A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

of freedom and the entire world in general. This debate is expected to
last for the years to come. And it is one of the major domains in which
the fate of the “Arab Spring Revolutions” will be determined.
A call for respecting Nature
Houtart sees that climate change strongly reminds us with a simple fact
that was forgotten: humans depend totally on nature for their life! How
did ruling regimes in the Arab world see “nature”? It was just resources
that they have exclusive right to exploit them up to the end. Respect of
nature is no longer a slogan voiced by ecological groups; rather, it has
become a precondition to the sustainable development of our societies,
and our planet at large.
However, we agree with Houtart that this entails a radical philosophical
change. The dominant idea that ecological damage is “collateral and inevitable”
throughout the course of growth and development is now challenged
in many parts of the world. The issue here is to differentiate
between “need” and “greed”, as Ghandi once said.
Houtart’s mention of traditional thoughts, including religious ones, and
the bonds between human beings and nature- as these thoughts express
is very important – leads us to think of the great potentials that
are included in indigenous wisdom, knowledge and old traditions, side
by side with the discoveries of modern science, to educate people about
their relation to the environment. This issue is, unfortunately, absent of
the political agendas of almost all active players in the political- social
arenas in our region. Dealing with these issues should be done in very
conscious way. That is because there were increasing tendencies in our
part of the world that globalization and western culture are eroding our
identity. That is one major argument used by fundamentalist groups that
are active on the political scene.
Another important issue raised by Houtart in his paper, is the relationship
between the ownership of the human common resources on the planet
and the democratization of international organizations (e.g. UN). In this
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