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    Power Switch: How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality
    Power Switch: How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality
    Power Switch: How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality
    Ebook136 pages1 hour

    Power Switch: How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality

    By Paul O'Brien

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    Is it actually possible? …that we might emerge from this pandemic with a peaceful global power switch from those who have too much to those who don't have enough? With billionaires able to decide the fate of nations, private corporations more powerful and less accountable than ever, and political autocrats around the world shaking our confidence in democratic institutions, power resides in all the wrong places. And so our world is in crisis. In such moments, activists find opportunities. Not to restore the pre-crises order, but to transform it. Paul O’Brien argues that progressive activists may never have a better opportunity to rewrite economic rules, systems and outcomes in favor of those who don't have enough. His book offers practical action steps for activists who want to drive a power switch that overcomes extreme inequalities in our world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Hunt Publishing
    Release dateNov 27, 2020
    ISBN9781789047509
    Power Switch: How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality
    Author

    Paul O'Brien

    Paul O’Brien is an entrepreneurial strategist, philosopher, and raconteur who invented divination software and created the world’s largest astrology and divination ecommerce business, Tarot.com. He is a sought-after advisor, interview subject, and speaker, as well as author of The Visionary I Ching: A Book of Changes for the 21st Century and the Visionary I Ching app for smartphones. Executive director of the Divination Foundation (Divination.com), for 30 years Paul has hosted Pathways radio in Portland, Oregon, an interview program focused on personal and cultural transformation (podcasts at Divination.com and iTunes).

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      Book preview

      Power Switch - Paul O'Brien

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      Resetting Our Future: Power Switch

      Our unequal world has been ripped further asunder by a pandemic and its economic consequences. In this bold book, Paul O’Brien asks us to see how unfairly this crisis has landed, and to confront the power and wealth inequalities at the heart of our current economic system. It is an ambitious agenda, for sure, but worth heeding if we want to emerge from this crisis with more fairness, more humanity and more hope for the next generation.

      Anne Kabagambe, Executive Director, The World Bank Group

      The bad news is that the world is in crisis; the good news is that transformative activism can overcome it; one key question is whether the more formal progressive institutions – NGO, foundations, think tanks and parties - will have the courage to go all in with that activism, or whether they will keep trying to hold on approval from a powerful establishment that is breaking the world apart. Paul O’Brien knows all three of those spaces – he’s been a troublemaker, he’s been a powerbroker, and he’s most recently spent a decade helping drive a leading NGO. He sets out why we’ve got to where we are, and why now is not a time for moderation. And whilst he warns us that we are passing through a valley of death, he lets us know how we can come through, and how we can take care of each other, and even have fun together, while we do.

      Ben Phillips is the author of How to Fight Inequality (Polity Press). He is an advisor to the United Nations, governments and civil society organizations, was Campaigns Director for Oxfam Great Britain and for ActionAid, and co-founded the Fight Inequality Alliance.

      O’Brien understands the world as it is, not as international visionaries would like it to be, and from that solid base he sets out to correct ideological and structural problems. He traces the path of modern power relations right into the ideological framework of development programs like the Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals. Chillingly and convincingly, he warns that if activists don’t fight for the kind of power switch that protects the most vulnerable, even more power will be catastrophically redistributed away from those who need it most, pointing to evident power asymmetries in the spread and treatment of Covid-19, as auguries of a dark future. Though shaped by the realism of his experiences, this book, packed with precision, practical advice, and real-world experience, is richly seamed with hope for a better future, in which Covid-19 combines with humanism to create a better outlook for all.

      Bernice Maxton-Lee, climate activist and author

      Power Switch is a call to the activist in each of us. Our world will not be the same after this pandemic, nor will the global balance of power and money. If activists stay on the margins of economic decision making, we can only expect the powerful to get wealthier. If we work together, we can change the political equation for policy makers, and help to rebuild fair, just, and less wasteful economies. To find out precisely how, give this book a read. I, for one, am jumping in.

      Stephanie Miller, Author of Zero Waste Living, the 80/20 Way: The Busy Person’s Guide to a Lighter Footprint and Founder of Zero Waste in DC, and former Director, IFC Climate Business Department

      RESETTING OUR FUTURE

      Power Switch

      How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality

      RESETTING OUR FUTURE

      Power Switch

      How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality

      Paul O’Brien

      Winchester, UK

      Washington, USA

      First published by Changemakers Books, 2021

      Changemakers Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., No. 3 East Street, Alresford, Hampshire SO24 9EE, UK

      office@jhpbooks.com

      www.johnhuntpublishing.com

      www.changemakers-books.com

      For distributor details and how to order please visit the ‘Ordering’ section on our website.

      © Paul O’Brien 2020

      ISBN: 978 1 78904 749 3

      978 1 78904 750 9 (ebook)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2020947182

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

      The rights of Paul O’Brien as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Design: Stuart Davies

      UK: Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

      Printed in North America by CPI GPS partners

      We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution.

      Contents

      Cover

      Half Title

      Title

      Copyright

      Contents

      Dedication

      Foreword

      Acknowledging Some Facts & Folks

      Prologue: A Possible Future

      Part One: Activism Crisis as Opportunity

      Chapter 1. International Activism: A Field in Flux

      Chapter 2: A Strange Thing about Power and Money

      Chapter 3: When Power Switches Happen

      Part Two: Inequality Crisis and Opportunity

      Chapter 4: From an Inequality Virus to Coronavirus

      Chapter 5: Strategic Challenges for U.S. Activists

      Chapter 6: To Switch Power, Follow the Money

      Conclusion

      Actions for International Activists to Consider

      References

      Books

      Videos, Films, & Podcasts

      Oxfam Reports

      End Notes

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      Guide

      Cover

      Half Title

      Title

      Copyright

      Contents

      Dedication

      Start of Content

      Conclusion

      References

      End Notes

      The Resetting Our Future Series

      At this critical moment of history, with a pandemic raging, we have the rare opportunity for a Great Reset – to choose a different future. This series provides a platform for pragmatic thought leaders to share their vision for change based on their deep expertise. For communities and nations struggling to cope with the crisis, these books will provide a burst of hope and energy to help us take the first diffcult steps towards a bett er future.

      – Tim Ward, publisher, Changemakers Books

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      Tom Bowman, President of Bowman Change, Inc., and Writing Team Lead for the U.S. ACE National Strategic

      Planning Framework

      Zero Waste Living, the 80/20 Way

      The Busy Person’s Guide to a Lighter Footprint

      Stephanie Miller, Founder of Zero Waste in DC, and former Director, IFC Climate Business Department.

      A Chicken Can’t Lay a Duck Egg

      How COVID-19 can Solve the Climate Crisis

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      A Global Playbook for the Next Pandemic

      Anne Kabagambe, World Bank Executive Director

      Learning from Tomorrow

      Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption

      Bart Édes, North American Representative, Asian

      Development Bank

      Impact ED

      How Community College Entrepreneurship Programs Create Prosperity for All

      Rebecca Corbin (President, National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship), Andrew Gold and Mary-Beth Kerly (both business faculty, Hillsborough Community College).

      Power Switch

      How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality

      Paul O’Brien, VP, Policy and Advocacy, Oxfam America

      SMART Futures for a Sustainable World

      Creating a Paradigm Shift for Achieving the Global SDGs

      Dr. Claire Nelson, Chief Visionary Officer and Lead Futurist, The Futures Forum

      Reconstructing Blackness

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      The Ozone Treaty’s

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