Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Olympic Flame Parades Through Ravaged Northern British Columbia

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

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Olympic Flame Parades Through Ravaged Northern British Columbia

from Socialist Project.

The Vancouver Winter Olympic torch relay is winding its way across northern British Columbia this week. It arrived in the coastal town of Kitimat yesterday. The celebration was subdued. Like most towns on the relay’s route, Kitimat is suffering huge economic blows from the barons of the natural resource industries that are the mainstay of the province’s economy.