Guido Reehuis, SDY Baltic Summer Academy 2010

2. Who is the guy who is speaking to you? - Guido Reehuis (1982) - 2000-2005 law school Maastricht - 2002-2006 member of City Council Maastricht - 2006-2008 political assistant to MEP J.M. Wiersma, Brussels - 2007-2009 member National Board Labour Party - 2008-2009 management consultant public C.G. - 2009- present attorney at law Paulussen Advocaten Paulussen Lawyers in Maastricht works together with cities, regions and even governments (California, Dutch and Danish governments) to bring about sustainable transition  Roger Cox responsible for huge C2C campaign in NL.

3. Living in a dying era: The Industrial Age This time of digits and bytes still part of that era

5. Corporations dominate the playing field (information 2008) Biggest corporation in the world: Royal Shell € 329 billion turnover = GDP of Norway or Saudi-Arabia Biggest corporate profit: Exxon € 45 billion profit = more than double GDP of Estonia Most employees: Wall Mart 2.1 million employees = roughly population of Latvia Biggest corporate loss: Fannie Mae € 59 billion loss (5.000 employees)

6. Multinational corporations and economies 50 of the 100 world’s biggest economies are corporations Seen economically the world map looks entirely different In top 10 are no less than 7 oil companies: Shell, Exxon, BP, Chevron, Total, Sinopec and ConocoPhillips Oil is basis of many products: Fuels; Plastics; Fertilisers; Devices such as telephones and computers; Chemicals; Tar; Asphalt; Toys; Boats; DVDs; ETCETERA. And think of transport: = Oil is the life blood of our Age. Many industries are dependent on the oil industry, which makes it the most impressive economic power in society.

7. Corporations and states Olie is being subsidised Fossil economy thrives on oil, oil is therefore direcly and indirectly being subsidised. Economic oil policy Access of oil is of national strategic importance (you need oil for tanks and for armaments). Therefore every political means is allowed to get access to oil (The Carter Doctrine). Examples oil policy: - oil wars (Iraq I and II); 1 billion taxpayers money per day - lobby governments in Russia (e.g. Shell and Gasunie) - subsidise oil prices to keep them low (VS, China, India, Indonesië) - tax cuts (globally, US: $ 17.8 billion per year) - protection of oil transports by NATO fleet (Gulf of Aden)

8. Corporations and states Huge intertwining between politics and oil companies After liberalisation now re-nationalisation of energy companies (e.g. Yukos in Russia, Shell and Sakhalin, Statoil and Sthokman) Dependency on oil makes “villain states” and other doubtful countries powerful: - Angola, Gabon, Nigeria, Iran, - Russia, Egypte, Kazachstan, Turkmenistan, - Venezuela, Saudi-Arabia, Syria, Sudan.

9. Corporations and states States also subsidise other oil-related sectors: Auto industry (building of highways); Electricity companies (coals and gas induced) (building of network, mandatory access of citizens to this network)

10. Corporations and states The top 50 of international corporations have bigger economies than 130 countries. BUT: Without democratic participation; Are no partner to international treaties; Have no stated responsibility towards society.

11. C CONCLUSION 1: Mega multinationals dominate western states And „ villain countries“ dominate mega multinationals. .

14. FOSSIL FUELS ARE RUNNING OUT 200 150 100 50 0 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 Upper bound for oil reserves Upper bound for gas reserves Lower bound for oil reserves Lower bound for gas reserves Oil consumption,(4.46 billion tonnes per year) Gas consumption (2.3 trillion m3 per year)

15. If oil supply is endangered then: Economic disruption or…

16. WAR!

23. Conclusion two: this is a economy of death which cannot last forever. Either we will bring about change ourselves, and make this indeed an inevitable revolution or the change is brought upon us by gruesome and deadly force . In any case: the Industrial Age is dying and will come to its last breath.

25. The corporation is a rational acting machine? What is the link between: - IG Farben (AEG, BASF), Coca Cola and IBM? - Monsanto and modern slavery? - Shell and surpressed Nigerian villages? - BP in the Mexican Gulf? Financial crisis showed that corporations, by acting short-term, are not rational actors in this process but in fact contribute actively to their own suicide. AND EQUALLY IMPORTANT:

30. New economy: Cradle to Cradle

32. A building as a tree Absorbs Co2 Creates energy Clears the air Holds the water Creates biotope Better inner climate Modulary Recycling

36. Regaining primacy of politics The power of saying no to the fossil economy also means the power of saying yes to a whole new system. Which is nothing less than a revolution. For a revolution you need full public support. Therefore: awareness of the challenges within the public is paramount

37. Role politics in revolutionary times First: inform yourself, ask the difficult questions Second: inform the public, make them your ally  shrugging of your partisan colours. Either socialist or conservative, it really does not make a difference if we drown. Impossible to attain the support of the public? Many initiatives show that people indeed want to contribute, if you it the right way (Let’s do It initiative) But you need vision! Scare the hell out of people, but also show them perspective!

38. So, the question really is.. WHAT WILL YOU DO? Debate..

39. Closing remarks: THE NEED FOR MORAL COURAGE