A different totalitarian ideology calls for corporations of the world to unite … Fascism develops when the state initiates the merger of corporate power with state power. ibid.
We have now created a system internally that replicates the structure of any totalitarian society. Chris Hedges, ‘Constructing Rebellion: The Overthrow of Corporate Tyranny’, Youtube 2019 1.33.48
Inverted totalitarianism, unlike classical totalitarianism, does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. It finds expression in the anonymity of the Corporate State. It purports to cherish democracy, patriotism and the Constitution while manipulating internal levers. Chris Hedges
The democratic charade that exists, the political theatre that has replaced our democratic process. And is just one more step towards this corporate totalitarianism which no-one seems willing or able to stop within the ruling elite. Chris Hedges, lecture Seattle University 2018, ‘Corporate Totalitarianism: The End’ Game *****
The diseases of despair that have plagued American society, the pathologies that rise out of a decaying culture. ibid.
At the end of empire as you begin decay they engage – historians call it micro-militarism – they carry out suicidal military fiascos. ibid.
We’re going to tax them at 91% like we used to … [and] destroy the military machine in this country which is the greatest enemy of democracy. ibid.
We lost control of our government, we lost control of our economy, and this isn’t unique to the United States. ibid.
Everything becomes tribal, truth no longer matters, the rights of the citizenry no longer matter. ibid.
The liberal class functions as a kind of safety valve in moment of distress … They never critique the system. ibid.
We have enough cumulative evidence to say that it was stolen from him [Bernie Saunders]. ibid.
We’re going to have to walk out into the wilderness for a long time. ibid.
So we saw that period in the ’70s when corporations organised. ibid.
The system only wants people who will perpetuate it. ibid.
What they are doing is extracting from us. ibid.
It has the capacity to commodify everything. ibid.
They are taking from us our constitutional rights by judicial fiat i.e reinterpreting the right of unlimited corporate power through a distorted interpretation of the constitution. ibid.
Jesus didn’t come to make us rich. ibid.
There used to be a liberal wing of the Democratic Party but it’s long gone. ibid.
You can’t maintain a democracy in an oligarchy. ibid.
They are playing a very dangerous game by refusing to address the fundamental issues that have distorted our society. ibid.
You’re not going to rationally argue these people out of their world-view. ibid.
He [Trump] is the classic con artist that rises up out of a decayed state. ibid.
You’ve created fertile ground for the rise of American fascism. And our only response now is sustained mass acts of civil disobedience. ibid.
The state will be viscous … They will throw everything at us … We have no time left just from climate change, we have no time left, and in that sense resistance becomes a moral imperative. We have to stop being constrained by the tyranny of the practical. ibid.
Revolution is what I’m calling for … I’m calling for the overthrow of the corporate state. ibid.
But if we don’t stand up, it can’t be seen and we can’t use the word hope. I don’t know if we will win. I don’t even know if we will survive as a species. But these corporate forces have us by the throat and they have my children by the throat. And in the end, I don’t fight fascists because I will win, I fight fascists because they are fascists. ibid.
The planet has become a sacrifice zone. Chris Hedges, Constructing Rebellion: The Overthrow of Corporate Tyranny, Youtube 2019 1.33.48
The solution I believe is revolution: it is the overthrow of corporate tyranny. ibid.
The message that is sent to us by the corporate state is that we don’t matter … It’s a game where we don’t count any more. ibid.
We have now created a system internally that replicates the structure of any totalitarian society. ibid.
The reconfiguration of the global economy into a form of terrifying neo-feudalism; the rise of a corporate oligarchy elite that cares nothing for human life. ibid.
They will exploit everything. ibid.
Resistance, as my students taught me, is not about what we can achieve, it is about who we are able to become. Resistance is an act of faith, belief that the good draws to it the good. ibid.
The most dangerous institution in American is the military industrial complex, which is bleeding us dry – one trillion dollars a year, which is terrorising the wretched of the Earth … The disease that is eating at the very core of our society. ibid.
We are seeing corporations feed off the body politic. ibid.
We have to stop sitting here and taking this stuff. We have to recognise that all of these systems are designed to crush us and that it’s time to rise up. It’s time to resist. ibid.
Totalitarianism no longer comes in the form of communism or fascism. It comes now from corporations. And these corporations fear those who think and write, those who speak out and form relationships freely. Individual freedom impedes their power and their profits. Our democracy, as Snowden I think has revealed, has become a fiction. The state, through elaborate forms of political theater, seeks to maintain this fiction to keep us passive. And if we wake up, the state will not shy away from draconian measures. The goal is complete subjugation, the iron rule of our corporations and our power elite. Chris Hedges, Our Only Hope Will Come Through Rebellion, 2010
We are told to remember the idea not the man … An idea can still change the world. I’ve witnessed first hand the power of ideas. I’ve seen people kill in the name of them. V for Vendetta 2005 starring Hugo Weaving & Natalie Portman & John Hurt & Stephen Rea & Stephen Fry & Tim Pigott-Smith & Rupert Graves & Roger Allam & John Standing & Eddie Marsam & Ben Miles et al, director James McTeigue, opening commentary
The only verdict is Vengeance. ibid. hero
Our job is to report the news not fabricate it – that’s the government’s job. ibid. television executive
People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people. ibid.
The police state and how’s it being slotted into place even as we speak in the so-called free western democracies … The domestic spying program which partially broke… It was admitted that the NSA is listening to domestic calls without proper warrants … The surveillance program is much broader. Corbett Report: #10 The Police State’s Noose is Coiling Around Your Neck, James Corbett online 2007
Citizens are deluded into believing they are still free people. ibid.
The most surveilled country in the world – the UK. ibid.
We are being incrementally introduced to the idea that surveillance is good for us, and the government cannot be wrong when it surveils us. ibid.