| Quarterly Newsletter N° 15 | July - September 2008 |
PEKEA NEWSLETTER
IN THIS ISSUE (click on a heading to jump to that section) :
1- Editorial by Yves Franchet, President of PEKEA
2- Marc Humbert : Pekea Agenda after the last General Assembly
3– Joseph Ki-Zerbo (1922- 2006) – Self made development by Amadé Badini
4- Conferences, Publications, Web sites
1- Editorial by Yves Franchet, President of PEKEA
The last months have been for PEKEA an intense activity period.
Our contacts with OECD and the Council of Europe have been fruitful, and PEKEA is now committed to organize with their partnership an international conference in RENNES, October 30-31 2008,about « Building together societal progress indicators ». Topics which is important for us, since we are convinced that citizens must participate in the elaboration of indicators on matters of their interest. This is one of the conditions to reengineer economics.
This seminar will be one of the steps towards the definition of « guidelines » for the measurement of progress which OECD wants to publish in 2009.
The organization of this conference leads us to redefine the contents of the international Symposium which we will organize in Geneva in partnership with UNITAR late 2009. This symposium will help us disseminate our convictions and findings, and define our major lines of research for the following years.
The « Club of local governments » created by PEKEA has also met once more in the premises of ISMEA, where the Club participants have discussed about their experiences in the building of societal indicators.
The recently held electronic General Assembly leads to important changes in PEKEA management team.
Jean Louis PERRAULT has been elected Executive Secretary. He has been part of PEKEA management team from the beginning, and has all the required experience and capacities to succeed Marc HUMBERT.
Marc remains in the management team as Vice President.
We have accepted the request of Theotonio DOS SANTOS to give up his position of President of the Scientific Committee. He has accepted our proposal to nominate him as Honorary President of this Committee for his lifetime. Theotonio has just been awarded in Venezuela the premium Liberador al Pensamiento Critico, a high level recognition for his lifetime contributions. Let me recall today only his book « From terror to hope: ups and downs of neo-liberalism » published in Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese.
The next months will be for us full of challenges, and I deeply encourage you to participate in our activities linked to the RENNES seminar, to the Club of local Governments, and to the GENEVA symposium, for which we need your energy
Yves Franchet, President
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2- Marc Humbert : Pekea Agenda after the last General Assembly
Dear Friends,
Our last General Assembly was held electronically as we did last year; all active members participated (after paying their membership fees and/or having sent written contributions to our work) and received the report. Changes occurred in the bureau and you got the information through the edito from Yves Franchet. We still need more membership fees and more intellectual contributions…
The coming months are full of opportunities
In Rennes October 30-31 , on “Building together local indicators for societal progress » A conference organised with OECD and the CoE (Council of Europe) and the main support of Région Bretagne, in connection with our Club of Local Governments the Collectif FAIR and a construvtive alternative to the so-called French Stiglitz Commission.
See general information Click here and the detailed programme Click here
In Rennes in November 6–8 , on Participatory Agriculture- Why, How, Up to Where ? –. A conference organized by a PEKEA Working Group NURR - New Urban-Rural Relationships (see general information about it : Click here) mainly franco-japanese, but with some other and everyone is welcome see the programme Click here
In Montreal, December 9–11 , the eleventh international Karl Polanyi Conference on the following theme “The Relevance of Karl Polanyi for the 21st Century ” .
PEKEA is partner to this conference and Theotonio Dos Santos will be a key speaker during the inaugural session ; beyond individual participation from pekeists who are numerous among Polanyi’s disciples, PEKEA organizes a panel on the theme: Polanyi and Pekea: From Market to Societal Value ; for more information Click here
In Geneva, in Fall 2009 we will have our PEKEA World Conferencewith UNITAR.
I hope also to launch in 2009, with Theotonio Dos Santos a World Report on the Participatory Economy which is expanding under various wordings, from Social Economy to Solidarity Economy, Cooperatives or « Autogestion » and which is the only reason why humanity is still alive.
More over do not hesitate to take part to any event and give a presentation using your PEKEA relationship; just please inform by advance our secretary to check it could be widely diffused as we are doing just here about a presentation in Grenoble in May 2008 by Jacques Perrin about the ATTALI French Commission about Growth for President Sarkozy.
You may read a written version of the analysis by Jacques Perrin Click here; there are interesting comments and he also includes a few words by Théodore Zeldin, from Oxford University, who participated in the work of the commission and who is not fully happy with the result : this reads : “Following the examples of others leads to caricature, barely to succeed. France is invaluable in the world because it always liked to think in total independence to the best way to continuously make more attractive the way of life” - Suivre l’exemple des autres mène à la caricature, rarement au succès. La France est précieuse dans le monde parce qu’elle a toujours aimé réfléchir en toute indépendance à la manière dont l’art de vivre peut être continuellement embelli.
We must not copy but create, this is also the message given by Ki-Zerbo to whom this Newsletter n°15 is paying tribute.
He counts on intellectuals before politicians to build what is necessary, drawing upon education and research to give birth to a new civilization, with autonomy, creation, progress avoiding dead ends among which three usual temptations : return to the past, economism and technicism…
This was said for Africa, but I do think this is necessary for the whole planet, having in mind the public interest and not the will to grasp the power as so many predators did and are doing…
As I am no longer Executive Secretary, it is the last issue of the Newsletter that I have prepared with Fanny and Robert. It is also the last task among others that I have supervised as Executive Secretary. I enjoyed very much to work with them and with the bureau, Danièle Bénézech and our President Yves Franchet after long years of work with Yves Berthelot and with Theotonio Dos Santos. I thank all of them very much from the bottom of my heart.
For the day-to-day work I was also helped by other people as Michel, Pascale, Pablo, Philippe, Odile recently, and, in the past, by Jean Marie, Pierre, Isabelle, Yannick. Many thanks to all of them also.
But I must give a special attention first and foremost to my dear Jean Louis Perrault who has accepted to take the position of Executive Secretary and who has worked so close to me for so long.
Thanks also to Paul who will soon take in charge the internet site.
I wish to all of them and to Jean Louis Perrault full success in their jobs and their personal life; I remain not so far as I will have to take care of the Scientific Board; but in this position I will not have opportunity to take the floor on these matters.
Long life to PEKEA mind!
Marc Humbert
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3– Joseph Ki-Zerbo (1922- 2006) – Self made development by Amadé Badini
Joseph Ki-Zerbo (1922- 2006) – Self made development
Professor Joseph Ki-Zerbo is undeniably one of the contemporary African thinkers who have marked their epoch.
He is a classical intellectual moulded by the French school and university system during the colonial period who experienced in mind, body and intellect the agonies of the various abuses that colonization—its rationale, objectives and methods—inflicted upon the African, especially Black African, peoples after the turn of the century and even before. His keen awareness of his origins, his commitment to his country and people, his gratitude to his continent and the strong, healthy spirit of revolt smouldering within him combined to make him a leading activist in the early days of the national and African liberation struggles—though this constant activism was nurtured by the knowledge he had acquired in the colonial education system.
Ki-Zerbo is a true scholar indeed. He holds an agrégation in history and graduated from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris. Already at the time of his studies he personified the transdisciplinarity or ‘indisciplinarity’ (Edgar Morin) that later became the epistemological backdrop of the approach to African development issues that he was to advocate. ‘Knowledge of only one science amounts to possessing none’, as Descartes wrote in Rules for the direction of the mind. Ki-Zerbo has always understood this and made it a way of life. He is a passionate reader and has shown a sustained intellectual curiosity about traditional African, Burkinabé and Samo life and wisdom; these have been for him an inexhaustible, stimulating source of knowledge and inspiration for current emancipation struggles and for further development.
….
Extract from :
JOSEPH KI-ZERBO (1922-2006) – SELF MADE DEVELOPMENT
by Amadé Badini, University of Ougadougou, Burkina Faso
This text was originally published in 1999 in Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education), vol. XXIX, no. 4, 1999, p. 615–627.The title was JOSEPH KI-ZERBO (1922- ). Ki-Zerbo passed away in 2006, what cannot be taken into account in this text .
Download the full text in English: Click here
Télécharger le texte en Français : Click here
Descargar el texto completo Español : Click here
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4- Conferences, Publications, Web sites
Conferences, call of participation and seminaries
The Department of Applied Economics V, of the University of the Basque Country (Spain) and the Cambridge Center for Economic and Public Policy, department of Land Economy, of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) are organizing the 5th International Conference Developments in Economic Theory and Policy . The Conference will be held in Bilbao (Spain) form 10th of 11th of July 2008, at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of the Basque Country . The priority areas are: New Consensus on Macroeconomics; Spatial Economics; European Convergence ; Policy/ Path Dependance and Macroeconomics .
For more information: www.conferencedevelopments.com or [Click here
PEKEA is pleased to confirm that its NURR Working Group will have its 2nd conference on the theme « Participatory Agriculture - Why, How, Up to Where ? –» with a simultaneous translation between French and Japanese « L'agriculture participative, Pourquoi, Comment, Jusqu'où? du 6 au 8 novembre 2008 with the support of Région Bretagne and University of Rennes 2 and a label as a manifestation of the 150th anniversary of the treaty of friendship between Japan and France.
It follows an intense research work by a group of 40 researchers PEKEA Franco-Japanese with a funding from Brittany Region under the leadership of Hiroko Amemiya ; contributions to the conference are also coming from Pekeists of France, Italy and Japon ; you are all welcome to this conference to be held at Université de Rennes 2, Rennes, France More information and the programme in English, French or Japanese : Click here
The Latin American Association of Sociology of the Work, the Mexican Association of Work Studies, the Metropolitan Independent University, the Independent National University of Mexico, the School of Mexico, the School of the Border, the School of Sonant, the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, the CIESAS, the Independent University of Yucatan, the School of Tlaxcala, the Independent University of Querétaro, the Independent University of Puebla, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences and the Brazilian Association of Work Studies organize the VI Latin American Congress of Work Studies which will be realised in the City of Mexico from 19th of 22th of May 2009 .
The Congress will organize main round tables and thematic ones and will present works, reviews, as well as special tables.
Researchers, professors and phd students working on the topic of work in Latin America, whatever their nationality or their institutions, are invited to submit their paper submission to the organizing committee before 1st of September 2008 at this address alst@xanum.uam.mx
For consulting the program of these two days, Click here
The Robin Cosgrove Prize for Ethics in Finance awards prize money of USD20,000 for creative and unpublished papers setting out innovative ideas to promote ethics in finance . By encouraging young professionals to examine their own attitudes and behaviour, the Robin Cosgrove Prize promotes sustainable ways for encouraging higher standards of ethics in all aspects of finance. Young professionals, aged 35 years or younger, can submit a paper, in English or in French, before the deadline of midnight, 31st of March 2009 (CET). www.robincosgroveprize.org or Click here
Publications - Reviews
Our colleague James K. Galbraith has just published The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Free Press, 2008.
From my point of view (Marc Humbert dixit) it is the most clear-sighted analysis of the deconstruction of the public interest that is on going on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and eroding the societal fabric that took seven decades to be woven
“This is political economy at its best, in the tradition of Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class, or J.K. Galbraith’s The New Industrial State…. The general theses can be simply stated. First, while conservatives toyed with laissez-faire, they quickly abandoned it in all important areas of policy-making. For them, it now serves as nothing more than an enabling myth, used to hide the true nature of our world. Ironically, only the progressive still takes the call for “market solutions” seriously, and this is the major barrier to formulating sensible policy. Second, the “industrial state” has been replaced by a predator state, a coalition of relentless opponents of the very idea of a “public interest”, whose purpose is to master the state structure in order to empower a high plutocracy with nothing more than vile and rapacious goals… Economic freedom is reduced to the freedom to shop, including the freedom to buy elections, and anything that interferes is a threat. “Market” means nothing more than “nonstate”, a negation of use of policy in the public interest…. There is no common good, no public purpose, no shareholder’s interest; we are the prey and governments as well as corporations are run by and for predators. The “failures” enrich the proper beneficiaries even as they “prove” government is no solution… There is a way out, but it is not easy… The path is clear: re-regulation, planning, standards (including wage controls), and coming to grips with the nation’s global responsibilities… »To read the full review of this book by L. Randall Wray University (Missouri—Kansas City andLevy Economics Institute) Click here
Mauricio Langon tiene el placer anunciarles que se puede consultar su ensayo « A puertas abiertas » y descargarlo gratis (posibilidad de pedirlo en papel) yendo a esta página web http://www.bubok.com/libros/234/A-puertas-abiertas o Click here
Ensayo que propone mirar la actualidad con espanto, con terror y como víctimas, desde las necesidades y desgracias humanas, desde nuestra cultura, para dar respuesta filosófica a las paradojas de nuestro mundo. Se propone conceptualizar para pensar trabajar los impactos destructores del mundo actual, con sus holocaustos y pobrezas, para entenderlo sus espacios macro y micro, de modo de estar en condiciones de proponer alternativas abiertas...
A New Review, a multidisciplinary Review, dealing with applied socioeconomics has just been launched in French. About one third of people involved in this Review are members of the PEKEA network): it is called the Revue française de socio-économie,.
However it is in French, you may submit a paper in English and, if accepted, it will be translated into French. It is a good opportunity for our non-French speaking colleagues to make their ideas available in French for non-English speaking people.
Any subject relevant for the RFSE includes : economic development, labour, employment, social protection, consumption, production, organizations, money, finance, productive systems, enterprises, etc. No aspect is excluded from the socio-economics field.
Contact : rf-socioeconomie@univ-lille1.fr ; more information : Click here
Informations
Con su libro « Do Terror à esperança: Auge e declínio do neoliberalismo » publicado en lenguas portuguese, española y chinesa, Theotonio Dos Santos ha recibido uno de los cincos títulos honorarios concedido por el Premio Libertador al Pensamiento Critico entregado cada año por el Ministerio de la Cultura del Venezuela .
En junio Theotonio Dos Santos participó al IV encuentro internacional de filosofia patrocinado por el mismo ministerio. Fue la ocasión que sean discutidas en todas provincias del país tesis filosoficas entre una centena de invitados del mundo entero.
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| PEKEA President: Yves FRANCHET yves.franchet@wanadoo.fr Executive Secretary: Jean Louis PERRAULT Jean-Louis.Perrault@univ-rennes1.fr Scientific VPdt : Marc HUMBERT marc.humbert@univ-rennes1.fr Treasurer: Danièle BENEZECH daniele.benezech@univ-rennes1.fr |
PEKEA Newsletter Chief editor : Robert Frouville |