Talk:What is to be done?

The importance of this page
This page is key: it summarizes the strategy for action that Espiral bets on. So really: if you are a political discontent and you want to improve things, how do you think a real change can be pushed?--QuimGil (talk) 16:22, 18 September 2013 (CEST)

History of this question
Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Vladimir Lenin addressed this question in the past. All of them had the same source of inspiration for the title in the Bible (Luke 3:10-14):

10 “So what do we have to do?” the crowds asked him. 11 “If you have two coats, give one to the person that doesn’t have any, and if you have food, do the same,” he told them. 12 Some tax collectors came to be baptized, and they also asked him, “Teacher, what do we have to do?” 13 “Don’t collect any more tax than you should,” he told them. “What about us?” asked some soldiers. “What do we have to do?” 14 “Don’t demand money with violence, don’t blackmail people, and be satisfied with your wages,” he told them. --QuimGil (talk) 20:54, 21 September 2013 (CEST)

Comments
It's a good question, which I've put on the back burner for a long time. And obviously, you have to start with yourself, teach your kids the right things, fight consumerism in your own life. On a larger, societal scale I think that one should seriously unleash a worldwide debt strike, as was tried by the Occupy movement in the context of student debt. Debt is a huge burden if you let it cripple your life, but it can turn into a powerful force. Any meaningful debt forgiveness will wipe out a lot of wealth, because a lot of that wealth is based on other people's debt, and potentially do away with the financial system as we know it. In its place one should build something better and more human.--Gundula (talk) 07:03, 23 September 2013 (CEST)


 * The connection between personal actions and top social priorities wasn't clear and I have made it explicit in the text. You are right, debt is a huge problem and a tool for control and submission. I think it is part of Distribution of wealth and should be addressed there. See Talk:Distribution_of_wealth.--QuimGil (talk) 16:30, 23 September 2013 (CEST)