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/--0#12)&3#,$&($4#(#5*#'2By Dada Maheshvarananda

Solidarity, cooperation, and community empower-ment are positive values promoted in Venezuela incontrast to the individualism and selfishness pro-moted by the corporate-owned mass media. Cooper-atives are quietly transforming people's values inVenezuela, and the rest of the world, though theyhave been mostly ignored by the mass media and bymany political leaders, too.

The International Cooperative Alliance defines a co-operative as "an autonomous association of personsunited voluntarily to meet their common economic,social, and cultural needs and aspirations through ajointly-owned and democratically-controlled enter-prise.” Worker cooperatives develop trust, solidarity,and teamwork.

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/-1(#1By Meizhu LuiCo-author of The Color of Wealth: The Story of the U.S.Racial Wealth Divide

Women of color in the U.S. live at the intersection of“already broke” and “could go broke.” When we worryabout being broke or becoming broke, we think aboutgetting more income. But income is only part of theequation; in fact, a larger factor is wealth, that is,what you own minus what you owe. You can “gobroke” easily if you lose a job, get sick, or need tocare for young children or old parents. Money in thebank, owning your own home or business, having re-tirement and investment accounts enable you to rideout a crisis, to have financial security, and to giveyour children a head start.

Mariko Chang (http://www.mariko-chang.com/) an ex

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2(D$L2'2'2By Mirra Price

Recently, TIME magazine decided to include theword "feminist" in its annual "worst words" poll, along-side words like "bae," "basic," "turnt," and"yaaasssss." Although TIME did, eventually, apolo-gize and has removed “feminist” from its bannedwords list, it was due to pressure from petitions circu-lated by The Feminist Majority Foundation and otherwomen’s advocacy groups.

Actually, in mid-November, right before Time with-drew “feminist’ from their 2014 banned list, ‘feminist’was leading the poll, according to Penny Nance,chief executive and president of Concerned Womenfor America. She said that while the word-ban exer-cise was “silly,” it was also “indicative of the fact thatfeminism has a PR problem”.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/17/time-mag-slapped-over-proposed-ban-feminist/

More than 30,000 Care 2 members signed a petitiontelling TIME to apologize and write an article on mod-ern feminism. In just a few days, Nancy Gibbs,TIME's managing editor, issued an apology and TIMEpublished an essay entitled "Feminism is a 21st Cen-tury Word" by Robin Morgan, one of the founders ofthe Women's Media Center.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/14a1c600c75e4c59

Feminist Majority Foundation president EleanorSmeal said, "‘[F]eminist’ is a worldwide movement forequality of women that…must not be trivialized. It’svery important that leaders help to empower womenand to end the violence against and exploitation ofwomen."

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/feminist+majority+foundaton/149be9fc180a22eb

Renewed interest in what it means to be ‘feminist’has been stirred up by the recent public identificationas ‘feminists’ by pop idols, Beyonce and Taylor Swift.

In Beyonce’s song, “Flawless” in which she includedwords of Nigerian writer, Chimanda Ngozi Adichie’sTEDx talk, she proclaims, “We should all be femi-nists.” The pop diva quotes Adichie's definition of afeminist as "a person who believes in the social, eco-nomic and political equality of the sexes" (.WatchChimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TEDxEuston talk here).

Maria Shriver interviewed Beyonce and other promi-nent women in an extensive report on the status ofwomen (http://shriverreport.org). Although some, in-cluding pop icon, Annie Lenox, have challenged Bey-once’s identifying as ‘feminist’, others defendBeyonce. Although it might seem hypocritical that apop star, on the one hand, projects a highly sexual-ized, stereotypical image of women, while, on theother hand, is singing about a strong, independent‘feminist’ image. Some argue that this is not the bestrole model for young girls. Yet Beyonce seems tohave depths we did not imagine underneath herhighly sculpted, commercialized photo-shoppedimage. The question some have is, “Can you buy intobeing promoted as a sexual object for commercialgain while, at the same time, renouncing that samesexual objectivity, proclaiming oneself free of it, andinstead promoting gender empowerment and equal-ity?” Is it hypocritical to sell one type of image whilegiving lip service to another? I must admit that it is abit confusing.

However, if we really want to change the image of‘feminist’, it seems important to try to be as inclusiveas possible in our definition of what it means to be a‘feminist’. Perhaps, it is a situation in which we can-not judge a book by its cover, or a pop star by ahyper-sexualized Barbie doll persona. It is true thatBeyonce does not fit into the mold of what many con-sider to be a ‘feminist’—a woman who rejects socie-tal conditioning of passivity, sexual objectification andimposed weakness. However, if someone, woman orman, identifies as being ‘feminist’, then I think weneed to give them the benefit of the doubt. The daysof feminists being lopped into a certain mold like thehairy--under armed, bra burning, demonstrating radi-cals are over. If we hope to include Generation X andMillennials in the ranks of ‘feminists’, some of us whoare part of the old guard, must begin to embrace theyounger generation, with all its different values,lifestyles and dreams. I am not talking about compro-mising the ideals upon which the feminist movementwas founded. Rather, we simply need to make ad-justments, according to time, place and person, real-izing that there is no cookie cutter we can use todetermine who is and who is not ‘feminist’. The key issue is that of choice. Many women may

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choose to be in a traditional housewife role in a fam-ily, for example. Yet, many others want the choice ofhaving more education and careers. Indeed, it is nec-essary in today’s economy for most women to workoutside the home. Women need the opportunity toexplore our own potentials. Even today there aremany women who still do not have these choices.For example, in some developing countries, girls arenot allowed an education. Take the story of thisyear’s co-Nobel prize winter, Pakistani MalalaYousafzai.

Malala has become the youngest person to receivethe Nobel Prize. She was shot by the Taliban for ad-vocating for the rights of girls to go to school. Seeher Nobel Prize acceptance speech here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmqF9Y2Yq1U

In her speech, she states that she is grateful that herfather “did not clip her wings” as a girl, that he en-couraged her to be independent and to get a propereducation. Malala still wears a burka, yet I believeshe is a role model for feminists. Feminists comefrom diverse backgrounds, and we do not all lookand think alike. Yet I feel the common thread amongus all is the commitment to and the advocacy forequality, humanity and opportunity to become ourbest selves.

For many decades, the word ‘feminist’ has not alwaysbeen viewed in a favorable light. Many youngwomen as well as many in the general public haveviewed being a feminist as being someone who hatesmen, burns bras and wants to be completely sepa-rate from men. Part of the public relations dilemmaassociated with the word, ‘feminist’ originated fromthe backlash to the gains that feminists made, start-ing from winning the vote in 1920, then getting legis-lation passed in the 1960s and 70s like Title IX, whichgives equal funding for girls’ sports and to the recentLedbetter Act which outlaws lower salaries forwomen in the same positions as men.

Gains toward gender equality have been significantin the 20th century and to a lesser extent, this cen-tury. However, the reactionary right is trying to rollback some of these gains, like access to health careand abortion. It is threatening to some in power thatwomen are advocating for wage equality, paid mater-nity leave and increased day care opportunities forworking families. When women and children haveequal opportunities and access to education, healthcare and are free from abuse, rape, and trafficking, itbenefits not only women, but all members of familiesand society in general.

Capitalism and sexism are nefarious partners. Theexploitation of women and children economically,physically and by the objectifying stereotypes por-trayed in the mass media will only end when the cor-rupt capitalist system, based on the profit of awealthy, powerful elite is replaced by a new system.

We advocate for Prout, in which people are more im-portant than profit, and which is based on coopera-tives in local economies. We eagerly work for the endof capitalist domination and the establishment ofProut in which all are valued and all have the oppor-tunity to reach our true potentials in the new world wewant to see.

Mirra Price, a retiredEnglish teacher, currentlyis a writer, editor andcopyeditor. An activistand Proutist, she hasworked in cooperatives,for many social justicecauses, and has advo-cated for women’s rightsand gender equality sincethe 1960s.

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Editor—Mirra PriceDesign—Jody Wright

Contributors—Meizhu Lui, Dada Mahesh-varananda, Satya Tanner, Nada Khader,Alanna Hartzok, Liina Laufer, Itiyopiya Ewart,Roar Bjonnes, Nina Shapiro

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Online at: www.proutwomen.orgWomen Proutists of North AmericaPO Box 733Northampton MA 01061Call us at: 828-274-1683Email: womenproutists@gmail.comFacebook: Women Proutists of North America

/--0#12)&3#$E#2D#1,"&0A regular column by Satya Tanner

The Problem with Being Promoted on Merit"Homo WHAT-reproduction?" asks a friend of mine,wondering why I would think that sexual orientationand children lead to inequality regimes and discrimi-nation."No, homo-SOCIAL reproduction" I reply.It's a common mistake because so few people haveeven heard of homo-social reproduction, or the ten-dency for people to promote others who are like them-selves. But given that issues of inequity are still rife asevidenced by a lack of diversity in many organiza-tions, and given that sometimes the biggest oppo-nents of measures to improve equality are peoplefrom the group subject to inequality (e.g., theWomen's Anti-Suffrage Movement claiming that givingwomen the right to vote was a dangerous experi-ment), I feel the need to shout this from the roof tops:PEOPLE HAVE AN UNCONSCIOUS TENDENCY TOPROMOTE OTHERS WHO ARE LIKE THEMSELVESAND/OR THE DOMINANT CULTURE.According to Rosabeth Moss Kanter, there are threemain reasons why this can occur:• Uncertainty and the need for trust• Ease of communication• Difficulties in measuring managerial performance.Managers have to deal with a lot of ambiguity in theirroles, and so we like to promote people who will makegood decisions. This means that we need to trustthem on some level and perhaps see eye to eye (not-ing that diversity of thought usually leads to betterperformance outcomes). Thus, the further you rise upthe managerial chain, the more subjective 'merit' canbecome. Instead our mental template of what consti-tutes a 'great' leader takes over and 'objective' out-comes are often hindered by the unconscious biasesthat are lying deep within our psyche. This means thatunless we are specifically looking for it, we might endup promoting someone who is like ourselves and/orthe dominant culture, rather than someone who mightbring diversity of thought to the team and lead using adifferent, but effective, style.Noting that I have often worked in male dominatedenvironments, some of the best leaders I knew did notmeet the requirements of the 'boys club' because theystood by their ethics and authenticity. Despite beingexcellent leaders with great communication, empathyand team performance results, they found themselves

trapped by a glass ceiling because they perhaps didnot 'tick the social box', be that a beer drinking 'lad', a'heroic' leader who is going to swoop in and save theday (as opposed to a facilitative leader who inspiresthe team to save the day), or some other shallow tem-plate of trustworthiness.So what can we do to help overcome the inequity thatresults from homo-social reproduction?• First of all, be AWARE that it exists.• Secondly, recognize that 'merit' is highly subjectivewhen it comes to managerial team performance, andlike a good sports team, you don't just choose the topplayers, rather you choose a diverse and talentedgroup that through synergy become a top TEAM.• Thirdly, support quotas, diversity metrics and humanresource policies that seek to dismantle the inherentinequality that exists within organizational systems.• Finally, come to understand yourself. Test your un-conscious bias using the Harvard Implicit associationTest at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit

Satya Tanner had a 16-yearcareer as a pilot and aerospaceengineer in the Royal AustralianAir Force, leading people andmanaging projects. She hasstudied Prout at a post gradu-ate level and has a passion forhelping organizations and com-munities that are in search ofinnovation, leadership, healthycultures and conscious busi-ness principles.

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In 2008, Proutist Garda Ghista organized a dynamic ProutConference at Radford University. The next Building theNew World Conference will be hosted at Radford Univer-sity in Radford VA on May 28-31, 2015. Dada Mahesh-varananda, from the Prout Institute in Venezuela, andMirra Price, Rising Sun Editor, will both be presenting.

The Building the New World conference will focus on thereality that planet Earth is endangered in multiple, inter-connected ways. We also need to recognize that it is nolonger feasible to reform the current corrupt institutions.Therefore, in order to “Build the New World,” humanitymust quickly shift from imperialism to social democracy,from materialism to altruism, from a global war-system to aworldwide peace-system, from unsustainable environmen-tal destruction to resilient organic networks, and from reli-gious separation to the redeeming state of spiritual unity.We must move from fragmentation to holism … and fast!Find out more at: www.btnw.org See you there!

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C-B#($P1-*)&,),H$4&,&-($%)-17Women Proutists envision a future, twenty-five years from now, in which women and men are working togetherin coordinated cooperation on projects to eliminate inequality regimes. Women Proutists are taking a leader-ship role in advancing social justice, economic equality and education for women. Women are the vanguard ofsociety, promoting women as leaders so the whole society will be more just for all.

We are catalysts, smoothing the way for the change that needed to happen. By pointing out disparities be-tween men and women and racial makeup of various organizations, a movement for social justice has gainedits own momentum. Women Proutists are playing a key role in bringing together networks that are working forgreater social and economic equality. Women Proutists have transformed from being baby birds to maturebirds, flying in conjunction with men in bringing about a new economy based on PROUT principles.

Around the world, women are to taking on more leadership roles. The multi-culturalism movement has givenrise to a larger network of interconnected samajas, e.g., socio-economic units based on common regional, cul-tural and economic interests. Mahila samaja (women’s samaja) plays a key role in this national and global net-work of samajas. Cooperatives are widely established within the samajas as the base of the new Prouteconomy, which has replaced capitalism.

Women Proutists have helped change the way women are viewed in society, and women are no longer viewedas second-class citizens. Women are respected as equals and as partners in creating an egalitarian societybased on neo-humanism in which all people have the opportunity to achieve their true potentials and in work-ing for the common good of all.

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PROUT is an acronym for the Progressive Uti-lization Theory which was propounded in 1959by Indian philosopher Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar.PROUT presents a viable alternative to the out-moded capitalist and communist socio-eco-nomic models. Neither of these theories hasadequately met the needs of humanity.

Proutists are seeking to convey the compre-hensive and visionary goals of PROUT theory,which combines the wisdom of spirituality, thestruggle for self reliance and the spirit of eco-nomic democracy. As women who areProutists, in this magazine, we are attemptingto focus on the particular struggles thatwomen face in attaining self reliance in soci-ety. However, we also wish to present thecomplete vision of Prout as a new ideology fora new world.

Toward the goal of being inclusive, we inviteProutists and others who are interested inproviding a platform for social change to sub-mit articles, letters to the editor, poetry, blogs,and other writings to Rising Sun. We want totake the pulse of the 99 percent and to try toreflect in some small way the voice of thepeople.

Key Principles of PROUT and Neo-Humanism:Neo-humanism expands the humanistic love for all human beings to include love and respect for all creation - plants, animals and even inanimate objects. Neo-humanism provides a theoretical base for creatinga new era of ecological balance and planetary kinship.Basic necessities guaranteed to all: In order to be ableto actualize their highest aspirations, people need to havetheir basic needs met. Access to food, shelter, clothing,education and medical are fundamental human rightswhich must be guaranteed to all.Balanced economy: Prout advocates regional self-re-liance, cooperatively owned and managed businesses,local control of large scale key industries, and limits onthe individual accumulation of wealth.Women’s Rights: Prout encourages the struggleagainst all forms of violence and exploitation used tosuppress women. Prout’s goal is coordinated coopera-tion, with equal rights between men and women.Cultural Diversity: In the spirit of universal fellowship,Prout encourages the protection and cultivation of localculture, language, history and tradition.World Government: Prout supports the creation ofworld government with a global constitution and com-mon penal code.

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/-1(#1A regular column byLiina Laufer

French toast is a ge-nius solution for stalebread. In France it iscalled “pain perdu” –lost bread, since thebread would other-wise go to waste. Irarely finish a loaf ofbread before it losesfreshness, so I oftenslice up the remain-der and use it forFrench toast. I’ll

freeze the slices if I’m not using them immediately,and then toast them before dipping them in the batter.

My mother makes a delicious eggless French toast withcashews and milk (soy or cow). I’m not a big fan ofcashews so I use almonds instead. I also have ex-panded upon the recipe by adding various fun things inmy cupboards. This is a recipe you can really playaround with, so feel free to experiment! You can add tofuto make a creamier batter, and use any kind of nuts.

I used to grind all the ingredients, including wholenuts, in a blender. However, I discovered almondflour and it has saved me a lot of hassle! Now I canjust mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

You can make multiple batches, mix the dry ingredi-ents and store it in a jar, and then just add milk andvanilla to make the batter.

Liina’s French ToastIngredients:

• 1/2 cup almond flour or almonds• 1 T shredded coconut• 1 t flaxseed meal• 1 t nutritional yeast• pinch cinnamon• 1/2 t vanilla extract• 1/2 cup milk (soy, rice, coconut, or cow)• 5-6 large pieces of sliced bread• oil for frying

Instructions:

If using whole nuts, blend all ingredients (exceptbread) in a blender or food processor. If using flour,just mix in a bowl. Add extra milk, if necessary, tomake a thin batter. Dip slices of bread in the batterand then wipe off any excess batter. Fry the slices ina pan with oil (coconut oil is excellent!) until browned.Top with anything delicious, such as pureed orstewed fruit, maple syrup, or yogurt.

Please see Liina’s blog atrecipesdeliina.wordpress.com

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P1-)#,)$L-3#B#()Rev. William Barber, president of the North CarolinaNAACP, has been organizing Moral Monday grassrootsprotests weekly in Raleigh, North Carolina’s capital, since2013. These protests began after Republican Pat McCrorybecame North Carolina governor and Republicans gainedcontrol of the legislature. Moral Mondays are organized toprotest taking away of voting rights, cutting of social pro-grams, repeal of the racial justice act and restrictions inhealth care choices for women. In 2014 these protestsspread to Georgia, South Carolina and other states. Rev.Barber was invited to Ferguson, Missouri during the recentracial riots there as this movement goes national.

On August 4, 2014, the Reverend William Barber, traveledto Asheville for the yearly Mountain Moral Monday in thiscity. Barber urged people to vote out politicians he calledextremists during the rally at Pack Square Park to a crowdof about 3,500.

http://www.citizentimes.com/story/news/politics/2014/08/04/moral-monday-asheville-rev-william-barber/13577733/

Since P. R. Sarkar, Prout founder, does not advocate vot-ing for the lesser of two evils, but rather voting for truemoralists, this message of getting out the vote is not reallyProutist. Yet I am moved by the awareness of marginaliza-tion of the poor, people of color and women and the posi-tive call to action. Networking with Moral Mondays andother social justice movements will forge alliances that willgive momentum and unity to the global movement for so-cial change. Itiyopiya Ewart (Atimaya) spoke at this event.Her speech follows.

August, 2014 Asheville Mountain Moral Monday SpeechBy Itiyopiya Ewart

Hey, y'all! My name is Itiyopiya Ewart and I'm a singlemother experiencing poverty. I live in Hillcrest Apartments,a public housing neighborhood here in Asheville. I'm ex-tremely concerned about the imprudent decisions made bythe North Carolina General Assembly last year.

These decisions have led to laws that attack people whoare experiencing poverty, especially women, children andpeople of color. These laws also attack:

· Local government authority,· Public education,· Environmental protection,· Voter's rights and tenant's rights.

These attacks affect me and my community greatly. Manyof my neighbors are single women of color who are strug-gling to find employment or are working low-wage jobswhile struggling to support their families. Yet we find ourunemployment benefits cut, our access to health care dis-

mantled through the rejection of the Medicaid expansionand our Earned Income Tax Credit exterminated.

There is also a great need for support systems such as self-sufficiency programs and affordable, quality childcare to be inplace to assist us in our climb out of poverty. Yet, these pro-grams have been cut, leaving many families in North Carolinaeven more marginalized economically. And as we mothers en-deavor to make ends meet, we are met with public disdainand contempt for being poor. This leaves us not only increas-ingly disenfranchised but also increasingly disenchanted.

But we are far from hopeless. We have hope that the peopleof this beautiful state will stand for justice for all people byvoting wisely this upcoming election. We raise our voicetoday to say that our elected officials have a responsibility tous. Let us not forget, let us never forget that our governmentis a democracy “of the people, by the people” and for thepeople. So as we head to the polls this November, we mustnot be comforted or pacified by the promise of better educa-tion or tax cuts that will supposedly grow our economy.

We, the people, must be active in making sure that thepromise of a better America is evidenced through policy…policy from which we will see positive results. It's notenough to vote for a candidate because they share thesame political party. For women and people of color, theright to vote was won through great sacrifice that includedthe loss of lives, and that right is still being threatenedtoday. We cannot be capricious with our vote. Let us beprudent and elect those who truly support all North Car-olinians in their pursuit of happiness.

Let's show our strength by using our vote to create thepositive change we seek. Thank you.

Itiyopiya Fikir Ewart is currently earning her master’s de-gree in Teaching. As an educator, she intends to teachEnglish as a tool to enable English language learners intransforming themselves and their communities. Itiyopiyais the mother of a beautiful two-year-old child namedTatek.

Itiyopiya Ewart presents at Mountain Moral Monday.

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Part Three in our serialization of this significantnew Prout book, Principles for a Balanced Econ-omy, which is based on Prout’s founder, P. R.Sarkar’s 1961 Ananda Sutrum. We pick it upwhere we left off, starting on page 25, continuingwith the First Principle of Prout, “There should beno accumulation of wealth without the permis-sion of society.”

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K2'2(+#D$?+-(-B7By Roar Bjonnes

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Over accumulation creates a materialistic culture thatstimulates an economy based on consumerism,greed and selfishness. Since 1950, human societyhas consumed more goods than all previous genera-tions put together. But, according to Earth Watch In-stitute researcher, Alan Durning, author of the book,How Much Is Enough?, this increased accumulationof material goods in the materially rich countries ofthe world has not increased people’s happiness orfulfillment. Rather, out consumer culture, with its in-herent longing for more, has, in many ways, made usspiritually impoverished As America’s first environ-mentalist, Henry David Thoreau, once said, “A man isrich in proportion to that which he can afford to letalone.” In other words, a progressive economy willalso seek to create more cultural and spiritual wealthand thus find an optimal balance between materialand spiritual wealth. To achieve this goal, Durningsuggests establishing an economic culture guided bythe following dictum: “sufficiency rather than excess”(Durning, 1992).

Economic inequality causes social pressures that af-fect people’s health and well-being. Sir Michael Mar-mot, a professor of epidemiology and public health atUniversity College London, studied health in theUnited States and in Britain. According to the NewYork Times, “There was more illness in the UnitedStates than in Britain. Sir Michael theorizes that areason for the disparity was the greater inequalities inthe United Sates and heavier stresses resulting fromthem”(Burnasek, June, 2006).

In a recent study, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickettshow how inequality within a society, even if the soci-

ety is fairlywealthy, cre-ates an arrayof problems,such as men-tal illness,drug use,health prob-lems, crime,violence andgambling,teenage preg-nancies, etc.An interestingaspect of theirstudy showedthat incomedisparitywithin a givensociety mat-tered morethan the dis-parities be-tween societies. Even a fairly poor society, whereincome disparities were low, did much better than arich society with high income disparities (Wilkinson &Picket, 2010).

It has been known for some years that poor healthand violence are more common in more unequal so-cieties. However, in the course of my research I be-came aware that almost all problems which arecommon at the bottom of the social ladder are morecommon in more unequal societies. It is not only illhealth and violence, but also […] a host of other so-cial problems. Almost all of them contribute to thewidespread concern that modern societies are, de-spite their affluence, social failures (Wilkinson &Picket, 2010, p. 390).

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In discussing the question of restricting the accumu-lation of wealth, the question naturally arises as towho sets the limit of accumulation, and decides whocan accumulate what. The first principle simply statesthat “society” or the “collective body” should give ap-proval for any accumulation, but it does not definethese concepts.

This, in fact, is not a weakness; it is strength. As aprinciple, it must have universal application, and astime and place changes, the way society organizes it-self will definitely also change. Suggestions for howthis control could be implemented in present-day so-ciety will be addressed in future publications. Suffice

9

it to say that it can be accomplished by society-at-large through a process of political legislation. Thespecific limits will vary from nation to nation and willdepend upon the current standard of living.

References

Burnasek, A. (2006, June 1). Income inequality and itscost. New York Times.

Durning, A. (1992). How Much Is Enough? ConsumerSociety and Future of the Earth. Earthwatch Institute.

Wilkinson, R., & Picket, K. (2010). The Spirit Level"Why Equality Is Better for Everyone. Penguin Books.

Roar Bjonnes is co-founder of the Prama In-stitute, a holistic retreatcenter in the Blue RidgeMountains of North Car-olina. He is a certifiedyoga health educator, apopular yoga columnistand a lecturer on yogaphilosophy and history.He has been a Proutistfor several decades, giv-ing Prout presentationsin the U.S. and Europe.

By Dada Maheshvarananda

In the beautiful Danish countryside, 170 people at-tended Prout Convention 2014 in Ananda Gaorii Mas-ter Unit, Vig, Denmark, from 18 - 23 July 2014.

Jaya Brekke opened the conference, as she has forseveral years, with a report on the impact of austeritymeasures in Greece, Spain and the Ukraine and re-sistance movements to them, and she showed thedocumentary she made, "Future Suspended". Dr. EdMcKenna, Professor of Economics at ConnecticutCollege in USA gave three inspiring classes about"Spirituality and Finance", "Causes of the EconomicCrisis", and "The Way Forward". A video about themovement "Future Tasmania" ended with an interviewwith Liila Hass answering questions by videoconfer-ence from Australia. Dada Madhuvidyananda gave atalk about Sadvipras and a class about the Prout polit-ical party he has started in Germany. RameshBjonnes and Govinda gave classes about four inter-connected crises: finance, inequality, resources andthe environment. Satya Tanner organized duty co-ops

and gave a presentation, “Organizing EffectiveTeams”. Hiranmaya from USA gave a workshop on"Integrating Prout with Local Food Movements". Di-vyajyoti explained "The History and Potential of aNordic Union". Frands Frydendal and Martin Wozniakgave workshops on "Sociocratic Decision Making"and "The Dragon Dreaming Method". Candela Vargasgave a workshop on non-violent communication.

The most inspiring part of the conference was amaz-ing news reports about Prout work around the world.Dada Vandananada gave the news about 14 activeSamaja movements in India. Didi Ananda Devapriyaand Diipanii told about the inspiring work they aredoing with the European Roma Movement and theNGO community in Romania. The Prout Research In-stitute of Portugal and the PROUTugal Movement aredoing great work. Other great news came from Proutwork in Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,Italy, the U.K., Ireland and Germany. Dada Mahesh-varananda gave a workshop, "Strategy Ideas for Im-plementing Prout" and news about the ProutResearch Institute of Venezuela.

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=2D2$Y"2D#1I spent many restless years as a teenager. I was ide-alistic and knew that I did not want to spend my life inthe corporate world. I had experimented with varioustypes of yoga classes and found my first spiritualyoga teacher during my first year of college. He en-couraged me to get involved with Ananda Marga as adevotional path that he believed was well suited forme. I did not encounter Ananda Marga until I went offabroad during my Junior Year Abroad to Cairo, Egypt.

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It was in this context in Cairo that I was also exposedto PROUT.

I loved the fact that a cooperative-based economicsystem was part of Ananda Marga. The other yogagroups that I had been involved with did not mentionor address the socio-economic ills of our planet andsociety and did not seem to be focused on social jus-tice. I grew up in several poor countries includingYemen and Uganda and saw very poor people thatdeeply disturbed me as a child. A child can recog-nize poverty in the appearance of people, in the har-rowing look in the eyes of those who are deprived,and in the environment in which poor people areforced to live, not out of their own free will but be-cause they do not have access to the resources thatthey need to take care of their families. These re-sources include the right to a living wage job, ade-quate housing, free education and healthcare—allthe essentials that are guaranteed in a society gov-erned by PROUT principles.

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PROUT is a theory that, if we can all collectively fig-ure out how to implement it according to the intent ofSarkar, will eradicate poverty on our planet. We willalways have varying income levels and socialclasses but the poverty that degrades entire commu-nities will be eradicated. This removal of poverty willelevate the status of plants and animals and ourwhole environment. Poor people are so focused on

survival that issues of the environment, the welfare ofplants and animals is not on the top of the agenda.As people's purchasing capacity increases, they areable to make consumer decisions that benefit thewhole collective.

I remember in Cairo the discussion and concernabout the very high rates of illiteracy in Egypt as wellas girls and women having large numbers of children.

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Our professor insisted on the notion that access touniversity education, especially for women, will havemany beneficial effects that ripple throughout society.Twenty-five years after my Junior Year Abroad inEgypt, there has been some progress made in termsof improving female access to higher education, butthere still remains a persistent gender gap in terms ofeducational opportunity, especially in the rural partsof the country. This gender gap remains true formany countries in the developing world.

Nada Khader is the director of WESPAC Foundation,a peace and justice action network based in West-chester County, New York.

Nada Khader, director of the WESTPAC Foundation.

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11

She RisesBy Jyoti Wind

She rises.

She speaks through each of us,known and unknown to each other.

She rises.

She loves us in her memory,in the present pressing of our feet into Her.

She rises.

She kisses our heartsas we lay them on Her.

She rises.

Brings us her wisdomand grace back to life.

She rises.

Jyoti Wind is a poet and author. Her poetry has recently been published at Elephant Jour-nal online and Crone Magazine; she has self-published several books of poetry and prose, achildhood memoir, and three anthologies. She is also an astrologer and can be reached atjyotiwind@gmail.com.

L&,,&-($%)2)#B#()Women PROUTists are working together to cre-ate a world in which all people have the opportu-nity to develop their full potential. We educate and organize our communities to re-sist oppression, exploitation and discrimination.Women PROUTists support the all-round physi-cal, economic, intellectual and spiritual develop-ment of women.

Dolman Gate, Irish Grange Stone Circle.

12

pert on women in the U.S. economy, found that wealthinequality between women of color and everyone else isso huge that it is at first unbelievable. In 2007, singleblack and Latino women had only a penny for the dollarowned by a man of their same race, and only a fractionof a penny for the dollar owned by a single whitewoman: race was a much larger factor than gender.The median wealth of black women was $100, Latinas$120, white women, $41,500; single black men had$7,900, Latino men $9,730, and white men $43,800.“Median wealth” means that half the people fall belowthat figure; so nearly half of all single black and Latinowomen have debt and no assets at all. http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/CRWG/LiftingAsWe-Climb-WomenWealth-Report-InsightCenter-Spring2010.pdf The American myth is that working hard makes a per-son rich. But the work of enslaved people didn’t makeAfrican-Americans rich. Women’s work never madewomen rich. Neither group got a paycheck for theirlabor. Instead, their work made others—mostly whitemen—gain wealth.

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The Homestead Act was open only to white men, whowere given land, which is the basis of all wealth, at nocost; that same land had been taken by force fromAmerican Indians who used the land collectively and didnot understand what is meant by “private property”. Low-interest mortgage, farm, and business loans were givenonly to white men, while communities of color were “red-lined,” excluded from receiving subsidies to jump-startasset building. When the Southwest was taken fromMexico in a trumped up war, Anglos grabbed their landtoo. The Alien Land Act prohibited Asians from owningland or starting corporations. The rules of the gamewere rigged from the start in favor of white men.http://thenewpress.com/books/color-of-wealthAll women were excluded from wealth building throughgovernment policies as well. They were not allowed toown property, to have their own insurance, or to work inhigher paid jobs with benefits until the mid-20th century.However, white women are better off because they arethe mothers, wives, and daughters of white men. Inher-itance is the main way of acquiring a nest egg, and thefinancial advantages of white people get passed alonggeneration after generation. The wealthiest women inthe U.S. today did not work to earn their money; therichest woman in the world is Christy Walton and hersister Alice is number two; they got there by being the

daughters of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/lmj45kjjl/americas-rich-est-women/Disadvantage also rolls down the generations; men ofcolor did not have anything to pass on to their sons ordaughters. And those daughters today are still the oneswho look after the family, not only still doing unpaid“women’s work,” but also having to go out to earn a liv-ing. Some work one, two, or even three jobs, cobblingtogether the money to survive. More women of colorthan before are in professional careers, but withoutwealth, even high income women of color “could gobroke.”

Since its founding, the U.S. has not only allowed, butassisted white men in accumulating massive amountsof wealth without limit. Land is owned in perpetuity. Taxpolicy protects financial assets; you get a larger tax de-duction for owning a mansion than for raising a child.Redistribution of land and resources is sorely needed tohave a democratic society, but that’s not happening.

What steps can be taken toward that end? New policiescan help spread the wealth, such as giving every new-born baby a savings account already stocked with a min-imum of $5000 which can grow until the child reachesthe age when they can use it for education or ownership(a program already tried in the U.K.), universal earlychildhood education (mentioned by President Obama),free or affordable college education (as there used to beuntil the 1980s), a universal jobs policy with the govern-ment as the employer of last resort (several economists

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!"&,$/"2(F#,$?3#17)"&(FNBy Nina Shapiro

On October first at Powell’s Books at the Cedar Hills store in Beaverton, Oregon, I attended a lecture andbook-signing event by author Naomi Klein in promotion of her new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalismvs. the Climate, 2014, Simon and Schuster. Her prior works include The Shock Doctrine and No Logo.

Even though the lecture was held in a suburban bookstore on a weekday evening, there were over 500 peoplein attendance. In her talk, as in her book, she tied together the concepts of climate change with the destructiveeffects of capitalism on society and on the planet. She shared with us her own process of waking up from de-nial about climate change while reading a bedtime story to her young child and wondering what kind of worldher child would inherit.

Naomi Klein urgently entreated us to open our eyes to the reality we face at this critical juncture in human his-tory, and indeed in the life of the planet. She clearly sees the issues of the day as interconnected concerns thatmust be solved by creating a society that is morally based and demands social justice for all. In her book shestates:

“… any attempts to rise to the climate challenge will be fruitless unless it is understood as part of a muchbroader battle of worldviews, a process of rebuilding and reinventing the very idea of the collective, the com-munal, the commons, the civil, and the civic after so many decades of attack and neglect.” (p. 460)

I felt very moved by her talk, her eloquence and intelligence coupled with her urgent plea that we each get in-volved in creating a better world for present and future generations. After she spoke I got in the line for herbook-signing event and presented her with a copy of a PROUT publication called After Capitalism: EconomicDemocracy in Action by Dada Maheshvarananda.

have challenged the supposed necessity of unemploy-ment), access to low-interest loans and credit for micro-business development (already available to white men),universal retirement accounts and improved Social Se-curity benefits (policy proposals have already been putforward). Programs can be targeted toward women andpeople of color who have worked the hardest and re-mained the poorest; after all, white men received suchtargeted assistance for most of U.S. history. While thesepolicies may not pass in today’s political climate,changes don’t happen without a vision, an agenda—andorganizing!

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Starting out as a hospital food service worker andrank and file union activist, Meizhu Lui saw howwomen of color are kept at the bottom of the work-force. Righting racial and gender injustice has beenher life-long passion, and she sees closing the wealthgap as key. She co-authored the book, The Color ofWealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Di-vide and is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Or-ganization.

Author Naomi Klein preparing for a presentation on her new book, This Changes Everything: Capital-

ism vs, the Climate.

14

Because cooperatives promote socialist values, it isnatural that the Bolivarian government once pro-moted cooperatives in Venezuela; what is surprisingis that now it does not.

Before President Hugo Chávez took office in February1999, there were 813 registered cooperatives in thecountry with 230,000 total members. Most of theseoriginal cooperativesare still active, tough,and resilient becausethey were created in-dependent of govern-ment support orfunding. Thestrongest of these isCECOSESOLA (Co-operatives of SocialServices of LaraState). Founded in1967, the food co-opconsists of 538worker members whosell to 60,000 shop-pers each week fromthree locations in thecity of Barquisimeto.Though their pricesaverage 30 percent less than those of commercial su-permarkets, their annual sales top US$20 million. Thisincredibly sophisticated business operation has nobosses or managers; the workers rotate jobs; and allworkers receive the same pay. The network also hasmany different types of small producer cooperatives,credit unions, a health clinic with both conventionalmedicine and alternative therapies, and a network ofcooperative funeral homes.

The Cooperative Law of 2001 is an excellent piece oflegislation that was written by cooperative experts; itsets the minimum number of members at five and re-quires the government to give preference to coopera-tives when awarding contracts. After the failed coupin April 2002, President Chávez began to emphasizecooperatives in a big way. He set up a national job-training program, Mission Vuelvan Caras (“AboutFace”) that paid the minimum wage to the unem-ployed while they learned basic occupational skills;the trainers taught about cooperatives in every

course, and they encouraged the graduates to formone. Co-op registration was made free of charge; co-ops were exempted from income tax, and micro-credit was made available to them.

CATURVEN is a very successful cooperative todaythat was formed during that campaign in 2002. Itservices the heavy machinery produced by Caterpil-lar Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of earthmoving and mining equipment. There are now 38members; 40 percent of them women, who expressthey are very happy belonging to a cooperative thatpays good salaries to everyone, with less than twotimes the difference between the highest paid and

lowest paid mem-bers. They work ingreater Caracas, andare part of the Strate-gic Solidarity Al-liance, a network of17 cooperatives witha total of 986 mem-bers that service theCaterpillar heavyequipment through-out the country. In aninterview with a teamfrom the Prout Re-search Institute ofVenezuela, LissetReyes admitted, andher colleaguesagreed, that the onlyreal challenge they

face as a cooperative is that it takes a bit longer tocome to a decision. But none of them would tradetheir weekly meetings for an autocratic workplace.

For six years, from 2002 to 2008, the government in-vested heavily in their campaign to form coopera-tives. The national cooperative supervision institute,SUNACOOP, which headed the government's cam-paign, focused on basic education and the legal reg-istration of new cooperatives. This resulted in thephenomenal creation of over 280,000 registered co-operatives; however, the vast majority of those neverbecame active or collapsed. To understand why thisbig investment failed to make strong co-ops, we needto look at the key factors of their success.

As would be expected, the basic factors for successin any business also apply to co-ops: there has to bea real demand for the product or service; planning hasto be thorough and realistic; and the enterprise has tomake money. However, because they are local enter-prises that are owned and managed collectively, they

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A happy moment of celebration at a CECOSESOLA gathering.

15

also require good communication among the mem-bers, transparent accounting and community support.

Honesty is also critical to success. I asked some ofthe CECOSESOLA workers if they had problems withstealing. They laughed and explained that the natureof their huge operation included situations wheremoney had to be counted unsupervised; in a poor so-ciety, temptation was always there. Each year, aboutfive or six of the over five hundred members werecaught stealing money; the general assembly thencollectively decided they had to leave the coopera-tive. The annual budget also adds a one percent lossdue to theft–if it ever crosses that, the amount is de-ducted from the end of the year bonus that eachmember receives. However, the workers pointed outthat all the commercial supermarkets in the area fac-tor in a five percent loss due to theft, so in compari-son they are doing quite well.

In 2006 SUNACOOP did a “census” to count howmany co-ops were active–they were very disappointedto find that due to insufficient training, poor supervi-sion, and lack of follow-up support, only around 50,000cooperatives were actually functioning. Though it stillrepresented the highest total for any country afterChina, the upcoming presidential elections promptedattacks from opposition media, who headlined“Venezuela is a Graveyard of Cooperatives!”

This stinging critique about the high rate of failureamong registered cooperatives prompted PresidentChávez to shift the government’s approach from co-operatives to “socialist enterprises” and workertakeovers of factories. In this way, the governmentpays the salaries, but keeps the ownership, and canguarantee that the enterprise does not close.

Luis Delgado of Cooperativa Gestión Participativa

was the former Venezuelan National Superintendentof Cooperatives from 1975-1979. He said to us, “Ithink the campaign by the government had an echo,because after the government completely stoppedpromoting co-ops in 2008, another 40,000 new oneshave been registered. Why are people forming newcooperatives now? First, because more than 50 per-cent of our economy is the informal sector. If peoplearen't employed by a private company or the govern-ment, they need to do something to survive. ManyVenezuelans feel more security when they work to-gether than when they go it alone.”

A second reason that new cooperatives are beingregistered is that the vast majority of poor and middleclass Venezuelans have, at one time or another, par-ticipated in a SAN, a BOLSA or a SUSU. These arethree names for the same thing, a system of trustwhereby ten friends agree to each contribute a cer-tain amount weekly for ten weeks, and the total isgiven to one of the members in rotation. This collec-tive savings system helps poor families to be strictand self-disciplined to “save” the money and notspend it, until they eventually receive a large sumthat they can then use to buy an expensive item theynormally could not afford. No contract is ever signed,and the organizer of the SAN is always the last mem-ber to receive it. Millions of Venezuelans have partici-pated in this simple community cooperative venture,so they have a positive idea that cooperatives canwork even without financial support.

Delgado said, “A research study in 2005 by CentroGumilla, a Jesuit Center, found that 80 percent of thecooperatives that function in Venezuela did not receiveany financial support from the government. This is asituation where receiving money from the governmentseems to have a detrimental effect on the strength anddetermination of the cooperative workers.”

SUNACOOP has done no follow-up census and has nofigures since 2008 for how many cooperatives are run-ning in Venezuela. Delgado, comparing all the estimatesfrom different sources, believes the number today to beapproximately 90,000, with over a million members. TheVenezuelan solidarity economy of cooperatives is astrong force of community empowerment that is trans-forming people's values frombeing self-centered to activelyworking for the common good.

Dada Maheshvarananda is di-rector of the Prout Research In-stitute of Venezuela and authorof After Capitalism: EconomicDemocracy in Action.

CATURVEN cooperative members, from left: JhonnyVolcan, Lisset Reyes and Franklein Rodriguez.

Photo: Tsutomu Yoshihara

current problem of the big money plutocrats."

She was also on the short list of "Elizabeth WarrenDemocrats" in a recent In These Times story titled"Seven Politicians Who Are Talking About Inequality".In the article, it is stated that Hartzok argues for a'new economy' of worker ownership, decentralization and environmentalism.

http://inthesetimes.com/article/17206/seven_politi-cians_who_are_talking_about_inequality

Alanna encourages PROUTists to run for office as itis an excellent way to get attention to important is-sues and policies along with intense media exposure.She is keeping her campaign promise to build amovement for positive change throughout the Penn-sylvania Congressional District 9 and is putting to-gether a new website with this purpose.

Alanna is to be congratulated on her groundbreakingcongressional run, which has helped put forwardProut principles before the public. She is a woman ofcourage, conviction and integrity. Hopefully, manyother Proutists will come forward to run for politicaloffice in the future.

You can view Alanna’s website at www.hartzokforcongress.com .

16

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Online at: www.proutwomen.orgWomen Proutists of North AmericaPO Box 733Northampton MA 01061Call us at: 828-274-1683Email: womenproutists@gmail.comFacebook: Women Proutists of North America

Alanna Hartzok, co-director of Earth Rights Institute(www.earthrights.net) and a Proutist, recently ran forCongress as a progressive Democrat in Pennsylva-nia’s 9th district. Although she did not win the raceagainst incumbent Republican Bill Shuster, shepaved new ground as a candidate whose platformhad several Proutist planks. She called for fair wealthdistribution, the formation of cooperatives, landtenure, tax and monetary policy reform and othereconomic democracy policies.

Alanna states on her campaign website: “Extremewealth inequality endangers our democracy. We mustget to the roots of this urgent problem. Let us movebeyond the political divide, affirming values of bothfreedom and fairness, to establish the ethics, rulesand policies for economic democracy”. For her 14points on economic democracy along with other poli-cies go to her campaign website under “Issues” here:www.hartzokforcongress.com

Shuster outspent Hartzok significantly and yet shemanaged to get one-third of the votes (36% with$22,000; the incumbent had more than three milliondollars). One high point of her campaign was whentwo widows of pilots whose planes crashed on 9/11(South Tower and the Shanksville field in her districtof Pennsylvania) contacted her to request support forthe Saracini Aviation Safety Bill that Shuster waskeeping buried in a subcommittee of the Transporta-tion and Infrastructure Committee that he chairs. Theaviation industry contributes a substantial amount ofmoney to Shuster's campaign chest and they opposethe bill. The result was that Hartzok organized a"Paul Revere Ride" through the district with pressconferences in four locations so that the widowscould tell their stories of Shuster's lack of response totheir appeals and how this makes the US vulnerableto another 9/11 type of attack.

Hartzok says: "One important thing that I learned fromthe campaign is that people need to know the differ-ence between "populist" and "corporatist" candidatesand elected officials. An electorate enlightened to thisdistinction may be the only way to win elections given

Alanna Hartzok on the campaign trail.

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