by Otto Scharmer in Medium…What does that tell us about democracy? Democracy is under strain globally, with mass misinformation eroding citizens’ ability to perceive and respond to the realities they face.
The disturbing power of information pollution
by Michael P. Lynch in MIT Press…When we’re lulled into giving up on truth, we give up on critical thought — even dissent itself.
Global trends are polarizing us: Can democracy handle it?
by Richard Heinberg in resilience.org….Today the world faces historically unique stresses that are likely to be increasingly polarizing for many societies. These stresses can be divided into three groups—environmental, economic, and technological. After examining these, we’ll explore two questions: first, is democracy inherently more polarizing than autocratic forms of government? And second, are democracies or autocracies better at handling crises?
Chartbook 307 To live or not to live with polycrisis: The USA, Mexico and the need for a regional policy in Central America and the Caribbean.
by Adam Tooze in Chartbook…What is needed is not more border controls and militarized policing, but a pooling of governmental resources amongst the stronger players in the region including USA, Mexico the richer Caribbean states and Colombia, not to oppose, but to facilitate, support and invest in the extraordinary human energy, grit and determination that is the counterpart to those remittance flows.
Disinformation poses an unprecedented threat in 2024 — and the U.S. is less ready than ever
by Brandy Zadrozny in NBC News…The U.S. presidential election comes at a time of ideal circumstances for disinformation and the people who spread it.
Arundhati Roy: The dismantling of democracy in India will affect the whole world
Millions live on subsistence rations delivered in packets with Modi’s face printed on them. India is a very rich country with very poor people. One of the most unequal societies in the world. For its pains, Oxfam India has been raided too. And Amnesty International...
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Chartbook 218: “So far from god” … friend-shoring and the debate in Washington over whether to bomb Mexico.
by Adam Tooze in Chartbook….Proximity brings safety and harmony only if you have sorted out your neighborly relations. That is far from being the case between Mexico and the USA.
Beyond growth: speech by President Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered this speech during the opening plenary of the Beyond Growth conference
The second phase of the Biden presidency
By David Brooks, The New York Times…f you ask me now what the Biden administration is for, my answer would be different. Today, its main purpose is to prepare the nation for a period of accelerating and explosive change.
The man who leaked the pentagon papers is scared
Daniel Ellsberg, now 91, says “I’m leaving a world in terrible shape and terrible in all ways that I’ve tried to help make better during my years.”
Davos man must pay
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, has always been more than a little problematic. But in recent years, the annual gathering of the rich and powerful has become an increasingly wasteful exercise in vanity.
Attacks on Pacific north-west power stations raise fears for US electric grid
A string of attacks on power facilities in Oregon and Washington has caused alarm and highlighted the vulnerabilities of the US electric grid.
Physical attacks on power grid surge to new peak
People are shooting, sabotaging and vandalizing electrical equipment in the U.S. at a pace unseen in at least a decade, amid signs that domestic extremists hope to use blackouts to sow unrest.
Political coverage is changing to get beyond ‘us versus them’
A more nuanced depiction of voters and issues can help newsrooms better report on elections and political campaigns.
Can we fix our battered politics to deal with converging crises?
We live whipsawed by “polycrisis.” That’s the word historian Adam Tooze uses to describe multiple, simultaneous systemic crises that intensify as they collide, resulting in dire and deadly disruptions.
The closing statement of Alla Gutnikova, an editor of Moscow student journal DOXA
I believe, as wrote Yehuda Amichai, that the world was created beautiful for goodness and for peace, like a bench in a courtyard (in a courtyard, not a court!). I believe that the world was created for tenderness, hope, love, solidarity, passion, joy.
Framing the next paradigm and the challenge facing democratic governance with Philip W. Yun
Omega founder Michael Lerner and guest Philip Yun engaged a discussion about the nature of the struggle ahead for democratic governance in the new world we are facing.
America’s (likely) violent future
Does the nation have a new lease on life? One would like to think so. Sadly, however, it looks to me as though the current period of relative calm may be brief, to be followed by worsening civil hostility.