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

Monday, July 25, 2011

Their Revolution and Ours

Click here to access article by Al-Masry Al-Youm from Jadaliyya. 

"Their revolution" was that of the Egyptian military that took power in July 1952.
...the July Revolution did usher in decades of strong military influence over political life that have yet to come to an end. By the mid-1950s, Nasser and the Free Officers began to champion a social and economic agenda -- including land redistribution, nationalization and investment in public services -- aimed at state-led development and the provision of social welfare. It was partly on this basis that they claimed to be the true representatives of the Egyptian people and their revolutionary aspirations.
People all over the world are beginning to come to the realization that nobody can represent them, no segment of people whether "owners", bureaucrats, political parties, or military castes. Only a system that insures grassroots, inclusive, bottom-up control of governments can. Such a system is required not only to insure social justice, but the very survival of the human race.