Check out this awesome article in the New Internationalist!
http://www.newint.org/features/special/2009/04/01/naked-emperors/
I think it would be awesome to get some exposure for the "Demand, Don’t Succumb" essay by Michael Albert and the "People Over Profit" campaign I think we should be waging to put it’s ideas into action.
We could write letters to the editor at [email protected] i think – here’s mine, though it’s a little longer than they’d like. Maybe one of us could even inspire them to write an article about "Demand, Don’t Succumb," Parecon, or Participatory Society or even the projects we have goin’ on around the world:-)
Thank you so much for “Naked Emperors.” This powerful article seems to embody and further what many of us are concluding is needed at this critical juncture in history. The points and suggestions in this article are similar to a campaign suggested in an essay called “Demand, Don’t Succumb” by Michael Albert, co-creator of the “third” alternative economic system called Participatory Economics (Parecon). This campaign aims to respond humanely and radically to the economic crisis by advocating laws and public support for four main changes. 1) Make it illegal to evict or foreclose upon people’s homes (or apartments). Community members instead come together in small, participatory community forums perhaps mediated by local congresspersons to decide how much mortgage (or rent) each person can pay. 2) Make it illegal to fire people, and instead cut everyone’s hours by 10% and raise the minimum wage so employees have more leisure time, don’t lose income, or worry about losing their job or home, more unemployed can be hired, more taxes can be used for social programs, and society can keep pace with its production needs. 3) Make it illegal for an owner to sell or move the firm. Instead owners can lose income, work like everyone else, or turn over the firm to the workers and surrounding community. My group, the Atlanta Chapter of the International Organization for a Participatory Society (IOPS), is working to jumpstart this “People Over Profit” campaign. We believe these revolutionary reforms need a broad coalition amongst groups and people already suggesting and doing these types of things to respond to the crisis, like the New Internationalist and the groups featured in “Naked Emperors,” as well as amongst all people realizing that this is an opportunity to do things differently. Any takers? Please email [email protected] or contact Michael Albert.
🙂
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