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

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Icelanders Egg PM as Global Protests Condemn Corruption and Banksters

by Rady Ananda from Dissident Voice

This provides excellent coverage (including great links) of the fight-backs by working people in Europe and beyond against the banksters and international capitalists. 
As proceedings begin against Iceland’s former Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, for the banking crisis of 2008, at least two thousand Icelanders took to the streets in two days of protest this weekend. Iceland joins over a dozen other nations protesting economic measures taken out on the public while banks and large corporations receive bailouts. Class war is on, and it’s gone global.
The Real News Network presents a 4:44m video in which Richard Wolff (an Economist, Author, and Professor Emeritus of Economics at the U. of Massachusetts) after just returning from Europe contrasts the militancy of Europeans with their tame counterparts in the US as illustrated by the "One Nation" rally in the US. Regarding the latter, you may also want to check out Chris Hedges' take on this "March to Nowhere".