Editor’s note: In the wake of nationwide protests demanding justice for George Floyd, we are sharing some of our previous coverage about how to end systematic racism in America. For more, see this collection of stories from our archive.
On August 1, the Movement for Black Lives, with support from dozens of related organizations, issued its vision of a transformed United States that could realize racial justice. The vision is a major step forward in coherence and clarity for a still-young grassroots insurgency, and deserves the attention of allies everywhere.
As you would expect from the movement’s origins, the document leads with the need to stop the institutionalized practices and justifications for violence against black people. The writers place black queer women, trans, unemployed and incarcerated youth at the center since those groups are a margin within the marginalized black community.
Thoughtful visionaries know that stopping historic injustice requires creating alternatives. The document outlines a set of specific alternatives. Although in this brief column I won’t try to summarize the multi-dimensional Movement for Black Lives vision, I am struck by how powerfully the main features make sense not only on their own, but also how they interact with each other.
The wisdom of the reparations section of the platform lies in its acknowledgement that, as Martin Luther King, Jr. never tired of saying, “justice delayed is justice denied.” Additional steps need to be taken to make up for the century-and-a-half interval since the federal government broke its promise to an enslaved people, the promise of a fresh start.
The reparations emphasize grassroots economic development, including co-ops. These confidence-building measures interact with a separate section on economic justice and another called “Invest-Divest.” When the assortment of tools is put together the result is greater than the sum of the parts. The vision offers what is most prized in a design: synergy.
For example, the vision calls for using tax codes to redistribute wealth and starting jobs programs that provide a living wage and offering free training and education and allowing enhanced freedom for workers to organize unions. It’s easy to see the synergy, and the resulting re-weaving of a community battered by racism and joblessness.
What the mass media miss
The boldest thing about the vision is that it is for all of us. Those who portray this as special pleading by “an “interest group” are wrong; it is not Lyndon Johnson’s so-called War on Poverty or a renewed call for affirmative action. The document urges what non-black people also need, for example to oppose privatization of publicly owned institutions and to set aside the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, trade deal. It demands democratic control of natural resources and public schools.
The vision will benefit all of us; we must beware of the subtle tendency to reduce the impact of the vision by reducing it to the color of its origins. Note The Guardian’s August 1 coverage of the vision: “Alongside the race-specific measures are also progressive wish list items such as forgoing fossil fuels for renewables, universal healthcare, cuts in military spending and public election financing.” The condescending journalist’s separating out a “progressive wish list” reveals the lack of understanding of what a vision is, and of who is entitled to envision. King had the same problem when he came out against the Vietnam War and was criticized by white liberals who hinted that he should stay “in his place” as a “race leader” and not poke his nose into matters better handled by the people suited to take wider responsibility — the white people.
I see the document as highly integrated, rather than a segregated set of race-specific proposals with a wish list “alongside” it. Why create jobs and alternative institutions that cannot be sustained after passage of the TPP? Why demand billions from the federal budget for community development if that money is already reserved for the military-industrial complex? How is poverty to be abolished if billions are wasted on our inefficient private health care system? The “wish list” is in fact necessary for the whole.
The mainstream media also miss the full value of a vision to a social movement. Vision is only partly public relations for a young movement; more importantly, it serves to guide the movement itself and support it to grow.
How vision helps movements grow
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there,” as the saying goes. We choose more effective everyday tactics when we know where we’re headed. Strategy’s job is to put tactics together over time to increase the movement’s growth and power, so it’s even more important to know our destination when we choose a strategy.
An example of vision’s importance is in Earth Quaker Action Team’s new campaign, which demands increased use of solar energy. The easy strategy for EQAT would have been to encourage middle-class suburban white folks to solarize their houses.
The likely destination of that strategy, however, would be a “solar divide” — something like the “digital divide” generated decades ago: People with money get benefits poor people can’t access. The destination would increase the class divide.
Instead, EQAT’s strategy is to use direct action to push the electrical utility to invest in solarizing suitable roofs in poor communities of color — a strategy in line with EQAT’s vision of racial, economic and climate justice.
Vision also protects against burn-out. Many activists dwell on what we’re against — white supremacy, capitalist exploitation, war. I’ve known plenty of people who burned out while working against something. A negative posture doesn’t protect against the inevitable hurts and disappointments that go along with justice work. The initiators of the Movement for Black Lives’ vision clearly know that this struggle will go on for a while. Positive vision helps sustain us for the longer run.
Vision also helps by supporting unity. Activists may disagree about this or that tactic, or an organization’s style, but if we agree on our aims, we have reason to “agree to disagree” and accept a diversity that’s uncomfortable. Shared, big-picture goals encourage us to work together.
Vision has been pivotal in some of the most successful mass movements in history. I realize we can draw inspiration from current movements that haven’t yet reached their goals, and even movements that had potential but were tragically defeated. In addition, I am fascinated by movements that were successful in establishing “the big three” — democracy, economic justice and individual freedom.
I’ve been researching success stories of the latter kind, a cluster of movements that started small in the midst of poverty and oppression, and after struggle and sacrifice achieved more of “the big three” than anyone I know. Two of the movements faced repression by their own economic elites, including troops called out and nonviolent demonstrators killed. In two of the countries progress was interrupted by armed invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany, with the setbacks you would expect.
I tell the stories in my new book, “Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians got it right and how we can, too.” There’s a striking parallel between those countries and the platform of the Movement for Black Lives.
Meeting the critics of the Movement for Black Lives
Critics will dismiss the new vision as “idealistic and impractical,” but I meet critics on their own ground by citing the practical superiority of the Scandinavians’ achievements in jobs and justice. The Scandinavians’ policies are like those proposed by the vision of the Movement for Black Lives.
Norway has the lowest rates in Europe of repeat offenders and the least punitive correctional system. Scandinavian police don’t carry guns. People there have free higher education, including trade and professional schools. Pensions and virtually free health care are universal. They have full employment policies and “vocational rehabilitation” for people who need training, just as the Movement for Black Lives demands.
Despite their history of great poverty, the Scandinavians now have almost none. And despite Sweden’s history of ethnic homogeneity, the country has been racially diversifying for the past half century, recently accepting more refugees from Syria per capita than any other country in Europe. Scandinavians I interviewed for my book acknowledged that they have many problems remaining. Still, the fact remains that their decades of struggle pushed the economic elite out of dominance and opened the space to create what economists call the “Nordic economic model.” Their top-of-the-charts achievements were the result of putting in place the kind of vision that is now being urged for the United States by the Movement for Black Lives.
I don’t know if white allies are willing to see the necessity for economic change as part of the struggle for racial justice. Bayard Rustin, the gay black civil rights leader who personally influenced me the most, told me half a century ago that until our country tackled economic justice with what is essentially a socialist program, racism would continue its vicious hold on our country.
Clearly, Rustin was right. He would, I think, be pleased to see a possible convergence happening now: the white youths and people of color resonating with Bernie Sanders joining with the inspiring vision of the Movement for Black Lives, both movements deeply aware of the crisis and opportunity given by climate change.
Now we have tools, resources and knowledge we have not had before in my lifetime. These we can use while seeking unity, as the crisis deepens.
George,
Bayard Rustin was a major force in the Citizens Crusade Against Poverty when I served as its planning director from 1965-8. I also worked closely with Medgar Evers and Aaron Henry of the NAACP and Bob Moses and other SNCC leaders in the Mississippi movement from 1962-1964. I also worked in Central Harlem in 1968 with Ennis Francis of the Central Harlem Council of Neighborhood Boards and Ill. Rep. Wyvetter Younge of East St. Louis in the 1990s. So I’m sympathetic with your challenge to the present system which has been unjust from the beginning. The issue is how to make it more just . . . from the bottom-up.
Yesterday I received a pleasant surprise in the form of an email alterting me to the existence of New World Standard Critique, a team of professional journalists
and editors from mainstream European and America media. You’ll note that its home page has a bar at the top with major box called the “Just Third Way.” that
links to a number of our articles on Kelsonian binary economics, the Just Third Way and Capital Homesteading reforms for encouraging non-inflationary economic
growth. Some are easy to find. Others require more time to search out throughout the New World Standard Critique website ot through Wikipedia.
To save your time, I’ve listed below eight links relevent to our strategy for saving civilization. I’m encouraged that we may be finally at the threshhold of
winning the war of ideas over the top-down paradigms of monopoly capitalism and all forms of socialism and collectivism.
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/sample-page-2-2/
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/the-only-solution-for-current-economic-stagnation/
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/non-inflationary-economic-growth-2/
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/an-urgent-need-for-universal-capital-ownership/
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/an-alternative-model-of-development-the-new-paradigm-of-binary-economics-2/#comments
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/Fourth-Industrial-Revolution-an-unique-opportunity-for-the-world/
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/how-the-depression-can-be-averted/
http://www.newworldstandardcritique.com/agressive-program-of-expanded-capital-ownership-will-push-economy-out-of-recession/
Your feedback would be appreciated.
All the best,
Norm
—
Norman G. Kurland, J.D.
President
Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ)
P.O. Box 40711, Washington, DC 20016
(O) 703-243-5155, (F) 703-243-5935
(E) thirdway@cesj.org
(Web) http://www.cesj.org
“Own or be owned.”
from dave in baltimore- peace mv’t and civil rites vet: i may read the whole thing- my guess is- there is not enough mention of capitalism or workers in the black lives matters movement- here in baltimore we have a black mayor and a black judge (in the Freddie Grey case) who oppress blacks- like crabs in a barrle- we have black on black murder
what is behind the racism? capitalism- if you study history- you know this- you may fall into the trap capitalism sets for you in that you emphasize race over class struggle
there are revolutionary groups that this site should support- trying to influence them to non violent tactics- and that (finally) is probably the most serious ?
even Bonhoeffler supported killing Hitler
Please address the existentialist shades of grey?!?!?!?
if u disagree let me know- dave mozela9@comcast.net (i am a disciple of Phil and Dan Berrigan)
In my column I try to bring my understanding of how successful social movements grow and develop, to the dilemmas and issues that face us now. I try not to look at any expression or position of a significant movement as it’s just something in a magazine on left politics where people argue ideological points abstractly. Abstract political debate is fine in its place, but I’m more interested in the real-life trends and developments of people. I’d hope, Dave, that you’re in dialogue with people in the Black Lives Matter movement or a white allies movement like SURJ, so your strong interest in ideological points can enter the bloodstream of our country. Dialogue is the only way I know that enough unity can be achieved to stand up to the economic elite, which is what the people who descended from the Vikings did successfully.
An example might help. A movement born of grievance naturally focuses on its grievance, so of course race is the center of discussion for people oppressed for the color of their skin and the usefulness that oppression provides in maintaining capitalism. In Norway, family farmers were virtually starving and naturally put their oppression first. The industrial labor movement in Norway respected that even though they’d inherited the tendency of traditional Marxism to disrespect farmers; they overcame the “one size fits all” approach of dogmatists and learned to unify the grievances of the farmers with those of the industrial workers, and together confronted the Norwegian economic elite and forced it out of its traditional dominant position.
That’s white people’s challenge: not to take a line of political correctness whose lineage goes back to European political discourse, but to take seriously the experience of oppression of people of color, (and of women, sexual minorities and others who have been marginalized) and see all of this as a process rather than brandishing an ideological measuring rod.
Read my column again, with its process orientation, and take a fresh look at the vision of the Movement for Black Lives. It is, in my view, very sophisticated and highly aligned with the class warriors in the Nordic countries who actually succeeded in removing the oligarchical power of their 1 percent. Doesn’t the success of their example, and the failure of ours up until now, suggest that we might be more effective if we tried that kind of social movement orientation ourselves?
George
George,
I want to call your attention to an email I sent you about an hour ago but failed to check the box for notifying you about a series of papers on the Just Third Way published by the New World Standard Critique.
I thought an excellent article posted today by my colleague Mike Greaney in his daily Just Third Way Blog at http://just3rdway.blogspot.com/2016/08/lets-talk-about-job-creation.html might save you some time before reading the longer pieces from the New World Standard Critiquethat I sent you earlier.
When we first discovered in 1965 the “Eureka” by Louis O. Kelso on “Economic Justice” in his 1958 and 1961 books co-authored with Great Books philosopher Mortimer J. Adler, we were immediately convinced that Kelso offered a new paradigm beyond that of Karl Marx for addressing the systemic economic, social and monetary roots of all the problems that the Earth Quaker Action Group and our expanding global movement are struggling to solve. While Kelso was also the father of the 100% leveraged employee stock ownership plans that enabled workers to buy out their companies totally on bank credit, his revolutionary monetary ideas are much bigger. We don’t need money from the rich. When we mobilize enough peacefully organized “People Power” we can change policies of central banks like our Federal Reserve System to finance the future of the world to make every world citizen an empowered owner of environmentally sound, non-fossil fuel innovative “energy slaves.” Because the Just Third Way offers systemic solutions to the injustices unresolved at America’s birth, some call our movement “the Second American Revolution.” Global peace is achievable, assuming we win the war of ideas globally through changing existing systems to democratize economic and social empowerment of all world citizens for sustainable development from the bottom-up.
Dr. King called for a “new synthesis” beyond capitalism and socialism. Bucky Fuller in “Utopia or Oblivion” said “We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims. . . .[Our challenge is to] make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation and without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.”
You’ll learn more about the accomplishments of our all-volunteer organization in working to fulfill the vision of Kelso, Adler, King, Bucky and our co-founder Rev. William Ferree (whose scholarship on “Social Justice” is essential to our work) by visiting the homepage of our “global library” at http://www.cesj.org, plus our Just Third Way affiliate websites at http://www.capitalhomestead.org, http://www.globaljusticemovement.org (in Canada), and http://www.uniteamericaparty.org.
I hope you will be open to the discussing the Just Third Way alternative to all current approaches to ending global poverty.
Norm Kurland, Center for Economic and Social Justice
Huge thanks, Norm, for taking the time to offer us this introduction to REALLY visionary thinking for a just and egalitarian society.
I’m reminded of Gandhi’s approach to vision. On the ship on the way home from South Africa where he made his significant first experiments with nonviolent direct action campaigns, Gandhi wrote his deepest, most far-reaching vision for a just society in India. He put his highest dream into words.
Then he toured around the India he’d left many years before, to see how it had changed (and perhaps to see how he had changed). He assessed what the Indians were ready for, and developed a vision that might inspire that degree of struggle. It turned out to be about a three-decade struggle where many things were accomplished but the most important was the power shift — his vision of at least a quasi-independent India, free of the stranglehold of direct rule by Britain. He hoped to live decades more, to use that sense of agency and empowerment that Indians had gained by gaining independence from the most powerful empire the world had ever seen, in order to wage the class struggle (among other things) and get closer to his highest vision for India.
Just as Gandhi did, each of us needs to make choices about what we’ll work on. My perception of the U.S. citizenry is a population with little sense of their own power, with even activists more prone to episodic protests than consistently mounting nonviolent direct action campaigns. The lack of consciousness of powerfulness results in what I call vision-aversion: not even daring to hold out a mid-level vision like Gandhi did when he took up the work in India that took three decades to meet. Who of my comrades is daring to think in those terms, of what just institutions might look like as a result of our struggle her for thirty years?
My choice is to advance “Viking Economics” — democratic socialism — as a mid-level vision and find out, might my comrades and those who now know they are getting a rotten deal and might join a movement be willing to struggle for a vision like this? I hope so. I respect Bernie having to use the electoral politicians’ “laundry list” of proposals, but the vision I’m urging is the vision of a model, with inter-acting parts, which turns out to be consistent with the vision emerging from the Movement for Black Lives.
I have published articles and books with my deeper vision (even of the institutions for sexual liberation) but now, I see a desperate people fairly lost, as Gandhi saw his people on his return from South Africa. That’s my focus now.
George
Jsem také proti rasismu, takže – žádná diskriminace protože je nÄ›kdo cikánské národnosti, žádné výroky ponižujÃcà je kvůli barvy pleti atd. Na druhé stranÄ› – žádné sociálnà dávky, které by nemohl dostat i bÃlý ÄlovÄ›k (a neÅ™Ãkejte že to nenÃ, prostÄ› se jim “ucpe huba” aby neÅ™vali o rasismu), žádné nové byty za ty staré vybydlené, žádné úlevy z prÃk¡a….ŘÃváte A, ale B už nedoplnÃte, to se mi nelÃbÃ
Hi George,
In your piece you write, “Despite their history of great poverty, the Scandinavians now have almost none. ”
– Wrong!
George, read this, and inform yourself:
“Vem blir fattig?”, Studio Ett, Sveriges Radio, 19 Augusti 2016
Författaren Charlotta von Zweigbergk har i sin kommande bok, “Fattigfällan”, följt människor i sin vardagsfattigdom. Hon beskriver dem som från början haft arbete och bostad och som hela sitt vuxna liv försörjt sig själva. Till dess att allt gick snabbt i en nedåtspiral. Hör henne berätta om huvudpersonen Beata för vår reporter Susanna Einerstam.
…
Fattigdom driver fram depression, håglöshet, utanförskap. Risken för kvinnor att hamna i fattigdom är högst i Sverige i Skandinavien.
…
Nästan en och en halv miljon människor lever i risk för fattigdom i Sverige enligt SCB, Statistiska Centralbyrån, det är siffror från år 2014.
– Problemet är att fattigdom är det mest skamliga man kan råka ut för, folk skäms ihjäl helt enkelt för att de är fattiga. Så hellre sitter man ensam och trycker i sin lägenhet, hellre håller man bara tyst och berättar inte ens för sina närmaste hur illa det är, Charlotta von Zweigbergk.
…
– Allting bygger bara på kontroll och kontroll och kontroll. Vi tror att det finns ett skyddsnät vilket gör det ännu besvärligare för dem som faktiskt drabbas. Det kan vara ren och skär fattigdom bland människor som faktiskt har fungerat och arbetat i alla år, Charlotta von Zweigbergk.
…
Att hamna i fattigdom innebär inte självklart att man får hjälp.
…
Pernilla Landin är diakon sedan ett tjugotal år och arbetar i Nacka dit fattiga kommer när de fått avslag från socialtjänsten då de bett om hjälp.
– Där jag arbetar är det fler människor som söker sig till oss för att få hjälp och stöd, särskilt för att pengarna inte räcker så att vi har börjat dela ut matkassar, hygienartiklar och blöjor.
Vi ser att det ökar och att det är fler och nya grupper som söker sig till oss också. Det gör mig naturligtvis oroad, väldigt oroad över att så många människor hamnar i en situation där inte pengarna räcker (och i synnerhet där barn inte kan äta sig mätta), det är jätteoroande, Pernilla Landin.
– Jag blir jättearg, vi kan inte ha ett samhälle med sådana orättvisor som vi har idag, det är ovärdigt helt enkelt, Charlotta von Zweigbergk.
…
Sweden is an extremely neoliberal country, where privatisations of schools, healthcare, care for elders, railoads, electricity, telephone, and other common utillities bulldoze welfare, work, collective bargaining, backcountry.
The LO and TCO legal advicer, Kurt Junesjö, said in an interview at Arbetaren, “The Unions forgot the question of Power!”
In Sweden, like in the US, the rich – less than 10 % – enjoy
financial keyneianism.
The former CEO of Svenskt Näringsliv, Urban Bäckström, said five years ago in an interview on Swedish Public radio,
“Within [then] ten-fifteen year, tax money for welfare are finished. Then, comes the private solutions…”
…
– Where did all the taxed money go?
– To the rich, stupid!
Poverty is fastly on its way back in Sweden!
…
Cheers, Björn Lindgren
SWEDEN
—
I’m glad to hear a Swedish radical voice making a point essential not only for the Nordics but also for activists in the U.S. and everywhere: just because you make historic gains doesn’t mean you automatically keep them! As Bjørn Lindgren says, the class struggle continues. The Swedish economic elite did not accept its huge defeat in the 1930s and the subsequent invention of the Nordic pro-equality model. Of course the elite continues to make class war, and the big mistake that the Swedish labor movement made in the 1980s was to go on the defensive. As a result, equality lost ground.
The drama of the 1980s in both Sweden and Norway, and I tell this story in the book, is that neo-liberalism made major gains in freeing up the financial sector, which encouraged bankers to go wild and lead their countries to the cliff (an early predictor of what would happen in the U.S. more recently, culminating in the 2008 crisis). Fortunately, the majority in Sweden and Norway came to their senses and seized the major banks, fired the senior management, made sure shareholders didn’t get a krone, and re-imposed strong regulations. (In this country we’re still waiting for that to happen!)
Crucially, I also tell the story in “Viking Economics” that the Danish labor movement did NOT make that mistake. (All the more significant because the the British and U.S. movements in the 1980s also mistakenly went on the defensive against Thatcher and Reagan).
Instead, the Danish workers went on the offensive against neo-liberal moves by its economic elite and government, preventing the unleashing of their bankers.
In Bjørn Lindgren’s comment (the Swedish language part gives back-up documentation for his contention of growing inequality there) he offers a more current example of the same tendency in today’s Swedish labor movement and small farmers (and middle class activists?) to play defense instead of launching strong nonviolent direct action campaigns that demand further steps toward equality and liberation.
Thanks for the warning to us all, Bjørn: none of us can keep any gains, even as fundamental as voting rights for African Americans, if we don’t keep moving forward! My new book offers suggestions on how to do just that.
George
Hi George,
I appreciate your response.
First, excuse me for not translating part of my piece into English.
However, I knew that you speak better Norwegian – very close to Swedish – than I do, and also I expected a follow up, where I could add some details.
Historically, in the 20th Century, Sweden was the most unruly and striking country in the world. 1931 workers were shot by the army in Ådalen. This turmoil was mainly caused by poverty and rapid change: late industrialization, urbanisation, and a well organized and educated working class.
Most of the unrest ceased 1938, when a general agreement between trade unions and employers were made, and Sweden could enjoy social democratic reforms of importance and substance. The unions were stong and pushed the government and corporations. After the WWII, Sweden benefitted from having an industry untouched by war, and could export what Europe and the world demanded: steel, engineered products, and wood.
During 40-70s the rising standard of living came fom rising productivity, i.e. blood, sweat, and toil. But the basic unequality was untouched. However, during this period, a deep trust in government and state developed among ordinary people.
Tody, (real) economic growth, trust in unions, government, authorites, and institutions have eroded. Economic growth, as we know it, is fading away. It will never come back. And should not.
After 35 years of neoliberal propaganda, the public discourse in Sweden is filled with spin politics, PR, political “events”. The dark side of repressive politics is spreading: control, harassment and cut-backs for the low-paid, poor, and homeless.
Welfare still exists, but it drops at a very high speed. We truly have no political left; nor do we have a peace movement (neutral Sweden is embedded in NATO; the government develops closer relations to the US government, while the European NATO allies, are now leaving the US, which is heading for domestic and global disaster).
Sweden is very quiet, confused, and fearful under the surface. But as you can see from history, this is a produced mentality.
…
I try to do what M.K. Gandhi did: not having the time to convince people, he lifted up what they already thought, but were not always aware of.
This means encouraging the deep and legitimate values, norms, goals that most people already hold, and practice: equality, participatory democracy, equity, mutual aid, and solidarity.
I also emphasize trusting yourself (a self far away from the small ego), and the neccessity to break the spell of privacy and electronic hallucinations, and the importance of speaking with others about common fears, needs, interests, and visions.
Our grandmothers and fathers who built what came to be called “the Scandinavian welfare state” were in a better position than we are.
They organized, studied, discussed, put forward collective demands, striked; some became authors and public intellectuals, speaking out.
We begin from square one.
However, there is reason for optimism. In the long-term. For more than thousand years, Scandinavia have had a deep egalitarian culture which is not so easy to eradicate.
Finally, a short correction: even though we are facing what Waren Buffet called “class war” of the rich, I am not willing to wage a “class struggle”.
Our struggle is for the welfare of all beings of the world! We are deeply interdependent (Indra’s Net), even though some rich people don’t realize it.
In England during WWII, the rich, too, were hit, and these conditions made the country suprisingly equal during a short period, “Our finset hour!” This common blood, sweat, and toil spilled over well into the first part of the 50s, when Labour launched many substantial social reforms.
The rich, too, benefits from equality. Check: Richard Wilkinson on The Age of Unequals http://youtu.be/vU4N6kCBH5s
…
In Sweden, small farmers are almost extinct!
…
Cheers, Björn
—
Thanks for your long and detailed response, Bjørn. Your account emphasizes the need for a return to your legacy of a strong nonviolent movement taking up the struggle once again. In the last (and longest) chapter of Viking Economics I offer suggestions to my people, the Americans, of how such a movement might navigate this really challenging period. I’d be so curious about whether you think any of my suggestions would also make sense in your context, even though of course it is different in many particulars from ours over here.
George
Hi George,
Thanks for your kind response.
Here, delayed, comes my response and outlook.
Even though the expectations, culture, and situation in the US is different from Sweden, we still have many things in common. What happens in the US is a global phenomenon.
Therefore, it is not difficult to appreciate most of the constructive local programs and visions you present.
Just to mention a few: coops (confidence building). local divest/invest campaigns (tame or out-perform the “market”), job programs and education (desperately needed in the suburbs), democratic control of schools (participatory) and natural resources (fights EU-law and enhances the local economy).
And I also share your critique of leftist obsession with “theory” and episodic actions. Both leave ordinary people desolate. And always did.
From the global perspective, it looks gloomy:
The global financial capital and the military-industrial-surveillance-parliamentary-complex, together with media industry, and supported by our own lifestyle, now destroy democracy, economy, industry, work, welfare, the social core, language,
education, ecology, animal and plant species, climate, and landscape. In its wake come poverty, unemployment, racism, structural and open violence, war, and death.
Almost everyone perceives this, and agrees. Very few people believe in the “system”.
But exactly here is the window of opportunity and necessitÿ for local initiatives and long-term constructive programs: to build a community that we would like to live in.
Cheers, Björn
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Une grosse merde mal produite, mal composée et mal jouée (mention au manchot Lars Ulrich et sa caisse claire en étain du 18ème siècle), stérile et paq©thtiÃue tentative de faire l’illusion qu’on est de retour aux temps révolus de la justice pour tous…! J’ai acheté ce disque et je n’ai pas pu supporter longtemps de le v…
Dear George,
I thank you for all your many investments in my life and my children’s over the years. My youngest son is now in college and asking for more George Lakey! He is President of the Student council at a school that founded the Eco-League and continues to win awards. But not every one can apply what they learn in VT about “living green” in their cities and suburbs. So Simon is not only pushing for urban sustainability to be learned and taught, but is pushing for institutional commitments and actions toward cultural diversity and inclusion in general. He will be presenting at the AASHE Conference in Baltimore this weekend and was asking for trust building insights. http://www.aashe.org/about Then he called me and said you are in VT soon and asked me to see if we could arrange a visit at least with some of the faculty, if not the student body. Your book is very timely for the work he is doing, effecting college campuses across the continent. Thank you again for all you are about. RuthAnnPurchase for SimonPurchaseJames his address is: simon.james@greenmtn.edu
Ouvindo o Credencial, pensei em uma ideia maquiavélica para a Ferrari se ferrar (com o perdão do trocadilho): e se cortassem, por algumas corridas, os treinos de sexta-feira? De qualquer maneira, os logos dos paootcinadrres apareceriam nas corridas, mas… Será que os engenheiros seriam tão competentes a ponto de deixar o carro tinindo tanto pra sábado quanto pra domingo? He he he heAbraço e parabéns pelo Credencial! Muito obrigado pelo seu esforço em nos dar espaço!
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