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

Saturday, March 31, 2012

The Drug War Inside

Click here to access article by Jason Flores-Williams from The Brooklyn Rail. 

This piece offers a personal perspective and a powerful, searing indictment of the so-called War on Drugs. 
American citizens are being beaten down and oppressed every day in every corner of this country because every soul incarcerated means cash money to law enforcement. And more important, the war is a constant reminder that the United States government can jail your body and try to own your soul.