The imperial corporations of the Wall Street economy have inflicted intolerable damage on the world’s people and natural systems. Millions of people are now declaring their independence from Wall Street and claiming their right to economic self-rule. They are staging a non-violent revolution, the outcome of which will be determined by whether the modern patriots win the story wars. [See Story Power.] The Forum is at the forefront of framing and communicating the New Economy stories that challenge the legitimacy of the old system and spread awareness of possibilities too long denied. <See The Forum’s Defining Books>
The Forum’s engagement in the economic story revolution can be divided into five defining campaigns, each of which featured a path-breaking book challenging an old economy story and framing a new one. In the bigger picture, you might view this as the historical arch of the evolving story that defines the New Economy movement and the emerging vision of an economic system for an Ecological Civilization.
PCDForum Campaign I: Challenging the story that the foreign aid system serves the poor (1990-1995).
The New Story: Far from being charitable benefactors of the poor, the policies and programs of foreign aid programs commonly transfer economic power and resources from weak to strong nations and from poor to rich people. Real progress depends people gaining equitably distributed local control over economic priorities and resources and building their capacity to manage those resources in response to their own needs and values. The leadership for positive change must come from citizen movements.
The Book: Getting to the 21st Century: Voluntary Action and the Citizen Agenda (1990).
Primary Partner Organizations: Asian NGO Coalition and InterAction
PCDForum Campaign II: Challenging the story that corporate globalization is advancing universal prosperity, peace, and democracy (1992-2001).
The New Story: The consolidation of global corporate power through a systematic deregulation of markets and elimination of national borders in favour of the unrestricted global flow of money and goods is destructive of people, community, nature, democracy, and even the proper and beneficial function of the market. The human future depends on restoring fair market rules and borders to encourage ecologically-balanced local self-reliance and limit corporate power relative to the power of people and community.
The Book: When Corporations Rule the World, (1995, 2001, 2015).
Primary Partner Organizations: International Forum on Globalization and YES! Magazine.
PCDForum Campaign III: Challenging the story that there is no viable non-socialist alternative to corporate capitalism (1996 to 2005).
The New Story: Although capitalism claims to be the champion of democracy and markets, the drive of capitalist corporations for monopoly control of economic and political power makes it the mortal enemy of both. The obvious alternative is an planetary system of self-organizing, self-reliant local living economies that mimic healthy living systems and embody the principles of real democracy and real markets.
The Book: The Post-Corporate World: Life beyond Capitalism (1999)
Partner Organizations: International Forum on Globalization, YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
PCDForum Campaign IV: Challenging the story that social order must be imposed either by a domineering governments or by monopolistic global corporations (2002 to 2009).
The New Story: Although we humans we have a well demonstrated capacity for individualistic greed and violence, expression of these traits in adults is a sign of psychopathology. It is the nature of the mature adult human to be caring, sharing, and non-violent and it is within our means to create deeply democratic caring, sharing, non-violent societies that provide a healthy, secure, and meaningful life for all in balance with Earth’s biosphere. The social and environmental devastation created by the dominator system make this an immediate imperative.
The Book: The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006)
Primary Partner Organizations: YES! A Journal of Positive Futures and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.
PCDForum Campaign V: Challenging the story that the Wall Street economy is an engine of wealth creation essential to the prosperity and vitality of the nation (2009-2015).
The New Story: The Wall Street economy provides nothing of value, fulfills no need not better met in other ways, and is corrupt beyond repair. Our economic, social, environmental, and political health depend on replacing it with a new economy in which life is the defining value and the money system is democratically accountable and responsive to community needs and values.
The Book: Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth (2009, 2010).
Primary Partner Organizations: YES! Magazine, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, Institute for Policy Studies, and the New Economy Working Group.
PCDForum Campaign VI: Challenging the story that it is our human nature to seek individual advantage in disregard of our neighbor and Earth is a dead rock free for the taking. (2015-present).
The New Story: We humans are living beings born of and nurtured by a living Earth itself born of a living universe. Real wealth is living wealth; money is just a number. Life exists only in communities of living organisms that self-organize to create and maintain the conditions essential to their own existence. Our future depends a deep cultural and institutional transformation to align ourselves with this reality and take the step to an Ecological Civilization.
The Book: Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth (2015).
Primary Partner Organizations: YES! Magazine, Institute for Policy Studies, New Economy Coalition, Next System Project, Toward Ecological Civilization, The Club of Rome, Institute for Postmodern Development of China.