in the time remaining, to help us understand how the man-made system of capitalism will lead to the extinction of our human species, and so many others.
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, July 29, 2019
Climate emergency new update
I learned a lot reading this post about the lower level legislators across the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire and their growing concern about responding to their constituent's pressure to do something about the climate crisis. I wasn't aware that many in cities and American states were passing resolutions recognizing the growing crisis. This could be that I don't spend much time watching corporate news reports covering world events. Although I can't totally escape corporate news reports which are devoted almost exclusively to self-serving propaganda of the capitalist ruling class, I typically spend each morning scanning independent alternative media to find snatches of news and analyses about real events. This Australian post informed me about real events regarding the climate crisis that major media corporations failed to cover (here I am referring to major media corporations of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire like CNN, MSNBC, BBC, etc.). Or did I simply miss such reports?
No doubt lower level legislators within the Empire are responding to pressures from their constituents to do something about the increasingly obvious climate crisis. Although legislators must obey the interests (profits and power) of the ruling class, they get around this contradiction by passing meaningless resolutions in order to pacify ordinary people. I think the lack of coverage of these pressures by the media corporations is primarily because they don't want ordinary people to know about such efforts.
Although the articles provoke many thoughts about the contemporary political scene, I haven't the energy or time to expound on them. As we increasingly experience extreme weather events, I will only argue that the pressures of ordinary people will grow stronger as they become aware of the extent that they have been lied to until, at some point in time, ordinary people will violently vent their desperate anguish and anger against all perceived authorities. I hope I am still not around to see this.