Tuesday 2 December 2008

What's in a name? "Pending Ecological Debacle" uncovered

For some reason I had thought the phrase "Pending Ecological Debacle" came from Margaret Atwood. It's the sort of thing she'd write, after all. But Google is calling me a liar, while supplying an alternative plausible hypothesis- an article in Index on Censorship, October 2004, by Sara Maitland.

Now, I used to subscribe to IoC, and sure enough, my fully read and underlined copy includes the following (the links are mine, obviously):
"The pending ecological debacle has thrust a new issue on to the global agenda. Can a non-human species, a specific environment, or a planet (or parts of a planet) have "rights"? Can future human beings have rights? how might we assess these rights in relation to our own rights? Can the individualist tenor of Enlightenment ideology even frame the questions, let alone offer useful answers?
"Above all, quite simply, liberal representational democracy with universal adult suffrage- the natural political expression of Enlightenment philosophy- has not delivered equality or even prosperity. The gap between rich and poor individuals within all liberal democratic nations is growing. So is the gap between rich and poor nations."

I suppose at this point I could burble something about the bourgeoisie and their stooges not really meaning all that guff about Ideal Speech Communities, and the colonisation of life-worlds, but just wanting to get their hands on Power. But I think I'll just shut up and harbour massive resentment instead. Another World was Possible and all that...

No comments: