Lifting the Veil: Obama and the Failure of Capitalist Democracy

[KoKo]

Lifting the Veil: Obama and the Failure of Capitalist Democracy

Video
“Barack Obama and the failure of capitalist democracy”, this film explores the historical role of the Democratic Party as the “graveyard of social movements”, the massive influence of corporate finance in elections, the absurd disparities of wealth in the United States, the continuity and escalation of neocon policies under Obama, the insufficiency of mere voting as a path to reform, and differing conceptions of democracy itself.

Original interview footage derives from Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Michael Albert, John Stauber (PR Watch), Sharon Smith (Historian), William I. Robinson (Editor, Critical Globalization Studies), Morris Berman (Author, Dark Ages America), and famed black panther Larry Pinkney.

Non-original interviews/lectures include Michael Hudson, Paul Craig Roberts, Ted Rall, Richard Wolff, Glen Ford, Lewis Black, Glenn Greenwald, George Carlin, Gerald Cliente, Chris Hedges, John Pilger, Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Wollin and Martin Luther King.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27665.htm

[tomp]

1. gotta see this. nt

[Newest Reality]

2. This is a great one to see!

Well, that is if you are not still caught in the last vestiges of the notion of a real, two-party dichotomy as opposed to two versions of one entity that functions to serve vested interests. Like that or not, it is worth looking into now, all things considered.

There is a segment were we get to hear, from the horse's mouth, the moving speeches by candidate Obama. He certainly addressed many important issues that have lead-up to the economic and political debacle we are not deeply entrenched in and seriously suffering from. His candidate ideas were on-track with what we realized we needed to avert the crimson tide of disenfranchisement and loss from the latent transfer of wealth that is still in progress as we now stand to lose the commons and all we have left.

However, we still see a lot of people translate our honest comparisons of the candidate Obama with the now incumbent one, into some form of bashing, when it is really only a stark and unsettling disappointment with how many and to what degree those promises on the campaign trail were met. What makes it such a travesty is that, had they been aggressively pursued and acted upon, there really could have been some sorely needed progress in thwarting and reversing a looming threat to everything we hold dear. Instead, we sit here today in far worse shape with so many fights on so many fronts that it taxes and drains our capacity to fight and cope. And now, we have to live with the deep and grievous disappointment where hope turns to despair and change means more and more corporate power and influence, nay control, of our lives, culture, and politics.

I don't call that bashing and while I can sympathize with those who are dedicated to their candidate and feel loyalty to the better of the two choices, (now lesser of the two-evils) please understand that the candidate who left the gate with the rhetoric of a champion of the people has not delivered in any appreciable way. We truly needed that champion to lead us and stand with us in this critical and pivotal battle for justice and equity for the commons and the people who are this country, not for the wealthy in their bold and brazen Corporate Occupation and ensuing, final takeover. We needed to draw a strong line in the sand in order to just preserve what is left to us before we could even begin the long, arduous struggle to regain our footing and avert an insidious shadow of Fascism from spreading over the land.

So much for that. Obama told us that we would have to make him do this and that. Well, if the comment of those who are now seeing themselves abandoned and have to cope with the disheartening reality that their elected Champion has turned out to be something completely other, then consider this a way to say, how could we make you do anything as you turn a deaf ear and abandon our ideals and your base? Tell us that, at least. How?

[KoKo]

3. You pose some good questions. Many of us are seeking answers...

we have less than two years to make our Democratic Party stand for the "Change We Can Believe In"
We were promised so much change from Repug Party Politics and President by many Dem Candidates in the past decades. This time we Dems thought we had a true winner who would work for us...because of his background and even his color and life experiences. We didn't think he'd get mixed up and messed up by Lobbyists/Corporatists and NeoCons.

It remains to be seen. We don't have much time left.

[Newest Reality]

4. K&R because,

I'm not new to any of this information. Are you? Compare and debate it and refute and relate it, investigate and berate it, but don't ignore it at your own peril.

Know your enemy, or as I prefer to put it, your opponent, be they a worthy one or unworthy. When you truly understand where you are and why, then I would suggest, that is where you will find greater courage and overcome your fears, contrary to what you might think beforehand. It is in the confines of denial that the underlying fears create timidity and that is where you set yourself up for shock, confusion and the inability to respond in kind to what will eventually befall you.

I implore you to watch and consider this amalgam of important issues and facts. There have been dozens of other documentaries and articles that preceded it, but this one truly managed to sharpen the pencil and sharpen the outlines to a degree that I woudl hope you will share it with others in the spirit that knowledge is truly power and we are at a pivotal time where ignorance might be a short-term form of bliss, yet it will culminate, if left unchecked, in a very horrific and irreversible nightmare for the larger part of our society.

[defendandprotect]

5. Our culture and schools have pretty much taught capitalism + democracy synonymous...

in fact they are exact opposites!!

[DeSwiss]

6. Lifting the veil?

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hklqkwyISuk&feature=related">And then what?

"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." ~Henry David Thoreau

K&R

[Poboy]

7. Recommend

[Newest Reality]

8. I have noticed that videos seem to get less recs and

acknowledgment here. I can take that into considration because we don't have as much broad-band as other industrial countries because the telcos ripped us off in the '90's. We funded them, they did not deliver.

Yet, it seems strange to me that this one video is not getting more responses, pro or con. Why? Is it to overwhelming? Does it challenge you far too much to grapple with it or refute it?

Well, the worst case scenario is that the complacency signals just how complicit we have become with this program and perhaps, our fate is sealed and we agree in some way with what is being done because we value or benefit from the results of the deception and the debacle.

I sympathize with you if this is too much to handle and accept. Maybe you can sympathize with me that this is old hat and merely represents a more fine-tuned, encapsulated version of what I have learned about what is up and then, you can imagine, what kind of reaction and response I have received whenever I talk about it to those how are living in the other version of reality. Actually, it all started with the Dubya installation, as it did for others I know.

Well, do what you will. Accept what you can or deny an ignore what you can't. If let it be is he slogan and the motto then be sure to prepare yourself to continue to let it be as this unfolds into its conclusion in your own life.

Thanks for reading.

[DeSwiss]

10. You have questions.....

...here are my answers:

I have noticed that videos seem to get less recs and acknowledgment here. I can take that into considration because we don't have as much broad-band as other industrial countries because the telcos ripped us off in the '90's. We funded them, they did not deliver.

Ripped off? This is not new. This has always been the case. TPTB have been ripping us off from the start. Why would they stop now?

Yet, it seems strange to me that this one video is not getting more responses, pro or con. Why? Is it to overwhelming? Does it challenge you far too much to grapple with it or refute it?

For some this documentary flies in the face of the truncated and abridged reality they've created in their minds in order to justify and excuse away all the lies and bullshit that their "man in the White House" has wrought upon us. What they don't realize (yet) is that it wouldn't have mattered if it were Barack or someone else that did it to them -- we were all screwed from the start -- and always will be under this corrupted system of "freedom" we live under. For others (like myself) it only underscores a belief that the rotten system we have now is not salvageable, nor should anyone want to salvage it. We need a new paradigm that doesn't include the cancer of capitalism. So the recounting of the facts is superfluous and any exercise designed to illuminate these issues with the thought in mind to correct and/or improve upon said system, would be a gigantic waste of time.

Well, the worst case scenario is that the complacency signals just how complicit we have become with this program and perhaps, our fate is sealed and we agree in some way with what is being done because we value or benefit from the results of the deception and the debacle.

Some people are indeed complacent I would hazard to say, but they can't be blamed for this totally. We've been bred to be complacent and we've been drugged and chemically altered to remain dull, lifeless and accepting of anything this system dishes out. We've even been taught to react immediately with chagrin and disdain - anyone who suggests that there is a conspiracy to accomplish all this and to keep us under the thumbs of TPTB. It's a perfect self-correcting system which only requires the occasional "adjustment" such as the odd assassination or two and/or the dressing-down and demise of a celebrity in order to reinforce their programming of "what's important to worry about." As well as to maintain sufficient levels of unease and stress within the general population. At. All. Times. All of which is designed of course to keep the populace distracted and on-edge so that we can't think for ourselves and figure out what the fuck is really happening around us.

I sympathize with you if this is too much to handle and accept. Maybe you can sympathize with me that this is old hat and merely represents a more fine-tuned, encapsulated version of what I have learned about what is up and then, you can imagine, what kind of reaction and response I have received whenever I talk about it to those how are living in the other version of reality. Actually, it all started with the Dubya installation, as it did for others I know.

So noted.

Well, do what you will. Accept what you can or deny an ignore what you can't. If let it be is he slogan and the motto then be sure to prepare yourself to continue to let it be as this unfolds into its conclusion in your own life.

What I would prefer to do is to unplug myself from this system. Which is what I'm working on figuring out how to do that right now. I would suggest you and everyone else do the same. Because I believe that this rotten edifice is all about to come crashing down and once it does --- nothing will ever be the same after.


Thanks for reading.

- You're welcome!

[KoKo]

9. kick...for others who might be interested.

[Danse]

11. Lifting the Veil

Hello,

I am the creator of this documentary.

Thank you to Koko for posting it here.

So far the film has been featured on Counterpunch, Information Clearing House, Global Research, Black Agenda Report, The Black Activist Writer’s Guild, the Black Commentator and numerous blogs. However in all of these cases I am preaching to the converted.

The primary sites on which I wanted to see LTV featured were Democratic Underground, Daily Kos and Common Dreams. One down, two to go.

Lifting the Veil is not a plea to vote for someone other than a Democrat. It is equally critical of both parties. What it does suggest is the following:

Historically, the Democratic Party has been the primary device by which movements for social change have been co-opted by ruling elites, thereby rendering them benign. This is especially important to consider now that the American people are waking up.

It makes no sense to automatically support the Democratic Party regardless of policy. As Glenn Greenwald recently suggested, progressives should not be surprised that Obama refuses to enact progressive policies when he can count on their votes regardless. “Power concedes nothing without a demand”.

Electoral politics should not be considered the primary path to reform. The system is now at a point where more radical action is required. This includes tactics like civil disobedience, Boycotts, physical occupations and lifestyle changes, as well as the building of movements that are independent of both mainstream parties.

Capitalism is incompatible with democracy, as are hierarchical, centralized state models such as the Soviet Union and “communist” China.

Representative democracy doesn’t work. When you combine this failed model with massive wealth disparities and corporate campaign contributions you have a democracy in name only. Every single one of America’s primary institutions are anti-democratic, as stated by Sheldon Wolin. Solutions should involve real, participatory democracy, preferably along decentralized lines. Workplaces must be democratized and the corporate form abolished.

Obama is not a “progressive” or a “liberal”, and certainly not a “socialist”.

Hope must translate into action.

Here are a few quotes about the film. I post them not to toot my own horn, but to encourage others to give it a look.

"Lifting the Veil is the long overdue film that powerfully, definitively, and finally exposes the deadly 21st century hypocrisy of U.S. internal and external policies, even as it imbues the viewer with a sense of urgency and an actualized hope to bring about real systemic change while there is yet time for humanity and this planet. See this film!"

Larry Pinkney
Editorial Board Member & Columnist
The Black Commentator

“Lifting the Veil is a major contribution to political documentary. It teaches everyone from the uninitiated to the most sophisticated the true nature of the American government... It covers the issues clearly and succinctly, from the opening narrative through to its stirring conclusion.”

Ralph Poynter
lynne stewart defense committee
new abolitionist movement

"The best political film I've seen to date. A must watch if you want to understand who and what Obama is about, as well as this hypocrisy they call democracy."

Kiilu Nyasha
Independent Journalist and former member of the Black Panther Party

"A wonderful, powerful film"

Leah Bolger
National Vice President, Veterans for Peace

"In less than two hours, documentarian Scott Noble eviscerates the myth of the American dream, laying bare the grinning, skeletal greed at its core. It’s the best single compilation we’ve yet seen on the corruption that has demolished the American commons and the lives of billions across the globe."

Richard Brenneman
eats shoots 'n leaves

"Noble is brilliantly pioneering the new film-making -- incisive analysis, compelling sound and footage, fearless and independent reporting, and the aggregation of the best information out there into powerful, educational and free online feature films – all on a shoestring budget. His films educate and inform while building the movements needed for real change at the grassroots. Noble's films are dedicated to democracy; they fan the flames of non-violent, people-powered revolution."

John Stauber, Founder, PR Watch

I have produced three other films, which are available on my website metanoia-films.org

Thanks.

[KoKo]

12. Weekend Reading?

:shrug: When there's nothing else to do ...

[KoKo]

13. Weekend Reading......Check this out...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27665.h...

[Danse]

14. Link broken?

Link to ICH doesn't work for me...

[KoKo]

15. I just checked the link in my OP and if you scroll down you can hit the video from there..

Try it again..it should work for you:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27665.htm

BTW...you need to click on video...wait a minute for some words to come up and then the Full Video appears. That might have been why you thought it didn't work.

It's slower than it was when I first posted which might explain the "Pause Glitch." Hopefully, that means folks are watching and that's the glitch...not that it's hacked....

[KoKo]

16. If anyone tries to watch tonight. Hit the link ...wait for pause, words..then full screen then paus

and then full video. It's slower tonight than when I first posted. But, it does work.