Opinion Sur
The meaning of the word commandment refers to a “precept or order given from a superior to an inferior” and it is in this sense that it would be worthwhile to consider a list of precepts and orders that emerge from the interests, needs and emotions of the people so as to guide the action of those who lead global as well as national political and economic institutions. We should not be surprised by the appearance of new systemic crises in this XXI century; the current one had its epicentre first in the United States and now in Europe. It is a fact that, with a course of action and a way of functioning that lead almost inevitably to environmental destruction, an increasing concentration of assets and income, the primacy of financial activities over the real economy and shameful social inequity, situations of instability and insecurity within the countries and on a global level are reproduced with more and more virulence.
We have been on the wrong track and following non sustainable functioning for a long time, but now two more elements that catalyzed the process have been added: globalization and contemporary acceleration. Probably, with much effort and only temporarily, both factors could be to a certain extent curbed, but ultimately, it will be necessary to accept that they have come to stay and get organized accordingly.
Countries are more and more interconnected, in the political, economic, financial, media and information, artistic and cultural arenas. This means to say we are in an era of eventual local and national as well as global pneumonias that, should we not act appropriately, could become more severe and frequent.
Contemporary acceleration, for its part, makes us adjust the way we manage processes at an vertiginous rhythm. It forces us to watch more than ever our systemic course because we will arrive where we are headed, be it a wall, a jungle, a marsh, a desert or a better country and planet, far quicker than in the past. Leadership will have to be practised with more agile reflexes and a sense of opportunity, supported by an effective combination of experience and flexibility to incorporate innovations. We will need to count not only on alarms that go off when a fire breaks out but also on early alerts to warn us against undesired and unexpected deviations as soon as they break. It will be as important as the alarms, or even more so, to rely more and more on prevention.
What we have learnt and achieved in the course of humanity’s development has invaluable worth. It would make no sense not to take advantage of it because it is precisely on those bases that a renovated strategic thinking can build new referential utopias, a new systemic course and a better way of functioning. Opinion Sur has devoted books and articles to analysing the contemporary systemic crisis whose effects are still felt; to understanding its genesis and suggesting sustainable economic, social and environmental exits. We are convinced that the viewpoints of the South, the North and the East complement one another and that, if well understood, can add new synergies to the ones that, not without difficulties, have been surfacing from the depths of history.
In these lines we intend to dive beyond the solutions to which we are all -with fair urgency- devoted; identify factors that may prevent new crises and be part of very diverse, current economic and political agendas.
There exist no commandments to avoid systemic crises of the type the title of these lines seems to indicate, and even less, apart from its biblical evocation, they should be ten. It is clear, it should be so, that there will be no recipes; at the utmost, guiding criteria to reinforce our compass. However, the meaning of the word commandment also refers to a “precept or order given from a superior to an inferior” and it is in this sense that it would be worthwhile to consider the proposed list: precepts and orders that emerge from the interests, needs and emotions of the nations so as to guide the action of those who lead global as well as national political and economic institutions.
As it could not be otherwise and although it puts together aspirations of many people, the set of suggested commandments is necessarily open to other beliefs and priorities. It is one more step in the process of building a referential utopia for what is left of this XXI century.
1. To abate poverty and social inequity, within and among countries.
2. To prevent environmental damage.
3. To close the educational and technological gap.
4. To eliminate corruption and growing criminal systems.
5. To adopt peaceful conflict resolution approaches.
6. To overcome contemporary alienation and consumerism.
7. To strengthen democratic governance securing representation and social justice.
8. To celebrate diversity and fight against discrimination and the attempts to homogenize thought.
9. To close the way to selfishness and greed, and encourage generosity and psychic health.
10. To keep a permanent and always renovated search for existential meaning.
