May 1, 2014

What about music as a form of collective entertainment

Music, the art that has survived capitalism and springs up from every part of the earth and every moment that humans have occupied, continues to express societies, classes, nations, genders, metaphysical beliefs, problems, emotions, happiness and pain.  It should not be left on the hands of experts, industries, interests, or government to dictate, to suppress or promote.  As a tool, as most arts, crafts, and techniques, should be redistributed to all those below as users and not passive consumers.  Everyone can learn music, sing, play an instrument.  To do it well takes practice first and a little bit of talent, which we are not convinced of what it really is.

Music has also played a role in popular movements.  There has never been any significant social change without some music associated with the movement that caused it, while music for the sake of producing more music has not lived as long, as the music of social history.  We found a good introduction to a music genre that survived some real sever oppression to follow basic steps of emancipation and struggle to freedom.  The struggle, the living conditions of the past, the pain and suffering of those who sang their way on the narrow path towards liberation, is embedded in their songs.

We Borrowed this From the Music Room


This Primer is dedicated to promoting Rhythm and Blues, but it's clear to anyone with a passing interest in the music that it really doesn't stick to any clear definition of the genre.
John Lee Hooker

As a Primer, it's an attempt to illustrate the music, the labels and the artists of a particular style but it cannot lay claim to be a theoretical, academic or scholarly treatise. This is primarily because I am ill-equipped to do it well and there are others who are far better qualified to deliver a definitive history of the form.

So what you'll find below is an emotional and historically flawed account of the music that the Primer promotes, designed to provide a background and context for what you'll find in the real world..



Apr 25, 2014

Mushrooms, how much we don't know

If the study of mushrooms is a science in itself it may be the youngest science yet.  There is such a vast amount to study around mushrooms that indeed we (humans) may be just barely scratching the surface of this science.  As there is very little knowledge around the subject in-house we thought it would be a good excuse to utilize this opportunity to share this learning experience with others who may find an interest.  The process of learning something collectively without the assistance of experts is slightly different and it may be even more objective when a wide spectrum of information as a library is available.  When information does not exist the process becomes science in its true basis.

As we generally avoid encyclopedic interest in learning (learning for leisure or to satisfy personal curiosity) as such may only be expressed by an individual not a community or other group, learning about mushrooms, how to choose them, how to grow them, cook/eat them, use them for other purposes, making paper for example, or medical/health reasons, seemed as worthwhile.  In the most introductory reading we have found yet it would be hard to imagine a community that wouldn't need to learn about mushrooms.

Apr 21, 2014

The rights of Zapatista women

There can never and will never be any real social change without women equally participating in this change.  The zapatistas (men and women equally and from below) have done precisely this.

From Latin American Press


Orsetta Bellani
4/10/2014

Womens Revolutionary Law provides for access to political and military posts, fair wages, education, health, freedom from abuse and free choice of couples.

Fabiana wakes every morning at 4:30 a.m., like all the women in her community. She grinds the corn she boiled the night before until it becomes soft dough, from which she forms a few balls that once flattened and cooked on a griddle become tortillas. Fabiana, who is ethnically Tzotzil Maya, is 23 years old, with a husband and two children, and also a member of the support base for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

She works at home almost all day, every day, while toting her youngest child. Her husband helps with some chores traditionally considered “women’s work,” like shelling corn or plucking poultry, and sometimes he takes care of the children while she cooks.

Apr 13, 2014

Agriculturists or People Without Land

Agriculturists Without Land 


The following is a critique of the content of the above article and aims to open a discussion on the issue of social movements being incorporated within the system when they can not be defeated by physical (violent repression) means. Comments related to the subject are welcome and will be published as soon as possible.

MST is a 30 year old movement in Brazil.  It has both class and social characteristics.  It is a movement for people without land by the people without land.  Brazil is the country with the largest percentage of the population having no access to land.  Very counter-intuitive if you consider the vast area of jungle and unexplored forests created by the Amazon.  This means that a very small group of people have converted all land to private status.  This was done with a mechanism called IMF when the country first started going bankrupt 40 years ago.

This article nevertheless calls the MST movement agriculturists without land, which apart from being poorly written reveals a specific political value.  What we can conclude from it is that land is perceived as means of production which utilizes specialized workers to produce for others.  Something that as far as we can find about MST it is not.  What is odd about the article and drew our attention is the term agriculturists, meaning agricultural workers, which if searched through the net it has not been used before in reference to MST.

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.


Mar 2, 2014

Basmati planting and the art of growing rice

Basmati Farming Practices at a Glance

Seed Selection
  • Farmers procure seeds from the trusted sources – government agencies, agricultural universities and Research centers
  • Seed required for 1 acre of the cultivation is 5-8kg approximately

Treatment of Seed
  • 1kg salt is diluted in 10 litres of water to prepare solution for treatment of the seed
  • After this 8 to 10 kg of seeds poured in this solution, in this way quality seeds are drowned within the solution and seeds which float on the upper surface are thrown as waste
  • The left seeds are washed with the water for 3 to 4 times so that the salt is completely washed out
  • The seeds, then are kept in the solution of 10 litres of water, 5 grams Emison and 2.5 grams of Agromycin or 1 gram of streptomycin for 24 hours
  • After this the seeds are spread in a small area with wet sacks on the seeds to germinate and sacks are continuously watered or regular intervals