We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Sticking Together in Tough Times

by Chuck Collins from Yes! Magazine

Some unemployed workers are organizing to defend themselves against the unrelenting push by corporations and their government to pare back US labor costs in favor of more profits from cheaper labor overseas. 
In unemployed worker groups and common security clubs  across the country, participants are facing two grim realities. The first is that jobs that vanished aren’t coming back. And the second reality is that if unemployed workers don’t stand up for themselves, no one else will.
The only problem I have with this article is that it assumes that only defensive, mild reform actions need be taken to defend the unemployed. Such bias reflects the liberal perspective of this website.