Showing posts with label commodification. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commodification. Show all posts

Mar 25, 2014

War against people who need water

This article barely scratches the surface of what neo-liberalism really is and how things will progress globally if we do not built sufficient resistance to the goals of neo-liberalism.  Absolute dependence of life on the global market economic system and states bluntly acting as armies to enforce the rights of the corporations to which everyone will depend on for their survival.  Total conquering of land, water, life. Absolute conversion of any human activity into a commodity or prohibition and repression of any other activity. Absolute social control through dependence on the most basic needs for survival, and war on any resistance and social organization from below.  Those who resist will be branded terrorists from "corporate" media.
Some have been talking about this since the 70s and 80s and people thought of them as either conspiracy theorists or doomsday theorists, or science fiction addicts.  Just because the truth about neo-liberalism can not absolutely and completely be explained with classic political theory on capitalism (predominantly Marxism) does not mean that it is not real.  It is here.  It is Nafta for North America, it is EEC for Europe, it is WTO, it is IMF, it is everywhere!  Except for Chiapas that is.  It is not happening there.  Why?  There are no easy answers and if they were you shouldn't trust them.  Learn and decide for yourself.  This is a static advise here in the institute.  Do not even believe us.  Gather information, do your own research, decide, then organize based on your informed beliefs.  From below as they say in the caracoles.

From: NaturalNews

Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I'm about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from "diverting" water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.


Jan 2, 2014

Permaculture: Back to Basics?

Permaculture seems to have grown almost as many interpretations as there are practitioners. Patrick Whitefield talks to Simon Fairlie.


an occasional magazine about land rights

SF : A lot of “permaculture plots” are on a small  fiddly scale. The prevalence of herb spirals, mini-ponds, willow arbours and micro-coppices, along with ubiquitous “forest gardens” are charming, but are they really any more than a current fashion trend in “alternative” gardening? In some quarters, the perceived quaintness of Permaculture (PC) gardening prevents it from being regarded as a serious method of cultivation. Are these approaches actually permacultural and if so, is PC married to such methods? Or is there room for a more efficiency-based approach?

PW : Small scale is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact there’s plenty of evidence to show that small scale food production, including gardening, actually yields more food than large scale. It may produce less per person employed and certainly produces less financial return, but on average it does produce more food per hectare.1

Dec 16, 2013

Permaculture and the beaten path to freedom


Permaculture revisited

Here we have a good example of how a noble proposal and related information may be undermined to pose no threat to the system.  While wondering around the web for practical information about permaculture, one good source is The Permaculture Institute.  As an example (there is nothing in particular that is wrong with the PI but it is representative) of how an idea can be sterilized and be assimilated within the dominant system of capitalism.  Permaculture as a proposal of how land can be utilized in a sustainable way and not as a temporary area of exploitation till it is depleted and abandoned is something that few good willing souls may have anything against.  But in itself does not contain automatically a viable way for people to escape the domination of the economic and political system we all (almost all, or almost all who are not struggling to escape it) live under.  Some would say it does not need to, and may be a good step for people who will engage in such living to take the next step towards liberation.  This is what is troubling us and we can not see clearly.  Does permaculture have a hidden radical agenda?  Who is the keeper of this hidden agenda and who are the innocent victims who will engage in such a practice