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

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

We Are All Criminals

Click here to access this 55 minute audio interview with attorney and former public defender Emily Baxter recorded at the studios of KPFA Berkeley, California.

We have seen the recent attempt to criminalize Michael Brown who was executed by a Ferguson, Missouri policeman. In this interview we learn that at least one out of four Americans have been recorded as having a criminal record even if based on only unsubstantiated charges. To get around government restrictions on confidential records, the One Percenters, as always when it is in their interest to evade their own system of laws, get around these restrictions by giving out these records to private companies who in turn make them public. You will learn this and much more in this interview.

If you don't have time to listen to all of it, I recommend listening from 3:24m to 8:45m on the recording.
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