Month: October 2011

Posted on

Review (Guest): The Conquest of Violence – The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Best Practices in Management, Civil Society, Complexity & Resilience, Consciousness & Social IQ, Democracy, Economics, Education (General), History, Insurgency & Revolution, Intelligence (Public), Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Politics, Public Administration, Religion & Politics of Religion, Strategy, Survival & Sustainment, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)
Amazon Page

Joan Valerie Bondurant

5.0 out of 5 stars Every One on Earth Should Read This Book!,August 12, 2009

This could quite well be the best book ever written about Gandhi's philosophy of conflict: satyagraha. Bondruant's book is systematic and thorough. She lived in India for years and even got a chance to interview Nehru and many of Gandhi's other colleagues about the nonviolent action they were mutually involved with, which eventually brought about Indian Independence. This book was first written either in 1953 or 1958. But this edition was revised in 1988 and includes new, important commentary and afterthought by the author.

The book is everything the other reviewer said, and more. Because the author takes such a systematic approach, I can't imagine a better introduction to Gandhi's philosophy of conflict. But the truly unique and most vitally important aspect of this book, in my opinion, is due to the author's orientation. Her field is political science. She was a researcher who held a high position at the University of California at Berkeley. And she claims that Gandhi's philosophy made a contribution to political science that no system of political theory has ever adequately dealt with before. In that sense, she says, that Gandhi's greatest contribution to the world may have been overlooked. And this, I think, is what makes this book one of the most important books of the 20th century.
Continue reading “Review (Guest): The Conquest of Violence – The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict”

Posted on

Review (Guest): American Nations – A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

4 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Civil Society, Consciousness & Social IQ, Culture, Research, Economics, Education (General), Geography & Mapping, History, Insurgency & Revolution, Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Politics, Secession & Nullification, Threats (Emerging & Perennial)
Amazon Page

Colin Woodard

Phi Beta Iota:  Elevated to four stars on recommendation of Chuck Spinney.  Synopsis of book in article for:  A Geography Lesson for the Tea Party

3.0 out of 5 stars How many sub-nations compose the USA?,October 10, 2011

Many people think of the United States as a nation with two regional or sub-national entities — the North and the South. The two sub-nations have identifiable differences in outlook. The South, a traditionally rural and agricultural region, has always been perceived to have a relatively conservative and individualistic outlook, oriented toward small government and states rights. The North, dominated by urbanized commercial centers, has always been relatively more aligned with big government agendas, a natural characteristic of densely populated areas where most people's livelihoods are derived from industry and commerce.

The geographical, political, and cultural divides between the North and South have been fairly well defined by the “Mason-Dixon Line” — approximately the line of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers . Indeed states like Kentucky and Maryland are called “Border States” as if they were on an international frontier. And of course a military frontier DID materialize between the North and South when the Southern sub-nation attempted to assert its sovereignty during the Civil War.

This great divide between the Northern and Southern sub-nations continues to this day. I've read commentaries from foreigners who explain the politics of the United States as consisting of a struggle for dominance between the Northern and Southern sub-nations. We Americans refer to this as the “Red State / Blue State” divide. So the idea of the USA consisting of two sub-nations is well established.

The question this book addresses is whether it makes sense to subdivide the United States into MORE THAN TWO subnational entities. Others have asked this question before. Joel Garreau wrote about it in 1981 in his book THE NINE NATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA. I read NINE NATIONS then and concluded that it was partially valid in an economic sense, i.e. relatively more Westerners earn their livelihoods from mining, relatively more people on the Great Plains earn their living from growing wheat and corn and livestock, and relatively more Northerners earn their living from Industry. So from that perspective there are arguably nine economic nations in North America. But Garreau did not convince me that there are more than two political sub-nations inside the USA.

Continue reading “Review (Guest): American Nations – A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America”

Posted on

Review (Guest): Treasure Islands – Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens

5 Star, Banks, Fed, Money, & Concentrated Wealth, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Complexity & Catastrophe, Congress (Failure, Reform), Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Crime (Organized, Transnational), Diplomacy, Economics, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Impeachment & Treason, Intelligence (Public), Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Threats (Emerging & Perennial)
Amazon Page

Nicholas Shaxson

Selected Editorial Comments:

“Shaxson’s story of offshore banking is nothing short of Shakespearean, a drama full of secrecy, treachery and corruption in which wealthy countries, companies and individuals collude to horde wealth in a complex global network of largely unregulated tax havens. To realize this end, they install corrupt leaders, exploit indigenous populations and, ultimately, deny both developed and developing nations of vital tax dollars. There is much here that should generate outrage…An admirable job of both arguing the consequences of offshore banking and providing a succinct history of the practice.”–Kirkus

“A blistering account of the role that tax havens play in international finance. . . brilliant.”—London Review of Books

“Far more than an exposé, Treasure Islands is a brilliantly illuminating, forensic analysis of where economic power really lies, and the shockingly corrupt way in which it behaves. If you're wondering how ordinary people ended up paying for a crisis caused by the reckless greed of the banking industry, this compellingly readable book provides the answers.”–David Wearing, School of Public Policy, UCL, London’s Global University

“The real challenge to America’s economy comes not from China – but from the Caymans, the Bahamas, and a whole hot-money archipelago loosely under the control of the City of London.  If only as a civics lesson, read this astonishing book to find out the true political constitution of the world.”– Thomas Geoghegan, author of Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?

With eye opening revelations, Treasure Islands exposes the culprits and its victims, and shows how:

*Over half of world trade is routed through tax havens

*The rampant practices that precipitated the latest financial crisis can be traced back to Wall Street’s offshoring practices

*For every dollar of aid we send to developing countries, ten dollars leave again by the backdoor

Continue reading “Review (Guest): Treasure Islands – Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens”

Posted on

Gordon Cook: On the State of Economics – An Exchange Dedicated to #OWS and Society Achieving a Broader Understanding

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, Blog Wisdom, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy
Gordon Cook

Here is the final paragraph from an essay by John Kay titled

The Map is Not the Territory: An Essay on the State of Economics

The preposterous claim that deviations from market efficiency were not only irrelevant to the recent crisis but could never be relevant is the product of an environment in which deduction has driven out induction and ideology has taken over from observation.  The belief that models are not just useful tools but also are capable of yielding comprehensive and universal descriptions of the world has blinded its proponents to realities that have been staring them in the face.  That blindness was an element in our present crisis, and conditions our still ineffectual responses.  Economists – in government agencies as well as universities – were obsessively playing Grand Theft Auto while the world around them was falling apart.

to which I responded

What we are up against

A refreshing reminder of the staid mechanistic approach of so-called market-efficient economics. Good for the status quo as used to explain to the world WHY the Masters of the universe are in charge. I'm not sure how many of the deans of business schools and Harvard economics professors are prime advocates. But I imagine a substantial amount remembering the interviews that Ferguson did in the documentary Inside Job. They get very well rewarded for being apologists for the current system.

But I would like to take off from this point and try 500,000 foot summary of some of the issues. I am not sure how many people really understand the nature and the reasons for our problems I have a stack of books on my porch more than 3 feet high that I've read since 2008 attempting to grasp it. It is only with the addition of the latest by Nicholas Shaxson called Treasure Islands Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens that I feel I have made really significant progress.

Whether it is possible for the occupy movements to create among their followers and the wider public at large an understanding of the situation, I'm not sure. But I suspect that short of violent revolution which has never been a positive accomplishment–the only way forward is to formulate this broader understanding.

Continue reading “Gordon Cook: On the State of Economics – An Exchange Dedicated to #OWS and Society Achieving a Broader Understanding”

Posted on

Tom Atlee: #OWS Emerging Patterns & Suggestions

Uncategorized
Tom Atlee

#Occupy Together – emerging patterns and suggestions

I'm beginning to sense a progression of developments that may productively unfold in, through, and because of the Occupy Together movement. It is still somewhat vague, but something like it is definitely in the works. All of it is happening both as a sequence and simultaneously.

1. Share stories, creations, and demonstrations of frustration and outrage that
.    a. speak to and rouse an increasing majority of ordinary people
.    b. challenge the institutional sources of that frustration
.   – and while we do it, create occupation communities that reflect our values
.   and experiment with new, better ways of being together.
2. Encourage, stimulate, provoke, catalyze and convene expanding conversations
.   about (1) and every subsequent step, in every sector, nook, and mind in society.
3. Consciously reach out to more and more people unlike ourselves –
.   the rest of the 99% – creatively, powerfully, and lovingly expanding toward 100%
.   inclusivity. Welcome people into a new world of possibility.
4. Learn about and explore dreams and alternatives – about new economics, politics,
.   governance, education, health care, community, and all the rest…  Gain real
.   certainty that “another world is possible.”
5. Develop and articulate a powerful shared vision of the society we want.
6. In place of demands, clarify two things and organize to make them happen:
.    a. What millions of ordinary people can do to further the vision.
.    b. What governments and institutions must do, not only to further the vision,
.        but to continue functioning at all, in the face
.        of the rising forces for justice, sustainability, meaning and joy.
7. And while we do all this, share, learn from experience, and use all forms
.   of diversity, skill, passion, technology and struggle creatively.

Below are some of the ideas and images that make me feel something like this is beginning to unfold. I find all of them important, both in themselves and as signs of the larger societal motion (“movement”), the larger awakening that seems to be happening here.

See various links and full texts including “Bringing the Salt March [Gandhi in India] to Wall Street.”

Oh, and don't miss the video “Marine Defends Occupy Wall Street” that's included below. I can't help wondering what its many impacts will be.

Coheartedly,
Tom

Posted on

Chuck Spinney: Evolution in the USA, Israel as Leech

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government
Chuck Spinney

Evolution in the USA

Below is a very interesting essay analyzing the evolution of culture, economics, and politics in United States.  Other authors have done similar types of analyses, but this one has some interesting twists.  It is a synopsis of a book just written by the author that blends together aspects of cultural, geographic and even religious anthropology, with history, politics, and political economy in a way that illustrates obvious synthetic potential of using GIS (computerized Geographic Information Systems) in efforts to evolve our understanding of history, political economy, anthropology and patterns of cultural evolution in general.  The author ends on a shallow political note, laying out a counter-Tea Party strategy, but don't let that crassness turn you off from the larger intellectual possibilities implicit in this kind of work.

A Geography Lesson for the Tea Party

Click on Image to Enlarge

 

Even as the movement’s grip tightens on the GOP, its influence is melting away across vast swaths of America, thanks to centuries-old regional traditions that few of us understand.

By Colin Woodard, Washington Monthly,November/December 2011

Read full article (five screens).

See: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

See Also: Nine Nations of North America

And a second contribution today:

United States needs to reevaluate its assistance to Israel

Walter Pincus

Washington Post, 17 October 2011

Posted on

Venessa Miemis: #OWS Catalyzing a Cooperatively-Owned Autonomous Internet and Communications Infrastructure

Autonomous Internet
Venessa Miemis

Occupy Wall Street Catalyzing a Cooperatively Owned Communications Infrastructure?

What would a cooperatively owned and operated communications infrastructure look like? One that used peer-to-peer technologies to create a global network which is immune to censorship and resistant to breakdown? It appears The Free Network Foundationis building one.

I noticed a few people bouncing this idea around on the Next Net google group earlier in the year, and now they seem to be moving forward quickly, with Occupy Wall Street a convenient catalyzing event to get things shipped.

Their vision is to create a global communications infrastructure that is owned and operated by participants in the network, rather than by for-profit network operators.

They currently have a prototype FreedomTower up and running at Occupy Austin, with a second one set up in Liberty Park at Occupy Wall Street in NYC. The towers are providing internet access to the occupiers, and will be used to establish an occupation-to-occupation Virtual Private Network.

For the more technically inclined, the foundation has published a bill of materials and how-to. The total cost of a tower comes in at $1500. The tower consists of an uninterruptible power supply, two wimax modems, a nettop computer, a network switch, three 2.4GHz sector antennas, and three 5GHz sector antennas. The computer runs software for routing and terminating VPN tunnelling.

If you’d like to contribute to this effort, visit freenetworkfoundation.org. There you can find a link to donate, and contact information if you wish to participate. The FNF has put the call out for occupiers everywhere to raise funds, read up, and get to work building resilient communications infrastructure for the movement.

Phi Beta Iota:  Communications and money are  the first areas where emergent democracy and capitalism will make their mark–free communications (resistance zero) and social commerce richly endowed with ethics.

See Also:

Autonomous Internet (115)

2007 Open Everything: We Won, Let’s Self-Govern

Review: The Innovator’s Manifesto – Deliberate Disruption for Transformational Growth