[Radix] Of Politics and Asteroids

[Patrick Meier]

Dear All,

This has been an interesting discussion.

While I agree that the generalization "humanity" is problematic, blaming the
elites (elected or not) is for me too easy--although this may just be a
product of my being currently immersed in the rich literature on non-violent
movements. Humanity vs elites is a dichotomy that I am not comfortable with.
One of my concerns is that labelling "humanity" as the victims tends to
dis-empower the latter and absolve them in the process; but I realize that
this is not what Ben means by this.

Whether the elites are elected or not doesn't change the fact that power is
pluralistic. I'd like to believe we each have far more potential influence
as individuals than we can imagine. Strategic non-violence is referred to by
many as a force more powerful, and I concur. We should not be surprised to
learn that in 50 of 67 transitions from authoritarianism in the past 35
years, according to a recent study by Freedom House, it was not violent
rebellion but non-violent civic resistance that was the pivotal force. Power
is not inherent in the physical tools used in a conflict; it is produced in
the strategic transaction between the parties to a conflict.

Power is not a monolithic entity residing in the person or position of a
ruler or ruling body. Instead, Sharp argues that power is pluralistic,
residing with a variety of groups and in a diversity of locations, which he
calls loci of power. The loci of power provide a countervailing force
against the power of the ruler, especially when the loci are numerous and
widely distributed throughout society.

http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org

Best wishes,
Patrick





On 2/17/07, bwisner at igc.org <bwisner at igc.org> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I write with very limited connectivity from East Africa, so I shall keep
> this short.
>
> It seems that the generalization "humanity" is problematic.  If resources
> are not provided to scan for near earth objects (NEOs), the blame lies not
> with humanity but with the elites (elected or not) who decide to use surplus
> value accumunated by the collectives we call "governments" for vastly
> expensive and wasteful adventures such as the war in Iraq.
>
> Secondly, failure to reach a common agreement for a coordinated
> international effort to foresee, predict, and possibly prevent collisions
> with NEOs, in addition to the preparations necessary if there is a strike,
> will be partly due to the suspicions and tensions bred by continued
> agressive, unilateral war making by the U.S.  Thus, for instance, a chain
> of events probably links the war in Iraq with nuclear ambitions in Iran and
> North Korea, and also the Chinese initiatives in star wars (test destruction
> recently of a satellite).  In such an atmosphere a common agreement will be
> much harder to achieve.
>
> Is "humanity" to blame for the above mentioned?
>
> All the best, BEN
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Patrick Meier <patrick.meier at tufts.edu>
> >Sent: Feb 17, 2007 10:02 AM
> >To: radix at ecie.org
> >Subject: [Radix] Of Politics and Asteroids
> >
> > Greetings,
> >
> >"Should humanity be blamed if an astronomical object, such as a comet or
> >asteroid, strikes Earth? The 'no' perspective explains that any location
> in
> >the universe has vulnerability to such objects and that humanity did not
> >have a choice in evolving on Earth. The 'yes' perspective contends that
> >humanity has the ability to monitor for potential threats in order to
> >provide enough lead-time to act to avert calamity, namely by deflecting
> the
> >object's trajectory or by breaking it up" (Kelman 2007: 123).
> >
> >A draft UN treaty to determine what would have to be done if a giant
> >asteroid was on a collision course with Earth is to be drawn up this
> year.
> >Does this now mean that failure to prevent the disaster would be
> tantamount
> >to a political disaster? Does political responsibility begin with
> political
> >recognition of a hazard? Or does political responsibility exist
> regardless?
> >
> >http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6370817.stm
> >
> >Best,
> >Patrick
> >
> >--
> >PhD Associate
> >Co-Founder APSA Forecasting Group
> >The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy
> > http://fletcher.tufts.edu/
> >phd/students/Meier.html<
> http://fletcher.tufts.edu/%20phd/students/Meier.html>
>
>
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