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Occupy World Street: A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform
Ordinary citizens the world over have long paid the price for the swashbuckling behavior of the corporate and political elite. We’ve seen the reigning establishment widen the gap between rich and poor, champion endless growth on a finite planet, wreak havoc on developing nations, and ravage ecosystems in a mad race for natural resources.
Now, as demonstrators worldwide demand change, Occupy World Street offers a sweeping vision of how to reform our global economic and political structures, break away from empire, and build a world of self-determining sovereign states that respect the need for ecological sustainability and uphold human rights.
In this refreshingly detailed plan, Ross Jackson shows how a handful of small nations could take on a leadership role; create new alliances, new governance, and new global institutions; and, in cooperation with grassroots activists, pave the way for other nations to follow suit.
Now, as demonstrators worldwide demand change, Occupy World Street offers a sweeping vision of how to reform our global economic and political structures, break away from empire, and build a world of self-determining sovereign states that respect the need for ecological sustainability and uphold human rights.
In this refreshingly detailed plan, Ross Jackson shows how a handful of small nations could take on a leadership role; create new alliances, new governance, and new global institutions; and, in cooperation with grassroots activists, pave the way for other nations to follow suit.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 23, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 26, 2012
To start with, author Ross Jackson's Occupy World Street is a lot more impartial than this reader expected. Though it's subtitled "A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform," its neutrality is surprising.
It's entirely too easy to use this book to point fingers at the 1% and how they're enriching themselves at the expense of the 99% majority. Some may read it and mentally highlight how this book expounds on the central issues that are at the core of the Occupy Movement's list of grievances, and why democracy has failed in the US and other countries. Author Jackson does contend that "almost all the social ills plaguing modern society are a direct result of too great a disparity in income." Since the neo-liberal agenda of the '80s, the disparity continues to expand rather than shrink.
To correct these economic and geopolitical inequalities, the author looks to scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis and the overhauling of supranational institutions accordingly. Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis states that the earth is a self-regulating organism adjusted by a complex system of interdependent feedback loops. Ross Jackson is chairman of the Danish-based Gaia Trust foundation, and puts this vision of interdependence at the heart of a new, sustainable global economy.
This book is a first-rate introduction for anyone wondering how our global economy got to where it is now. Jackson provides a succinct overview of the role of the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as the policy changes that allowed monetary institutions to precipitate the 2008 financial meltdown and mortgage crashes. The author offers something for everyone to ponder, and though the first half makes for somewhat depressing read, the book does not flounder in culpability, finger pointing and hopelessness.
James Lovelock has recently admitted to being 'alarmist' about climate change, and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were as well. Lovelock recently said he would not take back a word of his influential 1979 work Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, yet of his The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity, published in 2006, he said he had gone too far in describing what the warming Earth would see over the next century.
The parts of this book explaining the roles of the neo-liberal economic philosophy and the political elite are solidly presented and not really new. The program of change that the author proposes, however, is new and logically sound. But being logically sound is not sufficient to affect change. There is a breach between the ideas and what is necessary to activate people at the grassroots level, so it does seem to come across as somewhat utopian. Comparatively few people will read this book, regardless of various groups touting it as a "bestseller" that will be read by many. The ideas presented here need to be connected to mainstream understandings. And Ross Jackson recognizes that the roadmap proposed here needs much more development.
It may be utopian and idealistic in some ways, but it's good food for thought.
• Note: portions of this review originally appeared on Amazon.com.
It's entirely too easy to use this book to point fingers at the 1% and how they're enriching themselves at the expense of the 99% majority. Some may read it and mentally highlight how this book expounds on the central issues that are at the core of the Occupy Movement's list of grievances, and why democracy has failed in the US and other countries. Author Jackson does contend that "almost all the social ills plaguing modern society are a direct result of too great a disparity in income." Since the neo-liberal agenda of the '80s, the disparity continues to expand rather than shrink.
To correct these economic and geopolitical inequalities, the author looks to scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis and the overhauling of supranational institutions accordingly. Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis states that the earth is a self-regulating organism adjusted by a complex system of interdependent feedback loops. Ross Jackson is chairman of the Danish-based Gaia Trust foundation, and puts this vision of interdependence at the heart of a new, sustainable global economy.
This book is a first-rate introduction for anyone wondering how our global economy got to where it is now. Jackson provides a succinct overview of the role of the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as the policy changes that allowed monetary institutions to precipitate the 2008 financial meltdown and mortgage crashes. The author offers something for everyone to ponder, and though the first half makes for somewhat depressing read, the book does not flounder in culpability, finger pointing and hopelessness.
James Lovelock has recently admitted to being 'alarmist' about climate change, and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were as well. Lovelock recently said he would not take back a word of his influential 1979 work Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, yet of his The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity, published in 2006, he said he had gone too far in describing what the warming Earth would see over the next century.
The parts of this book explaining the roles of the neo-liberal economic philosophy and the political elite are solidly presented and not really new. The program of change that the author proposes, however, is new and logically sound. But being logically sound is not sufficient to affect change. There is a breach between the ideas and what is necessary to activate people at the grassroots level, so it does seem to come across as somewhat utopian. Comparatively few people will read this book, regardless of various groups touting it as a "bestseller" that will be read by many. The ideas presented here need to be connected to mainstream understandings. And Ross Jackson recognizes that the roadmap proposed here needs much more development.
It may be utopian and idealistic in some ways, but it's good food for thought.
• Note: portions of this review originally appeared on Amazon.com.
February 1, 2018
Why is our planet under siege, what are the drivers of destruction (basically the Neoliberal project), how can we learn from nature?
An economic and social analysis of our environmental and (post)political issues + some alternative solutions.
An economic and social analysis of our environmental and (post)political issues + some alternative solutions.
December 6, 2015
I wasn't really expecting much from this one, having bought his wife's eco-village book a while ago and finding it to be a huge disappointment, but I'm still trying to find something that resonates with the not so radical people in my life. Had he not used the word "Gaian" so much and not recommended a new currency called the "eco" this might have been pretty close. Despite starting with an inspirational quote from Steve Jobs and considering global industrial civilization to be something that can be sustained indefinitely he does have some good things to say. This book is basically an attempt at laying out a plan for an economy that promotes things like degrowth, localization, egalitarianism, simpler lifestyles and permaculture. All good things. A major flaw though is that what he's proposing would only work as a transition stage to something simpler, not a sustainable end point, and he's not presenting it that way. Had "we" always made an immediate switch to the most efficient designs available and used the most up to date science for everything it's likely that "we" could have at least gotten away with it much longer before getting into the current mess. Attempting to make the switch to these "zero waste" factory designs promoted by people like William McDonough now that we're already on such thin ice isn't likely to buy much time though. I consider it dangerously delusional, and let's be honest, this stuff was never really ethically okay. Had humans always followed their own professed morals our technologies never would have been able to advance beyond the stone age. It's possible that Ross Jackson and others pushing these ideas are aware that these things aren't really sustainable and are just hoping that certain changes can make it easier to make the full transition when the time comes that people are officially forced to. I used to sort of share that viewpoint, considering it a more realistic compromise. However I'm not too confident in peak oil saving us from runaway climate catastrophe at this point. I guess it's technically possible but considering that by some estimates there's still 5 or 6 times more fossil fuels potentially available than can be burned without making the planet uninhabitable it's definitely no sure thing. Just keep that in mind while reading this one.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews