Transformational Politics: Be Part Of The Evolution – OpEd

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By Clive Hambidge

‘Julian Assange’ said Noam Chomsky ‘should be congratulated for carrying out the responsibilities of a citizen in democratic societies, where the population should be aware of what their selected representatives are doing and planning.’ Assange is perhaps to pay a heavy price for disclosure, as simultaneously, Bradley Manning, a soldier of conscience, is to pay the ultimate one.  The effectiveness of these two men’s actions should be taken to heart, and into our collective activism “For those that have the privilege to know have the privilege to act (Einstein). Also we must understand that we are not just standing in quiet or rowdy resolution and solidarity with an Assange or Manning just because our conscience dictates but because we are connected at the very substance of our being and in an evolutionary reality.  We have a constituent understanding of these two, and other men and women of conscience, because we are not in any way separate in time and space from them or their suffering. We are individuated, distinct, but never apart. The 1% would rule, the 99% would move.

It is why the “occupy movement” is coherent, growing, and in tune with a universal melody soon to become symphonic, expressed through a rising chorus of intelligent and persistent voices.  We gather nimbus around our feet and grow wings on our back, and would like the Sirin, close to Eden, symbols of “world harmony” and ready to fly, swoop, our songs “going into the soul of man”. For, “Truth and Love is the only thing that counts. Where this is present, everything rights itself in the end. This is a law to which there is no exception.” (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India 1927).

We the people recognise we are a “constituency of understanding” (Alan Hart) where a “transformational politics” beneficent for all, inclusive of all, is arising spontaneously because an evolutionary, therefore, creative fact.

Sometimes one wonders, and in darker moments, if we are in the evening of this civilisation. If it is the afternoon and we have creative time and intellectual space before the twilight to explore significance, then I agree with Carl Gustav Jung that “the afternoon of human life must also have significance of its own and cannot be merely a pitiful appendage to life’s morning.” We might also accept these words from Dante’s Hell in wary reflection mounting to alarm that we could find ourselves collectively and irrevocably “in a dark wood, where the right road was wholly lost and gone.” Therefore, as it is right to remind states and would be leaders of their obligations under international law, it is equally right that an international and growing constituency of the people demand that the moral dimension, Emerson’s “moral sentiment”, is a recognised truth, not relativism, or reductionism, and that the “moral state” is the effulgent progenitor for any debate on all issues affecting human progress, and the cause behind any evolving effect. Not then “evil and less evil” but good and more good, for “Nulle créature humaine ne peut commander á l’amour” (George Sand).

The required, inculcating, reciprocal and consensual interaction with the public should be a continuous educational project with the most disaffected, damaged and disenfranchised souls of society, based on mutual respect and concern for their and our futures, inextricably linked by evolution. Out of this evolving system of reintegration the new must arise, arise naturally, spontaneously and simultaneously. It is how the brain operates when creative “the organizing centre of neurological activity expand[s] from the frontal lobes to reincorporate the limbic system and embellish rationality with depth of feeling” the reptilian brain a “help mate” now “like a hologram” “The brain operates as a resonating instrument, each of its fine-tuned “strings” vibrating in sympathy with the others. No part is repressed, and there is little remaining internal censorship. No longer is there warfare among instinct, feeling, reason, each of which assumes a respected place in awareness. This internal alliance allows a person to access data of great complexity, and then scrutinize them from several angles simultaneously.” (John E. Nelson, M.D, Healing The Split)

Quantum Thinking

The above shows Democracy, then, as a natural state that arises from a symbiotic mind-brain unity. We must imagine, and simultaneously enact into being a new political society, a societal awakening to the inherent creativity of our being and becoming, the very stuff of a mind-brain complex in relationship with the highest values, operating as society should, as it must, as it will: a “Quantum Society”. “Quantum systems and our human imagination involve ‘superpositions’. They contain several possible realities all juxtaposed, one on top of the other that they explore simultaneously by throwing out ‘feelers’ towards the future. Quantum systems do this to test out the most stable future energy state; our imagination does it to test out the best possible future life scenario.” (Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, The Quantum Society). Society must do it from the clearest vision to realise the highest form of civilization. The artist Robert Delaunay put it poetically “Simultaneity in light is harmony, the rhythm of colours which create the vision of man. Human vision is endowed with the greatest reality, since it comes directly from contemplation of the Universe.”

Then, a growing awareness evolves that “Living systems are self organizing, self maintaining, and self renewing”. All cohering wholes, confluent, cooperating, integrating and therefore powerful because universally, and in law, connected. We are through our cooperating principles, values, actions related to, cleaved to, the actions of others in a growing, evolutionary world wide constituency. We are “changing the world from the inside out”  (McLaughlin & Davidson, Spiritual Politics), and this means we are a constituent part by evolutionary right, of transformational political action; it, the hope of our mind, the reality of our being and becoming, represents the vouch-saved certainty of humankind’s future  We are connected by law, and must govern by law.  The “Occupy Movement” is the intelligent occupation of our own house and it indeed has many rooms, spacious, light-filled, sun-kissed, and ready for habitation. Be a conscious integrated quantum part of your evolution.

In his excellent book Destination of The Species Michael Meacher makes this salient, because scientific, point “Physical laws cannot explain biological finalism or the teleological activities of living beings, reductionism does not allow for the fact that each successive level of complexity occurring in biological systems, new qualities can and often do arise which cannot be understood by processes of sub-division, but only by recognition of the effects of integration.” “Our thoughts ‘hang together’ with what [physicist] Roger Penrose has referred to recently as a ‘oneness, or a ‘globality’. They [thoughts] cannot be broken down into distinct elements that on their own make any sense. Penrose uses the example of the totality of a musical composition to illustrate this.” (Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall). The celebrated physicist Fritjof Capra explains why this is a fact in nature, “Evolution is not just adaptation to environment … but rather an organism and its environment evolv[ing] together. Likewise, in music, the essence of the musical chord lies in relationship. Even subatomic particles are not discrete and separate.” Neither is a politician and his or her constituents, or importantly a constituent from governance and its appurtenances.  “[T]he most striking parallel between quantum reality and our conscious thought processes is in unity, or holism, that distinguishes both.” (Zohar and Marshall)

However, Mikhail Gorbachev explains both the current difficulties and solution “The roots of humanity’s troubles run very deep. There are no simple prescriptions to overcome them … What is needed are changes in consciousness. In relations between people, between nations and their attitudes to nature.” (my emphasis) And, the attitudes to human life if you are a rampaging dominant power.

Trouble in the wood:

The militarised therefore explosive dark wood that is the creation of American power is an unnatural world, and an artificially complex one. Looking at this febrile dank reality one would agree with Noam Chomsky that we must try on a daily basis, and with some stringency, to “capture one significant aspect of a highly complex reality.” To understand that the significance we attach to any given event is perhaps an important one, then the understanding of the reasoning behind the precise organising of the forms that have led to powerful, sustained and destructive expression by successive US administrations, is crucial, for in prosecuting and perpetuating war American administrations are breaking laws man made, natural, divine, in a giddy violent dance high on immorality aching for “full spectrum dominance” and the control of everything whist understanding nothing. One must submit the US is not alone in spinning webs of invidious influence, yet those webs have a significantly dominant spider, and that spider has the stars and stripes on its thorax.

What we are up against:

“All nations are imposing some idea on their people, but most [nations] feel force is necessary. This is because they misunderstand the time factor and feel that the immediate [so-called] good is more important than the long-term education of people so they will voluntarily accept ideas.” (A. A. Bailey),  as demonstrated for example by the brutal crack-down across the Middle East and North Africa during the Arab Spring, the violent  repression of  Tibetan monks before they self immolated, the heavy-handed -and in many cases unlawful- police attacks on peaceful members of the global Occupy Movement. This leads to a “convulsive and percolating strife,” these words from former National Security Advisor to President Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, underline the course on which nation states and in particularly the chest beating-self-declared-hegemon America, are set, and further underscore their delusion in the belief of the ultimate transforming power of overwhelming force. Brzezinski “America is the world transforming society, even revolutionary in its subversive impact on sovereignty-based international politics.” (my emphasis). Brzezinski also thinks “for better or worse America is the global pacesetter, and there is no rival in sight.” This is the arrogance of power in search of an American “invulnerability” against “potential antagonists” who closing down the “missile gap”, would bomb mainland resource guzzling America, if this can’t be “managed politically” amongst the political elites then it will be enforced unilaterally by the US and its allies.  “The U.S. Congress’s tendency to mandate the certification of other states’ behaviour by the U.S. State Department is symptomatic of the current American attitudes, which is increasingly cavalier toward others’ sovereignty.” (Brzezinski), as exemplified by the recently imposed Obama executive order for “stricter sanctions on Iran and its central bank” (AllVoices). “The executive order described as a further step in the US effort to insolate Iran, prevents any assets deemed to be in US control-including foreign branches of American banks from being transferred, paid, exported or withdrawn.” (Reuters).

AIPAC-WINEP-SUPER PACS:

This Brzezinski “tendency” is today compounded by right-wing lobby groups and think-tanks, in particular the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), and the state-wide Political Action Committees (Super Pacs) that are collectively “detonators of democracy” (Ralph Nader) as they collectively seek a stranglehold on American Congress, the State Department, American presidents and candidates so as to control American Foreign Policy. According to the authoritative ‘The Israeli Lobby And U.S. Foreign Policy’, by Mearshiemer & Walt, which so raised the ire of AIPAC, “During the Clinton Administration, for example, Middle East Policy was largely shaped by officials with close ties to Israel or to prominent pro-Israel organizations-including Martin Indyk, the former Deputy Director of research at AIPAC and co-founder of the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Dennis Ross, who joined WINEP after leaving government in 2001; and Aaron Miller, who has lived in Israel and often visits there.”

Now the AIPAC-WINEP propaganda machine is in tandem-purring-overdrive to persuade the Obama Administration to join Israel in “surgical strikes” against thousands of targets across Iran.  It has been rumoured that many of the installations are in urban areas and strikes would almost certainly result in innocent casualties. “Unnatural acts” in Iran as declared by Israel translates into, an egregious violation of International Law, namely extrajudicial assassinations of innocent nuclear scientists because it is “cheaper than war” and in the so-called hope that such killings will slow down the Iranian nuclear programme. Unlike Israel, Iran, a signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), maintains vociferously its nuclear programme is for “peaceful purposes.” and is in NPT terms within its rights to do so.  One must here voice legitimate protest against the Iranian Administration human rights record but support its lawful sovereignty and control over its own destiny. Also if we condemn the alleged Israeli assassinations of innocent victims, then, equally, we must condemn the attempted assassination of Israeli diplomats if proven to have been carried out by Iranian agents.

It is worth noting here that the interference of AIPAC, a foreign agent of the Israeli government in American state affairs, is receiving intense media coverage, growing and vocal public protest (Occupy AIPAC) and opprobrium, and once again the attention of the courts as on January 13th 2012,  “A brief filed in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals claims the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a foreign Agent of the Israeli government with no legitimate charitable purpose. The brief was filed in response to AIPACS court claims that it had been “cleared of wrongdoing” after secretly receiving stolen classified U.S. industry information from an Israeli embassy official in 1984. AIPAC used the still-classified confidential business information to obtain trade preferences now worth nearly $10 billion per year.” (The Institute of Research Middle East Policy).

The above being so, and tragically, that AIPAC-WINEP are winning the propaganda war is self evident as we find  Ben Schreiner’s exposing an America “with the drums of war beating ever louder against Iran, the U.S military [has]  quickly moved to re-establish a war footing in the Persian Gulf. The preparations for a looming military confrontation thus continue apace.” This confrontation agitated for by AIPAC and the Israeli government might not end with Iran but draw in Russia and China both of which have considerable investments in Iran, also Pakistan who vow to stand with Iran if attacked by Israel, for religious and ideological reasons.

American administrations show disregard not just of sovereignty and international law, but human rights and indeed the sacred human life. The deaths mentioned below are of Americans what of the unnamed Afghans lost to American and allied aggression? “On July 7, 2011, U.S. troop deaths from the war in Afghanistan since president Obama took office reached 1000. That means that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. fatalities in the war in Afghanistan have occurred during the Obama administration, which has managed the war for a mere quarter of its duration.” (Just Foreign Policy)

Now as Syria descends into civil war and the Bashar Al-Assad regime slaughters its own citizens (or is it outside interference seeking to destabilise?) as the hawks, vultures, and eagles of the U.S, Russia and China wait to alight on the carrion, there should be a mandated UN to negate this as “the United Nations is empowered, under Article 1 of its Charter to: “maintain international peace and security,” to “develop friendly relations among nations”, “to achieve international co-operation”, and “to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of those common ends.”(Archie Kennedy).  Kennedy goes on to express the “challenge” to the UN and the elephant in the global room, “The United States of America assumes the role of international arbiter and the role of policing the planet. A role rightfully granted to the United Nations. It is widely and implicitly assumed the USA carries this burden and this assumption is rarely challenged.”

So what is this U.S subversive police force really up to in the case of Syria? In Shamus Cooke’s words we discover the reality behind the posturing “The United States appears to be using a strategy in Syria that it has perfected over the years, having succeeded most recently in Libya: arming small paramilitary groups loyal to U.S. interests that claim to speak for the local population; these militants then attack the targeted government the U.S. would like see overthrown-including terrorist bombing- and when the attacked government defends itself, the U.S. cries “genocide” or “mass murder” while calling for foreign military intervention.”

This sort of attitude of ‘you’re with or against’ American hegemonic “assumptions”, and if you’re with those powerful assumptions, Americans will still use and abuse you, runs seamlessly through the corporate realm, when Les Leopold takes us through Apple’s hunt for cheap labour and mega profits on the back of slave labour as Apple’s late Steve Jobs decides glass screens as apposed to the easily scratched plastic ones must be fitted to the latest iPhone. Weeks before the phone’s marketing, Apple approaches Foxconn the Chinese manufacturer, who could “hire 3000 people overnight” to fit the new glass. When the “glass was ready and trucked to the factory”, recounts Leopold “managers woke thousands of workers who crawled into their uniforms-white and black shirts for men red for women- and quickly lined up to assemble, by hand, the phones. Within three months Apple had sold one million iPhones.” He goes on, “Little wonder that Apple just announced that it doubled its already enormous profits over the Christmas holidays. Like pharaohs of old, it’s always paid to build great things on the backs of slave labour.”

Together:

This is how the world is perceived by intellectual, military, corporate and government elites (1%). It is in the recognition that, those Chinese workers corralled and enslaved in the dead of night to satisfy one man’s megalomania, or Assange under pressure, under threat, or Bradley Manning facing a stark future of incarceration, are, an integral part of evolution, that one acts commensurate to their needs, and thereby find that they are part of our very being and becoming, as we are of them.

It is in this profound truth that we find the strength, hope, and certainty that the time of shadows is drawing to its ungodly end; and, if we lift our countenance, just a little, we will see a new dawn, in a glorious light. “For I mean to propose that each of us in turn, going from left to right, shall make a speech in honour of love.” (Plato)

Be part of the evolution.

– Clive Hambidge is Human Development Director at Facilitate Global. This article was contributed to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact the author at: [email protected].

Palestine Chronicle

The Palestine Chronicle publishes news and commentary related to the Middle East Peace Conflict.

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