The Pear-Shaped Pete

the revolution will not be funded

There's something fundamentally flawed in trying to achieve mass social change through a model that says this small number of people [nonprofit staffers] is responsible for changing society fundamentally.  History has shown us that masses of people are required to make mass significant change.  So, delegating that to a small group of people for whom social change is a career really limits our ability to actually effect and perpetuate change.  In the meantime, it creates a group of people for whom social change is a career, and along with it comes individual self-interest, opportunism, and career building - really limiting their accountability to larger political visions and to larger communities.

. . .

Scott-Heron challenged us to understand that we've all  become isolated by watching television and so don't get together to create social movements, and that we're not going to see revolutionary change that way.  It is important for us to recognize that the revolution will not be funded by the Ford Foundation. 

Once we realize that the revolution will not be funded, then we have to figure out how we're going to make it happen with the resources, skills, and abilities that we do have.  Otherwise, it's either in control of state-sponsored funding, or funded by interests that are contrary to ours.

. . .

It is definitely challenging.  There's  many more raise-the-rent parties, many more strains on existing community resources, and it's challenging to be trying to resource a movement for social change from the very people who are suffering the most economically and socially right now.  However, when we do it that way, everyone is far more invested and feels far more ownership that when we do it the way we've been doing it [through foundations].

. . .

Also, let's think about the process by which we do social-change work.  It should be integrated in our daily lives.  Each of us should do a little bit every day, instead of one person having to do it all and get paid for it.  Basically, the notion is that people who are part of social movements, who need social movements, who want social movements, [should] invest in them any way they can with time and energy and resources and money and collective efforts that get things done without having to rely on Rockefeller.

INCITE!'s Andrea J. Ritchie in make/shift issue no. 2

For Sharon. Thank you.

 

towards a politics of hope

francis moore lappé wrote diet for a small planet. one thing she says (regarding the fallacies of economic dogmas) is "the market does not respond to individual preferences; it responds to money. I thought that the preference of most individuals is to eat when they are hungry. Yet more than half a billion people living in market economies are not eating"

i could go on and on and on about the global supermarket, how most of our food comes from california rather from farmers in our region. how one family controls the majority of food in this country. which is to say that one corporation controls what almost the entire country eats. what gives them the right to decide who can eat what, where, at what price??

i do truely believe that being hungry means making choices that no human being should ever have to make. and thus, hunger equals anguish. that hunger means grief; watching people you love grow sick and die. that being hungry means living in a state of constant humiliation and dehumanization. and that ultimately being hungry means living in fear.

perhaps there are a number of rather critical points to keep in mind.

underwhat circumstances could the market work to reduce hunger??
could it respond to HUMAN preference.??
the market tends to be blind to the human and resources costs of over consumption.
the problem unfortunately seems to be the increasing gap between those who can live by their wealth and those who cannot live by their work.
western markets lead to a concentration of economic power that directly contributes to hunger and makes true democracy impossible.
nowhere are markets free.
we should work for all politics that reduce rather than reinforce the concentration of income and wealth.

thank you, daniel, for turning a blind eye to me pirating our conversations.

unions, and borders, and trains... oh my!!

i realize that i have not been writing here all that much, this week i seemed to catch the plague which seriously knocked me out for a few days.  illness combined with a recent addiction to a certain website that will go unnamed, suffice to say that i´m not entirely sure why my current friends won´t return emails, but one´s from primary school will find me and write on my wall.  weird.

after a rough start this morning (late night / early morning / rain) i went off to confirm my suspicions that anarchists are not going to cross picket lines for mere prisonner solidarity meetings.  so i did an hour of picketing duty (since i am not priviledged to belong to a union) up on carleton´s campus with deah.  the morale seems low up there, with a lot of people crossing, rumours of scabs, hostile students, et cetera. 

i guess all strikes have these problems, but coupled with the rain, it seemed really sad up there.  so many of the union´s members were dismissive of what is being attempted by the strike.  people forget, or don´t know, what it means to not be unionized.  one woman talked to me of her powerlessness when faced with employers; who is she, she argued, to demand a certain pay level, benefits, job security?? 

all things that union members are lucky to have, and the rest of us who don´t should remember what unionizing can accomplish.  what is the old labour slogan??  Unions: the people who brought you the weekend.  enough said.

then this afternoon on to OCISO to talk about immigration options, borders, legalities, strategies, conflict, racism, fascism . . . OPEN THE FREAKING BORDERS ALREADY!!  i am so tired of this bullshit.  people living in sanctuary, people who are stateless, refugees, divided families, illegals, dead migrants, and generally fear driven policy.  it frustrates me soooo much. 

on another, lighter, note.  i received this foto in my inbox today.  it´s from railroad days at the museum of science and tech.  and yes, that is molly driving the shay locomotive.

el por que

"Y aquí voy a parar a tomar un respiro
Razones suficientes para hacerle un desplante a mi destino:
Que todos sigan mientras yo miro
Que todos bailen y si me decido
Bailaré yo sola, pero a mi ritmo"

Organ donor database

I meant to put this up a week ago.  this is not something i usually do, link an entire news post with no commentary. nor do i often speak about this topic (although it is rediculous that i don´t).

please make an informed decision about organ donation.  i don´t care what an individual decides to do, but if more people took the time to consider donating, well, i can only imagine.  anti rejection drugs, steroids, and cytotoxic medications are quite one thing to deal with, but a slow death on dialysis (for example) is horrible. 

speaking from experience . . .

Premier Dalton McGuinty of Ontario in Canada announced a $4-million organ donation strategy Friday that includes the expense reimbursement policy.

"Too many Ontarians face an agonizing wait for an organ that could save their life," said McGuinty.

This week, 1,743 patients are waiting for a transplant in the province.

The government's organ-donation strategy will provide funding to reimburse living donors for pre-approved expenses, such as meals, accommodation and travel expenses and provide hospitals with information to identify people who wish to donate their organs after death to help ensure their wishes are respected.

"Organ donation saves hundreds of lives each year across Ontario, yet there are not enough available donors to meet the demand for organ transplants," said Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman, who said the program "will make the province's organ donation system more effective so we can save more lives in the future, particularly through support for living donations."

Across Canada, 198 people died while waiting for a transplant last year, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Most of those patients needed either a kidney or a liver.

FUCK!!!

someone stole the culebra and the buggy.  so LJT and i are out of trasportation.  i feel so horribly stunned right now.  LJT is hysterically crying due to his stuff that was in the buggy.  i´m thinking of the money that went into the bike this week (and time), the groceries that were in the back, the imposibility of replacing either in the forseeable future. god this really sucks.

if anyone sees a maroon diamondback parkway with a brandnew freewheel and chain beat the person rding it over hte head and bring it home. trailer is an equinox, yellow, two seater, full of groceries, towels, franklin the turtle books and other assorted toys.

i truely do think that bicycle theft is one of the worst forms of antisocial behaviour. i´m not advocating the death penalty (contrary to the bike dump sticker on my bike) but come on, this is my transportation, i´m not fucking over the environment, i´m keeping traffic safe for other cyclists and pedestrians (while risking my life around the goddamn cars), and looking at the two it should be pretty clear that this is a person of low income who owns this combination of trailer and bicycle. it´s the poor stealilng from the poor.

or it´s a bunch of fucking kids out to ruin my week.  more likely given that it was chinatown (where i live and i love it to pieces), it was someone needing crack money.  ugh.  what a fucked up world.

because

there have been no new photos in over a month, not due to spite or malice on my part, but rather due to the temper of my digital camera that refuses to power up.  tomorrow it goes on a little vacation to the land of missisauga to be repaired.

found object

on a blue square stick-it note:

1. Regard everything as a dream
2.
3.
4. Rest in Natural State
5. Post Meditation Be a Child of Illusion

i'm open to interpretations of this.  i assume this is some sort of guide for what? life? relaxation? journey of self discover?

but beyond that what does it mean?  why should one want to regard everything as a dream?  cannot life be recognized as the surreal, incredible, wondrous, awesome thing that it is? it seems to me that this is a rather oblique goal, something straight out of a hippi self help book.  where the words sound profound but really mean shit. rest in natural state? be a child of illusion? there is a great deal of desperation in my voice when i ask, why?

and then the mysterious missing #s 2 and 3.

i'm back in the land of self help books from every possible tradition and theorism.  if i find anymore strange advice i'll be sure to pass it along.

 

meme3

tomo el meme de aekana que lo tomó Morgaana, que lo tomó de Lety y lo tomó de una tal Yeye.

Cuatro trabajos que he tenido:
-all purpose slave/friend of family/eager apprentice at a cheese farm in nova scotia.  i learned an awful lot about cheese and even more about how i would not run a farm.
-in-home childcare worker caring for two sweet little girls.  much the same as having LJT except that they went home at the end of the day.
-assistant producer on a film about prison reform and reconsiliation.  i was paid to travel to bulgaria, increadibly stressful but amazing.
-fantastic best-job-ever cooking at cranewood (the house of the president of my university).  catered fancy dinners for the senate, not so fancy meals for guests and casual after-show events for artists, and musicians, and actors.

Cuatro películas que puedo ver una y otra vez:
-hombres armados
-Mujeres al borde de una ataque de nervios
-il conformista
-trainspotting

Cuatro lugares donde he vivido:
 -Sackville, New Brunswick
-London, Ontario
-Oaxaca, Oaxaca
-Ottawa, Ontario

Cuatro lugares donde he ido de vacaciones:
-Vancouver
-england
-boston
-yucatan peninsula

Cuatro de mis comidas preferidas:
-tlayudas con tasajo y cebollitas
-saag paneer, butter chicken and bangan ka burta with naan, raita, lime pickle, mango chutney, and onion bhaji.
-three-in-the-morning gatineau poutine
-shrimp rice wraps, pho of rare beef beef balls and roast beef, with a coconut shake.
this seems to me to leave off too many dishes

Cuatro sitios web que visito a diario:
-gmail
-bbc
-la jornada
-this that you are reading right now.

Cuatro lugares donde preferirí­a estar ahora:
-the house in oaxaca
-mercado 20 de noviembre
-la fuente enfrente de la casa de la cultura
-la camioneta

Cuatro trabajos que me gustarí­a tener:
-chef in my own foodfascista
-chicken farmer
-orchardist
-photographer

Cuatro famosos que he conocido:
-adam beach
-ward churchill
-the ramones
-michael franti

Cuatro platos que detesto:
-la comida de unos parientes mios
-food from a box
-notfood (mcdonalds et cetera)
-notfood2 (restaurants that just have no clue)

Cuatro electrodomésticos que tengo fuera de lo común:
"mmmm…

Tengo un molcajete!!!" aekana.  me too.

Cuatro copas favoritas:
water
red wine
limonada
chocolate

Cuatro olores favoritos:
farm
tortillas
madawaska
el.

Los suenos

No durmimos mucho estos dias felices, los estaban llenos de movimiento.  Estabamos juntos cada momento posible, bastante cercos que pudiamos abrazar, tocar, besar si era necesario.  Siempre era necesario.  Cantaba el con confianza y contento que yo me sentia tambien.  "Yo se que no he sido un santo . . ."  La musica pop en la camioneta.  El olor de chocolate y aceite para motores permanentamente dentro de nuestra carne.  El calor de la estacion: todavia no se si sudaba por el sol o por la precencia de su ser.  Tortillas y quesillo debajo de una luna obscura, salsa de chiltepec en una olla en la mesa, una pelicula silenciosa en la tele, los sonidos de otros cuerpos en los cuartos.  Y mas presente en mi mente todavia, sus ojos brillantes con promesas de la devocion y adoracion, y en su sonrisa: la promesa de travesura.

"These are the moments that are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory, like wonderful creatures, unique of their kind, dredged up from the floors of some un explored ocean."