Capitalism: A Love Story. The new documentary by Michael Moore.

Basic Income (Grundeinkommen) Film. “A basic income is a proposed system of social security that periodically provides each citizen with a sum of money that allows the receiver to participate in society with human dignity" (Wikipedia). Basic income turns the traditional notion that 'I work for money,' into 'I receive enough money so that I can carry out my work in the world.'

Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding, by Nicanor Perlas. One of the main study / working groups that arose during Backpackers was concerned with Social Threefolding and the work of Nicanor Perlas. This is the book the group focused on. Further initiatives and ideas arising out of our time together can be found on the 'Party for Perlas' group of the 'People for Perlas' website. Threefolding (including the work of Nicanor Perlas) was also a main theme of Coming into Conversation / YouthSection Weekend. This theme and the work arising out of it will continue in the new year and beyond, especially during Focus. If you are interested, you are more than welcome to join and contribute at any time.

Amazon editorial review:

"Civil Society has become a major power in the world. The stunning defeat of the controversial and secretive Multilateral Agreement on Investments, the massive worldwide WTO protests, and the yearly meetings of the World Social Forum are testimony to its coming of age. With tens of millions of citizens and more than a trillion dollars involved in advancing its agenda, civil society now joins the State and the Market as the third key institution shaping globalization. However, it cannot fully mobilize its resources and power because it lacks clear understanding of its identity.

Shaping Globalization argues that global civil society is a cultural institution wielding cultural power, and shows how, through the use of this distinct power, it can advance its agenda in the political and economic realms of society without compromising its identity. The book then outlines the strategic implications for civil society both locally and globally, and explains that its key task is to inaugurate "threefolding:" the forging, where appropriate, of strategic partnerships between civil society, government, and business. Such authentic tri-sector partnerships are essential for advancing new ways for nations to develop, and for charting a different, sustainable kind of globalization. Using the model of The Philippine Agenda 21, the book shows how civil society and pro-gressive individuals and agencies in government and business are demonstrating the effectiveness of this new understanding to ensure that globalization benefits the poor, societies, and nature."

"Nicanor Perlas is one of the profound thinkers of our time. Shaping Globalization is a must-read for all who work for a positive future." - David C. Korten, author, The Post Corporate World.

Renewal of the Social Organism, by Rudolf Steiner. The Social question, including Threefolding, was the main theme of Coming into Conversation, and was central to the YouthSection weekend.

"...The social organism is articulated like a natural organism. Just as the natural organism must take care of the process of thinking through its head and not through its lungs, so the social organism must be organized into systems. No one system can assume the work of the other; each must work harmoniously with the others while preserving its own integrity.

Economic life can prosper only if it develops according to its own laws and energies as an independent system within the social organism, and if it does not let confusion upset its structure by permitting another part of the social order—that which is at work in politics—to invade it. On the contrary, the political system must function independently alongside the economic system, just as in the natural organism breathing and thinking function side by side. Their wholesome collaboration can be attained only if each member has its own vitally interacting regulations and administration. However, beneficial interaction falters if both members have one and the same administrative and regulatory organ. If it is allowed to take over, the political system is bound to destroy the economy, and the economic system loses its vitality if it becomes political.

These two spheres of the social organism must now be joined by a third that is shaped quite independently, from within its own life-possibilities—the cultural sphere, with its own legitimate order and administration. The cultural portions of the other two spheres belong in this sphere and must be submitted to it; yet the cultural sphere has no administrative power over the other two spheres and can influence them only as the organ systems coexisting within a complete natural organism influence each other..."

From "An Appeal to the German Nation and to the Civilised World," as published in Renewal of the Social Organism, by Rudolf Steiner: Twenty four articles published in the newspapers The Social Future and The Threefold Social Order.

Appeal for an Alternative, by Joseph Beuys.

Personal & Social Transformation: How to Develop Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity in Everyday Life, by Jörgen Smit. This book also includes "A Threefold Exercise for the Attainment of Social Faculties."

Aotearoa (New Zealand) Summer Gathering! You are invited to contribute to and participate in ‘The World & I: Meeting the World and Shaping the Future,’ to be held near Wellington, January 21–27, 2010. Visit the website: www.summergathering.co.nz

Formal registrations for Focus: International Initiative Forum will open in January. Focus will take place in Dornach, April 5–9, 2010. Click here for more information.

HeartChord Music Festival: An event to fill the Goetheanum with music of all colours and genres – a weekend jamboree. April 9–11, 2010. Organised by the YouthSection. Click here for more information. HeartChord immediately follows – and can be experienced in connection with – 'Focus.' Click here to visit the HeartChord website.