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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1999)
«T» 1- *• * . * • ’ ’ ' ‘ « • . . 9 (Elje F o rtian i» © b seru er B \ R on E nnis fa -, ' öS« p i"! IS®?/ _ J •.Vi ¡Ä HOTU s r Ó rs» A M t 1 and morality which then expresses it self in suicide, violence, drug addic tion, crime and other hideous deeds. N ot exactly what Dr. King had in mind, but nevertheless prophesied; "W hatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly ." Not all transnational corporations are consciously or unconsciously ex ploiting human beings and the envi ronment. The winds o f change are out there. Many small businesses and more and more transnationals are adopting w hat might be called “socially and en vironmentally resp o n sib le’ business practices. Specifically they are look ing to m easu re th eir p erfo rm an ce by m u ltip le “b o tto m lin es” adding em plo y ee n eeds, cu sto m er needs, com m unity needs and en v iro n m en tal needs to the fin an cial need m ea sure. W hen th e se m e asu res are taken seriously, com panies do w hat they should do, serv e the needs o f hum anity w ith o u t ex p lo itatio n o f peo p le o r the en vironm ent. But, as Dr. K ing so often said, the m ain hope is w ith us, the people. O ur answ er lies in b u ild in g local com m unity to reduce d ep endence on tran sn atio n al co rp o ratio n s. W e can’ est 20% receiving 1.4%. “ Futureless grow th” has resulted in the decline o f every m ajor living system on earth, our oceans, our fresh water, our air, our forests, our soil, and most wild life. “Rootless g row th” refers to the destruction o f cultures in our neigh borhoods and small towns as well as replacing centuries old local cultures with hedonism, crass materialism, destructive competitiveness, and ego tism. “Voiceless g row th” is economic growth devoid o f respect for human rights and democratic processes es sential to society. To this we might add “ M eaning less grow th” when these unhealthy forms o f growth result in a loss o f creativity, perspective, meaning, hope T u rn o f f the telev isio n . P ro tect our children from the constant b o m b ard m en t o f v io len ce, greed, h ate and m aterialism w hich is everyw here on television. Join the “ sim p licity m o v em en t” : co n scio u sly p u rch asin g o nly w hat w e tru ly need, b u y in g o nly item s w h ich are recy clab le an d /o r o r g anic, an d /o r ask in g sales p eo p le if they know if m aking and d istrib u t ing the p ro d u ct in v o lv ed e x p lo ita tio n o f peo p le or the en v iro n m en t. B uy local and o rganize co m m u n ity buying. Buy item s co llectiv ely w ith neighbors or colleagues or jo in an existing cooperative. Shop stores w ith local sourcing. A sk q uestions. B uild co m m u n ity b y v o lu n te e r ing in local co m m unity p ro g ram s and churches. F or in sp iratio n , w e can ag ain turn to Dr. King: “C an a n onviolent, d irect-actio n m ovem ent find ap p licatio n on the international level, to confront ec o nom ic and political p roblem s? I b e lieve it can .” A nd further: “ I have the co n v ictio n that the u n iv erse is on the side o fju stice. C onsequently, the b eliev e r in n o n v io len ce has deep faith in the fu tu re.” B y B rad S mith M artin L uther K ing advocated nonviolence as a w ay o f life, so did M ahatm a G andhi 1 have found that violence occurs at m any levels in our lives. In the pursuit o f profits o r ju st a better incom e, business m anagers and individual em ployees m ay often let go o f their integrity, m om entarily. I believe dish o n esty and a lack o f integrity are subtle, very costly forms o f violence. L iving your life in com plete h o nesty, truth, integrity and love as a w ay o f doing business is a daily act o f courage and is the h igh est form o f no n v io len ce one can achieve. M any o f us have spent tim e g aug ing an outw ard effect o f a lie. W hether the en d w e w an t w ill be b etter achieved w ith w ords o f truth o r not or w hether w e w ill feel sham e and guilt. F ew o f us look in tern ally at w hat the lapse o f self-caring that relationship w ith them selves. I ask them to view the violence they ex p e rience, how ever subtle, as a reflec tion o f the b e lie f system s they hold. Ifth ey are the victim s o f violence, do they hold a victim b elief about them selves or are they v ic tim ize s or both? I w ork w ith them to grow their skill for external and internal honesty. M y successful clients develop their skill for creating th eir life events from self-carin g an d self-love. It is p o ssib le to b u ild a business and a life on the basis o f nonvio lence that holds integrity, dignity, honesty, creativ ity an d respect for the individual as the only ac cep t able fo u ndation for each decision made. L ook at w hat it takes for an individual to flourish, expand that to custom er relations, m arketing and business an d you w ill find in that very su b tle n o nviolence a sy n er gism that grow s profits b ey o n d your expectations. allow s a lie to do w ith our internal relationship w ith ourselves. W hat is lost in that sort o f internal violence is self. A s m anagers in business, w e al low subtle violent environm ents. W hether it is a sexual harassm ent, discrim ination, negative attitudes or even ignoring good ideas to foster our ow n careers, violence o f this sort is s e lf lim iting and destructive. It limits creativity, vision, trust, team w ork, and ultim ately profits. M any o f us have w orked in b u si ness w here voicing a negative atti tude w as a continual event. H ow m any o f us d id our very best w ork there? W ere you excited about go ing to w ork each day because that environm ent fostered your highest creativity and w illingness to partici p ate? In m y coaching, I ask clients to look at th eir external surroundings as an exp ressio n o f th eir internal We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of this nation.” U 5, y ■ ■ ■ In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King B Jr., Multnomah County, Metro, the City of Portland and Port of Portland are committed to achieving greater economic and social equity in our contracting and procurement processes. 1 ' Ü ' H <1 For recorded information on contracting opportunities with M ultnomah County and Metro, call the hotline (503) 797-1933. ■ ■;- Multnomah County www.multnomah.lib.or.us/purch Metro www. metro-region .org City of Portland Call the purchasing Port of Portland For information on For information on contracting For information on Buyline at contacting opportunities, call contracting opportunities, (503) 823-6855 opportunities call Jerry Walker, call Jim Waki, For informantion on contracting opportunities, "Faxback" at (503) 731-7592 or (503) 797-1714 call Loretta Young, Judy Trotter, (503) 823-6850 (503) 731-7587 (503) 248 5429 Ô M etro muurnamnH City of Portland Creating livable communities ?/ . ' ' ; 7 ... ■ MÉ * I ; : Port of Portland Regional Services '• C6 Violence In Business 11 Dr. King was urging us to think and act globally by saying, “O ur loy alties must transcend our race, our class, and our nation; and means we must develop a world perspective.” Today, even with the perception o f unparalleled prosperity as shown on TV and in our media, human life as Dr. King envisioned it is threatened by the mergers, acquisitions, and relent less growth o f transnational corpora tions w hich m easure success in money, not in service to human kind. The consequence o f this economic growth are not good for either our env ironment nor for the betterment o f human beings as envisioned by Dr. Kang. A recent study by the United Nations characterized the world-wide economic growth as “ruthless , “fu- tureless”, "rootless” and “voiceless” . "Ruthless growth” is forcingclose to 2.4 billion people to live in poverty while358 individual billionaires enjoy a combined income equal to these 2.4 billion people.The income gap be tween rich and poor has grown 100% over the past 20 years with the richest 20% now receiving over 83% o f the world’sincome, compared to the poor Jan. 13, 1999 Martin Luther King Jr. Special Edition Dr. Martin Luther King And The “Global Challenge . 999 ’