permaculture

["Graham Burnett" <gb0063551@cableinet.co.uk>]

> I am getting somewhat confused by postings from Australia (but thanks for
> posting them, Graham).

Hi Angus,

hope all is well- sorry if the slew of emails (not just from Australia but
all over from the International PC list) I forwarded have been a bit
confusing- basically the gist as I understand it is that Uncle Bill, rather
late in the day, has decided it's time to assert his 'right' to ownership of
the concept of 'permaculture' as his 'intelectual property', and is kind of
throwing his weight around (or at least is trying to, tho' seems he's
batting on a pretty sticky wicket), including trying to ensure that PDC's
have a curiculum that consists of The Designer's Manual ("Not a word more,
not a word less", regardless of local relevancy), and are personally
approved by himself or the PC institute (which is basically him and Lisa
mollison anyway), and other unreasonable behaviour, including demanding that
US permaculturist Toby Hemenway, co-editor of 'Permaculture Activist',
remove large sections from his recent book 'Gaia's Garden' that refer to
'mandala gardens, keyhole beds, zones & sectors' etc as these are 'his
(Mollison's) ideas'. These horror stories are being repeated by all sorts of
people (including David Holmgren) from all over the world who have
previously been close to Bill, including stauch defenders in other conflict
situations... As for the UK, POTENTIALY The Permaculture Magazine, the UK PC
Association, Graham Bell, Patrick Whitefield, Ben Law, Mike Fiengold, Phil
Corbett, Plants For A Future, Ragmans Lane, Naturewise and just about
anybody else who uses the word 'Permaculture' to describe their projects or
what they are doing to make a living could find themselves at the end of a
'McLibel' style intelectual property rights battle with Bill and his crew...
It may be extremely unlikely that it will come to this, but how unseemly and
wasteful of potentailly useful energy in what might well be these last days
of time...

My view is that Permaculture is much larger than Bill Mollison now, and if
we are to utilise Permaculture principles to the situation and turn problems
into solutions this might be a golden opportunity to escape the dead weight
of the past and set Permaculture free as a trully organic and  evolving
entity free of state or 'propertarian' barriers....

sorry again if some people are finding this all 'bugging' and 'off topic'
bollox, but deal with it, it's quite relevant to the development of
permaculture as a global concept...

Cheers,

Graham Burnett
35 Rayleigh Avenue
Westcliff On Sea
Essex
SS0 7DS
-------------------------------------------------------------
NOW AVAILABLE; 'PERMACULTURE- A Beginner's Guide' £5.00 inc P&P
go to http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/landlib/flyer/ for info...

Land & Liberty http://www.landandliberty.co.uk
My artwork http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/landlibpic/
Our Garden http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/Garden/
South East Essex Organic Gardeners
http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/SEEOG/
Permaculture- a Beginner's Guide http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/Perma/
South East Essex LETS http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/
Robert Hart's Forest Garden http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/Forest/
South East Essex Green Party http://www.seegreenparty.org.uk