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Action by government on Transition issues with opportunities for advocates to engage the political system for positive change.

Shame on Sonoma State University

By May 11, 2012
Shame

Retired Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill will receive an honorary doctorate, as will his wife Joan, from Sonoma State University in Northern California on May 12. Some SSU students, faculty, staff, and alumni are upset by this degree, describing it as “dishonorable.” As someone who has taught at SSU for the last four years, this reporter has been interviewing members of our academic community about the matter. The upset ones have a website to express their complaints: Shame On SSU. Why so … [Read more...]

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May Day and the revolution of everyday life

By May 9, 2012
May Day 2012

We succeeded before we began. May Day has been retaken in the US. We're now again a part of the rest of the globe, where May Day is a day to celebrate our power—people's power, that of workers, precarious and unionized, immigrants and migrants, radicals of all sorts, from the anarchist to the democratic socialist. People around the world were talking about May Day in the US before May Day began. And now, those of us here in the US, have begun something new, something that is old, and yet … [Read more...]

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Today, I’m running for city council

By May 1, 2012
vote for your future poster

I'm a guy who's into the global Transition movement, who worries about peak oil and even thinks that Occupy Wall Street makes some good points. That's why I'm running for public office (see my campaign website). And today is election day. But don't expect to see anything about my race on MSNBC or even in one of those emails asking you to give five bucks to some candidate in another state who used to be an environmental or labor activist but still, somehow, has a chance to win. Even the … [Read more...]

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Sensationalist media miss the mark

By April 13, 2012
Freak show poster

March Madness comes once a year. Media Madness is year-round. What the mass media choose to cover and feature try to turn the priorities of any sane society upside down. People of vice, war, money, spectator sports and business receive media attention – oftentimes ad nausem. People of virtue, peace, civics, health, labor and community engagement have to beg for media attention. Which of these two groups represents the most basic values of a civilized society that would restrain the excesses … [Read more...]

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Finger pointing on gas prices — the pink slime of politics

By April 12, 2012
Rove Slime

During this already hyper-bizarre presidential election cycle, Super PAC money is enjoying an unprecedented ability to reach a media-addicted public while being held to virtually no standards of truth. Sadly, donors do all this with a nod-nod wink-wink relationship to the candidates each Super PAC wishes to support. Nowhere is this getting more crazy than on the emerging "gas prices" narrative. Yet nowhere is there a greater opening for deconstruction of this phony narrative, and an … [Read more...]

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The debate over American Exceptionalism: We’ve finally hit bottom

By April 6, 2012
Eagle flag

Patriotism may be the last refuge of scoundrels in countries around the world, but American Exceptionalism stands out for its unique degree of stupidity and hubris. If there's one way the United States is truly exceptional today, it's that we've become perhaps the dumbest, proudest country on Earth. After all, more than 40% of our citizens believe in the Rapture. We act as if  two dollar gas is our God-given right. And you can be pretty sure that, at this very moment somewhere in … [Read more...]

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#PlayJazz

By April 5, 2012
Laugh riot

Hey you nimble dreamers, wild cats and horizontals out there, Occupy's spring offensive is building toward a climactic May uprising. It's time to come out of winter hibernation and play jazz it's never been played before. May 1 we leap into the new world with a mighty multinational General Strike. Wherever you are, No Work; No School; No Shopping. No illusions. No apologies. No business as usual. Into The Streets! May 12, we intensify with three days of global action. Jammers in … [Read more...]

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Creating community: Lessons from Occupy

By April 4, 2012
Occupy

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) began using public space in New York’s Zuccotti Park on Sept. 17, 2011, prompting hundreds of similar encampments around the world. During the past six months, this mass movement has been assaulted by police and by the corporate media. It has also experienced internal conflicts. While planning an explosion of spring awakenings, OWS has dealt with various interpersonal problems. This happens in large movements, especially young ones. Occupy attempts to forge new, … [Read more...]

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Sovereignty of the people or democracy for the few?

By March 29, 2012
Justice

Western industrial civilization is normally held up as the epitome of justice and democracy. Yet, a brief glance at the current state of the world gives us good reason to question this assumption. Start by examining the ideas of justice and democracy. They're both ambiguous and often disputed concepts. Still, our basic understanding is straightforward enough as a starting point for examining society. The people's government Democratic government denotes a system in which the decision … [Read more...]

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Occupy’s growing pains

By March 22, 2012
Occupy Poster

I've been active in the historic Occupy movement since it first erupted onto public space. I've attended numerous meetings, rallies, teach-ins and other events, as well as written supportively about it. Since the Sept. 17 opening at Occupy Wall Street in New York, I've been excited and ignited by this amazing uprising. But recently I've become frustrated by some of its hostile interpersonal dynamics. We could benefit from more tolerance, compassion, and respect for differences within the … [Read more...]

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