My Efforts to Transform Society
I’ve been working on transforming society in the following ways:
- I talk about the effects of capitalism. I talk about it informally as well as in the formal settings I have access to. For example, I work with childcare workers. When we’re looking at our scarce resources, I share information about wealth inequality: “The problem isn’t a lack of resources—the problem is that the resources are distributed unequally.”
- I keep learning. An economics perspective that I find particularly accessible is that in British economist Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics.
- I cultivate my own confidence, hope, and imagination and share it wherever I can. For example, I have a blog post in which I always include something about imagining a new economy and several things that have made me hopeful.
- I am part of group efforts. I look for groups with a human and hopeful orientation, and I build relationships.
- I talk about economics in my climate justice work.
- I don’t have a deep background in economics and finance, but in my Philadelphia Public Banking Coalition, I model liking people, keeping to an agenda, writing clear prose, seeing new possibilities, and asking good questions.
- I find people who are already doing powerful work, build relationships with them, and support them. For example, I’m supporting young activists in a climate justice group.
- I try to be alive to the possibilities around me. The world is full of opportunities to offer support, share perspectives, make connections, and bring people together!
- I shared most of these ideas, and much more, in an RC class series I led called “Understanding Economics—a Key to Climate and Justice Organizing.” Slides and recordings from that class are available at <www.rc.org/publication/workshops/understandingeconomics2021/contents>.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 209, October 2022)
Last modified: 2022-12-25 02:17:04-08