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, May 29, 2012

From the streets of Montreal: Le printemps érable

Click here to access article from The Institute for Social Ecology. 

The article provides some very inspiring reports from observers of the mass uprising in Quebec. Clearly Quebecers are feeling their power and the joy of collectively fighting back against austerity policies of their One Percent. The article points to an excellent website where we can find and feel the spirit of this rebellion--here is one stirring sample of this Quebec fighting spirit:
The grandmother and grandfather found a bench to sit on.  They tapped, trembling, on their casseroles [saucepans].  There were a hundred people, then two hundred, then a thousand.  We started to walk.  Police cars arrived on the street corners and in the alleyways.  We crossed paths a few times.  Young people looked straight into the eyes of police, without fear and without arrogance, but with conviction.  I even saw police officers lower their eyes.  I saw one in particular.  He was the same age as the students.  I got the feeling that he realized he had chosen a line of work he wasn’t passionate about.  This night, I think, he wasn’t doing what he dreamed he would be doing.
Children, men, women, seniors, people in wheelchairs, people of all nationalities, the crowd took the path it wanted, and did so in spite of police, in spite of the law.  All along the way, on the balconies, in the windows, people came out with their casseroles, and they made noise too, scratching away at the special law one tap at a time.  People protests and laughed and shouted.  People clapped.  People tapped, loud.  Loud.  Loud.