Dear Ferat,
Today, at the end of the spring rebellion camp, I heard your speech.
Yes, there is a short-term solution to the global problems. Radical but doable. Something similar to a revolution but very different. And peaceful, without expropriations (which will happen all by themselves).
The problem is the market, we agree on that. The market is goods and money. You can twist it however you want, if you want to abolish the market, then you have to make one of them disappear. But if you say the money has to go, then you are immediately declared crazy. At the camp this weekend, however, we were able to see that it works just fine without money.
Imagine if everything had been regulated by contracts there, as is the case in our society. The many helpers would have been paid and above all, imagine if the food portions had been sold by weight. Unthinkable for such an atmosphere of solidarity and cooperation. So all we have to do is create an appropriate environment in which everyone involved can volunteer. It’s not that difficult, because even in today’s society at least 40 percent of activities, mainly care work, are voluntary.
Of course, this is not my invention. Jason Hickel, Anitra Nelson and Friederike Habermann clearly state that the market has no place in a post-growth economy. Unfortunately, we have no time left for a gradual transformation and governments cannot meet our demands because they know no way out. They have not learned anything other than economics and “the invisible hand of the market”. Only a proposal for a solution on our part can help.
So what are the ulterior motives? There are efforts to cancel the debts of the global South. Although one hardly suspects it, the IMF is behind it. And one can see that, unfortunately, initiatives against inequality like Debt for climate are also being infiltrated. Apparently, two birds are to be killed with one stone. Once again, huge amounts of money are being printed to prevent banks from becoming insolvent. And the money will be sent to the South. This makes it possible to generate growth by exporting “prosperity” to the global South, which is becoming increasingly difficult in the North. This is setting the stage for a real catastrophe that no one can control.
The trick would be to motivate people to demand that ALL debt be cancelled worldwide in general. That would be a financial incentive that almost all people, and thus also the democratic majority, would agree to. After all, every family of four in Germany carries more than 120,000 euros in national debt, plus loans for houses, cars and consumer goods.
To spread this information, one would only have to activate all initiatives worldwide that, in addition to climate protection, also work against inequality.
But wouldn’t that be unfair to the creditors? And wouldn’t it also be sheer impossible to unbundle all debt relationships?
But why not just abolish all money at the same time? Then you would get everything for free. The creditor would also get everything for free, just like the billionaire or the homeless person. So, there would be no disadvantage at all. For no one. And the most important human rights, the right to shelter, food and medical care would automatically be guaranteed immediately.
We would then have the conditions under which the camp worked so well at the weekend, worldwide. Without any money.
Just compare the risk. What will happen if we don’t stop growth and the market?
We could abolish money at any time. At any point in time, within the economy, the supply of people with their daily needs is secured by supply contracts. If we make sure that these supply contracts are frozen for a certain period of time, then the supply remains stable even if there is no money flowing.
The people now go about their daily work and in return get everything for free in the shops in the evening, because no one has to be paid for the production and delivery. We get the raw materials and the energy from the earth and the sun for free. And out of gratitude for the gifts received, people go back to work the next day.
All of a sudden, advertising stops, because no one is interested in selling more, or better, giving away more than necessary. Consumption goes down immediately because then people really only take what they need to be able to live happily and no longer what the economy tells them to take in order to grow. I refer you to the comparison of gross national product and gross national happiness.
But would the economy then continue to produce if people were not forced to work by being deprived of money? Of course we would continue to work. After all, 40 per cent of the work done, mainly care work, is not paid anyway but is done anyway, mostly with a lot of love. The whole of civil society functions without payment. After all, humanity has worked for free for over 99 per cent of its history. And very successfully.
If money disappears, all the jobs in finance and insurance and all the “bullshit jobs” also disappear and we could share the work. Since we consume much less too, we would probably only have to work a maximum of two or three days a week. Who wouldn’t want to take part in that?
And by the way, the ecological footprint is reduced to one earth again.
Will there be murder and manslaughter?
There were two very important observations in the behaviour of humanity during the first lockdown. A worldwide solidarity and discipline. Despite great fear of economic and social collapse, there was neither looting nor significant hoarding. And we have seen that it is possible to shut down unnecessary sectors of the economy, such as the car industry and transport, to below 10% in a matter of days without major repercussions.
This gives us the confidence that we can also manage the abolition of the market and money.
There is more detailed explanation and a lot of FAQ on my website https://LetUsBe.One.
Best regards
Eberhard