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SPACE RENAISSANCE INTERNATIONAL - NEWS NO. 2 2011 Dear Members of the Space Renaissance International, and all true humanists, These days we are witnessing the effects of globalization in different countries with different histories and levels of industrial development, that are now being merged into a single world. Large and small companies are relocating to take advantage of lower labor costs and as a result, workers may have to agree to reductions of their rights, and to the worsening of working conditions. But simply throwing up barricades to protect local economic, social, political and religious benefits has no meaning or value if it does not take into account today's realities. This only triggers desperate dynamics which have many examples in history. The current situation compared to forty years ago, well within the lifetime of many of us, is quite different. The 1960's and '70's were historically situated at the height of a period of strong economic growth that reached its greatest success with the US team landing on the Moon on July 21, 1969. Workers around the world claimed their share of this well-being because they contributed to the growth of wealth and productivity. They worked hard and were sustained by strong reasons of ethics and social justice. This is not to say that purely defensive tactics are unnecessary and will inevitably cause dynamic involution, but neither does it provide an ethical license for large scale relocation of production facilities just to improve the "bottom line." Neither can we agree with those who―recalling the quasi-religious messages of the past―exhort us to be content to live with less, reduce consumption, resign ourselves to fewer rights, save energy, and so on. Some people were content for their whole life to carry their families with survival-level salaries. Others, who with great difficulty created their own companies, saw it swept away by the current economic crisis and even lost their homes. Meanwhile, they saw bankers, oilmen and corrupt politicians continue to wallow in gold in spite of the ruin of millions of people. The real problem is strategic. For example, Mr. Marchionne, CEO of Fiat/Chrysler, is going to continue making cars, anywhere the labor costs and financial incentives are greatest―for him and his company. He is not to blame for this, and it is clear that the freedom of movement guaranteed by private transport is to be preserved and even further developed, even into integrated transportation systems. The error of Mr. Marchionne, again using him as an example but not the only one, and his friends in the petroleum industry, is to think only in two dimensions―horizontally―on roads and rails crisscrossing the surface of our planet or within the envelope of our atmosphere. For some years the post-industrial world will retain an advantage in the emerging world of aerospace technologies. This advantage will rapidly disappear because the emerging powers of China and India seem to understand the value and importance of space for the further development of a world of seven billion people much better than our current Western political and economic leaders. This could change. By investing in the design and production of sub-orbital and orbital vehicles, and starting to think finally in three dimensions, the big automakers could become advocates of the new industrial revolution. Space tourism could develop a formidable momentum, and after it industrial estates could develop in Earth orbit, at the Lagrange points and the Moon, paving the way for large scale implementation of space based solar power and exploitation of lunar and asteroidal raw materials. Such a new course of a globalized economy in the process of becoming an exo-economy (that is, based off the Earth) could create millions of new jobs and new industries. Western workers could keep and even improve their rights to adequate wages, hours and working conditions and maybe become an ―internationalist―example for workers in the developing countries. Here is a prospect of progress, and not defensive, from which all parts of society will gain―a revolution worth fighting for! If you think that it is worth working and fighting for, - Join the Space Renaissance http://www.spacerenaissance.org/sri-register.htm - Attend the first congress of the International Space Renaissance to be held in June 2011 http://www.spacerenaissance.org/SRIC/SRIC-HOME.html - Buy online the book "Three Theses for the Space Renaissance" http://www.lulu.com/commerce/index.php?fBuyContent=10003567 - Organize meetings for discussion of the above arguments for your community: You can participate in the Congress to improve the Thesis and be entitled to vote. - Submit papers to the Congress, responding to our Call for Papers http://www.spacerenaissance.org/SRIC/SRIC-CallForPapers.html Wherever there are at least five registered members, a local SRI chapter may be created. This is an essential step of any movement: give birth to regular meetings, for instance, once a month either in person or on-line where people can be invited, so the group can progressively grow. Please reproduce this message, print it on paper, put it in your living or working space, invite people to discuss our goals and objectives and our congress. This newsletter is also available in pdf format here: http://www.spacerenaissance.org/NEWS/SRI_Newsletter_No_2_eng.pdf Let's start working! Aim High! Ad Astra! Adriano V. Autino, SRI, President ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you like to be sure to receive the future newsletters, please , please write an email with "subscribe" in the subject, to this address: info@tdf.it If you don't like to receive this newsletter anymore, please write an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject, to this address: info@tdf.it IMPORTANT: be sure to write your email from the same address where you got this email |