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The Economic Crisis we face today is a symptom of the failure of the "Empire" form of societal organization and provides us with a powerful opportunity to accelerate the process of change to a true "Earth Community" form. Many of us fear (or are experiencing) loss of jobs, houses, health care or other support situations. We are working in conjunction with the "Great Turning" initiative, in developing tools and techniques to move us, our cities, states and nation through these difficulties. To be effective, we need to work for policy change at the state and national levels as well as build healthy and resilient congregations and communities. Policy work and building community go hand in hand. The examples given illustrate ways we have been successful Korten's Thesis: We face a defining choice between two contrasting models for organizing human affairs-- Empire and Earth Community. Facing the possibility of global chaos due to global warming, US debt, peak oil and extinction of many species we must make a choice if we are to survive the future. Korten's Thesis: We face a defining choice between two contrasting models for organizing human affairs-- Empire and Earth Community. Facing the possibility of global chaos due to global warming, US debt, peak oil and extinction of many species we must make a choice if we are to survive the future. Read the articles on The Great Turning and send for our Great Turning packet. UUJEC Study/Action Issues UUJEC's mission is to engage UUs to work in a partnership to fulfill our vision of a peace loving Earth Community with genuine democracy and economic justice for all. To this end we will offer study/action curricula on the important issues of the day. Use these curricula in your congregation and/or community to foster action leading towards an Earth Community that wil benefit all people. 1. Radical democracy 2. Changing our Economic Story in Portland Economic justice means building a fair economy that works for everyone. It means fair trade policies that protect workers' rights to organize and to receive a living wage for their work at home and abroad. 
It includes budget and tax policies in which corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share, and which support good schools and childcare,
affordable healthcare and housing, retirement security, and a safety-net for those in need. It promotes the common good by funding public services. It means calling for new national priorities that reduce wasteful military spending and redirect tax dollars to helping our children, elders, and communities meet their needs. It includes notions of a social contract in which society and individuals fulfill their mutual responsibilities to each other.
- AFSC
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YOUR TURN
FEATURED ARTICLE: "Changing Our Economic Story" (with David Korten, Chuck Collins, Bob Pollin, Lynn Bernander and Nancy Fabre.) 1. Your Turn - Vol 2, Issue 2 2. Archives A call for a global mobilization against the g20 summit in Pittsburgh (more....) Americans Demand a Public Option in Health Care (more....) What Happened to the Crackdown on Executive Pay? (more....) National Single Payer Health Action Day May 30 (more....) Hopebroken and Hopesick: A Lexicon of Disappointment (more....) The Hippies were Right - You Tube (more....) In Praise of Peasants (more....) The Nouveau Poor Have Reached Numbers Too Large to Ignore (more....) The U.S. has a Cold and It Looks Like It's about To Become Pneumonia (more....) Workers Laid Off, Execs Paid Off (more....) Ditch the Smooth Transition. The People Voted for Change. (more....) Shelters and Soup Kitchens Hold Crisis Front Lines (more....) Wall St. Implodes, but Bad Ideas Survive (more....) The End of American Capitalism? 5 Short Takes on Where the Financial Crisis Might Be Headed (more....) Wall Street's Next Target: Roads and Bridges (more....) Food Crisis in Mexico: A US Policy Disaster That Bodes Increased Immigration (more....) Unfurling the Flag of the United States of Greed (more....) Amy Goodman Interviews Naomi Klein (more....) The Do-It-Yourself Economy (more....) Website Counter |
Who Are We?
Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC) was founded in 1994 as a dynamic,
independent grassroots affiliate of the UUA. Our mission is to engage, educate, and activate Unitarian Universalists
to work for economic justice, recognizing that as people of faith in the struggle for justice, we are supporting and
renewing our spiritual lives. Our current focus is The Great Turning, single payer health care for all
and an agenda for a new economy (see the following article.)
April 1-5 UUJEC Conference In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the origin of the organization Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community, Unitarian Universalists and interested others gathered, April 1-5, at Rowe Camp and Conference Center in Rowe, MA, Our creation of a plan for the future was mentored by David Korten, Chuck Collins, Robert Polling, Nancy Folbre and Lynn Benander. 
The group collaborated on an action plan for UUJEC to "change the cultural economic story." One of the main themes was to: Develop Position Papers and Talking Points on Short, Medium and Long Term Recommendations on Economic Justice Themes on which UUJEC urges action. Short Term (within six months) 1. Get Wall Street Out of the White House (change economic advisors) 2. Break up banks, nationalize when appropriate, and separate the functions of banking, investment, and insurance. (Action of Immediate Witness) 3. Support community banks and credit unions. 4. Support Employee Free Choice Act (Action of Immediate Witness) Medium Term (six months to two years) 1. Regulation of Financial Institutions 2. Universal Single Payer Health Care 3. Change to a Progressive Tax Policy 4. Media reform (Break up monopolies, Fairness Doctrine, Support local media, public support of media) 5. Cut the Pentagon Budget Long Term (two years plus) 1. United Nations Reform (eliminate veto, Global People's Assembly) 2. Eliminate Corporate Personhood (repeal) 3. Global Financing Regulations (Eliminate World Bank, IMF, Local Currency Issued by Global Bank) 4. Public Financing of Campaigns All of these will be elaborated on in the coming months. They will also be further elucidated by five speakers/workshops at the 2009 General Assembly in Salt Lake City. Email Newsletter Sign up for the UUJEC internet newsletter. It will come to your email address one or two times a month. It will contain the latest news on economic justice and UUJEC. 
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