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, January 23, 2013

Idle No More: This Is About the Future

Click here to access article by Cathy Gerrior from Halifax Media Co-op. 

(This article is provided by ordinary Canadians who insist upon taking back media to serve the 99 Percent. To do this they have organized a network of media co-ops across their country. This is radical activism at its best.

In this time of destruction of the Earth's ecosystem, we Euro-Americans and others have much to learn from indigenous people who have had an intimate connection with the Earth and all living creatures.
Speakers and performers at Montréal's Idle No More protest

We are a proud people who know through many centuries of teachings that the Earth is our Mother, the Sky is our Father, the Moon is our Grandmother, and the Sun is our Grandfather. We know that all life, from the smallest grains of sand to the Eagles that fly high above us, to those that dwell under the earth as well as in the rivers and oceans, they are our Sisters and Brothers. We know that we are neither more, nor less important than they. And we know that it has always been, and always will be our responsibility to be caretakers of this land and its many life sources.