Reading List: William Blum - Killing Hope (PDF)

Killing Hope is an exhaustive yet comprehensible look at U.S and CIA interventions since the Second World War. Offering not only a thorough and complete guide, Bloom's work also succeeds at proving that not a single intervention has resulted in greater autonomy or peace.

Both emotional and extremely well grounded in hard evidence, Killing Hope is an excellent resource for the already well read, and the newly interested alike. Bloom offers background information, as well as deeper insight, and never fails to point out the flaws that have been strategically kept secret within the CIA's own files.

WILLIAM BLUM - KILLING HOPE - PDF

US builds drone bases in Africa & Arab Peninsula

By: JoAnne Allen (reuters.com)

The United States is building a ring of secret drone bases in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of an aggressive campaign against al Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials.

One base for the unmanned aircraft is being established in Ethiopia and another base has been installed in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, the newspaper reported. FULL STORY

Overthrow Inc.: Peter Ackerman’s quest to do what the CIA used to do, and make it seem progressive

By: Stephen Gowans (axisoflogic.com)

This is a long read, but a fruitful, perhaps vital one for anyone interested in overthrowing a government - be it the overthrow of a foreign government in the crosshairs of the U.S. imperialists - or the overthow of an imperial government. It appears to be the new way of doing foreign policy business in Washington. Robert Helvey and Gene Sharp met with the Venezuelan opposition for training for a ¨non-violent" overthrow of the Chávez govenment in 2003 - after their 2002 violent coup proved unsuccessful. There is also a powerful message in this article for anti-war activists and the anti-war movement in the west. One of the methods of guerrilla warfare is that of entering the enemy camp, taking their weapons for use against them. Ackerman's "non-violent resistance" could be just such a weapon. FULL STORY

Reading List: Gene Sharp - From Dictatorship to Democracy (PDF)

Guidebook used in numerous pro-western revolutions around the world


Some of Sharp’s key points are:

-Develop a strategy for winning freedom and a vision of the society you want
-Overcome fear by small acts of resistance
-Use colours and symbols to demonstrate unity of resistance
-Learn from historical examples of the successes of non-violent movements
-Use non-violent “weapons”
-Identify the dictatorship’s pillars of support and develop a strategy for undermining each
-Use oppressive or brutal acts by the regime as a recruiting tool for your movement
-Isolate or remove from the movement people who use or advocate violence


GENE SHARP - FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY - PDF