Voices of the 99%

Some have posited that the Great Wall was reflective of imperial paralysis--Should I attack the Mongols? Should I trade with them? I dunno. Maybe I’ll just build a really big wall. And, of course, the Chinese are very fond of walls....But this wall, unlike most in China, was not ultimately effective....It was simply a huge, pointless wall that went on and on and on. So they took the bricks, built homes, shops, and wells until some enterprising official discovered that there was good money to be made with the Great Wall, that tourists would flock there wanting camel rides and bird whistles, and they could combine a trip to the Wall with a visit to the Traditional Medicine Center. And a jade factory, too. Build it and they will come, he thought, and so he took pen to paper. The Great Wall which be created by the human being will be your nice mind forever!
And so it is.

J. Maarten Troost, Lost on Planet China: One man’s attempt to understand the world’s most mystifying nation, 81. Broadway: 2009.



Crucial ideas and possibilities can vanish completely for a time--even for an entire generation--before they return with a new force and impetus, to start a new turn on the spiral.

Daniel Pinchbeck, “The End of Money?” essay originally published on www.realitysandwich.com, March 2008, republished in Notes from the Edge Times: Penguin, 2010.



In consensus organizing, community organizers learn all they can about the ‘downtown interests’ (the local powerholders) and about the community and its grassroots leaders. The downtown interests and grassroots community leaders often oppose each other and tell stereotypical stories in which their opponent plays an ineffective or malevolent role.

Consensus organizers try to identify a project, such as a job training program, that is of interest to both the community leaders and downtown interests. Then they engage the parties in real dialogue about the program only, leading to productive collaborations and new relationships. Later, those relationships can be used to make real progress on other community issues, since the stereotyped us-vs-them stories have been replaced with a belief in the possibility of shared exploration and shared benefits.

Tom Atlee, The Tao of Democracy: Using co-intelligence to create a world that works for all. The Writers Collective: 2002.



“There is a time for everyone to find out what’s up there,” he said as he pointed to the sky. “This is your time.”

Nevit O. Ergin, “The Unemployed Shaman,” from Tales of a Modern Sufi: The invisible fence of reality and other stories. Inner Traditions, Vermont: 2009.