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The following comprises a very brief explanation of economic sharing. More detailed information is available here.
Why
Share
What is the Principle of Sharing
How Sharing Can Work
Why Share The World's Resources?
Poverty causes the needless deaths
of around 50,000 people each day, and international aid continues to fail the
poorest nations. Even if the Millennium Development Goal for halving
extreme poverty is achieved, 900 million people will still be living on less
than one dollar a day in 2015.
- Basic needs
are not being secured for the majority world by neoliberal economics
despite a 60 year old commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
- Climate
change, which will have the gravest impact on the developing world, is
accelerating as a result of mass commercialisation and the over-consumption
of resources by the richest nations.
- Inequality
within and between nations is continually widening as a direct consequence
of free market policies.
Self-interest
and competition
Despite
all the evidence, the G8 and other wealthy nations still prioritise profit and
economic growth over the securing of basic human needs. Only the major
corporations truly benefit from a global economy organised on the basis of
self-interest and competition, yet these values have been institutionalised
through the World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank.
What is the Principle of Sharing?
Sharing is not an ‘ism’ or an
ideology but a natural law of economy, a simple process that, when implemented
on a global scale, can ensure that basic human needs are universally secured.
Sharing in practice
National systems of welfare
provide a practical example of sharing in which governments pool tax revenues
and channel them into social services. With the exception of the Marshall Plan
after World War II, the principle of sharing has never been implemented at the
international level where it is most urgently required.
Global public ownership
Enough food, water and medicine is
available for every person on the planet. If the international community
is committed to creating a sustainable world without poverty, we must act now
to reorganise the economic system in line with the principles of cooperation
and sharing.
Natural resources (such as water,
energy and the atmosphere), basic goods (such as food and medicine), and
essential services (such as education, healthcare and utilities) can be
redistributed by the international community to create a global welfare system.
Resources can only be shared effectively if they are cooperatively owned by the
global public rather than corporations or individual countries. Without
this affirmation of international unity, confrontation between nations over
resources will inevitably continue.
How Can Sharing Work?
Public pressure must first
persuade governments to take immediate and decisive action to end extreme
poverty and create a sustainable economy.
A new United Nations agency can
then hold natural resources in trust, ensure essential goods are redistributed
internationally, and guarantee that utilities, healthcare and education are
universally provided.
Transforming the global economy
A system of sharing can function
alongside a reduced free-market economy which would allocate all other goods
and resources. The activity and influence of multinational corporations would
then significantly decrease, shifting the emphasis to local industry and food
security. Sharing would lessen the negative effects of world trade and reduce
the need for international finance and development funding, allowing the
governance of the global economy to be restored to UN agencies such as the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the UN conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD).
International redistribution
Wealthy nations will have to
consume less, reduce CO2 emissions, and redistribute surplus resources to where
they are most urgently needed. Sharing resources in this way can create rapid
bottom-up development and eliminate the need for international aid.
The
creation of a world economy which prioritises cooperation and sharing will
naturally strengthen democratic structures and lead to peaceful international
relations.
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