(1) How doe the Global Justice Movement pertain to the disintegration of the EU, and to the economic and political decline of Europe, the US, and the West in general, and to the potential decline of liberal democracy?
(2) How does the economic and political decline of the West and the demographic challenges to White, Christian cultural dominance in Europe and the US pertain to Black Lives Matter in the US, and to other anti-racist movements in Europe?
(3) Asking about this is based on the idea that it’s not enough to be against hate, and that we must also understand the geo-economic and geo-political factors that feed the hate, and recognize racism, Islamophobia, and other forms of intolerance as phenomena that will further weaken the United States and the European Union.
(4) To what extent is seeking to understand the causes of hate not an attempt to justify racism, religious intolerance, sexism, and other forms of intolerance?
(5) To what extent is the rise of white nationalism reactionary, an attempt to restore a sense of greatness that was in many respects illegitimate to begin with, due to its foundation of colonialist exploitation and racial oppression?
(6) What is the wisest way to proceed, as a society, amid the geo-economic and geo-political decline of Europe and the US (assuming such decline is occurring)? To what extent is the wisest way to move forward promoting public policy based on egalitarianism, global solidarity with justice movemnts, and ecological responsiblity?
(7) To what extent is an ethic of finding common ground as inhabitants of the Earth a way to succuessfully deal with racial, ethnic, religious, and class anxieties amid demographic change and amd a shift of political and economic power ‘away from the West and toward the East’ ?
(8) To what extent is an ethic of common ground as inhabitants of the Earth a way to rise above the binary-opposition-driven sense of inferiority and psychological insecurity among people whose political, economic, and cultural dominance is fading?
(9) To what extent is cultural, political, and economic equality and mutuality a viable option, instead of merely switching from white, Christian,’Western’ dominance to, for example, domminance from China?
(10) To what extent is it simplistic for white progressives to dismiss as racist or ethnocentric other white folk, often those who identify as conservative, who have ‘racial concerns’ or ‘ethnic concerns’ or who have concerns about their religious liberty as Christians?
(11) What solutions might exist within various ecological movements–ie ‘local’, ‘organic,’ , ‘permaculture’, ‘vegan’, ‘non-GMO’, ‘green energy,’ ‘transition town’, ‘alternative economics’ such as co ops, and ‘voluntary simplicity’ in terms of developing a high quality of life in the US, Europe, and other parts of the West, amid changes to the geo-political and geo-economic status of ‘the West’?
(12) To what extent might it be the case that within a framework of egalitariansim and ecological responsiblity, the US, the EU, and the rest of Europe are ‘in transition’ and not necessarilly in geo-economic and geo-political decline ?
(13) Regarding the ‘greatness’ of Western culture, to what extent is that a legitimate concept in terms of modes of social organization that promoted well-being more effectively than other civilization?
(14) To what extend is, in many people’s minds, the ‘greatness’ of Western Civilization, based not in being more humane or egalitarian or ecologically responsible, but instead based in being able to politically and economically dominate non-Western cultures?
(15) Regarding geo-economic and geo-political decline of the US, Europe, and maybe also the West in general (how about Scandinavia?), how useful is it to think freedom, egalitarianism, and ecological responsibilty are not Western valuesl, per se, but instead are something to strive for as a human civilization?
(16) Regarding the scholarship, within publications such as the Journal of Democracy, regarding trends as to whether liberal democracy is in decline while authoritarian states such as China and Russia are increasing in power, to what extent might there be a better term than ‘democracy’ regarding human freedom, in that maybe something more egalitarian than democracy is needed, or maybe a more participatory type of political order that is better than democracy is something humans may develop?
(17) To what extent is having a mentality of common ground as inhabitants of Earth the solution to the demographic anxiety of some or many White, Christian, US American folk?
(18) To what extent is a non-religious, ecologically-based ethical system part of the solution?
(19) To what extent is it useful and accurate to think that one of the main political tensions within and among nations is between a ‘global mentality’ on the one hand; and, on the other hand, various other modes of identity suc as race, religion, ethnicity, and nationality?
Even Marxism divides humans according to class. How useful is, what’s the appeal in my mind, of complete rejection of US vs them? It might not be possible on a practical level.
(20) To what extent do some people reject or dismiss a ‘global mentality’ due to associating it with the abuses of the neo-liberal phenomenon of economic globalization, and the making the mistake of resorting to nationalism, racism, ethnocentrism, and religious intolerance, when the wiser strategy would be to replace neoliberal globalization with a mentality of building political and economic systems according to our common ground as inhabitants of Earth?
(21) To what extent does right-wing populism and authoritarianism result from not coming to terms with the fact that the abuses of oligarchic capitalism drive the problems of globalization?
(22) To what extent does White liberal solidarity with people who in the US who are or potentially are the targets of racist, nationalist, and religious intolerance require a geo-political and geo-economic awareness and analysis?
(23) To what extent is it useful to combine a geo-political awareness that is based on a knowledge of history, sociology, economics, and political science with an emphasis on loving kindness that draws from faith traditions, without bogging down in dogma that clashes with reason?
(24) Regarding discussion of the economic and geo-political decline of the US and Europe, to what extent are scholars avoiding the issue of corporate oligarchy and militarism as causes and as impediments to creating post-colonial and post-dominance prosperity ?
(25) Instead of a binary- opposition-induced sense of white inferiority or a sense of white guilt, those promoting alternatives to racism, religious intolerance, and other forms of intolerance need to understand, thru the study of history, anthropology, economics, sociology, and political science, the dynamics of intolerance, so as to elimate it, not justify it. It’s not enough to only decry racism or Islamophobia.
(26) What is the relationship, regarding human rights and political freedom, between the idea that such rights are inalienable due to being God-given, on the one hand; and, on the other hand, a non-theological foundation for human rights and political freedom? To what extent would a secular basis for rights have more currency and resonance if based on ecocentrism?
(27) What bearing does animal liberation have on conceptions of our common ground as inhabitants of the Earth, as a mentality that may be a sort of antitode to the toxicity of delusions of separation such as classism, racism, religious intolerance, sexism, heterosexism, and so on ?
(28) To what extent is it beneficial for ordinary folk, such as myself, to strive to conceive and act on, an Earth-wide conception of economic and political processes?
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