“I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don’t think it will be based on the color of the skin . . .”—Malcolm X [el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz">

As everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in the United States are painfully beginning to realize, no entity, no bank, and no nation that is tied in to this global economy, based upon systemic fraud and concomitant greed, is too big to fail. Indeed, to the contrary, failure is ultimately inevitable. But the brunt of such ‘failures’ are borne on the backs of ordinary everyday men, women, and children, be it in this nation or elsewhere.

In today’s parasitic global economy, the end game of the global corporate elite is to amass as much personal wealth in as short a period of time as possible. Struggling, ordinary, everyday people be damned.

This parasitic economic system in the United States and throughout most of the world is manipulated and controlled by an avaricious elite whose economic objectives have little or nothing whatever to do with the welfare and needs of the everyday people. The real definition of ‘austerity’ means nothing more than corporate fleecing of the common people while enriching themselves. Thus, the elite of the banks and other huge corporations perpetuate the systemic myth that what is beneficial for them is somehow beneficial for everyday people. Overwhelmingly, it is not.

So should, and in fact does, the current economic turmoil and pain of the everyday people in Greece really matter to everyday people here in the United States, and other parts of the world? Absolutely! Moreover, simply concentrating on whether or not Greece stays in or departs from the European Union is missing the point. Nor is this systemic debacle limited to the European Union. The real point is that this economic debacle is also POLITICAL, and it is both SYSTEMIC and it is GLOBAL. Will what is happening in Greece spread to other nations such as Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, etc? Of course! The tell tale signs have already begun in varying forms, including in the United States itself. The only viable remedy is to change the system itself in favor of everyday people, not of the bloated and ostentatious rich. One does not have to be an economist or clairvoyant to see the obvious for what it is. One need merely pay attention, and utilize common sense.

Systemically propping up the elite of the banks and corporations while demanding so-called ‘austerity’ from the middle classes (what’s left of them) and poor are clear POLITICAL decisions and actions, and is nothing short of CRIMINAL. In this nation, for example, Barack Obama and the [mis">leadership of both the corporate Democrats and the Republicans (i.e., the Republicrats) supported the criminal trillion dollar ‘bail out’ of the Wall Street banksters and the U.S. corporate elite, despite the objections of the majority of people in this nation. It is simply a matter of time before the rhetorical obfuscation and smoke-and-mirror tactics on the part of the corporate-owned politicians in this nation will blatantly and irrefutably implode, coming home to roost for all to see. Indeed, it has in reality, already begun if we would but pay attention.

Our hearts, and more importantly, our fighting spirits must go out to the struggling and exploited everyday people of Greece, of Portugal, of Spain, of Ireland, of Haiti, and throughout Mother Earth. We must remember that their struggles are also OUR struggles.

Let us however, retain some of that fighting spirit for ourselves here in the United States, for we too are being hideously exploited and pitted one against the other. Let us best support the struggling everyday peoples of the planet by collectively doing what must done right here in THIS nation, or wherever we might geographically happen to be located on our precious Mother Earth.

This is a part of humanity’s global struggle for equity and political and economic justice. Even as the U.S. corporate-stream ‘news’ attempts to constantly distract us, and distort and omit what is actually occurring both nationally and internationally—we must continue to stay focused on linking the issues locally, nationally, and internationally. Let us remember the words of Malcolm X, when he spoke of “the clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation.” This is a collective and global, land protracted struggle.

Come now, each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward . . . !

* BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Please do not take Pambazuka for granted! Become a Friend of Pambazuka and make a donation NOW to help keep Pambazuka FREE and INDEPENDENT!

* Intrepid Report Associate Editor Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil / political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.