George Monbiot lists 13 crises, but warns you should only read the list if you’re feeling very strong. It’s an appropriate warning. He’s barely even talking about climate change here, so this list could be so much longer including the degradation of the oceans, poisoned waterways, messed up ecosystems… His
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A Puff of Absurdity: Monbiot’s Impossible Crises
George Monbiot lists 13 crises, but warns you should only read the list if you’re feeling very strong. It’s an appropriate warning. He’s barely even talking about climate change here, so this list could be so much longer including the degradation of the oceans, poisoned waterways, messed up ecosystems… His
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Other Than Apocalypse, What’s On the Horizon, Mr. Monbiot?
Thanks, George, but confirmation bias I can do without right now. Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, wants you to think big, very big, about what is now on your plate no matter how much you may wish it wasn’t. It’s an entree he calls “The 13 impossible crises that humanity now
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Neoliberal Racket
George Monbiot traces the origins of neoliberalism and how to seized control of political and economic thought in the West eventually leading to the election of Donald Trump. At a meeting a few months after Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative party, one of her colleagues, or so the
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: How to Let Go of the World
I was really looking forward to seeing the latest Josh Fox film on fracking. I liked Gasland, and then Chris Hedges gave this film a nod, which means a lot to me. And then one reviewer wrote that the film will “restore your faith that we, as a people, have the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I’m With George. End the Politics of Fear. Vote Green.
The Guardian’s George Monbiot sees the neoliberal consensus collapsing. This, he argues, is the time to let go of the politics of fear. He is addressing his fellow Brits who are heading to the polls in May but his message is one that should resonate with all Canadian progressives. Here is
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Steve, I Don’t Know How to Tell You This. Bombing Isn’t Working.
That didn’t take long. Iraqi Kurds report that ISIS has changed tactics to blunt the impact of allied air strikes. Who, aside from just about anybody, could have foreseen that turn of events? Air strikes against Isis targets in northern Syria have failed to stop the militants from advancing towards
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot – the Suicidal Madness of Mankind’s War on the Living World
Guardian enviro-scribe George Monbiot responds to the report that Earth has suffered the loss of fully half of its wild life over the past forty years by asking why man is at war with the living world. If the news that in the past 40 years the world has lost
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Another Indictment of Neoliberalism, This Time from Monbiot
Neoliberalism, sometimes known as “market fundamentalism”, is the scourge of our age. It infests our federal politics. Stephen Harper is a disciple. Mulcair and Trudeau may be somewhat less neoliberal but it’s a matter of degree and it ain’t much. Neoliberalism is a path littered with flawed assumptions and empty
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Corporatism Isn’t Just a North American Scourge
America is the heartland of corporatism. It’s highest court is an agency of corporatism. It has a “bought and paid for” Congress. It even has a supposed populist in the White House who doesn’t dare stir things up. Corporatism has captured America’s political process. Canada dutifully follows in trail. As
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Celebrating Talent
Convalescing from a wicked cold that’s beating the crap out of me, I watched a trio of movies about amazing musicians: Joe Strummer, Ginger Baker, and Sixto Rodriguez. In the films, other musical geniuses were highlighted along the way. What a delight! But as Ginger, Jack and Eric talked about
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Benevolent Dictator isn’t a Fascist
In a post a while back I advocate the best of our worst options for saving our species: a government that forces us be less wasteful. It’s an idea that James Lovelock proposed, and some called it fascist. But there’s a world of difference between enforcing legislation that actually protects
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Monbiot’s Manifesto
A just world is one in which the labour forces of all nations recognize that they can no longer evade their own problems by demanding the explitation of other people. (Manifesto, p. 245) To be truly free…we must be prepared to contemplate revolution. (Manifesto, p. 253) Via The Guardian It’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot on the "Inveterate Bastards" Who Have Hijacked Our Democracy
He writes of the plight of Britons but he could as easily be speaking to you. Most of the world’s people are decent, honest and kind. Most of those who dominate us are inveterate bastards… “With a most inhuman cruelty, they who have put out the people’s eyes reproach them
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: They Are Not Of Us
An interesting essay from George Monbiot today on the grooming of oligarchs and why, even though they govern in our name, they don’t rule on our behalf. They rule as they were born and raised to rule. An excerpt. In the Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt explains that the nobles
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Nature Is Now On Her Own. World Governments Throw In the Towel On Climate Change.
Rio + 20 was, according to U.N. Gen-Sec Ban Moon, too important to fail yet that’s exactly what it did and that’s all it did – fail. Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, calls it, “the greatest failure of collective leadership since the first world war.“ “The Earth’s living systems are
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