by Mark Svetz
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Martin Luther King’s words are in my mind often these days, as we seem to be in the middle of a worldwide movement toward Justice.
In the opening hours of 2011, the arc bent dramatically toward justice as the “Arab Spring” swept across North Africa. In Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and elsewhere, people came out to demand change.
A demand for change from Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt
Ten years earlier, that arc was bent in Argentina, when, faced with a national fiscal collapse, tens of thousands of workers, students and citizens rioted. The people ended up taking over national industries, demanding changes.
In Spain, Greece, and Italy, fiscal crises are causing governments to make huge changes at the behest of the international bankers. People are taking to the streets in protest of these measures.
Beginning in New York, and quickly spreading to hundreds of cities and towns across the US, the Occupy Wall Street movement has brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in protest against the universal abuse and political power of multi-national corporations.
The revolutionary feeling I sense growing in my community excites me. I think we smell the sweet aroma of democracy, for the first time in many years. The arc is bending slightly more toward Justice.
More demands from Tahrir Square
In the local Occupy Willimantic, it is refreshing to be part of a group of people that wants to listen to each other.
People in the movement talk about “horizontalism.” As I understand this term, it means: everybody is equal, every voice must be heard. There are no leaders, no spokespeople. Everybody has an opinion. Every opinion is important.
We have, many of us in modern America, never experienced democracy, or, at best, have forgotten what it feels like. Time and again, lobbyists carry the day in Washington or Hartford, despite what people in our communities want.
Now, I see general assemblies of dozens, and even hundreds, of people using variations on the Consensus model – a refreshing substitute for Robert’s Rules – hash out ingenious solutions to community problems. It is such a breath of fresh air.
That is the spirit and power that connects all these movements rising up around the world: the fresh scent of democracy. The power and dignity of the movements comes from hearing what our neighbors think.
Democracy in action on Main Street, Willimantic!
I have heard this again and again on the news from people on Wall Street, Tahrir Square and Main Street, Willimantic. People want to be heard. We are weary of watching while our governments cater to corporations at our expense. Laws and policies often make little sense to the citizens who must live under them. And always – the corporations prosper, regardless of the devastation they cause.
Naomi Klein said it beautifully at a recent forum: “We need an alternative to unchecked corporate greed. It’s not what demands do we make, but what do we build in the rubble of this system.”
Horizontalism – or democracy – seems like a great alternative to corporate greed. And it seems like a great way to build whatever we decide in the rubble of this system!
