Abolition Was A Con...

I have often said that the oligarchs were very clever in abolishing slavery...

In business, the biggest cost is labour; with slavery, profits were weighed down/eaten up by the costs of keeping slaves - housing, feeding, keeping them healthy...

By freeing slaves, the oligarchs transferred most of their costs back onto the slaves, who continued to work for almost nothing because they still had to, to survive...

And then they lost those jobs to industrialisation and the mechanisation of plantation agriculture...

Abolishing slavery was not a humanitarian act; if it was, the abolitionists would have ensured the newly-freed slaves had a life of dignity to go to - which, supposedly, was the whole justification for the anti-slavery movement...

What is humanitarian about letting beings out of cages, setting them free, sending them off into the wild to fend for themselves without giving them the skills and means to do so?

We don't do that with animals we re-introduce to the wild, but we did it with people...

Abolition was a con...

On the other hand...

Truth & Courage...

 

You know...

 

Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr - all just ordinary people, like me and you...

 

As were all the other "heroes/heroines" of social change...

 

With the same fears, needs, human personalities, struggles...

 

ALL they did, was speak what they felt/thought was the truth and ACTED on it...

 

Stuck to it, stayed true to it, refused to give it up, even though they knew there would be a price to pay for speaking up...

 

 

We all know what is 'the right thing to do" - our gut tells us so, and it and our conscience "niggle" at us when we turn our backs on that...

 

Most of us pretend we can't feel/hear that niggle - we rationalise, justify, excuse our way to ignoring it...

 

  

 

What would the world be like if WE STOP TURNING OUR BACKS ON WHAT WE KNOW TO BE TRUE?...

 

LYRICS:

Try and remember now just what has been done.
Enslavement, displacement of every nation.
And now to one nation, everyone hold their grudge.
Kind of makes me wonder about which side I'm on.
I don't defend white, and I don't defend black.
I defend truth and rights and all of that.
I work on situations where I'm at
Hold my position and never fall of track.

Chorus
Nah give up my faith!
Though Babylon rage,
I and I will strive until
the end of my days.
go against society, Rasta courage.

I never give no good vibes
and I never give up no truth.
Never trade my sanity for living in Babylon crew.
Vanity will never drive this man insane.
This man will walk alongside Jah again.
We see all of the pressure to conform today,
And I may sometimes bend,
but only as not to break.

Cause a life of iniquity for laziness' sake
Is a deal with the devil Rasta just can't make.

Chorus

Looking back now upon all of the evidence
400 years and what those years have
really done, we talk of peace but at the
first sign of war. Bredren and bredren and
sistren ain't sistren no more. Without forgiveness
how will any war cease, while the heathen rage
Rastaman sitting at ease. No one will move a
muscle for some moral justice and with no justice they won't live.

Work = Slavery...

(This post leaves out, deliberately, the issue of work, slavery and poverty in the third world)

Did you know, realise that...

A long time ago, we lived in small groups, we spent time together and individually doing what was needed to ensure we had food, shelter and something to protect our bodies from any harm exposure to the elements might cause...

Then, somehow, things changed...

 

 

 

 

I guess his/her parents just don't work hard enough

Just because we've been doing it this way for thousands of years, doesn't make it sane, sensible, right...

I've been having a dialogue on whether or not people should have to "work" for a living...

I don't think so...

As you can see from the quote above, Buckminster Fuller didn't think we should have to either...

Nor do many philosophers and economists...

I've been thinking about this idea on and off for almost 20 years...

What brought it to the forefront of my mind again the other day, was my decision to stop my public education advocacy/activism...

Most of the reason was because of where things stand now in that arena, and my inability to control/handle my frustration at what I see as teachers' refusal to fight for their profession, their jobs and the wellbeing of their students (see previous blog entry Closing Doors...)...

A smaller part of the reason relates to the fact that I had turned my advocacy into a full-time UNPAID job, and I wasn't getting any nourishment/support back from it - either to help live in the material world or emotionally/spiritually...

As I wrote on a Facebook status update: 

"One of the things that is kinda hard to process right now is that I've been asking for donations both on my blog and on MisEducation Nation for a while... 

I've been asking:

IF you feel you've received anything of value in my writings/efforts AND

IF you have enough for yourself and your loved ones 

THEN would you please consider sharing something of what you have in excess with me and the boy... 

The blog gets around 250 page views a day, often more...

50 people a month (600 people over the year), giving a one-off $20 donation over a year, would be enough to keep me and the boy housed for that year...

I've had a couple of people recognise my efforts on the blog and honour the energy exchange with a donation, which has been lovely - THANK YOU...

Because of my efforts, MisEducation Nation has reached 1300 "likers" over two years, with those numbers continuing to grow at the rate of about 10-15 a week, so those people would only have had to give $27 once to keep me financially viable for three years...

Was what I was producing/offering worth $27 once in every three years, to each of those 1300 people, to the larger world?

It's bitter sweet, now that I've announced my decision to quit public ed advocacy, to have lots of people on the page, talking about how much the effort I put in made a difference, how they spread what I posted to other arenas, how it actually did change perceptions and how much they value my passion and voice, how much they will miss it etc...

No one translated that appreciation for the value of the work into even a small donation.    In fact, when I first asked 18 months ago, someone castigated me for having the temerity to put the idea forward at all...

here: What's It Worth To You?

and I have some very robust ideas around the issue of volunteering... 

here: Volunteering - Service Or Exploitation? 

Put into the circle what we can, take out what we need...

What I do apparently has value and yet it's not valued enough to warrant an energy exchange that allows my son and I to house/feed/clothe ourselves? 

How are we going to move forward as a world, if this doesn't change?" 

It seems to me that people have been conned into agreeing, even welcoming, living as slaves in this world...

From a spiritual perspective, I agree that one of the reasons we're here on this planet, in this reality, is to be of service to others...

AND I agree that there is value in carrying out tasks with mindfulness, that the most humble activity does have sacredness to be found within it...

AND...

There's a lie we've all been brainwashed with, that there is "nobility", "dignity" in working... that if you have to, you will do anything to survive, to provide for your children, up to and including cleaning other peoples' toilets...

Do we really believe that?  That there is dignity in cleaning other peoples' shit, so we can buy a crust of bread for our children?

Our world is being raped and pillaged to such an extent by the oligarchs and we have such a high degree of technology operating now, that there are insufficient good, satisfying jobs with dignity left for all of those who need/want them...

People with PhD's are working two and three jobs as service workers in coffee shops, restaurants and supermarkets, just to pay the rent, never mind being able to pay off their student loan debts...

Real under/unemployment in the US stands at around 30% and in European countries it's even higher, with youth unemployment reaching 60% plus...

We can't go on this way.   We can't keep pretending that we can "grow" our way out of this - one cannot have infinite growth in a finite system (the earth) - the environmental and social damage/cost is enormous...

AND there are ways to change this...

The Abolition of Work is an essay by Bob Black that puts forward the idea that no one should ever work.   He gives a brief background on where this thinking comes from and why this is something we need to consider at this point in the development of our human existence.

Robert Theobald also thought we ought not to have to work... In fact, he said:

"My goal is to create a situation of full unemployment - a world in which people do not have to hold a job.  And I believe that this kind of world can actually be achieved." ~ Robert Theobald 

For more information, go here: Basic Income Guarantee

All of this is possible - we just have to start thinking about and DOING things differently...

For example, we need to consider a shift to a resource-based economy rather than hanging onto one based on money...

And we have to stop using and extracting resources out of the earth to go to work, and to make more and more stuff we don't need...

Buckminster Fuller agreed with François de Chardenedes that petroleum, from the standpoint of its replacement cost out of our current energy "budget" (essentially, the net incoming solar flux), had cost nature "over a million dollars" per U.S. gallon (US$300,000 per litre) to produce.  From this point of view, its use as a transportation fuel by people commuting to work represents a huge net loss compared to their earnings.

He also said that during the 1970s, humanity had attained an unprecedented state,  that the accumulation of relevant knowledge, combined with the quantities of major recyclable resources that had already been extracted from the earth, had attained a critical level, such that competition for necessities was not necessary any more. Cooperation had become the optimum survival strategy. "Selfishness," he declared, "is unnecessary and hence-forth unrationalizable... War is obsolete."

~ Buckminster Fuller

Think about this next time you're standing in the supermarket (or any store) thinking about buying soap, or shampoo, or beans, or dishwasher liquid or milk or any other consumable:

Why do we allow businesses/profiteers/corporations to use slave labour here and in other countries, to make large quantities of one item, then use millions of dollars packaging and 'branding' it as different products, so that we believe the lie that we're being given choice, and then we spend more or less money buying it (depending on our "station in life" and our own illusory fabrication of who we think ourselves to be)...

How much did the slave "earn" to make that product?   How many hours at minimum wage do some of us have to "work" to "earn" enough to buy it?

How many hours do you have to "work" to pay for a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food in your belly and the means to get you around in this world (seeing how the layout of our cities/communities now makes access to services and resources difficult)?

What happens in our world, if you don't "work"?  Eventually, you have no home, no shelter, no warmth, no food, no clothing, no cleanliness, no medical care, no recreation, no leisure activities...

And yet, the United Nations declares that, amongst other things, we humans each, by virtue of being alive, of existing, have a BIRTHRIGHT to food, shelter, medical care and education... 

Ironically, it also states that we have the RIGHT to dignified, meaningful, work... NOTICE - nowhere in the Declaration does it say that the two sets of rights are connected - that we must work for our food, shelter and other necessities of life...

LYRICS:

I want to break free
I want to break free
I want to break free from your lies
You're so self satisfied I don't need you
I've got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free

I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love for the first time
And this time I know it's for real
I've fallen in love yeah
God knows God knows I've fallen in love

It's strange but it's true
I can't get over the way you love me like you do
But I have to be sure
When I walk out that door
Oh how I want to be free baby
Oh how I want to be free
Oh how I want to break free

But life still goes on
I can't get used to living without living without
Living without you by my side
I don't want to live alone hey
God knows got to make it on my own
So baby can't you see
I've got to break free

I've got to break free
I want to break free yeah

I want, I want, I want, I want to break free  

(The David Mallet-directed music video, is a parody of the British northern working class soap opera Coronation Street. Mercury's character was loosely based on Bet Lynch, while May's character was based on Hilda Ogden. The video also depicts the band in what appears to be a coal mine and features a segment with the Royal Ballet, in which Freddie Mercury portrays Nijinsky)

I guess I'm back at my starting point...

• I have value - I'm an expression of one of the infinite potentials of the life force

• What I contribute to life has value; I change the world just by being in it

• I have a UN-stated RIGHT to the necessities of life

• At some point in time, ownership of the resources necessary for living passed from the community to a few people, who then demanded we pay/work for access to and use of those resources

• There isn't enough 'work' to go around and what there is, increasingly doesn't pay enough for people to buy the necessities of life and to live with dignity

• Our planet can't support more of us 'working', when 'working' really means using up resources to make junk we don't need to keep a broken, artificial economic model going

So - how about it? 

When will we all throw off our worker chains

and claim our freedom?

 

 

 

 

Closing Doors...

I've made the decision to step away from public education advocacy...

 

After four years of almost full-time focus on what's been happening in Seattle and nationally...

 

I like to think that I've had some small effect in slowing down the implementation of the ed deform agenda - at the very least, in WITNESSING it, declaring to the oligarchs: "I know what you're doing, it's not OK and you're not doing it in my name - or my son's!"

I'm driven by a sense of urgency not many other people have...

 

And I've been pushing and pushing against ed deform, pushing for people, especially teachers to wake up, stand up, step up, break free...

 

here: MiseducationNation

 

and here: Taking the Narrative - De-Railing the Ed Reform Train

 

and here: Teachers - Standing Up, Stepping Up, Breaking Free

 

and here: Which Side Are You On?

 

and on Twitter and all over the web and at rallies and school board meetings and in newspapers...

 

got lots of defensiveness back from both parents and teachers, coming out of fear I know...

 

I'm having trouble dealing with my frustration at what I see as teachers' reluctance to accept the reality, the urgency and to step up and do what's required to effectively push back against ed deform... 

 

Ed deform hurts children, abuses children, stunts their beings, uses them as cash cows...

 

And from my perspective, teachers, by continuing to implement ed deform, are complicit in that child abuse...

 

AND I do appreciate what it is they especially have to lose if they get serious about standing in front of the bulldozer of the corporate rape and pillaging of public education...

 

 

AND at some point, we each have to say "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more"...

 

 

I can't keep working in this arena with this degree of frustration, so I'm stepping away...

I have taken the boy out of the education system altogether and we shall focus on educating for and living life in as wholistic a fashion as we can possibly manage...

I wish we could do that for, and with, all children...

 

And so, we go on...

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Solstice 2012...

... lots been churning, burning, inside myself over the past weeks and months - half a dozen 'works-in-progress' posts sitting in the draft queue...

and none of it is ready to be put out into the world yet...

so, I shall communicate what I can...

AND wish you all a happy, happy solstice - may the sun bring us all sanity, peace and joy as we celebrate the longest day and move into summer here in the northern hemisphere...

  

and for my children moving into the dark of winter in the antipodes, I say: "I love you and I miss you, as does the boy..."

 

Namaste

Birthday Present Registry...

Dear Universe...

you know it's my birthday soon, right?

(AND the boy's birthday 27 days later, right?)...

AND you know it'll be the start of my first adult year (as per the medicine wheel) right? 

Well, all I want for my birthday this year, is a long term HOME (on Vashon) for me and the boy and the cats, with our stuff in it/out of storage, with the means to live there in comfort, with ease, dignity and grace...

We're done with the gypsying - grateful for the experience, thank you...

AND storage fees go up on the 1st July...

AND we have better things to spend our money on...

so, there you go - that's my birthday wish/intention...

AND so it is... Blessings Be... AUM...

PS:
oh, AND an all expenses paid, all needs/desires met, indefinite sojourn on a sunny, sandy beach with shade when and where I want it, would be good about now...

AND you'll have to sort out the visitation/passport/travel issues to make that happen so that the boy can come too...

How about it, Life?

WOW - thanks...

A Life Well Lived...

 

 

"This is what you shall do;

Love the Earth and Sun and the animals,

despise riches,

give alms to every one that asks,

stand up for the stupid and crazy,

devote your income and labor to others,

hate tyrants,

argue not concerning God,

have patience and indulgence toward the people,

take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,

go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families,

read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,

re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,

dismiss whatever insults your own soul,

and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

~ Preface to 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman

 

 

 

Paradoxes...

and the question is, how long can we keep this going?

LYRICS:

Welcome to your life
There's no turning back
Even while sleep
We will find you
Acting on your best behaviour
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world
It's my own design
It's my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I'll be right behind you
So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world
I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you'll never never never need it
One headline why believe it ?
Everybody wants to rule the world
All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world 

IF we don't like what we are experiencing...

THEN we need to change - ourselves ...

AND in the changing of ourselves, the experience will change...

 

SO...

WHAT, AND WHEN, WILL YOU CHANGE?