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  • From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Politics is not just two four letter words...
  • Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:47:46 -0800

Robyn, nothing personal, I'm talking as much to myself as anyone, the "politics = many bloodsucking parasites" quip on the tail of recent list dialog set me to thinking...

How easy it is to have contempt for politics -- as if our failure to effectively manage political processes has no meaning. Is a tractionless relationship to politics any better of a design then failing to orient to the sun?

Our communities are disorganized, we lack the skills or experience in mass self governance, we flounder in our affinity groups and our individualism, month to month drifting on our leaky arks. We will need the land to live, but with failed politics we cannot defend the land from the behaviors of our own people. The political system is the landscape context, part of the assessment, part of the design. The permaculture I learned does not ignore the dominant predator or the behavioral patterns of the prime ecosystem architect. We will learn the sources, flows and sinks of political power, if we want to achieve anything enduring.

Do we really believe a little climatic-oil chaos will change much? Do we think a little hunger will kick-start some kind of revolution? If we don't learn to engage human politics to serve the land, what opportunity will chaos offer us? In the places where chaos has already taken hold, are politics any more progressive or restorative? Do you think that those who grasp at power are unintelligent? I would suggest that beyond politics, there is no other game in town. If our common values and processes (our politics) are clouded and confused, our people will turn to our familiar destructive patterns like moths to a flame. I propose that the political landscape in front of us in not ephemeral or unstable, but is as old as the hills. Those who manipulate failed politics for personal greed will not be surprised by oil depletion and release their grip on the political system that defines our economic structures. Economies are reclaimed by communities who master their own politics. The whole spectrum of existing political relationships are important to learn and understand, not as something to ridicule or separate from, but as something we are part of, that flows from our selves, and that must be a critical element of our designs. If we don't want to engage politics, we can always retreat to our property boundaries, but I would suggest that herb spirals are just training wheels for the real design challenge.

~Paul




Robyn Williamson wrote:

On Friday, February 23, 2007, at 03:20 pm, permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org/J Kolenovsky wrote:


Once in a while a little deviation from
the electic headiness brings refreshment and merriment to the soul.
Based on whats coming down the pike, we all need some of that.


I agree wholeheartedly but I gotta say that I came close to unsubscribing myself after that last episode. Yes the offending messages are only a scroll click or a delete button away but it can be ho-hum in the extreme for those of us elsewhere on the planet when the divisive nature of politics* causes people's blood to boil over.

Robyn

* The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly' meaning 'many' and the word 'tics' meaning 'blood-sucking parasites'.
~ Larry Hardiman
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