Monthly Archives: September 2015

General

Education For Obedience

Video

ed4o

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATIONS:
I should point out that this video is not attacking the idea of education itself, nor is it blaming teachers for what the system requires them to do. It is criticising the *format* of education, state or private, in a state-capitalist society. I do not reject the idea that education ought to be provided for people according to need. Education can cultivate reason, independent thought, and creativity within a decent environment – just not a capitalist one!

So what are the alternatives? John Dewey’s ideas about education would be a good base to build from. Learning should be a process in which the learner actively participates, rather than passively receives information. Learning based on group discussion, practice by doing, and teaching others would be a good start. Alfie Kohn also has some interesting ideas about what you should look for in a decent education system.

Anarchism, Libcom video EN, Video, Video En

What The United States Really Wants

Video

whatCN: This video will discuss and contain some images you might find upsetting or disturbing – genocide, racism and extreme poverty…
This analysis of US foreign policy is essentially a summary of the arguments made in Volume I of Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman’s Political Economy of Human Rights, ‘The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism’. Although it’s a harrowing read, it is very informative and provides a devastating account of US-backed atrocities across the globe, and I would highly recommend it.

With regard to North Vietnam, in case people are wondering, I am not saying that the bloodbath during the land reform programme was acceptable or permissible – rather I included this point to highlight the hypocrisy of the US media which openly condemns bloodbaths such as this one but turns a blind eye to bloodbaths carried out by the United States and its allies.

My own position is that action against these kinds of atrocities ought to be strategic. It is the responsibility of populations to criticise and take action against their own state rather than other states, as this is arguably the most effective means of preventing atrocities and protecting human rights.