The midterm election is over, but still the federal House and Senate results are not decided. Remains to be seen. The issues, however, still stand and will loom large in the presidential campaign going forward. Many are discussed here.
What we are witnessing in the United States is not merely a threat to democracy, but a modernized and dangerous expression of right-wing extremism that is a prelude to a full-blown version of fascist politics. One crucial starting point for mass resistance is articulated by Paul Morrow, who, referencing Hannah Arendt, argues that authoritarian societies do “everything possible to uncouple beliefs from action, conviction from action.”
These establishment politicians and their appointed judges promulgated laws that permitted the top 1 percent to loot $54 trillion from the bottom 90 percent, from 1975 to 2022, at a rate of $2.5 trillion a year, according to a study by the RAND corporation. The fertile ground of our political, economic, cultural and social wreckage spawned an array of neo-fascists, con artists, racists, criminals, charlatans, conspiracy theorists, right-wing militias and demagogues that will soon take power.
Now we have the Ukraine case, and we need not bother with “ample reason.” It is open-and-shut evident at this point that we witness two wars as the Armed Forces of Ukraine face off with the Russian military. There is the presented war, the meta-war, you might say, and there is the waged war, the war taking place on the ground, nothing meta about it.
Imagine then if you had a vantage point from outer space:You would see a massive dark cloud circling the tiny and fragile earth. No one would escape the effects.
“Seymour Melman and others have written about the permanent War Economy and the economic and social consequences. Unchecked militarism is often cited by historians such as Arnold Toynbee as the principal reason for the collapse of Empires. Is this where we are and if we are, what does collapse look like…?” (Edited Transcript from YouTube)
Sixty-six U.N. members, most from the global south, have called for diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine, as required by the U.N. Charter. But few of the big power players are listening.
Chile’s New Constitution: the Surprising Results Volume 40 Number 5 Women Against Military Madness Fall 2022 By Michael Livingston
On Sunday, September 4, 2022, the movement for social change in Chile suffered a massive setback. The new constitution, submitted to a national referendum, was rejected by 62 percent of the voters, with 86 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot. The new constitution was defeated in all 16 regions of the country (divisions similar to states in the U.S.), and in 338 of the 346 communes, which are similar to our counties within each state. The road to rejection started More
“If you take a look at the academics who are mostly moderately liberal and are in a moderately lived world that means being almost completely subordinate to an official doctrine and ideology, and they can’t go millimeter beyond. Occasional exceptions are a reflection of the pressures of activism and engagement. With most of the students in talking about the role of liberals: You’ve [Hedges] pointed out that they are tolerated by the ruling capitalist elite as long as they do not question the virtue of the rulers or the structural and social systems that sustain the elites. And they become the attack dogs on people such as yourself and do more damage than good. (Edited transcript.)
“To my fellow Jews, to my friends in the Democratic party who want to support Israel and think of themselves as Progressive, it is important to look at what Israeli law today does, what the lived experiences of Palestinians today means,”
Ignorance. A vacuum of understanding, whether from native stupidity or arrogant disregard, of the underlying issues, the functions of government, the lessons of history, the trustworthiness of information and the evaluation of evidence.
W.E.B. Du Bois argued that white society feared educated Blacks far more than they feared Black criminals. “They can deal with crime by chain-gang and lynch law, or at least they think they can, but the South can conceive neither machinery nor place for the educated, self-reliant, self-assertive black man,” he wrote.
“Power is global and politics is local. That must change. We need a new language for understanding new global power formations as well as new international modes of politics to fight them.” — Henry A.Giroux
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A Note From Rise Up Times
Global and local peace and justice for all
Be Engaged in Activism
Collaborate Cooperate
Normalize Resistance Rest and Rise
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NEW LANGUAGE
NEW GLOBAL POWER FORMATIONS
NEW MODES OF POLITICS
“Power is global and politics is local. That must change. We need a new language for understanding new global power formations as well as new international modes of politics to fight them.
Social movements must move outside of national boundaries and join with others across the globe to fight the savagery of neoliberal global politics and central to such a task is the work of intellectuals, artists, cultural workers, and others who can fashion new tools and social movements in the fight against the current anti-democratic threats being imposed all over the globe.” — Henry A.Giroux
Rise Up Times publishes writers who provide insights and knowledge that are a basis for informed action, whether on the streets or signing petitions, writing letters to the editor, talking to legislators, or otherwise engaging in transformative nonviolent actions to make change.
Thank you for your help and support!
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ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The ‘apocalyptic’ chess game between the superpowers, that is, between those that move on the highest plane of our civilization, is being played according to the rule ‘if either “wins” it is the end of both’; it is a game that bears no resemblance to whatever war games preceded it. Its ‘rational’ goal is deterrence, not victory, and the arms race, no longer a preparation for war, can now be justified only on the grounds that more and more deterrence is the best guarantee of peace. To the question how shall we ever be able to extricate ourselves from the obvious insanity of this position there is no answer.”
The U.S. needs to join other countries worldwide in banning nuclear weapons.
THE WAMM CAMPAIGN TO BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS
WHY ACT NOW? Support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and sign the Parliamentary (Legislative) Pledge. Click the WAMM link above for more information.
Would you like to help spread awareness and action about nuclear weapons? Information and action steps are available FREE in the form of two-sided cards on cardstock.
Call 612-827-5364 to schedule a pick up at the WAMM office, 4200 Cedar Ave. S., Suite 3, Minneapolis. 55407
Packages of 50 can be sent to you via USPS for a $10 donation.
“Resistance is no longer an option, it is now a matter of life or death. The lights are going out on democracy across the globe and the time to wake up from this nightmare is now.”
— Henry A.Giroux
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The contents of Rise Up Times may or may not reflect the views of the editor. Articles are chosen for publication or republication based on the interest of our readers. Rise Up Times republishes stories from a number of other independent news sources as well as original articles.
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