5 Jul 2022
Is democracy in a state of crisis; is it in ‘transition’, i.e., a crisis in slow motion; or have we forgotten what democracy is all about? Seeing how people follow the self-serving voices that speak the loudest, I think it is the last. Having read Jan-Wener Müller’s Democracy rules,* I feel more confident to say that we have been very sloppy with the maintenance of our sense of democracy. (more…)
Tags: democratie, English, gemeenschap, identiteit, maatschappij, politieke vernieuwing, solidariteit, voorspraak
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21 Apr 2021
There is a short video clip of an intersection in Groningen* where bicycles from all four directions cross at the same time. Some people see it and conclude: you don’t need traffic lights. I think it a misunderstanding that in traffic technology negatively interferes with human interaction; the bike itself belongs to ‘technology’. (more…)
Tags: English, shared space, verkeer
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11 Jan 2021
Ten billion mouths is a volume written by researchers of Wageningen University and Research which contains the current pioneering ideas concerning the question of how to produce healthy and sustainable food for the earth’s population. In 41 short essays we read about circular agriculture, dairy farming, seaweed, (more…)
Tags: agriculture, English, landbouw, levensstijl, voedselverspilling, voedselvraaagstuk
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23 Apr 2020
Under pressure everything becomes fluid; under pressure, one learns who ones friends are. Both apply to the world coping now with the corona pandemic. The government makes a glorious comeback as steward of health and the economy. The platform economy, the frontline of what I have called the ruminant economy, is losing its balance on the wobbly platform it has erected for itself. But also other business practices show to be untenable in a healthy society. Time to turn. (more…)
Tags: English, maatschappij, platform economy, ruminant economy, solidariteit
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14 Apr 2020
The attempts to counter the spread of the coronavirus have serious social and economic consequences, more serious than the financial crisis of 2008. These also put a strain on the relations within the European Union. The EU still seems to be a ‘good weather’ endeavour. As long as prosperity lasts, we all do joyfully our own little thing; once the pressure rises, we call for joint action – we loudly call for solidarity, (more…)
Tags: corona virus, English, Europa, ruminant economy, social dialogue, solidariteit
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1 Aug 2019
The first draft of the ‘ruminant economy’ was discussed at a meeting of the committee of the European Social Weeks, as background to our discussion of the theme for the 8th European Social Week. (more…)
Tags: christelijk sociaal, English, European Social Week, laudato si, publiek, ruminant economy, social dialogue, St. Franciscus
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31 Jul 2019
A few concluding statements containing the ideas that I would like to be remembered, and a couple of ideas I could not place in the essays.
(more…)
Tags: christelijk sociaal, English, European Social Week, ruminant economy, social dialogue
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26 Jul 2019
There is labour, which is productive and which takes care of the material well-being of the community. In a healthy society, one where extreme scarcity (hunger, poverty) is not the paramount reality, productive labour produces a surplus (more…)
Tags: christelijk sociaal, democratie, economische ongelijkheid, English, European Social Week, gemeenschap, precariaat, ruminant economy, solidariteit, St. Franciscus, vrijgevigheid
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25 Jul 2019
For about two centuries, the economy has been approached from the frame of labour and capital. The core is ‘productive’ labour: we make something that has more value than the sum of its ‘ingredients’: (more…)
Tags: basic income, economische ongelijkheid, English, European Social Week, labour unions, ruminant economy, social dialogue
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24 Jul 2019
Our image that accompanies unemployment is always about the jobs that have disappeared yesterday and the developments that have led to that situation. It is the employment policy of yesterday that politics and labour unions often are protecting. (more…)
Tags: basic income, English, European Social Week, labour unions, precariaat, ruminant economy, social dialogue
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20 Jul 2019
At the European Social Week in Milan, Februari 2019, I heard two presentations that shed an interesting light on the current state of labour and employment in Europe. In a number of articles, I would like to discuss some aspects of this situation that I think are important. (more…)
Tags: christelijk sociaal, English, European Social Week, precariaat, ruminant economy, social dialogue, solidariteit, vrijgevigheid
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22 Feb 2019
Europe has climbed out of the crisis, employment rates are rapidly raising in a lot of European countries. At the same time, there are more ‘working poor’ than unemployed in The Netherlands. (more…)
Tags: christelijk sociaal, democratie, economische ongelijkheid, English, Europa, European Social Week, expulsions, gemeenschap, labour unions, organisatie, social dialogue, solidariteit, verzorgingsstaat
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