"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead (1901–78), cultural anthropologist and writer
The G8 summit
opened Monday 7th in Toyako (
- Do pray hard, and consider campaigning online – eg via Avaaz.org.
More info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7494702.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7489993.stm
Campaigning
Speaking up for truth and justice is a key activity for Christians – but generally we do little of it. It can seem a daunting jungle of forums, claims and counter-claims, but we can make a worthwhile difference by speaking, writing, emailing etc, and there are organisations and websites that do a good job helping us tackle key issues. In Fair Doers we should eventually systematically review priority organisations and activities, but for now the following two are recommended – do sign up with them!
www.Avaaz.org – non sectarian, but one of the best in promoting focused, balanced, timely and effective action – and feeding back results.
- Sign up, and respond to their (brief) email calls.
www.Tearfund.org – highly regarded Christian charity, which puts emphasis on campaigning as well as helping on the ground.
- Join their ‘Superbadger’ application on Facebook (contact Marcus if you’d like help).
Judging right courses in a ‘Soundbite Society’
The group discussed that some are sceptical of the current ‘climate’ of opinion (sorry for pun..) on global warming – is it real, or just a fashion? But some of the most questioning are also strong advocates of not polluting and living sustainably, so regardless of background reasoning, we probably all agree on practical strategy. However this raises the important issue of how we assess truth in a society that is strongly driven by media, marketing lobbies etc.
The answer probably lies in making the best assessment we can of the motivation, expertise and reputability of the key opinion sources, judging our actions on the balance of probabilities with careful reference to biblical priorities and the precautionary principle. And keeping our decisions under review. Marcus and Matt will try and do a study on this topic, and present back to the group in future. Any inputs and expertise welcomed – do let us know!
Selfish Capitalism
Oliver James is a clinical psychologist, writer, and documentary producer and pundit on TV and radio. In his books Affluenza and The Selfish Capitalist, he describes and illustrates scientific studies on mental wellbeing and its inverse association with Virus values – placing a high value on acquiring money and possessions, looking good in the eyes of others and wanting to be famous. Although we may think we don’t do these things much, his book shows that these values are surprisingly prevalent in all the English-speaking nations (including the
The Vaccines to Affluenza are:
- Have Positive Volition (not ‘Think Positive’)
- Replace Virus motives (with Intrinsic ones)
- Be Beautiful (not Attractive)
- Consume what you need (not what advertisers want you to want)
- Meet your children’s needs (not those of little adults)
- Educate your children (don’t brainwash them)
- Enjoy motherhood (not deperate housewifery)
- Be Authentic (not Sincere), Vivacious (not Hyperactive), Playful (not Game-Playing)
These are explained in the book(s).
Although Oliver James doesn’t seem very sympathetic to organised religion, I’m struck by the parallels with Christian values of avoiding greed, envy and materialism rather than spirituality.
- To what extent are we infected with the Affluenza virus of Selfish Capitalism?
- How we can cultivate the ‘vaccines’ in our own lives and our local (or wider) society?
More info:
About Oliver James http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_James
His website http://www.selfishcapitalist.com/
Guardian article by him (provides a good summary of his arguments)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jan/03/comment.mentalhealth
Video - interview with Mariella Frostrup (good summary for those who prefer listening/watching to reading) http://www.selfishcapitalist.com/selfish_multimedia.html
Independent article by him; more politically focused:
WAFTAG
Witney Area Fairtrade Action Group is Witney’s local group supporting and promoting fair trade. Although its campaign for Witney to become an officially-recognised Fairtrade Town is stalled while we wait for emotions to calm down on all sides, longer term there seems little real difficulty in achieving this, and actually it is merely the icing on the cake – the real benefit to both Witney and developing-country producers lies in creatively working with shops and other outlets to increase awareness and uptake of fairly traded goods.
- There is lots to do constructively here, and anyone’s ideas or energy would be welcomed.
A current activity is planning an art competition for children, advertising fair trade during Fair Trade Fortnight in March 2009. This will link Witney’s schoolchildren with some of the poorest communities in the world, by increasing understanding, and sales of Fair Trade products in Witney. Witney’s Meller art gallery has a Christian ethos and supports fair trade. Maybe they could support the competition? Wendy will look into promoting the competition via the Meller gallery and Waftag’s Schools sub-committee.
More info:
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