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it's something I've been working on and I think it might count in the good vibes category. If you like it feel free to pass it along.
On November 17 of this year I started Earthlings United (www.earthlingsunited.info) in the hope that people from around the world could come together and learn to understand one another’s point of view and work together to solve common problems. I think that it is time for a paradigm shift in the way we think about politics. We are used to thinking of ourselves as citizens of our communities, our cities, our state or province, and our country but if mankind is going to survive we need to start thinking of ourselves as citizens of the planet, and act accordingly. I believe that nearly all people in nearly all places (including many who voted for Bush share some common values and that those values represent the real mainstream, the real ‘silent majority’. I also believe that most of the worlds leaders are acting against these values, whether they refer to themselves as left or right, most of them have more in common with Bush than they do with say Martin Luther King, the point in our favor is that they are divided and competing against one another and if people of good faith the world over unite we can defeat them all.
The New Paradigm
We have gotten used to a certain mode of thinking about politics. We think of ourselves in terms of our role in our neighborhood, our city, our province or state, and our country. We think of the battle in terms of the left (left wing parties, groups and organizations) vs. the right (right wing groups, parties and organizations.) And, of late, we have gotten used to losing. That is because the paradigm has shifted and we are stuck in the past. In order to be effective we have to shift our thinking on both of the grounds mentioned above. We have to add another level, the global level, to our thinking about where and when we act and we have to redefine who is on the left and who is on the right.
Universal Values
The values of the left, if you examine them in the broadest possible terms, are the values of the vast and overwhelming majority of humanity. Virtually all the people on this planet share some common goals, they want
decent housing,
enough food to eat
clean air and water
a decent education for their children
to practice their religion, or lack their of, without persecution
to speak their mind without fear of retribution,
to live and raise their children in peace, without fear of violence, or repression
to believe that they can improve their situation for themselves and their children
These goals are so universal, so common to all people that even the most brutal dictators could not publicly say they oppose them and they are and always have been, in various manifestations, the values and goals of the left.
A United Left Vs. a United Right
This is how we must define ourselves, in terms of these goals and objectives. We must not just want these things for ourselves, but for everyone on this planet. There is no longer any reason why these goals cannot be accomplished. The resources exist to make these goals a reality for all of humanity. The downside is that it will mean a dip in the standard of living for many in the west, but not a substantial one. There may be less money for digital cable, for wide screen televisions, people may have to drive smaller cars, or take public transit but what will be surrendered is tiny compared to what will be gained.
On the other side of the coin we must redefine the ”right” as those who oppose these values and goals: Large corporations who see only profit and not the affect of that profit, power mad politicians be they elected, ordained or the beneficiary of a coup. Anyone who opposes these goals, or would deny them to anyone is our foe, the new right, regardless of the political label they attach to their name.
Globalization and International Citizens
One of the reasons that we, the left as defined above, are routinely losing, to the right as defined above is that we have spent a good deal of time and energy fighting the forces of globalization. The reality, like it or not, is that globalization has happened. Those with power and wealth operate internationally and so long as the citizens of the planet remain divided into camps by imaginary borders we will continue to lose, they will strike where resistance is the weakest until there is no one left to resist at all.
Many believe that these borders protect them, and restrict them from affecting change beyond them. This is a mode of thinking that belongs to another time. What happens in your community and your country, no matter how large or small, has an affect, for good or ill, the world over. What happens in the rest of the world has an affect, for good or ill, on you. You have a stake in what happens, regardless of where it happens and you have a responsibility to those beyond your borders for the affect you have on them.
When the left has worked together we have achieved victories, or at least had an impact on events. Modern technology including mass media and the internet have given us an opportunity to communicate with people the world over, to share ideas, and to effect change. The international movement against apartheid in South Africa helped bring an end to it. The international focus on Tiananmen square in 1989 put China on notice that the world was watching, and without it the crackdown might have been much worse. In February 2003 millions of people in 600 cities around the globe took to the streets simultaneously to oppose a US attack on Iraq. Even more recently, in response to the South Asian Tsunami and unprecedented international response was launched, this must be taken as a victory for the left, as defined above, because it was in response to the universal values listed that this response came – a demand so loud and clear that even George W. Bush of the US and Ariel Sharon of Israel felt compelled to go along.
None of these things has achieved the desired effect completely, but all show the power of a united global citizenry working together. I call on those of you with the time and the inclination to gather with me and begin to prepare a global, united front to achieve peace, justice and a clean, healthy environment in which to live for all people in all places on this planet.
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