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

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

No Alternative?

Click here to access this 55 minute interview with Richard Swift (from Canada) via KPFA, listener sponsored radio from Berkeley, California. (I didn't have time to listen to all of it.)

In this interview with Sasha Lilley of KPFA, Swift first offers a compelling argument that an alternative is needed to capitalism because of all the disasters that it has caused and will likely cause in our future. He then proceeds to look at desirable alternatives.
Since the global financial crisis, capitalism has been seen as the culprit for so many of the world's woes, from inequality to the destruction of the environment. Yet no other system appears to be viable. But is that in fact the case? Journalist Richard Swift assesses anarchism, state socialism, social democracy, and the left turn in Latin America. He makes the case for eco-socialism and degrowth.