permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

This is a thread in the Reddit forum /r/ukrainianconflict that I
participated in; comments welcome; maybe Scott will add something:

The growing Russian military threat in Europe
<https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/the-growing-russian-military-threat-in-europe/>
by cito <https://www.reddit.com/user/cito> in UkrainianConflict
<https://www.reddit.com/r/UkrainianConflict/>


[–]avantgeared <https://www.reddit.com/user/avantgeared> 1 point 1 day ago*

(While at the same time Russia really and systematically shells civilists,
hospitals and UN convoys in Syria

and nobody in Russia cares.)

Who in Russia *does* care? Certainly the Navalny and Nemtsov followings and
supporters of the murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya and many more.
Throughout the history of the relationship between the West and Russia
there are many friends and would-be friends, much respect and world class
cultural exchange.

I am not challenging your statement, just striking a blow for peace and
harmony where it can arise.

Certainly it would take a seriously backward class of Russians not to
notice or be concerned about Russia's genocide in Syria *and* Chechnya.

[–]avantgeared <https://www.reddit.com/user/avantgeared> 0 points 1 day ago*


Sure. I did not mean the word "nobody" literally here. Of course there are
many good and engaged people in Russia. But they could be more.

The masses are silent, apathetic, ignorant, or disinformed. And Putin sees
it as his job to keep things that way.

A national infrastructure providing affordable healthcare, housing, food,
electricity, transportation would go a long way toward providing
encouragement and incentive by meeting their basic needs allowing them to
build local economies and make it on their own. This is not dificult to do.
Funds from private, government and ngo/non profit investment made available
to communities within urban and in rural areas could go a long way.
Building local economies and collaborating with resources made available to
them from a reliable national support infrastructure is the key to their
success. I am not talking about a welfare state, just meeting their basic
needs affordably. Local production and services networks, linked
regionally, independent of external funding would provide reliable
sustenance to meet many of their everyday needs. A network of small farms
and gardens providing high quality food would be a good place to start;
people get exercise, eat well and stay healthy.


[–]avantgeared <https://www.reddit.com/user/avantgeared> 0 points 22 hours
ago*

Right. You need that basic infrastructure, and also rule of law. On top of
that you need creativity, collaboration, energy, optimism. All of this has
been stifled in Ukraine and Russia during the Soviet regime. People are not
used to the idea that they are those who have to build everything up, they
still expect things to change and come from the top. Which does not happen.
But I hope this mentality slowly changes. Here is an example.

Thanks for your fascinating reply! I can see I am not going to get any work
done today expanding on my ideas and exploring yours! Here is a little for
starters:

I am involved with the international permaculture movement. Permaculture
offers exactly what Ukrainian and Russian people need.

The person who started it all, Bill Mollison, was given an important award
and recognition of the value of his work by a presigious Russian University
(I think that big one in Siberia where a lot of research is being done).
There are groups developing Permaculture resources, site development,
education, gatherings, etc. in Ukraine.

I was lucky enough to run across a video of an amazing artisan in Ukraine.
There is a big marketplace for products made by craftsmen like him. Others
could follow his example.

An excellent video, worldclass work & what a shop.

Ukrainian blacksmith at work making Damascus blade from cable.

Making dagger blade Damascus Steel Style with the cable

http://techintrend.co/p/making-dagger-blade-damascus-steel-style-with-the-cable/

There are experienced, skilled craftsmen all over Russia. For example,
blacksmith toolmakers (I saw a vid of one making a firewood splitting
handaxe) and Russian masonry stove builders, market gardeners, plum fruit
breeders, and a lemonary in Bashkortostan:
https://sites.google.com/site/seedkeeping/international-resources/lemonary-in-bashkortostan

These are products and services that could be exported to other countries
along with contractual arrangements and educational opportunities.

Agriculture could become more individually operated local enterprises than
corporate, i.e. local small farms, arrays of small farms in a fertile
crescent surrounding urban areas, growing for local consumption with
surplus going to regional markets, return to tradition with agrarian
communalist villages, settlements and neighborhoods, communalism,
collectives, cooperatives, farmer networks (collectives or cooperatives -
there are excellent websites on these two systems) distributing products
locally, regionally or even nationally.

Obviously this is a valuable alternative to corporate-owned-everything
dominating the marketplace.

More later.

-- 
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared