Posts Tagged ‘spring’

Time to Stand Up

Thursday, September 13th, 2012

CEOs from a handful of the world’s largest corporations have been meeting in secret, penning blueprints intended to tighten their stranglehold over our planet and further conform our species into complacent consumers.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) – once ratified in under three DAYS TIME!!! – will give global businesses the means to supersede domestic law, imposing pro-corporate legislation on all complicit countries.

If you already know about the World Trade Organization and how they often bully smaller nations into accepting detrimental financial regulations desired by stronger nations, then you’ll recognize the TPP as a further extension of that same mechanism.

This corporate pact – the latest in an unending quest to privatize the world – ultimately seeks to strip regular people of power. Less ways to hold businesses accountable. Fewer means to challenge the authority of big money. All this, plus a fundamental erosion of democratic processes by global forces overpowering sovereign will.

So if you care about your freedom, if you want choice to be more than just an illusion, if you think that people should take priority over profits, then you need to take action. Do something, anything. Even if it’s just signing a petition.

The sooner enough of us stand up to our burgeoning oppressors, the sooner we can reclaim our destiny from the hands of the selfish few.

Democracy is Working… in China!

Saturday, July 28th, 2012

Democracy is more than just voting for one figurehead or another every couple of years. It’s more than simply slapping some bumper sticker on your car or sticking some sign in your lawn. There’s more to democracy than what happens on election day and at the ballot box.

Real democracy is about taking issue with what’s most important to you. It’s about starting or joining a movement. It’s about getting people involved, out in the streets and on the interwebs, in big enough numbers to force change on to the political system itself.

The Arab Spring. The Occupy Movement. Even the Tea Party. All of these are fine examples of democracy in action where hundreds of thousands – even millions – of engaged individuals worked diligently towards a shared goal. And the best part is that they’ve all made a lasting impact on the world’s political system.

Now this very essence of democracy – this coordinated will to power by the masses – has sprouted up on the streets of China. Outraged at the prospect of a giant sewer running through their backyards, angry citizens clashed with police and rioted in the streets, offering a rare glimpse into China’s ripening revolution.

But here’s the kicker – the protests worked! Officials have scrapped their plans for a waste pipeline. Wow! If only the Quebec government was that quick to fold under pressure, student’s would have free tuition by now.

Here’s hoping for more protests in the days and years to come. Not just in China, but everywhere on earth as our world’s people comes together and rises up against the forces of injustice and inequality that have persisted for far too long.

Occupy Spring

Sunday, March 18th, 2012

Occupy is back! Not that it really went away… t’was just a mild hibernation over winter. Now, with Mother Nature being a little more hospitable, the uprising can switch back into high gear, louder and stronger than ever before!

To kick off this season’s social uprising, scores of protesters retook the famed Zuccotti park, aka Liberty Square, after which dozens were arrested. During the march up to the square, NYPD callously smashed a medics head into reinforced glass, breaking the glass and probably the medic’s skull (video above).

With greater numbers filling tighter-knit communities, weekly marches on Wall Street being planned,  and numerous Occupy-related events being held all the time, 2012 has all the makings for a glorious year of revolution!

Man, what an awesome time to be alive!

Extinct, Enslaved or Empowered?

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Navigating between extinction and enslavement, brave humankind could very well avoid both to reach compelling new heights.

Neils Bohr once said that prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future. Despite the words of caution from the pioneering quantum physicist, I’d like to offer you my take on the three potential futures that we, as a species, are facing.

The first is extinction. This is where the human race is no more because we’ve wiped ourselves out in some foolish conflict or scientific mishap. Either that, or the universe conspires to eliminate us using it’s vast arsenal. There’s not a lot we can do to avoid this, apart from building peace instead of war.

The good news, despite what the mainstream media may want us to believe, is that humankind is actually the most peaceful we’ve ever been. (more…)

Arab Spring 2.0

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

Amazing! Upwards of 200,000 people are in the streets of Bahrain in what could be the tiny kingdom’s largest protest rally ever!

The significance of this gathering cannot be understated, as it represents over 15% of the entire population.

Already the protests are proving effective. The government has now dropped charges on a few of the medics who were imprisoned for helping injured activists during earlier demonstrations.

What an inspirational sight! Can’t wait to see who will be next.

Highball the 1%

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

There’s a standard business negotiation tactic which has been brought into the realm of politics, used most effectively by right wing conservatives: ask for the stars and settle with the moon. So effective has this strategy been that the entire political spectrum has consistently shifted to the right over the past few decades.

Well, no more. (more…)

Occupy Hong Kong

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012

Add Hong Kong to the growing list of places where the people, fed up with persistent injustice, have decided to take a stand against it.

Upwards of 5000 Hongkongers marched in protest today to voice their disdain for outgoing leader Donald Tsang, who faces allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

Awesome stuff! (more…)

Flipping the Script

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

The world is improving faster than ever before, speeding us all towards a brighter future. Yet, for us to go from here to there, enough of us will have to abandon certain perspectives and internalize new ones. That being said, here’s 3 key scripts that need to be flipped: (more…)

Ten Tips for Revolutionaries

Friday, February 17th, 2012

The Occupy movement is sailing over uncharted waters, mostly figuring out where to go with each new step. Helping guide us and inspire us, social futurist Sara Robinson offers 10 excellent tips to spark change:

  1. The world is different now. The rules have changed, and methods like petitions and mass demonstrations are proving themselves invaluable tools for reform. (more…)

An Uprising is Imminent

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

Something wonderful is happening everywhere on earth. A people’s uprising is taking place, fueled by millions and millions of people who’ve awakened to see that a better future is entirely possible. Once it reaches fruition, this global social revolution will culminate in a redistribution of wealth and power, essentially liberating humanity from the shackles that far too many of us don’t even know exist.

The medium for this reformation is the online realm, which may soon prove to be the missing ingredient for a lasting freedom on earth.

With the threat of an upheaval looming, the stage is set for a huge struggle for dominance between the bulk of humankind seeking to be free and the system and its leaders desperately clinging to power. Our world’s tiny yet powerful minority (along with their cronies) will do everything they can to prevent their house of cards from toppling.

This means crushing internet freedom using a range of attacks, enhancing the already well-entrenched all-seeing surveillance system, and expanding the increasingly militarized police state, the end goal of which is to trap humans into perpetual servitude by eliminating all means of revolution.

But we wont let that happen now will we?

As long as we can keep our precious internet uncensored, we’ll be able to leverage massive populist sentiment into real political clout. Instantly interconnected social media is fostering what is essentially a real democracy, one that hears all voices and not just those at the top. And when the system caters more to everyone, what we get is a more just global civilization.

The whims and wants of a handful of wealthy tyrants will prove no match for tens or hundreds of millions of engaged individuals working towards a shared goal.

We are, on some level, transcending nationalities and cultures, expanding our own personal identities to include ourselves amongst the global village. One beautiful and amazing side effect of this great awakening will be the eradication of wars. Major armed conflicts will all but evaporate once enough of us see them for what it they really are us fighting ourselves.

With each passing day, what is becoming more evident is that the only enemies left for us to fight are the violent extremists seeking to hurt society and the oligarchs seeking to enslave us, both of which our species will be better positioned to confront the more united and empowered we all become.