SANE / Human Scale marriage

SANE was born after the Network for Human Scale Development (NHSD) invited James Robertson (co-founder of the New Economics Foundation, NEF, in the UK and patron of SANE) to South Africa. Now a marriage has taken place. On 23 April Russell Bishop, SANE's Administrator and Laura Isaacs, Programme Manager of the NHSD tied the knot. Congratulations! May this marriage be fruitful in every conceivable way.

 Self-Education Meetings

New Economics is a complex and developing field that requires ongoing learning and exploration. SANE has therefore initiated regular self-education meetings. The first of these took place on the evening of 28 April 1999 at the home of Margaret Legum in Kalk Bay, Cape Town on the topic of the Citizens Income.

A Citizens Income (CI) is the payment of a regular, non-means-tested grant to all citizens of a country. Margaret, who also introduced the subject, offered input on the need for, mechanics of, and obstacles to the CI.

In lively discussion following Margarets presentation, pointed questions on the feasibility and viability of the CI were raised. In this respect Aart de Lange offered a different angle on the topic by taking the discussion into the area of monetary reform. Aart drew on his own long experience in the field of economic structure studies and on insights gained from a recently published book, The Grip of Death by Michael Rowbotham. Rowbotham points out the potential synergy between the CI and monetary reform. Specifically he sees the CI as an alternative to the present mechanism by which money is created through debt financing by banks (see article below).

The next Self-Education Meeting will take place at the home of Aart de Lange in Newlands, Cape Town, at 19h00 on Wednesday 9th June 1999.

The topic under study will be Monetary Reform.

Aarts address:
183 Campground Road
(off Mariendal Road, near the Athenaeum)

Aarts telephone number:
(021) 64-2718

SANE's Unique Role

We live in times of change and instability. Nothing reflects this more than the global economic climate. The South African economy is suffering badly in the process. Currently national economic policy is based on the prescriptions of the GEAR (Growth, Employment and Reconstruction) programme which is based on the structural adjustment principles prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Is this really the correct policy for the economy and for uplifting the poor?

SANE sees its role not as a partisan or activist group, but as a voice challenging the conventional economic wisdom and offering alternatives.

World-wide there is a great deal of unhappiness with the prescriptions of the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO (World Trade Organisation). The poor and less developed countries are being assisted to restructure along IMF lines but the evidence is that national debts and poverty are increasing. This is certainly the case for South Africa. There is increasing unemployment and income polarisation, we have high interest rates and persistent inflation; gold and mineral prices are low and the rand currency has plummeted.

A range of NGOs have set themselves up to address the economic issues in South Africa, e.g. the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI), Fair Share, the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), and the Jubilee 2000 initiative). SANE is but part of a groundswell of concern and opposition to current national and global trends. But we are unique in the alternatives we offer which we believe could set South Africa on a constructive new road ahead.

We have specific suggestions for levelling the economic playing field, resetting its boundaries and redefining the rules of the economic game. The rules relating to basic aspects of the economy such as tax structure, income distribution, the banking system and currencies need to be re-conceptualised. Methods for getting new ideas accepted and implemented must be explored.

from: The Economic Revolution by Willem Hoogendijk Imprint by Jan van Arkel

In this issue we shall in one way or another be looking at all the above issues but we shall focus more specifically on institutional and monetary reform. We shall pay particular attention to issues such as the role of banks and global financial institutions in debt financing, money creation and interest rates.

HELP!

The SANE Foundation is run by the administrator, Russell Bishop, and the co-ordinator, Aart Roukens de Lange, assisted by members of the board. We could use a much larger staff, for the issues we are dealing with are of national significance.

We have not so far been able to attract the funding necessary to allow us to expand our staff. We need one or two researchers, a media and communication officer, a librarian, editor, forum manager, etc. Are there any volunteers amongst our readers with the time and skills to help us?