Home > 6 Steps to Simpol > 6 Steps – tell me more

6 Steps – tell me more

Step 1 – The World’s current problems (back to short answer)

Climate change, environmental destruction, poverty and war – everything that gives you and all of humanity a heavy heart – cannot be properly solved by any government acting alone. That’s because solutions inevitably mean higher costs for business. So any nation moving first will lose out because businesses will just move their operations – and many jobs – to more business friendly countries.

So the resources, funding and technology needed to do what is necessary are not being used. The major leap forward will come when we learn how to work together globally; then these resources can be put to good use.

“Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”  Barack Obama (U.S. President, Address to the United Nations September 2009)

The whole world expects so much of Barack Obama. But he is well aware that challenges such as climate change and poverty will never be met by any country acting alone, not even by America. That’s because it would present that country with a serious economic disadvantage. The world’s biggest polluters have resisted the change that is needed – not because they don’t want change – but because they stand to lose economically.

Governments are understandably reluctant to shoot themselves and their electorate in the foot by losing investment to other, more business-friendly countries. Investment panic can be very costly and it can happen very quickly. Every politician and government is aware of this. They are also reminded by big business lobbyists just how costly it can be.

Presently, then, governments are locked in a vicious circle and they can’t escape it. Only if global regulations are implemented in a way that no nation loses out – that is, simultaneously – can our problems be solved.

Of course we would all like governments to take a lead, it’s true. But the vicious circle they’re caught in prevents this. So that is why we, the people, must take the lead. Then the leaders will follow!

Step 2 – Simpol in a nutshell (back to short answer)

Simpol stands for the Simultaneous Policy. The policy actually means many policies, each of which would be acted on simultaneously by all or sufficient nations.  They are the policies needed to deal with climate change, global poverty, corporate power and other global problems; policies which, if implemented by any nation alone, would harm its economy and its people. By implementing policies simultaneously, no nation, corporation or citizen need lose out and everybody wins.
The policy content of Simpol is constantly evolving and being shaped democratically by everyone that supports Simpol (see Step 4).  It is being designed to ensure that the current unregulated, top-down and unfair global market is made to work for the benefit of all. This means robust global regulations, taxes on the rich and mobile, and proper re-distribution of wealth to poorer countries. It means a new level of global co-operative regulation that stops the global market being abused for the benefit of a few and instead makes it prosperous for all.

But Simpol isn’t just a global policy. It’s also a political process designed to allow we, the people, to drive our politicians to actually implement Simpol. You can do this by Adopting Simpol. That means you write to your MP or to all candidates at election time, telling them you’ll be voting in future national elections for ANY candidate – within reason – that has pledged to implement Simpol alongside other governments. Or, if you have a party preference, you ask your party to sign that Pledge. In that way, politicians who sign the Pledge risk nothing because the policy only gets implemented if and when sufficient other governments have signed up. But if they fail to sign it, they could risk losing their seat to another politicians that has. With more and more parliamentary seats, and even entire elections, hanging on relatively few votes, it won’t take many of us, to make it in the vital survival interests of all politicians and parties to sign the Pledge. That’s why, with Simpol, you no longer ask politicians to solve global problems; you compel them to do so. You make it in their political interests to do so!

So there’s two sides to Simpol: campaigning to get more people, politicians and governments to sign the Pledge, and deciding, together, the policy content of Simpol; deciding, that is, the policies politicians will be required to implement when sufficient governments are on board.

Simpol, of course, is a global campaign. People in all countries are being invited to start their own national campaigns, leading eventually to global change; to the transformation we have all been waiting for. Global problems are showing us that we need to work together to solve them. The beauty of Simpol’s approach is that it is peaceful and open. It so happens that, due to globalisation, we can for the first time ever, via Simpol, make democracy work for who it is meant to work for: everyone. If we use our votes in the same old way, we should not expect any change for the better. That’s why we need to vote creatively; to vote Simpol.

Step 3 – What Simpol has achieved so far? (back to short answer)

Originally a thought (in 1998), then a book (in 2001), it is now an international movement spanning 70 countries worldwide. In the UK, 24 MPs have signed the Pledge so far. This concept with it’s ‘practical backbone’ is uniting everyone who wants to make a difference – people who have found a reason to come together, people who have made the connection that solving global problems isn’t just about protest or even technical solutions, but about building global cooperation; about building global agreement. That’s because without agreement, there can be no meaningful implementation, and therefore no solution. Simpol is for those who see the world for what it is but have imagined what it could be like….  people, perhaps like you, who have run out of patience. With the Simpol voting strategy (see step 4) we already have the power at our fingertips. We no longer need to ask governments, we can tell them. But it is only by us exercising that power together, that we can achieve a global resolution; a resolution that is in harmony with nature, with the whole world, and with each other.

Simpol is growing more and more beautifully every day because of you and others like you all around the world. Be part of it.  Adopt Simpol and Multiply

Step 4 – What can I do? (back to short answer)

The more involved you get, the sooner and easier we can make it happen!

  • You can Adopt Simpol now. It’s free. If you want to get more involved then that’s even better. You can do this by:
  • You could join or start a local Simpol campaign group. Click here for more.
  • Adopt and Multiply! Why not tell 2 friends per week about Simpol and invite them to Adopt and Multiply too.
  • You can write to, or  if you have time, meet with MPs and Candidates in your area. Take the Pledge Forms for MPs and Candidates with you. We can give you support if you want it. Just call 07799603042 (Barnaby) or email info@simpol.org.uk
  • You could write to your favourite NGO to tell them how their strongest policy objectives can be implemented through Simpol. Click here for a template letter.
  • Volunteering your skills and enthusiasm to us there quicker. Click here to go fill in the Volunteer Sign Up Page
  • Submitting a policy suggestion for inclusion in Simpol’s policy package. Click here
  • Becoming a Member of Simpol-UK. Click here
  • Join our national or international email lists and link up with other Adopters. Click here to join.
  • You could hold a Global Co-operation Street Party in your street to get the world closer and happier.

Step 5 – Is Simpol being realistic? (back to short answer)

What we have to ask is: are existing methods of solving global problems realistic? Clearly not, as the Copenhagen fiasco in 2009 showed. To try to solve problems in a way that first movers loose out, or which can’t adequately compensate poorer countries, is neither practical nor realistic. With its concept of global simultaneous implementation and its special voting tool, Simpol could well be the quickest route to genuine, long-term solutions. The realistic conclusion to draw from Copenhagen is that politicians can’t solve global problems by themselves. Therefore we need a coherent global approach like Simpol; an approach that’s citizen-driven, and designed to remove the barriers that make existing methods unworkable. Simpol, then, is far more realistic than doing nothing and it’s far more realistic than conventional politics. And since Simpol operates in parallel to conventional politics and international treaty-making, you have nothing to lose by supporting it, and everything to gain.

Simpol needs help – lots of it, and it will willingly partner with any organisation that shares similar goals.  

People are ready for Simpol. It may sound like a long process, but when an idea’s time has come, it’ll catch on quicker than you might think.

As people begin to see why global co-operation is necessary and beneficial, and how Simpol can help bring it about, the more people will become optimistic about our future together, be encouraged to get active and join the movement, so driving more and more governments to sign on and so bring closer the date of Simpol’s implementation.

Simpol also encourages more immediate action. That’s because it separates policies that can be implemented by nations alone from those that can’t. Policies that can be implemented by individual nations can be taken forward by them, independently, in the usual way. They have nothing to do with Simpol. But those policies that need simultaneous action can be included in Simpol, because only Simpol solves the first-mover competitive disadvantage problem. In that way, all excuses for inaction and delay are removed and both types of policy can be implemented in the quickest way.

The present top down system does very well out us not getting involved. So with Simpol we are taking responsibility for the way things are by flooding that system with our collective intention. In fact we will become the new system; we will “be the change we want to see in the world” (Gandhi)

Step 6 – Living in a ‘Simpol world’ (back to short answer)

There would be no monolithic Simpol global governance building housed by the few. Simpol is communities coming together, linking together globally; the Simpol centre will be everywhere, interconnected.

Simpol is unity in diversity. It is about celebrating cultural identity as part of a new global community. Nations will still make their own decisions, but for global decisions, it will be the people, globally, who decide. And by taking those decisions that must be taken at the global level, we’ll free local communities to take decisions that should be taken locally.

It is increasingly obvious that humanity’s biggest lesson is to learn how to live in harmony with each other and with nature. The good news is that most of us have common needs and desires; we want to feel included and enjoy our surroundings. Very many social scientists agree that new co-operative ways of leading our lives could allow for real choice. This is because people would be free from old competitive systems, systems which severely restrict choice. They restrict choice because in order to survive, people are generally forced act in ways which ensure they come out on top; normally at the expense of others, the planet, their own long term benefit, even the future of their own children.  Until now we have all been forced to act this way because this is the competitive system we have been born into; a system which benefits the few and pits person against person. But the crisis this system has created is making it obvious that we have both the responsibility and the opportunity to choose a better way together. If we can do this, we will no longer be forced to act in the old competitive ways. We are learning that if we want to survive, and survive well, we need to work together. This is called intelligent self-interest. What Simpol offers us is a way to do just that; a way forward that allows us not just to choose what must be done, but also a political process to make it happen.

People are ready, putting aside old grievances, developing a new global mindset, whilst celebrating their heritage and culture in peace and co-operation. Globalisation is teaching us the hard way that it is best to be understanding, to co-operate, and to take responsibility. A Simpol world is to strive, as a work-in-progress, for a very high ideal; for a world where peace, justice, sustainability and prosperity exist for every single person on the planet. Why be any less ambitious?

Our world is one with a healthy beating heart, rejuvenated and strong, ready for the new challenges we might face together. A world where going to work need no longer mean leaving your values at home, including the value of long term self-preservation!

Read on for more Simpol in depth - Creating space for change Click here

For answers to specific questions about Simpol go to FAQ Click here.