What is Equism?
Equism, which I derived from the word ‘equity,’ is a new economic paradigm that establishes, and maintains, free enterprise (entrepreneurship) and collective cooperation (partnerships and corporations), while guaranteeing a societal protocol that provides each citizen their food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, transportation, and communication needs.
As defined by The American College Dictionary, Third Edition, 1993, equity means “the state, quality, or ideal of being just, impartial, and fair. Something that is just, impartial, and fair.” We presently experience a world that is not just, not impartial, and not fair. Poverty, climate change, pandemic, war, and rampant racism, are just a few of the existential threats humanity faces today; all perpetrated and perpetuated by Capitalism.
I know that I’m not the first person to consider questions regarding the efficacy of Capitalism, and I won’t be the last. European thinkers like Marx and Engels knew European workers were being exploited by capitalists in their new “Age of Industry” and developed what is today called ‘Marxism’. They also co-authored “The Communist Manifesto,” 1848, which produced variations that today are called ‘Communism’ and ‘Socialism.’
Marx and Engels addressed the problems faced by Europeans, not the problems of Africans. Less than 40 years later King Leopold of Belgium convened the 1884 Conference of Berlin, where the Europeans divided Africa among themselves, and even allowed America to have its own colony by giving them Liberia. [What a novel concept, a colony owns a colony?] There were no boundary lines on the Continent of Africa until the European/Caucasian drew them in 1884.
Marx and Engels, and many of their interpreters and critics offered European-inspired perspectives that could never be a solution for Africans. Their perspective was jaundiced by a culture that survived in the hills and caves of Europe for over 40,000 years. [Check out the meaning of a ‘three dog night’]
“A problem cannot be solved by the consciousness that created it.” Albert Einstein
As Solomon said, “with all thy getting, get understanding.” The European mind cannot solve our problem; it created our problem.
African creative thinking is what we need, and it is now finding its voice once again.
“We have declared that we wish to build our economy on the basis of the equality of all citizens and have specifically rejected the concept of creating a class system where one group of people owns the means of production for the purpose of getting profit and another group works for them. We have not excluded private enterprise, and we want people to start their own productive and commercial undertakings. But we have said that the emphasis in our economy should be on ownership by the people, through the people’s own institutions. What we are thus trying to do is build a ‘mixed economy’ which includes both public and private enterprise – with the emphasis on the former – so as to get the most rapid and most beneficial economic development.” Julius Nyerere, the 1st President of Tanzania, 1960
When I read that quote from my brother of kindred spirit, Equism was born in my mind, and it has continued to grow and develop. The creative thinking that I offer is the same as that of my African brother, President Nyerere. Equism provides the methodology to achieve our mutual objective.
Please see my book, Capitalism Birthed Racism; When Will Racism End, and What Will Replace Capitalism: Equism is the Harbinger!, c.2022, for further detail. A copy is available upon request.
