Whose crisis, whose future?

Most people haven't noticed yet but, except for a small minority, we're all in prison. The guards aren't stupid, they let us walk about freely in the sunshine and attend the movies of our choice, but, for many of the most important aspects of our lives, we are not free.

I wrote this book because I am angry, perplexed and frightened: angry because so many people are suffering needlessly on account of the economic, social and ecological crisis and because the world's leaders show no signs of bringing about genuine change; perplexed because they don't seem to understand or care much about the public mood, the widespread resentment and the urgency of action; frightened because, if we don't act soon, it may well be too late, particularly where climate change is concerned.

The world has never been so wealthy, and we have in our hands, right now, all the knowledge, tools and skills we need. The obstacles are not technical, practical or financial but political, intellectual and ideological. The crisis could provide an extraordinary opportunity to build such a world...

Although the financial part of the crisis has received the most attention and largely pushed the others off the front page and the mental landscape, in reality we are in the midst not of  single crises but of a multifaceted one, which already touches, or will soon touch, nearly very aspect of nearly everyone's life and the destiny of our earthly habitat. Call it a crises of the system, of civilization, of globalization, of human values, or use some other universal, all-encompassing term; the point is that it has imprisoned us mentally and physically and we must break free.


Foreword Whose crises, whose future? Susan George