When conflicts arise among nations, similar behavior patterns persist.\u00a0 The current US leadership, in particular, is sorely lacking in skills of diplomacy, as evidenced by its use of bribes and coercion to eke out UN Security Council approval of a so-called \u201cpeace plan\u201d for Gaza that Jan Oberg points out is more like a cruel joke<\/a> in a conflict and peace illiterate world.<\/p>\n Meanwhile neocons in Europe and Washington, who pride themselves on being \u201cadvanced\u201d, persist in obstructing a negotiated settlement of NATO\u2019s proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. Rais Neza Boneza notes that for certain leaders, losing the war is less terrifying than <\/em>losing the story<\/em><\/a> that justifies the war.<\/em><\/p>\n We\u2019ll know we\u2019re making progress when public education\u2019s core curriculum includes conflict literacy, when all parents are supported in socializing their children within their communities,<\/p>\n and when the profession of mediator is elevated in stature above that of judge or military commander.\u00a0 When people are able to view all others as fellow human beings, trusting in each others\u2019 ability to solve problems of how we relate to each other.<\/p>\n By economic advancements<\/strong>, I mean how all the resources of the earth are put to use.\u00a0 In what universe can it be deemed acceptable for 1% of people to live in excessive luxury while 99% struggle to barely survive?\u00a0 For 0.1% or 0.01% to own astronomical amounts of money that they could never use up in thousands of lifetimes?\u00a0 How does a rich nation like the US end up with throngs of isolated, disabled, troubled people sleeping on the streets in all of its major cities?<\/p>\n To ensure ample funding for job security and meeting everyone\u2019s basic needs, fair tax policies such as high-end wealth, transaction and land value taxes, have yet to be fully fleshed out and widely implemented.<\/p>\n Public banking expert Ellen Brown<\/a> offers another obvious tool for uplift of societies, as the public Bank of North Dakota has demonstrated for over 100 years:\u00a0 \u2026 public<\/em>\u00a0banking \u2026 is not speculative, extractive, bubble-producing, inflationary or offshore. It designed to channel capital into the real economy \u2014 into goods, services, and livelihoods that nourish communities. Public banking keeps money local and accountable.<\/em><\/p>\n We\u2019ll know we\u2019re making progress when public education\u2019s core curriculum includes cooperative economics based on the principle of abundance rather than scarcity.\u00a0 When the poor everywhere are uplifted and the super-rich reigned in, such that wealth differences are greatly reduced<\/a>. When money becomes a tool for exchange rather than an object for unlimited accumulation.\u00a0 When all residents of countries rich in natural resources, incl. Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan, enjoy a comfortable standard of living.<\/p>\n By political advancements<\/strong>, I mean how decisions are made that affect people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 In families, work places and in public life, too often people are accustomed to letting bosses and strong leaders call the shots.\u00a0 Even most countries labeled \u201cdemocracies\u201d, are in fact far from it.\u00a0 Highly concentrated<\/a> wealth and power control much of the media with divisive and fear-mongering narratives to promote outcomes that ultimately serve the few and not the many.\u00a0\u00a0 Just because people can vote in elections doesn\u2019t mean they have a say in who becomes a candidate, or to what extent (if at all!) reliable and pertinent information about candidates is available. The citizenry should rule, not money.<\/p>\n Brazen murder on the high seas near Venezuela and genocide against innocents in Gaza have been perpetrated by \u201celected\u201d officials in the US and Israel.\u00a0 Saying no to war criminals and bullies is essential.\u00a0 Recall the two courageous former and current Georgia Congress members\u2014Cynthia McKinney and Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a>\u2014who, from opposite ends of the political spectrum, have said No to the Zionist lobby that demanded US fealty to Israel.\u00a0 What if the entire Congress were to muster sufficient backbone to do so?<\/p>\n Rather than get stuck in \u201cleft\u201d and \u201cright\u201d polarities, let\u2019s take an honest look at actual strengths and weaknesses of any given perspective.\u00a0 The sacred cow of capitalism needs to be sharply critiqued for its role in exacerbating poverty, while the maligned concepts of socialism and communism must be seriously considered for aspects of worker empowerment and universal meeting basic needs that they can bring to the table.\u00a0 As Richard Rubenstein points out, avoiding political taboos<\/a> can severely limit options available for successful conflict resolution.<\/p>\n We must reject the capitalist trap of believing money and profit are the primary motivators of productivity and innovation.\u00a0 Just look around you and marvel at the creative ideas and constructive activities people pursue all the time, not for money, but for the sheer satisfaction of having done something meaningful and purposeful for and with their fellow human beings.<\/p>\n Cuba has been slandered for 65 years as being a \u201cdictatorship\u201d, yet communist Cuba is, I maintain, more democratic than the United States.\u00a0 Cubans can and do debate and critique their government.\u00a0 What the West calls \u201coppressed dissidents\u201d are often CIA assets trying to engineer regime change, a phenomenon not welcome there.\u00a0 Major policy decisions, such as the recent family law overhaul to strengthen all kinds of families, or revisions in economic policy allowing privately owned businesses within non-exploitative parameters, took many years to achieve. \u00a0Extensive input and discussion in social circles and workplaces at all levels ensued before being widely accepted by the whole population and approved by the National Assembly.<\/p>\n As the thriving 70 year old Mondragon<\/a> cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain have shown, worker ownership and shared decision making provide another robust model for giving workers meaningful input into the success and sustainability of their enterprises, along with the overall health of their communities.\u00a0 Mondragon workers view capital is a tool to serve the people rather than the other way around.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll know we\u2019re making progress when public education\u2019s core curriculum includes learning modes of shared decision making, propaganda awareness, and how to gather reliable information from multiple sources for making sound decisions; when money is removed from electoral politics; when everyone feels they have a say and their voices are heard.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that there aren’t plenty of pathways already out there for transforming conflicts, ending the slaughter, healing trauma, and meeting everyone\u2019s basic needs.\u00a0 All merit further exploration.\u00a0 It’s those pathological bully billionaire gate-keepers who have washed enough brains that insufficient numbers of the many are prepared to band together and say No to them and Yes to humanity.\u00a0 Innovation without wisdom is like life without love, and we should demand no less.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s heed the observations<\/a> of a hospice nurse who accompanied hundreds of people on their deathbeds, revealing what really matters in life:\u00a0 love, presence, solidarity, courage, honesty, giving and receiving joy.<\/p>\n Tribute to Venezuela\u2019s deceased President Hugo Chavez \u2018the best friend\u2019 by Cuban tile artist Fuster in Havana<\/p><\/div>\n ____________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n Technological innovation is outpacing social, economic, and political innovation.\u00a0The implementation of technological innovation, driven by profit motives, is suppressing our potential to harness advancements to make life more wonderful for the entire human family, not just the privileged few.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[3143,2642,1733,1441,417,631,2628,442,393,530,2447,307,541,559,1221,2799,754,1190,2137,461,249,70,888,557],"class_list":["post-309262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","tag-anti-hegemony","tag-anti-imperialism","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-big-oil","tag-bullying","tag-change","tag-conflict-mediation","tag-conflict-transformation","tag-coup","tag-cuba","tag-hugo-chavez","tag-humanity","tag-latin-america-caribbean","tag-maduro","tag-monopoly","tag-nanoparticles","tag-oil","tag-regime-change","tag-south-america","tag-technology","tag-trump","tag-usa","tag-vaccines","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309262"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309270,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309262\/revisions\/309270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/El-Mejor-Amigo-1024x768.jpeg\")
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<\/a> Marilyn Langlois<\/em> is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/em><\/a> Editorial Committee and of\u00a0<\/em>TRANSCEND<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0USA West Coast. She is a volunteer community organizer and international solidarity activist based in Richmond, California.\u00a0 A co-founder of the\u00a0<\/em>Richmond Progressive Alliance<\/strong><\/a>, member of<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Haiti Action Committee<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and Board member of\u00a0the <\/em>International Center for 9\/11 Justice<\/strong><\/a>, she is retired from previous employment as a teacher, secretary, administrator, mediator and community advocate.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"