The Revolution Continues blog is news, views, opinion and other expressions of hope from a leftist point-of-view. (We are not affiliated with any candidate, political party or organization. All are welcome.)
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
The Whole World Is Burning
The Whole World is Burning
--and It's High Time We Did Something About It
(Before It's Too Late) by C.A. Matthews
Armageddon sells. Red and orange hellish visions of burning fields and forests. Billowing black-gray smoke and horribly injured wildlife. Escaping humans cowering before flames. All these fiery nightmares littered our screens this past week. Australia is burning.
But so has California, the Congo, Siberia and the Amazon. Outside of a few independent journalists covering the Congo and Siberia, most Americans are only familiar with the wildfires in California and Brazil. Apparently the suffering in Africa and the remote areas of Asia aren’t photogenic enough for the mainstream media to report on. Or maybe it’s because we just don’t care about the people and wildlife that live there. It’s not like ordinary Americans ever take fun-filled vacations to Siberia or sub-Saharan Africa, right? Only rich white hunters like Trump's sons go on safari to shoot giraffes and lions these days. Scared koalas and sad kangaroos capture people’s imagination. They sell papers and make for poignant television commercials, but will they wake up those who have denied the horrendous effects of climate change for so long? Will they bring about charges against those who have committed crimes against humanity, such as the fossil fuel industry lying to us for years about greenhouse gases and CO2?
There are fires burning on every single continent. The whole world is burning. If these images of the end times don’t inspire action to take positive steps to stop the burning, then what will? We need to do something to bring about radical change in how we heat our homes, how we get to work, what kinds of foods we eat, what kind of textiles we clothe ourselves in, what ways we interact with nature... Let's douse the actual flames but stoke the fires of genius and creativity and cooperation, shall we? As the Australian bushfires burn, another conflagration is taking place in the war room of the White House. Trump is starting a war with Iran, a possible nuclear power. Why? Oil, of course! The Iranians recently announced they had another 50 billion barrels in oil reserves. We can’t allow anyone other that the US to have access to that oil, can we? Tempting nuclear winter is an acceptable risk in the oligarchs’ collective mind and possibly the minds of gas-guzzling SUV owners. But wait… Isn’t it the fossil fuel industry that is fueling our climate crisis? The self same climate crisis that is causing Australia to burn? Destroying whole ecosystems and killing a half billion animals? Why would any sane person allow a suspect industry such as Big Oil to start a war to obliterate everything that is currently being burned to a crisp?
Oh, yeah... It’s Trump and his advisors who decided to assassinate a high-ranking Iranian general as an excuse to steal more oil and generate endless stock splits for Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin. We’re not exactly talking strong examples of sane individuals here! Until we eliminate those in power who hold their fellow man—and indeed life itself—in such contempt, we are all at risk. The people and the planet can’t take much more of this ill treatment. We don’t appreciate the beautiful blue globe we live on, obviously, but is that any reason to allow warhawks to irradiate it by starting World War III? The squeamish and the cowardly need to buck up—things are going to get nastier and uglier before they get better. No matter what a 1950s' Civil Defense propaganda film tells you, there's no safe way to survive a nuclear holocaust.
There is no “gray zone” where you can just ignore what’s happening and stare at your phone screen wondering what happened to Instagram once the cell towers fall over. Sorry, folks. It’s a black or white decision. You'll have to make it without the assistance of Twitter or Wikipedia, too. Pick a side—Planet or Profits, People or Plutocrat Power-trip—and stick to it. Let everyone know where you stand on this issue so we can take appropriate measures to either: 1) Help you in your endeavors to save our beloved Earth, or 2) Do all we can to derail your homicidal/genocidal destruction of our world. Now is not the time for indecision. Now is the time for action. Which side are you on?
No War With Iran Peace Protest January 4, 2020 -- Toledo, Ohio photos by Cindy & Adrian Matthews
***
Over 80 U.S. cities, and others elsewhere, held demonstrations on Saturday against war on Iran.
Senator Tim Kaine has introduced a
privileged resolution in the Senate, and Representatives Barbara Lee and
Ilhan Omar have introduced it in the House, to force a vote on ending U.S. war on Iran. Click here to email your Senators and Representative.
We, the people, have been preventing a war on Iran for many years, including stopping major efforts to start one in 2007 and 2015.
Congress needs to reverse course. This
Congress has refused to impeach for wars and threats of nuclear war,
has stripped out of the National Defense Authorization Act the ban on
war on Iran that was contained in the House version, and has given
Trump even more military funding than he asked for.
Numerous Congress members of both
parties, during the days leading up to Trump's assassination of Iran's
top military commander, accused Trump of weakness toward Iran.
We need Congress members to speak
out for peace, for an end to threats and punishing sanctions, for a
removal of U.S. troops from the region, and for the restoration of
diplomacy.
World BEYOND War is a global network of
volunteers, activists, and allied organizations advocating for the
abolition of the very institution of war. Our success is driven by a
people-powered movement –
support our work for a culture of peace.
***
Do you ever worry that you'll wake up and discover it's not just winter--it's actually "nuclear winter?"
Do you ever want to scream and shout about how unjust and unfair our system of health care is? How screwed up our judicial system or jails are? How unlikely you'll ever be out of debt with the current crop of morons in charge?
If any of this resonates with you, why not write about it and submit your article to The Revolution Continues? We'd love to hear from you! Send it to us at: thebernieblog2016@gmail.com
If you're not a writer, but you're one of the few on the left gainfully employed, why not share a little of your monetary wealth with those of us slaving in the trenches of indie journalism. We'd appreciate it. Thanks!
I think more people are beginning to wake up to the fact that tomorrow won't be the same as today, that things are changing with increasing speed. Maybe enough people will join together to do something and pull us back from the brink of disaster. I hope so.
This very well could be the "wake up call" that actually gets people to wake up--and stay awake! Pity that it takes the destruction of an entire continent's worth of wildlife and a threatened nuclear war to do so...
Cindy, thank you for your work, your passion and courage. We sane people must do whatever we can to counter the suicidal dinosaurs. I'd like to share your essay on Bobbing Around but didn't find the relevant button. I'll post the link tomorrow. :) Bob
Thanks for your kind words, Dr. Bob! Sure, feel free to share the blog post with your readers. Just give them a link to The Revolution Continues if you can: www.therevolutioncontinues.com Power to the People!
Please feel free to share your thoughts with us. Just one rule: Be polite. This means no profanity or cursing. No shaming or hate speech. No threats or silliness. This is a family friendly blog. Thank you.
I think more people are beginning to wake up to the fact that tomorrow won't be the same as today, that things are changing with increasing speed. Maybe enough people will join together to do something and pull us back from the brink of disaster. I hope so.
ReplyDeleteThis very well could be the "wake up call" that actually gets people to wake up--and stay awake! Pity that it takes the destruction of an entire continent's worth of wildlife and a threatened nuclear war to do so...
DeleteCindy, thank you for your work, your passion and courage. We sane people must do whatever we can to counter the suicidal dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to share your essay on Bobbing Around but didn't find the relevant button. I'll post the link tomorrow.
:)
Bob
Thanks for your kind words, Dr. Bob! Sure, feel free to share the blog post with your readers. Just give them a link to The Revolution Continues if you can: www.therevolutioncontinues.com Power to the People!
Delete