This essay delves into the pivotal relationship between philanthropy and social movements, challenging traditional paradigms. Emphasizing the need for philanthropy to move beyond mere funding and engage in true allyship with movements, the authors envision a praxis of solidarity philanthropy rooted in liberation.
In this two-part essay, Ladha and Murphy track the rise of the Effective Altruism and Longtermism movements, and their current influence shaping philanthropy and policy. The essay reveals how the underlying logic and approaches of these “extreme rationalists” is structured to avoid addressing the root causes of social issues.
Moving beyond the narrow metrics and techno-utopian fantasies of the Effective Altruism and Longtermism movements, and through a systemic and historical lens, Part Two of this essay advocates for an alternative logic, one expressed through a post-capitalist approach to philanthropy.
...I imagine a world in which relationships are seen as wealth; in which education, parenting, art making, bio-conscious farming, and reverence toward the world around us, toward all species, people, and the natural world are most prized in our economic and value systems.
The 21st century is witnessing hundreds of millions of people caught up in cascading systemic transformation. Global society has crossed a threshold. We’ve entered the time of the Great Transition—a time when we hospice outworn ways of living that no longer serve us and the Earth, and give birth to an emergent, more compassionate, and resilient future.
Humanity is in a time of transition, one that we can navigate successfully only with a shift in consciousness. How can we wake up from the collective neuroses that have driven our civilization into decadence and decline?
The founding fathers warned us of times like these. Intent on presenting a unified front to the world, they discouraged factions and political parties. I, therefore, characterize the birth of the nation as a form of Unitive Consciousness, even if it was not the most evolved nor long-lasting form.
Introduced at an early stage of child development, global citizenship education enhances mutual respect and understanding, tolerance, and cultural literacy, while substantially weakening the power of radicalized messages.
I have been asked to tell you about the findings from my research identifying the core components of a safer, more equitable, and caring world—especially one where women and children are finally safe—a goal that is very close to my heart.
Of course, the question was—after a century and a half of “Social Darwinism” claiming that it was all about competition, from the lowest to the highest—could our world now dominated by the shark-tank rubrics of business, economics, and politics adjust to this astounding news? Could it realize that because of this basic blunder about Darwin’s message, we had, in fact, ended up with dystopia instead of utopia?