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Saturday, March 21, 2015

Why Islam Needs a Reformation

To defeat the extremists for good, Muslims must reject those aspects of their tradition that prompt some believers to resort to oppression and holy war

 
A man prays during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, at Jama Masjid in New Delhi on Oct. 6, 2014. Eid al-Adha marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A man prays during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, at Jama Masjid in New Delhi on Oct. 6, 2014. Eid al-Adha marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

“Islam’s borders are bloody,” wrote the late political scientist Samuel Huntington in 1996, “and so are its innards.” Nearly 20 years later, Huntington looks more right than ever before. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, at least 70% of all the fatalities in armed conflicts around the world last year were in wars involving Muslims. In 2013, there were nearly 12,000 terrorist attacks world-wide. The lion’s share were in Muslim-majority countries, and many of the others were carried out by Muslims. By far the most numerous victims of Muslim violence—including executions and lynchings not captured in these statistics—are Muslims themselves.

Not all of this violence is explicitly motivated by religion, but a great deal of it is. I believe that it is foolish to insist, as Western leaders habitually do, that the violent acts committed in the name of Islam can somehow be divorced from the religion itself. For more than a decade, my message has been simple: Islam is not a religion of peace.

When I assert this, I do not mean that Islamic belief makes all Muslims violent. This is manifestly not the case: There are many millions of peaceful Muslims in the world. What I do say is that the call to violence and the justification for it are explicitly stated in the sacred texts of Islam. Moreover, this theologically sanctioned violence is there to be activated by any number of offenses, including but not limited to apostasy, adultery, blasphemy and even something as vague as threats to family honor or to the honor of Islam itself.
 
It is not just al Qaeda and Islamic State that show the violent face of Islamic faith and practice. It is Pakistan, where any statement critical of the Prophet or Islam is labeled as blasphemy and punishable by death. It is Saudi Arabia, where churches and synagogues are outlawed and where beheadings are a legitimate form of punishment. It is Iran, where stoning is an acceptable punishment and homosexuals are hanged for their “crime.”
As I see it, the fundamental problem is that the majority of otherwise peaceful and law-abiding Muslims are unwilling to acknowledge, much less to repudiate, the theological warrant for intolerance and violence embedded in their own religious texts. It simply will not do for Muslims to claim that their religion has been “hijacked” by extremists. The killers of Islamic State and Nigeria’s Boko Haram cite the same religious texts that every other Muslim in the world considers sacrosanct.

Instead of letting Islam off the hook with bland clichés about the religion of peace, we in the West need to challenge and debate the very substance of Islamic thought and practice. We need to hold Islam accountable for the acts of its most violent adherents and to demand that it reform or disavow the key beliefs that are used to justify those acts.

As it turns out, the West has some experience with this sort of reformist project. It is precisely what took place in Judaism and Christianity over the centuries, as both traditions gradually consigned the violent passages of their own sacred texts to the past. Many parts of the Bible and the Talmud reflect patriarchal norms, and both also contain many stories of harsh human and divine retribution. As President Barack Obama said in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast last month, “Remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”
Islamic State militants marching through Raqqa, Syria, a stronghold of the Sunni extremist group, in an undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014.  
 Islamic State militants marching through Raqqa, Syria, a stronghold of
the Sunni extremist group, in an undated file image posted on a militant
website on Jan. 14, 2014. Photo: Associated Press

Yet today, because their faiths went through a long, meaningful process of Reformation and Enlightenment, the vast majority of Jews and Christians have come to dismiss religious scripture that urges intolerance or violence. There are literalist fringes in both religions, but they are true fringes. Regrettably, in Islam, it is the other way around: It is those seeking religious reform who are the fringe element.

Any serious discussion of Islam must begin with its core creed, which is based on the Quran (the words said to have been revealed by the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad) and the hadith (the accompanying works that detail Muhammad’s life and words). Despite some sectarian differences, this creed unites all Muslims. All, without exception, know by heart these words: “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah; and Muhammad is His messenger.” This is the Shahada, the Muslim profession of faith.

The Shahada might seem to be a declaration of belief no different from any other. But the reality is that the Shahada is both a religious and a political symbol.

In the early days of Islam, when Muhammad was going from door to door in Mecca trying to persuade the polytheists to abandon their idols of worship, he was inviting them to accept that there was no god but Allah and that he was Allah’s messenger.

After 10 years of trying this kind of persuasion, however, he and his small band of believers went to Medina, and from that moment, Muhammad’s mission took on a political dimension. Unbelievers were still invited to submit to Allah, but after Medina, they were attacked if they refused. If defeated, they were given the option to convert or to die. (Jews and Christians could retain their faith if they submitted to paying a special tax.)

No symbol represents the soul of Islam more than the Shahada. But today there is a contest within Islam for the ownership of that symbol. Who owns the Shahada? Is it those Muslims who want to emphasize Muhammad’s years in Mecca or those who are inspired by his conquests after Medina? On this basis, I believe that we can distinguish three different groups of Muslims.

The first group is the most problematic. These are the fundamentalists who, when they say the Shahada, mean: “We must live by the strict letter of our creed.” They envision a regime based on Shariah, Islamic religious law. They argue for an Islam largely or completely unchanged from its original seventh-century version. What is more, they take it as a requirement of their faith that they impose it on everyone else.

I shall call them Medina Muslims, in that they see the forcible imposition of Shariah as their religious duty. They aim not just to obey Muhammad’s teaching but also to emulate his warlike conduct after his move to Medina. Even if they do not themselves engage in violence, they do not hesitate to condone it.

It is Medina Muslims who call Jews and Christians “pigs and monkeys.” It is Medina Muslims who prescribe death for the crime of apostasy, death by stoning for adultery and hanging for homosexuality. It is Medina Muslims who put women in burqas and beat them if they leave their homes alone or if they are improperly veiled.
Muslim children carry torches during a parade before Eid al-Fitr, at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, on July 27, 2014, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.  
Muslim children carry torches during a parade before Eid al-Fitr, at the
end of the holy month of Ramadan, on July 27, 2014, in Yogyakarta,
Indonesia. Photo: Getty Images

The second group—and the clear majority throughout the Muslim world—consists of Muslims who are loyal to the core creed and worship devoutly but are not inclined to practice violence. I call them Mecca Muslims. Like devout Christians or Jews who attend religious services every day and abide by religious rules in what they eat and wear, Mecca Muslims focus on religious observance. I was born in Somalia and raised as a Mecca Muslim. So were the majority of Muslims from Casablanca to Jakarta.

Yet the Mecca Muslims have a problem: Their religious beliefs exist in an uneasy tension with modernity—the complex of economic, cultural and political innovations that not only reshaped the Western world but also dramatically transformed the developing world as the West exported it. The rational, secular and individualistic values of modernity are fundamentally corrosive of traditional societies, especially hierarchies based on gender, age and inherited status.

Trapped between two worlds of belief and experience, these Muslims are engaged in a daily struggle to adhere to Islam in the context of a society that challenges their values and beliefs at every turn. Many are able to resolve this tension only by withdrawing into self-enclosed (and increasingly self-governing) enclaves. This is called cocooning, a practice whereby Muslim immigrants attempt to wall off outside influences, permitting only an Islamic education for their children and disengaging from the wider non-Muslim community.

It is my hope to engage this second group of Muslims—those closer to Mecca than to Medina—in a dialogue about the meaning and practice of their faith. I recognize that these Muslims are not likely to heed a call for doctrinal reformation from someone they regard as an apostate and infidel. But they may reconsider if I can persuade them to think of me not as an apostate but as a heretic: one of a growing number of people born into Islam who have sought to think critically about the faith we were raised in. It is with this third group—only a few of whom have left Islam altogether—that I would now identify myself.

These are the Muslim dissidents. A few of us have been forced by experience to conclude that we could not continue to be believers; yet we remain deeply engaged in the debate about Islam’s future. The majority of dissidents are reforming believers—among them clerics who have come to realize that their religion must change if its followers are not to be condemned to an interminable cycle of political violence.

How many Muslims belong to each group? Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations estimates that only 3% of the world’s Muslims understand Islam in the militant terms I associate with Muhammad’s time in Medina. But out of well over 1.6 billion believers, or 23% of the globe’s population, that 48 million seems to be more than enough. (I would put the number significantly higher, based on survey data on attitudes toward Shariah in Muslim countries.)

In any case, regardless of the numbers, it is the Medina Muslims who have captured the world’s attention on the airwaves, over social media, in far too many mosques and, of course, on the battlefield.

The Medina Muslims pose a threat not just to non-Muslims. They also undermine the position of those Mecca Muslims attempting to lead a quiet life in their cultural cocoons throughout the Western world. But those under the greatest threat are the dissidents and reformers within Islam, who face ostracism and rejection, who must brave all manner of insults, who must deal with the death threats—or face death itself.

For the world at large, the only viable strategy for containing the threat posed by the Medina Muslims is to side with the dissidents and reformers and to help them to do two things: first, identify and repudiate those parts of Muhammad’s legacy that summon Muslims to intolerance and war, and second, persuade the great majority of believers—the Mecca Muslims—to accept this change.

Islam is at a crossroads. Muslims need to make a conscious decision to confront, debate and ultimately reject the violent elements within their religion. To some extent—not least because of widespread revulsion at the atrocities of Islamic State, al Qaeda and the rest—this process has already begun. But it needs leadership from the dissidents, and they in turn stand no chance without support from the West.

What needs to happen for us to defeat the extremists for good? Economic, political, judicial and military tools have been proposed and some of them deployed. But I believe that these will have little effect unless Islam itself is reformed.

Such a reformation has been called for repeatedly at least since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent abolition of the caliphate. But I would like to specify precisely what needs to be reformed.

I have identified five precepts central to Islam that have made it resistant to historical change and adaptation. Only when the harmfulness of these ideas are recognized and they are repudiated will a true Muslim Reformation have been achieved.

Here are the five areas that require amendment:
 
1. Muhammad’s semi-divine status, along with the literalist reading of the Quran.
Muhammad should not be seen as infallible, let alone as a source of divine writ. He should be seen as a historical figure who united the Arab tribes in a premodern context that cannot be replicated in the 21st century. And although Islam maintains that the Quran is the literal word of Allah, it is, in historical reality, a book that was shaped by human hands. Large parts of the Quran simply reflect the tribal values of the 7th-century Arabian context from which it emerged. The Quran’s eternal spiritual values must be separated from the cultural accidents of the place and time of its birth.
 
2. The supremacy of life after death.
The appeal of martyrdom will fade only when Muslims assign a greater value to the rewards of this life than to those promised in the hereafter.
 
3. Shariah, the vast body of religious legislation.
Muslims should learn to put the dynamic, evolving laws made by human beings above those aspects of Shariah that are violent, intolerant or anachronistic.
 
4. The right of individual Muslims to enforce Islamic law.
There is no room in the modern world for religious police, vigilantes and politically empowered clerics.
 
5. The imperative to wage jihad, or holy war.
Islam must become a true religion of peace, which means rejecting the imposition of religion by the sword.

I know that this argument will make many Muslims uncomfortable. Some are bound to be offended by my proposed amendments. Others will contend that I am not qualified to discuss these complex issues of theology and law. I am also afraid—genuinely afraid—that it will make a few Muslims even more eager to silence me.

But this is not a work of theology. It is more in the nature of a public intervention in the debate about the future of Islam. The biggest obstacle to change within the Muslim world is precisely its suppression of the sort of critical thinking I am attempting here. If my proposal for reform helps to spark a serious discussion of these issues among Muslims themselves, I will consider it a success.

Let me make two things clear. I do not seek to inspire another war on terror or extremism—violence in the name of Islam cannot be ended by military means alone. Nor am I any sort of “Islamophobe.” At various times, I myself have been all three kinds of Muslim: a fundamentalist, a cocooned believer and a dissident. My journey has gone from Mecca to Medina to Manhattan.

For me, there seemed no way to reconcile my faith with the freedoms I came to the West to embrace. I left the faith, despite the threat of the death penalty prescribed by Shariah for apostates. Future generations of Muslims deserve better, safer options. Muslims should be able to welcome modernity, not be forced to wall themselves off, or live in a state of cognitive dissonance, or lash out in violent rejection.

But it is not only Muslims who would benefit from a reformation of Islam. We in the West have an enormous stake in how the struggle over Islam plays out. We cannot remain on the sidelines, as though the outcome has nothing to do with us. For if the Medina Muslims win and the hope for a Muslim Reformation dies, the rest of the world too will pay an enormous price—not only in blood spilled but also in freedom lost.
 
This essay is adapted from Ms. Hirsi Ali’s new book, “Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now,” to be published Tuesday by HarperCollins (which, like The Wall Street Journal, is owned by News Corp). Her previous books include “Infidel” and “Nomad: From Islam to America, A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations.”

Jeremy Rifkin


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkin 2009 by Stephan Röhl.jpg
Born (1946-01-26) January 26, 1946 (age 69)
Denver, Colorado
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania; Tufts University
Era Contemporary
Region Western philosophy
Main interests
Economy, political science, scientific and technological change
Notable ideas
The Empathic Civilization, The Third Industrial Revolution, End of the working society

Jeremy Rifkin (born January 26, 1946) is an American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political advisor, and activist. Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the bestselling author of 20 books about the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. His books have been translated into more than 35 languages and are used in hundreds of universities, corporations and government agencies around the world. His most recent books include The Zero Marginal Cost Society (2015), The Third Industrial Revolution (2011), The Empathic Civilization (2011), The European Dream (2005), The Hydrogen Economy (2003), The Age of Access (2001), The Biotech Century (1999), and The End of Work (1996).

Rifkin is the President of the TIR Consulting Group LLC which advises national governments, regions, and municipalities on developing Third Industrial Revolution Master Plans. He is also the founder and chairperson of the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round Table, composed of the world's leading renewable energy companies, construction companies, architectural firms, real estate companies, IT companies, power and utility companies, and transport and logistics companies. Rifkin's global economic development team is the largest of its kind in the world and is working with cities, regions, and national governments to develop master plans to transition their economies into post-carbon Third Industrial Revolution infrastructures.[1]

Since 1994, Rifkin has been a senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business Executive Education Program, where he instructs CEOs and senior management on transitioning their business operations into sustainable economies.

Rifkin's monthly column on global issues has appeared over the years in many of the world's leading newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times in the United States, The Guardian in the U.K., Süddeutsche Zeitung and Handelsblatt in Germany, Le Soir and Knack in Belgium, L'Espresso in Italy, El Mundo and El País in Spain, Kathimerini in Greece, Dagbladet Informatíon in Denmark, De Volkskrant in the Netherlands, Hospodárské Noviny in the Czech Republic, Wort in Luxembourg, Eesti Päevaleht in Estonia, Trud in Bulgaria, Clarín in Argentina, and Al-Ittihad in the U.A.E.

Biography

Youth and education

Rifkin was born in Denver, Colorado, to Vivette Ravel Rifkin and Milton Rifkin, a plastic-bag manufacturer. He grew up on the southwest side of Chicago. He was president of his graduating class at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (BS, Economics, 1968) and recipient of the school's General Alumni Association's Award of Merit.[2] He had an epiphany when one day in 1967 he walked past a group of students protesting the Vietnam War and picketing the administration building and was amazed to see, as he recalls, that "my frat friends were beating the living daylights out of them. I got very upset." He organized a freedom-of-speech rally the next day. From then on, Rifkin quickly became an active member of the peace movement. He attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (MA, International Affairs, 1968) where he continued anti-war activities. Later he joined Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).

1970s

In 1974, Rifkin organized a mass-protest against oil companies at the commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party at Boston's Harbor. Thousands joined the protest, as activists dumped empty oil barrels into Boston's Harbor. The protest came in the wake of the increase in gasoline prices in the fall of 1974, following the OPEC oil embargo.[3] This was later called "Boston Oil Party" by the press.[3]

In 1978, with Ted Howard, he founded the Foundation on Economic Trends (FOET), which is active in both national and international public policy issues related to the environment, the economy, and climate change. FOET examines new trends and their impacts on the environment, the economy, culture and society, and engages in litigation, public education, coalition building and grassroots organizing activities to advance their goals. Rifkin became one of the first major critics of the nascent biotechnology industry with the 1978 publication of his book, Who Should Play God?[4]

1980s

Rifkin's 1981 work "Entropy" discusses how entropy applies to nuclear and solar energy, urban decay, military activity, education, agriculture, health, economics, and politics. It was called "A comprehensive worldview" and "an appropriate successor to ... Silent Spring, The Closing Circle, The Limits to Growth, and Small Is Beautiful" by the Minneapolis Tribune[5]

In 1989, Rifkin brought together climate scientists and environmental activists from 35 nations in Washington, D.C. for the first meeting of the Global Greenhouse Network.[6] In the same year, Rifkin did a series of Hollywood lectures on global warming and related environmental issues for a diverse assortment of film, television and music industry leaders,[clarification needed] with the goal of organizing the Hollywood community for a campaign. Shortly thereafter, two Hollywood environmental organizations, Earth Communications Office (ECO) and Environmental Media Association, were formed.[7]

1990s

In 1993, Rifkin launched the Beyond Beef Campaign, a coalition of six environmental groups including Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, and Public Citizen, with the goal of encouraging a 50% reduction in the consumption of beef, arguing that methane emissions from Cattle has a warming effect 23 to 50 times greater than carbon dioxide.[8][9]

Beginning in 1995, Rifkin was a senior lecturer at The Wharton School's executive education program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he instructs CEOs and senior corporate management from around the world on new trends in science and technology.[10]

His 1995 book, The End of Work, is credited by some with helping shape the current global debate on automation, technology displacement, corporate downsizing and the future of jobs. Reporting on the growing controversy over automation and technology displacement in 2011, The Economist pointed out that Rifkin drew attention to the trend back in 1996 with the publication of his book The End of Work. The Economist asked "what happens... when machines are smart enough to become workers? In other words, when capital becomes labor." The Economist noted that "this is what Jeremy Rifkin, a social critic, was driving at in his book, "The End of Work," published in 1996... Mr. Rifkin argued prophetically that society was entering a new phase, one in which fewer and fewer workers would be needed to produce all the goods and services consumed. 'In the years ahead,' he wrote, 'more sophisticated software technologies are going to bring civilisation ever closer to a near-workerless world. The process has already begun."[11]

His 1998 book, The Biotech Century, addresses issues accompanying the new era of genetic commerce. In its review of the book, the journal Nature observed that "Rifkin does his best work in drawing attention to the growing inventory of real and potential dangers and the ethical conundrums raised by genetic technologies...At a time when scientific institutions are struggling with the public understanding of science, there is much they can learn from Rifkin's success as a public communicator of scientific and technological trends."[12]

2000s

After the publication of The Hydrogen Economy (2002), Rifkin worked both in the U.S. and Europe to advance the political cause of renewably generated hydrogen. In the U.S., Rifkin was instrumental in founding the Green Hydrogen Coalition, consisting of thirteen environmental and political organizations (including Greenpeace and MoveOn.org) that are committed to building a renewable hydrogen based economy.[13] His 2004 book, The European Dream, was an international bestseller and winner of the 2005 Corine International Book Prize in Germany for the best economics book of the year.[14][15]

Rifkin is the principal architect of the Third Industrial Revolution long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change.[16] The Third Industrial Revolution was formally endorsed by the European Parliament in 2007 and is now being implemented by various agencies within the European Commission.[17] Rifkin has lectured before many Fortune 500 companies, and hundreds of governments, civil society organizations, and universities over the past thirty five years.[18]

2011 and 2012

In 2011, Rifkin published The Third Industrial Revolution; How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. The book was a New York Times best-seller,[19] and has been translated into 19 languages. By 2014, approximately 500,000 copies were in print in China alone.

In 2011, Rifkin's Third Industrial Revolution vision and economic development plan was embraced by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Quoting Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of (UNIDO)and chairman of UN Energy,"[The Third Industrial Revolution is] A provocative strategy for transforming the global energy system. This book may help frame the social and economic solutions for the 1.5 billion poorest people who lack access to clean, reliable, and efficient energy services.”[20] Speaking alongside Rifkin at a joint press briefing at the UNIDO biennual conference in 2012, Director-General Yumkella said "We believe we are at the beginning of a Third Industrial Revolution and I want all member countries of UNIDO to hear the message and ask the key question, how does this apply to our economies, how can we be part of this revolution, and of course how do we share knowledge, share capital, and investments around the world to make this revolution really happen."[21]

Rifkin delivered a keynote address at the Global Green Summit 2012 on May 10, 2012. The conference was hosted by the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), in association with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea also gave a speech at the conference and embraced the Third Industrial Revolution to advance a green economy.[22]

On May 29, 2012, Rifkin delivered the keynote address at the European Commission Conference: Mission Growth; Europe at the Lead of the New Industrial Revolution. At the conference, hosted by José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, and Antonio Tajani, the Vice President of the European Commission and the Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship, Rifkin presented the European Union's long term economic development plan to transition the European economy into the Third Industrial Revolution era.[23][24]

In December 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the newly elected premier of China, Li Keqiang is a fan of Rifkin and had "told his state scholars to pay close attention" to Rifkin's book, The Third Industrial Revolution.[25]

Rifkin received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2012.[26] He currently works out of an office in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

2013

In 2013, the French northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais contracted Rifkin and his team to develop a master plan to help transition the region in a prosperous and sustainable economic paradigm.[27][28][29] Kazakhstan also contracted Rifkin to develop a green economy strategy and help with the planning of Expo 2017 currently titled, "Energy Expo 2017."[29]

Consultancies

Rifkin has been an advisor to the European Union for the past decade. Rifkin also served as an advisor to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Jose Socrates of Portugal, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, and Prime Minister Janez Janša of Slovenia, during their respective European Council Presidencies, on issues related to the economy, climate change, and energy security. He currently advises the European Commission, the European Parliament, and several EU heads of state.
As summarized on Rifkin's Third Industrial Revolution website, he has advised the following countries:

European Union

On May 29, 2013, the European Commission held a conference in Brussels with the theme, "Mission Growth: Europe At The Lead Of The New Industrial Revolution."[30] Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, and Antonio Tajani, Vice President and Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship, co-hosted the summit. Vice President Tajani called for a comprehensive Third Industrial Revolution economic agenda to regrow the European economy and create an integrated European single market. In his speech, Vice President Tajani said, "Today is a good day for all of us, because today is the beginning of the Third Industrial Revolution. Now the European conversation will go beyond austerity, straight to creating growth and jobs in Europe. My slogan is: 'Without a new industrial policy, no growth, no jobs.'"[30] He continued by saying that "the first industrial revolution was the revolution of coal and steam, the second was the oil one. This Third Industrial Revolution is the internet of energy and is not only about energy. It involves many key sectors, from raw materials, to manufacturing, services, construction, transport, Information Technologies and even chemistry."[30] Finally he went on to say, "Because its energy sources are distributed and not centralized, and therefore scale laterally and not centrally, [The Third Industrial Revolution] is the ideal playground for SMEs.... our 2020 strategy puts us on the right path but we must now accelerate and put more resources on growth, and this must be based on sustainability, testing the edge of our technological frontiers."[30]

Rifkin followed Vice President Tajani's address with a keynote speech on the Third Industrial Revolution vision and game plan for Europe.[31][32]

In January 2008 the European Commission proposed binding legislation to implement the 20-20-20 targets. This ‘climate and energy package’ was agreed by the European Parliament (EP) and Council in December 2008 and became law in June 2009.[33] Europe is leading the way to the Third Industrial Revolution through mandating a cut of 20% of emissions of greenhouse gases, compared with 1990 levels, moving toward a 20% increase in the share of renewables in the energy mix, and cutting energy consumption by 20%, all by 2020. The 27 EU member states are making every effort to ensure that the remaining stock of fossil fuels is used more efficiently and are experimenting with clean energy technologies to limit carbon dioxide emissions in the burning of conventional fuels.[34]

In Brussels, February 1, 2011, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, chaired by Jo Leinen MEP, and representatives of the five major political groups in the EP joined today with Europe’s main associations representing small and medium-sized companies (UEAPME), consumers’ interests (BEUC), cooperatives(Cooperatives Europe) and the Foundation on Economic Trends in a call for a “Third Industrial Revolution” ahead of the European Council’s summit devoted to energy. The European Parliament will forward a declaration to Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, requesting a comprehensive legislative plan with adequate means to implement the “Third Industrial Revolution” energy strategy across Member States.[35][36][37] The plan also focuses on the shift to a new economic paradigm for the next stage of European integration.[38]

China

China is currently engaged in transitioning its economy into the Third Industrial Revolution. Premier Li Keqiang, who was elected by the 12th National People's Congress in 2014, is a fan of Rifkin and read The Third Industrial Revolution book.[39][40] Premier Li told his state scholars to pay close attention to The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World.[39] Vice Premier Wang Yang has also endorsed the Third Industrial Revolution vision and economic development plan.

Rifkin spent two weeks in Beijing and other regions of China as the guest of the Chinese government in September, at which time he met with government leaders, including Vice Premier Wang Yang and Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang.[41][42] Meetings were also held with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Development Research Center of the State Council. During Vice Premier Wang Yang’s meeting with Rifkin, he expressed his government’s determination to ensure that China be among the leaders in instituting the five pillars of the emerging Third Industrial Revolution.[43]

On December 5, 2013, the Chairman of the China State Grid Corporation, Liu Zhenya, published an article titled “Smart Grid Hosting and Promoting the Third Industrial Revolution.”[44] In the essay, Liu Zhenya lays out China’s ambitious plan to lead the world into the Third Industrial Revolution and a new sustainable post carbon energy era. The government is dedicating an initial $82 billion to establish a Third Industrial Revolution distributed “energy Internet” that will serve as a technology platform and infrastructure for ushering in a new economic paradigm. Under the plan, millions of people in neighborhoods and communities across the country as well as hundreds of thousands of businesses will be able to produce their own green electricity locally and share it on a national energy Internet, just like they now create and share information online. The distributed, collaborative, peer-to-peer, and laterally scaled energy infrastructure will fundamentally alter the economic life of China, while establishing its commanding leadership in the next great economic revolution.[44]

The announcement made on December 5, 2013 by Chairman of the State Grid Corporation, Liu Zhenya, of the decision to introduce the energy Internet as the “intercontinental backbone network” for a new economic era marks a game changing moment in the history of China. According to Chairman Lui Zhenya, if we “can firmly grasp the historical opportunity for the Third Industrial Revolution [it] will largely determine our position in future global competition.” Reminding his fellow countrymen that China was largely left behind in both the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, he cautioned that “history should not repeat itself” and observed that “opportunities are fleeting.” With this in mind, Mr. Lui Zhenya called for the “acceleration of the development of the smart grid to promote the development of China’s energy security, clean development, and environmental development, and play an important role in building a moderately prosperous society and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream in the process.”[44]

Rifkin’s New York Times bestselling book, The Third Industrial Revolution, was published in China in June 2012 and was the number one bestselling business book, currently with over 380,000 copies in print.

United Kingdom

Former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne publicly endorsed the need for a Third Industrial Revolution. He constructed a framework for the UK in the "The White Paper for Energy Market Reform."[45][46] The White Paper components includes a Carbon Price Floor (announced in Budget 2011) in an effort to reduce investor uncertainty, putting a fair price on carbon and providing a stronger incentive to invest in low-carbon generation now.[46] It also includes the introduction of new long-term contracts (Feed-in Tariff with Contracts for Difference) to provide stable financial incentives to invest in all forms of low-carbon electricity generation.[46] Also in the White Paper is an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) set at 450g CO2/kWh to reinforce the requirement that no new coal-fired power stations are built without carbon capture and storage systems, but also to ensure necessary short-term investment in gas can take place.[46] Chris Huhne also includes a Capacity Mechanism, including demand response as well as generation, which is needed to ensure future security of electricity supply.[46]

Netherlands

In 2010, Rifkin and the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round Table, along with government of Utrecht, developed a Third Industrial Revolution Master Plan to transition the region into the new economic paradigm.[47]

On June 6, 2010, the "Utrecht2040: Entrepreneurship with New Energy" conference was held, bringing together decision makers from business, including the national energy companies, construction companies and engineering firms, the Utrecht knowledge institutions and government. The Utrecht Energy Master Plan was implemented to incorporate the pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution into action steps.[48] Utrecht is one of the fastest growing areas in the Netherlands, as well as all of Europe, and is spearheading the European Union's transition toward biosphere politics, and the shift away from geopolitics. The goal is to implement the pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution to replenish and rejuvenate the earth for generations to come.[49][50]

Italy

In 2009, Rifkin and the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round Table contracted with the city of Rome and Mayor Alemanno in order to develop a Third Industrial Revolution Road Map for the region.[51]
On January 24, 2011, the CGIL conference was held in Rome, Italy. The event was organized by TIRES, which is the Third Industrial Revolution European Society. For the first time ever, all the forces of business, those representing the capital and those that represent the work, are united in the same battle for a new energy model that will create jobs and new business opportunities for companies in the area, innovative training for workers, and applied research opportunities for original research organizations. Topics included the discussion about new labor opportunities that will develop and become essential in the new post-carbon society.[52]

U.S.

In 2009, Rifkin and the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round Table contracted with the City of San Antonio to create a Third Industrial Revolution Master Plan for the city to transition into the Third Industrial Revolution economic vision and game plan.[53]

In 2009, San Antonio had already taken significant first steps toward a new era of sustainability. The City of San Antonio’s “Mission Verde” and the CPS Energy’s “Vision 2020” both emphasize specific actions that the community has taken to transition into the Third Industrial Revolution.[54][55] Green jobs and adequate financing mechanisms are among the challenges being addressed by the City’s Mission Verde plan. And CPS Energy has already embraced the need for a more energy-efficient economy that is increasingly powered by renewable energy and other clean energy technologies. These actions, coupled with the insights and ideas that emerged from the April 2009 workshop on sustainability (convened by the City of San Antonio and CPS Energy) provide the groundwork for specifying how the vision of a Third Industrial Revolution might be applied to the specific conditions and constraints faced by the city of San Antonio.[54]

France

In 2013, the French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais contracted with Rifkin and the TIR Consulting Group LLC to develop a Third Industrial Revolution Master Plan to transition the region into a new sustainable economic paradigm.[27][28][29]

Kazakhstan

On September 6, 2012, President Nursultan Nazarbayev delivered a speech at the Nazarbayev University indicating the need for a Third Industrial Revolution and an energy internet.[56] In 2013, Kazakhstan contracted Rifkin and his team to help steward the emerging Central Asian country into a Third Industrial revolution infrastructure as well as helping with the planning of Expo 2017 currently titled, "Energy Expo 2017."[29]

Reception

According to The "European Energy Review" "Perhaps no other author or thinker has had more influence on the EU's ambitious climate and energy policy than the famous American 'visionary' Jeremy Rifkin.[16] In the United States, he has testified before numerous congressional committees and has had success in litigation to ensure responsible government policies on a variety of environmental, scientific and technology related issues.[57] The Union of Concerned Scientists has cited some of Rifkin's publications as useful references for consumers[58] and The New York Times once stated that "many in the scholarly, religious, and political fields praise Jeremy Rifkin for a willingness to think big, raise controversial questions, and serve as a social and ethical prophet".

Rifkin's work has also been controversial. Opponents have attacked the lack of scientific rigor in his claims as well as some of the tactics he has used to promote his views. The Harvard scientist Stephen Jay Gould characterized Rifkin's 1983 book "Algeny" as "a cleverly constructed tract of anti-intellectual propaganda masquerading as scholarship".[59]

A 1989 Time article about Rifkin's activist methods (entitled "The Most Hated Man in Science") details reactions by scientists, especially geneticists, of that decade.[60]

Works

Books


The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Third Industrial Revolution; How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World

The Third Industrial Revolution
 Author Jeremy Rifkin
Language English
Subject Energy, Economics
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Palgrave MacMillan
Publication date
2011
Media type Print (hardcover)
Pages 270
ISBN 978-0230341975

The Third Industrial Revolution; How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World is a book by Jeremy Rifkin published in 2011. The premise of the book is that fundamental economic change occurs when new communication technologies converge with new energy regimes. Rifkin describes how the five pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution will create thousands of businesses and millions of jobs, and usher in a fundamental reordering of human relationships, from hierarchical to lateral power, that will impact the way we conduct business, govern society, educate our children, and engage in civic life. The five pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution are (1) shifting to renewable energy; (2) transforming the building stock of every continent into green micro–power plants to collect renewable energies on-site; (3) deploying hydrogen and other storage technologies in every building and throughout the infrastructure to store intermittent energies; (4) using Internet technology to transform the power grid of every continent into an energy internet that acts just like the Internet (when millions of buildings are generating a small amount of renewable energy locally, on-site, they can sell surplus green electricity back to the grid and share it with their continental neighbors); and (5) transitioning the transport fleet to electric plug-in and fuel cell vehicles that can buy and sell green electricity on a smart, continental, interactive power grid.[1]

Implementing the five pillars

European Union

On May 29, 2012, the European Commission held a conference in Brussels with the theme, "Mission Growth: Europe At The Lead Of The New Industrial Revolution."[2] Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, and Antonio Tajani, Vice President and Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship, co-hosted the summit. Vice President Tajani called for a comprehensive Third Industrial Revolution economic agenda to regrow the European economy and create an integrated European single market. In his speech, Vice President Tajani said, "Today is a good day for all of us, because today is the beginning of the Third Industrial Revolution. Now the European conversation will go beyond austerity, straight to creating growth and jobs in Europe. My slogan is: 'Without a new industrial policy, no growth, no jobs.'"[2] He continued by saying that "the first industrial revolution was the revolution of coal and steam, the second was the oil one. This Third Industrial Revolution is the internet of energy and is not only about energy. It involves many key sectors, from raw materials, to manufacturing, services, construction, transport, Information Technologies and even chemistry."[2] Finally he went on to say, "Because its energy sources are distributed and not centralized, and therefore scale laterally and not centrally, [The Third Industrial Revolution] is the ideal playground for SMEs.... our 2020 strategy puts us on the right path but we must now accelerate and put more resources on growth, and this must be based on sustainability, testing the edge of our technological frontiers."[2]

Jeremy Rifkin followed Vice President Tajani's address with a keynote speech on the Third Industrial Revolution vision and game plan for Europe.[3][4]

In January 2008 the European Commission proposed binding legislation to implement the 20-20-20 targets. This ‘climate and energy package’ was agreed by the European Parliament (EP) and Council in December 2008 and became law in June 2009.[5] Europe is leading the way to the Third Industrial Revolution through mandating a cut of 20% of emissions of greenhouse gases, compared with 1990 levels, moving toward a 20% increase in the share of renewables in the energy mix, and cutting energy consumption by 20%, all by 2020. The 27 EU member states are making every effort to ensure that the remaining stock of fossil fuels is used more efficiently and are experimenting with clean energy technologies to limit carbon dioxide emissions in the burning of conventional fuels.[6]

In Brussels, February 1, 2010, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, chaired by Jo Leinen MEP, and representatives of the five major political groups in the EP joined today with Europe’s main associations representing small and medium-sized companies (UEAPME), consumers’ interests (BEUC), cooperatives(Cooperatives Europe) and the Foundation on Economic Trends in a call for a “Third Industrial Revolution” ahead of the European Council’s summit devoted to energy. The European Parliament will forward a declaration to Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, requesting a comprehensive legislative plan with adequate means to implement the “Third Industrial Revolution” energy strategy across Member States.[7][8][9] The plan also focuses on the shift to a new economic paradigm for the next stage of European integration.[10]

China

China is currently engaged in transitioning its economy into the Third Industrial Revolution. Premier Li Keqiang, who was elected by the 12th National People's Congress in 2013, is a fan of Jeremy Rifkin and read The Third Industrial Revolution book.[11][12] Premier Li told his state scholars to pay close attention to The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World.[11] Vice Premier Wang Yang has also endorsed the Third Industrial Revolution vision and economic development plan.

Rifkin spent two weeks in Beijing and other regions of China as the guest of the Chinese government in September, at which time he met with government leaders, including Vice Premier Wang Yang and Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang.[13][14] Meetings were also held with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Development Research Center of the State Council. During Vice Premier Wang Yang’s meeting with Mr. Rifkin, he expressed his government’s determination to ensure that China be among the leaders in instituting the five pillars of the emerging Third Industrial Revolution.[15]

On December 5, 2013, the Chairman of the China State Grid Corporation, Liu Zhenya, published an article titled “Smart Grid Hosting and Promoting the Third Industrial Revolution.”[16] In the essay, Liu Zhenya lays out China’s ambitious plan to lead the world into the Third Industrial Revolution and a new sustainable post carbon energy era. The government is dedicating an initial $82 billion to establish a Third Industrial Revolution distributed “energy Internet” that will serve as a technology platform and infrastructure for ushering in a new economic paradigm. Under the plan, millions of people in neighborhoods and communities across the country as well as hundreds of thousands of businesses will be able to produce their own green electricity locally and share it on a national energy Internet, just like they now create and share information online. The distributed, collaborative, peer-to-peer, and laterally scaled energy infrastructure will fundamentally alter the economic life of China, while establishing its commanding leadership in the next great economic revolution.[16]

The announcement made on December 5, 2013 by Chairman of the State Grid Corporation, Liu Zhenya, of the decision to introduce the energy Internet as the “intercontinental backbone network” for a new economic era marks a game changing moment in the history of China. According to Chairman Lui Zhenya, if we “can firmly grasp the historical opportunity for the Third Industrial Revolution [it] will largely determine our position in future global competition.” Reminding his fellow countrymen that China was largely left behind in both the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, he cautioned that “history should not repeat itself” and observed that “opportunities are fleeting.” With this in mind, Mr. Lui Zhenya called for the “acceleration of the development of the smart grid to promote the development of China’s energy security, clean development, and environmental development, and play an important role in building a moderately prosperous society and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream in the process.”[16]

Jeremy Rifkin’s New York Times bestselling book, The Third Industrial Revolution, was published in China in June 2012 and was the number one bestselling business book, currently with approximately 500,000 copies in print.

United Kingdom

Former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne publicly endorsed the need for a Third Industrial Revolution. He constructed a framework for the UK in the "The White Paper for Energy Market Reform."[17][18] The White Paper components includes a Carbon Price Floor (announced in Budget 2011) in an effort to reduce investor uncertainty, putting a fair price on carbon and providing a stronger incentive to invest in low-carbon generation now.[18] It also includes the introduction of new long-term contracts (Feed-in Tariff with Contracts for Difference) to provide stable financial incentives to invest in all forms of low-carbon electricity generation.[18] Also in the White Paper is an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) set at 450g CO2/kWh to reinforce the requirement that no new coal-fired power stations are built without carbon capture and storage systems, but also to ensure necessary short-term investment in gas can take place.[18] Chris Huhne also includes a Capacity Mechanism, including demand response as well as generation, which is needed to ensure future security of electricity supply.[18]

Netherlands

In 2010, Mr. Rifkin and the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round Table, along with government of Utrecht, developed a Third Industrial Revolution Master Plan to transition the region into the new economic paradigm.[19]

On June 6, 2010, the "Utrecht2040: Entrepreneurship with New Energy" conference was held, bringing together decision makers from business, including the national energy companies, construction companies and engineering firms, the Utrecht knowledge institutions and government. The Urecht Energy Master Plan was implemented to incorporate the pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution into action steps.[20] Utrecht is one of the fastest growing areas in the Netherlands, as well as all of Europe, and is spearheading the European Union's transition toward biosphere politics, and the shift away from geopolitics. The goal is to implement the pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution to replenish and rejuvenate the earth for generations to come.[21][22]

Italy

In 2009, Jeremy Rifkin and the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round Table contracted with the city of Rome and Mayor Alemanno in order to develop a Third Industrial Revolution Road Map for the region.[23]
On January 24, 2011, the CGIL conference was held in Rome, Italy. The event was organized by TIRES, which is the Third Industrial Revolution European Society. For the first time ever, all the forces of business, those representing the capital and those that represent the work, are united in the same battle for a new energy model that will create jobs and new business opportunities for companies in the area, innovative training for workers, and applied research opportunities for original research organizations. Topics included the discussion about new labor opportunities that will develop and become essential in the new post-carbon society.[24]

United States

In 2009, Jeremy Rifkin and the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round Table contracted with the City of San Antonio to create a Third Industrial Revolution Master Plan for the city to transition into the Third Industrial Revolution economic vision and game plan.[25]

In 2009, San Antonio had already taken significant first steps toward a new era of sustainability. The City of San Antonio’s “Mission Verde” and the CPS Energy’s “Vision 2020” both emphasize specific actions that the community has taken to transition into the Third Industrial Revolution.[26][27] Green jobs and adequate financing mechanisms are among the challenges being addressed by the City’s Mission Verde plan. And CPS Energy has already embraced the need for a more energy-efficient economy that is increasingly powered by renewable energy and other clean energy technologies. These actions, coupled with the insights and ideas that emerged from the April 2009 workshop on sustainability (convened by the City of San Antonio and CPoopS Energy) provide the groundwork for specifying how the vision of a Third Industrial Revolution might be applied to the specific conditions and constraints faced by the city of San Antonio.[26]

France

In 2013, the French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais contracted with Jeremy Rifkin and the TIR Consulting Group LLC to develop a Third Industrial Revolution Master Plan to transition the region into a new sustainable economic paradigm.[28][29][not in citation given]

Kazakhstan

On September 6, 2012, President Nursultan Nazarbayev delivered a speech at the Nazarbayev University indicating the need for a Third Industrial Revolution and an energy internet.[30] In 2013, Kazakhstan contracted Jeremy Rifkin and his team to help steward the emerging Central Asian country into a Third Industrial revolution infrastructure as well as helping with the planning of Expo 2017 currently titled, "Energy Expo 2017."[29]

United Nations

In 2011, Rifkin's Third Industrial Revolution vision and economic development plan was embraced by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Quoting Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of (UNIDO)and chairman of UN Energy,"[The Third Industrial Revolution is] A provocative strategy for transforming the global energy system. This book may help frame the social and economic solutions for the 1.5 billion poorest people who lack access to clean, reliable, and efficient energy services.”[21] Speaking alongside Mr. Rifkin at a joint press briefing at the UNIDO biennual conference in 2011, Director-General Yumkella said "We believe we are at the beginning of a Third Industrial Revolution and I want all member countries of UNIDO to hear the message and ask the key question, how does this apply to our economies, how can we be part of this revolution, and of course how do we share knowledge, share capital, and investments around the world to make this revolution really happen."

Reception

The book has been on the New York Times Best Seller List[31] and has been translated into 19 languages[citation needed]. By 2013, 400,000 copies were in print in China alone.[citation needed] Rifkin has been interviewed on NPR.[32][33]

Cryogenics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryogenics...