This post looks at the social and economic conditions that fostered the emergence of the Occupy movement, as well as a timeline of events, books, and commentary that, in retrospect, offer significant precedents or stimulants to the form and energy…
Things are still wildly bubbling in and around the Occupy movement, which is still radically expanding and evolving. Despite many growing pains, the co-creative, committed engagement of the participants is inspiring. So many among them are using t…
I’m beginning to sense a progression of developments that may productively unfold in, through, and because of the Occupy Together movement. It is still somewhat vague, but something like it is definitely in the works. All of it is happening both a…
My sleep was cut short last night by waking up worried at 3:30 a.m. PST about NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s ultimatum that the Occupy Wall Street protesters leave Zuccotti Park – aka Liberty Square – at 7 a.m. EST so the park could be cleaned. I won’t sha…
The viral story field set free by Occupy Wall Street is morphing and spreading to hundreds of cities. The multifarious conversation of transformation is popping up everywhere like mushrooms in a forest. Both alternative and mainstream media are fi…
This is, for me, the most inspiring TED Talk I’ve ever seen. Silver Donald Cameron – Bhutan: The Pursuit of Gross National Happiness And here are a film and a book that expand and deepen the view that economics can and should be about generating g…
Every now and then potentially game changing innovations show up. Wikileaks is one of them, something that shifts the relationship between centralized power and broader national and international populations. We don’t know what exactly will happen…
Bill Keller’s New York Times op-ed “What if Sanity Prevails in Washington?” offers a tantalizing vision of what might be possible if we moved beyond partisan politics-as-usual. Sadly, he stops just short of the kind of evolutionary breakthrough we…
So much is happening under the guise of “the budget crisis” that I thought it might be useful to deconstruct this issue a bit. I am concerned, in particular, because a number of efforts are emerging to formally engage the public in deliberations a…
Recently I’ve seen a swirl of information (mostly on the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation listserv) about participatory budgeting. Below, you’ll find a sampling of this info, in relatively raw form. I do not know enough to sort it …