EVENTS IN AUGUST
AT THE
HENRY GEORGE HOUSE
122 LITTLE EVELEIGH STREET
REDFERN NSW 2016

External Event: Politics in the Pub
Defining the Problem: What Should the Banking Royal Commission Be Investigating?

Thursday 16th August 2018
6:00 for a 6:15 pm start to 7:30.
Gaelic Club, 1/64 Devonshire St., Surry Hills

Speakers: Joe Nagy, retired banker, author of In Over Our Heads & AGG member.

Dr Evan Jones, Political Economy, Sydney University.

Session Chair: Joffre Balce, AGG Secretary.


PRIVATE VIEWING & DISCUSSION:
TAKING WOODSTOCK

BONUS: VIEWING OF A GEORGIST COMMUNITY OF
ARDEN, DELAWARE USA
1:30 – 4:30 pm, SATURDAY 4TH OF AUGUST

Taking Woodstock is a 2009 American comedy-drama revolving around residents involved in the Woodstock Festival of 1969, directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by James Schamus  is based on the memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte.

The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and opened in New York and Los Angeles on August 26, 2009, before its wide theatrical release two days later.

Although it was a commercial failure, the movie had extremely mixed reviews. Taking Woodstock serves to commemorate almost 49 years after the event but opens discussion on Georgist themes of site rents, the importance of location and the what impacts brief but landmark events have on individuals, society & the environment.

Comparisons between Woodstock as a phenomenon & Arden, Delaware as a community aim to deepen the discussion.

SEMINAR
A BETTER WORLD
THE GEORGIST WAY

SUNDAY 12TH AUGUST 2018
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

SPEAKER: RICHARD LAWRENCE GILES
PRESIDENT
ASSOCIATION FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT


"There are people into whose heads it never enters to conceive of any better state of society than that which now exists."
~ Henry George

"If I were to re-write this book, I would offer a third alternative – the possibility of sanity – Economics would be decentralist and Henry Georgian."
~ Aldous Huxley, Author

"Men like Henry George are rare unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness
artistic form, and fervent love of justice."
~ Albert Einstein

"The land tax as the only means of supporting the government is an infinitely just, reasonable, and equitably-distributed tax, and on it we will found our new system."
~ Dr. Sun Yat Sen

People do not argue with the teachings of George, they simply do not know it ... who becomes acquainted with it cannot but agree.
~ Leo Tolstoy

Henry George was a visionary & architect for a better society acknowledged by the greatest minds of his time. Arden, Delaware in the USA also provides a compelling proof of concept.

Spend an afternoon in a engaging discussion with Richard Giles  on why Georgism is not mere rhetoric but a ethical and practical framework based on ethics.

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PAST EVENTS

2018 Annual Conference

Sunday, 29^th July
122 Little Eveleigh Street, Redfern NSW 2016

9:00 AM for a 9:15 AM start

Social Justice: The Keystone of the Laws of Distribution.

Reflecting on Book Three of

Schedule of Activities

Dinner 5:30 at Club Redfern

PRIVATE VIEWING & DISCUSSION:
ORIGINS OF THE RUM REBELLION
2:00 – 5:00 pm, SUNDAY 1^ST JULY

The Rum Rebellion of 1808 is known as the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history. However, there were deeper conflicts than political feuds over the control of land & currency or a military rebellion; the historical dynamics from a colony to a more democratic & equitable society. We will view a portion & afterwards discuss snippets of the popular documentary Rogue Nation & other film shorts.

ECONOMIC HISTORY V:
THE GLOBALIZING ECONOMY
2:00 – 5:00 pm, SATURDAY 7 JULY

At the turn of the 20^th CE, there was a contest among world powers for colonies and territories made global by spectacular progress in transport, communications, maritime and military technology. The economy became a roller coaster ride from the Progressive era to WWI, the roaring 20s, the Great Depression, WWII & the Cold War. Economic thought was shifting & adjusting to contending political & economic agenda: enter the neoliberal, Keynesian & monetarist thinkers.

SECOND OFFERING OF CERTIFICATE COURSES
on 9^th – 20^th July, from 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm. Students may attend courses on the dates interchangeably or repeatedly.

Introductory: Economic Philosophy for Those Seeking Social Justice.
Principles: Monday 9th & Tuesday 10th July (repeat).
Economics: Wednesday 11th & Thursday 12th July (repeat).
Public Policy: Friday 13th & Saturday 14th July (repeat).

Intermediate: Political Economy for Those Seeking Social Justice
Free & Open Society; Enclosed Society: Monday 16th July & Tuesday 17th July (repeat)
An Enslaved Society & Conclusions: Thursday 19th July & Friday 20th July (repeat)

Supplementary but
Independent Educational Activity:
Re-Writing the Rules: An Experimental Approach to Monopoly

Round 1: Wedenesday, 11 July 2018
Round 2: Wednesday, 18 July 2018
2:00 - 5:00 pm

"The board game Monopoly has its origins in the early 20th century. The earliest known version of Monopoly, known as The Landlord's Game, was designed by an American, Elizabeth Magie, and first patented in 1904 but existed as early as 1902." (from "History of the Board Game - Monopoly" Wikipedia)

Why was it invented, how was it played then? How & why did the rules change? This educational gaming session primes & introduces the players to the principles of Henry George enunciated in Progress & Poverty, the best selling book on political economy at the turn of the 20th CE.

IN JUNE
W.A. DOWE LECTURE

Is There an Alternative to the Current Banking System?

Sunday, 3 June 2018
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Lately, the media has followed the Banking Royal Commission as it reveals unethical and unprofessional practices and treatment of clients. However, is the problem the very framework of the system that empowers the creation of money through credit by private banks? After all, who controls money controls the economy. The lecture serves as an open challenge to the Banking Royal Commission and offers hope to the disillusioned public.

The W.A. Dowe Lecture is dedicated to the memory of William Arthur Dowe, one of the pioneering movers of the Georgist movement in New South Wales in the 20th Century.

Our Speaker is Dr. Keith Suter, strategic planner, global futurist, international opinion leader, regular guest on national television and radio and supportive member of the Association for Good Government.

READING COURSE ON PROGRESS & POVERTY.

BOOK THREE: CORRELATION AND COORDINATION OF THESE LAWS; THE STATICS OF THE PROBLEM THUS EXPLAINED
2:00 – 5:00 pm, Friday 8 June

Attendance in previous reading courses is not required, the last chapters serve to summarize and conclude Book Three, which will prepare participants  for a writers' workshop for contributions to the Annual Conference in July.

GEORGIST SYMPOSIUM:
A PERSPECTIVE ON THE
INEQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES
6:00 – 8:00 pm, Tuesday 12 June

In commemoration of the 120^th Anniversary of the Philippine Declaration of Independence, Joffre Balce, Secretary of the Association & Filipino economist shares his Georgist views on the historical origins of inequality & prolonged comparatively slow growth as well as the prospects for political & economic reform & lessons of warning for Australia.

PRIVATE SCREENING AND DISCUSSION: 
THE YOUNG KARL MARX
2:00 – 5:00 pm, Saturday 16 June

Two youthful idealists, Marx and Engels, meet in this intense, fervent film about the early development of communism by I Am Not Your Negro director Raoul Peck, Haitian filmmaker and political activist & Pascal Bonitzer. Biography, Drama, History film, starring August Diehl. It was screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2017. The movie opens with a surprisingly familiar theme that portends Henry George’s principles of people’s natural relationship with the land as the touchstone of social justice.

SPECIAL COURSE:
SOCIAL QUESTIONS,
GEORGISTS ANSWERS
An investigation into the sources and applications of the Georgist philosophy
11:00 – 1:00 pm, SUNDAY 24 June
SPEAKER: RICHARD LAWRENCE GILES

Henry George was the more widely read than any academically educated and titled economist in the 19^th Century and both inspired and influenced early Australia’s Prime Ministers like Alfred Deakin, Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes.   Are the teachings & lessons of Henry George relevant and applicable in contemporary society?  How would he have responded to the issues raised? Richard Giles, Association President,  delivers an overall presentation of the nature of Georgism and its effectiveness as a solution to current problems.

WRITING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE WORKSHOPS
Part I: 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Friday  22 June
Part II: 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Friday 29 June

Progress and Poverty opens with a dedication "To those who, seeing the vice and misery that spring from the unequal distribution of wealth and privilege, feel the possibility of a higher social state and would strive for its attainment." A beginning of a series of writers’ workshops for social justice revolving around the theme of “Social Justice, the Cornerstone of the Law of Distribution.”

MAY

READING COURSE ON PROGRESS & POVERTY. BOOK THREE:
THE LAW OF INTEREST; WAGES AND THE LAW OF WAGES.

2:00 – 5:00 pm, Friday 18 May

The reading course, which leads to a writers' workshop for contributors to the Annual Conference, proceeds with the discussion of two laws that mainstream economics insists are contending but Henry George believes go in tandem: the law of interest and the law of wages.

PRIVATE SCREENING AND DISCUSSION
THE CHICAGO BOYS

2:00 – 5:00 pm, Saturday 19 May

Between 1957 and 1970, around a hundred scholars known as “The Chicago Boys” received training sponsored by , first in an apprenticeship program in Chile and then in post-graduate work in the Chicago School of Economics in the University of Michigan and other Ivy League institutions. These “technocrats” eventually rose in the ranks of the government bureaucracy from the coup d’etat of Gen. Augusto Pinochet to the present.

FOR MILLENNIALS ALSO: 
THE EVOLUTION OF MONEY & FINANCE

6:00 – 8:00 pm, Tuesday 22 May

Explore the history and prospects of money from its origins in early civilisations to its potentials in the light of Banking Royal Commission and the crossroads of information technology driven economies.

Discussions may continue at the nearby Redfern pubs.

SPECIAL COURSE:
ECONOMIC HISTORY V.
THE ERA OF REVOLUTIONS AND THE EVOLUTION OF ECONOMICS

2:00 – 4:00 pm, Saturday 26 May

Political and industrial revolutions marked the period from the late 18^th CE to the early 20^th CE. Ideas and inventions drastically altered the structure of society and accelerated the pace of the economy. Industrial societies and burgeoning democracies displaced agrarian feudalism and argued for systems more compatible with the promise of liberty. Thus did the schools of economic thought compete in scholastic and public venues and evolve from classical political economy to the birth of what became known as economics.

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Politics in the Pub
at the Gaelic Club
1/64 Devonshire St. Surry Hills NSW

Australia's Economic Policy:
In Whose Interest?
6:30 - 8:00 pm Thursday 26 April

Speakers:

Frank Stilwell
Emeritus Professor, Sydney University
and
Dr. Ben Spies-Butcher
Macquarie University

APRIL 2018

SEMINAR
A BRIEF HISTORY AND FUTURE OF MONEY: FROM BARTER TO BLOCKCHAIN & BEYOND
6:00 - 8:00 pm
FRIDAY 13 April 2018
AND
2:00 - 4:00 pm SUNDAY 15 April 2018

Explore the past and future of money from its origins in early civilisations to its potentials at the crossroads of contemporary information technology driven economies.

SPEAKER: JOFFRE BALCE
Secretary of the Association for Good Government. Former Australian Research Council and UNSW Law Faculty sponsored PhD Scholar, Convenor for the Think Tank for the Developing Country Debt Country Debt of the Macquarie University's Global Leaders Program and Policy Adviser to Jubilee Australia. In the Philippines, he held various top positions in management, research and consultancies in the corporate, government and non-profit sectors.

PRIVATE VIEWING AND DISCUSSION:
THE BIG SHORT

2:00-5:00 PM SATURDAY 14 APRIL 2018

The Big Short is a commercially successful 2015 US docu-historical comedy drama based on the 2010 besteller The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis about the series of events which eventually led to tjhe US Sub  Pre Crisis whose effects of which the world economy has not fully recovered.

WAS HENRY GEORGE A LAND NATIONALIZER?
2:00 - 4:00 pm. Sunday, 22 April.

Controversial in Georgist conversations is if Henry George was for eliminating private property by nationalising land ownership. The key lies in reviewing the very primary literature of George himself which is essential to understanding it in the context of a democracy  than resort to arguments of pragmatism which tends to compormise individual liberties.

Speaker: Richard Giles
President of the Association for Good Government
Richard Giles has been the Association’s Secretary for over 25 years and the Editor of its magazine Good Government for even longer. He has spoken at various events around Australia and overseas and was a history teacher at the De La Salle College and holds a graduate degree in Education.

MARCH
SEMINAR
Blockchain & Its Economic Implications
2:00 – 4:00 pm, Sunday. 4 March

Cut to the chase & understand the the opportunities & threats behind the recent game-changing technology that global markets now face.

Speaker: Nathan Waters

Nathan Waters is a millennial founder of Peerism a blockchain-based response to job automation and wealth inequality by sharing the wealth from artificial intelligence, SydEthereum Australia's largest monthly cryptocurrency for democracy meet-up & Hackagong, Australia's largest independent hackathon since 2012.

PRIVATE VIEWING & DISCUSSION
How the Rich Get Richer
2:00 – 4:00 pm. Saturday. 10 March.

A Deutsche Welle documentary that discusses & explains stagnant wages, precarious employment, exploding real estate prices, zero interest rate and volatile financial markets. What danger lies in wait for ordinary citizens? Discussions follow the viewing.

READING COURSE
on Progress & Poverty
Book Three: The Laws of Distribution

6:00 - 8:00 pm. Friday. 16 March
The reading course, which leads to a writers' workshop for contributors to the Annual Conference, begins with the discussion of two fundamental chapters: interest & its cause; of spurious capital & of profits often mistaken for interest.

SEMINAR
Local Government
& the Spectre of Economic Rent-Seeking
2:00 – 4:00 pm, Sunday. 18 March.

Economic rents, in short, is unearned incomes that arise from natural and social advantages & benefits of location. Therefore, to whom else must it belong other than the very sources -- nature and society? The seminar is a timely confrontation of the issue beginning from where it is literally closest to home -- local government.
Speaker: Joe Nagy

Small business adviser & private investment coach. He retired from a career in international banking and finance that spans across decades and continents. He is currently a Convenor of the Politics in the Pub in Sydney.

SEMINAR

WHAT DEMOCRACY?
Sunday 25 March. 2:00 - 4:00 pm

What the kind of democracy do we have?  What kind of democracy do we want?  This talk examines the democracy we have and different visions of democracy that are offered in its place.

Speaker: Richard Giles
President of the Association for Good Government
Richard Giles has been the Association’s Secretary for over 25 years and the Editor of its magazine Good Government for even longer. He has spoken at various events around Australia and overseas and was a history teacher at the De La Salle College and holds a graduate degree in Education.

FEBRUARY 2018

PRIVATE VIEWING & DISCUSSION

2:00 - 5:00 pm
Saturday 3 February
A BBC production of the inspiring true story of Seretse Khama, the last King of Bechuanaland & the first President of the modern Botswana, and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1948 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British and South African governments. Seretse and Ruth defied family, Apartheid and empire to uphold equality in rights that was to be essential to the nation's economic turnaround.

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT:
MEMBERS ONLY
Workshop: Introduction to Participatory Methodology

1:30 - 5:00 pm
Sunday 4 February
The workshop will be facilitated by an experienced practitioner of ZOPP approach (Zielorientierte Projektplanung, or GOPP- Goal Oriented Project Planning - as it is sometimes presented in English). Used and promoted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ - German Technical Cooperation), its application to education will be explored by participants under a framework of equality in rights and democracy to achieve synergy in team learning & in mutual education.

READING COURSE
Progress & Poverty
Book Three: The Laws of Distribution

6:00 - 8:00 pm.
Friday. 9 February


The reading course, which leads to a writers' workshop for contributors to the Annual Conference, begins with the discussion of two fundamental chapters: the inquiry narrowed to the laws of distribution -- necessary relationship  of these laws; rent and the law of rent.

SPECIAL COURSE
Economic History IV:
The Enlightenment and the Birth of Political Economy

2:00 - 5:00 pm
Sunday 11 February
This is the fourth of a series on the history of economic thought and development. It is a study of the originators of political economy, the classical economists, the period they lived under, the controversies and challenges to the ancien regime of feudalism, the greed of mercantilism, the explosion of scientific discoveryand support for economic and political liberties.

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JANUARY 2018

Private Viewing & Discussion
2:00 pm Saturday 20 January

WHO OWNS NEW ZEALAND NOW?

Kiwi investigative journo Bryan Bruce confronts the questions & seek answers not just in New Zealand but overseas. The data will amaze & can frighten audiences not only about facing the future but about confronting their own motives.

Georgist Symposium
Jose Marti & the Cuban Revolution
2:00 pm, Sunday 21 January

José Julián Martí Pérez (January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban National Hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. During his life, he was a poet, essayist, journalist, revolutionary philosopher, translator, professor, publisher, Freemason, political theorist, and supporter of Henry George's economic reforms. Through his writings and political activity, he became a symbol for Cuba's bid for independence against Spain in the 19th century, and is referred to as the "Apostle of Cuban Independence.

FOR MEMBERS:
ANNUAL PLANNING SESSION
1:30 pm Sunday 28th January

Take part in the annual planning activity to raise public awareness, deepen our education, enliven interest & make our policy positions felt.