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

Friday, May 13, 2011

Protesters, police clash in Athens demonstration

Click here to access article by Stefan Steinberg from World Socialist Web Site. 

On Wednesday, the brave Greeks who were protesting against all the public spending cutbacks were attacked by the goon squads of the financial and political elites, and they are fighting back.
Greek workers and youth took to the streets of Athens once again on Wednesday to protest a new round of austerity measures to be introduced by the social-democratic (PASOK) government of Prime Minister George Papandreou. The demonstration was accompanied by the second general strike to be held this year and the tenth since the outbreak of the international finance crisis in 2008.
See also many pictures of this demonstration and conflict at these sources:

From Al Jazeera a 1:55m video and Alfavita ( a Greek website, scroll down to the videos and pictures.)