From Mutualize...
MUTUALISM: THE ALTERNATIVE TO GOVERNMENT-RUN OR CORPORATE SOCIAL SERVICES.
Government institutions
are run by bureaucrats who are responsible to no one and often ill-treat
their clients. Corporations must make profit a priority over service. The
government closes hospitals even though local people are willing to
support these institutions. Banks close branches even though people prefer
they remain open. None of this would happen with MUTUAL AID SOCIETIES, since
they are owned and controlled by the clients...
Mutualism LINKS
Utopia of the Commons - Dennis Fox
Click for More LINKS !!!
Is The WOT a sham?- The BBC thinks so.
Manafesto de Mutualista
a.k.a The Mutualist Manafesto
The Burrough is the cell.
Tired of politics and political parties making messes of our environment and our economy? Aren't we all. Since modern times we have come up with competing capitalist, socialist, and communist economic systems. Eventually through human nature, greed, and corruption, all of these systems are susceptible to authoritarian control or dictatorship. Why rely on a system that continues to fail to serve "We the people", and instead serves the powers that be? Isn't it time that we fix this problem? You may be asking what system could possibly work as a true democracy?
Stop being a consumer and start being a Customer.
What have we done time and time again to solve our problems? Look at how nature does it! Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a science that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. We mimic nature because through complex organization, nature has ‘figured out” the best way of doing things. So why don’t we try to figure out the best way organize our social systems the same way as nature.
What is at the root of our very cells that has allowed humans and other forms of life to survive the catastrophic ice ages of 12,000 years ago…
There are three types of Symbiosis. Cooperation. parasitism, and mutualism. Mutualism is an interaction in which both organisms in a close relationship derive some degree of benefit. Mutualism can involve brief or long-term interactions, but is usually temporary or not obligatory. Our cells all work together to make our organs, and the organs all cooperate to form systems. All the systems cooperate to form a body, and all our bodies cooperate with other life forms to create ecosystems. Why not arrange our communities like this. Give the rights to each town, city, tribe, or whatever. Every town would decide it's own needs as well as the state with town rights over-riding state rights, overriding national rights. It would most likely rearrange counties around watersheds so that each community would be responsible for its own water supply and its own interdependence.
Stop being a parasite and start being cooperative.
Adaptive Democracy.
The ideal of Democracy as a political system is great. A more Democratic, cooperative, cleaner, safer world where we the people, not the corporations, make the decisions that affect our lives would be even better. Unfortunately what we have is 1% of the population convincing 51% of the population to oppress the other 49%. The authors of the Constitution never could have predicted abortion, gay rights, corporate pollution, and gun control would be huge issues. That is why Democracy must be more adaptive to individual rights. What we need is a Democracy from the ground up. One that put the rights of smaller groups over the rights of larger, more bureaucratic groups like mega-corporations and life-term politicians.
Ever heard of Anarchy? Well, you haven't! Anarchy is not a Philosophy, political system, or Dogma, but an underlying way one functions in the world. We need to take the power away from a select group of few and give spread it throughout the populous. Factories and other large workplaces would be run by 'labor associations' operating on directly democratic principles. The state would be abolished; instead society would be organized by a federation of free communities (community assemblies, tribal nations).
In 1863 Proudhon , the father of mutualism, said, "All my economic ideas as developed over twenty-five years can be summed up in the words: agricultural-industrial federation. All my political ideas boil down to a similar formula: political federation or decentralization."
Proudhon was against capitalism, he rejected communism and believed that individual possession — which he distinguished from private property — was necessary both for liberty and for an efficient economy, he rejected violent revolution, favoring a gradual evolution of society into anarchy. As business is now, their only goal is profit. What kind of Profit? The underlying assumption is quantity of profit. Why aren't they going for the quality of profit? The government and corporations share one major trait: they are for growth, simply for the sake of growth. There is another thing that grows simply to grow, it's called cancer.
Problems
Crime is created from too large of a societal group.
We have a disconnect with our neighbors.
Apparently facts don't work. Why? Because humans don't like being told they are wrong, that's why we would rather believe in Fairy tales. We want to be told there's an end, but I can only promise you abrupt change. A certain amount of land can only support a certain number of people, and we have exceeded that number by relying on ancient fossil fuels. What will happen 100 years from now? Do you even care?
Feeding our selves more so we can
live longer and have more kids? Doesn't everyone see that we are caught in a
viscous loop? We are one of the only organisms that can produce its own food.
We can not keep growing more food for more people because someday soon, food
production will NEVER be able to keep up. Why aren't we sustainable? Why
isn't our economy and our agriculture based on fuels that last forever? Cheap
fuels = Cheap food right?
I guess it's just easier to fill up on foreign oil than it is to look into
alternatives. it's easier to blame your neighbor for your problems than actually
looking for working solutions. I guess it's easier to buy that nice shirt from
Gap because it was 40% off...
(From Psychology, Ideology, Utopia, and the Commons.:) The larger our societies become the more machine-like they become, and the greater the alienation of the population. The failure of social scientists to seriously question their own ideological and methodological assumptions contributes to the complex interrelationship between global ecological and individual psychological problems. Much of the literature on the tragedy of the commons focuses on saving the global commons through increased centralization and regulation, at the expense of the individual's autonomy and psychological sense of community. The city councils would probably decide to use state resources to defend the liberties of the town. It would be nice if natural competition could be channeled into statewide games or national Olympic competitions.
Spirituality
Abraham Lincoln once said, "I know that God is always on the side of right; my concern is not whether God is on our side but whether or not we are on God's side." Most who believe in God — and even many of those who see Him as being just a symbol — like to think that they are marching hand in hand with Him when promoting that for which they have passion. But Lincoln's point is well taken, for I have noticed that this group of people can be divided into two sub-groups: those who want to be on God's side, and those who want God on theirs.
What is it to call oneself a human being? Some ponder, “What is it to call our self ‘our self’?” Too much free will and we are termed egoists... Too little individualism and we are termed sheep. We want to know what is the heart or nature of every human being. We want to all subscribe to common traits. We all want to “fit in” to a certain group be it mainstream or counter-culture. Social interactions are at the heart of every action. We rely on a model of thought that has thought us to be dependent on ourselves, because all animals are part of survival of the fittest. What does it mean to be ‘fittest’? It is assumed that through competition we survive. The opposite is true, because survival requires times of trial or hardship where a certain trait survives. What is that trait based on? Cooperation? Tolerance? Competition?
Let people believe whatever they want to believe. Existentialists, agnostics, Christians, all have been anarchists. Anarchy is a philosophy on how to live your life, not a political or religious system.
“A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security”, -Einstein 1950
Solutions
Too often we find ourselves complaining about the problems in the world. We believe that social problems can not be cured. We continue to assume that humans only learn through reward and punishment. We must strive to find solutions. The people should have a vision for a better future, a better tomorrow. The most educated know this, but many are more concerned with the latest "reality TV" show. "The masses" as they are sometimes referred to by people like Edward Bernays in "engineering of consent", are quite comfortable in their SUV's. As was I. How do you explain to people the solutions without trying to sound like you are telling them the "right" way to do things? Facts? Vision?
Pamphlets. I don't know the best way. Did Edward Bernays have the right way?... brainwash, propaganda, P.R.?’ No… People need to realize these things on their own just as much as they need to become dependent human beings. Should we just hand out pamphlets and let people decide?
Vision and Purpose
If most people could ask God a question, assuming they believe in a God, would be “What is our purpose?” Others would scoff at the question because they assume purpose requires a creator. Does it? Did something design deer to eat grass? No, because rabbits do the same thing, so do lots of other animals, but their purpose is still to eat grass and provide food for the predators. Some say that our purpose is based on our human nature or our Human drive (i.e. self preservation and reproduction). We can obviously bypass both because there are couples without children and suicides everyday… not that those are related. So what is our purpose?
Quality of life… In the U.S.A. its life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. That’s what we were raised on. What about tolerance? Why weren’t we taught that tolerance and acceptance are different? Why weren’t we taught that Father doesn’t always know best? Why weren’t we taught that humans don’t just learn through reward and punishment?
A Utopian Vision. Although of course we will never have a perfect society, increased utopian speculation on the part of social scientists would enhance the possibility of seeking--and perhaps finding--more effective solutions to complex problems. Without the goal of a synergistic ecological utopia, we are likely to continue floundering, perhaps making progress on some fronts as we retreat on others. Keeping utopia in mind can prevent our settling for minor reforms when more significant change might be possible. (From: http://www.dennisfox.net/papers/commons.html#Utopian)
Sometimes I think that there really is a system keeping us down... My only hope is that we don't turn into a Orwellian 1984 like world, where fear of unseen enemies is society's only driving force.
Anarchism recognizes only the relative significance of ideas, institutions, and social conditions. It is, therefore not a fixed, self enclosed social system, but rather a definite trend in the historical development of mankind, which, in contrast with the intellectual guardianship of all clerical and governmental institutions, strives for the free unhindered unfolding of all the individual and social forces in life. Even freedom is only a relative, not an absolute concept, since it tends constantly to broaden its scope and to affect wider circles in manifold ways. For the Anarchist, freedom is not an abstract philosophical concept, but the vital concrete possibility for every human being to bring to full development all capacities and talents with which nature has endowed him, and turn them to social account. The less this natural development of man is interfered with by ecclesiastical or political guardianship, the more efficient and harmonious will human personality become, the more will it become the measure of the intellectual culture of the society in which it has grown." - Rudolf Rocker, "Anarcho-Syndicalism"