<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Thank you, Tammy! This is exactly what I feel. I want to be FOR solutions - and ones that everyone can get behind. Unity is my goal. Ideas that can break down the barriers that have formed between political ideals, religion, race, gender, ... When we are united, we will be unstoppable, and our basic needs will very likely be met.<br><br></div>I appreciate your contribution here and hope you, and others with this vision, will be active in the next step!<br><br></div>Blessings,<br>Kelly<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 1:00 AM, Tammy Davis <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tammy@mcn.org" target="_blank">tammy@mcn.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#003333">
Hello Everyone,<br>
<br>
I have not been a regular participant in the CRN discussions of
late, but I have been attempting to keep up with the conversations
in general. I would like to share my perspective on the discussion
of other possible directions or how to proceed.<br>
<br>
I stumbled upon this story while forwarding a link to one of my
favorite websites to a friend. This story does also explains why I
gravitated more toward the Transition Towns movement a couple of
years ago...<br>
<br>
<h2 style="margin-bottom:12.0000pt;margin-top:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-weight:bold;font-style:normal;font-size:18.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">The New Language of Social Change</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;font-size:18.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><u></u><u></u></span></h2>
<p style="margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;text-align:left"><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><u></u> <u></u>The increasing number of voices articulating a positive vision of the future are a welcome antidote to the ‘anti’ approach,<br>
reports Lucy Purdy. </span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">The general mood during The People’s Assembly Against Austerity march held in London this June felt
<br>
engaged, but largely ‘anti’. This was about anti-austerity and angry placards. Music and togetherness yes, but it was all
<br>
against something, not for something. Last to speak on a line-up of mainly trade union leaders and stalwarts, it was uncertain<br>
how British comedian Russell Brand would relate to this crowd. But he did.</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">“I know there are no answers in fame, fortune or superficial pleasures,” he said. “I know that the answers and happiness come<br>
when we connect with one another, when we join together to look after one another. It’s time for us to take back our common<br>
unity. This will be a peaceful, effortless, joyous revolution.” </span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Several of the other speakers anticipated Russell’s focus on the positive. Disability rights campaigner, comedian and author
<br>
Francesca Martinez said: “We need to redefine what is sacred. To me, life is beautiful and precious. We are not economic
<br>
commodities. We are all here for, and we have an equal right to, happiness, health and opportunity.” “We must have a message<br>
of hope, of courage and of solidarity,” added author and political commentator Owen Jones. </span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:13.5000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">"</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Many people seem to exist in<br>
this precarious spot: feeling a profound love for our world, but with horror and fear often eclipsing their joy.</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:13.5000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">"</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Russell helped cement this vocabulary, and in doing so, he changed the tone. He reinstated the importance of having a positive<br>
vision for the future, not simply a denunciation of what we’ve got. He wasn’t ignoring people’s suffering— Ann from Cardiff
<br>
who told me her benefits had been cut, or Angela from Liverpool whose son can’t afford the bus to college—but actually
<br>
coming at the problem from the most human of angles. The best way to reject a system that allows these things to happen is to<br>
envisage a new and better one, and nurture the values that will underpin it.</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">It isn’t just Russell and others from the anti-austerity march who are making these connections; the language of change is<br>
shifting. Author and environmentalist George Monbiot proved himself capable of painful self-reflection recently when he said
<br>
that saving the world should be based on promise, not fear. “I’ve been engaged in contradiction and futility. For about 30 years,”
<br>
he wrote. “Almost everyone in this field is motivated by … the love and wonder and enchantment nature inspires. Yet, perhaps
<br>
because we fear we will not be taken seriously, we scarcely mention them. We hide our passions behind columns of figures.” </span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Whipping up people’s fears, George explained, triggers an instinctive survival response, nurturing self-interest instead of the
<br>
common good. He now realizes that hope inspires people and is most likely to prompt positive action.</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">What a simple, yet game-changing shift. Because this negativity epidemic is evident in so many areas of life: in the mainstream<br>
media, in a political system which seems incapable of articulating any sort of positive vision, even in schools, when the food
<br>
chain is taught in terms of the accumulation of pesticides instead of the beautiful diversity of life and where waterways are
<br>
taught through our pollution of them.</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">My own experience tells me this is true. When I think about a lot of protests, the aims of which I often share but which hang
<br>
heavy with the language of rejection and anger, I feel hopelessness. When I think about things I love, walking in beautiful
<br>
woods or being outdoors with friends and family, I feel hopeful and excited about the future. Many people seem to exist in this<br>
precarious spot: feeling a profound love for our world, but with horror and fear often eclipsing their joy.</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:normal;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Russell is not the answer, but he might be a fast-talking, hip-waggling conduit to an answer for some. But for most, the shift to
<br>
believing in a more beautiful world will come from deep inside ourselves. From doing what we love, from cherishing the people<br>
and the planet we hold dearest—and from acting from our most human and intrinsic values.</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt"><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;text-align:left"><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">More Information:</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">...........................</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Story from </span><span><a href="http://www.positivenewsus.org" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Positive News UK</span></a></span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"> - <a href="http://www.positivenewsus.org/new-language-of-social-change.html" target="_blank">http://www.positivenewsus.org/new-language-of-social-change.html</a></span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><br>
</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-style:italic;font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'">Posted October 2014</span><span style="color:rgb(128,0,128);font-size:12.0000pt;font-family:'Calibri'"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<br>
<br>
<br>
I think we <font face="Calibri">need to connect with each other,
face to face, as friends, as neighbors, as communities, who share
the same
desires to help build a better future. We need to be on the
ground and getting systems in place, or at least beginning the
processes, now and not some time in the future. If we run into
regulatory or municipal code conflicts along the way, a
cooperative/collaborative approach to find solutions is of course
the way to go. However, we can be proactive in our actions while
asserting our inalienable rights. Wherever rules are no longer
valid and do not allow for the basic needs of people to be met,
the rulebook must be rewritten.<br>
<br>
I also think we need to empower local youth to go into the
community and begin making changes to things that will directly
effect their lives. I suggested to Lindy Peters that I think at
least 2 high school students should be elected by their peers to
serve a year on City Council in the capacity of representing a
youth committee, or something of that nature. He was very
receptive to the idea and he agrees that there is a need for a
more responsive government that works to serve the people.<br>
<br>
I also think we should strongly advocate self-directed learn as
an alternative to compulsory k-12 education. A shared learning
program that utilizes benefits like those offered by both <i><b>Mendo
Free Skool </b></i>and <i><b>Mendocino Outdoor Science
School (MOSS) </b></i>could provide some much needed
progress and the students could be charged with promoting the idea
to the community.<br>
<br>
By providing for our own needs using "local" resources, we
reconnect with the natural world and each other, and we stop
supporting the industries that
we are trying to dismantle. I have many ideas for projects </font><font face="Calibri">(some of which I am incorporating into my permaculture
design project)</font> <font face="Calibri">such as local foods,
social enterprises in renewable energy, time banks, tool
libraries, ride share, bike kitchens, late harvest glean teams,
and I am planning to build an aquaponics system myself.</font><br>
<br>
Oh, and thank you Carrie for forwarding the link to
TheAllianceforDemocracy.org. The site is loaded with great
information and resources.<br>
<br>
Thank you all for your dedication and insight - you keep me on my
toes.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
Tammy<br></font></span>
P.S. I have attached a document that I feel has a very strong and
important message<br>
<div><br>
<small><i><font color="#006600"></font></i></small></div>
</div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br></div>