The Global Table

www.moneyreformparty.org.uk

Anne Belsey writes:
Dear Money Reformers,

April is shaping up to be a very busy month. Last week I got my nomination papers in for the local elections and this week I received confirmation that they were all in order. Today (07/04/06), in fact, I had a phone call from the local press wanting details about myself and what the Party stands for, which makes a pleasant change from writing letters to them and getting them totally ignored or so badly edited that I wished that they had been totally ignored!

This I think in itself justifies the idea of having a political party rather than just being a pressure group. The name "Money Reform Party" and the very term "money reform" will start to appear on official notices. All I have to do now is get out and do some canvassing in order to accumulate a respectable slice of the vote. I do not want to win. There is precious little than I could do as a local councillor to achieve money reform. My ideal result would be a close second - just good enough to get the other parties thinking!

I am aware of James Gibb Stuart's voucher concept. I considered this as a basis for "what I would do if elected", but I rejected it on a number of grounds. Firstly, I think that it would confuse the issue. Even the simple message of replacing privately created debt-based money with publicly created debt-free money is going to be a job to get a lot of people to understand, or even to believe in many instances. Secondly, my own experiences with "do it yoursel" money through a ten year stint in promoting the LETS concept is enough to persuade me that people's ideas of what is money and what is not are pretty solidly fixed. Thirdly, as a director of a credit union in a neighbouring borough, I am in the fortunate position of seriously offering the creation of a credit union (using "proper" money) as my "what I would do if elected".

Business Matters

On Thursday 6th April, I was canvassing a quite different constituency, being a conference of business-people from around Kent. This was a ŒBusiness-to-Business‚ conference, so I went wearing three metaphorical hats, my business hat (making historical uniforms), my credit union hat, and my MRP hat (complete with my MRP fleece with scales logo and MONEY REFORM CAN DO IT written in large letters across the back). For this I had compiled 2 new leaflets (MRP16 and MRP17). The first of these was to present the problems of a debt-based money system for businesses outside the financial sector, that with an increasing proportion of the nation‚s spending going on debt interest, there is proportionately less money available to be spent with every other business. The second is a reprint of the Earl of Caithness‚s famous (for money reformers) speech, which is there to prove that I am not some strange lunatic, but am supported by a former Tory minister, businessman and (non-lending) Peer of the Realm.

Refining the message

Incidentally, I asked a friend of mine (right-wing and business orientated) to give me her views on the documents. She said that the first, MRP16, actually explained the seriousness of the need for money reform better than anything else I had said on the subject. Despite me going on about the subject (for the previous 18 months, she said), she had not "got" it until reading that leaflet.

This and chats that I have had with people in Faversham market place with my Party stand has made me realise the need to refine the message about money reform.

In the past my approach has been along the lines of "Isn't it terrible that the banks create money out of thin air?!" - expecting others to instantly see all the problematical ramifications that would ensue. They usually don't. They just shrug their shoulders as if it is no concern of theirs. But the approach of "Because money is created as a debt, there are increasing amounts of money going on paying interest, personal, business and government, so there is proportionately less and less for spending on everything else..." seems to get people to take more notice, either because they themselves are paying large amounts in interest on some loan or other, or because, whether they are concerned about the private sector or the public sector, the idea of there being less and less money available in the economy as a whole is quite alarming.

We're off to see the Wizard!

As it is, I am trying to tailor my message to meet the particular concerns of whomever I am addressing. For example leaflet MRP15 is one I have compiled with the idea of circulating it amongst students at Canterbury‚s two universities, and MRP20 is about the Wizard of Oz as there is to be a production of that show in Canterbury over Easter. I hope that people queuing up to go in will be interested to read The Story Behind the Wizard of Oz.

The Grip of Death

I must thank our newest member, Angus Wright, who lives in France, for sending me a copy of Mike Rowbotham‚s The Grip of Death. I have read various books on the subject of money reform over recent years and thought that I knew my subject, but Mike's book is the best that I have read. Many ideas that I had sussed intuitively but could not fully explain where there laid out before me. In my opinion it is THE book to read on the subject. Read it and one can explain to the small-to-medium farmer, the local shopkeeper, the mortgage payer and sundry others exactly why debt-based money has caused their particular difficulties.

That's enough of my news for the moment, but I shall leave with a tale of me going up to complete strangers and asking them to sign my nominations form. One respectable-looking gentleman turned out to be the sitting Conservative councillor for that ward! Ho - hum, so I gave him some literature to read, after all the sooner the major parties latch onto money reform the sooner the Money Reform Party will have achieved its purpose.

The By-Election Fighting Fund

Keep your ears open any for any Parliamentary by-elections. The By-Election Fighting Fund stands at £425. If anyone else wants to pledge a sum of money that they would be prepared to pay a fellow member who wants to fight a by-election (when one comes along), please let me know, and I will add your sum to the total.

Events

There is to be an open meeting on the future of the FSC at the meeting arranged in St Andrew's Church, Short Street, off The Cut, 5 minutes from Waterloo station, on April 24th from 6pm to 9pm, to which you are now warmly invited. Please let Peter Challen know if you are able to attend. I plan to be there. This might become a regular monthly evening forum for continuing discussion and application, though, we will have to cover a small cost for each meeting among those who attend.

MRP fleeces for sale (possibly)

Finally a bit of market research. I have been asked by Dean Jenkins to make him a MRP fleece like mine - plain white, with a small scales badge (2") over ŒMRP‚ in black on the breast, and a large scales logo (13") surrounded by MONEY REFORM CAN DO IT in 2" high letters in black on the back. Would anyone one else like one? I think it reasonable to make a charge for such a garment, so how much would you be prepared to pay if I did make you one? (I shall compare any responses, consider my costs, etc. to establish a suitable figure.)

Best wishes,

Anne Belsey: MONEY REFORM PARTY