An Anarchistic Understanding of the Social Order: Environmental Degradation, Indigenous Resistance, and a Place for the Sciences by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally published on the Spanda Journal
July 21, 2013

Image by dkantoro via Flickr

The following was an original essay published in the Spanda Journal (Vol. 4, No. 1, 2013: Anarchy and Non-Profit: An Emerging Affair), an open-access journal which you can download for free here.

FOR ROUGHLY FIVE HUNDRED YEARS, INDIGENOUS peoples have been struggling against the dominant institutions of society, against imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, impoverishment, segregation, racism, and genocide.

Global Power Project, Part 6: Banking on Influence With Bank of America by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally published on Occupy.com
July 17, 2013

Image by Rainforest Action Network via Flickr

This July, Bank of America was expecting to report an earnings increase of 32% from last year. The Washington Business Journal declared the bank among the top 10 “most improved brands” of the year. Bank of America is the second-largest bank in the United States following JPMorgan Chase.

So why does this bank deserve such an “improved” reputation? Perhaps it’s worth looking at a little of the bank’s record for some clarity.

Egypt Under Empire, Part 1: Working Class Resistance and European Imperial Ambitions by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com, July 11, 2013
Originally published on The Hampton Institute
July 13, 2013

Image by MoudBarthez via Flickr

Egypt is one of the most important countries in the world, geopolitically speaking. With a history spanning some 7,000 years, it is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, sitting at the point at which Africa meets the Middle East, across the Mediterranean from Europe. Once home to its own empire, it became a prized possession in the imperial designs of other civilizations, including the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantine to the Islamic and Ottoman Empires, and subsequently the French, British and Americans. For any and every empire that has sought to exert control over the Middle East, Asia or Africa, control over Egypt has been a pre-requisite. Its strategic location has only become more important with each subsequent empire.

Global Power Project, Part 5: Banking on Influence With Goldman Sachs by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com, July 10, 2013
Originally published on Occupy.com
July 13, 2013

Anyone who has paid even minimal attention to the global economic and financial crises gripping the world since 2007 has heard the name Goldman Sachs.

One of the largest banks in the United States, Goldman Sachs was central to the process of creating the housing bubble that popped in 2007-8, which led to the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression. As Matt Taibbi famously documented in Rolling Stone, Goldman has been involved in “every major market manipulation since the Great Depression,” profiting along the way as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”

Meet the Next Country That Might Explode into Protests Against Corporate Plunder and Slave Labor Working Conditions by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by henri ismail via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com July 8, 2013
Originally published on AlterNet, July 4, 2013
July 13, 2013

Will the wave of global unrest crash on Indonesia next?

Indonesia – a Southeast Asian archipelago that is home to the largest Muslim population on Earth – is a key global hot spot for corporate plundering, worker exploitation, land grabs and environmental devastation.

Global Power Project, Part 4: Banking on Influence with JPMorgan Chase by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
July 3, 2013

The following was originally posted at Occupy.com.

In May, JPMorgan Chase was listed as the largest bank in the world with assets at roughly $4 trillion — some $1.53 trillion of it in derivatives. This was reported a month after the announcement that the bank had posted a record first-quarter profit of $6.5 billion.

Jamie Dimon, the bank’s CEO and Chairman, has faced a host of scandals in relation to his management of the megabank, including the loss of roughly $6 billion through the London branch of the bank — losses that Dimon was accused of hiding.

Global Power Project, Part 3: The Influence of Individuals and Family Dynasties by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
June 26, 2013

Image by tpholland via Flickr

The following is Part 3 of the Global Power Project, originally published at Occupy.com.

The Global Power Project, an investigative series produced by Occupy.com, aims to identify and connect the worldwide institutions and individuals who comprise today’s global power oligarchy. In Part 2, which appeared last week, I discussed some of the dominant institutions that have facilitated and have in turn been supported by the development of this oligarchic class.

Global Power Project, Part 2: Identifying the Institutions of Control by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
June 19, 2013

Image by David Shankbone via Flickr

The following is Part 2 of my exclusive research series for Occupy.com.

Part 1: Exposing the Transnational Capitalist Class

The Global Power Project, an investigative series produced by Occupy.com, aims to identify and connect the worldwide institutions and individuals who comprise today’s global power oligarchy.

Global Power Project, Part 1: Exposing the Transnational Capitalist Class by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by Mashahed’s Photos via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
June 12, 2013

An exclusive series for Occupy.com

The Global Power Project, an investigative series produced by Occupy.com, aims to identify and connect the worldwide institutions and individuals who comprise today’s global power oligarchy. By studying the relationships and varying levels of leadership that govern our planet’s most influential institutions — from banks, corporations and financial institutions to think tanks, foundations and universities —

Turkey’s Urban Uprising: The Struggle for Democracy Against Inequality, Oligarchy, Oppression and Tyranny by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
June 7, 2013

Image by Dawid Krawczyk via Flickr

It began innocently enough, it seemed, when a plan to turn Istanbul’s Gezi Park – located at Taksim Square – into a shopping mall spurred a small group of environmental activists to occupy the park in protest in late May of 2013. Within a week, a wave of urban uprisings had spread across the country, involving hundreds of thousands of protesters, in dozens of cities, met with massive state repression and violence, resulting in a few deaths and thousands of injuries and arrests. The world is now watching Turkey – the connecting landmass between Europe and Asia – once home to the Ottoman Empire, and now home to a profound lesson for the world’s people in a struggle for democracy against inequality, oligarchy, oppression and tyranny.

Engineering Empire: An Introduction to the Intellectuals and Institutions of American Imperialism by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally posted at: The Hampton Institute
May 26, 2013

Image by jbartok via Flickr

The following is my first original piece for The Hampton Institute, “a working class think tank,” at which I chair the Geopolitics Division. This essay is meant as an introduction to modern American geopolitics, and a reference piece for future research and published material through The Hampton Institute’s Geopolitics Division.

Educating yourself about empire can be a challenging endeavor, especially since so much of the educational system is dedicated to avoiding the topic or justifying the actions of imperialism in the modern era.

Large Corporations Seek U.S.–European ‘Free Trade Agreement’ to Further Global Dominance by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by Nney via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally posted at: AlterNet
May 12, 2013

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is the latest plan of conglomerates to strengthen their grip over the planet.

A corporate world order is emerging, and like any parasite, it is slowly killing off its host. Unfortunately, the “host” happens to be the planet, and all life upon and within it. So, while the extinction of the species will be the end result of passively accepting a corporate-driven world, on the other hand, it’s very profitable for those corporations and their shareholders.

Nestlé CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe: “Human Beings Have No Right to Water” by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by Keith Bacongco via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
April 23, 2013

In the 2005 documentary, We Feed the World, then-CEO of Nestlé, the world’s largest foodstuff corporation, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, shared some of his own views and ‘wisdom’ about the world and humanity. Brabeck believes that nature is not “good,” that there is nothing to worry about with GMO foods, that profits matter above all else, that people should work more, and that human beings do not have a right to water.

The Propaganda System That Has Helped Create a Permanent Overclass Is Over a Century in the Making by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally posted at AlterNet
April 14, 2013

Image by Saint Iscariot via Flickr

Pulling back the curtain on how intent the wealthiest Americans have been on establishing a propaganda tool to subvert democracy.

Where there is the possibility of democracy, there is the inevitability of elite insecurity. All through its history, democracy has been under a sustained attack by elite interests, political, economic, and cultural. There is a simple reason for this: democracy – as in true democracy – places power with people. In such circumstances, the few who hold power become threatened. With technological changes in modern history, with literacy and education, mass communication, organization and activism, elites have had to react to the changing nature of society – locally and globally.

In the Arms of Dictators: America the Great… Global Arms Dealer by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Image by U.S. Missile Defense Agency via Flickr

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
March 26, 2013

The following is a first draft sample from a chapter currently being written for The People’s Book Project. Read more about The People’s Book Project here, and please consider donating to help the Project continue.

The American imperial system incorporates much more than supporting the occasional coup or undertaking the occasional war. Coups, wars, assassinations and other forms of overt and covert violence and destabilization, while relatively common and consistent for the United States – compared to other major powers – are secondary to the general maintenance of a system of imperial patronage.