Tagged with Activism

How can we generate public wisdom right at the grassroots, with people creating that capacity in their communities whenever they want to? Can we get at least 80% of the quality of a professionally organized face-to-face citizen deliberative council with far less expense and effort -- perhaps with smart use of the Internet? (more)

The occupations have served an important purpose, but the time has come to direct the energy they have awakened toward tangible goals. For too long, the left has mortgaged its soul to a dispirited, defeated version of the practical. Society and the planet are in such a strait that the old practical isn't enough. We need to think big -- and then be practical. (more)

The revolution in decision-making that citizen deliberative councils offer us is of comparable magnitude to the revolution in decision-making created centuries ago by the idea of majority vote. It can be applied virtually anywhere, and it could make all the difference in the world. (more)

These personal accounts capture life at Zuccotti Park, as experienced by a young Civil Rights attorney and mother who arrived at the Occupy Wall Street protests a skeptic, but who was quickly pulled in by the excitement of witnessing a new movement being birthed. (more)

To the powers that be: sorry to hear you are so full of fear, that with violent disregard for democracy you felt compelled to bulldoze the heart of the people’s park of parks into the ground. Don't fear us, join us. This movement is here to stay, here to grow, here to evolve. Love is the movement. (more)

The framework that might best serve the Occupy movement is one of strategic nonviolent direct action. Within that framework, Occupy groups would make clear agreements about which tactics to use for a given action. This frame seeks to create a dilemma for the opposition, and to dramatize the difference between our values and theirs. (more)

Capitalism has always been driven by naked self-interest. Under neoliberalism, selfishness just has a lot more freedom to do its damage. Walter Benjamin's observation "perhaps revolutions are not the train ride, but the human race grabbing for the emergency brake" has never been more apt. (more)

Saturday's global rally in over 600 towns and cities worldwide was a momentous event. A month ago, the Occupy Wall Street movement managed to pierce the veil of the matrix. The puncture has now become an unsealable rip in the fabric of Empire. Gas is escaping rapidly from the balloon. (more)

On The New York Times front page: Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, had just died, and with his death a worldview is dying with him. Above that, a photo of a crowd, the colors vibrant and varied. The worldview in the photo, depicting Occupy Wall Street, has just been born. (more)

Occupy Wall Street has been criticized for its lack of clear demands, but how do we issue demands, when what we really want is nothing less than the more beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible?  We don't want to merely fix the growth machine. We want to fundamentally change the course of civilization. (more)

The main challenge for peace educators is to become genuine examples to the children. When we have cultivated the art of being at peace, we will be able to meet the children without judgment, without fear. Teaching thus becomes a spiritual issue, a process of alchemy. (more)

What I see on our streets is symptomatic of what's happening the world over; an ever-increasing rage towards socio-economic injustice. It feels curiously inevitable. What is  lamentable is that this is the only way these kids can articulate themselves. (more)

I threw a big party where I told everyone to bring seven dollars in one-dollar bills. We stamped the bills with the word, Satisfied? On the day after Thanksgiving, we took this huge bag of money and climbed to the top of a phone booth in the biggest shopping district in NYC, took out the money in big fistfuls, and tossed it out into the crowd. (more)