The WE Campaign for Economic Justice works to end poverty, expand socially conscious business and reduce economic inequality and end economic injustice.
The WE The World Economic Justice Campaign is initiating a new project.
Three central notions behind this are:
- the perception that if we want a world that works for all (WE The World mission statement) then we will most likely need an economy that works for all and
- the realization that those who pretty much control the current economy have little interest in taking us there. This takes us to a third:
- if we want a world/economy that works for all we almost certainly have to create/build it
And we can do that. The movement to create a better world, as a whole, has all the necessary skills, tools and resources. In fact, many in the movement such as SEN (Solidarity Economy Network), NEC (New Economy Coalition) and the US Federation of Worker Owned Cooperatives are already in the process of doing that. All that is needed to feel confident that the skills and tools exist, is to check out the planet wide permaculture and ecosystem restoration movement. Paul Hawken in his 2007 book Blessed Unrest stated there are at least one million “groups that address the environment, indigenous rights and social justice” and that number is significantly higher now. If we pool our resources and use them wisely and collaboratively, I firmly believe there is enough to give us the momentum needed to make this dream possible.
My belief is that the single most important thing that needs to happen is to focus on and commit to getting the movement for a better world much better organized and collaborative. If we can do that, then we can pretty much do anything. If we can’t do that then the picture may not be so rosy.
The first step in our current plan is to identify those who are involved in the movement to create a world that works for all, what I call our Natural Constituency, and suggest that it would be a good thing to patronize/support those businesses that engender an economy that works for all in their mission (explicitly or implicitly), in a very focused and committed way. The idea being to keep resources in the community and grow the alternative economy we are trying to create.
To increase the effectiveness of this dynamic we are looking for ways to make shopping ethically more convenient, and to that end we are in the process of creating a WE Store, what I call the loving, caring alternative to Amazon.
A big plus to getting this process very organized is that we will be able to develop situations whereby entrepreneurs can start businesses the movement needs confident they will have a significant customer base from day one. This will drastically increase the number of ethical businesses being born.
Down the road we plan to create a global label/trademark so shoppers will be better able to find us with the knowledge that they will be treated fairly and. transparently, like family. How many times have we felt uncomfortable when needing a mechanic, lawyer, plumber, etc? More to come!
Jack Strasburg is a volunteer of WE Campaign for Economic Justice. For more information visit here.
