The ‘bin Laden' of marginalisation
The real terror eating away at the Arab world is socio-economic marginalisation.
Larbi Sadiki 14 Jan 2011 Al-Jazeera
From Tunisia and Algeria in the Maghreb to Jordan and Egypt in the Arab east, the real terror that eats at self-worth, sabotages community and communal rites of passage, including marriage, is the terror of socio-economic marginalisation.
The armies of ‘khobzistes' (the unemployed of the Maghreb) – now marching for bread in the streets and slums of Algiers and Kasserine and who tomorrow may be in Amman, Rabat, San'aa, Ramallah, Cairo and southern Beirut – are not fighting the terror of unemployment with ideology. They do not need one. Unemployment is their ideology. The periphery is their geography. And for now, spontaneous peaceful protest and self-harm is their weaponry. They are ‘les misérables' of the modern world.
Tip of the Hat to Jock Gill for the pointer.
Phi Beta Iota: This is more or less the point of 2010 The Ultimate Hack Re-Inventing Intelligence to Re-Engineer Earth (Chapter for Counter-Terrorism Book Out of Denmark). Since General Al Gray's article in 1989 and Robert Steele's article in 1992, it has been crystal clear that the combination of unilateral militarism, virtual colonialism, and predatory capitalism have been a global cancer. It is time we hold our intelligence leaders accountable for producing actionable intelligence firmly grounded in reality, and our political leaders accountable for acting in the public interest. Across the board, the US Government is, in one word, CORRUPT. The Executive is corrupt; Congress is corrupt; the judiciary and most especially the Supreme Court is corrupt. All three lack INTEGRITY in the holistic sense of the word. The times, they are a-changing. Perhaps its time for Washington to reconnect to reality and take its integrity out of storage. Assuming this is NOT going to happen, the best alternative is a Multinational Decision Support Centre (MDSC) that sidelines the lies and secrecy of the various governments and corporations, can directly connects citizens with public intelligence in the public interest.
See Also:
Citizen in Search of a Leader (4 Reforms)
Smart Nation – Safe Nation – Reformed Nation (Various Links)
Democracy 2008 (Failed Attempt to Get Bloomberg Past the Two-Party Tyranny)
Review: Griftopia–Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America
Reference: Electoral Reform–1 Page 9 Points 2.2
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Negative)
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Positive)
