Download The Economics of Peace Conference

The Economics of Peace Conference:
A ‘Stimulus Package’ for the New Economy
John Bloom
October 29, 2009
distinction between full employment and full engagement in
Five days of intensive presentations, workshops, and coneconomic life in the Sarvodaya villages.
versations focused on the elements of an economy for the 21st
Jacob Needleman and Sam Keen, two noted philosocentury were at the heart of The Economics of Peace
phers and authors, began the Monday sessions,
Conference held in Sonoma, California, October 18with a deep dive into the psyche, mythology,
23, 2009. The conference was co-convened by
archetypes and consciousness of money
RSF Social Finance and Praxis Peace Institute.
and economic activity from the view of the
World-renowned speakers such as James
inner human being. In the evening, David
Galbraith and Vandana Shiva were keyKorten gave a fiery presentation outlining
notes at the conference. Both of them
the agenda for a new economy based upon
explained the current state of economic
overcoming the ills of the current one.
crisis from the point of view of systemic
Korten spoke about the value of re-localizinequity, and made recommendations for
ing economies and exposing the abuses of
how we can solve our economic problems
Wall Street and large corporations.
by taking a long-term view of what is needed
Tuesday morning, Judy Wicks, the founder
to restore the environment, have a more just,
of White Dog Café in Philadelphia, spoke about
non-vio“Creating a Non-Violent World through Local Living
lent econoEconomies.” She discussed her decision to collaborate
my, and stem
with other local restaurants
the disasters of climate
to support local farmers,
change.
pay living wages to staff, and
The concepts and
remain sustainable. Out of this
practices of local living
decision, the Business Alliance
economies were another
for Local Living Economies
central theme through(BALLE) was formed. Wicks
out the conference,
was followed by Stephanie Rearevidenced primarily by
ick, who spoke on “Real World
the innovative idea of
Caring Economics: TimeBanksiting the conference in
ing and Social Justice”. Rearick
the local living economy
is the leader of the Dane County
of Sonoma. Conference
International activist Vandana Shiva
(WI) TimeBank, the most sucattendees made use of
cessful TimeBank in the US.
local restaurants, hotels and guest stays with local residents.
She explained how time could
Plenaries and workshops were held in the reconditioned Sebasbe used as a cur- Entrepreneur Judy Wicks
tiani Theater, the Sonoma Community Center, and
rency to support exchange activities that would
other spaces connected with local businesses.
not normally be funded by federal currency.
Local musicians and artists performed at each of
Ellen Brown, author of Web of Debt, then
the events.
presented ample evidence of why the issuance of
The Sunday night opening ceremony included
debt as money by banks has caused such enorthe Mayor of Sonoma reading a formal City
mous economic hardship. Using the model of the
Council Proclamation recognizing the importance
successful Bank of North Dakota, a state-owned
of the conference, followed by a brief presentabank, she proposed that it would be possible to
tion from Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (who
do the same in California and thus return ownerrepresents Sonoma). Don Shaffer, President and
ship of the bank to the people that it serves.
CEO of RSF, spoke briefly about the importance
The focus on Wednesday was the practice
of transforming the way the world works with
of worker-owned cooperative businesses. Two
money toward an economics of peace. Shaffer
leaders from the Mondragon Cooperatives in
was followed by A.T. Ariyaratne, founder and
Spain, Mikel Lezamiz and Fred Freundlich, spoke
president of the Sarvodaya Shramadana MoveEconomist James Galbraith
at length about the founding and evolution of
ment in Sri Lanka. Dr. Ariyaratne outlined the
Mondragon, which has developed into the largest worker-owned
values of Buddhist economics, the eight-fold path with a focus
co-op in the world (with over 34,000 workers). Their activities
on right livelihood. He spoke particularly about the important
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include everything from industrial manufacturing, to agriculture, to their own bank and insurance companies, to mention
just a few. There were also several Northern California workerowned businesses on hand to discuss methods of running
cooperatives: Alvarado Street Bakery, Arizmendi Bakery, and
Rainbow Grocery.
Thursday morning started with speaker Tom Greco, author
of The End of Money and the Future of Civilization. Greco made a
passionate plea for us to take back the credit commons from the
banks by creating our own mutual credit clearing mechanisms.
This is a tried and true model that has been in use by businesses through barter for many years. He suggests that it could
have much broader applications for how we conduct economic
activity. Greco was followed by noted environmental attorney
Andrew Kimbrell. Kimbrell spoke on “Salmon Economics”. He
described the entire life cycle of the salmon and explained
how it could serve as a model for how we could think about
economic cycles as meeting everyone’s needs rather than just
those of the few. He also articulated what the salmon have to tell
us about the symbiotic relationship between local and global
economies.
Friday closed with some reflections on the conference, via the
humor of Swami Beyondananda, followed by an exploration of
next steps. It was also announced that videos of the plenaries
will be posted on the conference website: www.economicsofpeace.
net. There will also be footage of many of the workshops and
panel discussions.
The five-day event marked a watershed in economic thinking. By bringing together leaders and practitioners in transformative economic practices, new collaborations and projects
were already developing before the end of the conference. As
one participant said, “It is amazing when you bring 200 people
together for five days to talk
about money. When else has
that ever happened?”
Each afternoon of The
Economics of Peace conference
there were workshops related
to the many facets of money
and financial systems. Monday
there were four offerings. RSF
President & CEO Don Shaffer
led a packed workshop entitled “Social Finance: Building
Regional Capital Markets.”
RSF Social Finance CEO Don Schaffer
Through a brief presentation
and small discussions, the group explored: what would the
economy look like if active and diverse regional capital markets
were developed? What will it take to create more place-based
markets and means of exchange? Can we rebuild our sense of
community self-reliance in relation to national and international
economies?
Also on Monday afternoon, Norman Solomon addressed the
barriers and opportunities of “The Green New Deal.” He explored how the quest for green sustainability might merge with
the drive for economic justice. He presented what some of the
new strategies need to be, and the challenging dynamics of the
current situation in the media, financial systems, and the psychology of economic crisis. Charles Eisenstein led a workshop
Spring 2010
on Sacred Economics, the title
and subject of his forthcoming
book. This workshop explored
the many perspectives of gift
economics. He talked about the
history of money systems that
organically encourage sharing
instead of competition, egalitarianism instead of polarization of wealth, and the building
of social, natural, cultural, and
spiritual capital, instead of their
destruction. As a step toward
peace, he proposed the radical
idea that all workshop participants make investments that
earn 0% interest. Trent Shroyer
led “Sustainable Economic Cultures,” which looked at several
models of sustainable economic Author and activist David Korten
practices including: Gandhi’s Swaraj, the no-growth movement
in Europe, and examples of Ivan Illich’s post-secular vernacular
domains.
On Tuesday, four more workshop sessions followed a panel
presentation on complementary currencies. C.J. Callen, Pilar
Gonzales, and I led a conversation on “Money, Race, and Class.”
This facilitated conversation served as a safe space to talk
about some of the most complicated and unaddressed issues in
economics and our financial systems. The approach allowed for
a depth of conversation that supported listening and speaking
in such a way as to allow for transformation in the participants’
way of thinking.
Following the morning plenary theme of local living economies (as articulated by Judy Wicks and Stephanie Rearick),
Kelley Rajala and Derek Huntington of Sonoma County GoLocal
Cooperative and Mary Rick of BALLE presented “Accelerate the
Sustainability Movement in your Community.” They worked with
the processes of forming a values-based network, mapping the
resources of the community, developing sustainability policy,
and implementing community-based financing models. This
workshop was well attended as there is significant interest in relocalizing economies and understanding what that means from
economic, cultural, and political perspectives.
Richard Logie, the founder of GETS (Global Exchange Trade
System), led an introductory workshop on what the elements of
a complementary currency or credit clearing exchange might
look like so that participants would have a context for working
in this innovative business-to-business system. He used the lessons of VISA and the European Union to demonstrate the work
of creating new agreements, setting up a framework of exchange
methodology and standards so that users of the system can
work toward mutual ownership of it. Richard also led a much
longer, more detailed workshop on Thursday entitled “Get Real!
With Currency: 50 Questions You Should Ask Before Starting
Your Own Exchange.” The final Tuesday workshop was led
by David Ransom on “Taking a Leap: A Marxist Look at Social
Change in an Epoch of Economic Revolution.” Ransom looked
at the impact of technology in relation to the value of labor and
posed the question about whether the current economic revolu23
tion will bring about a social revolution as more and more of the
work force is displaced.
Wednesday afternoon saw four workshops that touched on
a wide range of topics. Sam Keen addressed the topic “Money
and War: The Quest for a Moral Alternative.” He focused on the
issue of social and economic justice as the avenue for achieving
peace. Woody Tasch, author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow
Money, presented his work under the same topic. Tasch has
been developing the notion of patient capital as an approach
to investing that will rebuild local economies and change our
attitudes about expecting or extracting short-term returns on
investments that tend to bring about ecological and cultural
degradation. Osprey Orielle Lake led the workshop “Respect for
the Global Commons.” Lake was the artist-in-residence for the
conference and also spoke about the value and beauty of our
environment and natural systems, and the rightful use of these
precious compromised resources. The fourth workshop was
offered by Bev Bell and Mateo Nube. Named “Towards a Just
Ecological and Economic Transition,” they presented the stories
of those directly impacted by the financial crisis. They showed
how those communities have developed practical solutions to
the challenges through community self-determination. What
they demonstrated was that economic security and ecological
sustainability need not be in opposition if worked through with
transformative power.
Thursday, following a panel discussion on fair trade, Andrew
Kimbrell went into much more detail about the concepts and
practicality of “Salmon Economics” in a workshop. Bob Graham,
one of the pioneers and leaders of micro-enterprise, led a practicum called “The Next Step After Putting Micro-entrepreneurs
into Business—Helping Them Become Successful.” With a focus
on Central America, he spoke about the fact that while microcredit has made credit accessible to millions of people at the
bottom of the pyramid, rates of poverty have not changed. He
proposed a new direction for micro-credit as a tool to alleviate
poverty in a more systemic and sustainable way.
Friday morning, prior to the closing session, there were
three workshops offered. Daniel Pinchbeck presented “Why We
Launched Evolver: A Social Network for Conscious Collabora-
tion.” He spoke about his involvement with the new technologies of the internet as a way to engage with provocative and important questions such as: could the social technologies of the
internet help us replace many of our financial transactions with
exchanges based on trust and reciprocity? Can a social network
be designed to help reengineer our current society, offer new
ways for people to collaborate, and organize for social change?
Julianne Maurseth led a workshop (“Purpose and Outcomes
for Conference Participants”) designed to weave together many
of the insights gained at the conference. And Pilar Gonzales,
Katrina Steffek, and I led a conversation called “What If…” which
explored scenario thinking for the new economy. This participatory workshop elicited from attendees the tools they had gained
throughout the week and then asked them to imagine how they
will apply them to their home, organizational, or work life—
their real life economies.
On Friday, the conference conveners each shared some
appreciations and closing reflections on the conference, and I
would like to leave you with my own closing comments summarizing the week: “During our journey here together in Sonoma
we have been traveling new economic terrain, challenging
social terrain, and transformative cultural terrain. I put this in
the progressive tense—not because we are a room full of tense
progressives—but, because the work of economic change will
yet be hard, and seem long. Let’s take joy in every step forward,
practice forgiveness so that it can heal, and, finally, trust in the
nature of wisdom, the wisdom of nature, and in the aspirations
of the human spirit as we see each other anew in our economic
life. May peace be with you.”
John Bloom is the Director of Organizational Culture at RSF
Social Finance, and a member of the Council of Anthroposophic Organizations. This article is reprinted with permission from
the “Reimagine Money” blog, rsfsocialfinance.org/blog/. Look for
John’s recently published book, The Genius of Money, which is
available from steinerbooks.org. And it is reviewed in this issue,
on page 12.
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