Interaction Institute for Social Change Blog. The structural vs. transformational debate is alive and well.
I’m glad that Curtis and Cynthia have been dipping back into it over the last few weeks. It is good to start at the end: the answer is a both/and, it’s not a good idea to get stuck in binaries. The print pictured above captures it for me. It is Nelson Mandela’s drawing of the view from his cell at Robben Island, where he was imprisoned for 30 years. Take that in for a second. Thirty years in jail for daring to stand up for freedom. The print’s beauty is undeniable. How is this perspective possible? There was something in Mandela’s mind, something in his soul, that could not be subjugated. Nelson Mandela is the icon that destroys the binary. I agree with Curtis and Glanzberg that “The pattern most in need of shifting is not out there in the world, but in our minds.”
But there is something else happening here. We have an interior condition. Bringing our care and attention to what is inside. The REAL Reason Conservatives Always Win. Have you ever wondered why it is that Progressives repeatedly lose ground in American politics?
We almost always have the facts on our side. The experts agree with us. Hell, a lot of us are the experts. And yet history clearly shows that Conservatives have the best political game in town. They dominate political discourse, establishing which frames shape the most important issues of the day. What’s going on here? When two groups compete, the one with the most social cohesion wins in the long run. This insight arises from research on group selection that reveals how social animals capable of working as a team readily out compete those individuals who must struggle on their own. A fantastic overview of group selection can be found in E.O.
The argument goes something like this: Sound familiar? And what about Progressives? This is the real reason why we lose. Progressives need to engage in a values-based strategy that builds trust across the issue silos. Trapwire and data mining: What we know. These days every news cycle brings us more thoroughly disturbing reasons to be concerned about pervasive digital monitoring in the United States.
This week things got extra interesting with the revelation of an enormous, shadowy surveillance company with deep ties to the CIA: Trapwire exploded on the surveillance scene like a bat out of hell. And people are justifiably freaked out about it. But people are also publishing a lot of information that seems to have appeared out of the ether, grounded in no documentation whatsoever. There is no need to speculate or conjure surveillance bogeymen where they do not exist. The documented facts speak loudly enough. Furthermore, we don’t even have to look to pre-crime, globally networked spook software like Trapwire to be concerned about where we stand vis a vis privacy rights and government powers.
On the targeting of political anarchists: “Political Convictions? In other words, we are in a rough spot, Trapwire or no Trapwire. Known knowns. A big list of the things R can do. “Eco-terrorism” and the Green Scare. Welcome to GreenIsTheNewRed.com!
This website focuses on how fear of “terrorism” is being exploited to push a political and corporate agenda. Specifically, I focus on how animal rights and environmental advocates are being branded “eco-terrorists” in what many are calling the Green Scare. Top of the Terrorism List “The No. 1 domestic terrorism threat,” says John Lewis, a top FBI official, “is the eco-terrorism, animal-rights movement.” The animal rights and environmental movements, like every other social movement throughout history, have both legal and illegal elements.
There are people who leaflet, write letters, and lobby. Animal rights and environmental advocates have not flown planes into buildings, taken hostages, or sent Anthrax through the mail. Defining the Green Scare This disproportionate, heavy-handed government crackdown on the animal rights and environmental movements, and the reckless use of the word “terrorism,” is often called the Green Scare. Legal.