permaculture

[Fiona Campbell + Russ Grayson <pacedge@magna.com.au>]

PAPWORTH SLAMS GLOBALISATION
White haired and firm of voice, John Papworth stood facing the audience.

People had come to Sydney’s University of Technology expecting to hear
John speak about economic globalisation and community democracy.
Instead, John started by talking about the opera house which he had
visited while playing tourist in Sydney over the previous couple days.
John described the building as “superlative”, likening it to saucepan
lids stacked on end. He had no kind words for the nearby building going
up at east Circular Quay, however. This he describes as “sacrilege”
because it destroyed the view of the opera house.

The new building also epitomises how our lives today are dominated by
the market, John told the audience. 

The role of the market is a central theme in John Papworth’s thinking
because the rise of the global market is bringing profound change to
communities and permeates our lives more than ever before. 

One outcome of this process, John says, is that people today have less
control over their lives than did people 200 years ago. Their control
over the work they do has been destroyed and the creativity once
expressed through work has largely gone.

SCALE
Scale is another feature of the modern world which is closely associated
with the dominance of market forces.

“Centralisation and giantism are the two enemies of humanity”, John
said. We have entered a period of ‘global boardroom fascism’
characterised by the irresponsible exercise of power. The market
promotes its own ascendancy regardless of any effect on human structures
and human life”, he told the audience.

Scale is relevant to the type of society in which we live. Although
countries such as Switzerland which are organised on a smaller scale can
be boring, said John, they have achieved a fair degree of social
cohesion.

COMMUNITY
According to John Papworth, centralisation, giantism and economic
globalisation work against community. Yet community is basic to
humanity.

“Every form of life on this planet has a tendency to aggregate”, he
explained. “Communities are in our genes, something we must have”. 

Global trends are such that people now relate more to institutions
rather than to their neighbours. Yet, if we are to build community it is
to our neighbours that we must relate, said John, quoting the Biblical
injunction about loving your neighbour.

WHERE TO NOW?
In an era of globalisation and giantism, what can we do as individuals
and as groups to restore that lost community and to live in a more
ethical way?

For John Papworth, the answer is simple. We have to “tread lightly” in
the three spheres of life - the individual, the neighbourhood and the
world.

“The way we live is our greatest advertisement”, says John. “Let’s think
how we can individually change our life patterns. We’ve got to do it
small, step by step. The battle is about us making decisions. That means
government by the people.”

John was in Australia to meet like minded people, to see what is being
done about reasserting a role for community democracy and to promote his
new book.

An energetic and assertive person, John has not wasted his life. Born in
1921, a one-time Anglican priest, economist (graduate of London
University), political and economic analyst, former editorial consultant
to Greenpeace, founder of Village Industry Services (Zambia), for nine
years personal assistant to former Zambian president Dr Kenneth Kaunda
and focus of a recent BBC television production, John was a friend and
associate of Fritz Schumacher who wrote the classic and influential
analysis of modern economics, ‘Small is Beautiful’. 

He was also founding editor of two of the UK’s longest running magazines
with an environment and society focus - The ‘Ecologist’ and
‘Resurgence’. Created in the 1970s, both journals are still in
publication.

As part of his self-organised journey, John was in Sydney to continue
the role he took on all those years ago. His message about community
democracy and the need to reclaim our power from the big organisations
and institutions which have eroded it over the years and which have
turned what were once self-organised activities into markets is one
which echoes other campaigners such as India’s Dr Vandana Shiva.

An endearing aspect to this industrious reformer is his ordinariness.
“Never trust anyone without a vice”, he warned after his address, as he
sipped from his glass of wine in the bar of the Rustic Cafe in Surry
Hills.

...John Papworth’s address at the University of Technology Sydney was
organised by the Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network in
association with the university’s Institute for Sustainable Futures. The
meal and discussion which followed was organised by Friends of the
Earth. John had a few days earlier addressed a meeting of Economic
Reform Australia.

-- 
PACIFIC EDGE PERMACULTURE
Russ Grayson and Fiona Campbell
PO Box 446, Kogarah NSW 2217 AUSTRALIA

Phone   02-9588 6931    (IDD-61+2+9588 6931)
Fax     9514 2611 (Mark fax: ATTN: RUSS GRAYSON - APACE) 
          (IDD-61+2+9514 2611)
Email: pacedge@magna.com.au

Permaculture education, publishing, design. 
NSW co-ordinator, Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network.