permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Tommy Tolson wrote:

> Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
>
> > And while I'm at it, Viva Cuba. Don't care anything for communism or 
> > communists or for Castro
> > particularly but I tip my hat to the Cubans who will keep their country for themselves and continue their work with 
> > natural farming to feed their people and permaculture to keep their land and peoples free and vibrant.

> But then the Bush family doesn't get their sugar plantations back from 
> the evil nationalizer.  With the Bushes owning the sugar industry in 
> Cuba, is it any wonder the revolution worked, and continues to work?  
> May US citizens follow in the Cuban footsteps to being "free and 
> vibrant."  We're a long way from there now.  If they let us travel to 
> Cuba . . .   It's no accident that Jeb Bush lives in Florida and married 
> a Cuban noblewoman, in my estimation. 

Next election I will not vote for P or VP; will leave those spaces blank.
If I ever considered the possibility of voting Repub in future elections,
in the light of what you have said about the current administration's drive to
"reoccupy" Cuba, that option, for me, will be forever eliminated. I will not 
vote
for the Dems beacuse they will tax me blind so they can buy votes for 
themselves
from people who care not for me, permaculture, community, the environment or 
the country.

Local elections are plenty important.

Still, what you've said is almost unbelievable, that a family dynasty could 
use our government
and its military and intelligence arms to manipulate with the intention of 
controlling the future of
a neighboring country for the financial gain of a few private citizens.

That one really hit me between the eyes, Tommy.

If the expats retake Cuba, regain their sugar interests, the organic farms 
and permaculture projects will go to hell
and the beautiful coast line will get stolen by international resort, sports and gambling interests; all the most 
beautiful spots will get "acquired" by that crowd of disgusting ignorant slobs.

Unfortunately PBS has not done a very good job of making information about this video available online but you really 
need to see the documentary "Golf Wars". Its about the international golf industry, specifically the Tiger Woods Golf 
Resorts corporation, that tried to steal an entire village and its adjoining farmland in an idyllic setting in a cove 
along a particularly beautiful stretch of Phillipine coastline for one of its golf resorts. They resorted to using "golf 
thugs" to intimidate the villagers and frighten them into leaving their land and homes behind. The local political 
official cut a deal under the table to sell the land to the golf corporation, with kickbacks of course. They used the 
excuse that the land was public property and not owned by the villaagers. How many times has this gone on elsewhere
around the world?

Then there's Chechnia, and Armenia, but especially Chechnia, targeted by the Russians for control. It started with 
Katharine the Great who established Grozny and later, among other notable events was the exile of native Chechnians
to Poland (?) to make way for an influx of Russian Christians. There you go again, the Christians and another of their 
crusades and land grabs. Right now, there is a Russian imposed blackout of information about present-day Chechnia. Noone 
can go to Chechnia and document what life is like there and leave the country, cross the border, with that information. 
The Chechnians are a truly amazingly resiliant, strong and determined people, to survive no matter what. They also have
a beautiful folk music tradition, hauntingly beautiful, like places in Armenia. I got this much information from BBC 
radio tonight. So, hotspots I am interested in now are Chechnia, Armenia, Kosovo, rural China and Cuba, and Venezuela to 
some extent.

I know most people don't want to read political stuff in this forum but I 
have noticed that it has elicited some very
interesting comments that are right to the core of Permaculture. Still, maybe 
we could have a separate mailing list
called politics and permaculture. I could have this ready in a few days. All 
in favor say yay, those against, nay.
So if its ny for the new list and nay to more political talk here then so be 
it.

Looks like there's a Golf War in Mexico too:

http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/new_articles.cfm?articleID=352&journalID=57
Earth Island Journal
Journal cover thumbnail. click for table of contents
Fall 1996
Vol. 11, No. 4
Mexico's "Golf War" Is Not Over

by Gar Smith
Tepoztlan, Mexico -- On April 10, police in Morelos state attacked a group of villagers attempting to protest the 
developer Grupo KS's plans to build an 18-hole golf course and 800 luxury homes inside the El Tepozteco National Park 
near Tepoztlan. Police opened fire on the protesters, killing one man and wounding several others. Police attempts to 
blame villagers for the violence collapsed when home videos aired on local news programs showed the police ambushing the 
protesters and planting weapons on the bodies of the dead and wounded.

The Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course would have consumed five times as much water as Tepotzlan's 28,000 residents use 
in a day and would have pumped clouds of agrochemicals into the air and water. Even the promise of 13,000 jobs and a vow 
to plant 16,900 trees could not overcome Tepozteco opposition.

In September 1995, hundred of Morelos state troopers tried -- and failed -- to install a pro-golf course council. The 
Morelos government has refused to offer any state services to the elected anti-development government in Tepoztlan -- no 
birth, death or marriage certificates -- and the Tepoztecos have responded by refusing to pay state property taxes.

Following the April 10 police massacre, Grupo KS canceled its golf course resort plans. But the tension between village 
and state remains, and central to the standoff is the fate of three anti-golf leaders.

Last December, four armed development supporters killed one person when they fired into a crowd of townspeople. Ignoring 
the testimony of scores of witnesses, Morelos state officials arrested three anti-golf activists -- Gerardo Demesa 
Padilla, Jose Carrillo Conde and Fortino Mendoza Ortiz -- who had not been present during the deadly December gunplay.

A March 6 letter to the president of Mexico, signed by Earth Island Journal and 94 other individuals and groups, 
observed that the activists apparently had been "deprived of their liberty solely because they oppose a large 
development project that enjoys the backing of powerful Mexican investors and politicians."

Jailed since January on manslaughter charges, the "Tepoztlan Three" have been designated prisoners of conscience by 
Amnesty International.

><

I just searched the PBS website for the documentary video they showed years ago, "The Golf Wars". A couple of years ago 
I found a reference to the program with some description of it there. Now, not a trace of it is to be found, and I 
looked closely. I guess they removed it so that rich golf businessmen and golfers might not change their mind about 
donating buckola$ to PBS. I tried Googling Golf Wars and got nothing, probably the only online reference to it was at 
PBS's website, now gone. Sounds fishy to me. Stinks, really. Think of those villagers in the Phillipines and what they 
had to face, international golf thugs trying to run them off their land. Tiger himself was shown in the video 
encouraging village youth to become interested in the sport of golf, all for show. Disgusting.

LL
--
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
Venaura Farm
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://market-farming.com/venaurafarm
http://venaurafarm.blogspot.com/
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech