Female Genital Mutilation: Stop it!

"Are you crazy, Fauziya?" Cecilia asked. "You want to go back to Togo?”

Europe: Finance Takes Over Politics

Like passengers on a ship in a storm, European banks and governments are holding onto each other in a precarious embrace.

Science Can Restrain Runaway Finance

The urgent need for a paradigm shift in economics and its financial and mathematical models has been widely recognized for decades. Recently, Credit Suisse research as well as complexity theorists at the Swiss Technical University in Zurich have demonstrated the concentration of companies in the current global economic system. They used network analysis of positive feedback effects (the network grows faster as more join, like Facebook). These dynamics also concentrate connectedness and produced a pattern: of the 50 largest companies in the world, 45 are financial intermediaries (‘ Global Finance Lost in Cyberspace"). The top brass of these companies meet in Davos at the World Economic Forum. These firms (Barclays, UBS, Citi, etc.) operate on outdated economic theories, assumptions and financial models and tend to favour the current cruel austerity being imposed on citizens in Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and the U.S. Their financial and policy models have been critiqued by scientific research in physics, thermodynamics, anthropology and, recently, brain science, endocrinology and the behavioural sciences, as I documented earlier in The Politics of the Solar Age (NY Times Book Review, 1981). This concentration of corporate power and its outcomes are now evident in today's global financialization and led to the financial bubble which burst in 2007-9, still causing widespread human misery. Re-inflating these too-big-to-fail banks allows them to continue dominating the actual activities of real-world, local ‘main street’ economies, rather than serving their banking and credit needs. Thus, efforts to reform today's financial system simply have bailed out the past mistakes so that more crises, booms and busts are likely to continue. Current scientific knowledge of our planet's biosphere, its climate, geology and the behaviour of our human species is finally trumping this cultural legacy of conventional economics and political ideologies rooted in 18th century paradigms. Economics is not a science – as most economists will admit. Rather, its core tenets and "principles" are mere semantics: "capital" (too many definitions); "investment" (in what: nuclear power? public transport? green bonds?); "wealth" (money, ignoring all other forms of wealth); "consumption" (education, social services, household spending) and so on. The valiant work of financial reformers since the 1970s has challenged these paradigms and their outdated models: modern portfolio theory (MPT), efficient markets, rational human actors, capital asset pricing models (CAPM), value-at-risk (VAR), Black-Scholes options pricing model, NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment, used by central banks to set interest rates), etc. (" Changing the Game of Finance"). Building successful alternative financial investment strategies, the pioneers of socially responsible, ethical, triple-bottom line, green investing opened a new window into mainstream finance and managed to broaden and shift the focus of asset managers beyond single bottom line money returns (" Transforming Finance 2.0"). The new scientific findings must now face down financiers and expose their mystifications. Financiers do not provide capital; they are merely intermediaries between savers and businesses in the real economy and borrowers they favour. Often they take depositors' money and invest it outside the country or simply speculate on derivatives like credit default swaps. At last, we the 99 percent must rein in these practices and reverse the focus on reforms merely tweaking false economic and financial models. These proved brittle and failed disastrously in 2007-8, causing untold human suffering and widespread ecological disruption and depletion of biodiversity. The economic "technocrats" imposition of their "austerity" cuts have made matters worse. Misdirected investments in 40 percent of London's FTSE 100 were identified as "sub-prime" by Carbon Tracker. Today we can start with science and our new knowledge of ecology, biomimicry, climate, geology, thermodynamics, endocrinology, behavioural and brain sciences. This real-world approach will help assure that technologies, business models and enterprises are based on the expansion of human knowledge and planetary awareness. We can also take into account new behavioural insights into our own human cognitive biases, expose economic theory-induced blindness to "externalities," as well as acknowledging our moral and ethical frailties. Finance and its pretensions must be defrocked and its misallocations of resources re-oriented in due diligence processes that start with science in reviewing all business opportunities. Only after passing multi-disciplinary analyses of their scientific validity and resilience, possibilities of advancing equitable human development within Life's Principles, will our models of finance and markets be reformulated to create suitable business and funding models. Some egregious conventional financial models are explored in my " Real Economies and the Illusions of Abstraction" (2010); " From Rigged Carbon Markets to Investing in Green Growth" (2011); and " Updating Fossilized Asset Allocation Classes" (2008). Overviews of global financialization and reform proposals are covered at (www.ethicalmarkets.com Reforming Global Finance). Ethical Markets' Green Transition Scoreboard® tracks progress toward deeper greening of global economies. The multi-disciplinary "dashboard" Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators are updated regularly at www.calvert-henderson.com . The European Commission's Beyond GDP programme (www.beyond-gdp.eu), the OECD's Better Life Index, Canada's Index of Wellbeing and my paper with physicist Fritjof Capra, " Qualitative Growth," the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (2009), all focus on correcting macroeconomic statistics in line with global scientific realities. Join the signers of our Transforming Finance statement! Surveys worldwide by Globescan show that the public in many countries support such statistical upgrades by wide margins. Let's set aside old dogmas and use all our new knowledge! (END/COPYRIGHT IPS) (*) Hazel Henderson is president of Ethical Markets Media (USA and Brazil), author of many books, former advisor to the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, National Science Foundation National Academy of Engineering, the Calvert Group, Fellow of Britain's Royal Society for Arts and the World Business Academy.

FOOD SECURITY IN TIMES OF CRISIS

The uncertainties that lie ahead in the coming year present a challenge to the ability of governments to navigate the challenges that the recession will present to the less well off members of their population. Worry over food insecurity arises from the fact that sluggish job creation and income growth effect the access of the poor to food.

FROM THE WELFARE STATE TO THE STATE OF NECESSITY

The governing Popular Party (PP) is making it clear that it knows how to dominate the communications game and seize the initiative. In the opposition during the previous government it convinced a majority of voters that Spain's problem was President Rodriguez Zapatero and that if their candidate Mariano Rajoy won, the end of the crisis would begin. He was presented as "change" itself, the mythical balm of Fierabras prepared by Don Quixote, a generator of hope that never laid out specifics or even promised more than he would he able to achieve.

The Middle East: A Rainbow or a Tornado?

A year ago the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt was greeted with general satisfaction and considerable relief. Was it already possible to glimpse (for example, in the spectacle of the Egyptian leader being judged bedridden in a cage) the difficulties that lay ahead for North Africa and the Middle East fulfilling the promise of the "Arab Spring"?

ALGERIA IS EVEN WORSE THAN SYRIA

The killing of nonviolent demonstrators and civilian bystanders is escalating in Syria. Assad should resign immediately, a coalition government should be formed, and hundreds of mediators should hold dialogues with the many parties, to try and form a federation.

2012: THE YEAR OF DANGER

Will 2012 be the year the world ends? That is the prediction of a Mayan legend that gives 12/12/12 (December12, 2012) as the date of the apocalypse. In any case, in the context of recession in Europe and its grave financial and social problems, there will be no shortage of risks this year, which will also feature decisive elections in the US, Russia, France, Mexico, and Venezuela.

LATIN AMERICA: DEEPENING DEMOCRACY’S ROOTS

Latin American democracy has had to struggle against every kind of ideological experiment and event, some more lethal than others to the ideals of democracy, justice, freedom, and economic growth. Today many countries have forgotten how crucial it is to preserve the rule of law and especially the security of people and their possessions, without which there is neither competitiveness, democracy, nor peace. Until a few years ago it was believed that economic and social development were possible in an environment with weak institutions.

GLOBAL SUPPORT PEAKS FOR NO NUKES

A new and compelling story about nuclear weapons is emerging around the world. The new story is having an impact because it is one that many can own. It displaces nuclear fiction with nuclear facts. 2012 has begun with sabre-rattling in the Middle East and will end with new leadership in five nuclear-armed states. What is this new story and what can it bring?

GLOBAL SUPPORT PEAKS FOR NO NUKES

A new and compelling story about nuclear weapons is emerging around the world. The new story is having an impact because it is one that many can own. It displaces nuclear fiction with nuclear facts. 2012 has begun with sabre-rattling in the Middle East and will end with new leadership in five nuclear-armed states. What is this new story and what can it bring?

CLIMATE EMERGENCY

The grave financial crisis and the economic horrors besieging European societies are causing people to forget that climate change and the destruction of biodiversity remain the greatest threats to humanity, as they were reminded only last December at the climate summit in Durban, South Africa. If we do not radically change the dominant modes of production imposed by economic globalisation, we will soon reach the point of no return, after which human life on the planet will become gradually unviable.

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS IN DAVOS?

The self-appointed "World Economic Forum" will meet again in Davos, Switzerland, 25-29 January 2012. We can expect a new load of gratuitous advice to emanate from the meeting. Yet its invited participants were utterly unable to comprehend the September 2008 manifestation of the world economic crisis when they met three years ago. So, what are they going to talk about now?

IS CHINA STILL A DEVELOPING COUNTRY?

Is China still a developing country or has it joined the ranks of the advanced developed countries?

THE UNITED STATES AND THE DEFEAT OF VICTORY

The official end of the Iraq war is an admission of defeat. It will serve as a bitter reminder of all that everyone loses in wars, victors included. From the foundation of the republic, war has been a constant feature of US history but produced a clear victory only on a few occasions.

EUROPE ON THE BRINK

It is hard to see how the European Union and the euro can find their way out of the imbroglio their leaders have led themselves, and all Europeanists, into.

SHED LIGHT ON THE SHADOW ECONOMY

My first encounter with the “shadow” financial system was half a century ago in Nigeria. Fresh out of Harvard Business School, I was starry-eyed with hope that the free-market economy would help this newly independent country thrive. Instead, in only a matter of months, I became witness to a system of financial manipulations so incredible that I still have trouble believing it is real.

COOPERATION AND SOLIDARITY KEY TO MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Experience shows that South-South and triangular cooperation, backed by adequate funding, are key tools for tackling the development challenges of our time. But South-South cooperation only complements and does not replace North-South cooperation. All such partnerships are particularly pertinent given the challenges facing our global economy and sustainable development.

EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY AND THE FINANCIAL COUP D’ETAT

It is clear that the European Union cannot summon the political will to stand up to the markets and resolve the crisis. Until now the lamentable behaviour of European leaders has been blamed on their staggering incompetence. However, this (correct) assessment doesn't go far enough, particularly after the recent ''financial coups d'etat'' that in Greece and Italy have dynamited a certain conception of democracy. What has been happening is less a matter of mediocrity and incompetence than active complicity with the markets.

Op-Ed: Facing Peak Oil and Peak Gas: In Search of the Lesser Evil

The U.S. oil geologist Marion King Hubbert predicted, already in 1956, that the global production of oil will reach its all-time high roughly when we have used one half of the world's oil reserves. This is because geologists tend to find the biggest fields first, and because oil wells become tired during the production phase. The more is taken out, the more difficult it gets to bring the remaining oil to the surface.

HAITI’S DECISION TO REARM IS AN OBSTACLE TO PEACE, DEVELOPMENT, AND FREEDOM

SAN JOSE, Dec (IPS) After the announcement that the government of Haiti had decided to reconstitute its army, I asked President Michel Martelly to reconsider his decision, pointing out a lesson written clearly into human history: in Latin America, the majority of armies have been enemies of progress, of peace, and of freedom.