I wonder if this clue helps?

passionatejohn

***************

Capitalism *is* a for-profit prison, eh?!

So, campaign for co-operative socialism!

 


3 December 2013


Dear friends

I just shared this with my New Democratic Party friends/comrades in Canada about the news, there, that the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper is proposing to privatise/pirat-ise/profit-ise the Prison Chaplaincy services:

There's a segment in Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A love Story', within the first 40minutes, which describes a youth 'correction' facility in xyz-Barrie somewhere in the US which was 'outsourced' to a local 'entrepreneur's for-profit business.  You will already know the details. 

Which brings me to the point: how can I (we?) 'get' the federal NDP-NPD to adopt the Co-operative Socialism approach (for which, please see the document in the papers' section of www.interestfreemoney.org ) ?

In other words: without a transformed economic system (one that is conformable to 'The Golden Rule' as outlined by our Scarboro Missions friends www.scarboromissions.ca I should think), then such psychotic nonsense as for-profit prisons, prison-services of anything will consume our life-time-for-worship. Capitalism *is* a for-profit prison, Eh !?!?

For co-operative socialism - by Tuesday!

john

John Courtneidge

***********************

re:

Heinz Leamington (Ontario, Canada)**: Ripe for a Cooperative / The Cooperative Commonwealth




http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/903.php

Of course, I'd like:

a) a hyphen

b) the conversion of all for-profit businesses into appropriate co-operatives*

c) By Tuesday!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The end of capitalism - by Tuesday!

Co-operative Socialism: The best! - For all - equally! - the best!

john

*   By repeal of the legislation that allows for-profit businesses to operate.
** Every-/Any-where!

woo-hoo!

**************************************

Woe the (Neo-) Marxists!  

Let's Get rid of Capitalism - by Tuesday!

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Campaign for Co-operative Socialism

A Fair World Project

>> For equality and ecology, peace, justice and co-operation >>

** To help create a Fair, Safe and Peaceful world **

Co-operative Socialism - on the map - it's not Marxism!

My beef is with the flood of (Neo)-Marxists who all speak at great, elliptical length: in familiar-only-to-themselves, highly-coded language, and which only says 'capitalism is bad, we have no alternative to offer to it'.

(See the excellent 11 minute You-tube RSA piece, 'RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism', by David Harvey  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0 and, for an explicit statement of the latter point, and the 22minute item 'Deleuze's Postscript on the Societies of Control' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIus7lm_ZK0 - helpfully cited by Andy Conio- for the former.)

I look forward to Andy exposing his paper to us in greater length this evening, 29 November 2013,  at 'our'/the Occupy LSX/Occupy London Economics Working Group..

For me, the matter is simple:

  - capitalism is bad

  - it is straightforward badness:

     - based on three power mechanisms (bullying, bribery, brainwashing: Galbraith),

     - to achieve one end (the continuance, in power, of those families in power)

     - through their 'ownership' (theft) of the four non-labour means of production:

       - land, law, knowledge and position

  - and, that the replacement (of those five TRIP-Up 'economic' (sic) mechanisms: Theft, Rent, Interest, Profit and Un-equal Pay for work) is easily achieved.

All that is needed is implementation, not analysis.

Finally, its worth pointing to the parallel between alchemy and chemistry:

  - for, say, fifteen thousand years alchemy evolved into a word-dense mystery, guarded by ineffective, often-deceptive, frightened and frightening magicians. 

Then, along came Lavoisier and Dalton and all became ordered: chemistry replaced alchemy as a clear, accessible and applicable coherent set of knowledge: to the benefit of all (and the disbenefit of all, too! when it is co-opted by capitalism, etc).

Our task then is, I suggest:

  - clarification and proposition about the problem (capitalism),

  - clarity about the alternative, and,

  - the highlighting of the ordinate metric:

     - equality in all its aspects (vide 'The Spirit Level' and new equality-work being published by the academic community almost daily).

Hope that helps.

For all

john



--------------------

The Campaign for Co-operative Socialism

A Fair World Project

>> For equality and ecology, peace, justice and co-operation >>

** To help create a Fair, Safe and Peaceful world **

We are suggesting that the time has come to help create the Global Co-operative Commonweal: a Global Commonweal of Local Commonweals. A world, in other words, based upon the evolving Co-operative, Values and Principles and Definition found in the Statement on the Co-operative Identity from The International Co-operative Alliance.

A values and political mapping, suggests that Co-operative Socialism is found as follows: (* see footnote):

Co-operative Socialism - on the map - it's not Marxism!

Centrally, we also suggest that the concept of Co-operative Commonweal requires that we convert all workplaces into appropriate co-operative enterprises, so that every person, and every organisation, has respectful, time-limited stewardship of land and knowledge resources, and that, thus, true equality is sustainably created.

To do so, it is clear that we have to transform the economic system in which we live, so:

o All people, co-operatively and together, are in control of their lives,

o Where all work is for the long-lived benefit of all: caring for the long-lived benefit of the whole global ecology - and all its inhabitants.

This requires changes to the central features of present-day economics:

o The ownership of workplaces and knowledge used for profit,

o The ownership of land and natural resources, and their use for profit,

o The practices of money-lending and debt- and credit-creation for profit,

o Inequality and insecurity of individual incomes,

o The consequently created culture of rampant crime, fear, debt, and insecurity.

Accordingly, we work for each community to be in full, open, co-operative control of its economic resources, ensuring that they are used for the benefit of the whole of humanity, and for the benefit of the whole global ecology, so that:

o Everyone has the security of a fair, guaranteed income, and that,

o All collective human activities are consistent with the Co-operative Values and Principles, and that,

o Friendship, care and stewardship with the planet is our central task.

>>This suggests the Seven Point Action Plan for Co-operative Socialism - >>

1. Co-operatives and peace, not corporations and coercion

Convert competitive, market-based activities into workplace co-operatives and remodel monopoly activities as community co-operatives: each co-op demonstrably operating according to the Co-operative Values and Principles of the International Co-operative Alliance, and with each co-op having respectful time-limited care-ship, from the commonweal, of appropriate land and knowledge resources, (See points two and five for the funding mechanism to achieve this);

2. Not-for-profit banking and financial structures as co-ops – Predistribution, not Redistribution

Distribute the added-value created wealth from these workplace co-ops through nationally collected, co-operative corporate taxation, distributed into local, democratically-controlled, Community Banks, and, so, make money and credit available for eco- and socially-responsible wealth creation, community development and global care - and the conversions referred to above;

3. Step-wise abolition of money as access to needs – global stewardship for needs and care, not private resources for profit

Maximise necessary service provision (health, education, libraries, transport, and so on) on a co-operative, free-at-the-point-of-use basis: retaining money only as a mechanism for access to discretionary purchases;

4. Fair, Guaranteed Incomes - Equality of income for all - Pre-distribution not Re-distribution!

Introduce guaranteed fair income for all, within upper and lower brackets: based upon a liveable, fair Citizen's Income, and, so, do away with the need for direct and indirect personal taxation – income tax, sales taxes, and so on;

5. Abolition of for-profit money - An end to usury/riba, and of banking as global warfare

Abolish money-lending and credit-creation for profit, and, so, operate banking as a community-controlled co-operative public service (See point two above);

6. Regulated inter-national relations – An end to global exploitation through financial speculation

Reintroduce international exchange controls, a Tobin Tax, etc, as necessary

7. All our sisters our brothers, and all our brothers our sisters – One in all, one for all, all as one, all in one

Make capital grants (not loans!) to developing countries.

*******

Some web resouces on Co-operative Socialism

Some recent resources on the emergent, non-hierarchical,
pre- and post-Marxist replacement for capitalism and totalitarianism: 'Co-operative Socialism' 

John Courtneidge January 2014

Offered in hope of additions!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Searching for the "Co-operative Commonweal" (nb Commonweal - 'the well-ness of all, in all', as compared with Commonwealth - 'the co-operatively-cared-for economic resources. created for all, by the creator': offered, here, as working definitions), gives:

 - a recent blog reference to Pat Conarty's December 2013 work on Co-operatives and Commons:

http://permaliv.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/slideshow-commons-and-co-operative.html

 - see

http://www.uk.coop/pressrelease/commons-and-co-operative-commonwealth

This relates well to a PowerPoint paper I gave at New Lanark in August 2008  for the UK Society for Co-operative Studies conference upon the 150th anniversary of the death of Robert Owen (see the book New Visions of Society: Robert Owen for the 21st-century',  edited by Richard Bickle and Molly Scott Cato, Scottish Left Review Press, 2008):

'Emotions, Personalities & Politics' PDF in:

 http://www.interestfreemoney.org/papers/

Additionally, with much work in north America:  eg the work of Manfred Max Neef, Mike Nickerson ( 'Planning for Seven Generations: Guideposts for a Sustainable Future', 1995), Keith Helmuth  and other Canadian and US Quakers on 'Right Relationships': Building a Whole Earth Economy Keith Helmuth - see, for example:

 - The Presentation for the “Forum on Faith and a Sustainable Economy,” Commission on Justice and Peace, Canadian Council of Churches, May 12, 2009, Ottawa:

  www.councilofchurches.ca/en/documents/KeithHelmuthCCC.pdf‎

and the 2009 book, 'Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy (BK Currents)' by Peter Brown and Geoffrey Garver.

.
These are only part of a wave of new, emergent propositional politics for which the developed role of non-hierarchical co-operation and :  co-operatives are seen as key (given the 1995 development of the Statement on the Co-operative Identity issued by The International Co-operative Alliance:

www.ica.coop

The release of which reinforced the Campaign for Co-operative Socialism as a Fair World Project:

See, for example, the 1995 seven point plan (for Co-operative Socialism) in the Peace News Issue 2446
in 2002:
http://peacenews.info/node/5364/2446

And The Network Project collection, 'The Kingdom of Heaven - by Tuesday!'.

www.thenetworkproject.org.uk

Collectively, all these recent developments seem to be building towards an evolution of the Occupy social movement - to one for Co-operative Socialism as both a pre- and post-Marxist replacement for capitalism and totalitarianism, to a not-hierarchical democratic socialism that I term Co-operative Socialism:

The Global Co-operative Commonweal - by Tuesday! 

Clearly this is only a preliminary list - sadly not including materials in languages not in English and not with the benefit of scholarly support.

I hope that all this 'co-operative, social-production of well-ness' finds its way into legislation and social reality - somewhere a political movement, the political party, needs to do that - somewhere! Soon! I hope!

But, I hope these resources help!

 ------------------------------------

For a Fair World - by Tuesday!

For all, in all,

john

John Courtneidge
-------------------------------------

ps Wikipedia has, so far, declined to open a new page on 'Co-operative Socialism'.  Perhaps that needs reviewing: by some, more appropriate than me, Wikipedia editors.
-------------------------------------
pps At my friend Grata's request I've uploaded (2nd/4th January 2014) two videos on Co-operative Socialism:

43 mins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IeahMiHOgsA

13 mins (with graphics):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jSkDIUjg0z8



***********************************************************************

Co-operative Socialism - The Option for Wellness - by Teusday!

Dear friends

Chris Furston-Davis, my fellow-member of Occupy London's Economics Working Group writes:

> How depressing to prick up ears to the world service shortly before 4.00
> am in the hope of hearing at least hint reason/common sense/wisdom/lateral
> thinking from 3 supposedly intelligent 'economists' discussing economic
> cycles as a sideshow to the Festival of Ideas at Cambridge.
>


Greetings from the London Borough of Bromley where moves are afoot to have the HG Wells Labour club listed as a Heritage building (or some such).

As to Oxbridge and capitalism . . . need we be surprised: the 2% pay the 10% to lie to the rest of us - the 88%.

But do we believe their lies . . . of course, we never did - this is a politically- and economically-literate, historically-aware society.  The people know that the Con-dems are beating us up on behalf of the 2% and their praetorian guard, the 10%.

They/we also know that, although weakened, the New Labour hi-jack of true Labour is only a hijack, but only that.

We who are democratic socialist and true co-operators -

(in the legacy of George Lansbury, Michael Foot, Tony Benn, John McDonnell, Kelvin Hopkins, Barbara Castle, Bessie Braddock, Alf Morris, Dennis Skinner, Nye Bevan, et al, et al, the cultivation of sensibility by HG Wells, etc)

 - a progressive movement of democratic co-operative socialism don't give up.

Of course, we, too, in Occupy have been hijacked by the 'We are the 99%' slogan (see the 2;10:88% analysis above) and various attempts to have us follow an Oxbridge line of leftist Keynesian (capitalism + the veneer of kindness = the Welfare State) - a view that Keynes himself saw as time limited (see the papers' section of www.interestfreemoney.org for a quote from his 'Essays in Persuasion': a 'Letter to our Grandchildren', I think).

Better that we speak plainly:

 - for a Wellness Society (that is axiomatically eco-logical and equalitarian)
 - based on the (evolving)ICA Statement on Co-operative Values and Principles
 - Principle Seven foremost (the Statement is also logged in that papers' section of www.interestfreemoney.org).

Chris finishes by writing:

>
> Let's hope Cambridge students take a leaf from Manchester and Edinburgh.
>

And my beloved UCL even before that, I hope!

By Tuesday?!

Off to Meeting!

john

***********

John Bellers had it right - Jesus, too!

Dear friends

Don't get suckered in - as if I expected you would!

Re; Re: Fwd: [Occupy London rdwg] Chris Hedges takes up the torch

John Bellers - Quaker tapestry panel

So, as I said yesterday, it looks as though the bosses are engineering a 'revolution' that they, as usual, control.

Better, however, is the horizontalist, co-operative, equalitarian, truly socialist (ie before Marx) evolution to a true co-operative democracy - with the opportunity - or even, voluntarily-accepted responsibility to under take co-operative care-ship - as part of, not as 'stewards' of, the whole of the global creation/commonweal.

Remember, Stephen Harper, Mark Carney's buddy/servant/co-conspirator as Prime Minister of Canada has twice, already, trialled the use of pre-emptive prorogation of the House (notionally) of Commons, there, since he know he wasn't going to get his way:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prorogation

Jeremy Paxman was right - if you abrogate your adult responsibility to take part, in what-ever way, in the grueling 'Long March Through The System', then you can't have a say when the devil - human selfishness - takes over.

BTW - this Marx thing's got to stop: John Bellers an early Friend wrote "The labours of the poor are the mines of the rich."

London has been a continuous site of actions to turn the world the right-way up - ie horizontally! Whether the London and Kentish and West-Country mobs talked of class (they probably did), they knew who their oppressors were and who they were employed by (just as Jesus' supporters did - see William Hertzog II's 'Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed' - thanks bob p-w!

For all

john

ps Ask your-self why it is that these people get so much air time, while the horizontalist, genuinely co-operative socialist voice is never reported . . .

************

> * Russell Brand's fire crosses the Atlantic*
>
> As Russell Brand’s simultaneously visceral, emotional and intellectual
> case
> for revolutionary change goes viral, respected Pulitzer prize-winning US
> journalist Chris Hedges, arriving at the same conclusion, goes even
> further
> than the comedian.
>
> Exactly one year ago, Hedges, who wrote for the *New York Times* for 15
> years until 2005, described the US presidential
> election<http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_im_voting_green_20121029>
> as
> “a battle between the corporate state and us”. His conclusions and actions
> then echoed the eruption of Occupy:
>
> If we do not immediately engage in this battle we are finished, as climate
> scientists have made clear. I will defy corporate power in small and large
> ways. I will invest my energy now solely in acts of resistance, in civil
> disobedience and in defiance.
>
> And in registering a protest vote for the Green Party, he said he was
> stepping outside the system. Twelve months later, Hedges’ ideas have moved
> on apace. Amongst other things, he’s been studying the work of Aristotle,
> Niccolò Machiavelli, Alexis de Tocqueville, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and
> anarchists, including Alexander Berkman.
>
> Hedges now sees things much more clearly. While Brand was laying into
> Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLYcn3PuTTk>,
> Hedges noted <http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/21>:
>
> Class struggle defines most of human history. Marx got this right. The
> sooner we realise that we are locked in deadly warfare with our ruling,
> corporate elite, the sooner we will realise that these elites must be
> overthrown.
>
> And this week, in *Our Invisible
> Revolution*<http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/28>,
> Hedges looks deeper at the revolutionary process itself. He believes that
> the ideas used to justify the “private and state institutions that serve
> our corporate masters” are losing their power over people. He adds:
>
> The battle of ideas is percolating below the surface. It is a battle the
> corporate state is steadily losing. An increasing number of Americans are
> getting it. They know that we have been stripped of political power. They
> recognise that we have been shorn of our most basic and cherished civil
> liberties, and live under the gaze of the most intrusive security and
> surveillance apparatus in human history. Half the country lives in
> poverty.
> Many of the rest of us, if the corporate state is not overthrown, will
> join
> them. These truths are no longer hidden.
>
> Hedges believes that once enough people “get it” – that free market
> capitalism does not serve their interests – then the process of change
> quickens and, as Berkman
> wrote<http://books.google.com/books?id=386Mvoi4PDsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=what+is+anarchism%3F&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wglsUtDlKtDDiwK7yIGQAg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20anarchism%3F&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=386Mvoi4PDsC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=%22the+slow,+quiet,+and+peaceful+social+evolution+becomes+quick,+militant,+and+violent,%22&source=bl&ots=P9hkpsDXYZ&sig=8_kG3LIfVl_3uT-0KbQF6D5>,
> “evolution becomes revolution”.
>
> There is a nervous air among America’s ruling elites, Hedges believes,
> because more and more people have rejected the ideas of the status quo.
> “This is why voices of dissent – as well as spontaneous uprisings such as
> the Occupy movement – are ruthlessly crushed by the corporate state.”
>
> Like most people, however, Hedges comes to the realisation of the need for
> revolution unwillingly, reluctantly. He would prefer “the piecemeal and
> incremental reforms of a functioning democracy”, a system that allows its
> citizens to non-violently dismiss those in authority, “a system in which
> institutions are independent and not captive to corporate power”.
> An uprising that is devoid of ideas and vision is never a threat
>
> But, as after acknowledging that we don’t live under such a system, Hedges
> admits that “revolt is the only option left”.
>
> To avoid spontaneous movements like Occupy being ruthlessly crushed by the
> state, Hedges is clear that we need a direction, a strategy and
> alternative
> ideas for how society could look in the future.
>
> An uprising that is devoid of ideas and vision is never a threat to ruling
> elites. Social upheaval without clear definition and direction, without
> ideas behind it, descends into nihilism, random violence and chaos. It
> consumes itself.
>
> So the key to a successful revolt, for Hedges, is a clear vision of a new
> society and a strategy for how it can be achieved. To which we should add,
> democratic forms of networked political organisations that can help us
> focus on the main prize.
>
> Russell Brand and Chris Hedges are playing a tremendous role in bringing
> the case for system change out into the open. They have helped kick-start
> a
> social revolutionary process which millions will join.
>
> Gerry Gold
> 30 October 2013
>
> - Backlash against Brand shows he got it
> right<http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/backlash-against-brand-shows-he-got-it-right.html>
>
> - See more at:
> http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/russell-brands-fire-crosses-atlantic.html#sthash.K8YArzkr.dpuf
>
> **
> http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/russell-brands-fire-crosses-atlantic.html
>
> --
>
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "lsxcampeconomics" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to lsxcampeconomics+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/

Gro-operative: A Worker-Owned Co-operative for Sustainable Food Production

 

http://buffalorising.com/2013/10/gro-operative-a-worker-owned-co-operative-for-sustainable-food-production/

I found this since I have a Google Alerts going for Co-operative Socialism; well done Google!

The 'S' word doesn't seem to be in the article but it does mention Mondragon - the very considerable, if not huge, co-operative complex in the Basque area of northern Spain (and which is covered in Race Matthews' book 'Jobs of Our Own' on Distributism - a book that for which I'm supposed to be writing a sequel - can't somehow . . .) and an update in the recent 'The Hidden Alternative: Co-operative values, past, present, future'.

The two links in the article are:

http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/ENG.aspx

and

http://evergreencooperatives.com/

Notably, the article about Gro-operative (which is in Buffalo - a stressed US community if ever there was one: I've been there) retains the co-operative hyphen - the symbolic handshake of the key co-operative value of equality.

Save the hyphen!

In and for co-operation

john

ps Their diagram - love it - economics is applied chemistry! Ecology too - plus spirit!

************

Killer Storm – Weapons of Mass Distraction

A few weeks' ago I Googled the term “Weapons of Mass Distraction” - just at the time that one of our Progressive Bromley Film Co-op members suggested that we watch 'We Are Wisconsin', together.

Looking at the Image results for “Weapons of Mass Distraction” included one of two women in the US military, joyfully breast-feeding their children. The point of the picture was that they were wearing US military uniform and their joy, for them, was enhanced by the fact that, for the first time, they were now allowed to breast-feed their babies while wearing military uniform . . .

A search for 'We Are Wisconsin' (see http://vimeo.com/33579940) revealed that, at Vimeo, there is a fairly lengthy trailer for the film – it looks good, and I wonder if it will be in a dvd format that can be shown here on my ex-Canadian Dell lap-top (of such micro-detail trip-ups is technology made – grrr!). There, I discovered that the film-maker – a woman, Amie Williams – had also made two further interesting items, among many more.

The first ('Voices of the Heart') is about a Band of plains Indians working hard to retain their native language - a subject worthy of an extended discussion – while the other is called 'Homeland': http://vimeo.com/74537004

This latter film relates well to that photo-image, above.

In 'Homeland', we are introduced to the life of a young plains woman, of European descent who decided to enlist in the US military after seeing the images of the planes being flown into the NEW York World Trade Center buildings:

Clip from 'Homeland'

She did two tours of duty in Iraq, but only managed to survive them by using alcohol and other drugs.

As a consequence, she left the US military with a 'Less than Honorable' discharge: the result of which is that she's not considered to be a US Veteran and so not eligible for pension, medical care, etc, etc. The film, however, showed her being befriended by an older ex-military woman at a voluntary organisation and her struggles to keep going forward.

One poignant clip showed the two preparing a birthday party for the younger woman, in which she says that it was the first time she could recall having a birthday party being set up for her . . .

Another, earlier on in the film, showed her in the cockpit of an armoured vehicle in Iraq – showing us the size of the bullets that the vehicle's gun fired. Whether intended, or not, another heart-wrenching moment was seeing a collection of children's photos stuck around the inside edge of the vehicle's cockpit.

My mind went back to those two breast-feeding women.

So, what's this to do with the 'Killer Storm', “Weapons of Mass Distraction” and 'We Are Wisconsin'.

Simply this: people complain that 'No-one's doing anything about this mess – they are all too greedy and/or complacent/indifferent/bored/burnt-out/couldn't care less/what-ever'.

In large part this is because there isn't a well-known alternative (which there is – I call it Co-operative Socialism, but others can decide if that claim is justified), but also to the fact that there is, both, a continual barrage of “Weapons of Mass Distraction” - like the frenzy around The Killer Storm (no mention of average day deaths by capitalism in the UK – road 'accidents', construction industry 'accidents', lost fingers, eyes, what-ever – lives even), along with the – consequentially-created – mind-set (literally, minds-set-in-stone) of Contrarian, 'You know I'm right', alcohol- 'gaming-', TV-, Radio- and other-drug maintained, brain-addled, brain-addling, assertive narcissistic non-sense.

In a tellingly-titled book, John Hull, reader in Religious Education at the University of Birmingham asks, 'What Prevents Christian Adults from Learning?'

The same, but secular, question is urgent: how can adults learn? - a) when they have been groomed into this assertive narcissistic state, and b) when they are under continual bombardment of these capitalism-created, brain-altering, “Weapons of Mass Distraction”.

The first step of the twelve Step program would help: recognising that we - I – all of us - have a problem,

Then a level of emotional-awareness (that I tried to sketch in the Robert Owen, New Lanark, UK Society for Co-operative Studies 2008 presentation, 'Emotions, Personalities and Politics' – to be logged in the papers' section of the Interest-free Money web-site - as part of an exploration of the Co-operative Socialism option.

Finally, getting rid of your telly, your radio, all capitalist newspapers (including 'The guardian' and 'Observer') and magazines, not buying other than you need (really need! – all very hard!) and even, perhaps, helping set up a local Progressive Film Co-op ('Just Films' in Birmingham is one good model! Our Quaker Meeting has been very generous to us here in Bromley as a free venue for our Progressive Bromley Film Co-op!

And finally – those Weapons of Mass Distraction are intended to co-opt y/our mind and time.

The alternative to co-option is co-operation.

Of the co-operative socialist-kind, I'd say - of course!

John Courtneidge

Beckenham, Kent

29 October 2013

john@courtneidgeassociates.com

www.sustainabilitynotcapitalism.blogspot.com

www.interestfreemoney.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here in the UK the clocks were turned back to Winter Time yesterday midnight.

The next four months are going to be crucial for humanity and the planet - with dark cold nights for the next four months, here, the stage-manged ding-dong* - the 'I want a revolution, and I want it now! - shows how worried the 10% (the controllers, who are paid by the 2% of families who own/have stolen the world's economic resources - indeed, stolen the world itself- look to be stoking up a revolution.

 The evidence of history is that revolutions are controlled by the same 10% of place-men families - the controllers - so that the 'top' 2% stay in ownership and the 10% stay in control, on their behalf.  Sounds fanciful and conspiratorial?

Just ask your-self who it was that paid for and allowed the sealed train that took Lenin to Moscow, then read 'Who Financed Hitler' - no question mark! 

Then examine the Ridley Plan in the Ridley Report (see either margaretthatcher.com or Wikipedia) - the plan that the Thatcher-led government implemented).

Then explore the World Economic Forum, Davos, the Bilderbergers, the Illuminati and the Trilateral Commission - and read Robin Ramsey's book on Conspiracies and Gary Allen's book likewise.

Still not convinced?

Read the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14 onwards.

And now I hear that right-wing groups here in the UK are being funded to promote the co-operative alternative to capitalism - and then look at the attack on The Co-operative Bank here.

So, does this sound like a rant?

No - it's a reflection that next 27th April there is going to be a remembrance, one way or another at St Pauls of the murder of a striking Leveller soldier, Robert Lockier; and that at the end of four months of winter hunger, attacks on benefit recipients and covert organising to implement the suspension of parliament (just as Stephen Harper has, twice, trialled for the neo-cons in Ottawa, under the anti-constitutional, anti-democratic heading of 'prorogation'.

Again, sounds fanciful?

The Co-operative Group's members meeting for south-London has just been postponed . . .

As I say, at the end of this coming four months, it's a choice between democratic equalitarian, Eco-responsible/eco-respons-able Co-operative Socialism or Fascism.

I know what I choose - Co-operation for the Common Good!

Best- equally! - for all!

john

* Russell Brand and Jeremy Paxman ding-dong:

https://www.facebook.com/IAgreeWithRussell

Both ask - what are the alternatives? - try Co-operative Socialism - see the sustainabilitynotcapitalism blog and the Interest-free Money papers' page or ask me John Courtneidge

A Co-operative Response to the Greek Crisis

From the rubble comes Bio Me, the country's first worker-run factory.

By John Restakis, 17 Oct 2013, TheTyee.ca 

tripura.nic.in/coop/07040801.pdf‎

http://thetyee.ca/Life/2013/10/17/Greek-Crisis-Response/
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 Hurrah! As long as they follow the ICA Statement (below) - which can be easily done by carrying out and publicising 'Annual Co-operative Audits' to demonstrate their fidelity to same!

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The International Co-operative Alliance Statement on the Co-operative Identity (Manchester, UK 1995) Definition: A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. Values: Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. Principles The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice. 1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership Co-operatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination. 2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control Co-operatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and co-operatives at other levels are also organised in a democratic manner. 3rd Principle: Member Economic Participation Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing their co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership. 4th Principle: Autonomy and Independence Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they enter to agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their co-operative autonomy. 5th Principle: Education, Training and Information Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public - particularly young people and opinion leaders - about the nature and benefits of co-operation. 6th Principle: Co-operation among Co-operatives Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures. 7th Principle: Concern for Community Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members. Source : ICA News, No. 5/6, 1995. 15, route des Morillons, 1218 Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland Tel: (+41) 022 929 88 88 Fax: (+41) 022 798 41 22 E-mail: ica@coop.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ps - A small but, for me I think, worth-while addition:

   - my peace theoreticians suggest that the word 'nonviolence' is not hyphenated in that nonviolence is normative, while violence is a degradation of that normal state: the hyphenated form suggests that 'non-violence' is an extension on from a state of violence . . .

In similar useful vein, for me 'co-operation' is properly hyphenated since co-operation is, in this case an enhancement on, from an earlier probability of operation alone . . . hope that helps! For all, john

And, more-over, the hyphen in co-operation symbolises the hand-shake of equality!

Save the co-operative hyphen!

Woo-hoo!

Your choice = fascism or Co-operative Socialism

Neo-liberalism was the liberals in Canada and Blair/Thatcher here.

The new game is Neo-conservatism - Stephen Harper in Canada - Ian
Duncan-Smith here.

The neo-cons are just fascism-lite - the real fascism is the full
integration of state and capitalism: which we haven't got yet, since there
are no designated concentration camps for the likes of you and me - yet.

This isn't assertive, but, rather analytical - see www.politicalcompass.org

At the latter you can find out where your political centre-of-gravity is -
mine is in the Gandhi quadrant.

Fortunately, there is an element of each quadrant in each of us - the best
place to map this is, that I've found, www.positivelymary.com (you have to
register bu the consequential e-newsletters are few and far between).

Finally, evidence that the political/values centres-of-gravity are
socially-produced and, thus, capable of being encouraged in the beneficial
direction (progressive and experiential, I'm quite clear) is to be found
via a search for Michael Adam's book 'Fire and Ice' and his Canadian
company, Environics: http://www.environics.ca/ Try the 'Find Your Tribe'
button on the right-hand side of the page.

Hope this helps and thanx! 4 the opportunity to write it.

For all

john

http://www.environics.ca/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/pot-banging-aside-quebeckers-are-unhappy-with-the-state-of-things/article4362075/

Fracking = neo-facism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gt7kBfDx5s 

Canada's shame - 'Police' brutality again:

Elsipogtog and Mi'kmaq anti-fracking blockade.

http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/

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Canada's shame - and the same here, too (see the * ps, below, about Balcombe)

 Fracking = neo-facism:

Just as we wrote about in nonviolent direct action in about 2000 . . . :

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/west-coast-rally-mikmaq-weve-got-your-back/19363


Do you remember the video of the Quebec Surete agents provocatuers being hustled back across to the police side at the Three Amigos (Les Throis Conspirateurs) at Montebello - in about 2004 

  - they were even wearing their regulation issue boites! . . . ? 


 If 'they' - the praetorian guard - the 10% with p-jobs who are paid by the 2% -  'them': the 'owners'/thieves of economic resources  - are not watching us  (the aware and active part of the 88% - the worked class: including those of us who are worked through being unemployed to frighten the 10% and the unaware or too frightened to be active part of the 88%)

   -  then we must be doing something wrong! 

Now, since I'm a Christian Quaker, there is, of course no 2%, 10%, 88% - we are alll part of the all - it's only when we steal from the all, that we, as the Genesis story illustrates, cast ourselves into sin. 

So, its 'Time to ourselves get back to (as a whole-part of!) the Garden! 

By Tuesday! 

Woo-hoo! j xx

Try:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BBret%C3%A9_du_Qu%C3%A9bec 

and 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbgnyUCC7M

xo's 

john 

* ps: Note that it's only 2minutes 50seconds into this CBC news report that the key word 'Fracking' is used.

    - the counter meme being forced now is 'Shale gas Extraction

At Balcombe it was noticed that Fracking is a sure sign that capitalism is desperate.  

No wonder that we promote the Co-operative Socialism alternative at:

www.sustainabilitynotcapitalism.blogspot.com 

and at 

www.interestfreemoney.org

Hi all

One more wholistic thought on a Guaranteed Income Scheme

-----------------------------------------------------------

How about this add in:

Suppose that the social process decides that the income min/max ratio is 1:3 (the actual figures don't actually matter to this additional point) and that the base '1' unit is, say, £2000 per month.

So, everyone eligible (there's a pointer to a next iteration) would automatically have £2000 paid into their bank account.

Some people would then go into the paid work force and get up to an additional £4000 per month (so the maximum income would be £6000 per month and the smallest would be the guaranteed Livable Income of £2000, as above).

But there might be some people who decide to not take (for their own reasons, not some-one else's reasons) their monthly guaranteed 'LIFE' (Living Income for Everybody) payment.

They could then choose to deposit in a not-for-profit, interest-free community bank to be used as the bank thinks fit - offering, say, interest-free loans to social co-ops to start-up and/or expand business, or to solidarity co-ops as operating funds for their activities.

Hope that helps.

Co-operatively - for all!

john

16 October 2013

********   

Hi all

Since income equality creates peace, sustainability, all kinds of wellness - and gets rid of capitalism - by Tuesday! - I share:

Re: a LIFE not a BI

Quickly to say:

  a) The  mealy-mouthed approach - the 'Basic' Income approach , CIT in the UK or the October 2013 $2800 per month proposal in Switzerland - is a waste of time:

  --  the proper alternative is to propose a guaranteed, livable 'Living Income for everybody':

  --  socially-determined as the one-unit, livable base income to a socially-determined min/max income after-tax ratio

  --  for which the new Income Briefing video gives a guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOJ93tAbPP0&feature=youtu.be

  b) As to 'how to pay for it' - that's the legislature's role.

We may say that the five TRIP-Up* mechanisms create income-inequality (and income -inequity, too), but, if the elected legislature decides to ignore the socially-determined base and ratio by allowing any of the five TRIP-Up* mechanisms to persist - even if regulated, the electorate can decide as appropriate.

* The TRIP-Up mechanisms (all of which flow from the wealth-production and -distribution analysis are:

   T = Theft eg of the economic resources listed below plus direct banditry (eg Fractional reserve Banking, theft of public assets and their 'piratisation'/'profitisation' - which the thieves call 'privatisation'

   R = Rent - through the theft ('ownership') of land and land-related resources (buildings, elecromagnetic spectrum, position, wind, wave, water, minerals)

   I = Interest - through the theft of the Law (thanks Get-a-job-Rob for this clarity) - eg the legalisation of usury in 1545

   P = Profit - from the theft/'ownership' of knowledge - both frozen knowledge (machines) and fluid knowledge

   Up = Unequal pay for 'work' - from the ownership/creation/occupation of position - eg Professors paid over the odds to peddle lies in the monversities, policemen and prison officers needing to be pad over the odds (and thus creating more crime - see 'The Spirit Level'), etc.

Hope that helps

Oh, BTW - the way to achieve the social-determinations mentioned may well be the conversion of the House of Lords into a randomocracy 'Citizens Assembly' with members randomly selected, perhaps serving for three year terms and retiring in thirds.


No more TRIP-Up!!

Best - equally! - for all!

For all, in all, by all - co-operatively! **

john
** ps Google Co-operative Socialism - the True Socialism before Marx and the True Socialism After Marx - woo-hoo!!  And mull over the ICA Statement on The Co-operative Identity.  woo-hoo 2 !!