Commit to the work for peace
Shut down the pipelines of greed that support violent acts around the world.
This week marked a tectonic shift in global power relationships as Russia attacked Ukraine. As we are one human family, we all suffer the fear and harm this violent act entails; for those who suffer most dearly, we send our thoughts and commit our actions to continue the work for peace.
In too many ways, this attack was enabled by the relaxation of regulations regarding the holding and hiding of money. Great Britain and the United States, in particular, have become hubs of money laundering. (See the sources linked after the photo below.)
Let’s be clear: financial deregulation on the scale we have seen over the last forty years enabled dictators, oligarchs, kleptocrats, and criminals around the world. Far from boosting the economy as a whole, it destabilizes democracy at home and abroad.
There is no value in violence - only greed. We must shut down the pipelines of greed as part of our strategy to construct social and economic systems based on inclusion and justice.
Working against greed is working for peace. They are inextricably linked, as the attack on Ukraine shows. Global sanctions to cut off the flows of money to Russia and its oligarchs are important; changing the system so that dictators and aspiring dictators cannot hide their spoils in the first place is essential to preventing the next war of aggression, and the next one after that.
Support the well-being of people, and the economy will thrive. Support the ability of kleptocrats to move money into private and secret places, and violence will be the result.
As we all work against greed and for peace, be safe and well, and take good care.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/07/south-dakota-pandora-papers/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/opinion/pandora-papers-britain-london.html?searchResultPosition=46
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/opinion/russia-ukraine-sanctions-offshore-accounts.html?searchResultPosition=3