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

Friday, March 19, 2010

Transition Network.org

This is a new website dedicated to the "Transitions Initiative" (TI) movement which is hoping to develop the "Transitions Model". By listing this new website and by listing articles from this movement, as I have in the past, I am in no way endorsing the movement. But it needs to be looked at critically to see if it has potential to help ward off the coming cataclysm caused by the collision of the capitalist system with the ecological limits of our planet. 

I have a lot of doubts at present. There seems to be a large element of naiveté in their strategy. I am referring to their lack of any concern about the larger economic system, and the very powerful, ruling capitalist class. From reading their literature one wouldn't anticipate any conflicts whatsoever. Look at their article entitled, "The twelve key ingredients to the Transition model", which lists the support of local governments as one of their key ingredients. Although they assure us that "Your local authority's role will be TO SUPPORT, NOT DRIVE, your Transition Initiative; they never suggest that there might be any problems with this effort. 

I believe that this is highly problematic unless the TI plans to attempt to work within the capitalist system, in which case, the movement will hit a dead end. IMO, if this is the case, it will only permit some of us to reduce our standard of living to accommodate the needs of The Empire to devote more resources to their so-called "war on terrorism", i.e., their control over increasing areas of the earth to secure resources, cheap labor, and markets.