The capitalist era is passing!
Dear members
I am sharing my thoughts regarding the ”World Forum for Democracy” which I have recently attended.
Angelos Parmatzias report on
World forum for Democracy 2014
From participation to influence: can youth revitalize democracy? Strasbourg, 3-5 November 2014
World forum of democracy was a lifetime opportunity to meet people from 100 different nationalities who were concerned about the democracy in their country. It was impressive to realize how democracy can affect our daily life in a way that we usually do not notice. Indeed democracy does affect the way we feel about our nation and about the hope we hold for our nation and its people, democracy today is the only available mechanism that can represent people voice.
I have to admit that every time I am being involved in democratic dialogues, I end up having more questions than answer. The reason is simply because there are so much that can be done but almost nothing is being done and I am wondering why; Is young people fault? Is our politician? Is our mentality? It is the capitalism?. As many of us might believe, democracy is not properly functioning nowadays, this urge us to question ourselves constantly to find out our share of responsibility that lead us to a weak democracy. Only then we can identify the reasons that keep us steady and hold us from moving forward for a better democracy
Young people, from Peru to Tanzania have attended the conference and they brought brilliant ideas with them for revitalizing democracy by promoting new measures like sophisticated online voting, direct democracy and liquid democracy etc. I sense we can be better democrats than previous generations if we are truly interested for the prosperity of our nations and not merely about our families or ourselves.
After long end exhausting discussions at the world forum, I felt that young people have the strength to revitalize democracy. We need to believe in this strength to start changing what we don’t like in our democracy, we have to believe in a better future that we the young people will create with our actions today.
The highlight of the conference was Jeremy Rifkin speech. Bestselling author and social activist stated the following:
‘’The capitalist era is passing – not quickly, but inevitably. Rising in its wake is a new global collaborative Commons that will fundamentally transform our way of life. Ironically, capitalism’s demise is not coming at the hands of hostile external forces. Rather, The Zero Marginal Cost Society argues, capitalism is a victim of its own success. Intense competition across sectors of the economy is forcing the introduction of ever newer technologies. Jeremy Rifkin explained that this competition is boosting productivity to its optimal point where the marginal cost of producing additional units is nearly zero, which makes the product essentially free. In turn, profits are drying up, property ownership is becoming meaningless, and an economy based on scarcity is giving way to an economy of abundance, changing the very nature of society.
In this new era, identity is less bound to what one owns and more to what one shares. Cooperation replaces self-interest, access trumps ownership, and networking drubs autonomy. Rifkin concluded that while capitalism will be with us for at least the next half century, albeit in an increasingly diminished role, it will no longer be the dominant paradigm. We are, Rifkin says, entering a world beyond markets where we are learning how to live together collaboratively and sustainable in an increasingly interdependent global Commons.’’
Angelos Parmatzias
President
Citizens In power
www.citizensinpower.org
