Tokyo Activism Update and Culture Jamming

I'm working my way back to permaculture entries.....

Here is a quick update on the haps.

I joined the youth team of the emergent Green Party,

and joined Green Action, a very active Kyoto based nuclear watchdog NPO.

The Tokyo Urban Permaculture (TUP) workshop is now full.

In fact, I already have a list of people for the next workshop.

What else.....2 hours vipassana meditation every day,

and occasional visits the occupation in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo.

Its a cool scene there, a serious glitch in the system.

Meanwhile, the "back-to-normal" campaign is steadily drowning out

the Fukushima accident, corruption, and accurate information

on the continuing severity of radiation exposure.

I'm gaining more and more insight into how little democracy there is here.

Oh wait....what is democracy anyway?

We need political change, economics as if people mattered,

media literacy and real journalism, ecological awareness, etc

But how do we achieve all this?

Are these not symptoms of something deeper?

Where are the roots of our problems?

And how do I use my time and energy effectively for deep meaningful change?

These are the questions that I'm always asking myself,

and that have led me to work on the things I'm doing now.

My current theory is that culture, our values and associated practices,

how we perceive reality, and collective consciousness is really at the

heart of solving our confounding crises. Something like that.

Buddha might not agree with that, but I'm not there yet.

So, how do we change mainstream culture?

My current approach:

1. create something that is more attractive - Tokyo Urban Permaculture, Green Party

2. challenge destructive ideologies and actions - Occupy, Green Action

3. be the change - cultivating inner peace, happiness, and unconditional compassion

But, am I really crossing the Great Divide of alternative and mainstream culture.

How can I infiltrate the 99% who don't know what is happening?

From Fukushima to our mental environment.

How do I effectively engage with people who say to me:

Nuclear is good, safe, cheap, and necessary.

Democracy means voting.

News is objective.

Money and consumption is happiness.

Well, thats my ramble for the week.

Cultural transformation is my fascination at this moment in life,

and what I hope to study at University of Tokyo

Grad Program in Sustainability Sciences.

On that note, a little on culture jamming.

First a definition from wikiP:

Culture jamming denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.

Culture jamming is often seen as a form of subvertising. Many culture jams are intended to expose apparently questionable political assumptions behind commercial culture. Common tactics include re-figuring logos, fashion statements, and product images as a means to challenge the idea of "what's cool" along with assumptions about the personal freedoms of consumption.

Looking for similar minded souls.

Whether it be permaculture, democracy, nuclear abolition,

or culture jamming.

There is so much potential in the world.