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, April 20, 2018

Recommended articles for Friday 4/20/2018 to clear your brain of the "corporate gas attack"

 (An additional item was added at 2:10 PM Seattle time.)
The empire’s true signature: Dantesque scenes of unspeakable suffering, destruction and death in Syria. A truth too ghastly for the tender sensibilities of the American public and their European cousins, their minds cushioned by dishonest mythologies and whorish escapist entertainment. 
I ran out of time because I simply must deal with personal issues. I advise you to look at the websites I recommend (on the right hand side).
Because building a new politics and a new society means uncertainty, we need to embrace humility central to a radical politics, meaning that we don’t always know the answers and must mistrust dogma and instruction from above.

Emancipatory politics in rural South Africa is under-developed and rural struggles are largely defensive. But out of the old, there are embryonic forms of agrarian alternatives and emancipatory politics – of land redistribution, food sovereignty, participatory democracy and accountable rural governance – that are taking root.