Now We Know Why Peace is Radical

Our western economic system has been cyclical up until now and, if we let it, it will continue to be, even if that means the literal end of us.

In very broad strokes, this is how it looks to me: times of plenty are gradually followed by times of economic hardship, followed by times of war.

During times of plenty, profiteers behind the scenes encourage us to be self-absorbed and to distract us. Then, while we’re not paying attention, over decades these profiteers deregulate and privatize our economies to make it easier to send our tax dollars to them instead of where they’re needed, for infrastructure and social supports like hospitals and schools.

Then when things fall apart for the rest of us they deflect from what they’ve done.

The formula is to blame others — immigrants, women, people of different races and religions — for these hardships. But really, it’s the system that funnels money to the rich until our once robust economies have been whittled down to the bare bones. Like they are now.

Then the sabre rattling begins, and we reach times like the ones we’re in now.

I’ve been watching this decline, but my alarm bells really went off with the most recent episode of genocide in Gaza, with the accusation that those who opposed it were antisemitic for criticizing Israel.

Most leaders in the western world reinforced this framing, and supported Israel with weapons, diplomatic cover, and our tax dollars. Mainstream media wouldn’t use the ‘G’ word until recently, and mostly expressed sympathy for Israel.

Since ordinary people continue to strongly oppose genocide, more politicians and media outlets started reading the writing on the wall, and parroted the rest of us. They realized that not condemning the genocide would make them lose credibility. The way they’re behaving now strikes me as performative. If it was so obvious to so many of us, why wasn’t it to them?

The answer lies somewhere between willful blindness and colonialist indoctrination, with a dash of greed and lust for power. These past few years, we’ve seen the values of those in charge that are usually hidden. It makes what the Epstein files reveal less surprising, and exposes the key players in a centuries old story for who they really are.

Through this lens, it’s unsurprising that Bari Weiss and others thought the reason most people oppose Israel’s genocide was just a messaging problem. The reason: it worked in the past. The west demonized the people who they were killing and whose land and resources they were stealing and, pre-internet, most people in the west believed it.

There was a story about how the west was bringing civilization to the barbarians who didn’t live in the west, and many soaked it up.

But now we know better, and we have to come to terms with that.

Wars are huge money makers for the already rich, and they dispose of the people in their own countries and in the countries they attack who might object to their profiteering. Wars are essentially class wars.

The wars the west is waging right now are all unnecessary. Iran has never wanted nuclear weapons. Russia doesn’t want to invade Europe. China isn’t a threat to anyone; it’s just very successfully rebuilt its economy.

But you wouldn’t know that with all the fear mongering we’re bombarded with about these countries.

For information about the situation with Iran and the surrounding region, the sources I trust are Rock the Cradle, Professor Marandi and Laith Marouf. All come out of the area and give us a more accurate picture of what’s going on there.

When it comes to China, my favourite sources are KJ Noh and Carl Zha who are both very familiar with China and the surrounding area.

For news on Russia, I appreciate the Duran and Karl Sanchez.

Here’s a brand new geopolitical news site — Transition Protocol — that has shown itself to be very good so far.

And we can never forget about Palestine. Francesca Albanese has exposed so much about the situation there at great personal cost.

These countries all want peace. It’s the western ruling class that wants war so it can solve its economic problems in a way that’s profitable to them, and detracts from their crumbling societies and low polling numbers.

But they’re also at risk when we have nuclear powers sabre rattling, and when we’re reaching alarming environmental tipping points. But it’s amazing to see European leaders wildly accusing Russia while refusing to take responsibility for their broken Minsk Agreements, or the coup it helped to orchestrate in Ukraine.

Trump doesn’t even bother with a story about Iran most of the time, and makes it clear that he just wants to bomb that country back to the Stone Age and take control of the oil in the region.

And China? It relies on planning and helping its trading partners with their infrastructure and clean energy issues. And somehow this is supposed to be a threat.

The threat is that it invests in the well-being of its population, as do Russia and Iran. They’re all committing the sin of setting a good example that the western ruling class doesn’t want to follow.

And then there’s BRICS. Nations that have been the targets of western wrath are organizing to support each other economically. This group represents more than 48 percent of the world's population and roughly 39 percent of global GDP measured in purchasing power parity. To say that western nations feel threatened by this group that wants peace and prosperity for their citizens is an understatement.

But back to peace. Now NATO has gotten member countries to commit 5% of their GDP towards it because of an off the cuff remark made by Donald Trump. Here in Canada, Carney is on track to do this by 2035 despite our struggling economy, crumbling infrastructure and devastating weather events, to the point where many of us dread summer. The money he’s committing to war could be put to so much better use.

We need to change direction, and even those who profit from war should know this.

I dream of people gazing into each other’s eyes with this new understanding, and wish I had a magic potion or just the right words to convince those beating the drums of war that they’re only harming themselves.

Like a snake shedding its skin, or a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, we need to outgrow this insanity.

What is more money compared to a liveable future? It’s nothing. Paying a fair share of taxes wouldn’t affect anything about the lifestyles of the rich. All of us need to do what we can to move towards a peaceful future where our ailing planet can be restored and the rest of us can heal.

Including those who have been profiteering from our misery. I wonder if they ever realize what they’re missing. Human connection, connection with the earth, concern for all living beings — these are the things that make life truly meaningful. Imagine the pride they’d feel at helping to create societies where all could thrive, the art and music that would result, and the beautiful landscapes and innovative technologies.

Where are the visionaries in this group?

We could bring about a true renaissance as we all relaxed into plenty, safety, care and healing. With technological development being where it is, we could have ways of living and getting around that polluted much less than what we have now. We could leave the boring, mechanical jobs to these technological advances, and could instead have a care economy where fixing what we have and helping each other to heal would give us meaningful work. We could grow food and beautify the world as we restore all that’s been broken.

Imagine the tears we’d shed, as we looked at what we were achieving, and the horror we avoided. Imagine how much we’d grow on all levels — spiritually, intellectually and emotionally, our hearts opening, our planet thriving.

We’d need to get money out of politics, come up with qualifications for people running for office, re-regulate corporations and restore all the services that have been so severely cut.

Imagine the stories we’d tell the young about how we once lived, and how we changed course. And what we’d warn them about. Because making sure we have healthy societies and economies should be as much a part of our lives as brushing our teeth.

There is no need for us to fight wars. It’s bad for all of us, even those who have traditionally profited from it.

The good news is that times of great upheaval give us the opportunity to make big changes. I hope we will all make the best of this unique opportunity, and get onto a better path, a path where all can flourish.

We have to do all we can to encourage peace. It has to become normalized, and not be seen as the radical thing it has been up until now. We’re living through a do or die moment, and humanity needs to choose a liveable future over war.

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I love the BDS campaign and the effect it’s having on Israel’s economy.

Here’s an excellent list of products from Israel: https://boycott.thewitness.news/categories

Here are some factsheets about Israel: https://www.cjpme.org/factsheets

And here’s where you can support Palestine by buying a kufiya: https://www.kufiya.org/

Here are some tips for hard times that might come in handy.

And you can find links to news sources I trust here and here.

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