'Our exploitative system has survived because those who benefit resist change.' Photo: by fikry anshor on Unsplash
System, go: Piers Maddox wants an end to empire
‘‘‘One people one planet” isn’t just a slogan, it’s a way of life.’
War in Ukraine has been many years in the making. Its origin isn’t hard to find, if you’re prepared to look. There’s only one system in the world that seeks global domination and endless war.
The business of empire is wealth extraction. Anyone who resists is an enemy. Everyone must toe the line. Look what happened to Greece after the financial crash. Look what happened when Angela Merkel refused to cancel the Nordstream 2 pipeline.
Western capitalism is past its use-by date. First, growth is a necessity, but the world can’t take any more. Second, the unproductive financial sector spreads debt and stagnation by siphoning wealth into tax havens. And third, oil has peaked. The prospective future will be poorer, with millions working the land. The question is, will they be working for neofeudal masters or will they be co-owners?
This empire is losing global dominance and reacts in the only way it knows – with aggression, and with a demonisation of its enemies. Western leaders do the bidding of bankers. The empire pretends to champion freedom and democracy and human rights, but when the rest of the world sees the west coming with offers of cooperation, it knows that the empire speaks with forked tongue.
The ethnic minority of ‘white people’ are only fifteen per cent of the global population. It’s time for us to put aside our sense of entitlement and superiority – and exploitation and duplicity and fakery – and embrace justice for people and planet, as well as harmony with nature and between peoples. The era of empire has to be over.
Our exploitative system has survived because those who benefit resist change, and because the richest ten per cent play along, rewarded with wealth. And we’re all enticed with house price growth, the ‘money-for-nothing’ money game. Meanwhile, a sense of community, of working together with shared purpose, is long gone.
Extreme wealth inequality is a threat to a good global future and an affront to humanity. There needs to be wealth redistribution, a jubilee reset, both nationally and globally. And we need global governance, to be stronger and fairer, to manage: eco-recovery, sustainable development, resource use, and peace.
As things unravel further, pressure for change will grow. Until then, we can change one by one. We can put aside the suspicion and ill-will spread by western media, and nurture global goodwill instead. Each of us can do the best we can to help build a good global future. ‘One people one planet’ isn’t just a slogan, it’s a way of life – and the path to peace too.
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