And this is partly why I constantly seem to be asking myself - what am I doing here? - because I can never seem to see this leading anywhere in terms political effectiveness or "mass movement" impact on public discourse in a consistent way.
I suppose I don't see ET as having any one very fixed and defined minority standpoint, merely an evolving consensus which changes in dialogue with opposing views - so it isn't a propaganda site, or a political party's site with defined policies - but rather a much more loosely defined site where a range of view are constantly in dialogue. It is the quality of this dialogue which, to my mind, is a measure of ET's value, not its "correctness" on a range of pre-defined policy positions.
The other day, I wrote a comment on the subject of public protests and other vehicles for social change that was, to put it mildly, warmly received. I suggested that Eurotrib filled an important function because it existed to challenge the convention "wisdom" on an important intellectual level and cited Jerome's crusade to call Neoliberalism by it's more accurate name--Anglo Disease. I suggested that if we had 20 ideas just as good, we would change the world.
Now there is NOTHING wrong with street action. I don't even believe it saps energy. If that is what you think your calling to be, make puppets and march in the streets with my blessing. However, I don't think street action is what the folks who come to Eurotribune should be doing. Let me explain. ... See, that is OUR job. Not to fill our leaders heads with more bullshit, but giving them good, sound, ideas that allow them to at least ask meaningful questions. It is why I think our Jerome is bucking for sainthood with his crusade to relabel neoliberalism as "Anglo Disease." Let others march in the streets and organize "grassroots" campaigns. We have other fish to fry. If we could come up with 20 ideas as effective as "Anglo Disease" we WILL change the world. Ideas ARE important and the time has come to ridicule the right-wing crazies out of the debate. There is NO way to meaningfully address the big problems like peak oil and climate change without changing the operating economic assumptions. This is OUR battle and Eurotrib is a damn good place to figure out how to fight it. We MUST create the new "conventional wisdom." It is a HUGE problem but there are some seriously smart people who come here.
However, I don't think street action is what the folks who come to Eurotribune should be doing. Let me explain.
...
See, that is OUR job. Not to fill our leaders heads with more bullshit, but giving them good, sound, ideas that allow them to at least ask meaningful questions. It is why I think our Jerome is bucking for sainthood with his crusade to relabel neoliberalism as "Anglo Disease."
Let others march in the streets and organize "grassroots" campaigns. We have other fish to fry. If we could come up with 20 ideas as effective as "Anglo Disease" we WILL change the world. Ideas ARE important and the time has come to ridicule the right-wing crazies out of the debate. There is NO way to meaningfully address the big problems like peak oil and climate change without changing the operating economic assumptions.
This is OUR battle and Eurotrib is a damn good place to figure out how to fight it. We MUST create the new "conventional wisdom." It is a HUGE problem but there are some seriously smart people who come here.
Do we have to be at the centre of a "mass movement" in order to do our part? Maybe not.
No we don't, but if we don't engage with a bigger readership our impact cannot be but marginal - unless you have a very elitist approach to political change or believe in the power of prayer.... "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
