Friday 21st of August 2026
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self-radicalisation in the face of.....

“What radicalized you?”

 

“What Radicalized You?”

At this point “What radicalized you?” is a much less interesting question to ask people than “Why aren’t you radicalized yet?”

BY Caitlin Johnstone

 

I dunno man maybe it was all the wars based on lies or the corporate ecocide or the live-streamed genocide or the people sleeping on sidewalks while billionaires become trillionaires or the plundering of the global south or the mass surveillance or the police drones or the Israeli torture prisons or the IDF rape dogs or the starvation sanctions or the proxy wars or the acts of nuclear brinkmanship or the encircling of our planet with hundreds of US military bases or the CIA black sites or the Epstein files or the government secrecy or the increasing persecution of journalists and whistleblowers or the fact that the US just openly assassinates and kidnaps the leaders of sovereign nations or the internet censorship or the way all western media and all Silicon Valley tech platforms operate as propaganda services for the US empire or the aggressive push to outlaw pro-Palestine demonstrations or the legalized corruption of western governments or the way AI is being shoved down our throats while data centers choke our ecosystem or the thinly disguised rush to develop militarized robots for domestic use or the glaring plot holes in the official 9/11 story or the glaring plot holes in the official October 7 story or the complete impotence of electoral politics in an oligarchy where the rich get everything they want or the vanishing ice caps or the vanishing rainforests or the vanishing wildlife or the plummeting insect population or the ocean desertification or the giant continent of plastic in the North Atlantic or the microplastics in our brains and in our blood or the fact that we live under a globe-spanning empire that cannot exist without mass-scale violence and exploitation or the fact that younger generations are economically far worse off than their parents and grandparents or the fact that ordinary people are having to work harder and harder as everything gets more and more expensive while the capitalist class reaps record profits?

At this point “What radicalized you?” is a much less interesting question to ask people than “Why aren’t you radicalized yet? Seriously, how is that possible? How have you successfully managed to avoid conversion to a radical political worldview despite everything you are seeing right in front of your eyes?”

Because to the rest of us, that shit looks like a goddamn magic trick. It looks like a superhuman feat of willpower to continue believing everything’s basically okay and our leaders will sort this all out for us if we just vote for the correct plutocratic meat puppet in the next election. You’re just chilling out while everything burns, like that Buddhist monk sitting calmly in meditation after setting himself on fire. How are you even doing that?

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https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/08/21/what-radicalized-you/

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

venezuela....

 

BY Jean-Pierre PAGE

Venezuela, we must organize support for the resistance and defend national sovereignty, rejecting subjugation.

"Venezuela must become Venezuela again."

 

"Everything is negotiable, except principles."

(Fidel Castro)

Clearly, we don't understand what is happening in Venezuela and Latin America. However, we cannot separate the events in Venezuela from the long list of successive defeats suffered by the "left" in recent months in Latin America, not with the return of the right, but with the rise of the fascist far right, propelled forward and financed by Trump and the US administration, as we have just seen again in Colombia. We must also consider the international situation and the accelerating decline of the West, exemplified by Trump's political and military defeat, the terrorist state of Israel, and the European Union's presence in the Strait of Hormuz in the face of Iran.

We must acknowledge that Venezuela is indeed a case of US recolonization, a Monroe Doctrine applied to today's conditions. This strategy has a name: the "US National Security Strategy 2025." This must be taken into account in our analyses, especially given the blatant ignorance displayed by some activists. This is a problem that, for some, reduces the frequent references to imperialism and class struggle to mere rhetoric.

In Venezuela, renowned writer Luis Britto Garcia, the former Venezuelan ambassador appointed to the Council of State by Hugo Chavez, the signatories of the Maracay Manifesto, and Mario Silva all eloquently state that Venezuela's sovereignty has not only been violated, it has been stolen and confiscated. Since January 3, 2026, Venezuela has been a country without sovereignty and under foreign control. Do we agree on this point? I must admit that when I read certain comments, I doubt it, because if that's the case, why not draw the political conclusions? It's no longer a question of supporting the "progressive and Chavista" government of Venezuela; it's a question of supporting the popular resistance that is organizing and asserting itself every day.

Since January 3, and after clearing the way for US multinational oil companies, the United States has plundered or stolen the equivalent of $13 billion from the country. I read the testimony of a member of a "Communa" (community), who said, "If we don't support the government, we won't get funding." What a load of illusions to justify waiting. But waiting for what? Will the Americans pay for what they steal? But above all, how can we accept and justify the blackmail, threats, and repression of the people to prevent their resistance?

Therefore, the problem, I would say the main contradiction, lies between Venezuela's national interest, its sovereignty, and the US takeover of an entire country, its natural resources, and its people. As Luis Britto Garcia eloquently stated, "Venezuela must relearn how to be Venezuela." The principles of sovereignty, the right to self-determination, territorial integrity, and independence, enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and which Chavez's Venezuela resolutely upheld, must be respected.

How can we turn a blind eye to a government explicitly made in the USA, which abandons to Washington the control and production of its main natural resource, which no longer refers to the release of Maduro and Celia, which cuts off supplies to Cuba, which acts constantly on orders from Washington, which opens its doors to the terrorist army of the IDF and intends to re-establish diplomatic relations with Israel, which condemns Iran, which has the former minister close to Maduro, Alex Saab, arrested and handed over to the Americans, which ordered those who wanted to fight on the night of January 3rd to return home? How can we not be outraged by this recent news? Billionaire Mathieu Pigasse, who owns pro-left media outlets in the broadest sense and boasts of his good relations with Socialist leader Carole Delga and CGT General Secretary Sophie Binet, and is openly campaigning, has been appointed to restructure Venezuela's debt in conjunction with Trump and Caracas. The Venezuelan government has signed a colossal commission for debt restructuring by Pigasse (we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars for a country in crisis), even Greece hasn't seen anything like it. In fact, with the French presidential elections in mind, much is at stake here, as his support will be crucial for 2027, and Pigasse, the man of the left, will demand a return on his investment if elected. Ideological support, from social democrat to social democrat.

We need clarity, including within our own ranks, or we're being told to continue turning a blind eye. Such naiveté or bad faith is almost disarming. We're supposed to be satisfied with the commissioned analysis of Kimberley Miller, a US sociologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Florida—we'd like to know who funds the "Black Alliance" organization—who, with her leftist rhetoric, explains that it's still better without respecting principles. Fidel Castro used to say, "Everything is negotiable except principles."

For all these reasons, it is urgent to speak out directly if we want to claim any credibility. Waiting for the hypothetical arrival of a new Venezuelan ambassador will solve nothing, especially since Paris and Brussels maintain sanctions against Caracas. The ambassador will defend the official position of the new government, which is, in fact, his role. Waiting and seeing what happens can only be of limited use, unless one wants to support a power whose independence has been confiscated and which, as things stand, has given up the fight.

For my part, like other activists and friends of Venezuela, I supported the idea that this was a tactical retreat, the essential thing being popular mobilization. Today, one thing is clear: we are no longer at that point. That's the way it is. Now let's organize solidarity with the Venezuelan resistance that is developing through the Rallies, meetings, and demonstrations, including in working-class neighborhoods, the Comunas, and among intellectuals, founders, and Chavista leaders. In 2007, during his inauguration for a new term, Hugo Chávez Frías declared: "We are at an existential moment in Venezuelan life. We are moving toward socialism, and nothing and no one can stop it." Let us be consistent and faithful to what he said.

Jean Pierre Page

https://www.legrandsoir.info/venezuela-que-les-bouches-s-ouvrent.html

 

 

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PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….