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

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Censhorship and Detention in Egypt, a personal account

Click here to access the introduction to an article from Jadaliyya.

I was impressed by the enormous difficulties faced by an activist in Egypt, one of the favorite dictatorships of the Empire in the Middle East. If you think activists in the US face difficulties, read this introduction. (I didn't listen to the interview or read the transcript of the interview with the Egyptian activist, Alaa Abd El Fattah.)
Alaa Abd El Fattah is a writer, programmer, community organizer and activist who constantly generates new meanings to the notion of activism. 
at
Labels: , ,