Surviving Capitalism (Not) : How Will We Reach an Ecological Civilization and Who Will Build It?

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

Monday, November 2, 2015

How Will We Reach an Ecological Civilization and Who Will Build It?

Click here to access article by Chris Williams from TruthOut. (a must-read article)

In this very thought provoking article Williams examines the many facets of the contradictions of capitalism for a sustainable planet, that is, a planet that can sustain human life. He also examines the many ways that capitalist directors can prolong their system in spite of its increasing deleterious effects. For humanity to save itself from extinction, he recognizes the imperative of a complete transformation of societies by posing and answering this question:

If we agree that we have entered a new epoch of geological time dominated by the activities of humans, through the actions and social relations engendered by capitalism, then what happens if we manage to overthrow capitalist social relations?

And then he argues what such a necessary revolutionary force and their new system would look like:

Ultimately, it is vital that fighters for social emancipation, human freedom and ecological sanity recognize that capitalism represents the annihilation of nature and a functioning and diverse biosphere and, thus, human civilization. A system based on cooperation, genuine bottom-up democracy, long-term planning and production for need, not profit, i.e. ecosocialism, represents the reconciliation of humanity with nature.