A Starbucks worker cannot be equated with the corporation, because the worker does not set policy. The corporation exploits the farmer AND the worker.

Sadly, you have been convinced that you are an equal partner in exploiting coffee bean farmers. This delusion maintains your exploitation. RESIST!

I wrote POWER and POWERLESSNESS to explain why the majority put up with a system that oppresses them and to provide hope for the future.

The May 1st demonstrations won’t change the world. They will change US. They will break down our isolation and the fear that goes with it. As we build solidarity with one another, we become a force that CAN change the world.

So, go to your petty demonstration that nobody cares about, that’s not going to make the New York Times, that’s not going to be on the evening news, and that nobody is going to notice.

The second amendment exists for a reason. It was put in place for a specific reason. It is demanded of us to return this country to “We The People” instead of “We The Oligarchs”, but we aren’t going to do that are we? It wouldn’t be the “evolved”, “enlightened”, or “liberal” thing to do… Violence is the only thing that gets our attention. It’s the only thing we understand. Have fun at your demonstration, though. I’m sure it will make a huge impact on this country.

I disagree with your statement, “we endorse their actions with our inaction. We are equally guilty…” We cannot equate the slave, who has not yet found the courage to rebel, with the slave-master.

The inaction of the majority results from divide-and-rule policies that instill fear and despair (see my book, POWER and Powerlessness). We can overcome this paralysis by understanding that the majority do not benefit from the current system and have a common interest in replacing it. More than understanding, we need to act, visibly and publicly.

Everyone out for the May 1st demonstrations!

I was replying to the erroneous statements made by Jordan. I put them in quotations and replied to them saying “The West stand so high on the shoulders of the third world”. I wasn’t defending capitalism.

It’s not just the “elite” few that “impose misery on an incomprehensible scale”. We endorse their actions with our inaction. We are equally guilty…

What men are you talking about? Surely not the 60 percent of the U.S. workforce who make less than $15 an hour. Surely not the 2 million incarcerated in U.S. jails. Surely not the millions of aboriginal societies and African slaves who were exterminated and crushed to pave the way for capitalist “development.”

The age of capitalist has been the bloodiest, most barbaric epic in human history: the Nazi Genocide, atomic annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the fire bombing of Tokyo, Dresden, Hamburg.

The British empire imposed famine on Ireland and India. Today, the U.S. empire imposes famine on Iraq and, with Israel, on Palestine. And in the heart of world capitalism, America’s Second Harvest provides emergency food aid to 23 million hungry Americans every year, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. And, every year, this number grows.

It’s true that capitalism has made possible an abundance unmatched in human history. And if it were shared, we could have paradise on earth. Instead, we live in hell.

To maintain their wealth and power, a tiny elite impose misery on an incomprehensible scale. Wake up and smell the barbarism. We cannot change what we refuse to acknowledge.

When was the last time a famine occurred in any capitalist nation – whether in Western Europe, North America or Asia? The United States has never suffered a famine in its history. Capitalism has created abundance unmatched in human history, enabling hundreds of millions to live better today than all the kings of yesterday. ”

The west stands so high on the shoulders of the third world.

http://www.nasrinparvaz.com/Synopsis.htm

How many times have we heard the left trot out tired mantra that men run the world? The implication being, of course, that individual men deserve no sympathy or help, regardless of the circumstances.

It is true that the world is run by a small number of men, but men do not run the world. Most men are poor and powerless, just like most women.

And, now that almost two thirds of college graduates are women, the power balance is swinging very much in women’s favor, particularly on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. In fact, in many major U.S. cities, young women now outearn young men.

These trends are even more pronounced in minority communities. Feminism has focused for years on the complaints of upper middle class white women who resent the relative success of their male peers. In the process, it has painted all men, no matter how poor and powerless, as oppressors and all women, no matter how wealthy and powerful as “disadvantaged” and oppressed.

No wonder that ordinary working class men appear to be increasingly swinging right, even to the point of voting against their own economic interests.

Communism? Yeah, that turned out really well. Especially in North Korea.

Socialism? That tends to really depend on the character of the nation and whether that nation is willing to accept the communalism that is inherent in socialism. And the United States is not such a nation. We have never accepted socialist principles here. Good luck changing it.

Face it. Capitalism is the most successful economic system in the history of the world. And I don’t see any of you “dissidents” who sit atop mountains of privilege with full bellies doing anything besides bitch. Unlike people like Muhammad Yunus, who is actually alleviating poverty in Bangladesh. And you know how? Capitalism.

“This is the verdict of history. In just two short centuries, capitalism has lifted men’s living standards to heights undreamed of in the pre-capitalist era. Often forgotten today is that Western Europe, prior to the capitalist revolution of the late Eighteenth Century, suffering under the political yoke of the feudal aristocracy, was the equivalent of a Third World country – wracked by famine, recurrent plague, and the most unspeakable poverty. But no longer.

When was the last time a famine occurred in any capitalist nation – whether in Western Europe, North America or Asia? The United States has never suffered a famine in its history. Capitalism has created abundance unmatched in human history, enabling hundreds of millions to live better today than all the kings of yesterday. ”

-The Bernstein Declaration

The image of the circumcised penis is so prevalent in the media that one can forget that many of the world’s males aren’t circumcised.

Examples of his work are at: http://tinyurl.com/2z2sza

My own efforts to help men in this regard is a film (see: http://www.fathersandsons.com.au) i made to demysitify mens groups which, I believe, can help men develop the softer emotions they experience, and be supported in the process. Many men have said they go home ‘quieter’, more ready to be available to the support their partners can give, and they are also more capable of giving that support. But again, it requires work.

I have also seen many women with the ‘stellar careers’ begin to show the same attributes we have come to expect from the traditional male: stress, anger, and certainly little or no overt emotion like weeping.

As for the divisiveness perpetrated by the ‘battle of the sexes’, enough said.

Thank you Susan Rosenthal for the article. I will pass it on.

I also guess you never read the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy that actually formed the basis for the U.S. Constitution whereby women played a large role in the Iroquois society and women played large roles in native societies that were unfortunately conquered by the Europeans.

Your remarks reflect that same kind of misanthropic ignorance and stereotypes that exacerbates division that has IMO resulted in silence on the left on this issue.

Unlike race, sex is NOT a social construct but absolute biology and by using patriarchy, the ruling class, as the author states turn our most initmate desire for being against us.

Patriarchy enables working class men to believe they have the same interest as the ruling class men. Feminism also has done the same to women giving them the opiate of capitalist bourgeois and blame shifting. Ironically this has resulted for the most part people looking to the very system (courts) that repress us for “solutions”.

It is very easy to blame an entire group but to blame an entire “sex” means that boys upon birth are part of the ruling class. An absurd notion.

What’s truly ironic is that it takes a woman to write this article because only a woman has enough compassion to give a shit what happens to men and boys as a group – most men don’t give a damn unless it’s their very own precious ass getting kicked.

There are articles written by men that express the aforementioned concerns however what makes this article important is that it is written with an analysis of capitalism’s influence on men as a group. Many articles written by “men” groups are reactionary and doesn’t offer any analysis of capitalism. Liberals who write articles tend to reject any options by men who have been victimized and feminist tend to be dismissive and cynical. Such attitudes prolongs the notion of “the battle of the sexes” which is intended to instill distrust and the rejection of solidarity. That is what is disappointing about your sentiments and reaction to the author’s analysis.

While I’m not holding my breath for the powerlessness theory to take hold, I will definitely keep it in mind in my quest for a gender-neutral (yet gender-cognizant) theory of domestic violence.

Unfortunately the ruling class has many “tools” to weaken solidarity. Racism being a long standing one. The only solution is awareness and education to these social forces so that we can adjust our behavior and interaction toward each other while at the same time challenging the system that oppresses all of us.