Re: System overthrow or reform ?/Neither, thank you

In a message dated 5/18/99 3:16:30 AM, igfr@peg.apc.org writes:

<<SYSTEM OVERTHROW OR REFORM ?
The World System is in a precarious balance, as evidenced by the 
disasterous deviations from peace and security this century - the two 
World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, genocide in Armenia, 
Europe, Kampuchea, Rwanda, major famines in China, Biafra, Bangladesh,  
Ethiopia, Sudan etc, the nuclear arms race, and the threat of 
accelerating ecological deterioration, to name some of the worst 
examples.

To ‘overthrow’ a system is highly risky.  We may not end up with the 
intended alternative, and may possibly end up with something much 
worse than we have at present.  The noble experiments of 
Communism in the Soviet Union and China demonstrate this.

Instead of calling for the overthrow of neoliberal economic 
globalisation, a general ideology, to be replaced by community-based 
economic development, another general ideology, we need to set 
targets for environmentally sustainable and socially just economic 
development, and bend the economic system (eg through regulation 
and innovative market mechanisms) so that it meets those targets.  
This is the global process which could be said to have officially begun 
at the 1992 Earth Summit, but which has so far been unacceptably 
slow, weak and largely ineffectual.

The problem is, or course, that targets are constantly being set (eg to 
eradicate poverty), and constantly failing to be met.  How else can 
pressure be brought to bear on the captains of capitalism other than to 
work for the overthrow of a system and an ideology ?
>>
Hello, just waking up? Overthrow? Can you bell the cat? Noone's gonna 
overthrow the system. Gonna fix it? No, you can't fix it. Are those the only 
2 alternatives? 

What if the system just finally falls, because its unsustainable? Maybe y2k, 
maybe financial collapse, maybe weird weather, melting icebergs, war. Its a 
shaky thing, no one can deny. What about preparing for the fall. Y'know Egypt 
had an empire for 3000 years, totalitarian. It fell one day. Why not prepare 
for its fall, say within 7 months possibly. If there is a power vaccuum, the 
most brutal always take control. Why not lay the groundwork now for a 
sustainable, non-violent, mutually co-operative, decentralized, non-sovereign 
(except the individual), society 180 degrees the opposite of this. That is 
one that is sane, non-polluting ( only crazies foul their own 
nest),self-sustainable. 

Do we really need a government to manage our affairs? Governments tend to 
corrupt every time. Why can't we work together to uplift the standards for 
everyone? Via the internet. Where no one need to starve or be homeless or 
alone and unsupported. Look within yourself, and see if you wouldn't trade 
the possibility to own things infinitely for a world where everyone has the 
necessities and all the luxuries are shared and available. Where 
relationships take precedence over owning things. Where there is no economy 
or jobs. People just do what they want. The conditioning has to be reversed. 
But that's not as hard as it seems. Trade competition for cooperation. Its a 
good deal. It may sound utopian or idealistic to some and it is, but it is 
also doable and sane.

The bridge from here to there is thru making neighborhoods and communities 
self-sustainable, not dependent on corporations, consumerism, money, 
government. Imagine, that everything you need was within walking distance. 
That you didn't have to sell yourself, your life, your integrity, your 
energy, your blood, your time to survive. This system is all about waste. 
Waste in every manner conceivable. The other way is about not wasteing 
anything. Synergy. The byproduct, you might say, is freedom. 

These are not new ideas, people have been thinking about them for centuries. 
But, maybe, now the time is approaching, finally, for manifestation. If we 
can break through the human wall of idiocy and pass through the hole in the 
bagel.

										
			One Bagel, one bagelhole for all,
										
		          Tom O (bagelhole1)
										
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