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

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Turkey: Workers Begin General Strike as Protests and Government Repression Continue

Click here to access article by Steven Argue posted on Santa Cruz (California) Indymedia.
The wave of massive protests that started in Turkey on Friday has not stopped. In addition, organized labor is joining the struggle. On Tuesday (June 4), 240,000 Turkish government workers in the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) walked off the job. The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) is scheduled to join the general strike today (June 5th).