Rob Schaap says it all so much better than I. I have been hoping for and seeking, gleams of light for THE FUTURE we are already living, but this list is too short on hope and practical ideas for me. I'll go back to reading "Natural Capitalism" and "Open Society" and practicing solutions that have shown degrees of success. Please take me off the list Mark. Thankyou jo* On Tue, 06 Mar 2001 00:10:16 +1100 Rob Schaap <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >G'day all, > >Indignant sermon alert. > >Why, oh why, does every list with a couple of lefties on it have to >talk about >Stalin? > >We have a US, illicitly ruled by oil interests, building ever larger >consumer >vehicles, opposing even modest 'greenhouse' amelioration policies, >opposing >any argument that at least some things in this world need more >rational >treatment than 'market forces' can deliver, strategically tenable only >as an >all-powerful military machine, on the brink of losing its >world-system-sustaining capacity to import products from a plethora >of >economies that would collapse should the giant maw ever close - on the >brink, >indeed, of an accumulation crisis that could spark a rolling global >credit crunch. > >We have scientifically proven global warming dynamics that are >already >manifesting in unprecedented melts and a concatenation of disastrous >weather >phenomena. We have overwhelming and widely remarked expert calls for >the >urgent introduction of new energy regimes, and a serious debate as to >the >capacity of 'markets' to bring that about. We have a global mood of >questioning received truths and reappraising ends and means and the >very >structure of power that has so long had the world in thrall. > >We have crises in protein production - no fish in the sea and tainted >ones in >the fish-farms - and perhaps an agriculture system no longer capable >of >guaranteeing good protein to hungry mouths, but fully capable of >keeping >farmers in poor countries in poverty. We have a crisis in the >extension of >artificial monopoly rights to the field of medicine production - where >private >interests concerning often publicly developed medicines are trumping >the lives >and livelihoods of hundreds of millions. > >Oh, and enormous countries like Indonesia, Turkey and Argentina look >on the >precipice of civil trauma and famine-inducing economic crises ... >China's >pulling back from the brink of full capitalist integration ... and >just wait >until Japan's flash new PM gets in and opens the Pandora's Box of its >finance >sector ... > >And we've got to sit and listen to arguments about stuff that was >history >before most of us were born, concerning individuals and ideologies >that have >nothing to contribute, either to our environmental problems or to the >need to >give democratic voice to the billions who are so much more productive >and >flexible than the creaking old institutions which got us here. > >Stuff's happening out there, comrades! We're living in interesting >times! >And I humbly (nah, stridently) submit we'd be better employed trying >to work >out what the constraints and opportunities are in this cataclysmic >becoming >than we are looking to comparisons between a dead mad tyrant and a >dissolved >and hopeless old organisation. Even the debate on relatively recent, >and just >possibly relevant, stuff to do with Milo and NATO is carefully >designed to >sustain heat at the expense of light. > >I mean, this stuff just ain't useless, it's BORING. > >Best to all, >Rob. > >_______________________________________________ >CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base _______________________________________________ CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
