Country:United Kingdom
Name: Michael Victor Thomas
Date of birth: 23rd July 1940
Home and office address: 48 Churchward Avenue, Swindon,
Wiltshire SN2 1NH, UK
EMail: mikethomasfiohuk@googlemail.com
Since the age of 17 I have been
concerned about extreme poverty in the world, but until I reached
the age of 32 I did little more about this than make donations
to charities like Oxfam. I had always believed extreme poverty
in the South was primarily due to 'natural' disasters like drought,
earthquakes and severe storms, large population increases and
wars. It was in the 1970s that I became more aware of the extent
to which the systems of trade and finance dominated by the rich
countries of the West contributed to poverty and hunger. This
awareness made me feel both guilty and angry, but I also realised
that these emotions would be of no use to anyone, let alone
myself. I had to become more involved in addressing these issues.
But How?
I became more involved after watching a BBC television programme
called 'Global Report' about the lives and campaigning activities
of individuals from around the world. One of these was a member
of a Norwegian movement named 'Future in Our Hands'.
The programme featured the story
of Berit Gronvold who was involved in a local FIOH campaign
in support of the Laps whose land was threatened by the proposed
construction of a dam on the Alta River. As a result of the
interest generated by this programme, a UK branch of FIOH was
launched at a meeting at the Africa Centre in London on 30th
Oct 1982.
It was my introduction to the philosophy
of the Future in Our Hands movement and the book of the same
name by the founder, Erik Dammann, that led me to believe that
there was much more that I could do on a personal basis. I realised
that whatever I decided should be coupled with a commitment
to a relatively simple way of life, a greater sharing of my
wealth with those who were poor and a commitment to campaigning
for changes in unjust systems of trade and finance. The message
was clear and simple, but I also realised that trying to apply
this philosophy would require complex solutions that were in
direct opposition to the conventional economic growth approach
to development and the distribution of wealth. I came to realise
that the fundamentals of economic growth were exploitation,
greed, competition, gambling, corruption and extreme inequality
between the rich and the poor. Seen in this light, it was clear
that the FIOH philosophy was counteractive to the status quo
and would be seen by most politicians and business people to
be both foolish and naive. Indeed, most people in the West were
likely to share the view that the increased consumption associated
with economic growth was something to be applauded. Even if
the wealth created was not shared fairly, at least some of it
would 'trickle down' to the poor!
Another aspect of FIOH that appealed
to me was that it was not primarily a structured organisation
and what mattered was that its participants should try to adopt
a lifestyle that reflected values like co-operation, sharing,
fellowship and truth. Different groups and branches could adopt
different structures for practical organisational and legal
purposes, but should encourage their participants to accept
the value-based philosophy of the movement. Of course there
are no guarantees that this will happen in practice because
this approach is based on trust.
Since I became the UK co-ordinator of FIOH the efforts I have
made to increase the number of participants have not so far
yielded very much success. A similar experience followed the
efforts I made with Richard Douthwaite to establish a branch
of the movement in Ireland. Richard later wrote several important
books on alternative economics including 'The Growth Illusion',
'Short Circuit' and 'The Ecology of Money'. He also helped to
found the increasingly influential 'Foundation for the Economics
of Sustainability'.
I came to an early conclusion that
although the movement's message was initially aimed at 'affluent'
people in the West, the value emphasis had international relevance.
The first interest from the inappropriately named 'third world'
resulted from an article in an internationally distributed magazine,
'The New Internationalist'. From the correspondence I had with
individuals abroad, groups were formed in Ghana, Sierra Leone
and Kenya. There are also womens' co-operatives in Kenya and
the Cameroon bearing the FIOH name. My activities have been
strongly influenced by the concepts of 'counteraction' and 'the
unfinished' as described in Erik Dammann's book 'Revolution
in the Affluent Society'.
Despite the disappointments in the UK and Ireland, the registered
charities, Future in Our Hands Education and Development Fund
and Plant a Tree in Africa that I have been able to establish
with the help of my wife and some friends, have supported many
sustainable projects in poor countries. These initiatives have
also brought me into contact with individuals from around the
world who have expressed an interest in the movements' philosophy
and provided me with the opportunity to experience the problems
that poor people face at first hand. I visited Sierra Leone
(with my daughter Clare) in 1988 and again in 1992 to help with
work in a slum area named Kroobay in the capital Freetown. I
visited again in 2001 in connection with a project to help people
affected by the civil war re-establish farming activities in
Yonibana and Lunsar (90 miles form the capital), but had to
return home after only 2 days because of a threatened rebel
attack on the capital.
The cancellation of my outward flight from Heathrow because
of an instrument failure during take off, proved to be fortuitous.
Had I left when I had planned, I would have been in Lunsar at
the time of a rebel attack.
In 1998 I visited Kenya in connection
with tree planting projects around Kisumu near Lake Victoria.
During my visit Rom Wandera (co-ordinator of FIOH Kenya) and
I helped women from ten local groups establish a womens co-operative.
We also took the first steps towards establishing a 21st Century
Kisumu Forum (Agenda 21) and organised two meetings at the local
museum to facilitate this.
In 1999 I visited Bamenda and Kumbo in the NW Province of the
Cameroon in connection with a project to cut down half a million
eucalyptus trees which had been lowering water tables and reducing
crop yields. One of the outcomes of this problem was that many
women had to walk up to 15 miles to find new farming areas.
The eucalyptus were to be replaced with indigenous nitrogen-fixing
trees for agro-forestry. I also ran some workshops with the
partner NGO, Strategic Humanitarian Services to introduce the
idea of a savings and credit union co-operative to several womens'
groups. During my visit a pilot nursery for 80,000 tree seedlings
was established.
I returned to the area in 2001 with my wife to monitor the main
project.
In 1990 my wife and I visited Orissa and Tamil Nadu in India
to see the work of the New Hope Rural Leprosy Trust and the
Rural Integrated Development Organisation. We were able to see
the houses built by the tribals of the Sitheri Hills with money
raised in Swindon during 1987 (the UN International Year of
Shelter).
We both visited Orissa again in 2001 to see some of the areas
devastated by a cyclone in the previous year. We were also able
to see the considerable expansion of the work of New Hope which
even included the building of a hospital for surgery on people
with leprosy and eye cataracts, including postnatal care and
rehabilitation.
In 2000 I made a visit to Sierra
Leone which was cut short by threats of renewed rebel attacks
and in 2002 I made a 4th visit to Sierra Leone to carry out
the final monitoring of a post-conflict reconstuction project
support by the FIOH Fund. An account of this visit can be found
HERE.
In 2006 I started carrying out
some research for a book (which I have named 'Countdown') on
major global crises and possible solutions. In 2008 I started
helping promotote a campaign for a global greenhouse gas reduction
scheme named Cap and Share that would have the effect of both
reducing emissions and sharing a compensation for rising fuel
prices equitably amongst all the people of the world. Details
can be found HERE.
I also helped to start Transition Swindon. In 2009 I undertook
the final monitoring trip to the Cameroon of another project
supported by the FIOH Fund which was to benefit 9000 women living
in the NW Province. Details of the trip can be found HERE.
We have also been privileged to
receive many visitors from abroad into our home - from Guatemala,
India, Sierra Leone, Tibet, Pakistan, Kenya, Ghana, Sri Lanka,
Uganda, USA, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Brazil. In association with
our contacts abroad, we hope to build a web site that will offer
some perspectives on the way poor people live and present practical
and hopeful ideas for creating a better and fairer world for
everyone.
Personal Data
Wife: Glenys Leonie Thomas
Children: Lynette Catherine Thomas and Clare Louise O'Driscoll.
Qualifications: MSc Environmental and Development Education,
C Eng, A Inst AM
Employment: Senior civil engineer (retired 1992)
Present organisational post: Future in Our Hands International
Network Co-ordinator, Chairman - Plant a Tree in Africa and
treasurer, FIOH Education and Development Fund,
Publications: A Guide to the Preparation of Civil Engineering
Drawings