tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2860261532717474332024-03-08T00:57:43.850-06:00Updates from Frithjof BergmannFrithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-69260888378068295212012-03-19T08:08:00.001-06:002012-03-19T08:08:21.296-06:00THE NOW POSSIBLE RADICAL ASCENTTHE NOW POSSIBLE RADICAL ASCENT.<br />New Economy, New Work, New Culture<br /><br />A massive and variegated array of recently discovered new technologies allows the ascent to a radically New Economy, which will no longer manufacture in gigantic factories, but instead in “small rooms.” This economy will be local, decentralized, in many respects rural, incomparably more sustainable, and oriented towards the manufacturing of products that serve authentic and genuine human needs. A dramatically new organization of work can be developed on the basis of this New Economy: 10 hours a week will be High-Tech- Self-Providing Work, 10 hours a week will be Job-Work in New Work Enterprises, and 20 hours a week will be Work that one really wants to do. High-Tech-Self-providing comprises a range of productive activities from the raising of food (Permaculture, Vertical Agriculture, fishponds, etc.) to the self-building of the dwellings for one’s life, to the self-generation of electricity to the small space manufacturing of appliances and also of a large spectrum of electric means of transportation. Examples of New Work Enterprises are the making and distribution of Eco-cement, the small room manufacturing of Air-conditioners, and the small-room manufacturing of electric Motor Cycles. Work that one really wants to do increases one’s strength, gives meaning to one’s life, and moves one beyond the passive observing of life into the full and to the hilt real living of it. Nothing less than the transformation into this new organization of work and the attendant generation of a New Culture will solve the global problems of the depletion of our resources, and of the degradation of the nature in which we live. The new start we need requires a New Economy, New Work, and a New Culture.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/vsmQI">http://ping.fm/vsmQI</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-87750108080129900082011-08-31T23:21:00.001-06:002011-08-31T23:21:32.603-06:00Frithjof Bergmann's Blog SERIES ON: New Economy, New Work, New Life - No. 2Seven or eight Calamities, or Disasters, or Tsunamis, or Biblical Plagues are close to crashing down on us. But at least as important: possible now is also an ASCENT, a Rising Upwards, the climb to a higher, more intelligent, more human, more cheerful next chapter in the human story. That is the fundamental Either/Or of our time.<br /><br />Anything merely cosmetic is not enough. We must devise something that will engage the vast majority of humankind, that will bring into action not just a marginal small group which will eat less meat, or will do more recycling, or will use less electricity -- but a plan, a goal, a vision that will make sense and will appeal to the overwhelming majority of people on the planet that abhor and hate and loath the current system. (Very much including the people of India and of Africa, where I am at this moment)<br /><br />Therefore, a radically New Economy is just Part I. Other Parts must be a new System of Work. Why? -- Because the now domineering “Job-System” is the root cause of all the other calamities that threaten to engulf us. The “Job-System” coerces us into the rat-race of economic growth and therefore into the squandering of resources, and therefore into the sinking ever deeper into national debts, and therefore into the heating of the earth, and on and on.<br /><br />If that is Part II, it in turn makes possible Part III: The Ascent upwards towards a New Life.<br /><br />No 3. In Series very soon.<br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/gdX6y">http://ping.fm/gdX6y</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-56033396540509687012011-08-31T23:10:00.001-06:002011-08-31T23:10:57.366-06:00Frithjof Bergmann's Blog Note 1Rub your eyes! Take one look at where we are! North Africa in Revolution, Uprisings in Greece, and Italy and Barcelona, USA downgraded as a dubious risk – 80% of the population of the planet “Desert-people” – not socially weak, not poor, not unemployed – but “Desert-people” and 20% “Oasis-people”. And the climate, and the waste of resources, and the burning down of the last remnants of the tokens of equality.<br /><br />Draw from this a very first, obvious conclusion. Dabbing, small, cosmetic changes are not just “too little,” they are dangerous, they piss away precious time – like taking Aspirin instead of facing that you have got Aids. What we need is not here and there the turning of a trivial wheel. We need to stop and think and devise a plan that is adequate to the immense magnitude and the galloping speed of the situation. What we need is major, major: is a new start, a new beginning.<br /><br />It is the building of a second, supplementary, radically different economy – one for the soon 90% of desert people, based on the highest, the best, the most advanced technologies.<br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://newworknewculture.com/content/note-1">http://newworknewculture.com/content/note-1</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-82583680412941248972011-04-11T09:34:00.001-06:002011-04-11T09:34:36.923-06:00Frithjof Bergmann's Blog New Work North AfricaDuring the last few weeks I have tried to establish some first connections between the groups that initiated the North African Revolutions and New Work. What I have been doing is extraordinarily plain: in various ways I have collected relevant E-mail addresses and in the process of some back and forth exchange I proposed that I would come for a two or three day visit to Cairo or to wherever the person I was writing to suggested. I explained that the sole condition from my side would be that a handful of people – between 8 and 12 – would commit themselves to engage with me in extended conversations during those two or three days. The flight and the rest I would pay for by myself. The purpose is to explore whether there is any conceivable way in which New Work could be of use in the coming stages of these world-altering liberations. The purpose of my posting this both in my blog and in Facebook is to invite any and all of you to send me further addresses, or to assist in any other way that your imagination whispers to you. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/JiaG1">http://ping.fm/JiaG1</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-88726769999152735832011-02-09T09:09:00.001-06:002011-02-09T09:09:43.960-06:00New Work and EgyptWed. Feb. 9th. Joburg, South Africa<br /><br />Let us, for a start, observe a few patent surface characteristics of the current “uprising” in Egypt. There is to begin with the fact that it was a surprise. Not a surprise on the scale of the collapse of the Iron Wall between East and West in ’89, but nonetheless similar in that this surprise also shows how many worlds removed from any contact with reality our caste of high-priest politicians and economist seems permanently to be. A gamut of specific features are additional proof that the official rhetoric comes from wooden heads whose ears are sealed with wax. Not one of them would have predicted that an uprising could last as long as this one already has, none of them would have predicted that its support could be as broad – as trans-class, trans-cultural and trans-religious – as it has turned out to be. (observe the caleidoscope of costumes and dresses that the protesters wear.) Certainly, none of the mud-heads who we permit to rule us would have predicted that an uprising could be as disciplined as this one – despite provocations – has managed to remain.<br /> <br />Of course world-wide there are hosts of people who were not particularly surprised, but who were joyous and relieved and who in great choruses sang: “At last! at last! Perhaps, the beginning has at long last begun.” The hosts of those many have of course a thoroughly different understanding of the dynamic that moves our world, from the hypnotic trance ideas in which our leaders mumble their mantras. (“Economic Growth”) They full-well know that the abysmally deep problem, very especially, in the so-called Near East is the “monstrous split” between the minute cast of semi-god like financiers and the entire rest of us, i.e. the collapsed and barely still struggling middle-class and the billions that are officially the global poor. They know that this is the real problem, and in different shadings they already proclaim already now that getting rid of Mubarak, and even installing some window-dresssing of democracy “will not be enough!” And we of course know from countless examples, ranging from the United States across the whole spectrum to India, that they are dead right; that it will take a great deal more to close the “monstrous split.” <br /><br />This perspective now allows us to summarize the dramatic significance that the Rebellion in Egypt has for New Work. <br /><br />First: What is happening in Egypt shows that the monstrous split between those bathing in money and those barely surviving is not just a moral scandal, but can indeed become dangerous for the governments now in power. New Work has been saying this for years. Egypt proves that this true.<br /><br />Secondly: New Work is so far the only organization that has an elaborated, tested, detailed and realistic plan for the closing and healing of the monstrous split. (The combination of a New Economy, New Work and New Culture.) Egypt shows that the roof is burning; that the split must be closed soon, before it is too late. So Egypt is also an opportunity: those who have connections to Egypt should help those who are developing New Work, to introduce New Work into Egypt. Getting rid of Mubarak, and hiding the real problems behind a curtain of democracy will not be enough. (Look at South Africa and India and a hundred other examples.) Maybe a version of New Work that fits Egypt could solve the real problems that Egypt has. <br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/Twg4X">http://ping.fm/Twg4X</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-56590530401999158782011-02-09T08:58:00.003-06:002011-02-09T08:58:34.090-06:00New Work and EgyptWed. Feb. 9th. Joburg, South Africa<br /><br />Let us, for a start, observe a few patent surface characteristics of the current “uprising” in Egypt. There is to begin with the fact that it was a surprise. Not a surprise on the scale of the collapse of the Iron Wall between East and West in ’89, but nonetheless similar in that this surprise also shows how many worlds removed from any contact with reality our caste of high-priest politicians and economist seems permanently to be. A gamut of specific features are additional proof that the official rhetoric comes from wooden heads whose ears are sealed with wax. Not one of them would have predicted that an uprising could last as long as this one already has, none of them would have predicted that its support could be as broad – as trans-class, trans-cultural and trans-religious – as it has turned out to be. (observe the caleidoscope of costumes and dresses that the protesters wear.) Certainly, none of the mud-heads who we permit to rule us would have predicted that an uprising could be as disciplined as this one – despite provocations – has managed to remain.<br /> <br />Of course world-wide there are hosts of people who were not particularly surprised, but who were joyous and relieved and who in great choruses sang: “At last! at last! Perhaps, the beginning has at long last begun.” The hosts of those many have of course a thoroughly different understanding of the dynamic that moves our world, from the hypnotic trance ideas in which our leaders mumble their mantras. (“Economic Growth”) They full-well know that the abysmally deep problem, very especially, in the so-called Near East is the “monstrous split” between the minute cast of semi-god like financiers and the entire rest of us, i.e. the collapsed and barely still struggling middle-class and the billions that are officially the global poor. They know that this is the real problem, and in different shadings they already proclaim already now that getting rid of Mubarak, and even installing some window-dresssing of democracy “will not be enough!” And we of course know from countless examples, ranging from the United States across the whole spectrum to India, that they are dead right; that it will take a great deal more to close the “monstrous split.” <br /><br />This perspective now allows us to summarize the dramatic significance that the Rebellion in Egypt has for New Work. <br /><br />First: What is happening in Egypt shows that the monstrous split between those bathing in money and those barely surviving is not just a moral scandal, but can indeed become dangerous for the governments now in power. New Work has been saying this for years. Egypt proves that this true.<br /><br />Secondly: New Work is so far the only organization that has an elaborated, tested, detailed and realistic plan for the closing and healing of the monstrous split. (The combination of a New Economy, New Work and New Culture.) Egypt shows that the roof is burning; that the split must be closed soon, before it is too late. So Egypt is also an opportunity: those who have connections to Egypt should help those who are developing New Work, to introduce New Work into Egypt. Getting rid of Mubarak, and hiding the real problems behind a curtain of democracy will not be enough. (Look at South Africa and India and a hundred other examples.) Maybe a version of New Work that fits Egypt could solve the real problems that Egypt has. <br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/thVAd">http://ping.fm/thVAd</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-5724262387718357812011-02-09T08:58:00.001-06:002011-02-09T08:58:25.863-06:00New Work and EgyptWed. Feb. 9th. Joburg, South Africa<br /><br />Let us, for a start, observe a few patent surface characteristics of the current “uprising” in Egypt. There is to begin with the fact that it was a surprise. Not a surprise on the scale of the collapse of the Iron Wall between East and West in ’89, but nonetheless similar in that this surprise also shows how many worlds removed from any contact with reality our caste of high-priest politicians and economist seems permanently to be. A gamut of specific features are additional proof that the official rhetoric comes from wooden heads whose ears are sealed with wax. Not one of them would have predicted that an uprising could last as long as this one already has, none of them would have predicted that its support could be as broad – as trans-class, trans-cultural and trans-religious – as it has turned out to be. (observe the caleidoscope of costumes and dresses that the protesters wear.) Certainly, none of the mud-heads who we permit to rule us would have predicted that an uprising could be as disciplined as this one – despite provocations – has managed to remain.<br /> <br />Of course world-wide there are hosts of people who were not particularly surprised, but who were joyous and relieved and who in great choruses sang: “At last! at last! Perhaps, the beginning has at long last begun.” The hosts of those many have of course a thoroughly different understanding of the dynamic that moves our world, from the hypnotic trance ideas in which our leaders mumble their mantras. (“Economic Growth”) They full-well know that the abysmally deep problem, very especially, in the so-called Near East is the “monstrous split” between the minute cast of semi-god like financiers and the entire rest of us, i.e. the collapsed and barely still struggling middle-class and the billions that are officially the global poor. They know that this is the real problem, and in different shadings they already proclaim already now that getting rid of Mubarak, and even installing some window-dresssing of democracy “will not be enough!” And we of course know from countless examples, ranging from the United States across the whole spectrum to India, that they are dead right; that it will take a great deal more to close the “monstrous split.” <br /><br />This perspective now allows us to summarize the dramatic significance that the Rebellion in Egypt has for New Work. <br /><br />First: What is happening in Egypt shows that the monstrous split between those bathing in money and those barely surviving is not just a moral scandal, but can indeed become dangerous for the governments now in power. New Work has been saying this for years. Egypt proves that this true.<br /><br />Secondly: New Work is so far the only organization that has an elaborated, tested, detailed and realistic plan for the closing and healing of the monstrous split. (The combination of a New Economy, New Work and New Culture.) Egypt shows that the roof is burning; that the split must be closed soon, before it is too late. So Egypt is also an opportunity: those who have connections to Egypt should help those who are developing New Work, to introduce New Work into Egypt. Getting rid of Mubarak, and hiding the real problems behind a curtain of democracy will not be enough. (Look at South Africa and India and a hundred other examples.) Maybe a version of New Work that fits Egypt could solve the real problems that Egypt has. <br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/XWGs1">http://ping.fm/XWGs1</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-5966798197698123772011-02-09T08:56:00.001-06:002011-02-09T08:56:35.071-06:00New Work and EgyptWed. Feb. 9th. Joburg, South Africa<br /><br />Let us, for a start, observe a few patent surface characteristics of the current “uprising” in Egypt. There is to begin with the fact that it was a surprise. Not a surprise on the scale of the collapse of the Iron Wall between East and West in ’89, but nonetheless similar in that this surprise also shows how many worlds removed from any contact with reality our caste of high-priest politicians and economist seems permanently to be. A gamut of specific features are additional proof that the official rhetoric comes from wooden heads whose ears are sealed with wax. Not one of them would have predicted that an uprising could last as long as this one already has, none of them would have predicted that its support could be as broad – as trans-class, trans-cultural and trans-religious – as it has turned out to be. (observe the caleidoscope of costumes and dresses that the protesters wear.) Certainly, none of the mud-heads who we permit to rule us would have predicted that an uprising could be as disciplined as this one – despite provocations – has managed to remain.<br /> <br />Of course world-wide there are hosts of people who were not particularly surprised, but who were joyous and relieved and who in great choruses sang: “At last! at last! Perhaps, the beginning has at long last begun.” The hosts of those many have of course a thoroughly different understanding of the dynamic that moves our world, from the hypnotic trance ideas in which our leaders mumble their mantras. (“Economic Growth”) They full-well know that the abysmally deep problem, very especially, in the so-called Near East is the “monstrous split” between the minute cast of semi-god like financiers and the entire rest of us, i.e. the collapsed and barely still struggling middle-class and the billions that are officially the global poor. They know that this is the real problem, and in different shadings they already proclaim already now that getting rid of Mubarak, and even installing some window-dresssing of democracy “will not be enough!” And we of course know from countless examples, ranging from the United States across the whole spectrum to India, that they are dead right; that it will take a great deal more to close the “monstrous split.” <br /><br />This perspective now allows us to summarize the dramatic significance that the Rebellion in Egypt has for New Work. <br /><br />First: What is happening in Egypt shows that the monstrous split between those bathing in money and those barely surviving is not just a moral scandal, but can indeed become dangerous for the governments now in power. New Work has been saying this for years. Egypt proves that this true.<br /><br />Secondly: New Work is so far the only organization that has an elaborated, tested, detailed and realistic plan for the closing and healing of the monstrous split. (The combination of a New Economy, New Work and New Culture.) Egypt shows that the roof is burning; that the split must be closed soon, before it is too late. So Egypt is also an opportunity: those who have connections to Egypt should help those who are developing New Work, to introduce New Work into Egypt. Getting rid of Mubarak, and hiding the real problems behind a curtain of democracy will not be enough. (Look at South Africa and India and a hundred other examples.) Maybe a version of New Work that fits Egypt could solve the real problems that Egypt has. <br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/gf1tY">http://ping.fm/gf1tY</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-26288470178275325822011-01-12T07:19:00.001-06:002011-01-12T07:19:23.384-06:00New Work India(I am leaving for India today, and will be there for ten days. We have prepared a Power Point that consists of pictures of the assembled Technologies of New Work. This is the brief Introduction that precedes these pictures.) <br /><br /><br />The Task is to make a presentation that will be succinct and brief, and that will give a persuasive and attractive introduction of NEW WORK (of what could develop into “Lift India Technologies”) to our Indian hosts.<br /><br />One crucial difference between NW and virtually all other relief or development efforts of which I know is that NW aims at a complete, comprehensive, fully thought-out alternative SYSTEM profoundly different from the system that we now have. <br /><br />N.W. encompasses: New Economy, New Work, New Culture (also New Philosophy) but New Work is a new System because all these components are integrated and coherent and of one piece: in fact they mutually strengthen and support and enhance each other. For the purposes of a cursory first introduction we shall leave nearly the whole of this aside. For this first glimpse we shall focus on what generally would be called the reduction of poverty. (In the context of New Work we do not speak of “poverty” we instead talk “the Monster Bifurcation” in 20% “Oasis People” and 80% “Desert People” (or also of the bifurcation into the handful of semi-god like “financiers” and the ever more homogenous amalgam of the totality of the rest of us – c.f. the descent of the middle class into “desert people.) The question is: How does New Work propose to diminish and eventually to abolish this bifurcation?<br /><br />Our approach is in some ways different from that of others who also work on this problem. What we have attempted is very closely tied to extraordinarily young technologies, some ultra simple, some on the very edge of the ultra high-tech. Unlike others we do not use the terminology of “Basic Needs,” instead we have demarcated 10 Foundational Areas – the areas that represent the 10 most threatening “monthly bills.” In these areas we have over the years identified arrays of technologies that to the greatest feasible extent satisfy two distinct but also connected requirements: <br /><br />For one, they should enable groups of “Desert People” or also “Disposable People” to “make something for themselves.” That for us is a pivotal, much quoted sentence. In other words we search for technologies that allow people to become more self-reliant, less economically dependent, in a very serious sense of that word, more “free.” New Work probably would have died in its infancy if an astounding diversity of innovations that make “Economic Indpendence” possible – that no longer require large factories but allow manufacturing in “small spaces” – had not evolved in the last twenty years. <br /><br />The other, second, (hoped for, but not always attained) attribute is that these often amazingly new, decentralizing technologies enable groups of “Desert or Disposable People” to also evolve co-operatively structured serious profit returning flourishing enterprises – whose “market” are the 80 or 90% of the earth’s population that gradually descend.<br /><br />The 10 domains to which we have given priority are:<br /><br />1. Housing<br /><br />2. Energy<br /><br />3. (Phone)<br /><br />4. Food<br /><br />5. Appliances/Furniture<br /><br />6. Cloths/Materials/Shoes<br /><br />7. Education<br /><br />8. Health<br /><br />9. Computer Tech.<br /><br />10. Mobility <br /><br /><br />XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<br /><br /><br />From: <a href="http://www.newworknewculture.com/content/new-work-india">http://www.newworknewculture.com/content/new-work-india</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-31020363644645371802011-01-08T14:41:00.001-06:002011-01-08T14:41:32.945-06:00A New Global DefinitionThe sheer power of the handful of multi-billion investors has reached pinnacles of amazing height. The world over papers constantly write about their psychological mood. Are they loosing confidence in this or that country (Ireland? Portugal? Italy? Spain?) Are they less optimistic about this or that than they formerly were? It is reminiscent of the era in the cold war in which experts speculated about the exact arrangement of the dignitaries on the Balcony of the Kremlin. What precisely did the shift from one spot to another portend? Of course there are differences, but it nonetheless may be time to introduce a hitherto not used word, so as to make people blink and wake up. Could this not be a new and of course surprisingly different shape of what has been called “Fascism” in the past. One difference is of course that this latest form is not national but global. Every government on every continent grovels in the dung before the pedestal of these potentates: What social programs shall we cut? What limbs of our budgets must we amputate so that the financiers will not withdraw their billions dropping hands from our land?<br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/46qPA">http://ping.fm/46qPA</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-17946865542991192262011-01-08T14:31:00.001-06:002011-01-08T14:31:15.614-06:00The Basic Either/OrFace up to a YES or NO! A fundamental Either/Or. We can either continue to throw buckets and buckets of money to paper over the calamities that wax ever more virulent because of the deterioration of the Job-System OR we can make a New Start.<br /><br />The New Start is simple:<br /><br />1. Take steps in the direction of Economic Independence (Demand the setting up of New Work Centers).<br /><br />2. Move yourself and encourage others to move towards work that they seriously and deeply desire to do.<br /><br />From: <a href="http://ping.fm/rMiIg">http://ping.fm/rMiIg</a>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-15485544605287035422007-08-24T02:58:00.000-06:002007-08-24T03:18:07.429-06:00Reisen im Frühjahr / Frühsommer (German)Ann Arbor, Michigan<br /><br />Am 12.Juli, 2007<br /><br />An Alle Freunde der Neuen Arbeit:<br /><br />Es ist leider der Fall, dass bei einer größeren Anzahl von unseren Freunden ein richtiges<br />schwarzes Loch mangelnder Information entstanden ist. Und nicht nur von kalter,<br />objektiver Information, sondern auch von emotionalem Gefühl davon, was sich in der<br />letzen Epoche in der Neuen Arbeit abgespielt und entwickelt hat.<br /><br />Ich werde versuchen einen Bericht über meinen letzten Besuch in Europa und in Südafrika<br />zu schreiben. In abgekürzter und telegraphenstilartiger Form, schnell und möglicher Weise<br />mit Fehlern, um soweit ich das kann, diesen Zustand etwas zu verbessern.<br /><br />Also, ich flog von Detroit am 20. Mai ab und war am 22. Mai in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Linz</span>. Es war eine<br />Abschlussveranstaltung eines Projektes, Details finden sich auf unserer <a href="http://www.newwork-newculture.net/downloads/abschlusstagung-sozialstiftung220507-1.pdf">Website</a> unter<br />“Termine.” Für uns alle bedeutend daran war, das es schon die zweite solche Veranstaltung<br />in Österreich war und das es sich in beiden um “eine Art Arbeitsuchende zu begleiten”<br />drehte, die unserem “wirklich, wirklich, wollen” sehr ähnlich ist. In beiden wurde<br />eindruckvoll betont, dass diese Art von Begleitung erstaunlich gute Resultate erzielt. In<br />meinem Blog hier habe ich auch schon etwas über die Bedeutung von diesem Ergebnis für<br />unsere weitere Arbeit geschrieben.<br /><br />Ganz kurz: das “w.w.w.” verbreitet sich und Begleiter oder Mentoren werden gebraucht.!<br /><br />Von Linz fuhr ich nach <span style="font-weight: bold;">Salzburg </span>und war dort drei ganze Tage. Details auch wieder auf der<br /><a href="http://www.newwork-newculture.net/downloads/Beschreibung.kurz-1.pdf">Website</a>. Ein wichtiges und kompliziertes Ereignis. Auf den Hauptpunkt gebracht: der<br />Versuch war Praktiker und Theoretiker miteinander ins Gespräch zu bringen. Das ist<br />schwieriger als man im Ersten Augenblick denken könnte. Ich habe das Gespräch mit einer<br />Gruppe von den Praktikern (u.a.in Hallein am 6.Juni) weiter geführt und bin auch weiter im<br />Austausch mit einer Anzahl von den Theoretikern. Mein Eindruck ist, dass mit Geduld sich<br />für uns wertvolles ergeben wird.<br /><br />Es gibt eine ganz Reihe von Themen - z.B. die<br />tatsächliche Höhe von Subventionen, die tatsächliche Anzahl der “working poor “, in USA<br />ein Viertel aller Arbeitenden(!), die tatsächliche Situation der Armen in China, etc. etc., an<br />denen Theoretiker forschen könnten. Genaueres darüber zu wissen würde uns mächtig<br />stärken. Salzburg wird weitergehen und sich weiterentwickeln. Die Theoretiker waren aus<br />ganz Europa eingeladen und die Auswahl - die brillianten jungen Akademiker, die<br />gekommen sind – war fabelhaft. Vielleicht das beste an der Veranstaltung.<br /><br />Direkt nach Salzburg war ich auf Besuch in <span style="font-weight: bold;">München </span>bei <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ditz Schroer</span>. Der hat - was er ja<br />so schön macht - ein Protokoll über diesen Besuch, auch in unserer Website zu finden,<br />geschrieben. Es traf sich eine hochinteressante Gruppe zu einem langen<br />Nachmittagsgespräch.<br /><br />Vom 28. bis 31. Mai in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stuttgart</span>: Eine Wucht von unterschiedlichen <a href="http://www.newwork-newculture.net/downloads/070424FB_Programm.pdf">Veranstaltungen</a>,<br />inspiriert und koordiniert von Walter Häcker. Von der Menge der plötzlich erscheinenden<br />Zeitungsartikel ist der über das Wachstum - siehe unsere Website - bei weitem der beste.<br />Der Artikel trug dazu bei, dass das Stadttheater so voll war, dass man eine viertel Stunde<br />lang Stühle in das Auditorium hinein tragen musste. In Stuttgart entstanden eine ganze<br />Reihe von Ansätzen. Wie sich die weiterentwickeln werden ist natürlich noch nicht klar.<br />Wichtiger ist, dass ein Gespräch über Neue Arbeit und Grundeinkommen für den Oktober<br />in Aussicht genommen wurde.<br /><br />Es besteht auch eine interessante Gruppe, Ansprechpartner Herr *Helmut<br />Steinl (Telefon: 0049 7453 6036 )*, die aus erfahrenenen Unternehmern<br />besteht, die jetzt in ihrem Ruhestand neue Betriebe aufbauen und - sehr<br />im Sinne der Neuen Arbeit - mit der Neuen Arbeit eine Art Kennzeichen,<br />ähnlich wie bei “Bio-Produkten” oder bei “Fair Trade”, entwerfen wollen.<br />Es spricht sehr viel dafür die Verbindung mit Helmut Steinl herzustellen.<br /><br />Und in Stuttgart gibt es auch einge GRUPPEN, nicht nur verstreute einzelne Menschen, die mit<br />dem Auto Projekt in Verbindung kommen wollen. Über das geplante Auto Projekt schreibe<br />ich bald einen eigenen längeren Bericht.<br /><br />Am 1. & 2. Juni bei SPES (die Spes Akademie bei Linz, hat eine gute <a href="http://www.spes.co.at">Website</a>): Für uns ein<br />besonders wichtiger Ansatz. SPES will einen ausgiebigen Antrag stellen - Vorbesprechung<br />dazu Ende August - und möchte die Region des Mühlviertels - also eine größere Region, in<br />der Spes schon viel ausgezeichnetes geleistet hat, als ein Beispiel der Neuen Arbeit so<br />entwickeln, dass man endlich,endlich die Frage: “Ja wo kann man denn die NA sehen und<br />erleben und mit Händen greifen und im Mund kauen?”, eine direkte und unschüchterne<br />Antwort hat.<br /><br />Ich bin dabei mehrere Stücke über diese Entwicklung bei SPES zu schreiben<br />und Hilmar wird, denke ich, Teile davon in die Website stellen. Es ist für den Überblick<br />wichtig das die NA eine “Sichtbarkeit” in Österreich erreicht hat, die ihr in Deutschland<br />noch fehlt, z.T.weil wir Ansätze in Salzburg, Wien, Linz, Innsbruck, Hallein, Graz,<br />Vorarlberg und jetzt auch bei SPES haben. Das Alpbacher Forum wird das noch deutlicher<br />machen - und die die in Östrreich sind, sollten diese “Sichtbarkeit” - bedonders in Anträgen<br />- benutzen.<br /><br />Am 4.& 5. Juni war ich in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Berlin</span>: Ein Teil war der Besuch bei Roslind und bei Fundus<br />über den Rosalind besser berichten kann. Wichtig war der Tag mit Andreas Trunschke, er<br />arbeitet an einer Podcast Serie - mit finanzieller Unterstütztung der “Rosa Luxemburg<br />Stiftung”. Wir haben an dem Tag eine ganze Reihe von Podcasts aufgenommen. Er arbeitet<br />jetzt an der Post-Production, aber es wäre sündhaft schade wenn wir alle diese Podcasts<br />nicht benützen (und auch feiern) würden. Einige von Euch sollten die Verbindung mit<br />Andreas aufnehmen und Hilmar könnte das auch weiter unterstützen - damit wir diese<br />Podcasts als Mittel benutzen.<br /><br />Am nächsten Tag war ich zum großen Teil bei Günter Faltin. (falls er einigen noch<br />unbekannt ist, bitte erkundigt Euch über ihn im Internet). Nach MONATELANGEN<br />Vorbesprechungen haben wir gemeinsam den Entschluss gefasst das Projekt des<br />grundanders hergestellten, elektrischen Autos zu starten. (Darüber der Artikel in der<br />Frankfurter Rundschau). In aller nächster Zeit werde ich etwas längeres über dieses Projekt<br />für das Internet, für unsere Website und für uns alle schreiben. Bis dahin bitte etwas<br />Geduld. Wichtig an diesem Tag war auch der Besuch in Berlin von Gerd Neuner aus Kiel,<br />der mit einer Gruppe von erfahrenen Unternehmern nach Berlin kam. Das ist ein für uns<br />entscheidendes neues Phänomen. Es gibt in Kiel, aber z.B. auch in Stuttgart, Unternehmer,<br />die man zum Ruhestand verurteilt hat, die aber das, was sie im Leben wirklich wollen noch<br />nicht getan haben und bei denen es deshalb höchste Zeit ist. Diese Unternehmer können<br />uns Helfen:<br /><br />a.) bei der Weiterentwicklung der Technologien, die wir zur Einführung der “Grund-<br />Arbeit” brauchen (HTSP)<br /><br />b.) bei dem Aufbau von Unternehmen, welche die “Cash-Cows” für unsre Projekte werden<br />könnten.<br /><br />Ich empfehle ALLEN sehr den Kontakt mit diesen Unternehmern zu entwickeln, ganz<br />besonders wenn das Finanzielle ein Thema ist - was ja von Zeit zu Zeit vorkommt.<br /><br />Am 6. Juni von Berlin nach <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hallein</span>: Eine bedeutende Veranstaltung u.a. auch weil sie von<br />der WIRTSCHAFTSKAMMER gesponsort war und weil Wirtschatskammern für uns eine<br />neue Verbindung sind. Details über die Veranstaltung sind auf unserer <a href="http://www.newwork-newculture.net/downloads/WKH%20Folder%20Print%200507-1.pdf">Website</a>. Ich würde<br />betonen, dass in dem Titel der Veranstaltung das Wort “menschen-hebend” vorkam und<br />dass dieses Wort von den Gästen sehr begrüßt wurde: Also ja, Neue Arbeit, aber auch<br />menschen-hebende Arbeit,eine menschen-hebende Wirtschaft,eine menschen-hebende<br />Kultur, das als eine Art, ein Wortgebrauch um unser Ziel zu beschreiben.<br /><br />Ich hatte dortauch längere Gespräche mit einer Gruppe die unter dem Titel “ Schmiede” bekannt ist.<br /><br />Ganz hervorragend begabte junge IT- orientierte Leute, mit denen z.B. besonders die<br />“Globalen Dorf Menschen” (<a href="http://www.dorfwiki.org">Franz Nahrada</a>) aber auch andere, die die Verknüpfung<br />zwischen der Weiterentwicklung von IT und einer menschen-hebenden Kultur sehen, den<br />Kontakt aufnehmen sollten. (Vielleicht kann Hilmar dabei helfen) In Hallein wird sich<br />sehr wahrscheinlich auch weiteres entwickeln.<br /><br />Von Hallein am 8.Juni zum Kirchentag in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Köln</span>: Dabei passierte etwas unerwartetes. Irgend<br />jemand, der uns Gutes angedeihen lassen wollte, arrangierte das Program so, dass ich erst<br />meinen Vortrag hielt aber danach Franz Münterfering - ALLEIN MIT MIR - eine Stunde<br />(ich glaube es war sogar länger) auf der Bühne saß. Wir unterhielten uns, aber er<br />beantwortete auch Fragen, die an ihn aus dem riesengroßen Saal gestellt wurden. Christine<br />Bergmann übrigens - Bundesministerin AD - war auch dabei, aber sie saß unten, nicht<br />oben. Weil man mir auch anderes erzählt hat, will ich ausdrücklich unterstreichen, dass<br />Müntefering zum Abschluss den folgenden Satz sagte: “Was er an der NA besonders<br />schätzt und begrüßt ist die Betonung auf die ENTWICKLUNG der Menschen.”<br /><br />Am nächten Tag, Samstag den 9.Juni flog ich nach <span style="font-weight: bold;">Südafrika</span>: Man hat mir “hoch und<br />heilig” versprochen, dass in ganz kurzer Zeit eine Website - verknüpft mit unserer natürlich<br />- über das Südafrika Projekt im Internet stehen wird. Die Organisation, die das dort<br />weiterentwickelt heißt übrigens: LIFT AFRICA TECHNOLOGIES. Ihr werdet über das<br />Internet bald einen detaillierten Eindruck bekommen. Jetzt hier nur schnell eine Vignette<br />(weil ich diesen Brief auch abbrechen will): Ganz wichtig ist die Einführung von Kompost<br />Toiletten. Viele Menschen (und ich meine Millionen) benutzen das wenige Wasser, das sie<br />zugeteilt bekommen - und noch dazu bezahlen müssen - zum Spülen ihrer Toiletten. Das<br />verbraucht 85% ihres Wassers, für ALLES andere ist nur noch das Überbleibsel da,<br />helllichtleuchtender WAHNSINN! Die andere Hälfte von diesen vielen Menschen benutzt<br />noch, was man in Afrika mit dem schonenden und beschönenden Ausdruck “das Bucket<br />System” nennt! Details versucht bitte Euch bildhaft vorzustellen. Also bei diesem Besuch<br />hatte ich in meinem Flug-Handgepäck die “FORM” mit der man mit der richtigen<br />Mischung von Zement und Ton und anderen Materialen einen Toiletten Stuhl “giessen”<br />kann. (So wie man eine Skupltur aus Bronze gießt). Diese Form, die jetzt in Afrika ist,dient<br />als Modell zum Herstellen von vielen Formen, die in den Slums und Dörfern an hunderten<br />von Orten jetzt die Kernstücke oder die Basis für kleine unternehmerisch sich entwickelnde<br />Werkstätten sind in denen je 8 oder 10 Menschen Kompost Toiletten für ihren eigegen<br />Gebrauch und die 500 oder 700 Familien um sie herum “gießen”und zusammensetzen<br />werden. Meine bedeutenste Mitarbeiterein in Südafrika ist Lerato Thahane – und höher<br />angesetzt als die Kompost Toilette, ist der Ansatz - mit der Hilfe von Andreas Gebhard<br />von der TH -Aachen - ein einfacher Traktore zum “Selberbauen”in der Provinz von<br />Mpumalanga. Darüber mehr im nächsten Brief.<br /><br />Mit lieben und fröhlichen Grüßen an Euch ALLE<br /><br />FrithjofFrithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-69177540214337529532007-04-25T04:30:00.000-06:002007-04-25T04:32:43.279-06:00UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICSUNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS?? CAUTION!! DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE!!<br /><br />INDUCES SLEEP AND LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS!!<br /><br /><br /><br />Please settle your mind firmly into the recognition that the UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS are sleeping pills. Their function is to distract us, to cover up the real problems, to make sure that we do not begin to ask the pertinent questions. In the USA most people know that the “official statistics” are comic because one is listed as unemployed only if one still applies for jobs at regular and prescribed intervals. If one fails to apply one is not counted as unemployed, but as “DISCOURAGED.” The comparison (that I suggested in the Red Book) is that this is like counting as victims of a flood only those who still come to the surface at regular intervals and shout for help. Those who are drowned are not COUNTED – i.o.w. the longer the flood lasts the greater the number of people who do not show up in the official statistics.<br /><br />But that is not the most serious part: These numbers are much more misleading still because the people who fall into unemployment are only one narrow facet of the vastly larger situation. The totality of everything that is connected with work is falling, collapsing and deteriorating. (In the Red Book I talked about the Pathology of the entire Job-System) The wages, the benefits, the working conditions, the health insurance, the retirement pay, the speed at which people must work, the pressure put upon them, you name it – nothing at all is exempt. Everyone that has any connection at all to work is gradually sinking, slowly but surely into the deeper quicksand in which our system of work is drowning.<br /><br />Therefore, please, make an effort to not have the wool pulled over your eyes; do not allow yourself to be tricked with primitive slight-of-hands, do NOT for one moment imagine that “things are improving” because the unemployment figures have (temporarily) dropped! Hogwash. Baloney. Nonsense. Our whole culture is locked into a welded shut train that races faster and faster towards a six-storey deep hell. (The spread of terrorism is only one of the six levels of this hell.) The unemployment statistics are just a napkin that the Sleeping Car Porters on this train – our politicians – put on the pillows they have given us so that we slumber while the train continues to speed up.Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-59061663466900508692007-04-06T10:14:00.000-06:002007-04-06T10:51:16.366-06:00Die Neue Arbeit erlebt.Am 21. Maerz war ich in Salzburg. Es war die Abschlussfeier eines "equal" Projects. Nach einigen Vortraegen kamen eine Gruppe von jungen Menschen, alle langzeitarbeitlos, auf die Buehne. Man hatte sich in dem Projekt sehr um Ihre Talente, und Begabungen, und Wuensche gekuemmert, und Ihnen die Moeglichkeit gegeben auf ganz unterschiedliche und bunte Art zu experimentieren. Man hatte vermieden sie mit Druck so schnell wie irgend moeglich in einen (Galeeren rudernden) Arbeitsplatz zu zwaengen.<br />Sie stellten sich auf der Buehne der Reihe nach vor und der grosse Saal voller Zuhoerer wurde ganz still. Vor Staunen oeffneten sich bei vielen der Mund. Sie sprachen mit Eloquenz, mit Schwung, mit Ueberzeugungskraft, und die Lebhaftigkeit spruehte Ihnen aus dem Gesicht. Sogar der bis dahin mit seinem Plaetschern alles begleitende, vom Fernsehen her beruehmte Moderator wurde still, aber sagte dann nach einer Pause, viel langsamer als bisher, den entscheidenden Satz: Er sagte, "das war jetzt ein Erlebnis, und er koennte sich nur wuenschen das sein Journalisten und Fernseh Kollegen sich mit aehnlicher Eleganz und Vitalitaet ausdruecken koennten." <br /><br />Ich erzaehle Euch diese Geschichte in meinem ersten Blog (Dank an Franz Nahrada) weil wir doch alle oft gefragt werden wo man denn die Neue Arbeit erleben kann? Mir wurde klar das wirbei dieser Frage nicht verlegen an unseren Hosennaehten herunter schauen muessen, besonders nicht weil man hier oder dort noch kein Zentrum oder auch noch keinen Fabrikator sehen kann. Unsere Antwort sollte sein: wir arbeiten mit Menschen. Wenn man sehen will was die Neue Arbeit erreicht, welchen Unterschied sie macht, dann muss man sich die Veraenderung in den Menschen anschaun. Wenn es so etwas giebt wie einen Beweis fuer das was wir tun, dann sind es die Menschen, die Veraenderung in den Menschen, und nicht die Technologien.Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-66263005807488646932007-03-20T04:16:00.000-06:002007-03-20T07:06:49.583-06:00March 2007 - List of upcoming travels, meetings and speeches<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >March 2007</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">03/21 Salzburg "Die Arbeit der Zukunft"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">03/22 Schlierbach @ SPES Seminar Centre, 4553 Schlierbach, Panoramaweg 1<br /> Tel. o7582 82123 Gertraud Wrba<br /> Project Group "New Work - New Culture Upper Austria"<br /> Workshop on Initiation of Projects in Upper Austria<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">03 /24 Meeting with Wilhemine Raimann, Hilmar Simon and Rosalind Honig (Interim Board of New Work - New Culture Germany) in Germany near Heidelberg</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">03/26 Berlin: Meeting with Stefan Wogava, left party</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">03/29 Potsdam: Meeting with Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and Fundus project (Rosalind Honig)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">03/30 (tentatively) meeting in Hamburg with Gerd Neuner and New Work Kiel<br />or (possibly) Berlin Innovation Circle, Catholic Academy Berlin Mitte, Hannoversche Strasse 5 (listening to a speech by M. v. Hermanni and engage in discussion)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">04/01 Flight to Detroit</span>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286026153271747433.post-52664417223922437572007-03-20T04:10:00.000-06:002007-03-20T04:11:50.035-06:00welcome everybody<span style="font-family: arial;">This will be the official Frithjof Bergmann blog.<br /></span>Frithjof Bergmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02390886864230164123noreply@blogger.com3