What U.S. Progressives Should Do on November 8

Human Wrongs Watch By John Scales Avery*

21 October 2016

In my opinion, Donald Trump would be so extremely disastrous as a US President that it is our duty to follow Noam Chomsky’s advice. He said “Hold your nose and vote for Hillary”. I think that US voters following any other course would be betraying both their own country and the world.

I completely understand why young people and progressives are disgusted with Hillary Clinton.

Her worst and most dangerous characteristic is her known involvement in U.S. wars, and her support for the present provocation of Russia, which might easily escalate into a catastrophic thermonuclear war.

In addition, one can criticize her close ties with Wall Street and the Israel Lobby, and her failure to propose cuts in the obscenely bloated Pentagon budget.

Nevertheless Trump would be worse. As Professor Chomsky points out, his most dangerous feature is his denial of climate change, and his proposal to scrap the Paris agreement.

Climate change is an even more severe threat to the long-term future of human civilization and the biosphere than nuclear war.

Human-induced climate change threatens to produce an extinction of life comparable to the five largest events that we know from the geological record.

The worst of these was the Permian-Triassic thermal maximum, during which more than 90% of species in the oceans were lost and over 70% of terrestrial vertibrates vanished forever. The scientiific community is unanimous in telling us that we are rapidly recreating the conditions that led to the Permain-Triasic catastrophe.

http://www.countercurrents.org/avery270414.htm

Although the worst results of a treatened climate change disaster are in the long-term future, we can already see some effects, for example in the California drought, in forest fires, hurricanes and floods.

The earth’s temperature is increasing much faster than predicted. 2016 is projected to be the hottest year     in human history, with an average temperature 1.3 degrees C above the 19th century baseline.

https://thinkprogress.org/2016-hottest-year-84f2a2cbc3f9#.3hp4aw4ir

One can, of course, also call attention to the serious flaws in Donald Trump’s character, which make him manifestly unfit for public office. Besides being a vulgar mysogenist, and a racist bigot, he is a neofascist who appeals to the lowest and most violent instincts of voters. He is also a poorly informed egomaniac who is unable to recognize his own limitations.

The drift towards militarism and fascism which we can observe today, not only in the United States but also in several other countries, is worryingly remaniscent of the 1930’s.

We must fervently hope that the disasters which resulted then from the rise of fascism and mitarism will not occur again, and we must work with dedication to prevent this from happening.

*Author: John Scales Avery, Ph.D., who was part of a group that shared the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize for their work in organizing the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, is a member of the TRANSCEND Network and Associate Professor Emeritus at the H.C. Ørsted Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

He is chairman of both the Danish National Pugwash Group and the Danish Peace Academy and received his training in theoretical physics and theoretical chemistry at M.I.T., the University of Chicago and the University of London.

He is the author of numerous books and articles both on scientific topics and on broader social questions. His most recent book is Civilization’s Crisis in the 21st Century http://www.learndev.org/dl/Crisis21-Avery.pdf.

Don’t miss these articles by John Scales Avery in Human Wrongs Watch:

Science and Society

Fossil Fuels: At What Price?

Human Nature: An Evolutionary Paradox

Mainstream Media Are Betraying Humanity

US Elections Cry Out for Reform!

NATO Threatens Europe With Annihilation

USA: Another Stolen Election?

The Danger of Fascism in the United States

Creating the Future

OPEC Oil and Climate Change

A Scientist Presses for Action on Many Fronts: A Review of The Need for a New Economic System by John Scales Avery

John Scales Avery – Collected Essays

Pharming

Culture, Education and Human Solidarity

The United States Drifts Towards Political Irresponsibilty

Paris: We Need System Change!

Paris and the Long-Term Future

We Must Stop the Madness of Brinkmanship

Paris, India, and Coal

Paris: A Sense of Proportions Is Urgently Needed

Debt Slavery

Book Review: Aurelio Peccei and Daisako Ikeda, “Before It Is Too Late”

The Need for a New Economic System – PART IX: a New Society, a New Social Contract, a New Way Life

The Need for a New Economic System – PART VIII: The Cooperative Movement

The Need for a New Economic System – PART VII: The Global Food Crisis

The Need for a New Economic System – PART VI: Adverse Effects of Globalization

The Need for a New Economic System – PART V: The Threats and Costs of War

The Need for a New Economic System – PART IV: Neocolonialism and Resource Wars

The Need for a New Economic System – Part III: Climate Change and the Urgent Need for Renewable Energy

The Need for a New Economic System – PART II: Entropy and Economics

The Need for a New Economic System – PART I : Limits to Growth

Israel, Iran and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Debt Slavery

Will the Real Issues Be Discussed in 2016?

Militarism’s Hostages

New Hope for Avoiding Catastrophic Climate Change

Exponential Growth

Albert Einstein, Scientist and Pacifist

“The Path to Zero: Dialogues on Nuclear Dangers”, by Richard Falk and David Krieger

Millay’s “Epitaph for the Race of Man” 

The Future of International Law (Part I)

The Future of International Law (Part II)

The Future of International Law (Part III)

Europe Must Not Be Forced Into a Nuclear War with Russia

Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Europe – The Dangers Are Very Great Today

Why Is the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons So Urgent?

Why Is the Military-Industrial Complex Sometimes Called “The Devil’s Dynamo”?

Of Reciprocity and Karma

Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand Is at Our Throats

Perpetual War

Kill or Be Killed… Or Both!

Does It Make Sense to Saw Off the Branch on Which You Are Sitting?

Blood for Oil – The Close Relationship Between Petroleum and War

2016 Human Wrongs Watch