EVERYBODY
Please
propose amendment, insertion or total rejection. Do not get upset if you think a major subject is missing because
it is not as simple as just putting things in.
A subject to go in, for example, is
Complementary and Community Currencies.
Like many subjects (because the Justice concept shows the
inter-relatedness of it all) it can, and should, go under several Justices e.g.
Money, Social, Economic, even Environmental.
Michael and Mary are asked to have a go at this one.
If anybody wants to reject totally,
please do the outline of an alternative in 10-15 lines briefly covering the
following matters:--
1. An overall theme or way of attractively
presenting the subject.
2. A way of involving many groups and ideas
across the world.
3. The key policy issues which express the
subjects of money, economics, social matters, environment, and peace AND their
inter-relation to each other.
4. The policies should be briefly expressed in a few words at most because we all know the shorthand for these things and, if something is not clear, we can ask.
--------------------------------
NOTES
Logo
The
proposed logo combines an omega with an outline of a globe. Inside the globe are the words “Global
Justice Movement” or, possibly, just “GJM” thus revealing more of the outline
of the world’s continents.
Round the
top, on the outside, going clockwise, are the words “Basic Income” OR “Secure incomes” OR “Annual Income”. At the bottom, going across the bottom of
the omega, are the words “Interest-free money”.
Possibly,
the places of the two sets of words could be reversed. Perhaps the phrase “Capital ownership for
all” could be in instead of “Interest-free money”..
Any other suggestions for the words for the logo? Or even no words (just “GJM” or “Global
Justice Movement” in the centre?)
Press BUTTON
to see a page with the enlarged logo and the following text:
(Text)
The basic design of the
GJM logo represents both a globe and an Omega (W)
which symbolises the Omega point. The
Omega point is the purpose and end of the human adventure, which is a genderful
and fully inclusive universal justice and holistic theology, set in an earth
system science.
I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. (Revelations,
22, 12-13.)
Changing
aspects of the website
On
the front page are relatively small areas with short text (e.g. “Join in the
discussion!”) and BUTTONS for, e.g.:
Latest developments, Discussion, Articles, Site map,
etc.
Logo
buttons
Perhaps
all the buttons could be a small circle with “GJM” inside and maybe a tiny
“Press” or “Click” underneath.
Alternatively, a small circle with “Press” or “Click”inside.
Pressing
(or clicking) BUTTON takes the reader to another part of the GJM website. Pressing BUTTON FOR LINK takes the reader to
another website elsewhere.
Dog
Every now and then, there is a lively drawing of a small, generally cheerful, dog which has a thought bubble containing only one or two words (e.g., "?"; "Five?"; “Woof!"; "Grrr!"). It’s a simple, pleasant way of e.g., indicating doubt, reinforcing agreement or disagreement; and can be funny e.g. when the dog suddenly jumps in the air or bites something.
Overall, the dog provides a touch of the light-hearted among the heavy stuff.
Global Justice
Movement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOGO BUTTON
BUTTONS
for, e.g., Latest developments,
Discussion,
Articles, Site map, etc.
All this is
possible!
Five
Justices!
DOG
says, “?”
Secure
incomes for all
(OR Basic Income for all OR Annual Income for all)
through capital ownership
made
possible
by
new technology
Capital
ownership for all
individual
ownership of a substantial capital estate providing income
Public capital investment at half the cost
Reduction
in debt!
big reductions in personal, corporate and national
debt
AND
A proper
deal for women
Hope for
the environment and peace
Yes,
these things are possible! And they add
up to a true democracy (unlike the fraud we have today). It’s no good merely being against
globalisation -
let’s be FOR true democracy with its Inclusive
Justice.
Remember
– the world undoubtedly has the technology and productive resources to
eliminate misery, poverty and injustice and save the planet.
However, at present, there is:–
·
Widespread poverty, hunger and homelessness
·
A growing wealth gap between the richest 1% and the
remaining 99% of humanity
·
A growing fear of technological change and its impact
on the environment
·
A rising sense of powerlessness and alienation among
the young
·
Growing
levels of corruption and crime resulting from concentrated power
·
A proliferating violence and deprivation of human
rights – at the family, community and global levels.
And why?
The underlying cause is that the present so-called
‘free market’ system of finance capitalism is unfree, unfair,
anti-democratic and very inefficient.
It can, however, be made truly free, truly fair, truly democratic and,
for the long-term benefit of all, truly efficient.
Warning
Unless a reasonable standard of living,
true democracy and genuine individual empowerment are quickly extended to all
the poor and oppressed peoples of the world, there may be large-scale
destruction by terror weapons including bio-engineered disease.
In December, 2001, on the one hundredth
anniversary of the Nobel Prize, one hundred Nobel laureates stated that the
most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the
irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the
world's dispossessed. The Laureates
added: “Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal
existence in equatorial climates.
Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy
few, will affect their fragile ecologies most.
Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust.”
The events of 11th September 2001 are a
wake-up call that we ignore at our peril.
The Global Justice Movement (GJM) includes YOU, your
group, all people of faith in
all religions, and, simply, people of good faith. Upholding the core concept of Inclusive
Justice, it is based on the principle of agreeing the main ideas, and agreeing
to disagree on the rest. In this way we
can focus on progressing the important things.
Furthermore, by co-operating with each other, the chances of individuals
and groups achieving THEIR aims are much better than if they pursue their aims
alone.
If global justice is to be achieved, much
organisational change is necessary. Yet
that will not happen easily. For
example, five separate inventions had to exist before the first airplanes could
fly. Today, the necessary change
requires the coming together of committed individuals, new mental models or
paradigms, team learning, shared visioning, and the re-thinking of systems. Is this where
YOU fit in? Tell us!
Even these things
are not enough, moreover, because the organisations themselves remain caught
within the larger global system of outdated ideas. It is to this larger system that the GJM mainly addresses
itself.
The GJM has five
interdependent components, called Justices, all of which are necessary if a
truly global justice is to be achieved.
The five Justices
are:– DOG (ears up)
says, “Five?”
·
Money Justice BUTTON
·
Social Justice BUTTON
·
Economic Justice BUTTON
·
Environmental Justice BUTTON
·
Peace Justice BUTTON
The Justices contain powerful, radical
and specific policies on which all people of good faith can agree. Among other things, those policies provide
the basis for a new, stable, just, global monetary system which:
·
addresses poverty and rich-poor divisions
·
focuses on the real, productive, economy
·
protects the environment
·
enables individuals and societies to control their own destiny
·
ends the exponential increase in debt now threatening to engulf the
world
YOU are
invited to join with others in advancing the Five Justices and do it in
your own way. There are many
different ways to achieve the same basic things!! Tell us!!!
GJM Principles
Goodness is our endowment
There is a Source of all creation which has endowed the absolute values of Truth, Love, Justice and Goodness which represent the ultimate ends of human actions. Many people call this Source, God.
All
people are raised and live in total interdependence in a sequence of time and as such are entitled to:
·
have warmth, clean air, clean water, food and housing
·
be respected, equal, free and able to choose their
own destiny
·
fulfil their full emotional, intellectual and
spiritual potential
·
have implemented the Five Justices -
Money Justice, Social Justice, Economic Justice,
Environmental Justice and Peace Justice.
Respect The Earth.
As a trustee of a delicate biosphere whose carrying capacity we
have a duty of care to sustain, every person must respect the rest
of creation and take responsibility for preserving the environment including
the fauna and flora all of which are interdependent and share a divine origin
with humanity.
Abundance Is Possible
The rights of the individual include
the rights of liberty, a basic income, access to productive property through
an expansion of capital ownership ?and trusteeship,
access to the commons, free markets, and the secret ballot, while the
responsibilities of the individual include a continual concern for the rights
and interests of others.
Creative Work For All
There is a hierarchy of
human work: The lowest but most urgent
form of work is for sheer personal survival.
The highest form of work is improving the social order including relationships
with others and doing work the soul must have.
Economic Democracy
True
political democracy can only be built on the foundation of true economic
democracy. It is the duty of democratic
government to secure the results the people want from the management of their
public affairs as far as such results are physically possible and morally
right.
Whatever is physically possible, is financially possible through appropriate democratic and just transformations of society’s economic institutions.
Press the BUTTON for more explanation on the Principles.
Remember – the
world has the technology and productive resources to eliminate misery, poverty
and injustice and save the planet
(particularly if the Motionless Electromagnetic Generator and other new
alternative energy sources become commercially viable).
So let’s demand the Five
Justices!
DOG (faces
front) and says, “Woof!”
Join the Global
Justice Movement!
BUTTON
See
those who have joined the GJM! BUTTON
Compare
Global Justice
with
present Capitalism and Socialism.
Go
on! Press the button! BUTTON
Please contact info@globaljusticemovement.net for
further information.
To
make a donation please press here BUTTON
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SLOGAN
GJM – the true, fair, democratic
and efficient enterprise solution to poverty.
SLOGAN GJM means Inclusive Justice! NB GRACE slogans
(FROM BUTTON)
Global Justice
Movement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOGO BUTTON
Money Justice
Money is created out of nothing!
It is not widely
understood that, at present, around 97% of the new money supply is fiat
credit money created out of nothing by the private banking
system which then adds a demand for interest.
Government creates the remaining 3% as coins and banknotes.
Thus the inherent
power of government to issue money has, in practice, become a private banking
monopoly. Which might not matter too
much if the monopoly were being used to serve the purposes of the
whole of society and large amounts of interest were not involved.
But the banking
monopoly (contrary to the daily propaganda issued by banks and governments the
world over) is not used to serve the purposes of the whole of
society. It does not
allocate resources in the most efficient way; it does not
allocate resources in the fairest way; it is anti-democratic, and it always
tends towards inflation.
The addition of
interest, moreover, is generally a worldwide device for shifting wealth
from the poor to the rich. The way the
interest mechanism works is complex but interest is a considerable part of every
price that we pay! So, even though
people may get part of their income from interest, they still lose
overall. Generally, 80% of the
population loses as a result of interest; 10%, on balance, neither loses nor
gains – and the last 10% most definitely gain!
DOG says, “80%
lose? Phew!”
Servitude of nations
Furthermore,
country after country is being oppressed by the banking system which, demanding
billions of dollars of interest forever, thinks nothing of crushing a society
and its people. The complete imbalance
of power between the banking system on the one hand and countries, corporations
and individuals on the other happens because the world has been bamboozled into
thinking that newly-created money has to be borrowed from the banking system
with interest added. That interest, particularly in the case of poor countries,
soon compounds to become astronomically large. The result is that the total debt becomes unrepayable.
The situation is
then considerably worsened by corrupt elites who finagle the borrowed money
into Swiss bank accounts, leaving the repayment of principal and interest the
responsibility of their impoverished, politically crushed populations. And this essentially happens because
countries do not yet understand that they do not need to borrow
money for their capital investment with interest added. Instead, governments can create their own
money – with no interest added!
Mother of all ‘stings’
The really
extraordinary thing about the situation is that it is really an obscene fiction
– the Western banks doing the lending never have the money in the first place
because the lent money is created out of nothing! The obscenity becomes particularly perverse because the debts are
imposed on impoverished populations by banks who practise predatory
lending. Such lending happens when a
bank, knowing that the likelihood of full repayment within a short period is
most unlikely, still goes ahead with the lending. It does this because, in that way, it can batten on to the
borrowing country for, not years, not decades, but generations!
This results in
the situation of the Pakistan haris – debt-slaves whose original debt
(maybe a hundred or more years before) would have been a few dollars but
because of poverty, unrepayable at the time.
Then, with compounding interest over the years, the debt becomes larger
and larger and the obligation to repay an ever-increasing amount is passed down
from father to children for generation after generation.
Another version
of predatory lending occurs today when the banking system lends large amounts
of credit (repayable in dollars) to a country’s corporations and
institutions. Then the hyping begins –
Hooray! What a splendidly burgeoning tiger economy! (And it is burgeoning because of all the newly lent
credit). A flood of hot, reckless money
soon follows.
A crisis then
happens and there is a run on the local currency (and its devaluation) as
repayment in dollars becomes impossible.
The crisis is probably deliberately engineered so that the
international vultures can move into the country and buy up the assets of
corporations at distress (and devalued) prices.
Yes, deliberately
– that was the case with Malaysia in 1998.
There was no reason for the run on the Malaysian ringgit: it was the
result of corrupt conspiracy.
Fortunately, the Malaysian government, showing extraordinary courage,
resilience and new thinking, imposed currency controls and resisted the demands
of the IMF. A mere two years later, the
IMF had to admit (it was a grudging admission) that Malaysia had got things
right………..
All of which
tells us the truth – a mother of all stings is going on. A truly successful sting happens when those
who are stung do not realise that they are being stung! That is the situation today because
countries do not yet realise that they do not have to borrow at interest for
their capital spending but can create the needed interest-free money for
themselves.
Until they
realise how money is actually created and that they can create it for
themselves, no country or society can ever be free and will always,
economically, politically and socially, be in hock to others.
DOG growls and attacks a piece of paper
with the words “Banking System”
on it.
Interest is not necessary!
However, once it
is understood that, today, all dominant monetary systems are fiat
systems, (yes, creating money and near-money out of nothing),
then all the lies that at present govern the world are soon exposed for what
they are – lies.
DOG, with piece of paper at the side of its mouth, says, “Lies!”
Thus, contrary to
the lying propaganda put out by the banks and governments, the addition of
interest is not generally necessary (although administration
charges may be). This is a subject of
the greatest importance to Muslims whose religion forbids the imposition of
interest.
To take another
crucial example, the propaganda always says that financial savings are
necessary before capital investment can be made. That’s another lie which results in only the rich being able to
invest.
The truth is
that, since money is nowadays created out of nothing, financial savings are not
necessary before investment can be made.
There may be a need for some form of security against the possible loss
of the investment, but that’s another matter (see Economic Justice).
The Emperor has no clothes!
Acknowledging the
undeniable truth that money today is created out of nothing reminds us of the
child’s story of The Emperor Who Had No Clothes. Yet, as is well understood, the child’s
story is also profoundly true of adult life – untrue fact can be supported by everyone,
or certainly by all the powerful, until some innocent waif points to the
obvious and undeniable, thereby, to the relief of most, collapsing a lying
structure.
DOG enthusiastically chases a naked
fleeing Emperor clutching his crown.
From
the acknowledgement of the truth, moreover, the outlines of new policy soon
become apparent. Some of that new
policy is set out below. To understand
it, please remember:-
·
Money is society’s money. Its creation, and the benefits of that creation, should not be a
privilege granted only to the few
·
As a universal and fundamental right, every
citizen must be allowed to play a full part in economic production which, in
practical terms, means allowed to participate in the ownership of future
productive assets. The issuance of
capital credit must be democratised so as to spread widely the ownership of
self-financing productive assets
·
There is a sharp distinction between:
i) credit extended for producing wealth; and
ii) credit extended for consuming wealth (today
people are bombarded with invitations to borrow, at interest, of course).
The
former is designed to increase the productive power of the borrower while the
latter creates artificial purchasing power that has historically weakened and
enslaved the borrower economically.
·
The wealth gap between rich and the non-rich must be
narrowed.
Money Justice demands that the state:
End the monopoly of the private
banking system
In practical
terms, this means increasing the proportion of the new money supply that is
issued directly by the state (with relative decrease issued by the banking
system) and then using the increase for specific purposes including those of
the private sector if wide ownership is thereby furthered. The newly created money can be either
repayable or non-repayable.
At this point it
should be noted that a common trick of the lying propagandists is to allege
that any proposal for monetary reform (as in the GJM) means the endless
printing of non-repayable money with a resulting huge inflation. “Like Germany in 1923!” they scream.
However, the
first main GJM proposals are for the issuance of interest-free repayable
money for use in capital investment and so there will be no inflation. Rather, there will be counter-inflation as
newly productive capital assets come into existence while the money that helped
create them is repaid and can be cancelled.
The essential point is that using state-issued repayable interest-free
money for capital investment results in a cost one half to one quarter of
that at present.
DOG
says, “One quarter?”
Such investment can either be:
·
public capital investment, or
·
private capital investment
See Seven
Steps to Justice, Rodney Shakespeare & Peter Challen (New European
Publications). BUTTON (to see some text
on this)
Issue repayable, interest-free money for public capital
investment
Every day, a
colossal and absolutely amazing rip-off takes place and only the brave few
(such as the GJM) have the courage to protest about it.
It happens
because all governments require money for their own capital investments –
things such as hospitals, schools, roads, bridges etc. Yet, at present, instead of governments
creating their own money for these purposes (and then getting it repaid and
cancelled) they borrow from the banking system which just creates the money out
of nothing and then adds, over the years and decades, seemingly endless
amounts of interest!
This causes a
horrific level of National Debt. In
order to repay the Debt (or, rather, to try to stop it increasing
exponentially), vast amounts of interest have to be annually paid – and such
amounts are a large proportion of the income tax we have to pay. What a rip-off!
DOG, with piece of rag hanging from its mouth, growls, “Grr!”
Yet that rip-off
is not necessary (although the defenders of the present system naturally
like to claim that it is). Public
capital spending can, and should, be financed by state-issued,
interest-free money (which, in practice, has a tiny administrative cost). It is only lack of political will (because
the political system is controlled by vested interests) which prevents the use
of such money.
Please note that
the proposal does not mean that the government necessarily has to
construct the public capital investment, nor manage it – in both cases, that
can be done by the private sector. It
only means that the capital cost is much, much cheaper.
Moreover, the GJM
does not propose an increase in the total amount of public capital
spending. However, since public
projects will become hugely cheaper, the same amount of money will buy much,
much more! Get it?
DOG says, “I get
it!”
The
proposal also has regional implications.
Thus the Alberta (Canada) Social Credit Party sees the virtues of local Treasury
Branches providing a strong Alberta-based alternative to out-of-province
financial institutions. In this way,
the benefits of the financing go to local people rather than outsiders.
In sum, the
purpose of the first GJM proposal is simple – state-issued repayable
interest-free money reduces the cost of public capital investment to one half, even one quarter of what it
would otherwise have been. Malaysia, an
Islamic country, is believed to be experimenting with such money.
See the Canadian website of COMER – Committee on Monetary and
Economic Reform. COMER has a
particularly helpful video – The Creation of Money and Its Consequence. BUTTON FOR LINK
Issue repayable, interest-free money for private capital investment if new owners are thereby created.
DOG dozes.
Just as
state-issued, repayable interest-free money can be used for public capital
investment, so it can also be used for private capital investment. Whereon an objection arises – if
interest-free money is allowed for private capital investment, the existing
rich would become astronomically rich.
Which is true.
However, the GJM
proposal has a big difference – the use of interest-free money for private
productive capital investment would only be allowed if it results
in new owners of that capital.
Generally, this would take place only in large, well-established
corporations (e.g. in the USA the 3000 largest corporations) not new or small
businesses.
DOG perks
up. “New owners?”
And new
owners – millions and millions of them – are what the GJM demands. Every person – in work, out of work,
female, male, old, a student, a baby – should have a first basic income coming
from the ownership of an independently owned capital estate (paying out its
full earnings). The first basic income
will start small (for a baby) and then, gradually, over time, on market
principles, get bigger ……… and bigger…….AND BIGGER!
DOG barks,
“Woof!”
The mechanisms
for achieving this are those of Binary Economics. It uses a trust mechanism similar to those of existing ESOPs
(Employee Stock Ownership Plans) but without their disadvantages, and with
safeguards against abuse. Over time,
on market principles, everybody comes to a proper ownership of
productive capital and its income.
Market principles include a requirement that a project should be able to
pay for itself and, in practice, there will often be a need for a substitute
for collateral. Binary Economics
provides that substitute with Capital Credit Insurance. BUTTON.
Again,
the proposal has regional implications.
Local Treasury Branches would ensure that the benefits of the financing go
to local people rather than outsiders.
See Binary
Economics – the new paradigm, Robert Ashford & Rodney Shakespeare
(University Press of America). BUTTON
(to see some text on this)
See the website
of the Center for Economic and Social Justice, Washington, D.C. BUTTON FOR LINK (www.cesj.org)
Issue repayable interest-free money for farms, small and start-up
business
Farms,
together with small and start-up businesses, are the seed corn of an
economy. They, too, should benefit from
interest-free loans rather than pay huge interest charges as at present.
Issue non-repayable, debt-free money for a second basic
income
Since
interest-free repayable money for public, private (wide ownership) and small
business capital investment is counter-inflationary there will be increased
wealth but lowered prices. In
order, therefore, to maintain a stable level of prices, the issuance of
debt-free money will become necessary.
Such money has no interest attached and is not repayable.
a second
basic income becomes possible (in addition to any income a person gets from
labor).
DOG says, “Second!”
The
use of debt-free money is discussed in Creating New Money, James
Robertson & Joseph Huber (New Economics Foundation).
Alberta Social
Credit Party BUTTON (a page or so of text).
For the ASCP website BUTTON FOR LINK)
Canadian Action
Party and Paul Hellyer. BUTTON FOR LINK.
UK Christian
Council for Monetary Justice. BUTTON FOR LINK
Prosperity and the Bromsgrove Group. BUTTON FOR LINK
Use interest-free money-free money
for green capital investment
Windmills and solar energy-generating
systems are examples of investment projects that can, and should, be done with
interest-free money. However, while, as
at present, all such investment has to be made with interest-bearing money, the
projects have a borderline, or no, viability.
With interest-free money, however, they
become economically feasible. Getting
such technologies into operation is now environmentally urgent. Indeed, unless it happens within about five
years, it may be too late.
There is hope, however, because some
mind-bending alternative energy and other technologies are now on the verge of
practical possibility. Examples are the Motionless Electromagnetic Generator and
various processes for using hydrogen obtained from water. It is utter madness not to give these new
technologies a chance to save the planet.
The use of interest-free money would be that chance.
Unfortunately,
at present, vested interests and fossilised mindsets have induced a deep
paralysis.
Keeping wealth local
If credit is
issued locally, the benefit of that issuance and its repayment stay locally - put simply, wealth stays locally and is not ripped of elsewhere.
Remember –
the world has the technology and productive resources to eliminate misery,
poverty and injustice and save the planet.
So join
the Global Justice
Movement! BUTTON
See
those who have joined the GJM! BUTTON
Compare
Global Justice
with
present Capitalism and Socialism.
Go
on! Press the button! BUTTON
Please
contact info@globaljusticemovement.net
for further information.
To
make a donation please press here BUTTON
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SLOGAN
GJM – the true, fair, democratic
and efficient enterprise solution to poverty.
SLOGAN GJM means Inclusive Justice!
(FROM BUTTON)
Global Justice
Movement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOGO BUTTON
Social
Justice
Social
Justice guides us in the creation of social
institutions. Such institutions, if
justly organised, provide what is good for people, both individually and in
their associations with others. Social
Justice is an integral part of Inclusive Justice under God.
DOG
dozes.
Inclusive Justice
Rejecting extreme left-wing and right-wing politics
Inclusive
Justice firstly means a rejection of extreme left-wing and right-wing
(including libertarian) politics for something which does not exist at present
– a situation in which all individuals (not just the well-off) are given
proper respect and have a high degree of control over their everyday
lives. This is not a centrist
politics that mixes left and right (as in forms of social democracy). Rather, it is something completely new and,
as yet, not capable of being understood by those whose mindsets are based upon
outdated paradigms.
DOG
wakes
Left
and right are ultimately out to dominate, manipulate and control. Despite their shallow rhetoric and
propaganda, they do not intend to recognise a simple truth – the major function
of democratic government in organized society is to secure for the people the
results the people want from the management of their public affairs as far as
such results are physically possible and morally right.
A particularly nasty mechanism by which left and right (the right,
in particular) control politics and therefore economics is, simply, by the use
of money. Corporate donations in one
form or another now control politics.
The political system of the USA has become so completely corrupted by
corporate (and, to some extent, labor union) money – indeed, most of
Washington, D.C., is a system for high-spending lobbyists – that the United
States should be on its knees begging the rest of the world for pardon. Unfortunately, it is shameless and the
hypocrisy is beyond belief.
There is a sliver of hope in that Canadian PM Chrétien
has announced plans to ban corporate and union donations to political parties
although the ban should extend to large donations from individuals.
DOG
chews up paper
with “Left and Right” on it
Ensuring Justice for others
Inclusive
Justice secondly means that we consciously and persistently devote ourselves to
ensuring Justice for others.
All
Justice begins with the human person (not social institutions such as the
State, the business corporation or the labor union). Indeed, the individual is the most important factor in organized
society, and as a divinely created being, with both spiritual and physical
potentials and needs, has certain inalienable rights which must be respected
and preserved. However, the upholding
of merely individual rights (as in libertarianism) often degenerates into a
belief that equates the pursuit of a person’s individual self-interests
with those of society.
In
contrast, Inclusive Justice requires that individual rights also have
responsibilities attached and those responsibilities go much further than
charity. Although charity is an
important palliative for human suffering, it is usually only that – a
palliative – rather than a push for large-scale structural change.
See Seven
Steps to Justice, Rodney Shakespeare & Peter Challen. BUTTON (to see some text on this)
Effective control over everyday lives
Thirdly,
Inclusive Justice has no meaning unless it gives substantial and effective
control over our everyday lives. In
practical terms, that might appear to mean only an independent and substantial
income. Yet it is much, much more than
that. One of the deepest of human
psychological, and certainly of bodily, needs is to be productive – to
physically produce enough for our own reasonable physical requirements. That means access to, and effective use of,
the means of physical production.
DOG
dozes.
Which cannot mean access to jobs alone. The present mantra is always jobs, jobs, jobs and understandably so because, in practice, jobs are at present the only way by which most people can earn a living. However, the mantra ignores the fact that a lot of people (such as carers who work without pay for long and arduous hours) cannot labour for money. It ignores the fact that jobs are not always available. Moreover, even when available, many jobs do not pay enough for a reasonable standard of living. Indeed, in many parts of the world, they pay only a pittance and, everywhere, jobs are insecure. To which can be added the humiliations and frustrations when having to obtain welfare benefit from the state
The
way forward, therefore, can only be via the ownership of productive capital
paying out its true, full earnings. It
can here be noticed that in large areas of the world, millions of people labor
ceaselessly every day and they are, and always will be, in poverty because
they do not own, or do not have effective use of, capital.
Moreover,
it is only with effective material security that all individuals can be secure
in the knowledge that he or she is worthy, respected, equal and free, and that
the freedom to choose his or her destiny is an inalienable right.
Poverty
Fourthly, in the world as a whole, 20%
of the population have only $1 per day per person to pay for everything; another 20% have only $2
per day, and a further 15% (making 55% in all) have under $3. As things are, with the global population expanding
by 80 million each year, there could be, in thirty years time, 5 billion people
living on $2 or less per day.
DOG has tail between its legs.
Negotiated land reform
Fifthly,
in many areas of the world access to land is essential because land has an
importance that it does not always have in Western societies. For those areas, land is a unique social
good providing people with everything - a livelihood, food, social status, and security in
times of illness or old age. In other
words, it satisfies both physical and psychological needs. Thus land is not, and cannot be, viewed as
merely another asset subject to the whims of, and exploitation by, the ‘free
market’. Rather it founds all aspects
of life and, without direct access to it, the lives of millions of poor farmers
and their families are endangered.
Putting
it in a slightly different way, when land, rather than industry, is the
mainstay, or important part, of an economy, concentrated land ownership
prevents most people from being productive.
The land issue is really about access to
productive capital which, in countries like Brazil means access to land because
poor people are unlikely to be allowed to get anything else. Thus, in Brazil, a huge country rich in
natural resources, about one fifth of the population go hungry every day. That fact is connected to another fact -
about 50% of the productive land is held by 1% of the owners. Thus land is not available for the millions
of people who live on the rubbish dumps and in the squalid favelas of Brazil’s
cities.
Nor
are the narrowly owned lands well managed -
too often, they are left idle, under-utilised or treated as speculative
assets. Rather than being used for food
production, the best lands are used for monoculture exports.
Land
reform is generally a prerequisite for societies to shed their feudal
characteristics and move to a more developed mode of production. However, World Bank policies since 1975
(called “market-assisted” land reform) have not encouraged giving more people access
to land. Rather those policies are to
abolish the communal tenure systems (by which ordinary people had access to
land) and, instead, put the land into a narrow ownership committed to cash crop
production for the repayment of national and international debt. The World Bank even admits that the
interests of small farmers are not among its reasons for reviewing its land
‘reform’ policy. That is an honest but
shocking admission. Thus the net effect
of the World Bank program is not the distribution of land to the landless but
the increasing concentration of land in the hands of the landed elite.
Therefore:
- ordinary people are being denied productive
capacity (and so are pauperised);
- productive capital (in this case, fertile land)
is going into narrow ownership; and
- the iniquities of the international banking
system are being increased.
-
In
short, “market-assisted” land reform is no land reform at all. It is not aiming at enhancing
equitable land distribution, breaking feudal rule and advancing backward rural
economies to a more developed mode of production. The World Bank's land reform concept is indeed distributing land
-- from the poor to the rich.
The
GJM demands proper access to land.
Among other things, that will also require access to cheap capital
credit, the teaching of technical skills and a realistic recognition that some
people will cheat the system. Yet,
despite the problems, large-scale negotiated land reform is something but that
can, and must, be done.
Healthcare, education, clean water, sewage and
electricity
Sixthly, control over everyday life is
completely meaningless without access to (and the necessary money for) health
care, education, clean water, sewage and electricity. It is an astounding reminder of the corruption of the present
world that water is everywhere being privatised (i.e. being put into the
ownership of a narrow, not locally connected, group of people) with consequent
huge increases in the price of water without anyone apparently being concerned
that local people do not have the money to pay for the water. It has been estimated that in the world each day about
25,000 people die as a result of dirty water.
Social
Justice is outraged.
DOG
growls, “Grrr!”
Women – and babies
Seventhly, it is a very strange thing
that while half of the adult human population are women, the world in general
really only understands men’s rights, and men’s liberties. Indeed, in some way, hard to define but
always there, all the big debates on politics, economics and the like,
never quite seem to touch completely and accurately on the position of
women. When the subject does arise, it
is always as an afterthought. Women are
always in the power of men, sometimes subtly and sometimes not so subtly. It happens all the time because male-dominated
society always refuses to look at one question – Why is it that most women in
the world are never allowed a properly secure economic base of their own? And – dare it be asked? – Why are babies
not allowed a small independent income sufficient for their basic needs?
Social Justice vows to ensure that women
have an independent income. In this
way, they will have proper control over, and choice (e.g. as to whether or not
to enter the conventional labor market) in their lives.
It also vows that babies will have
sufficient income to provide for basic needs.
A
pleased DOG wags its tail next to a toddler.
Caste and other
social divisions
Eighthly,
Social Justice abhors caste and other social divisions. They are an affront to the modern world. Such divisions are ultimately the result of
the way people do, or do not, earn their income. Social Justice, therefore, has an economic basis.
Strengthening democracy
Lastly,
the eternal rhetoric of unfree finance capitalism is of “Freedom” and “Democracy.” It’s all lies, of course. There is only freedom for the few to own
productive capital.
And
as for Democracy, it is but a periodic opportunity to exercise the very weak
power of the individual vote. All of
which explains how the everyday reality of so-called ‘democracies’ is a
stitch-up by vested interests and corporations who bankroll politicians and
political parties in an anti-democratic way for their own advantage.
Yet
there is something that can stand up to the anti-democratic forces and, in a
constructive and potent way, deepen democracy.
It is the widespread ownership of productive capital. (Which, incidentally, is why the forces of
left and right ruthlessly oppose it.)
It has been well said that, apart from a concern for Social, Environmental,
Economic and Peace Justice, the litmus test for joining the GJM is whether a
person favors the concentration of economic power or its structured
diffusion.
Under
God
The
GJM accepts that there is a Source of all creation which has endowed the absolute
values of Truth, Love, Justice, and Goodness which represent the ultimate ends
of human actions. Many people call this
Source, God.
There is a hierarchy of
human work: The lowest but most urgent
form of work is for sheer personal survival.
The highest form of work is improving the social order including
relationships with others and doing work the soul must have.
In
interacting with nature to promote one's own perfection, every person must
respect the rest of creation. Each human being, a steward of nature, remains
responsible for conserving natural forms of existence, each of which is
interdependent and shares the same divine origin with humanity.
DOG
has halo around its head.
So Social Justice
demands:
Basic income for everyone, including babies
The
GJM proposes two basic incomes for everybody. (see Money Justice BUTTON and
Economic Justice BUTTON). That does not
mean, of course, that people cannot get income from other sources as well,
e.g., from the labor market. Rather, it
means that such income is in addition to the two basic incomes.
Apart
from the amount of money they engender, two basic incomes have an important
feature necessary in the modern world – should economic circumstances limit or
reduce one of the incomes, the other is still available.
DOG
says, “Two incomes!”.
Proper provision of services
Just
as we need clean air, food and a decent home, so we need healthcare, education,
clean water, sewage and electricity.
Such provision is partly a question of political will and partly one of
the economy being able to provide the necessary physical means. Such provision requires an efficiently
functioning economy. See Economic
Justice BUTTON.
Individual capital ownership for everyone
It
is no good just being opposed to the forces of the extreme left and extreme
right. Using the state, the extreme
left has an immensely powerful means of controlling the lives of all
individuals. In a different but no less
effective way, using their ownership of the productive capital, the extreme
right can control society e.g. as today it controls the media and the banking
system.
There’s
an answer, however – widespread ownership of productive capital.
See Seven
Steps to Justice, Rodney Shakespeare & Peter Challen. BUTTON (to see some text on this)
Corporate donations to political parties be banned
Corporate
and union donations to political parties must be banned as also large donations
by individuals.
Remember – the
world has the technology and productive resources to eliminate misery, poverty
and injustice and save the planet.
Join the Global
Justice Movement!
BUTTON
DOG
jumps in the air.
See
those who have joined the GJM! BUTTON
Compare
Global Justice
with
present Capitalism and Socialism.
Go
on! Press the button! BUTTON
Please
contact info@globaljusticemovement.net
for further information.
To
make a donation please press here BUTTON
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SLOGAN
GJM – the true, fair, democratic
and efficient enterprise solution to poverty.
SLOGAN GJM means Inclusive Justice!
(FROM BUTTON)
Global Justice
Movement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOGO BUTTON
Economic
Justice
It
is a condemnation of unfree, unfair and inefficient finance capitalism
throughout the world that there is an undoubted and huge pent-up consumer
demand (in the form, for example, of poor people wanting basic necessities). At the same time, there is also an undoubted
physical capacity to provide those necessities. Yet the poverty remains.
DOG
dozes
The
main reason is that the poor are insufficiently productive and will remain
insufficiently productive while they are confined to the often meagre, often
unobtainable, and always uncertain, benefits of labor. Without access to the other factor that
produces wealth – capital – the poor will be with us forever.
A
slightly different way of looking at the situation is the analysis of Social
Credit. This observes that, as things
are at present structured, there is always insufficient demand (in the
form of unsatisfied consumer needs) to buy what has been produced, let alone
what is capable of being produced. The
Socred solution is to increase demand by the issuance of debt-free money.
The
GJM proposals, however, attack the problem of poverty by both ensuring
that the poor have access to productive capacity (which creates a
counter-inflationary situation) and by issuing debt-free money. The consequence is a just society with a
stable level of prices and a balanced growth.
DOG
wakes up.
Financial and physical feasibility
Conventional
economics asserts that financial savings are required before there can be
capital investment. That is
untrue. Because nowadays generally all
money is fiat money, created out of nothing by the press of a computer
button, there is not, and cannot be, a shortage of money for capital
investment.
Nor,
generally, are physical savings required before there can be production. There may be a shortage of a material (in
which case, its price may rise or there can be a substitute material) and there
can be a temporary shortage of the relevant labor. Yet, as everybody should now realise, the problem is rarely, if
ever, a problem of inadequate supply through lack of capital, either financial
or physical. Rather it is a problem of
inadequate demand.
The
matter can be summarised by saying that whatever is physically possible,
morally right, and for which a genuine demand exists, is financially
possible. Thus the ultimate purpose of
economics – to free each person to engage creatively in the unlimited work
beyond economics, that of the mind and spirit – becomes increasingly possible.
DOG chases rabbit.
Underneath is the caption “Dog
engaged in the work of mind and spirit”
Moral principles
There
is an aspect to the GJM proposals which confounds conventional economics. It is usually asserted (or, if not asserted,
implied) that justice and economic inefficiency are incompatible. That’s untrue. In Economic Justice, which is sensitive to Environmental Justice
and the other Justices, the justice creates the efficiency and the
efficiency creates the justice. You
can read more about this in Binary Economics – the new paradigm. BUTTON
Economic
Justice has three principles:–
- Participation
This
is the right for all individuals to participate in the economic process in
order to make a living. It certainly
includes the right to own productive capital and receive the full earnings of that
capital. In short it is the right to
have access to private property in productive assets as well as the opportunity
to engage in labour. A right to labour
alone is not enough.
A
point to note is that when people have access to capital they are not necessarily
dependent on labour. Indeed, those
whose labor is no longer required can be given another way of earning. The importance of having another way is seen
in the history of the Canadian cod fishing industry (a history which is only
too likely to be repeated in the North Sea).
The seas off Newfoundland were being over-fished. But because, in order to limit the cod
catch, fishermen would have to be deprived of their livelihood, inadequate
action was taken. It is now, alas,
possible that Canadian cod will never be seen again.
- Distribution
The
principle of distribution says that individuals should receive from an economic
system what they have productively put into it (via their labour or capital
ownership). It involves the sanctity of
property and contracts in a truly free and open marketplace. Through the distributional features of
private property within a free and open marketplace, distributive justice
becomes automatically linked to participative justice, and incomes become
linked to productive contributions. The
principle of distributive justice is inextricably involved with the principle
of participation and breaks down when all persons are not given equal
opportunity to acquire and enjoy the fruits of income-producing property.
- Harmony
The principle of
harmony detects failure in implementing the principles of participation and
distribution, and makes the corrections needed to restore a just and balanced
economic order for all. Unjust barriers
to participation violate the principle, as do monopolies and the use of
property to harm or exploit others. The
principle opposes greed because greed leads to the exclusion and exploitation
of others.
The principle is
also violated by environmental depredation since such depredation ultimately
harms all.
See Seven
Steps to Justice, Rodney Shakespeare & Peter Challen. BUTTON (to see some text on this)
Balanced growth
So
exactly how is it that the justice creates the efficiency and the efficiency
creates the justice? The answer is
simple – by focussing on and spreading productive capacity (in the forms of
individually owned capital estates), consuming capacity is also spread. Thus supply and demand or brought into
proper balance. And if demand is still
inadequate there is still the source of additional demand resulting from the
issuance of debt-free money to give people a second basic income. One way or another, Global Justice ensures
that those with unsatisfied consumer needs are able to satisfy them.
DOG
wags tail.
You can read more about this in Binary Economics –
the new paradigm. BUTTON
The
importance of all individuals – retired, babies, carers, in work, out of work,
student – owning productive capital cannot be overstressed. Since jobs are insecure, often poorly paid,
not always available and, in any case, not all people can labour, the way
forward for the bulk of the population can only be through capital
ownership. The object of that ownership
is to ensure a basic income for all
and a major Statement of Shared Vision has been drawn up by Norm Kurland
and Shann Turnbull.
Read the
Statement of Vision now being signed by thousands! Press here. BUTTON
Comparison with Grameen movement
The
scale and impact of Economic Justice is more easily understood by comparing it
with the Grameen movement of Bangladesh.
The
Grameen Bank provides small loans (typically, for a sewing machine) to
desperately poor women largely in rural areas.
The idea is that the women will soon be able to become self-employed. The loans have no attached requirement for
collateral (security) but that is because reliance is put upon the responsible
nature of hard-working village women who, in any case, know each and would be
shamed if a loan were not repaid.
Grameen
loans are certainly better than nothing, of course, and wonderful are some of
the success stories but, alas, Grameen is not proving to be a large-scale
solution to Bangladesh poverty. The
majority of the women fail in their business ventures. Worse – remembering the power imbalance
between men and women in rural Bangladesh – men often hi-jack the loans and use
them for non-constructive purposes leaving their womenfolk with the burden of
the debt. And
when the women cannot pay back their loan or cannot obtain a fresh one, many
men divorce their wives, marry again and repeat the hi-jacking. The divorced
wife runs to the city to work in a garments factory or as a domestic but she
cannot run far as the burden of debt repayments will follow her to the
grave. All this illustrates the fact
that the Grameen women are socially and politically powerless, commanding
little respect within society. Thus
abuse by the men acts in addition to the abuse by society.
Inevitably,
after the interest-free practice of the early Grameen period, the losses are
such that there is now a requirement for interest. A much narrower range of loan repayment periods, moreover,
requires that the women begin their repayments long before they have been able
to establish a cash flow. In practice,
this is less than helpful and ultimately defeats the purpose of providing
credit. Burgeoning debt whether at
national or micro level, if allowed to get out of control, cripples even the
most astute businessman let alone not a poor uneducated village woman.
Grameen
is not, therefore, and cannot be, a panacea for the extensive and deep-seated
poverty of Bangladesh. Still less is it
a panacea for the huge divisions between rich and poor.
However,
one Bangladesh organisation – the Institute for
Integrated Rural Development, leader Father Bill Christensen –
recognises that a much larger scale of reform is required and, significantly,
thousands of its members, associates and supporters are now signing the
Statement of Vision.
Read the
Statement of Vision now being signed by thousands of rural people in
Bangladesh! BUTTON
For more information on IIRD and the Statement of Vision press here. BUTTON FOR LINK to cesj website
Complementary and community
currencies
Complementary and community currencies such as LETS, Time Dollars
and Ithaca Hours, are excellent additions to the armoury of monetary
reform. Perhaps even more importantly,
they are run by courageous people with the right get-up-and-go spirit who can
be expected to be among those supporting the GJM.
The currencies,
however, while undoubtedly complementary with a big role to play in the future
are not enough by themselves. Rather
like Grameen, something bigger is needed.
Forms of capital ownership and
management
Many
and varied are the possible forms of capital ownership, as are the ways
corporations can be managed and, indeed, the ways by which capital ownership
can be obtained. Examples range from
the Mondragon businesses of Spain to types of ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership
Plans) and cooperatives.
NOTE TO BE PUT IN HERE ON MODRAGON – I have asked Shann
How this can be achieved is illustrated by Mondragon that would seem to qualify as a model for a workable form of communism as they use to avoid private ownership. Mondragon is based on common ownership but with private wealth from internal accounts that can be liquidated on departing employment. My
See,
for example, the works of Jeff Gates, the American author and doughty fighter
for economic justice. Jeff is the
author of two authoritative and racy books – The Ownership Solution and Democracy
At Risk. See also the works of Shann Turnbull. Shann is another fighter for justice
and author of Democratising the Wealth of Nations and other works
proposing the use of interest-free money for wide capital ownership, and the reform
of company structures including stakeholder councils.
The
Washington, D.C Center for Economic and Social Justice specialises in
Value-based management BUTTON FOR LINK.
Help
and information on capital ownership is available from the Ohio Employee
Ownership Center at Kent University, Ohio, U.S. Aided by the Ford Foundation, the OEOC organizes internet
discussion on various aspects of capital ownership. BUTTON FOR LINK
Taxes
A
society has to pay for its environment policies; its defence, its law courts;
police, roads, and much else. It is
likely, therefore, that there will always be some taxes. Moreover, no one tax by itself can be
completely fair to all.
That
said, the GJM, mindful of the need for taxes to be as simple, cheap to collect
and fair as possible, wishes to see taxes in place which do not catch
the poor more that the rich (as is too often the case at present). The GJM does not claim that the following
taxes are the best but rather wishes that they be fairly considered and good
faith experiment made.
Money
transfer/transactions tax
A
tiny percentage tax every time money moves into or out of a bank (or similar)
account.
Land
value tax
A
tax on the value of land as opposed to a tax on the improvements (such as
buildings) on the land. Such a tax is
simple and costs little to administer.
The tax would encourage underdeveloped land to be brought into use and
would in practice tax that land which has greatly gained in value because, for
example, of the construction of an underground train system. In varying degrees, land value tax operates,
among others, in Jamaica, Chile, Kenya, Pennsylvania in the United States, some
areas of South Africa, and Tanzania.
??Other
possibletaxes.
So Economic
Justice demands:
Everybody must own productive capital
Overtime,
on market principles, everybody in society must come to have an income from the
independent ownership of productive capital.
The capital, furthermore, must pay out its full earnings (net of
reserves for research, depreciation and development). Only then can there be a balanced growth and social and economic
justice.
Death taxes to spread capital ownership
What
happens to the capital estate of a very rich deceased person. Is any tax payable under Global
Justice?
The
answer is that no tax is payable on death if the estate devolves in such
a way as to spread capital ownership.
Thus, if an estate worth millions of dollars is bequeathed to only one
person, a very large amount of tax would be payable. But if the estate is bequeathed to a number of people, none of whom
end up with too large a capital estate, then no
tax would be payable. Bear in mind that
the essential point is to spread capital ownership and the death tax rule
easily makes sense.
See Seven Steps to
Justice, Rodney Shakespeare & Peter Challen (New European
Publications). BUTTON (to see some text
on this).
Everybody must have two basic incomes
The first basic
income, of course, comes from the ownership of productive capital (perhaps
paying out eight times more than capital does at present).
But there is a
second basic income in Global Justice.
Since interest-free repayable money for public, private (wide ownership)
and small business capital investment is counter-inflationary there will be
increased wealth but lowered prices.
In order, therefore, to maintain a stable level of prices, the issuance
of debt-free money will become necessary.
Such money has no interest attached and is not repayable.
Thus
a second basic income becomes possible (in addition to any income a
person gets from labor).
DOG says, “Second!”
Remember – the
world has the technology and productive resources to eliminate misery, poverty
and injustice and save the planet.
Join the Global
Justice Movement!
BUTTON
See
those who have joined the GJM! BUTTON
Compare
Global Justice
with
present Capitalism and Socialism.
Go
on! Press the button! BUTTON
Please
contact info@globaljusticemovement.net
for further information.
To
make a donation please press here BUTTON
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SLOGAN
GJM – the true, fair, democratic
and efficient enterprise solution to poverty.
SLOGAN GJM means Inclusive Justice!
(FROM BUTTON)
Global Justice
Movement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOGO BUTTON
Environmental
Justice
Life on earth is a fragile miracle. Its preservation and,
wherever possible, reconstruction is not possible without a global and
intergenerational perspective – which is what GJM provides.
DOG.
Caption “A fragile miracle”.
Environmental
destruction has underlying several causes some of which are not always obvious
and, even if noticed, are often conveniently ignored.
Underlying causes of environmental
destruction
The first such cause is interest whose
deleterious effects are as follows. See
Seven Steps to Justice, Rodney
Shakespeare & Peter Challen. BUTTON
(to see some text on this)
A. Deleterious
effects of interest
Exponential growth of compound
interest
When money is not, or cannot be, repaid
(and, because of predatory lending, that is the situation in many countries
today) the total amount owed, at compound interest, increases with
ever-increasing acceleration. Assuming
no repayments, the amount owed slowly increases before beginning to shoot
upwards on its way to infinity. For example, if somebody borrows at 12%
to pay for, say, a farm, and is unable to pay back the money then, after 18
years, he has to pay back the equivalent of not one farm or two farms, but eight
farms! After 24 years it is sixteen
farms.
It has been calculated that one pfennig invested in the year 0 A.D. at 5% compound interest would by 1990 have earned the value of gold worth 134 billion times the weight of the earth. Today we are in 2003 A.D.!!!
More money is owed than is
available
If $100 is borrowed and $800 is
repayable then, on the world scale, there is a continual and frantic effort to
find $700 i.e. the difference between $100 and $800. The only way forward is to borrow more money!! Thus there are huge, and unnecessary
pressures to increase economic activity merely for the purpose of paying off
the interest (as opposed to paying off the original sum).
One of the most sinister consequences is
to entrap people into a frenetic activity with an associated endless increase
in consumption. Combined with
advertising, this makes people believe, and behave, as if they have limitless
material needs, when they do not.
Transfer
of resources from poor to rich
All
the time, as a result of the grip that the banking system now has on the world,
a massive transfer of resources is going on from the poor to the rich. An example from Germany is illuminating. Between 1950 and 1989 German Gross Domestic
Product increased 22 times, while interest paid on the national debt increased 75
times. That is extraordinary
remembering that, overall, 80% of the population lose from the effects of
interest, 10% neither lose nor gain, and the last 10% most definitely gain.
And borrowing more money generally only
worsens the problem. Eventually capital
assets tend to end up in the hands of those who lend money.
B. Poverty
A second main cause of environmental
destruction is poverty. Poor people,
for example, often have little choice but to take the shortest route to
satisfying their immediate physical need.
Thus if electricity is not available, poor people will cut down the
nearest trees to provide fuel for cooking and warmth.
Generally, moreover, where the environment
is concerned, poor people do not have much choice about how they earn their
living. It is hard enough for the
middle classes and the working poor in industrialized countries to face up to
the choices between the environment and their livelihood. Still harder is it for those in poorer
nations where, in far greater numbers and proportions, people suffer and perish
for lack of necessities.
Thus,
if there is to be fundamental advance on the green front, not only must poverty
be addressed but there must be a method by which ordinary people can be stopped
from earning their living in one way and given another, more green way,
instead. If there is no other way to
earn, destruction happens. The recent
history of the Canadian cod fishing industry is an example. The seas off Newfoundland were being
over-fished. But because, in order to
limit the cod catch, fishermen would have to be deprived of their livelihood,
inadequate action was taken. It is now,
alas, possible that Canadian cod will never be seen again. Unhappily, this dismal history looks like
being repeated in the North Sea.
C. Population matters
In considering a third main cause of
environmental destruction it can be noted that a large population does not, of
itself, cause poverty. Rather, poverty
causes the large population. Many
people believe that the most intransigent problem facing the world is the
burgeoning population. In many
countries, the population increases while, at the same time, there is a
standard of living just above the starvation level; abysmal, if not
non-existent, health and education services; and no welfare state. In such situations:–
· families have large numbers of
children to ensure that some survive
· children are necessary to provide for
the upkeep of the aged
· women have little choice as to
whether or not they have children. This
is not just a matter of economics but also a reflection of a power balance
between the sexes, a balance tilted against women.
However, there is much evidence that
population levels stabilize, even decline, where there is:–
·
a reasonable
standard of living
·
an education
and health system
·
some, if
only minimal, empowerment of women.
Thus,
in the USA and Europe today many strata of society are generally showing a
population decline. Needless to say,
Global Justice provides:
·
a reasonable standard of living;
·
education and health systems; and,
·
a considerable empowerment of women.
D. Prevention of
green technological advance
Fourthly, environmental destruction will
continue while green technological advance is prevented. Windmills and solar energy-generating
systems are examples of investment projects that can, and should, be done with
interest-free money. However, while, as
at present, all such investment has to be made with interest-bearing money, the
projects have a borderline viability.
With interest-free money, however, they
become economically feasible. Getting
such technologies into operation is now environmentally urgent. Indeed, unless it happens within about five
years, it may be too late.
There is hope, however, because some
mind-bending alternative energy and other technologies are now on the verge of
practical possibility. Examples are the Motionless Electromagnetic Generator and
various processes for using hydrogen obtained from water. It is utter madness not to give these new
technologies a chance to save the planet.
The use of interest-free money would be that chance.
Unfortunately,
at present, vested interests and fossilised mindsets have induced a deep
paralysis. Green technological advance is essential but while all
such investment has to be made with interest-bearing money, the chances of it
being viable are small.
E. Terms of
trade and IMF conditions for borrowing
A fifth main cause of environmental
destruction is the poverty and distress arising from the disastrous imposition
of unsuitable terms for borrowing. A
recent World Development Report recounts the reasons behind Malawi’s food
crisis. Briefly, the problem is not harvest
failure. Rather it is inappropriate
conditions for borrowing imposed by the IMF and World Bank. In particular, these conditions, rather like
water privatisation, do not take account of poor people’s inability to pay more
for food. Malawi’s international
indebtedness, moreover, is such that a potentially prosperous country is being
environmentally wasted.
Furthermore, the terms of international
trade are often biased against the agricultural production of poor
countries.
Debt cancellation
The case for cancelling the debt of
these countries is strong because, unless the debt is cancelled, they will never
get out of debt (indeed, it will increase) and so, in effect, will be milch
cows for evermore. Putting countries
into never-ending debt is a sure formula for creating never-ending hatred.
F. Greed
Lastly, environmental destruction is
caused by large-scale over-consumption.
At the moment, unfree finance
capitalism has, at its core, a demand for the endless repayment of
interest. That demand necessarily
causes an endless expansion because of the need to repay borrowed money. While the money supply is almost wholly
dependent upon bank-created money issued with a requirement for the payment of
interest, a frenetic over-consumption is certain.
Therefore when conventional economics
views humans as being endlessly greedy (as it does view them) it is only giving
expression to what is required by the conventional economic system.
Apart from the present finance
system, moreover, endless greed is also stimulated by a lethal combination of
insecure social status and the insecurity which comes from poverty or, at the
very least, a perception of insecurity.
Therefore the elimination of greed
requires:
·
a
fundamental change to the system of finance
·
policies to
ensure that everybody earns a big proportion of their income in the same way,
and in a secure way
·
society with
an obvious fairness.
Only then can it reasonably be
expected that the forces which today tend towards endless greed will at the
very least be mitigated.
Stewardship
A word which well summarizes what is
needed is “stewardship”. All humans
alive are, or should be, stewards aiming to hand on to succeeding generations a
world in good shape. Stewardship
means:–
·
using our
resources wisely
·
a concern
for structural justice
·
demonstrating
financial accountabilities
·
preserving
the environment
·
making
decisions on behalf of the future
·
earning
community trust.
The Global Justice Movement gives a
lead in stewardship because it:
·
greatly
mitigates the deleterious effects of interest
·
improves the
situation of the poor by providing two basic incomes
·
increases
the productive capacity of individuals
·
promotes
green investment
·
allows
alternative incomes to those at present engaged in anti-environment practices
·
promotes the
voluntary control of population levels.
Best of all, the GJM promotes
a positive attitude away from self and towards others. Without that attitude there is little hope
that people will co-operate sufficiently to make an impact on environmental
problems.
So
Environmental Justice demands
· interest-free money for public capital investment
· interest-free money for private capital investment if new owners are thereby created.
· interest-free money for farms, small and start-up business
· non-repayable, debt-free money for a second basic income
· interest-free money-free money for green capital investment
·
a rejection
of extreme left-wing and right-wing politics
·
good
healthcare, education, clean water, sewage and electricity
·
a proper deal for women – and
babies
·
the cancellation of the debt of
poor countries
It has been well said that:
“the question of rights within a global system revolves around the
right to livelihood for the human and other species. Livelihood is not ultimately about money or having a job. It is about the right to share in the bounty
and beauty of the planet, within sustainable limits – not because the right has
been given by someone else, but as a consequence of being alive......”
The five Justices combine in livelihood.
Remember – the
world has the technology and productive resources to eliminate misery, poverty
and injustice and save the planet (particularly if the Motionless
Electromagnetic Generator and other new alternative energy sources become
commercially viable).
Join the Global
Justice Movement!
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SLOGAN
GJM – the true, fair, democratic
and efficient enterprise solution to poverty.
SLOGAN GJM
means Inclusive Justice!
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Global Justice
Movement
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Peace Justice
DOG
with caption “Peace-loving dog”.
The
GJM honours peacemakers be they individuals, organisations or governments. Their efforts, however, tend to be piecemeal
and, at best, a late stage intervention when things have already gone badly
wrong. It is also, unfortunately, too
often the case that even an early stage intervention cannot hope to succeed – the
underlying causes of dissension are much too deep-seated.
The
general truth, therefore, is that Peace, and certainly long-term peace, cannot
come about by itself. Rather it is the
result of properly structured societies in proper relationships with each
other. Those relationships, moreover,
are the result of the internal structure of societies. Today’s ‘democracies’, for example, are far
from being true democracies yet it is generally agreed that the chances of two
such ‘democracies’ going to war with each other are much less than war between
one such ‘democracy’ and a totalitarian state.
Peacemakers
also have to beware of a trap - their laudable concern to avoid war can sometimes
lead them to support plutocratic, authoritarian or totalitarian, even medieval,
regimes of the worst possible nature.
Furthermore, it has been observed that some peacemakers so vociferously
uphold the rights of authoritarian and dictatorial regimes that there can
sometimes be doubt as to whether those peacemakers have any genuine sense of
democracy or justice. Upholding the
rights of a cruel regime to kill and torture its own people is not just moral
blindness but, in some circumstances, may amount to a subtle racism which
assumes that the people of those countries are incapable of any form of
democracy.
Lastly,
it is all too easy to self-righteously reason that war only comes about because
of the actions of evil men. Such
reasoning, of course, is a convenient way of ultimately blaming war upon
everybody else but ourselves. The
truth, however, is different – all war is directly, or indirectly
caused by the structure, or rather, malstructure, of whole societies and their
interrelation with each other. For that
malstructure, and the failure to alter or improve it, we are all
responsible.
Therefore,
let it be said clearly - Peace Justice is
essentially something that arises from the implementation of the other four
Justices. Indeed, tackling Peace in isolation from the other four
Justices is self-defeating. Effective
peace-building requires a holistic approach, embracing the whole gamut of our
relationships with one another – economic, social, cultural, humanitarian and
environmental – creating a multi-level security support bank.
Peace
campaigners who campaign only for Peace, therefore, are -
to put it bluntly -
ineffective because they are not also addressing the malstructure of
societies. It also should be said that
some peace campaigners do propose an alternative structure for societies but it
should always be one that they are prepared to specify and openly declare. In the absence of that declaration, it
cannot be clearly ascertained if they are, or are not, workers for democracy.
Inclusive
Justice
Which
then raises the question – is there any form of society which is less
fundamentally inclined to get involved in war?
Is it true, for example, that modern ‘democracies’ are much less likely
to go to war with each other?
The
answer is difficult particularly because modern ‘democracies’ are not, in
reality, very democratic. Indeed, they
are based on unfree market finance capitalism which is unfree, inefficient and
unfair. It is unfree because
most people are in practice excluded from the acquisition of productive
capital. It is inefficient
because ample supply fails to generate adequate demand. It is unfair because millions of
people do not receive proper reward (and, in the case of women, for example,
often no reward at all) as well as being excluded from the chance to have a
second income coming from capital ownership.
Perhaps
worst of all, the unfree market system (being fundamentally based on
ever-escalating and unsustainable debt) is
unheeding of the way it is now being viewed by the poor countries of the world
which, seeing themselves as the eternal milch cows of the rich, are becoming
increasingly determined to do something to correct their invidious situation.
The
GJM, of course, is giving the lead in creating Peace and it is doing that by
fighting for the true, genuine democracy provided by Inclusive Justice. Indeed, without Inclusive Justice, war is
inevitable.
SECTION HERE ON
PROSPEROUS AND INDEPENDENT NATIONS
Solution to
Middle East and Kashmir
So
Peace Justice demands
The immediate and worldwide implementation
of:
·
Money Justice BUTTON
·
Social Justice BUTTON
·
Economic Justice BUTTON
·
Environmental Justice BUTTON
Remember – the
world has the technology and productive resources to eliminate misery, poverty
and injustice and save the planet.
Join the Global
Justice Movement!
BUTTON
See
those who have joined the GJM! BUTTON