THE BRETTON WOODS MONETARY INSTITUTE & FESTIVAL

V I S I O N

“The aim of the Bretton Woods Conference was the creation of a dynamic world community
in which the peoples of every nation will be able to realize their potentialities in peace.”

Henry Morgenthau, Chair, 1944 Bretton Woods Conference & US Treasury Secretary

M I S S I O N

The Bretton Woods Monetary Institute and Festival dedicate themselves to the fulfillment, long awaited,
of Morgenthau’s vision of the “creation of a dynamic world community” committed to the realization of “peace.”

STRATEGY

The fulfillment noted is being achieved through “The Bretton Woods Initiative.” The Initiative is comprised of the Bretton Woods Global Working Circles, beginning in the fields of monetary policy, finance, and economics and expanding out to the breadth of professions that influence and are influenced by these three more worldly disciplines. The first fruit of The Bretton Woods Global Working Circles is in the field of Monetary Policy: “The Bretton Woods ~ Concord Resolution.” As such, “The Bretton Woods ~ Concord Resolution” is the first 21 Century Bretton Woods Accord.

GOAL

The goals of each Bretton Woods Global Working Circle is to outline, in a 21 Century Bretton Woods Accord, how its profession — e.g. monetary policy, education or public service — can contribute to the peoples of every nation realizing, as expressed, their potentialities in peace.

OBJECTIVES

The participants in each Working Circles determine the specific actions and timelines to achieve the noted goal.

Participation in the Bretton Woods Global Working Circles is open. We welcome the collaboration of all who are committed to the fulfillment of the vision noted: “experts” and those whose “expertise” has been forged in the arena of life itself.  Given that a “world community” is envisioned, those who constitute the Working Circles represent the breadth of our humanity, beginning here at home with the Original Peoples of this land.

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THE PROBLEM-CHALLENGE–OPPORTUNITY BEFORE US

Morgenthau’s opening words were spoken as the Second World War drew to its end. Upon the smoldering ashes of a First World War, the “War to End All Wars” — that claimed over 40 million lives and limbs, combatants and civilians alike — another 85 million deaths and causalities were tallied. Ashes upon ashes. Further destruction reigned; shock, disbelief, and despair were rampant. 

The Bretton Woods Initiative, along with its monetary institute & festival, dedicate themselves to the estimated 125 million who died and/or were wounded in World War I & II, and to those who have perished in the subsequent conflicts.

Calling these causalities to mind, the question arises: How are we to understand, rightly, the causes of the immense suffering humankind has borne, so that such suffering need not be revisited on our children and the generations to come — so that the peace that Morgenthau speaks of need not remain a panacea? The Bretton Woods Initiative attempts to answer this question by going to the root of the problem-challenge–opportunity before us.

LESSONS FROM THE PAST ~ VISIONS FOR THE FUTURE

After the dust had settled, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill — who had en-couraged his people through their darkest hour — inscribed prophetic words in the foreword to “The Right Road for Britain”:

“Man is a spiritual being, advancing on an immortal destiny, and science, politics,
economics are good or bad as far as they help or hinder the individual on its eternal journey.” 

What is one to make of Churchill’s words, in our modern day and age?

Albert Einstein addressed this question by going to the root cause of the devastation wrought by the World Wars. One can not solve a problem with the same thinking (benighted, belligerent?) that created the problem in the first place. To try to do so, the “father of modern science” went on to add, is “insanity.” Such “insanity” was addressed in the Russell-Einstein Manifesto itself: 

“We must never relax our efforts to arouse in the people of the world, and especially in their governments, an awareness of the unprecedented disaster, which they are absolutely certain to bring on themselves, unless there is a fundamental change in their attitude toward one another, as well as in their concept of the future. The splitting of the atom has changed everything, save our mode of thinking and thus we drift toward an unparalleled catastrophe … We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”

The old thinking that Einstein and Russel referred to was, we suggest, purely rational, utilitarian, mechanistic, and, thus, inexorably, reductionistic — a reckoning that, indeed, reduced us, humankind to our lowest common denominator: “the naked heap of flesh and bones.”

Such a reductionistic thinking divests us of our essential humanity. As such, it bears in itself the seeds of ongoing cataclysms.

Many know this to be the case; fewer, it appears, understand how to otherwise proceed with the new thinking that Churchill, Einstein and Russell call for. 

The Bretton Woods Initiative, its Monetary Institute and Festival offer a way forward. That prospect addresses the root of the problem-challenge–opportunity before us..

FROM RATIONALISM TO RELATIONALISM

The old and ailing order is, we suggest, based on a one-sided rationalism. In the realm of economics, this rationalism has grounded us in the bottom-line. The result is that the human and natural world that sustains us is reduced to nothing more than “costs,” “factors of production,” to be capitalized on, exploited to the hilt. 

Indeed, it can not be otherwise with a business “ethic” that is resolutely defined in terms of “continuous and unlimited growth.” In medical terms such growth — continuous, unlimited — is referred to as “cancer”. 

So it is and will continue to be. Instead of “making a living,” businessmen and -women are increasingly driven — by the quarterly-monthly-weekly-daily returns — to “make a killing.” Such is the inexorable reckoning that results from their succumbing to the monumental error that is at the root of our misfortunes.

That error, we suggest, is the confusion of businesses’ means (i.e. to “make money,” in order to keep the “shop door open,” the lights on) with businesses’ ends, i.e. to make goods that are truly good and provide a service that is a veritable service. 

This error, in turn, is the inevitable consequence of the one-sided rationalism that has reasoned away our very humanity.

The new order that we are called to give birth to will be based on what one can refer to as relationalism, on the fundamental change in our attitude toward one another, of which Churchill, Einstein and Russell speak. When that day dawns a sanctity will inform human relations, all our affairs. Such a sanctity will, as expressed, inspire “the peoples of every nation to realize their potentialities in peace.”  

This new beginning lies, we believe, before us.

Foundation stones for such an arising “edifice” are introduced on this web site. They include, but are not limited to, The Bretton Woods Monetary Institute’s “Year 1 Keystone Project”: “The Bretton Woods~Concord Resolution” and that discipline that lies behind it: “Concordian Economics: The Integration of Economic Theory, Policy & Practice.” The economics of common sense — an enlightened common sense — is introduced under “Resources”. 

From the bottom-line up, such a practice provides the means to enrich ALL the spheres of society, our global community.

On Behalf of the Inaugurators, Who Follow / Have Helped to Lead the Way

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INAUGURATORS

Ka’nahsohon Deer, Mohawk Faith Keeper, Board Member of the Hiawatha Institute For Indigenous Knowledge,  Trustee of The Center for American Studies at Concord (MA); and Co-Inaugurator of The Bretton Woods Monetary Institute & Festival

Carmine Gorga, Fulbright Scholar, Scholar of Europe & President, Somist Institute

Patricia Anne Davis, Choctaw-Navajo/Chahta-Dineh International Educator & Whole Systems Designer

Benoit Lamontagne, North Country Industrial Agent, NH Division of Economic Development

Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk, Co-founder of the Native American Journalists Association, author of “Iroquois on Fire,” and Founding Trustee of the Smithsonian Native American Institute

Jay Amaran, former Senior Vice President Global Operations, The International Finance Corporation,
World Bank and Trustee of The Center for American Studies at Concord (MA)

Sherrie Noble, Esq., CEO, Noble Ground International Corp.

Bernard Lietaer, former Belgium Central Banker and co-designer of the Euro

Gwen Hallsmith, Author & Executive Director at Global Community Initiatives

Dr. Patch Adams, Founder of the Gesundheit Institute

Marie Frawley-Henry, Mashkiki Kwe, Nipissing First Nation & Senior Policy Analyst, Assembly of First Nations

Kenyan Bishop John Bulinda 

Jeorgina Larocque, Mi’kmaq Elder

Stanley Stephen Huntsman, Founder, Produce, Y.E.S. Fest LIVE! 

Rep. Johnny Ford, Founder, World Conference of Mayors

Miha Pogacnik, Cultural Ambassador, Slovania

Fred Bramante, President, National Center for Competency-Based Learning

Tom Porter, Traditional Chief of the Awkasasne

Paul Glover, Father of the Local Currency Movement & Former Green Party Presidential Candidate

Princella Howard Dixon, Educator, Researcher

Steve Zubkoff, Former CEO Habitat for Humanity International, Entrepreneur & Venture Capitalist

Michelle Bethune, Daughter of the Cherokee Nation

Tom Kavet, Economist & Advisor, Vermont State Legislator 

Xiye Bastida-Patrick, Celtic-Otomi-Toltec Youth Climate Activist 

Richard Kotlarz, Founder of the Institute for the Redemption of Money

Joanne Shenandoah, Award-Winning Folks Singer and Elder of the Oneida Wolf Clan, Iroquois Confederacy

Kren Klausen, President, Convergenet

Mary George, Refugee, Daughter of the Congo

John Truman Wolfe, Author, Financial Analyst and Publisher: The Crossroads of Investing, Politics and the Economy

Ellen Brown, Author & Founder of The Public Banking Institute

Ivan Orellanos, Bolivian bearer of “The Prophesy of The Eagle and the Condor”

Terry Horsmon, Global Managing Partner, True North

Randy Cook, Farmer and President of the National Organization for Raw Materials

Sandra Hope, Author, Founder and Exec. Officer of Fan.C (findanative.com) and Stolen Nation Productions, STEM advocate; Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina

Joel Hodroff, Social Entrepreneur, Economist & Founder of the Dual Currency Movement 

Karla Ballard Williams, former banker, Founder & CEO  and GLBL VLLG Partnership Lead

Vic Desotelle, Entrepreneur

Cimbria Badenhausen, Web Designer 

John Harrigan, Columnist

Dina Pronovost, Grandmother, Kahnawake Reserve

Rick Tillotson, President, Tillotson North Country Foundation

Lindy Falconer, Proprietor, Lin-Jo Creations

Mike Nadjiwon, Ojibway, 3rd Degree Midewin Man of the 3 Fires Midewin Lodge

Jon Underwood, Founder, CEO Seedpay

Joshua Grant, IT Entrepreneur

Caring Hands, Chief of the Praying Indians

Jim Zsofka, Trustee North Country Farmer’s Coop

Steven Smith Esq., Member Ramapough Lenape Nation

Bill Konrardy, Contractor and Builder

Shelley Charles, Elder, Chippewas of Georgina Island

Jeff Ashe, Founder, Saving for Change Initiative

Rep. John Ford, Chairman, World Conference of Mayors

David Snieckus, Monetary Scholar and Practitioner

Honore Murenzi, Executive Director, New American Africans:

Ken Pentel, Director of the Ecology Democracy Network

Louise Herne, Mohawk Nation Bear Clan Mother

Bill Bluhm, Craftsman

Connie Baxter Marlow, Author and Founder of The Trust Frequency

William Spademan, President, Common Good Finance

Andrea Lynn Dasoli, Elementary School Teacher 

Joseph Pilon, Inaugurator, The Peripheral Economy

Heidi Fritz Martinez, CEO, Re-Motor America

Chief Ancient Future, Advisor to the President of Lincoln University

Bradford Knight, Independent Road Scholar

Kimchi Moyer, Founder, Resopathy Institute

Scott Kleinschrodt, Director, North Country Charter Academy

Kelly Britton, Singer, Songwriter

Rob Fraboni, Award-Winning Record Producer

Jay Winter Nightwolf,  Cherokee, Taino, and Shoshone Historian, Poet, Writer, Commentator.
Host of American Indian / Indigenous Peoples Truths

Chris Lindstrom, Monetary Scholar & Practitioner

Kumu Mikilani Young, Indigenous Hawaiian Grandmother 

Walt McCree, Director, The Public Banking Institute

Tim Shay, Penobscot Sculptor

Marc Gauvin, VP Centro Solidario Cuéllar; Coordinator, Money Systems Transparency Alliance

Michelle Bethune, Wampanog Educator

Mark Heffernan, President, Bio-Products Engineering Corp.

Susan Martlock, Health Care Provider

Allen Pittman, Founder of the Wisdom of the Body Institute

Etaoqua M’hooquethoth of the Muhheakannuck Nations at Nu Schodac

Al Rossetto, Award-Winning Solar Home Builder

Wakera-Katse, Mohawk Clan Mother 

Robert Scarlett, Business Leader & Pioneer of Employee Stock Ownership Programs

Wilhelmina Howard Harris, Founder I AM Ministries and Servant-Leader

Roger Fritz, Inventor, Founder, New Wave Power

Debbie Sakakohe Delisle, Mohawk Woman of the Mohawk Nation from Kahnawake,
Founder of the Step Child and Family Center

Davey Ozahowski, Poet, Sculptor

Mashichique Earl S. M. Burley Hereditary Chief of the Ponca Nation

John Moses, Founder, The Arimathea Institute

Neal Powless Jr., Son of Onondaga Chief  Irving Powless, Lacrosse All-American
member of the Iroquois team at the World Lacrosse Championships.

Brian Lynch, Founder Sirius Research 

GrayHawk, Cherokee and Representative of the People of the Land

Tom Asbridge, Rancher and former Executive Director American Agriculture Movement

Sakokwenionkwas, Spiritual Leader of Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community 

Alexander Romanel, Violinist

Andrea Curley, Bridge-Builder, Onondaga Beaver Clan

Oisín Lucian-Sinclair Weeks, Youth Climate Activist

Nena LaCaille Executive Director, Enaahtig Healing Lodge and Learning Center

Jim Peppler, Photographer & Journalist

Odette Nyirangwabije, Daughter of Kenya, Refugee

Andi Feron, Scholar & Activist

Veronica Francis, President, NotchNet

Dylan Suagee, Cherokee poet, writer

Elaine Kain, Servant-Leader, Trustee of The Center for American Studies

Sagaligesgw, Mi’kmaq Elder, Grandmother, Medicine Woman and Wisdom Keeper

Andy David, Entrepreneur

Nancy Poer, Author, Educator, Director, White Feather Ranch  

Irene Lambert, Health Care Practitioner

Edward Hall III, Bahai, Environmental Economist

Darryl Pronovost, Member of the 5 Nations Confederacy, Mohawk Nation

Elizabeth Roosevelt, Educator and Mother

Milan Krajnc, Founder, The Dynamic Leadership Model

Colonel Rubye Braye, Servant-Leader Practitioner and Daughter of Montgomery, Alabama

John Root, Founder, Just Abundance, Inc.

Truus Geraets, Founder, The Art of Living

Robert Owen Williams, Musician

Susan Mills, Founder/ CEO Metaphase Management Associates

Michael Taub, Esq.

Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, Kahnawake Mohawk and Elected Council Member

Alenka Slavinec, Photographer

Andrew Cameron Bailey, Author of “The First Fifty Years: Freedom and Friendship at Plymouth Plantation” 

Valerie Fraser, NewHampshire State Rep.

Jesus Manuel Valenzuela, Marine Veteran, Jumano Tribe

Stuart-Sinclair Weeks, Founder, The Center for American Studies

~  In Memoriam ~

Betty Plimpton, Trustee Center for American Studies at Concord

Bill Barnes, Trustee Center for American Studies at Concord

John Burke, Trustee Center for American Studies at Concord

Bill Bottum, Trustee Center for American Studies at Concord 

Sinclair Weeks, Former US Senator & Secretary of Commerce under Eisenhower

John Wingate Weeks, Former US Senator & Secretary of War under Presidents Harding and Coolidge

Manitonquat, (Medicine Story), Author and Member of the Assonet Band.

Morning Star Norman, educator and proprietor Many Nations Trading Post, Concord, MA.

Vine Deloria Jr., Author, Standing Rock Sioux

Clara Niiski, Nuclear Physicist & Native Anishinaabe-Ojibwe 

Slow Turtle, Supreme Medicine Man of the Wampanoag Nation and
Honorary Trustee of The Center for American Studies at Concord

Bette Haskins, Former Exec. Director Harvard American Indian Program

Wub-e-ke-niew, understood by some to be the last of the Anishinaabe-Ojibwe

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“If ‘We the People’ should indeed prove an entity, a corporate being
[imagine] what power that incorporation might one day represent.”

Katherine Drinker Bowen, “The Miracle of Philadelphia” 

And Bretton Woods….?

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~ Photo Gallery from 2015 Bretton Woods Convocation (if password required, enter concordium) ~