Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Lillian Holt: Wow, what a wonderful question. All I can say is hopefully happiness. That’s all. I mean, everybody wants to be happy. Nobody wants to be sad. Also, we’d like to be successful, but what is success? Success is actually really knowing yourselves ultimately. And success is about also interiority as well as exteriority whereas I think that Capitalism has been about the external essentially and exteriority. And there’s been some good things about it. It gives us a level of survival. But sometimes I think the materialism, consumerism and the individualism and narcissism that has accompanied it has not been good for ourselves, our spiritual development if I can call it that. I’ll talk for myself. But so in terms of Capitalism, what’s after Capitalism? I would say hopefully happiness and harmony in terms of the human condition and how we connect to one another rather than disconnect and how we are humanized in the presence of one another rather than being dehumanized. And that includes the systems which we also work under and in which we live at times. We can’t afford to have dehumanizing systems whether it be in a work area, whether it be in our communities, wherever. And we can’t afford to have dehumanization. And I think that sometimes the idea of greed and profit associated with Capitalism has encouraged that dehumanization and other aspects of it. I think that hopefully happiness I would say, because everybody wants to be happy. We all want happiness. We don’t want sadness. Human beings. And I think it’s possible to have that.

by Lillian Holt

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Livingstone Maluleke: In my understanding, capitalism refers to the private enterprise, the private engagement of the private sector and national sect privatization or individual approach of centric, the center putting of aspects of business and; therefore, it is more self-excluding of other aspects and it is also self-centered in the sense. It is full of hypocrisy and it creates a lot of individualism. So, this issue of capitalism is an issue which is so self-centered and do not need more to development; development that could then be realized from a very central, centric point of view and; therefore, it is not a very good thing. Capitalistic approach is not what I would call for if I had to make a choice. Socialism is an aspect, which is better than capitalistic approach.

by Livingstone Maluleke

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Mae-Wan Ho: Well, the post capitalist world is neither socialism nor capitalism. It’s a world which reflects the real value of things, physical as well as spiritual and ascetic and it won’t be based on money. Maybe we can have an economic system that is based on energy because energy is something you can account. The value of money is purely arbitrary and having been to many developing countries where they produce the most amazingly beautiful goods in arts and crafts and things like that and they are literally selling them dirt cheap, based on our currency, based on our current unequal rates of exchange, our unequal terms of trade, which is politically distorted. Therefore money is purely arbitrary. The value of money is totally arbitrary so that the currencies of developed countries are overvalued and that inflates their purchasing power and that is very damaging to the environment because it enables them to consume inordinate amounts of resources and which leads to further destruction and devastation of the world’s resources. It is totally an economic system that doesn’t tell the ecological truth. And a future world, a post capitalist world, a post capitalist economy should do that.

by Mae-Wan Ho

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Mahsa Shekarloo: Well, at the rate that capitalism is going, perhaps nothing. It might just destroy the world by the time it’s finished.

by Mahsa Shekarloo

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Martin Almada: We believe that at some point in time people will notice that this economic model cannot function any longer, it can´t continue like this. We expect the mankind to see that there is going to be a suicide,a collective suicide. This year the climate change has demonstrated how ferocious it can be. There is no time left for any doubts, we have experience and we have proof. We have to prepare and build up a more human political and economic system. Our next stage is possibly going to be socialism, democratic socialism, equitable and pluralist, multiethnical and multicultural. Such a world is possible and we need it. Probably our next phase is going to be that o suicide ferocity socialism

by Martin Almada

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Masami Saionji: Under capitalism, capitalists take sole possession of profits Very few of them gain prosperity. On the other hand, the people who cannot possess these profits are frustrated at this inequality. This frustration creates tense and conflict between them. If this type of capitalism continues, it destroys the harmony among people and turns into open conflict. To avoid such conflicts, I believe, hearts and minds of people are very important. There seems to be only the capitalism with self-interest minds around the world. Many people under current capitalism think only their own interest, profit and happiness. Gradually ... I think after capitalism reflecting every person's mind... pure-sharing... one lives with one's own man... one asks only what one needs... such ....

by Masami Saionji

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Masuma Bibi Russel: Well, well, I would say it’s socialism or we will have a real world. You know, we are enough of this capitalism and all this people will live in a world better way. There will be peace, there will be happiness, there will be love, affection, and people are part of this world. I think socialism, but I don’t know – I don’t know the word but there should be something, enough of capitalism. I think people will be living in the world which is a free world, it’s like – you are not stamped that you are coming from that part of the world, this part of the world. There will be a world where the economic development will be from each part, not only industrial development, in the agriculture, in crafts, in art, music and everything. I think that after capitalism I think we would have a world where will be wonderful to live. I don’t know the word of what will be. But maybe socialism in a better way, in a better world.

by Masuma Bibi Russel

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Mayank Mehta: That’s a good question. My first answer is, I don’t know, because we have no idea really right now what is capitalism and where is that going? I think the world is still inventing itself or still discovering itself and I could imagine a very positive way out of this. As more and more countries become capitalistic, there will be competition between capitalism itself. Right now, the capitalism, today it is practiced is the hands of very few and those countries who are capitalistic, or the so called First World. They are not really competing with each other. They have some way of pushing their competition over to some part of the world, perhaps to the Third World and win this war of capitalism. And my hope is that as people in the Third World, which are right now, the battle ground for the capitalism war between the First World countries as they become more and more prosperous, those countries in the Third World will migrate over to the Second World and then eventually to the First World. And then, there’ll be competition lets say, between China, which will be a capitalistic country, which will be able to fight in economic terms with the First World countries such as, Europe any of those in Europe and the United States. In that situation, I have a feeling that these whole game that is going on right now will move on in a better way. In that case, people will be able to treat each other much more even terms and capitalism will be tampered, it won’t be that mere profit of one set of country or a small subgroup of people in one country will dominate, as it is going on right now. The decisions of across the world, but it will be farmers in China, will be able to have some say in the development all along with perhaps, the mega-corporation in the United States, that’s the hope.

by Mayank Mehta

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Michael E. Tigar: Yes, that is a magnificent question. What did the French monarch say, "Apres moi, le deluge?" That's the first answer, isn't it? Let's hope that there is something after, other than a planet denuded of all its people and all its resources by the threat of nuclear war spawned, I'm afraid, by leaders of my own country in which though the leaders of other countries are also complicit. What's left after capitalism if capitalism succeeds; because of the dominance of the process of production by the honoring of private greed in destroying the planet through global warming and its consequences? Well, I think there is an after. I think that we are poised to take charge of our own destinies now. We are poised to develop and maintain institutions that bring the rule of law to bear upon the conduct of leaders that restrain and punish the activities of those such as President Bush who have engaged in war crimes and crimes against humanity, who bring to them therefore the same accountability that the square in Berlin where we are sitting in a sense represents in terms of the development and enforcement of these norms against claims of impunity, even by very powerful people. And we are poised as organized people to take charge of our own economies, through organizations of workers and other democratic organizations because we need to replace this confiscatory system, this kleptocracy with another one. Now, to do that, we have to grow organizations that reflect the values that we mean to have when we change things around. Trying to explain democracy to George Bush is like trying to explain a sundial to a bat. We have to talk amongst ourselves.

by Michael E. Tigar

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Michael P. Totten: That’s a very good question. I think, I’ll take a little slice at that. There is a brilliant book that just came out, by Yale Law School professor Yochai Benkler, called the "Wealth of Networks", and he points out that in this last century, capital was absorbed by a few companies or individuals, in very large sums, to produce mass-produced goods that were then sold to a basically passive citizenry who had a few choices in which to purchase their goods. In the last decade we’ve seen a profound change with the collapse in the price of computers, and a collapse in the price of global internet networking that now we are seeing the emergence of non-market producers, the classic example today being Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that is now larger than any market based encyclopedia, is available in 43 languages, continues to grow on a weekly basis, has a peer-review process that sustains and improves continuously the quality of the material. And for Benkler's thesis is that in this century we are going to see competing with the market, non-market affiliations, associations, collaborative to create things like Linux, the open source software as another great example, that now is used by many places around the world in lieu of market offered software programs, and this was done all through voluntary effort and labor. People obviously are not just driven by market, they are also driven by passion, their interests, are motivated by moral and ethical principles, and they now see a tool that can bring them together with other interested persons wherever they are in the world, to create things that prior to this were limited to the market place with capital requirements that place it out of their control.

by Michael P. Totten

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Mohammed Arkoun: Yes, that is indeed a question difficult to answer because the world now faces a historic conjuncture where a generalized crisis of the mind itself is being noted. A strong mind, an aware mind, a mind opened to a humanist vision of the organization of the society is needed to sum up a long history of capitalism and to look at capitalism as a contribution to civilizations, societies, but also as a system that has been marked by considerable failures from the point of view of human rights, of the fundamental respect of other people as being equal people. And yet capitalism didn't do that. Therefore a critical balance of capitalism must be made by all citizens of the world, first because those who have been injured by the wild development of capitalism since the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth century didn't yet speak, and it is necessary for them to speak with their freedom, with their history, with their memories that are wounded memories, that are suffering memories and it is necessary to involve these wounded and suffering memories in a speech process at the world level where those who still practise capitalism, it should be said, in a cynical manner and often as wild as at the time of colonization, so that they finally hear this speech and that a reflection on a possible after capitalism can be undertaken.

by Mohammed Arkoun

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Mohau Pheko: I actually think that after capitalism is life. I think that many people have been questioning the notion of capitalism for a long time in the sense that capitalism has failed. When we look at the inequality today, it is quite clear that it has been a system of exploitation, it has been a system of monopoly, it has been a system of political disintegration, it has been a system of -- that has created tremendous conflict in the world today. So I think that after capitalism, we actually have the opportunity for new economic imaginaries, for new political imaginaries in the world today that can help us create society that are based on distribution, societies that are based on solidarity, societies that are based on cooperation, societies that begin to look at us as people who live in community, societies that do not exploit other people's knowledge and intellectual capacity and intellectual gifts for the monopoly of profit. And I think that it is a tremendous opening and a tremendous opportunity for us to re-imagine ourselves differently from people and individuals who live on a dog-eat-dog existence, and begin a system where solidarity becomes power and communalism becomes something that embraces and enhances our communities and ourselves as a nation and as a people. And I think this is our only survival. I think after capitalism, we survive and we live.

by Mohau Pheko

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Monira Rahman: Obviously, it's socialism and the equal rights of the people of should be established, has to be established and the social development, solidarity; the social capitalism, the human capitalism and socialism. In that way -- where people have the power and where people can exercise the choices and where society provides equal opportunity to the people everywhere in this world for development and development for the people.

by Monira Rahman

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Nadja Halilbegovich: Well, I think that capitalism currently perpetuates this horrific gap between rich and the poor and I think that we need to work on making capitalism more humane and more altruistic. And by that I mean a system where the poor countries are not remaining poor and being crippled by their debt and people not included in trade and in production and in development. So I think I found three ways that we can help make the capitalism fair and more humane; one is use of microlending, I was talking about that earlier. I think it reaches people who truly need, you know, just that much that little trust and that little money that they can actually rise above their poverty. And I think it doesn’t empower them only financially, it empowers them just as human beings and you know, through research -- researching the effects of microlending they’ve come up with amazing stories of women who receive these microloans who are empowered as human beings and as heads of their families and their whole family, their children go and are educated, their health is improved. So microlending is one way. Another is fair trade, use of fair trade which means that, you know, people would actually -- get fairly paid for their hard labor and they’d live and work in conditions that are really humane and deserving, and third debt cancellation to poorest of the nation so that again the funds that they are paying back to the developed nations go to develop them to make AIDS pandemic finally something that we can grapple with, eradicate hunger and just again have them grow.

by Nadja Halilbegovich

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Neela Marikkar: What’s after capitalism? I think it’s nationalism. I think, we are saying -- it is almost like it’s doing a whole circle. You are seeing an increased sense of patriotism, national agendas within countries. People are moving towards internalizing, holding on to their cultural values, being more nation-minded about buying products that are manufactured in their own countries. You are beginning to see people feeling it’s almost like -- it’s gone the circle of rejecting the global, how would you say it, the globalization. I think people are rejecting it, because there is a sort of a feeling of wanting to go back and internalize and feel strong about your nationalistic feelings. So, in a way it’s almost gone back in -- people are looking much more internally, they are more under threat, they are holding on to what they believe is intrinsically theirs culturally, their values. You are beginning to see this, it’s not a very positive thing in my opinion. I think that it creates all sorts of new problems, people begin to feel -- be more narrow in their thinking, and constantly feel insecure, I wouldn’t say insecure, but I think what happens here is that nationalism seems to be what is emerging as a trend in many of this -- many of the countries that have been capitalistic. I think you see this in America, you see this in my country, Sri Lanka, you see it in many parts of Europe as well.

by Neela Marikkar

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Oliviero Toscani: Well, there was communism – no, there was [Catholicism] and there was – and there are still [Catholicism]. There was – there is still communism and there is post-communism. There is capitalism and there will be post-capitalism. There will be, of course, an evolution, slow evolution of the human mind, of the human system that will take us slowly, slowly, very slowly with an incredible effort and with an incredible waste of energy and lives and human resources into a more – into an evolution where I hope, because I told you I am basically an optimistic man, then one day slowly we will be – we’ll evolute into a civilized breed. We are probably the least civilized part of the creation. Animal, plants, flora, fauna is all perfect. We human, we are not perfect. We are not finished yet. So we have to go through the – our development and we have to go through capitalism and I don’t know what will happen. I just hope that we will be better.

by Oliviero Toscani

Sep 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM cite

Oscar Olivera: What has to come some day after this dictatorship of the supranational capitals, of the imperial power of the United States, England and other governments, will be inevitable for the world. It will be a society, based on the four following fundamental pillars: mutuality, respect, solidarity and transparency, in a world where all of us will be equal. I believe that after capitalism there has to come the appropriation to our dreams, of what we have been dreaming for generations [in connection with its appearance these years]. And I think that what will come after this dictatorship of supranational capital, is to develop and to clearly define those dreams which we, the peoples, have had for many generations.

by Oscar Olivera