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| Multitude, by Maroe Susti |
It is not a matter of pretending that we are powerful when we are not, but rather recognizing the power we really have; the power that created the contemporary world and can create another.
Being a lover of books, when I read a headline about "the book of the Occupy Movement", I was immediately interested. The article was about Hardt and Negri’s book Empire (2001), and how many believe it predicted and helped shape the current wave of protests. Empire is largely what the protests are fighting against.
The only way for the rich and powerful to maintain their interests and guarantee the global order, according to these authors, is to establish Empire, or a broad global collaboration among the ruling powers.
Far from being peaceful, this collaboration is maintained through a state of violence that permeates everything, and opposes democracy. Perpetual fear is used as a tool of control.
Hardt and Negri do not give solutions to these problems. But they outline the methods that can be used to arrive at our own solutions, and they point out the most effective way to make change happen - through the power of the Multitude. This is described in the book by the same name, which is a follow up to Empire.
The Multitude consists of people showing a multiplicity of differences - different cultures, ethnic backgrounds, lifestyles, etc. Differences can be maintained while we concentrate on what we have in common.
We all share a desire for love, social justice, fairness, environmental integrity, freedom, and sustainable systems, among other things.
Today, for the first time in global history, the Multitude is able to form, and with it comes new possibilities for how we live and govern ourselves. Communication technology provides the means for enabling different peoples to come together in order to talk, explore, discover, and plan for the future.
We are the Multitude, the David that will be the end of the Goliath that is Empire. And we are exercising our power to create a better world.
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