Drawn From Biblical History
Designed For Political Action
by
Ulrich Duchrow
Translated from the German by:
Elisabeth Hicks, Keith Archer, Keith Schorah and Elaine Griffiths
Content
Foreword to the English edition 1*
Introduction 2*
First Part
Background to the present situation:
Pauperisation and the global dominance of finance 8*
Chapter I: The birth of the market economy, its structures and development 9
1. First principles 9
2. Principles and consequences of a capitalist market economy in which labour, land and money are treated as commodities. 14
2.1 Labour 16
2.2 Land 18
2.3 Money 19
3. The political conditions necessary for a capitalist market economy 25
3.1 Property and contract law 26
3.2 The money system 30
3.3 Foreign (trade) policy 31
4. The ideology of market-minded people (homo oeconomicus) 32
Chapter II: The resistance of victims and societies 38
1. Resistance outside Europe 38
2. Resistance within Europe 40
2.1 The market and regulation 41
2.2 Socialism, Fascism and Keynesianism 44
Chapter III: The current situation in the neo-liberal capitalist global system 48
1. The transnationalisation of markets and market actors 48
2. Domination of global finance and its effects in the South, the East and the West 52
2.1 In the South: the debt crisis - the tip of the iceberg 54
2.2 Eastern Europe: the identical debt traps of industrialisation and de-industrialisation 58
2.3 In the North (the West): casino capitalism, growth without jobs, the gulf between rich and poor, and the powerlessness of the nation-state 59
2.4 Around the globe: destruction of the basis of life for this and future generations by the money-accumulation economy 66
3. The international institutions involved in global domination of finance: the Bretton Woods system and its metamorphoses 69
3.1 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank 69
3.2 The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 75
3.3 G7: the seven leading industrialised nations and the "World Economic Summit" 77
4. The role of the military in ensuring the global dominance of finance 78
5. The media's role in spreading the ideology of the global dominance of finance 82
Second Part
Biblical Recollection of the Future of Life 87
Preliminary Considerations 87
Chapter IV: The socio-economic and political-ideological context of the biblical traditions 92
1. Economy in the Ancient Near East 92
2. Politics and Ideology 99
Chapter V: Economy for life é biblical tendencies 105
1. Israel's emergence as an alternative "contrast society" 106
2. The attempt to "tame" the kingship system by prophecy and law 111
3. Alternatives after the collapse of kingship and the transformed society in a niche of the Persian Empire 122
4. Resistance to the totalitarian Hellenistic and Roman Empires and small-scale alternatives in apocalyptic writings 138
5. The Jesus movement and the early Christian messianic communities as the salt, light and leaven of the Kingdom of God in Israel and amongthe peoples 144
Chapter VI: Resistance to the kingdoms of the world and alternatives for life é What does it mean today? 167
1. Five biblical rules for recollecting the past 167
2. False paths: "state theology" and "church theology" 172
3. Three legitimate approaches to being the Church and to taking steps towards a life-sustaining economy 173
Third Part
Life-giving Economic Alternatives - Today 175
Chapter VII: From the empires to the global economy 175
1. How can one compare the social configurations of ancient empires and the global capitalist system? 177
2. Have the churches the right to speak up at all, in view of their 2000-year history? 178
Chapter VIII: Rejecting the totalitarian structure of the world economy 195
Chapter IX: Small-scale networked alternatives on the basis of a new vision 206
1. The vision of an economy for life 208
2. An economy for life in community 211
3. Alternative micro-economics 217
3.2 Alternative technologies 221
3.3 Alternative land use 222
3.4 Alternative micro-financial systems 225
3.5 Alternative trade 232
4. Alternative consumption 234
5. Fairer distribution of income 237
6. The networking of small-scale alternatives 240
Chapter X: Alternative economic policy for life 244
1. Chances for politics under a totalitarian system or the relationship between prophetic and apocalyptic writings 244
2. Alternatives to the current world economic and financial (dis)order 253
2.1 The UN and the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank, GATT) 253
2.2 Ending modern-day debt slavery 258
2.3 Combating capital and tax flight and all economic crime 261
2.4 Riding the tiger, or, can TNCs be tamed? 263
3. Strategies for life at local, national and European levels 265
3.1 The local level 265
3.2 The national level 267
3.3 The European level 270
Conclusion 275
Bibliography 278
.Ende Verzeichnis V.
Foreword to the English edition
There is no alternative - so it appears following the collapse of socialism in Central and Eastern Europe. The winners in the now global capitalist economy are enjoying the victory. The losers - that is, the poor, not only in the East, but also in the South and the West - feel powerless in the face of world market powers now mightier than ever before. Many feel completely lost. Only a few still dare to be critical and ask what the reasons are for the present threat to the lives of human beings and to nature, and whether there are any alternatives. This was the reason for writing this book.
The year 1994 was marked by the fiftieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference, which set the present phase of global capitalist economics in motion in 1944. Many NGOs in all parts of the world have used this occasion to raise critical questions about the present global disorder and also to work out alternatives. In Europe the grass-roots movement Kairos Europa has started a campaign for continuous action, awareness building and lobbying from local to international levels. It is in this context that this book wants to provide orientation, and stimulate further discussion.
My thanks are due to many people for various kinds of support during preparation of the book. Firstly, I would like to thank my wife, Ulrike, and the many participants in discussion groups and various seminars. Amongst my colleagues in theology, I would like especially to thank Israel Batista, Jürgen Kegler, Wolfram Kistner, Theo Kneifel, Philip Potter, Luise Schrotthoff and Ton Veerkamp. In the field of economics Martin Gück provided welcome corrections and stimulating comments, as did Anselm Duchrow concerning agriculture. For the creative translation of the three parts I thank Elizabeth Hicks, Keith Archer and Keith Schorah. Elaine Griffiths displayed not only professional expertise but also personal friendship in integrating the whole of the English text. I am grateful to Elisabeth Witte for her competent and meticulous care in the production of the final form of the text. **
Amongst the many religious and grass-roots communities to whom this book is dedicated, I wish to make special mention of the Grandchamp Community in Switzerland, not only because they bear living testimony to the existence of alternatives, but also because they have over the last ten years supported both church-related and social movements with their spirituality of resistance and prayers, lending hope to those concerned.
Ulrich Duchrow October, 1994