[NCUC-DISCUSS] FW: Maintaining Systems

[Milton L Mueller]

Very interesting. I bought the book.
Assange has some pretty harsh comments about the idea of an autonomous civil society:


“Cohen’s world seems to be one event like this after another: endless soirees for the cross-fertilization of influence between elites and their vassals, under the pious rubric of “civil society.” The received wisdom in advanced capitalist societies is that there still exists an organic “civil society sector” in which institutions form autonomously and come together to manifest the interests and will of citizens. The fable has it that the boundaries of this sector are respected by actors from government and the “private sector,” leaving a safe space for NGOs and nonprofits to advocate for things like human rights, free speech and accountable government.

This sounds like a great idea. But if it was ever true, it has not been for decades. Since at least the 1970s, authentic actors like unions and churches have folded under a sustained assault by free-market statism, transforming “civil society” into a buyer’s market for political factions and corporate interests looking to exert influence at arm’s length. The last forty years have seen a huge proliferation of think tanks and political NGOs whose purpose, beneath all the verbiage, is to execute political agendas by proxy.”

From: ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org<mailto:ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org> [mailto:ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org] On Behalf Of DeeDee Halleck
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2014 11:10 AM
To: ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org<mailto:ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org>
Subject: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Maintaining Systems

http://www.newsweek.com/assange-google-not-what-it-seems-279447

a useful read.
xx
DeeDee

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http://www.deepdishwavesofchange.org
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