Many people know that something is wrong with the system and with those who prop it up e.g. the banks and the politicians. Whether it be corruption, greed, centralisation of power, denial of rights, mushrooming legislation, or the excessive power of financial and commercial interests, the common (ordinary) people are the victims. Indeed, the vast majority of people would also say that something needs to be done to put right these wrongs.

Unfortunately, the many are divided and unorganised and disagree how we can make a change. There are however moves afoot to overcome those obstacles.

Initiating a series of debates organised by a number of organisations and individuals, ranging from the The School of Commoning, Runnymede Project, New Wilberforce Alliance, Occupy London and others, they wish to build a movement of individuals and organisations seeking to end the modern-day slavery caused by the culture of greed and the damage it does to others, ourselves and our planet. They seek to generate mutual awareness of, and respect, for the many starting points that can ultimately lead to a bottom up, influential public clamour for change.

Members of the editorial board of the 4WR (and of the NLP) were invited to attended one such meeting in Portcullis House, Westminster. Speakers included James Quilligan, Paul Moore, Charles Secrett and Frank Taylor and chaired by Peter Challon. Regular readers of the 4WR will recognise Peter as the Chair of the Christian Council for Monetary Justice who gave us an interview in Issue no 153 of our magazine.

Peter Challon explained why an Alliance was necessary to unite the many against the few. No one was offering a panacea to all society’s ills but that a start to change the nature of the system must begin somewhere. Charles Secrett, an ex-leader of the Friends of the Earth, spoke of the threat to the planet’s bio-sphere and the impact to our civilisation. He believed that the means to change already existed in the hundreds of thousands of members of NGO’s up and down the country. The key was mobilising them in a unified campaign.

James Quilligan of the School of Commoning called for a debt-free money issued by a public/central bank (see the NLP’s call for such a bank at http://nationalliberal.org/a-state-bank). Paul Moore, the ex-HSBO whistleblower, also focused on the problem of monetary control quoting Thomas Jefferson’s view that allowing ones currency to be in private hands was even riskier than having standing armies against you. Frank Taylor of the Runnymede Project (and someone who has been interviewed in an earlier 4WR) believed the main question facing the public was, quoting King William III in 1688, who asked “How do you wish to be governed?” He believed there was no single issue but many but all were connected and were ultimately the result of a grotesque concentration of political and economic power.

All in all a thought-provoking conference and a noble attempt to bring together organisations and individuals to challenge everything that is wrong with our society. In the same way that the NLP believes in a cooperative ‘political alliance of the good’ to challenge the political establishment, the organisers believe there needs to be an ‘social alliance of the good’ to challenge the social and economic system imposed upon us all, by a small yet powerful and ruthless oligarchy. We wish them well and will endeavour to play our part and shall keep our readers in the next issue (no.156) posted on developments.

If anyone is interested in receiving details of the speeches please contact us via natliberal@aol.com and if you wish to keep yourselves in the loop please view the School of Comming website at http://www.schoolofcommoning.com.

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To download issue 154 (spring 2012) click HERE