Heroes for a Better World

Jakob von Uexkull
(1944-)

Swedish Social Reformer
Founder, Right Livelihood Awards
Founder, World Future Council

birthdate: August 19
birthplace:
Uppsala, Sweden

 

QUOTES

Markets and money must again become the servants and not the masters of our vision and values.

Today, when the consequences of our actions (and inaction!) reach further into time and space than at any previous point in history, we more than ever need politically engaged citizens.

Today there is an urgent need for a council that expresses our values as citizens of the world, rather than just global consumers. It would seek and offer counsel and moral leadership on the future of the planet, guiding us on the most challenging journey we have ever faced.

Our basic problem is not a "values vacuum" but that widely agreed values are not acted on. Their voice is increasingly drowned out by the cacophony of commercial speech.

At a time when the world craves visionary leadership, our political leaders have become prisoners of an economic fundamentalism which undermines the values and institutions on which the urgently needed, wrenching transformation of our societies needs to be built. They no longer represent us as citizens, only in our (much narrower) capacity as consumers. They have chosen to focus their energies on giving the international legal protection of corporate profits a higher standing than basic human, social and environmental rights. Our political leaders therefore face cynicism, disinterest and violent opposition. For we feel alienated from a system which offers such dismal choices. We feel cheated by empty promises of a "global village" against the reality of enforced brutal competition and the introduction of adversarial money bargaining into all areas of life, breaking down trust and community.

 


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