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A Long-Term Solution to Terrorism and War

And a way to overcome militarism, destruction of the environment, and oppression

How can we create a world without terrorism, hatred, and war? How can we create a truly good society that is safe, just, and tolerant, where we all live in peace with each other and in harmony with the environment?

It is possible to create a good society, but only if we understand all the obstacles and find effective ways to overcome them.

In Inciting Democracy: A Practical Proposal for Creating a Good Society (SpringForward Press, 2001), Randy Schutt cuts through the haze of myths and fears surrounding social change and focuses on solving the problem of creating a good society. Schutt investigates what obstacles stand in the way of creating a good society, examines the solutions people have found to overcome these obstacles in the past, assesses the resources needed to implement solutions, and lays out a practical, 80-year strategy for creating a safe, democratic society.

Based on his long experience working for positive change and his extensive study of the social science literature, Schutt finds five primary obstacles that stand in the way of creating a good society:

1. an adverse power structure that entices and coerces us all to support inhumane institutions and organizations,
2. cultural conditioning that makes us accept destructive social norms (such as individualism, materialism, militarism, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia),
3. dysfunctional emotional conditioning that makes it hard for us to work together (due to depression, low self-esteem, irrationality, rigidity, addictions, phobias, etc.),
4. widespread ignorance of positive alternatives and social change methods, and
5. a scarcity of resources among people of goodwill working for change.

Inciting Democracy then proposes a way to overcome these obstacles through a decentralized educational program coupled with mass social movements. Based on small groups of goodhearted people who study and work cooperatively and democratically together, these social change movements would use nonviolent techniques to educate and challenge opponents. They would transform society by building positive alternative institutions and undermining destructive institutions. The book specifies a practical way to build these movements by means of an education program that greatly increases activists' knowledge and skills coupled with a support program that bolsters their emotional strength -- called the Vernal Education Project.

Inciting Democracy is available from SpringForward Press for $23.95. This 320-page paperback book is 8.5” x 11” and contains 71 figures, 233 annotated references, a bibliography of 110 other cited works, and a complete index. For a complete media kit, see http://www.springforwardpress.com. To order, call (800) 247-6553.

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