Welcome to the New Economy Journal’s first edition of 2020!
Launched in April 2019, we are the only Australian publication (and one of few world-wide) whose focus is the movement to build a new economy – an economy based on sustainability and social justice, rather than greed and destruction; an economy built on ecological health and industrial democracy, rather than cancerous growth and top-down power structures.
Our aim is to highlight, document and disseminate information about what is happening in the new economy movement in Australia and around the world; encourage discourse and debate; facilitate connections; and produce a historical record in the process.
We’re particularly proud of our first issue for 2020. Amongst its pages, renowned economist Frank Stilwell chronicles the failures of mainstream economics and explores the decades-long move towards a more holistic ‘alternative’ economics education; Astra Taylor dissects how neoliberal capitalism and the massive financial inequities it creates undermines and dismantles historical democratic gains; Sonia Randhawa makes the case for citizens assemblies; and Kurt Johnson pens an impassioned essay on the Pacific nation of Kiribati, the first country to be lost to rising sea levels from climate change, and Australia's role in its demise.
As the Journal is a forum for debate, we hope you’ll disagree with some of the articles in this issue. We believe that through respectful disagreement and engagement, we can sharpen our learning about how to build a new, just and sustainable economy.
What’s wrong with economics? Many people seem to be wondering. A subject claimed by its practitioners as the ‘queen of the social sciences’ is widely seen as partly culpable for the contemporary problems of financial crisis, excessive debt, unsustainable growth, ecological stresses and deepening social inequalities. Perhaps the roots of...
Typically, democracy is considered to consist of one person, one vote, exercised in periodic elections; constitutional rights; and a market economy. On paper at least, there is no shortage of states that conform to this rather limited conception -- by some estimates, 81 countries moved from authoritarianism to democracy between...
You are not tall enough. Not big enough either, nor fast enough. Not talented at playing football enough, especially, to get on the team for which you are once again passed over (or, if not the football team, something more appropriate to your interests, perhaps hockey, or debating, or chess)....
Until recently, before planes landed at South Tarawa, a guard was radioed to clear the runway of sleeping dogs and pigs baking in the equatorial sun. Now there is a fence. Progress is coming to the Pacific nation of Kiribati. Even so, no tall buildings obstruct my plane’s descent, and...
Democracy is in crisis, whether overtly as in Lebanon and Hong Kong, or slightly more subtly as in the United Kingdom and Belgium. Here in Australia, our country is in flames, and politicians are ignoring the causes and, in the lead up to the crisis, cutting the funding for those...
He ignored the moving way, and kept to the narrow sidewalk – an eccentric thing to do, since he had several miles to travel. But Alvin liked the exercise, for it soothed his mind. Besides, there was so much to see that it seemed a pity to race past the...
Teens Takeover was the theme for the December Circular Economy Futures Meetup event in Brisbane. It was a great event celebrating our engaging young people taking action to shape a more sustainable future for ourselves and our planet. Hosted by Yasmin Grigaliunas of The World’s Biggest Garage Sale at River...
