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

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Against mainstream economics: The Kick It Over Manifesto [A Call to Action at Universities]

from Climate and Capitalism
An international student movement to free the economics curriculum from its neoclassical straitjacket was launched last week at the University of California at Berkeley.

For its first action, students worldwide are being encouraged to post the following manifesto, preferably printed on brightly colored paper, on the doors and bulletin boards of their university's  economics department.
This might be a good way to stir up some political activity and raise consciousness on university campuses regarding capitalism's role in destroying the Earth's habitat for humans and other living things.