Main Page for this talk & related Materials: http://bit.do/azcapcrisis
December 2011: Capitalism in Crisis Delivered at following three forums in Indonesia:
Indonesia’s Bank Indonesia’s Islamic Banking Research Forum, held at Padjajaran University, Bandung,
University of Indonesia, Jakarta
Ibn-e-Khaldun University, Bogor, 16th& 17th Dec, 2011.
I have attached below the slides of the presentation I plan to make in Indonesia. These lectures seem related to the topic:
http://hast-o-neest.blogspot.com/2012/09/lectures-on-capitalism.html
Ernesto Screpanti is a professor at the University of Siena, Italy, where he teaches on the Economics of Globalization and the Theory of Justice. He is considered a leading theorist in the ‘rethinking Marxism’ research program. His recent publications include The Fundamental Institutions of Capitalism (Routledge 2001), Libertarian Communism: Marx, Engels, and the Political Economy of Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan 2007), and Global Imperialism and the Great Crisis: The Uncertain Future of Capitalism(Monthly Review Press 2014).
Hast-o-Neest Institute of Traditional Studies & Arts
invites you to a series of lectures on
Capitalism & the Crisis of Civilization
by
Dr. Syed Akmal Hussain
The first lecture in the series was held on Sunday, 30th September 2012 at 6:00 pm
(Video Recording of the First Lecture - Click Here)
The second lecture in the series will be held on
Sunday, 7th October 2012 at 5:30 pm
Hast-o-Neest Institute of Traditional Studies & Arts
2S, Gulberg II, Lahore
Queries: 03008493170
Hast-o-Neest Institute of Traditional Studies & Arts
invites you to the third and final lecture in the series of lectures on
Capitalism & the Crisis of Civilization
'The Way Forward: Ranjha & Revolution'
by
Dr. Syed Akmal Hussain
Sunday, 1oth February 2013
at 5:00 pm
Highlight of the 1st Lecture: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/25812996/highlight/295780
('values', 'humans and nature', 'humans and commodities' - 30th September 2012)
Full lecture http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/25812996
“…[the third point in calling this lecture a “crisis” of civilization].. This Economic and Social system is associated with inculcating a particular relationship between human beings which is very different from the traditional relationship that we have seen over hundreds, thousands of years ..it systematically develops – as Erich Fromm has argued - aggressiveness in acquisition, competition.. so this aggressiveness is combined with greed…celebrated by economists as greed is what keeps the market functioning…” Dr. Syed Akmal Hussain
Highlight of the 2nd Lecture: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/26188198/highlight/322111('nature' and 'capitalism')
- Second lecture - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/26188198
Dr. Akmal Hussain is an economist, author and social activist. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Economics, Forman Christian College University, Member, Governing Board, South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), and Senior Fellow, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE). He has also recently advised the Federal Government of Pakistan on economic policy as Chairman, Working Group on Institutions for Development, Panel of Economists and as Chairman of the Working Group on Poverty Reduction for Pakistan’s Tenth Five Year Plan.
Dr. Hussain has helped build organizations for overcoming poverty at the village, district, provincial and national levels in Pakistan. These include the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) at the national level and Punjab Rural Support Program (PRSP) at the provincial level. Apart from a large number of papers, reports and newspaper articles, Dr. Hussain has authored three books on development policy and has co-authored 27 other books on issues of poverty, peace and development, which have been internationally published. Dr. Akmal Hussain has a B.A. Honours Degree in Economics from Cambridge University and Ph.D. in Economics from Sussex University.
Title of Talk: Capitalism in Crisis: Causes and Consequences
Author: Dr. Asad Zaman
Abstract: As the “Occupy Wall St.” protests have made clear, capitalism is undergoing a major crisis. However, what is the nature of this crisis, and how it can be resolved is not clear to most. The goal of this talk is to show that the crisis is an outcome of a century long experiment to make greed legitimate. This experiment has failed completely and has resulted in disastrous outcomes in nearly all fields of human endeavor. Efforts to fix the problems currently under way in the West cannot succeed because they do not go to the root of the problem.
Title Slide: Expand on the Abstract written up above. Use my newspaper articles on Pursuit of Wealth and similar topics. See Lecture 8 in https://sites.google.com/site/zamanislamicecon/lectures
Document that there is a Crisis. Give some brief explanation of the concept of legitimization of greed and how and why it took place. Explain that family has broken down (https://sites.google.com/site/aznews0/home/express-tribune/social) and why it is not possible to reverse this decline easily - solutions no longer available in West. Explain how Islam has solutions. HOWEVER, how can these solutions be taken from books and put into our llives? this is the question. Each sentence here should be expanded into a paragraph.
Explain that THERE WAS a big change in Europe. Explain why and how : See Lecture 4 (https://sites.google.com/site/zamanislamicecon/lectures) regarding the Great Transformation of Karl Polanyi
Explain how corruption of church led to emergence of secular thought. Consult my article: Islamic History: Lessons for Muslims. See Lecture 7 (https://sites.google.com/site/zamanislamicecon/lectures)
Explain that Freedom and Wealth are NOT goals -- they are means to goals. HOW did these means become goals? It was because a secular society cannot agree on the goals, so only on means could there be common agreement. See Tawney of emergence of secular society in Europe TawneySUM(MMARY) is included in Lecture 8: (https://sites.google.com/site/zamanislamicecon/lectures)
Decline of Religion and Permission of accumulation of wealth and greed LED to the emergence of a MARKET SOCIETY. This also led to Surplus Wealth, Search for Markets for Surplus Products, Strengthening forces of greed to allow markets to work. See Rise & Fall of Market Societies for relevant materials.
First Argument: Passions Versus Interests. Read Introduction of BOOK with this title attached below.
2nd Argument: Invisible Hand justifies selfishness. Read my article on Invisible Hand
3rd Argument by Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic is to work hard because money shows favor of God. You can find a summary here
4th Arugment by Keynes: The full quote of Keynes is available from many sources -- it is what needs to be explained and discussed. There is an ayat in the Quran which says that what Keynes says is FALSE, bonus points if you find it and cite it.
Friedman's argument: Profits is the only business of business. See this page for many references to this debate.
Summary of arguments in favor of greed. pick up relevant materials from previous slides. and summarize in one place.
Greed was supposed to be in trade only. But it did not remain so confined. Offer evidence that greed has penetrated ALL institutions in the West. see link for political corruption. How greed has led to destruction of families is documented in many places.
Explain how MULTINATIONAL Business has caused death and destruction throughout the planet -- more deaths than those due to terrorism.
This slide is from an explanation of Occupy Wall Street. Read it to explain the figure and what it says about how greed affects society.
Read about these statistics from different sources and write up an explanation.
Read up on lonelliness and family breakdown statistics -- many many references easily available on internet.
OBJECTION: We should not talk about problems of West, we have our own problems which are different and difficult. ANSWER. Explain Why.
Happiness which comes from consumption is a SHORT TERM phenomena. In LONG RUN, higher standard of living creates DIFFICULTY for all.
Look at AMAZON descriptions of these books and read summaries and readers comments to get some idea of what they say. Use these ideas to write up an explanation for this slide.
Make the argument that the world is a richer place due to Western Capitalism. Everyone has more of everything and there is huge progress.
Explain WHY previous slide argument is WRONG.
Make Argument that Human beings are better off due to Capitalism
Make COUNTER ARGUMENT that in reality, human beings are worse off.
Expand on the bullet points. Each point should be written up into a paragraph. Find references whereever possible.
Again, explain in greater detail the solutions offered. Support these with evidence from Islamic Sources.
Explain why these fronts are important and what can be done to protect them.
Money that went into creation of Libertarian Movement - With enough money, you can make bad ideas popular