SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR GEORGE ABELA, PRESIDENT OF MALTA DURING THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BOOK ‘GOOD VALUE: REFLECTIONS ON MONEY, MORALITY AND AN UNCERTAIN WORLD' BY MR STEPHEN GREEN.  THE PALACE, VALLETTA.  FRIDAY 12 MARCH 2010.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear guests,

I am very pleased to have been invited to introduce the launching of this book "Good Value - Reflections on money, morality and an uncertain world" by Stephen Green, a former CEO of HSBC and currently the Bank's Chairman.  Indeed, he describes himself as "someone who has spent much of a working lifetime with money, commerce and economic development".  But on top of that, Mr. Green is also an ordained priest in the Church of England.  To my mind, quite a singular, rather than rare, combination of roles which must have had a bearing on the ideas which he expresses in his engaging book.

If there is an institution that we've heard a lot about in the past months, it was certainly the banks.  We have heard how the financial crisis was triggered by practices which we consider, even if not all of us really understand them, as having somehow led to a globalization of confusion and turbulence.  It is not surprising, therefore, that when I saw the title of the book "Good Value - Reflections on money, morality and an uncertain world" I was immediately intrigued.

Green tells us that the idea for the book was conceived in April 2008 "against the background of an unfolding global financial crisis" when he was reflecting on "a system that suddenly seemed to be built on sand instead of rock, about the whole direction of human economic and social development, about the ambiguity of the human experience of it all".  This book, therefore, is not just about the "globalized world", about finance and economics, but I would say, it's about the meaning and purpose of human life itself and its final end or goal, the society in which it thrives and the values we look for to give meaning to our endeavours - hence the title of the book "Good Value".  We all agree that society and human interaction, economic or otherwise, cannot thrive unless there is trust.  Green perceives the financial crisis as "a massive breakdown of trust" and this leads him to ask the very pertinent question:  "And if trust has been broken in this way, where do we go from here?"

The author continues to ponder on the ethical questions arising from this "financial shock".  He asks and deals with profoundly moral questions.  It is easy to blame the system but the system is created and run by individuals with their measure of personal responsibility.  Green asks what part individuals played in what went wrong and what should be done in future and continues: "... What have we learned about ourselves as human beings?  About what constitutes good business and a good life?  About what our values are?  About what the common good is?"  Green sums it all up in the word "Exploration" which is the title of his opening chapter.

Green sees merit in the thesis of the visionary French Catholic Jesuit priest, anthropologist and geologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and his concept of the "omega point", as expounded in his 1955 posthumous book The Phenomenon of Man.  Teilhard de Chardin spent the bulk of his life trying to integrate religious experience with natural science, most specifically Christian theology, with theories of evolution.  In this endeavour, he became enthralled with the possibilities for humankind, which he saw as heading for an exciting convergence of systems, an "Omega point" where the coalescence of consciousness will lead us to a new state of peace and planetary unity.

Green writes: "globalization is about something far deeper than economics, commerce and politics.  It is an evolution of the human spirit.  And, on this view, the end of globalization remains radically open precisely because of the ambiguities that seem to be intrinsic to the human spirit as it evolves". 

He then gives us his definition of globalization and describes it not as a concept or an ideology but as "a phenomenon that we live with, and that has accelerated very sharply in the past few decades.... a phenomenon produced by the human spirit".  It can neither be paused nor reversed.  He writes: "To treat it as something that is being steered by anyone or any group of people or any group of countries, is to misunderstand what is really happening."  Green asks where globalization will lead us and his answer is "Over the next fifty years, its main political impact will be to create a more multipolar world.  But it will also change societies, urbanizing them and individualizing them.  It will bring with it a new burst of cultural interaction and creativity.  And commercial connectedness and exchange will become ever more intense".  He contends that "The beginnings of globalization lie in the beginnings of humanity".

Green writes about the "global bazaar" and the same question keeps cropping up: what is it that we value?  He seems to be asking:  With all its endless endeavours for material gain in the global bazaar, will humanity finally reap the benefits it aims for or will it remain disappointed in the end?  Where are we heading collectively and individually?

Towards the middle of the book, he asks a number of questions regarding open-market capitalism, poverty in the world, sustainable use of resources, and individualism and how all this relates to our values, rights and duties.  He tackles these questions in the three chapters that follow.

He goes through the effects of capitalism and acknowledges that "the global balance of economic power is shifting as the centre of gravity moves from West to East" and that "The world is being rebalanced, and it has become increasingly broadly accepted that the framework of international institutions needs to be redrawn to reflect the new realities of globalization.  The developed world is going to have to make space for the newly powerful emerging economies".  He concludes that, despite the turmoil and the fear of globalization, the leaders of very politically diverse countries agree that prosperity for all depends on "an open world economy based on market principles, effective regulation, and strong global institutions".  But trust and confidence - the key elements in the capitalist market - must be restored.

The capitalist system - the engine of growth as he calls it - is only the means.  The end is economic development and this is really what we should be concerned with.  Green asks core ethical questions pertaining to the new world order.  "What is progress?  Is it material wealth, or is it something more fundamental?"  His answer is that progress is the increased ability to create such goods as happiness, love and friendship without discounting the part played by material wealth to achieve these.

The author goes into the question of what one can do to help one's fellow neighbour.  The eradication of poverty is one problem the world has not solved.  Indeed, poverty seems to become more challenging and it is the poor who bear the brunt of the worst, including the ills resulting from global warming and climate change.  Green is convinced that eradicating poverty is not a fantasy since we do possess the means, the resources and the know-how to eliminate this human scourge.  The same applies to reversing the effects of global warming.  He sees a connection between poverty and climate change: "the threat of climate change cannot be addressed in isolation from the challenge of poverty".  It is political will and strong leadership that are found wanting.  There must also be commitment from each and every one of us, especially the affluent. 

Green believes there must be extensive giving for poverty to be eliminated.  It is not the giving of money only but of all one is capable of, including talent and know-how, "the whole person", as he puts it.  It is a choice each one of us has to make and Green puts this moral responsibility squarely on the shoulders of whoever has means to dispose of towards this end.  He quotes St. Francis of Assisi: "we will discover that it is in giving that we are forgiven, and in forgiving that we receive".  He cites the striking parable of the Good Samaritan.  If we do not do this, we shall be disillusioned for we shall realize that "we cannot fulfil ourselves in business through power or work or wealth".  He invites us to ask ourselves: "How is what I am doing contributing to human welfare?  And why specifically am I doing it".  It is an invitation he extends to us all to stop and think, even in this busy competitive "global bazaar" that we live in, and to make the moral choices which will truly render us fulfilled in our lives.  If we seek only pleasure for ourselves, we end up with a Faustian bargain that leaves only a bitter emptiness.

Individually we must all make our moral choices, whether we are believers, agnostics or atheists.  We must be consistent in what we do and what we believe in.  We cannot compartmentalize.  Green writes: "We need to connect our metaphysical and moral framework - what we worship, what we admire, what we hold dear, what we hold to be right - what we think about the world and what we do and should do.  None of the realms we move in - our family life, our social life, our work life - is neutral ground".  He goes on to say: "... my belief is, by choice and not by inheritance or by easy certainty, Christian".  But he admits that he has doubts too and asks: "...though doubts are the apparent antithesis of the religious life, how many people could honestly say that they have none?"  Nevertheless, his Christian belief, he says: "...defines my end, in the end, and therefore it is my beginning on the journey."

In a sense, I see this as a teleological view.  Teilhard saw it as the "Omega point".  Green connects globalization with Teilhard's Omega Point: "There is no question that Teilhard de Chardin's insight is true - that the human becomes a person not just as an individual, but in community.  Teilhard saw community as emerging through the growing global connectedness of humankind..."

Green's wonderful book is full of carefully selected quotations from European and American literature and the Bible which help to illustrate what the author wants to say but also make the reader think more deeply on their meaning.  The first chapter is entitled "In my beginning is my end" and the last chapter "In my end is my beginning", both taken from "East Coker", the second of T.S. Eliot's haunting "Four Quartets".  Green is profound even in what he does not spell out to us directly: "In my beginning is my end, in my end is my beginning" is engraved on Eliot's grave site in England as his chosen epitaph.  The poem draws upon Eliot's study into Christianity, philosophy, and mysticism.  It is a deep exploration of the meaning of time and change.  And, I feel, this too is what Green's book is about.  It is about the human journey and where it will end, collectively and individually. 

Ultimately, in my view, Green's outlook is one of optimism and hope and, for this reason I do not hesitate to admit that reading his book was for me an enriching experience which I would invite you all to share by reading it too.  It's good value for money.