is unlikely, not to mention that most of us continue to consume animal products (I’ll address that issue later).

What many of us don’t realise is that what we are experiencing now in relation to global warming was put in place around 40 years ago. That’s the lag time. In 2000, it was – to be frank – all over for us. Some serious action needed to be taken in the mid ’70s, early ’80s. In 2007 the Clathrate gun was fired ( read Malcolm Light’s 2013 report). Now we are in a state of RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING. And thanks to government and mainstream media ( both owned by corporations) we won’t be talking about this much or doing much at all. Just token gestures, future promises, meagre efforts, more protests, unending futile conferences held by bloated environmental organisations (also funded by corporations). And this is why we will most likely be extinct in the next 2 or 3 decades because as a species we are unable to work together, or grasp what is occurring. I mean people in my own state can’t even stop using plastic bags when asked, even though they understand the consequences. As a species we are unable to act as a group. On the whole we are inherently selfish animals. And we are clearly ruled by an oligarchy whom – in their hubris – very mistakenly think they will be immune to the collapse.

We think in a blinkered way about global warming. We often hear the prediction that it will be our children and their children who will suffer greatly, but no, it will be much sooner than that if we pay attention to the science and what is happening *right now*. And what is particularly sad for me as a vegan is that we are not even really all that concerned over nonhuman extinction, except in relation to how it effects us and that we won’t have these animals to look at for our own entertainment. That’s how dysfunctional we are. Most of us don’t even care about the 99.99% of the planet’s population who are nonhuman and that their lives and their home is being destroyed.

In any event, human extinction (and most other species extinction) will most likely occur as early as the next 3 decades and the lead up to total industrial civilisation collapse will be apocalyptic: more resource wars, widespread food and water shortages (already happening now), widespread severe and unending drought (already happening now), plagues, more catastrophic climate events, prolonged extreme temperatures (already happening now), till eventually toward the end temperatures will be so severe that plant life will not be able to survive it and we (humans and non-humans) will starve.

Did you ever think when you were young, that you would be here to witness the end of our species?

I have to mention the failing which accompanies any climate change presentation — the elephant in the room — and that is the omission of the issue of animal agriculture and human overpopulation. Animal agriculture contributes at least 51% of greenhouse gases. Let’s consider that “a person who is vegan will save 1,100 gallons of water, 20 pounds CO2 equivalent, 30 square feet of forested land, 45 pounds of grain and at least one sentient animal’s life every day” (from Hedges’ essay “Saving the Planet One Meal at a Time”). So if we stopped consuming animal products we would not only be reducing our tremendous contribution to climate change, but we would end our participation in the tremendous violence against non-human animals, that latter being more important. So although we won’t see any real action any time soon (if ever) from corporate-dominated government, there is something we can all personally do right now. Our actions will not prevent the inevitable, but becoming vegan (not only adopting a plant-based diet, but eschewing all forms of animal use) certainly is the morally right thing to do for other sentient beings. ( Please read this Hedges essay “Saving the Planet One Meal at a Time” and “Apocalyptic Capitalism)
The other elephant in the room is human overpopulation. We are in overshoot and collapse. No matter what is done to mitigate climate change, if human populations keep increasing as they do (362,000 babies born per day according the UN), then it will make no difference what is done. And it doesn’t look like anything at all is being done to even discuss the issue of human overpopulation, let alone address it. In fact we just continue breeding and it’s business as usual.

Finally it’s our choice if we want to ingest the “hopium” put out by media, governments, conservative and corporate funded scientists and even those who present this video. I guess if we need to have hope that it won’t go as badly as is described here, then that’s what we need to do. We all deal with these issues differently. We can either decide to cruise along and ignore it or downplay it, or we can face it, think about what it means, and adjust our life accordingly. If we haven’t already we can find what’s meaningful in our lives, enjoy each and every moment, do our best to be kind to others and continue to push for justice.

I’ll share three other videos on this topic which are quite good. The first presentation

explains the science for the everyday person. It’s a year or so old now. You can skip the first 5 minutes.

Here’s Part 2 of The Arctic Methane Monster’s Rapid Rise

https://youtu.be/L19JBY0kNmo

And here’s one more from a couple of years ago which is very thorough

Please watch to the end including Q&A. Here’s the report by scientist Malcolm Light “The Non-Disclosed Extreme Arctic Methane Threat” Dec 2013

Anyway, I don’t know how many of you have been made aware of this information over time, but I felt like sharing this little spiel.

For more information:

Watch here “The Paris Agreement Will See the Planet Burn”: Former Bolivian Climate Negotiator Pablo Solón”

Watch here “The myth of human progress” by Chris Hedges

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAo7ky1kq-Q

Here’s another : Mass Extinction: It’s the End of the World as We Know It

If you’re not vegan, please consider becoming vegan. It’s much easier than you think. It’s better for us and for the planet and if we truly claim that we want to lead a nonviolent life, then it’s the least we can be. Please start here.

Disclaimer: Please note I do not necessarily endorse opinions, links or ads on external sites or by persons presented in this blog

Abolitionist Veganism, abolitionists, Afghanistan, Animal Welfare, Chris Hedges, corporate media, Corporatocracy, Deepa Kumar, Democracy Now, Gaza, Heterosexism, Howard Zinn, Imperialism, Islamophobia, Jeremy Scahill, Kleptocracy, Martin Luther King Jr., military-industrial complex, Misogyny, Muslims, Noam Chomsky, Nonviolence, Pakistan, Palestine, Racism, Russell Brand, Saudi Arabia, Sexism, social justice, Speciesism, Sudan, Syria, The Trews, Western Imperialism

VT podcast Ep 5: As a Logical Extension of Justice.

2014-11-28 Vegan Trove

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Disclaimer: Friends please note, abolitionist veganism is about nonhuman animals only. As a logical extension of justice, we should also care about all forms of discrimination. Therefore if I am to highlight a particular issue, then I need to provide the historical background. This historical background I provided is an account of US interventions in the Middle East and the reason I supply this is because rarely is this addressed in mainstream media. It helps us understand the issue better and we can then draw out own conclusions. I’m not conflating veganism with politics. I am commenting on community and our attitudes. If we want to know why something is happening, we need to look to history. It is not “Americanophobic” as someone accused me of being recently. It is simply meant to provide an historical backdrop to the current anti-Muslim climate. If I criticise government in this, that is not an attack on US citizens. In this day and age, governments do not represent the people. Most governments all over the world now have been taken over by corporations. They are a kleptocracy. They do not represent the people. They represent corporations. Mainstream media represent and speak for corporations. So please don’t see view this as an attack on US citizens, because it is not. It is what it is. A backdrop to what I find to be a very distressing situation.