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  • From: "Gaden@ziplip.com" <Gaden@ziplip.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] People Without Cash
  • Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 05:12:23 -0700 (PDT)

Re: Toby Hemenway - "It's a sad fact that often (with notable exceptions)
people without cash also don't have skills, experience, or sometimes the will
to persevere, which are all useful to a community."

I think I'm ready to respond to this now. I had to leave it for awhile
because the sublime ignorance of the original statement shocked and
distressed me. It left me alternating between anger and despair. Especially
to see it written on a mail list like this one. I'd thought we moved on so
far past that kind of nonsense. From the number of offlist emails I'd
received about it, it clearly offended quite a few people.

That it came from someone who has and continues to contribute a great deal to
permaculture, gave me pause to try to understand why such a thing would have
been said. I can only suppose that within his range of personal experiences,
the statement some how quantified a significant number of similar personal
interactions. Such that it seemed to him to be reasonable expression of his
personal reality. I don't believe Toby deliberately intended to hurt people.

I'm sorry, but bigotry of any kind is just plain wrong, with or without
qualification. And if you don't think it is a bigoted statement, try
substituting the words "people without cash" for "Afro-Americans", "single
mothers", "disabled people", "gays", "street kids" or any other such common
soft targets.

I don't believe the statement was written with the intention of being
bigoted. I think in some way it did seem to genuinely represent his personal
experiences. The raison d'ĂȘtre of any bigotry is an individual experience
which then becomes the rule by which all others are judged by.

It even prompted the just brill' observation - " Not all, to be sure, but it
is h-a-r-d to get by here "outside the money system" - even in Hawaii, where
food drops off the trees, people are getting food stamps and growing w**d as
a cash crop."

I had so thought that we'd moved on from '80s BS, that 'permies ("Not all, to
be sure") are just dole-bludging hippies camped out on someone else's land,
lying around all day in hammocks, stoned on homegrown (organic!!) hooch'. For
f**k sake, is that a retro flashback or what......

I've spent most of my life working with the dispossessed and social
disadvantaged. Among the cashless and cashlittle, I've found so much
knowledge, wisdom, kindness, generosity, the sincere warmth of humanity.
Often in the midst of appalling poverty. Over many years, I've met hundreds
of dedicated people working on overseas projects. People who eschewed
personal comfort, wealth, and recognition to be where they felt they could do
the most good. All 'people without cash'.

The very roots of Permaculture itself lie in providing people with tools for
low cost, dependable, sustainable independence often within an environment of
scarce resources. Offhand I can think of at least three noted permaculturists
whom I've met and worked with. All first generation original students of Bill
Mollison. Each have published two or more books. Each who live at around 20%
- 30% of the government defined 'poverty line' within their respective
countries. Each of whom often travel overseas for months at a time to assist
with overseas projects. All of them would fall into the 'people without cash'
category.

To question someone's worth, to assess how "useful to a community" they may
be, based upon whether they are 'people without cash' is really dumb, to put
it politely. Anyway, enough said. I'm not trying to belittle Toby but I did
need to express my personal dismay. This has been an unpleasant topic, though
as John S. and Lawrence are wont to say, it's all part of the 'Culture' bit
of Permaculture.

I'd like to briefly address the original issue of discriminate entry into
communities. I agree with John Schinnerer's comments, "Discrimination," along
with "judgement," etc. are not inherently bad activities."

Personal commitment is important to the viability and longevity of a project.
And yes, financial commitment is certainly one indication of such a
commitment. In most community developments, there usually has to be some kind
of financial transaction take place at some stage. I don't have a problem
with that. My only additional observation would be that there are many other
participatory models and alternative economic structures available including
labour banks, share exchanges etc. Just needs a little bit more creativity
and lateral thinking than the conventional housing estate.

Gaiden

"it will be a shame if permaculture takes the 'elitist' road and if
eco-communities become segregated from their surroundings and unachievable to
lower-income people. Permaculture then becomes merely a technology for the
well-off and its 'care for the people' ethic becomes relegated to rhetoric
and the garbage bin." Russ Grayson






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