Interview - Programme Silfur Egils 17.4.2011

Some ideas that were covered in the interview and some others that came afterwards on the necessary balance between fundamental rights vs. (monetary) market that must be done urgently in Europe

1. Presentation of the book "Indignez-vous": A growing grass-roots movement calling for action in France.

From indignation to action - calls for a pacific revolution - calls for action and hope from civil society in France

Book written by Stephane Hessel 93 years - 1,7 million copies sold in France - translated into 20 languages - calling for pacific activism against the erosion of our modern democratic systems -His message: Resist as the heros from the Resistance did to defend the values of Europe that we have so hard fought for.

The program that the Resistance brought to France in the 1950s:

- Social Security and health insurance for all citizens

- Pension rights for elderly people

- Energy sources, electricity and gas and big banks and insurance companies under public ownership (national control)

- Fundamental rights for all citizens

Resistance goals in France 1940s: a real economic and social democracy where financial and economic elites do not direct our society, where general interest prevails over private interest and the result of the workers´ efforts prevails over money power. A real democracy where the press is independent and education is free and universal.

2. The "revolution in the books" travels to Spain and becomes (R)evolution

Book - "Reacciona" - Spain- published this week

Important leaders of Spanish society call Spaniards into pacific (r)evolution - It is time to act, to participate and be actors of our destiny - Do not give up - just wake up and react!

José Luis Sampedro - Professor of Economics - 93 Federico Mayor Zaragoza - Former General Director of Unesco Baltasar Garzón - leader in the application of the doctrine of universal jurisdiction when human crimes are committed and others....

The book "Reacciona" is a collection of different essays written by different people. Their message: It is time for a genuine democracy, time has come to act. We need to understand that our system is sick. There must be another way out of the crisis rather than the one based on neoliberalism. The crisis is not economic, the crisis is political, the crisis is within ourselves..... our way of living in the Western world where money and profit (monetary market) is value number one.

Different themes of the book "Reacciona"

On the crisis: Europe is in comma, showing apathy before big problems. Nations have left the speculative economy become the main activity promoting thus drugs, weapons, illegal traffic of persons. Tax heavens and banking secrecy remain intact. Democratic values are ignored. Why do we have to save the banks and financial institutions that created the crisis and sacrifice our socio-economic rights?

On the political system: why democratic values and ethics and social justice are substituted by the market?

On the economic system: Why do we need to privatize our best companies, the most essential resources for our societies (water, oil, electricity to name a few) and give them to an oligarchy?

Their agenda: We need a new social contract where we invest the most in education and critical thinking and where the mass media take their due responsibility in full independence. Political parties do not represent anymore the civil society, they fight for their own self-preservation goals..... The young generation has been cheated living under misery conditions and still working. Spain will see a new 1968 revolution where the civil society will have an important role. Spaniards need not to dispair: the priority number one must be education. Face to fear, individualism, and lack of political reform: we need to change our values, we need to build a better future. Lets rediscover the power of thoughts, our imagination, values and utopias...

Some important messages from Federico Mayor Zaragoza

The difference between evolution and revolution lies in the "r" - R as our responsibility - Lets change the weapons for dialogue - lets call for the dignity of all human beings ... lets build a new future where economy is not based on war and speculation.... Cannot we build a system not based on money but on human and natural resources? where we invest in people rather than on capital?

Ideas and calls for ethical banking (Triodos - Holland and Spain) but first we must change ourselves. If we only request profit, banks will go into the profits of war (the most profitable business of all - big profits for them and life losses for society).

Listen also to the inspiring conference "Dinero y Consciencia" by the Subdirector of Triodos Bank in Spain Joan Melé at the Escuela de Organización Industrial (May 2010) http://www.eoi.es/mediateca/video.php?videoid=308&PHPSESSID=6dc19fb93dc7887c4b701cfb4771d549

3. A personal reflexion on the book. Are we witnessing the decline of the Western civilization as Spengler predicted in 1918? Link to Spengler´s civilization model (and other similar theories - Toynbee) to be found in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spengler%27s_civilization_model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cycle_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_the_West

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_J._Toynbee

Are we witnessing the latest stages of a nature rise and fall of our Western world? Are we moving from the autumn to the winter of our civilization?

Politics

From stage 1. Domination of Money ("Democracy"). From Economic powers permeating the political forms and authorities to

through stage 2 . Formation of Caesarism. Victory of force-politics over money. Increasing primitiveness of political forms. Inward decline of the nations into a formless population (the mass) and then.....

towards stage 3. Maturing of the final form. Private and family policies of individual leaders. The world as spoil. Historyless stiffening and enfeeblement even of the imperial machinery, against young peoples eager for spoil, or alien conquerors. Primitive human conditions slowly thrust up into the highly-civilized mode of living

4. The decline and decadence of Europe: Europe must reform or die.......

European leaders such as Felipe González and Jacques Delors are also calling for radical reform warning about decline and decadence otherwise

4.1. Felipe Gonzalez - chairman of group of senior wise men/women who did a Report for the EU - Project Europe 2030 Europe must reform itself radically, otherwise it will loose its influence in the world and it will sacrifice its social model. To be or not to be, that is the question

Summary of the Report on the EU 2010 done by the Wise Men/Europe: Europe is faced with a situation where it needs to make important choices. if these choices are not made today (2010) it will sleep into decadence and it will become irrelevant in the world. Europe stands at a crucial time in history. Do we want to change the world or be passive witnesses? We need a competitive and social market economy, social cohesion and environmental protection, promoting democracy and dialogue with citizens. It is change or die. Today.

4.2. "Europe must plan a reform, not a pact", Jacques Delors, interview with Financial Times 3rd March 2011.

Jacques Delors in another interview with Master students graduating at the Sorbonne University (Master of European Studies) 2010

Students ask: "Monsieur Delors, Do you think that the Lisbon Treaty will revitalize Europe?"

Reply. "No, those in charge are too selfish. We do not have the right leaders. If Europe wants to progress it will need the right people with the right motivation."

5, Lets be positive rather than pessimistic: we have the knowledge and the means to understand the world we live in. We can take change both at local and international level. The civil society has the greatest power to change the world through pacific activism, evolution and hope.

Priority number one is education.

To be educated is simply to understand the world that you live in. We, the generation that has brought the crisis, have the moral obligation to provide young people with the intellectual skills and the knowledge to solve the problems we have created as we are incapable of by definition (quoting Einstein). In this context, to restrict the budget dedicated to education is simply the best way to assure the decadence of our society.

As a generation of people in exile taught me in my youth (those left Cuba in the 60s and 70s) education is the only investment for the future that nobody can deprive you of. Add dignity to it as nobody can deprive you either from your dignity without your consent (Leonor Roosevelt).

6. Some interesting ideas on the reform of the financial system and ethical banking in Iceland to be followed at IFRI – Icelandic Financial Reform Initiative www.ifri.is

7.Link all these ideas to the necessary change needed to make our civilization sustainable for the planet Earth. Some interesting movies recommended

An inconvenient truth - Al Gore

The eleventh hour - produced by L. Di Caprio

Planet Earth - BBC

Kóngar - Eyjarbakka -Iceland

Home - Yann Yves Bertrand ......

Gleðilega páska!