permaculture

[kelda@riseup.net]

John Schinnerer asked me in earlier post about direct action and PC:
"Kelda, can you elaborate on this some? What critiques, from whom, what
do they define as "shaking up the status quo?"

So, I looked for over an hour to find the article I read about this, with
no luck!! I'm 99% sure I first heard of the critique on this list though,
and the blog/article itself had a drawing of a superhero with a big P on
his chest. Anyone else remember it?

It's been at least a year since I read it, and at this point I can't sift
out what are my thoughts on the topic and which are the thoughts that the
article brought up, but I saw as very legitimate:

*There is no true sustainability when there are injustices (racism,
sexism, global corporate greed, etc)
*Permaculture doesn't necessarily teach undoing these injustices
*Practicing permaculture and feeling complacent about bigger issues
sometimes go hand in hand (The "I'm doing my part in the garden"
perspective. Personally, in the lives of most permies I know we are Very
active politically as well as in our gardens, so its kind of a moot point.
But I can understand it as a critique of the permaculture movement. On the
other hand, like that Bill Mollison quote about revolutionaries who don't
have gardens, the gardens are the most important political act. Both/and.
Or as we like to say 'The opposite is also true')

Anyway, since I'm on the topic, some social justice colleagues and I are
brewing a weekend class for permaculturists dealing specifically with
issues of race, gender, class and environmental injustice. Our working
name for the class is "Know Your Shit 101" though of course we won't be
advertising it that way. :)
So if you're interested in how permaculturists can be cleaning up our
'shit' and assumptions and subconscious racism etc, stay tuned. The class
will be happening sometime this year in Tacoma, WA.

Also, I'd like to say something about the Urban Agriculture pdf about
Tsawwassen, BC, was indeed beautiful. (There was discussion about it a few
days ago on this list). I liked a lot of it and think visions like this
are something we can aim for. But people live in the Tsawwassen that
exists right now, and so the project reminds me of High Point in Seattle.
High Point was billed as the greatest sustainability village ever and has
lots of cool features, but the city and developers kicked out tons and
tons of poor people in order to make that possible. So that aspect makes
it not only socially unjust but leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of
lower-income communities that might be allies with sustainability
advocates if horrors like that weren't happening.

It's just another reason I like to 'Observe For a Year' our urban
ecosystems before making changes. More info on creating these kind of
villages *with community consent* is found in my article in the Activist.
It's not as pretty and maybe even messier actually, but so are real people
and communities. And there's great strength in embracing that rather than
wiping the slate clean to begin again.
;)
Kelda

PS. I know y'all are so well-intentioned. It's because I trust and this
movement that I feel we can talk about sticky issues and critiques.