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The following report appeared in the
January 2009 issue of Prosperity.
URL:
http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/bromsgrove/brom2008.html
Held at our usual residential venue, Barnes Close,
from late afternoon Friday 3rd Oct to lunchtime Sunday 5th Oct 2008, the
twelfth annual Bromsgrove Conference was another record breaker – the
most-ever attendees, 48.
FRIDAY 3RD
The evening began with Organiser Alistair
McConnachie describing the theme
of the Conference, "We have the Answer to the Crisis",
by rehearsing the 2 principle Money Reform proposals "on the
table". These are the Huber/Robertson reform, and the Rowbotham/James
Gibb Stuart reform.
This was especially valuable for over a third of
the Conference, who were first-time attendees, and it helped to put
the forthcoming weekend's activity into context.
The Convenor of the Conference, James Gibb Stuart also
made a short welcome and spoke about his hope for the "James Gibb
Stuart Trust", the registered charity which has now been established
to promote its educational Objects (See Prosperity, Oct 08).
The rest of the evening was dedicated to watching, and
commenting upon, several YouTube videos, which we were able to project
onto the wall, of Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who was coming out
and speaking about our cause in a very forthright way – much to the
satisfaction of all!
SATURDAY 4TH
Saturday began with Canon Peter Challen in his
now customary role, beginning the main day's events with a passionate
round-up of the reforming efforts happening throughout the world.
This was followed by Alistair McConnachie who
gave a version of the speech that he had delivered at the AMI 2008
Conference (and published in Prosperity, Oct 08).
After coffee, Carmel Butler, who has extensive
experience in the financial sector, explained how "mortgage
securitisation" and "derivatives" work.
This was an impressive explanation that should,
ideally – along with several other instructive talks at this
Conference –have been filmed for YouTube delivery!
Bill Davies spoke about the relevance of
"100% registered money" and emphasised a point which is key to
Money Reform theory – that what we call "credit" today
is, in fact, "money". He said, "Today the world is dying,
literally, for a solution to monetary folly. We have one!"
Gary Fisher, monetary innovator, spoke on his
experience in trading with a virtual currency and Frank Taylor
continued the theme with the idea of establishing a banking system
outside of traditional banking structures – for example, via mobile
phones and computers.
Robert Corfe described his theories published
in his extensive 3-volume work Social Capitalism in Theory and Practice, and academic Simon
Mouatt, used historical references to consider some wider issues of
reforming the debt-based system.
Mike Black, Charles Farrier and Barbara
Ruiz then took us through a comprehensive proposal to campaign for a
Royal Commission investigation into the economic system.
This presentation enabled the Bromsgrove Conference to
achieve another first – a mention on one of the official Times newspaper
journalist's blogs (John-Paul Flintoff, "Reformers call for Royal Commission on money", Times
Online,
http://timesonline.typepad.com/environment/2008/10/monetary-reform.html
Malcolm Parkin ended the afternoon's
presentations with some important points on "Getting the Message
Across" (see back page of this issue). After the evening meal, one
of the furthest travelled attendees Don Chisholm from Ontario,
spoke on wider ideas of economic change, especially related to the
concept of Gaian systems. Robert Welham presented a wonderfully
short and concise introduction to Money Reform which, again, really needs
to be videoed and put on YouTube. Jasper Tomlinson introduced a
Parliamentary Petition and the evening ended with Tracy Worcester
showing a short trailer for her highly recommended new documentary
"Pig Business" about the corporatisation of pig farming in
Eastern Europe.
SUNDAY 5TH
On Sunday morning, Anne Belsey reported on her
work this year with her Money Reform Party and her important work in
pushing Paul Grignon's Money as Debt film. Copies of
this DVD are obtainable from her at 34 Berkeley Close, Dunkirk, ME13 9TR,
01227 751724, anne [AT] cowebo dot freeserve dot co dot uk
Alistair McConnachie reported with photographs
and the aid of the digital projector, on the AMI 2008 conference and Jamie
Walton, who helped Stephen Zarlenga organise it, talked about
his observations and impressions of the movement in the USA.
Ron Rankin (pic below) spoke about his own impressions
of the financial scene in New Zealand and Australia after his recent
working holiday down under.
The Conference ended with the now traditional
"open-floor" and one of the key points to emerge is that this
year we really need to get a lot of this stuff down on video and onto
YouTube!
MAKE A DATE FOR THIS YEAR!
Special thanks are due to our long-time Convenor James
Gibb Stuart, without whom the event would not occur, and also to our
excellent Chairman Donald Martin who ensured everyone kept to
time, everyone got a chance to say their piece and, importantly, everyone
kept on-point! This year's Bromsgrove Conference will be at the same
venue and will be from late afternoon Friday 2nd Oct to lunchtime
Sunday 4th Oct 2009.
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