“Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?”—James Baldwin
“The only way to live on this planet with any human dignity at the moment is to struggle.”—Assata Shakur
Those who choose illusion over reality, no matter how appealing it might seem, ensure the sustenance of human suffering and quite possibly the ultimate extinction of humanity.
From the oily human-made catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico-USA, to exploding nuclear power plants in Japan, the combined greed and arrogance of the global corporate/military elite of this planet have plunged humankind into an almost inescapable abyss of self annihilation. Notwithstanding the ongoing bloody wars of imperialist aggression being waged over oil and Mother Earth’s other resources in the fraudulent name of democracy; the veneer of the U.S. corporate-stream’s media illusion of “change” has begun to wear visibly thin. Indeed, Pandora’s metaphorical box is now dangerously ajar—and no blood drenched, insulting, patronizing, disingenuous “hope” and “change” rhetoric will change this reality at home orabroad.
The unfolding disaster in Japan is by no means limited to that region of the world, just as the corporate-made and ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not, and is not, limited to the United States. These are global disasters fueled by corporate greed and arrogance with devastating far-reaching and continuing consequences. They could andshould have been avoided. But greed, arrogance, and deadly illusion were allowed to trump reality.
Ask yourself, how many multinational companies and/or contractors were involved in the aforementioned avoidable disasters. What are/were their roles? Ask yourself why the Obama/Biden administration and the corporate-stream media have sought to minimize, distort, or outright ignore the corporate greed and malfeasance of these corporate-made global disasters. Common sense and reality provide the inescapable conclusion that the elite of the corporate/military foxes are in fact avariciously devouring the metaphorical hen house [e.g. everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people] nationally and globally, deliberately meant to keep us in fear, stagnated, divided, and in economic and political pain.
And what of the unabated, bloody, and globally disastrous wars being waged at the behest of the corporate/military elite with the incessant complicity of the corporate-stream media? These wars, be they in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, or elsewhere on this planet have nothing whatsoever to do with stopping so-called “terrorism.” To the contrary, they fuel terrorism, while financially enriching the corporate/military elite.
It is we everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people who are the cannon fodder of and in these wars. We must make the connection.We must face the reality in order to change it! As people in the United States in throughout the so-called “developed” world lose their jobs, pensions, homes, and tenuous freedoms; the Wall Street barons and corporate/military elite are reaping enormous profits even as they make a killing—both financially and literally—at the horrible expense of everyday people. To all of these financial vultures, both in this nation and throughout the world, everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people are beginning to realize the state of economic and political slavery that they/we are being held in.
To these vultures the daily cry is increasingly becoming “Liar, Liar! Your World’s On Fire!” Our task is to take back this world, this planet—our Mother Earth. We must do this together, with and for, just plain everyday people of all colors in this nation, in conjunction with the vast majority of humankind globally! No more “water[s]” of illusion. “The fire next time.” Yes! The fire of the yearning for collective and real change that legitimately burns deep in the souls of all justice-loving people! Time for a collective rebirth. Let us learn once more what it can mean to be truly human!
Make no mistake about it: The corporate-government and its insidious allies will do all that they can to confuse, discredit, intimidate, divide and neutralize the struggle for economic, social and political justice on the part of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people; but thepower of the people united, will ultimately triumph!
As the late great freedom fighter and former slave Harriet Tubman responded when asked about her incredibly important role in what became known as the Underground Railroad: “I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they wereslaves.” Remember, the first step in changing an untenable reality is recognizing it.
Onward then, my sisters and brothers! While there is yet time. Onward!
BlackCommentator.comEditorial Board Member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book). Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.
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Liar, liar! Your world’s on fire!
Posted on March 22, 2011 by Larry Pinkney
“Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?”—James Baldwin
“The only way to live on this planet with any human dignity at the moment is to struggle.”—Assata Shakur
Those who choose illusion over reality, no matter how appealing it might seem, ensure the sustenance of human suffering and quite possibly the ultimate extinction of humanity.
From the oily human-made catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico-USA, to exploding nuclear power plants in Japan, the combined greed and arrogance of the global corporate/military elite of this planet have plunged humankind into an almost inescapable abyss of self annihilation. Notwithstanding the ongoing bloody wars of imperialist aggression being waged over oil and Mother Earth’s other resources in the fraudulent name of democracy; the veneer of the U.S. corporate-stream’s media illusion of “change” has begun to wear visibly thin. Indeed, Pandora’s metaphorical box is now dangerously ajar—and no blood drenched, insulting, patronizing, disingenuous “hope” and “change” rhetoric will change this reality at home or abroad.
The unfolding disaster in Japan is by no means limited to that region of the world, just as the corporate-made and ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not, and is not, limited to the United States. These are global disasters fueled by corporate greed and arrogance with devastating far-reaching and continuing consequences. They could and should have been avoided. But greed, arrogance, and deadly illusion were allowed to trump reality.
Ask yourself, how many multinational companies and/or contractors were involved in the aforementioned avoidable disasters. What are/were their roles? Ask yourself why the Obama/Biden administration and the corporate-stream media have sought to minimize, distort, or outright ignore the corporate greed and malfeasance of these corporate-made global disasters. Common sense and reality provide the inescapable conclusion that the elite of the corporate/military foxes are in fact avariciously devouring the metaphorical hen house [e.g. everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people] nationally and globally, deliberately meant to keep us in fear, stagnated, divided, and in economic and political pain.
And what of the unabated, bloody, and globally disastrous wars being waged at the behest of the corporate/military elite with the incessant complicity of the corporate-stream media? These wars, be they in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, or elsewhere on this planet have nothing whatsoever to do with stopping so-called “terrorism.” To the contrary, they fuel terrorism, while financially enriching the corporate/military elite.
It is we everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people who are the cannon fodder of and in these wars. We must make the connection. We must face the reality in order to change it! As people in the United States in throughout the so-called “developed” world lose their jobs, pensions, homes, and tenuous freedoms; the Wall Street barons and corporate/military elite are reaping enormous profits even as they make a killing—both financially and literally—at the horrible expense of everyday people. To all of these financial vultures, both in this nation and throughout the world, everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people are beginning to realize the state of economic and political slavery that they/we are being held in.
To these vultures the daily cry is increasingly becoming “Liar, Liar! Your World’s On Fire!” Our task is to take back this world, this planet—our Mother Earth. We must do this together, with and for, just plain everyday people of all colors in this nation, in conjunction with the vast majority of humankind globally! No more “water[s]” of illusion. “The fire next time.” Yes! The fire of the yearning for collective and real change that legitimately burns deep in the souls of all justice-loving people! Time for a collective rebirth. Let us learn once more what it can mean to be truly human!
Make no mistake about it: The corporate-government and its insidious allies will do all that they can to confuse, discredit, intimidate, divide and neutralize the struggle for economic, social and political justice on the part of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people; but the power of the people united, will ultimately triumph!
As the late great freedom fighter and former slave Harriet Tubman responded when asked about her incredibly important role in what became known as the Underground Railroad: “I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves.” Remember, the first step in changing an untenable reality is recognizing it.
Onward then, my sisters and brothers! While there is yet time. Onward!
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book). Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.