Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Fall of the Argentine Assembly Movement [must read]

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, March 12, 2012

The Fall of the Argentine Assembly Movement [must read]

Click here to access article from the New Compass collective (Norway). (Note: there are a few minor English usage and/or typographical errors in the article.)

This is a review of a BA Honors thesis written by a student at the U. of Oregon. As the authors of this article state:

...the lessons learned in Argentina may be valueable [sic] for the assembly movements emerging around the world. If we are going to succeed in our struggle for "real democracy," we have to learn from the success’ and failures of past movements with similar ambitions.

I thoroughly agree. Therefore, I think that it is extremely important for all Occupiers, activists, and especially those committed to what is most commonly known as "horizontal democracy" (see this and this) to study both this review and the thesis on which it is based.