We have two options, most of the time: to interpret the “worsening” of conditions around us as a call to despair while disparaging and demanding more of “those in charge,” or to look closer at the power that we these and those within our sphere of influence or invitation hold to do something about it.
In this two-part podcast, Cormac Russell and Peter Pula explore what a path might look like as we consistently choose the latter, and why this is a critical act in times that are clamoring for a deepening of our democracies.
- Discussion 1: “Deeper Democracy the Antidote in Pandemic-Conscious Future”
- Discussion 2: “A Lot Would Open Up If We Quit Over-Reaching”
Below, find a teaser of the discussion as woven together by Peter Pula on Axiom News:
Ever since members of the human race have commenced settlements and domesticated animals as a feature of organizing society, issues like COVID-19 have been present. Cormac Russell, author of Rekindling Democracy, says there has been at least a decade-long awareness that we would be contending with pandemics.
The encroachment on the planet has consequences. As we scale up and we cut deeper into the Amazon rainforest, etcetera, there are fallouts for all of us, he says.
“We are in a context and in a time when our awareness one way or the other is forced towards a pandemic-conscious future, the limits of what institutions can do about that, and among other things, an economically grim decade ahead,” he says.
In Rekindling Democracy, Cormac makes the case that, “if you’re waiting for the ‘big man’ to get his act together so he can come and save you, or do no harm to you, you’re going to be disappointed. So, you’d better get organized, you’d better find your power. And you’d better find ways of keeping yourself and other people safe. It’s its neighbour-to-neighbour, citizen-to-citizen, where our greatest hope is.”
Cormac calls for a deeper democracy. One well beyond current politics and systems for voting. He says voting could be seen as an act of giving your power away rather than actually exercising it.
Illustrations by Yvonne Hollandy
Going Further:
- Rekindling Democracy (Russell)
- Six Principles: Why We Do What We Do and What We Expect from Others (Mather)
- We are the Key to Our Own Recovery (Carter)
- Rewriting the Rules: the Ujima Boston Project (Doner)
