Dear friends,
Tomorrow is `departure day' for three weeks in N America, a chance to meet
lots of wonderful new people, and hopefully the beginning of a new kind of
momentum toward our goal of a `democratic renaissance'.
Below is an excercise in `endeavor analysis', starting with an assumption
of a particular goal, `achieving a livable world'. I hope you will find it
useful, and you are invited to send in your comments. I also invite people
to send in self-intros... ie, let other people on the list know who you are
and what you're up to, especially as regards political activism.
We never went through any introduction process, and I think it would be
appropriate for this particular list, if it is ever to get `in gear' and
become relevant to the purposes for which it was established. That
purpose, in my mind, is the development of a poltical movement based on
coalition-building among the hundreds (thousands?) of movements and causes
that are operating all over the world.
all the best,
rkm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
goal: achieve a liveable world
exploration: there needs to be an `us' that `thinks' and `plans'
and is capable of `doing' and `achieving'. some people think this
means creating an `enlightened think tank', based on gaia priciples
or whatever. i think this is an elitist approach, leading to rule
by a new elite, as with Plato's `philosopher kings'. i don't like
it. i think we need the `us' to be everyone, i think democracy is
the path to follow. this means there needs
to be a `popular consciousness', a sense of `popular solidarity and
will'. (this is different than just being a `citizen' in a
`society' run by some remote _government.) i say that genuine
democracy is humanity waking up, growing up, and taking responsibility
for itself and for the future of the world. it is not something
someone else can do for us.
objective: create a stronger `civil society', what has been called
a `social revolution' based on partipation in commuities,
associations, activist groups, unions, etc, on scales of local,
regional, national, and international, as appropriate. this is a
`solidarity' project, a `consciousness-raising' and `colletctive
empowerment' endeavor. this `civil society' would work in terms
of voluntary collaboration of the different `associations', and
the `coalition' would be a kind of general networking mechanism
for the overall movement. through the coalition, it should be
possible to select candidates and win elections. _not based on
competitive parties, but based on the concept of candidates which
represent the population and use office to represent the will of
the consitituents faithfully. Elections, per se, become minor
affairs, not a battle over competing candidates who tell lies to
get elected.
obstacles: there are many: determined elite opposition; mass media
in control of elite; factionalism in population and in movement;
infiltration by spies, disruptive elements, and provocateurs (people
who create or encourage violence); draconian conspiracy laws and
other repressive meaures that have been designed to destroy movements
and suppress democracy. the elite can easily create economic
chaos, mass unemployment, etc, which causes people to revert to
their primitive needs for food and shelter, and seek `stability'
rather than change (even though `stability' is an illusion in the
current system). the most serious obstacle, in my opinion, because
it is so seductive, would be for the elite to pretend `they have lost',
as with the MAI, and agree to implement our new society for us.
this is the `FDR' option, or even the `JFK' option -- following some
sweet-talking leader on a white horse, making revolution seem so
easy and painless. this is co-option and it is a way to keep the
elite in power. it has been used countless times and typcially the
agent is the Democratic Party.
plan: seek out and build relationships with activist leaders of
all stripes, as well as educators, writers, and journalists. Begin
to develop a `movement consciousness' and a sense of momentum
and coaltion building. identify, gandhi style, pivotal actions
which can be taken on a mass basis, which are non-violent,
and which force the system to _shift: either they back down,
in which case we press our gains, or else they become repressive,
which, if we are strictly non-violent and honest in our cause,
only serves to strengthen and broaden the movement. this has been
called the `jiu-jitsu' approach, although i prefer `aikido', because
aikido is a non-violent martial art and the metaphor is more
accurate. we need to be always aware of the obstacles, and the
elite strategems and counter measures, and not be caught off guard.
as the movement builds, we need to make the communication channels
robust, and there needs to be dedicated effort put into overall
coordination and facilitiation across the whole movement. care
needs to be taken that his does not itself become an `organization'
or a bureaucracy or a top-down governing structure. that would kill
democrcy and re-introduce power-brokerage and elite rule.
work: carry out the plan... as the movement grows, those who start
it may become less and less significant as stronger leaders begin
to take the movement seriously and add their weight and participation.
but we don't want to become a leader-based movement, and especially
not one built around a personality, some `white knight'. democracy
is a process of ongoing participation by everyone. i suggest we
study closely the cuban model, as a starting point for discussion.
realization: with a vibrant civil society and democracy achieved,
it is possible to move toward changing our systems, moving away
from high-energy use (particularly dependence on highways and
internal combustion engines), moving to sustainable agriculture
and sustainable everything, changing the parameters of our
economic system, breaking up TNC's, reorganizing along smaller-
scale models, building a peaceful and collaborative international
regime, transforming education to being an awakening of concsiousness
and nurturing of child's native curiosity, not a programming of
static paradigms, `lessons', and `information'. re-apportionment
of societal resources to encourage development in desirable
directions. transformation of `health industry' into a free
and effective `well oriented' service infrastructure -- again
cuba deserves serious study. transformation of the notion of
`employment', getting away from `work' being something that
makes money for someone or an institution. is it not socially
useful and valuable to make it possible for people to produce
art, or to do research, or to make music, or write, or work
with children, or design a city park, or whatever? do these
kind of things need to be defined and measured in economic
terms? why can't society be more like a family, or a community?
these are serious
projects, comparable in maginitude to space programs, or the
infamous `five year plans', or FDR's New Deal, they are not just
a signing of the pen on some enlightened piece of legislation --
they are _societal projects, needing the participation and
understanding of everyone. it needs the kind of overall
societal solidarity that, unfortunately, in the past, has most
often occured only in wartime.
application: here we move into a whole new realm of considerations,
and there are too many intangibles to get very precise. assuming
we've got democracy, sustainability, universal health and
enligtened education, etc, etc, then what do we _do with it?
if 'making money' ceases to be the raison d'etre of life, what
_is the raison d'etre? perhaps it is to `live nobly' or
whatever... an interesting discussion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Restore democratic sovereignty
Create a sane and livable world
Bring corporate globalization under control.
CITIZENS FOR A DEMOCRATIC RENAISSANCE (CADRE)
mailto:•••@••.•••
http:http://cyberjournal.org
---
To keep join the discussion on bringing about a
democratic renaissance, send any message to:
•••@••.•••
---
To subscribe to the the ppi list, which is a larger list
and a more general political discussion, send any message to:
•••@••.•••
---
To review renaissance-network archives, send any message to:
•••@••.•••
