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

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Anti-austerity protests hit Europe

from Al Jazeera
Wave of strikes and protests held in major cities and outside EU headquarters as anger over spending cuts escalates.
While in the US activists are being intimidated by a variety of "security" services (also read this), working people in Europe are organizing ever larger militant protests against public spending cutbacks.