October 7 Anniversary Or World War Three

U.S. voters oblivious to nature of the war party

Oct 07, 2024

∙ Paid

War in the Mid East or on civilisation — it depends on the framing
As fighting expands it is becoming an existential threat to all
Politicians are not our leaders nor ever were; we make our world

(2,100 words or 10 minutes of remembrance.)

Oct 7, 2024

A year has flown by since the Hamas attack on the environs of Gaza on October 7. Not so for those who were caught in the fire and bombing. A long and painful trauma continues.

As the fighting expands, this is becoming a matter of self preservation for every person on the planet: a danger of all-out war.

We cannot separate wars in West Asia (Mid East) from Eurasia (Europe). Language shapes perception. Elsewhere victims of wars do not register in the Western media, Sudan for example.

Our narrow schoolbook definition of war blinds us to the peril we face; all of us.

As stated in the previous article, humanity is under attack on so many fronts: wars on health, on farms, on the food and energy supplies, kinetic wars of bombing, depopulation and land grabs, wars on freedom of speech and the right to research and to share information about health.

A Warrior Falls: Voice For Covid Sanity, Dr Jackie Stone - 'They have erased us and it's been so easy.' (Oct 05, 2024)

Where do we go from here? Has Israel gained the upper hand? If so, what will it and its rivals do next? War is no longer only kinetic, or confined to “a quarrel in a faraway country, between people of whom we know nothing.”

It is indeed the clichéd Clash of Civilisations but it is not between cultural and religious identities — something bigger is at stake.

Faith is doing battle with philosophy which considers human life of relative value, to be traded for an unspoken greater good. At the core of that good is the centralisation of power in few hands, and the control of material resources to the exclusion of everything else.

We have two options: a spiritual retreat (in the sense of monastery, madrasa or yeshiva) or to confront the economic interests that are reshaping the world — and, yes, they do it by war more often than through community organisation.

Progressivism barely registers as intelligent life, let alone logic. Chairman Mao said political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Moving swiftly on...

"We are now at the year 1908, which was the year that the Carnegie Foundation began operations. In that year, the trustees, meeting for the first time, raised a specific question, which they discussed throughout the balance of the year in a very learned fashion. The question is: “Is there any means known more effective than war, assuming you wish to alter the life of an entire people?” And they conclude that no more effective means than war to that end is known to humanity.”

Spies, Dupes and Charities - Rivals for Power, Part 4. Norman Dodd and the tax-exempt foundations (Aug 07, 2021)

We must return to the victims, though not allow hearts to rule head, emotions to oust facts, even if media coverage of the October 7 anniversary is clouding the picture.

Voices raised

Science and the humanities are often counterpoised. Yet if every action produces an equal and opposite reaction, history tells us you can get any narrative you like depending on your selection of starting point. Science and arts - not so different after all!

The coup in Ukraine in 2014 brought forth the Russian counter offensive of 2022.
Someone killed hundreds of simple pleasure seekers at the Nova music festival.
Israeli singers mounted the Eurovision stage with "Hurricane."
Palestinian professor of literature Refaat Alareer described his soul as a child's kite: "If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale."
Offensive Gaza; Gaza offensive. Then Lebanon, now Iran, who next?

In contrast to the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, what the past year has produced is the uplifting of voices against war.

Yet can we sustain the note: or shall we crumple against the national interest, the desire for revenge... and the money power?

Back to the future

What would a time traveller to the 1960s make of today?

The Vietnam war was underway, but U.S. troops were not yet involved — at least not publicly. The anti-war movement was growing on U.S. college campuses. The fear of nuclear war with the Soviet Union would peak during the Cuban missile crisis in the year of my birth, 1962. President John F Kennedy was alive for another year.

Today, the average American is worried about his wallet, or her house being flooded. There is no anti-war movement on the Left. The Democratic Party is the corporate party and, more amazingly, the war party.

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