This article first appeared on Bruce Nixon’s blog
This book is for people all over the world who want to prevent environmental catastrophe and create a happier, fairer, more peaceful world. It will help readers make sense of the situation, find solutions and decide how to participate in bringing about the radical changes that are needed.
The greatest challenges in human history
- Climate Chaos and Destruction of the Eco-system
- Growing Economic Injustice
- Resolving Conflict without Violence and Valuing Difference
- Radical Reform of out-dated Democracy
- And, that key part, the need for “ordinary people” to inform and empower themselves.
All these are interrelated; everything is connected. For instance the tragedy of mass migration results from this mix. So this book offers whole system analysis and whole system solutions.
We need a revolution If the human race is to prevent environmental catastrophe, we need a revolution, a peaceful one. The economic system has to be transformed. That includes the way most of our money is created through debt. This is driving unsustainable growth and systematically transfers wealth from those who create it to a super-rich elite who get richer whilst the rest of us get poorer. In short we are being colonised.
In the UK, a government without a mandate (supported by under 24 percent of eligible voters), is imposing ideological policies on the nation. They are destroying what many hold dear whilst failing to tackle the biggest threats or grasp the opportunities to build a prosperous green economy that would benefit everyone. This is an outrage; we need to feel it.
Austerity is economic illiteracy. It is political ideology, not sound economics. All over Europe, in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Iceland, the economic policies of the past thirty five years are being challenged, especially by younger people; so is the way we have done politics for the past seventy years. People want a better way. They dislike the abusive behaviour of many politicians. A new politics is emerging.
The challenges are enormous. So are the opportunities. Change is in the wind. It springs out of vision and hope. The book provides both. When great shifts come, they tend to come fast; the old order collapses. Remember the fall of the Berlin wall.
Yet radical new proposals, large scale events and campaigns involving thousands go largely unreported in the mainstream media. There is so much positive news that the conventional media doesn’t give us. This will be remedied in this book.
A Call to Greatness At a time of great danger, where will great leaders come from, people with the stature of those who served the world after World War 2? Today it will be a different kind of leadership: leadership that inspires and transforms by enabling “ordinary” people. Everyone needs to dare to be great.
Amongst the biggest obstacles to change is the feeling “there is nothing we can do”. An outdated political system that disenfranchises many people, and in which women are still grossly underrepresented, encourages this belief. For powerful vested interests to be overcome, millions of people need to use their power. We saw how people in Scotland came out in droves when they thought it worth voting. A 21st Century Magna Carta, a comprehensive written constitution, is needed to enable people to exercise their power. Chapter 9 offers proposals for comprehensive democratic reform.
The title of the first chapter is I listen to a lot of people in all walks of life. It was listening to people that decided me that the book must be written. The rest of the book emerged from there.
Published by Acorn Independent Publishing: £9.99 paperback; £4-99 e-book. Order from your local bookshop or online. Have a look at my Home Page, I think you will find it beautiful – Nature conveys a message.
Endorsements
This is a book jam-packed with solutions – hurrah! And, it all starts with the self; great change calls on each of us to step up and respond to the call of greatness. Whether it be changing our politics, our monetary system, our laws, our business ethics – at the heart of each resides something truly great. Bruce Nixon brings to life not only what is possible, what is already emerging, and also what could yet come into being. Polly Higgins, Barrister, International Ecocide law advocate.
This is an amazing book – not just because it tells us what’s wrong with our society and how to put it right – but because it is full of hope and love for people and our planet. The world is a better place for The 21st Century Revolution – A Call to Greatness and its author Bruce Nixon – the book inspires me to help make the 21st century revolution happen.Neal Lawson, Chair of Compass.
A fascinating read and a really good contribution to the debate about the future of democracy. Katie Ghose, Chief Executive, Electoral Reform Society
The greatest problem of our age is disempowerment – part of a political project to shiftordinary people out of power and out of politics, to leave them content to judge their identity by the brand of smart phone they rent. Bruce Nixon lays out the fullest dimension of this disempowerment and its fatal consequences. But he also outlines a way out; a way for all of us to become real citizens in a real democracy. The call to greatness not only refers to our own personal liberation from the shackles of disempowerment, but to the scale of the collective endeavour it will allow us to embark on – saving our species. It doesn’t get much bigger. Nick Dearden, Director, Global Justice Now.
Read this excellent analysis of what’s gone wrong, take heart and fight for positive change! Yvonne Roberts, Journalist and Fellow of the Young Foundation
Don’t despair – read this book! We can have a new economic system that works for people and planet, if enough of us meet the current (huge) challenges head-on and summon the greatness that each of us are capable of. Bruce Nixon brilliantly sets out a course of action and hope. Stewart Wallis, Executive Director, New Economics Foundation
We need to be both planning for a better world and actively setting out a route towards it. That needs the input of the many – and the democratic focus of this book is very much welcome, as is its understanding that our economic, social and environmental crises – and the solutions to them – are interlinked. Natalie Bennett, Leader, Green Party of England and Wales
Bruce highlights the harmful consequences of our debt-based money system and the need to change the way money is created. Ben Dyson, Founder of Positive Money.
Bruce’s book is a comprehensive account of the social and political obstacles standing between us and a more sustainable future. In response to that, he proposes a collective approach, and that’s absolutely right – if we want change, people power is going to be at the heart of it. Dale Vince, Ecotricity Founder