Noam Chomsky: “Saving the commons from the wrecking ball of commercial destruction”

[avaistheone1]

Widely regarded as the intellectual father of the Occupy Movement, Chomsky spoke about the current conflict in Gezi Park in Istanbul, saying that “the protesters are trying to save the last part of the commons in Istanbul from the wrecking ball of commercial destruction.” The renowned 85-year-old linguist and philosopher gave a lecture at the Global Media Forum entitled “Roadmap to a Just World – People Reanimating Democracy.”

Chomsky also addressed the continued decline of civil rights in the United States and other Western democracies, which he referred to as “Real Existing Capital Democracies” or RECD for short.

“The masters do not relent. The more freedom is won, the more intense are the efforts to redirect society to a proper course,” he said. The influence of the US is not based on “its inherent character,” he said, but because of its power “other states tend to move in that direction.”

Professor Chomsky asserted that the general public can only act when they are informed. He talked about the larger forces working in the background, especially those that endanger world peace. “Here the free press enters,” he said. His closing message was to ask the media to “tell the truth about important things.”

http://baltic-review.com/2013/06/avram-noam-chomsky-saving-the-commons-from-the-wrecking-ball-of-commercial-destruction/

[Dustlawyer]

1. +1,000. Noam is right, the corporations and the very wealthy run this country.

The sooner everyone comes to realize that we are watching theater when it comes to our politicians, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, they are all very well paid actors!

[avaistheone1]

2. It seems with each day with its new scandals and press revelations more of us are coming to that

horrific realization.

[Dustlawyer]

11. I try to do what I can so awhile back I started pushing CCFR, COMPLETE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM.

Most people think I am a conspiracy nut, but I urge them to start looking at the different threads here at DU and think about what I said which is usually along the lines of, "Republicans and Democrats are the Washington Generals vs. the Harlem Globetrotters. The game is rigged and the hyperpartisanship is designed to get us to overlook the culpability of our own party and blame the other for all that is bad." Both sides should want CCFR if they stopped to think about it for 10 seconds. It is the ROOT CAUSE of most of our problems.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, avaistheone1.

[liberal_at_heart]

4. K&R

[ReRe]

5. K&R

[TakeALeftTurn]

6. k&r

.

[Catherina]

7. RECD if just for “Real Existing Capital Democracies” n/t

[yurbud]

8. did he mean democracies OF capital? of one dollar one vote? or more accurately...

one billion dollars one vote.

[Catherina]

9. One photo, one euro or better yet "Real-Existing Capitalist Democracy"

"One photo, one euro" It's at minute 4:15

No seriously, I went to look for the video and what he actually says is "Real-Existing Capitalist Democracy" to differentiate what we have from what Democracy really is. It starts at 9:45.

Noam Chomsky argues that real existing capitalist democracy, that is the so-called democracy of today’s Western societies, disenfranchises the majority for the benefit of the privileged and powerful, those with money to influence government policy. Massive inequality still exists, justified by an economic system that allows some to accrue massive amounts of money, encourages a reckless greed and economic irresponsibility, and marks status and worth by wealth. We still have a long way to go before we can create a society in equilibrium and harmony with all its members, as well as with the natural world upon which it depends.

(This system) is sewing the seeds of its own collapse. A threshold will one-day be reached when the glaring differences between those who have far too much, and those who have far to little will be intolerable to the latter. We see it on a smaller scale already, in a return of the rioting poor in the developed world; in Paris in 2005 and 2007, in London in 2011, in Sweden in 2013 and in the ongoing social catastrophes of Greece and Spain. Riots are the result of a desperate population forced to the end of its tether by unbearable circumstances. In 1780, for example, the discontented people of London rioted against terrible economic conditions, as well as unpopular political reforms. In 1789 the people of Paris rebelled against their degraded existence, as well as against the absolutism of the King, sparking the French revolution. Even far back in ancient history, the slaves of Rome, led by Spartacus, rebelled against their oppressors for two long, bloody years. That this kind of popular discontent, this kind of degradation of the people still exists and drives the masses to erupt into open violence, is a damning condemnation of our failure, even in this 21st century of progress, to create a more just and equitable society for all human-kind.

http://ricky1871.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/what-holds-back-the-progress-of-human-liberty-and-equality-in-an-age-of-plenty/

Wonderful, it's almost 3 am and now I'm hooked on a 1 hour Chomsky lecture. Thanks a lot lol.

[Berlum]

10. ...ask the media to “tell the truth about important things.”

Corporate media serves corporate commerce, not the people and certainly not the truth. Of this we have far too much evidence.

Free sticker for your TV:

[Rex]

12. No one is going to save us from the rich, but the rich.

So in other words, don't hold your breath.