Democracy Is Dead (And We Have Killed It)
Lucas Papademos is the new Greek prime minister. He is also the former vice-president of the European Central Bank. A man who would possibly do anything to ensure that Greece remains in the Eurozone, despite public outcry. In Italy, [...]
“Dispute No Further When the Truth Appears” – Lessons From the Past
We do not occupy in isolation. Yet while spiritual-mystical-historical connections to other popular movements are evident, it is not always welcome to make them publically. Witness the BBC reaction to Darkus Howe’s claim, much replayed [...]
From the Mexican Highlands to St Paul’s
What has united the myriad of occupy movements, so far, has been a critique of rampant privatisation and inequality correlated to a demand for a ‘real’ democracy. The latter implies that the current model is a fake and expresses [...]
The End is Nigh! Occupy!
“The End is Nigh!” Delightful words, written in bold on a sandwich board or screamed out on a street corner in the ecstasy of doom. But what does it mean? Sadly our own Christian enthusiastics are too busy dancing jigs, hoisting enormous [...]
Broken System, Not Broken People
If there’s one conclusion I’ve come to after five years of suffering from it, it is that mental illness doesn’t happen in isolation. We know that 1 in 4 Britons will suffer from a mental disorder in their lifetime. The World [...]
‘Caring Capitalism’ – a Contradiction in Terms?
Ask ten people – occupiers, bankers, journalists, company directors – not whether they agree with capitalism but instead “What is Capitalism?”. The ten different answers proffered suggest that the ‘are we anti-capitalist?’ [...]
On the Futility of Regulating Finance
If anything bridges the gap between many in the Occupy movements, the mainstream press, and many in the financial elite, it is their diagnosis of the causes behind the current crisis. Finance got out of hand; bankers got too greedy; governments [...]
Tahrir Square And The Occupy Movement
In the rising wave of international protests happening under the Occupy banner, Cairo’s Tahrir Square has gained iconic status, frequently invoked by activists from New York and Oakland to Barcelona and London. The substantial differences [...]
Funny Money Policies: How Our Obsession With Growth And Cheap Labor Undermines Economic Policy
A front-page story in the Washington Post on July 31 of this year might have considered other reasons why growth has not led to more employment, besides simply claiming that growth has been “too slow”. First, the jobs that workers would [...]
May We Live In Interesting Times
A while ago, I interviewed Herman Daly, whose article on labor policy is on the opposite page. Towards the end of our discussion, we had shifted focus from economics and politics when Mr. Daly invoked his teaching experience to drive home a [...]
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