The ultimate thermodynamic fate of all closed systems

February 4, 2007

The ultimate thermodynamic fate of all closed systems

Counterpunch has good pieces about similar dynamics in two different US political movements, environmentalism and anti-war.

Jeffrey St. Clair on the green movement's disconnection from the grassroots, and the unfortunate accuracy of right wing claims that environmentalists are Washington elitists:

To quote Jospeh Heller: Something happened. Somewhere along the line, the environmental movement disconnected with the people, rejected its political roots, pulled the plug on its vibrant and militant tradition. It packed its bags, starched its shirts and jetted to DC, where it became what it once despised: a risk-aversive, depersonalized, hyper-analytical, humorless, access-driven, intolerant, centralized, technocratic, dealmaking, passionless, direct-mailing, lawyer-laden monolith to mediocrity. A monolith with feet of clay.

Dave Lindorff states plainly the grassroots/leadership disconnect in the antiwar movement:

The largely unstated word at the massive anti-war demonstration and march in Washington on Saturday was "impeachment." Not that it wasn't on demonstrators' lips and signs, but it wasn't coming from the podium.

St. Clair outlines the rationale in the "anterooms of power (never the control rooms)" that likely applies in both cases:

In their relativistic milieu, everything can be traded off or dealt away. For them, the tag-end remains of the native ecosystems on our public lands are endlessly divisible and every loss can be recast as a hard-won victory in the advertising copy of their fundraising propaganda. Settle and move on, is their unapologetic mantra. And don't expect them stick around to live with the consequences of their deals and trade-offs.