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, January 31, 2015

Half of Humanity Now Forms the ‘Resistance’

Click here to access article by Andre Vltchek from CounterPunch. 

Vltchek like Pepe Escobar seems to be everywhere in the world. We now find him in Kashmir reporting on the resistance there facing the violence of Indian government troops. While local Indians seem a bit depressed over their situation, Vltchek attempts to boost their morale, and ours, with inspirational messages like those contained in this article. I think he sometimes overstates his inspiration; but it is certainly needed by people in the front-lines who are waging this daily battle against forces of the fascist Empire, and often by people like us behind the lines who are also engaged, although with less risk to our lives and limbs, in this daily struggle. 

Vltchek frequent reporting on the resistance occurring in various parts of the world is by itself very inspiring.
During that dark night, several men and women were gathered in a cramped room, asking me one simple and essential question: “Could the brutality of the Empire be prevented, and if not prevented, could it be stopped?”

I replied that “Yes!” And “Yes!” again.

Because no matter how dark the night appears to be, no matter how hopeless the struggles seems to be, the world had changed in the last several years; and it had changed profoundly.