B. Another World Is Possible: A Few Positive Examples

“The Century: A Nation’s-Eye View,” by Eric Foner, The Nation, January 10, 2000, 6 p.

http://www.ericfoner.com/articles/121002nation.html

or

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/History/TheCentury_NationsView.html

A short overview of the big issues facing us at the beginning of the 21st century.

“The Optimism of Uncertainty,” by Howard Zinn, The Nation (web only), September 20, 2004, 5 p.

http://www.thenation.com/article/optimism-uncertainty

We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people’s thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible.

“What Is a Living Wage?” by Jon Gertner, The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, January 15, 2006, 33 p.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/magazine/15wage.html

or

http://cslproductions.org/scrapbook/NYTimes-Living-Wage_1-15-06/

The efforts and successes of the living wage movement.

“Fair Trade: for Everyone’s Benefit,” by Lilja Otto, Yes! Magazine, Winter 2006, 1 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/spiritual-uprising/fair-trade-for-everyones-benefit

The fair trade movement has forged direct, stable, democratic trade relations between producers and consumers.

“Pieces of the Puzzle,” by Jill Bamburg, Yes! Magazine, Fall 2002, 5 sp.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/living-economies/pieces-of-the-puzzle

How Burlington, Vermont became one of America’s most sustainable communities.

“They Can Walk With Their Heads Up: An Interview with Joao Pedro Stedile, National Board Member, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra,” by Cynthia Peters and Justin Podur, Dollars & Sense, May/June 2002, 10 p.

http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2002/0502mst.html

How Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement has grown.

“Venezuela’s Cooperative Revolution: An economic experiment is the hidden story behind Chávez’s ‘Bolivarian Revolution’,” by Betsy Bowman and Bob Stone, Dollars & Sense, July/August 2006, 14 p.

http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2006/0706bowmanstone.html

The unprecedented growth of cooperatives that has reshaped the economic lives of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.

“South American cities spearhead development of direct democracy,” by Nick Swift and Guy Kervella, City Mayors report, December 5, 2003, 4 p.

http://www.citymayors.com/report/oidp1.html

Experiments in three cities demonstrate the value of local, participatory democracy. Vision piece

“When the People Decide,” by Doug Pibel, Yes! Magazine, Spring 2006, 1 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/10-most-hopeful-trends/when-the-people-decide

Participative budgeting is a growing movement in Brazil.

“Porto Alegre’s Budget Of, By, And For the People,” by David Lewit, Yes! Magazine, Winter 2003, 4 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/what-would-democracy-look-like/562

The people of Porto Alegre, Brazil, get to decide how to spend their city’s budget, and the benefits are evident in neighborhoods rich and poor.

“The Great Turning as Compass and Lens,” by Joanna Macy, Yes! Magazine, Summer 2006, 8 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/5000-years-of-empire/the-great-turning-as-compass-and-lens

What it means to be alive at a moment of global crisis and possibility: The Great Turning — the transition from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining society — invites us to lift our eyes from the cramped closet of short-term thinking and see the larger historical landscape.

“Mushroom Power,” by Paul Stamets, Yes! Magazine, Spring 2003, 3 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/our-planet-our-selves/mushroom-power

Bio-remediation using mushrooms: how fungi can cleanse water and toxic spills.

“High-Tech Goes Green,” by Ted Smith and Chad Raphael, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Yes! Magazine, Spring 2003, 7 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/our-planet-our-selves/596

Extended Producer Responsibility: producers take responsibility for the entire life cycle of products and their associated e-waste including high-tech toxics.

“Summary of Global Response Campaign History, 1990–2005,” by Eddie Camp and Danislava Marinova, Global Response, July 2005, 8 p.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100827213824/http://www.globalresponse.org/camphist.php (4 p.) Archived version.

And…

https://web.archive.org/web/20100713143042/http://www.globalresponse.org/victories.php Skim. (3 p.) Archived version.

A short summary of the effectiveness of Global Response’s letter writing campaigns to help communities around the world protect the environment and defend the rights of indigenous peoples.

“Valencia: Water Wisdom,” by Lucía Iglesias Kuntz, The UNESCO Courier, March 2006, pages 9–10, 3 p.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001915/191576e.pdf

In Valencia’s vast “huerta”, the heartland of Spain’s orchards, water is an historically strategic element. For centuries a special court has met on every Thursday to settle disputes relating to this key resource.

“I am my Neighbor’s Mirror: A Community Rebuilding After Genocide,” by Laura Shipler Chico, African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams, No Date, 19 p.

http://www.aglionline.org/publications/articles/avp/pdf/mirror2007.pdf

Rwanda has reinstated a traditional community justice process to help heal the country following the 1994 genocide.

“Restorative Conferencing,” Centre for Justice & Reconciliation, Prison Fellowship International, 3 p.

http://www.pfi.org/cjr/downloads/focus-on-justice/focus-on-justice/restorativeconferencing/

A restorative justice system, developed in New Zealand, brings the victim and offender to a face-to-face meeting to discuss the crime and its impact.

“Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” adopted in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, 8 p.

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

In 1948, the United Nations codified acceptable civil behavior, creating a rule of law for human rights.

“International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, New York, 1966,” 1 p.

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/treaties/civil.asp

“International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, New York, 1966,” 2 p.

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/treaties/economic.asp

“International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, New York, 1966,” 2 p.

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/treaties/racial.asp

“Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, New York, 1979,” 1 p.

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/treaties/elimination.asp

“Convention on the Rights of the Child, New York, 1989,” 2 p.

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/treaties/child.asp

“Hope Is in the States,” by Ruth Conniff, The Progressive, March 2006, 5 p.

http://www.progressive.org/mag_conniff0306

There is a groundswell of activity in the states.

“Clean Elections Work in Maine,” by Jim Annis and John Brautigam, Hartford Courant, October 24, 2005, 2 p.

http://portlandccc.wordpress.com/2005/10/24/hartford-courant-clean-elections-work-in-maine/#more-25

or

http://www.caclean.org/problem/hartfordc_2005-10-24.php

What a difference publicly funded elections makes.

“Otpor: the youths who booted Milosevic,” by Christophe Chiclet, The UNESCO Courier, March 2001, 9 p.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001221/122144e.pdf Warning: large file. Article begins on p. 34.

It took a generation of 20 year-olds without a manifesto or leader to shake Serbia out of its lethargy. Armed only with slogans and spray paint, they dealt a fatal blow to the dictatorship.

“Turning Scarcity Into Abundance,” by Vandana Shiva, Yes! Magazine, Winter 2004, 8 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/whose-water/turning-scarcity-into-abundance

The solution to scarcity is not more mega-projects, more control by giant corporations, or more globalization. The solution to scarcity is more democracy.

“Limits of Empire,” by James K. Galbraith, Yes! Magazine, Fall 2003, 3 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/government-of-the-people-shall-not-perish/limits-of-empire

The United States should again be committed to building the core capacities — in education, public health, housing, and transport — that underpin real development.

Leading U.S. Progressive Organizations