Articles by: William Hawes

History Returns Again in Ukraine

History Returns Again in Ukraine

After the 2014 coup and eight years of fighting between the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists, history has once again exploded and returned to the stage in Ukraine. As Westerners with governments who act blatantly hostile and belligerent to Russia, we should ask: was Russia provoked, and if so, how? It is important to question how and why this conflict[Read More…]

by 24/04/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Photo: Tom Pennington

Capitalism Is Not Your Friend

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.” –Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology “If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress.[Read More…]

by 28/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
 Democratic Party Fascism: 2020 Edition

 Democratic Party Fascism: 2020 Edition

Now that Joe Biden will be America’s next president, it might be worthwhile to take a closer look at some of the choices for his cabinet, White House staff, and national security positions. There are some real crazies here, as we shall see. As we dig deeper and deeper, what emerges is a network of people whose views can quite[Read More…]

by 18/12/2020 Comments are Disabled World
Nobody for President: Voting Legitimizes a Fraudulent Democracy

Nobody for President: Voting Legitimizes a Fraudulent Democracy

Co-Written by Jason Holland and William Hawes Here’s a bit of food for thought about why you should not, we repeat, should not, vote for anyone in November. Now, unlike the rabid pro-voters, there is no intention on our part to “vote-shame” those that choose to vote. If you really feel that strongly about voting, that’s fine and that’s your[Read More…]

by 09/10/2020 1 comment World
Abolish the Police, Abolish the Military, Abolish ICE: Dismantle Systems of Oppression

Abolish the Police, Abolish the Military, Abolish ICE: Dismantle Systems of Oppression

In this crucial moment, all of us who desire change should begin to think very carefully about a unified message and a coherent, organizing principle in the fight against endemic racism and police brutality in this country. I believe the message should be simple, yet radical: a complete abolition of the police in this nation. There are many reasons for[Read More…]

by 11/06/2020 Comments are Disabled World
 “You Can’t Fix Stupid”: A Review of Robert Reich’s The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It

 “You Can’t Fix Stupid”: A Review of Robert Reich’s The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It

   Robert Reich’s new work, The System, offers a wide-ranging critique of our nation’s contemporary political and economic ills. Reich does a brilliant job succinctly reminding us of the scale and scope of corporate corruption, economic inequality, and political spinelessness in America. Reich’s diagnosis is on point and there is not much to quibble with. Reich focuses the first half[Read More…]

by 03/06/2020 Comments are Disabled Book Review
Moderately Liberal, Extremely Dystopian: Establishment Democrats and Big Brained Centrism

Moderately Liberal, Extremely Dystopian: Establishment Democrats and Big Brained Centrism

As we approach the middle of March 2020 with Super Tuesday behind us, the moderate candidacy of Joe Biden has gained momentum, notching ten victories. The recent spat of moderate candidates dropping out (Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, Steyer) alongside Elizabeth Warren’s decision to stay in for Super Tuesday (and dropping out right after) boosted Biden into the lead in delegate count,[Read More…]

by 10/03/2020 Comments are Disabled World
What “That’s Not Realistic” Really Means: Bernie Sanders, Social Democracy, and Capitalist Apologetics

What “That’s Not Realistic” Really Means: Bernie Sanders, Social Democracy, and Capitalist Apologetics

When discussing politics, or listening to pundits in the mainstream media in the run up to the 2020 presidential election, you’ve probably heard a common refrain: certain policies are “not realistic.” It’s similar to the close-minded remark that certain politicians, such as Bernie Sanders, have issues regarding their “electability”. What are these elites and people who continually parrot these media[Read More…]

by 16/02/2020 Comments are Disabled World
We Work, They Scam: The Art of the Con in Terminal-Stage Capitalism

We Work, They Scam: The Art of the Con in Terminal-Stage Capitalism

  Recently, the ridiculous real estate company WeWork has faced intense scrutiny after their business model was absurdly overvalued and their CEO, one Adam Neumann, was exposed as an abusive boss as well as an overall crazy person. Investors from the Saudi royal family, companies like SoftBank and J.P. Morgan, and numerous venture capitalists poured vast sums of money into[Read More…]

by 21/01/2020 1 comment World
Translating Neoliberal-Speak: Your 2020 Democratic Candidates

Translating Neoliberal-Speak: Your 2020 Democratic Candidates

Presented here is a short list of some of the most ridiculous statements, absolute gems really, from some of the hopefuls for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President. These are all either verbatim quotes from speeches, interviews, or official Twitter posts from the candidates. After I was initially rendered catatonic by examining the collective ignorance, I got it together to[Read More…]

by 10/10/2019 1 comment World
Death by a Thousand Trumps: The Logical End Point of Capitalism

Death by a Thousand Trumps: The Logical End Point of Capitalism

“The fundamental problem of political philosophy is still precisely the one that Spinoza saw so clearly (and that Wilhelm Reich rediscovered): Why do men fight for their servitude as stubbornly as though it were their salvation?” -Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Ant-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia There is a fairly typical and recurrent notion among many Americans that Donald Trump and[Read More…]

by 12/09/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Questioning the Extremely Online

Questioning the Extremely Online

This essay is in regard to a crime that too often goes unmentioned when the conversations turn towards political analysis, the contemporary journalistic scene, and broader social critique: the crime of being extremely online. What does it mean to be extremely online? It mostly is as straightforward as it sounds. Generally, activities such as spending too much time on the[Read More…]

by 15/08/2019 Comments are Disabled Life/Philosophy
The Green Old Deal

The Green Old Deal

There are a lot of things to like about the recent resolution for the Green New Deal. The commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the acknowledgment of the catastrophic events that will occur if the world does not act soon- these are all healthy signs. Like Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign which removed many stigmas about socialism, raising public consciousness about[Read More…]

by 25/02/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Discipline Will Remain…or Will It?

Discipline Will Remain…or Will It?

Last October, Philip Hammond, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the annual federal budget speech to the UK Parliament, said this: “Austerity is coming to an end, but discipline will remain.” Talk about Orwellian doublespeak. The truth about austerity is that it is a means of social control, or as Hammond put it, discipline. Hammond’s recent comment is completely[Read More…]

by 23/01/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Baselines for Activism: Brecht’s Stance, the New Science, and Planting Seeds

Baselines for Activism: Brecht’s Stance, the New Science, and Planting Seeds

I’ve often wondered about the limits of activist’s reach and the lack of coherent, organized progressive social movements in the US. Does it come down to the precarious nature of our jobs, the stress, strain, and exhaustion caused by the realization of being a paycheck away from penury? Or is it all the fault of our monopolistic media, with the[Read More…]

by 15/11/2018 2 comments Life/Philosophy
From Frankfurt with Love

From Frankfurt with Love

(Scene) Axel Honneth paces in a lavish office on an upper floor of a building overlooking the Main. In the middle of the room, a Ouija board sits on a table next to a bust of Vater Karl with papers strewn about. A pamphlet lies on top of the mess, entitled SMUSH: Special Methods Upholding Socialist Hegemony. The ghosts of[Read More…]

by 27/07/2018 Comments are Disabled World
Ecology: The Keystone Science

Ecology: The Keystone Science

A missing piece from most critiques of modern capitalism revolves around the misunderstanding of ecology. To put it bluntly, there will be no squaring the circle of mass industrial civilization and an inhabitable Earth. There is no way for energy and resource use, along with all the strife, warfare, and poverty that comes along with it, to continue under the[Read More…]

American Rage

American Rage

“The Bonaparte dynasty represents not the revolutionary, but the conservative peasant; not the peasant who strikes out beyond the condition of his social existence, the small holding, but rather one who wants to consolidate his holding; not the countryfolk who in alliance with the towns want to overthrow the old order through their own energies, but on the contrary those[Read More…]

by 12/06/2018 1 comment World
Global Weirding

Global Weirding

Oh, what fun it truly was to experience the “bomb cyclone” in January in New England: the snowfall gave a sense of peace and calm, the winds were less strong than predicted, and the snow, while heavy, was not dense enough to take down trees and power lines in most areas. The following period of intense cold through February and[Read More…]

by 20/04/2018 1 comment Climate Change
Review: Humanity: The World Before Religion, War, And Inequality By Barry Brown

Review: Humanity: The World Before Religion, War, And Inequality By Barry Brown

  Self-Published by Barry Brown January 17th, 2017 · ISBN-10: 1773022253 · ISBN-13: 978-1773022253 322 Pages, Paperback Barry17@rogers.com Genres: History, Culture, Society In this groundbreaking work, author Barry Brown has managed to definitively prove humankind’s natural tendencies to be peaceful, cooperative, and egalitarian. Brown’s work is the first ever to document the history of humankind before and after the advent[Read More…]

by 24/03/2018 1 comment Book Review
Photo by mysterykatt123

Ode to America

    “My own little world Is what I deserve ‘Cause I am the only child there is. A king of it all The belle of the ball I promise I’ve always been like this. Forever the first My bubble can’t burst It’s almost like only I exist. Where everything’s mine If I can keep my mouth shut tight, tight,[Read More…]

by 09/03/2018 1 comment Counter Solutions
Photo by riagarwa

Perspectives On Activism: Waiting And Being Present

  “The more people I meet, the happier I become.” -Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot In the interregnum, we find ourselves as citizens waiting…for something. We bide our time with pablums, social media, or sports, or even pseudo-political debates. Many have insulated themselves from real issues: economic, social, and ecological justice. Capitalism imposes a state of captivity, one where spontaneity[Read More…]

by 08/02/2018 Comments are Disabled Uncategorized
Photo by Teknorat

The Great Unraveling: Using Science And Philosophy To Decode Modernity

“Forty percent of the United States drains into the Mississippi. It’s agriculture. It’s golf courses. It’s domestic runoff from our lawns and roads. Ultimately, where does it go? Downstream into the Gulf.” —Sylvia Earle Our civilization is headed for a downfall, to be sure, in part due to the massive gulf between our hopes for the future and the omnipresent[Read More…]

by 21/12/2017 Comments are Disabled Counter Solutions
Revolution, Not Reform: Moral Courage, Redefining Progress, And The Myth of Social Democracy

Revolution, Not Reform: Moral Courage, Redefining Progress, And The Myth of Social Democracy

  “Revolution in society must begin with the inner, psychological revolution of the individual. Most of us want to see a radical transformation of the social structure…however radical that social revolution may be its nature is static if there is no inward revolution, no psychological transformation…However much and however wisely legislation may be promulgated, society is always in the process[Read More…]

by 09/10/2017 2 comments Counter Solutions
Capitalism And Its Discontents: What Are We Living For?

Capitalism And Its Discontents: What Are We Living For?

“Whoever is not prepared to talk about capitalism should also remain silent about fascism?” -Max Horkheimer, from the essay “The Jews and Europe”, December 1939 Aren’t we all tired of capitalism? Haven’t most of us gotten sick of the drudgery, the monotony, the exploitation, sucking up to our bosses and management who pretend to care about the average worker? The[Read More…]

by 10/08/2017 2 comments Counter Solutions
Lies That Capitalists Tell Us

Lies That Capitalists Tell Us

Please share these counter-arguments far and wide, in order to educate your fellow citizens, and, if necessary, to provide the intellectual beat-downs needed when arguing with pro-capitalists. So without further ado, here is our list of the most devious “Lies that Capitalists Tell Us”:

by 12/07/2017 Comments are Disabled World
Something Is Happening

Something Is Happening

Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is: Do you? (1) No one knows, really, as this something is still evolving.  As we look back to 2016, though, it is abundantly clear that history has awoken from its slumber. We’ve had a couple events in the West last year: Brexit and Trump. Politically-charged, dynamic events (as Alain Badiou might define them) have been rare in the[Read More…]

by 13/02/2017 1 comment World
Two Parties, One Machine

Two Parties, One Machine

“Realize that the system can’t exist without belief Appreciate your true potential, un-twist your mouth and speak We’re working on building a world our children can live in Understand I can’t be free while you’re still in this prison And I can spend my days preaching and so on and so forth But it won’t change ’til we don’t wanna[Read More…]

by 08/10/2016 1 comment World
Cutting the Cords Of Empire: The Spectacle Of US Elections

Cutting the Cords Of Empire: The Spectacle Of US Elections

“The more powerful the class, the more it claims not to exist.” -Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle It’s almost time for our quadrennial political distraction, masquerading as the US presidential election. As opposed to previous elections, this one feels quite different. Even with Obama/Romney in 2012, important, basic economic issues were discussed, health care reform was questioned, and[Read More…]

by 14/09/2016 2 comments Imperialism
Photo by Daquella manera

Let’s Build A Regenerative World

The current state of American politics must make us question whether any of our leaders in the Beltway can be described as “grown-ups”, i.e., fully mature and sane individuals. Between the endless war crimes, corporate corruption, lobbyists who bribe congressmen and write legislation, and the ineptitude of federal entities who are supposed to protect our health such as the FDA,[Read More…]

by 20/08/2016 1 comment Counter Solutions
What Does The EU Stand For: Globalization or Universalism?

What Does The EU Stand For: Globalization or Universalism?

What is the purpose of the European Union? This question has been of the minds of everyone following the UK vote in favor of Brexit. Yet in the mad scramble to make sense of the United Kingdom’s rejection of the EU, little lucid commentary has been made. European leaders, the fawning media, and UK citizens alike portrayed the vote as[Read More…]

by 01/08/2016 1 comment Globalisation
 Europe At The Crossroads: The UK Referendum And The Spectre Of Nationalism

 Europe At The Crossroads: The UK Referendum And The Spectre Of Nationalism

Europe is about to faces a series of difficult decisions that will affect its future for years to come. The social contradictions of keeping an expanding globalized economy running, which at the same time disenfranchises millions of workers, are now too obvious to turn a blind eye to. Many efforts towards making a livable European community are in disarray, and most of the benefits accrue to the core EU states of Germany, the UK (for now), and France.

by 22/06/2016 1 comment World
The Case For The Green State

The Case For The Green State

Critiques of the modern nation-state have been growing in recent decades, due to the abysmal failures of the capitalist, neoliberal order. In particular, conservative-libertarian arguments are tinged with isolationist and protectionist trade rhetoric, low taxes and regulations, and supply-side economics. On the other side, the mild leftism of social-democratic reforms promote endless government spending, increases in social programs and minimum[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Counter Solutions
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