[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he world is literally choking with terrible issues clamoring for decisive leadership, but unfortunately those who decide, those at the apex of political power in the world’s greatest nations,  are merely shills for those who are causing the wounds. In the developed “West”, which is finally beginning to spin out of control due to the sheer weight of the crimes, rampant inequality, and corruption prevailing in its elites, the battle is still very much one of propagandas. We know of course that the status quo has on its ledger the near overwhelming power of the mainstream media, a machinery that will tell any lie, or suppress any truth, no matter how important, when it suits the agenda of its plutocratic masters. Our side, the side seeking justice and truth, has few resources in this contest, even though social media and online publications such as this have begun to alter the equation.

In this dangerous period for the planet it is indispensable that saner, decent and generous voices be heard, instead of the cabal of confusionists, crooks and warmongers parading in the cloak of great statesmanship and peacemaking.

The current Pope began his pontificate with enormous promise, and many saw in him (including this writer) a man who might have the vision and courage to at least denounce the great crimes of our age, that is, US global policies, and Western imperialism itself. This fantastic notion has now collapsed, as the Pope has clearly chosen to play the usual role of Pontiffs, a mere symbolic role without any teeth in his apostolate. (This was already seen during his visit to the United States, when he addressed Congress, to standing ovation, while forfeiting an excellent opportunity to tell that assembly what it badly needs to hear: that US power is the world’s chief malignancy, and that its policies are exactly the opposite of what its media and politicians would like us to believe. Pope Francis should have used that occasion to tell the American lawmakers —and American people—that the world is not being fooled, and that their crimes are being duly witnessed and recorded. Impolitic? Of course. Hugely impolitic. But also desperately necessary. (Berating top politicians and systems is not without precedent as far as the Vatican is concerned, except that the Vatican like all global powers, prefers to berate and insult small powers, the weak, instead of the strong. Pope John Paul II, a Polish reactionary through and through, a friend of Ronald Reagan’s sordid anti-communist interventions, had no compunction being rude to Nicaragua’s Sandinistas, who had the temerity to defy the empire and hold high the banner of Liberation Theology.)

By not choosing that course, the Papacy has once again—as far as the crimes of the West are concerned—collapsed into political irrelevancy. Since Francis is apparently not about to tackle the major issues that would require a confrontation with the global transnationals and their minions, no matter how savage the wars of plunder and environmental devastation can get, let him at least do something for the animals in what we might call the system’s periphery, the area of politics where no real class power is touched or redistributed. So here’s just one issue that the planet does not need to see any longer. Let him raise his voice and instruct his armies to do battle with this cultural evil of bullfighting, long rooted in the misplaced chauvinism of a recalcitrant Hispanic culture and unchallenged dominionism, which the Church itself, opportunistic as always, has supported for far too long. By any standard of decency, it’s about time.—PG

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