Visions for Global Justice through the Lens of Sarkar's Social Cycle

"We know what you are against, but what are you for?" This is the now familiar retort by supporters of free market economic globalisation used to counter the Global Justice Movement's dissent. While some participants in the movement dismiss this, seeing "rebuttal of the fundamental weaknesses of a system which defends the privilege of a small minority" as their central responsibility, others perceive a pressing need to rise to the challenge presented by this question. (Seabrook 2001) Michael Albert (2002), co-founder of Z Magazine based in Boston, sees the lack of attention to "what we actually want" as a "huge error". He contends that "we need vision to know where we want to go so that our efforts will advance our aspirations rather than leading only in circles, or even worse, leading toward ends we abhor." (Albert 2002) Two particularly audacious visions for addressing the injustices wrought by economic globalisation have recently been articulated. Both propositions involve reigning in marauding corporations and capital through the extension of democratic influence beyond national boundaries to the global sphere. The first approach is detailed by George Monbiot (2003), the British journalist, environmental activist, philosopher and author, in his book The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order. The second is based on ideas developed by John Bunzl, Founder and Director of the Londonbased International Simultaneous Policy Organisation. Bunzl's proposal is introduced in his book The Simultaneous Policy: An Insider's Guide to Saving Humanity and the Planet and further developed in a series of essays available on the organisation's website (2000a, 2000b, 2001a, 2001b, 2003a, 2003b, no date; International Simultaneous Policy Organisation, 2003). Abstract