Crisis and beyond, essai, second edition
Pierre JC Allard, Fondation littéraire Fleur de Lys

Foreword

This is a book about work, mostly about the absence of it; it deals with the end of the Age of Toil, a once-in-evolution crisis. I have been thinking about this book for about twenty years; finally, I got rid of most notes and figures and set it down in eight weeks. It is not meant as a work of art, but as a call to action.

Not a work of art, not a research paper either. I am not trying to describe the present situation and argue that there is a problem; I take it as an article of faith we are all aware that there is one, and my purpose here is to deal, not with the what, but with the why of our present troubles... and with the how of a solution. Conse-quently, although there are plenty of statistics floating around to sustain the conclusions of this book, I will concentrate on the principles, causal links and relations involved rather than the numbers.

Figures will change with time; indeed, they will have changed by the time this book is published! It is my contention however that, from now on, all figures will substantiate the same conclusions until we heed this call or a similar call to action.

On final approach, I got rid also of nearly all quotations from authors, living or dead. This was not to deny the influence of such as Galbraith, Illytch, Theobald, MacLuhan, Parkinson, Maslow and others — I will allude frequently to their works and make use freely of the concepts they made popular — but what I had read and found interesting became so enmeshed in my own thoughts that I would have been afraid not to give everyone his due. I hasten to add, however, that I claim no other originality than that of putting it together and proposing a solution.

Bowing to the giants, I prefer on the other hand to do without the authority of quasi-celebrities from far-away places; this book is not a digest and does not rely on Authority. I have read too many books recently that are merely collections of some out-of-context utterances and quotes from obscure Professors Smiths and Doctors Fu-Manchus who happen to agree that the Fountain of Youth, or what-not, is on the far side of the Moon. I did find out that most of them were not easy to reach over the phone and that, when tracked down and really hard-pressed, they would, more often than not, qualify the original quip and turn it into something more palatable but totally uninteresting.

No quotations, no statistics; this book is a call for action. In simpler times, it would have gone to the Pope, or the Prince, with an exhortation. Nowadays, it is not so easy to identify, in the “technostructure” of the Global Village, those who can really make things happen; the sheer mass of the system dwarfs leaders, tycoons and gurus to the size of powerbugs, who may crawl and gnaw, but will not change the tack or momentum of our society unless there is a huge public demand for change. So, this book goes to you.

It will need friends... I have been told that it might be unwise to explain things bluntly, in the manner of this book. Our civilization, though, has produced, by far, the most educated people ever. If any people ever had a claim to be able to face the truth and make a choice, it is certainly today's citizenry of America and other Western Nations. Fundamental changes are about to occur in our society; they will happen sooner with strong popular support, and if the people manifest their will to change. So let's open up.

Traditionally, a call for action will antagonize only those who resent change, any kind of change. However, because this book has no culprits to blame for our present predicaments, because the story it tells has no obvious villain and because it calls for an orderly change of our society, it is bound to come under attack also from those who believe that there is no possible change but THE change, in accordance with Marxist Scriptures; they will say that this book is “simplistic” and that its theories have been “exploded”. You make your own judgment.


P. A.

Fourth of July, 1987
 

BIOGRAPHIE

Directeur de projet, négociateur ou expert-conseil au sein de nombreux projets privés et publics à financement multilatéral ou bilatéral d'assistance au tiers-monde (OCDE, UNESCO, BIRD, ACDI, BAD, CEE) et membre du conseil d'administration de diverses OSBL : Club 2/3, APCI, Acer International.
 

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Présentation de l'auteur par le journaliste Jacques Giroux, Journal de Québec à l'occasion du lancement du livre "Monde ordinaire, c'est à ton tour...", Avril 1993.

" Sa vie est un roman d'aventure. Ce globe-trotter, homme d'action et de réflexion, a parcouru plus de 100 pays. Polyglotte, humaniste, formé à l'école des Jésuites, il devient, fin des années 50, moine itinérant en Inde et disciple du gourou Sivananda. Conseiller juridique de Fidel Castro, expert-conseil en Espagne sous le régime Franco, il négocie des contrats en Iran, sous le règne du Shah. Membre du premier conseil exécutif national du NPD, il organise en 1962 la première campagne de financement du Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale.

Témoin privilégié des grands bouleversements politiques et sociaux, il a été plongé dans l'enfer de la guerre civile au Zaîre en 1962 et, 20 ans plus tard, vécu le désespoir du peuple Salvadorien, déchiré par une lutte fratricide. Il est à Paris lors des manifestations de Mai 68, fête en avril 1974 avec les Portugais, la "Révolution des Oeillets" et, quelques mois plus tard, assiste à la chute de la junte des Colonels à Athènes en Grèce.

Artiste dans l'âme, rationaliste mais adepte du I Ching, la sagesse millénaire de la Chine qu'il a aussi visitée, l'auteur est multidimensionnel: un homme de la Renaissance, il véhicule des idées du Troisième Millénaire. Il faut avoir vécu bien des "vies" en une, pour parler aussi simplement de choses aussi complexes au Monde Ordinaire.