Anarchy and the G8

Well here comes the G8 again, a meeting of 8 'great' nations who get together to figure out ways to end poverty and hunger... well, at least they COULD get together to end poverty and hunger, but no.

They talk, and eat, and have photos taken together, then talk some more, eat again, another photo shoot and home; all at the taxpayers’ expense. So what do they talk about? Maybe they ARE working to end world hunger? Ah bless, but no.

Most of us will never know what is discussed during these meetings; sometimes they decide to have a particular topic (the host nation’s leader sets the agenda) that is openly discussed with the media, but usually no such transparency exists, and we are just left paying for the grand gala without being let in on the details.

I have a particular nostalgia for the G8 because my experiences protesting against it in 2005 are what made me realise anarchism (as a system of self-government), actually works. I was living in Edinburgh when the G8 was held just up the road in Gleneagles; how could I resist attending the protest?

In the previous year I had attended one of the international protests against the war in Iraq, “no blood for oil” was our slogan and Tony Blair had lied to the international public, stating there was evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This has now been proven to be lies and that liar, that international war criminal was leading the G8 in Scotland.

So, who was invited? Other than the usual suspects the International Energy Agency made their debut at the 2005 G8, an organisation whose mandate is to manage the security of oil supply. Hmmm, I wonder what they talked about... I can only guess, and my guess is oil: who has it, and how they can ‘secure the supply’ (i.e. by force).

Publicly, poverty in Africa was said to be on the G8’s agenda for discussion in 2005, largely due to the international ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign, which culminated in a march of an estimated 225,000 people in Edinburgh. Protesters demanded the G8 ‘Drop the Debt’ crippling developing nations and increase aid, without strings attached.

Most aid given to developing nations goes straight to US/UK-owned contractors anyway (to build infrastructure, for example) and what does go to the countries comes with requirements further tying the country to credit dependence and debt to the G8. Unfortunately ‘aid’ is not a monetary gift from one country to another, it’s a payment for services rendered. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid#Ulterior_agendas

There was an anarchist campsite at Gleneagles where thousands of diverse people came together to protest the G8. There were people in fairy costumes, skinheads, children, ‘normal’ folks and everything in between. Each area of the camp site had a local meeting to discuss their ideas for protest and camp organisation (feeding everyone, cleanup duties etc.); then the facilitators of each group went to a central tent for a camp-wide discussion of the protest. In this way every person had an opportunity to have their say and each group got to discuss their methods of protest.

Riot police in full riot gear were outside the camp threatening to move in and tensions were high. Some people wanted to go out and attack them, some people wanted a sit-down protest while others wanted to walk among the police handing out flowers. How was this going to work?

Each group discussed their idea and then the group facilitators agreed each protest idea would be put into action in a chronological order starting with the most peaceful and only using violence as a last resort. So the mothers, fairies and children went first, they handed out flowers and the children hugged the legs of the police. It was quite a sight to behold! There were no cameras allowed at the campsite to protect everyone’s identities so there were no pictures taken, but it was beautiful, trust me.

In the end our last resort was not needed and the protest ended peacefully. Protesters were allowed to leave in groups of about 1000; they sent us by train back to Edinburgh to be searched and photographed.

So after the British taxpayers spent a total of £12.7 million for the G8 weekend, what was the result? A handful of promises were made (and mostly not kept) to reduce Africa’s debt, but aid was given to Palestine for ‘infrastructure’ and many trade-inhibiting tariffs and subsidies were reduced, opening the door to more G8-owned corporate organisations. It sounds like the mob G8 just got their way again.

Now eight years later the G8 is back in the UK and although David Cameron is hosting the party this year, I’m sad to say, nothing has changed. At least (I hope) the anarchist protests will continue, so a new generation of people will realise, we CAN peacefully organise ourselves. We CAN co-exist with people from different backgrounds with different agendas. We don’t need these corrupt politicians to lead us, rule us or govern us; we CAN govern ourselves. That is anarchy.

Cruelty Free Money: put your money where your mouth is

Recently I changed my superannuation fund to Cruelty Free Super, when I realised I had no idea where my super was being invested. Considering how unethical most corporations are you can pretty much assume that any money you have invested is being used to break the little guy and stuff the pockets of the rich (all while ruining our environment).

When you hear about ethical investments I assumed these were for rich people who had money to invest, but I realised that your superannuation (and in fact ANY money you have in a bank) is being invested on your behalf. That’s YOUR money paying for deforestation, sweatshops and intensive farming.

Personally I think intensive farming is one of our world’s most horrific practices, and it has a lot to do with why I became a vegetarian 16 years ago. To borrow a line from one of my favourite campaigns, “A world without factory farming is possible. Make it possible”. I’m not going to go into the details here, I’m just using this example as a case in point.

Is there something you feel strongly about? Perhaps you boycott a company you believe to be unethical. Are you sure you aren’t personally funding THAT company with your bank savings or superannuation? Who does your bank invest in? Where is your superannuation invested?

It’s worth asking a few simple questions to find out, and if it all feels a bit hard, then at least there is a superannuation fund you can select which you can be certain does NOT invest in:

• Child Labour
• Human Rights Abuses
• Environmental Destruction
• Intensive Farming
• Live Exports
• Animal Testing

If you want more information then go to http://www.crueltyfreesuper.com.au/. I’m not commissioned to speak on their behalf, I just happen to believe they’re a good company with a good idea: not investing in torture, abuse or destruction.

Where is your money invested?

Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches

For those of you too young to remember Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America, that's a musical reference from way back (1996) and is related to a conversation with my lovely man Mike that I had over the weekend.

We went back to The Paddock to water the 200 plants we put in 3 weeks ago (for details you can read my permaculture blog here), which was good and bad. Bad because it's a three-hour drive each way so we spent half of our weekend driving there and back just for it to rain all Saturday night and Sunday (i.e. wasted trip - we only went there to water!), but it was equally good and definitely worth the trip because
a) it's always good to get out of the city, it's way more relaxing in the country
b) it gave Mike and I a chance to chat properly without the distraction of TV, phones or other noise.

I'd been needing to have a proper talk with Mike for quite a while but just wasn't making it happen. He's been stressed at work, and I've been feeling down so we were just in a place where we were snapping at each other and not communicating well. The quiet (and cold!) at The Paddock gave us the peace we needed and we talked openly about a variety of topics in front of the fire.

I explained I've felt a rising melancholy that he has a job he loves and fulfills him (which I don't) and that although I signed up to work full time until we could live at The Paddock in comfort, I just don't feel like I'm being true to myself to do something a don't love for a decade, just to pay the bills so I can do something I love later.

Unfortunately I'm not one of those people who figured out what they want to do with their lives at a young age (or at any age - I'm 37 and I still have no idea what job would make me happy). I came very close when I worked at the kennels, because I love dogs with a passion, but the kennel also housed a pound and there was an immense amount of sadness attached to that little place. But I digress. 

Just to show how completely amazing Mike is, he heard me out then suggested we work towards a much closer timeline. Why don't we work towards getting it comfortable enough for me part-time, instead of both of us full-time. Then I can look at spending a few days in Perth and a few days in the country each week (with a day ferrying to and fro - most likely on the bus).

The fact that Mike was even open-minded enough to consider this sort of setup, let alone clever enough to think of it just astounds me. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. 

So now I'm calm again, with a slightly altered direction. Nothing needs to change in the short term but in two years I'll be looking at installing a toilet/shower block which would make the shed habitable. By then we will have completed the insulation to keep the temperature more comfortable and we will have a generator or similar power source for electronics.

Then I'll just need a part-time job either here or there for an income source and I'll be ready. Mike admits he would only be ready to move to the country once it's as comfortable as our house in the city, because he expects to need to keep working for the long-term. And why not? He loves what he does, why should he give it up to live in a freezing shed and be broke? But there is a middle path; Mike helped me find it and we'll walk it together.

Does Free Will Exist?

Last night I watched the last of “The Story of Science” documentaries, this one was titled Who Are We? and discussed (in part) B.F.Skinner’s work on behavioural psychology in the 1950s. Skinner did research with pigeons that showed he could alter their behaviour very quickly using rewards. He then theorised that humans learn in the same way, and that ALL of our behaviour is learnt in response to our environment.

Personally this sounds like nurture over nature; a theory I have personal reasons for not agreeing with completely. I’m adopted and have very noticeable similarities to my biological family. We don’t just look alike but we have the same mannerisms and ideologies despite the fact I only met them when I was 21 years of age.

But even if Skinner’s theory doesn’t explain 100% of our behaviour, it certainly has been proven to work on humans; the Broken Window Theory implemented by Mayor Guiliani during the 1990s is evidence of this (as discussed in The Tipping Point).

However Skinner’s theory is only one argument against free will, determinism is another. Determinism states that by the physical laws of cause and effect all actions can be determined given a specific causal scenario; essentially you can predict a result with certainty if you understand what causes that result.

Take that theory to its ultimate end and you can imagine that every action in the universe was put into play at the big bang; the physical laws just took over and played out the determined result based on the causes that were present (after the big bang). Then our very existence as well as every action we take is just the playing out of subatomic particles1.

Whether you choose to believe in either determinism or Skinner’s theory may be irrelevant. Some people believe humans invented God in order to make sense of the world, but maybe we also invented the concept of free will to feel empowered and important, like our choices matter.

Perhaps our future generations will let go of the ego involved in free will – my choice, my decision, my responsibility. Maybe being a part of the giant cosmic explosion2 is enough?

I know that free will ‘seems right’; it’s hard to believe that we’re not in control of our own movements and decisions, but not so long ago everyone believed that the world was flat and the universe revolved around the earth – those ideas seemed right at the time too.

I’d ask what you think but your answer is already determined 

1 "the playing out playing out of subatomic particles" - quote and concept from The Waking Life

2 "we're living through a giant cosmic explosion" - quote from The Story of Science

Using music to alter your mood

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately. It happens to most of us at some point, but with a history of depression I tend to be quite aware when the gloomy thoughts take over. I use “in the moment” meditation techniques to break the cycle of negative thinking (such as “I feel the ground beneath my feet; feel the posture of my body”) because your body is always in the present moment. If you bring your mind to your body then you can break free from the negative monologue in your head.

This is something that needs to be done repetitively and is helpful to re-write the synapses in your brain. If you’ve had depression before then the repetitive negative thinking you experienced creates pathways in your brain that re-fire when you feel depressed. Hence the ‘cycle’ that you can become aware of (see the movie “What The Bleep“ if you want this explained beautifully).

Returning to the now IS helpful but it can also become tiring if you need to do it constantly (if the negative thoughts keep coming). What I’ve discovered, and now use as a secondary technique is upbeat music. Music has a profound effect on my mood; I used to know this subconsciously when I would listen to The Carpenters for hours when I was depressed. There’s nothing like Karen wailing her sad songs to keep you wallowing in depression!

With this awareness I now keep my mp3 in my bag and plug in my head phones whenever I need to. I did this on my way in to work this morning and changed a drab dark mood into an upbeat one, simply by playing tunes that made me smile or made me want to dance. You can’t be depressed when you’re dancing! I did have to sift through my songs so I think I’ll start an upbeat playlist called ‘happy tunes’ for a faster result next time.

Think back to the old songs that already have happy memories associated with them. When you’re in a dark place this won’t be easy but you may hear a great song somewhere and remember how happy it makes you feel, so note it down and add that tune later. ‘Brim full of Asha’ did that for me this morning, I mean, how can the lyrics “Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow, everybody needs a bosom” NOT make you smile?

What music makes you smile or dance?

Is the UK only days away from a food shortage?

When MPs are warning the public to eat less meat because the UK is “never more than a few days from a significant food shortage”, I must admit, the survivalist in me feels vindicated.

Most of us are completely unaware how fragile our boring lives are, and that with a jolt from an outside source such as oil prices skyrocketing, or in this case, too many people wanting to eat beef and cheese(?!) that the supply of food in our shops WILL dwindle and possibly even stop.

If we all grow our herbs and vegetables at home we can supplement these with store-bought staples like bread, milk, cheese and meat. This would at least give us a fall-back; a supply of food if the shops' supplies run low. There are other benefits to growing your own food, like the health benefits involved in being outside, physical labour and knowing what is in your food. It’s also cheaper to grow a proportion of your own food, especially herbs which are easy to grow just about anywhere (a window sill will do).

Using permaculture methods, only a quarter acre of land is required to feed a family of four (or more depending on their diet). Perhaps if we all ate a bit less meat and cheese then we could manage more of our own survival? When the world goes to hell in a handbasket I want to have a healthy vegie patch instead of queueing with the brawlers for a loaf of bread. 

That reminds me, my vegie patch is pretty dead right now... it needs some winter TLC.

It doesn’t take a lot of money or energy to get started, what would encourage you to grow some food? Or what have you had success with?

Do you need to love yourself to succeed?

This morning I discovered this amazing interview with Miuccia Prada via one of those meandering internet ‘strolls’ you can take by following one link to another, so kudos to The Sartorialist for this one.

You can find an excerpt below if you choose not to read the whole article; however you may be surprised to find out about Prada’s communist beginnings and alternative points of view. 

Excerpt

Reporter: ‘How important is it for people to love themselves? I mean women.”

Miuccia Prada: “Now that you ask me, I ask myself.” “What do you think?”

Reporter: “I think it’s overrated.”

Miuccia Prada: “Bravo!” “This is great. This is something I can tell my friends. What a liberation. You can hate yourself!”

This dialogue completely astounded me as I believe that every human being needs to love themselves in order to be successful in life. When I say success I do not mean a great career, but I mean contentment with yourself and the people in your life. Am I wrong?

It’s a cliché to say you can’t love someone else until you learn to love yourself, but aren’t most clichés a cliché for a reason? In this case I definitely believe it to be true. From my own personal experience I only managed to have destructive relationships with other people until I began meditating and learnt to accept myself. That’s what love is, it’s an acceptance without bounds and when you love someone else you accept their faults too.

If we don’t accept our own faults and are always striving for perfection (which doesn’t exist; we are human, we err), aren’t we on a never ending treadmill of craving and desire? We fulfil one desire and immediately move onto the next? Or worse, we fail in fulfilling our desires and hate ourselves. If you hate yourself then you view the world through a perspective of hate, after all we only have our own eyes with which to see the world.

How do you see yourself and does this reflect on your vision of the world around you, and your success in it?