Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
– What a Bunch of Farmers Can Teach a Bunch of Occupiers About How to Keep on Going
– What OWS can Learn from South Africa’s United Democratic Front
– Occupy Wall Street and Transformational Strategy
– The Challenge of the Era of Technological Abundance
– Foreign Affairs: Globalization and the Threat to the West (an elite change in direction?)
– Republican Climate Hawks Sighted in New Hampshire (video)
– Matt Taibbi: Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins
– Obama’s Pentagon Strategy: A Leaner, More Efficient Empire
– Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs
– Complete with Threats and Astroturf, Big Oil Preps for Election Year Push
– TV: I Vote 4 Energy (spoof of API ad)
– Canada: Climate Criminal
– Why is an oil stock owning Congress member pushing to end EV tax credits?
– In Depth with Author and Journalist Chris Hedges (video)
– Vengeance vs Forgiveness: This Eternal Struggle
– Guy McPherson: Taking a hike
– Fascist America? Not Exactly
My resolution for 2012 is to be naive — dangerously naive.
In a few short weeks a rag-tag group of under-thirties has been able to transform the global conversation about economic issues by focusing on three basic points, all of which are essential for stopping runaway climate change and ecological overshoot.
– Nigeria union chiefs urge general strike amid fuel protests
– Global unrest: how the revolution went viral
– Hungary set for protests over constitution
– Stephen Cohen: Russian Protests and the Soviet Union’s Afterlife
There’s hope that the U.S. will break free from this “global suicide pact” and develop a fundamentally different economy. My prediction for 2012: decentralized forces, formed in response to the unsustainable and unfair economic situation, will begin to fundamentally change how our national economy works. People in the Occupy Wall Street movement and groups working on human rights, public health, clean energy, and social and tax justice are laying the groundwork for a shift to a steady state — a dynamic and sustainable economy that pursues prosperity and full employment without GDP growth.
Last year ASPO-USA brought together a host of leading thinkers and their predictions for what to expect in 2011. While not all the predictions were on target, last year’s thinkers and leaders on energy issues were remarkably prescient, accurately anticipating among other things Arab Spring, the flow of energy prices, the re-emergent world food crisis, and the next step in the Transition movement. While foreseeing the future is a delicate exercise, there are real trends that are evident to eyes prepared to see. Here are their thoughts about the coming year. A Hopeful New Year to all from ASPO-USA!
Where the rubber hits the road for the Occupy Movement, I believe, is whether they can turn this incredible mobilization, and with all of its symbolic importance, into a force of social power.
Occupy needs to pull people together, but then to encourage people to organize themselves into affinity groups, of between, say, 5-12 people. This sized group is small enough where people can build personal connections and make decisions that all can abide by, and yet be big enough for folks to engage in collective activities.
The second basic debate that consumes the world left is that between what I call “developmentalism” and what may be called the priority of civilizational change. We can observe this debate in many parts of the world. One sees it in Latin America in the ongoing and quite angry debates between left governments and movements of indigenous peoples – for example, in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Venezuela. One sees it in North America and in Europe in debates between environmentalists/Greens and the trade-unions which give priority to retaining and expanding available employment.
1. Americans rediscover their political self-respect.
2. Economic myths get debunked.
3. Divisions among people are coming down.
4. Alternatives are blossoming.
5. Popular pressure halted the Keystone KL Pipeline — for the moment.
6. Climate responses move forward despite federal inaction. …
