Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1357

A Turkish Experiment in Direct Democracy

Taksim Commune: Gezi Park and the Uprising in Turkey

Global Uprisings 2013

Film Review

This short documentary tells the story of the occupation of Gezi Park and Taksim Square between May and July 2013. The occupation began as a protest against replacement of a popular park with high rise buildings.

Prime Minister Erdogan responded to the peaceful protest with unrestrained violence and brutality. This, in turn, awakened a broad cross section of Turkey to their underlying anger with Erdogan’s authoritarian regime. Young Turks are especially unhappy with massive youth unemployment related to the 2008 downturn and subsequent austerity cuts.

The occupation would eventually draw in unions, sports stars and fans, Muslims, Christians, atheists, ethnic minorities (e.g. Kurds) and even gay activists.

Like many of the Occupy encampments, the Taksim Commune came to provide food, medical care, market stalls and books for people involved in the protests. The film emphasizes the peoples’ assemblies that ran the Taksim Commune via consensus decision making.

This political unrest quickly spread across Turkey. In the intervening year, the grassroots movement against Erdogan’s authoritarian rule has continued to grow and exert its influence over Turkish society.

A British Experiment in Direct Democracy

Grasp the Nettle

Dean Puckett 2013

Film Review

As the 2008 downturn and subsequent austerity cuts push more and more families into unrelenting misery, there is growing sentiment that capitalism and our current political system (which is best described as corporatism or fascism*) cannot be reformed and need to be dismantled.

If capitalism is dismantled and/or collapses, it will need to be replaced. This is a major stumbling block for many activists. There seems to be wide general support for a system in which people govern themselves through direct democracy. However most of us feel a little vague as to how the mechanics will operate. How do you ensure everyone has an equal voice while simultaneously meeting their needs for food, shelter and protection from arbitrary violence?

The 2011 Occupy movement is the best known experiment in direct democracy, though some Occupy encampments were more “democratic” than others. People in several cities complained about hierarchical decision-making that excluded women and activists with less formal education.

Grasp the Nettle documents two similar occupations that predated Occupy London by a year. Both were started by antiwar activists. One, situated in a vacant lot, was designated an Ecovillage and focused on food production. The other, located in Parliament Square, was called Democracy Camp and focused on pressuring government to recall British troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Like the Occupy movement, both attracted a substantial number of people who had lost their jobs due to austerity cuts. Unlike Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Square, which made the decision to exclude homeless people from meals and decision making, Ecovillage and Democracy Camp embraced the homeless people who joined them as full members.

Grasp the Nettle is an important sociological study of direct democracy in action. Owing to deepening austerity cuts, the industrial world has created a permanent unemployed underclass that comprises 20-30 percent of the population. With the growing exclusion of young people and the disadvantaged from the formal economy, similar experiments with direct democracy are occurring throughout the developed and developing world.

*Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” Benito Mussolini

The Earliest Recorded Direct Democracy

This is the first of four posts about experiments in direct democracy, where ordinary people assume responsibility for running society. The first, over 4,000 years old, is a recorded account of early Frisian society prior to the Roman conquest of Gaul in 52 BC. Imperial Rome dismissed the Frisians and other Germanic tribes as barbarians for the same reason Europeans dismissed Native Americans as savages: because they owned the land communally and rejected authoritarian governance.

The Other Atlantis

By Robert Sutton (Neville Spearman Limited 1977)

Book Review

The Other Atlantis concerns an extremely controversial manuscript called the Oera Linda Book (OLB). It concerns the ancient history of the Frisians, a Dutch ethnic group. The OLB was dismissed as a hoax almost immediately after its publication in 1872. During the 1930s, Heinrich Himmler and Nazi occultists heavily promoted the book, believing it support their theories of racial purity and an Aryan master race. This would make the OLB even more controversial. For decades, it was illegal in the Netherlands to even quote from the Oera Linda Book.

The OLB purports to be the history of a lost seafaring island civilization northeast of Scotland. Called Aldland or Atland, it was destroyed by a unknown geological cataclysm in 2092 BC. The writings contained in the OLB were recorded between 559 BC and 803 AD by the descendants of Frisian refugees who settled in Denmark and the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg). The early chapters of the OLB derive primarily from wall inscriptions preserving the history and religious laws of ancient Atland.

For eleven centuries, successive generations of a Frisian family recopied the manuscript in the original runic* script. In 1256 Hiddo Over de Linda copied it on new cotton paper imported from Spain. It remained the exclusive property of the Over de Linda family until 1867, when shipwright Cornelius Over de Linden allowed a Frisian scholar to translate it into modern Frisian. In 1872, it was published in Dutch and English.

From p46 of the OLB explaining how runic script derives from the 6 spokes in a wheel

The debate over its authenticity continues to the present day. Most online OLB sites are in Dutch, though I found one in English at Speculative History – Oera Linda Book

Is the Oera Linda Book a Forgery?

If OLB is a forgery, it’s an extremely ingenious one. As yet, no one has identified the presumptive forger or forgers. They would have to have a detailed knowledge, not only of ancient Frisian and runic script, but of ancient paper and ink making, Frisian oral history, ancient maps depicting an ice-free Antarctica and Arctic Circle, and Mediterranean, Indian, and South American pre-history. Additionally they would need to have foreknowledge of archeological finds that wouldn’t occur for another hundred years.

The book was dismissed as a forgery almost immediately after its 1872 publication. I suspect this relates to a bias Europeans inherited from the Romans that non-hierarchical societies are incapable of advanced civilization.

The only substantive evidence against its authenticity was a spurious allegation that the paper dated from the 19th century and was produced by machine. These claims were soundly dismissed in the forward to the second edition by the original translator. He establishes (quite convincingly, in my view) that the paper and ink are handmade and consistent with paper and ink produced prior to the 1300s.

Carbon dating would be the conclusive test of the age of the paper the OLB is printed on. Either this hasn’t happened or the results are being suppressed. As one commenter points out at the Speculative History site, evidence that the paper was produced more recently than 1256 in no way negates the OLB’s authenticity. It seems highly likely that one or members of the Over de Linda family made copies of the 1256 manuscript to ensure its preservation.

How Atland was Governed

Sutton clearly supports the authenticity of the OLB, and provides plentiful archeological and historical data supporting the ancient history it lays out.

In Atland political rule was matriarchical because women “were the informed conscience of more practically and physically inclined men.”** Priestly virgins served under a eeramoeder (earth- mother), who was the overall chief of the Burgtmaagden (bourough-maids). The eeramoeder was democratically chosen by the people she ruled and could be banished or put to death for abusing her power.

All land and forests were owned in common, except for a small plot of land behind each home. Individuals from prohibited from accumulating possession and power that would enable them to control others. Atland was operated as a democratic welfare state where the sick and disabled were looked after. Government was financed by a sales tax charged on merchants at a central marketplace.

Oral Histories Recorded in OLB

Some of the intriguing oral histories laid down in the OLB include those of

• a Frisian explorer named Inka who sailed across the Atlantic and founded the Inca dynasty in Peru (around 2000 BC)

• a Frisian adventurer named, who was later deified as the Norse god Odin or Woden.

• a Frisian sea king named Neef-Teunis (cousin Teunis) who led a colony of Frisians to settle in Phoenicia in 2000 BC. He, too, would be deified as the Greek and Roman god Neptune.

• a Frisian explorer and philosopher named Minno who introduced Frisian civilization to the island of Crete in 1100 BC. He would found a dynasty of kings who took the name Minos.

• a Frisian princess named Min-Erva Nylhellenia who founded the Greek city of Athens in 1250 BC. She, too, would be deified as the Greek and Roman goddess Minerva.

• the banishment of Atland citizens who defied religious laws to a penal colony Westland, the ancient name for the British Isles.

• The use by Alexander the Great of Punjab settlers of Frisian origin to build ships to aid in the conquest of India.

*Runic scripts were those used by Germanic peoples to record written language prior to their conversion to Christianity, when they adopted Roman script.

**Sounds pretty good to me

People can access an English translation of The Oera Linda Book here

I would like to acknowledge fellow Green Party member Dawn Bowen for making me aware of this fascinating book.

Can’t decide who to hate more – ISIS or ISRAEL? Use this handy guide:

stuartbramhall:

 

 

A handy guide on how to respond to corporate media bullshit.

Originally posted on Pride's Purge:

(satire?)

Trying to decide whether to support ISRAEL, HAMAS, the US or ISIS? Check out our handy guide!

Having trouble deciding whether you hate ISIS or ISRAEL more?

Don’t worry – help is at hand.

You’re not alone in thinking that the responsibilities of choosing to support one side over the other can be overwhelming at times, but there are a variety of ways to learn about the process of choosing which one of the two brutal massacres of civilians you ignore – and which you are publicly appalled and shocked by.

If you are leaning toward hating either ISIS or ISRAEL more but can’t decide if it’s the right move to make now, then you may want to consult some professionals before you decide to support one or the other.

That’s why before you make such an important move as declaring your support of one side or the other on social media – it’s…

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The Approaching Mass Extinction

Under a Green Sky

By Peter D. Ward Ph.D

Smithsonian Books 2008

Book Review

Under a Green Sky is a compilation of the research linking mass extinction events with prehistoric episodes of global warming caused by high atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. Ward explores the likelihood that current, unprecedented increases in both greenhouse gasses will likely cause a man-made mass extinction within the next 200 years.

The Asteroid that Wiped Out the Dinosaurs

The dinosaurs were wiped out by a mass extinction 144 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous era. Most evidence suggests it was triggered by a massive asteroid striking the Earth. This collision produced massive quantities of dust that blanketed the earth, significantly reducing the solar radiation reaching the surface of the Earth. This, in turn, led a planet with a universally tropical climate to experience a decade or more of freezing temperatures. Most of Earth’s plant species were killed off, along with the animal life that relied on them.

Accord to Ward, the fossil evidence suggests that this K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) extinction was only one of multiple extinction events occurring in the presence of adverse living conditions that couldn’t support complex plant and animal life. Fossil remains suggest that smaller extinction events occurred every 26 million years, mostly triggered by massive increases in volcanic activity, leading to high atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and methane.

Under a Green Sky details Ward’s role in the excavations that support this conclusion, as well as the scientific methodology used to determine prehistoric CO2 levels, e.g. the size of plant soma* and differential ratios of carbon and oxygen isotopes.

What the Next Mass Extinction Will Look Like

The book concludes by outlining the mass extinction event Ward predicts for the 22nd century if atmospheric CO2 and methane levels continue to increase at their current rate. Based on past extinction events, this is the scenario he predicts:

1) A decrease in equator/polar temperature differences leads to total disruption of the thermohalene conveyer currents** responsible for oxygenating the ocean depths. Cold oxygenated water is steadily replaced with warm oxygen-poor water.

2) Sulfur-eating bacteria proliferate in the anoxic water (termed a Canfield Ocean) and release toxic hydrogen sulfide (the rotten egg smell associated with thermal hot springs).

3) Hydrogen sulfide rises into the upper atmosphere where it destroys s down the ozone layer protecting us from solar ultraviolet radiation. A massive increase in UV radiation kills off the phytoplankton, the ultimate food source of all ocean swelling animals.

4) A combination of intense heat and toxic hydrogen sulfide kills off many land based higher plants and animals.

5) The ocean turns purple, due to green and purple sulfur-eating bacteria. The sky turns green, owing to the proliferation of yellow dust from drought-stricken continents in the mid-latitudes.

Ward calculates that Antarctica’s ice sheet will have totally melted by 2200 and Greenland’s by 2300. By 2050, a steady rise in sea levels will have flooded all the world’s coastal cities, as well as all the deltas that presently contribute to global food production. Millions of people will die from famine (due to drastically reduced agricultural yields), extreme weather events and resource wars.

*The soma are tiny organs in plant leaves that capture sunlight to combine CO2 and water to produce plant sugars. They become more numerous as atmospheric CO2 concentrations increase.

**Plant fossils contain varying concentrations of carbon-13 and carbon-14 isotopes and oxygen-16 and oxygen-18 isotopes (the number varies according to the number of neutrons in the atom’s nucleus) depending on the relative atmospheric concentration of CO2 and oxygen when the plant was alive.

***Thermohaline circulation is an ocean conveyor belt that moves a massive current of water around the globe, from northern oceans to southern oceans, and back again. See Ocean Conveyer Belt

38 States Call for Constitutional Convention

 

Can Red and Blue States Unite to Save Democracy?

One news item receiving virtually no corporate media attention is that thirty-eight state legislatures have officially requested a constitutional convention under Article V of the US Constitution. There has only been one constitutional convention – the first – in 1787. Article V requires Congress to call a constitutional convention if 2/3 of (34) states request one.

Most, but not all the resolutions are from red states calling for a balanced budget amendment. However two blue states, California and Vermont, have requested a constitutional convention to end corporate personhood and restrict corporate funding for elections.

Tallying the numbers is a bit complicated. According to the Congressional Record, forty-nine states* have requested constitutional conventions. Eleven of these forty-nine states later rescinded their requests.

ALEC Seeks to Restrict Delegate Freedom

Forbes Magazine argues you also have to subtract the states which have passed a delegate limitation act. This would prohibit delegates from considering any amendments other than those requested by their state.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the lobby group founded and funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, is very keen to see all states pass a delegate limitation act and have even drafted model legislation.

ALEC and the corporations they represent believe the delegates to a constitutional convention must be closely controlled to prevent a runaway convention from passing amendments unfriendly to corporate interests – e.g. an amendment ending corporate personhood and limiting the ability of corporations to overrule state and municipal laws. Three states (Georgia, Indiana and Florida) have passed delegate limitation legislation. Another seven states (Idaho, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin) are considering it.

Using a Balanced Budget Amendment to Abolish the Fed

Clearly ALEC is calling for a balanced budget amendment in the hope it will force the federal government to cut spending for Social Security, Medicare and other social programs. This strategy could backfire if it leads to a debate on abolishing the Federal Reserve and stripping private banks of their power to create money.

Eliminating federal debt will be extremely difficult, if not impossible without scrapping a system in which nearly all our money is produced as debt (i.e. loans by private banks). There’s growing grassroots support on both the right and the left to abolish the Fed (see James  Corbett’s excellent documentary explaining how banks create money out of thin air.) A constitutional convention could be the ideal scenario to make this happen.

Why Red and Blue States Need to Work Together

California and Vermont are only the first of many blue states in the Move to Amend coalition seeking a constitutional convention to end corporate personhood. The vital question here is whether red states seeking a balanced budget amendment will be open to talking to blue states seeking to limit the de facto ability of corporations to overturn state and municipal laws.

The corporate media has been extremely cagey of late about magnifying the distrust and enmity between the two camps. I find this quite sad as there are many issues on which the so-called “extreme” right and left agree, like ending NSA spying, ending the wars in the Middle East, abolishing the Fed, restoring civil liberties guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, ending the President’s abuse of executive power and curtailing the power of the corporate oligarchy.

I think it’s a very good sign that a non-partisan group called Friends of the Article V Convention is keeping count of the states. There has been some talk the Friends may file suit if Congress fails to set wheels in motion for a constitutional convention.

States Seek Broad Range of Amendments

In addition to requesting a constitutional convention to pass amendmentss calling for a balanced federal budget and an end to corporate personhood, various state petitions seek amendments to limit federal income taxes, to begin negotiations for a world federation (i.e. one world government), to change apportionment for the Electoral College and the House of Representatives, to increase federal revenue sharing, to end federal interference in school management, to guarantee a right to life, to end unfunded federal mandates, to end judicial taxing power, to establish term limits for federal office holders and to restrict new laws to a single subject.

There are a few more I would add to this list, including constitutional amendments abolishing the Electoral College, restoring Posse Comitatus and limiting the ability of the President to rule via executive order. I’m sure readers have their own personal favorites.

*The 49 states which have formally requested a constitutional convention:

Alabama: balanced budget, June 2011
Alaska: federal fiscal restraints and term limits, April 2014
Arizona: ending judicial taxing power, Mar 1996, rescinded 2003
Arkansas: right to life amendment, May 1977
California: abolish corporate personhood, June 2014
Colorado: unfunded federal mandates, June 1992
Connecticut: prohibit interstate income tax, May 1958
Delaware: balanced budget amendment, Feb 1976
Florida: balanced budget, term limits, limit laws to 1 subject, April 2014
Georgia: balanced budget, Feb 2014
Idaho: limit income tax, April 1989, rescinded 1999
Illinois: increase federal revenue sharing, June 1976
Indiana: right to life, balanced budget, 1977, 1979
Iowa: balanced budget, June 1979
Kansas: balanced budget, May 1978
Kentucky: change apportionment for House, Oct 1965
Louisiana: balanced budget, May 2014
Maine: limit income tax, April 1941
Maryland: right to life, Jan 1977
Massachusetts: right to life, 1977
Michigan: balanced budget, Nov 2013
Minnesota: change apportionment for House, May 1965
Mississippi: right to life, Feb 1979
Missouri: unfunded federal mandates, Mar 1993
Montana: change apportionment for Electoral College, Mar 1973, rescinded 2007
Nebraska: balanced budget, April 2010
Nevada: right to life, unfunded federal mandates, June 1979
New Hampshire: balanced budget, May 2012
New Jersey: right to life, April 1977
New Mexico: balanced budget, Feb 1979
New York: federal interference with school management, Oct 1972
North Carolina: balanced budget, Feb 1979
North Dakota: end judicial taxing power, Mar 1996
Ohio: balanced budget, Nov 2013
Oklahoma: change apportionment for Electoral College, May 1965, rescinded 2009
Oregon: balanced budget, Feb 1979, rescinded 1999
Pennsylvania: balanced budget, Feb 1979
Rhode Island: right to life, May 1977
South Carolina: balanced budged Feb 1979, rescinded 2004
South Dakota: unfunded federal mandates, rescinded 2010
Tennessee: balanced budget, April 2014
Texas: balanced budget, Mar 1979
Utah: right to life, rescinded 2001
Vermont: corporate personhood, April 2014
Virginia, change apportionment for House, May 1964, rescinded 2004
Washington: change apportionment for House, Mar 1963
West Virginia: increase federal revenue sharing, Jan 1971, rescinded 2001
Wisconsin: change apportionment for Electoral College, Mar 1963
Wyoming: change apportionment for House, mode of amending constitution, Feb 1963, rescinded 2009

Photo credit Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia Commons

Also posted in Veterans Today

The Corporate/CIA Role in the Rise of Fundamentalism

Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil

By Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett

1995 Harper Collins

I recently picked up this book again – after reading it when it first came out nearly 20 years ago. Charlotte Dennett, one of the authors, got a of media attention prior to Obama’s election in 2008, due to her her efforts to bring murder charges against George W. Bush.

Thy Will Be Done lays out the systematic economic colonization of the Amazon Basin by US corporate interests (led by Nelson Rockefeller) and the CIA – and their unscrupulous use of fundamentalist missionaries and Bible translators to indoctrinate and displace indigenous tribes who stood in the way of clear cutting for agriculture and oil and mineral extraction.

As CIA-liaison during the Eisenhower administration, Rockefeller developed close and enduring relationships at the CIA. This would lead to an ongoing collaboration in opening up Central and South America – and Southeast Asia – to U.S. corporate interests.

In addition to examining the Rockefeller/CIA campaign to introduce fundamentalist Christianity to the native tribes of Central and South America, this 960-page book also catalogs, in extensive detail, the full range of illegal CIA activities (and direct or indirect involvement of Rockefeller and the Rockefeller Foundation) under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter.

The book also chronicles the CIA role in installing brutal genocidal dictatorships in Guatemala and El Salvador.

The material presented is from presidential libraries, declassified documents and Congressional. It’s meticulously referenced and features a comprehensive index.

 

Austrian student launches global class action against Facebook

stuartbramhall:

 

I have joined this class action lawsuit – I’m particularly pissed off about Facebook sharing my personal data with the NSA Prism to improve their ability to monitor me. The suit was initiated by an Austrian student. Sorry US and Canadian citizens aren’t eligible to participate.

Originally posted on Amanah Satu - Malaysia:

RT

AFP Photo / Karen Bleier / Files

A law student from Austria has filed a class action law suit against Facebook over privacy violations, urging the social network’s 1.32 billion users around the globe to join him in his legal battle.

Max Schrems, who has sued Facebook and several other top US tech companies before, filed his newest claim at the commercial court in Vienna on Friday.

The legal proceeding will run as a class action because the Austrian law allows a group of people to transfer their financial claims to a single person – Schrems, in this case.

The student invited other internet users to take part in the action at www.fbclaim.com using their Facebook logins.


“Facebook has a long list of violations,” Schrems wrote on Facebook Class Action website. “For this lawsuit we have chosen basic or obvious violations of the law: The privacy policy, participation in…

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How Big Money Controls the White House

Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their Masters

by Andrew Kreig (Eagle View Books 2013)

Book Review

Presidential Puppetry is a comprehensive expose of the wealthy corporate interests who are the real power behind the federal government. Kreig orients his book around Obama and Romney, the major presidential candidates in the 2012 elections. However in discussing Mitt Romney’s hidden ties to the financial oligarchy, he also explores the Bush family’s Wall Street connections, the history and structure of the Mormon Church (especially as it relates to corporate America) and Karl Rove’s role in orchestrating Republican dirty tricks and voting fraud. Presidential Puppetry is meticulously researched and sourced, with a 17 page bibliography and 110 pages of footnotes and references.

Kreig, a lawyer and respected Washington DC journalist, takes the 2012 presidential debates as his point of departure, noting the deliberate secrecy of both candidates around their personal background. This deliberate secrecy should have been a campaign issue. Yet neither raised it in the debates – there seemed to be a gentleman’s agreement not to do so. Kreig is also scathingly critical of the mainstream media’s failure to challenge either the secrecy or corrupt corporate influences it concealed.

Obama Was Groomed

For his part, Obama refused to release any of his university transcripts, as well as having his passport records secretly scrubbed at the State Department. According to Kreig, this refusal to release educational records is unprecedented, especially for a candidate with virtually no public record of their political background or views. Kreig believes there are two reasons for Obama’s secrecy about his records from Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School. The first was to conceal his early links to the CIA, via a CIA front organization he worked for called Business International Corporation (BIC). The second was to hide his early “grooming” for political office by Zbigniew Brzesinski and possibly other members of Bilderberg, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Trilateral Commission. All three are secretive round table groups that allow wealthy financial elites access to major public officials.

By tracing the background of the Bush, Carter, Clinton and Reagan presidencies, Kreig makes a very compelling case that the ruling elite selects and grooms individuals it offers up to us as presidential candidates. What’s more, of our past five presidents, only George W Bush has no documented history of working for US intelligence. Krieg alleges Reagan secretly passed information to the FBI about Hollywood leftists, Bush senior performed various services for the CIA as founder and director of Zapata Oil Company, and Clinton informed on anti-Vietnam War protestors as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.

Romney’s Cayman Island Tax Shelters

Romney’s big secret was his tax returns. It’s standard for presidential candidates to release ten years of returns. What the Republican candidate sought to conceal, according to Kreig, was systematic tax avoidance that included a Swiss bank account and tax shelters in the Cayman Islands. Both the Democrats and the corporate media failed in their duty to the public by refusing to bring any of this to light.

Broken Campaign Promises and a Trail of Bodies

Kreig goes on to examine Obama’s first term in light of his hidden history. The American people thought they were voting for a progressive community organizer but ended up with someone even more pro-Wall Street and pro-war than his Republican predecessor.

The most disturbing aspect of the book relates to cases Kreig details in which both Republican and Democratic insiders have tried to expose corporate interference with specific federal office holders. Largely owing to the refusal of the corporate media to support these whistleblowers, many have ended up dead under suspicious circumstances or in prison on trumped up charges.

Kreig tries to finish on an optimistic note by reminding us of all the brave independent journalists (on whose work Presidential Puppetry is based) whose investigative work is beginning to give us a true picture of how our so-called democracy really works. He encourages people (I assume he means whistleblowers) to send him tips (i.e. leaks) via his Justice Integrity Project website.

A recent post there is a moving tribute to the late John Judge, past president of the Coalition on Political Assassinations. The latter archives and promotes scholarly research offering alternatives to official accounts of the JFK assassination and other high profile political deaths, including those of Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Originally published in Dissident Voice

The 161 Bankers Who Run the World

In following video, Peter Phillips from Project Censored lays out exactly how the richest one-thousandth of 1% maintain iron control over all world governments.

He cites a study Project Censored published in their Top 25 Censored Stories of 2012-2013 edition of the world’s most “integrated”* corporations and those with the largest financial asset concentration.

Unsurprisingly, there’s considerable overlap between the two groups.

The 161 board members of the top 13 companies control $28 trillion of wealth. They also help the 1% hide another $30 trillion offshore so it can’t be taxed.

They’re 88% white (and nearly all male) and 63% come from the US or Europe.

They work with secret (and not so secret) groups, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the Bohemian Grove, the World Economic Forum, the G7, the G20, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to ensure that the domestic and foreign policy of all western governments benefits themselves and the capitalist investors they represent.

They also ensure that the national security state, busy killing people in 130 countries, acts in the exclusive interest of transnational capital. The fascist coup they engineered in Ukraine is only the most recent example.

They regularly engage illegal conspiracies but are always too big and powerful to jail.

Here are the top 13 companies identified in the study:

1 BlackRock US $3,560 trillion

2 UBS Switzerland $2,280 trillion

3 Allianz Germany $2,213 trillion

4 Vanguard Group US $2,080 trillion

5 State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) US $1,908

6 PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company) US $1,820 trillion

7 Fidelity Investments US $1,576 trillion

8 AXA Group France $1,393 trillion

9 JPMorgan Asset Management US $1,347 trillion

10 Credit Suisse Switzerland $1,279 trillion

11 BNY Mellon Asset Management US $1,299 trillion

12 HSBC UK $1,230 trillion

13 Deutsche Bank Germany $1,227 trillion

*The researchers use the term “integrated” to describe financial corporations with major holdings in key  non-financial sectors (i.e. energy, defense and mass media).