The year 2008 was a momentous one. The ‘anniversary’ headlines are of course all about the financial crash. As Nick Mathiason in The Guardian put it at the time: "It was the year the neo-liberal economic orthodoxy that ran the world for 30 years suffered a heart attack of epic proportions." While the global establishment panicked, governments rallied round and got the flatlining monitor back up again by pumping in trillions of dollars to stop the world banking system from collapsing. The … [Read more...]
The Post-Wall Street Era Will be Local
On a shelf of the Phoenix Bookstore, located in the heart of the ecovillage of Findhorn in the north of Scotland, the title Going Local (Free Press, 2000) caught my eye. The book was written by the American economist Michael H. Shuman. It was June 2002, and I had come to Findhorn to attend the international “Restore the Earth” conference, during which Vandana Shiva, Winona LaDuke, Helena Norberg-Hodge and some others were to present their ideas. Shuman, in his book, underlines the importance of … [Read more...]
Democrats & Republicans Uniting to Oppose Corporate Rule?!
There is a huge political divide between the Democrat Party’s leadership and its local voters. There is an equally huge political divide between the Republican Party’s leadership and its local voters. In a nutshell, the divide can be summed up like this. Voters from across the political spectrum oppose global corporate trade treaties like NAFTA and the current outrage called Trans-Pacific Partnership. Voters from across the political spectrum oppose bank bailouts using public funds. Voters from … [Read more...]
Planet Local: The Secret of Happiness
The second in our Planet Local-India series, the following article is adapted from a Morning Talk by Sonam Angchuk, founder of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL). It was delivered by Angchuk to students from different parts of Ladakh who participated in a Winter Camp this past December. Angchuk will be participating in our upcoming Economics of Happiness conference in Bangalore, India. Dear young friends, this morning let’s talk about how lucky or unlucky we … [Read more...]