Stopping the cycle of war and environmental destruction.

By Pat Hackett.

Home page. 

If the politicians can't or won't act:-

A peaceful revolution for long term peace and wellbeing:-

If we are to make "never again" really never again it's imperative our political and economic systems do not make this cycle and destruction inevitable.

If there is a vicious circle of inequality leading to those with extreme wealth disproportionately influencing the politics and media to further their wealth and influence then this cycle and destruction becomes inevitable.

The vicious circle leads to the most ruthless oligarchs having the most influence and they use that influence today to encourage the politics of consumption based on infinite growth, self interest and division.

What has happened to society?

First we must stop the genocide and wars happening now in all the ways we can as discussed to some extent in the previous post.  Why we need a grassroot revolution.

As I write this Western politicians and the media are conceding that actions " that are morally wrong and indefensible are taking place from the Israeli regime. It should be remembered, however, that they have supported Israel militarily, economically and in principle but it seems now they need to appear to distance themselves from this only after well over a year of Israel, with help from Britain Europe and America, constantly bombing and months of preventing food entering Gaza and after children have died of hunger. Words are not enough. If we insist on Military aid it should be against those committing genocide not supporting it.

We then must make "never again" really mean never again. Why does it happen or in reality never have even stopped, and what we can do to help break this cycle?

Clearly there is something wrong with our political and economic systems and in our societies where a large number of people were too long either unaware of the Palestine situation beyond that of common myths, or are indifferent, or as more and more people become aware they are unsure how to respond. 

It is only with a change in the values of society can we be more confident that our Politicians and media can be less complicit or indifferent. The politicians and Media come from our society but in a vicious circle they encourage and have largely been responsible for the negative values while prioritizing their self ambition.

While looking ahead we must make sure our politicians and MSMedia never make the same mistakes in the future.

To that end I believe we need to do the following:-

*A. Stop feeding the Oligarchs who influence our politicians and media and challenge the infinite growth myth.

*B. Value those who contribute to society and challenge the politics of greed that promotes inequality and assumes society is merely the sum of individuals whose ambition is limited to self interest with personal goals of fame and/or wealth.

*C. Listen to the values of the major religions that they have in common, not what divides them.

That's it, simple, but could be very effective if implemented but we must make sure that any of these steps are not institutionalised, then compartmentalised, then ignored while we end up in reality doing the opposite.

As simple as these three steps are, since they challenge conventional thinking on economic growth and concede that our system has been corrupted, they will be vehemently opposed bringing in all the assumptions and persuasions that have been constantly used to make you think or act otherwise.

A. Stop feeding the Oligarchs:-

The plight of the Palestinian has shown the world 

• That the Israel government is pursuing ethnic cleansing.

• This is an escalation of persecution and apartheid that has been ongoing for decades.

• Western politicians and Western Main Stream Media have been corrupted in support of this Zionist regime.

• To explain this corruption it is evident that there must be a small number of people who can use their extreme wealth to have a disproportionate influence. 

Collectively these Oligarchs could put pressure on our government and media to change direction but they choose not to. There own personal insatiable desire for more of what they want is more important than stopping ethnic cleansing.

As an obscene example In the pursuit of wealth, ruthless business people will persuade our politicians that selling arms and targeting equipment to anyone including those committing genocide will be good for growth. In turn the politicians, fear of recession will turn a blind eye to the genocide and the Media will pass on the fear of recession to the public. (That's not to discount the influence that gifts may have given to people in positions of power). Growth is reported often indiscriminately and the fear of recession with the sound bites of "wheels of the economy", "trickle down economics" or job losses or gains are reported or implied at a daily rate to put growth as the fundamental and unquestioned belief.

It is the Oligarchs who fear their huge profits will be affected and will use their influence to maintain the myths. For example, instead of encouraging the sharing out of wealth, they will imply IF some of it happens to trickle down you will be better off because of their greed.

Unfortunately these Oligarchs with the help of the media and their influence can make political change near impossible through the normal channels although this must be our ongoing and ultimate goal as discussed in the previous post.

Why does it happen.The vicious cycles of corruption.

I briefly discussed  this corruption whereby in a vicious cycle it is the most corrupt who end up with the most influence on our politicians and media in an unequal world.

However there is another vicious cycle whereby the resulting Oligarchs use there power to influence the values of society from which future politicians and the media will come from. 

The result is that we will have a small number of Oligarchs who will see personal gain from warfare or conflict and a media more influenced by their own personal self ambition who will be less likely to "put their heads above the parapet". These wars by powerful capitalist countries are more likely to be Proxy wars whereby we can delude ourselves that our nuclear deterrent is keeping the peace. The personal gain of the Oligarchs could be arm sales, or defeating other Oligarchs or exploitation of resources in either winning a war or failing that, by negotiating "the exploitation rights" in the 'peace deal" in a Proxy war. 

Unless we break the cycle it will only get worse and that includes global environmental destruction.

The Oligarchs become richer , more powerful and with more influence from the consumption of these exploited resources by whoever is in need of them or can be persuaded to consume them. Another vicious cycle whereby the more we are encouraged to consume the more need, or rather perceived need, we will have for other people's resources. 

I would consider that the increasing conflicts we are seeing, in spite of the promise of a more peaceful world with the nuclear deterrent, is the death throws of political and economic systems that creates great inequality through a consumer led and celebrity led society  (to be expanded on) structured around myths embedded into society.

If we don't break the cycle of corruption then our consumer led society under the overwhelming influence of the Oligarchs, indifferent to the real needs of society , then we will not stop the cycle of wars or environmental destruction including climate change. The system will collapse and therefore it is better to bring the change consciously that will enhance people's lives and hope for the future.

Global economic growth tied to energy growth cannot be sustained and will ultimately fail. If we had energy growth of 3% per annum then by the end of the century we will need global energy consumption to grow by around 9 times it's present value and  double every twenty three years or so thereafter. That's not based on economic rules of thumb and assumptions on human behaviour that the projections of macroeconomics depends on but is a mathematical certainty based on simple arithmetic.

We cannot expect 900% increase in efficiency nor our service economy to cover this increase in growth over this century to decouple growth from energy. Ultimately we will have to find ways of reducing our greenhouse gases to net zero while preventing land destruction. At present we are finding that trying to get our existing energy consumption to reach net zero let alone a nine fold increase an extremely difficult challenge. We are not going to have continued growth without the system ultimately collapsing. Our world disorder that we see today is very possibly an indication of that collapse in the not too distant future in which super powers are exploiting other people's resources around the world in a futile attempt to stave off this collapse. These resources are still fossil fuels food, and water but are also more and more including rare earth minerals.

It's unlikely that our Politicians will concede that economic growth cannot be sustained. With the embedded futile expectations in some parts of our society they would likely be unelectable at the present time but ultimately our economists will have to deal with what they would presently define as a recession. However it is not recession that we need fear but rather the irrational attempt to have infinite indiscriminate growth.

Compartmentalized thinking.

On environmental issues our media sometimes discuss climate change, or our progress or rather targets of reducing greenhouse gases but they will a short time later remind us of the fears of slow growth presented indiscriminately as they turn page. 

Boycott and then Boycott some more:-

Force our "leaders" to follow!

We may feel useless as individuals in the face of this corruption and indifference but again when we combine our efforts from the grassroots we can force our "leaders" to follow!

For example the peaceful protests around the world with individuals boycotting South Africa goods and encouraging Sanctions and divestment played a huge role in stopping the apartheid in S.A. 

Unfortunately because of main stream media compliance and policy of misinformation or lack of information we were late to support the Palestinians from their apartheid decades ago. It is, however, beyond reasonable doubt that our Politicians and Media would have eventually been forced to accept that the Israeli governments actions are morally indefensible without the continued protests and boycotting from the grassroots. These protests include people on the streets, from writers, from people writing or talking to their politicians or from people acting in anyway to influence our inactive "leaders".

When we boycott we are using our power as consumers.

Challenge the myths regarding growth of the economy and don't feed the Oligarchs.

*Don't worry about wheels of the economy.

*When buying goods we need only buy from those not on the boycott list.

• When buying goods we don't really need, then we need to think twice and question which Oligarchs we may be supporting or the impact on the environment.

In this way our individual discriminate consumption will not be adding to indiscriminate growth that contributes to environmental disaster and feeds the Oligarchs boosting their ability to influence.

Of course there are many who barely have enough for the basics in spite of working all they can. The huge inequality means that poverty and wasteful decadence are living side by side.

B. Value those who work for society/ key contributors to society.

A sustainable successful society is more than just the sum of individuals pursuing their own self interests.

As an example of the fallacy of composition we can't just add up or average the wealth of all the individuals to get a value that represents the success of a society.

This competitive Laissez-faire aspect of our economy won't just average out for the best for different reasons. It doesn't take account of the individual’s impact on others in society living now, elsewhere or in the future. It doesn't take account of external costs such as environmental damage. I would also contend that it leads to the undefined values previously discussed in a previous post and not values that would help our society to guide our politicians and media to have a positive effect on humanitarian issues both home and abroad. 

By key contributors I mean those who contribute to society not only as workers but also for example the young, the elderly or those that may find employment difficult because of a disability but can add much to the qualities of our societies.

When we put those people, who see ambition merely as the pursuit of self fame and fortune, on a pedestal in life and death we demean the key workers and contributors. We also demean pursuits such as art and sport to that of business opportunities and celebrities while distracting from meaningful change. Activities of all sorts become maniac self obsessed competitive practices with the most maniac individuals being portrayed as celebrities to be adulated.

It seems the media like to promote a celebrity led society which values self interest and competition with winners getting a disproportionate share of wealth and appreciation. Those who work for society, on the other hand, tend to focus on cooperation but are often taken for granted, although some of them did get clapped during the COVID pandemic.

Looking on ambition as self ambition for self interest

*encourages the excessive consumerism previously described.

*Distracts much of the population from political interest in anything other than self interest. 

A society is more than just the sum of individuals pursuing their own self interests.

* Promotes a small number of over obsessed narcissist individuals with extreme wealth. They can move on to be the Oligarchs with the extreme influence with all the dangers that involves.

* It also encourages corruption and contributes to the institutionalised failings we see for example in the main stream media:-

An overly obsessed careerist is unlikely to be a " loose cannon" as they will very likely fall in line with the system regardless of it's institutionalised failings which can largely explain how the main stream media have failed to act timely and responsibly in providing a narrative that isn't biased towards those who have supported apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

C. Listen to the values of the major religions that they have in common.

The peace protests around the world gives us hope.

As stated previously the protesters for peace in Palestine cannot be characterized by their age, gender, colour, race, nationality or religion. However they can be characterized by their stance on humanity. I, as a humanitarian agnostic (best description I can think of), find I share similar values to those of very many different religions including Jews, Muslims and Christians who lived peacefully before the Settlers and apartheid.

It is the diversity of people with a common purpose that indicates that the protests won't go away and are justified. Furthermore the diversity of people points to a way forward when we consider what they have in common despite the differences in any religion they may or may not have.

The shared values of the peace protesters.

Regarding the plight of the Palestinians, I include here not just those who protest on the streets but many others who protest in different ways such as those who boycott, those who write and educate, those who pressurize their MPS, those who change their occupation, those who consider any investments they may have. 

Of course these values are the shared values of humanity treating our fellow human beings in the way we would like to be treated ourselves.

The shared values of religions.

People of different religions may have a different creation story, different life after death expectations, different ceremonies or spiritual leaders however I see the core values of behaving towards your fellow man expressed in all the main religions as well as advocating a simple basic life without an insatiable desire for wealth or fame.

(By simple basic I don't mean simplistic, in fact I mean a richer more varied life but that's getting on to a new topic).

In Palestine when Jews, Christians and Muslims lived peacefully together they would have respected their differences while valuing there common values.

Exploiting religion for war.

Those settlers who came to pressurise or even force Palestinians out of their homes and land used any differences they could find to excuse their greed; differences in ethnicity or differences in religions.They didn't want to focus on common shared values.

That's one way religion can be abused by those who want to profit from war.

In Proxy wars religion can also be used as blame in a different way. In this case countries can hide their part in the Proxy wars by blaming the war on those in the countries where the conflict is taking place. The main stream media played their part in encouraging myths. In Britain it was common for people to be unaware that Britain was supporting Israel militarily and that Britain and the West was in effect one of the sides. Also it was common for many people to take the viewpoint that this conflict was a war between primitive people; Muslims and Jews fighting each other. 

The reality, however, is that the ethnic Palestinians of different faiths had no real conflict with Judaism but were defending themselves against the Zionist Settlers. Also the Jews who followed the core values of Judaism also deplored the Zionist Settlers.

Summarizing:-

The cycle of war and environmental destruction?

Racism or religious differences can be used as a tool to divide and conquer. Oligarchs also influence the political system and the media.

Why does it happen?

*Our government and politicians have been corrupted by the Oligarchs who have disproportionate wealth and influence. As a result we have institutionalised failings in our political system and media.

A grotesquely unequal world has allowed a small number of individuals to be able to have this influence. (A Laissez-faire but where only the hidden hand of the Oligarchs get to influence.)

*In a vicious cycle these Oligarchs have created the economic systems and undefined values in society that further increases their wealth and influence.

* The economic systems are unsustainable and will ultimately collapse.

* In a futile attempt to prolong their system they need to exploit other peoples resources leading to environmental destruction and inevitable war.

How have the Oligarchs influenced politicians, the media and society?

• By promoting the myth of infinite consumption.

• By promoting the politics of greed and self interest that increases inequality and opens the door for corruption.

• By exploiting cultural and religious differences to divide societies to make exploitation easier.

What we can do individually?

*Look to our common humanitarian values and the core values of the different major religions. Resist attempts by those who would exploit cultural and religious differences and to divide us from others who share the same common humanitarian values.

*Challenge the myths that a successful sustainable society will be achieved by everyone pursuing their own self interest. Value those with ambition to contribute to society in a cooperative manner as opposed to those whose ambition is to compete in a self interested manner.

* Use the principal of boycotting so that collectively our individual actions on consumption challenge for example the fundamentalist economic dogma of indiscriminate unsustainable growth. Cut back on consumption that is wasteful focussing on what we really need or creates a more sustainable, informed and thoughtful society now, elsewhere and in the future.

In this way we may be able to turn the vicious cycle of corruption into a virtuous upward cycle to a peaceful sustainable society.

Amidst the bombing and starvation from Israel supplied with weapons from the West a Palestinian dentist living in a tent in Gaza and still trying to work finds a few moments to write:-

Despite the pain and destruction the flowers refuse not to bloom - as if declaring to the world that life is stronger than ruin, and that beauty is sometimes born from the womb of suffering. They grow amidst the rubble, smile through the wounds and whisper that hope never dies, no matter how fierce the storms.

Meanwhile in Britain, having everything materially that I need, this brave woman pulls me a bit from despair at why my society is largely indifferent or unable to prevent this inhumanity.

Home page:- "never again"

Back:- Why we need a grassroot revolution.