#100: Direct Democracy: 1."The Power of the Powerless" Vaclav Havel. 08.7.10=4 - 7.15=2 11am.

#100: Direct Democracy: "The Power of the Powerless" Vaclav Havel. 08.7.10-15: 1. "The Power of the Powerless": 2. Habiatat for Humanity local affiliates: "The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe" Vaclav Havel Pub.: M. E. Sharpe (Jun26,1985) http://tinyurl.com/5dp62v [[ " Tolstoy proposes a third alternative to revolution and reform. I have asked Lew to reprint Tolstoy’s letter (set forth below) in the hope that some of those now feeling the sting of disappointment over Obama’s backpedaling may be receptive to pondering Tolstoy’s advice. I recommend it as a starting point, to help dust off the cobwebs. Those wishing to follow up with a more modern and comprehensive treatment would be well rewarded by reading Vaclav Havel’s The Power of the Powerless, certainly one of the greatest political works of the 20th Century. Havel’s extended essay provided both a theoretical understanding and practical recommendations for the non-violent resistance that helped end communist rule in Eastern Europe. It contains invaluable insight and lessons for anyone confronting monolithic power. " ---: 'A Letter to Liberals' by Leo Tolstoy, Introduction by Jeff Snyder http://tinyurl.com/62ux75 ]] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazon.com: -------------------------------------------------------------------- "" Most Helpful Customer Reviews -------------------------------------------------- 32 of 46 people found the following review helpful: Public Truth Can Overcome Political-Corporate Corruption, July 26, 2002: By Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews ----------------------------------------------------------- Living within the truth is the ultimate act of citizenship, and such living, even in the face of totalitarian repression (as in Czechoslovakia) or consumerist subversion and corporate corruption of the political and financial systems (as in the USA) can ultimately empower the powerless. ------------------------------------------------------------ This is an *extraordinary* book that is directly relevant to the circumstances that we now find ourselves in--what Ralph Nader calls "corporate socialism," where the nominal owners of both the federal government (the voters) and the corporations (the stockholders) find themselves disenfranchised, abused, shut out, and their life savings looted by the most senior chief executive officers and politicians. ------------------------------------------------------------- The book is slightly mis-represented, with "et al" in small print after Havel's name as the author. I was even tempted to skip the additional small essays (his leading essay constitutes 44% of the total book, with ten other essays each being roughly 6% of the book) but that would have been unwise. There is real value in the other essays. -------------------------------------------------------------- Both Eastern Europe prior to the revolution, and the USA in particular but Western democracies in general, share a common overwhelming problem, that of the silenced majority. As both Havel here and Nader elsewhere observe, the word "progressive" is contaminated and diluted, while democracy and capitalism (or socialism) in the ideal are completely compromised by a combination of asymmetric information (keeping the people uninformed) and corporate or bureaucratic or political corruption. "" --------------------------------------------------------------- ... ... --------------------------------------------------------------- " Havel places most of his emphasis on reform at the individual and community level, outside of politics and economics. He is especially encouraging in speaking of how unlikely it is to predict the moment when widely differing groups can come together in truth and freedom to overcome an oppressive regime, and yet how likely it is, in today's environment, that such a change might occur. --------------------------------------------------------------- In many ways his long essay reminded me of George Will's collection of thoughts published as "Statecraft as Soulcraft," except that Havel has found the state (either communist or capitalist) to be a failure at its most important function--the people must instead constitute an alternative polis that is initially side-by-side with the state, and ultimately displaces the state with a fresh new start. Incumbents beware, Havel finds that more often than not a clean sheet fresh start is the way to go. ---------------------------------------------------------------- As the USA confronts terrorism and a right-of-center approach to law enforcement, Havel offers a clear warning to citizens at risk of being labeled as terrorists when in fact they are only dissidents and speakers of truth. He speaks of the communist regime "ascribing terrorist aims to the 'dissident movements' and accusing them of illegal and conspiratorial methods." Shades of the present in the West, where anti-globalization activists and legitimate Arab and Muslim personalities have been tarred with the terrorist brush, held without recourse to lawyers, and generally abused in the name of an ill-defined and badly-managed counter-terrorism program. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Among his deepest thoughts, and I will stop here for the essay needs to be read by the same thoughtful people that are reading "Cicero" and "What Kind of Nation" and "Crashing the Party" and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy", is the following: "The 'dissident movements' do not shy away from the idea of violent political overthrow because the idea seems too radical, but on the contrary, because it does not seem radical enough. For them, the problem lies far too deep to be settled through mere systemic changes, either governmental or technological." Havel, perhaps in concurrence with Lawrence Lessig and his "Future of Ideas" finds both the law and the legal code to be oppressive and abusive of the people--the recent effort to modify bankruptcy laws to reduce the protections of the people from abusive credit card companies, are but one small example--the outrageous extension of copyright and patent laws to keep innovation from the marketplace are another. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Havel anticipates the "whithering away and dying off" of traditional political parties, "to be replaced by new structures that have evolved from 'below' and are put together in a fundamentally different way." He speaks briefly of technology being out of control, and of the ultimate war now taking place, between state control and social control. He concludes that parliamentary democracies are essentially institutionalized forms of collective *irresponsibility*, and that only a moral reconstitution of society, the resurrection of core "values like as trust, openness, responsibility, solidarity, love" will show the way out of the "classic impotence of traditional democratic organizations." ----------------------------------------------------------------- The other authors are not to be missed, and provide complementary but distinct views that are helpful to sparking debate and reflection. " ... ... ======================= ======================= ======================= 2. Habitat for Humanity: 'Find Local Affiliates, Volunteer Opportunities, News, Events' http://tinyurl.com/6lhdg9 : "" Use the search box below to find your closest Habitat for Humanity affiliates plus Habitat news and events in your area. Search For Affiliates In Your Local Area Search by using one of the following: By U.S. zip code : Affiliate Name : U.S. state or Canadian province : UNITED STATES: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming CANADA: Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Territory Country: Afghanistan Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Bangladesh Belize Bermuda Bolivia Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Democratic Republic of Congo Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Ethiopia Fiji Islands Germany Ghana Great Britain Greece Guam Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary India Indonesia Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Mexico Micronesia Mongolia Mozambique Myanmar Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Northern Ireland Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia Samoa Senegal Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Sri Lanka Switzerland Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Uganda United States Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Zambia Zimbabwe Thank you for visiting the official Habitat for Humanity International Web site. © 2008 Habitat for Humanity® International. All rights reserved. "Habitat for Humanity" is a registered service mark owned by Habitat for Humanity International. "" Taiwan? =================================