This latest article from Noam Chomsky - Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours Of all of the crises that afflict us, the growing democratic deficit may be the most severe. Unless it is reversed, Roy's forecast may prove accurate. The conversion of democracy to a performance with the public as mere spectators -- hardly a distant possibility -- might have truly dire consequences...
An immediate goal is to pressure Congress to permit organizing rights, the Employee Free Choice Act that was promised but seems to be languishing. One short-term goal is to support the revival of a strong and independent labor movement, which in its heyday was a critical base for advancing democracy and human and civil rights, a primary reason why it has been subject to such unremitting attack in policy and propaganda. A longer-term goal is to win the educational and cultural battle that has been waged with such bitterness in the "one- sided class war" that the UAW president perceived far too late. That means tearing down an enormous edifice of delusions about markets, free trade, and democracy that has been assiduously constructed over many years and to overcome the marginalization and atomization of the public so that they can become "participants," not mere "spectators of action," as progressive democratic theoreticians have prescribed. In his article, Chomsky lays out several pressing crisis of the day, but concludes that a deficit in democracy is the most severe. The entire article can be seen on his website here: http://www.chomsky.info/articles/200909--.htm What do YOU think? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
