You must have friends who want to make the world a better place: we all do. Some of your loved ones probably make a difference through their parenting, careers, businesses, or community work; or some combination thereof. But drastic change is difficult to imagine.
You must also have friends, family, and co-workers who are constantly complaining about and frustrated with the current state of our society. These friends may identify as liberal, conservative, right, left, or whatever. Maybe they don’t like the democrats, maybe they don’t like the republicans, but you know who they are. Maybe they agree with your views or maybe you see each other as polar opposites.
While your thinking about what gifts to give, I want to remind you that I wrote “Another World IS Possible” for the purpose of bringing together people who traditionally disagree with each other, to show the common roots of our shared problems, and to provide a methodology for those folks to come together in a way that meets the needs and desires of practically everyone—left, right, and in between. It sounds impossible, but it’s not.
As we approach the holiday season, I want to offer anyone who wants to spread the promise of “Another World IS Possible” to friends and family, the chance to do it.
If you purchase multiple copies between now and January 1, I’ll provide you with a big discount. Here’s the deal: if you purchase between 5 and 10 copies you will get $2 off each book; between 11 and 20 copies you will get $3 off each book; and 21 or more copies you will get $4 off of each book!
This is a gift that most of your friends, family, and co-workers will love and it will help create dialogue and bridges that have previously been elusive. Check it out and make your holiday shopping easy while helping to make the world a better place.
Two years for Occupy Wall Street. What still saddens me is how many Americans are still letting the corporate media dictate what and how they think. Whether you consider yourself—a liberal or a conservative, left, right or whatever—most of us would agree on most things if we were having the right discussion with each other. If we listened to why others were advocating for one thing or another we would find common courses of action.
Take taxes for example—something talked about a lot in both the Occupy and Tea Party Movements. Most people would prefer not to be taxed too much and have the government spending our money. But in the current climate of overblown corporations whose actions impact our environment, food supply, wages, small business, political sphere, self-determination, and even our constitutional and human rights—all combined with a media and public relations campaign that prevents accurate information from reaching the masses—it isn’t unreasonable to seek a solution. Those who argue for a free market or some version of capitalism should not be looking to protect this model. The economic system we have is far from either. Taxes are not the solution to fix the system, but they may be a part of a comprehensive transition process. And they certainly can help mitigate the effects of the system while we develop a better way. This is a conversation we could have if we could get passed the rhetoric.
It’s difficult to have this conversation about taxes without taking a hard look at the government. Almost everyone in the country is not satisfied with the government but if we were to transition to a government that was of the people and by the people, then we likely wouldn’t look at taxes the same—like we are handing over our money to some far off, unaccountable institution. Instead, if we had a real say in how our taxes were used and could see the direct impact on our own communities and neighbors, we might not be so angry about them.
Furthermore, if you believe in the America your junior high civics teacher told you about, you should be furious that when other Americans (even if you think you disagree with them [which you probably don’t]) are exercising the first amendment rights they are caged, beaten, and arrested in mass. It should outrage you because someday you may have a grievance to redress and you would want your rights to speech, press, and assembly protected. Don’t let corporate media make you believe that protestors are getting arrested because they did something wrong or illegal. That’s not the case. And don’t let the corporate media make you afraid of other Americans participating in democracy: that’s what democracy is.
Finally, you may believe that Occupy no longer exists because you don’t hear much about it in the media. But, in addition to the activists still working on Occupying Wall Street, what we knew as Occupy in lower Manhattan and public parks around the country has grown into so many projects and movements all over the world and they all remain interconnected through human networks and around common beliefs. Those beliefs are what made Occupy so transformative for so many people: we all have the power to create change with each other. Of many things Occupy accomplished, the most important in my eyes is that it made people remember that they can be the change the world needs. What’s important now is that Americans throughout the country who are living their day-to-day lives, trying to get by, do not forget it.
I’m still positive and optimistic about change. There’s good reason to be: there are so many amazing people doing so many amazing things. I hope to see you in the streets, but even more so I hope to see you in your community park or on your block talking with your neighbors and building a better world.
#OccupyWallStreet #S17 #AnotherWorldISPossible
*Any video or media below this point is not mine. It is inserted into my posts because I refuse to “upgrade” to prevent it.
I wanted to share with you the first review of “Another World IS Possible” by Alternative Culture Magazine.
Here it is in full:
Another World is Possible: Freedom, Economic Truth, and Creating a Society of Humanness-Colby Hopkins
Colby Hopkins brings a wealth of scholarship and practical experience from the front lines of the Occupy movement to bear on the central political, social and economic issues of our time. In lucid, commonsense language he demystifies fundamental concepts such as freedom and democracy – digging beneath the polarized rhetoric of conventional politics to the roots of the Western tradition. Then he brings the discussion home to what is needed today to reimagine and remake politics, to be responsive to human needs and rights.
The fundamental premise is that underlying our supposed disagreements is an unrecognized common ground, basic needs and rights that with an opportunity for civil discussion, we can all agree on. Well, at least, say, the 99% of us who are not currently benefiting from dominance over the political, economic and natural landscape. The Occupy movement has demonstrated a twenty-first century evolution and maturing of models of nonviolent resistance and communication that give practical hope for such a revisioning of society.
Hopkins is both humble and thorough in exploring and explaining the principles and techniques of group facilitation and consensus decision-making. Such tools are essential for making meaningful dialogue possible on a group level, as we move up the scale from local agreement to larger-scale political entities. The hope, and indeed the imperative, is that in our time the organization of social problem-solving depends not upon empty and co-opted representation, but upon true, living democracy, thriving In grassroots communities.
The Humanness Project Press Presents: Colby Hopkins’ “Another World IS Possible” Release Party
Join us on Wednesday, June 26th from 6-9pm at Woodrow’s NYC at 43 Murray St (between Church & West Broadway)
About the Book:
Colby’s “Another World IS Possible: Freedom, Economic Truth, and Creating a Society of Humanness” challenges the current political and economic structures, arguing they do not correlate with all that it means to be humans in society. He provides an intriguing methodology to transition to another kind of world, one that does correlate with humanness.
Sale Information:
We will be selling paperback copies of “Another World IS Possible” for $17.10 (tax included cash or check) and Colby will be signing books upon request.
