Re: -> Dispensing with hierarchy <-

Dear Petros,

        Such a movement or confluence of movements can arise in any number
of places under any number of circumstances.  Prediction of the when,
where, and how is impossible.  But I would hazard the guess that two
preconditions will have to be met:  first, a growing consensus among
progressives throughout the world on the fundamental objective of building
a democratic world commonwealth grounded in a shared secular culture;  and
second, a growing awareness among all people that the current global
regime (i.e., the "New World Order") is on a direct course to catastrophe.
I can only hope that both preconditions will be met before the catastrophe
itself unfolds--economic meltdown, environmental collapse, global wars.
But whether or not the current global regime has to self-destruct before
it can be replaced, the "concerted, planet-wide political movement" must
be firmly in place well before the regime crashes.  In A SHORT HISTORY OF
THE FUTURE, the decade of progressive world political action is the second
half of the 2030s and the first half of the 2040s.  The movement comes too
late and is still too weak to avert the catastrophe, but at least it is
strong enough to guide world reconstruction thereafter.  Obviously, a
better scenario would have the movement originating much sooner and
preventing, not just exploiting, the catastrophe.

        In any event, the preconditions that I see as essential to success
do not now exist.  There are thousands of small progressive movements that
may be regarded as antisystemic in one way or another, but no growing
consensus on goals.  And almost all of the world's people still put their
faith in one or more elements of the system in place, be it capitalism,
nationalism, pre-modern religion, or whatever.  In my bones I fear that
the world needs to be where Russia was in 1917 or Germany in the early
1930s before enough of us wake up;  and given what happened next in those
countries, clearly even dire circumstances do not guarantee wise or humane
responses.  All the more reason to be ready, united, and poised to act if
and when history gives us an opening.

        Warren

On Sat, 13 Jan 2001, Petros Haritatos wrote:

> Dear Warren,
> 
> You evoke <<a concerted, planet-wide political movement with structure,
> fighting force, and ideological
> consensus able to match and over-match the immense powers arrayed
> against it.>>
> 
> How do you think that this could come about?
> 
> Petros
>