Quote for the day – February 28

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Edward Carpenter

 

“If each man remained in organic adhesion to the general body of his fellows no serious dis-harmony could occur; but it is when this vital unity of the body politic becomes weak that it has to be preserved by artificial means, and thus it is that with the decay of the primitive and instinctive social life there springs up a form of government which is no longer the democratic expression of the life of the whole people; but a kind of outside authority and compulsion thrust upon them by a ruling class or caste”.

Edward Carpenter, Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure, and other essays

[Read about Edward Carpenter on the orgrad website]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote for the day – February 27

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anarchism, Herbert Read

“Faith in the fundamental goodness of man; humility in the presence of natural laws; reason and mutual aid – these are the qualities that can save us. But they must be unified and vitalized by an insurrectionary passion, a flame in which all virtues are tempered and clarified, and brought to their most effective strength”.

Herbert Read, The Philosophy of Anarchism

[Find out more about Herbert Read on the orgrad website]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote for the day – February 26

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Jaime Semprun

“Criticism of the modern world is something too important to be left to reactionaries and nostalgists”.

Jaime Semprun, Dialogues sur l’achèvement des temps modernes

[Read about Jaime Semprun on the orgrad website]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote for the day – February 25

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Renaud Garcia

“If we want to find a way out of the industrial labyrinth, let’s transform ourselves into free-swirling spirits”.

Renaud Garcia,  ‘Terry Gilliam (vu de Brazil)‘.

[Read about Renaud Garcia on the orgrad website]

Quote for the day – February 24

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anarchism, Emile Henry

“I had been told that our social institutions were founded on justice and equality; I observed all around me nothing but lies and impostures… I brought with me into the struggle a profound hatred which every day was renewed by the spectacle of this society where everything is base, everything is equivocal, everything is ugly, where everything is an impediment to the outflow of human passions, to the generous impulses of the heart, to the free flight of thought”.

Emile Henry, Speech in court

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote for the day – February 23

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Aldous Huxley

“The condition of an expanding and technologically progressive system of mass-production is universal craving. Advertising is the organized effort to extend and intensify craving…”

Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy

[Read about Aldous Huxley on the orgrad website]

 

 

 

 

Quote for the day – February 22

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Richard Heinberg

“At present, we human beings – while considering ourselves the most intelligent species on the planet – are engaged in the most unintelligent enterprise imaginable: the destruction of our own natural life-support system”.

Richard Heinberg,“Was Civilization a Mistake” in Against Civilization, Readings and Reflections

Quote for the day – February 21

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Alexander Berkman

“This lawful violence and the fear of it dominate our whole existence, individual and collective. Authority controls our lives from the cradle to the grave – authority parental, priestly and divine, political, economic, social and moral. But whatever the character of that authority, it is always the same executioner wielding power over you through your fear of punishment in one form or another”.

Alexander Berkman, What is Anarchist Communism?

Quote for the day – February 20

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Sharon Beder

“Corporations seek not only to influence legislation and regulation but also to define the agenda – what it is legitimate for government to consider and what can be discussed in the political arena – thereby rendering those groups who have other agendas ineffective”.

Sharon Beder, Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism

[Read about Sharon Beder on the orgrad website]

 

Quote for the day – February 19

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Bakunin, Mikhail Bakunin

“Nature, notwithstanding the inexhaustible wealth and variety of beings of which it is constituted, does not by any means present chaos, but instead a magnificently organized world wherein every part is logically correlated to all the other parts”.

Mikhail Bakunin, Federalism, Socialism and Anti-Theologism

[Read about Mikhail Bakunin on the orgrad website]