WOMANIFESTO? (2008)

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“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” Aldous Huxley

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WOMANIFESTO? (2008)

Intro: Humanity is amazing – our species has achieved so much.

Even at our most ‘destructive’ we continue to create and construct. We are an imaginative and curious species seeking new meanings and outcomes – trying to rationalize the irrational and to define the indefinable – pushing the boundaries in our quest for understanding – and we continue to progress.

Life is as precious as it is dangerous, and it can be difficult for each of us to make sense of our world because we are so driven to rationalize it and our individual place in it.

As social animals we are in transition and in conflict – from individual to collective – personally, socially, culturally, and politically.

Watch any group of individuals – strip way the differences and examine the essence.

Human behaviour is predictable because our individual instinct is to survive and to do so we must each put our own interest first – there is no choice because we cannot control the interest of another as we can our own.

We are never content. We seek approval and we make mistakes – our ‘nature’ strengthens and weakens us.

We are individuals – each one of us unique and yet we are, in essence, the same at our core – armed with this knowledge we are controllable and controlling.

The tyrant is afraid as are the tyrant’s followers as are those subjected to tyranny.

The Corporation is unafraid because it is an entity in name only – it is not human.

People (when allowed to hide behind the Corporation’s entity status) may be shielded by the labyrinthine edifices and artifices but they are afraid of disclosure. As individuals, they may feel vulnerable – unprotected – therefore they are just as afraid as the chain of people who they rely on are afraid – the designers, the makers, the sellers, the consumers.

I do not believe that the human condition is evil – rather that it is evolving and that we are experiencing unprecedented socio-political, socio-economical, and socio-cultural changes - on a global scale and at an alarming pace.

News and information - streams of messages are delivered to us constantly so it is little wonder than we feel overwhelmed and under threat – as individuals and as societies too.

I believe that we will survive as will our planet because we are an ingenious species determined to survive – defined by our propensity for good rather than evil because it is in our own self-interest to do so…

Over the last 30 years we seem to have lost the connection between what we make and what we earn, and we now watch as our governments spend our earnings propping up a financial system that is inefficient and not in our interests.

We know it, our governments admit it and the Financial Institutions, large Corporations agree; yet we watch on as our governments continue to repeat their actions whilst being lobbied by the very institutions and corporations that have devised the system.

It is the money and the creativity and productivity of the many that is being distributed and controlled by the Financial Institutions and the huge corporations and yet we appear to be powerless as we lose control over our earnings.

The many are lectured that we should be better at earning as we are denied opportunities to earn and as we lose our means of earning and access to capital to earn and to money already earned by us and held in trust by the organizations that control and censure us - how can this be true let alone morally right?

Reaching agreement: There appears to be a strong consensus that we are at a point of transition, and I believe that it is the perfect time to move.?

[1] By transforming our existing financial system into an equitable and transparent system whereby we value and reward our human industry, creativity, and productivity from the ground up and with our eyes firmly fixed on innovative, viable technologies and inventive, viable products and business models.

[2] By acting now in order to design, create and connect organizational processes and working practices to ensure that we work, and we make - we buy and we sell - we assess inputs and outputs - by us for us.

[3] By joining up all the processes throughout - from concept to completion - by thinking and by doing - theory and practice - connecting all the processes of creativity and production from the individual, the micro, the small, the medium through to the large - logistically divided into manageable and malleable enterprises and by re-connecting us - individually and collectively - to those processes by valuing and rewarding individual and collective creativity and productivity in tune with our psychology.

[4] By energizing us and by motivating us to be purposeful and to use our resources in the most productive and sustainable way – economically, ecologically, and ethically.

[5] By identifying feasible projects and by setting achievable goals and deadlines.

[6] By working with our vices and our virtues - not in denial of them and not in a judgmental way. What if pride is the least ‘productive’ and humility is the most ‘productive’ of our virtues?

[7] By working together openly, and as straightforward as possible by reaching agreements that profit everyone involved thereby providing opportunities for all to earn a decent standard of living.

Personal perspective: My primary interest is in the design, manufacture and supply of high quality, sustainable products, and services and in the design and creation of processes that deliver those products and services in the most economically, ethically, and ecologically sustainable and productive way.

And that those products and services as well as those processes are designed and constructed to be fit for our 21st century purposes - redefining our future rather than being merely defined by our past:

[A] Resources: A ‘fair’ flow of capital to free up the free flow of talent - “bottom up” not “trickle down” - a transparent and equitable system of valuing and rewarding our human industry, creativity and productivity.

[B] From concept to end user with the most efficient use of materials and causing the least harm to the environment ensuring that each person involved in every process benefits in a way that is commensurate with his or her skill set and in line with his or her endeavor.

[C] Purposeful, practicable and profitable throughout the supply chain - no baloney and no airy fairy idealism - realistic and rational.

[D] No scapegoats, no back biting - just proactive and purposeful steps towards a more productive, transparent and equitable system.

At this time of transition maybe it is the time to grasp both purpose and talent with focus on our many successes attributable to our humanity and humankind-ness.

Every one of us who is not afforded opportunity is an opportunity lost - and that really is a waste.

“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction.” John F. Kennedy

Aye?

The AYES have it:

An aye for an aye and a truth for a truth

The truth fairy hovers as truth-seeking sleuth

Eye to eye and looking for truth

Truth is the sister of trust forsooth

Trust as sibling and trust in self

Truth wide open and truth in stealth

Fact as story and fact as true

Each story is told by me and you

Reflected vision and subjective view

Mathematically, linguistically and scientifically too

The Land of The Ories we can visit and we can abide

Practical solutions can be provided and can be ascribed

If the glass is transparent it helps us to see

Our eyes perceive truths as you and as me

Pride for fear and humility for fair

Freedom means nothing without due care

Each to their own – is that our song?

Where right is left and right is wrong?

To live and let live – let us be fair and be true

Seven billion reasons to get moving and they are me and you

An aye for an aye and a truth for a truth

Together we can plan and act with purpose forsooth

The above prose and verse are taken from “The Thoughts of Charwoman Mar” Marlene Greenhalgh 2008?