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

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Revolution back in Europe! Why and how?

Click here to access article by Dimitris Konstantakopoulos from Defend Democracy Press.

The author gives a thoughtful view of the Yellow Vest's (for the latest update, see this) potential to evolve into something of significance, and also the necessity of action today in order to save our human species. After citing numerous uprisings since WWII, he writes:
These are all movements which, each one in its own way and despite the differences between them, have profoundly changed the way we perceive the world, and were all characterized by the same direct form of people’s action, with millions of simple people directly participating, and by the fact that they all questioned the foundations of economic and social organization and the power system in the countries in which they broke. All these movements, without exception, were,in one way or another, accompanied by demands for democratisation of society, self-management and direct participation of people in power.