Report on an event at the Agápē Centre (South Belfast Methodists), 24 September 2016
Enough is Plenty: Reclaiming the Common Good
Tony Weekes, South Belfast Quaker Meeting (SBQM is an Eco-Congregation)
Tony Weekes reports on a recent event held in Belfast
What makes for a society where ‘enough is plenty’? This question was at the heart of an event recently held at the Agape Centre in South Belfast. It addressed contemporary moral, economic and theological issues in our affluent and waste-prone society and brought both Methodists and Quakers together to consider the issues and share their concerns. The event was an excellent example of how Friends can work with other faith groups on a common cause.
The theme and content was inspired by the Joy in Enough movement: a challenge to Christians in Britain, and an invitation to all people of good will, to join in building a just economy within the ecological limits of the Earth. The title of the event was taken from the book Enough is Plenty by Anne Ryan. Anne is a writer, educator and community activist from Co Kildare, and a former member of the academic staff in Maynooth University.
What is enough?
Anne was the principal speaker at the event. Her contribution began by offering an interpretation of Enough as a platform for talking, thinking and acting about the kind of world we would like to live in, and as a shorthand for an ecological, moral, loving, caring, aesthetic world view that brings together ecology, economics and ethics.
She reminded us that Enough has a good history; it is rooted in past generations and has been valued and practised by several great wisdom traditions. The concept is founded in a belief that humans have the inherent capacity to be cooperative and participative, to share resources and to devise an inclusive social economy and forms of work that foster these capacities and care for the planet. It also brings in the ideas and values of diversity: what we refer to as ‘work’ is much more than paid employment; there is a need to develop talents for the benefit of all; and we should use the many possible ways there are of making decisions.
Anne continued by reminding us that there is a necessary role for responsive government, but that this is a two-way process. We must seek to challenge the views of the dominant media and politics; we must challenge the obsession that public policy is about a return to ‘business as usual’. Her contribution was rich, eloquent and impossible to summarise in a few words. One quote from her aide-memoire gives a flavour of her talk:
‘Enough is a key concept for the future because it is living, adaptive and dynamic; the future is uncertain, we don’t know the precise things we are going to require. Evidence is past-based – not always suitable for the future. The form of the ecological economy is not to be determined in advance – we don’t really know what it would look like.
Enough is a call to action and a practical set of ideas, not solely an intellectual or abstract concept … It is about engagement rather than transcendence – there is no fixed end point, we make the road by walking – of course, there is a risk in entering this space of enough – we don’t know what it will look like. Enough is not an objective but a way of life – there is no end state.’
More than shopping
I gave the second presentation and took as my title We need a Society, not an Economy. My primary intention was to remind the participants that the purpose of ‘the economy’ is to serve the needs of society (subject to respect for environmental limits and ecological services) – not the other way round.
It was inspired, as is much of my thinking and writing, by Ernst Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful. I also took inspiration from several recent speeches by president Michael D Higgins and from the writings of a long-time dissenting economist Manfred Max-Neef. Max-Neef was once a conventional academic economist. Confronted, some time ago, by a poor man in rural South America, he realised that his academic learning had nothing to say to the plight of this man and his family. He now refers to himself as a ‘bare-foot economist’, and is an eloquent (and, in academic circles, neglected) advocate for a different kind of economics.
I focussed particularly on his view that there are nine basic human needs, all of which have an impact on ‘the economy’. At first sight, this impact is not apparent; for example, he identifies ‘affection’ as one of these basic human needs. What, the sceptic will ask, does this have to do with ‘the economy’? Plenty, I suggest – affection requires economic stability. Uncertain and unstable employment creates poverty, indebtedness and stress. These are outcomes that do not foster affection between people, whether in personal or wider relationships. Another need is participation – a concept to which Anne referred; that, too, requires relief from the notion of ‘hard work’ so often used by our politicians as the only ‘marker’ for contribution to the economy. In a few words: our needs are more than shopping. I left it as a discussion topic for the participants to unpack this further.
Non-violent protests
The final presentation was provided by James Orr, director of Friends of the Earth in Northern Ireland. James offered the title Social Ecology and the Power of Creative Dissent. He showed us, with excellent images, examples of non-violent (‘playful and creative’, in his own words) protests about many aspects of public policy and corporate behaviour. But he also emphasised the need to make it known in the public arena what we do need from government, business and agriculture: energy and food security, and action to address the consequences of climate change. And more.
James closed, leaving us with three words on which to reflect: Reconciliation, Ecology (not ‘the environment’!) and Cooperation … and a wonderful image of a wild flower meadow.
The event, which was sponsored and promoted by South Belfast Methodists and South Belfast Quakers, began at about 2pm and ended around 5.30, with a short break for tea. Each contribution was followed by around twenty minutes for participative discussion in small groups. The three main speakers moved around, when asked, to help these conversations. There were around forty participants. David Campton, the resident Methodist minister, did an excellent job as moderator, with good humour and a sharing of his own insights into the issues we are discussing.
Tony is a member of South Belfast Meeting
Further information: http://www.greenchristian.org.uk/joy-in-enough/
Enough is Plenty by Anne Ryan is published by O Books. ISBN: 978-1-84694-239-6.
