Common Wealth Questions

Questions can be more important for the future than answers. The politicians are giving plenty of answers in the current British election campaign, but what are the key burning questions to address? As the old joke goes, 'Technology is the answer, but what was the question?' By living into the questions, answers can emerge organically. This blog aims to clarify some keyCommon Wealth questions that will then be addressed in subsequent blogs.

When the failing banks were bailed out in 2007-8, people did not realise that 'our' government would then allow the remaining bankers to claim ever larger bonuses whilst raising taxes, and cutting public services. This prompted questions such as, 'To what extent do we have a captive state, run largely for the benefit of the banks and large corporations? How can we reclaim our democracy from the market state? Reclaim our common wealth?'

These questions also led to writing the book, Common Wealth, published in January 2010, and people suggesting a blog that would offer space for dialogue about rebalancing society and reclaiming common wealth through pushing back the market.

The stakes are high. We can either wake up and work through government, business and civil society to set boundaries on predatory, greedy banks such as Goldman Sachs, or we can continue to allow the financial markets free rein as a brutal oligarchy draining society of wealth. The US SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, has just charged the world's biggest investment bank, Goldman Sachs, with fraud. When Matt Taibbi called Goldman Sachs, ' a vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity' draining wealth like blood, he provoked a hot debate. Taibbi was pointing towards the crime the SEC alleges Goldman had committed. The hedge fund financier, John Paulson paid Goldman $14mn for devising a synthetic derivative package that was linked to risky US sub prime mortgages, to then use in order to bet against the mortgage market. Whilst Goldman would then sell the package to suckers as a good bet, such as Britain's RBS bank which lost over $700 mn, the vulture Paulson was meanwhile betting it would short, ie go down. This was something Goldman did not tell its clients. Goldman sees itself, not as a swindler, but as CEO LLoyd Blankfein, said, as 'Doing God's work'. This is an example of one of the institutions that have been syphoning off our common wealth over the last thirty years.

This blog is inspired by the Digger, Gerard Winstanley, who wrote in 1649 that, 'The earth shall become a common treasury to all, as it was first made and given to the sons of men.' We have enough resources, if we can find equitable ways of sharing them. Land, for example, is a common resource that has been turned into a commodity to be bought and sold on the market. The result is poverty, inequality and market failure from the lack of affordable homes. One solution is to treat land as a shared resource, a commons, and put it into community land trusts, as people are now doing for affordable land access and public benefits. Capital can also be seen as a commons. It is socially created and can be held trust for both public benefit and human initiative

Writing the book Common Wealth was sparked by people asking me to help facilitate their most desirable future for their community, company or organization - and how to realise this. People, whether in the Post Office, my home town of Stroud, or in war torn former Yugoslavia, kept coming up with these strikingly similar questions:

* How are we caring for the earth and our environment?

* How are we building a more cooperative and efficient economy that works for all?

* How are we building a more peaceful, democratic, just and equitable society?

* How are we enabling all human beings to realise their creative, social and human potential?

When discussing the underpinning values that informed each question, the values of sustainability, mutuality or fraternity, equality and freedom emerged. So the key question became, 'How can we build a more equal, free, mutual and sustainable society?'

The values of freedom, mutuality and equality first came into prominence during the French Revolution of 1789. They have moved people ever since as guiding lights for society. These values can be contradictory when applied together. However, equality is 'at home' in our social and political life, in the political system-we are all equal before the law and have equal rights.Fraternity ( mutuality, co-operation) is at home in the economy, where a whole web of people working collaboratively produces goods and services that consumers need. The division of labour is based on mutual help, on interdependence, ideally on collaboration rather than win/lose competition motivated by greed. Freedom is more at home in cultural life, where individuals can find meaning, express themselves through art, maintain their health, realise their potential through education and develop knowledge and skills.

So the values of mutuality, equality and freedom guide the development of the three 'spaces' of politics, business and culture in a tripolar or threefold society. When 'the market' dominates society, there is a market state and a corporate mono culture. Asserting the autonomy of politics and culture, of government and civil society will rebalance society by pushing back the market.

This rebalancing was what Yukio Hatoyama, the new Prime Minister of Japan, wanted in, ' ANew Path for Japan', in 2009.' He asked, ' How can we put an end to unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism, that are void of morals or moderation, in order to protect the finances and livelihoods of our citizens? That is the issue we are now facing. In these times, we must return to the idea of fraternity - as in the French slogan 'liberte, egalite, fraternite."

So, we are at a turning point, a historic open moment where there is an opportunity to rebalance society through the guiding values of freedom, equality, mutuality and sustainability; to set boundaries between business, government and civil society by pushing back the market from politics and culture. The purpose of this Common Wealth blog is to discuss the key issues that need addressing , so that we can make the changes needed. I hope that readers will find this helps make more sense of what is happening, engage in dialogue and find practical openings for action.

The next blog will evaluate the British election campaign and ask the extent to which the different parties are addressing the challenge of rebalancing society- and responding to the groundswell of people wanting a more equal and just society.