In hard times, dissension mounts.
The old social contract flounders and cannot be revived.
Forces of reaction assert themselves.
Danger intensifies.
In dark times, opportunity appears.

Such is our time. It is time to debate and define the next social contract, to articulate its political aims and action plan. It is time to change the world.

In “Digging Out: Global Crisis and the Search for a New Social Contract,” two brothers from the social and environmental justice movements engage this debate with a revolutionary proposal rooted in the power dynamics of the world’s rising service-based economy. They provide a theoretical framework to reinterpret and address festering world problems through local and global initiatives. They urge cultural reinvigoration to deploy our social skills and innovation in service of others. Their proposal confirms the leading role of civil society, and it calls for a worldwide commercial transaction fee to curb financial speculation while adequately and permanently funding a sustainable future.

“Digging Out” proposes a new social contract to advance economic security, social justice, and ecological restoration worldwide. It is a clarion call, urging us to unite and demand the changes necessary for a better tomorrow.