I’m quite reserved as per political activism and campaigning for social change ideas, believing in the fact that the change I want to see outside has to grow within me first.
However, the last months I have changed a bit my position when I came across an inspiring movement called “Sum of us” (sumofus.org). )I know other such campaigning movements fighting against social and environmental atrocities and violence, and I’m also a bit active with the well-known Avaaz.)
When reading about SumOfUs, I had to think of what I read many years ago in the book Esoteric Psychology Vol. II, p. 742 from 1942 by Alice A. Bailey / The Tibetan Master:
“Their united good will (at present latent, unused and unorganised) can become a world force and through sheer weight of numbers, these people can make their presence effectively felt. It will be a force which can mold public opinion through the expression of intelligent love (with the emphasis upon the word intelligent) but which will employ no separative devices, no armed force, no coercion and no political scheming and manipulation. Is it not possible so to evoke the spirit of good will, present but oft inactive in the hearts of all men, that there will be such a vast number of men and women of good will in the world—consciously in touch with each other throughout the planet—that their voice will not be negligible, nor their expressed desires impotent?”
Many initiatives carry this spirit of good will. I have reported about some in this blog. SumOfUs is clearly in this spirit -here are their last campaigns:
- A campaign against Nestlé patenting the fennel flower.
- A campaign against Nestlé going into poor countries like Pakistan and buying up whatever clean water is available.
- A campaign against corporate agribusiness wanting the Canadian parliament to give them long-term patent rights over seeds.
- A campaign against Google not paying taxes to governments around the world.
- A campaign against bee killing poisons.
- A campaign for Sumatran orangutans – giant food corporations drive them to the brink of extinction by massive palm oil plantations.
- A campaign for calling on European leaders to make sure the Robin Hood tax passes (to make bankers pay and benefit the poorest in the world).
- A campaign against Nike firing workers for forming a union.
- A campaign for the State of Vermont against Monsanto who is fighting hard to kill GMO labelling in Vermont.
See what they write on their website:
“Here’s what we stand for:
- Governments that answer to citizens – not corporations
- Fair treatment of workers and the right of every human being to make a living, safely and ethically, for themselves and their family;
- The right of ordinary consumers to products that are produced and marketed ethically, sustainably and transparently;
- The right of communities to manage and protect their own environment and natural resources;
- Business models that put people and the planet first instead of being driven by shortsighted greed.
Yeah, take that deep breath, close your eyes and imagine what kind of a world that could be – and then crash back to this one.
We’ve witnessed again and again what happens when powerful corporations get their way:
- Environmental and health catastrophes like Fukushima and the BP oil disaster;
- A global financial crisis that destroys entire economies;
- Rising food prices and starving children;
- Families from Kalamazoo to Timbuktu losing their houses and land;
- Poisons pouring into our air and water.
You name it, corporations are behind it. But rather than being held accountable – their CEOs are often walking away with bonuses. And these injustices are largely left to continue unabated.
But the world doesn’t have to be this way. And here’s the secret: We own the corporations that are causing all these problems. They rely on us to buy their products. They count on us to buy their stock. They need us to work for them. They need us to continue to elect governments that let them get away with murder.
We are SumOfUs.org, and we’re not going to take it anymore.
So these are forces of Good-Will which counter-balance destructive trends.
