A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

egard, commoditization of the basic life-supporting element must be
resisted. The conclusion made by Houtart that “socialism of the 21 st
century would tend to incorporate this (redefining our relationship with
nature) as a central plank of its policies.
Use value versus exchange value
“All human beings have the right to satisfy their basic necessities”. That
necessitates the establishment of a “moral economy”. Which is subjected
to ethical requirements that contradict the predominance of exchange
value. But, it is not possible to achieve this “without challenging
the private ownership of the principal means of production”. Let us look
at these statements in the light of that is going on Egypt now. People
recognizes the extended damage made by privatization policies exercised
by Mubarak regime, and they are now demanding to restore renationalization
companies and economic institutions sold to private
sector through-out the last three decades. In addition, the primary motto
of the Egyptian revolution in January 2011 was “Bread, Freedom, Social
Justice and Human Dignity”. That was people recognized that these demands
cannot be achieved without fundamentally changing the ruling
political regime.
Democratization of Regional and International Organizations
The discussion on the democratization of international (e.g. the United
Nations, the Security Council …etc) and Regional organizations (e.g.
some Latin American entities) has its bearing on two important regional
organizations in our region; i.e. the League of Arab States (briefly known
as the Arab League) and the African Union (formerly the organization of
African Unity). “The Arab Spring” revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen
and Libya, the protests in Bahrain and Jordan, as well as the restless
situations in Sudan, Algeria and Saudi Arabia, all opened the life of such
organizations for a public discussion, Added to these are the regional
unions of trade unions and syndicates, which were used to be, in most
cases, formed by state security forces of the ruling regimes.
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