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ANFJ Schedule
Each year the conference grows larger. The exact dates and times will appear later. MARCH 2012 “Justice, Peace, Prosperity and Sustainability: Why economics obstructs these goals, and what we can do about it.” Presented by Kellia Ramares Economics obstructs these goals because we use money to acquire the goods and services we need to survive as a biological being (food, clothing, shelter and healthcare) and to thrive as an engaged member of society (education, transportation, communication, and the tools of one’s chosen trade or profession). For most of us, access to money is rationed via access to jobs, and access to jobs is rationed via competition. It is this fact of competition for access that is at the basis of the economy’s failure to satisfy everyone’s needs. Even if all greed, corruption, discrimination and war were to magically disappear tomorrow, the fact of competition would be there. Competition for resources is at the root of the other four. By trying to eliminate those four without eliminating competition for resources is only treating the symptoms and not the disease that afflicts humanity today. Capitalist politicians across the political spectrum, as well as socialists, talk about job creation as the answer. Job creation does not solve the problem because you cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. Even if you could have a very high level of employment, after a while, you run into the problem of “enough”. Especially with today’s technologies that increase individual productivity, we overproduce, which is a waste of environmental resources. Also, when we overproduce, inventory builds up, workers get laid off, and their decreased purchasing power kicks off a chain reaction that gives us the familiar boom and bust cycle. Overproduction is the problem of capitalism that socialism’s insistence on the human right to a job does not solve. Creating a just, peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world for all means firstly a revolution in thinking, which is why I wish to give this talk to raise consciousness. The revolution will include relegating our competitive urges to the sports and games sector, (re)building community and (re)learning how to share, recognizing that individual freedom and achievement is maximized by being in community not outside it, and ultimately abolishing monetary systems, which ration goods unfairly and destroy community. I will talk about the values we must develop (pointing out where we have them already), encourage discussion of values and lead an exercise in community building without money. My qualifications to undertake this project are a lifetime in the work world, where I have seen “close up and personal” the failure of economic systems based on money to provide well for people, formal education in economics (BA Fordham University 1977) and law (JD Indiana University – Bloomington, 1980), and over a decade in journalism, including work for Pacifica Radio Station KPFA, Free speech Radio News, Women’s International News Gathering Service WINGS) Indymedia and Radio4All.net (Under the names R.I.S.E. and Broadcaster At-Large. I have also written articles for several web sites, most frequently Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal), Center for Research on Globalisation and my own web site The End of Money: A Critique of Paying, Owing and Working “for a living.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kellia is a freelance journalist in Oakland, CA who left the Pacifica Radio Network in July, 2010 after 11+ years in the KPFA news department and over 10 years with Free Speech Radio News. She has also done extensive work and audio and print on the Internet, most frequently for Women's International News Gathering Service and Online Journal. She has covered a wide range of stories, for Pacifica and independently, from the controversy over spraying pesticides to control an infestation of glassy-winged sharp shooters in Sonoma county, to 9-11 Truth, Peak Oil, a plethora of environmental stories and performance enhancing drugs in major league baseball. She also writes book reviews and commentaries for the Internet on occasion. Kellia is looking forward to spending more time on a book project called: The End of Money: a critique of paying, owing, and working "for a living", which asks the question: "Why must we pay to live on the planet we're born on?" The Schedule at AWBC/ANFJ 2012 basically has seven different elements: a. Indigenous Welcoming Activity and Activities for Introduction to One Another b. Your Customized Symposium Schedule c. Your Customized Start-to-Finish Project Schedule d. Mobilizing to Visit Communities e. Creating a crowdsourced documentary together f. Outreach: Reaching out to a minimum of 200,000 viewers worldwide in the year 2012 through video teleconferences, in person conferences and pre-recorded conferences that will be made available as DVD and downloadable video files for later cable television, theater, home and organization use. We will also send any 2-hour 'summary' video to film festivals around the country and also to Free Speech TV. Free Speech TV reaches 30 million U.S. homes, broadcasting full-time on DISH Network (channel 9415) and part-time on 200 community cable affiliates. g. Last nights celebration party h. Indigenous Closing Activity We will travel and live in an intentional community at different times depending upon the customized schedules. ANFJ Symposium Schedule
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