If we do not build left-right coalitions on issues such as militarism, health care, a living wage and union organizing, we will be impotent in the face of corporate power and the war machine.
Yes Chris you are so right in this essay. We need to form coalitions with folks with similar views on specific issues. We can respectfully disagree on other issues.
CodePink dropped the ball here. Maybe this essay will make them rethink their ideological purity and realize bending in the wind of change is existential. We like Congress need to make sausage where sausage can be made.
PS thank you Chris you voice; you inspires me at so many levels.
Who determined that Jackson Hinkle is persona non grata for "the Left"? Where is solid evidence that he's guilty of various sins as mentioned in this article? I note that not too long ago he was under attack by fans of "The Majority Report," a once-great channel that lost its founder and principal voice, Michael Brooks, going on three years ago and is now unwatchable thanks to its pseudo-progressive hosts, the execrable Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland.
I can't claim to have heard every broadcast by Hinkle, but I've listened to more than enough of them to be highly skeptical of the claims that now have some leftists wanting him culled from the herd. Something smells here, and it smells of the usual suspects from TYT and others of their ilk that constantly attack Glenn Greenwald, Jimmy Dore, Aaron Maté, et al.
"The demands of the Rage Against the War Machine rally are ones I share. They include Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine; Negotiate Peace; Stop the War Inflation; Disband NATO; Global Nuclear De-Escalation; Slash the Pentagon Budget; Abolish the CIA and Military Industrial Deep State; Abolish War and Empire; Restore Civil Liberties; and Free Julian Assange."
Trump's platform. What most Trump supporters want. So then, whom are the coalition blockers?
It is extremely disappointing that Code Pink has discouraged you from sharing your knowledge with some of the people who need to hear it the most. Please reconsider your decision not to speak at the event.
Those who would be upset by your association with some of the speakers will still oppose the wars, even if you do speak. Your understanding could be very helpful in educating people "we" have been adversarial with.
Of course, what Chris has said shouldn't need to be said and in fact wouldn't have been said when leftism = supporting working class struggle. Unfortunately things have got mussed up because leftists fought against issues such as racism and sexism because those were tools used by the elites to assist them in keeping unwhite & female workers down on low wages, backed by laws which made arresting unwhites & women a simple task should they try to demand a better deal.
Same same for homosexuality - although there are a handful of notorious examples of members of the elite being busted for the crime of enjoying playing around with some other bloke's pink bits, the vast majority of men and women arrested under oppressive sex laws were working men & women. The 'client' would be let go whilst the impoverished young man or woman that was caught with them would be arrested and locked up.
How could a dedicated leftist not resist such blatant oppression of workers?
This of course is far removed from $1000 a seat charity balls and the like which appears to be the focus of many feminist and gay rights organisations nowadays, which any self-respecting leftist would stay a kazillion miles away from, unfortunately too many have not done that, they've done the opposite. That is they have leapt aboard the charity ball, faux auction gravy-train and ditched all the real elements of leftism while still claiming, falsely I must add, to be leftists when they are nothing of the kind.
This is the type of leftism politicians like because the donations from the elites are always far better from a single elite donor than from a single worker - much fewer calls are required.
I have no time for any of it, as if when the United Auto Workers went on their prolonged sit-in strike they went around the factory saying to individual striking workers "Would you let your daughter marry a black man?" "No! well you can go we don't want your strike power" and "Hey you over there how do you feel about blokes wearing dresses?" "What! You don't like it, you may as well go back to work too - damn scab."
The notion is ludicrous yet that apparently is what the mob of poseurs who support the Dim party and feed off its leavings demand nowadays.
I would not be in the least surprised to hear Code Pink's funding was directly threatened should Medea or Chris elect to speak at this rally.
The englander version is even more precarious as the two venues that were announced chickened out on the basis of threats from both sides of Parliament, plus the ticket system was done over by a massive DDOS attack.
The mere fact that these marches for peace have been so threatened should get people flocking to attend them, but in the current climate of fear I unfortunately, suspect they will not.
People need to be thinking "The more that the forces of darkness are doing to try and discourage me, the more the opposite effect kicks in ie, the more I want to go."
P.S. Jackson Hinkle is a leftist. He supports working class causes to the hilt but his reluctance to jump on some of the more asinine bandwagons promoted by the noveau left has caused pieces of his rumble spiels to be taken out of context in the fight to knock him over cos as far as these turkeys are concerned they say who/whats left & isn't. No surprise that class politics are forgotten by them.
I feel conflicted and so sad that Chris Hedges won't be speaking at the anti-war rally. The most articulate and believable person with the most power to influence public opinion - won't address the crowds? Nor is Medea Benjamin an icon of the anti-war movement, because she disapproves of right-wingers at the rally... Nor is Scott Ritter, another key figure who has been 'cancelled' by organisers.
To me, the absence of these three important figures can and will be used by the pro-war government as an endorsement of the Ukraine War. They WILL argue that "Silence is Approval."
I find the arguments provided by Chris in this post for an alliance of left and right for a common cause (very valid), and his decision not to speak at the rally, deeply contradictory. The justification of aligning to Medea Benjamin isn't a valid one, in my view. I condemn Medea Benjamin's posture and "blackmail" of Chris regarding this rally.
I deeply admire and respect Chris, but I'm appalled by this decision.
I thought policy making, "Politics" works when people stand together on issues. If you can't stand with someone in support of a common goal because they don't measure up to your "Standards" you are of little use when it comes to real conflict. (Wouldn't want you in my foxhole.) Moral standards are your own, you have no right to demand others believe as you do. Let's end this war!
The People have a choice, to sit on their asses and do nothing with the spread of Corporate Fascism and accept the slavery that will be imposed upon then, or claim their right to individual sovereignty and freedom from such insanity, by actively refusing to support, in any manner the Corporate State.
We have become complacent. Is it because we are lazy, and just like letting them decide how we will live? Or is it because the Cabal has had a proactive agenda of brainwashing the public and private sectors with propaganda designed to cause a certain response. The two-party system is a complete failure in terms of supporting the will of the people. The system as a whole has failed the people and is not worthy of their trust. The two areas where the government has excelled is creating war, and lying to the people-about everything.
Time will prove that we have been living a lie and that true life is nothing like we have been witnessing The National Security State and its Secrecy should immediately place in the minds of every American, suspicion of the reason behind the secrecy. In a country that has always claimed transparency, secrecy cannot be allowed. Only in very special circumstances can one justify some degree of secrecy. Because when you have the degree of secrecy we have, then you get the National Security State which will cost the people trillions and it is not necessary in a Democracy one would think. Except that this is NOT a Democracy. It is A Secret Society based Nation. JFK told us that. Sen. Daniel Innouye told us the same. Yet no one was listening. Payola and corruption helped turn heads away, and others who kept looking were eliminated. This is the way our government works. And when scientists try to embark on new inventions etc. they are shut down by the educational institutions that are owned by the Cabal, most notably the Ivy League group that threatens loss of tenure if someone is practicing true science. Not the pseudo science offered by the main stream type, supported by the likes of Neil Degrasse Tyson whose ego and arrogance is larger than Manhattan, a classic shill for the Cabal.
The people know in their hearts that something has been grossly wrong for a very long time simply due to the fact that the will of the people never gets implemented as policy, yet war and deception always continues, just like NASA always denies the existence of any possible ET life in the Universe, knowing full well that the universe is teaming with life much of it humanoid. The lies are now being exposed, and the truth will come out in full glory. And humanity will lean the biggest lesson of all time, and hopefully never repeat it again.
I struggle with the Left, as most leftists seem to be University Educated individuals working in environments where they have little contact with the working class, and very little understanding of what is important to the working class. As a result, they go down every rabbit hole in the name of the working classes, while not understanding that the working classes do not share their values.
I remember having a conversation with a homeless man (working class background) where he explained why people who break the law should be locked in prison forever. There was no point in trying to discuss why he could not expect justice if ever he were charged with a crime, because what he knew was that in his experience victims of crime did not see justice done. It was the lack of justice being done by the system that incensed him.
The working classes find solace in hard work, family & church. Things that the educated elites seem to look down on, while talking endlessly about Marist Theory. The working classes fight the wars that the educated classes start. For the working classes, they are fighting for home and family. For the educated the wars are about power, control, and maintaining their position in the world.
If this divide is to be breached, the left has to get out of their sheltered environments, and spend time with the people they purport to represent. They need to learn what the working classes actually value, and not what they think they should value.
Thank you Chris for laying out the path forward so clearly and passionately. The strategic and pragmatic course is to find some common ground with those we may find distasteful or repugnant. There’s no other way.
Exactly! The eloquent Counseling Psychologist-author Meredith Miller says #WeThePeople, #AllOfUs are victimized by the “covert psychological abuse” (aka #gaslighting”) #NEARLY ubiquitously broadcast over our ostensibly #PublicAirwaves by our perpetual war-profiteering imperium’s longtime CIA infiltrated, divisive, corporate CONtrolled “Big Media.“ The journalistic malfeasance by our late 4th Estate, now 5th Column bipartisan #PowersThatBe supporters of the #MilitaryIndustrialComplex parallels Reverend Hedges’ description of us as the most deluded (“ILLusioned”) population the world has ever known. Yet, to disillusion #NEARLY anyone anywhere, is to incur the wrath of the victim. Educated folks know this phenomenon has a name: Stockholm Syndrome. The “Big Brother” abusers, zioCons & limousine liberals alike, “operantly”CONdition us into co-dependency by trickily provisioning us, the DIMinished “Middle Class,” with minimally sufficient “pan e circensus” (bread & games) to keep us a quiescent #SilentMajority. Well, we know #SilenceIsComplicity. So, it’s High Time we form a “left-right” coalition, as ya’ll say. Ours is a #NewUnitedFront for #FreeingTruthAndReconciliation (ref. John 8:32 & #NelsonMandela) and it’s nothing short of our Country’s 3rd Great Awakening to the fact #GodIsLove (period! ref. 1 John 4:8). Ours is a strictly nonviolent #RevolutionOfAwareness (ref. Bollyn.com). We’re American Revolutionaries for honest & sincere #ChangeWeCanBelieveIn; away from “foreign entanglements” because #WarIsHell, literally (ref. #Lincoln & #Sherman, respectively). We’re #INDEPENDENTS!
Yes Chris you are so right in this essay. We need to form coalitions with folks with similar views on specific issues. We can respectfully disagree on other issues.
CodePink dropped the ball here. Maybe this essay will make them rethink their ideological purity and realize bending in the wind of change is existential. We like Congress need to make sausage where sausage can be made.
PS thank you Chris you voice; you inspires me at so many levels.
Lol
Who determined that Jackson Hinkle is persona non grata for "the Left"? Where is solid evidence that he's guilty of various sins as mentioned in this article? I note that not too long ago he was under attack by fans of "The Majority Report," a once-great channel that lost its founder and principal voice, Michael Brooks, going on three years ago and is now unwatchable thanks to its pseudo-progressive hosts, the execrable Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland.
I can't claim to have heard every broadcast by Hinkle, but I've listened to more than enough of them to be highly skeptical of the claims that now have some leftists wanting him culled from the herd. Something smells here, and it smells of the usual suspects from TYT and others of their ilk that constantly attack Glenn Greenwald, Jimmy Dore, Aaron Maté, et al.
"The demands of the Rage Against the War Machine rally are ones I share. They include Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine; Negotiate Peace; Stop the War Inflation; Disband NATO; Global Nuclear De-Escalation; Slash the Pentagon Budget; Abolish the CIA and Military Industrial Deep State; Abolish War and Empire; Restore Civil Liberties; and Free Julian Assange."
Trump's platform. What most Trump supporters want. So then, whom are the coalition blockers?
Hello Chris,
It is extremely disappointing that Code Pink has discouraged you from sharing your knowledge with some of the people who need to hear it the most. Please reconsider your decision not to speak at the event.
Those who would be upset by your association with some of the speakers will still oppose the wars, even if you do speak. Your understanding could be very helpful in educating people "we" have been adversarial with.
Thank you,
Drake
Drake Chamberlin
Media & Communication Action Project
https://m-cap.org/
Of course, what Chris has said shouldn't need to be said and in fact wouldn't have been said when leftism = supporting working class struggle. Unfortunately things have got mussed up because leftists fought against issues such as racism and sexism because those were tools used by the elites to assist them in keeping unwhite & female workers down on low wages, backed by laws which made arresting unwhites & women a simple task should they try to demand a better deal.
Same same for homosexuality - although there are a handful of notorious examples of members of the elite being busted for the crime of enjoying playing around with some other bloke's pink bits, the vast majority of men and women arrested under oppressive sex laws were working men & women. The 'client' would be let go whilst the impoverished young man or woman that was caught with them would be arrested and locked up.
How could a dedicated leftist not resist such blatant oppression of workers?
This of course is far removed from $1000 a seat charity balls and the like which appears to be the focus of many feminist and gay rights organisations nowadays, which any self-respecting leftist would stay a kazillion miles away from, unfortunately too many have not done that, they've done the opposite. That is they have leapt aboard the charity ball, faux auction gravy-train and ditched all the real elements of leftism while still claiming, falsely I must add, to be leftists when they are nothing of the kind.
This is the type of leftism politicians like because the donations from the elites are always far better from a single elite donor than from a single worker - much fewer calls are required.
I have no time for any of it, as if when the United Auto Workers went on their prolonged sit-in strike they went around the factory saying to individual striking workers "Would you let your daughter marry a black man?" "No! well you can go we don't want your strike power" and "Hey you over there how do you feel about blokes wearing dresses?" "What! You don't like it, you may as well go back to work too - damn scab."
The notion is ludicrous yet that apparently is what the mob of poseurs who support the Dim party and feed off its leavings demand nowadays.
I would not be in the least surprised to hear Code Pink's funding was directly threatened should Medea or Chris elect to speak at this rally.
The englander version is even more precarious as the two venues that were announced chickened out on the basis of threats from both sides of Parliament, plus the ticket system was done over by a massive DDOS attack.
The mere fact that these marches for peace have been so threatened should get people flocking to attend them, but in the current climate of fear I unfortunately, suspect they will not.
People need to be thinking "The more that the forces of darkness are doing to try and discourage me, the more the opposite effect kicks in ie, the more I want to go."
P.S. Jackson Hinkle is a leftist. He supports working class causes to the hilt but his reluctance to jump on some of the more asinine bandwagons promoted by the noveau left has caused pieces of his rumble spiels to be taken out of context in the fight to knock him over cos as far as these turkeys are concerned they say who/whats left & isn't. No surprise that class politics are forgotten by them.
I feel conflicted and so sad that Chris Hedges won't be speaking at the anti-war rally. The most articulate and believable person with the most power to influence public opinion - won't address the crowds? Nor is Medea Benjamin an icon of the anti-war movement, because she disapproves of right-wingers at the rally... Nor is Scott Ritter, another key figure who has been 'cancelled' by organisers.
To me, the absence of these three important figures can and will be used by the pro-war government as an endorsement of the Ukraine War. They WILL argue that "Silence is Approval."
I find the arguments provided by Chris in this post for an alliance of left and right for a common cause (very valid), and his decision not to speak at the rally, deeply contradictory. The justification of aligning to Medea Benjamin isn't a valid one, in my view. I condemn Medea Benjamin's posture and "blackmail" of Chris regarding this rally.
I deeply admire and respect Chris, but I'm appalled by this decision.
I thought policy making, "Politics" works when people stand together on issues. If you can't stand with someone in support of a common goal because they don't measure up to your "Standards" you are of little use when it comes to real conflict. (Wouldn't want you in my foxhole.) Moral standards are your own, you have no right to demand others believe as you do. Let's end this war!
The People have a choice, to sit on their asses and do nothing with the spread of Corporate Fascism and accept the slavery that will be imposed upon then, or claim their right to individual sovereignty and freedom from such insanity, by actively refusing to support, in any manner the Corporate State.
We have become complacent. Is it because we are lazy, and just like letting them decide how we will live? Or is it because the Cabal has had a proactive agenda of brainwashing the public and private sectors with propaganda designed to cause a certain response. The two-party system is a complete failure in terms of supporting the will of the people. The system as a whole has failed the people and is not worthy of their trust. The two areas where the government has excelled is creating war, and lying to the people-about everything.
Time will prove that we have been living a lie and that true life is nothing like we have been witnessing The National Security State and its Secrecy should immediately place in the minds of every American, suspicion of the reason behind the secrecy. In a country that has always claimed transparency, secrecy cannot be allowed. Only in very special circumstances can one justify some degree of secrecy. Because when you have the degree of secrecy we have, then you get the National Security State which will cost the people trillions and it is not necessary in a Democracy one would think. Except that this is NOT a Democracy. It is A Secret Society based Nation. JFK told us that. Sen. Daniel Innouye told us the same. Yet no one was listening. Payola and corruption helped turn heads away, and others who kept looking were eliminated. This is the way our government works. And when scientists try to embark on new inventions etc. they are shut down by the educational institutions that are owned by the Cabal, most notably the Ivy League group that threatens loss of tenure if someone is practicing true science. Not the pseudo science offered by the main stream type, supported by the likes of Neil Degrasse Tyson whose ego and arrogance is larger than Manhattan, a classic shill for the Cabal.
The people know in their hearts that something has been grossly wrong for a very long time simply due to the fact that the will of the people never gets implemented as policy, yet war and deception always continues, just like NASA always denies the existence of any possible ET life in the Universe, knowing full well that the universe is teaming with life much of it humanoid. The lies are now being exposed, and the truth will come out in full glory. And humanity will lean the biggest lesson of all time, and hopefully never repeat it again.
I struggle with the Left, as most leftists seem to be University Educated individuals working in environments where they have little contact with the working class, and very little understanding of what is important to the working class. As a result, they go down every rabbit hole in the name of the working classes, while not understanding that the working classes do not share their values.
I remember having a conversation with a homeless man (working class background) where he explained why people who break the law should be locked in prison forever. There was no point in trying to discuss why he could not expect justice if ever he were charged with a crime, because what he knew was that in his experience victims of crime did not see justice done. It was the lack of justice being done by the system that incensed him.
The working classes find solace in hard work, family & church. Things that the educated elites seem to look down on, while talking endlessly about Marist Theory. The working classes fight the wars that the educated classes start. For the working classes, they are fighting for home and family. For the educated the wars are about power, control, and maintaining their position in the world.
If this divide is to be breached, the left has to get out of their sheltered environments, and spend time with the people they purport to represent. They need to learn what the working classes actually value, and not what they think they should value.
Thank you Chris for laying out the path forward so clearly and passionately. The strategic and pragmatic course is to find some common ground with those we may find distasteful or repugnant. There’s no other way.
so true and important as always
Exactly! The eloquent Counseling Psychologist-author Meredith Miller says #WeThePeople, #AllOfUs are victimized by the “covert psychological abuse” (aka #gaslighting”) #NEARLY ubiquitously broadcast over our ostensibly #PublicAirwaves by our perpetual war-profiteering imperium’s longtime CIA infiltrated, divisive, corporate CONtrolled “Big Media.“ The journalistic malfeasance by our late 4th Estate, now 5th Column bipartisan #PowersThatBe supporters of the #MilitaryIndustrialComplex parallels Reverend Hedges’ description of us as the most deluded (“ILLusioned”) population the world has ever known. Yet, to disillusion #NEARLY anyone anywhere, is to incur the wrath of the victim. Educated folks know this phenomenon has a name: Stockholm Syndrome. The “Big Brother” abusers, zioCons & limousine liberals alike, “operantly”CONdition us into co-dependency by trickily provisioning us, the DIMinished “Middle Class,” with minimally sufficient “pan e circensus” (bread & games) to keep us a quiescent #SilentMajority. Well, we know #SilenceIsComplicity. So, it’s High Time we form a “left-right” coalition, as ya’ll say. Ours is a #NewUnitedFront for #FreeingTruthAndReconciliation (ref. John 8:32 & #NelsonMandela) and it’s nothing short of our Country’s 3rd Great Awakening to the fact #GodIsLove (period! ref. 1 John 4:8). Ours is a strictly nonviolent #RevolutionOfAwareness (ref. Bollyn.com). We’re American Revolutionaries for honest & sincere #ChangeWeCanBelieveIn; away from “foreign entanglements” because #WarIsHell, literally (ref. #Lincoln & #Sherman, respectively). We’re #INDEPENDENTS!
Respectfully,
LewWelge.com
#CREATORS (Conspiracy Realist Educator Activist Truther Organizer Reader Socializers)
Damn I love his writing