Gaian Democracies
Redefining Globalisation and People-Power
by Roy Madron and John Jopling
Reviewed by
John Turnbull
Prosperity, May 2003
Gaia is the name of the Greek goddess of Earth. On the 10th June a new book, Gaian Democracies: Redefining Globalisation & People-Power by Roy Madron and John Jopling was launched at the London School of Economics.
Prosperity was interested in this book because central to its thesis is an examination of the debt-based money system.
The authors write: "The unjust and unsustainable aspects of globalisation stem from the purposes, principles and ideologies of a purposeful human system we have called the 'Global Monetocracy' ... The systemic purpose of the Global Monetocracy is the continuation of money growth in order to maintain the current debt-based money-system. It is not widely known that almost all the money we use comes into existence, not by governments creating it, but as a result of a bank agreeing to make a loan to a customer at interest." (p. 11)
We find it heartening that yet another book is introducing the Money Reform critique to a whole new audience. John Turnbull, of the Worldwide Democracy Network www.wwdemocracy.org was at the launch:
An audience of sixty people from a wide range of backgrounds were present on the afternoon of Tuesday 10th June for the official launch of the latest in the Schumacher Briefing series, Gaian Democracies: Redefining Globalisation & People-Power, by Roy Madron and John Jopling.
A profoundly radical work, described by economist Richard Douthwaite as "probably the most important [Schumacher Briefing] to appear so far", its launch was bound to provoke lively discussion.
Joining the authors on the panel were David Kingsley, Vice president of Schumacher UK, and Dr Samir Rihani, Senior Research Fellow at the Liverpool University School of Politics and author of the foreword to Gaian Democracies.
After David's words of welcome and opening remarks, Samir congratulated the authors on their work, and explained why he found the book so thought provoking and intuitively appealing.
Those born and bred in the Western democracies, he said, take democracy for granted, believing that they know all there is to know on the subject, and that their type of democracy has reached some final stage of perfection.
Moreover, this is just how the elites like it. Coming from Baghdad to study and then work in the UK, Samir said he became increasingly confused by the concept of democracy -- a state not helped by the fact that he was working in local government. Moving into the field of development resulted in even more confusion about what is, and is not, democratic. For these reasons, said Samir, it was necessary for a book to explain that there are alternatives to the current system.
John Jopling followed, and he concentrated on the "systems thinking" that is at the heart of the Gaian democracies approach. After thanking Samir for his foreword and for his book, Complex Systems Theory and Development Practice, John noted that they shared two things: the view that humanity is now a terrible mess, with little indication that there is anyone, in or out of government, really tackling this; and, second, the confidence, if we look at the world in terms of "systems" and complexity, that it doesn't have to be like this.
He pointed out that a paradigm shift is underway, with the linear worldview of Newton and Descartes giving way to thinking based on systems and complexity. This shift began in the natural sciences, James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis being a notable example, and is now spreading into the study of social systems. The message is that the old ways of linear thinking, and the command-and-control methods that follow, no longer work. Only a worldview based on an understanding of complex adaptive systems can help to solve humanity's problems.
This systems view of the world is something that Schumacher UK and Schumacher College have played a large part in disseminating, and John thanked David Kingsley, Richard St. George, John Elford of Green Books, and Herbert Girardet, who commissioned and edited the briefing.
To illustrate the power of thinking in systems terms, John then took seven propositions about systems and used them to look at two different systems: the Global Monetocracy, today's highly dysfunctional system; and Gaian Democracy, a system designed with justice and sustainability in mind.
The propositions were: thinking in systems terms means seeing whole systems; all human systems have a purpose; systems are self organising and self generating; all systems are always changing; systems go through various stages; systems sometimes get into a vicious spiral; and, while the imperative for change may come from outside the system, change takes place within it.
John argued that the Global Monetocracy is a single system with money growth as its purpose; that it is self-organising, always changing and moving through different stages; and that it is currently in a vicious spiral.
This, he said, is the system in which we are living today. By viewing the system in this way we are able to make sense of things that would otherwise be baffling, for example: why things are getting worse on so many fronts; why the authorities are failing to do anything about it; and why currently fashionable ways of attempting to influence politicians and their corporate partners are so unsuccessful. He emphasised that neither individuals nor any particular group within society are to blame. Rather the system as a whole is at fault.
So something new is required -- a strategy for reconfiguring the system as a whole -- and this is where Gaian Democracy comes in. This draws on the latest developments in understanding how systems change, and makes use of well-tested processes for bringing about change. In this way, human societies at all levels, from local to global, can learn to cope with the highly complex and difficult situations they face.
John ended by reminding us that the book is only a beginning, and that what we are starting, to quote from Samir's book, is to "interact furiously to take the system through successive cycles of learning, adaptation and survival".
Roy Madron spoke next, and began by tracing the origin of the ideas that were to lead to Gaian Democracies. By the autumn of 1997, he said, he and John Jopling believed that, within five or ten years, 'New' Labour would be in deep trouble, with large numbers of traditional Labour supporters becoming politically homeless. Moreover, the same processes at work throughout the English-speaking world would effectively disenfranchise tens of millions of citizens -- and have a profound effect on the Western style of democracy.
Sooner or later, these people would be looking for a new political home. This new home would have to embrace the values of social justice and environmental sustainability, but, to be worthy of their active support, it would have to offer something much more tangible than well-meaning generalities or retreads of old dogmas. There would have to be concepts and tools for tackling the complex and powerful obstacles that would have to be overcome on the way to achieving a more just and sustainable future.
A tall order, as Roy admitted. But, by the time that he and John came to write the book, millions of people had already deserted the mainstream parties that had abandoned what they believed in.
Some of the building blocks, Roy explained, were already in place, as a result of his work on long-term sustainable change in complex human systems. But it wasn't until he saw the connection between his 'soft-systems' approach to democracy and the systems thinking underpinning Lovelock's Gaia theory that Gaian Democracy really began to come together. The first tentative steps towards providing the new political home had been taken.
But is it just a pipedream?
The evidence that it is not, said Roy, can be found across the Atlantic, in Brazil. There, the Brazilian Workers' Party (PT) has transformed the lives of tens of millions of people, despite being founded only in 1980. The principal tool of this transformation has been the Participatory Budget (PB) process, which has given many thousands of local people, including the poor and dispossessed, a real say in how their local authorities spend their budgets. As a result, the PT has enjoyed increasing success in elections, year by year -- with their leader, Lula da Silva, being elected president in 2002.
Roy outlined the two main reasons why the PT is so important in the context of thinking about Gaian Democracy. Firstly, at least four of the components of Gaian Democracy are present and at work in the PB process -- shared principles and purpose; participative change processes; Paulo Freire's principles of dialogue and group learning; and liberating leadership.
Secondly, by voting in their millions for PT candidates, the people of Brazil have inflicted a major defeat on the Global Monetocracy. The Global Monetocracy will surely fight back, he said, and the people of Brazil still have a long and uncertain road ahead. But the PT is built on firm foundations, so there is reason to be optimistic. The PT has worked against enormous odds to get where they are in twenty-five years. This could be repeated, said Roy, wherever regular elections are held. And the sooner we start to discuss how to turn the Gaian Democracies concept into a home for the politically homeless, the sooner we can begin to co-create a just and sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.
After a short break, a lively question and answer session ensued. It was notable that nobody questioned the authors' description of the system they call the Global Monetocracy -- perhaps an indication that more and more people are coming to understand how our current system is really configured, and recognise the damage it's causing.
Without exception, the audience asked the kind of questions that will need to be addressed fully in the coming months and years if we are to move any nearer to a system of Gaian democracies: How do we overcome apathy in the industrialised nations? How could a Gaian Democracy party avoid being like other political parties? How do we link like-minded people and organisations worldwide? How might eco-villages fit into the Gaian Democracy system? What are the economics of Gaian Democracy? How do we negate the Global Monetocracy's debt-money system? And how do we gain the hearts and minds of corporations?
Judging by the numbers who signed-up to join Roy Madron in his Gaian Democracy project and also to join the Worldwide Democracy Network, there are plenty of people who are keen to start working on these, and many other, issues -- surely a cause for hope.
Gaian Democracies is £8 payable to:
Green Books Ltd, Foxhole, Dartington, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6EB
Prosperity268 Bath Street
Glasgow, Scotland
UK, G2 4JR
Telephone : 0141 332 2214
Fax : 0141 353 6900
email: admcc@admcc.freeserve.co.uk