Democracy

‘Putin’s War On America’ Is Nothing Compared With America’s War On Democracy

July 24, 2018 Paul Street, Truthdig.com Educate! Democracy, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Russia, US Imperialism

The noted North Korean political commentator Kim Jong Un got it right last year: Donald Trump is a “mentally deranged dotard.” Consider the U.S. president’s bizarre performance next to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday. Asked about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, President Trump said this: “I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be.” He continued: “So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Talk about walking into your enemy’s wheelhouse. Trump looked, acted and sounded like a big floppy and supine plaything of his smirking Russian master. It was surreal.

Public Ownership, Democratizing Money, And Preparing For The Inevitable Next Financial Crisis

July 16, 2018 Staff, Publicbankinginstitute.org Strategize! Democracy, Finance, Public ownership

Thomas M. Hanna of The Democracy Collaborative has released a compelling new detailed report arguing that we need to start now discussing a viable plan for public ownership — to demand a next financial system — so we are ready to fight for it in the face of the next crisis. “The next financial crisis is all but inevitable. While its exact timing and severity cannot be predicted, both the accelerating frequency of crises in recent decades and the continued consolidation of the banking sector in an increasingly financialized economy suggest that we should be prepared for a crisis sooner rather than later…“Viewed in historical perspective, the ability of the financial sector to use its concentrated wealth to escape or subvert regulations by influencing the political process should come as no surprise…

Janus v. Democracy

July 1, 2018 By Joseph A. McCartin, Dissent Educate! Democracy, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Janus constitutes a significant setback—for democracy. For most of the twentieth century, the advance of political democracy went hand in hand with efforts to make the workplace more democratic. Progressive Era reformers predicted that democracy would die in a world dominated by corporate behemoths unless workers secured industrial democracy in the workplace. In 1915, the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations warned that “Political freedom can exist only where there is industrial freedom; political democracy only where there is industrial democracy.”

How Neoliberalism Is Killing Democracy

June 30, 2018 David Schultz, Counterpunch.org Educate! Capitalism, Democracy

Democracy across the world is under siege. This according to the latest Freedom House report documenting that for 2017, “democracy faced its most serous crisis in decades” as seventy-one countries experienced declines in freedom or fair government, including the United States, and only thirty-five an improvement. This was the twelfth consecutive year of decline in democracy world-wide. The question is why? Why has confidence in democracy retreated? Freedom House does not provide an answer, but there is a reason. It is democracy’s marriage to neo-liberal capitalism has fostered the conditions leading to its own undoing, similar to the way Karl Marx once described in the Communist Manifesto the “gravedigger thesis” (What the Bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave diggers”) where capitalism would produce the conditions that would undermine its own existence.

People Living In Democracies Think Government Does Not Represent Them

June 24, 2018 Staff, Alliance of Democracies Educate! Democracy, oligarchy

The largest single global study measuring citizens’ trust in government indicates democracies are facing a severe crisis of faith in the eyes of the public. The Democracy Perception Index 2018 (DPI) finds that a majority of people living in democracies are disillusioned with the idea that their government is formed “by the people” and works “for the people.” The DPI, conducted by Dalia Research in collaboration with the Alliance of Democracies and Rasmussen Global, is based on nationally representative interviews with over 125,000 respondents in 50 countries worldwide. This represents over 75% of the world’s population and 75% of the world’s GDP. DPI survey data ranks countries on how effectively they are perceived to be delivering core democratic benefits in the eyes of their citizens.

Democracy And Ecological Crisis

June 23, 2018 By Nancy Holmstrom, Socialistproject.ca Educate! Democracy, Ecology

Last fall 15,000 scientists issued a second dire notice to humanity that we are on a collision course with the limits of our planet. They concluded, “To prevent widespread misery, humanity must practice a more environmentally sustainable alternative to business as usual,” including “reassess[ing]… the role of an economy rooted in growth.” That means that we have to challenge capitalism; there is no capitalism without growth. Rosa Luxemburg’s statement on the eve of World War I that the choice is between socialism or barbarism was never more true. But today our struggle is about our very existence. This reality should shape the way we think about politics and how we do politics. Democracy is often said to be both the means and the end of socialism. Capitalist societies are peculiar class societies in that, especially the United States, they are said to be democratic. So what do we mean by “democracy” and by “socialism?”

The Left in Syria: From Democratic National Change to Devastation

June 17, 2018 By Thaer A. Deeb, Verso Books Strategize! Assad, Democracy, Syria

In the beginning of 2017, after 6 years of devastation and bloodshed, many of this trend’s proponents released a document entitled A Call to Our Syrian People: For Freedom, Dignity, Citizenship, and Democracy, A Critical Viewpoint to Reposition the Course of the Syrian Revolution. Here they confessed to immense mistakes and delusions, including their wagers that “There would be some sort of international intervention” and a “reliance on the foreigners and dependence on their agendas”; “The delusion of counting on Al-Nusra Front and its likes”; “the delusion of liberated areas”; and “the delusion of betting on ideological and sectarian discourses and entities.” These, in addition to other miscalculations, were “proven to be the creation of wishful and fatalist mentalities that had nothing to do with politics and balance of powers and showed no sensitivity towards people’s sufferings and sacrifices or to the costs our people dearly paid.”

Change In Spanish And Catalonia Governments Positive Steps Offering Hope

June 3, 2018 Staff, Catalan News Create! Catalonia, Democracy, Spain

The article below is a combination of three articles from Catalan News. With the ouster of President Mariano Rajoy of Spain and his replacement by socialist, Pedro Sánchez, as well as the lifting of direct rule after seven months, there is hope for progress in Spain and Catalonia. There is work to be done, including the release of political prisoners and return of those in exile who worked for independence and dropping charges against them, but removing Rajoy who fought Catalonian independence with aggression is a positive step. While there are high expectations among Catalonians, there are challenges ahead. As another article in Catalan News pointed out, “The deposed Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, was among the first ones to react on Twitter. ‘If we wanted vengeance, today we could call ourselves satisfied. But as we want justice, today we still have nothing to celebrate. There is still a long battle and a long road ahead...

Water Defenders Demand State Follow Law, Deny Permit To Nestlé

June 2, 2018 Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, Popular Resistance. Resist! Democracy, Michigan, Nestle, Water

We ask all our supporters to stay informed on the issues through our website saveMIwater.org. We anticipate that those organizations and individuals who work as defenders of Michigan’s water commons will assist us in paying the bills for this contested permit. It isn’t cheap, but it is necessary. The State must not get away with ignoring its public trust responsibilities and illegally granting Nestle the water of the commons to convert to private profit at the expense of our environment and our use. Over 80,000 people already expressed their opposition and were ignored.

Military-Intelligence Candidates Win Four Democratic Congressional Nominations

May 27, 2018 Patrick Martin, WSWS Educate! Democracy, Democratic Party, militarism

On Tuesday, candidates with links to the military or intelligence services won all four of the Democratic primary contests in which they were running. These results mark a significant advance in what amounts to the takeover of the Democratic Party by the national security apparatus. In the Sixth District of Kentucky and in three Texas runoff contests, in the 21st, 23rd and 31st Congressional Districts, candidates running on their records in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan defeated more traditional Democratic candidates, one backed by the party establishment and three linked to Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. These results underscore the bankruptcy of the perspective advanced by various pro-Sanders pseudo-left organizations of turning the Democratic Party into a progressive party of “the people.”

On The Technical Aspects Of Voting, Venezuela Does It Right

May 20, 2018 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance. Educate! Democracy, Elections, Venezuela, Voting

Caracas, Venezuela - The voting system in Venezuela cannot be technically challenged in any serious way. It is open, transparent, leaves a voter-verified paper record and can easily be recounted if there are any questions about the results. It prevents voter fraud, as a fingerprint is needed to start someone's voting process. In the early 2000's, I was in the leadership of a group seeking to fix the poor voting system in Maryland. After the 'hanging chad' election in 2000 that put George W. Bush in the White House, many states rushed to paperless, computer voting systems.

The Search For A New Politics

May 20, 2018 Cliff DuRand, Truthout. Create! Capitalism, Democracy, Governance, Neoliberalism

For the last four decades, political discourse has been dominated by the ideas of neoliberalism. This ideology has been promoted by elites to direct public policy not only in the US, but worldwide. Neoliberalism offers a simple story of our times by which people can make sense of the world in which they find themselves. British journalist George Monbiot has pointed to the importance of such stories in his recent book Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis. His aim is to construct a new story to mobilize people into political action and create social change.

How Clintonites Are Manufacturing Faux Progressive Congressional Campaigns

April 29, 2018 By Eric Draister, Counterpunch Educate! Democracy, Democratic Party

Jeff Beals, a self-identified “Bernie democrat” whose campaign website homepage describes him as a “local teacher and former U.S. diplomat endorsed by the national organization of former Bernie Sanders staffers, the Justice Democrats.” And indeed, Beals centers his progressive bona fides to brand himself as one of the inheritors of the progressive torch lit by Sanders in 2016. A smart political move, to be sure. But is it true? Beals’ overseas career began as an intelligence officer with the CIA. Beals shrewdly attempts to portray himself as an opponent of neocon imperialism in Iraq. Beals was not a soldier unwillingly drafted into service, but an intelligence officer who voluntarily accepted an influential and critically important post for the Bush Administration in its ever-expanding crime against humanity in Iraq.

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