Protests Work

Headline: 

"Under intense pressure from protesting farmers, the European Commission has dropped key passages in a proposal for a new 2040 goal for cutting greenhouse gas pollution."

The message: Protests work.

If protests didn't work, governments around the world wouldn't be trying to outlaw them.

If the government of Canada was not threatened by mass protests, why would they have declared a national emergency for the first time ever to end the Freedom Convoy?

That declaration, mind you, was recently ruled by a federal judge as an illegal use of that legislation.

The frightened, threatened, and panicked Canadian government used a sledge hammer to swat a fly... and missed.

Collective action is a life-changing, society-changing experience. 

It works, and that is what they are afraid of.

We must protest now like our lives depend on it, because they do.

See you on the front lines.

Living Simply is a Good Start

“The point is, there is no feasible excuse for what are, for what we have made of ourselves. We have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality, dividends before decency, fanaticism before fairness, and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others” 

― Iain M. Banks

Whatever we let the forces of evil do to other people, they will eventually do to us.

We can see what they have in store for us by taking a look at what they are doing around the world now.

The NATO vs Russia war hosted by Ukraine.

The horrific and ongoing genocide in Gaza supported by all the western nations including my own, Canada.

The EU going after their farmers in order to divert money to corruption and war.

The seizing of Russian foreign assets.

The ignoring and coverup of the out of control deaths and injuries in post-pandemic times not attributable to covid.

What are the populations of the countries responsible for these horrors doing about this mess?

Our silence and inaction is interpreted as our support for more death and destruction.

I want to go on record to say that I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS STATE OF AFFAIRS, and will do anything within my sphere of influence to make it stop.

What many don't see coming, is that what we are allowing to happen with our tax dollars by our "democratic representatives" will eventually come home to roost. 

We should be fighting against the death and destruction being wrought upon the world because it is the right thing to do.

But we should also fight it as an act of self-preservation because we are next.

If we do nothing, we are doomed to the same fate as our brothers and sisters in Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russia, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Libya, and Iraq. Eventually the war machine will turn on Iran. 

And then us? 

Our farmers will be the ones to be attacked and rendered unable to feed themselves and the rest of us.

We will find our bank accounts seized for making the wrong kind of post to social media, or for joining a protest, or for not taking a questionable experimental treatment of the establishment's choosing.

We will be dehumanized and disposed of, for the convenience and benefit of a small, psychopathic, greedy minority, just so that they may have more.

Our greatest threat is not climate change, contrary to what we are told. That is being used to divert our attention from larger threats.

As I see it, our greatest threat is the insane wealth and power of a tiny portion of humanity, and their psychopathic need to control and own everything. 

Our greatest threat is our own inaction in the face of their evil plots for global domination.

What started out as an experiment in consumerism and democracy will end with our collapse and eventual extinction if we don't take massive action starting today.

We can see where this is headed, and it doesn't look good. 

Living simply is a good start, but it won't be enough.

Green Magic

Is the electrification of transportation an actual workable solution? Or will the green magic of electric vehicles just mean a whole lot more car-nage for our ailing planet?

Tim Morgan, in The Way We Live Next has a few of his own questions about what the green wizards are promising.

"We’re assured that a solution exists to climate hazard in the form of renewable energy, principally from wind and solar power. Many critical questions remain unanswered in the wider world.

Here are some of them:

1. If transitioning to renewables is undoubtedly going to be costly – USD 130 trillion seems a reasonable estimate – what are we going to do without in order to pay for it?

2. This sort of money equates to enormous amounts of raw materials, most obviously steel, copper, lithium, cobalt and other minerals – do they even exist in the requisite quantities, and how much environmental damage are we going to cause by mining and processing them?

3. What source of energy are we going to use to access and utilize these raw materials, and, again, what other uses of energy are we going to relinquish in order to make this possible?"

I would not be surprised if the average electric car has a greater carbon footprint from cradle to grave than an equivalent internal combustion model.

It is widely accepted, for example, that car batteries are not recyclable. If that is the case, then the whole electrification project is a major waste of time, money, effort, and resources.

People who actually want positive change more than profit would be talking about solutions like enhanced public transit (electric buses/trolleys), and improving rail lines and service. 

However effective that may be, such a platform is unlikely to get one elected. 

Many people say they want to solve environmental problems, but very few are willing to drastically change their behaviours to make that possible. 

That makes me doubt the green magic they are pushing, whether it is the electrification of transportation, or any other their other elaborate, and ineffective solutions.

The most effective spell that could be cast over high consumption muggles of the world would be "livius simplius!" 

That is the only green magic that has the mojo to make a better world.

Emergencied

It's an emergency. So many emergencies. They are piling up so fast these days it's hard to keep them straight.

It's an emergency of emerging emergencies. How long before we get emergency fatigue?

Why so many emergencies? Because emergencies are useful to those in power. 

Declaring a state of emergency gives leaders special powers, and what leader doesn't like more power? 

This special state is the "one ring to rule them all" without the usual checks and balances. With a stroke of the pen they become little dictators that don't need to worry about messy, plodding democracy.

Two years ago the leaders of "the free world" slipped that ring on and like Bilbo, are now reluctant to take it off.

"A state of emergency or emergency powers is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of their citizens." - Wiki

We should be careful or they will emergency us to death. Maybe that is the idea since they tell us we have an overpopulation problem.

Rest assured that the police will be bashing heads of citizens in the streets, and freedoms/rights will be suspended for our own good. 

It is not a stretch to think a government might manufacture an emergency or two just to get those juicy extra powers.

In Canada our government layered an emergency on an emergency in fine fascist fashion. 

COVID was the first emergency, and then they took the nuclear option (the rarely used Emegencies Act) to declare the mother of all states of emergency so they could crush peaceful protests protesting the first emergency.

Non-violent, lawful protesters found themselves being violently attacked by laws previously used to deal with foreign terrorists and wars. 

There it is. In my country (and many others) peaceful protesters are terrorists now. Domestic terrorists. 

Essentially, if you don't support the government narrative you are a terrorist. And a Nazi. 

It's a global Guantanamo in the making.

And how about the capitalists? Turns out they love a good state of emergency, too.

"Never let a good emergency go to waste," they say.

What will the next "emergency" be? There are so many choices it is hard to pick just one.

WWIII? Global food shortage? Diesel fuel shortage? Computer chip shortage? Baby formula? Eggs? Meat? Monkeypox? Supply chains? Fertilizer? 

How about the climate issue? Have you noticed how Nitrogen Hysteria Syndrome is threatening to kill farms and ranches around the world? 

Wouldn't that lead to a food emergency?

First we had 'global warming', then 'global climate change', then 'global climate crisis', and more recently it has been rebranded as what? 

You guessed it - a "Climate Emergency". 

Oh, no.

We are living in unprecedented times. With a little downsizing, hard work, and preparations you won't get emergencied to death.

And, as usual, we must resist and push back, or we can say goodbye to democracy, if we have ever had it.

Today is a good day to fight the system, and their false flag emergencies.

 

Hysterical Strength, And A Good Scream

Hysterical strength - it's a thing, and we are going to need some moving forward. A good group scream would help, too.

Hysterical strength is the "mom lifts car off baby effect", but it applies to anyone that needs to draw up a moment of serious strength to complete a task. 

Chances are, when calling upon this reservoir of unbounded strength, one would also use a vocalization, a scream, to get the job done. 

Cars are heavy, after all.

Sometimes when I am transferring with Linda I have to muster a brief moment of extraordinary strength to get the job done, even though she is not nearly as heavy as a car.

Every once in a while I scream. Sometimes I scream a swear.

You could call it hysterical, I guess. But I look at the results - so far every transfer we have done together has been successful. 

No one has gotten hurt, and no one has ended up on the floor. Or stuck on the toilet.

Linda asked me about my choice of word that I call on to muster my super powers. It was time to experiment with some new ones.

I tried screaming "love". 

It didn't work. 

I tried "fart", a four letter word closer to the one I usually use. 

It didn't work, either. It has to be the right four letters, because words are magic.

This all made me think about the martial arts scream known as Kiai, or "breath". The short, sharp scream is for "compressing and delivering an instant release of stored energy."

The Kiai is also good to let out your anger, if you have any. A good scream releases negative toxins from your soul, as well as gets work done.

I do not know the results of the US election as I write this, but I don't think it matters much. 

Either way, we are going to have to push our elected governments to listen to the electorate. We will still have to be in the streets, will still have to struggle to create a world that works for everybody everywhere.

This task is huge and ongoing, and we will have to muster up a good dose of hysterical strength to lift the weight of 6000 years of oppression off of us.

It is good to know that when under duress we can tap in to a special strength powered by love and courage, and perform heroic feats.

A good scream can't hurt, either, in order to focus our energy on the goal, and tap into our storehouse of power.

Hiya!

Not On The Ballot

The ballot I would like to see.

The Canadian political gangs are throwing another election today. The ballot, as usual, will give voters a choice between different gangs that all basically stand for the same thing - business as usual.

Our choice is between do-nothing business as usual, and do-something-but-not-the-best-thing green tinged variety of business as usual.

Nowhere in our "democracy" is anyone presenting any alternative to the system that has brought us poverty, endless war and environmental collapse. All of them will tell you that there is no alternative. 

Isn't that like running an election with only one candidate? 


'Yes, you can vote. The Capitalist Party is your only choice. Please indicate what colour you would like it wrapped in.'


The ballot I cast today became an exercise in trying to limit the damage by trying to decide which gang will be the least harmful to the health of the nation. 

Hardly inspiring. 

I would like to see a global vote on the system itself. 

But that is not on the ballot.

We Are Power

I laugh when I hear people accusing others of being "snowflakes". The term is meant to be disparaging, and labels the other as fragile, easily offended, and prone to melting at the slightest contact with an issue. 

Those that sling this term, though, forget that when lots of snowflakes get together, say on a mountain slope, they can become a powerful and destructive force known as an avalanche. 

A large collection of snowflakes moving together can clear their path of any and all obstructions, or in our case, oppressors.

While researching one of my favourite human beings, activist, poet, author, and musician John Trudell, I saw that he expressed similar thoughts when he said,

As individuals we have power and, collectively, we have the same power as the earthquake, the tornado, and the hurricanes. We have that potential. 

Trudell knew about the power of the people, and that our power comes from being a part of Nature. He knew about the power of collective action in fighting back against those that would oppress us, and as a Native American living in the US, he knew a lot about oppression.

He also knew that the forces aligned against his people, would come for the rest of us next.

"See, we are power. They deal in violence and repression, we are power. We are a part of the natural world. All of the things in the natural world are a natural part of the creation and feed off the energy of our sacred mother, Earth.

We are power. 

But they have separated us from our spiritual connection to the Earth, so people feel powerless. We look at the oppressor and we look at the enemy because they have the most guns and the most lies and the most money. People start to feel powerless. 

We are power, we are a natural part of the creation, we were put here on the sacred mother Earth to serve a purpose. And somewhere in the history of people we’ve forgotten what the purpose is. 

 
The purpose is to honor the earth, the purpose is to protect the earth, the purpose is to live in balance with the earth, the earth is our mother.

And we will never free ourselves as human people, we will never free ourselves as sexual people, we will never free ourselves until we address the issue of how we live in balance with the Earth. 

Because all our resistance and all of our struggle is hollow, it’s false, it’s another one of the oppressor’s hypocrisies. 

If we do not look out for the welfare of the Earth first, because I don’t care who it is, any child who turns on their mother is living in a terrible, terrible confusion. 

 
The Earth is our mother, we must take care of the Earth." 

If we can come together to take care of a burned medieval cathedral, can't we also come together to take care of Mother Earth? What good is a 900 year old architectural wonder if there is no one around to enjoy it?

We have the power to turn things around. If we the people, working collectively, don't do it, no one will. 

Finally, they say that Notre-Dame Cathedral was built to last till the end of the world. Maybe it did.

"We Don't Care" - Eric Bibb and Habib Koite

Do you know what is happening to our planet? Do you care?

When it comes to the plight of people and the planet, some don't know and don't care. Even worse, some know and don't care. Others don't know, but visit sites like this one to find out, because they do care. I keep this blog for all of them.

Lots of artists, like many of you, both know AND care. It's the best case scenario - to know, to care, AND to be taking steps toward making things better.

"We Don't Care" is a lament written by Grammy-nominated blues troubadour Eric Bibb and World Music artist Habib Koité. Bibb's Youtube page says that the song "with its funky groove, takes a sharp look at greed, ignorance and exploitation in our world today."
The song is the second release taken from Bibb's new album "Global Griot". Release date: Oct 26th 2018 on DixieFrog Records www.ericbibb.com

We Don't Care
We love to fly first class
Someone else paid the ticket
We love our juicy fruit
As long as we don't have to pick it

We love our fast food
Don't care about heart attacks
We love to gossip
Don't care about the facts

We want the gold
Long as we don't have to mine it
Don't care who suffers
Or who's behind it

We want the cool running shoes
Don't care who made em
Don't care if they go to school
Or what the company paid em

We don't care, we don't care, we don't care

We want the cheap gasoline
Jump in the car and go
Don't care what the world agreed upon
In Kyoto

We heard to all save water
But we don't even try
Take thirty minute showers
While the well runs dry

We don't care, we don't care, we don't care

The gap is growing wider
Between the rich and the poor
We got everything we need
But we still want more

We don't care, we don't care, we don't care

Thanks to all of you that care enough to find out what is going on here on our planet in peril. And especially to those that take action toward building the better world we all know is possible.

And finally, thanks to Eric Bibb and Habib Koité for sharing their concern, and this song with the world.

Rise Up!

I have long wondered how long it would take for disgruntled, mistreated Americans (and Canadians) to revolt and take back their democracy, and their country. Doing so would not only benefit them, but the whole world. 

Perhaps we are close now.

The following wake up/warning call is from Micah White, one of the founders of Occupy Wall Street. It sums up a lot of what this blog is about, and what I have been rebelling against my whole life.

Come on, America - you could be the model that the rest of us can draw on to overthrow our own evil rulers and their self-serving systems. Any takers?


JULY 4, 2018

This is a sincere call for an American Revolution against the decadent, vile kleptocrats that are driving our nation into the ground. Compromised demagogues, sinister bankers, perverted analyticos... A cabal of compulsive liars has turned America, the pioneer of modern democracy, into a decaying state whose President is a puppet of a foreign regime. 

Meanwhile, the opulent 1% are sucking the 99% dry even as they push us, debt-ridden and screen-addicted, over the precipice. Only an insurrection against their cruel misrule can save us now.  

Making the case for the overthrow of the American kleptocracy is a serious matter. From the perspective of the apparatchiks in power, it is a criminal, seditious, treasonous act punishable by a lengthy prison sentence. Therefore, we must be absolutely certain that ours is a righteous rebellion. We must be confident that although our revolution may be illegal from their perspective, it is supremely legitimate, commendable and obligatory from the perspective of universal, natural law.  

And so that we may guard against recklessness, we must be judicious and put the actions of the current American government on trial before deciding if the sentence of execution by popular revolution is necessary and just.

Our case for a forceful disbanding rests on the charge that the American regime is illegitimate and anti-democratic because it is a danger to ourselves as individual citizens, collectively as a nation and globally as a species. Acknowledging that insurrection is only warranted when there is no other avenue to fully removing the corrupt from power, we will contend that all other tactics have already been tried unsuccessfully.  

Every politician in office today, democrat and republican alike, accepts corporate bribes and is therefore corrupt. Some are worse than others—he goes so far as to flout the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution—but all are guilty of the same indiscretion. 

Their presence in office is perverse evidence that they groveled before wealthy lords and do not serve the aspirations of the people. We know this because on January 21, 2010 the U.S. Supreme court told us who runs America by granting corporations and unions the freedom to donate unlimited amounts of money to political candidates. 

As it is already an established statistical, historical fact that the candidate who spends the most money wins in 9 out of 10 races, it is undeniable that we live in an era were anyone genuinely opposed to the decline of America, and unwilling to compromise, will never be elected. 

We will not be fooled by billionaires who slither into office by pretending to care about America’s collapse while selling their souls, and our democracy, to autocrats abroad. Detached from the reality of everyday people, this government is a dangerous enterprise that is hazardous to the liberty of its citizenry.

Not content with stripping us as citizens of our sovereignty, the dishonest rulers have instituted a foreign policy that delights in permanent war, xenophobic misanthropy and international instability. From cynically squandering billions of dollars of taxpayer money each year on secret wars in distant nations or the military support given to keep undemocratic regimes in power, everything about America's foreign policy is wrong, pro-war, anti-freedom and unjust. 

A nefarious, deep state military-industrial complex sows discord abroad, confusion at home and guarantees that our nation will never live in peace.

And then there is the deepest charge of all: America's kleptocracy is committing a crime against humanity. Nature is dying, sentient species are disappearing, catastrophic climate change threatens us all. 

And yet, the ideology of rampant consumerism and isolationist denialism reigns supreme in America. Ecocide is the official policy of these mammon worshipers who use their military might to keep the oil flowing and industrial pollutants pumping. Glaciers are melting, oceans are acidifying, climate refugees flood across borders. 

If America is not overthrown, the cancerous growth of capitalism will not end until all life on earth is extinct.

Everywhere we look there are signs of moral decay, political corruption and fascistic tendencies. However, activists have not been passive. 

For decades, since the end of democracy in America first became undeniable, we have tried every tactic to avert catastrophe. We have voted, written letters, donated money, held signs, protested in marches, clicked links, signed petitions, tweeted hashtags, knitted sweaters, learned to farm, turned off the television, programmed apps, engaged in direct action, committed petty vandalism, disrupted pipelines, occupied wall street and sparked antifa riots... All this has been for naught. 

Protest has been co-opted by frontgroups designed to fail. Popular revolution remains the only reasonably viable tactic remaining.

In the 18th century, America's forefathers were in a similar situation as we are today. They also sought justification to wage a rebellion against a despotic empire that claimed to be their rightful government. 

They knew that what they intended to do was illegal from the King's perspective, but they found solace in a higher law, a universal law that takes priority over temporal authority. 

The thirteen colonies made the case for insurrection in the Declaration of Independence of the United States on July 4, 1776 and thereby permanently enshrined as unalienable "the right of the people to alter or to abolish" the government. 

The precedent of our own history grants us the right to revolt. Further, the seriousness of America's threat to the world obligates us to act.

Now we will sweep the parasites out of power and reinstate the rule of the people.

Source: http://micahmwhite.com/american-revolution

People Have The Power Challenge

No electricity? No problem for this muscle powered laundry center.

It hasn't even been 100 years since electric powered consumer goods were beginning to be common. Before electricity, homes were dominated by human-powered devices. Life was harder, slower, and often, more enjoyable. The people had the power.

Take my grandparents, for example. They lived in a era when North America saw the implementation of the power grid and the electrical devices that came with it. 

However, when my family visited them in the 1960s, their home and yard were still largely hand powered. I loved to go into their basement where grandpa had a workshop packed full with an extensive collection of hand tools. He made wood art and furniture.

When I went out into their yard, a reel mower waited for me to blow off my restless energy and cut the lawn at the same time. It was not a chore - I liked it. Trimming was done with a big set of shears that grandpa sharpened carefully himself. 

To me, a product of the age of electricity, the old tools and devices were beautiful and functional. They hold a romantic appeal, hearkening back to a time when our heroic ancestors got by with only their muscles and simple tools and devices.

In the kitchen, grandma did not have electric gadgets on the counter, even though at the time they were hooked to the grid. Her arms and hands lovingly interacted with all ingredients, and kneaded dough and chopped and made magic right on the counter top. 

What got me thinking about my grandparents human powered life was a reader comment that said, "In my home we are gradually phasing out electrical items as they break to see how little can we live with and still have a satisfying life." (Thanks Madeleine.)

I think that is a laudable goal that makes sense for our less energy intensive future, when we will have to shave kilowatt hours off our energy footprints. 

It also reminds me of James Howard Kunstler's 2008 novel "World Made By Hand". This novel explores a future post-everything USA scenario, and is set in a small rural community. There is no government, no maintenance of infrastructure, no fossil fuelled transportation, no tractors, and no electricity.

Hence, it explores a human powered future, much like the one we recently left behind us only a few generations ago. Some describe it as a dystopian novel, but it could also be seen as a utopia, depending on how attached to modern creature comforts you are. 

There are also cleaner rivers that teem with fish, a brighter night sky, stronger community bonds, fresher organically grown food, and a quiet such as few had ever heard in their previous modern lifestyles.

There are characters in the book that enjoy the post-apocalyptic hand powered world better than the one that briefly preceded it. As I read through this set of novels, I found that Kunstler was describing a world that I wouldn't mind joining.

Therefore, I propose a "People Have The Power Challenge". 

The goal? To gradually phase out as many electrical tools, gadgets and devices as possible. 

Intended results? Reduced dependence on Big Utility Corps., cutting your energy footprint, eliminating the need for new power generation (whether it is green or not), adopting more appropriate technology for a new lower energy world, and re-engaging with a slower, more connected, and enjoyable way of life.

Providing electrical power to the grid is a massive endeavour any way you look at it. Whether it is hydro, coal, gas, or nuclear, or even solar, wind or geothermal, all have their own negative impacts and unintended consequences. 

Therefore, instead of looking at increasing our electrical capacity (even if it is touted as green/sustainable), we should be reducing our reliance on that power.

Are we headed toward a resurgence of people powered lifestyles? What powered devices could you live without? 

Join us in the "People Have The Power Challenge", and see what powered tools, gadgets and devices you can do without. You will be practiced and ready for any potential future scenario, dystopian, or utopian.

I vote for a utopian future, where the people use their power to get all sorts of things done. In the home, the workshops, and on the streets.

Bamboozled

We've been bamboozled.

We've been bamboozled into giving power over to an out of control system. It's a game, and most of us have lost.

Scientist Carl Sagan knew that when we give our power away, we almost never get it back. Lending our support to the consumer scam is a good example. Now it is a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut, and it continues to suck the power from both people and the Earth.

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this", warned Sagan: "If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. Them bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken."

Living to shop, rather than shopping to live, has usurped our power. We should want it back, but we have been taken and don't even notice that it is gone. And has been for a very long time.

One way we can regain our power, tear it away from those that lie for fun and profit, is to speak the truth about the way things are, for Sagan also said, "If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth."

When we quit rejecting the truth about our profligate lifestyles and the repercussions they have for the whole globe, the whole thing starts to crumble. We see through the lies and we destroy that which holds power over our better judgment.

We realize it doesn't have to be this way.


The Truth About The Consumer Bamboozlement

1. We have been trained since birth to want things we do not need, and wouldn't ever want if it weren't for the high pressure tactics used against us.

2. We would be happier with less work, less stuff, and more freedom to live the simple lives we really desire.

3. It is not about you being happy, or content. The system is not for your benefit. It is foisted upon us so that major players can take your power. And your money. And your life, cradle to grave.

4. It is not the only way to do things, and it has not always been this way. At the most, only the past 300 years have been focused on getting you to give away your money and your life so a small group can carry out a global coup and enslave everyone.

5. Of those years, only about the past 60 have been about having extreme consumption as The Goal in life.

6. Most people on the planet do not partake in shopping for pleasure, but big business will not be satisfied until everyone is participating. The planet will collapse far before that ever happens.

7. It feels great to not buy anything, and quit being bamboozled and exploited by the taking advantage of our baser emotions and desires.

Free To Consume, Free To Unconsume

Our much touted freedom in so-called democratic countries is an illusion. It is an over hyped lie. Except for one area - we are free to do as much consuming as our bank accounts will allow.

Where else is the freedom?

Are we free to protest without harassment? Free to travel a world without restrictive borders? Free to live anywhere we want? Free to quit work and live off the land?

Are we free to put into our bodies what we want, or keep out of our bodies those things we don't want? Free to marry whom we wish? Free to use the bathroom we feel most appropriate for our gender situation? Free to read about the truth in the mainstream media?

Instead of gaining any freedoms, we are increasingly being stripped of any vestiges of liberty that we have left. In some parts of the world you are not free to harvest rain water, or grow a garden where you neighbours can see it, or without being taxed for the privilege of putting a bit of distance between you and the system.

Our system is broke. Unless you are rich, in which case you are more free than those less monetarily blessed. In today's world money is the way to freedom, not the ballet box. And if you don't have money you don't deserve to be free because you just aren't trying hard enough.

Now whole countries are being forced to accept the freedom to be plundered, privatized and pirated. How are you enjoying all that Western capitalist consumeristic freedom Iraq? Libya? Syria? Honduras? Brazil? Argentina? Egypt?

Are you feeling it yet, all that juicy freedom? When we stop the violence, you can go shopping.

Robin Mathews, author of “The Trans Pacific Partnership: Canada and Imperial Globalization”, describes our current situation:

"A characteristic of Imperial Globalization is criminal manipulation of people and events for the profit of a few. It includes massive ‘disinformation’ about equality, benefits, social development, law, improved standards of living, etc. 

The disinformation is spread by ‘authoritative’ news sources. In the hands of gigantic, wealthy, private corporations, globalization is a process which works to erase sovereign democracies and replaces them with ‘treatied’ sub-states, economic colonies ruled by faceless, offshore, often secret, unaccountable powers."

You see, it is all about enriching the few as a result of the consumption of the many. Have money? Want stuff? This new world was made for you. Your dollars will buy you the freedom to consume, plus a bit more, depending on how much cash you have. More cash - more freedom.

I don't know about you, but that is not a system I am interested in joining or supporting, and I will do everything I can to ensure that I am doing nothing to contribute toward this dismal distortion of our infinitely good and abundant planet.

Freedom can not really be bought. Or given. Or forced. It just is, and we have to actively live it for ourselves. After all, consumption is not legally mandatory. Yet. We still have a choice.

I am free to consume, but, well, no thanks. Consuming is enslaving us all. Therefore, I see unconsuming as the answer. As always, simplicity yields true freedom, and if more of us adopted such a lifestyle, we could negate the power of the criminal manipulators, and turn this thing around.

I'm not buying anything. Not their stuff, or their bullshit, for I am free to unconsume.

Happy Labour Day

The Harvesters, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565

"The power to dream, to rule
To wrestle the earth from fools
But it's decreed the people rule
But it's decreed the people rule

Listen, I believe everythin' we dream
Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around
We can turn the earth's revolution

We have the power
People have the power
People have the power
People have the power."

From: People Have The Power by Patti Smith

Give 'Em The Finger

Over the weekend the brave citizens of Greece, in a bold David and Goliath move, gave the big bankers the finger. They stood up to the greedy giant and said, "No more bullying".

The referendum result was a rock fired from the sling of democracy, and it hit the bully right in the temple.

It is heartening to see little people stand up to power. The story is one well liked by people everywhere, because the story of abuse of the small by the large is tragically well known.

How wonderful that we can all be Davids slinging rocks toward strategic targets in order to fell the selfish and unjust that are not too-big-to-fall. We can all do our little bit, our actions will build and reach the tipping point, and then we will see them topple.

You may not think you have any rocks for your sling, but you have many. Every action and decision can be a rock cast at a plethora of giants. Take your pick.

When you buy organic you give the finger to GMOs.

When you repair something you give the finger to planned obsolescence and the throw away society.

When you cook your own food you give the finger to the fast/processed food industry.

When you wait and save money before buying something you give the finger to the usurers in the big banks and credit card companies.

When you educate yourself and speak out you give the finger to governments that only want ignorant, quiet and compliant consumers.

When you ride your bike instead of driving you give the finger to the fossil fuel industry.

The giants know the story of David and Goliath just as well as the little people... and it scares them. They know how it ends. That is why they want to restrict our freedom, our rights, our throwing hand.

But in the end, just like in the ancient story, the small and seemingly insignificant always win. Regardless of how much they try to stifle us, it never works.

Give them the finger. Use your sling. Bring them down with every little thing you do every day. It is happening, and like the news from Greece, there is more evidence every day that the Goliaths are trembling. They can see the inevitable outcome - they are starting to fall already.

5 Ways Books Are Better Than Computers

"So many books. So little time." - Frank Zappa

I love books and believe they will be with us forever, regardless of any technological advances past, present, or future.

In many ways I find books better than computers.

1. Books are lessons in single-task focusing and enjoyment. Computers are multi-tasking nightmares.
2. Books can be used freely without expensive electricity.
3. Books don't have distracting advertising.
4. Books are made of paper and retain the spirit of the trees of which they are made.
5. Books are historical documents with a link to thousands of years of the written word. 

This year I will use the computer less, and read books more.

What books are you reading this week?


Note: All of the above books are from the public library except for the Bukowski which was a gift from a dear friend.

Solving The Problem Of Consumerism Through Non-Participation

Are you a cog in the consumer machine, or are you a wrench thrown into its gears? Do you support its workings, or have you pulled the rug out from under its bulk?

The time has come to decide how we will react in response to overwhelming evidence that the consumerism beast is a tyrant disguised as a horn of plenty. Sure, it gives, but at a great price.

Consumerism kills freedom. It kills creativity. It kills life. Why would anyone support these outcomes?

The good news is that fighting back may be easier than you think. You don't have to become an activist getting arrested on the front lines (not that there is anything wrong with that), or live in a cave. You don't have to take up arms.

You just have to stop supporting the beast, stop serving it, stop feeding it with your time and money. This non-participation can be done through the time-honoured traditions of simple living.

Living simply is a withdrawal of support for global consumerism. It is a non-violent response to a violent way of life.

500 years ago, before the French Revolution, a gifted young man named Étienne de la Boétie, was writing about such things in his essay Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. Although he was writing about States and dictators, his ideas can be applied to other elite-driven, top-down systems as well.

Basically he said that things can change fast if the people's consent is withdrawn. Without the participation of the people dictators can fall, governments can fall, and other ways of doing things can fall too.

Reading this amazing essay I replaced "tyrant" or "the State" with "consumerism" and it still makes sense.

Consumerism then, has "nothing more than the power that you confer upon it to destroy you. Where has it acquired enough eyes to spy upon you, if you do not provide them yourselves? How can it have so many arms to beat you with, if it does not borrow them from you? The feet that trample down your cities, where does it get them if they are not your own? How does it have any power over you except through you? How would it dare assail you if it had no cooperation from you?"

The solution?

"Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces.” - Étienne de la Boétie

As simple living catches on with the masses, the tyrant of consumerism and all the death it deals out, will fall under its own weight and shatter for good.

It is up to us - we have the power. We can change everything by not participating in the problem.

Choice

As awful as our consumer-supported system seems to be these days, at least we still have somewhat of a choice whether we want to participate or not.

We can still choose whether or not we will be conspicuous consumers. We can still choose whether or not we will support, through our spending dollars, current destructive and harmful ways.

I thought of this while reading The Automatic Earth this week. Over there this line of text got me to thinking:

"Central banks can do all kinds of stuff, but they can’t make us spend our money on things we don’t want or need. Let alone make us borrow to do so." 

No, they sure can't. They can't make us work for them, either. They also can't make us work to the degree that we have to pay taxes to support their global domination plans. While I pay taxes in many other ways, I have not made enough money for a decade to have to pay income tax.

I think about that as Canadians' money is being spent to gut environmental legislation, promote fossil fuels and send killing machines to far flung "trouble spots" on the globe.

If you think that you are powerless, just consider the massive portion of the North American economy that is dependent on you and your choices. Consumer spending accounts for a whopping 70% of U.S. economic activity. In Canada that number is roughly the same.

"While harder to document, consumer behaviour is also revealed by decisions not to spend. For example, if enough people are involved, boycotting a company or a product (or even the threat of it) can be an effective way for consumers to make their opinions felt. Boycotting has brought about a number of changes in companies' social and business behaviour... In fact, any consumer decision to stop buying a product can ultimately and substantially influence corporate strategies."

We have choice.