W R Lester - Unemployment and the Land - United Committee for the Taxation of Land Values

W R Lester - Unemployment and the Land - United Committee for the Taxation of Land Values, 4th edition,  1933

"All great truths are simple truths, and all great problems can be reduced to their simple elements, however complicated they may appear at first sight." - W R Lester

In my previous posting on this blog, we looked at the thoughts of Frank Dupuis and I mentioned that he found the answers to many of his questions in W R Lester`s Unemployment and the Land.

Since I own a copy of said work, it seems logical to look at that now.

W R Lester was, I believe,  William Richard Lester, born 1860, an admirer of American political philosopher Henry George. He was an election candidate for the Liberal Party* in 1910 and the author of a number of pamphlets, most, if not all,  of  which were connected with the question of land value taxation.

If anyone has any further information on the literate Liberal Lester, I`d be glad to hear from you.

Unemployment and the Land is a pleasure to read. Mr L puts his case clearly and succinctly, arguing his points well.

His argument is that unemployment is a relatively modern, artificial phenomenon and that it`s existence shows that "our civilization has taken a wrong turning". The roots of this modern malaise can, he believes, be traced back to the enclosure of common land in the Middle Ages. 

"Unemployment is no part of the natural order as many assume it to be" he asserts.

His arguments and opinions do not easily fit into neat little categories of  right/left politics. He identifies the monopolisation of land ownership by a wealthy few as the source of the problem he wishes to address, but is no opponent of capitalism. He argues that "it is futile to blame Goverments for not `providing` work. They cannot do it." but endorses a statement made by Henry George ;

"If there is want, if there is scarcity, if there are men who cannot find employment, if there are people starving in the midst of plenty, is it not simply because what the Creator intended for the use of man has been made the private property of the few ?"

One area of his thinking will have been of particular interest to Frank Dupuis, which is the effect of imposition of western practises on African societies and, by extension, on other areas of what was then the empire ;

"To-day this process of enclosure, under another name, is proceeding before our eyes among native tribes in Colonial possessions, with the same dire consequences...So long as the natives retained their tribal lands, workless men did not and could not exist."

He goes on to detail hearings on the matter under the name of the Native Labour Commission (Kenya), 1912 - 13 ;

"Settler after settler came before the Commission and demanded in the most precise terms that the natives should be forced out of  `reserves` to work  for wages by cutting down their land so that they should have less than they could live on...The process of reducing men to unemployment and poverty is here stated in all its` nakedness." 

Do his ideas make sense ? For myself, I have to say I am not someone who is readily persuaded by ideas that have never been tried anywhere, or to the glib assumption that a proposed course of action will have no unintended consequences. At the same time, if everyone thought like that very little would ever change ! For the moment then, I count myself as sympathetic but unconvinced.

Assuming one accepts his arguments regarding the enclosure of common land, one`s response could vary quite a bit, from joining, say,  The Ramblers or the Open Spaces Society (my own preferred option) ,  to storming the barricades like some latter-day revolutionary ! Taxing the value of land is only one of a variety of choices one could make.

Nonetheless, Lester is a provocative thinker and an advocate of reasoned and orderly change, so for that reason he is, in my opinion, well worth a read.

Footnote

For a more recent look at the question of land value taxation, this article may be of interest ;

Unsigned - `Land Value Tax "Should be Examined"` - 14 Sep 2013 at www.expressandstar.com

( http://www.expressandstar.com/business/uk-money/2013/09/14/land-value-tax-should-be-examined ) 

* The Liberal Party that Lester knew has two modern descendants, the Liberal Democrat Party ( www.libdems.org.uk ) and the Liberal Party ( www.liberal.org.uk ) .


   
  

Quotation Station - Frank Dupuis

"The contrasts to be observed between the effects of the depression in Africa and England were striking enough to arouse my curiosity. In Africa the collapse of export markets meant bankruptcy to many planters and some traders and had aroused discontent among native producers but no African was either destitute or even badly in want. The `unemployment problem` simply did not exist.

To find in England, where people were suppposed to be so much richer and wiser than `natives`, multitudes depending upon public assistance even for food, and begging for hard work as if it were a charity to be dispensed by the generous, was startling. It impressed me as unnatural although my English friends, to whom it was customary, did not regard it so. They were satisfied that all differences between England and Africa could be explained by industrialisation. But they could not tell me how.

I thought they condemned in advance any suggestion that a more primitive society might have some lesson to teach them. Was not the black man a poor brother in need of their help and guidance ? As I knew that the black man was just the same as other people and quite capable of providing for himself, I was less disposed to accept assurances which others seemed to pass without question."

Frank Dupuis - A Planter`s Story, in `Land and Liberty` magazine, 1957 

Frank Dupuis spent nearly twenty years in Africa. He may originally have gone there on military service, but at some point he took up agricultural pursuits, returning to England in 1931.

He found the answers to his questions in W R Lester`s Unemployment and the Land and as a result became involved in a group called the United Commmittee for the Taxation of Land Values, contributing to their periodical Land and Liberty regularly.

For the moment we will simply note that the United Committee was a body that drew inspiration from the works of American philosopher Henry George and was not an organisation that can be easily classified as being either left or right wing. It still exists today, under the name the Henry George Foundation.

The quote above is interesting in many ways and I suspect different people will take different things from it. I am quite happy for that to be the case and have no intention of  interposing my own thoughts and interpretations.

Updates ; Fiji

The Minority Rights Group has published a new report, Fiji ; The Challenges and Opportunities and Diversity.

The report comes at a time when Amnesty International and Labour Start are expressing concerns about the situation in Fiji.

The MRG report is "based on evidence drawn from exclusive interviews across the diversity of Fiji`s ethnic groups and aims "to provide insight into the underlying causes and consequences of ethnic tensions in Fiji."

  Links ;

http://www.minorityrights.org/11850/reports/fiji-the-challenges-and-opportunities-of-diversity.html

http://www.minorityrights.org/643/publications/publications.html

Another Aid Controversy

The vexed question of overseas aid raises it`s head yet again in a recent article by an anonymous representative of Ethiopia`s Oromo people* ;

The writer refers to Ethiopia`s FDRE Proclamation 621/2009, which he/she acknowledges was "intended to impose superior regulation of charities", but goes on to argue that in practise it has meant that "party leaders decide who should receive...emergency support" .

The article goes on to say that in many cases "the authorities decide who should die."

Admirers of Ethiopia`s current regime often present it as a kind of synthesis of old-style state-centralist economy with western individualism and initiative. I can actually see where they`re coming from with that, though I doubt that in practice the "best of both worlds" approach is actually what is happening on the ground.

Leaving that aside, the article does raise questions about how NGO aid agenices can be made accountable. While many would question whether self-regulation and intitatives like The Sphere Project are really a long-term solution, it`s unclear how any form of independent scrutiny is ever to be achieved.

These are big questions with no easy answers and I don`t pretend to have any special wisdom. Hopefully, I`ll be able to return to the subject in due course.

*http://www.minorityvoices.org/news.php/en/1381/ethiopiauk-oromo-rally-in-london

More Hoonaloons For Webdubs

Having been relatively high-minded for the last couple of postings, I still have to make a living !

Here are a couple of recent additions to our stock that may be of interest ;

 

 

At 5394 in our listings is Alex La Guma`s A Walk in the Night and Other Stories, with an introduction by Nahem Yousaf.

 

Prior to leaving South Africa in 1966, La Guma (1925 - 1985) had been active in anti-apartheid causes and the labour movement, as had his father before him, and was among the defendants at the so-called Treason Trial. He pursued his career as a writer whilst in exile, as well as continuing an involvement in the social/political issues of his homeland.

 

 

 

 

At 5399 is Ian Dewhirst`s The Story of a Nobody ; A Working Class Life 1880 - 1939

 

Dewhirst has written a number of books about Yorkshire in general and Keighley in particular. 

 

 Taking as his starting point an old school photograph showing a nine-year old Arthur Illingworth - an ordinary man, the `nobody` of the title - and his friends, Dewhirst has told the story of Arthur and the times through which he lived, including World War One and the Depression of the `30s.

 

 

I`ve only picked out a couple of titles here. Our monthly online newsletter can be found at  http://hoonaloon.blogspot.com , and further details of a couple of other titles can be found at http://thesextonblakeblog.blogspot.com and http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.com .

 

To view our entire stock, click here ;  http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Hoonaloon-Books-Derbyshire/53404521/sf .

 

Thanks for your interest,

 

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

Updates ; Minority Rights Group September 2012 (Kenya)

The Minority Rights Group has issued a press release condemning "ongoing retaliatory attacks" between the Orma and Pokomo ethnic groups in Kenya`s Tana River Disrict.

The group has praised Kenya`s "new and progressive constitution" and has urged the Kenyan government to build on the "postive environment" this has created by taking "immediate steps to protect the lives of  affected communities and prevent a further escalation of violence.""

MRG`s Director of Policy and Communications, Carl Soderburgh, is quoted as saying "These attacks are related to poverty, competition for scarce resources and marginalisation of minorities...If governments in East Africa continue with policies like the privatization of rangelands, commercial ranching and sedentarisation of nomads, without the participation of communities, peace will continue to elude the region."

For more information ; http://www.minorityrights.org/7962/press-releases/press-releases.html

Global Ban on Asbestos #2

On 22 June 2012 I posted a brief note on the sad death of my good friend Chris a few years ago from the effects of an industrial disease contracted whilst working with asbestos.


I also mentioned this year`s Action Mesothelioma Day (6 July 2012) and the fact that the theme for the day was to call for a global ban on asbestos.


Mesothelioma UK have now released the first of two bulletins giving details of events that took place on the day.


By definition, many of the groups involved in the day are community-based groups more accustomed to raising funds/awareness and providing support to people in difficulties than with being part of a co-ordinated campaign. Nevertheless, all the groups involved contributed in their own way and I congratulate them all.


I particularly liked the Hampshire Asbestos Support and Awareness Group, who like a number of groups, had to abandon a plan to release doves as an act of remembrance due to severe weather conditions but stated defiantly "the rain spoilt nothing about the day". That`s the spirit !


Returning to the campaign itself, two events may be of particular interest.


In Manchester, the meeting was addressed by Canadian campaigner Kathleen Ruff who spoke about the Quebec Government`s decision to fund the re-opening of the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine which is expected to extract and export 5 million tonnes of asbestos over the next 20 years. Most is expected to go to countries such as India that have no restrictions on the importation of asbestos.


A number of MPs addressed the meeting, and I believe all of these were from the Labour Party. Amongst them was Jim Dobbin MP who had asked the Prime Minister and the International Development Secretary, both Conservatives,  to encourage international communities to oppose this decision.  To his credit, Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to raise the issue at a meeting with the World Health Organisation later that day.


In Leicester, that city`s first elected Lord Mayor, Councillor Abdul Razak Osman, also endorsed the call for a global ban and spoke of the need to support those whose goverments have no restrictions on the importation of asbestos.


If you would like to know more about the campaign, or about the events that took place on the day, please contact Liz Darlison or Tracey Heseltine at www.mesothelioma.uk.com .







  

Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela

Various parties have gone online to post items commemorating Nelson Mandela`s birthday on Wednesday and slightly belatedly I`m going to do the same.


At risk of showing my age, I thought I`d post an image of my Free Nelson Mandela badge, which obviously dates from a time when Mandela`s circumstances were rather different to the ones he enjoys today.

I had hoped to post pictures of a few other relevant items of a similar vintage but unfortunately my inbuilt tendency to untidiness means that I`ve no idea where I`ve put them !  When I get a few moments I`ll see what I can find and post a few more images.


In the meantime, these two items may be of particular interest ;


Peter Clottey - South Africa`s Unions Congratulate Mandela on Birthday - 17 July 2012


VOA News - S. African School Children Sing Happy Birthday to Mandela - 18 July 2012


both of the above can be found at http://www.voanews.com/section/africa/2204.html .

Life During Wartime : Kwei Quartey on West Africa`s Role in World War Two

Time for a bit more history.


Over at Foreign Policy in Focus, columnist Kwei Quartey has penned a useful article on West Africa`s role in the Allied war effort during World War Two. His artticle can be found here ;


Kwei Quartey - How West Africa Helped Win World War Two - www.fpif.org/articles , 6 June 2012


I`d like to address this subject in a little more detail at some point, so it`s something I may return to in future.

For the moment I`d just like to mention that there was no conscription in the Commonwealth
during World War Two, so the Empire/Commonwealth forces were all volunteers.


The other thing I`d like to mention is that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission exists to "commemorate the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars". It maintains cemteries, memorials and burial plots and provides various services such as a register of Commonwealth war dead so that graves or names on memorials can be located.


To find out more, visit this site ;


www.cwgc.org .

Global Ban on Asbestos

Three years ago my oldest friend died from the effects of having worked with asbestos in his youth.


For that reason, I like to promote awareness of the dangers of asbestos and in particular to give a plug to the UK`s annual Action Mesothelioma Day, which takes place this year on 6 July 2012.


The theme of the day this year is to call for a global ban on asbestos.


I have posted various items relating to issues around asbestos at http://angpav.blogspot.com and http://bookshelvesandbrownale.blogspot.com over a period of time, including a number of fairly recent items.


Anything anyone can do to promote awareness of this cause, perhaps by the use of blogs and social networking sites, would be very much appreciated.

Imminent Earth Summit Inspires Publication

Staying with the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (`Rio+20`), IRIN* has produced a new publication, Living With Climate Change, which will be available to participants at Rio+20 or can be downloaded from their site.


For more information/links etc , see the unsigned article `GLOBAL : New IRIN Publication to Mark Rio+20`, posted 13 June 2012 at www.irinnews.org/Global .

*IRIN is an online "humanitarian news and analysis" service provided by the UN Office for the Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They make the usual stipulation that views expressed by contributors to the new publication are not necessarily those of the UN, which is also true of their site itself.

Earth Summit Anticipated

I briefly looked at the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (sometimes referred to as `R+20`) some time ago (Earth Summit Blues, this blog, 17 Feb 2012).


As the Conference is about to commence, it`s worth revisiting the subject.


Checking the usual sources, I find that on Friday, the European and ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) nations held a joint ministerial conference and issued a statement calling on participating nations to deal with "new and emerging challenges".


Peter Richards of the Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency reported that they urged  the international community "to help developing countries deal with the impact of climate change and other environmental issues as well as achieve sustainable development goals."


To learn more, see Mr Richard`s article Europe and Former Colonies Urge Action at Rio+20, 16 Jun 2012 at www.ipsnews.net .

Quotation Station ; Addams and Goethe - Two Views on Patriotism

Unless our conception of patriotism is progressive, it cannot hope to embody the real affection and the real interest of the nation.


Jane Addams



There is no such thing as a patriotic art or a patriotic science. Both art and science belong, like every higher good, to all the world and can be fostered only by the free flow of mutual influence among all contemporaries, with constant regard for all we have and know of the past.

Goethe




In the interest of variety, I`ve gone for a different approach to Quotation Station this time, with differing views on patriotism from Civil Rights pioneer Jane Addams and German writer Goethe.


Clearly Addams, a noted social reformer and internationalist, has no problems reconciling patriotism with progressivism whereas Goethe appears to see them as mutually exclusive.


It may be that the two meant very different things when they spoke of `patriotism`, with Addams perhaps envisaging something rather more outgoing than the insular nationalism that Goethe appears to decry.


For myself, I see no inherent contradiction between  patriotism, progressivism and internationalism, and I can raise a glass to "the free flow of mutual influence among all contemporaries, with constant regard for all we have and know of the past."


But what do I know ? Form your own opinion.

African Rights

"Spurred by popular uprisings in North Africa, pressure to respect the rights of all Africans is growing across the continent, but political leaders are standing in the way, says the internationally respected lobby group, Amnesty International."

That`s the opening paragraph of an unsigned article posted on the allAfrica website ( http://allafrica.com  ) on 24 May 2012.

To read the full article, including a link to Amnesty`s report, click here ;

http://allafrica.com/stories/201205240011.html

As I`ve explained before, I`ve decided to brighten up the blog occasionally with pics of a few items of my own. This picture, by a Zambian artist named Patrick Kamanga, was purchased from a shop in Nottingham, UK,  probably during the 1980s. It has no real connection with the story on the All Africa site, but I thought it would make things a bit more interesting. 

Updates ; Minority Rights Group May 2012

The Minority Rights Group has posted a number of news items online in the last couple of weeks, items relating to human rights/the rights of indigenous peoples around the world.

To learn more, click on these links ; 

www.minorityrights.org

www.minorityvoices.org

Going Global

Just to let you know, the current issue of `Global - the International Briefing` is online now, featuring interviews with Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia, President Ramotar of Guyana and jazz musician Hugh Masekela, plus John Vidal on the forthcoming Rio summit, John McCarthy on the BBC World Service, Sir Ronald Sanders on Guyana, Commonwealth Secretary Geneneral Kamalesh Sharma on diversity and much else.

The magazine is quarterly, which at least gives us plenty of time to read it. Find out more at www.global-briefing.org .

To brighten things up a bit, I`ve decided to add a few pictures of items of my own here and there. Where possible, I`ll give any background information but most, like this, were just lucky finds in second-hand shops. This is presumably tourist art from somewhere. I must admit my limited photographic skills haven`t done it justice, but hope you like it anyway.

In Print and On Line ; IBSA at the WTO

Much attention has been paid recently to the growth of the economies of the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) groupings of nations.

Many economists believe that the growth of the economies of the  IBSA and BRICS countries will shift economic power towards the so-called Third World.

An early test of strength came recently at the World Trade Organisation negotiations in Geneva (March 2012), where trade envoys of Brazil, South Africa and India accused the industrialised nations of risking undermining the Doha Round ( The Doha Development Agenda or Doha Round is a system adopted between WTO member states in 2001 to correct historical imbalances and enable poorer countries to integrate. During the `80s and `90s, the WTO was widely criticised as a means by which industrialised nations dominated the less powerful and it`s fair to say those tensions still surface today.)

The IBSA group accepts the need to "reinvigorate" the Doha Round and to "explore new approaches", but stipulate that this must be within the existing framework of "multilateralism, inclusiveness and full transparency."

Find out more at ;

Ravi Kanth Devarakonda - `Tale of Two Approaches ; The WTO Torn Asunder ?`at Inter Press Service (Africa), 24 March 2012 ( www.ips.org/africa ).

 Despite the rather dramatic headline, the article is actually well thought-out and expressed in a tolerably readable fashion, given the rather complicated subject matter.

Updates ; The Freedom Project

American media types CNN have launched their own anti-slavery intiative, The Freedom Project.

For more information, visit them at ;

http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com

http://edition.cnn.com

No doubt there will be ultra-leftists and other ideological purists who decry the involvement of CNN, who I assume to be a privately-owned media multi-national, in this campaign. Myself, I know very little about the company and to be honest I`m not really interested in them one way or the other, but I do welcome the high profile they can give to this issue.  A quick skim through their web pages shows they have been in touch with the International Labour Organisation, Anti-Slavery and others, and as far as I`m concerned that`s all to the good.

There are of course many organisations involved in this issue ; Anti Slavery, Amnesty International, the ILO and Human Rights Watch spring to mind. All I would suggest to anyone interested in these matters is that they check out a few and see which one you personally think deserves support.

Celebrating the Commonwealth 2012

Usually refered to simply as `The Commonwealth`, the Commonwealth of Nations came into being as the countries which formerly made up the British Empire gained independence.

The old arrangement was replaced by an association of sovereign nations, one that still exists today.

Unlike other international organisations, it is not designed according to a blueprint but has been allowed to evolve and member nations retain their independence whilst choosing to remain `in association` with each other. You may feel that this compares favourably with some of the other international forums.

It will never be a fashionable organisation, and yet it has survived for decades and of those nations eligible to join, most choose to do so. There are at present 54 member states containing 2 billion citizens and accounting for 20% of world trade.


That`s enough background, now on to the main event.

Commonwealth Day (the second Monday in March) has now expanded to become Commonwealth Week, a series of events which this year included a Celebrating the Commonwealth concert in London  by jazz bods Hugh Masekela and  Zara McFarlane, hosted by comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli.

This year`s theme is `Connecting Cultures`, and this theme was explored by H M Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth  and Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General in their Commonwealth Day messages.

There are numerous Commonwealth-related websites, but here are a few that may be of interest ;

The Commonwealth Secretariat - www.thecommonwealth.org

The Commonwealth Foundation - www.commonwealthfoundation.com

Friends of the Commonwealth - www.commonwealthfriends.org

Not everything about the Commonwealth is perfect.

Last year the UK Dept for International Development rated the Commonwealth Secretariat (CS) as performing poorly in it`s aid programmes. However, it acknowledged that the CS "could play a key role in strengthening democracy and supporting development ...and in making the Commonwealth`s voice heard on global issues" but found that the C S`s programmes "are thinly spread over many interest areas and it`s potential is not being realised."

The two organisations have since agreed, despite some areas of disagreement, to achieve an improvement. To me, an organisation whose works are independently assessed and in which  agreed programmes of reform are pursued within a disciplined framework, is preferable to some (not all) Non Government Organisations who have no real system of evaluation and often see no need for one.

In January 2011, Conservative politician William Hague, in his capacity as Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, called for a "reinvigorated Commonwealth" and praised it`s "unique character" and often "unsung achievements".

 Despite it`s imperfections, I have to agree with him.

In Print and Online ; Land Grab in Liberia ?

"Hundreds of  villagers and town residents of Liberia`s Grand Cape Mount Country have attracted nationwide attention in their bid to recover what they say is land seized from them and turned over to a Malaysian agro-industrial concern.

A petition sent to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf`s office in January by the aggrieved people`s political representatives demanded the return of their land."

A very fair and balanced account of the dispute can be found here ;

Unsigned - Liberia : Land Grab or Development Opportunity ? 17 February 2012 at http://www.irinnews.org/Report/94882 .