Abstract
The chapter is focused on exploring the following:
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How can policymakers develop agreement on (a) what constitutes and (b) supports wellbeing of the planet, rather than the gross domestic product of a nation state (Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi 2010?) The cosmopolitan approach developed in this book draws on the liberative potential within the philosophy of Indigenous First Nations. It is based on the idea that as human beings we have the right and the responsibility to care for the land on which we all depend equally by virtue of our humanity. But we also have the responsibility to care for those who are not part of our immediate human family. Stoicism along with Indigenous philosophy needs to receive more attention while conceptualizing a strong form of cosmopolitanism that respects a form of cultural or national identity that is not at the expense of others (including sentient beings), the environment or future generations.
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It discusses thinking and practice to test out ‘technologies of humility’ (Jasonoff, S. 2003). It suggests the potential for a hybrid bricolage of laws and praxis to enable the transformation of our designs for living to support biospheres. Biospheres need to be understood as oceans, rivers, the air we breathe, the earth that supports the food chain and the universe of which we are a part. In other words, this reframed definition extends beyond the original definitions of that which was outside the boundaries of a nation state. Instead, it locates nation states within the regional biosphere which sustains them. Caretaking needs to be rooted in many kinds of knowledge, in order to:
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Decentre anthropocentricism and
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Address the convergent social, cultural and economic crisis.
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The challenge is to promote an ever-extending or widening circle of solidarity in order to care for the next generation of life. It also requires the creation of new global narratives arising out of a cross-pollination of spiritual ideas from a range of religious and spiritual practices. This appreciation of narratives could inform discursive engagement to help establish ethical processes to support wellbeing at a post-national level. This requires discursive engagement as well as participatory governance to enable accountability and whistleblowing on the misuse of power or resources .
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The chapter extends a paper entitled: A way out of the lobster pot (McIntyre-Mills 2012).
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On April 5, 2011, the sound of the radio alarm. In half sleep, I heard the newsreader say that Obama had been overruled and that the trial for one accused of the September 11 attacks will be held at Guantanamo Bay and not in a civilian court. In the next breath, the newsreader spoke of the burning of the Koran and how this lead to deaths in Afghanistan. With whom and what do we identify as human beings? We are co-determined by one another and the land and we live with creatures and design ways of life for which we are inherently responsible.
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The pea and the thimble trick was played at country fairs at the turn of the century and continues to be played out on a much wider scale today. The idea is to guess which thimble the pea is under. Let us consider the pea and thimble trick as a metaphor for understanding (a) the movement of information, (b) the export and import of resources (including energy or capital) or (c) the allocation of carbon credits. If you add more thimbles (nation states, public, private and volunteer sectors) and enable peas (commodities) to move rapidly from thimble to thimble, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the size of the carbon footprint (McIntyre-Mills 2010).The ‘zero sum’ approach has been reflected in the legal and governance system. Law can be characterized as monist, dualist or based on harmonization as detailed in Identity, Democracy and Sustainability (McIntyre-Mills and De Vries 2011). The ability of corporations to cover their tracks and to accumulate wealth through moving assets to tax havens is another way in which the social contract is eroded. This was described as ‘the pea and thimble trick’ in which assets are moved rapidly across national boundaries (McIntyre-Mills and De Vries 2011).
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The past president Sarkozy described asylum seekers escaping the food crisis in Africa as a ‘tsunami of refugees.’ According to the debate at that time in the European parliament, the introduction of immigration checks to control the asylum seekers fleeing the drought in Tunisia was potentially threatening the union. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats said that they would fight the re-introduction of checks. If nation states retreat within nationalist agendas, they will still have to address the human rights concerns of refugees crossing borders to which all the EU states subscribe. It is debatable to what extent a socialist prime minister of France will succeed in addressing social and environmental justice. What are the implications of so-called technocrats introducing austerity measures to conserve a currency? The safety net of social security for the very poor has been removed—driving people to protest the consumption by global elites. What are the implications of jeopardizing democracy through top-down forms of governance that override participatory democracy and the xenophobic responses to asylum seekers?
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If we accept human rights, then we need to accept regionalist approaches that ensure a decent quality of life, including decent standards of living and decent work standards with which the public, private and non-government organisations will be required to comply. If we accept that as human animals our survival is linked with the survival of many other forms of life, then we will re-think our role as caretakers living within nation states that are located within overlapping regions for which we are all responsible. Choices need to be made in ways that respect local identities which encompass ‘religion, morality, politics and aesthetics’ (West Churchman 1979, 1982). These human values (called the ‘enemies within’ by West Churchman 1979) filter the way in which we see the world. Critical thinking that draws on many kinds of knowing can help to enhance our praxis (McIntyre-Mills 2006a, b, c). A Chinese engineering student at Adelaide University stressed that he feeds stray cats ‘just to keep her alive…she is very afraid, but now she comes to me when I call…. I also have a poodle dog…they are also my friends. I will live here in Adelaide. But my other home is still China’.
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Keane, J. 2009a. Democracy failure: The root of the global economic crisis is political. http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?cites=16220241904322824583&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en; accessed March 31, 2011.
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http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm ‘The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009. It provides the EU with modern institutions and optimised working methods to tackle both efficiently and effectively today’s challenges in today’s world. In a rapidly changing world, Europeans look to the EU to address issues such as globalisation, climatic and demographic changes, security and energy’; accessed 5/06/2012.
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The potential of the Aarhus Convention (1998) is raised by Florini (2003) and provides an example of a cultural shift and indicates that we do have the capability to act as stewards. This convention provides a starting point, albeit a work in progress example of how to scale up social and environmental justice. According to Crossen and Niessen: ‘[It]… does not create a substantive right to a healthy environment. Rather the Convention creates procedural rights to assert the ‘right to live’ in and environment adequate to his or her health and wellbeing (they cite the preamble Para 7). To have meaning…a substantive right must be accompanied by the ability to seek enforcement of that right’. It provides the right to citizens of the EU to have a say irrespective of where they are working. This could and should be scaled up regionally in federalist structures supported by the legal system.
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‘The Lisbon agenda speaks of a knowledge-based society. The biggest economic sectors in the world today are agriculture, IT, health/care, entertainment, tourism which are at the same time the weakest in regard to unionization. Performance is certainly the issue of today, but also quality. And quality of life and working life are actually the most important targets of the Rio and Lisbon agendas… we need a kind of socio-cultural revolution…’ (Zell 2010, p. 706).
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Relationships between male and female and between human beings of the same gender are still issues that are fraught in many parts of the world. In Africa, homophobia can be used as an excuse for violence. A bill to outlaw same-sex relationships has been drafted in…. In Australia, a bill for same-sex marriage has not been passed. Relationships between human beings and animals: implications for humanism and cultural identity. Zuma has declared that it is a Western trait to walk dogs and to take them to the vet. He asks, how can we treat animals better than humans? Humanist exhortations to achieve human rights at the international level have not achieved a narrowing the gap between haves and have-nots. The Millennium Goals remain a dream. Thus, the question of how scarce resources ought to be spent is important, as is the issue of corruption and misappropriation of funds on a grand scale. In Australia, livestock can be transported. The so-called live meat trade has outraged those who support animal rights. But in New Zealand, it is banned.
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The Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action ‘are founded on five core principles, born out of decades of experience of what works for development, and what doesn’t. These principles have gained support across the development community, changing aid practice for the better: It is now the norm for aid recipients to forge their own national development strategies with their parliaments and electorates (ownership); for donors to support these strategies (alignment) and work to streamline their efforts in-country (harmonisation); for development policies to be directed to achieving clear goals and for progress towards these goals to be monitored (results); and for donors and recipients alike to be jointly responsible for achieving these goals (mutual accountability)’. http://www.oecd.org/document/18/,3343,en_2649_3236398_35401554_1_1_1_,00.html#Pars; accessed on July 2011.
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Sentient beings, including farm animals, need to be accorded rights rather than commodified, as suggested by European Commission working groups. The Treaty of Lisbon considers such basic quality of life concerns, such as the transport and farming of animals and the way in which they are slaughtered. ‘EU legislation on slaughtering practices aims to minimise the pain and suffering of animals through the use of properly approved stunning and killing methods, based on scientific knowledge and practical experience. The first Council Directive 74/577/EC on stunning animals before slaughter was replaced in 1993 by Council Directive 93/119/EEC covering a wider range of animals and slaughter circumstances. The Commission adopted 18 September 2008 a proposal for a Council Regulation that aims at replacing the present legislation. The proposal was adopted by Council in June 2009 on Animal welfare legislation in particular concerning Farm animals (98/58 EC)—general rules for the protection of animals of all species during transport and at the time of slaughter or killing’. http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/index_en.htm; URL accessed on 1 June 2011.In June 2013, abattoirs in Indonesia were given the all clear by Australian authorities. Cattle had been banned from being sold to Indonesia until they complied with Australian standards. Animals Australia stressed that the cruel treatment comprising gouging and prodding sensitive parts of the animal had been photographed. The response was that the authorities would investigate if they were ‘Australian’ cattle and whether compliance had been achieved!
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Demographic transition through enhancing capabilities and empowering the strategic rights of women. Through empowering women and accepting diversity within human relationships. This could be achieved through enhancing the strategic needs of women, not just their basic needs and giving women a voice in decisions at the domestic level, community level, government and the market.
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Kirby, M. 2011. Animals deserver our protection. Weekend Australian October 1–2, p. 22.
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Herskovitz, J. and Stoddard, E. Poachers make 2012 a deadly year for Africa’s rhinos, elephants, http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/12/27/africa-poaching-idINDEE8BQ06E20121227. Another newspaper article in a South African newspaper stressed that women have been paid to assist as hunters and to provide ‘a cover’. The same article conceded that some were reported to weep as they posed sitting on the dead rhinos.
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A reading of this paper should not assume a bias for or against any one religion, rather a plea to be aware of the way in which religion can foster passion and compassion in our relationships. Thus, religion can filter and frame our relationships to others and the environment. Atrocities have been committed in the name of many religions, simply because rights and responsibilities to some, rather than others were recognized or valued. The rituals in Bali described by Geertz (1980) in ‘Negara: the theatre state in nineteenth century Bali’ need to be juxtaposed to colonisation and loss of identity and land in the name of Christianity and the state.
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Energy expert warns of warming world. Guardian Weekly, 14 June 2013, cites International Energy Agency Report and the need for immediate actions, rather than waiting for a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol.
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Van Onselen 2011: ‘Plenty of jurisdictions overseas have changed laws regarding same-sex marriages, the latest being New York. But in 2004 the Howard government amended the 1961 Marriage Act to ensure legally married same-sex couples overseas would not receive legal recognition here in Australia.… From the Old Testament we know that Abraham, Jacob and David took multiple wives…. In the USA, blacks weren’t permitted to marry whites. In Australia in 1918, the government ordered that Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory were allowed to marry non-Aboriginal men only with the permission of the Chief Protector. Divorce used to be prohibited across Western societies…. Gay rights denied: arguments against same-sex marriage because of tradition are absurd’. Weekend Australian. August 20–21.
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http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/police-urge-calm-after-rape-victim-dies/story-e6frfkui-1226545025294#ixzz2GQEnBfda; Police urge calm after rape victim dies. http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/police-urge-calm-after-rape-victim-dies/story-e6frfkui-1226545025294#ixzz2GQH8Hfgf;http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/police-urge-calm-after-rape-victim-dies/story-e6frfkui-1226545025294.
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Burke, J. 2013. ‘UN urges India to review gay sex ban.’ The Guardian Weekly, 20.12.13, p. 13.
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Hundall, S. 2013. ‘A year after Delhi bus rape, women are still not safe’. The Guardian Weekly, 20.12.13, p. 14. The imbalance in gender caused by infanticide may be one of the underlying aspects of this problem.
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Stiglitz, a World Bank economist and now whistle-blower of extreme capitalism, argues that we need to factor wellbeing into all sustainable living calculations. We need to think of the implications of economic choices for others and for the environment in this generation and the next. This is an example of expanded pragmatism, an approach to ethical living which needs to become widespread, in order to ensure human survival. The argument developed in this book is that social democracy has failed, because it has veered too far in the direction of rights and has paid insufficient attention to responsibilities.
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http://www.aph.gov.au/house/house_news/news_stories/news_whistleblowers_Feb2009.htm ‘The House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee has released its report on whistleblower protection for the federal government public sector’. The report recommends that the federal government introduce new dedicated legislation to facilitate the making of public interest disclosures and strengthen legal protection for whistleblowers in the Commonwealth public sector. The Chair of the Committee Mark Dreyfus QC noted that specific Commonwealth legislation on public interest disclosures is overdue: ‘The Commonwealth is the only Australian jurisdiction that does not have legislation to encourage public interest disclosures,’ Mr Dreyfus said. ‘While some limited protections are available to whistle-blowers employed by Australian Public Service agencies, evidence to the inquiry indicates that those protections are grossly inadequate’.… ‘The current legal framework and organisational culture discourages public servants from speaking out against what they consider to be illegal or improper conduct in the workplace. People who raise allegations of misconduct could be exposed to serious criminal or civil liability’.
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Kolben’s (2011) paper delivered at the same colloquium does not hold out much hope, because he bases his argument on an understanding of closed self-reinforcing subsystems, without understanding that all systems rely on the environment and are thus always reliant on it. The notion of the Möbius band takes into account the idea that systems are open and closed—depending on the context.
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The siting of wind farms is now governed by permits. See http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/planningapplications/moreinformation/windenergy. Accessed 20/01/2014. But the use of permits can be used for political reasons to support the arguments put forward by the coal industry. Tim Flannery has been attacked for his support of the wind industry. Unfortunately, the wind industry in Victoria has been undermined according to the Friends of the Earth, because the numbers of wind farms have been limited by permits. See http://melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=node/1007 Accessed 20/01/2014.
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Unlike classical stoicism, this approach places humanity within the cosmos alongside, not above other animals. Graver’s (2007) ‘Stoicism and emotion’ discusses how the Stoics saw emotion as potentially clouding rational judgement. Being out of one’s mind or ‘being beside oneself with rage’ is the reason why people lose self-control and take violent action. She cites Chrysippus’s views on emotional behaviour as follows: ‘For in disappointment we are “outside of” or “beside” ourselves and, in a word, blinded, so that sometimes, if we have a sponge or a bit of wool in our hands, we pick it up and throw it, as if that would achieve something. And if we happened to be holding a dagger or some other weapon, we would do the same with that…. And often, through the same blindness, we bite keys, and beat at doors when they did not open quickly, and if we stumble; over a stone we take revenge in it by breaking it throwing it somewhere, and we say very odd things on all such occasions’ (Graver 2007, p. 61).
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Rhys, E. (Ed) 1910. The moral discourses of Epictetus: Mrs. Carter’s Translation. Everyman’s Library. Published by J. M. Dent, New York.
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I have just spoken to my mother on Skype. She is concerned because she does not understand the latest message from President Zuma. How can South Africa become more African when the elites live extravagant Westernized lives? How can walking dogs and going to the vet be regarded as Western? How can holding a cleansing ceremony help address corruption?
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McIntyre-Mills, J. (2014). Critiquing Anthropocentricism. In: Systemic Ethics and Non-Anthropocentric Stewardship. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07656-0_2
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