My World of “Ought to Be”
by Timothy Wilken, MD












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Friday, January 17, 2003
 

Co-Operation & Peace

Pauline Green writes: The demonstrations and street battles that now all too often accompany regular meetings of the world trade organization, the G7 or 8, European Union Government Leaders and so on, are the extreme manifestation of that sense of dislocation.  But, underneath it lies a far larger proportion of the world community that feels uncertain, unsure of their place in this world;  that feels insecure, no longer clear about their future or that of their family;  that feels disconnected, unable to see how they have any impact, even through the traditional 'vote' on life around them, let alone in the bigger scheme of things.  Their own sense of self worth, cultural rooting and belonging is beginning to fracture. It is in this ocean of the dislocated that the radical movement of our day is emerging. On its waves are those who cross half the world to demonstrate in Seattle, in Prague, in Gothenberg or in Milan.  Most,  genuinely concerned for the future.  Most,  wanting simply to articulate their fears, to be heard.  Some, unhappily with less altruistic motives.Whilst more than a million miles removed from the genuine motives of the truly concerned, it is sadly the case, that in the depths of this ocean of the dislocated we also find those engaged in the politics of hate, and it is here as well that they seek their recruits. Nothing could be a greater threat to peace and democracy in our world than that we allow this ocean to get deeper. But, the global world is not going to go away, it is not going to be defeated to facilitate the restoration of some sort of  'cold war' stability or its equivalent.  We must find a new equilibrium. This is where co-operation and co-operators could play a real role. Perhaps uniquely, co-operatives can play a fundamental role in restoring or reinvigorating that sense of local identity, of local being and of local community that lay at the heart of the genesis of our movement. It is time colleagues for a renaissance in co-operation.  We need to reactivate that sense of local leadership and excitement in co-operative innovation.  We need to reinstate the clarity of our co-operative forebears in focusing on just what co-operatives can do today. (01/17/03)


  b-future:

America has gone MAD!

British novelist writes: America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War. The reaction to 9/11 is beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have hoped for in his nastiest dreams. As in McCarthy times, the freedoms that have made America the envy of the world are being systematically eroded. The combination of compliant US media and vested corporate interests is once more ensuring that a debate that should be ringing out in every town square is confined to the loftier columns of the East Coast press. The imminent war was planned years before bin Laden struck, but it was he who made it possible. Without bin Laden, the Bush junta would still be trying to explain such tricky matters as how it came to be elected in the first place; Enron; its shameless favouring of the already-too-rich; its reckless disregard for the world’s poor, the ecology and a raft of unilaterally abrogated international treaties. They might also have to be telling us why they support Israel in its continuing disregard for UN resolutions. But bin Laden conveniently swept all that under the carpet. The Bushies are riding high. Now 88 per cent of Americans want the war, we are told. The US defence budget has been raised by another $60 billion to around $360 billion. A splendid new generation of nuclear weapons is in the pipeline, so we can all breathe easy. Quite what war 88 per cent of Americans think they are supporting is a lot less clear. A war for how long, please? At what cost in American lives? At what cost to the American taxpayer’s pocket? At what cost — because most of those 88 per cent are thoroughly decent and humane people — in Iraqi lives? How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America’s anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history. But they swung it. A recent poll tells us that one in two Americans now believe Saddam was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Centre. But the American public is not merely being misled. It is being browbeaten and kept in a state of ignorance and fear. The carefully orchestrated neurosis should carry Bush and his fellow conspirators nicely into the next election. Those who are not with Mr Bush are against him. Worse, they are with the enemy. Which is odd, because I’m dead against Bush, but I would love to see Saddam’s downfall — just not on Bush’s terms and not by his methods. And not under the banner of such outrageous hypocrisy. (01/17/03)


  b-CommUnity:


12:34:28 AM    


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