วันพุธที่ 31 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2556

274. ฝันร่วมเพื่อปลดแอกจากเผด็จการบรรษัทยักษ์ จีเอ็มโอ-ยาพิษ


274. Common Dream to Unlock from Tyranny of Toxin-GMO Corporate Giants

Hawaii's Local Struggle in the Global Movement for Food Justice
การต่อสู้ระดับท้องถิ่นของฮาวาย ในขบวนการโลกเพื่อความเป็นธรรมด้านอาหาร
-แอนเดรีย โบรเวอร์
ดรุณี ตันติวิรมานนท์ แปล

Activists on Kauai protest GMOs. (Photo courtesy of the author)
There is a powerful and growing movement in Hawaii to protect our land, water and people’s health from the impacts of the agrochemical-GMO industry — corporate giants Dow, Pioneer DuPont, Syngenta, Monsanto, BASF. The industry has been using our fragile and treasured islands since the 1990s as one of their main testing grounds for experiments engineering new chemical-crop combos, biopharmaceuticals, and other agrochemical products. They pollute our environmental commons as they pirate (“patent”) our global genetic commons in order to make massive amounts of wealth for a very few.
มีการขับเคลื่อนที่ทรงพลังและขยายตัวมากขึ้นในฮาวายเพื่อปกป้องที่ดิน, น้ำ และสุขภาพของประชาชนของพวกเราจากผลกระทบของอุตสาหกรรมจีเอ็มโอ-เคมีภัณฑ์—บรรษัทยักษ์ใหญ่ ดาว, ไพโอเนียร์ ดูปองต์, ซินเจนตา, มอนซานโต, บาสฟ์.  อุตสาหกรรมพวกนี้ได้ใช้เกาะที่บอบบางและล้ำค่าของพวกเราตั้งแต่ทศวรรษ ๒๕๓๓- ให้เป็นพื้นที่ทดลองวิศวกรรมผสมปนเปพืชเคมีชนิดใหม่, เภสัชกรรมชีวภาพ, และผลิตภัณฑ์เคมีเกษตรอื่นๆ.  พวกเขาทำให้สิ่งแวดล้อมอันเป็นสมบัติร่วมของพวกเราเปรอะเปื้อนเป็นพิษ ในขณะที่พวกเขาทำตัวเป็นโจรสลัดปล้น (“สิทธิบัตร”) แหล่งพันธุกรรมร่วมในโลกของเรา เพื่อสร้างความมั่งคั่งมหาศาลแก่คนเพียงหยิบมือ.
In our struggle, we are connected in solidarity with people around the world who are facing varied forms of exploitation and devastation stemming from the corporate capitalist food system. From land-grabbing and hunger, to farmer debt and agricultural slave-labor, to deforestation and climate change, our struggles are connected by a common root — a food system driven by the logics of commodification, profit-maximization and concentration of wealth and power. We resist and build together, inspired by our knowing that a more democratic, sustainable and equitable food system is not only possible, but that it is what the vast majority of us want.
ในการต่อสู้ของเรา, พวกเราได้เชื่อมโยงเกาะเกี่ยวเป็นน้ำหนึ่งใจเดียวกันกับประชาชนทั่วโลกผู้กำลังเผชิญกับรูปแบบการกดขี่ขูดรีดและทำลายล้างต่างๆ จากระบบอาหารบรรษัททุนนิยม.  จากการฉกฉวยที่ดินและความหิวโหย, ถึงหนี้สินเกษตรกร และ แรงงานทาสในการเกษตร, ถึงการตัดไม้ทำลายป่าและภูมิอากาศเปลี่ยนแปลง, การต่อสู้ของเราเกาะเกี่ยวกันด้วยรากเหง้าร่วม—ระบบอาหารที่ขับเคลื่อนด้วยตรรกะของการแปลงทุกอย่างให้เป็นสินค้า, ทำกำไรสูงสุด และ การกระจุกตัวของความมั่งคั่งและอำนาจ.  พวกเราขอต่อต้านและขอสร้างด้วยกัน, ด้วยแรงบันดาลใจจากความรู้ที่ว่า ระบบอาหารที่มีความเป็นประชาธิปไตย, ยั่งยืน และ เสมอภาค ไม่เพียงแต่เป็นไปได้, แต่เป็นสิ่งที่พวกเราส่วนใหญ่มหาศาลต้องการ.
We share our story as part of this rising awareness of our common struggle.
เราขอแบ่งปันเรื่องราวของพวกเรา อันเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของความตื่นรู้ที่เอ่อเพิ่มมากขึ้นของการต่อสู้ร่วมของพวกเรา.
Since GMO testing began in Hawaii, over 3,000 permits have been granted for open-air field trials, more than in any other state in the nation. In 2012 alone, there were 160 such permits issued on 740 sites. Kauai, the fourth largest of the main islands and known as the “Garden Isle,” has the highest number of these experimental sites. On Kauai alone these sites are associated with the use of 22 “restricted-use pesticides” (RUPs) in the amount of approximately 18 tons of concentrate each year, as well as perhaps 5 times that amount of non-restricted pesticides such as glyphosate.
ตั้งแต่การทดสอบ จีเอ็มโอ เริ่มขึ้นในฮาวาย, มีการออกใบอนุญาตกว่า ๓,๐๐๐ ใบเพื่อการทดลองกลางแจ้ง, ซึ่งมากกว่าในรัฐอื่นๆ ของประเทศ.  ลำพังในปี ๒๕๕๕, มีการออกใบอนุญาต ๑๖๐ ใบ สำหรับทำการบน ๗๔๐ พื้นที่.  คาวาย, เกาะใหญ่สุดอันดับสี่ และเป็นที่รู้จักว่า “เกาะสวน”, มีพื้นที่ทดลองเช่นนี้มากที่สุด.  ลำพังบน คาวาย พื้นที่เหล่านี้มีส่วนเกี่ยวข้องกับการใช้ “ยากำจัดศัตรูพืชที่ถูกจำกัดการใช้” (RUPs) ๒๒ รายการ ในปริมาณประมาณ ๑๘ ตันประเภทเข้มข้น ทุกปี, ตลอดจน อาจจะ ๕ เท่าของปริมาณยากำจัดศัตรูพืชที่ไม่ถูกจำกัดการใช้ เช่น ไกลโฟเสต.
We know, from information obtained solely due to a lawsuit, that Pioneer DuPont alone has used 90 pesticide formulations with 63 active ingredients in the past 6 years. They apply these pesticides around 250 (sometimes 300) days each year, with 10-16 applications per day on average. For a small island ecosystem, these numbers are astounding. We have no similar information from any of the other companies — Dow, Syngenta or BASF.
เรารู้, จากข้อมูลที่ได้จากการดำเนินคดี, ว่า ลำพัง ไพโอเนียร์ ดูปองต์ ใช้ ยากำจัดศัตรูพืช ๙๐ สูตร ที่มีตัวยาในสารประกอบ ๖๓ ตัวในช่วงเวลา ๖ ปีที่ผ่านมา.  พวกเขาใช้ยากำจัดศัตรูพืชประมาณ ๒๕๐ (บางที ๓๐๐) วันต่อปี, ด้วยการฉีดเฉลี่ย ๑๐-๑๖ ครั้งต่อวัน.  สำหรับระบบนิเวศเกาะเล็กๆ เกาะหนึ่ง, ตัวเลขขนาดนี้น่ากลัวมาก.  เราไม่มีข้อมูลแบบเดียวกันนี้จากบริษัทอื่นๆ—ดาว, ซินเจนตา หรือ บาสฟ์.
The agrochemical-GMO industry occupies nearly all of the leased agricultural lands on the west side of Kauai — in total over 15,000 acres in close proximity to schools, residences, hospitals and waterways. More than half of these lands are State Lands, disputed lands that were usurped in the overthrow and following US annexation of the independent Kingdom of Hawaii. At the very least, according to the State’s own laws, these lands are to be managed for the common good of Hawaii’s people, and especially for the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians.
อุตสาหกรรม จีเอ็มโอ-เคมีเกษตร ทำการในพื้นที่เกษตรให้เช่าเกือบทั้งหมดในซีกตะวันตกของ คาวาย—ทั้งหมดกว่า ๑๕,๐๐๐ เอเคอร์ ซึ่งอยู่ใกล้โรงเรียน, ที่อยู่อาศัย, โรงพยาบาล และ ทางน้ำไหล.  กว่าครึ่งเป็นที่ดินของรัฐ, ที่ดินทับซ้อนที่ถูกแย่งชิงมาด้วยการโค่นอำนาจ และ หลังจากที่สหรัฐฯ ยึดครองราชอาณาจักรฮาวายที่เป็นเอกราชมาก่อน.  อย่างน้อยที่สุด, ตามกฎหมายของรัฐเอง, กำหนดให้รัฐจัดการที่ดินเหล่านี้ เพื่อผลประโยชน์ร่วมของประชาชนฮาวาย, และโดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่ง เพื่อทำให้สภาพของชาวถิ่นฮาวายดีขึ้น.
The industry often states that they came to Hawaii because we have a year-round growing season. But it’s not just our good weather they were after. They came because they saw us as an exploitable community, left with an economic void when the sugar plantations hastily exited. Our state was challenged to think outside of the box of plantation agriculture after 150 years of it. The agrochemical-GMO companies saw a community of mostly working-class people, already conditioned to accept an industry that exports all of its profits and leaves behind nothing but pollution, health bills and unsafe, low-paying jobs. They came because, despite our enlightened state motto — Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ‘Aina i ka Pono (the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness) — we allow them to get away with doing things that they wouldn’t be allowed to do in many other places.
อุตสาหกรรมนี้ มักจะบอกว่า พวกเขามาฮาวายเพราะ พวกเรามีฤดูกาลที่เพาะปลูกได้ตลอดปี.  แต่ไม่ใช่เพียงเพราะอากาศที่ดีของพวกเราที่พวกเขาถามหา.  พวกเขามา เพราะพวกเขาเห็นว่า พวกเราเป็นชุมชนที่กดขี่ขูดรีดได้, ที่มีสุญญากาศเชิงเศรษฐกิจหลังจากที่สวนเศรษฐกิจอ้อยได้ออกไปอย่างรีบร้อน.  รัฐของเราถูกท้าทายให้คิดนอกกล่องของสวนเศรษฐกิจเกษตร หลังจากที่ใช้มันอยู่ถึง ๑๕๐ ปี.  บริษัท จีเอ็มโอ-เคมีเกษตร มองเห็นชุมชนที่ส่วนใหญ่เป็นชนชั้นแรงงาน, ที่ถูกสะกดให้ยอมรับอุตสาหกรรมที่ส่งออกเม็ดเงินกำไรทั้งหมด และ ไม่ทิ้งอะไรเลยไว้ข้างหลังนอกจากมลภาวะ, ใบเสร็จค่ายา และ งานไม่ปลอดภัย ค่าแรงต่ำ.  พวกเขามา เพราะ, ทั้งๆ ที่เรามีคำขวัญประจำรัฐว่า--ชีวิตของแผ่นดิน ตั้งอยู่ในความเป็นธรรม—เรายอมให้พวกเขารอดตัวไปได้ด้วยการกระทำสิ่งที่ไม่มีใครอนุญาตในที่อื่นๆ มากมาย.
Residents of Kauai currently do not have the right to know what is happening on our agricultural lands, nor how these activities are affecting our common air, water and soil. We do not know which pesticides are being used, where, in what amounts, how they are being mixed, or what their cumulative impacts might be. We also know nothing about the experimental GMO crops being tested. Even when the federal government determines that new pesticide-GMO crop combos significantly affect the quality of the human environment — as the USDA did in the recent case of 2,4-D and dicamba resistant crops — we have no way of knowing whether they were tested here and what their impacts might have been.
ชาวบ้าน คาวาย ปัจจุบัน ไม่มีสิทธิ์ที่จะรู้ว่าเกิดอะไรขึ้นในแผ่นดินเพาะปลูกของเรา, หรือว่า กิจกรรมเหล่านี้กำลังกระทบสมบัติร่วมของเรา—อากาศ, น้ำ และ ดิน--อย่างไร.  เราไม่รู้ว่า ยากำจัดศัตรูพืชตัวไหนกำลังถูกใช้, ที่ไหน, ปริมาณเท่าไร, มีการผสมอะไร อย่างไร, หรือ ผลกระทบสะสมของพวกมันเป็นอย่างไร.  เราก็ยังไม่รู้อะไรเลยเกี่ยวกับการทดลองพืช จีเอ็มโอ.  แม้ว่า รัฐบาลกลางจะได้ตัดสินแล้วว่า การผสมผสานพืช จีเอ็มโอ-ยากำจัดศัตรูพืชชนิดใหม่ มีผลอย่างมีนัยสำคัญต่อคุณภาพของสภาพแวดล้อมของมนุษย์—ดังที่กระทรวงเกษตร ได้กระทำในกรณี ของพืชที่ดื้อยา 2,4-D และ ไดกัมบา—เราไม่มีทางรู้เลยว่า พวกมันถูกใช้ทดสอบที่นี่หรือไม่ และ ผลกระทบของมันจะเป็นอย่างไรได้บ้าง.
We are currently struggling to pass a Kauai County bill that would require pesticide disclosure and set-up a buffer zone between the spraying and residential areas. The bill would require that the county conduct an Environmental Impact Statement, and in the meantime put a moratorium on new operations. It would also mandate that experimental pesticides and GMOs be tested in containment rather than in the open-air.
ปัจจุบัน เรากำลังต่อสู้เพื่อให้ออก พรบ จังหวัดคาวาย ที่บังคับให้เปิดเผยตัวยากำจัดศัตรูพืช และ จัดตั้งพื้นที่กันชนระหว่างพื้นที่ๆ ฉีดยา และ บริเวณที่อยู่อาศัย.  พรบ นี้บังคับให้จังหวัดทำการแถลงการณ์ผลกระทบสิ่งแวดล้อม, และในเวลาเดียวกัน ให้ระงับการดำเนินการใหม่.  มันยังบังคับให้การทดลองยากำจัดศัตรูพืช และ จีเอ็มโอ ให้กระทำในที่ปิด แทนที่จะทำในกลางแจ้ง.
The pesticides the bill pertains to are not the type you purchase at Ace Hardware. They are “restricted-use pesticides” (RUPs) because they are recognized as extremely dangerous. Atrazine (produced by Syngenta), for example, is known to cause birth defects, cancer and reproductive issues. Lorsban (produced by Dow) is known to cause impaired brain and nervous system functions in children and fetuses, even in minute amounts. The EPA has determined that the risks to children are so severe, Lorsban should not be used anywhere they could be exposed. Studies show that other RUPs being used are linked to brain cancer, autism, and heart and liver problems.
ยากำจัดศัตรูพืชที่ พรบ กล่าวถึง ไม่ใช่ประเภทที่คุณจะหาซื้อได้ที่ เอซ ฮาร์ดแวร์.  มันเป็น “ยากำจัดศัตรูพืชที่ถูกจำกัดการใช้” (RUPs) เพราะมันถูกจัดว่า อันตรายสุดๆ.  อะตราซีน (ผลิตโดย ซินเจนตา), เป็นตัวอย่างหนึ่ง, เป็นที่รู้กันว่า ทำให้พิการแต่กำเนิด, มะเร็ง และ ปัญหาอนามัยเจริญพันธุ์.  ลอร์สแบน (ผลิตโดยดาว) เป็นที่รู้กันว่า เป็นสาเหตุให้เสื่อมเสียในสมองและระบบประสาทในเด็กและตัวอ่อน, แม้จะสัมผัสในปริมาณเล็กน้อยมากก็ตาม.  สำนักงานป้องกันสิ่งแวดล้อม อีพีเอ ได้ตัดสินว่า เด็กมีความเสี่ยงรุนแรงมาก, ลอร์สแบน ไม่ควรถูกใช้ในที่ใดที่เด็กอาจสัมผัสถูกได้.  งานศึกษาแสดงให้เห็นว่า RUPs ตัวอื่นๆ ที่ถูกใช้อยู่ เชื่อมโยงกับมะเร็งในสมอง, ออติสติก, และปัญหาหัวใจและตับ.
Despite national laws that prohibit RUP drift, atrazine, chlorpyrifos (Lorsban) and bifenthrin have made it into the drinking water or air at Waimea Canyon Middle School, almost certainly the result of spraying by the chemical-GMO operations around the school. On several occasions children and teachers have become very ill. In one incident at least 10 children collapsed and were sent to the hospital. An investigation into the matter was strikingly incomplete, testing for only 6 of the 63 active pesticide ingredients used on just one of several neighboring operations, and completely neglecting acute exposure.
ทั้งๆ ที่มีกฎหมายระดับชาติที่ห้ามใช้ RUPs, อะตราซิน, คลอร์ไพริโฟส (ลอร์สแบน) และ ไบเฟนธริน ได้เล็ดลอดเข้าไปอยู่ในน้ำดื่ม หรือ อากาศที่ โรงเรียนมัธยม ไวมีอา แคนยอน, เกือบแน่ใจได้เลยว่า เป็นผลจากการฉีดเพื่อดำเนินการ จีเอ็มโอ-เคมีภัณฑ์ รอบๆ โรงเรียน.  ในหลายๆ เพลา เด็กนักเรียนและครู ล้มป่วยหนัก.  ครั้งหนึ่ง อย่างน้อยเด็ก ๑๐ คน ล้มลงหมดสติ และ ถูกนำส่งโรงพยาบาล.  การสอบสวนหาสาเหตุ ไม่ได้สืบสาวให้ถึงต้นตออย่างเห็นได้ชัด, ด้วยการทดสอบตัวยาเพียง ๖ ตัวในสารประกอบของยากำจัดศัตรูพืชที่มีถึง ๖๓ ตัว กับเพียงหนึ่งบริเวณ ในบรรดาหลายพื้นที่ๆ ดำเนินการอยู่ในละแวกบ้าน, และก็มองข้ามประเด็นโอกาสการสัมผัสสารเหล่านั้นซึ่งสูงมาก.
It is morally abhorrent that the companies have refused to disclose even the most basic information we need to protect our health, and are now fighting our very reasonable attempt for more transparency. The severity of their backlash and the massive resources they are pouring into subverting our efforts is clear indication that they consider transparency a real threat. These corporations are accustomed to externalizing all of their costs onto workers, communities and the environment. The prospect of being held accountable is an alarming one because their massive profits come at the expense of forcing the rest of us to pick up their health and environmental remediation bills.
มันเป็นการผิดศีลธรรมอย่างน่ารังเกียจที่บริษัทปฏิเสธที่จะเปิดเผยแม้แต่ข้อมูลพื้นฐานที่สุด ที่เราจำเป็นต้องรู้เพื่อป้องกันสุขภาพของพวกเรา, และก็กำลังต่อสู้เพื่อให้มีความโปร่งใสยิ่งขึ้น.  การตีตลบกลับอย่างรุนแรง และ ทรัพยากรมหาศาลที่พวกเขาทุ่มเพื่อล้มล้างความพยายามของเรา เป็นดัชนีชัดเจนว่า พวกเขาเห็นว่า ความโปร่งใส เป็นเรื่องคุกคามที่แท้จริง.   บรรษัทเหล่านี้ เคยชินกับการปัดต้นทุนภายนอกทั้งหมดใส่คนงาน, ชุมชน และ สิ่งแวดล้อม.  ความเป็นไปได้ที่จะถูกจับตัวให้ทำตัวเป็นที่เชื่อถือได้นี้ ทำให้พวกเขาตกใจกลัว เพราะ กำไรมหาศาลของพวกเขาได้มาจากการบังคับให้พวกเราตามจ่ายใบเสร็จค่ายาค่ารักษาโรค และ การบำบัดสิ่งแวดล้อม.
Their tactics have been predictably vile. As they are doing to farmers, communities and nations across the globe, they are threatening to sue us. They are claiming that under Hawaii’s “Right to Farm Act” they are not responsible for any off-sight impacts. At the same time they are marketing themselves publicly as “responsible community members” and “stewards of the land.” They are buying local lobbyists with connections. They are breaking national laws and then claiming they are already over-regulated. They are slandering scientists who raise questions. They are outright lying, deceiving and offending our intelligence.
เล่ห์กลที่พวกเขาใช้ คาดได้เลยว่าเลวทราม.  ในขณะที่พวกเขากระทำต่อเกษตรกร, ชุมชน และ ชาติต่างๆ ทั่วโลก, พวกเขาขู่ว่าจะฟ้องร้องพวกเรา.  พวกเขาอ้างว่า ภายใต้ “พรบ สิทธิในการทำเกษตร” ของฮาวาย พวกเขาไม่ต้องรับผิดชอบต่อผลกระทบที่มองไม่เห็นใดๆ.  ในขณะเดียวกัน พวกเขากำลังเร่ค้าตัวเองอย่างเปิดเผยว่าเป็น “สมาชิกที่รับผิดชอบต่อชุมชน” และเป็น “ผู้พิทักษ์แผ่นดิน”.  พวกเขาซื้อตัวนักล็อบบี้ท้องถิ่นด้วยเส้นสาย.  พวกเขาละเมิดกฎหมายแห่งชาติ แล้วก็แอบอ้างว่าพวกเขาถูกกำกับควบคุมเกินไปแล้ว.  พวกเขาปรามาสนักวิทยาศาสตร์ที่ตั้งตำถาม.  พวกเขาโกหกอย่างโจ๋งครึ่ม, ตลบตะแลง และดูถูกปัญญาของพวกเรา.
Most upsetting for our community, these corporations are threatening to take away the jobs of our friends and neighbors if we force them to disclose their chemical use. Syngenta has had the audacity to tell their workers that they may decide to close shop on July 31, the day of the bill’s public hearing. They paid their workers to attend the first hearing, and it is likely that they will fly people in for the second. Similar to many other environmental justice issues, the west side community is one of the most economically disadvantaged in the State. It also has one of the highest Native Hawaiian populations. Workers are being told that their only option is to support the long-term poisoning of their families and the land many of them have inhabited for generations, or risk loosing their livelihoods. While the industry’s scare tactics are somewhat transparent, they invoke very real and legitimate fear.
ที่น่าโมโหที่สุดสำหรับชุมชนของพวกเรา คือ บรรษัทเหล่านี้กำลังข่มขู่ว่า จะลิดรอนงานจ้างของเพื่อนและเพื่อนบ้านของเรา หากพวกเราบังคับให้พวกเขาเปิดเผยสารเคมีที่พวกเขาใช้.  ซินเจนตา กล้าบอกกับคนงานของพวกเขาว่า พวกเขาอาจตัดสินใจปิดร้านในวันที่ ๓๑ กค, วันที่มีการทำประชาพิจารณ์ พรบ.  พวกเขาจ่ายเงินให้คนงานไปร่วมฟังในการประชุมรอบแรก, และเป็นไปได้ที่พวกเขาจะขนผู้คนใส่เครื่องบินให้ไปฟังรอบที่สอง.  ในทำนองเดียวกับประเด็นสิ่งแวดล้อมเป็นธรรมอื่นๆ, ชุมชนฟากตะวันตก เป็นชุมชนที่ด้อยโอกาสที่สุดแห่งหนึ่งในรัฐนี้.  มันยังมีชาวถิ่นฮาวายอาศัยอยู่มากที่สุดด้วย.  คนงานถูกกรอกหูว่า ทางเลือกเดียวที่มี คือ ให้สนับสนุนการเติมสารพิษระยะยาวให้ครอบครัวของพวกเขา และ ใส่แผ่นดินที่หลายๆ คนได้อาศัยอยู่มาหลายชั่วคน, หรือ เสี่ยงต่อการสูญเสียวิถีชีวิตของพวกเขา.  ในขณะที่อุตสาหกรรมใช้เล่ห์เหลี่ยมสร้างความตกตื่น ที่ค่อนข้างชัดเจน, พวกเขาก็กระตุ้นให้เกิดความกลัวที่เป็นจริงมากๆ และ กฎหมายก็รองรับด้วย.
According to the industry's own high (undocumented) claims, they provide roughly 2% of jobs on the island. At least half of these are part-time, seasonal jobs. They bring in temporary cheaper labor from other countries, undercutting the ability of local workers to push for better wages and working conditions. Foreign “guest-workers” are amongst the most vulnerable for workplace abuses. Most, if not all, of the well-paying, managerial and “high-tech” jobs go to people from the mainland.
ตามข้ออ้าง (ไม่บันทึกเป็นทางการ) ของอุตสาหกรรมเอง, พวกเขาให้งานจ้างประมาณ 2% บนเกาะ.  อย่างน้อย ครึ่งหนึ่งของพวกนี้ เป็นงานกึ่งเวลา, ที่แปรตามฤดูกาล.  พวกเขานำเข้าแรงงานชั่วคราวราคาถูกว่าจากประเทศอื่น, เป็นการตัดกำลังคนงานท้องถิ่นที่เรียกร้องค่าแรงและเงื่อนไขการทำงานที่ดีกว่า.  “คนงานเยือน” ต่างด้าว เป็นพวกที่เปราะบางที่สุดต่อการถูกรังแกข่มเหงในที่ทำงาน.  ส่วนมาก, หากไม่ใช่ทั้งหมด, ในบรรดาพวกที่ได้เงินเดือนสูงในระดับผู้จัดการ และ งาน “ไฮเทค” จะเป็นคนจากแผ่นดินใหญ่.
The people of Kauai are building an alternative vision. One in which our economy is more equitable and resilient, and not dependent on the whims of transnational corporations who can leave at any moment. One in which we grow healthy food for ourselves, in a way that is consistent with the value of malama `aina (care for the land). One in which our agricultural jobs are safe and long-term, and benefits accrue to the workers rather than transnational corporations. As an island dependent on barges coming from at least 2500 miles away for 85% of our food, there are huge possibilities.
ประชาชนของ คาวาย กำลังสร้างวิสัยทัศน์ทางเลือก.  วิสัยทัศน์หนึ่งที่ เศรษฐกิจของเราจะมีความเสมอภาคและยืดหยุ่นกว่า, และไม่ต้องเกาะท้ายตามอำเภอใจของบรรษัทข้ามชาติ ผู้โดดหนีไปได้ทุกขณะ.  วิสัยทัศน์ที่ พวกเราปลูกอาหารที่สมบูรณ์แข็งแรง เพื่อพวกเราเอง, ด้วยวิธีการที่สอดคล้องกับคุณค่าของการดูแลรักษาแผ่นดิน.  วิสัยทัศน์ที่งานจ้างเกษตรของเรา เป็นงานปลอดภัยและระยะยาว, และผลประโยชน์เกิดแก่คนงาน แทนที่จะเป็นบรรษัทข้ามชาติ.  ในฐานะที่เป็นเกาะที่ต้องพึ่งเรือใหญ่ที่เดินทางอย่างน้อย ๒,๕๐๐ ไมล์ เพื่ออาหาร 85% ของพวกเรา, มันมีความเป็นไปได้มากมายยิ่ง.
Locally and globally, we do face real structural challenges to building a more fair and sustainable food system. However, possibilities are already present that can begin to move us in the right direction. At a local level in Hawaii, just a few examples include: making state lands available and affordable for real farmers, upholding the public trust doctrine in water law, workers’ cooperatives, research and subsidy support for sustainable regional food systems, food hubs for cooperative processing and distribution, supporting soil and water remediation, state ag parks, food assistance programs, local food procurement policies, waste reduction and recycling programs, stronger labor protections, and regulations that prohibit pollution of the finite resources we depend upon.
ในระดับท้องถิ่นและระดับโลก, พวกเราเผชิญกับสิ่งท้าทายเชิงโครงสร้างจริง ในการสร้างระบบอาหารที่เป็นธรรมและยั่งยืนกว่า.  แต่, ความเป็นไปได้มีอยู่แล้ว ซึ่งสามารถเริ่มขับเคลื่อนให้พวกเรามุ่งไปในทิศทางที่ถูก.  ในระดับท้องถิ่นของฮาวาย, เพียงไม่กี่ตัวอย่างเช่น, ทำให้ที่ดินของรัฐเปิดขึ้น หรือ ซื้อไหวโดยเกษตรกรตัวจริง, เชิดชู ยึดถือหลักการความเชื่อมั่นสาธารณะใน กฎหมายน้ำ, สหกรณ์คนงาน, การวิจัยและการให้เงินสนับสนุน เพื่อระบบอาหารภูมิภาคที่ยั่งยืน, ศูนย์กลางอาหารเพื่อการแปรรูปและกระจายแบบสหกรณ์, สนับสนุนการแก้ไขปัญหาดินและน้ำ, สวนเกษตรรัฐ, โปรแกมช่วยเหลือทางอาหาร, นโยบายการจัดหาอาหาร, โปรแกมการลดขยะและรีไซเคิล, มาตรการปกป้องแรงงานที่เข้มแข็งขึ้น, และการควบคุมที่ห้ามการก่อมลภาวะในทรัพยากรอันจำกัดที่พวกเราต้องพึ่งอาศัย.
Critically, these steps must be part of the global movement to change the underlying logics of the system. We must resist the structural conditions that create a radically immoral food system, while we build towards vantage points that allow us to imagine other possibilities. Perhaps, acting in solidarity, the constraints are not as great as we think them to be, and what we need above all is to believe that we are actually capable of creating a more equitable, sustainable and democratic food system. And so we share our story, as part of the rising global movement that does indeed believe.
ที่สำคัญยิ่งยวด, ขั้นตอนเหล่านี้ ต้องเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของการเคลื่อนไหวระดับโลก เพื่อเปลี่ยนตรรกะที่รองรับระบบนี้.  เราต้องต่อต้านเงื่อนไขเชิงโครงสร้างที่สร้างระบบอาหารที่ผิดศีลธรรม เลวร้ายอย่างสุดโต่ง, ในขณะที่เราสร้างสู่ชัยภูมิที่อนุญาตให้เราจินตนาการความเป็นไปได้อื่นๆ.  บางที, ด้วยการกระทำอย่างมีน้ำหนึ่งใจเดียวกัน, ข้อจำกัดเหล่านั้นก็อาจไม่ยิ่งใหญ่อย่างที่เราคิด, และสิ่งที่เราจำเป็นต้องมีเหนือสิ่งใด คือ ความเชื่อที่ว่า เราสมารถสร้างระบบอาหารที่เสมอภาคกว่า, ยั่งยืนกว่า และ มีความเป็นประชาธิปไตยกว่า ได้จริงๆ.  และด้วยประการฉะนี้ เราก็ได้แบ่งปันเรื่องราวของพวกเรา, ในฐานะที่เป็นส่วนหนึ่งของขบวนการเคลื่อนไหวโลกที่กำลังเอ่อสูงขึ้น ที่เชื่อเช่นนั้นจริงๆ.

Andrea Brower is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Auckland. She has been very active in alternative food and global social justice movements, and spent several years co-directing the non-profit Malama Kauai in Hawaii, where she is originally from.
แอนเดรีย โบรเวอร์ เป็นนักศึกษาปริญญาเอกในคณะสังคมวิทยา ที่มหาวิทยาลัยอ๊อคแลนด์.  เธอมีส่วนร่วมขันแข็งในขบวนการอาหารทางเลือกและสังคมเป็นธรรมในโลก, และได้ใช้เวลาหลายปี ร่วมอำนวยการในองค์กรไม่แสวงกำไร มาลามา คาวาย ในฮาวาย, ที่ซึ่งเป็นบ้านเกิดของเธอ.
Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 by Common Dreams

  glazedom2 days ago
living in hanapepe, i went under cover to work as an employee for pioneer seed in waimea kauai in 2003 in an effort to expose the dangers of their illegal use of pesticides and herbicides. there were an over-abundance of cancer deaths around the west and south sides and i suspected these poisons of playing a part in taking our people from us. i worked there for two weeks, actually got very ill from drinking the water in the employee break room and reported the whole thing to the department of labor and industrial relations in lihue. the lawyers and reps from this genetically modified monster lied through their teeth at the disclosure meeting with the d.l.i.r. and denied everything. there was little else i felt i could do by myself. i felt as though i was david fighting goliath. but now all that has changed, and in a huge way ! the people are now awake ! i am so overjoyed to see the good work people are doing back on the islands these days . thanks and aloha fill even the bottom of my heart. IMUA !
Keep the faith. Big tobacco wasn't brought down during the first skirmishes. It can be done.
I traveled that area once, I got lost and ended up at the Menehune Pond. It is a magical place.
" As an island dependent on barges coming from at least 2500 miles away for 85% of our food"
there is something almost obscene about this number. In a place like Hawaii, I would think that they could grow just about all the produce they need, right there at home. But I guess that would not benefit all those who make money just shipping the food from other places to the Islands of Hawaii.....oil...
Monsanto recently had organized a counter demonstration to Anti-GMO protests that grow in numbers. Their protesters carried signs that read 'We have a right to use GMO's'.
The real problem is the reckless and willful ignorance of those who promote GMO's. Because they never tell You how much of their beloved super toxic roundup they are spraying. Glyphosate is one of the most toxic chemicals on the planet, but if You see the amount of it sprayed by 'gardeners' and 'farmers', knowing that it destroys the microbial soil substance, that it is carcinogenic beyond belief, like 1 ingested Part Per Million will do, it appears that those in favor of GMO's and their connected massive use of roundup, have completely lost their mind and should be admitted into mental institutions. But hey, it can always get worse, like this news will tell You. Monsanto gets now help from the military to get rid of those pesky Anti-GMO/Anti-Roundup folks. Who needs freedom when Fascism can be had instead?
From Pahoa, Hawai'i Island.
War Pigs of Mordor
If we can organize 100% green organic food networks selling their product in a new international e-currency based on Hansen's carbon dividends we can finally stick it to the Military Industrial Food Complex and provide an incentive for ethical food and energy. This would kick the balls out of the Nation State Corporate Corruption.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...
I'll bet Hawaii can ban Monsanto because they are like West-Coasters on endorphins that their beautiful Natural environment gives them and they will fight like BANCHES to preserve that PARADISE, AMEN!
PS They also have had experience with ridding the place of other pigs that also were threatening the fauna a little while ago.
during ww2 my dad took 'liberty' in hawaii and also took pictures. i liked the funny photos of him and his buddies clowning around dressed in leis and hula skirts. the album also had pics of young women dancers--and they didn't wear bras! i thought it would be a neat place to vacation, but you know what my dad said? he said that before statehood hawaii was a beautiful Natural paradise, but he didn't want to return because it's become way too commercialized.
Our water is contaminated with atrazine, chlorpyrifos (Lorsban) and various other contaminates. Since we use quite a bit of well water it is a problem when they have to close wells because they are permanently contaminated.
100% behind the people taking control of food again. This may ultimately require Americans to become more agrarian and to eat less (not totally give up altogether) meat products and more vegetables, fruits and grains.

วันอังคารที่ 30 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2556

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Grace Lee Boggs: 'We Are Shaking the World With a New Dream'
While austerity-pushers press for Detroit bankruptcy, Boggs says city "providing a model for change in the world"
- Andrea Germanos, staff writer
เกรซ ลี บอกส์: เรากำลังเขย่าโลกด้วยความฝันใหม่
ในขณะที่พวกผลักดันนโยบายรัดเข็มขัดให้ดีทรอยต์ล้มละลาย, บอกส์ กล่าวว่า เมืองนี้ “กำลังเสนอรูปแบบเพื่อการเปลี่ยนแปลงในโลก”
-แอนเดรีย เยอร์มาโนส
ดรุณี ตันติวิรมานนท์ แปล
As Detroit faces possible bankruptcy and more calls for safety-net shredding austerity, 98-year-old activist, author and visionary organizer Grace Lee Boggs offers a powerful counter-narrative to the system that rewards banks with bailouts and discards residents of the nation’s cities as victims of free market ideology.
ในขณะที่ดีทรอยต์ อาจล้มละลายได้ และมีเสียงเรียกร้องให้ฉีกทึ้งร่างแหรองรับความปลอดภัย, นักกิจกรรม อายุ ๙๘, นักเขียนและนักจัดกระบวนผู้มีวิสัยทัศน์ เกรซ ลี บอกซ์ ได้เสนอวาทกรรมตรงข้ามต่อระบบที่ให้รางวัลแก่ธนาคารด้วยการทุ่มเงินกู้ชีพ และ ทอดทิ้งชาวเมืองผู้อาศัยในประเทศ ให้เป็นเหยื่อของอุดมการณ์ตลาดเสรี.
Speaking with PBS's Tavis Smiley, the six-decade Detroit resident said that the poverty-stricken city was not a hopeless cause but a place that is "providing a model for change in the world."
ในการพูดคุยกับ ทาวิส สไมลี แห่ง พีบีเอส, ชาวเมืองดีทรอยต์หกทศวรรษผู้นี้ กล่าวว่า เมืองที่ยากจนไม่ใช่เหตุผลของความสิ้นหวัง แต่เป็นที่ๆ “จะให้รูปแบบเพื่อการเปลี่ยนแปลงในโลก”.
Grace Lee Boggs speaking with Tavis Smiley. (Screengrab)
The vacant lots left by behind by outsourced industry, seen by some as "the end of everything," also brought opportunity, said Boggs, "opportunity to grow food for the community and give city kids a different sense of time and change," and the opportunity to create a healthier, more sustainable city.
บางคนเห็นว่า พื้นที่ว่างเปล่าที่ถูกปล่อยทิ้งไว้โดยอุตสาหกรรมใช้บริการจากนอกประเทศ เป็น “จุดจบของทุกสิ่งทุกอย่าง”, ก็นำมาซึ่งโอกาสได้เช่นกัน, บอกส์ กล่าว, “โอกาสที่จะปลูกอาหารสำหรับชุมชน และ ให้เด็กๆ ในเมืองมีสามัญสำนึกแบบอื่นเกี่ยวกับเวลาและการเปลี่ยนแปลง”, และ เป็นโอกาสที่จะสร้างเมืองที่มีสุขภาพดีกว่าและยั่งยืนกว่า.
Even more, she said, "we're creating a whole new society which is post-industrial.  And that turning point, the evolution of humanity, is a great privilege."
มากกว่านั้น, เธอกล่าวว่า, “เรากำลังสร้างองค์รวมของสังคมใหม่หลังยุคอุตสาหกรรม. และ ณ จุดพลิกผันนั้น เป็นอภิสิทธิ์ใหญ่หลวงสำหรับวิวัฒนาการของมนุษยชาติ”.
Boggs sees this turning point as crucial, being "culturally as important as the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and from agriculture to industry."
บอกส์มองว่า จุดพลิกผันนี้สำคัญยิ่ง, เพราะ “มีความสำคัญเชิงวัฒนธรรมพอๆ กับการเปลี่ยนผ่านจากยุคล่าสัตว์และเก็บกิน สู่ยุคเกษตร และ จากยุคเกษตรกรรมสู่ยุคอุตสาหกรรมทีเดียว”.
People are hungry for change, said Boggs, and they know that "that there’s something unsustainable and really invalid humanly about the way we’re living." People are "just recognizing that all the contradictions of an industrial society are coming home to roost and we have to create something new, and we are."
ประชาชนหิวโหยการเปลี่ยนแปลง, บอกส์ กล่าว, และพวกเขารู้ว่า “มีบางอย่างที่ไม่ยั่งยืนและไม่ใช่เป็นอย่างที่มนุษย์ควรจะเป็นจริงๆ ในวิถีชีวิตที่เรากำลังดำเนินอยู่”.  ประชาชน “เริ่มตระหนักว่า ความขัดแย้งในตัวเองทั้งหมดของระบบอุตสาหกรรม กำลังกลับเข้ารังเพื่อขึ้นคอนนอน และ เราต้องสร้างบางอย่างใหม่ๆ และเรากำลังทำเช่นนั้น”.
The re-think that has been catalyzed delves deep into what economic crises really mean.
การคิดใหม่ที่ได้ถูกกระตุ้นขึ้น ดำดิ่งลึกลงไปในวิกฤตเศรษฐกิจว่า แท้จริงแล้วมันหมายถึงอะไร.
And the crises won't be solved, as the Detroit's emergency manager Kevyn Orr has attempted, by privatizing or chopping public services, because, as Boggs said, they may "have seemed like economic crises, but there are more crises of our humanity," and therefore prompt questions like, "How do we think of ourselves? What do we do? Are we just interested in jobs so that we can buy a lot of goods and become materialists? Or are we living a life that violates human values?"
และวิกฤตจะไม่ถูกแก้ไข, ดังที่ ผู้จัดการภาวะฉุกเฉินของดีทรอยต์ เควิน ออร์ ได้พยายามทำ, ด้วยการแปรรูปออกนอกระบบ หรือ ตัดบริการสาธารณะ, เพราะ, ดังคำพูดของบอกส์, มันอาจ “ดูเหมือนวิกฤตเศรษฐกิจ, แต่ในมนุษยชาติของเรา มีวิกฤตมากกว่านี้”, ดังนั้น คำถามอื่นๆ คือ “เราคิดถึงตัวเราเองว่าเป็นอะไร อย่างไร?  เราทำอะไร?  เราเพียงสนใจในงานจ้าง เพื่อที่เราจะสามารถซื้อของมากมายได้ และ กลายเป็นนักวัตถุนิยมเช่นนั้นหรือ?  หรือว่า เรากำลังมีชีวิตอยู่ในวิถีที่ละเมิดคุณค่าของมนุษย์?”
Detroit was an symbol of the mindset that fostered the idea that "producing more, faster, even at the expense of the human beings on the line, was progress." But the "dreams of the 20th century are dead," said Boggs.
"And we are shaking the world with a new dream."
ดีทรอยต์ เป็นสัญลักษณ์ของความยึดมั่นฝังหัวที่บ่มความคิดที่ว่า “การผลิตมากกว่า, เร็วกว่า, แม้แต่ด้วยการสังเวยมนุษย์บนสายพาน, เป็นความก้าวหน้า”.  แต่ “ความฝันของศตวรรษที่ ๒๐ ได้ตายไปแล้ว”, บอกส์กล่าว.  “และเรากำลังขย่มเขย่าโลกด้วยความฝันใหม่”.
* * *
Watch the full interview between Grace Lee Boggs and Tavis Smiley below:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
Published on Monday, July 22, 2013 by Common Dreams

  Bushrodl
I love Grace Lee Boggs. She's about 50 years ahead of everybody...but we'll get there because circumstances will continue and necessity trumps.
The mind of Grace Lee Boggs is amazing. It's not that we need to agree with what she says, but it is instructive to see the way she thinks. I deeply feel that this woman has so much to offer without claiming or even hinting that she has THE solution. After debating whether I should post this really long excerpt from her book, "Conversations in Maine: Exploring Our Nation's Future", co-authored along with her husband James Boggs, Lyman Paine and Freddy Paine, I decided to do so, just to give a glimpse into her mind, for those who may be curious. Or you can take 20 minutes to watch Grace Lee Boggs with Bill Moyers in 2007 (she was 91 years old then). This book was first published in 1978:
Redefining Revolution
... The word "revolution" is so tainted, so surcharged with past meanings that people respond automatically. Everybody thinks he/she understands what a revolution is. Yet we continue to use the word because one of the major responsibilities of a revolutionist is to redefine revolution, just as it is to redefine socialism. If somebody asks you if you are a revolutionist, you can't just say "yes" because in a way that capitulates to his or her definition of what a revolutionist is. A lot of radicals say "yes" the same way that they would check the box on a questionnaire on race, sex, or religion. You don't help the person who asked the question by just checking the box. If you are on a platform and somebody asks you this question, you say, "I am glad you asked me that question. Let me explain why I say I am a revolutionist."
We must boldly redefine revolution. Our job as people who are advancing the American revolution is to persuade people that their psychic hunger can be satisfied by doing things that are elevated. A revolutionist is a person who is daring enough to believe that people can live differently. You have to believe that you are capable of explaining the concepts you believe in, knowing that other people have other and contradictory ideas about these same things. Just as you can explain the difference between the Russian view of socialism and the Chinese view, and the limitations and narrowness of the former. A lot of people to this day believe that capitalism, socialism, etc. are "things." They see relationships as things. Seeing relationships as things (reification) paralyzes them in their capacity to envisage new relationships which they can participate in creating.
When people in their search for how to live better are ready to make evolutionary changes by choice, then we will be able to have revolution.
When people lived in tribes, they weren't lonely. But in all the advanced countries of the world, we have arrived at a point where practically everybody is lonely because they have been deprived of community. Much more in America than anywhere else as illustrated in the murderous and extremely important cartoons of Charles Hamilton in the New Yorker -- people feel dehumanized. But how do we move from non-humanity to humanity?
Without the sense of the need for community, why should anyone have a sense of the need for revolution, except abstractly?
We have to arrive at revolution, not begin with it. The only reason one would ever want a revolution in this country is because one wanted to be one again with one's fellow human beings. When people want to live differently from the way they are living now, then they will make revolution and not before. Part of our job is to indicate that the passion and the dedication which Guevara put into Bolivia was misplaced and we are trying to discover the new place to put it.
We have to decide what we think in order to change what others think. To make a revolution it is necessary to persuade some people who have some powers, some beliefs that they would like to see extended. If they feel that way, they will make a change. Yet some people still think that if you raise a red flag and support an ideology which nobody but your followers understand, you will make a revolution.
When Are People Free?
When is a human being free? Up to now the individualistic concept of freedom has dominated the world. It has now led to the concept of "doing you own thing". Therefore it is necessary to create a new concept of freedom at another, deeper level. ...
You are unhappy because you are a prisoner of your life. The only way to become happy is to become free. To become free you have to incorporate a whole lot of things into your thoughts that you are not including now. For example, if you are going to talk about pollution, you may have to incorporate into your thoughts the reduction of your standard of living. If you don't want Third World peoples to insist upon their freedom to pollute the planet by rapid industrialization, you may have to accept some responsibility for having gotten there first and therefore you may have to stop something so that they may begin something. If you can't think that way, then you are not free.
Psyches Don't Live on Bread
... We are not probing for answers so much as we are trying to find the right questions. What is it that John D. Rockefeller III (who wrote "The Second American Revolution") and Joe Doakes who drives a bus both need? Suppose that instead of using a phrase like "psychic security," we used one like "living purposefully." But that implies that you have already gone through the process of comparing values so that you have decided for what purpose you are living. Whereas psychic insecurity is living without the faintest idea of why you are living.
Psyches don't live on bread. It is not a question of physical well-being. We are talking about the need of people for spiritual relationships with themselves, with others, with their surroundings. You can't tackle this by writing a Das Kapital. We need something else -- but what it is we don't know. It is not likely to be a book at all -- because books don't mobilize forces. At most a book or manifesto can move only a few people.
How do we begin? One way is to try to persuade people to think about community. How does one go about inspiring or persuading people to think about community? We are beginning -- even though it may be twenty years before people can look back and say that we made a beginning. Also the beginning never has an end. It has climaxes which lead to new beginnings. A lot of people who follow Marx think that there is an end. We believed that for years. Now we realize that one year, two years, twenty years from now, we or others may discover another thought that it was impossible for us to think about this summer. We accept the fact that there are mysteries which we have to incorporate into what we know now, always looking for further illumination. We recognize that whatever concept we could possibly evolve about a community, having looked back and tried to sum up all that has been true of communities, would nevertheless only be a beginning of the struggle to form something which has never existed before. We would be scared of a blueprint if we came up with one.
That emphasis of the last line was mine. I think it is this kind of thinking and articulation that has resulted in the sidelining of people like Grace Lee Boggs in the left ideological circles. Whether one agrees with her or not, it should be noted that Grace Lee Boggs doesn't just talk or write, but has been walking the talk.
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revolution as a violent rupture from the status quo is easier to imagine in terms of how it can be achieved however bloody and scary the process may be.
revolution as a long process of building small viable alternative communities (economies) within or outside an extremely hostile dominant environment (the status quo economy) is much harder to imagine in terms of how to get from here to there while making a living.
slim Alcyona day ago
when I spend most of my time watching and listening to broadcast information and propaganda I tend to focus on the external things that seem important. It's not until I take the time to reflect on what gives me meaning and true happiness that I perceive what Ms. Boggs is talking about. When we live with this awareness we will choose to let go of our need for things and choose to honor our spiritual relationships with each other and the earth.
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Thanks so much for this.
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Some people cite a quote about how easy it is for people to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. But I would say that there are also people who can imagine the end of capitalism, but still cannot imagine the end of this industrial society.
The celebrated "revolutions" of the 20th century and Marx himself never really questioned the sustainability of industrial civilization, except making a few remarks here and there. These remarks are painstakingly dug up by people like John Bellamy Foster to construct a claim of "eco-socialism" as a serious component of Marxist ideology. But ecological sustainability still ranks BELOW (far below, I would say) any other considerations of economic and social equity. Even these economic considerations, if extended to a global scale and subjected to ecological constraints must point to a certain limit to consumption. Such limits are nowhere in the mainstream of Marxist discourse.
The silence surrounding the work of Grace Lee Boggs seems to be a result of ideological partisanship. I pointed this out the last time around also: "Grace Lee Boggs: The Evolution of a Revolutionary".
Thank you for reminding people about Grace Lee Boggs and her articulation of a 'New Dream'. People really need to balance their sense of outrage and anger with serious action. And action must include protests, boycotts, shutting down AND the building of alternatives, including, most importantly, sustainable food production. It is amazing to see a 98-year old woman to be articulating this idea so clearly.
Yes, sustainable food production would require land reforms and more people returning to farming. But this cannot happen as long as there is a huge demand for meat and dairy. People can start by removing this incentive to hold on to humongous tracts of farms and ranches in the hands of a relatively small number of people and corporations, sucking in all kinds of subsidies.
It's worth spending another 20 minutes to watch Grace Lee Boggs with Bill Moyers in 2007 (she was only 91 years old then!)
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More On Grace Lee Boggs' view
The Next American Revolution
preface: these pages come from material I’ve been putting together for a local discussion group. I apologize for taking up space but would very much appreciate any comments
The Next American Revolution
Grace Lee Boggs,, Detroit-based radical organizer and philosopher. Born to Chinese immigrant parents in 1915 [in their apartment over the family’s restaurant], Now 98 she has been involved in nearly every major activist movement of the past eighty years, including labor, civil rights, black power, women’s rights, and environmental justice movements.
  She earned scholarships, graduated from Barnard, and went on to earn a PhD in Philosophy at Bryn Mawr in 1940.. Facing the significant employment barriers of the academic world as a woman of color in the 1940s, she found a job at low wages at the University of Chicago Philosophy Library. And living in a rat infested basement she began an activist’s career, which continues to today, working for tenants' rights.
She successfully melded theoretical studies of reform and revolution with on-the-picketline activism while participating in in nearly every major activist movement of the era.
Along the way she met and married Jimmy Boggs, a Black from the deep south who was for 30 years a union member and organizer in the Chrysler factory in Detroit. Theoreticians as well as activists, the two were deeply immersed in the passionate discussions about revolutionary doctrine which characterized leftish organizations. [they found the Communist/USSR perspectives badly flawed, inclining toward Johnsonite anti-stalinist thinking.]
From all of this in time they emerged with a radically different perspective: they saw that thinking about revolution beginning with the Marx and the Russians had come to be centered on a process of rousing the masses to take over existing systems at the top and from there to rework the structure to be more supportive for the people generally [according to whatever structure the proponents advocated].
They proposed to do something quite different: not to change the system or its details but to build the entire structure from the ground up.

They had come to share Luther King’s vision of the “beloved community;” they called on Detroiters to expand their humanity, working together to create a more humane, democratic, and meaningful way of life, not just in Detroit but in line with the thinking eg underlying the work of the World Social Forum on the theme “Another World Is Possible,” central to the Puerto Alegre forum of 1999 and to the participatory democracy of that city [and others, ...including some in the USA]].
And perhaps the most important thing about this view imho is not just its thorough, careful exposition - though imo this is indeed revolutionary - but that, having worked out the theory and background, the Boggses and friends put it into action
...” we need to go beyond opposition, beyond rebellion, beyond resistance, beyond civic resurrection. We don’t want to be like ‘them.’ We don’t want to become the ‘political class,’ to simply change presidents and switch governments.’
“We want and need to create the alternative world that is now both possible and necessary. We want and need to exercise power, not take it.”
She set forth these views in her recent book: “The Next American Revolution.”
{Univ of California Press] [see also her autobiography ‘Living for change.” Grace Lee Boggs Univ of Minnesota Press]
Beginning specifically and actively along these lines in 1992; she, with Jimmy Boggs, Shea Howell, and others, co-founded “Detroit Summer,” which intended to "rebuild, redefine and respirit Detroit from the ground up," beginning by organizing youth.
=== ===
Detroit summer...Some specifics..
Over time it has developed parallel and interrelated activities loosely linked: Arts, Media, Culture; Community Organizations; Education [Schools and Community]; peace zones[ restorative justice]; Food Security - Urban Gardens and Farms; Local Businesses: Sustainable Economics; Recycling; Youth & Activism.
.
Activities in general aim to strengthen the commu
nity as well as to overcome specific challenges..Murals turn depressing deteriorating walls into images celebrating a vibrant locality.

A Restorative justice movement replaces arrest and incarceration in cases of many crimes; keeping juveniles out of the criminal justice system and resolves conflicts in the community without the toxicity of revolving door criminal activity.
Children are not locked into rows of desks in sterile classrooms; reminded, under the evils of “teach to the tests” of their own ineffectiveness; they are given activities and places in the community where they can both learn and feel the satisfaction of knowing that their work has value and that they themselves are productive parts of the community.

For instance, one group undertook to study their community to see where there were needs for improvement..In due course they identified youth obesity as a community problem...but they didn’t stop there, they went on to create vegetable gardens, some on rooftops, to improve sources of healthy foods...
One of the tenets of the Boggs respiriting’ of Detroit is: “Using new methods of local, small-scale production (such as 3-D printing) to produce our own clothing, housing, transportation, etc.” [to be continued...
[See GVCS, in the end notes]
3-D Printing
3-D printing technology makes it possible for small shops, using 3-D printers [some of which are literally small enough to fit on a desk-top], to produce a tremendous range of objects - literally from jewelry and dental implants to museum-quality pieces to jet engine parts to automobiles. [More information in notes below.] An active community of users, designers and manufacturers has grown up along with these developments.

But there is more at work here than just a new way of producing needed objects.
A Revolution
We may be seeing here something like the revival of the craftsman, the apprentice, the small workshop...of “work” as opposed to the slave-labor “job” of pointless repetitive mind-numbing --day after day existence too often under the supervision of petty tyrants and at the mercy of unseen financial interests. Now the craftsman will have the satisfaction of seeing his skills successfully deployed and will enjoy his work...==?,
We may be seeing the end of the assembly-line factories typical of the 20th century.
Major infrastructure systems will likely continue in place – e.g. transportation systems, water and waste disposal systems, the electric power net [though as solar energy designs evolve this net may fade] and co-op structures may replace privately owned configurations

And this leads on to A major theme in the ongoing work in Detroit; the evolution of the ‘beloved community’ sketched out by MLK. With people engaged in ‘Work;’ not regimented in ‘Jobs;’ with communities oriented to neighborhoods not projects, humanizing schooling, building community oriented restorative justice... finding their ways to provide the supporting services.. will approach a version of King’s vision..
Notes on the technology and development of 3-D printing
“3-D technology” is an outgrowth of the work on automatic computer-controlled milling machines which have long been standard in industry.

3-D printers, like the computer printers in common use everywhere, are controlled by software. There are software languages - comparable e.g. to word-processors for authors - to facilitate the translation of a designer’s vision, of an object to be produced, into code which will control the machine.
3-D printers are conceptually similar to everyday computer printers. The conventional printer lays out patterns of ink on paper in accord with instructions received by the printer’s software from the author’s computer, forming complete 2-D pages of printed text and graphics as needed.
3-D printing can be thought of as producing objects by printing successive cross-sections of the object – e.g. from the bottom up - in successive superimposed layers until the desired 3-D object is complete.
3-D printers can work with a broad range of materials, from plastics through chocolate even to binding material for construction of buildings using sandstone.
Some are not only small enough for small shops; they can fit even tight budgets. Currently 3-D printers can be had at prices from $400 to $25,000 [and up for speialized designs].
Examples
1. “Replication Revolution: Best 3D-Printed Objects in Entertainment, Science and War:” An unprecedented improvement in a jet engine design; a ‘printed’ eagle’s beak, made to repair an injury; printed-plastic acoustic guitars; 3-D versions of Escher’s drawings; repair modules for damaged coral reef structure; sculptures; jewelry; ... a plastic handgun...
http://www.wired.com/design/20...
2. “A small brass horse about 75 mm high.” A museum reproduction
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
This is one of 30,000 designs from a community of afficionados...
http://www.thingiverse.com/dev...
3. “How to 3-D Print the Skeleton of a Living Animal,...the skeleton above was created by taking a CT scan of an anesthetized rat and sending the data to a 3-D printer...“
http://www.wired.com/wiredscie...
4. “The New MakerBot Replicator Might Just Change Your World.” A good introduction to the subject with information on a leading machine.
http://www.wired.com/design/20...

5. “3-D Printed Car Is as Strong as Steel, Half the Weight, and Nearing Production,”
www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/...
6. And variants can create even larger objects - e.g., complete buildings. “‘D-Shape’ is a new robotic system using new materials to create superior stone-like structures ...full-size sandstone buildings made without human intervention,...”
http://www.d-shape.com/cose.ht...

7. Wikipedia has a concise discussion of the software and file systems involved in the control of 3-D printers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3...

Some Comments
The Economist of London
“Three-dimensional printing makes it as cheap to create single items as it is to produce thousands and thus undermines economies of scale. It may have as profound an impact on the world as the coming of the factory did....Just as nobody could have predicted the impact of the steam engine in 1750—or the printing press in 1450, or the transistor in 1950—it is impossible to foresee the long-term impact of 3D printing. But the technology is coming, and it is likely to disrupt every field it touches.”
— The Economist, February 10, 2011 from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3...
The Motley Fool
“Thanks to 3-D printing, China may be out of a job. Who needs to buy cheap manufactured goods from Asia when you can print out anything you want from your home 3-D printer – a factory in a box?
“Amazon may go the way of Netflix. Who needs to order goods for delivery (or DVDs), when you can just have the blueprints (or digital files) sent to your computer at home?” Or at your local print shop...
- The Motley Fool
[A widely read financial columnist]
http://beta.fool.com/letsryan/...
The Global Village Construction Set [GVCS]
The basic concept here began with the conceptualization, design and construction of a small farm machine, intended to be built one by one by individuals as each needed one for their own situations. The first was built by its designer for $6000; a conventional machine of comparable capabilities was priced at about $35,000. And the originator, working largely alone, built a second one in six days...
There is an organization growing up, evolving from this work: the Open Source Ecology organization. It aims to complete in due course the “Global Village Construction Set (GVCS)” -- a set of modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance machines allowing for the easy fabrication of 50 different industrial machines, from soil pulverizers to ovens, that would suffice to build full-fledged small, sustainable civilization...
GVCS
Global Village Construction Set.
Open Source Ecology organization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...

This has garnered attention broadly e.g., from Time Magazine, the TED program, etc.
The Open Source Ecology organization:
http://opensourceecology.org/w...
From Time Inc - “Best Inventions of the Year 2012"
The Civilization Starter Kit
http://techland.time.com/2012/...
The 50 machines comprise the Global Village Construction Set:
http://opensourceecology.org/w...
The founder and builder of the first machine is Marcin Jakubowski:
“Open-sourced blueprints for civilization,”
http://www.ted.com/talks/marci...
World's First 3D-Printed House: Innovative, Disruptive & Downright Terrifying”
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/...
[“Why I hate working in a call center,” http://www.helium.com/items/11...]
Can we create the machines of modern life sustainably, cheaply, and close to home?
http://www.yesmagazine.org/pla...
A baker’s oven, a backhoe, a well drilling rig. According to social entrepreneur Marcin Jakubowski, these are a few of the 50 machines essential for any society to sustain a modern, comfortable lifestyle.
But these machines are not only essential, explains Leifur Thor, they’re also expensive, hard to repair and designed to be obsolete in a few years. Thor volunteers with Open Source Ecology, a non-profit Jakubowski founded to develop the Global Village Construction Set. The set will comprise durable, modular machines that people can build and maintain themselves with sustainable, locally available materials—often scrap metal. OSE will give the plans away to anyone who wants them. The money a farmer would have sent to a large corporation to buy a hay cutter will stay in the community. The environmental impact of shipping heavy equipment long distances will disappear. These machines are designed to cost roughly a fifth of what factory-produced models do.
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Thanks, parrysixte, for a great post. I hope more people would have a chance to read your post. What the 'Boggses and friends' started doing and what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about regarding community have a bit of a historical parallel with Gandhi's frequent articulation of 'village-level self sufficiency / self-rule', although in those days when there was so much fervor and excitement about 'modernization' and industrialization, his calls were mostly ignored.
I am yet to read up and make up my mind on 3-D printers. But believe it or not, I have thought almost exactly along the lines of the 'Open Ecology' project some years ago. I just worried that some big corporations may steal even from this kind of work to make a profit elsewhere, and tweak things just a little bit and even patent the designs! So I did not explore the idea further. I now think that some legalese can be included as an integral part to prevent that.
Personally, I think that such activities as are being done or encouraged by Grace Lee Boggs must be in addition to all other actions -- from the individual to the collective level, and can nicely complement all those actions. Most of all, these would empower people in a new way and prepare the ground for a new society. And they may have a MUCH greater value in places like Detroit.
Growing food is critical. I am convinced that large numbers of people switching to a vegan diet will make the transition to a sustainable society that much faster. This would also make land reforms more likely, by removing the incentive to hold large farms and ranches. Some of it may be diverted for biofuel production, but sooner or later, things will have to start changing, and the move towards smaller farms should commence. But it won't happen as long as there is a large demand for meat and dairy, not just in the USA, but worldwide. If local demand shrinks, producers can still export meat and animal feed. So this will have to be a global movement. But if the Amazon forests are to be saved and further destruction for the purpose of grazing livestock and growing soy are to stop, it still needs to be a global movement.
I still think that certain massive protests would be needed to shut down certain destructive things. But people can pull the plug on many of them by simply boycotting certain things. Large numbers would be needed for boycotts to have an effect. But large numbers are going to be needed ANYWAY to bring about change quickly. So people should be out there, talking to lots more people.
Thanks again for the post, even though the thread has become somewhat quiet.
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thanks for responding...
The opensystems organization story is interesting...I think you may have been on a fruitful track...You could probably join them. if still interested ..
I've been interested in the idea of a boycott, too, but have no idea how they are organized...another idea, ...boycott work...down tools; go out for coffee...stay home...no mobs for police to harass.
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The kind of boycotts I have in mind are mostly motivated by environmental and climate change concerns. And the outrageous development of adding to the electricity generation capacity in the form of renewable energy systems as well as NEW coal and natural gas power plants, as late as 2012, with more NG power plants in the pipeline. What I mean is that renewable energy systems should NOT become additional capacity, but should be replacing existing fossil fuel-based power generation capacity -- especially in the developed countries. So the only way that a major switch to a renewable energy system would be possible in the near term is by massively reducing demand for electricity.
So people must start scouting for large consumers of electricity that serve no ESSENTIAL purpose. (Sorry about the caps! :) Example: corporate, commercial sporting events (that involve not just electricity use at the venues, but for the TVs and for all the things that go with watching these events), and enormous amounts of air travel by the teams. Then there are the amusement parks, 'The Strip' at Las Vegas, and all kinds of monstrous waste of electricity all over the world.
Then there are the 'optional' items such as escalators that run non-stop, over-cooling, over-lighting and over-heating of places like the shopping malls, rows of freezers left open at the supermarkets for the "convenience" of shoppers (because glass doors tend to fog up momentarily after opening and closing), and so on. If people look with a critical eye, there is waste all around. Ordinary people may not be able to shut them down.
Here is where boycotts come in. Such boycotts would necessarily involve reaching to fellow-citizens. There is no other way to stop such waste, short of going in and shutting them down. It doesn't have to stop with boycotts alone. People can support various pricing mechanisms (such as feed-in tariff, progressively increasing price on electricity beyond certain levels of consumption), carbon tax (as part of a fee-and-dividend system), etc., and most importantly, support an international treaty to limit carbon emissions. While individuals may not be able to do much, they can support political parties or candidates who clearly articulate what needs to be done -- such as the Green Party. Any and every action -- that is what is needed. Ideology-based smugness has no place here!
People can take a serious, hard look at regular vacationing that involves huge energy and resource use. Yes, this would be mostly people in the top 20% of the population (or even top 10%), but they need to be appealed to, and brought on the side of change as well. Tourism operations also have implications on jobs, but that should not be used as an excuse for ongoing waste and destruction.
If people are really serious about a non-violent transformation and urgently, then more options for action would emerge that we may have overlooked until now. A comprehensive change in the system can take place when there is a sufficiently large number of people ready to bring it about, but not before.
I realize I haven't talked about any specific action, but that is because it would depend on where people live, what their particular focus is (for example, I personally think about food production, energy use and carbon emissions mostly), their existing circle of contacts, their readiness to talk with strangers, and so on. And then certain things can be achieved only by collective action. So basically people need to be working at all levels, keeping their eyes open for more opportunities for action.
It is important to watch out against ideologically-motivated snide attacks such as this one elsewhere on this thread:

"A sustainable and fair society brought about by organic farming in the empty lots of wasteland Detroit? Maybe we should return to hunter-gathering while we're at it."
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We need an excise tax on energy--start at 10% 1st year, 20% 2nd year, 30% 3rd year, 40% 4th year, 50% 5th year and hold--as much for prohibitive tariff effect as for revenue to pay for both renewable energy equipment and improvements in energy efficiency. Wind, solar, and geothermal all seem to be sustainable energy sources; utility scale batteries and pump storage and smart grid electronics improve efficiency by enabling electric utilities to better match supply and demand in real time. Petroleum needs to be replaced by the algal bio-diesel US Navy funds Algae Systems R&D on. I fear for our farms--can our crops take the heat? We can desalinate sea water--at greater cost than our farmers are willing to pay for irrigation water. Maybe let household use get first shot at desalinated sea water--then Algae Systems uses that municipal waste water to feed algae along with CO2 captured by Global Thermostat and gets bio-diesel, bio-char, 600F water (run steam turbine first then potable once it cools enough to drink), salt and fertilizer.
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Your suggestion about "an excise tax on energy" is exactly on the right track. Other people have proposed something similar, and some with an even better arrangement, IMO: where the tax thus collected is actually returned to the public. Those who would use less energy would get more money back. James Hansesn has long advocated this kind of a carbon tax, as part of a fee-and-dividend' system. The expectation is that this would spur the development and spread of renewable energy systems by the right kind of a market signal and market pressure.
However, I strongly feel that along with any such arrangement, there HAS TO BE an upper limit on carbon emissions, globally and nationally, enforced as part of a global climate treaty. Otherwise I am afraid that the pace of transition is not guaranteed and is vulnerable to manipulations.
There is now a "Citizens Climate Lobby". People should consider joining up with these folks or similar advocacy groups. CCL is also demanding a 'fee-and-dividend' system:
A fee and dividend effectively taxes carbon emissions, collects and divides up that revenue, and gives 100% of it back to all citizens equally. Most people get the same or more money back as dividends than they'd pay in higher energy prices, but they'd make even more money by using less fossil fuel energy.
CCL advocates for the fee and dividend approach for two main reasons.
First, it's probably the simplest option. The carbon fee would be implemented at the point of entry (well, mine, or port), and we already have a system in place to return the dividend to citizens during annual tax filings.
Second, it's probably the most feasible option to implement, from a practical and political standpoint. The dividend offsets the cost of the carbon fee for most people, so there is minimal financial impact on citizens.
However, since we would know about the carbon fee and that it will continue to rise, people would have an incentive to transition away from high-emissions products to minimize their costs and potentially make money from the carbon fee and dividend system.
As for water desalination, my thinking is that people should first ELIMINATE wastage of water. In particular, the production of meat and dairy that requires huge amounts of water, especially water from the Ogallala Aquifer (including the production of corn, soy and hay). Even in California, the largest acreage AND the largest water use among crops is for growing alfalfa, mostly to feed dairy cattle. Then there are the lawns - which can be converted to gardens to grow food. There are the golf courses. There are all kinds of water wastage. Eliminating these could make the need for water desalination unnecessary in many places.
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My thinking is that dedicating the tax revenue to a combination of buying fossil fuel as it is displaced by renewable energy both to placate the fossil fuel firms (hopefully cutting down on corruption) and to keep he fossil fuel firms from selling the fossil fuel to China, India, etc. AND buying renewable energy equipment to give to utilities to persuade them to go ahead and use it is likely to keep the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy and efficiency going. Europe has already had a lot of trouble with corruption of their cap and trade system--how do you force the lowering of the cap each year with all polluters demanding that they get to keep their permits grandfathered. Maybe water needs to be taxed too, with the cost of desalinating seawater putting a limit on how high the tax can go and revenue dedicating to cleaning up dirty fresh water and desalinating sea water when we run short of cleanable dirty fresh water.
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Excellent..I'm with you....reducing demand could be key in many ways.
BTW, i'm no technophile, but research on solar cells is looking hopeful
But reducing demand...YES
Any clues to how boycotts are built?
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We need excise taxes on many things--as much for the prohibitive tariff effect as for the revenue. The fat cat capitalist ruling class will manage to grab at least 90% of the revenue--but even 10% of the revenue could be some help in supporting the 99%. I strongly suspect that there is some level of modest comfort such that it would be cheaper to support the least fortunate members of our society at that level in supportive housing with communal dining included than to leave them at loose ends. Now if only the 1% could be convinced that it really is cheaper to support the bottom 20% at such a level than to neglect them.
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I don't know if there are any contemporary examples I can offer for boycotts that would be relevant for taking action on global warming. Historically, there have been boycotts organized by people like Gandhi. But the context was somewhat different. But it is important to understand the linkage of what we are boycotting to the bigger picture, and pick items to boycott that would have the greatest impact. As an example, I have cited Phil Rockstroh's facebook post before.
But I do think that this would involve appealing to a sense of morality in the relatively affluent population. And where possible, showing some alternatives available. Or, organize events, fairs, etc., centered around these alternatives, and emphasize the urgent need to switch.
Those who are not affluent or those who are already not consuming wasteful products (that could be physical products such as meat, or "cultural" products such as entertainment, corporate sporting events) would have to take the risk of talking to strangers, handing out information regarding the wasteful and destructive nature of certain kinds of consumption, etc. They basically need to become activists and proselytizers in their everyday life. And find ways to publicize their efforts, so other people in other locations who may be thinking along similar lines may get inspired to act.
Speaking of proselytizing, it requires a somewhat thick skin to face rejection (and being chased away by mall security :). Maybe doing it in small groups, wearing T-shirts with a message, etc., can give the initial momentum and allow a gradual easing into organizing.
Ultimately, this should be about change towards something better. Ecological sustainability and a life that is not so wasteful, with less stress, more healthy and with more time to spend with family, friends and community should be "better" -- so it's best to remember that we are indeed working for something better and not just against something destructive. We should also leave some room for people on the "other side" to switch sides without being terribly offended and without losing face. Otherwise it would only provoke an ego-based reaction in them. Sorry, again, no specifics. But when the issue has little do with people's discretionary consumption or addiction, but only with a destructive industry or corporation, no such niceties are necessary. :)
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Ok, I'm with you on these aspects..In veterans for Peace we've encountered much of this
It's the next level I'm puzzled about...How build a boycott movement...I can faintly see some elements but not how an overall structure for planning and action can evolve and E.g. how can participants rank prospective targets, settle on timescale of actions et
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once the private profit as the driving force is removed from industrialization, environmental sustainability will be welcome in its place. just and peaceful society doesn't have to be a stone age.
i don't know what you refer to as the "mainstream marxism", but nowhere did marx preach maximum (but equal amongst the members) consumption as the goal of communism or socialism.
perhaps you are referring to the american style trade unionism as the "mainstream marxism" but marx himself bluntly said he wasn't marxist if trade unionism was marxist.
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I said, "mainstream Marxist discourse" -- such as their publications and lectures. I don't think this is a point of debate at all! Most of their focus is on class issues and critiquing the capitalist system. Any limited reference to environmental sustainability is somewhat cursory, despite the effort of some people to work it into the general ideology in a somewhat contrived manner.
There is an implicit BELIEF that just getting rid of capitalism would somehow automatically produce an environmentally sustainable society, without explicitly making it a priority. I am saying that environmental sustainability should rank right at the top -- something that the "mainstream Marxist discourse" does NOT do!
Some of the ideologues are too caught up in a particular way of looking at things. Being limited in their ideological framework is not a bad thing in itself - it can be rectified by learning from other approaches and new information. But the problem comes when some people actively attack certain other approaches that are NOT even contrary in terms of the end goal that's articulated. They are very divisive in this respect, because they alienate people because of their arrogant posturing, without actually producing any improvement on the ground. When some of these Marxist ideologues do that, they positively start to look like religious fanatics. They seem more interested in their particular ideology "triumphing". Even more than genuinely moving towards a sustainable and equitable society by adopting multiple approaches! They seem to want a revolution (as per THEIR idea) or NOTHING!
All serious people must seriously and honestly answer this question: what is it that they TRULY want? A sustainable and fair society brought by about any non-violent approach or multiple, complementary approaches -- OR -- to prove that some particular ideology is superior to others?

A sustainable and fair society brought about by organic farming in the empty lots of wasteland Detroit? Maybe we should return to hunter-gathering while we're at it.
Marx was quite clear that ending capitalism was not going to "automatically" do anything. Rather, it would open the road for free human beings globally to consciously direct the evolved scientific and tecnological capabilities of the human race to produce what was needed (think solar panels, mass transit, accessible low-cost institutions of higher education, etc.) to sustain the human race in harmony with the planet as a whole.
Here's some "mainstream Marxist discourse" that might be of some interest:
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Time to choose. Do we continue to wring our hands, blaming everyone but ourselves, or do we dig in and create new society and new structures?
For this website: Is it going to be "Common Dreams" or "Common Nightmares"?

Will the people of Detroit be allowed to create a new society? Not with Snyder's bankruptcy plans. The whole city will be sold off to a bunch of 1%ers who don't even live remotely close to Detroit.
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DEE-troit will soon be invaded by carpetbaggers.
Oh, the irony.
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the strategy is, not participating in the old game and creating a just and peaceful way of living, in every possible way and with everyone doing whatever they can. we may want to live in a smaller and more environmentally sustainable house with a lot more people than a typical nuclear family, with simpler and less food, and no fancy anything else, but we have to want to live like that, instead of taking it as some sacrifice.
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At one point, the Occupy movement (maybe Occupy Wall Street) bought a bunch of those securitized debts to forgive the debts. Helpful, but they could not continue to do so because the value of the remaining securitized debt rose with the hopes of the present holders that they could recover more of what they had paid for that debt.
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thanks for this posting, Common Dreams is awesome - and so is Grace. We made a film about her vision for Detroit and the people who are making it real, called WE ARE NOT GHOSTS that will be aired on Free Speech TV later this year, and you can preview it here - https://vimeo.com/39355493
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Peg • 8 hours ago
Grace Lee Boggs has talked the talk and walked the walk in all her work. She is amazing and a treasure.
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Wow, this is just what I've been thinking. This would be a great opportunity to implement Town Dollars, like the Fourth Corner Exchange and the Time Banking system. Go Detroit!
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Wanted to quickly share news on the new documentary that will air on PBS in 2014, AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS. Short Synopsis: In an age when seemingly insurmountable injustices and contradictions
face us, AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY inspires concerned citizens and dreamers of all ages with new thinking to sustain their struggle and engagement.
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All the wisdom the world needs is in the "crones" whom Grace embodies. We fail to listen at our peril.
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The social and economic contradictions are greatly the problem. These social contradictions are shaping humanity and its social identity. The social identity being shaped by worldwide corporate owners for benefit of owners will continue the status quo as one of control, fear, illusion of prosperity, liberty, freedom and change while the reality is the world owners are monopolizing all world resources, markets, monopolizing controls on price, movement, sales, production, resources, travel, liberty and freedom of choice. This all done in the name of progress or efficient markets. The truth however is the worlds corporate owners opinions become the laws of the world all others must live by. The increasing controls of the monopolizing corporate states worldwide must be broken for any real social change. This includes the monopoly on capital for investments and corporate laws modified worldwide enforced for socially responsible service to humanity not as today where costs are not captured in price to increase owners profits and other crony capitalist scams which serve nothing but transfers of wealth and income from others. Others what others there is only the all. Corporate and owners attachment to profit, wealth, power and control is destroying the earth, markets and humanity as always its first the children, old, disabled and starving that first feel the pain because they are mostly not owners seeking profit, wealth, power or control they just want to live but not just exist till not for the greed of the owners at the top. Change will not come until the owners of the world are restrained or eliminated by social pressure from the massive population they depend on for all.
Humanity can govern itself without kings, queens or corporate power elite controlling markets, education, resources and virtually all potential within the social crony market system of capital slavery by capital, resources, and market monopolization consolidation leading toward total corporate control Humans were not born to serve the corporation state or nation but to be able live with liberty, freedom of choice so one can seek or just be for everything that is really good for all in life and reject all that's not.
The world is consumed with the crony capitalist greed incorporated and exported worldwide its the NEW RELIGION promoted by corporate owners of all capital and markets.
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When do you think the masses of Americans will rise up and get into the streets to change the system?
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When the cost is seen to exceed the benefit of playing the current rigged game then the public will begin to protest. This is not likely in USA because the public is pacified, mediatized, uneducated, medicated and individually identify with the corporate state, religion dogma or the propaganda of the day. The USA system encourages individualization over the identification with the one and the ALL. USA encourages the I, ME, Mine ego state of mind and dismisses or demonizes the social identification with the world. The citizens of USA think the corporation is the provider of jobs, wealth, and contentment etc. But this is just not so. The corporation is the organization of capital, resources, labor, production etc. toward a goal the owners profit nothing more. Reject privatization without social voice for the betterment of the needs of all.
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Sure, I can feel the tremors all the way from here.
But, seriously, when there's nothing else left, we have to make ourselves believe that we're shaking the world with our new dream. In the meantime, the uber-corporations shake the world with fracking and bombs. Oh, well, no one said this would be a perfect world after all.
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YES, THE CORPORATE CONSOLADATION AND CONTROL IS NOT THE SOLUTION BUT THE PROBLEM. How is it the corporations who destroyed the economy by profit considerations regardless of human need are seen to be the new savior of the bankrupt. Because the corporations have rigged the game for the owners control.
Reject all privatization without strong anti-trust law and the means to enforce it. However not likely because the corporate owners own government, justice system and the world mostly with total control near complete.
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With all due respect, GLB's kind of talk only helps support the status quo:
''. . . not to worry, everything will turn out all right because the common folk of Detroit will show the way -- yes, and defeat the corporate masters
-- even if the game is rigged against them.''
NOT
The only real tactic that will work is if a few million folk occupy the streets of DC, and put the fear of people-power into the heats & minds of our knucklehead, 1-percenter, politicians.
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with fear in their heart, what do you want and expect them to do?