From the Festival Desk:

For People or Profit

As the fight rages on Capitol Hill over health care reform, we see the sides taking form – folks concerned for the future health of uninsured (and insured) Americans and those seemingly caring for the future profits of insurance companies.  In the richest country in the world why is it an issue to make health care coverage work for everyone and not just seventy percent?  And  since unfair practices abound, which no one disagrees, it seems to put off making some changes irresponsible – thus standing for the status quo also irresponsible.  Once again people are pitted against the profit motive!

Taking a view from outer space upon the earth and its inhabitants, we can clearly see that some things are not working for the totality of the system of life down below.  For the Earth, it seems one of its inhabiting species has become diseased and has become a disease of sorts upon the Earth!  Looking calmly down, we see thousands of  creatures working like an army of ants destroying nature and other living creatures, even themselves at times(!) for reasons unknown(?).  We see one ant-like creature has thrown itself in the path of a machine of sorts and been run over!  With the magic of our spaceman technology we learn the story of the being and that she was protesting the destruction of a mountain top by a mining company digging for coal.

Humans will give their lives for their beliefs!  What is going on on this little jewel of a planet floating in endless space?

Like forensic scientists from space looking into the matter, we see the human creatures have banded together in organizations.  Why?  Our magical tech machine says it is because they evolved in groups or tribes and this is just natural.  What about the corporations?  Businesses organized to profit their share holders. It seems the being run over by the machine was protesting the operations of a corporation!  But there are not-for-profit corporations too.  Hmm..

Nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus has written a book called  Creating A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.  Dr. Yunus became famous for creating a bank for the poor of Bangladesh– the Grameen bank, or in English “the village bank.”  Loaning money to the poor was not business as usual for banks and Grameen’s success is a great story, thus the Peace Prize.  Micro loans to poor folks help them get out of the cycle of poverty they are trapped in.  Access to capital is, after all, key in a capitalist world!  Yunus’ book explains that the development of Social Business creates a new form of capitalism sans the profit motive, which is replaced  by a social motive (such as feeding the poor children of Bangladesh a fortified yogurt for an affordable price; Danon corporation - the Dannon yogurt parent company based in France - did this as a social enterprise in cooperation with Grameen Bank).

Social Enterprise/Social Business has the potential to fix many problems of mankind. The Social Business model operating in the free market has endless possibilities.  Using the entrepreneurial spirit for the betterment of mankind instead of the blind pursuit of profits is like a breath of cool, fresh air in a very stale dungeon.  Unfettered free market capitalism has, after all, brought mankind to the brink of destruction.  Government run communism has also faired poorly to feed, house and take care of the basic needs of people –though perhaps has done a better job of health care!

The profit motive in medicine has been disastrous.  Instead of cooperation in finding cures for disease we have competition!  Pharmaceutical corporations keep secrets in an effort to find a patent medicine so that they will be able to charge whatever price they wish to those that would rather sell all, including house and home, than to die needlessly from lack of medicine.  How soon will it be before some profit-hungry corporation invents a disease which it unleashes on mankind because only they have the cure?  We see this as a possible future with our high tech seeing machine from outer space.

Medicine evolved over eons with the cooperative community spirit.  Everyone, of course, wanted to help the sick!

Yes, folks, the profit motive has become the embodiment of evil in this world. Jesus says, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Heaven on earth is now!  Only misery awaits those who profit at others’ expense.

The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival is a Social Business Enterprise created to bring good things to life.  We have no profit motive but are self sustaining. We are a business that employs many musicians and artists and a few coordinators and also creates economic gains for the community.  Social enterprise can feed the world.  Social business enterprise is freedom of expression to do the right thing.  Social business enterprise is a cure for the aforementioned disease of mankind upon this Earth!

Jordan Puryear
Co-coordinator Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance