Great Turning Courses & Rituals

Corporate History Timeline

A.1 1886 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a corporation has the legal standing of a person, giving it many of the protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.

B.1 July 1944 - Modern economic globalization is born at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Economists, politicians, bankers and corporate leaders meet to decide what to do following the devastation of World War II. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are established.

C.1 1946 - Television is launched.

1947 - AT & T scientists invent the transistor.

D.1 1949 - U.S. President Harry Truman, announcing a program for foreign technical assistance, states that self-sustaining peoples are "underdeveloped."

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund begin operations. They extend money to poor and newly decolonized countries to foster economic growth on the model of industrialized nations.

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Corporate Globalization Learning Ritual

Before the ritual:

• Have five copies of the globalization history ready.
• Identify four volunteers to read the four parts of the globalization history (See Notes).
• Arrange a meeting space that will permit the group to sit in a circle.
• Have a drum available.
• Prepare a flip chart page of global economy acronyms (WTO=…GATT=…,etc.)

Instructions and Facilitation

1. As people gather, ask the volunteer readers to space themselves around the circle, clockwise from your position, in alphabetical order of their assigned reading.

2. Welcome participants and provide a brief overview of what will happen: statement of intention, preparing to participate, dedication of the ritual, several rounds of readings, time for participant responses, and reflection on the experience.

Learn Together How to Demystify Economic Globalization

Many people imagine that the basic dynamics of global economics and corporate rule are too complicated to understand, unless one is an economist or MBA. To dispel this illusion is an imperative step toward personal empowerment and collective action. Teaching each other in groups, we can use our innate common sense to grasp the nature of growth economics, the role of corporations and their cost to our society and planet. Citizen study circles are one of the greatest social inventions of our time. Engrossing and fun, they elicit our innate curiosity, raise our sights, and widen our horizons, while offering an immediately rewarding experience of community. They uncover our capacity to think cogently about big issues of common concern--a capacity that we may not have suspected we had. They increase our respect for our self and each other, breaking down barriers of isolation and powerlessness. These functions are multiplied when participants, wanting to embody the convictions or the values that arise, undertake projects together--and the groups become study-action groups. The energy that is unleashed, when we move out to do together what we may have felt inadequate to do alone, can transform our lives and our society.

Foundations of the Great Turning (class)

Instructor: Randy Morris, Ph.D.
Credits: 3-4
Quarter: Fall 2007

Time: Wednesdays, 7-9:30pm (Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24: Nov. 7, 14, 28; Dec. 5)
Plus: Saturday, Oct. 13th from 10-5 (Pachamama Alliance Workshop) Thursday, Oct. 25th, 7-9:30pm (Richard Tarnas Lecture: At the Threshold of a New Worldview)
Friday, Oct. 26th, 10-2pm (AUS discussion “The Mission of the University in the Time of the Great Turning” with Richard Tarnas and Ormond Smythe)Sunday, Nov. 18th from 10-5 (Great Turning Northwest workshop) Saturday, Dec. 8th from 3-9pm (Community Fair)

COURSE INTENTION:
The Great Turning refers to this historical moment in which we live, as our civilization moves from an industrial growth society to a sustainable earth community. Students examine the basic premises of the Great Turning, from holding actions in defense of earth, to new alternatives, to the philosophical and spiritual resources needed for this transformation. We will engage in two full day workshops facilitated by groups who are consciously participating in the work of the Great Turning -- the Pachamama Alliance and Great Turning Northwest.

Joanna Macy