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

Monday, December 14, 2009

War of words ends in author's arrest at border

There seems to be an increasing number of border guard incidents like this (recall Amy Goodman’s interrogation by Canadian border guards over the content of her planned talk in Vancouver a few weeks ago) which, IMO, are designed to intimate people into total compliance to authority regardless of the latter’s conduct.  This is how police states begin.