Living together

Anne Adams believes we need a different economic system.

Sometimes it seems as if many of us are working in different areas, on what seem like different subjects, as if we were on a huge global plain, dry and dusty, and are trying to fertilise our bit by bringing small cans of water from wherever we can find a puddle. We are so intent on our task that we are oblivious of others. Bordering on this plane is a large dam, beyond which is a lake of fresh water. But we are too busy to notice this, or to think what we might do if we did notice it.

Several of the books I have been reading lately have clarified the situation for me. For example, Al Gore writes of a clash between what he calls ‘Earth Inc.’, which is big business with its worship of money and growth, and the ‘Global Mind’, which is the ordinary people trying to live sustainably. Both can communicate rapidly via the internet with those who share the same views, and so build up powerful bodies. Naomi Klein similarly points out that big business is a vast global force which, rather than reduce carbon emissions, will work on inventing extraordinary ideas for cutting the rays of the sun and reducing the acidification of the oceans, so risking very serious dislocations of all the planetary systems.

The Canadian economist Jim Stanford states that neoliberal economics leads to capitalism, and he evaluates capitalism according to seven criteria, which include equality, security, democracy and sustainability. He concludes that capitalism does badly on all these. Mary Mellor and Thomas Piketty are others who believe capitalism is not the way to a just society. An article in the Friend (11 March) reviewing Mark Blyth’s new book tells the same story. Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, in The Spirit Level, point out that equality and sustainability go together, and that equal societies have happier people, with less of the ills we now suffer from, such as mental illness, poor health and life expectancy, obesity, teenage births, violence and crime in general. Britain does badly on all these problems and on equality, being one of the least equal societies in the developed world.

So, I conclude that we all need to join together to implement a different economic system. Jim Stanford has some suggestions. We need more services to be public, as this helps the poorer members of society. Health, transport, water and energy can be national or municipal. There should be many more housing projects for affordable housing, both for rent and to buy. Councils and housing associations could take part in this. Workers should be represented on the boards of companies. Trade unions need strengthening. More cooperatives are needed. The Green Party and others suggest a basic citizen’s income, which would have to be implemented gradually. These authors also say that trying to balance the budget is not necessary, that austerity leads to poverty and a vicious cycle, and will not get us out of a depression. Giving money to banks instead of people is counterproductive.

We need to cooperate nationally and also globally to bring about a more just society. One immediate way is by protests and blockades. The film This changes everything, based on Naomi Klein’s book, has moving examples of protests all over the world, in North America, Greece, India, Nigeria and even China, where hundreds and thousands of people have come together to protect their land against rapacious mining companies. They have also supported one another’s campaigns, forming a global movement in the determination to live sustainably on the Earth as part of it, rather than as dominators and exploiters.

Another way is by putting continuous pressure on the authorities by writing, petitions and grassroots organisation. We need to point out that capitalism has had its day, and we should rethink the way we live together to include all other species and the natural systems of planet Earth.

The dam is capitalism and if we could remove it, or at least make some holes in it, we could all enjoy the fresh water behind!

On looking again at the Old Testament, the sins that God especially condemned through the prophets were the worship of false gods and the exploitation of the poor. Need I say more?

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