Dear John and friends, Referring to your message below, I would, with respect, point out a fundamental flaw in this proposal and that of any other political party hoping to reform our sick system. That flaw is that, today, capital and corporations are global; i.e. able to cross national borders at will. Any political party advocating a range of measures likely to impair their freedom of action will necessarily invite capital and corporate flight thus rendering the policy completely unworkable. The same is true today for the German Green Party to a large extent. The many proposals they would like to implement simply cannot go ahead for fear of making Germany 'uncompetitive'. (For the same reason, the taking of control into the hands of the state of the issueing of credit advocated by monetary reformers will in all likelihood fail because the commercial banks will threaten job losses and the transfer of their operations abroad.) This is why party politics - regardless of the aims or name of the party - have become substantially obsolete. There is, however, an alternative solution to world problems. It is called the Simultaneous Policy (SP). Endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Ed Mayo, Helena Norberg-Hodge and many others, I would respectfully suggest you and your colleagues take a look. Our website is www.simpol.org or further details are available from me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Best wishes John Bunzl -----Original Message----- From: john courtneidge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 24 May 2000 12:57 Subject: [ATTAC CHAT] The Co-operative Party: Aims and Objectives Exercise >Dear my 'many friends in many places' > >I hope that the following might be of value in helping: > > > Create A Fair, Safe and Peaceful World < > >If not, I apologise for tiring your electrons and photons. > >e-hugs > >john �=0) > >****************** >FW -> >---------- >From: "john courtneidge" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: The Co-operative Party: Aims and Objectives Exercise >Date: Wed, May 24, 2000, 12:23 pm > > >Dear Co-operators > >Here is the contribution from: > > The Campaign for Co-operative Socialism > >In response to the Aims and Objectives exercise of The (UK) Co-operative >Party. > > ** We hope that co-operators and co-operative organisations will >endorse, in whole, or in part, the suggested Aim and Action Plan ** > > >Our submission reads: > >"We should like to suggest that we adopt the Aim of: > > > Creating A Fair, Safe and Peaceful World. > >To achieve this, we hope that our Party will endorse, promote and implement >the Seven Point Action Plan given at the end of this document. > >The Action Plan is based on the following analysis. > >If our, shared, co-operative goal is to create a fair, safe and peaceful >world, it is clear that we need to transform the economic system in which we >live, so that: > >o people, together, are in control of their lives, > >o where all work for the long-lived benefit of all: caring for the >long-lived benefit of the whole global ecology - and all its inhabitants. > >Accordingly, to find the way forward, we need to have strategies for the >three core features of present-day, capitalist economics. Namely: > > o ownership of workplaces and knowledge used for profit, > > o ownership of land and natural resources, and their use for profit, > >and, > > o the practices of money-lending and credit-creation for profit. > >To be able to deal with these three, core aspects, we must, first, return >money to its proper use - as a lubricant of human activity, created by, and >flowing through, nationally-owned, democratic, public service banking and >financial systems. > >With them in place, we can, then, convert workplaces into appropriate >co-operative enterprises, such that each has respectful stewardship of land >and knowledge resources: > > o ensuring that everyone receives a fair, guaranteed income, > >and, that, > > o proper stewardship of the planet is our central task. > >This analysis leads to the following Seven Point Action Plan >: > > > Co-operative Socialism - A Seven Point Action Plan > >1) Convert competitive, market-based activities into workplace co-operatives >and remodel monopoly activities as stakeholder co-operatives: each, >demonstrably, operating according to the International Co-operative >Alliance's Seven Co-operative Principles, > >(see points two and five for the funding mechanism to achieve this); > > 2) Redistribute the added-value wealth from the workplace co-operatives >through nationally-collected, corporate taxation, distributed into local, >democratically-controlled, Community Banks and, so, make money and credit >available for responsible wealth creation and community development, > >(and the conversions referred to above); > > 3) Maximise necessary service provision (health, education, libraries, >transport and so on) on a free-at-the-point-of-use basis, through the >stakeholder co-operatives referred to in Point 1, retaining money as a >mechanism for access to discretionary purchases. > > 4) Introduce guaranteed income for all, within upper and lower brackets >and, so, do away with personal taxation; > > 5) Abolish money-lending and credit-creation for profit and, so, operate >banking as a public service > >(see point two above); > > 6) Reintroduce international exchange controls as necessary; > > 7) Make capital grants (not loans) to developing countries. > >We hope this action plan gives us, all, a good basis for a practical, moral, >sustainable and co-operative economics. > >Sent by: > >john courtneidge > > (Member of Welwyn Hatfield Branch of the Enfield and St Albans >Co-operative >Party. > >Networking: > > The Campaign for Co-operative Socialism > > www.cooperatve-socialism.org ) > >Home contact details: > >13 North Road Hertford SG14 1LN (UK) > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] (+44) 01992 501854 > >********************** > > >-- >Attac discussion list >The primary goal of this "e-community" is concrete: it is about gathering information for the attac.org website around articles and other documents regarding the fight against financial market dictatorship. >Nevertheless all opinions expressed in this mailing list don't represent ATTAC's but the persons' who are publishing here > >New Documents: http://attac.org/journalnveau.htm >Directory Contacts: http://attac.org/fra/annu/index.html >Rendez-vous: http://attac.org/fra/cale/index.html > >If you want to be taken off the list >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe > >
