FEAR ANDFAITH:
We have always known what it takes for equality, justice, peace and freedom to exist for every human. Over history our collective subconscious has invented a basic code for humanity to live by, in the form of religion. Individually, our conscience is that part of us that was inherited to make sure we lived in all the ways proven to work for the human species. It contains our predisposition to co-operation, love, non-violence and selflessness.
The real question is not how to change but why we won’t. Fear of our own hunger and sadness, of slavery, of all the injustices we’ve inflicted on others? Fear of ourselves? Faith was supposed to release us from fear of the short term so we could live the way we need to and succeed in the long term. How much faith do you have in our species to survive.
THE AMBER BEACON:
The ideal world, as it stands in our current understanding of the term, is simply unreachable. It stands like a small, amber beacon glowing feebly amidst a frustratingly imperfect planet. The alternative state of global perfection, and an eminently achievable one, consists of not having everything we want, but being totally satisfied with everything we have. A world in which our individual goals, our greatest and most idiosyncratic fantasies, are thrust aside so that we might achieve a common good.
If we continue to pursue our own good in our own way, as we have done for countless centuries, we will not be presented with one utopia: we will have two billion, the preserve of the wealthy, the ignorant, the blindfolded writer, the deaf musician. As for the remaining billions, they will remain the world’s eternal wanderers, searching and losing their way in the mire of contemporary society. Utopia must come from the people, not the person; from the heart, not the head.
PRELIMINARY POTPOURRY:
I offer the following potpourri of proposals for a ‘transitional’ state – reforms that would be necessary as preliminary measures before more radical programs could be considered.
Basing the economy primarily on renewable resources. Abolishing the commercial as well as the military use of nuclear power.
Requiring corporations that do business nationally to receive charters of incorporation, and to revoke those charters on their conviction for environmental crimes.
Renegotiating trade agreements to provide for minimum labor and environmental standards, and establishing a Tobin Tax on speculative transactions to provide a fund for the countries of the South.
Cancelling structural-adjustment approaches of the IMF/World Bank and permitting countries to develop their own distinctive economic paths toward self-sufficiency.
Requiring corporations to dedicate a minimum percentage of shares to consumer/worker groups and to the communities where they do business – so that profitability is not their only concern.
Encouraging the formation of consumer and producer co-operatives through tax incentives.
Divesting corporations of the same ‘citizenship’ rights as people and returning to the original idea of the corporation as a kind of joint-stock association formed temporarily to accomplish a specific purpose.
THE WAY HOME:
A world based on satisfying the needs of all instead of providing profits for the few; where there are no countries or nations but many different cultures living in harmony. There will be no wars, crusades or fatwas. All these, whatever we are told at the time, are fought for the advantage of capitalists who grow fat on profits they make from sale of war materials and then from the ‘enemy’ who has been subdued. We will need no leaders to try to fill our heads with notions of patriotism and ‘our’ just cause. From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs – socialism, the true meaning of which escapes or is anathema to the world’s leaders. To achieve it we must understand what it means and want it. If you know the way home, you do not need anyone to lead you up the wrong road.
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