permaculture

["Scott Pittman" <scott@permaculture.org>]

As per LL request my text version of Musings II


Musings II

Well, its been a while and I see lots of information about IPC11 on the
internet, also beautiful photographs which I will eventually add my lot to.

First of all I left out a couple of things about the Conference period:
One, Robin Francis' talk was my favorite and was truly inspirational, I hope
she puts it up on her website since I was unable to get my computer to talk
to her computer in Cuba.

The second outstanding event for me was a visit to the Cuban Museum of the
Revolution.
This is a must visit site if you ever make it to Cuba.  I was very involved
in Cuba's fight for freedom as a 60's radical in Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS) and have always thought that I was well informed but now I
realize how many gaping historical holes exist in my knowledge.

I was shocked but not surprised to learn that the U.S. engaged in biological
warfare against Cuba using four different agents.  Three of those was
tobacco mosaic virus, a virus to kill sugar cane, and the introduction of
the dengue fever mosquito.  For some reason I can't remember the fourth.
But still, to see the might and main of the U.S. directed at an island 90
miles from our coast is a little over the top.  Cuba's sin was to recapture
their government, natural wealth, and business from an ever increasing and
aggressive attempt to turn the country into another Puerto Rican satellite
of the U.S.

80+ young men set sail in a small yacht from Mexico to liberate Cuba.  Over
half were killed in the very first encounter with Batista's military.  But
they went to the hills and won the peasantry to their cause and ultimately
won the day.

We were asked to sign a petition to President Obama to end the embargo of
over 50 years.  I think all of us signed but I certainly had some
trepidation.  Is the revolution of Cuba up to a massive onslaught from the
corporate world?  To my mind the powers that bought Batista and his cronies
are still out there in spades and will not hesitate to dismantle all of the
social programs and commons of Cuba and turn it into another Walmart and
McDonalds playground.  This will ultimately be up to the Cuban people and
their government and I fear the outcome.

I also realize the incredible hardship that our embargo has placed on the
Cuban people.  The embargo has been responsible for economic collapse, near
starvation, and lack of the basic commodities like medicine, fuel, food, and
the list goes on.  I wish with all my heart that Cuba is able to resist the
tide of capitalism and insist on growing in their own way.

I was reminded where ever I went of the continuing war being led on Cuba
with billboards and signs in every public space condemning the U.S for the
imprisonment of five Cubans patriots in the United States.  These men were
convicted in a kangaroo court in Florida and given harsh sentences for
warning Cuba of planned attacks originating in the U.S.  Former Attorney
General Ramsey Clark spoke out against this injustice in Cuba in November.  

With all of this in mind it was amazing how warmly the U.S. permaculture
delegation was received by the Cubans.  They understand that there is often
a real separation between the government's action and the humanity of the
people within that country.

We waited for the buses outside of our hotel in a driving rain generated by
weather in the U.S.  This rain persisted for three days.  We were now headed
to Los Cocos a Cuban beachside resort for Cuban families.  We arrived,
debussed and then the inevitable wait, while standing in the rain, for our
room assignment.  There was considerable grousing when the American
delegation that had signed up for the IPC through the tour group Eco-Cuba
Network was assigned their rooms first.  It was thought that the U.S.
delegation was getting preferential treatment when, in fact, it was that we
happened to have a very professional group of people who have organized many
of these visits.  The other groups were either poorly represented or not
represented at all and therefore had service on a par with what they didn't
pay for.  The Eco- Cuba Network did an incredible job of trying to smooth
out the chaos of poor organizational skills.

Accommodations were Spartan but not uncomfortable.  Most quarters had four
to six occupants which made it a little tight.  Meals seemed to cause the
most problem and that was partially a result of having more people than had
been planned for.  I suspect that we were served typical Cuban fare for our
meals which was usually some form of mystery meat, (spam like), white rice,
and occasionally vegetables.  It was a high carbohydrate dining experience.
We lost the first half day of the convergence because of hours waiting for
room assignment and then another block of hours getting lunch.

I had three presentations during the convergence which had to be constantly
changed from one time slot to another due to long breakfast and lunch lines.
Someone did point out that because we stood in lines for hours it was a
great time to meet new people and that a lot of conversation took place that
might not otherwise have taken place.

My first presentation was on Capitalism and Permaculture which was well
attended and surprisingly, to me, was well received.  I primarily wanted to
have a discussion rather than be a talking head.  My premise is that the
evolution of Capitalism throughout the world has led to a very powerful 1%
controlling the economies and governments of most countries.  This has
evolved into the corporate formation of a system of greed and control that
has eroded our social justice system and our planetary environment.  It is
my contention that Capitalism cannot be part of permaculture design and, in
fact, is a direct contradiction to the ethics of permaculture.  There was
some push back from a few who argued that it was the form of Capitalism
being practiced rather than Capitalism itself.  I argued that the fact that
Capitalist theory required continued growth and therefore continued erosion
of our planets resources and human resources made it non-viable within a
permaculture context.  What I mostly feel when I bring up this subject is
that there is still a remnant McCarthist anti-communist element in the
western culture causing any discussion about the dysfunction of capitalism
tend to make people put me into a Communist box;  Which is not true and
inhibits open conversation among many.

Most of the tragedies around the world - war, hunger, disease, prison
populations, exploitations of workers, sexism and racism can be laid at the
door of capitalist greed. These are all areas, I feel, that should be
addressed by permaculture design and in these area I think that we are
extremely lacking.  All of these planetary ills fall into the purview of
permaculture ethics and need to be addressed in pc classes and designs.
Where we need more work is on invisible structures, it is what I find most
lacking in our role as educators.  Without social and environment justice
the permaculture ethics do not exist.

I am happy to say that the conversation with those who attended this
gathering was thoughtful and lacked any meaningful contention.  I was
pleased to not feel like a voice crying in the wilderness.  I did leave with
the idea that we have to get better economic definitions in order to have
serious conversations.  My beginning in this query was the journey of
founding the Permaculture Credit Union and looking at how regulated
financial institutions are, and that the "sin" of usury is embedded in the
system.  Current banking systems and government taxation force us to
participate in unethical behavior no matter our "good intentions".  

I was sorry to miss the workshop of Felip Alves an economist from Portugal
who expanded on the Capitalism conversation.  I hope to be able to continue
our conversation in the future.  

My next time slot was devoted to Professional Practices in Permaculture
which I will pursue in my next segment of Musings.

Scott Pittman 




"To change something build a new model that makes the existing model
obsolete"  Buckminster Fuller

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Scott Pittman
Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2013 12:20 AM
To: 'permaculture'
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Musings II

This is volumn 2 of my IPC11 musings: see attached



"To change something build a new model that makes the existing model
obsolete"  Buckminster Fuller