| Yesterday or today begins Ramadan. [This is tentative as the actual date of commencement of Ramadan is subject to the sighting of the moon. - prh, ed.] We send most cordial best wishes to our Muslim colleagues on the advent of this Holy Month. But yesterday was also April Fools' Day, where people lie to each other. I find it weird since people lie to each other all the time, every day of the year. As someone who is in his 60s, I also do not recall a time in the past where people were fooled more than they are in our era. Right is considered wrong. Governments like the US and Israel are labeled by Western Media as "Western Democracies". Their elites (military-industrial-media) are destroying the environment and profiting handsomely from wars they foment and sell as lies. They even dare to:
Western systems caused the killing of tens of millions of people directly or via proxies (like Saudi Arabia and the UAE) in areas like Cambodia, Vietnam, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya etc. But media propaganda dubs these same leaders as "the global community" while ignoring the wishes of 99% of the earth's population. The lies are endless. Calling for basic human rights is dubbed anti-Semitic. Dropping one ton bombs on refugee camps is considered "self-defense" while leaders who stand up to western imperialism are dubbed lunatic or crazy or even a new Hitler. Locally, Palestinian and Israeli "authorities" lie daily to their people and maintain the status quo of suffering. They still refuse to tell their people the truth of the "Oslo" process and agreements that delayed freedom for 29 years so far (and originally they were supposed to be for five years). Lies are endless. Lies kill. To work for peace and justice (real ones) we have to first learn the simple truth that "governments lie" and "Western" governments lie the most because they do the most atrocities. What Martin Luther King Jr said about the US government in the 1960s (biggest purveyor of violence in the world) is still true today. "In times of Universal Deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" is a quote attributed to Orwell but with no evidence. So let us not be fools every day of the year and proceed to tell the truth as a revolutionary act. Many of us who do this may pay a price but it is truly worth it. It is existential to our species survival and our planet's health. We also must work and build a new reality that is not part of the system of lies and oppression. Sustainable intentional communities based on truth and positive work for a better future for all are possible. See as an example palestinenature.org where our motto is respect (for ourselves, for others, for nature). Afterall, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed” (Gandhi) Source URL |