The current "normal" of global, neo-feudal, neo-fascist corporatism, is rabidly anti-democratic, anti-human, anti-life, ecocidal, genocidal, imperialist, and headed off a cliff, of self-destruction and collapse. Even if it were sustainable, it is intolerable, in multiple ways; and furthermore, it represents a race to the bottom. "Competing" in this global economic game is, therefore, a no-win situation. Alternatives must be found, and found urgently.
In broad outline, and using an acronym, since our 21st century is obsessed with acronyms, and because it is a mnemonic device, as well, I would propose an alternative path of globalization from below, based on the values and principles of:
Self-Reliance
(not isolationism)
Ecology
(charting a course between the extremes of primitivism and technology obsession)
Quality of Life
(in place of obsessions with GDP, growth, status-seeking, money, materialism, consumerism, distraction and entertainment)
An Uprising of Consciousness, Culture, and Peoples’ Power
Equality
Liberty
Simplicity
(again, charting a middle way between austerity and excess)
Or, SEQUELS.
Call it, both an alternative path, and a set of SEQUELS to the slowly dying, global corporate empire.
I say, set of sequels, because each nation, and indeed, each community, can, and should, work out its own path, in the context of cooperation, mutual aid, and the sharing of ideas, knowledge and skills.
We know what direction the current norm is taking us. Our current trajectory is ever deeper into a nightmarish, Orwellian dark age, followed by extinction and collapse. Virtually anything would be better than that. Let's be imaginative. Indeed, we must be now. The principles are clear and simple. Now, it is action that is required.
Everybody knows that sequels are generally not as good as what came before; but in this case, they have to be - and so they will. And in general, they will be far better than what we have now. That is a low bar to pass. And as we have said, virtually anything would be better than the trajectory we are now on.
These principles can be called vague and therefore dismissed by the cynics, but that would be a foolish response. The principles are clear enough for us to act on them now, immediately, and at all levels, from the level of the individual and the community, to the nation-state and international levels. I have written extensively about the concrete steps we can take to reclaim our our power, our lives, our communities, our nations, and our world, and to heal and renew them. But it is the set of general, guiding principles which I want to emphasize here.
Furthermore, grand blueprints can be deeply problematic in themselves. Think of the central planning of the Soviet Union, as an example of what that can bring about, and how horribly wrong that can and often does go.
What we need, is exactly what is presented here: a set of clear and compelling principles, that the great majority of the people can agree to and set to work on. The rest, the various details, which have to be adjusted and adapted by culturally and geographically different regions, nations and communities in any event, we work out by doing it, by practice, more than by rote theory. This is an organic process, and the leadership will be from a thousand points, and more, from millions of points, all coming from below, and not from on high.
Consider this the birth of a movement: the Global Sequels Movement.
Considering we are in a race to the bottom, and are headed on a collision course with reality, we have no choice now but to be bold.
As Goethe said,
“If you can imagine something, begin it. Boldness has genius within it.”
JTR,
December 30, 2021