The ongoing struggle in Egypt between President Morsi and protesters is about power. But it also challenges us to think about the principles that 21st Century revolutions and constitutions need to include.

Fifty years ago when the African nations won their independence, there was little consciousness of the fundamental contradictions inseparable from rapid economic development.

The main goal of the new African rulers, mostly men who had studied in Europe and the U.S., was to emulate the rapid economic development of the global North. The result has been continuing dependence, subordination, and disintegration.

21st Century revolutions and constitutions need to include new principles setting forth not only our rights but our responsibilities to Nature and to one another.