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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Designing a Movement (was: Ethics of whatever)

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Designing a Movement (was: Ethics of whatever)
  • Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:12:07 -0400

On 8/14/2010 11:42 PM, Jono Neiger wrote:
Wow...well said Rafter. And I do appreciate Kevin and others for delving
into this hard topic and sticking with it. We do benefit -as a movement if
thats what this is-from the conversation.

I do hear a need to clarify the ethics/values of this movement. I dont
imagine a consensus arising so I dont know what this looks like. But there
are communities that may be using permaculture strategies, using the name
permaculture, and are definitely not within the ethics we hold to. Movements
get co-opted, watered down, and infiltrated. One defense (besides our own
military) is to be in discussion, move towards consensus, and know when its
not permaculture.

Bringing the people/groups Kevin objects to "allowing in the permaculture movement" into the fold may well neutralize their
unpleasantness as opposed to excluding them and causing alienation,
giving them a reason to feel persecuted or discriminated against and making them worse and for a longer period of time.

I think a lot of the right wing fascists are more bark than bite as basically they are like everybody else with the same basic needs, i.e. they are more like sheep than wolves and there is no need to fear or resent them. By creating a regulatory "platform" excluding them you would only be doing exactly what you accuse them of, being discriminatory, narrow minded bigots.

White and blue collar workers who are the ones mostly associated with the right wing extremist/radical splinter groups Kevin refers to are the people who contributed the most to all the US war efforts and also started and kept alive the Victory Garden movement, farmland conservation, wildlife conservation, permaculture-like homesteading and so much more. Now is the time to bring them to permaculture, not alienate them. I very much object to Kevin's "proposal for new permaculture platform" to exclude them from the movement. Sounds just like something Stalin would have done, or any other totalitarian dictator. Such a proposal suggests some control freak on a power trip wanting to cause a lot of trouble for others. Time to wake up; we are seeing just this sort of behavior in US politics; witness SB 510, raids on health food stores and farms and who knows what is yet to come. We need to be inclusive as a permaculture community, not exclusive, seriously.




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