simpol-08-spring

The Simultaneous Policy News • Spring 2008

ISPO • PO Box 26547 • London • SE3 7YT www.simpol.org

It’s Simpol !

Caroline Lucas, MEP with Councillors Ian Davey and Ben Duncan signing the pledge in Brighton

More Green Party Support for SimPol!Also in this issue

Conversations with Dog SimPol Strategic Plan Progress Report Rant of the MonthNew Policy Section!

photo: Jim Holden

Contents Editorial p. 3

Campaigning for Simpol

UK Adopters' Groups Update p. 3

Simpol around the world

Globalisation Conference in India p. 4

New Columns

Rant of the Month p. 5 Conversations with Dog p. 7

Policy section

Turning Weapons into windmills- policy section p. 1

Policy Development - So You Want to Change the World?Mike Brady's personal account- policy section p.4

Policy Suggestions- policy section p. 5

The Simultaneous Policy

It’s Simpol !

ISPO • PO Box 26547 • London • SE3 7YT www.simpol.org

International Simultaneous Policy Organisation

Simpol promotes the Simultaneous Policy, which aims to deliver social justice around the world, resolve global problems like environmental destruction and regulate the economic power of international capital for the good of all. Simpol seeks solutions to problems that individual national governments cannot resolve by acting alone. This is because the problems transcend national boundaries, and because the global competitive system means that any government that acted alone to try and resolve such problems could effectively make its country uncompetitive.

Simpol aims to achieve these objectives by encouraging ordinary people around the world to oblige their political representatives and governments to move toward coordinated international resolution of global issues for the good of all. This is because it is only by countries all agreeing to implement changes at the same time that problems no individual government dares tackle alone can be resolved in a satisfactory way. Simultaneous implementation of such policies would ensure that no country became uncompetitive as a result of pursuing policies that were right for the planet and which embodied people’s higher aspirations.

All you need to do is sign up as a Simultaneous Policy Adopter which costs you nothing. By so doing you agree in principle to vote at elections for any candidate, within reason, who has signed a pledge to implement the Simultaneous Policy alongside other governments. Alternatively, if you have a party preference, your Adoption signifies you will encourage your preferred party to make this pledge. This is the simple mechanism Adopters use to advance their cause.

Simpol’s approach is peaceful, open, and democratic. If you Adopt you will have the opportunity to contribute to the formation of specific policies that answer global problems and join with others in using your vote in a new and effective way to drive the politicians of all parties to implement these policies.

How do you want the world to be?

An occasional newsletter published by Simpol-UK (www.simpol.org.uk) for the

INTERNATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS POLICY ORGANISATION (ISPO)[email protected]

Edited by: Diana Trimble ([email protected]) Production: Diana Trimble

Cover photo: Wayne & Jody of the Brighton ~Adopters group pictured at the Climate Camp march (Barnaby Flynn)

Meeting up in Cyberspacewww.myspace.com/simpoluk; http://simpol.blogspot.com; Second Life: SP Adopters' hang out, Tangun.

The Simultaneous Policy

The Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign arises from the book by John Bunzl, published in 2001.

Six years later, the campaign is a reality in a growing number of countries and already has support from elected politicians in Australian, the UK and the European Parliament.

From reviews of the first edition:

"It’s ambitious and provocative. Can it work? Certainly worth a

serious try." Noam Chomsky

"The really big issues today now cross national frontiers and individual governments cannot cope with them in isolation." Sir Richard Body Former Conservative Member of Parliament, UK

The Simultaneous Policy by John Bunzl is available from ISPO for £9.95 plus P&P or order from the website www.simpol.org.uk

The

SimultaneousPolicy

John M Bunzl

An Insider's Guide to SavingHumanity and the Planet

Foreword by Diana Schumacher

Editorial/UK MPs 3

The Simultaneous Policy www.simpol.org

With this issue, we are premiering the division of the Newsletter into two distinct sections, one of which will be entirely devoted to policy - its conceptualisation and development within the SimPol framework. The rest of It's Simpol! will continue to feature contributions from readers, Adopters and staffers as before. Our cover story, below, focuses on some recent converts to

our cause, upping the number of MPs and candidates that see the sense of SimPol. Non-human advocates get a humorous look in with our new column Conversations with Dog; I report on my fantastic trip to India to speak at a Globalisation conference and one of our Adopters, monetary reformer Eric Encina, lets off some steam in the Rant of the Month! - Ed.

Editorial

UK SimPol Adopters Groups Update!

Although SimPol is an international organisation by definition, its ultimate success will depend on the work being done by local groups around the world. Our most active UK groups are in Brighton and Cambridge and they’ve been quite busy of late!

The biggest news for the Brighton area is the increasing support received from local politicians, as indicated by our front cover shot! Caroline Lucas, MEP has actually been a signatory of the pledge since 2004, and as you can see, she has now been joined by Green Party parliamentary candidate for Hove, North Laine Councillor Ian Davey, and Queen’s Park Councillor Ben Duncan, the candidate for Kemptown. As Ian Davey put it, “Global problems that affect us all require global solutions that involve us all. Only by working together will be able to identify and implement the policies necessary to create a fairer world – a world based on sound foundations of social and ecological justice and respect for all life.” We couldn’t have expressed it better ourselves! This story was carried in the Green News section of the local Brighton paper, The Argus, whose editor Sarah Lewis, also gave SimPol some nice coverage last October. Thanks Argus! http://www.theargus.co.uk/

Here are a few words from Barnaby Flynn, Brighton SimPol Coordinator:“The Brighton SimPol Adopters group has been growing steadily and achieving a lot. There are a core group attending meetings who have become good friends and in total, there are now around 300 Adopters in the Brighton area. We’re excited to be having more local politicians signing up and are arranging meetings with other local MP candidates to encourage them to sign the SimPol Pledge too. We hold monthly meetings every 3rd Thursday of the month at the Brighton Peace and Environment Centre (opposite the train station) at 7.30 pm. Please come along everybody! The street stall continues to pop up at various areas around Brighton and greater Sussex so keep your eyes peeled and say hey if you see us. We’re happy to announce that we’ve recently become strategic partners with Brighton Climate Change. Brighton SimPol have become members of the new City Climate Change Coalition and are contributing toward directing the coalition. We’ve also attended events and meetings of local peace, social, and environmental groups with a view to soliciting their support. Some of us have formed a “Marching the Blues” SimPol band playing songs such as “Let’s work together” and “There’s a man going ‘round taking names” at marches and demonstrations including the Climate Change (December, 07) continued overleaf

4 SimPol UK Adopters Groups Updates/ Simpol at Globalisation Conference in India


Simpol represented at International Globalisation Conference in Indiaby Diana Trimble

and Stop the War (March, 08) demos in London. There’s so much musical talent in Brighton that we’ve decided to organise an Adopters benefit gig for the Autumn. We want local Adopters to play and DJ. Get in touch if you’ve got performing talents to offer and want to be part of it!”

If you want support setting up a local group please let Barnaby know. He can even hold a street stall with or without music, in your very own [email protected] 07799603042

Meanwhile, Mike Brady, Coordinator for Cambridge tells us that: "Our previous MP, Anne Campbell, was the first in the UK to sign the pledge to implement SP, which was great news. Unfortunately she didn't hold the seat in the 2005 election and her successor has so far not been persuaded. We've also approached the prospective candidates and I was invited to meet with the prospective Labour candidate and we discussed SP for 20 minutes. Soon after, he sent the pledge form to Simpol UK." The candidate, Daniel Zeichner, said on his pledge form: "The world is changing rapidly, and progressive politics must not be limited by out-dated national boundaries. With new ways to communicate easily, ideas rather than geography will be the key. I want to work with like-minded people to challenge inequality, prejudice and ignorance, wherever it occurs. We are all in this together, and must work together to meet the challenge ahead."

Mike has also found that public meetings organised by Cambridge Adopters have provided inspiration for developing policy ideas. You can read more about this in the Policy Section.

On March 9-10th I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to represent Simpol at an International conference with the theme “Globalisation, Development, Public Policy and Management: Emerging Issues” hosted by the Department of Management Studies at Kannur University. John Bunzl was ini-tially meant to deliver the Keynote Address but kindly asked me to be his last-minute replacement when it turned out that he was unable to go due to other work commitments. Dr. P.T. Raveendran, Professor & Head of School of Commerce and Management Studies issued me a very gracious invitation to come and speak in John’s stead and I was off and away. The conference was focused on the need to “rethink and redefine some of our un-derstandings of and approaches to a wide variety of issues” raised by globalisation. As stated in the introductory materials:

“We today speak of globalisation that has brought the world together with its immense power of technology of communication and information. However this process has not brought in homogenisation. On the contrary, it has made some of our assumptions of uni-versality a matter to be subjected to serious critical inquiry. Although the world appears to be smaller and easily comprehensible, the basic issues of development, public policy and management have become increasingly complex and multi-dimensional across societ-ies. The obvious shift, therefore, in the process of understanding ‘reality’ is a shift from univer-sal, uni-dimensional, uni-disciplinary perspec-tive to a plural, multi-dimensional and multi disciplinary perspective.” continued on p 8

Rant of the Month! 5


What makes you really mad? What do you find baffling and strange about the way the world works today? What makes you want to hit the CAPS LOCK key and type everything in boldface? We invite all Adopters to send us their most unexpurgated opinions and we’ll select the best examples for publica-tion as the….

RANT OF THE MONTH!Disclaimer: The views in this column do not necessarily represent those of the Simpol organisation.

MIND-BOGGLING by Eric V. Encina Reportedly, TRILLIONS of dollars have been wiped off markets worldwide already this year, and increasing more and more all over the world, and worries about a deepening US recession are helping to extend what has become a GLOBAL SLUMP in shares. SPECIFIC AND IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: 1. WHO HAS OR WHO HAVE WIPED OFF TRIL-LIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THE STOCK MAR-KETS? Ghosts? 2. How is it wiped off? Or how have trillions of dollars been wiped off? Was it wiped off at the computer screen just like that? by who? Or has it been wiped off at the banks? WHO ARE THE OWNERS OF THE TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT HAVE BEEN WIPED OFF? 3. Where has this trillions of dollars gone AFTER being wiped off? to Individuals? gov-ernments? Federal Reserve banks? IMF? WB? or simply just got back to bankers, FINAN-CIERS OR SPECULATORS? To those financiers WHO MIGHT PRETEND TO BE UNAWARE? IMF HAS ADMITTED: "The situation is SERI-OUS!" or IMF IS NOT SERIOUS!But what are these global mega-bankers doing? Aren't they the cause of the crisis? Are they not pressured to shift the orthodox economic system to an alternative one? STUPID REALLY! WHY IMF AND WB CAN'T SEE

THE EVIDENCE OF THE VERY ROOT-CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM? GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: The travel abroad of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to Switzerland and Dubai for state visits and for investments, etc. IS REPEATEDLY USELESS AND FUTILE under the present debt money system. LET THE SYSTEM OF FINANCE COLLAPSE to have us a new one. A NEW ONE FOR THE WORSE OR FOR THE BETTER? - that is the question!

THERE IS ONE MAJOR TARGET OF BLAME: the present banking system. The second-ary causes are actually the EFFECTS of the system. What else? Who else? Could we blame GOD because of the sys-tem? SO LONG AS WE ARE UNDER THE MAGIC SPELL OF THE IDIOCY OF THE MONEY SYS-TEM, WE CAN'T BE OUT OF HELL. THE ONLY WAY OUT FROM DEBT IS DEATH! Phillipines? No hope here! THERE IS A LAST HOPE - last chance - Debt free money creation--the simple correction of money system. WE ARE DOOMED. Bankers themselves and the banking/financial employees, treasury, stock market analysts, finance ministers or

6 Rant of the Month


officials, economists, policy makers, presi-dents, congressmen, senators, MPs, gover-nors, mayors, government employees, ac-countants, finance officers, budget officials, FINANCIAL CASHIERS, TAX COLLECTORS AND OFFICIALS, BUSINESSMEN & WOMEN,REAL ESTATE BROKERS AND AGENTS, social sci-entists, EVEN UN AND INTERNATIONAL OF-FICIALS, some INTERNATIONAL BANKERS' AND CENTRAL BANKS' OFFICIALS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, statisticians, medical profession-als and psychologists, mediamen, report-ers, writers, journalists, educators, lawyers, professors and bigwig professionals with different boasting titles, teachers, and even university students, multinational company employees, ORGANIZATONS OF MANY SORTS, EVEN the ROMAN CATHOLIC POPES, CARDI-NALS, BISHOPS, PRIESTS (with very few ex-ceptions) pastors, ministers and God's believ-ers, EVEN THOSE WHO CLAIMED TO BE OR ARE KNOWN TO BE PROPHETS OF GOD or VISION-ARIES, RICH AND THE POOR, etc-- bla-bla - HAVE VIRTUALLY NO WORKING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW MONEY IS CREATED AND WHAT MONEY SYSTEM IS! THEY ARE EITHER PROTEC-TORS OR STUPID IDIOTS. WHEN OPPORTUNITY ALLOWS THEM OR WHEN THEY ARE CHALLENGED, THEY DO NOT EVEN CAST A GLANCE AT WHY MONEY IS CREATED AS A DEBT. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN REASONS, DEFENCES, ALIBIS AND REBUTTALS IN DEFENCE OF THE SYSTEM EVEN THOUGH THEY TOO ARE SUFFERING FROM THE SYSTEM. THEY SAY THERE IS HOPE. Yes, there is hope only for those who control money and allocate only for themselves. THERE IS HOPE but mostly false hopes under the system. SOME MIGHT HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT IS GOING ON BUT BECAUSE OF PERSONAL INTER-EST, OR GREED AND AVARICE OF THEIR OWN, PRETEND TO BE UNAWARE AND ALAS, HAVE BECOME CO-CONSPIRATORS AND IN COLLU-SION TO PERPETUATE THE DEBT MONEY SYS-TEM AND KEEP THE GLOBAL POPULATION IN THE BONDAGE OF DEBT AND POVERTY, NOT ONLY THAT, IN THE STATE OF HUNGER AND STARVATION OF THE INNOCENT PEOPLES.

THESE PEOPLES ARE IN ONE WAY OR ANOTH-ER WORKING IN DEFENCE OF THE BANKING SYSTEM -- that causes recession, depression and never-ending crisis till the end of the world. THE SIMPLE SYNTHETIC PAPER MONEY NOTES CAUSES US TO PANIC. SIMPLE; LET US CREATE AND PRINT THE MONEY DEBT FREE AND DISTRIBUTE TO ALL HUMANITY AND I AM SURE there would be no recession and depression in this age of global plenty. NO FUNNY MONEY. WHAT IS DAMNED FUNNY IS THE IMF AND WB FUNNY MONEY LOANS that is not money at all but deadly effects of their banking sys-tem. Who is going to Hell or who is going to Heaven if ever there is one!**************************************************** Eric V. Encina is a Monetary Reformer based in the PhilippinesYou can contact him at [email protected]

New book now available!John Bunzl, founder of the Simultaneous Policy, has now made available, online and free of charge his new book People-Centred Global Governance – Mak-ing it Happen! Just go to the global site at www.simpol.org and click on Books and Resources. To pur-chase hard copies directly from ISPO, payment can be made either by cheque or via PayPal. On receipt of payment we will mail you the book immediately upon receipt. Please note that any profits from book sales go to funding the SP campaign.

Prices per copy including postage and packing: UK £12.50 USA $25 EU €23 CH Sfr. 36 AUS A$38 Denmark Dkr. 170 Sweden Skr. 210 Canada C$32 Japan Yen 2200 NZ NZ$46. For prices in other currencies or for multiple copies, please contact [email protected]

Cheques in the appropriate currency should be made payable to “ISPO” and sent to: ISPO, P.O.Box 26547, London SE3 7YT, UK. Payment can also be made via http://paypal.com to [email protected]. If ordering/paying via PayPal, please be sure to include your name and postal address.

Conversations with Dog 7


Duncan Hollis, our new UK National Coordinator and member of the Brighton Adopters Group has been receiving inspiration from a most unusual source - the often overlooked world of canine wisdom. In this issue we will begin presenting highlights of some of these conversations, with dog.**********************************************Simpol – Simpol, come on Boy.

In a flash, Simpol, a short haired mongrel appears from a cluster of rocks and races up the hillside to be beside his master.

Are we alone now?

The dog issues a slow nod.

What’s on your mind Duncan?I’m worried! About what?I just can’t seem to get my head round people and how they operate –

what drives them – what keeps them pegged down –why they don’t think like me and you What you mean why they don’t go around sniffing each others balls? Yeh that, but also why they don’t see what I can see. You know the answer to that one already Remind me again Well it strikes me as a huge irony that while humans are on top of the food chain that so many of you wander around completely in fear. Fear of everything around you, fear of each other, fear of death and fear of your inner self. I know the feeling because as a young pup I too used to live in fear. Fear of the alleycats, fear of the bath, fear of my own shadow, I used to even be afraid of the postman – I know it sounds crazy, but I was.My whole existence was about living with my head down so I wouldn’t have to confront any of my fears - that was until I bumped into a very wise schnauzer called Nelson that told me that I had nothing to fear but fear itself – He told me of a way of life that felt so magical and free, he said that every day I could hold my head high and see the glory of life instead of the gore, the brightness instead of the dark – He said it was my choice how I dealt with all my fears And what happened then? I never looked back – I dropped all my fears right there and then started to live my life as a free dog. But how do I get all the people in the world to drop all their fears? Do just what you are doing right now – show them a life without fear and inspire them to want to follow. Simpol, I’ve got a feeling that one day your name is going to be on the lips of every person on the planet.....(to be continued)Come on Duncan, lets go home!

If you have any questions you'd like to have put to Simpol, you can write to him, care of Duncan, at [email protected]

8 Simpol at Globalisation Conference in India


In light of that aim, the conference brought together a quite diverse selection of schol-ars, researchers, business people and, well, me – speaking from the viewpoint of an activist.

It was my first trip to India and I fell in love with the country the moment I stepped off the plane! One thing that really impressed me was the obvious connection that the peo-ple have to their natural surroundings, even in urban areas. The strength of family and local community bonds was also on display everywhere I looked. I was very grateful that I had a few days before the conference started in which to experience some of the sights and sounds of India, read the local newspapers and study the abstracts for the presentations, as this ended up hugely influ-encing what I wrote. In fact, I completely dumped the piece I had been working on and instead came up with a speech that was far more contextualised and relevant to the place and time in which I found myself. The main theme concerned globalisation in its most positive form as an opportunity for humanity to see itself as one unified people on one finite planet.

I also spoke of my hope that the inevitable cul-tural influences spread by globalisation would not get stuck in a one-way flow with consumer-ism and Western pop culture being adopted in India, but rather that the West would also learn from the East, particularly with regards to re-spect for ancient wisdoms and traditions. I also talked of the need for a paradigm shift in hu-man thought which segued into my explanation of SimPol as a tool to bring this new paradigm of cooperation into being. Perhaps the penulti-mate paragraph of my speech best sums up my thoughts: “If the current economic powers can learn to listen to the wisdom of those that are emerging, if the post-moderns can absorb the teachings of the ancients, if the rich can hear the cries of the poor, if new ideas about business, trade, policy and development can be allowed to influ-ence and change the old ones, if the culture of the West can recognise the wisdom of the rest of the world, then truly we may look forward to witnessing the birth of a new paradigm in which cooperation replaces destructive competition, with prosperity and dignity for all.”This was widely quoted in the Indian newspa-pers which gave me and SimPol quite a lot of excellent coverage. continued p 9

Simpol at Globalisation Conference in India 9


I felt extremely fortunate to be able to hear so many interesting perspectives from different disciplines over the two days. It was especially notable that a number of talks dealt with aspects of spirituality and/or the sacred in a business context – something you would be very surprised to hear mentioned in a mainstream Western business conference! As one would expect, there were quite a few papers devoted to the environment, climate change, and exploring the effectiveness of commercial models such as “carbon credit” as a way to achieve sustainability. I was pleased to see that several speakers focused on issues specific to women, particularly with regards to their economic emergence in cultures that have traditionally held them in unpaid housekeeping roles.

I must also mention that prior to the conference, my most excellent host, our National Coordinator for India, Dr. H. Shankaranarayana, and his delightful family took me on a 2 day road trip from Bangalore to Kannur. This included spectacular drives through jungles, visits to ancient temples and monuments, and lots of stops at roadside stands serving fresh coconut juice and slices of watermelon sprinkled with lime and hot pepper! After the conference I went with Dr. Sreedhara, who also has a delightful family, to Mangalore University where I addressed a group of his business students on Corporate Social Responsibility and introduced them to the concept of greenwashing. I gave a similar talk at the Dayandandasagar Business Academy in Mangalore for Dr. Shankaranarayana’s students a few days earlier.

The whole experience was fascinating and educational and I can’t wait to return to India. I’ll wrap up this report by emphasising my deepest thanks to my wonderful and generous hosts, Dr. Raveendran, Dr. Shankaranarayana and wife Anita, and Dr. Sreedhara and his wife Sujatha. They were all tremendously kind and hospitable and made my visit a real treat from beginning to end. Incidentally, both Sujatha and Anita made excellent contributions to the conference in the talks that they gave as well: Sujatha’s focused on women’s empowerment in the context of globalisation while Anita’s examined social identity and “class” stratification and inspired some of the most heated debates of the entire weekend! I was also very favourably impressed with all the students, professors and speakers that I met during my wonderful week in my new favourite place on earth.

To read a more complete summary of the conference that appeared in The Hindu, go to this web page:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2008/03/18/stories/2008031850120400.htm

To read another article from the Hindu which gives SimPol a mention, check here:http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/10/stories/2008031054400600.htm

For the full text of the speech, see the Simpol.org website in “Books and Resources” under “Articles”.

Anita Rao speaking from the podium (above)

Traditional dancer at Conference dinner

Adopters - take Action! People are always asking "what can I do to help Sim-pol?" and so each issue we'll be suggesting an action to take. Like - why not write to your favorite NGO letting them know about our campaign and suggesting it as a parallel strat-egy? Just go to the www.simpol.org.uk site, click on Campaign and then "What can I do" to find a template letter that you can modify. - Ed.

Documents

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