Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Building an environmental movement as radical as reality itself

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

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Building an environmental movement as radical as reality itself

Click here to access article by Peter Rugh from Waging Nonviolence.

The author argues that staying within liberal advocacy of reform and regulation of capitalism has not, and will not, prevent future climate-related catastrophes. Our only salvation is to attack the system that is driving us off a cliff and into the abyss of climate destabilization.

...these reforms simply won’t be enough to address the depth and scope of the climate crisis. They seek to curb and negotiate the excesses of Wall Street, rather than get rid of Wall Street all together. The pledges to regulate Wall Street we hear from politicians are like Anheuser-Busch telling people to “drink responsibly” — they run counter to the compulsion to profit at all cost that is grafted into the basic framework of the system.