By Tony Weekes on June 9, 2010
Tags: sustainability
On the wall of my mother’s bedroom were the words of the serenity prayer: “God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and the courage to change the things I can….”
As our political leaders ignore the serious proposals for a new economics and a new economy – wheeling out, once again, the discredited (and internally inconsistent) conventional economic ‘wisdom’ of the 1920’s and 1930’s – there is perhaps something we can change.
Just before the general election, the campaigning group Church Action on Poverty proposed that we hold our elected representatives to account, not just every five years but on a regular basis during their term of office. The website www.church-poverty.org.uk/2010election provides some resources, including a ten page “ … guide to holding your MP to account” and an invitation to join an MP Accountability Network which will provide other supportive briefings.
As Quakers, with our remarkable (and well respected) heritage of social action, committing ourselves to this initiative is something we could all do – as individuals and as Meetings. But it places on us an obligation to become informed and confident about the new economics. The work of the New Economics Foundation is one place to start; the South African New Economics Community Network (SANE, website www.sane.org.za) has recently revived and is providing an informative (and free, by e-mail) Sustainability News