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

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

What's in the climate change bill?

Click here to access article by Steve Ramey and Alan Maass from Socialist Worker.

While the authors' analysis of a new bill proposed by liberal senators mostly suggests that this is only another ruling class ploy to keep environmentally concerned people committed to the Democratic party, the authors leave the reader with the impression that a "radical environmental movement" can change policies that a capitalist ruling class must promote to sustain itself. It appears that the socialist authors have also succumbed to the neoliberal maxim that "there is no alternative". 

Only a revolutionary movement, one that transforms our society into a bottom-up society ruled by people at the grassroots, can save our ecosystem from destruction. Affirming anything less than that is engaging in pure fantasy; and with time running out, humanity can no longer afford such fantasies.