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  • From: LBUZZELL@aol.com
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] on an ethics of Mr Pittman (and the US military)
  • Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:05:41 EDT

you might want to ask permaculture activist Joshua Fattal who has been
> arrested by the Iranian government and accused of espionage whether it
> would help him or others like him that "permaculture" is now
> celebrated as a US army reserve "hearts and minds"
> counterinsurgency/sustainment technique

I have to admit that this point is hard to disagree with. Permaculture
was perhaps better off when it was seen as a politically neutral Australian
land and people care system being used in many countries with widely
different governmental systems, from Cuba to the US.

Although I'm very sympathetic to Scott's and others' eagerness to spread
permaculture far and wide, I must conclude that it was a mistake for world
permaculture to get involved with the first-world occupying army in a third
world country, however eager the recruits were to learn about permaculture.


Corporations have but one motive: profit. Armies likewise have but one
motive: to use force or other more subtle enforcement methods to vanquish
enemies. Their aims and even techniques may appear to be beneficient, but
we
must not be naive. And even if we view some military as "good guys," how
does permaculture make the distinction on a global level without
politicizing
itself?

Permaculture is an exciting new profession and deserves to flourish
independent of destructive entanglements. I have seen similar problems
happen in
my own field of mental health: psychologists who got involved with the
military developed torture techniques for the CIA and were, alas, actively
involved at Abu Ghraib. I realize we haven't done anything like this yet --
but caution is needed. The "psychology in the military" issue has split the
American Psychological Association into warring factions for years, some
supporting those involved with the military and others against.

In just this short dialogue I see the beginnings of similar problems in
permaculture unless some clear ethical guidelines are laid down to prevent
permaculture from being used by the military and various governments for
their
own purposes. Psychiatrists, by the way, avoided the problems faced by the
psychologists because they take a Hippocratic oath that prevents them from
doing some of the unfortunate things a few psychologists have done.

Linda Buzzell-Saltzman






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