Change It Up began quietly in the late moments of 2016, after a year that had cried out 'No more!'. There is growing disillusionment with our political system, as can be seen in falling voter turn out, the general distrust of politicians, and the attitude that no matter what's promised, we'll get more of the same. We can't take more of the same. There is despair, frustration, and a lot of hurt. As inequality surges, the poor are becoming poorer than they were in past decades. And the young are emerging as a newly marginalised group, in the shadow cast from the experimental neoliberal reforms of the 1980s.
But a lot of positives are emerging from the same shadows. People are returning to cooperative models: models of joint ownership that are based on social good, rather than economic growth. People are also finding new ways to build community that make sense to them. And young people are becoming increasingly aware of and responsive to the challenges in front of us. These challenges include inequalities in gender, race, and class, between cis and trans people, between able-bodied and disabled people. The challenges occur within and between our communities, and across national borders in the form of labour and resource exploitation of the developing world. The challenges extend to the unsustainable effects mass consumption under capitalism are having on the earth.
We now have the best opportunity that has ever existed to ask "What does the world we want to live in look like?" When we reflect on our values, and what is important to us, many of us feel under-served, if not betrayed, by our politics. This is the source of our frustration, disempowerment, and fatigue with politics. It quite literally does not have to be this way. If we can formulate a better model, and the way we get from here to there, we can do better by ourselves and the future generations.
Change It Up is a place that we can discuss what that better world looks like, the politics that work for the majority, and the necessary transitions to phase out of the current system.
Arohanui.
But a lot of positives are emerging from the same shadows. People are returning to cooperative models: models of joint ownership that are based on social good, rather than economic growth. People are also finding new ways to build community that make sense to them. And young people are becoming increasingly aware of and responsive to the challenges in front of us. These challenges include inequalities in gender, race, and class, between cis and trans people, between able-bodied and disabled people. The challenges occur within and between our communities, and across national borders in the form of labour and resource exploitation of the developing world. The challenges extend to the unsustainable effects mass consumption under capitalism are having on the earth.
We now have the best opportunity that has ever existed to ask "What does the world we want to live in look like?" When we reflect on our values, and what is important to us, many of us feel under-served, if not betrayed, by our politics. This is the source of our frustration, disempowerment, and fatigue with politics. It quite literally does not have to be this way. If we can formulate a better model, and the way we get from here to there, we can do better by ourselves and the future generations.
Change It Up is a place that we can discuss what that better world looks like, the politics that work for the majority, and the necessary transitions to phase out of the current system.
Arohanui.
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