End of empire

What’s going on? Much of what we thought was the bedrock of our society is dissolving before our eyes, the rule of reason and logic is breaking down as nation states fall away and corporate power and oligopoly takes over. A symptom of the rise of the corporate state is that climate denial is rising, social division is expanding, we are being confronted with all the shortcomings and denial from our own history; there is nothing sustainable about this, as the elites retreat into a fantasy world of their own making we must realise this is the end of empire. All our first world privileges are going to be revoked, education, health care, food security, public transport, libraries, they are all up for sale, we have to figure out what comes next.

Our ability to endure will be measured by our capacity to sustain our neighbour

Chris Hedges

This earth-shaking lecture is from 2017 and its message is amplified by the prescience of Hedges’ vision, this really makes you pay attention. What Pulitzer prize winning journalist and public intellectual Chris Hedges outlines here is the wider political reality we are being confronted with and sets a really sharp context for what we should be thinking about within BRACE going forward.

Take notes people we need to talk about this. In this awesome, angry speech Hedges reveals the naked truth of our times, challenging the rise of corporate power and the decline of democracy. Communities will have to stand together as the rich elites retreat into their gated communities as the great western economies unwind and inevitably collapse.

Invest an hour of your life into this lecture, especially the fist 25 minutes if time is short, he is talking about the US mainly, but here in the UK we are umbilically linked to the decay, corruption and hubris of the American empire.

Permaculture is the methodology we can use to address these huge and terrifying problems. Resilience from the bottom up, building on the lessons of nature. These are the ideas that have driven me forward for 30 years, permaculture has allowed the creation of so many ideas that are turning into action, all around the globe, these have become the seeds of what comes next.

Happy New Year, lets make 2020 the year for positive social and ecological change!