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“He organized the families into the clans, and then he set up the leaders of the clans. He established that the league of peace would be matrilineal and that each clan would have a clan mother. Thus, he established in law the equal rights of women. He raised the leaders of each clan, two men, one the principal leader and the second his partner. They were to work together for the good of the people. He called these two men “Hoyanah” or the “good minds”, the peacemakers: and they were to represent their clans in council. This, he established the principle of representation of people in government. Henceforth, he said, these men will be chosen by the clan mother, freely using her insight and wisdom and ratified by full consensus of the clans, chiefs and Grand Council of Chief of the Five Nations.”

This is only an extract from the full discussion, showing Plantagon Chairman Oren Lyons and CEO Hans Hassle.

Milton Friedman published this article in The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970.

In some ways we agree very much with what he says; corporations as institutions are not prepared to do anything else than maximizing the profit, being responsible only towards the owners. But, exactly this is the problem as anyone can see where this standpoint is taking us. We need to rethink corporations as they are not fit for the context of today.

“When I hear businessmen speak eloquently about the ’social responsibilities of business in a free- 

enterprise system,’ I am reminded of the wonderful line about the Frenchman who discovered at the age of 

70 that he had been speaking prose all his life. The businessmen believe that they are defending free en­ 

terprise when they declaim that business is not concerned “merely” with profit but also with promoting 

desirable “social” ends; that business has a “social conscience” and takes seriously its responsibilities for 

providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution and whatever else may be the 

catchwords of the contemporary crop of reformers. In fact they are–or would be if they or anyone else 

took them seriously–preaching pure and unadulterated socialism.”

Download the article:miltonfriedmanarticlenymag

Chief Oren R. Lyons writes:

Long ago, we developed our own answers to the questions the European philosophers and political theorists have been asking for centuries.  Upon the continent of North America, prior to the landfall of the first white man, a great league of peace was formed.  The inspiration for the founding of the league came from a prophet called the Peacemaker.  He was a spiritual being, fulfilling the mission of organizing warring nations into a confederation under the Great Law of Peace.  This is a long history, too long to recount in this article.  Suffice it to say it is a great epic, the equal of any in the European tradition.  It tells of war and destruction that culminated on the lake now called Onondaga.  After many years of hard work, some say perhaps even 100 years, the Peacemaker gathered the warring leaders, who had been transformed into rational human beings by the wisdom of hi teachings, in a grad council and began to instruct them as to how the great league of peace would work.

He organized the families into the clans, and then he set up the leaders of the clans.  He established that the league of peace would be matrilineal and that each clan would have a clan mother.  Thus, he established in law the equal rights of women.  He raised the leaders of each clan, two men, one the principal leader and the second his partner.  They were to work together for the good of the people.  He called these two men “Hoyanah” or the “good minds”, the peacemakers: and they were to represent their clans in council.  This, he established the principle of representation of people in government.  Henceforth, he said, these men will be chosen by the clan mother, freely using her insight and wisdom and ratified by full consensus of the clans, chiefs and Grand Council of Chief of the Five Nations.

Then, he also made tow houses in each nation.  One he called the Long House and the other he called the Mud House.  The houses would work together in ceremony and council, establishing the inner source of vitality and dynamics necessary for community.  He made two houses in the Grand Council, one called the Younger Brothers consisting of the Oneida and the Cayuga Nation and later enlarged to include the Tuscarora.  The other was the Elder Brothers, consisting of the Mohawks as the Keepers of the Eastern Door, the Onondaga whom he made the Firekeepers, and the Senecas who were the Keepers of the Western Door.  Thus he established in North America the principal of a bicarmal form of government that continues up to this day.

This council still governs.  Its first duty is to carry on the sacred ceremonies; the second duty is to meet in council for the welfare of the people.  Now the Peacemaker made the house, and the rafters of the house were the laws that he laid down, and he called us Haudenosaunee, the people of the Long House.

After instructing the people and giving them the Great Law of Peace, he took an arrow and broke it.  Then he took five arrows, each representing the nations of the confederacy: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.  He bound them with the sinew of a deer and attempted to bread these arrows.  “See, here is your strength, in unity,” he told the people gathered.  “This will protect your people.  The symbol of this great union will be the great white pine, with four white roots, the truth which will grow in the four cardinal directions of the earth.  These roots will be there for people to follow.  Those who have nowhere to go will follow these roots back to their source, the Great Tree and come under the shelter of the great long leaves of peace.  I will uproot this tree, and i command you to come forward and to cast into this hole all of your weapons of war, that you shall never raise against on another again.  And these weapons will be carried by the currents under the earth to the farthest reaches.  And I will replace the tree and i will not leave you defenseless.  I place in your hands the sacred tobacco which will be your direct relations to the Creator and as long as you believe in the power of the Creator, you will survive.  And so now we have planted the Great Tree of Peace.”

He said to the new leaders: ”When you sit and council for the welfare of the people, think not of yourself, nor of your family, nor even your generation. Make your decision on behalf of the seventh generation coming. Those faces looking up from the Earth, layer upon layer, awaiting their time…”

That is a profound instruction on responsibility and mission, we share this with you.

Use it, it has served us well.

Hans Hassle writes:

PLANTAGON will show that sharing is more profitable than greed.

PLANTAGON will show that the willingness to accept responsibility gives more power than the wish to avoid responsibility.

This is a Value Change needed for Survival.

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 10⁹ hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?

It is obvious that we cannot continue ”Business as usual” if we want to survive. We need to create corporations that are not only fixated on money, corporations going far beyond the environmental and broader sustainability imperatives.

We need to create corporations built from a deep sense of responsibility for the common good.

This means a core business that is good for society, as well as democratic and transparent organizations that are able to balance commercial success with idealistic principles.