Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Antoschka - Ekaterina Moshaeva: The first question is human egoism. To modify economical system you have to change a human being. I think, that if you can change the self-reflection, which many people are doing nowadays and many organizations, nongovernmental organizations are engaged in this problem, because it is about rethinking those rules, which the 20th century has given birth to, a technological century, a century, when we thought, that machines, developement, technology are the progress of the mankind, that it could replace human spirits, and human intelligence, and human heart. Unfortunately it is not the case, because information is not wisdom. Wisdom is a term, when knowledge and experience go together with heart and feelings, emotions. When a man takes a decision not calculating, what is the most lucrative thing at the moment, but when he thinks, what consequences some actions would cause. They should not satisfy themselves with moments of a gain, when one can conquer, possess, get much more money and products than someone else and therefore become powerful, but think about what is going to happen as the consequence, how many people would suffer from that decision, if the environment could be damaged. Industry produces a lot of unnecessary products.

by Antoschka - Ekaterina Moshaeva

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Abbas Beydoun:

by Abbas Beydoun

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Ana Lucy Bengochea:

by Ana Lucy Bengochea

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Andries Botha: The basic principle would be that all other living things aren’t necessarily simply assumed to be a resource out of which profit could be made. The principle of all systems, the basic principle of the system in order for it to survive needs to be defined on the basis that all other resources that are integral to that system need to be sustainable and renewable and not just usable; used, not just use; cannot be renewed. I think that is the problem. The system needs to be devised in such a manner that it has deep and profound consideration for the living nature of all things on this earth. Those principles definitely need to be renewable and sustainable. Conspicuous consumption seems to be integral to all economic systems that I know of.

by Andries Botha

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Angaangaq Lyberth: You know, the answer, I was thinking about it a lot. The economies who are not in conflict with you and me and the animals around us and the planet herself, the Mother Earth. The way we have set up the system today is not working. Very few people are in control of the economy of exchanges. And they make the money every single moment of our life. Every single moment people are making money on our economy. And in the meantime it’s destroying you and me and the animal world and the planet herself. So until we have one monetary system, one equal monetary system for the Earth will we be able to lift up the spirit above depression. Imagine a monetary system between Sweden and Canada and Greenland and Germany and England and the United States with the same money system. Exactly the same. It does not matter where you are. You’ll be able to use your coins. And then exchange goods, purchase and sell. Then, and only then, will be able to develop a system that is not in conflict of humans, animals and planet rights.

by Angaangaq Lyberth

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Anthony Arnove: Well, really, I think this is one of the most important questions that may be asked today, and the question really begins to answer itself. We live in a world today that has an economic system that is in conflict with human, that is in conflict with animal, that is in conflict with environmental rights. And so, we have to raise this question, because the matter of fact is if we don't begin to answer this question soon, we may not have the luxury of being able to discuss this question. The kinds of environmental damage that capitalism is doing in the world today, the kinds of risks that its creating in terms of the possibility of nuclear warfare which could eliminate humankind, really is beginning to raise various concrete questions about the length of the human experiment on this planet. We face, in the words of Noam Chomsky, "a choice between hegemony or survival" in the direction things are going. The leaders of our planet are choosing hegemony over survival; are choosing the calculations of short-term profit over survival. So really, I think we have to say that we reject this system and we do need a new economic system. We do need a new way of organizing ourselves; organizing the way in which we meet our needs that is based on human need and not based on profit. To do that, I think we have experiments in history that we can learn from; moments when people have come together and shown collectively, collaboratively, democratically they can make the kinds of decisions that respect the right of the environment; respect the right of people; respect the needs of their brothers and sisters. In those moments, we've shown the possibility of a different kind of world than the one that we confront today, which we're told is the only possible world; which we're told is the necessary order of things; but which we know from moments like the Paris Commune of 1871, the workers' communes that were set up in the Spanish Civil War, and in other moments of revolutionary change, that it's possible to organize things differently.

by Anthony Arnove

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Anuradha Koirala: [inaudible] economic system [inaudible] animal rights [inaudible]. Different [inaudible] issues so I think that there should be no economic system.

by Anuradha Koirala

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Anuradha Mittal: Well, we will need to build an economic system that will not see nature as an obstacle to overcome or see nature to conquer. And it would really require [inaudible] economic system which breaks the enclosures of a human mind to be able to go beyond that, which can see us working in participation and in harmony with nature because that is where our survival lies and that will be the best economic system.

by Anuradha Mittal

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Ashok Gangadean: I think this is an excellent question about an economic system being devised. And in line with my previous responses, again our economic reality is a reflection of our consciousness and technology of consciousness. And I must again look back to the great wisdom, tradition, and the collective wisdom of humanity including all of our great indigenous traditions that [have] see that we become truly human when we mature into an integral, connected - interconnected form of life together. And imagine what an economic system from that kind of consciousness, from holistic, compassionate, mutual care would be like. It would be one in which our economic production and ways of using resources would honor the sacredness of all creation and all life of a planet, of resources, of all species, and of all human beings. So that the economic forces that are ego-based would inevitably be exploitative of others, and of oneself ultimately, because if we cannot take care of ourselves truly, we cannot take care of the other and vice versa, which is [a] heart of moral consciousness and rational scientific consciousness. And I think this question comes down to whether economic forces from the consciousness, really if it's a consciousness of integrity and whole systems, compassion and care, we will have a kind of economic system that will inherently take care of all beings on this planet, which is the ethic of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, all of our great traditions, Confucian, will all be realized, in that [way]. So that’s ancient wisdom.

by Ashok Gangadean

Sep 9, 2006 10:20:00 AM cite

Audrey Kitagawa: The whole notion of rights really addresses the issue of what is ethical, what is moral, and therefore when we frame this question with respect to an economic system that is not in conflict with human and animal rights, we're really trying to address economic systems that really are well grounded in a moral, ethical foundation. The economic systems that we currently have, at least as we have witnessed within the last 50 years, has been what I would consider to be market fundamentalism, where there has been a deregulation of markets and allowing basically profit motives to really determine our behavior and our ability to have unlimited capacity to be consuming and to be acquiring wealth in ways that will not ultimately serve the common good, and therefore what we really should have is economic system that is well grounded within an ethical foundation that looks to supporting the common good not only of people but of animals as well as our environment. And so we would really need to reorient our whole thinking and our whole perspective as to how we can continue to live in the world together in a harmonious way not only with each other as human beings, but with our environment and with all forms of life, whether plant or animal.

by Audrey Kitagawa