Commenting Policy

5 comments

• Comment Link Saturday, 05 February 2011 03:06 posted by Trevor Malkinson

  "Citizens protesting in the streets from Greece to England, and more demonstrably, from Tunisia to Egypt, may be revolting for national reasons and against individual governments, but they share a common bond. They are revolting against a world that lines the pockets of rich deal-makers while sticking the tab to ordinary people. That bond is global. Related protests could reach Colombia and Ghana -- and maybe someday, the United States".
  
  That's from a recent article by Nomi Prins describing the financial details of how this thing you're describing in this post happened in Egypt (and more generally). I really love Prins' work, she's a journalist that used to work for both Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs.
  
  
  http://www.alternet.org/world/149793/the_egyptian_uprising_is_a_direct_response_to_ruthless_global_capitalism/?page=2
  
  http://www.nomiprins.com/biography/
• Comment Link Sunday, 06 February 2011 18:39 posted by shamansun

  Great post. I do think the younger generations (myself included) are embodying a global spirit that is united against oppressive regimes based on secrecy and dis-empowering the people (through the guise of protection--or Wal-Marts).
  
  This ties in nicely with a video interview on Al Jazeera with Slavoj Zizek & Riz Khan. Zizek puts it really well:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29NffzEh2b0
  
  Quote:
  
  "We like to hear how democracy as we understand it is something specifically western, and so on and so on. How irrelevant all this multicultural talk becomes--there, where we are fighting a tyrant, we are all universalists, we are immediately solidary with each other. That's how you build universal solidarity. It's the struggle for freedom. Here we have a direct proof that A) freedom is universal and B) that cynical idea that somehow Muslim crowds prefer some kind of religiously fundamentalist dictatorship---no, what happens in Tunisia, now in Egypt is precisely this universal revolution for dignity, human rights, economic justice. This is universalism at work.
  
  They understand democracy by doing what they are doing better than we do in the West. So I'm proud for them. The moment you fight a tyrant, you are solidary, no clash of civilizations."
  
  I think this alludes to a real shift in a global solidarity, and therefore a kind of global/planetary culture which we now identify with more so than our particular nations (though we are rooted in them). The people of the world are converging.
  
  Good video, thanks for sharing!
• Comment Link Tuesday, 08 February 2011 03:35 posted by Bergen Vermette

  @ Trevor, I like the addition of events in Greece and England here, it totally relates. I wrote a small piece to this point a while back, but it was never posted.
  
  The amazing thing about the media coverage of the England protests is that no media was actually reporting on the underlying reasons for the protest. The stories were about rising tuition rates, the Prince's car, or vandalism.
  
  But media outlets weren't reporting on WHY the tuition rates were going up in the first place! Media was participating in this weird slight of hand where the discussion narrowed to the actions of angry protesters and not to the actual issue being protested.
  
  Those protests were a result of budget cuts that were a result of bailing out a banking sector that had rotted from the inside. Why not tell it like it is:
  
  "People of England, we, your government, chose to spend your money to prop up a corrupt banking sector. We are now out of money. We'll be passing on costs directly to you. You will have to pay more for school."
  
  That's what actually happened. Why not a news piece on that?
• Comment Link Wednesday, 09 February 2011 20:23 posted by Bergen Vermette

  @shamansun, this is a great point you're making - and thanks for the link!
  
  Particularly when you say, "I think this alludes to a real shift in a global solidarity, and therefore a kind of global/planetary culture which we now identify with more so than our particular nations..."
  
  I think this is exactly right. When I watched the video of this young woman, my peer, I got choked up pretty quick. The way she speaks, how she says it, and what she believes in are things that resonate very deeply with me, and dare I say, much of our globalized generation. I feel like I'm watching a sister; the similarities are uncanny.
  
  There's no doubt that living in Egypt, being a woman, etc., she's had very different life experiences than myself. But on a basic level we're sharing something very similar.
  
  If a culture (says wikipedia) is "The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group" then I'd say we're sharing the same culture here.
  
  That's pretty amazing. It's also rather life affirming. That we can look across an ocean and feel solidarity with a young woman we've never met, it bodes well for our generation.
• Comment Link Monday, 14 February 2011 07:06 posted by shamansun

  Hey Bergen, thanks for the reply! Sorry it took me a while. I've been scatter-brained lately as classes are starting soon for me!
  
  I agree with you in what you say "I feel like I'm watching a sister; the similarities are uncanny." It's great we are re-gaining a sense of solidarity in a global sense. We can even now engage with revolutions halfway across the globe by tweeting news and sharing IP addresses for people in countries who have their internet blocked, and need to get something out to the world. The internet really is creating a backbone or a skeletal structure for a world culture. It's odd and also majestic in how easily this culture appears to be simultaneously allowing for differences but unveiling universality. It reminds me so much of Teilhard's ideas on the noosphere.
  
  Thanks again for your thoughts!
  
  -Jer