How to Overthrow the Illuminati

[slimmouse]

I mean it for what I hope these BS labels should mean to you.

If it doesn't I fucked up, and I'll gladly stand or fall by that failure of understanding.

On edit.

Im clearly on planet Zog just now, so kindly ignore my personal stupidity

[American Dream]

I mean it for what I hope these BS labels should mean to you.

If it doesn't I fucked up, and I'll gladly stand or fall by that failure of understanding.

What BS labels?

[slimmouse]

What BS labels?

Im kinda dssappointed that having read many hundreds of posts of mine( at least) , your'e asking me once again to define BS labels.

I suggest you read my posts. Think about them. Dress them up however you like - BS labels is what they is.

And the stupid thing is AD, that for all your difficulties grasping my point, I know for sure that you know this too.

[American Dream]

I really don't think it's that difficult to make a coherent argument. The folks who wrote the original post were certainly capable of doing so:

Why Illuminati Theory Doesn’t Work

There are several logical shortcomings to Illuminati theory. Here are six main reasons that Illuminati theory isn’t a useful explanation of the world.

1. Illuminati theory sees everything as connected, and leaves no room for coincidences or mistakes. Illuminati theorists tie every major world event to the Illuminati. They believe every event in human history is carefully watched, planned, or even controlled by conspiratorial groups. They leave no room for coincidence: Illuminati theorists believe everything happens for a reason, that everything is willed.

This view of history ignores that a gap always exists between what individuals or groups try to do, and what ends up happening. This gap is a fact. It exists for the rich and powerful just like everyone else. Even the U.S. government, the most powerful government in the world, cannot stop dozens of major events every year, from natural disasters to bureaucratic screwups. Of course some great world events were led by important individuals or groups. There was the Bolsheviks in the Russian revolution, and the Black Panther Party in the black liberation movement. But serious study shows that none of these groups had an all-powerful, controlling influence. There are always contingencies, coincidences, chance events, and mistakes.

2. Illuminati theory makes the enemy out to be all-powerful. Because Illuminati theory denies that history involves chance and mistakes, it makes the Illuminati seem god-like. This is like when peasants used to say that kings were untouchable gods, and could not be overthrown. The truth is, there is no social group so powerful that humanity cannot overthrow it. When the French revolution came, the king and queen were beheaded. In every period in history, myths arise that make the rulers seem invincible. With every transition to a new period, these myths are always shattered.

3. Illuminati theory fails to make basic logical or scientific arguments. When people talk about Illuminati theories, they vaguely suggest there is a connection between groups and events, rather than demonstrating exactly how they are connected. For example, an Illuminati theorist might say “an earthquake happened the same day Obama made a speech using earthquake metaphors. This was not a coincidence.” The Illuminati theorist hints there is a connection, but doesn’t say what it is. Did Obama cause the earthquake? Why was he trying to drop hints about who caused it? They leave it up to your imagination. This lets the Illuminati theorist avoid having to demonstrate and prove the connection he or she is hinting at. Most of the time, if the connection were described openly, it would seem silly or implausible.

Other Illuminati theories offer explanations of events, but then leap to saying their explanation is absolutely accurate. But just because an explanation for something is possible doesn’t mean it’s probable. If your car overheats, and you explain it by saying a bird built a nest in your radiator, your explanation could be accurate. But that doesn’t mean it’s the most likely explanation. For your theory to become generally accepted, you would have to show that other competing theories are less likely, or prove your theory true in practice, by opening up your radiator. Illuminati theory never does these things, because it says we can never get hard evidence of the actions of such a secret group.

In reality, there is plenty of evidence of what the capitalist class does on a daily basis. Most capitalist plans for economic and foreign policy are printed openly in the pages of the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. We can see them disagreeing publicly, and we can see that sometimes their plans don’t work out. Sure, there are some secrets, but as Wikileaks and Ed Snowden show, even these can be exposed by courageous people willing to take action. And most of their secrets are actually “open secrets”: information is available in public libraries and websites, but people are so overwhelmed by the volume of information available that we don’t have time or energy to sort out what’s important.



MOST ILLUMINATI THEORIES ARE EXTREMELY COMPLEX,
BUT EXPLAIN VERY LITTLE

4. Illuminati theory is impossible to disprove. Illuminati theorists have a clever way of attacking anyone who argues against them: they say “that’s just what they want you to think.” Of course, Illuminati theorists never ask how they’ve avoided being tricked themselves. This argument is a trap, because it never considers any evidence trustworthy, and so it doesn’t allow you to weigh the accuracy or usefulness of any theory. How do we know that all the conspiracy theories on YouTube aren’t actually produced by the Illuminati? How do we know that Illuminati theory itself isn’t a government hoax, designed to convince people that it’s impossible to fight back? Or that Behold a Pale Horse isn’t an Illuminati hoax? The logical traps are endless. Once you go down this road, you throw out any effort to really understand the world, or weigh theories and evidence about how it works.

5. Illuminati theory leads to elitism. Most Illuminati theorists claim to want democracy and transparency. But there is nothing in their theory or behavior that shows they are serious about either. Like the people who invented Illuminati theory in the early 1800s, Illuminati theorists today believe that the majority of society are blind sheep, who are incapable of doing anything without being controlled by an elite. When the public doesn’t react to their theories by rising up in rebellion, they blame the public for being stupid, instead of examining their own theories. Very often, Illuminati theorists think of themselves as the only “enlightened” people, and think everyone else is below them. Many Illuminati theorists are just as elitist as the groups they constantly theorize about.

6. Illuminati theory offers no viable solutions to the problems it tries to explain. Ultimately Illuminati theorists have no strategy, no game plan, no way out for billions of oppressed people on this planet. If the enemy is all-powerful and most people are duped, then there’s nothing that can be done. All they can do is constantly talk about conspiracies, and complain that people are brainwashed and will never wake up.

For example, look at the revolutionary strategy offered by Illuminati: The Cult that Hijacked the World by Henry Makow. In the conclusion to this book, Makow offers tips for how to “survive the New World Order.” He tells us to “direct our sex drive by confining it to a monogamous relationship.” What does this have to do with fighting oppression and exploitation? He tells us to “escape the money compulsion by living within our means.” Should we just accept the poverty that’s imposed on us? He tells us to “defend your own soul” by engaging in spiritual walks and meditation outside of institutional religion. These things are great to do, but they’re not going to end police brutality, poverty, or environmental collapse. And he tells us to “ignore the crowd, which is manipulated by the Illuminati.” Don’t sleep around, be frugal, pray alone and ignore everyone. This strategy will never build a mass movement to change anything.

The logical shortcomings of Illuminati theory are very convenient for many of its theorists. When it comes to fighting oppression, they can talk about it but they don’t have to be about it. What would these conspiracy theorists have said to U.S. slaves 150 years ago? That the white slavemaster was all-powerful? That he had duped the slaves into submission? That the slaves should stop having sex, be frugal, pray, and ignore the other slaves? They would have been the most conservative and cowardly people. That is what many Illuminati theorists are today, sad as it is to say.

When Illuminati theorists do take action, they often end up becoming violent, “lone wolf” types like Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. They think the enemy is super-powerful, and so extreme measures are needed. But they also think the masses of people are stupid, and so the “enlightened” person can only act alone. This strategy never inspires masses of people. The lone wolf is not something most people look up to or imitate, even if they sympathize with his or her motivations. Ultimately, “lone wolf” actions are like cries of impotence.

The truth is, masses of ordinary people have the ability to change society. History has shown it over and over again. Illuminati theorists are searching for answers about why society is fucked up. If masses of people aren’t asking the same question, it’s not because they’re stupid: it’s because they don’t think it’s possible to change things, and so don’t bother looking any deeper. Theories only move people to action when they provide an accurate explanation of the things they are experiencing, and offer viable ways for them to act to change things. Illuminati theory offers neither.

Illuminati theory is inherently elitist, conservative, inaccurate and illogical. Ultimately, it is unable to explain oppression and exploitation, or help us figure out how to stop it. To truly stop oppression and exploitation, we need an accurate analysis of where they come from.

http://overthrowingilluminati.wordpress ... lluminati/


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[slimmouse]

You say illuminati. I say Illuminato.

I know their names. I know their history. I know what they did.

I see the world now.

Are they victims of the system or are they in charge of it ?

Its a fascinating angle for those who are prepared to engage with the possibility of higher levels of reality that transcend this mortal coil.

For those who don't get any of that, one thing that is undeniable to anyone truly informed is that these people are quite literally a bunch of motherfucking idiots.

[Sounder]

Hopefully this all can help promote the sort of deep and rigorous conspiracy analysis that will help us to best play our part in resolving current social problems

OK then, let’s try.

I agree with many of the particulars in this piece, while not having much resonance with its primary assumptions.

Perhaps a place to start is to acknowledge that we all share a desire to improve our global relationship with nature and reality.

Yet we all make different assessments as far as primary imperatives are concerned.

I like this OP because it’s like a primer or cliffs notes Marxist thinking.

I just got some work and am a slow thinker so I will be back later with questions and observations on assumptions that drive this paper and Marxism more generally.

With gratitude to all, Thanks

[Wombaticus Rex]

Started Dennis King's "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism" and the parallels with this thread are pretty striking. LaRouche was a devout Marxist and clearly more of a genius-type than I gave him credit for, too. He was keen to organize in "The Hood," as per the OP's authors, and was obsessively focused on the power of small, tightly organized groups to create mass effects.

I sympathize with slim's disdain for the forensic autopsies on ideological corpses, given the historical track record illustrating how any "belief system" can happily accomodate authoritarian dominance, minority scapegoating and militant violence. (Witness Samantha Power, liberal humanitarian, arguing before the United Nations in favor of missile strikes on civilians. Every day is another recurring nightmare for the ghost of Carl Jung.)

I don't think Karl Marx is necessary to explain to a young black kid why their job prospects suck. Still, I don't view it as wasted effort because the synthesis that will come out of it will be quite interesting. The OP authors are surely making tremendous mistakes with targeting and messaging, but so what? Their path is their own and hopefully great weirdness will come of it.

I think the most valid criticism in this thread, overall, was stillrobertpaulson's point about the bait-and-switch title. How To Overthrow the Illuminati apparently consists of merely acknowledging the Illuminati does not exist. If only Jehovah was so easy to get rid off...

[American Dream]

Started Dennis King's "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism" and the parallels with this thread are pretty striking. LaRouche was a devout Marxist and clearly more of a genius-type than I gave him credit for, too. He was keen to organize in "The Hood," as per the OP's authors, and was obsessively focused on the power of small, tightly organized groups to create mass effects.

I sympathize with slim's disdain for the forensic autopsies on ideological corpses, given the historical track record illustrating how any "belief system" can happily accomodate authoritarian dominance, minority scapegoating and militant violence. (Witness Samantha Power, liberal humanitarian, arguing before the United Nations in favor of missile strikes on civilians. Every day is another recurring nightmare for the ghost of Carl Jung.)

I don't think Karl Marx is necessary to explain to a young black kid why their job prospects suck. Still, I don't view it as wasted effort because the synthesis that will come out of it will be quite interesting. The OP authors are surely making tremendous mistakes with targeting and messaging, but so what? Their path is their own and hopefully great weirdness will come of it.

I think the most valid criticism in this thread, overall, was stillrobertpaulson's point about the bait-and-switch title. How To Overthrow the Illuminati apparently consists of merely acknowledging the Illuminati does not exist. If only Jehovah was so easy to get rid off...

Lyndon LaRouche was a serious Marxist Leninist at one time, for sure. I would personally place him high on a list of suspected government infiltrators though. At any rate he clearly moved on to right wing cult leader, continuing on with many of the errors of his day as left wing cult leader. I want little to nothing to do with any such groups.

The authors of this piece absolutely do draw on Marxian analysis but are definitely not Leninists- and that's a major, major difference. I could go on all day about my problems with Leninist formations- as could others I imagine- and it could be time well spent! That said, many of the fundamentals concepts from Marx (as previously excerpted for example)- are essential to understanding social reality- and to changing it at the roots.

As to the title, I understand the critique but let's look how people use the term "Illuminati" in common practice, even on this thread. If nothing else "Illuminati" is shorthand for elites- dominant elites. So if the authors are outlining their proposal for organizing militant, conscious and strategic activity for fundamental social change as an alternative to misleading pop culture fluff about Jay Z and Beyonce or whatever, I'm pretty good with that myself.

[seemslikeadream]

Elysium: When the Elite Ruling Class Makes Hell on Earth for the Masses

STEVEN JONAS MD, MPH FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Elysium PosterAccording to Wikipedia: "Elysium or the Elysian Fields is a conception of the afterlife that evolved over time and was maintained by certain Greek religious and philosophical sects and cults. Initially separate from the realm of Hades, admission was initially reserved for mortals related to the gods and other heroes. Later, it expanded to include those chosen by the gods, the righteous, and the heroic, where they would remain after death, to live a blessed and happy life, and indulging in whatever employment they had enjoyed in life."

In his movie "Elysium," set in 2154, writer director Neil Blomkamp has a rather different view of the place. It is not reserved for the dead, but for the very much alive super/super/ultra-rich (read: ruling class) who have apparently survived the dead-zone for everyone else that their policies have created on Earth. And as is well-known by now to most readers of these pages, they have retreated to a vast satellite world that, even though they are hardly dead, they have for some reason named "Elysium."

Perhaps it is because even now, there are members of the present ruling class, not only in the U.S. but around the world from here to China, to Russia, to the oil Kingdoms, to certain European and South American enclaves, who think of themselves as truly above everyone else. They are in their own minds god-like perhaps, and certainly totally entitled to their riches, even if in the process of gaining them they are dooming the rest of mankind to the kind of existence that Blomkamp portrays in his movie.

That is, one could imagine the Kochs, for example, or certain Saudi princes, or certain Russian oligarchs, or certain Chinese's "princelings" (that is descendants of founding members of the Chinese Communist Party --- who would be rolling over in their graves if they knew what had become of their children and grandchildren), thinking of themselves in the category of the "righteous and the heroic," entitled to the life they have developed for themselves 140 years from now on their space-island. (Yes, entitled, there's that word again. Well you have heard of "entitlements," haven't you? Indeed this, not pre-paid pension benefits like Social Security, is its real meaning: what the ruling class think they are entitled to, come what may for everyone else.) Indeed, Elysium does seem to be international, for English is not the only language spoken there; French, the international language of the 19th century, is also.

"Elysium" is a movie that says many things to us, not, perhaps, all of them intended to be said by Mr. Blomkamp. Let me get my criticisms out of the way first. First, without giving it away, the movie has a happy, or at least apparently happy, ending. One must presume that this is one of Mr. Blomkamp's bows to Hollywood, necessary to get made what is a very expensive, VERY high-tech movie (with marvelous special effects, which I happen to love). But the ending is jarring, to say the least, and very unrealistic. It's sort of like the ending of Roland Emmerich's (otherwise) masterpiece "The Day After Tomorrow" in which millions of Nord Americanos, fleeing a new ice age (which indeed could be a short-term consequence of global warming, as is explained in that movie) are welcomed with open arms south of the border. Oh yeah!

Second, in "Elysium" there is some confusion about what the real issue is between the masses trapped on the ravaged Earth and their rulers on Elysium: the total misery and oppression of the masses that has been created by those rulers on Earth out of which there seems to be no way, or the question of illegal emigration to the satellite and how that is managed. Blomkamp seems to be trying to deal with both issues side-by-side. For me this led to some confusion about what the movie is really about. Third, there is no history: how did this all come to be, in the 140-or-so years from now until then? We know already what capitalism and its evil twin global warming are leading to: the arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Famine, Flood, Plague, and War. But for the reality of the movie to have been achieved, how did the masses become so totally oppressed and repressed, how did the ruling class manage to get away with it, apparently unscathed, and how did even they manage to accumulate the capital for what would be a very expensive enterprise: Elysium itself?

However, there are many excellent features of the movie, and I don't have space to deal with them all here. First of all, one doesn't have to imagine 2154 to see what life is like for many millions of humans, right now. For the future slum of Los Angeles in the movie was actually set in one of the present slums of Mexico City. The reality of health care faced by the masses is brilliantly portrayed by an emergency room scene likely not that different from those in many poor countries right now, and by the fact that cures for all sorts of ailments are readily available (in the movie provided by a magic, 22nd century fix-whatever-it-is-that-ails-you machine), but only on Elysium. Which is how many people around the world must now feel about the lack of available medical care, and in the U.S., where modern medical care miracles are widely distributed, for those who can afford them. But if in the U.S. you don't have health insurance, fuhgeddaboudit.

The cops are vicious, violent, automatons (not that all present cops are, but there are plenty like them). Max's "parole officer" is a sappy automaton, in function probably much like certain members of that profession in real life, now. "Homeland Security" is ever-present (as it is becoming more so, now). The "Defense Secretary," Delacourt, played by Jodie Foster, is a vicious, scheming Dick Cheney-like character for whom "defense" is primarily against all the people left behind on Earth. She can see events on Earth that might present some kind of threat to her realm, in real time (and the NSA is already checking out the technology available to her). And she uses working class traitors to help her keep the working class oppressed. Then there is workplace reality faced by the movie's hero, Max, brilliantly played by Matt Damon. You see it all: speed-up, unions long gone, no occupational health and safety regulations, minimal pay for dangerous work, the foreman clearly acting as an intermediate oppressor, the boss of it seated in a sealed container overseeing the shop floor, but not wanting to even smell it, much less descend onto it. And so on and so forth.

Blomkamp does present a vision of what Earth could look like in the future, and not necessarily 140 years in the future, with global warming already wreaking havoc and capitalism becoming ever more ferociously profit-centered. What we need next is how this all is going to be prevented. Since that is going to take leading parties and the next generation of socialist revolutions around the world, don't expect to find that story in a Hollywood movie.

(Photo: IMP Awards)

[seemslikeadream]

it would be nice if one did not use the cliff notes of cliff notes on the illuminati..who ever that is





Canadian Minister of Defense: We must overthrow the Illuminati


Terrence Mckenna on conspiracy therories and who's in control

[American Dream]

http://www.forteantimes.com/features/ar ... _ones.html

The Enlightened Ones

Who are the Illuminati? Do they really control the world? And how do you join?



DAVID HAMBLING traces the hidden history of the most notorious conspiracy of all time, while DAVID V BARRETT assesses its modern legacy.

Once, the Illuminati were barely a rumour. An ancient conspiracy manipulating humankind for their own dark purposes, they were the hidden hand behind history. They infiltrated the corridors of power via groups like the Freemasons, starting revolutions and toppling kingdoms. They gained control of the international banking system, allowing them to covertly rule the world.

In recent years, though, this blanket of secrecy has been gradually lifted. Now the secrecy has been eroded. First, in 1975, there were the three books later published as the single-volume The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson; then there was a best-selling game; these days, the Illuminati crop up in every corner of popular culture, from Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons to Tomb Raider. But the truth about the Illuminati remains as elusive as ever.

As a political conspiracy, the group known as the Bavarian Illuminati was actually very short-lived. A secret society dedicated to spreading republicanism, it was founded in 1776 and outlawed in 1790, after which it ceased to function. While they caused much alarm, the Bavarian Illuminati were notably unsuccessful as revolutionaries. They may have inspired other groups, but there is little evidence that the Illumin­ati themselves endured as a political force. However, this group was the artificial creat­ion of one man – and an imitation of a far older and more influent­ial Illuminati. And to find out about them we must travel back to 16th-century Spain.

THE "NEW CHRISTIANS"
For centuries, most of Spain was under Moorish rule, with Muslims, Jews and Christians living peacefully together in what has been described as a golden age of the arts and sciences. However, by the late Middle Ages the Moorish kingdoms were falling one by one to Christian conquerors, a process known as the Reconquista. The new regime had a slogan: “One country, one faith”. Having expelled the Moors, they next decided to resolve the ‘Jewish question’.

There had been public violence against the Jews since 1391, followed by a strong pressure on them to convert. In 1492, the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issued a final edict that Jews must be bapt­ised into the Catholic Church or be expelled from Spain. Many left, but others stayed, and the many thousands of Conversos, or ‘New Christians’, now made up much of Spain’s educated urban middle class.

Ironically, then, the effect of the edict was perhaps precisely the opposite of what was intended: Converso families who had previously been shunned for their religion were now equal to their neighbours. Conversos could occupy public office, and frequently did, often rising to high position. Converso authors and poets contributed greatly to Spanish culture; even Cervantes, Spain’s greatest author, may have come from such a family. [1] And the Church now found itself faced with a new generation of young priests from Converso stock.

Prejudice dies hard, and many Old Christ­ians deeply resented their new brothers in religion. Inevitably, conspiracy theories began to surface, suggesting that the Conversos were infiltrating the state and the Church in order to take them over. The idea was popularised by Friar Alonso de Espina in a 1466 tract, Fortalitium Fidei Contra Judaeos (Fortress of Faith against the Jews).

A chronicler in Seville recorded a plot by a group of senior Conversos against the authorities in 1481. They were gathering men and arms for a revolt, and believed that they could get the people to support them. But the plotters were betrayed – the beautiful daughter of their leader was in love with a Christian – arrested, and the ringleaders publicly executed. The story provided justification for later generations who believed that the Conversos could not be trusted. It was not until the 20th century that historian Henry Kamen proved the whole thing was a complete fabrication. [2]

Laws of racial purity were passed to prevent those with Jewish blood from holding public office, and in 1478 a new organisation was set up to deal with religious subversion: the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition was zealous in following up any allegation that Conversos might be secretly following their old religion and, using torture and psychological terror, set about ensuring that nobody strayed from the true path.

Many Conversos were sincere Christians, and they brought new ideas into Christianity. In 1511, Spain saw the first stirrings of a movement whose followers were called Illuminati in Latin or Alumbrados in Spanish. In English, we might call them ‘Enlightened Ones’. Pedro Ruiz de Alcaraz preached a form of Christianity which involved contemplation to achieve the mystical experience of seeing the Light of God directly. The Alumbrados emphasised the power of God’s love and the ineffectiveness of human effort – including even that of the Church. For them, ecstatic vision and personal communion replaced ecclesiastical ritual and priestly mediation.

A few Alumbrados came from old aristo­cratic families, but the majority were Conversos. In the 1520s, the Inquisition established that the Alumbrados were heretical and set about exterminating them. The movement was forced into hiding. For curious political reasons, the Alumbrados were accused, and frequently convicted, of being Protestant Lutherans, an entirely unrelated ‘heresy’. It’s a bit like convicting Buddhists of being Hindu, and must have added a surreal (even Pythonesque) air to the trials.

Ignatius of Loyola was among those accused of being an Alumbrado. [3] Cleared, he became a priest and founded the Order of Jesus or Jesuits, which became a powerful elite acting under the direct authority of the Pope. The Jesuits also had a lasting hostility to the Inquisition, although it was Jesuit influence that helped end Illuminism in Spain; rather than opposing mysticism, they embraced it, making the Church more appealing to would-be Alumbrados. The movement didn’t completely die out, though, resurfacing in France as the Illumines. But, as a major religious movement, Illuminism had lost its momentum.

The Spanish experience contains all the elements associated with the Illuminati. A movement inspired by visionaries defies the established order; it faces a society racked by a fear of infiltration; and there is a violent reaction, driving the movement underground. The popular image of the Illuminati as we know them – a conspiracy against society, perpetrated by Jews – was born.

Where did the Alumbrado heresy come from? Mainstream Jewish thought certainly does not encourage the rejection of religious authorities in favour of a direct personal approach to a God of light. But such a belief is the hallmark of the mystical Jewish movement known as Kabbalah.

THE KABBALAH
Derived from the word for ‘to receive’, Kabb­alah – also spelled Cabala or Qabbalah – is a tradition which deals with the understanding of God and personal mystical experience. The major work of the Kabbalah is the Sefer Zohar or Book of Splendour, compiled in Spain by Moses of Leon around 1280. Although he claimed the contents were derived from much earlier sources, modern scholars believe that the Zohar was Moses de Leon’s own work, a synthesis of the thinking of the time and his own new material. [3] By couching it in traditional form and writing in Aramaic, he gave the Zohar more authority and made its new ideas acceptable to his contemporary audience, thus avoiding charges of heresy from more orthodox scholars.

The Kabbalah is a theology of light in which the Universe is described in terms of 10 ‘sephiroth’ – attributes or aspects of God. These are described as spheres through which the light of God is transmitted to mankind. The sephiroth give shape to the divine light and are separate but also one with it “in the same way as the rays which proceed from the light are simply manifestations of one and the same light”.

Each of the sephiroth has its own name and qualities, including ‘Binah’ or Understanding, ‘Hokhmah’ or Wisdom and so on. Each relates to the others in particular ways and they form a structure which is described in terms of a tree or a primordial human figure, Adam Kadmon. As the first created being and link between mankind and God, Adam Kadmon is involved in the creation and also the redemption of the world, when evil will finally be expunged. Matters then get progressively more complex: emanating from the 10 sephiroth is a second world of another 10, which is the physical world we know. There are also third and fourth worlds, occupied by hosts of named angels and demons, each with particular attributes.

Names are very important in the Kabbalah, as the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are literally the building blocks of the Universe. God created the world through the act of naming. The combinations of letters encompass everything that ever has been or will be.

This gives rise to the hermeneutical aspect of Kabbalah, a way of decoding messages concealed in the scriptures. There are three different techniques:
Temura: changing the letters of words to create other words by anagrams
Gemetria: in which letters have numerical values and can be compared with other numbers or words
Notarokon: making words from the initials of phrases (so “Ateh Gibor le-Olam Adonai” – “Thou art mighty forever, Lord” becomes AGLA).

This provided Renaissance Kabbalists with a great deal of occupation as they painstakingly shuffled words and numbers to reveal the secret truths about the Universe and to uncover the many powerful names of God. They calculated, for example, that there are exactly 301,655,172 angels in the Universe. What their modern counterparts can do with the aid of computer technology can scarcely be imagined. [4]

It is this side that gives rise to “practical Kabbalah”. The Zohar contains details of how to communicate with hidden powers, explaining how to command angels and demons to influence nature, cure disease, curse enemies, predict the future and perform other wonders. For example, a piece of Kabbalah folklore allows a married couple to predict which of them will die first, by adding the numbers of their names together and seeing if the result is odd or even.

The Alumbrados appeared in areas such as Toledo, which were previously centres for Kabbalism, and although they seem to have lacked the scholarship of the Kabbalah, the core idea of personal experience of God’s light persisted. This may be because Conversos maintained only their oral traditions after the loss of their Hebrew and Aramaic books. Interestingly, many Alumbrado leaders were women, a group which would not in any case have had access to the written component of the Kabbalah.

A LIGHT FOR THE WORLD
If the Alumbrados represented the resurfacing of an oral tradition, then the scholarly tradition of the Kabbalah also survived and thrived elsewhere. Spain was the great centre of Kabbalistic learning, and the expulsion of Jews spread Kabbalists to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Palestine and Italy. The latter was to prove significant, as the humanist philosopher Pico Della Mirandolla picked up the Kabbalah and Christianised it. Mirandolla explained Kabbalah as a theology which predicted Christianity and contained many of the same elements. (The Christian version is often spelled Cabbala to distinguish it from Jewish Kabbalah.)

In 1494, a leading theologian, Johannes Reuchlin wrote De verbo mirifico, in which he showed that the Biblical name of God, the Hebrew letters YHWH, could be miraculously transformed into JESUS by Cabbalistic means. Adam Kadmon was also identified with Jesus.

The Catholic Church eventually ruled against Cabbala, concluding: “Its speculations concerning God’s nature and relation to the Universe differ materially from the teachings of Revelation.” [5] Its study was considered heretical, and practical Cabbala was a black art, driven underground once again. This did nothing to destroy its popularity, and Cabbala became a staple of Renaissance magic; it also gave rise to the word ‘Cabal’ for a group of plotters.

Cabbala has appeared either overtly or in concealed form in much occult teaching since then. It was borrowed, adapted and built upon; in modern terms, unlicensed pirate copies were in free circulation. Its ancient pedigree gives it authority, its dense scholarship lends it weight and depth, making Cabbala the ideal ingredient to add to any philosophy for an instant boost – the monosodium glutam­ate of the occult.

Scratch the surface of Freemasonry and you find the Cabbala. Rosicrucianism is rife with it. It lies at the heart of esoteric religious groups like the OTO, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley’s ‘magick’. None of this could be described as pure, but then Cabbalistic scholarship has never been pure. Since the earliest days, there have been cross-currents with other philosophies, most notably the first-century Gnostics, Hermetic philsophy, Persian Zoroastrians and the even earlier Pythagoreans. It is quite possible – and hotly debated – that the ‘original’ Kabbalah may have come from one of these sources and was only later adopted into Judaism. Adam Kadmon looks rather similar to the Persian Adam Qadmaia, the hidden Adam. There is no continuous ancient tradition, but an unceasing blending and development of ideas.

However, new developments can always do with an impressive lineage to back them up, and everyone – from the Freemasons to Moses de Leon to the first-century Kabbalists – who invoked Moses has tended to invent an ancient pedigree to support their own ideas.

THE TWO SIDES OF THE ILLUMINATI
As we have seen, there are two very different sides to Illuminism. One is the popular view of the Illuminati as villains behind everything from Freemasonry to Satanism, with the recurrence of various plundered symbols giving the impression of a unified movement. Adam Weishaupt’s Bavarian Illuminati, founded to “attain the highest degree of virtue”, were quickly demonised. Weishaupt came from a Jewish family, had a Jesuit education and was a Freemason – all factors that counted against him. In more recent times, Illuminati paranoia has moved from political radicals to international banks, also depicted as shadowy organisations controlled by Jews. Laughable as this idea may seem, such beliefs in a powerful conspiracy that was undermining society helped propel the Nazis to power in 1933, while similar notions are current among ultra-nationalists in Russia today.

The other Illuminati are the heirs to the Kabbalistic tradition. As always, their teachings are confined to the few, because it is an esoteric path for those willing to put in the effort, rather than an exoteric one for the many. Trying to make complex and subtle doctrine simple destroys its essence. It’s like trying to stuff a cream cake into your pocket: you could do it, but you no longer have a cake, only a sticky mess. Such teachings can be easily misunderstood and the doctrine distorted, losing its truth.

Modern organisations like the Kabbalah Centre want to make the Kabbalah more accessible, suggesting that the Zohar can be ‘read’ by running your hands over the text. The Centre also sells red string wristbands to protect from the evil eye at , Kabbalah water spray for , or a complete Zohar for 5. [6] Whatever the metaphysical objections, the Centre has attracted stars like Madonna and Britney Spears with its promises to “bring more money into your life, ignite sexual energy and… radiate beauty to all who see you”.

But you may be sure that the real Illumin­ati are still there, and those that look for them will be able to find them. They may want personal transformation rather than global domination, but those who reject authority in favour of finding their own truth will always be unpopular with the powers that be.

Notes
1 Kevin S Larsen: “Cervantes, Don Quijote, and the Hebrew Script­ures”
2 Henry Kamen: The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1997, p46.
3 Mention should also be made of the blessed Ramon Llull (1232–1316), a Spanish Christian philosopher who spent much time debating with theologians from other faiths. His works describe the Creation in terms of divine lights and a distinctly Cabbalistic (or proto-Cabbalistic) ‘art of combination’. He is known as Doctor Illuminatus.
4 Darren Aronofsky’s wonderful 1998 movie Pi (1998) includes an exploration of this idea.
5 See “Catholic Encyclopedia”
6 http://store.kabbalah.com/.

By David Hambling





ADAM WEISHAUPT AND THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI
The organisation known as the Illuminati – or the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria – was initially called the Order of Perfectibilists, and was founded on 1 May 1776 by a young professor of Natural and Canon Law at the University of Ingoldstat in Bavaria (pp74–76). He was Adam Weishaupt (1748–1811 or 1830), a Jew brought up as a Catholic, who converted to Protestantism and had a strong interest in the esoteric tradition that led him to join the Free­masons in 1774.

Weishaupt’s aim was to perfect both the world and the individual (hence the Order’s original name), a project he described as: “illumination, enlightening the understanding by the Sun of reason, which will dispel the clouds of superstition and of prejudice”. Weishaupt’s radical version of Enlightenment involved the abolition of nations, monarchies and religions, and had the ultimate intention of doing away with all social struct­ures, including private property and marriage.

Members of the Illum­inati were organised into cells that reported to an Unknown Superior, thus preserving secrecy but also (despite Weishaupt’s avowedly egalitarian beliefs) maintaining a distance between lower and higher-grade members.

Indeed, although he had found no deep spirituality in the Masonic lodge he had joined earlier, Weishaupt was a firm believer in the secret doctrines, the ancient wisdom teachings, which he believed lay at the heart of both Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism.

The Illuminati began with Weishaupt and four friends in 1776. By 1779, it had 54 members in five lodges around Bavaria, and then began to expand beyond it by infiltrating and taking over existing Masonic lodges. Within five years, it had some 650 members in lodges around Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Switzerland and northern Italy.

The organisation’s revolutionary beliefs had also attracted attention, despite its structure as a secret society, with both Church and State determined to quash it. In 1784, Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, banned all secret societies; in 1785, the Illuminati were specifically named as a seditious group, with Weishaupt stripped of his university post and banished from Bavaria. The authorities seized a great deal of Illuminati documentation, and clamped down on its members, most of whom also fled the country.

Weishaupt settled in Gotha in Saxony, where he received a pension from Duke Ernst II and taught Philosophy at the University of Göttingen. Without his leadership, the Illuminati very quickly died out. It had lasted a mere 10 years – but its reput­ation continues even today.

By David V Barrett





10 ILLUMINATI CONSPIRACIES
In their bid to control the world, the Illuminati are said to have had their hidden fingers in all sorts of conspiratorial pies over the centuries. Possibly the scariest thing about these theories is the way they all tend to link up somewhere along the line: tug on virtually any thread of popular conspiracy theory and it will eventually lead you to the Illuminati. In the Internet age, this network of interconnections is becoming ever more tangled, with many websites having taken paranoia as an art form to a pitch of dizzying baroque splendour.

The Freemasons
Quickly infiltrated by Weishaupt’s Illuminati and pursuing world domination on the quiet ever since. In reality, the main result of Weishaupt’s takeover attempt was the conspiracy theories of Robison and Barruel, and thus a legacy of hostility from national oligarchies and the Catholic Church towards Masonry.

The Great Seal of the United States
The Masonic/Illuminati conspiracy is revealed in the ‘secret’ symbolism of the ‘Eye in the Pyramid’ adopted in 1782 and still to be seen on the dollar bill (top). (In fact, the ‘all seeing eye’, representing omniscient deity, and the pyramid below it, representing lasting strength, are not Masonic symbols, and of the 14-strong design committee for the seal only Benjamin Franklin was a Mason. ‘Novus Ordo seclorum’ doesn’t mean New World Order or even New Secular Order, no matter what Dan Brown says.

The Jewish conspiracy
Scratch a Mason, Satanist or international banker and you’ll find a Jew, say the conspiracy theorists. Underlying many of the Illuminati conspiracy theories is a strain of anti-Semitic thought that even includes belief in the discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the document that supposedly proves a Jewish plan for world dominat­ion (and a proven forgery – see FT131:7; 136:37–38).

Satanic Bloodlines
A cabal of 13 immensely powerful Satanist families – including such names as Astor, Rothschild, Rockefeller, Onassis as well as the Merovingian bloodline of European monarchy – have been using mind control techniques on an unsuspecting populace to maintain their grip on power. Some of these families are either aliens, Jews (or possibly both) to boot!

Aliens
According to David Icke, the Illumin­ati are a race of shape-shifting reptilian aliens from ‘the lower fourth dimension’, counting among their number such human-alien hybrids as George W Bush, Hillary Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II and Kris Kristofferson. Other accounts suggest that the Illuminati have been working hand-in-glove with the notorious ‘Grays’, opposed by the ‘friendly’ aliens of the Galactic Federation and even, in some theories, crop circle-makers trying to reveal Illumin­ati plans.

The New World Order
The Illuminati are behind pretty much every major international body in the political and financial realms, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the United Nations, the EU and the Inter­national Criminal Court. Their aim is to work behind the scenes to brainwash the masses into accepting a global government, centralised economic control and a single world religion.

Microsoft
We’ve all had bad experiences with Windows – which should come as no surprise when we realise that Bill Gates is in fact the latter-day incarnation of none other than Adam Weishaupt. The name is a dead giveaway: Bill = B(avarian) Ill(uminati), Gates = Geheime Amerikanische Tochtergenosssenschaft der Erleuchteten Seher, the American Illuminati lodge. Simple.

The Bohemian Club
Meeting each year since 1872 at “the world’s most prestigious summer camp”, this ‘secret society’ dreamt up by some San Francisco journalists in 1872 is a front for all kinds of Illuminist/Satanic/New World Order goings-on, including naked wrestling, strange pageants involving giant owls and (the story goes) S&M and necrophilia.

College societies
From college Fraternity societies like Phi Beta Kappa (formed, very quickly, in 1776 by American illuminists and a direct link to Weishaupt, the theory goes) to ‘secret’ college societies like Yale’s Skull and Bones, these incubators of the future great and good have come under much suspicion as potential Illuminati breeding grounds, producing powerful politicians and industrialists, top spies and, of course, George W Bush.

International terror
Abstruse numerological interpret­ations of the 9/11 and 7/7 bombings show that these supposed terrorist attacks actually have the name of the Illuminati written all over them, for those who can read the clues. Don’t try this at home.

Finally, please note that none of the theories expounded here is supported by Fortean Times or its editors.

By David Sutton





SECRET RULERS OF THE WORLD
The growth of a conspiracy theory

It is astonishing that a small, short-lived society in southern Germany over two centuries ago should have taken such a strong hold on conspiracy theor­ists worldwide. It has been said that it is irrelevant whether the Illuminati actually control the world; if enough people are foolish enough to believe that they do, then, in a sense, they do.

Conspiracy theories about the Illuminati began only a decade after the demise of the Order, stemm­ing from the work of two writers, John Robison and Augustin de Barruel, each with an agenda of his own.

In 1797, John Robison, Professor of Natural Philo­sophy at the University of Edinburgh, wrote a book with the all-embracing (though hardly snappy) title, Proofs of a Conspiracy Against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies, collected from good authorities.

A Freemason himself, Robison’s aim was actually to distance socially respectable British Freemasonry from what he saw as some of the more dubious continental variet­ies. Robison’s book is full of factual errors, but its influential central thesis was that the Illuminati, after abolishing all relig­ions and governments, “would rule the World with uncontrollable power, while all the rest would be employed as tools of the ambition of their unknown superiors”.

Abbé Augustin de Barruel, a former Jesuit, was the author of Mémoires pour servir a l’histoire du Jacobin­isme, a four-volume work published in 1797 and 1798 and equally full of erroneous stories – including the much-cited one that the downfall of the Illuminati began when one of their couriers, Franz Lang or Jacob Lanz, was struck by lightning and killed. Sewn into secret pockets in his clothes, it is said, were coded messages from Adam Weishaupt, which were discovered by the Bavarian police and led directly to the ban on the Order. In an echo of accusations against other ‘secret societies’, de Barruel said the Illuminati “had sworn hatred to the altar and the throne, had sworn to crush the God of the Christians, and utterly to extirpate the Kings of the Earth.”

The influence of Robison and de Barruel on future conspiracy theories about the Illuminati cannot be over-emphasised. According to both writers, the Illuminati were so successful at recruiting members from other groups, like the Masons, that they were in part responsible for the French Revolution.

But the tendrils of the supposed Illuminati conspir­acy have spread much farther and wider than Revolutionary France. So widespread are they, the conspiracy theorists assert, that they have been behind almost everything that has happened since. Is it just coincidence that 1776, the year that the Illuminati began, was the year of the American Revolution? Or that the first of the influential American “Greek letter” college fraternities, Phi Beta Kappa, also began in that same year?

The Internet is rife with conspiracy theories of every shade involving the Illuminati. Those who believe that there is a Jewish Masonic conspiracy running the world simply cite the founder of the Illuminati, Adam Weishaupt, a Jew and a Freemason, as proof of their case. Most such theories are promulgated by funda­mentalist Christians or New Age enthusiasts, and are usually extremely right wing, white supremacist or anti-Semitic. Some fundamentalist Christians link the Illuminati with the Antichrist and the impending end of this era; other conspiracy theorists claim the Illuminati were behind 9/11.

The basic theory is that the Illuminati did not die out in 1786,when they were closed down in Bavaria. Instead, groups around the world went underground, resurfacing under a number of different identities. Thus, all 33˚ Freemasons must actually be secret Illuminati members. So too the powers behind Greek-letter societies (especially the Yale University fraternity society Skull and Bones), which between them produce a large number of bankers, industrialists, senators, congressmen and presidents of the United States. And of course the Rothschilds, the Rocke­fellers and other major Jewish families, especially if they are bankers. Also heads of governments around the world. It goes without saying that the Illuminati were behind the creation of the European Union.

Stripped to its basics, the present-day theory of the Illuminati is that they are already the Secret Rulers of the world, and that they are plotting a New World Order, a world government under their control – just as John Robison had argued back in 1797. They run organisations such as the Freemasons, the US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Trilateral Commission and the World Bank; and, of course, the Bilderberg Group, the annual meeting of top politic­ians, financiers and businessmen from Europe and North America held behind closed doors and usually in a world-class hotel, and the Bohemian Club, notorious for its Bohemian Grove summer camps for the rich and powerful, held each July in California.

Effectively, any organisation containing powerful or influential people is, say the conspiracy theorists, run by the Illuminati.

A number of obvious questions could be asked by anyone with a critical mind, but two are fundamental. First, if the Illuminati and their offshoots are so all-powerful, why have they been so singularly ineffective at achieving their aims over the last two centuries? And second, if they are so secretive, how is it that their members, aims, motives, plots and plans are so easy for conspiracy theorists to uncover?

Indeed, if the Secret Rulers of the World are so inept, perhaps we don’t need to worry too much about them. Instead, perhaps we should be more concerned about the conspiracy theorists themselves. In America they include so-called Christian Militia groups and other ultra-right-wing Christian sects which are anti-Semitic, anti-Black, anti-gay, anti-feminist and anti-liberal.

Adapted from the forthcoming Atlas of Secret Societies by David V Barrett, to be published by Godsfield in March 2009.





THE SECRET PEOPLE
Some Conversos were crypto-Jews, outwardly practising Christianity but secretly maintaining their old religion. Those who fled from Spain to Portugal in 1492 found themselves trapped when King Manuel decided that they should neither be allowed to leave nor retain their religion, leading to a concentration of crypto-Jews.

They maintained their identity by oral tradition, as no books or outward signs of Judaism could be kept. Candles were lit secretly to mark the Sabb­ath, and they celebrated festivals unknown to orthodox Catholicism, like those of Saint Moses and Saint Esther. On entering a church, they would ritually murmur: “I enter this house, but I do not adore sticks or stones, only the God of Israel”.

Large numbers emigrated to the New World. In 1516, the bishop of Havana complained that “practically every ship docking in Havana is filled with Hebrews and New Christians.” The Inquisition followed, and in one Auto da Fe in Mexico in 1649, 108 people were convicted of keeping Judaism in secret.

In spite of such press­ures, some crypto-Jewish families have maintained traditions such as not eating pork ever since, in many cases without even knowing why. Many have only discovered their secret ancestry in recent years. [1]

One fascinating story concerns the remote village of Belmonte in Portu­gal. By 1917, the inhabitants believed they were the only Jews in the world. Then they were discovered by Samuel Schwarz, a Polish mining engineer. At first they denied that they were Jewish and did not accept him, as they could not believe any Jew would openly admit his religion. They only accepted the truth of what he said when he recited a credo containing the Hebrew word ‘Adonai’ (Lord). Schwarz later wrote a book about his experiences, estimating that there were still thousands of crypto-Jews in Portugal who had kept their secret for over four centuries.

Notes
1 Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies

By David Hambling

[slimmouse]

Theres an ablolute wealth of information amidst some admittedly clear chaff in what Ive seen of this video so far ( about half, cos its long).

"The illuminati", or at least their leaders are hidden in plain sight,judging by what this documentary outlines.

[American Dream]

http://libcom.org/library/occupied-cons ... -theorists

Occupied with conspiracies? The Occupy Movement, Populist Anti-Elitism, and the Conspiracy Theorists



Spencer Sunshine discusses the infiltration of the Occupy movement by conspiracy theorists.

All progressive social movements have dark sides, but some are more prone to them than others. Occupy Wall Street and its spin-offs, with their populist, anti-elitist discourse (“We Are the 99%”) and focus on finance capital, have already attracted all kinds of unsavory friends: antisemites, David Duke and White Nationalists, Oath Keepers, Tea Partiers, and followers of David Icke, Lyndon Larouche, and the Zeitgeist movement (see glossary below).

On one hand, there is nothing particularly new about this. The anti-globalization movement was plagued with these problems as well.(1) This was sometimes confusing to radicals who saw that movement as essentially Left-wing and anti-capitalist; when the radicals said “globalization,” they really meant something like the “highest stage of capitalism,” and so from their perspective, by opposing one they were opposing the other. The radicals often saw the progressives in the movement as sharing this same vision, only in an “incomplete way” —and that they only needed a little push (usually by a cop’s baton) to see that capitalism could not be reformed, and instead had to be abolished.

But for numerous others, “globalization” did not mean capitalism. Just as for the radicals, it functioned as a codeword: for some it meant finance capital (as opposed to industrial capital), while for others it meant the regime of a global elite constructing their “New World Order.” And either or both might also have meant the traditional Jewish conspiracy’s supposed global domination and control of the banking system. Whether they realized it or not, the many anti-authoritarians who praised this “movement of movements” as being based solely on organizational structure, with no litmus test for political inclusion, put out a big welcome sign for these dodgy folks. And in that door came all kinds of things, from Pat Buchanan to Troy Southgate.

But still, the anti-globalization movement in the United States was initiated by an anarchist / progressive coalition that in many ways controlled the content and discourse of it, giving it a classic Popular Front feel—the same way the old Communist Parties controlled large progressive coalitions for many decades. In contrast to this, Occupy Wall Street immediately took on a purely populist approach.

There are different ways to understand and oppose capitalism. There is a structural critique, usually associated with Marxism but often shared by anarchism, which seeks to understand the internal dynamics of capital and sees it as a system, beyond the control of any particular person or group. There is also an ethical critique, popular among religious groups and pacifists, which focuses less on the “whys” of capital and instead concentrates on its effects, looking at how it produces vast differences in wealth while creating misery, scarcity, and unemployment for most of the world. Last, there is a populist vision, which can transcend Left and Right. Populists have a narrative in which the “elites” are opposed to the “people.”

On one hand, this can be seem as a vague kind of socialism which counterposes the everyday worker against the truly rich. But it also lacks any kind of specific analysis of class or other social differences—the 99% are treated as one homogenous body. Usually the “people” are seen as the “nation,” and these 1% elites are perceived to be acting against the nation’s interests. From a radical, anti-capitalist viewpoint, this narrative may be wrong and “incomplete,” but by itself is not dangerous. In fact, many progressive and even socialist political movements have been based on it.

But the populist narrative is also an integral part of the political views of conspiracy theorists, far Right activists, and antisemites. For antisemites, the elites are the Jews; for David Icke, the elites are the reptilians; for nationalists, they are members of minority ethnic, racial, or religious groups; for others, they are the “globalists,” the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, the Federal Reserve, etc. All of these various conspiracy theories also tend to blend in and borrow from each other. Additionally, the focus on “Wall Street” also has specific appeal to those who see the elite as represented by finance capital, a particular obsession of the antisemites, Larouchites, followers of David Icke, etc. “The Rothschilds” are the favorite stand-in codeword of choice to refer to the supposed Jewish control of the banking system.

Much has already been said about the Occupy movement’s refusal to elucidate its demands. On one hand, this has been useful in mobilizing a diverse group of people who can project what they want to see in this movement—anarchists, Marxists, liberals, Greens, progressive religious practitioners, etc. On the other hand, this has been useful in mobilizing a diverse group of people who can project what they want to see in this movement—Ron Paulists, libertarians, antisemites, followers of David Icke, Zeitgeist movement folks, Larouchites, Tea Partiers, White Nationalists, and others. The discourse about the “99%” (after all, these Right-wingers and conspiracy mongers are probably a far greater proportion of the actual 99% than are anarchists and Marxists), along with the Occupy movement’s refusal to set itself on a firm political footing and correspondingly to place limitations on involvement by certain political actors, has created a welcoming situation for these noxious political elements to join.

So far, the overwhelmingly progressive nature of many of these Occupations has kept this element at bay. But it is only the weight of the numbers of the progressive participants that has done this. There are neither organizational structures within the Occupy movement, nor are there conceptual approaches that it is based on, that act to ensure this remains the case. So it is not unreasonable to expect that, especially as participation declines, some of the Occupations will be taken over by folks from these far Right and conspiratorial perspectives. All participants might rightly see themselves as part of the 99%. The real divisive question will then be, who do they think the 1% are?


Notes

(1) At least one Left group had quit the anti-globalization movement in 1998 because of antisemitism and far Right affiliations; a prominent deep-pocketed funder had close links to a neo-fascist think tank; and neo-Nazi figures both praised the Seattle demonstrations and attempted to glean off the anti-globalization movement after words. Things got so out of hand that a whole new brand of decentralized crypto-fascism crystallized and attempted an entryist maneuver. See my “Re-branding Fascism: National-Anarchism” for more background on this.


Spencer Sunshine is researcher, journalist, and activist who lives in Brooklyn, New York. His writings on the far Right include “Re-branding Fascism: National-Anarchists”. He is currently writing a book about the theoretical implications of the transition from classical to contemporary anarchism.



POLITICAL GLOSSARY:

Buchanan, Pat (US): Paleconservative politician who has run several high-profile campaigns for President. A Christian nationalist, he opposes globalization and relies on racist, antisemitic, and homophobic worldviews.

Duke, David (US): Media-savvy founder of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives as a Republican in 1990 but lost his bid for US Congress. Duke stresses antisemitic theories about Jewish control of the Federal Reserve and the banking system, and has endorsed the Occupy movement.

finance capital vs industrial capital: Populism often depends on the producerist narrative, which pits “unproductive capital” against “productive” capital. Unproductive capital refers to industries which are based on the manipulation of abstractions (banking), versus the production of physical objects (factory work). The Nazis relied on this distinction for their “National Socialism.”

Icke, David (UK): A former Green Party-leader-turned-conspiracy theorist who blends numerous different conspiratorial ideas together, including antisemitic ideas. He claims that world leaders are Reptilian aliens who appear to be humans, and feed off negative human energy. He has followers on both the Left and Right.

Larouche, Lyndon (US): A former Trotskyist who founded a Left-wing cult around himself and then quickly transformed it into a far Right political organization with a focus on intelligence gathering. He is an antisemitic nationalist who attacks finance capital and globalization.

Oath Keepers (US): Right-wing organization of current and former military and law enforcement members. Descended from the Militia movement, they pledge to disobey certain federal orders that are perceived to violate the Constitution.

Paul, Ron (US): Republican Congressman from Texas who is currently seeking to be his party’s 2012 presidential candidate. He has libertarian economics and isolationist politics; he opposed the US invasion of Iraq but also wants to withdraw from the UN. Favors drug legalization and dismantling the Federal Reserve. Has support from some White Nationalists as well as some progressives.

Southgate, Troy (UK): Former National Front activist who founded National-Anarchism, a form of decentralized crypto-fascism which attempted to infiltrate the anti-globalization movement.

Tea Party (US): A Right-wing populist movement that has affected the US political landscape. It has no clear focus but a mass base and deep funding from wealthy Rightists. Islamophobes, ‘Birthers’ (who claim that President Obama was born in Kenya and is a secret Muslim), and White Nationalists can be found in these circles.

White Nationalists: A catch-all term for various far Right politics whose central concern is the “preservation” of people of European descent (excluding Jews), who are seen as comprising a “nation.” This includes white supremacists, white separatists, and those who work inside parliamentary systems but advocate for “white rights.”

Zeitgeist movement: Technocratic movement which also transcends the traditional Left / Right divide. Founded by Peter Joseph, it originates in a series of movies which blended various conspiracy theories together. Chapters exist around the world.


Originally published in Shift Magazine

[American Dream]

re: learning when we are of the class to whom learning was not given easily,
I told my friend “I want to know everything they* know, and everything I know experientially, and everything I know that they don’t know because of their intellectual prejudice related to their lack of experiential knowledge.”

and my friend, she said “Anne, this is impossible.”

and I said, “but I read fast.”

but also, I don’t just want to know things. I want everyone I love (even in an abstract love) to know things. Let’s all know what our enemies know, and what we know from living, and what our enemies won’t ever desire to know, because they are our enemies and have never lived like us, with these tough and extensive sensoria, okay?

(who is “they” really? “our enemies”? those born into the class position that inherits without struggle intellectual traditions, who never have to crawl, inch by inch, over a bed of broken bones, to a book, and then find within it a book written against oneself?)

URL: http://tmblr.co/ZIuWlusgadEs

[Wombaticus Rex]

Love the notion of an "open movement of the 99%" being "infiltrated by conspiracy theorists."

Because, after all, you just know they didn't show up for General Assembly because they wanted to join up, no sir -- this is a methodical and perniciously subtle campaign of infiltration.

Those fucking conspiracy theorists, man...thank Shiva the CIA gave us an epithet to badjacket those crazies and get their data points out of our discourse.