(9AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
Revisited from October 2009 (once more in case DD closes down) here in a rather prophetic talk 2 years ago Paul Jay of the Real News talked in November 2008 at The Von Krahl Academy in Estonia about foreign policies, wars, terrorism, the crises of capitalism, media, economies, about the shit hitting the fan, and about solutions development.
Jay’s talk is about 40 minutes. Watch the video. It’s worth your time. It’s one of the best videos I think ever produced by Jay and The Real News, if not the best.
Real News Network – October 4, 2009
The crisis will deepen, we need real news
Paul Jay of The Real News speaks
at the Von Krahl Academy, Estonia in November 2008
“I had to decide. Do I believe my own rhetoric? Or not?”
“If I’m not doing the thing I feel is most significant,
then I feel empty inside.”— Paul Jay
Is There Life After Capitalism?
The Von Krahl Academy started in the year 2003 in collaboration with Radio Night University – a radio programme broadcasting lectures on various topics. The Academy opened a series of scientific-artistic events with the aim of learning more about the world we live in. The result of the first session was a musical production called “To Define Happiness”, based on S. Hawkings texts and original music written by Gavin Bryars. (The result can be seen here: http://youtube.com/vonkrahl )
Von Krahl Academy asks questions to which mankind has seeked answers through all times, but does it in a more playful form. The topic for the season 2008/2009 will be the future society. Post-postmodern, post-industrial, post-oil, post-capitalist – however we would like to call it. Can we see and describe it already today? What and where will be the superpower of the XXI century? Will there be a new narrative, new common story or ideology for the mankind? What about love, death and loneliness? As always, Von Krahl Academy is not accusing the past, but hopes to find ideas and solutions for the future. Estonia as one of the smallest countries in Europe is – because being so small – in a unique situation that is unimaginable for bigger states. Be it getting attention to new ideas or to convince yourself and your fellow citizens that one can fly.
To discuss the topics of interest Von Krahl Academy holds series of open lectures and forums. To illustrate the topics under discussion we produce concerts, spectacles and exhibitions. On the 5th of October the Academy will be opened by Jakob von Uexkull. The Academy will be attended by Rob Hopkins (giving a videoconference), Mark Lynas, Andrew Cohen. In November you will hear Catherine Austin Fitts, Jonathan Dawson, Paul Jay. From Russia there will come Andrey Illarionov and Vissarion.
The themes stretch from global warming to creating ecovillages, from independent media to describing transition culture.
The ideas of the Academy are supported by Tallinn2011 and through their webpage you can also ask questions from the lecturers.
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ten years after they invaded, the USSR finally was forced to give up it’s dreams of domination of Afghanistan and withdrew… and collapsed.
The interesting thing though is that although the Soviet Union “collapsed”, and collapse it did… it wasn’t the people who collapsed.
It was the political structure and the power establishment that collapsed. It didn’t involve any mass violence or die off of citizens or anything like that. Just the political and financial elite – the nomenklatura – mostly had to run for cover as the authoritarian fascist power structure folded like a house of cards in the wind. Life may have gotten a little tougher, in the sense that maybe there was less on the store shelves and so forth.
It was the power structure that collapsed, that’s all. And Russia is still one of the most advanced and powerful countries on earth.
government policy. It is now simply derivitive of immutable economic forces, a natural consequence of the glorification of materialism. Human beings become objectified monetary units assigned values. And the natural world is transformed into units of product for commerce and consumption. People are naturally subordinated to the process.
….well maybe, maybe not. It is a clever take on media and power, manipulating the masses.
so called Dream identify so much with capitalism that to most here it’s collapse is looked upon as a disaster that invalidates their whole belief system,their reason for living, their whole concept of the world. They have invested their lives and their children’s lives in this materialistic con. The middle class especailly, are heavily invested and have built their lives around competition and ‘playing the game’. The last half of the 20th century was spent stopping the takeover by the evil commies. Look at these immoral wars where everyone thanks the troops for protecting our freedom. meh!
This country has always had upward mobility as it’s core value. They call it Freedom but it is the antithesis of freedom. GE brings good thing to life, Better living through chemistry. Our science/technology our education, our politics, our foreign policy and our daily bread are all geared to a dream that is based on want, on taking, on killing. We thank our troops for killing and protecting our freedom and keeping us secure from the evil hordes who threaten the gates. We educate our kids to be competitive in the capitalistic nightmare that makes humanity nothing more then a profit loss and is destroying the planet we live on.
Of course their is a life after capitalism in fact as humans our only hope is capitalism’s demise. The stories of the aftermath are all just nightmares concocted from fear and based on the darkest side of human nature the side that keeps capitalism alive. Our collective conscientiousness, our culture feeds these dire predictions and people feed the beast as they cannot envision a life or a culture that isn’t based on exploiting nature and taking from other humans. Capitalism is a vicious deadly illusion that has reached it’s inevitable conclusion and to top it off it doesn’t pay enough, the rents too high ‘The world as we find it’ is the world that is built out of fear, greed, and cruelty and denies us any real dream worth having. Capitalism is what is killing life, time for a new ism.
it’s a rich mans world, the same as it ever was? Funny that this song came from the same too freakin rich guys that said money couldn’t buy you love….
…as it was a year ago when posted and 2 years ago when Jay delivered it.
Wish it were old and stale; but, unfortunately, it isn’t…