A glimmer of a hope for a fairer future

Or:
"What a Harvard academic can teach us about people power."

From The Independent 28th of August, in the 'my view' column, an article with views on how the world looks with all that is going on in North Africa, contrasted to China, and to the Western, democratic world. with starting point in lectures on the Net by Michael Sanders.


China: "You could say that the country that leads the world in manufacturing, and will, in a few years, overtake America as the world's richest and most powerful nation, and looks set to be the big imperial power of the 21st century, doesn't need much in the way of chinks, or glimmers, or rays, or beams, of hope."
"You could say that its mix of communism with a wild capitalism that allows Blade Runner skylines to spring up where once there were paddy fields has served it very well, and also made sure that many of its 1.3 billion people who were very, very poor, now aren't. You might even say that it doesn't need any lectures from anyone else."
"But you could also say that three million is a lot of people to be watching.."
"You could say that it's very interesting that, in a country that hasn't wanted to talk about history, and still doesn't want its citizens to know about a lot of things that are happening in the world, and blocks their internet access so they can't, three million people want to hear lectures on "the issue of individual rights and the freedom to choose", or on "what happens if our obligation to a family or community conflicts with our obligation to humanity", or on whether people should be compensated by governments for "historical injustice". You could say that it's very interesting that people who have grown up in a country where their government doesn't really want them to think seem to be very, very keen to think."

On Libya:
"... in Libya. We don't know what these people think about tax laws, and rights to life, liberty and property, though we do know that quite a lot of them seem to think that if you find something after fighting, then it's yours. We don't know what they think about people holding different ideas of what is good. We know that they want to get rid of a dictator, and that they like the idea of democracy, but we don't know if they know what kind of democracy they want, or how to get it.

It would be nice if these people, who, like the three million Chinese, haven't been used to having political debates, because in dictatorships you don't get to have many political debates, could watch those lectures, and learn that the best chance for people to live together, with some freedom, and some responsibility, is if you think, and keep thinking, about all the things you need to balance, and keep asking other people what they think, and make your decisions, when you have to make them, by weighing those things up."


And us, the West:"It would be nice if those of us who do live in democracies, but can't be bothered to think about the issues, because they're too difficult, and we much prefer things that are easy to things that are difficult, could watch them, too. If we did, perhaps we'd realise that very little in life, not even riots or "criminality", is "pure and simple". And that although the state of an economy is very important, it's not the only thing that's important. That there are other things that are important, like the choices we all make.

We might realise that there are things we can do, in our lives, and through our votes, that will make things better for other people, and things that won't. And that this is what Sandel calls "moral philosophy", and that "moral philosophy" matters. If a few thousand men can topple a dictator, then perhaps a few million people who think, and go on thinking, can change a world."


What will happen with China? Will the population eventually gain democracy?

Which way will Lybia, who does not know anything about demoncray, except that they want it, jump?

And to me, most importantly because this is where we can make a direct difference:

Is it true that we are too complacent and willingly ignorant of what happens to bother with thinking?

It seems to me that freedom is not something you have, it is something you take. And you have to keep on taking it. If you sleep on the laurels of old, your freedom will slip away, bit by bit.

The fate of the world cannot be left in the the hands of the politicians, or the corporations. It is our responsibililty.

The article is worth reading.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion...r-2344721.html