Thoughts on the Suicide in Greece

From The Automatic Earth:

Sometimes, a prevalent reaction to an event like this is to make it into a bigger deal than it really should be, and to idolize the person at the center of it. Other times, we become very skeptical of both the man and his message simply because we feel it is necessary to counteract the media fanfare. We want to pretend that we are taking a cold, hard, objective look at something that is inherently emotional in nature. What struck me today when reading Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's reaction was the following passage:

Europe's poignant wake-up call

His suicide note refers to the Quisling regime of George Tsolakoglou under Axis occupation in World War Two.

Needless to say, it is loose talk to compare the Greek technocrat premier Lucas Papademos in any way to Nazi puppets. He is an honourable man, broadly supported by the Greek people, appointed by the Greek president under legitimate – though dubious – constitutional procedure, doing the best as he sees it for his country.

It is equally loose talk to compare the democratic, well-intentioned Germany of 2012 with the rabble of gangsters who hijacked the Weimar state in 1933. Germany's Angela Merkel too is doing what she thinks to be the best for both her country and for Europe (and which I think is deeply misguided, especially for Germany itself)

Is that really what was contained in this man's last message to his fellow Greeks - a bunch of "loose talk"? Can we really say, at this point in time, that people like Papademos are not puppets of a supranational banking elite that is just as malicious and destructive as the Third Reich? I think not. In fact, I think that most of the evidence points towards the accuracy of Christoulas' comparison. And, as someone who was actually alive during the Nazi occupation of Greece, I don't believe that he would ever make such comparisons "loosely".

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Brute Force, Jules Dassin 1947 (Excerpt)

PsyWar Trailer

This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the elitist theory of democracy and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.

Includes original interviews with a number of dissident scholars including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Peter Phillips (Project Censored), John Stauber (PR Watch), Christopher Simpson (The Science of Coercion) and others.

A deep, richly illustrated study of the nature and history of propaganda, featuring some of the world's most insightful critics, PsyWar exposes the propaganda system, providing crucial background and insight into the control of information and thought.

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/psywar

Next Great Depression? MIT study predicting ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030 still on track

From Eric Pfeiffer, The Sideshow

A renowned Australian research scientist says a study from researchers at MIT claiming the world could suffer from a "global economic collapse" and "precipitous population decline" if people continue to consume the world's resources at the current pace is still on track, nearly 40 years after it was first produced.

The Smithsonian Magazine writes that Australian physicist Graham Turner says "the world is on track for disaster" and that current research from Turner coincides with a famous, and in some quarters, infamous, academic report from 1972 entitled, "The Limits to Growth." Turner's research is not affiliated with MIT or The Club for Rome.

Produced for a group called The Club of Rome, the study's researchers created a computing model to forecast different scenarios based on the current models of population growth and global resource consumption. The study also took into account different levels of agricultural productivity, birth control and environmental protection efforts. Twelve million copies of the report were produced and distributed in 37 different languages.

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The Anonymous Occupation Alliance

We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us!

RAP NEWS 12: Yes We KONY?

It's March, and the Internet delivers 2012's first globe-consuming meme: the unstoppable, Stop-Kony 2012 video, which has highlighted the plight of African child soldiering like never before. But is it really good? Is it really bad? Or is the world really more complex than 'good guys' and 'bad guys'? Whatevers; one thing's for sure, this is momentous: never had a 27-minute video devoid of both cats and boobs ever achieved such virality. Is this a demonstration of the internet's ability to instantly inform and engage tens of millions; and a hopeful sign that there is a willingness among those millions, to engage passionately with something more meaningful? Or does Kony2012 just mark the dawn of a rapacious new era of viral humanitarian marketing? Join your charitable host Robert Foster - and our special guest, General Baxter, direct from AFRICOM - as we delve into the dark heart of the matter.

http://thejuicemedia.com‬

Trading Yesterday - Revolution music video

Declaration of the Occupation of Heaven

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice leveled against the Lord, we must not lose sight of what binds us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the evil forces of the ruler of this world (Jn 12:31) who was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (Jn 8:44,45,) can know that we are your allies.

As one Mystical Body, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of the members of that Body; that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another, so that if one member suffers, all suffer together (1Cor 12:25-26,) and it is up to the individual members to escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature (2Pt 1:4,) and to help their neighbors do the same; that there is no authority except from God (Rom 13:1,) but the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour (1Pet 5:8) to deprive God of the people whom He obtained with the blood of His own (Act 20:28;) and that no true peace is attainable but the peace of God, which passes all understanding (Phil 4:7.) We come to you at a time when the devil and his children, who place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, assail the world. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our duty, to let these facts be known.

• They have misused God’s houses, for when used properly the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19,) through a sinful process, despite not having the original claim to the body.
• They have taken graces from the Lord, who makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Mt 5:45) with impunity, and continue to give Him nothing in return.
• They have perpetuated inequality in their relationship with God based on greed, sloth, envy, wrath, gluttony, pride, and lust.
• They have cast aside their own spiritual food (cf 1Cor 10:3) through negligence, and undermined the supply of others’ spiritual food through religious persecution.
• They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless saints.

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Toxic Companies, Hubris & The Shadow

From Mike Green's Transitional Space:

You’ve probably read quite a lot about Goldman Sachs recently, with one of their employees describing them as Toxic.

So what exactly is a toxic company and is there any way of surviving one? Well toxic means poisonous and liable to cause ill-health.

In Goldman’s case Greg Smith described the culture as “toxic and destructive” citing examples of senior managers describing their clients as ”Muppet’s” and ripping them off.
Interestingly in his resignation he mentions a number of stakeholder groups:

The leadership – He pointed the finger firmly at the CEO and the President “leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today if you make enough money – and are not an axe murderer – you will be promoted”.

[ ... ]

In the same way as we all have a shadow side – subconsciously suppressing the bits of ourselves that we don’t like or are ashamed of or that we believe others will not like – organisations can be very good at that in the short term. Argyris and Egan amongst other have written extensively on how the expoused values of the organisation can be supplanted by the values-in-practice which are the values which really drive behaviour and which inevitably are demonstrated by the leadership in their behaviour towards staff or towards customers or towards the community and the environment.

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Tyrannosaurus Debt