Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Workers Let Go by China’s Banks Are Putting Up a Fight

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, August 16, 2010

Workers Let Go by China’s Banks Are Putting Up a Fight

by Andrew Jacobs from the NY Times.

Another report from China of workers fighting back against China's version of capitalism as it throws more workers on the scrapheap of obsolescence. Note that this capitalist source sees their struggle as futile because, of course, they wish it so. We shall see.

For a government determined to maintain social harmony, the protests and petitioning are vexing. Compared with farmers angry over seized land or retired soldiers seeking fatter pensions, the bank workers — educated, organized and knowledgeable about the Internet — are better equipped to outsmart the public security agents constantly on their trail.