Ours is a period of profound social crisis: our social discourse and political “possibilities” rigidly limited by a narrow ideological hegemony, political system failures, continuous economic dislocation even in “boom” or “growth” years, an increasingly precarious worklife for an ever-growing proportion of the population, an increasingly damaged natural world, and an increasingly violent and fragmented social world. Concepts like class consciousness, social solidarity, and a sense of enduring community have largely disappeared, or, more accurately, been expunged from our social reality. This interconnected web of problems is what I’ve taken to calling the 21st Century Social Crisis. This crisis has its origin in the collapse of the 20th century’s once highly successful social compromise between the powers of capital and of the people, what I call the 20th Century Synthesis.
Tag: 21st Century
Oct 10 2009
Some of Obama’s “common challenges of the 21st century”
President Obama Will Accept Nobel Peace Prize as a Call to Action
“I will accept this award as a call to action —
a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.
. . . we must all do our part to resolve those conflicts
that have caused so much pain and hardship over so many years . . .”– President Barack Obama
United States Mission to the United Nations
What are some of those “common challenges of the 21st century”?
The US government hosted UN link above, identifies some of these global issues:
Peace & Security
Nonproliferation & Disarmament
Poverty & Development
Climate Change
Human Rights & Democracy
United Nations Reform