As summarized by Jeff Gates in The Ownership Solution: 2
In a recent speech sponsored by the World Trade Center in Chicago, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan commented on the globalization of the world economy and challenged the common view that we are living in prosperous times. He pointed out that 80% of world trade flows among 12 countries. Less than 5% of world trade involves Africa; and 100 countries are worse off today than they were 15 years ago.
The "Human Development Report, 1996" by the United Nations Development Program, reported that "the assets of 358 billionaires exceed the combined annual incomes of the countries with 45% of the world's people." More than 1 billion people saw their per capita income decline between 1980 and 1993. The UNDP summarized, "Development that perpetuates today's inequalities is neither sustainable nor worth sustaining."3
We are living in potentially very volatile times. Behind the statistics of the income gap are horrific social and human realities. Despite claims to the contrary, we don't live in a dream economy that is the victory of capitalism. American capitalism has returned to the "rich-get-richer legacy of turn-of-the-century primitive capitalism...and...this trend...is non-sustainable".4
This is also a time of tremendous concentration of wealth and power, reflected in megamergers and the incredible incomes of individual businessmen. Critical decisionmaking occurs farther and farther away from the lives and influence of the overwhelming majority of the world's people. These conditions will inevitably give rise to calls for a new order to end the misery and oppression of the growing majority. And some of the calls will take hold and move masses of people to action.
This is a period of great transition. Not only is big change possible, it is required. The question is how long the transition will take and what will be the character of its various stages. The answers depend upon what we do intellectually, practically, and organizationally.
We are at the early stages of a major transition in our economy that will result in a truly new paradigm of development. It will take several decades. Right now we must consciously and patiently focus on the essential incremental moves forward. Such a moment requires explanation and a description of why the old order is no longer adequate, as well as an outline of the general features and terms of the new framework.
This paper is written to:
This paper advances the structure of a new approach with a few examples as illustration. Each section raises complicated issues that deserve much deeper and longer treatment. It is written to encourage critical thinking and debate. As good as those of us are in this reading audience, and as hard as we work, we must acknowledge that negative factors are growing faster than positive ones in our society.
The strategy is explored in the context of a web of values, pressures, and possibilities rooted in the experience of the 1960s and the social movements for civil and human rights, participatory democracy, and global justice. The ideas in this paper emerge from the experiences, values, and reflections of activists, organizers, developers, intellectuals, and leaders over the last 30 years. These men and women typically took inspiration from that tumultuous decade and applied it to a very specific struggle around a very specific situation--thinking globally but acting locally. But now those lessons must be threaded into a more complex tapestry consistent with the angry ambition to change the world, rather than finding a haven for mere survival.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce several key and contested strategic concepts to provoke debate and discussion, and finally to help bring alignment among those who agree.
The key concepts.
1. A significant section of the business community has turned to speculative and short-term investment, which has led to expanding destruction of the world's productive capacity. This qualitative change in the forces of production is being driven, in part, by new information and electronic technology. This is what we call the Low Road. We now have the space and need for a High Road vision of development. The High Road seeks the best use of human and material resources and is made possible by values that affirm the broadest distribution of wealth and human development as an objective of the economy. The safety and development of all people is the realistic objective of this strategy.
2. The question of who guides and drives the production and control of wealth as well as its redistribution is central to this strategy. There must be a fundamental change in the social relations of production and in those responsible for the creation and control of wealth and developing our productive capacity. The strategy demands that the labor and community social movements transcend the politics of opposition and the limits of advocating only redistribution of wealth. Instead they must take responsibility for the creation of wealth, the starting of companies and the creation of jobs, welcoming the responsibility for good management, productivity, and efficiency as well as justice. We recognize the positive aspects of the market and use them, just as we see and oppose its negative aspects.
3. The High Road strategy requires recognizing and working with all the stakeholders in the company, the community, and the economy. We embrace sections of the business community as tactical and strategic allies even as we identify and oppose those in the business community that degrade our communities and the human condition. In this context we recognize an important distinction between those who seek a fair return through increasing our productive capacity and those who seek it through speculation.
4. We reject the "command" as well as the "neo-liberal" or "free-market" approaches to the economy and government. We are committed to economic democracy and an expanded level of public participation in all aspects of society, and in all aspects of the economy. This is essential for the development of people as well as the success of our initiatives. It must take place in the firm and community, as well as in government and civil society. The High Road strategy also requires adoption and development of the strategy in local, state, and federal government. We must contend for the use of all the power of the state to take the High Road strategy of development.
5. We seek the mutual and equal development of all countries and communities. We see the absolute necessity of viewing our work and responsibilities in the context of the international economy.
6. Our strategy requires four organizational components at the community level:
Finally, this paper hopes to contribute to the gathering of a much larger and diverse group than we have seen in a while to join in common work towards a more clearly defined common objective. In his provocative essay, "Where Do We Go From Here?" the Rev. Martin Luther King wrote,
"When a new dawn reveals a landscape dotted with obstacles, the time has come for sober reflection, for assessment of our methods and for anticipating pitfalls. Stumbling and groping through the wilderness finally must be replaced by a planned, organized, and orderly march."
That must also be our task at this moment in history.