zero point of systemic collapse...

we will not, especially in the united states, avoid our götterdämmerung. obama, like canada’s prime minister stephen harper and the other heads of the industrialized nations, has proven as craven a tool of the corporate state as george w. bush. our democratic system has been transformed into what the political philosopher sheldon wolin labels inverted totalitarianism. inverted totalitarianism, unlike classical totalitarianism, does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. it finds expression in the anonymity of the corporate state. it purports to cherish democracy, patriotism, a free press, parliamentary systems and constitutions while manipulating and corrupting internal levers to subvert and thwart democratic institutions. political candidates are elected in popular votes by citizens but are ruled by armies of corporate lobbyists in washington, ottawa or other state capitals who author the legislation and get the legislators to pass it. a corporate media controls nearly everything we read, watch or hear and imposes a bland uniformity of opinion. mass culture, owned and disseminated by corporations, diverts us with trivia, spectacles and celebrity gossip. in classical totalitarian regimes, such as nazi fascism or soviet communism, economics was subordinate to politics. “under inverted totalitarianism the reverse is true,” wolin writes. “economics dominates politics – and with that domination comes different forms of ruthlessness”// chris hedges, 02.08.10, adbusters

americaspeaks...

...the best company in britain to work for?

in the depths of what everyone keeps telling us is the deepest financial and economic crisis since the second world war, john lewis plainly has not done badly (operating profit up 20%, if you didn't read the business pages last week). that's partly because it stacks its shelves with goods of a certain quality, and sells them to a certain kind of customer with a certain standard of service... it also has something to do with the reason everyone was cheering so loudly last thursday: unlike other high-street names (unlike most companies, in fact), john lewis is owned by a trust on behalf of its employees, each of whom has a say in its running and a share in its profits. this is britain's largest and most venerable example of worker co-ownership. its avowed purpose is not the making of shedloads of short-term profit to placate a bunch of remote and greedy shareholders, but "the happiness of all its members, through their worthwhile and satisfying employment in a successful business" (that's from the partnership's constitution. it bears re-reading). and at a time when the limits of the more traditional capitalist model of shareholder ownership stand cruelly exposed, john lewis' ongoing success is increasingly prompting all three main political parties to point to it as a possible template – for other companies, for schools, hospitals, even local councils// jon henley, 03.16.10, guardian

innovations in public participation...

participedia...

participedia is a tool for democrats. it aims to create and gather public knowledge to deepen democracy. based on a wiki platform, its main content consists of user-generated articles which describe and assess participatory governance throughout the world. for instance, there will be articles on the british columbia citizens’ assembly of 2004, consensus conferences in denmark, participatory budgeting in porto alegre and other cities, local school council governance in chicago, municipal evaluation meetings in china, the panchayati raj reforms in india, and the people’s campaign for democratic decentralization (under the panchayati raj reforms) in kerala, india. in addition, there will be articles on participatory methods, such as deliberative polling, citizens' assemblies, and participatory budgeting, as well as articles about the organizations that sponsor, implement, and study participatory governance. over time, we hope participedia will garner hundreds and perhaps thousands of such articles//

cameron on the next age of gov...

when the people speak...

all over the world, democratic reforms have brought power to the people, but under conditions where the people have little opportunity to think about the power that they exercise. in this book, james fishkin combines a new theory of democracy with actual practice and shows how an idea that harks back to ancient athens can be used to revive our modern democracies. the book outlines deliberative democracy projects conducted by the author with various collaborators in the united states, china, britain, denmark, australia, italy, bulgaria, northern ireland, and in the entire european union. these projects have resulted in the massive expansion of wind power in texas, the building of sewage treatment plants in china, and greater mutual understanding between catholics and protestants in northern ireland. the book is accompanied by a DVD of "europe in one room" by emmy award-winning documentary makers paladin invision. the film recounts one of the most challenging deliberative democracy efforts with a scientific sample from 27 countries speaking 21 languages//

europe in one room...

top economist predicts end of global economy...

jeff rubin is not an oil alarmist—he doesn’t think that the world’s supply of crude will run out and cause resource wars and food shortages of apocalyptic proportions. in fact, he doesn’t even think the world’s supply of crude is running out at all. rubin made this clear as he addressed the business of climate change conference in toronto last september, opening his keynote address with the statement, “the world’s not running out of oil.” however, after milking the pause for a second or two, rubin went on: “but it has already run out of oil it can afford to burn.” in short, rubin emphatically believes that two intensifying and antagonistic trends will cause a blast-off of crude oil prices in the next 15 months: exponentially-increasing demand for oil tied to the global economy and the ever-accelerating depletion of conventional (cheap) oil reserves. instead of calling for government action to avert the crisis-causing apex of these two trends, rubin thinks the crisis will be addressed by local and individual action driven by market forces. “the prices needed to get unconventional oil out of the ground are the same prices that will get you off the road,” he explained. he elaborated by predicting that stratospheric oil prices would force consumers and producers alike to change behaviours that would eventually lead to a breakdown of the global economy and a return to local economies// josh garrett, 02.01.10, heatingoil.com

policy interventions needed "from cradle to grave" to counter entrenched inequalities...

the independent national equality panel, chaired by LSE's professor john hills, argues that policy interventions are needed at each life cycle stage to counter the way economic inequalities are reinforced over people's lives and often on to the next generation. the panel found that deep-seated and systematic differences remain between social groups across all of the dimensions the panel examines, although some of the widest gaps have narrowed in the last decade. professor hills said: "most people and nearly all political parties subscribe to the ideal of 'equality of opportunity'. but advantage and disadvantage reinforce themselves over the life cycle. it is hard to argue that the large and systematic differences in outcomes which we document result from personal choices made against a background of equality of opportunity, however that is defined." the report and a summary are available here//