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, January 3, 2012

Chile rising [23:56m video]

A Faultlines' production from Al Jazeera

A very good report on the huge student movement in Chile that is fighting back against the privatization of education and the growing inequality within their country. Chile today contains the legacy of the Empire's neoliberal policies imposed on Chile after the US's subversion of Chilean democracy in 1973.