Terminology: Libertarianism, Socialism, Onenessism

In article Slaves and Forms of Slavery I spoke about socialism and capitalism, indicating that both can lead to slavery but that if executed well socialism has better chances of avoiding it.

A friend brought to my attention that it is not so much of importance to discuss socialism and capitalism. Both terms have been used throughout decades and have gained a lot of connotations. Most people already have a fixed (and inflexible) image of socialism and capitalism in their mind.

He argues that a more crucial parameter is the level of liberalism provided. In simplified terms, the amount of government involvement plays a bigger role and hence we should talk about government involvement rather than socialism vs. capitalism. True, socialism is very, very broad and includes political directions such as Marxism, libertarian socialism, democratic socialism, and social democracy. The same for capitalism. We can have socialism with little or a lot government involvement. We can have capitalism with little or a lot government involvement. The capitalism found today in the western world (US, EU) is a capitalism with a high degree of government regulation, government monopoly, government involvement, ...

I see the currently implemented capitalism as an uneven playing field, rigged by the government and corporation, in which we as individuals work against each other. We label it competition, but in reality the competition we have is war, war on all levels: military war (Iraq, Afghanistan), the economy is nothing but war between corporations with weapons such as IP rights, patents, lawyers, advertising, public relations, poaching key human resources, corporate espionage, price fixing, monopolies, and so on. At the individual level too. The phrase "competing with the Joneses" was not created out of nothing. We frequently see the Joneses as rivals and not as neighbors.

Fair competition is a positive force, we need to voice our ideas, discuss them freely and let the best ideas win. We can let various manufacturing processes compete to see which one is most beneficial. We must compete with each other as team members, not compete against each other as rivals. Competition should not be a fight for resources or money by all means possible. Competition should only be a means to evaluate and compare various possibilities.

First we must do away with monopolistic rights to correct and level the uneven playing field. We need more libertarianism. That means we need to do away with the monopoly of printing money, the monopoly of patents, and the monopoly of so many other government regulations.

I wonder if pure libertarianism is sufficient though. I am afraid that it is not "social" enough. How do we avoid the "working against each other"? How can we encourage the working together? We need competition at the level of ideas, and coordinated acting. What I mean is that we need to strive for solutions that benefit all of mankind in a sustainable way. We need to work towards a sustainable society in a sustainable environment with sustainable food sources. We need to use the best ideas and produce the best products possible using the best methodology. The best for mankind, not the best for an individual or corporation. The starting point is to find the best ideas. Here all ideas must be shared freely, discussed freely, publicly and transparently. We need to with each other to find the best ideas together. I see it as a "social" act as all of the society should participate or at least it is open to all of society. The good should be for society, mankind. It should be "open" (as in open-source). It should be "free" (as in free speech, or free as in a truly free market).

How do I describe this? What is an appropriate name for the goal of finding the best solution for mankind through an open and free process?

• Is it socialism? Yes and no. There is a social aspect. It tries to achieve the best for society as a whole. But it is not socialism in the sense of a legislation that enforces a take-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor.
• Is it capitalism? Yes and no. Mostly no. It says "free" and that sounds like capitalism. But the truth is that our capitalism is far away from a free market. Capital and money should not be in the center of everything. It is not about capital and profits.
• Is it libertarianism? Yes and no. Libertarianism is part of it, but it is not the complete picture. Libertarianism provides us the freedom required but it does not cover the aspect of us being one, that we need to strive for solutions for the whole of the planet.

So, what shall I call it then? Libertarian Socialism? Social Libertarianism? Maybe. I even created the term "Sustainable Oneness Thinking" which tries to summarize the fact that we should see all of mankind as one being. As a matter of fact we should see the planet with all plants, animals and humans as one entity, as a oneness. We should strive to find solutions to improve the whole planet (not just an individual, a single country or a single society, or solely mankind at the cost of nature). Every idea and decision we should judge by asking if it is beneficial for the whole planet (our oneness) in a sustainable manner. The term Oneness Thinking sounds more religious than political. There seems to be a parallel and similarity to Hinduism and Buddhism. This religious smell will distract people. Maybe it should be "Sustainable Wholeness Thinking" implying we need to always consider the planet as a whole and do so on a long-term basis. To me oneness or wholeness is the same but wholeness sounds less religious.

Of course, none of the terms captures my complete thinking. Terms are just place holders and sometimes they can get us to think. As a joke I could call myself a follower of Libertarian-Sustainable-Oneness-ism.

Be Good

I stumbled across this website: GOOD at www.good.is. And, surprise, it's quite good. Pun intended. The site blogs about a lot of interesting topics such as food, health, cities, environment and transportation. I first found the site through this video explaining the cost of war in Afghanistan and Iraq and putting a price tag of 3,000,000,000,000 (3 trillion) $ on it. Then I have seen videos on corn, etc. All the information is nicely presented and usually condensed to a few minutes. Have a look at their video channel: Good Magazine videos. Short, snappy and to the point covering many issues on sustainability and social challenges.

Black Friday

Black Friday is the biggest retail shopping day of the year in the US. The malls are packed and everyone seems to be in a shopping frenzy.

Luckily there is an alternative event going on: Buy Nothing Day. BND for short. Join us. Today is the 10th anniversary of the Buy Nothing Day which hopes to put a moratorium on consumer spending for the period of 24 hours. It has gone international and is celebrated as "Día sin compras" in the Spanish-speaking world.

What did Shakespeare write? Much ado about nothing. I agree, we have to make noise about nothing - about buying nothing.

And if you are the visual person and want to "watch" Buy Nothing concepts have a look at these videos: Buy Nothing video submission. I particularly liked this one: Raj Patel: The Value of Nothing. This video is a promo for the book "The Value Of Nothing" (2009) by scholar, activist, writer Raj Patel, also the author of Stuffed and Starved (2008). The title is based on the Oscar Wilde quote: "Nowadays, people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." A lovely quote. The book is a good story on how costs are externalized and prices are distorted. The first chapter of the book is available here.

Think for Yourself

"Think for Yourself" is the motto of Gerald Celente and his TrendsResearch.com company. He speaks out clearly on the false hope of economic recovery, inflation, and civil unrest. One of his quotes is "When people lose everything and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it" implying that people at the verge of losing their job, their possessions, and their home will soon have to turn to crime and that New York City will become like Mexico City with respects to crime rate and that other US cities will resemble Calcutta. Independent of to what degree you believe in his predictions, you can always follow his motto: Think for Yourself. Don't take the mass media news for truth, because it isn't.

Life Inc.

Douglas Rushkoff wrote an interesting book entitled "Life Inc. How The World Became A Corporation And How To Take It Back". It is summarized in this short 10-minute movie "Live Inc.". He says that we spend so much time working and consuming that we have no time and no energy left to socially interact with people and get pleasure out of life. We are disconnecting from another. He argues that we have to regain humanity. Ever been on vacation in a "poor" nation where people have fewer goods? Isn't it true that the people in these countries with fewer goods and less consumerism are happier? Happiness cannot be achieved by having more and more goods, but by being satisfied with few goods. So, in order to achieve or increase happiness we have to change our mind (towards humbleness) rather than change our immediate environment (filling home and garage with goods and toys). GNP is a false measure of happiness, still all economists and corporations push for growth and GNP as the only index of economic health and individual happiness. We have to be clear about this fraud. To avoid falling into this trap we can think about best to live with less, try some of our ideas, and then live a life in which we strive for happiness with less - Voluntary Simplicity (voluntary simplicity videos). Also have a look at:  Simple Living, Post-Materialism, and Anti-Consumerism.

News or Not News

It should be clear that all major news providers are corporations and as such driven by profit and supporting the current business model. Their objective is not to deliver impartial news, their objective is to make money. Reported news is selected to satisfy big corporations and politics.

Here is a site that reports on news that should have been reported but has been suppressed by the de-facto censorship of todays news corporations.

• Project Censored
  
• Top 25 Censored Stories for 2010
  
• Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009
  

Every one of these 50 news stories is worth a read.

German Crisis Survival Community

On his video blogs Dr. Jörn Berninger (financial crisis advisor) presents discussions, thoughts and predictions on the economic crisis. One of his video blogs is in English, the other in German. It might not be a good starting point for getting up to speed on these issues but the blogs are worth mentioning because one of them is in German, focusing on German aspects of the crisis and there is not too much German material to be found on the Internet. For those more comfortable with German, this blog with about one video published per week might be a good way to complement your information intake. If you prefer reading, Dr. Berninger also has textual blogs in both languages: German Financial Crisis Survival Blog, English Financial Crisis Survival Blog.

Slaves and Forms of Slavery

Only a few days ago I posted a blog entry entitled "Statism is Dead". One of the arguments was the fact that we in general - or many of us - are being treated like human livestock. Here is another site that voices this opinion. The site is called "On Modern Servitude" and links to a 1-hour video documentary (also available here). It explains that many of us subscribe voluntarily to this modern form of servitude and that we don't want to see it. It is called mercantile totalitarism. It shows how all aspects of our lives are controlled and that we are lulled into a false believe of freedom. In the introduction of the video that criticizes the totalitarian mercantile system we live in, the author summarizes "My optimism is based on the certainty that this civilization is about to collapse. My pessimism lies on the things that are dragging us down in its fall". Wake up. See the new form of slavery for what it is. Watching the video helps you open your eyes.

Compare this view on slavery to Friedrich Hayek's book "The Road to Serfdom" (condensed version of book). Also view these videos: part of the BBC "Tory, Tory, Tory" documentary, part of the BBC "Tory, Tory, Tory" documentary, and The Road to Serfdom (comic).

Hayek comes from a completely different angle. But he reaches the same conclusion, or at least he warns of the same danger: slavery. He argues that if we are not watchful, "socialism", government planning and government interference will lead to serfdom and in order to avoid it we must stick to a strict free market capitalism.

See the two distinct roads? Both leading to servitude according to their authors. Capitalism and socialism, two contrary paths leading to the same oppression? Form your own opinion, but for me it seems clear that it is true that both forms of government - if executed poorly - can lead to slavery. The point is though that socialism - if executed well - can avoid slavery, while capitalism - even if executed well - has a higher risk of slavery.

Aldous Huxley said the following back in 1932. It is a lovely quote and so to the point: "A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda, newspaper editors and schoolteachers." (Source: foreword to "Brave New World").

Drifting away from the topic of slavery, a comment on Hayek. The dangers that Hayek warns us about are the government bailouts (e.g. banks and car manufacturers in 2008 and 2009), the TARP programs, the Feds in general, etc. All these actions and institutions are mere meddling that is eventually bound to fail. What in our media is called a free market capitalism, is far away from Hayek's definition of a free market capitalism. All our markets are steered, controlled, abused, and profited from by today's government and big corporations. 2009 is one of the best years to see this in action at a grand scale. Capitalism - like nearly anything in life - has a good side and a bad side. Politicians have long destroyed and eliminated the good side of capitalism, and all they do is dish out the bad side of capitalism for us to eat. But when asked about it they continue to justify capitalism by referring to the long-gone good aspects of capitalism.

344 Days

The average number of days that a flat or house is on the Spanish real-estate market before being sold is now 344 days. This number is up from last year and steadily climbing. In Barcelona this number is up 40% in just 1 year. In Madrid this number is up 32% in just one year. In the last 5 years this number has grown 400% (in the example of Barcelona), meaning that flats or houses or 4 times as long on the market before being sold.

What do we learn? The housing market is bad, few buyers and many sellers. What else? The sellers are not willing to reduce the prices significantly. They still want to hold on to the "old" prices, the prices they paid in the past to buy their home or their investment property and they are mentally not willing to accept that the prices can go south. It will take more time before Spanish people will open up their mind to the fact that real estate is not the perfect investment vehicle that can never fail. People in Spain have been spoiled in the past, having gone through many decades with steady increases that has lead them to believe that real-estate prices are impossible to go down. Now we see how difficult it is to change ones mind on an issue that is detrimental to oneself.

Source: www.idealista.com

Bad, Worse, Worst

What is bad? It is bad that the average cost of delivering one gallon of fuel to the troops in Afghanistan costs $400. The military buys, the tax payer pays. In some remote areas the military pays $1,000 for each gallon of fuel.

What is worse? It is worse that the cost of each soldier in Afghanistan is $1,000,000 (one million) per year. 1 soldier x 1 year = $1 million. The US is in its 9th year of war. Imagine the cost (human lives, financial). Imagine the damage (human suffering, infrastructure destroyed, environment polluted, ...). Now imagine what a wise and benevolent government could do with this money: clean energy, innovation, clean up the environment, education, health care, improve living conditions, ... The total cost of the Afghan-Iraq war is estimated by some at 3 trillion dollars (50 times the original price tag given to the public by Donald Rumsfeld).

What is worst? Worst of all is that the president lies to his public. Remember when Obama promised before the elections that the first thing he would do if elected is to bring the troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq? Read his lips here. Now, after the election the elected leaders are discussing incrementing the number of soldiers in Afghanistan. Don't trust the promises of any president.

Two Arguments against Intellectual Property Rights

Recently in a discussion the topic of Intellectual Property (IP) came up. Both of us admitted that IP rights should be abolished. The interesting part is that we have reached this conclusion trough two completely different paths.

I have reached the conclusion that IP rights are detrimental due to social concerns. I believe that a just, happy and stable society can only be reached if the differences between groups of society are not too large. (Example: Having a stock trader make an average salary of $15,000 an hour and a tomato grower earn the same amount in one year, and a poor Indian making this in fifteen years will not lead to a stable sustainable society.) We have to work together to find the best solutions for humanity. (Examples: We should find the best solution for everyone regarding CO2 emissions. Finding the solution that is best for some is not a good solution. The proposed trading of carbon derivatives will serve the US but be detrimental for poor countries that will have to shoulder the pollution. We should build the best washing machine possible, one that last 50 years, is efficient, etc. instead of throw-away washing machines that are designed to fail after 2 years with built-in obsolescence. We need to find the best solution for food production using the best seeds and the best methodologies for soil treatment to create a sustainable supply of high quality food for all humans.) The only way we can find the best solution for all of mankind we need to work together. We must avoid competition. Competition in the design and manufacturing process just means you hold back the best solution for gaining and holding a competitive advantage, in order to make profit. IP rights and patents are solely tools to avoid that the best solutions for mankind are used for mankind. IP rights and patents are just tools to optimize profits for a single individual or corporation. We must share information, solutions, design and ideas freely to be able to jointly come up with the best solutions for all individuals of this planet. IP rights are in strict contradiction to this goal. Not to mention that today IP rights and patents are resulting in ridiculous exaggerations such as companies patenting life (Monsanto trying to patent pigs) and companies going into government-owned seed banks and patenting all the current and historic seeds just because they are the first to apply for the patent. Imagine someone invents an engine that provides 10-fold mileage. An oil company would quickly buy up this patent and then hide the engine design forever to assure that the product does not reach the market. IP rights and patents make us secretive and make us work against each other instead of together. They create greed. The benefits are reaped by a few instead of by mankind. All of this drives us into a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and hence as a result the social imbalance gets bigger worldwide causing social friction and injustice. The key point is that we need all the information available to mankind to find the best solutions benefiting all of mankind, and hence all information must be free and public.

As a side point I can also mention that IP rights, IP attorneys, patent offices, IP law suits are not intrinsically productive. They generate no true value for mankind. Imagine mankind as one, imagine all 7 trillion individuals are one "virtual" person. If we are just "one", it would make no sense to waste our time and energy with defining, registering, managing and protecting IP rights. What we need is One-ness Thinking, asking ourselves what is best for us with all of mankind seen as one.

My friend reached the same conclusion, that IP rights should be abolished and that they would not be used by a mature society. He has reached this conclusion from a stand-point as libertarian. It goes against the liberties of the individual and physical property rights. IP rights and patents only increase government regulation and decrease the liberties of the individual. It is no longer a free market. Patents create monopolies. The government has a monopoly on granting IP rights and patents. And the patent receiver has a monopoly on the item on which the property was granted. All of this is in contra of the free market as promoted by the Austrian School of economists. My friend referred me to a podcast by Stephan Kinsella entitled "The Intellectual Property Racket". The article "The Fallacy of Intellectual Property" speaks about the same issues and rejects IP rights with the same argumentation.

Again as a side-point, my friend loves to bring up Linux and Wikipedia as examples of the power of the free market. Freedom has lead to the creation of the best-of-breed on-line encyclopedia, not IP rights. I can also say it was a "social" endeavor: by the people for the people, a solution for the benefit of all, not just for the profit of a few.

One-ness Thinking and Libertarianism both are valid arguments against IP rights.

Piracy in Somalia

It all seems such a clear-cut case: piracy. It is so black and white. The piracy acts are evil, surely. Or aren't they? Is it possible that there is another side to this coin? Could it be that it is not so clear-cut? Did a propaganda war waged centuries ago by the British empire embed an image of a pirate into our mind that is far from the truth? Freedom fighter or terrorist? Coast guard or pirate? Are the few Somalis that attack large vessels the pirates? Or are we the so-called first world nations the true pirates?

Find out for yourself. Read these articles and you might walk away with the opinion that there are two types of pirates and the big and evil pirates are the US, the EU, China, Taiwan, etc.

• Toxic waste behind Somalis Piracy
  
• Somali Pirates: The Untold Story
• You are being lied to about pirates
  
• The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the World Ignores the Other
  
• 
  

Our Food

From nitrogen based bombs scientists developed nitrogen based fertilizers. From nerve gas humans developed pesticides. Monsanto's New Leaf potato and Monsanto's BT corn are legally registered as pesticides, yet they are sold in US supermarkets as human food. Every cell of BT corn is genetically engineered to create a toxin, a pesticide that kills any worm that attempts to eat any part of the BT corn plant. And the same corn becomes corn cob or corn flakes on your plate. Can that be healthy? 97% of the varieties of vegetables grown at the beginning of the 20th century are now extinct. Is that smart? Companies are creating "meat" artificially in laboratories by growing muscle cells through proteins.

What is the future of our foods? GM veggies that make us sterile and meat grown in a lab tube? Have a look at these videos: "The Future of Food - Introduction",  "The Future of Food - Interview with producer" and the official web site.

The Man who Planted Trees

Over the last months I have reached the conclusion that planting trees should be a top priority for our society. I have an unexplainable personal link to trees. I simply like and value them. They can do so much good and if we want to take care of our planet we depend on the help of trees. We will not be able to make it without them and we will not be able to survive as a race without them. It is no wonder to me that ancient culture see them as spiritual beings.

A heart-moving short book (only 3 pages of text) and video dealing with the topic of planting trees is "The Man Who Planted Trees". It is highly recommended. Here is the "The Man Who Planted Trees" book in French, "The Man Who Planted Trees" in English and the "The Man Who Planted Trees" video (description).

Tiny Farms

I stumbled across an interesting blog about Tiny Farms - written by a person who started his 2 acre farm some 7 years ago with no p[revious knowledge. It has useful DIY information for anyone interested in starting a small farm. It also has a Tiny Farming wiki (a wikipedia on tiny farming) attached where people write about topics like "how much farm land is needed to feed a person" and more practical aspects.

1 Year Anniversary

I went back to my emails. Nov 12, 2008 was the day when all started. On this day I received an email from a friend of mine that ran roughly like this: "Do you know the documentary Zeitgeist? I just watched it. It's complicated and requires digestion. One thing is sure, it will make you think, reflective and meditative, ...".

My friend was right and the following discussions kicked off a new period in my life. I sort of celebrate a birthday today. I am now one year into my new life after having recognized that we require Times of Change.

Celebrating this 1-year anniversary it is also time for another self-assessment.

• Over the last year I rekindled seeds that I had always within myself. Certain attitudes and knowledge I had long before I started Times-of-Change, often since childhood. For example, all my adult life I was into voluntary simplicity, I always have been a fervent recycler, I felt close to nature and appreciated its beauty and the lessons it holds for us. I never voted because I thought it is useless, but I never bothered to think too hard why it is useless. What have I learned over the last year? I got a better understanding of the financial system and how it oppresses us. I got a better understanding of how the economic system is designed to trash the world and how and why the mantra of growth is doomed to fail. I have learned why the political system is corrupt, who corrupted it and who pays the price. I have learned why there is no difference between democrats and republicans, between social democrats and right wing parties: they all just squabble about tiny issues but they all support the status quo and they all support the mercantile totalitarian system. I learned how corporations came to power. Etc. Etc. Etc. Yes, I learned a lot in the last year. I also learned that all is interconnected. That one cannot find a solution to the environmental crisis while ignoring the financial system and politics. One cannot fix corrupt politics and ignore the economy. One can not be a true permaculturist and not have a political opinion and not understand how we are under the influence of corporations. It is all connected: economy, ecology, psychology, politics, freedom, health, nature, ...
• I put my money where my mouth is. I donated to the sources providing me with valuable information: Chris Martenson, MarketSkeptics, Permaculture Research Institute, etc. 
• I found a few new people with whom I have shared my believes and who read articles I occasionally mail to them. I continue to spread the news via word of mouth and via the Times of Change blog. The blog has 100 page views per month, not a lot, but it is a start. 
• I make sure never to buy GM food. We have started to buy wherever possible and reasonable organic food, from organic carrots to coffee. Still, here is room for improvement. There is still plenty on regular (non-organic) food that ends up in our shopping cart that could be substituted with organic products. Furthermore we could buy bio-dynamic food, which is a step ahead of organic food; but it is difficult to find and would require extra work. 
• I try to vote with my money, i.e. I try to avoid buying products from corporations that are clearly violating good ethics. But I believe that it is far too little and completely insufficient to vote with one's dollars. Often there are no choices: all products offered come from corporations without ethics. So the choice frequently is between "bad" and "bad".
• I try to reduce consumerism, I built 5 pieces of furniture from scrap wood I dragged home from dumpsters. I even built a small shelf simply from cardboard boxes and another table from combining cardboard boxes and wood. It was so easy. Reduce, reuse, recycle. 
• I appreciate food a lot more now. I wonder about where it comes from, the effort and energy that goes into producing it, how far it traveled, who profited from it, etc. Food has a higher priority in my life now. And I worry more about it. Will there be enough food in 10 years? How will it be distributed across the nations of this planet? Will it make us sick? I didn't have any of these worries a year ago. 
• Clearly, the next step is to produce my own food, well, a part of it. I have not advanced on this matter, but it is still on my to-do list. I dream of a food forest. 
• I started a promise to myself on planting trees. I am behind my target number of planted trees, but I still have many years left to work on this topic.
• I also want to create a new home-stead for my family and me, but I also see that this leads to relationship tensions as it is natural for partners to disagree on many issues. I don't see the outcome of this yet. So I have doubts. The price for partial resource independence can't and shouldn't be the break-up of close social fabric.
• Positive thinking is hard for me on many days. It has been stated by many people that despite all the challenges we face we must remain with a positive attitude in order to advance and in order not to become sick. Rationally I fully understand that, but still frequently the news is so depressing and bleak that it is easy to worry or become cynical. I know I have to improve in this area and try to reduce my worries and increase my optimism.

Statism is Dead

Freedomain Radio has published a series of 5 videos entitled "Statism is Dead". In these videos Stefan Molyneux explains statism and he compares our society to human livestock management. Without knowing it, we are the cattle controlled and slaughtered by the farmer (i.e. the politicians). If you listen to the parable you will agree to the similarities between a regular cattle ranch and our human environment. Part 3 is most likely the best episode and the one you should see if you don't have time to watch them all. Part 3 focuses in the human livestock parable. Part 5 explains why statism is terrorism and must and will inevitably end. Stefan Molyneux favors a free and more anarchic construct for our society to replace the current statism. His video blog is on his YouTube channel Stefbot.

80 5

According to the TED video "How food shapes our cities" featuring Carolyn Steel 80% of the global food trade is performed by only 5 companies (at 3:15 of the video). To these extremes globalization has taken us. Why does the general public not think that this is too much power in too few hands (10 hands in this particular case)? Why does the average John Doe not see that this is inherently risky on so many levels? Why does the average Jane Doe not see that democratic citizens are losing control over such a basic need as food and that this control is handed freely and voluntarily to soul-less corporations? We need to stop globalization before globalization enslaves us even further.

The 10 Rs of an Alternative World

This is a translation of the Spanish article "The 10 Rs of the Other Possible World".

These should be our basic guidelines for another possible world:

• Respect: Respect the planet, respect for diversity of all kinds of lifestyles, cultures, languages, religions and ethnic groups, respect for elders, respect for children, respect for the unborn, respect animals, respect plants, respect for the planet.
  
  
• Reduction : Reduction of our material needs, reduction of our spendings, reduce of the work hours, reduction of pollution, reduction of our energy expenditure, reduction of our consumption.
  
  
• Redistribution: Redistribution of wealth, redistribution of paid work, redistribution of domestic chores, redistribution of responsibilities between classes and sexes, redistribution of company size, redistribution of tax burdens.
  
  
• Reflection: Reflection on the indirect consequences of our daily actions, reflection on our lifestyle and our vital priorities, reflection on the future of our children and the future of our planet.
  
  
• Revindication: Revindication of (i.e. reclaim of, taking back of) justice and basic rights (food, clothing, housing, health, education, personal independence) of all human beings without distinction.
  
  
• Resistance: Resistance against hopelessness inherent in materialism, resistance against the paradigm of selfishness and hoarding as a way of life, resistance to ecocide.
  
  
• Reuse: reuse of material resources, objects, ideas, human resources, reuse of public spaces, old houses, reuse of uses and customs with social or environmental value.
  
  
• Reinvention: Reinvention of life in a new philosophy associated with the appreciation of the different, coexistence, understanding, humility and solidarity, reinventing the rules governing the global economy.
  
  
• Repair: Repair the damage caused to individuals, social groups and environmental systems by our action or our inaction to aggressive action by others, reparation to victims of any form of terrorism, including state terrorism, and environmental terrorism by cultivation of historical memory.
  
  
• Rebellion: Rebellion against the neo-liberal capitalist thinking that only seeks to commodify and commercialize all aspects of human life.

Rain Water

Article "Water" talks about the fact that catching and using rain water became illegal in Bolivia as the IMF and Bechtel took over control over water. It is outrageous. Now I found out that even in the USA it was illegal in Colorado until 2009 to harvest rain water and it still is illegal in the state of Washington to collect rain water from a roof if you do not own water rights on the ground. One does not have to look to third world countries to find

House Prices

In the post "Real Estate" I argued for a more methodic way to put a price label on a flat or a house. Now a found a very simple article agreeing with that and giving the basic ROI (return on investment) and PER (Price to Earning Ratio) as two methods to measure if a real estate property price is fair. Glad to see that this message is finally slowly sent to the public. The article is in Spanish and entitled "How to know if a home is priced adequately". Since this is a Spanish article, let's take Spain as an example. Applying the formula to the Spanish market and specifically to the market in Madrid, Barcelona and Vizcaya, one will very quickly see that real estate is still vastly overpriced and should come down. Currently in mid-2009 after the prices have come down some already the PER is stated as 27 on average. I believe that the PER as calculated in the mentioned article is not correct as it does not take into account issues such as taxes (to be paid on the rent), cost of maintaining the property, etc. This indicates that the true PER is significantly above 27 in this part of the world.

Solidarity Contract

A friend of mine presented his thoughts regarding the transition to me. First he explained the concept of the "Generation Contract" to me.

The generation contract marks an accepted social consent, which is to secure the financing of the old age pension. The employed persons pay the pensions of the generation retired from the business life, and thereby obtain the right to receive similar benefits from the following generation. In other words, this month's tax withholdings on the working generation are used to pay next month's pension to the retired generation.

The term is quite popular in Central Europe. E.g. in German it is called Generationenvertrag and used in the political system of Austria and Germany. The tax that is deducted from one's paycheck is not saved by the state until one retires and then handed back to one. No, the money is handed from one generation to another (with the government as middleman).

Our economy should not be based on growth any longer. It is futile to attempt perpetual growth. At the same time, given our technology and methodology today our society is in a situation where the basic needs of every single individual of society can be covered. Full employment is the goal of all politicians, but it is the wrong goal. As a matter of fact it should not be our goal, we are not born to be workers. We should work to cover our needs, but we should not be servants to work. We should not be enslaved. Most countries are far away from full employment. Unemployment (e.g. 20% currently in Spain in real terms) is seen as something nasty, something undesirable, something shameful. It should not be that way. If we can produce all the goods and services required to fulfill the basic needs of all individuals with 50% or 25% percent of the population, this should be celebrated. And if we can do it with 25% of the population even better.

Full employment will and should not be our goal for the future. And with the population distribution changing to generations with less young people capable of working and more elderly people in need of a pension, we must rethink the concept of the generation contract in particular, and the distribution of resources in general.

My friend's thoughts are to replace the current generation contract that basically distributes from the "working" class to the "non-working" class. He suggests that we must strive for -- what I termed -- a solidarity contract. The class "with financial resources" must give to the social class "without resources". Or simpler: we need a social contract where the rich voluntarily give to the poor. While you have more than you need you give to those that have less than they need. We have so many super rich that are not even capable of spending all their money in their life time. And we have many rich that have wealth and goods far beyond what is needed to cover the basic needs. This must be the class to give. Separating the classes in "working" and "non-working" makes no sense anymore in a well-planned 21 century. The rich must have compassion and show solidarity and realize that it is to be benefit of all -- them included -- if they reduce the wealth divide. My friend stresses that the giving should be voluntary. The point is that we all but in particular the rich must realize that their wealth will not serve them if we go to war or if their behavior creates a revolution. You can only build walls around your castle so high. The not-giving might create social unrest, war, diseases and more. Even a 30-foot wall will not be a protection in such cases.

So much what my friend voice to me. And he asked me if I would be willing to give. For the first 15 seconds I didn't quite know what to say. I think I am willing to give, but I would only do so with many strings attached, meaning only if certain conditions are met. Would I give money to the current government so they can redistribute it as they see fit? No. I see the current government as corrupt and influenced by big industry and I would feel that the money would not end up in the right hands, and I would consider it even possible that it would be used to make the rich richer independent of the promises of the politicians. Would I give if others don't give? No. I could give money today to non-profit organizations in Africa, but I don't. Why? Because it is not a solution. The system has to be changed. Giving food to a starving child is admirable, but it does not get rid of the corrupt military government on his country, does not stop the civil war in his country, or stop the big international companies exploiting the oil and water resources in his country. I think the implementation of the "solidarity contract" has to go hand in hand with many other social, political and economic changes in order to be successful. I see it as a desirable goal. I see it as something that I would support, but like with many other issues I don't see an obvious way to get there. I would give but the system has to be fair, and safe from manipulation from politics and industry.

How do we implement it? That is the tough part. My friend suggests to talk to the rich and to convince them. I feel that we need to do more. Again I see that everything is so intertwined. We need to shift the power, that's a minimum.

After "creating" the term "solidarity contract" in my head I got curious and searched the term. There is an article on Social Solidarity on Wikipedia that links to a document entitled "Toward a social contract on world-wide scale: Solidarity contract" by Guy Ankerl. So, the term was used already in 1980. But with less than 2,500 hits world-wide it is a term hardly ever used. Maybe we should give a new life to this term: solidarity contract.

Patenting Pigs

Monsanto is taking the crown when it comes to unethical business, selfishness, corporate greed and destroying the human food supply. I knew about the milk hormones, rBGH, the genetically modified food like GM corn and GM soy beans as well as all the trouble around Round-Up. Seeing the French documentary, called “The world according to Monsanto” and directed by independent filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin is a must. But now I found out that Monsanto has also applied to patent the pig. Monsanto wants to control the complete food supply. What next from the ex-agent-orange company.

Basic Needs

If you have 10 minutes, why don't you try this exercise. Calm down, think, and write down your top-10 basic needs. What are the 10 things you really need?

What is the list you came up with? Compare it with this list created by 660 village people in Sri Lanka (in order, highest priority first).

• a clean and beautiful environment
• an adequate supply of safe water
• minimum requirements of clothing
• a balanced diet
• simple housing
• basic health care
• communication facilities
• energy
• total education related to life and living
• cultural and spiritual needs

Source: Letters from Sri Lanka – The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, and the Ten Basic Needs