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, August 4, 2012

When Police Attack

Click here to access article by Ron Jacobs from Dissident Voice.

The incident that the author describes in Burlington, Vermont has quite amazed me. Because Burlington has probably the greatest proportion of progressive people in the US, police attacks occurring there provides additional evidence that local citizens have little control over their local police. The fact that their local force engaged in this attack is a very ominous warning for people across the US who still believe in the traditional methods of non-violent activism: the ruling class will inflict severe bodily harm on anyone who opposes their diktats. 
The newly elected Democratic mayor of Burlington is now calling for a conversation between the city, the police, and citizens. At the same time, some kind of investigation is supposedly being arranged. The likelihood is that little will change, and the police will be able to do what they please when situations like that which occurred the weekend of July 29th happen again. 
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