The Next System Project is a new initiative designed at looking into concrete steps we can take to move beyond the confines of our present economic system. They have some wonderful supporters Barbara Ehrenreich, Robert Reich, Jeffrey Sachs, Bill McKibben, Frances Fox Piven, Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky, Van Jones, Danny Glover and Tom Morello. I am happy and excited to see the Next Project directly questioning our economic system and to be calling for something new beyond capitalism. This discourse is necessary and has for far too long been missing, especially in the US.
The Next System Project is an ambitious multi-year initiative aimed at thinking boldly about what is required to deal with the systemic challenges the United States faces now and in coming decades. Responding to real hunger for a new way forward, and building on innovative thinking and practical experience with new economic institutions and approaches being developed in communities across the country and around the world, the goal is to put the central idea of system change, and that there can be a “next system,” on the map.
- from http://thenextsystem.org/
I wanted to add my thoughts on this great new project. System change is a scary concept for many and not only for the elite. It is more scary when talked about in abstract terms. If you just say we need something totally different but you don’t say what this could look like you are creating insecurities. How can people grab on to a concept that is unclear. People would feel safer remaining where they are.
We need to have a more tangible vision and clearer, less threatening steps to head towards the Next System. The Next System Project does name a few concrete projects and movements like worker-owned coops, localism and participatory economics.
The new international movement, Economy for the Common Good (ECG) offers concrete steps designed to help us move towards an economy based on human dignity, cooperation, sustainability, social justice and democratic co-determination. It calls for system change and also offers a clear framework of action. The framework, the matrix, doesn't threaten our present livelihood. It doesn’t say I have to abandon all my amenities and go live off the grid in North Dakota. It says lets examine your company, the company you work for, the university you study at, or the city administration where you live. To what extent are they working for the common good, for the well being of their employees, the local community and the environment? In short, what are they doing which really matters? The ECG has developed a matrix of 17 indicators to measure a companies social and environmental impact.
A company initially measures its own performance. This is necessary to facilitate the internal change and development which help a company orient more towards the common good. Before this can be published, an external, ECG certified auditor controls the results.
When companies publishes their contribution to the common good in an understandable fashion, customers and local governments can decide to favourably treat such businesses. This will encourage the transition from an economy in which growth and profit-maximazation are rewarded to an economy in which contributing to the common good is rewarded.
Hundreds of companies and some local governments have already began the process. The Next System Project is a perfect forum to help develop the Economy for the Common Good.