Free, Equal and Mutual

With resurgent nationalism, global warming, rising inequality and blowback from war, our market dominated society is in meltdown. However Rudolf Steiner’s free, equal, and mutual vision offers a timely alternative for rebalancing society. This pushes back “the market” from politics and culture. How? Healthy boundaries are reasserted between the private business sector, the public state sector, and the plural cultural sector. This shapes a dynamic threefold society based on mutuality, equality, and freedom–for people and planet. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) campaigned for threefold society in the war-torn Germany of 1917-19, activated by the compelling need to create the conditions for lasting peace. He recognized that the dynamics of politics, economic life, and culture were very different, calling for clear boundaries and partnership. Running a business like a government department or school is a recipe for failure. He saw self-determination for individual people as healthy, but prophetically saw “national self-determination” under Versailles as a recipe for toxic nationalism and more war.