Paul Klee, the great Bauhaus
artist, said:
Nothing can be rushed. It must grow. It
should grow of itself. We must go on seeking it. We have found parts but not
the whole! We still lack the ultimate power: for the people are not with us.
But we seek a people. We have begun…more we cannot do.
Global capitalism is like a
high-powered bullet train speeding towards a cliff of economic
unsustainability, carrying all the people of the world, as well as the
environment along as passengers. It was moments from the cliff bringing certain
destruction to it and all the passengers when it came off the tracks and
derailed (2008). A perfect time for the passengers to realize the ultimate
destination of the train and get off, to choose a new mode of transportation,
or at least to choose a different direction for the train! Sadly, instead of
reevaluating the mode and direction of transportation, we are rushing to get
the train back on track and race once more towards certain destruction over the
cliff.
We can choose differently. We can
choose to refuse to cooperate with global capitalism. We can choose to accept
more responsibility at the level of our neighborhoods and local communities to
stay and manage resources locally. We can choose to reduce our own consumption
of goods and services that come from distant sources. We can choose to replace
those goods and services with those produced and sold locally, which support
and build local businesses. We can choose to find creative ways to regenerate
our local economies and local markets, which will employ and care for our local
under and unemployed. We can choose to reconnect with other local communities
in sharing best practices.
The polyphonic voices in the world
must be orchestrated into a beautiful symphony of human worth and dignity with
a creative and productive diversity harmonized into a global network of local
communities, rooted in the geography of place but aware of their
interdependence with the global community. We have the technology to return to
local communities and to stay globally connected. We only need a people. We seek
a people.
