In a world that some mornings seems to have gone mad, it is all too easy to give up hope. I once gave a talk at Oxford University and a man in the front row asked, after I was finished talking about co-operatives, “But Mr Webb I liked much of what you said but surely you must realize that capitalist corporations have already won. They dominate the world. Why do you not just give up and go home?” I responded that, “I had five children and that when I went home I might have had to explain to them why I did nothing while inequality exploded, their environment was destroyed and democracy and freedom were undermined. That would be much harder than speaking truth to power.”
My thinking on this was shaped by Viktor Frankl in his wonderful book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Frankl was a psychiatrist from Vienna who lost his whole family when he and they were sent to the Nazi death camps. He lost his life’s work when his manuscript and notes for a book he was writing was taken from him and destroyed. He endured years of torture and humiliation but emerged a loving, compassionate human being while some others emerged filled with hatred and revenge. He grew as a human being because he never lost sight of the knowledge that while others may take away your freedom and do horrible things to you they can never take away your freedom to respond in a way consistent with your values and beliefs – to think as your values shape your thoughts. Only you can choose to love or hate.
It is a book about the capacity of the human spirit for decency, compassion and love. A book to keep by your bedside.
Global Co-operation 