Empowerment

By John Talbut

This blog is about personal empowerment in individuals and by extension in communities and in the world. Personal power means power from within as distinct from power over or the ability to coerce others. Power over is more accurately and meaningfully referred to as control, authority, influence or force as appropriate.

Being more personally powerful or being more in one's own power involves three elements:

It is for me and I believe it should be for everyone a fundamental ethical principal that whatever we do that involves other people should support them to be powerful in these ways. In other words, if it is not empowering it is not ethical.


To discuss any of these articles, please go to the Empowerment Forum

Rescuing and Not Rescuing

7th May 2020

Many people slip into "rescuing" when they are trying to help someone. This article discusses what that means and how to avoid it. Read here

Transference and the misuse of authority

1st March 2018

Problems of abuse in organisations are generally rooted in transference and the misuse of authority. Organisations have a duty of care and should provide training and proper support to staff in order that they can avoid these issues. Read here

Socialist reasons to stay in the EU

16th December 2017

From a socialist point of view, the UK is far better off being a member of the EU. Read here

Be empowered, not PC, to avoid discrimination

25th November 2017

The -isms, racism, sexism, ableism etc., tend to be addressed separately and sometimes competitively. They also tend to be addressed by having rules – you mustn't say this, you must say that, - collectively referred to as being PC, “Politically Correct”. Read here

We need Panocracy not Democracy

10th January 2017

Panocracy, or rule by everyone, is the way in which empowered people make decisions. Democracy pretends to give people a say in decision making. In reality it does the opposite. Read here

The Pillars of Institutional Oppression

22nd November 2016

Oppression is the opposite of empowerment, it is about coercing people into feeling that they do not have choices when in fact they do. There is a number of common oppressive tactics used across government and organisations that I call the Pillars of Institutional Oppression. Read here

The consequences of oppression

13th November 2016

The election of Donald Trump, the brexit vote, the situation throughout the Middle East, wars, famine, refugees, are consequences of oppression. They result from people making decisions that are not in their genuine self interests. Read here

Not taking sides

30th October 2016

I am currently taking an active interest in the state of things in Israel. As I read and hear people stories of the history of modern Israel and Palestine it is easy to have a sense of injustice and to take sides about who is “right” and “wrong”. In practice what works, in my experience, is to be on everyone’s side. Read here

Hierarchies of Persecution and How to Get Out of Them

4th October 2016

We live in a society that is riddled with hierarchies of persecution. People feel that they have to put up with being persecuted by those who are up hierarchy while persecuting those who are down hierarchy. The way to move out of the hierarchies is by becoming more self empowered. Read here

Towards a More Empowered World

28th September 2016

The need to support people throughout the world to learn to be more in their own power is the most urgent task facing us. This is because nearly all the other problems that we face result from poor decisions, in particular decisions that are not in the genuine best interests of the people making them. More empowered people make better decisions. Read here