As Eastern Europe drift closer to the west, there should be a regular evaluation of what pieces of the growing affluent model should be embraced and what should be kept at at least arms distance. This is a report from Amerika on some of the things which are going wrong, which will hopefully serve as a warning for the Czech Republic and other "countries in transition", since the west has mostly chosen to institutionalize its mistakes, rather than learn from them.

Avoid litigious culture. The best parade in San Francisco was on Chinese New Years. Huge multicolored dragon costumes filled with dozens of kids or wizened experienced elders roamed magically down Grant Street. The smell of Chinatowns exotic cooking perfumed the air and mystical cultural icons abounded. Fireworks and noisemakers echoed against the ornate Asian architecture. This New Years parade is no more. The organizers have been unable to get insurance for it for several years and have stopped trying to make it happen. The insurance companies politely explain that there is some much activity at the event, were anyone to get hurt. The parade organizers could be sued and the insurance company would have to pay perhaps millions of dollars - so they refuse to cover the event at any reasonable cost. The city of San Francisco then refuses to issue a permit for the parade without insurance, and everyone is poorer.

Protect Free Speech. Monsanto has recently gotten investigative reporters fired from a Miami TV station for their work revealing the use of a banned beef hormone in local farms. Monsanto used threatening lawyers letter and their advertising relationship with the TV network as leverage to block the showing of the show critical to their commercial interests. Similarly, Monsanto was able to bully a printer in the UK into destroying the thousands of copies of the Ecologist Magazine, which was running a full issue critical of the company. But this problem is much broader than simply freedom of expression, including the power of multinationals, media oligopoly and advertiser influence. The foundation of the solution is making sure people can be responsibly critical of corporations publicly, without undue danger of liable suits or other legal action.

Transcend Advertising. The vast majority of North Amerikan and Western European advertising is image creation as contrasted with useful product information. If the Czechs fall for brand identification the way the Yankees have, it will come at the cost of your national economy, because the foreign owned multinationals have far more resources and far more experience with creating this kind of superficial product distinction than check firms do. Tragically, in the period immediately after the revolutions of 1989, most easterners rushed to buy western coveted brand name products: Adidas, Nike, Coke McDonalds, Mercedes, etc. Now it is time to rethink this compulsion to have what was previously inaccessible. What does that Nike Swoosh really mean? It is not about the athletic hero featured in the TV ad, it is about the Pacific rim child laborer making 25 Krowns a day [80 US cents]. Part of the solution is to buy local, or at least buy domestic. But the bigger picture is looking at ads for what they are, attempts to hypnotize you into believing that image is substance. Or better yet, not looking at ads at all.

Maintain Community. The principal marketing success of US corporations in the post WWII era has been convincing people not to share things. Thus everyone must own their own individual product - be it their car, washing machine, TV, VCR, tools etc. In fact it is impossible for any American to use all of the things she or her owns, even a tiny fraction of the time. It would be more economic, more ecologically friendly and more community building to figure out ways to share products with friends, neighbors and family. This is actually the history in the east, poor economic conditions required this type of sharing and joint use. Manufacturers are planning for you to abandon that culture and adopt a more wasteful and individualistic culture, which will profit them at the cost of your labor and community. The choice is yours.

The Author, Paxus Calta, is coordinating a project on non-money based economies. Supported by the Fellowship for Intentional Community and the Foundation for Deep Ecology - this effort is working to support organizations, communities and networks which promote barter, sharing and economies based on gifting. For more information, write (in English) to paxus@twinoaks.org or Paxus Calta Twin Oaks Community, 138 Twin Oaks Rd, Louisa VA USA 23093