Greta Thunberg
Collective failure.
June 10, 2019‘Florence will be yours, and Pisa’s cathedral, Moscow with bells like memories, and the Troika convent, and the monastery whose maze of tunnels lies swallowed under Kiev’s gardens.’
-Rilke, The Book of Hours II, 10
‘Therefore, the meaning of my life is not to be looked for merely in the sum total of my own achievements. It is seen only in the complete integration of my achievement and failures with the achievements and failures of my own generation, my own society and time.’
-Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island
I’m a (big) fan. Rutger Bregman is a historian and author of Utopia for Realists. He writes for The Correspondent, an independent, inclusive, ad-free journalism platform founded in the Netherlands, soon to have an operation in the U.S.
He posts:
“Greta Thunberg and Alexandria are often dismissed as ‘radical’ or ‘out of touch’. But the reality is: their radicalism is the future. While the planet is heating up, it’s the so-called ‘moderates’ who are out of touch.” pic.twitter.com/kVw10f76sh
[…]
“By the way, the biggest waste of our time is the waste of talent. Many bankers are way too smart to be working on Wall Street. Many coders are way too smart to be working for Uber or Amazon. They should be solving climate change, poverty, disease, etc. “Most populist radical-right voters are *not* working class
–> The majority of the working class does *not* support the populist radical right.
–> If social democracy is to survive, we need to return to its core values.” pic.twitter.com/eAap5e7dBb
dailymail.com
Post from Rutger: “So this is Rupert Murdoch reading my book on universal basic income, the 15-hour workweek, and open borders around the globe. I’m sure he’ll love it.”
The Guardian
Why copying the populist right isn’t going to save the left
Social democratic parties have been losing ground for more than two decades – but pandering to rightwing anxieties about immigration is not the solution.
By Cas Mudde
Most populist radical-right voters are not working class, and the majority of the working class does not support the populist radical right.
These errors are based on a larger misunderstanding about the history of social democratic parties. Social democracy is an ideology that supports egalitarianism and social justice through the framework of liberal democracy and a mixed economy. Inspired by the Marxist concept of class struggle, social democracy aims to uplift all marginalised groups. But those who argue that centre-left parties need to pander to white anxiety about immigration are essentially saying that social democratic parties are first and foremost an interest group for “the working class” – which is always, in these accounts, assumed to be white.
This misdiagnosis of the decline of the centre-left – and the rise of the populist right – leads to the wrong prescription for reviving social democracy. In fact, centre-left parties have been trying to “act tough” on immigration for decades, and have often supported policies to limit immigration, but it has not prevented their decline.
The Atlantic
Better Schools Won’t Fix America
Like many rich Americans, I used to think educational investment could heal the country’s ills—but I was wrong. Fighting inequality must come first.
Supermajority.
April 29, 2019
As long as there is a dearth of women in positions of political power, this chronic tilting of American priorities toward short-term economic interests as opposed to humanitarian values is understandable. As long as women are basically invisible, children are invisible as well. -Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson
Supermajority launches today.
“A community for women who want to work together to build economic and political power, organize for gender equity, and transform this country. Sign up to be a founding member and be part of this from the beginning.”
WOMEN ARE ALREADY THE MAJORITY. NOW LET’S BUILD A SUPERMAJORITY.
In the past two years, we’ve seen what happens when women mobilize.
- 1 in 5 Americans has participated in a march or protest since 2016. The biggest issue driving these actions is support for women’s rights.
- Women donated $100 million more to campaigns and causes in 2018 than they did in 2016.
- We’ve been the majority of voters in every national election since 1964. In 2018, women helped elect a Congress with a record-breaking 127 women members.
Women are on the cusp of becoming the most powerful force in America. But to fundamentally transform this country, we need to work together. That’s where Supermajority comes in.
V I D E O:
https://twitter.com/supermajority/status/1122817808713297920/video/1
The founders:
AI-Jen Poo, Executive director, National Domestic Workers Alliance
Co-director, Caring Across Generations
Alicia Garza, Strategy and partnerships director, National Domestic Workers Alliaince
Co-founder Black Lives Matter Global Network
Principal, Black Futures Lab
Cecile Richards, Former president, Planned Parenthood Federation of American and Planned Parenthood Action Fund
OUR MISSION
Supermajority is a membership-based organization that affirms and builds women’s power and serves as a one-stop shop for advocacy, community building, and electoral participation aimed at transforming our country and building an intergenerational, multiracial movement for women’s equity.
Women are marching, running for office, donating to and advocating for causes and campaigns, and voting in record numbers. We can be the most powerful force in America—if we do the work together.
We’re building a Supermajority of women* who are organizing for gender equity. Sign up to be a founding member and be part of this from the beginning.
*And everyone who shares our values!
“The feminine energy is the energy of creation and of protection of the community. By adopting policies to protect women, society simply protects itself.” -Marianne Williamson
Cathedral thinking.
April 16, 2019
Greta Thunberg, speaking to Europe’s political leaders ahead of European parliament elections in May on Tuesday, April 16th.
Referring to Monday’s fire at Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral in her speech, Greta called for “cathedral thinking” to tackle climate change.
“It is still not too late to act. It will take a far-reaching vision, it will take courage, it will take fierce, fierce determination to act now, to lay the foundations where we may not know all the details about how to shape the ceiling,” she said. “In other words it will take cathedral thinking. I ask you to please wake up and make changes required possible.”
[The Guardian]
❧
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
– Cree Indian Prophecy
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/15/notre-dame-fire-paris-france-cathedral
Greta.
March 18, 2019
“I believe the children are our are future, teach them well and let them lead the way.”
16-Year-Old Climate-Strike Leader Greta Thunberg Has Been Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize
Greta: “Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago. We have to understand what the older generation has dealt to us, what mess they have created that we have to clean up and live with. We have to make our voices heard.”