Tuesday, September 25, 2001

It's the Oil Stupid!

Johnny Angel of  the LA Weekly writes: "In the orgy of examination of who and what is to blame for the events of September 11, we must have heard every conceivable explanation. The American right, as exemplified by President Bush, Fox News and the opinion page of the The Wall Street Journal, blames envy of American values and success. The extreme right blames secular humanism, gay rights and the other bogeymen they love to flog. The center faults lax airport security and a general lack of preparedness, while the left, all but ignored by the corporate media, blames American imperialism and in some cases our unconditional support for Israel.

"Yet for all the noise generated by partisans and centrists alike, no one is willing to accept the blatantly obvious, the real underlying factor behind America’s involvement in the byzantine labyrinth of Middle East politics. What could possibly motivate the propping up of repressive non-democracies like the Saudi and Kuwaiti royal families, or murderous regimes like that of Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran? Or pouring billions into the coffers of Saddam Hussein in the ’80s, or even creating the monster that is possibly the mastermind of these attacks, Osama bin Laden, beneficiary of CIA lucre and training?

"It’s the oil, stupid."

Read the full article

Eliminate Terrorism with
A SOCIAL REVOLUTION ANCHORED IN LEARNING

Bill Ellis

Society is going through a deep fundamental cultural transformation. Every aspect of civilization -- economics, education, housing, food supply, transportation, family, community, religion and others -- is in transition. Our future will be radically different from the past and from today.

A basic truism of all transitions is that we can never predict the future of any biological, physical or social system.  Like the weather,  small changes in the initial conditions, the flap of a butterfly wing, may  produce major changes in the future.  We can only prepare for options, and prepare the cells from which the future may be built. "Spontaneous self-organization happens at the edge of chaos." That is, when enough similar cells exist, they will link together to form a new system. If that system gives more security to the individual cells, then the system will become stable and sustainable. If not the system will collapse.  That is the status of our social system today, It is faced with the threat of imminent instability and decay.

For any system to evolve to a potential new phase, all its elements must harmoniously transform together. That suggests that all social institutions must change as one for humanity to survive. The current social system is locked in a massive log jam preventing social change. One possible butterfly wing is the proliferation of homeschooling.

It is not well recognized that, perhaps the key-log in the jam is our education system. Inherent in the school/teach/educate system is a mode of learning that tries to make all individuals learn the samething, at the same time, in the same way. This is not only an inefficent way for individuals to learn, but also blocks the progress of society.

What future citizens are taught by the mode of learning in schools,  are the values and lifestyles of the passing age -- to be on time, to obey the boss, to compete, to consume, to honor material wealth, to fit in, to accept the status quo.  These were the values and lifestyles of the corporate/factory/industrial era. These are the values and lifestyles that must all change if a new social system is to emerge.

'A Coalition for Self-Learning' believes we must reexamine WHY we learn, HOW we learn, and WHAT we learn.  We must think outside the school/teach/educate box.  We must envision a world without schools -- a world of learning communities. The Coalition is exploring and taking action on concepts for a new society anchored in a new learning system.

You can read more of Bill Ellis at his web sites below:

A Coalition for Self-Learning
We invite you to join our exploration and read our book on:
     <http://www.CreatingLearningCommunities.org>
join our discussion of new concepts for learning on:
      <LearningCommunities-subscribe@yahoobroups.com>
or join our movement for action on:
      <CCL-LLCs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>