I heard Dr. Muhammad Yunus talk quite a few years ago at UBC. I only remember the story about how he met his first microloan recipient and one sentence:
“We took what we knew about conventional banks, then turned it all upside down. That’s Grameen Bank.”
That’s what I want to do. One day. Everyday. Turn structures upside down so they focus on the majority. So they work for the 99%. So they benefit those who are often voiceless and invisible – the marginalized, the environment, and the animals.
Of course, in reality, Dr. Yunus didn’t turn everything upside down. The computer systems the Grameen Bank uses are probably modified versions of the ones the conventional banks use. The model of applying interest (actually even higher interest because of higher transaction costs) is also conventional.
To completely turn everything upside down is ahistorical. It denies the ultimate importance of the social structures – yes, constructed by people, but sturdy nonetheless – foundational to human societies: political economy, evolution of ethics, spiritual beliefs… So far in history, at least in my opinion, nothing actually beneficial to the masses have come from disregarding specific time and contexts while changing our world.
To be ahistorical is not revolutionary, it is foolish. Foolish in the pain it causes. Foolish in the lessons it could have learnt, mistakes it could have avoided, lives it could have saved, if not for arrogance.
I am reminded of yet another lessons: First Do No Harm.