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, December 18, 2012

Revealed: how Wal-Mart bribed its way into Mexico

Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution
Wal-Mart’s activities in Mexico should therefore not be read as a single episode of “corruption” subverting the pure operational logic of the free market and the proper functioning of representative democracy. Rather, this type of behavior is the logical ougrowth of the operational logic of the free market and the proper functioning of representative democracy.