Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Harnessing People Power Continued: The 99% Spring and the "Professional Left"

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

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Harnessing People Power Continued: The 99% Spring and the "Professional Left"

Click here to access article by Edmund Berger from Swans Commentary.

This is the best single author I know of that specializes in uncovering the role of big philanthropy in
1) containing, 2) co-opting, and 3) directly employing organizations which at least appear to be radical or progressive. Berger seems to put all of these target organizations into mostly one basket, but I think that this fails to capture the differences that exist across the spectrum of such organizations.

In category 1, I would place media such as Democracy Now! (see my commentary in this posting.) In category 2, I think I would place people like Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein because I think that fundamentally they believe that reforms can be made under capitalism to achieve their agendas of environmental sustainability and some reasonable measure of social justice. In category 3, the Tea Party fits very easily.

In any case, it is very important that, as activists, we are aware of the many ways that political operatives of the ruling class can subvert our efforts. With this knowledge we can expose them, and avoid being used by them. But we must also find ways to fund organized efforts to promote a genuine democracy grounded in the grass-roots of our societies.

For a very good discussion of this subject which is identified as the exercise of "soft power", be sure to read this article covering an interview Michael Barker recently had with Inderjeet Parmar.