Bretton Woods Monetary Institute & Festival
“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, Chairman 1944 Bretton Woods Conference & United States Secretary of the Treasury.
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The 80th Anniversary Bretton Woods Convocation
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The upcoming January 6, 2021 Epiphany Day Bretton Woods Global Celebration:
The following gatherings served as foundation stones for the 2021 Global Summit Celebration.
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A WARM WELCOME
~ To the Bretton Woods Global Summit ~
September 29, 2020
At the Conclusion of the Year-Long 75th Anniversary Commemoration
of the Original 1944 Bretton Woods Conference
( For the summit program and zoom information click here: )
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OPENING WORD
“Someone had to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit.”
Robert Hemphill, former credit manager, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
“Our present money system is a debt money system.
Before a dollar can circulate [via borrowing, i.e. a loan], a debt must be created.”
Dr. Willis A. Overholser, author of “The History of Money in the United States”
In 1913, the United States’ debt-based monetary system was established with the passage of The Federal Reserve Act. Every dollar that subsequently entered into circulation became, as noted, a “debt-dollar,” a “Federal Reserve Note”. As such, every dollar was lent at interest, i.e. as debt, as opposed to spent interest-free into circulation — in order, for instance, to fund the shoring up of our infrastructure (roads, bridges, schools, water and sewage systems), so as to get our “House” in order.
As elaborated in the following, our debt-based monetary system has led to the 19 trillion, plus, debt to the United States and its citizens.
In 1944, the United States debt-based monetary system was globalized at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. This occurred with the establishment of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. In both organizations, the US debt-dollar dollar was made supreme, the basis for global trade as the international “anchor” or “reserve currency.” With debt comes poverty, misery, war and despair — the world over.
This conclusion was addressed, in the days leading up to the 2018 World Economic Forum, by Oxfam International’s annual report. The report noted that just eight men own the same wealth as half the world, nearly 4 billion of their fellow citizens together. [ Stéphanie Thomson, Editor, World Economic Forum, 18 Jan 2017 ] Christine Lagarde, former Director General of the International Monetary Fund, emphasized that such a disparity, reckoning can not be sustained.
In his celebrated book, The Battle of Bretton Woods, Benn Steil, senior fellow, director of international economics, and official historian in residence at the Council on Foreign Relations, speaks to the misfortunes noted and to the challenges before us:
“The Bretton Woods conference was held seven decades ago, but the enduring concerns that Keynes and White sought to address in 1944 are still with us, with no solution in sight.
One need only read today’s headlines reporting a prolonged slump following a financial collapse; failed austerity policies in Europe; speculative attacks on Asian currencies creating bubbles followed by crashes; and worries about the future of the dollar.
The ills of the interwar period have recurred in different forms….”
2020 Bretton Woods Global Summit
The 2020 Bretton Woods Global Summit addresses the “ills” noted at the conclusion of the year-long 75th anniversary commemoration of the establishment of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The 2020 commemoration coincides with the decisive election year before us, as well as with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, an opening scene in the formation of our aspiring United States. Despite all that we face, the times are ripe, we believe, with possibility.
On Tuesday, September 29th, the The Bretton Woods Initiative will present its first “21st Century Bretton Woods Accord.”
The fruit of The Bretton Woods Global Working Circle in Monetary Policy, the accord is entitled: “The Bretton Woods~Concord Resolution.
Endorsed by The World Conference of Mayors, The Bretton Woods~Concord Resolution will be presented in the Gold Room of the Mount Washington Hotel, where the original Bretton Woods Accords that established our World Bank and International Monetary Fund were signed.
The Bretton Woods~Concord Resolution offers a timely and unprecedented approach to the economic crisis before us. As such, it will be commended to: the presidential candidates, as a center-piece for their campaigns; to representatives of the nations of the world, beginning with embassy officials of the Allied nations who attended the original 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, as well as the Axis nations; and to NH officials and to fellow citizens throughout the state and beyond its borders.
Accompanying the September 29th presentation of The Bretton Woods~Concord Resolution will be an overview of concrete initiatives that have risen out of the work to date. Examples of such initiatives follow:
^ The Bretton Woods Festival’s Year 1 Keystone Project: The Crescendoing Concert: Songs of Comfort & Forgiveness.
^ The Concord Noble Award for Peace.
^ The mounting wave of Spiritually Responsible Investing.
^ The National Amends Offering.
^ The Earth Scouts & Consumption Management US, in response to our global climate crisis.
^ An alternative economic index that offers a more accurate and complete indication of our labors and, thereby, provides the framework for greater prosperity.
After the overview of initiatives and presentation of The Bretton Woods~Concord Resolution, the presidential candidates, embassy officials, and audience will be invited to offer responses to this first 21st Century Bretton Woods Accord: a contribution to the fulfillment of Morgenthau’s vision of peace.
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NOTE: GLIMPSES OF PRIOR GATHERINGS
Inauguration of the Bretton Woods Monetary Institute & Festival
* Addressing Poverty Within a Universe of Abundance *
1 Common Dish ~ 1 Shared Spoon
The Generosity of the Spirit
December 1 – 8, 2019
You are invited to attend part or all of the Inauguration.
The Inauguration
“On the threshold of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, we enter into unprecedented times in the history of Turtle Island (North America). Red people and white people alike, all peoples have reached the crossroads where we need to be guided by the ancestral intelligence and the spiritual wisdom of Mother Earth — if there is going to be any hope for the future unborn nations to come. As our indigenous prophecies have foretold, this is the time to come. And it has arrived.
If the collective healing of our hearts, heads, and hands are open to new ways of knowing and understanding, then together we can make life, our lives better in the areas of environmental stewardship, world peace, eradication of poverty and famine, along with the establishment of a new monetary model. For with each passing day the present systems, life itself is proving that it cannot sustain itself much further. Hence the saying “business as usual is over”. So let us take these words to heart and, together, step forth — out of the dawning recognition that WE are the ones we’ve been waiting for!”
At long last.
Ka’nahsohon Deer, Mohawk Faithkeeper
~ OUR OFFERING ~
Will begin together on Sunday, December 1, 2019 at the base of Mount Kodaakwadjo, the original Abenaki name for what is now known as Mount Washington, at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA. The Inauguration will encompass the full cycle of the week on the “bridge” over the Thanks-Giving Tide into the Advent Season leading up to Hanukkah, Christmas and the Winter Solstice. Attendance at part, or all, of the inauguration is welcome.
~ Sunday, December 1: Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, NH ~
Unless otherwise stated the gatherings are held in the Grand Ball Room.
7:00 am: Sunrise Ceremony, including a Ceremonial Welcome by representatives of our Native American Nations. The sunrise ceremony will lead into the ceremony of the “Three Bare Words,” whereby our minds are put at ease by the wiping away of our tears, the cleansing of our ears, and the removing of the tightness, the lump in our throat that arises from unresolved grief. For we all carry the wounds of loss, death, despair and pain. These traumas are ceremonially addressed at the outset of our deliberations, in order to embark in good spirits upon the historic work before us. Location: Presidential Terrace.
9:00: Breakfast
10:00: Ceremonial Protocols
11:30: Youth Servant-Leadership Summit
1:00: Lunch
2:00: Native Caucus & Gatherings of Working Circles
5:00: Inaugural Dinner: Blessings by Indigenous Grandmothers followed by One Dish with One Spoon Ceremony.
7:00: Evening Celebration: The celebration will begin with the song “One World” by the celebrated folk-singer Joanne Shenandoah of the Oneida Wolf Clan that was premiered at “The Bretton Woods IV Convocation.” “One World,” resonances of the opening song will be taken up in the participant’s Declaration/Speaking out of the original inspired [un-anglicized] names of their nations, beginning here on “Turtle Island,” with the Native Peoples of this land and continuing with the United States and the name of its nation’s capitol, the “District of Columbia.”
Words of Welcome by inaugurators will both set the historic Bretton Woods stage and expand its backdrop, as introduced in the introductory page of this web site.
The Words of Welcome are followed by Keynote Addresses by Futurist Hazel Henderson and Chief Arvol Looking Horse. Contributions of music, dance, song, verse, the word, and a 5-Directions Round Table and Plenum will follow — surrounded by exhibitions of the arts and crafts, foundation stones of New Hampshire’s aspiring “Northern Kingdom.”
Evening’s End: The opening celebration will end with a soliloquy by Dr. Patch Adams, tributes to Bernard Lietaer and Paul Glover, and a fairy tale inscribed by a representative of He who the Hopi Prophesy refers to as “The True White Brother.” In the Spirit of Tolkien’s beloved “Lord of the Rings,” the fairy tale honors “All Our Relations.” At evening’s end one and all are invited to step out onto the hotel’s enveloping portico to lift their gazes to Mount Kodaakwadjo / Washington and on up to the starry script of the heavens.
Confirmed Presenters throughout the week include: Doug George-Kanentiio, Louise Herne, Mohawk Nation Bear Clan Mother, Richard Kotlarz, Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset~Sherri Mitchell, Patricia Anne Davis, Ellen Brown, Ka’nahsohon Deer, Chief Caring Hands, Ken Pentel, Mihaela Ulieru, Kimchi Moyer, Andrea Lynn Dasoli, Mike Nadjiwon, Connie Baxter-Marlow, Fei Yang-Sady, Edward Hall III, Grandmother Sagaligesgw, Chief Earl Burley & Daughter Flower, Heidi Fritz Martinez, Johnny Ford, Ronald McDowell, Ivan Orellanos, Andrew Cameron Bailey, Jay Amaran, and Stuart-Sinclair Weeks.
Special invitations are being extended to representatives of the younger generations, including Greta Thunberg, Victoria Grant, Xiye Bastida Patrick, Fei Yang-Sady & Flower Burley, a blossoming singer of Native-American & African-American lineage. Xiye, Fei, and Flower are confirmed.
Those attending from the nations of the world will do so on behalf of circles of fellow citizens in their home lands. Throughout the week, those circles of citizens around the world will be gathering with us in Companion Inaugurations. Plans are in the works to “conference in” one Inauguration from each continent on earth.
~ Monday, December 2 ~ Saturday, December 7 ~
Since the original Bretton Woods conference of 1944, visitors from around the country and world have flown and taxied in to the splendid Mount Washington Hotel Resort — surrounded by some of the most depressed counties in the nation, due, in part, to legacy of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund created in their midst — held their conference and then flown out again.
As with our 2015 Convocation, we will begin at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods on Sunday, December 1 and then journey out to the surrounding communities that encompass Mount Kodaakwadjo / Washington, before returning to Bretton Woods for the Inauguration finale at the Mount Washington Hotel on Sunday, December 8th.
Those communities are North Conway on Monday, December 2nd; Berlin on Tuesday, December 3rd; Colebrook on Wednesday, December 4th; Lancaster on Thursday, December 5th; Littleton on Friday, December 6th; Franconia on Saturday, December 7th, as outlined in the following attachment.
Community Invitation, PDF — Community Invitation, DOCX
Central to the visits to the communities will be meeting with fellow members of “The Global Bretton Woods Working Circles” across the spectrum of professions. In the spirit of “act locally/think globally,” we look forward to working together to contribute toward turning the North Country into a “Northern Kingdom” — raising the ramparts of a universal model for economic and cultural development. Inspired by the vision that the last are destined to become the first, Servant-Leaders, the fruits of this work together will be adapted and adopted by fellow Working Circles participants in sister-communities around the country and overseas.
The Working Circles are encouraged to both consider, and expand upon, Gandhi’s “Eight Blunders,” which the Mahatma spoke of as “the cause of all the violence in the world: Wealth without Work. Pleasure without Conscience. Knowledge without Character. Commerce without Morality. Science without Humanity. Worship without Sacrifice. Politics without Principles and Rights without Responsibilities.
~ Sunday, December 8, The Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods ~
Unless otherwise stated the gatherings are held in the Grand Ball Room.
One and all are invited to return to the Mount Washington Hotel to draw the Inauguration of “The Bretton Woods Monetary Institute & Festival” to its conclusion.
The festivities on the final day will include a concert and choral offerings by the “Northern Kingdom’s” community and church choirs/choruses, featuring Sibelius’s celebrated song, “Finlandia”: This is my song, O God of all the nations… and Paul McCartney’s “Pipes of Peace”: I light a candle to our love. In love our problems disappear… Paul has been invited to attend and teach this song to the children of the North Country and larger global community.
Following the concert and choral offering, preliminary reports of the “Bretton Woods Global Working Circles,” and resultant initiatives, will be presented on the global stage of Bretton Woods to representatives of the nations of the world, fellow citizens, the media, New Hampshire’s public servants, and the presidential candidates and their campaigns.
With Gandhi “Eight Blunders” in mind, each “Global Bretton Woods Working Circle” will address from its sphere of influence the overarching vision of the Inauguration: How can our profession contribute toward fulfilling Morgenthau’s vision at the original 1944 Bretton Woods Conference: “the creation of a dynamic world community in which the peoples of every nation will be able to realize their potentialities in peace”?
The first report of the Global Bretton Woods Working Circles will focus on our global banking / financial system, elaborating on the monetary solutions offered on this web site.
The presidential candidates will be invited to respond to the reports and initiatives, with attention to the deeper underlying ISSUE that waits to unite us, amidst the flurry, the legion of issues, “the issues” that otherwise distract and divide us, the U.S. and Global Community. We look forward to further historic addresses by the candidates.
The Inauguration will end with the planting of the seed of Fellowship, a fellowship of “Debtors Anonymous” in the “Gold Room” of the Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods. In the 12 Step tradition — one of the greatest gifts that our aspiring United States has given to the world — “Debtors Anonymous” has inspired countless fellow citizens in our country and in countries around the globe, 30 nations and counting, to get their financial houses in order. As with the kindred 12-Step fellowships, “Debtors Anonymous” has MUCH to offer our nation and the greater Community of Nations.
For detailed schedule contact: info@brettonwoods.us
at the Bretton Woods IV Convocation on Thursday, October 1, 2015. Photo by Jim Peppler. Copyright Jim Peppler 2015.
Photo Gallery from 2015 Bretton Woods Convocation (if password required, enter concordium)