Green Party discuss the politics of localisation
23 March 2007
At a lively panel discussion on the politics of localisation and bio-regionalism, the Green Party economics spokesperson was joined on the panel by David Boyle of the New Economics Foundation and Carl Schlyter, an MEP for the Swedish Greens Party.
Ms Scott-Cato started the debate by dismissing the current economic status quo. " The current economic system of trading goods between countries with low wages and us, as consumers of these goods, is undermined by climate change. The ecological modernisation, the curtailing of global warming by tweaking the edges, won't solve global warming."
She went on to criticise the perceived benefits of material wealth. "Personal wealth accumulation means that money has a claim in the present against a stake in the future, generating generational in-balance. The average child born now would have needed psychological therapy if they were born in the 1950's. Levels of mental problems and stress have never been higher."
David Boyle then dismissed outright the notion that industrial centralisation contains any benefit and also decimates social cohesion. "A recent study showed that towns in the US containing a Wal-Mart have fewer amenity groups, fewer local activities, less scout groups and a lower voting turn-out than places that don't. Why? Because these giant, rational, centralised systems suck the life out of places and the people that live there."
Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter despells the argument of globalisation still further. "When people think that companies are outsourcing all the jobs overseas, they're wrong to think that countries like China are benefiting from this globalisation. In the last 10 years, China have lost 15 million jobs in manufacturing, compared to a further 10 million jobs lost globally."
A localised economy was called for, with the benefits of zero food miles, a genuine ownership of production, and a greater emphasis on seasonality and community co-operation. The Green Party's Lord Beaumont's wise words from 2006 were repeated - "Such a vision offers greater community and personal satisfaction: a world where conviviality replaces consumption, where local identity replaces global trade, and where community spirit replaces brand loyalty."
