By Janine Bandcroft for the Canadian Quakers
Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy is founded upon a time honoured Quaker principle – that we can better proceed into the future having borne witness to fundamental wrongs that need righting.
This book offers a breath of fresh optimism, encouraging us to realistically examine the past and confidently reach for a brighter future. We can see that the dominant worldview, which considers the earth and all her inhabitants as intended for human consumption, is clearly greed motivated and fundamentally wrong, and we can collectively change to live life in a way that instead reflects fundamental truths (ie earth is a closed system). We can embrace right relationship, which offers a guiding ethic for those wishing to lead fulfilling lives as creative and integrated participants within human society and the commonwealth of life as a whole.
History, after all (the authors argue), has seen its share of despots, but it’s also filled with great thinkers and philosophers who “bore witness to a fulfilling, spiritual way of living that drew on a deep sense of right relationship.” Confucious, Lao-tzu, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), Asoka, Isaiah, and Amos (along with other Hebrew prophets); and, later, Jesus and Muhammed. The authors also cite the indigenous societies of North America as examples for communities grounded in respect and reciprocity.
The authors reference many others whose contributions to history have shaped a philosophical worldview that honours earth’s systems: Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Aldo Leopold, Henry David Thoreau, George Monbiot. They draw upon many and various resources: Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, Lynn Margulis, Karl Polanyi, John Ralston Saul, James Lovelock, Elise Boulding, Paul Hawken, David Suzuki.
Right Relationship is clearly written and well-documented. It was completed prior to the great economic collapse of 2008/2009, but wouldn’t be surprised by it. It offers hope that the human spirit can learn from past transgressions and right its wrongs. Unfortunately, it’s lacking not only significant numbers of women’s voices, but especially feminist perspective and inspiration. As the now common phrasing goes, you cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it.
I believe this book is genuinely motivated, and striving for new thinking, am frankly surprised that it renders so many great feminist thinkers invisible. Unless I missed it, there’s no mention of Riane Eisler (author of The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future, now published in 22 languages), Vandana Shiva (Hindi, environmental activist, winner of Right Livelihood award), Starhawk (self described witch, theorist of paganism, ecofeminist), Carol Gilligan (American feminist and author), Laura Flanders (British born American based journalist), Alice Walker (African American pulitzer prize winning feminist), Winona LaDuke (Native American economist, twice vice presidential candidate), Naomi Klein (Canadian journalist and author of the Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism), etc. Neither is there any reference to the words “feminism,” “ecofeminism,” or “consensus” in the book’s index.
Authors Peter Brown and Geoffrey Garver are right to insist that “the people of the world can bring about a right relationship between the human economy and the earth’s commonwealth of life.” Their four step program (grounding and clarification, design, witness, and nonviolent reform) offers much to inspire us, but without a feminist analysis to show us the fatal structural, philosophical, psychological, and theological errors and violent abuses that 2000+ years of patriarchal domination has wrought, we can’t really imagine a global vision that’s as radically different as the authors argue, quite convincingly, is needed.
Brown and Garver also suggest we design new or reformed global institutions including a Global Court, a Global Reserve, Global Trusteeships, and a Global Federation. It’s a nice idea, but globally minded institutions already exist, ostensibly with the greater good in mind. The rules of patriarchy seem to enable those minded to dig their claws into any hierarchy and usurp all good intentions. The United Nations, for example, was created so that the horrors of WWII would never be seen again, yet every day civilians are mercilessly slaughtered by increasingly technologically advanced weaponry – the buying and selling of which fuels the American (and other nations’) economy. Filmmaker Kevin Pina recently captured UN “peacekeepers” standing by while the Haitian military open fired on a crowd of peaceful protestors. Brown and Garver offer convincing arguments in favour of globally minded organizations but again, without the feminist perspective, we’ll just end up playing the same old hierarchical power and ego game.
Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy is an honest look at what’s wrong with our economy, and it offers some interesting ideas about how we can fix it. It’s a worthwhile read, keeping in mind there’s a significant body of knowledge that’s missing from its otherwise adept analysis.
