Building the Commons as an Antidote to the Predatory Market Economy

[marmar]

Building the Commons as an Antidote to the Predatory Market Economy

Wednesday, 04 September 2013 00:00
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Truthout | Opinion


These are times of radical change. We are in the midst of an evolution. As David Bollier writes, "We are poised between an old world that no longer works and a new one struggling to be born. Surrounded by centralized hierarchies on the one hand and predatory markets on the other, people around the world are searching for alternatives."

The old world is one of concentrated economic power that hoards wealth; that creates corrupted and hierarchical governance to serve and further concentrate wealth through exploitation of people and the planet. People are experiencing the ravages of this global neoliberal economy in which the market reigns supreme and everything is a profit center, no matter the human and environmental costs.

We are at a crossroads in the global economic order. If not stopped, the two massive "trade" agreements under negotiation at present, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (known as TAFTA), will cement this globalized neoliberal market economy through greater deregulation, profit protection and an extra-judicial trade tribunal in which corporations can sue sovereign nations if their laws interfere with profits.

There is another way. We've reached a tipping point in awareness of the effects of the current global economy that has erupted in a worldwide revolt as we can see in the Occupy, Arab Spring, Idle No More and Indignado movements. People are searching for alternative ways of structuring the economy and society that are empowering and more just and sustainable. Part of this work includes understanding and building the "commons," which is the opposite of the predatory market economy. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18582-building-the-commons-as-an-antidote-to-the-predatory-market-economy

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1. Where there is no vision

the people perish. Which is what's about to happen to us, barring some unforeseen awakening.