Now is the time to talk about climate change

Naomi Klein interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, lays open the locked doors of a politics that condemns all life of the Americas, and eventually all people of Europe and Asia. 

There is so much bad news right now you might feel like turning off all the media in order to find some inner peace. But there won't be any if we cannot impress on our leaders their first duty is to serve the people and the future of this earth. 

Visit this here to watch the video  Now is the time to talk about climate change.

The Sacred Feminine

The emphasis on the feminine as I experienced it growing up, was in appearance.  Looking gentle not hard. Being dressed well. Ornamenting my appearance with make-up and jewellery. Being soft and yielding.  I internalized these values, admired the beauty of women and strove to be that myself.

My sense of the sacred feminine was uncomfortable with this self-absorption and vanity. My obsession with appearance meant I was creating tension for my growing children. 

Because of the sacrifices my mother and father made,  I grew up believing I had a responsibility to be successful, whatever that meant.

I looked for examples of women who I thought were successful, and questioned what made them successes? Were they honest about their own feelings? Did they listen to others?  Did they emphasize the  value of the group above their own ego?

How is the sacred feminine different from the sacred masculine?  Women and men have different expectations imposed on them, and therefore different challenges. But every individual needs to examine their innate nature too. What do they value? How will we move to the next decade in beauty and strength? How can we support the development of a nurturing community and protect nature from our baser instincts?

This is more complex than laying out rules of right and wrong. Feminine and masculine natures are evolving. Social responsibility for a woman and for a man is built on our individual conscience arising out of our social conscience and our relationship to nature.

The sacred feminine appears in the work and character of women who contributed to our world, such as those listed below:

 Julian of Norwich (14th century) a Christian mystic, and theologian. Her Revelations of Divine Love was the first book in the English language known to have been written by a woman.

Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975) was a German-born Jewish American political theorist whose phrase 'the banality of evil' has influenced our thinking on power and its abuses. 

Naomi Klein  an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times and #1 international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism has inspired movements of resistance against neoliberal capitalism. 

Shelagh Rogers, OC, is the host, and a producer, of CBC Radio One's The Next Chapter and Chancellor of the University of Victoria. Her dedication to Canadian literature has given our country insight into our often overlooked culture, including our First Nations.

Leah Hokanson is a pianist, choir director and teacher emphasizing the spiritual container for creative expression and health. She has developed choirs, accepting singers of all capabilities, and encouraged us to get in touch with the music within us for the sake of our own peace and happiness.

These women are warriors that enable rather than conquer and they embody what the sacred feminine means to our culture and the worth of women and men everywhere.

Naomi Klein and The Future of The World

Activist and author "Naomi Klein argues in her new book No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need that we should have been expecting someone like [Trump]."

Anna Maria Tremonti's interview with Naomi Klein is something we, who care about life on this planet, need to listen to. We need to think about strategies of resistance rather than reacting to every crisis being broadcast.

We Don't Want Prosperity or Justice

Usually, all it takes is 30-40% of the population to determine the outcomes of our democracy. Less than half the population who have  chosen gadgets and toys above clean water, clean air, or good health. 40% who are not interested in equality, because, if they look closely at their preferences,  what they (we) want is superiority.

Superiority is a fantasy of being part of a tribe, race or nation that is wealthier, more intelligent, of good breeding, who are entitled to control others.

Political parties who claim to want equality have to be so careful how they phrase that. The word itself diminishes the hope of "getting ahead", "being on top", "control". Equality is a threat to the  massaged ego looking for any opportunity to win. How can anyone or anything prove itself in a world that values all?

There are many literary references to this ego. Othello, Death of a Salesman, and countless TV dramas.  George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, among many others, have offered the cautionary tale. Public intellectuals and journalists such as Chris Hedges, Noam Chomski, Naomi Klein, write about the cost of inequality, elitism and abuse of power.

Yet back in the early sixties Tommy Douglas managed to get medicare for the Canadian public, and CBC managed to broadcast the voices of ordinary people across Canada.  This was not too long after WWII where the call for equality and social justice was seen as a way to avoid the horrors of fascism that feeds off the vulnerable isolated people, in a world that values power more than justice and sustainability.

All that we have is under threat because of the ambitions of men and the rising gap between haves and have-nots. The battle is between the personal fantasies of our elite and the masses who have been robbed.

Trump's ability to win an election was because he had money, contacts, and a lack of conscience as he used every trick to divide and conquer the masses who are competing for survival.

To the ego that is so badly damaged through poverty, abuse and neglect, this feels like somebody will fix it all. This is what got Hitler elected and the result was death, torture and the destruction of an entire continent. The cost was millions of lives, herculean battles against despair, humility and cooperation.

Here we are facing this threat again and people can't be reached through facts, reason, justice or debate. As we look upon another election that threatens to return more power to large corporations, in a business climate that shows no conscience, willing to destroy the planet for the sake of profit, it appears as though we are ready to hand the reins again to the exclusive promise of jobs and the economy.

"Jobs and economy" has now moved away from living wages and healthy families, and is now shorthand for selling all of creation to the bottom line, sacrificing humanity to the tricksters of greed. We shall get sick in body and mind, angry and alienated from family and neighbours, in our pursuit of wealth.  We shall be starved of joy and peace, in a continual state of homelessness where violence and crime destabilize police forces, health care and education. And those human values dismissed as naive while politicians and business people think like lizards to compete for your vote.

How can we reach the emotions and integrity of those for whom politics is either an entertainment, irrelevant or a mystery?  How can we get the disenfranchised to care about what is really happening so they can see how their vulnerability is played against them?

For justice to find its voice, we have to care enough to read against ourselves. To find a way of resisting against the swamp like arguments and resurrect hope, compassion and cooperation for the greater good.