Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr
with Chris Hedges
truthdig on Mar 14, 2017
Truthdig columnist and Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges addresses fascism and the rise of the Trump war machine in the keynote speech at the “After Trump and Pussy Hats” event in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 3, 2017.
Introductions by Cecilia Point of the Musqueam First Nation and Lee Lakeman of the Vancourer Rape and Women’s Relief Shelter.
Credits:
Video by Collectivista (collectivista.org)
Democracy North
W2media.orgProduced by the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter
RapeReliefShelter.bc.ca
and the Asian Women’s Coalition Against Prostitution
AWECEP.org
From the archives:
Abby Martin Exposes Steve Bannon
Poverty Will Kill More Of Us Than Terrorism
Chris Hedges: The Plight of the Underclass
Ralph Nader: Trump’s Attack on the EPA and Regulatory Agencies Will be a Disaster
Abby Martin and Chris Hedges: Donald Trump and Christianized Fascism
Chris Hedges and Matt Taibbi: Insane Clown President
Chris Hedges: Alt-Right Movement Has Overt Characteristics of Racism
Dandelion Salad 
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Powerful indictment….
@ 45 ff: Penn Jillette’s apt characterization of the Presidential coiffure as “cotton candy, made of piss” (hilarious) may prove to be the defining bench-mark statement of the epoch.
Maybe it’s the magician’s intent (Jillette’s, not Trump…) to make him vanish before our disbelieving eyes. If only it were so easy! Even the deep state’s disappearance experts might find that a tricky assignment. They can’t even ‘disappear’ themselves. No, the uncomfortable question still remains, “after Trump, then what?”
Chris Hedges has most thoroughly documented the decline, how we have got to this dire place and this “avalanche of absurdities;” and of course the reasons are now embarrassingly self-evident ~ at least to anyone who is not politically comatose or completely naive.
His jeremiad makes one thing crystal clear, the US electorate have been duped by a system that is dis-empowering, because it is cynical, vulgar, base, avaricious and preposterously mendacious; a Procrustean ‘corporate’ abomination that reduces the population to a writhing mob of gullible, exploited victims to be harvested ~ not for their organs, but their taxable franchise. Bodies for rent, minds to corrupt.
I’m not at all sure however, about rising up against “radical evil.” This is Hedge’s most vulnerable point. Dualistic (Manichaean) diabolism is not a satisfactory strategy nor an adequate solution; it perpetuates alienation. The last thing we need are more ‘devils.’
When something is this broken, it is not worth fixing. Let obsolescence necessitate its collapse and the human automata that power these ordnance of oppression will be rendered irrelevant, perhaps redeemable; the mystical vultures of truth will pick at their bones, if they are determined to crash and burn.
We can reuse, re-purpose and recycle what’s left, eventually. Human resourcefulness is a great teacher. It is far better (and wiser) to conserve our energies, redeploy and invest in building constitutional alternatives ~ from the ethical peripheries, to define new representative centers ~ that are authentic, accountable, innovative, localized and efficient.
We need to reconnect with community, to relationship with the soil, the Sun, our sacred forests, tidal (Lunar) oceans, to living waters….and each other. To reclaim our own indigenous powers of imagination, of what is possible, of what is true ~ is necessary; & therefore ‘just.’
Watch “Demain!” ~ highly recommended.
Thanks for watching and your commentary, David. Thought the part about The Donald’s hair to be hilarious, too. I thought this was one of his best talks. He definitely has a different style than Pilger does. Hedges uses his “preacher” voice in this one.
Found Demain! on Youtube, mostly in French, some parts in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUYru8IDsrU
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