I thought this was a permaculture blog?
Why all this protest talk?
Its all part of the global sustainability movement,
rooted in grassroots efforts to redefine our cultural paradigm.
Whether it be people growing food, withdrawing from consumerism,
challenging corrupt governments and seemingly omnipotent corporations,
protesting on the streets, dumpster diving, starting ecovillages,
its all part of an emerging global revolution to reconnect with life.
An awakening to the reality that if we don't change,
we will destroy each other and our life-support system,
in the name of jobs, economy, and "national security".
Some of us experience the severity of the situation much more than others.
I imagine the increasing ecological and geo-political refugees all over the world,
and other victims of conflict are some of the people who experience it the hardest.
And even if you are living in a wonderful ecovillage
or are wealthy enough to stay away from most dangers,
like radioactive rain,
all of us will get a dose of the unpleasantness at some point.
Radiation and pollution knows no boarders or social-class.
My conviction is that,
we can change the situation,
but it really needs to be a big WE.
Yes we can!
But only if WE DO IT.
Not Obama, not Democrats, not the Tea Party, not the UN, not Green Peace, etc,
you, me, and everybody else.
Nobody can do it for us.
And as much as much as recycling, growing food, voting, buying local,
is good and perhaps a step in the right direction,
the toxic currents in our international political-economic and cultural systems,
need to be stopped and radically transformed.
We need to decentralise political-economic power.
Corruption thrives on concentrated power,
like disease in a pool of factory farmed hog shit.
If 9/11, the wars in the middle east, the economic crash,
bailing out the banks that gambled away our future,
bailing out the energy company that was too cheap to build a tsunami barrier high enough as instructed, and being irradiated by nuclear power plants that are supposedly safe and eco,
is not enough an impetus to stop our daily routine and take drastic action,
then my question is, what will?
Thats my thought process at the moment.
I am angry about the way things are.
A healthy anger.
I can go about my daily tasks,
enjoy food,
laugh,
love,
and still be aware that there is good reason to be angry.
Thats my rant of the week.
its not eloquent nor well thought out,
but it is what it is,
emotionful thoughts.
And I am genuinely interested in learning about how we can change this reality,
and how we can get more people proactively involved.
I need to go take my medication now.
Shower, kyoho grapes, and sunlight!
my view on "what will?" is that that we need to think very hard about what is possible for individuals to do. can we take down the system? the protesters in iran and syria just get shot. we need to look at history and think hard. what can work. what IS actually bigger than us. capitalism seems bigger than us. we have to study and read and discuss with each other with a HARD thinking process, ready to reject fanciful dreams. then at the same time we have to try stuff that makes sense. part of it is not participating even with our minds in the bank bailouts. i personally think we need to take another look at the labor union as an engine of change. work slow downs. wildcat strikes. students protests. the lyrics of 'solidarity forever' read, "what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?" sure there's a critique possible of that too but i think the left has gotten too individual focussed. but also, i think my friend amemiya's idea is important: just say it's GOOD ENOUGH just as it is. the house, the life, the food, don't buy another thing. not 'buy nothing day' but buy nothing month or year. those are my thoughts now
ReplyDeleteHi Kai,
ReplyDeleteI think right now it won't be a BIG we, but a small we. Really, changing your personal lifestyle will not do anything to stop ecocide. Even if you could organize a million people to use fewer resources, those resources would just be freed to be used by someone else. To stop consumption by voluntary action at the consumer end, you would have to organize every consumer in the world.
I think we all thought that in a post Dai-ichi Japan we'd see some action in the streets. But look around - nothing. That's the reality. So how do we ditch industrial nuclear electric culture here in Japan ? You might think the big obstacle is politicians or corporate greed or finding the alternative. I think the big obstacle is cultural inertia: very few people living in Japan want to transition from all-you-can-eat nuclear electricity, to stairs and hand-held fans and woodstoves. Again, that's the reality. You might think that the ongoing collapse of the oil/growth economy will take care of this, but remember the Vikings in Greenland in Jared Diamond’s Collapse ? They chose to die of starvation rather than eat fish.
Since March 11th and all that we’ve seen come of the Daiichi Nuke power plant, I’m tending to think that many industrialized people living in Japan would rather die by the loaded gun than learn a whole new way of living. So I think the best strategy is to stay out of the way of the stubborn people, and try to organize the adaptable people and an Ark of a Landbase.
By this I mean: A patchwork of people - a fellowship - who steward land and are interested in 400-1000 years into the future.
Cheers,
ken