jueves, 31 de julio de 2008

We deny personal responsibility for the inhumanity of war...jfp

President Jimmy Carter Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
Oslo, Norway
December 10, 2002

President Jimmy Carter USNA-1946
39th President of the United States 1977-1981

Your majesties, members of the Nobel Committee in Norway, your excellencies, distinguished guests,
it is with a deep sense of gratitude that I accept this prize. I'm grateful to my wife, Rosalynn, to my colleagues at the Carter Center, and to many others who continue to seek an end to violence and suffering throughout the world.
The scope and character of our center's activities are perhaps unique, the center's activities are unique, but in many other ways, they are typical of the work being done by hundreds of nongovernmental organizations that strive for human rights and peace. Most Nobel laureates have carried out our work in peace and safety. Others have acted with great personal courage. None has provided more vivid reminders of the dangers of peacekeeping than two of my close friends, Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin, who gave their lives for the cause of peace in the Middle East.
Like these two heroes of mine, my first chosen career was in the military.
I was a submarine officer. And my shipmates and I realized we had to be ready to fight if combat was forced upon us.
We were prepared to give our lives for our nation and its principles. But at the same time, we always prayed fervently that our readiness would ensure that there would be no war. Later, as president and as commander in chief of our military forces, I was one of those who bore the sobering responsibility of maintaining global stability during the height of the Cold War, as the world's two superpowers confronted each other.
Both sides understood that an unresolved political altercation or a serious misunderstanding could lead to a nuclear holocaust.
In Washington and in Moscow, we knew that we would have less than one-half hour to respond after we learned that intercontinental missiles had been launched against us. There had to be a constant and delicate balancing of our great military strength with aggressive diplomacy, always seeking to build friendships with other nations, large and small, that shared a common cause.
In those days, the nuclear and conventional armaments of the United States and the Soviet Union were almost equal. But Democracy ultimately prevailed, because of commitments to freedom and human rights; not only in our own country and those of our allies, but in the former Soviet empire as well.
As president, I extended my public support and endorsement to Andre Sakharov, who although denied the right to attend this ceremony, was honored here for his personal commitment to these same ideals.
The world has changed greatly since I left the White House. Now, there is only one superpower, with unprecedented military and economic strength. The coming budget for American armaments will be greater than those of the next 15 nations combined. And there are troops from the United States in many countries throughout the world. Our gross national economy exceeds that of the three countries that follow us.
And our nation's voice most often prevails, as decisions are made concerning trade, humanitarian assistance and the allocation of global wealth. This dominant status is unlikely to change in our lifetimes.
Great American power and responsibility are not unprecedented, and have been used with restraint and widespread benefit in the past. We have not assumed that super strength guarantees super wisdom. And we have consistently reached out to the international community to ensure that our own power and influence are tempered by the best common judgment.
Within our country, ultimate decisions are made through democratic means, which tend to moderate radical or ill-advised proposals. Constrained and inspired by historic constitutional principles, our nation has endeavored for more than 200 years to follow the now-almost-universal ideals of freedom, human rights and justice for all.
Our president, Woodrow Wilson, was honored here for promoting the League of Nations, whose two basic concepts were profoundly important: collective security and self-determination. Now, they are embedded in international law, and violations of these principles during the last half century have been tragic failures, as was vividly demonstrated when the Soviet Union attempted to conquer Afghanistan and when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
US Naval Academy Class of 1946
After the Second World War, our Secretary of State Cordell Hull received this prize for his role in founding the United Nations. And his successor, General George C. Marshall, was recognized because of his efforts to help rebuild Europe, without excluding the vanquished nations of Italy and Germany. This was a historic example of respecting human rights at the international level.
Ladies and gentlemen, 12 years ago President Mikhail Gorbachev received recognition for ending the Cold War that had lasted 50 years. But instead of entering a millennium of peace, the world is now in many ways a more dangerous place. The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect. There is a plethora of civil wars, unrestrained by rules of the Geneva Convention, within which an overwhelming portion of the casualties are unarmed civilians who have no ability to defend themselves.
And recent appalling acts of terrorism have reminded us that no nations, even superpowers, are invulnerable. It is clear that global challenges must be met by an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and international consensus.
Imperfect as it may be, there is no doubt that this can best be done through the United Nations, which another American, Ralph Bunch, described here in this same forum as exhibiting a fortunate flexibility, not merely to preserve peace, but also make change, even radical change, without violence.
He went on to say -- and I quote -- "To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of warmongering." He said, "The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly must (be) to exhaust every honorable recourse in the efforts to save the peace. The world has had ample evidence that war begets only conditions that beget further war" -- unquote.
We must remember that today there are at least eight nuclear nations on earth, and three of these are threatening to their own neighbors in areas of great international tension.
For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventive war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences.
If we accept the premise that the United Nations is the best avenue for the maintenance of peace, then the carefully considered decisions of the U.N. Security Council must be enforced. All too often, the alternative has proven to be uncontrollable violence and expanding spheres of hostility. The most vivid example is that for more than half a century following the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, the Middle East conflict has been a source of worldwide tension and conflict itself.
At Camp David in 1978, and in Oslo in 1993, Israelis, Egyptians and Palestinians have endorsed the only reasonable prescription for peace, United Nations resolution 242. It calls -- it condemns the acquisition of territory by force, and it calls for the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories, and provides for Israelis to live securely and in harmony with their neighbors. There is no other mandate whose implementation could more profoundly improve international relationships. Perhaps of more immediate concern is the necessity for Iraq to comply fully with the unanimous decision of the Security Council that it eliminate all weapons of mass destruction and permit unimpeded access by inspectors to confirm that this commitment has been honored. The world insists that this be done. I thought often during my years in the White House of an admonition that we received in our small school in Plains, Georgia, from a beloved teacher, Miss Judy Coleman. She often said, "We must adjust to changing times but still hold to unchanging principles."
When I was a young boy, the same teacher introduced me to Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace," that powerful narrative she interpreted as a reminder that the simple human attributes of goodness and truth can overcome great power.
She also taught us that an individual is not swept along on a tide of inevitability, but can influence even the greatest human events. These premises have been proven by the lives of many heroes, some of whose names were little known outside their own region until they became Nobel laureates. Albert John Lutuli, Norman Borlaug, Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Aung San Suu Kyi, Jody Williams and even Albert Schweitzer, and Mother Teresa. All of these and others have proven that even without government power and often in opposition to it, individuals can enhance human rights and wage peace actively and effectively.
The Nobel Prize also profoundly magnified the inspiring global influence of
Martin Luther King Jr., the greatest leader that my native state has ever produced.
On a personal note, it's unlikely that my own political career beyond Georgia would ever have been possible without the changes brought about by the civil rights movement in the southern part of our country and throughout the nation.
On the steps of our memorial to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, Dr. King said much more eloquently than this, "I have a dream that on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood." The scourge of racism has not been vanquished, either in the red hills of my state or throughout the world, and yet we see ever more frequent manifestations of his dream of racial healing. In a symbolic, but a very genuine way, at least in the case of two Georgians, it's coming true in Oslo today. I'm not here as a public official, but as a citizen of a troubled world, who finds hope in a growing consensus that the generally accepted goals of society are peace, freedom, human rights, environmental quality, the alleviation of suffering and the rule of law.
During the past decades, the international community, usually under the auspices of the United Nations, has struggled to negotiate global agreements that can help us achieve these essential goals. They include the abolition of land mines and chemical weapons, an end to testing, proliferation and further deployment of nuclear warheads, constraints on global warming, prohibition of the death penalty, at least for children, and an international criminal court to deter and to punish war crimes and genocide. Those agreements, already adopted, must be fully implemented, and others should be pursued aggressively.
We must also strive to correct the injustice of economic sanctions that are -- seek to penalize abusive leaders, but all too often inflict punishment on those who (are) already suffering from the abuse. The unchanging principles of life predate modern times. I worship Jesus Christ, whom we Christians consider to be the prince of peace. As a Jew, he taught us to cross religious boundaries in service and in love. He repeatedly reached out and embraced our Roman conquerors, other Gentiles and even the more-despised Samaritans.
Despite theological differences, all great religions share common commitments that define our ideal secular relationships. I'm convinced that Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and others can embrace each other in a common effort to alleviate human suffering and to espouse peace. But the current era is a challenging and disturbing time for those whose lives are shaped by religious faith based on kindness toward each other. We have been reminded that cruel and inhuman acts can be derived from distorted theological beliefs, as suicide bombers take the lives of innocent human beings, draped falsely in the cloak of God's will.
With horrible brutality, neighbors have massacred neighbors in Europe, Asia and Africa.
In order for us human beings to commit ourselves personally to the inhumanity of war, we find it necessary first to dehumanize our opponents, which is in itself a violation of the beliefs of all religions. Once we characterize our adversaries as beyond the scope of God's mercy and grace, their lives lose all value. We deny personal responsibility when we plant land mines, and days or years later, a stranger to us, often a child, is crippled or killed.
From a great distance, we launch bombs or missiles with almost total impunity, and never want to know the number or the identity of the victims.
At the beginning of this millennium, I was asked to discuss, here in Oslo, in fact, the greatest challenges that the world faces.
Among all the possible choices, I decided that the most serious and universal problem is a growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on Earth.
It's interesting to note that citizens of the 10 wealthiest countries are now 75 times richer than those who live in the 10 poorest ones. And the separation is increasing every year. Not only between nations, but within them.
The results of this disparity are the root causes of most of the world's unresolved problems, including starvation, illiteracy, environmental degradation, violent conflict, and unnecessary illnesses that range from guinea worm to HIV and AIDS.
Most work of the Carter Center is in remote villages in the poorest nations of Africa, and there, I have witnessed the capacity of destitute people to persevere under heartbreaking conditions. I have come to admire their judgment and wisdom, their courage and faith, and their awesome accomplishments when given a chance to use their innate abilities. But tragically, in the industrialized world, there's a terrible absence of understanding or concern about those who are enduring lives of despair and hopelessness.
We have not yet made the commitment to share with others an appreciable part of our excessive wealth. This is a necessary and potentially rewarding burden that we should all be willing to assume.
Ladies and gentlemen, war may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us a capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes. And we must.
Thank you

Photos La Cresta, Casco Viejo, morning smog, cloth and wall murals

2007 La CRESTA, Panama City, "jurassic tropical stairway towards the heavens"

2008 Casco Viejo "after dark," flowered Mother and child doing errands for breakfast items

2009 31 July 2008 early morning SMOG over Panama City, date commemorates the disappearance of General Omar Torrijos Herrera

2011 31 July 2008 early morning SMOG over Calidonia, Bella Vista, Obarrio, Paitilla, Punta Pacifica, Costa del Este

2012 Casco Viejo early morning "thumbs up for TPN street photography" with a most gracious smile by Mr. Stanley, Kuna Librarian, on the way to work at Chancery Library

2013 UP ASEUPA Protest cloth Banner for Demonstration: Jueves, 14 August 2008, 4pm, Parque Porras

2014 UP Asociacion de Empleados de la Universidad de Panama (ASEUPA) Office Wall Mural

Fw: YAHOO ALERT<

Folks: On reporting a hoax, and Yahoo Abuse report reply:
 
 

Re: Mail (KMM75330428V10129L0KM)

Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:16 AM
From:
Add sender to Contacts
To:
"jose ponce" <josefponce@yahoo.com>
Hello josefponce,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

The webpage or message that you are writing about is a hoax originated
by someone other than Yahoo!.

You should assume that
any unsolicited message asking for your Yahoo! ID
and password, security key, or other sensitive information is part of a
scam to gain unauthorized access to your account
.  Feel free to simply
delete such messages, or if you would like to be sure we are aware of
the scam, you can file a report at:

   
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/abuse.html

If you have already entered your information into a suspicious message
or web page, you should immediately change your password and update any
other information you provided.  If you provided credit card or other
financial details, you should also contact your financial institution.
If you are unable to change your password or regain access to your
account, you should contact:

   
account-security@yahoo-inc.com

For useful information and resources regarding online security, please
visit the
Yahoo! Security Center at:

   
http://security.yahoo.com

Please let us know if you still need assistance so we may assist you
further.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Mail.

Regards,

Lee

Yahoo! Customer Care

51524201

For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:

   
http://help.yahoo.com/




Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Mail-Id:
w2.help.re1.yahoo.com-/l/us/yahoo/abuse/abuse.html-1217439238-3485

Name: josefponce

Yahoo! ID: josefponce

Email Address:
josefponce@yahoo.com

Yahoo! ID: servicecenter1000@yahoo.com  <HOAX YAHOO EMAIL DEFRAUDER MESSAGE IN TEXTTHEN FOLLOWS IN .html
Subject: Mail

Flag this messageYAHOO ALERTTuesday, July 29, 2008 11:35 PM
From: &quot;YAHOO&quot; &lt;
servicecenter1000@yahoo.com&gt;Add sender to
Contacts To:
josefponce@yahoo.com

  Let your email come to you.
With Yahoo! Mail Alerts, you'll know
the instant you get one.




  Account Alert

Dear Valued Member,

Due to the congestion in all Yahoo users and removal of all unused
Yahoo Accounts,Yahoo would be shutting down all unused accounts,You will
have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Info below after
clicking the reply botton, or your account will be suspended within 24
hours for security reasons. UserName:
....................................
Password:........................................ Date Of Birth:
......................................... Country Or
Territory:..............................After Following the instructions
in the sheet,your account will not be interrupted and will continue as
normal.Thanks for your attention to this request.We apologize for any
inconvinience.





Copyright © 1994-2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Service
- Copyright/IP Policy - Guidelines
NOTICE: We collect personal information on this site.
To learn more about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy

*******WHY ARE THEY ASKING FOR MY EMAIL ADDRESS AND PASSWORD?  HOMELAND
SECURITY, CIA OR WHAT?????     jojojo....

While Viewing: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/abuse/

Form Name: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/abuse/abuse.html

Yahoo ID: josefponce : Yahoo id from cookie
"https://amt.yahoo.com/amt/dosearch?.token=SBLWujWSNu4C9PUX6FvjR.2oS8TQB
cj2Iv9d46h7EdU-"


Other ID: servicecenter1000@yahoo.com : Other id provided Yahoo id from
form
"https://amt.yahoo.com/amt/dosearch?.token=yRK4KPiSNu7BqYM.Z.keu6Z4IV_sp
SP16FMGrerq5fiyRoJ3y6fD2dkwzDtL3vMnbA--"


Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Mozilla/4.0
(compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET
CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648)

REMOTE_ADDR: 201.226.239.98

REMOTE_HOST: r1.up.ac.pa

Date Originated: Wednesday July 30, 2008 - 10:33:58


--- On Tue, 7/29/08, YAHOO <servicecenter1000@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: YAHOO <servicecenter1000@yahoo.com>
Subject: YAHOO ALERT
To: josefponce@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 11:35 PM

Yahoo! Mail Yahoo!
Let your email come to you.
With Yahoo! Mail Alerts, you'll know
the instant you get one.

Account Alert Yahoo!

Dear Valued Member,

Due to the congestion in all Yahoo users and removal of all unused Yahoo Accounts,Yahoo would be shutting down all unused accounts,You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Info below after clicking the reply botton, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.
UserName: .................................... Yahoo!
Password:........................................
Date Of Birth: .........................................
Country Or Territory:..............................
After Following the instructions in the sheet,your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.Thanks for your attention to this request.We apologize for any inconvinience.

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

miércoles, 30 de julio de 2008

Casco Viejo residents, working stiffs, aspiring politician and monsters too.

 
1991  Casco Viejo Bakery: The only woman PRD Primary Candidate for San Felipe Representative, life time resident, Banco Nacional de Panama, employee, Lidia Anett Vernaza; while purchasing daily bakery goods, advising bakery worker on various government options for school grants. 
 
Anett is interested in "rescuing" San Felipe for the very few left, that were born here and those that have lived in San Felipe a great part of their lives.  Anett is concerned about services and subsidized housing for the elderly and housing for those with average and minimum wage incomes.  Anett believes the Historic Center should be a mixed environment, not exclusive for just wealthy locals and foreigners. 
 
Her verbal political program mentions involving common neighborhood residents to seek improved coordinated government effort, to reach out and facilitate  economic and social development programs, particularly to San Felipe women, children and microbusinesses.  Anett wants to make the San Felipe area a viable touring spot for all Panamanians and, of course, hospitable to foreign residents and visitors too.
 
The PRD Primary is on Sunday, 7 September 2008 from 7am to 4 pm.
 
1995  Casco Viejo Chatrux Residence at Avenida B/Calle 5a Este, on SE Corner
 
1996   "Calle 12" Bus driver, Ulises Mojica, who owns 3 buses and who has been driving 20+ years  Tumba Muerto-Veranillo route.  Years ago driving 8 round trips per day.  Today only 4 round trips per day, due to traffic congestion.  "Much less maintenance costs. One 1/2 the driving distance, tremendous maintenance, wear and repair savings," he alleges.  Driving life and bus ownership has been good to him.  Driving and owning the vehicles has provided "finca" in Santiago, Veraguas, education for children and his home in Panama City.
 
1999  "Casco Viejo after dark" with young women university and high school neighbors, ending late Saturday afternoon walk, to las Bovedas to see skateboarder friends do their daring and flying antics at the "old Union Club ruins."
 
2000  "Hierro," 19+ years former Panama Canal locks super tough and "live it up" manual helper and diver tender, Icaza.  Disabled by a stroke, he is now on his own, forgotten by the Canal administration, its worker and retiree organizations.  "Hierro" asked me and TPN to help him find a ground floor handicap accessible small rental in Casco Viejo, Chorrillo, Santa Ana, Ancon.  I met "Hierro" over a decade ago at Cafe Coca Cola.
 
 
This former super physical "iron man" canal locks worker; merits, that present canal employee and retiree organizations, look into and resolve his plea for a handicap accessible residence in the Panama City Central Metropolitan area. 
 
"Phoenix Canalero," a KW Continente Radio Program on Wenesday nights from 9 pm to 10 pm, should know of "Hierro´s" immediate plea for a small independent handicap accessible rental home.
 
I have the confidence that "brain storming" among canal administration, worker and retiree orgs, will immediately resolve "Hierro´s" hadicap accessible housing plea. 
 
Furthermore, I am also fully confident that developing that same "brainstorming process" by worker and retiree orgs with other national orgs, can channel constructive productive and service forces to contribute to solving all the problems that afflict our urban and rural populations and their respective communities. 
 
That labor and community protagonism is on the XXI Century agenda toward for the labor and community unity programs for resolute actions.
 
2001  Casco Viejo artisans and residents hastily greeting each other at supper time in Avenida B and Calle 9a Chinese Restaurant.
 
2002  Casco Viejo residents Mr. Duarte, a 3 year Tecnical Arts degree from the National Arts School (INAC) and Prof. Marciscano, having evening chat at Cafe Coca Cola.
 
2004  "monsters after dark" in Casco Viejo on Avenida Central, infront of side step entry to Catedral Church.
 
2005  Prowling kitty with luring monster in high dark background
 
**********


 

martes, 29 de julio de 2008

Community development answers are in the streets barrios and ghettos...

(Photo: 1406)--5 July 2008, Venezuelan Independence Day, Plaza Bolivar, Panama City Casco Viejo

Venezuelan Ambassador expressing policies toward a "better world possible."
***************************************

CONVENING ON COMMUNITY VALUES

May 19-20, 2008 Kellogg Conference Hotel, Washington, DC

Convening on Community Values Framing Paper

From the Ashes of Neoliberalism

Michael Leon Guerrero

Grassroots Global Justice

 

In the U.S., far-Right Republicans and Democratic liberals alike have sold many people on the notion that the market should be the main force to drive the economy and define social

relationships. They maintain that government should stay off of peoples' backs and out of our wallets. They promote rugged individualism and consumerism couched in terms like "personal responsibility," "freedom" and "independence." "Greed is good!" was the mantra of Michael Douglas' character, Gordon Gecko, in the 1980s movie "Wall Street" and those became the words to live by in the 80's and 90's. The philosophy and value of greed was taken to heart by many a corporate CEO, and, over the past 3 decades, this twisted logic – underlined by the values of individualism and the culture of consumerism – has turned back the clock on human development with devastating consequences.

 

The Chicago Boys' Disaster

Naomi Klein's landmark work "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"

summarizes the last thirty years of the neoliberal (aka neoconservative) project. These policies have had a stranglehold on the global economy for decades. But Klein argues persuasively that it is primarily in moments of societal or natural upheaval that capitalist extremists, trained by gurus like Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago, have been most able to impose their political and economic agenda. Even if a natural disaster didn't present itself, Friedman's disciples, like Kissinger, Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, had no problem wreaking their own violent havoc on vulnerable countries. 1

 

By now, the mantra of the "Chicago Boys" has become all too familiar: eliminate regulations, cut taxes, slash public spending, privatize public services, etc. Their policies dominated the global political landscape, unraveling the gains of centuries of social movements, while a new global elite has been enriched beyond imagination. A handful of people have become superwealthy, and mega corporations have become even bigger and more powerful.

 

"Free trade" policies and the loan sharks that have run the World Bank and the International

Monetary Fund have destroyed national economies. Millions of people have been forced into

poverty, and entire communities have been displaced from the countryside. Multi-nationals and northern industrial nations siphon wealth from the developing countries. Those that migrate from their homelands to make a living in the north are greeted with walls, bullets and racism. In the U.S., millions are homeless, unemployed, in prison, or one paycheck away from bankruptcy. The social wage has been beaten down to unsustainable levels – real wages are lower now than they were 30 years ago. Yet the costs of fuel and raw materials have skyrocketed causing worldwide food shortages. We have wiped out public budgets by eliminating taxes on those who profit most.1 Klein, Naomi, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, 2007 Metropolitan Books

 

Page 2 Convening on Community Values 

Vital public infrastructure and services cannot meet basic needs like maintaining the levees

in New Orleans and reconstructing the Gulf Coast, or controlling the devastating blazes in

Southern California. Yet the majority of our federal budget sponsors the wars and occupation in the Middle East, the warehousing of generations of the poor and people of color, the witch-hunt of immigrant refugees of U.S. foreign and trade policy, and the growing national debt. Capitalism unchecked has given us Big Oil, Blood Diamonds, Enron and Halliburton. They have given us Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo and the Wall of Death on the U.S.-Mexico border.

 

The rise of the neoliberal regime has occurred in the same era that we are experiencing the

decline of the economic and political dominance of the United States empire. Scholar Immanuel Wallerstein observes that economically the U.S. has been losing its top economic position since the 1970s as other regional economies have expanded.2 The U.S. is staring economic collapse in the face, driven by the bursting of the housing bubble. This bust is enough to make even billionaire George Soros nervous, arguing that there is a profound difference between this downturn and other recent ones:

 

"...the current crisis marks the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as

the international reserve currency. The periodic crises were part of a larger boom-bust

process. The current crisis is the culmination of a super-boom that has lasted for more

than 60 years." 3

 

Soros argues that with the deregulation of the financial industry, many of the mechanisms put in place to withstand a significant bust cycle have been eliminated. The Federal Reserve and the government may no longer have the tools to stave off a recession.

Today, the United States is the leader in a number of shameful statistics: the highest percentage and total numbers of its population in prison, the highest consumption of the world's natural resources, the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare, the biggest military budget. It seems that the greatest product that the U.S. is capable of producing today is war, and this makes us a very dangerous country. Our primary role in the global community is as a mercenary army in the interests of big business.

 

The hyper-consumerist culture of the U.S. has led to predatory lending and credit schemes that have put millions of people in the U.S. on the brink of bankruptcy, and the sacking of the Global South for exploited, under-paid workers and natural resources to make cheap products. The U.S. population represents 6% of the world's population, yet consumes 30% of the world's resources and produces the greatest amount of carbon pollution.

 

And while we're at it let's just be clear that the free market capitalism we have seen in the U.S. is by no means "free". In reality the U.S. economy functions as a form of socialism for the rich. Taxpayers have bailed out the savings and loan industry, banks, and airlines. We finance at least 2 federal social security programs: the one to which most of us contribute through each paycheck, and the one for United Airlines employees (since that company no longer pays its pension obligations).2 Wallerstein, Immanuel, The Decline of American Power, 2003, The New Press 3 Soros, George, "The Worst Market Crisis in 60 Years", January 22, 2008, The Financial Times (London)

 

Convening on Community Values Page 3

We give huge government contracts to the prison and military industrial complexes, and increasingly to private education and healthcare companies. The "land of the free" is also one of only two countries in the world building walls between themselves and their neighbors (the other being Israel). This fortress mentality is a telling sign of an empire in decline. At a time when the U.S. population needs to be reaching out to the rest of the world more than ever, our government leaders are circling the wagons.

 

The Chicago Boys and their friends have made a terrible mess, and we haven't even touched on the destruction caused by unchecked industrialization, gutted environmental regulations, and the addiction to fossil fuels that have pushed life on the planet to the edge of oblivion. Fixing this disaster will take generations and a fundamental shift in the values and premises that we base our politics on.

 

A Cultural Shift: Reintroducing Community Values

It's clear that a profound change in the U.S. political direction is necessary. A fundamental shift in the political and economic direction of the country will require a cultural shift and a

redefinition of social and political relationships. We need to challenge the values of

individualism and competition and the culture of consumerism and reintroduce key values in

defining our economic and social relationships - values such as reciprocity, community,

cooperation and solidarity.

 

We need to affirm that as a society we share collective and

community responsibilities. We must confront the underlying premises that have sustained the neoliberal/neoconservative agenda – namely that taxes, unions and government are all bad. As Donald Cohen has outlined, we need to assert that taxes, organized labor, regulations and

government are in fact necessary to keep the greedy in check and to achieve a just and

democratic society.A significant political and cultural shift in the U.S. will also require us to redefine the "American Dream". The dream is not about a motivated individual being able to strike it rich. The dream that would benefit most Americans (including Latin Americans and Canadians) would be closer to the dream outlined by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The dream should include racial, gender and queer liberation, meeting the basic needs of everyone in the community, and achieving peace in our local and global community.

 

In the Story of Stuff (storyofstuff.com) Annie Leonard beautifully explains the cycle of

production and consumption that is driving the planet towards self-destruction. She describes how the values of consumerism were engineered during the 1950s and have become part of our social DNA today. Consumerism was designed as a deliberate political strategy, and must be challenged by a deliberate political strategy. The cycle of consumption is sustained by externalizing costs by exploiting communities for cheap raw materials and labor. Challenging this model will mean supporting the struggles of exploited and displaced communities and their right to organize.4 Cohen, Donald, "Progressive Self-Censorship: What Do We REALLY Want?" November 2, 2007 Movement

Vision Laboratory blog

 

Page 4 Convening on Community Values

Shifting our values will allow us to make bold policy changes that are absolutely necessary. Here are some examples:

From Greed to Equity: Redistributing wealth – The neoconservative/neoliberal disaster has consolidated wealth in the hands of a few individuals and corporations. Half of the largest economies in the world are multi-national corporations. CEO salaries have ballooned to over 300 times the average pay of workers of the same company. Several corporations are also double and triple-dipping into the national public coffers, first by avoiding taxes through offshore tax havens or by having taxes completely eliminated by their friends in Washington, then by getting government contracts as government services become privatized.

 

Meanwhile there are now many more desperately poor people throughout the world and in the

United States. Homelessness, bankruptcy and unemployment are all on the rise. So is the prison population. A recent study by the Pew Foundation shows that an astounding 1 out of 100 people in the U.S. are in prison. One out of 36 Latino males and one out of 15 Black males over the age of 18 make up a large percentage of this population. Redistributing wealth will have to take place on a number of fronts, including raising the minimum wage, closing prisons and putting people back to work at livable wages, and taxing the rich, taxing the rich, taxing the rich. We must also confront the class divide built on the legacy of

racism in the United States.

 

From Private to Public: Creating public wealth

But beyond just taxing the rich, we must also challenge the premise that has been a pillar of the neocons/neolibs – that taxes are bad. Taxes are public resources that are essential in providing for the public good. The idea that the public sector is inefficient, bureaucratic and corrupt for the most part is hogwash promoted by the Neos, but when it comes right down to it someone has to pay our firefighters, pave the roads, build the schools and strengthen the levies. Certainly there are abuses that take place in public expenditures – mainly in the outrageous spending for the military and Homeland Security, and in the abuses by private contractors like Halliburton that overcharge the public for their services.

 

But at least there are mechanisms for public oversight. We also must think about what a strong tax base can achieve – national, universal healthcare, for instance: public works projects that can put people to work; generating a green, sustainable energy economy; rehabilitation programs to help the generations of soldiers, prisoners and homeless people who are likely to, once again, be abandoned and put out on the street in the next few years.

 

From Competition to Community, Cooperation and Reciprocity:

Building sustainable economies

In 2004 I visited New Westminster, British Columbia, an industrial town just outside of Vancouver. With the decline of local industries New Westminster was notorious for having the highest crime rate in North America. Yet from 1999-2004 the community had started

105 new businesses, an astounding 100 were still thriving. The success of New Westminster was attributed to a model of economic development promoted by Italian-born Ernesto Sirolli. The model is called Enterprise Facilitation (EF). The process of EF sounds very similar to community organizing, whereby a "facilitator" is hired from the community and is tasked with helping local residents get their business ideas off the ground.

 

Page 5 Convening on Community Values

The facilitator then develops social networks of resource people, government agencies, businesses and non-profit institutions that help sustain the projects. Homeless people and high schools students have started successful small businesses through this process. "The economic development comes along as a secondary result of developing community, because people know each other and trust each other" says Vicki Austad of New Westminster's Community Development Society. In a presentation to the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, Ernesto Sirolli summarized one of the underlying premises of Enterprise Facilitation: "It is arrogant to think that the answers to your economic development problems are in the boardrooms of your corporations. It is out there - in the streets of your barrios and ghettos!"

 

For a larger scale version of this model, we can look at the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna, one of the most productive regions in the world. Emilia Romagna is built on 8,000 worker cooperatives and over 300,000 small businesses with fewer than 50 employees that are networked to produce everything from Ducati motorcycles to leather goods. The thousands of small firms subcontract with each other to create flexible, cooperative manufacturing networks.5

 

A fundamental principle of Emilia Romagna's economy is "reciprocity" defined as "bidirectional transfers...implying a balance between what one gives and what one expects to obtain."6

 

For development of the capacity of the local economy, there are also examples closer to home. Despite the Right-wing propaganda about Cuba as being a centralized economy run by an ironfisted dictator, the island nation has made great advances in building capacity at the local level. Since the loss of support from the Soviet Union and despite the economic stranglehold of the U.S. embargo, the Cubans have developed an impressive model of local infrastructure, developing everything from organic local farms and urban gardens, to medical facilities and specialists in all communities.

 

Cuba has also developed an incredibly effective, decentralized emergency response system. When Cuba suffered a direct hit by the same Hurricane Katrina that

led to the devastation of the U.S. Gulf Coast, the island suffered no casualties.

 

From Imperialism to Solidarity: Making Peoples Trade Agreements – For the past 30 years, the neocons/neolibs have undermined the national economies of several nations. They have done this through three primary mechanisms: bad trade deals, violent overthrow and loan-sharking. The loan-sharking was carried out by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These institutions were initially conceived to help foster development in poor nations. By the 1980s they were used to force countries to adopt the neoliberal neoconservative agenda including the privatization of public services and selling of national resources. Bad trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement and rules established by the World Trade Organization have

undermined government controls on corporations and subsidies for agriculture and industry.

 

The results have been devastating. Millions of farmers have been forced from their land, having to compete with subsidized corporate agriculture in the U.S. and Europe. Now they are migrating to northern countries seeking a means to survive.  5 Williams, Robert, President, Vancity Capital Corp. "Bologna and Emilia Romagna, A Model of Economic Democracy," pg. 12, June 2002, British Columbia Cooperative Association, Paper presented to annual meeting of the Canadian Economics Association, University of Calgary 6 ibid

 

Page 6 Convening on Community Values

Countries that have not caved to the sharks have been denied financial support from the WB and IMF or faced violent overthrow by U.S. sponsored terrorists. In a recent Business Week article "Economists Rethink Free Trade", even some of the most pro-Free Trade business people are coming to grips with the fact that maybe their trade deals weren't such a good idea after all. Matthew J. Slaughter, economist from Dartmouth University

acknowledges that "...the share of Americans who are not included in the gains from trade may be very big."

 

The article also states that inflation-adjusted earnings have fallen in every educational category other than the 4% who hold doctorates or professional degrees.

 

Presidents have been elected in Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador who have publicly criticized neoliberal policies, and have begun to implement alternative models of national development and trade between nations.

Bolivia has drafted the Peoples Free Trade Agreement (PTA). Based on the principles of complementarity, cooperation, solidarity, reciprocity, prosperity and respect for the sovereignty of each country. The proposal states that "absolute liberalization of markets and the 'shrinking of the state' are not the primary objectives, rather the well-being of the people is the primary objective." Unlike the trade agreements designed by the Neos, the PTA incorporates objectives such as effective poverty reduction, preservation of indigenous communities, and respect for the environment. 8

 

Bolivia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela have forged an agreement for economic

integration as an alternative to corporate-driven free trade agreements. The Bolivarian

Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), is based on regional cooperation and functions almost as a bartering system at an international level. Through the agreement the countries establish integrated joint projects on education, health, food, energy and other issues. Another key aspect to ALBA is the formation of a Council of Social Movements, a vehicle for grassroots participation from throughout the Americas in decision-making.

 

From War and "Security" to Peace: Transitioning from the military economy – The most important and fundamental shift of the U.S. economy would be our divestment from empire building and the military industrial complex. Of the $2.6 trillion federal budget, 54% goes to military expenditures. Meeting the basic needs of the country and the world will require a monumental shift away from military spending. While we are threatening to bomb or invade other countries allegedly to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, the U.S. is constantly upgrading its nuclear arsenal and conducting research and development for unimaginable new weapons of mass destruction. The possibilities for the use of these public dollars are endless.  A whole new national economy could be built on a shift from war to addressing basic needs like

national healthcare, infrastructure, rehabilitation for prisoners and war veterans, affordable housing, reconstruction of the Gulf Coast, clean up of incredibly toxic waste sites owned by the military, governments and the private sector, and the transition from fossil-fuel dependency to sustainable energy. 7 Sasseen, Jane, "Economists Rethink Free Trade", Business Week, January 31, 2008

8 Morales, Evo, President of Bolivia, "A Peoples Trade Agreement" 2006

 

Page 7 Convening on Community Values

From Energy Exploitation to Environmental Justice and Global Well-being: Transitioning from the fossil fuel economy

Indigenous communities are bearing a huge burden for the fossil fuel economy. The sovereignty of indigenous nations is under attack for the oil, gas, tar sands and coal that rest under many native lands. Extraction of these resources is taking a huge toll physically, culturally and economically on these communities. Poor white communities in Appalachia are facing similar struggles as coal companies strip away mountaintops to reach coal deposits, pulverizing the landscape and poisoning the rivers.

 

Communities of color world-wide are already experiencing the effects of global warming – Micronesian and Caribbean communities are being displaced by rising tides that are rapidly inundating small island nations.  Market-based solutions to the global crisis have proven effective only in providing political cover for polluters and transferring the burden of the climate crisis to poor communities and communities of color. It is clear that regulations and a fundamental shift from carbon-based energy are essential and must be implemented now. A massive investment in Green Jobs towards building an ecologically sustainable economy could also put millions of people to work.

 

Building Movement and Democracy

For us to achieve these and other significant changes it will require a new level of development of social movements in the United States. Our movements are fractured and divided by issue areas, geography, race and class. Building effective and principled alliances across sectors will be essential to achieving change at the national and international level. The dialogues at the first United States Social Forum in June of this year marked a hopeful turning point in defining different political visions for the U.S. A diverse crowd of more than twelve-thousand people gathered in Atlanta, GA. It was a grassroots convergence of people fighting in their communities for housing rights, economic justice, environmental justice, peace, women and queer liberation, the rights of workers and immigrants. The forum conveyed a sense of hope and of urgency, which was reflected in the theme: Another World is Possible! Another World is Necessary!

 

The event was not covered by the mainstream media, and barely by the progressive press, but the continuing process of the USSF post-Atlanta and leading to the second USSF in 2010 will have a lasting impact. In a previous blog for the Movement Vision Lab,9 I cited examples of models that are building electoral power and democracy at the local level. A report written by Ryo Awawatari at the University of Osaka in Japan demonstrates that there is a correlation between higher voter turnouts with fairer distribution of wealth and economic growth. Economic democracy benefits everyone. These changes are long-term but certainly within our reach.

9 See "Real Democracy in the Information Age." Available online at:

http://www.movementvisionlab.org/blog/real-democracy-in-the-information-age

 

Page 8 Convening on Community Values

Opportunities and Challenges

The signs are everywhere that the global economy and U.S. politics are due for a significant change. A powerful global justice movement has emerged over the past decade putting in check the neoliberal/neoconservative steamroller. New Latin American governments have come to power, buoyed by the strength of mass popular movements and openly challenging the neoliberal policies and military repression that have destroyed the economy of the continent. Although the next U.S. President will not radically change the political course of the country, for the first time in U.S. history there is a very real possibility that a woman or African American will hold the nation's highest office, signifying an openness to significant change among the U.S. electorate.

 

The campaign of Barack Obama has energized youth and African Americans to vote in

unprecedented numbers. Peoples' movements in the U.S. are gaining strength. Union

membership increased in 2007 for the first time in over two decades. Community-based

organizations have grown in numbers and sophistication, and gatherings like the US Social Forum (USSF) signify greater potential for movements to overcome isolation and political divisions.

 

For 30 years, the road towards a just and sustainable societies was derailed by a small band of callous elites. They set us back for decades, but if we act now we can usher in a new era of humanity, drawing on the centuries of struggles and the many innovative models around the world. There is hope to build a democratic society from the ashes of neoliberalism.

 

 

CONVENING ON COMMUNITY VALUES

May 19-20, 2008 Kellogg Conference Hotel, Washington, DC

Convening on Community Values Framing Paper

From the Ashes of Neoliberalism

Michael Leon Guerrero

Grassroots Global Justice

In the U.S., far-Right Republicans and Democratic liberals alike have sold many people on the notion that the market should be the main force to drive the economy and define social

relationships. They maintain that government should stay off of peoples' backs and out of our wallets. They promote rugged individualism and consumerism couched in terms like "personal responsibility," "freedom" and "independence." "Greed is good!" was the mantra of MichaelDouglas' character, Gordon Gecko, in the 1980s movie "Wall Street" and those became the words to live by in the 80's and 90's. The philosophy and value of greed was taken to heart by many a corporate CEO, and, over the past 3 decades, this twisted logic – underlined by the values of individualism and the culture of consumerism – has turned back the clock on human development with devastating consequences.

 

The Chicago Boys' Disaster

Naomi Klein's landmark work "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"

summarizes the last thirty years of the neoliberal (aka neoconservative) project. These policies have had a stranglehold on the global economy for decades. But Klein argues persuasively that it is primarily in moments of societal or natural upheaval that capitalist extremists, trained by gurus like Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago, have been most able to impose their political and economic agenda. Even if a natural disaster didn't present itself, Friedman's disciples, like Kissinger, Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, had no problem wreaking their own violent havoc on vulnerable countries. 1 By now, the mantra of the "Chicago Boys" has become all too familiar: eliminate regulations, cut taxes, slash public spending, privatize public services, etc. Their policies dominated the global political landscape, unraveling the gains of centuries of social movements, while a new global elite has been enriched beyond imagination. A handful of people have become superwealthy,

and mega corporations have become even bigger and more powerful.

 

"Free trade" policies and the loan sharks that have run the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have destroyed national economies. Millions of people have been forced into poverty, and entire communities have been displaced from the countryside. Multi-nationals and northern industrial nations siphon wealth from the developing countries. Those that migrate from their homelands to make a living in the north are greeted with walls, bullets and racism. In the U.S., millions are homeless, unemployed, in prison, or one paycheck away from bankruptcy. The social wage has been beaten down to unsustainable levels – real wages are lower now than they were 30 years ago. Yet the costs of fuel and raw materials have skyrocketed causing worldwide food shortages. We have wiped out public budgets by eliminating taxes on those who profit most. 1 Klein, Naomi, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, 2007 Metropolitan Books

 

Page 2 Convening on Community Values

Vital public infrastructure and services cannot meet basic needs like maintaining the levees

in New Orleans and reconstructing the Gulf Coast, or controlling the devastating blazes in

Southern California. Yet the majority of our federal budget sponsors the wars and occupation in the Middle East, the warehousing of generations of the poor and people of color, the witch-hunt of immigrant refugees of U.S. foreign and trade policy, and the growing national debt.  Capitalism unchecked has given us Big Oil, Blood Diamonds, Enron and Halliburton. They have given us Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo and the Wall of Death on the U.S.-Mexico border.

 

The rise of the neoliberal regime has occurred in the same era that we are experiencing the decline of the economic and political dominance of the United States empire. Scholar Immanuel Wallerstein observes that economically the U.S. has been losing its top economic position since the 1970s as other regional economies have expanded.2 The U.S. is staring economic collapse in the face, driven by the bursting of the housing bubble. This bust is enough to make even billionaire George Soros nervous, arguing that there is a profound difference between this downturn and other recent ones:

 

"...the current crisis marks the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as

the international reserve currency. The periodic crises were part of a larger boom-bust

process. The current crisis is the culmination of a super-boom that has lasted for more

than 60 years." 3

 

Soros argues that with the deregulation of the financial industry, many of the mechanisms put in place to withstand a significant bust cycle have been eliminated. The Federal Reserve and the government may no longer have the tools to stave off a recession.

 

Today, the United States is the leader in a number of shameful statistics: the highest percentage and total numbers of its population in prison, the highest consumption of the world's natural resources, the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare, the biggest military budget. It seems that the greatest product that the U.S. is capable of producing today is war, and this makes us a very dangerous country. Our primary role in the global community is as a mercenary army in the interests of big business.

 

The hyper-consumerist culture of the U.S. has led to predatory lending and credit schemes that have put millions of people in the U.S. on the brink of bankruptcy, and the sacking of the Global South for exploited, under-paid workers and natural resources to make cheap products. The U.S. population represents 6% of the world's population, yet consumes 30% of the world's resources and produces the greatest amount of carbon pollution.  And while we're at it let's just be clear that the free market capitalism we have seen in the U.S. is by no means "free". In reality the U.S. economy functions as a form of socialism for the rich.

 

Taxpayers have bailed out the savings and loan industry, banks, and airlines. We finance at least 2 federal social security programs: the one to which most of us contribute through each paycheck, and the one for United Airlines employees (since that company no longer pays its pension obligations).2 Wallerstein, Immanuel, The Decline of American Power, 2003, The New Press 3 Soros, George, "The Worst Market Crisis in 60 Years", January 22, 2008, The Financial Times (London)

 

Page 3 Convening on Community Values 

 We give huge government contracts to the prison and military industrial complexes, and increasingly to private education and healthcare companies.  The "land of the free" is also one of only two countries in the world building walls between themselves and their neighbors (the other being Israel). This fortress mentality is a telling sign of an empire in decline. At a time when the U.S. population needs to be reaching out to the rest of the world more than ever, our government leaders are circling the wagons.

The Chicago Boys and their friends have made a terrible mess, and we haven't even touched on the destruction caused by unchecked industrialization, gutted environmental regulations, and the addiction to fossil fuels that have pushed life on the planet to the edge of oblivion. Fixing this disaster will take generations and a fundamental shift in the values and premises that we base our politics on.

 

A Cultural Shift: Reintroducing Community Values

It's clear that a profound change in the U.S. political direction is necessary. A fundamental shift in the political and economic direction of the country will require a cultural shift and a

redefinition of social and political relationships. We need to challenge the values of

individualism and competition and the culture of consumerism and reintroduce key values in

defining our economic and social relationships - values such as reciprocity, community,

cooperation and solidarity. We need to affirm that as a society we share collective and

community responsibilities. We must confront the underlying premises that have sustained the neoliberal/neoconservative agenda – namely that taxes, unions and government are all bad. As Donald Cohen has outlined, we need to assert that taxes, organized labor, regulations and government are in fact necessary to keep the greedy in check and to achieve a just and democratic society.4

 

A significant political and cultural shift in the U.S. will also require us to redefine the "American Dream". The dream is not about a motivated individual being able to strike it rich. The dream that would benefit most Americans (including Latin Americans and Canadians) would be closer to the dream outlined by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The dream should include racial, gender and queer liberation, meeting the basic needs of everyone in the community, and achieving peace in our local and global community.

 

In the Story of Stuff (storyofstuff.com) Annie Leonard beautifully explains the cycle of

production and consumption that is driving the planet towards self-destruction. She describes how the values of consumerism were engineered during the 1950s and have become part of our social DNA today. Consumerism was designed as a deliberate political strategy, and must be challenged by a deliberate political strategy.

 

The cycle of consumption is sustained by externalizing costs by exploiting communities for cheap raw materials and labor. Challenging this model will mean supporting the struggles of exploited and displaced communities and their

right to organize. 4 Cohen, Donald, "Progressive Self-Censorship: What Do We REALLY Want?" November 2, 2007 Movement Vision Laboratory blog

 

Page 4 Convening on Community Values

Shifting our values will allow us to make bold policy changes that are absolutely necessary. Here are some examples:

From Greed to Equity: Redistributing wealth

The neoconservative/neoliberal disaster has consolidated wealth in the hands of a few individuals and corporations. Half of the largest economies in the world are multi-national corporations. CEO salaries have ballooned to over 300 times the average pay of workers of the same company. Several corporations are also double and triple-dipping into the national public coffers, first by avoiding taxes through offshore tax havens or by having taxes completely eliminated by their friends in Washington, then by getting government contracts as government services become privatized.

 

Meanwhile there are now many more desperately poor people throughout the world and in the United States. Homelessness, bankruptcy and unemployment are all on the rise. So is the prison population. A recent study by the Pew Foundation shows that an astounding 1 out of 100 people in the U.S. are in prison. One out of 36 Latino males and one out of 15 Black males over the age of 18 make up a large percentage of this population.

 

Redistributing wealth will have to take place on a number of fronts, including raising the

minimum wage, closing prisons and putting people back to work at livable wages, and taxing the rich, taxing the rich, taxing the rich. We must also confront the class divide built on the legacy of racism in the United States.

 

 

From Private to Public: Creating public wealth – But beyond just taxing the rich, we must also challenge the premise that has been a pillar of the neocons/neolibs – that taxes are bad. Taxes are public resources that are essential in providing for the public good. The idea that the public sector is inefficient, bureaucratic and corrupt for the most part is hogwash promoted by the Neos, but when it comes right down to it someone has to pay our firefighters, pave the roads, build the schools and strengthen the levies. Certainly there are abuses that take place in public expenditures – mainly in the outrageous spending for the military and Homeland Security, and in the abuses by private contractors like Halliburton that overcharge the public for their services. But at least there are mechanisms for public oversight. We also must think about what a strong tax base can achieve – national, universal healthcare, for instance: public works projects that can put people to work; generating a green, sustainable energy economy; rehabilitation programs to help the generations of soldiers, prisoners and homeless people who are likely to, once again, be abandoned and put out on the street in the next few years.

 

From Competition to Community, Cooperation and Reciprocity: Building sustainable

economies – In 2004 I visited New Westminster, British Columbia, an industrial town just outside of Vancouver. With the decline of local industries New Westminster was notorious for having the highest crime rate in North America. Yet from 1999-2004 the community had started 105 new businesses, an astounding 100 were still thriving. The success of New Westminster was attributed to a model of economic development promoted by Italian-born Ernesto Sirolli. The model is called Enterprise Facilitation (EF). The process of EF sounds very similar to community organizing, whereby a "facilitator" is hired from the community and is tasked with helping local residents get their business ideas off the ground.

 

Page 5 Convening on Community Values

The facilitator then develops social networks of resource people, government agencies, businesses and non-profit institutions that help sustain the projects. Homeless people and high schools students have started successful small businesses through this process. "The economic development comes along as a secondary result of developing community, because people know each other and trust each other" says Vicki Austad of New Westminster's Community Development Society. In a presentation to the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, Ernesto Sirolli summarized one of the underlying premises

of Enterprise Facilitation: "It is arrogant to think that the answers to your economic development problems are in the boardrooms of your corporations. It is out there - in the streets of your barrios and ghettos!"

 

For a larger scale version of this model, we can look at the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna, one of the most productive regions in the world. Emilia Romagna is built on 8,000 worker cooperatives and over 300,000 small businesses with fewer than 50 employees that are networked to produce everything from Ducati motorcycles to leather goods. The thousands of small firms subcontract with each other to create flexible, cooperative manufacturing networks.5

 

A fundamental principle of Emilia Romagna's economy is "reciprocity" defined as "bidirectional transfers...implying a balance between what one gives and what one expects to obtain."6

 

For development of the capacity of the local economy, there are also examples closer to home. Despite the Right-wing propaganda about Cuba as being a centralized economy run by an ironfisted dictator, the island nation has made great advances in building capacity at the local level. Since the loss of support from the Soviet Union and despite the economic stranglehold of the U.S. embargo, the Cubans have developed an impressive model of local infrastructure, developing everything from organic local farms and urban gardens, to medical facilities and specialists in all communities. Cuba has also developed an incredibly effective, decentralized emergency response system. When Cuba suffered a direct hit by the same Hurricane Katrina that led to the devastation of the U.S. Gulf Coast, the island suffered no casualties.

 

From Imperialism to Solidarity: Making Peoples Trade Agreements

For the past 30 years, the neocons/neolibs have undermined the national economies of several nations. They have done this through three primary mechanisms: bad trade deals, violent overthrow and loan-sharking. The loan-sharking was carried out by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These institutions were initially conceived to help foster development in poor nations. By the 1980s they were used to force countries to adopt the neoliberal/neoconservative agenda including the privatization of public services and selling of national resources. Bad trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement and rules established by the World Trade Organization have undermined government controls on corporations and subsidies for agriculture and industry. The results have been devastating. Millions of farmers have been forced from their land, having to compete with subsidized corporate agriculture in the U.S. and Europe. Now they are migrating to northern countries seeking a means to survive.5 Williams, Robert, President, Vancity Capital Corp. "Bologna and Emilia Romagna, A Model of Economic Democracy," pg. 12, June 2002, British Columbia Cooperative Association, Paper presented to annual meeting of the Canadian Economics Association, University of Calgary 6 ibid

 

Page 6 Convening on Community Values Framing Paper

Countries that have not caved to the sharks have been denied financial support from the WB and IMF or faced violent overthrow by U.S. sponsored terrorists.  In a recent Business Week article "Economists Rethink Free Trade", even some of the most pro-Free Trade business people are coming to grips with the fact that maybe their trade deals weren't

such a good idea after all. Matthew J. Slaughter, economist from Dartmouth University

acknowledges that "...the share of Americans who are not included in the gains from trade may be very big." The article also states that inflation-adjusted earnings have fallen in every

educational category other than the 4% who hold doctorates or professional degrees. 7

 

Presidents have been elected in Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and

Ecuador who have publicly criticized neoliberal policies, and have begun to implement

alternative models of national development and trade between nations.

 

Bolivia has drafted the Peoples Free Trade Agreement (PTA). Based on the principles of

complementarity, cooperation, solidarity, reciprocity, prosperity and respect for the sovereignty of each country. The proposal states that "absolute liberalization of markets and the 'shrinking of the state' are not the primary objectives, rather the well-being of the people is the primary objective." Unlike the trade agreements designed by the Neos, the PTA incorporates objectives such as effective poverty reduction, preservation of indigenous communities, and respect for the environment. 8

 

Bolivia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela have forged an agreement for economic

integration as an alternative to corporate-driven free trade agreements. The Bolivarian

Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), is based on regional cooperation and functions almost as a bartering system at an international level. Through the agreement the countries establish integrated joint projects on education, health, food, energy and other issues. Another key aspect to ALBA is the formation of a Council of Social Movements, a vehicle for grassroots participation from throughout the Americas in decision-making.

 

From War and "Security" to Peace: Transitioning from the military economy – The most important and fundamental shift of the U.S. economy would be our divestment from empire building and the military industrial complex. Of the $2.6 trillion federal budget, 54% goes to military expenditures. Meeting the basic needs of the country and the world will require a monumental shift away from military spending. While we are threatening to bomb or invade other countries allegedly to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, the U.S. is constantly upgrading its nuclear arsenal and conducting research and development for unimaginable new weapons of mass destruction. The possibilities for the use of these public dollars are endless.

 

A whole new national economy could be built on a shift from war to addressing basic needs like national healthcare, infrastructure, rehabilitation for prisoners and war veterans, affordable housing, reconstruction of the Gulf Coast, clean up of incredibly toxic waste sites owned by the military, governments and the private sector, and the transition from fossil-fuel dependency to sustainable energy. 7 Sasseen, Jane, "Economists Rethink Free Trade", Business Week, January 31, 2008 8 Morales, Evo, President of Bolivia, "A Peoples Trade Agreement" 2006

 

Page 7 Convening on Community Values

From Energy Exploitation to Environmental Justice and Global Well-being: Transitioning from the fossil fuel economy

Indigenous communities are bearing a huge burden for the fossil fuel economy. The sovereignty of indigenous nations is under attack for the oil, gas, tar sands and coal that rest under many native lands. Extraction of these resources is taking a huge toll physically, culturally and economically on these communities.

 

Poor white communities in Appalachia are facing similar struggles as coal companies strip away mountaintops to reach coal deposits, pulverizing the landscape and poisoning the rivers. Communities of color world-wide are already experiencing the effects of global warming – Micronesian and Caribbean communities are being displaced by rising tides that are rapidly inundating small island nations.

 

Market-based solutions to the global crisis have proven effective only in providing political cover for polluters and transferring the burden of the climate crisis to poor communities and communities of color. It is clear that regulations and a fundamental shift from carbon-based energy are essential and must be implemented now. A massive investment in Green Jobs towards building an ecologically sustainable economy could also put millions of people to work.

 

Building Movement and Democracy

For us to achieve these and other significant changes it will require a new level of development of social movements in the United States. Our movements are fractured and divided by issue areas, geography, race and class. Building effective and principled alliances across sectors will be essential to achieving change at the national and international level. The dialogues at the first United States Social Forum in June of this year marked a hopeful turning point in defining different political visions for the U.S. A diverse crowd of more than twelve-thousand people gathered in Atlanta, GA. It was a grassroots convergence of people fighting in their communities for housing rights, economic justice, environmental justice, peace, women and queer liberation, the rights of workers and immigrants. The forum conveyed a sense of hope and of urgency, which was reflected in the theme: Another World is Possible! Another World is Necessary! The event was not covered by the mainstream media, and barely by the progressive press, but the continuing process of the USSF post-Atlanta and leading to the second USSF in 2010 will have a lasting impact.

 

In a previous blog for the Movement Vision Lab,9 I cited examples of models that are building electoral power and democracy at the local level. A report written by Ryo Awawatari at the University of Osaka in Japan demonstrates that there is a correlation between higher voter turnouts with fairer distribution of wealth and economic growth. Economic democracy benefits everyone. These changes are long-term but certainly within our reach.

9 See "Real Democracy in the Information Age." Available online at:

http://www.movementvisionlab.org/blog/real-democracy-in-the-information-age

 

Page 8 Convening on Community Values

Opportunities and Challenges

The signs are everywhere that the global economy and U.S. politics are due for a significant

change. A powerful global justice movement has emerged over the past decade putting in check the neoliberal/neoconservative steamroller. New Latin American governments have come to power, buoyed by the strength of mass popular movements and openly challenging the neoliberal policies and military repression that have destroyed the economy of the continent. Although the next U.S. President will not radically change the political course of the country, for the first time in U.S. history there is a very real possibility that a woman or African American will hold the nation's highest office, signifying an openness to significant change among the U.S. electorate.

 

The campaign of Barack Obama has energized youth and African Americans to vote in unprecedented numbers. Peoples' movements in the U.S. are gaining strength. Union membership increased in 2007 for the first time in over two decades. Community-based

organizations have grown in numbers and sophistication, and gatherings like the US Social

Forum (USSF) signify greater potential for movements to overcome isolation and political divisions.

 

For 30 years, the road towards a just and sustainable societies was derailed by a small band of callous elites. They set us back for decades, but if we act now we can usher in a new era of humanity, drawing on the centuries of struggles and the many innovative models around the world. There is hope to build a democratic society from the ashes of neoliberalism.


Basta Ya!--USA
Ciao,

507-6599-5679
http://arkinstitute.org (crisis in sustainable nonhybrid agriculture)
http://www.marx.org (Marx Engels works)
http://solidnet.org (what communist/workers party declare)
http://cpusa.org.
http://discuss.cpusa.org
http://www.stopfta.org
http://sanfelipeahora.blogspot.com
http://www.globalinfo.org
http://www.mfso.org
http://www.thepowerhour.com
http://www.infowars.com
http://www.infowars.tv
http://ufw.org
http://www.socallib.org
http://www.expendableelite.com
http://www.articbeacon.com
http://www.ppnf.org (Root Canal Cover Up, since 1917)
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org
http://www.corpwatch.org
http://www.radioliberty.com
http://www.alternativabolivariana.org
http://www.aporrea.org
http://www.congresobolivariano.org
http://www.westpointgradsagainstthewar.org