Dear Loizou,
You're not talking to yourself. Somewhere in sub Africa, we are suprised to hear about money because survival is not based on money.
I am wondering if our philosophy of youth development support by World Family has any relevance in International development circles.
If you have the time to throw an eye on our web site under construction:
www.betterworld-cameroon.com.
Joshua.
At 12:47am on December 12, 2008, Louis Loizou said…
I meant to say we are working at literally grass-roots levels, building the preparedness of the natural agrarian economy...
also its "bailed" not "biled" although bile is a bitter substance :-)
At 12:44am on December 12, 2008, Louis Loizou said…
By George you've got it. I read your profile had changed (oh hi, BTW, I'm back unharmed) so I re-read what you say. I have been pondering much on one of the major problems in Nigeria - the filthy rich few who control the oil and everything with it - making Nigeria an "oil-based economy" rather than a true one, which is as a breadbasket for a much larger area than their own huge country. No-one can fight the ruthlessness that this ruling class represent, but as you say: Somehow we need an integrated vision, a new conception, that is conceptually a serious rival to neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, or whatever you want to call it...
if we can undermine the very basis of their usury (they export crude at a profit and import refined making more profit, then control distribution of same by gigantic fleets, townships of tankers, I have never seen so many, rather than the more economic rail system which if anyone tries to revive they sabotage, as indeed they sabotage their own refineries under various pretexts to make the double profit hit) if we can undermine such as these internationally, then suddenly their capital power-base is gone. In the meantime we have been working (this time for monetary/logistical reasons there were about 8 universities represented but over 20 more clamouring to join USMEFAN Youth Forum).
Think on this. Chew it over. Now is a good time, the world awareness of the nonsense of the banking system and all that goes with it is high - they are now the pariahs that the G20 (excluding 90%+ of Africa) biled out while the poor get poorer. People are ready this coming year for all kinds of shifts. The power of Philosophy is needed now.
You are most certainly NOT talking to yourself, and it is so great to have a member of my birth family here on World Family.
Jocelyn and I have just returned from Nigerian High Commission with our smart visas, I am all packed, I have one SHAG meeting tomorrow, then on the bus to Heathrow, Nairobi, Lagos, Ile-Ife.
Most of our African brothers and sisters have difficulty accessing the internet which is why it is sometimes quiet on here, but that is one thing we hope to change soon.
I like your vision of course, we were talking about it the other day.
Now I have replied I will get a notification when you do. I may have difficulty accessing the internet in Ife but there will be much uploading of pictures and sound files on my return.
Philosophise well.
Louis.
No comments yet!
Profile Information
Relationship Status:
Married
what is your vision for the world?
My vision encompasses a world where 'enonomy' returns to its original meaning, viz. the law, order [in the originating Greek nomos, νόμος] of the household [in the originating Greek, oikos, οίκος] - the law, or order, of the household - hence of all households. We have seen what looks like the collapse of an entire money system in the last few months, and it is not surprising given that only a small fraction of the world's so-called 'capital growth', maybe as little as two percent, is actually productive, the 98 percent being created by currency speculation, mergers, takeovers etc.. I put the words 'capital growth' in quotation marks because, manifestly, life - actual life - is quite definitely NOT two-percentish considered in itself. It is, in fact, EVERYTHING, and the abstract money which grows itself so recklessly on the money-markets etc is quite literally NOTHING. But it is a 'nothing' which, somehow, manages to control everything. Africa is, I guess the biggest victim of this massive 'nothing', dispensed in the form of 'aid'. Many are turning their backs on it. What is needed is a return ....localism?....smaller 'carbon footprints'?....people, communities, encouraged to 'do their own thing'?....Somehow we need an integrated vision, a new conception, that is conceptually a serious rival to neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, or whatever you want to call it. This embedded neo-liberal conception, aided by the globalised nature of capital freed from all constraints, has somehow managed to hijack the language, the very meaning and not just the rhetoric, of 'liberty', or 'freedom' - that very conception which promised the freedom of each to pursue his/her aims, to fulfil his/her needs, has been taken away from that obvious and central sphere, the human sphere, and transposed onto abstract capital, which then becomes the central bearer of 'natural rights', and which we are all made to feel guilty about if we do not serve It, the Supreme It, as if it were God Himself. But this It has finally been shown up for what it is. None of this is to deny a place for banks, investment and the like - but surely a more helpful situation would be one where that capital doesn't stay as LAZY as it is now, and allows itself [pardon the ironical language] to become 'contaminated' by real productivity, instead of the current masturbatory self-aggrindisement in the form of currency speculation, 'short trading' or whatever. We need to move to a world where capital is seventy or eighty percent productive in real terms - the other 20 to30 percent is enough 'space' for these other, at present viciously parasitic, activities. How are we to get there, given the entrenched nature of the current economic paradigms? Clearly, by the sort of work and encouragements that World Family is doing.....but we also need to change understandings, conceptions, at the level of governments and their making of policy, and this requires a massive conceptual/philosophical onslaught, something to liberate the minds of politicians from stale conceptions that have become so unreflectively sedimented. We need a new discourse of freedom. Sorry to have gone on so long about this. I hope I am not talking simply to myself
About Me:
I am a retired university lecturer whose subject was [and is] philosophy.
Website:
Do'n't have one yet - but you can probably still find mention of me at the University of Central Lancashire under Philosophy.
What are the creative skills that you feel you have or would like to develop.
Writing, thinking, music....I even sometimes write poems.
Comment Wall (4 comments)
You need to be a member of WorldFamily to add comments!
Join this Ning Network
You're not talking to yourself. Somewhere in sub Africa, we are suprised to hear about money because survival is not based on money.
I am wondering if our philosophy of youth development support by World Family has any relevance in International development circles.
If you have the time to throw an eye on our web site under construction:
www.betterworld-cameroon.com.
Joshua.
also its "bailed" not "biled" although bile is a bitter substance :-)
Somehow we need an integrated vision, a new conception, that is conceptually a serious rival to neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, or whatever you want to call it...
if we can undermine the very basis of their usury (they export crude at a profit and import refined making more profit, then control distribution of same by gigantic fleets, townships of tankers, I have never seen so many, rather than the more economic rail system which if anyone tries to revive they sabotage, as indeed they sabotage their own refineries under various pretexts to make the double profit hit) if we can undermine such as these internationally, then suddenly their capital power-base is gone. In the meantime we have been working (this time for monetary/logistical reasons there were about 8 universities represented but over 20 more clamouring to join USMEFAN Youth Forum).
Think on this. Chew it over. Now is a good time, the world awareness of the nonsense of the banking system and all that goes with it is high - they are now the pariahs that the G20 (excluding 90%+ of Africa) biled out while the poor get poorer. People are ready this coming year for all kinds of shifts. The power of Philosophy is needed now.
Go for it, Brother.
Love and Blessings (with all my 20 nails)
Louis.
You are most certainly NOT talking to yourself, and it is so great to have a member of my birth family here on World Family.
Jocelyn and I have just returned from Nigerian High Commission with our smart visas, I am all packed, I have one SHAG meeting tomorrow, then on the bus to Heathrow, Nairobi, Lagos, Ile-Ife.
Most of our African brothers and sisters have difficulty accessing the internet which is why it is sometimes quiet on here, but that is one thing we hope to change soon.
I like your vision of course, we were talking about it the other day.
Now I have replied I will get a notification when you do. I may have difficulty accessing the internet in Ife but there will be much uploading of pictures and sound files on my return.
Philosophise well.
Louis.