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, September 26, 2018

If Society Understood Sovereignty, It Would End Rape Culture, Imperialism, And Propaganda

Click here to access article by Caitlin Johnstone from her blog.

She makes an insightful connection between rape and imperialism.
I bring up rape culture from time to time not just because it’s an inherently toxic dynamic which destroys lives and has impacted me personally, but because I see it as inseparable from the constant transgressions of powerful people who seek to undermine the sovereignty of entire populations and nations. I truly believe that if our culture had a better understanding of what sovereignty is and how it works, everyone from serial rapists to imperialists to mass media propagandists would lose the societal framework in which they operate.

Power, when you get right down to it, is ultimately about control.