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 14, 2014

From Madrid to Istanbul: Occupying Public Space [part 17 of 20: Reflections on the Gezi Uprising]

Click here to access article by Christopher Patz from Reflections on a Revolution. 

What I think is most valuable about this article is how the author puts a magnifying glass to the neoliberal operations in Turkey which clearly illustrates the way neoliberalism has operated throughout the world. He contrasts the social consequences of neoliberal operations with those of the squatters who reclaim empty buildings and spaces.
The ways that squatted and self-managed social centers function provide some stark contrasts to the economic growth trumpeted by neoliberal governing elites.