Home » Posts tagged 'margaret atwood'
Tag Archives: margaret atwood
Beyond Extinction: Transition to post-capitalism is inevitable
Beyond Extinction: Transition to post-capitalism is inevitable
In Margaret Atwood’s powerful essay on the reality of climate change — and its implications for the future of oil-dependent industrial civilization — she tells two vastly distinct stories of our future.
The first is a tale of dystopia — a future so bleak, it would make Hollywood moguls looking for the next science fiction blockbuster of action-packed (post)apocalypse salivate with anticipation. Here, Atwood tells a story of human failure: of short-sighted choices based on fatal addiction to business-as-usual, and an egoistic hubris rooted in centuries of globalisation.
In this scenario, we largely ignore the overwhelming evidence of climate change, and the result is that industrial civilization enters a period of protracted collapse, fuelled by accelerating war, famine, and natural disasters.
The second is a vision of utopia — a collectivist dream-world in which everybody works together, harnessing the best of human ingenuity across society, economics, politics and technology, to peacefully restructure the fundamentals of human existence. Here, Atwood tells a story of human success: of far-sighted decisions based on confronting the follies of business-as-usual, and by embracing our unity as a species.
In this scenario, we act on the overwhelming evidence of climate change, and the result is that industrial civilization enters a period of carefully calibrated transition to a techno-utopian post-capitalist, post-materialist infrastructure, avoiding the worst of today’s scientific warnings.
Crossroads
Of course, both these scenarios are extremes, but there is a purpose to such extremes. Atwood uses the power of story to help us awaken to the starkness — and gravity — of the choice we now face: a choice, effectively, between hell and heaven on earth.
And Atwood is spot on when she notes that this is not just about climate change.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Bill C-51 opposition tweeted by Margaret Atwood, Sarah Harmer
Liberals say they’ll vote in favour of Bill C-51, despite hoping for changes
Canadian author Margaret Atwood and singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer are voicing complaints about the Conservatives’ proposed anti-terrorism bill, asking Liberal MPs from their communities to vote against it.
In particular, Harmer and Atwood have got their backs up over the Liberals’ pledge to support the bill, despite saying they would change it if they win power in next fall’s election.
“[Prime Minister Stephen Harper] is attacking our rights & freedoms,” Atwood tweeted at Toronto MP Adam Vaughan, a Liberal.
“Please do the right thing and #voteagainstC51.”
Harmer retweeted Atwood’s message, tagging Kingston, Ont., Liberal MP Ted Hsu.
The NDP and the Green Party oppose C-51, which has gone through the committee stage in the House of Commons and is set to return to the floor of the House next week.
The legislation is a late-bloomer in this session, having been tabled less than a year before the 2015 election.
The NDP is using procedural tactics to delay the bill and has tabled 66 deletion motions which could, depending on how the votes are grouped, slow the House agenda. The party is also asking its supporters to go directly to Liberal MPs to tell them to vote against the bill.
Sweeping powers
Opponents argue the pendulum has swung too far toward security and away from civil liberties.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
