https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/06/the-george-soros-philosophy-and-its-fatal-flaw
But unlike Gates and Zuckerberg, Soros has long pointed to academic philosophy as his source of inspiration. Soros’s thought and philanthropic career are organised around the idea of the “open society,” a term developed and popularised by Popper in his classic work The Open Society and Its Enemies. According to Popper, open societies guarantee and protect rational exchange, while closed societies force people to submit to authority, whether that authority is religious, political or economic.
Unlike Gates, whose philanthropy focuses mostly on ameliorative projects such as eradicating malaria, Soros truly wants to transform national and international politics and society. Whether or not his vision can survive the wave of antisemitic, Islamophobic and xenophobic rightwing nationalism ascendant in the US and Europe remains to be seen. What is certain is that Soros will spend the remainder of his life attempting to make sure it does.
George Soros: I’m a passionate critic of market fundamentalism https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/13/george-soros-im-a-passionate-critic-of-market-fundamentalism
Gandhian Trusteeship & Non-Violence: The Basis for a Creative Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zdt6VRyOmY Rajni Bakshi Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations Feb 21, 2014
Societies around the world are struggling to combat problems arising out of environmental crises and growing inequality between the rich and poor, which constitute major risks to economic and social stability. As these problems escalate, there is a need to look at unconventional solutions; Mahatma Gandhi's idea of Trusteeship provides the basis for a creative solution to problems of inequality and environmental crises.
The idea of Trusteeship is based on the premise that you are never really the 'owner' of wealth but rather its temporary holder, as a benevolent custodian. Gandhi was confident that eventually Trusteeship would offer an alternative to both capitalism and socialism. What was the reasoning behind Gandhi's idea of Trusteeship? How does it go beyond philanthropy and CSR? How can it serve as the foundation for a non-violent and creative society?
Trusteeship: A futuristic concept
https://www.gatewayhouse.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/gandhiantrusteeshipandnonviolence.pdf Can Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of Trusteeship enable the creation of a broader, more wholesome definition of value?
trusteeship and how it how it connects to Modern Life.
https://www.gatewayhouse.in/trusteeship-a-futuristic-concept/ creating new metrics of ‘valuation’
Trusteeship is a futuristic concept which radically challenges the very concept of ownership.
Gandhi’s concept of Trusteeship is based on the premise that you are never really the ‘owner’ of wealth but rather its temporary holder or caretaker. Gandhi argued, while these special abilities need to be honored they ought not to be used to concentrate money-power in the hands of a few.
George Soros has repeatedly argued that since all wealth is generated in a social and cultural context, it is never really private.
The Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch has asserted that the proposed amendments to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) next week will gravely compromise national interests, seed sovereignty and farmers’ rights.
The amendments seek to expand the scope of the Multi-Lateral System (MLS) of free global access from the earlier 64 crops to all plant genetic resources; alongwith their Digital Sequence Information. The Digital Sequence Information (DSI) thus mined from our seeds and the products developed using it – without our Free, Prior & Informed Consent – is ending up in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) portfolios of institutions and corporations.
The Bharat Beeh Swarj Manch, a network of Indian Seed savers and Farmers, has called for decentralized, in situ conservation of plant genetic resources by farmers rather than corporates and seed companies. Already, over 54% of the global trade in seeds is monopolized by just four giant agri-business multinationals
The website of ITPGRFA indicates that India has provided till date more than 400,000 samples of various crops and plants.. Little or no benefits have flowed to farmers who were the original source of the seeds.
The present functioning of the Multi Lateral System of the treaty has no clear tracking mechanism for the providers of plant genetic resources to ascertain who is accessing which varieties of their seeds, and for what purpose or commercial gain. Instead of strengthening transparency and accountability, the proposed amendments to the ‘Standard Material Transfer Agreement’ (SMTA) provided in the Treaty, ironically seek to legitimize confidentiality, going against the bedrock principle of transparency, and the existing obligations in the current SMTA.
- safeguarding our rich heritage of plant genetic resources, farmers’ rights and seed sovereignty
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