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Eight good reasons to block the G8
Apr 13, 2007
Focus: Government
Action Request: Think About
Location: Germany
Eight good reasons to block the G8
(By: Affinity Group Wilnis)

An impressive number of groups in Germany and outside is currently
preparing to effectively blockade the G8 summit this June. At least they
will try to, they are, of course countered by a large police force that
will try and stop them.

At carious info-nights about these mobilisation efforts held in the
Netherlands, you often hear people voicing doubts about the use of
blockades. It is sometimes claimed that they “useless”, “a ritual” and
that “summits are only symbols”. Below you will find eight good reasons
for taking part in the blockades and help making them successful.

1) In order to win. Imagine that this time round it will really work! The
big names will, of course, be flown in with a helicopter, but that’s only
a few of them. The lower ranks, especially the personnel, will have to be
brought in by car. Furthermore, you can block a helicopter, too (with hang
gliders, sky rockets&hellip, and on the day of the summit, people have already
announced they will try and block the only big airport in the region. But
again, imagine that it will be a successful blockade; that we are enough
people with enough fantasy, initiative and courage to block the entry
points. Then the G8 summit, where those who are instrumental in
perpetuating global poverty, environmental destruction and neo-liberal
business want to get together and play, will simply fail. Just that day,
remember Seattle?

2) In order to create networks. Summit protests are spaces where countless
groups and individuals join forces who rarely see each other in their
daily lives, let alone organise protests together. We have been divided
into countless one-issue movements which in turn are divided over
strategic and political questions. But during protests against a summit
such as this one, everything comes together and crosses each other. This
cross-fertilisation yields unexpected results.

3) As a school for protest. The protests, the preparations and the action
camps, are spaces in which everyone learns new things. It is a living
school for self-organisation, theory, discussion, action forms, etc.
Helping organising an action camp, witnessing how people who barely know
each other can stop something of that scale in such a short period of time
and under difficult circumstances, is in itself something that everyone
should have experienced at least once in their lifetime. These camps are
also places where people who have just recently decided to become active
against the current world order can come into contact with people who have
been active already for a long time. The blockades and actions can be
astonishing experiences, they can change lives and let people see that we
can change things and that resistance is possible. These experiences are
then used in different places and on different subjects and thereby
disseminated beyond only the summit.

4) For the spin-off effect: the effects of these sort of mass actions are
much bigger than the place and time of the summit. It influences a large
part of the surrounding society, the media, the discussions at the baker’s
and in the bus. Suddenly everyone is talking about the issue, and that
would never happen if the protests would not take place. Of course, not
everyone agrees with the activists, but at least they are discussing the
issues. Compare that with summits that meet with no resistance, which was
common place only a few years ago. Then the media picture presented is
largely that which those in power created, and you would see men in grey
suites shaking hands. But now, WE are in the picture. But the spin-off
goes much further than that: the networks created during the protests,
activists return to their local settings and are inspired to carry on with
their work. Because no one considers these summit protests as the end
point in their lives as political activists; it is but one moment in our
daily campaigns and struggles to change the world. But it is an important
one that can be used well.

5) Ritual and spectacle? The common reasoning that summits are just a
ritualised display of power and serve as a trap which activists step into
by protesting against them is simply not true. The powerful would much
rather meet and discuss in peace. Now they are forced to protect
themselves with an army surrounding them in order to keep off the angry
masses. They have a very hard time, under these circumstances, to
legitimise themselves and their actions and are thereby forced to make all
sorts of pseudo-promises. So this is what we have achieved already. Of
course they also learn from these experiences and activists have to be
inventive to keep up the pressure. It is also important to realise that
summit protests cost activists a lot of time, money and labour, which
could also be invested elsewhere. Hyping militant behaviour can also be
irritating and counter-productive. Much more dangerous, however, is the
ritualisation of powerless political agreement which mainstream NGOs make
with governments, such as symbolic mass demonstrations (round the church
and back). They also cost much time, money and energy, and are, moreover,
painfully boring.

But to be active only at the local level and &lsquoositively’ is also not an
option, the ruling elite will laugh at you and couldn’t care less. Every
now and then, you have to try and come together and score ‘globally’, and
then part again to carry on working at the local level. Also: not all
actions that have taken place many times are also out of date. For
centuries now, workers have gone on strike against their bosses and
strikes are still necessary tools that book results.

6) In order to break out of the often illusionary ‘civil society input’
culture. In order to experience a different reality for a moment (other
than the endless ‘consultation’ model with its ‘civil feedback groups’,
‘stakeholder meetings’, reports, studies and policy recommendations), it
helps to, once in a while, attempt an actual act of resistance without
compromise. Yabasta! It’s enough, in June in Heiligendamm, we had enough
and will try and stop the limousines and dance on their roofs. All this in
the hope that the practice of direct action will effect the negotiations,
because not so long ago this was the case and had actual effect (e.g. in
the squatting, women’s and initially the workers movements&hellip. Fewer things
on earth are more fulfilling than to smash the party of fat cats and stop
them, even if only for a moment, from destroying this planet.

7) For strategic reasons. Although the G8 is an informal meeting at which,
officially, no decisions are taken, the G8 is becoming an increasingly
important forum and, for this reason, is being increasingly
institutionalised. Thousands of politicians and civil servants take part
in it and it is prepared during the whole year by large teams. It is
evident that these sort of meetings form the structure for negotiations
between the most powerful capitalist nations in the world in order for
them to coordinate their policies. Important decisions of other
institutions, such as the WTO, IMF and World Bank, are prepared during
this summit. The ‘system’ will not collapse if they cannot hold one of
their summits, but it makes it all a little more difficult to keep the
machine running smoothlessly. Imagine that each of their gatherings is met
with such resistance. Also ideologically, they are forced into the defence
by this form of mass protest.

8) For international solidarity. We fight against the G8 leaders because
we are suffering from their policies. But we also know that often people
that are hit the worst by them live in the global South, far away from the
cities where the power lies, where the conferences are held and the
offices of the multi-nationals are located. In southern countries it is
often common to resist economic oppression with hand and feet, for which
people pay a high price. Those people also appreciate that also in the
capitalist centres, people actively resist and demand an end to the
desperation and status quo. This is why ‘global’ actions often go hand in
hand with very specific demands around specific issues that all have to do
with the G8 – supporting the Ogoni fighting against Shell in Nigeria,
freeing political prisoners, solidarity with Oaxaca/Chiapas, oppose GMOs,
etc, etc.

But first and foremost 1) in order to win! Those who join can later tell
their grandchildren (or those of the neighbours) that they were there; the
historic beginning of the end of the capitalist nightmare. Heiligendamm,
June 2007, that’s where you have to be, en masse and active!

-------------------------------
For more information on the coming protests see, amongst others,
http://www.dissent.nl
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Posted: Apr 13, 2007 9:00am
Reasons to be on the Raw Food Diet
Jan 26, 2007
Focus: Health
Action Request: Read
Location: United States
Here are a few of the many reasons to go raw
from http://raw-food-diet-guide.com/

* Raw Food tastes better. If you're into gourmet and
blessed with sensitive taste buds, Raw Food is the
only way to satisfy your true commitment to decadent
dining. After Raw Food, cooked food tastes like
cardboard.

* Raw Food is a massive time saver. Once you get the
hang of Raw Food Diet planning/preparing, you'll be
amazed at the time you save cooking and cleaning.
Since Raw Food is easier to digest, you'll sleep
better and sleep less, giving you more productive
hours. Your big win is your increased quality of life
and longevity.

* Raw Food is a massive money saver. Raw Food is
nutrient dense which means you'll eat less, so you'll
buy less. Raw Food dramatically transforms mental
ability, so you'll be on a faster track to turning
your $1,000,000 ideas into a lifetime of $1,000,000
cashflows.

* Raw Food is enzyme rich. Enzymes are the spark of
life. Bodies work on priorities revolving first around
enzymes. As an example, the pancreas can produce
either metabolic enzymes to fight Cancer or digestive
enzymes to break down cooked food. When cooked food is
present, the pancreas stops producing Cancer fighting
enzymes and shifts it's entire energy to producing
digestive enzymes. A sobering thought, if you're
planning a long, comfortable life.

* [Many raw food items], when ripe, are alkalizing. If
blood and lymph become even slightly acidic, bodies
transition into emergency mode. First Calcium is
leeched from bone. If this fails, over production of
cholesterol begins and cells pack cholesterol in cell
walls to cut off fluid exchange with the acid. The
familiar cycle begins - Insomnia, Arthritis and
finally full blown Cancer. Continuous emergency mode
operation creates adrenal/thyroid exhaustion and sets
the stage for Insomnia. Calcium leeching sets the
stage for Arthritis. Cholesterol packing sets the
stage for Cancer by cutting off nutrient uptake and
toxin elimination.

* Raw Foods protect against protein poisoning. Many
people have fallen prey to the "too little protein
myth". They continually focus on and over eat protein
which results in acidosis (highly acid body fluids).
During our life cycle we mature fastest between birth
and 18 months when our only food should be mother's
milk which is 3-5% protein. When we are mature, we
require even less protein as we've finished building
on our primary bone and tissue. The abundance of high
quality, protein in greens, nuts and seeds is perfect
to keep our body running at peak performance without
the protein poisoning problems of fish, foul, meat,
dairy, rice, grains and soy.

* Raw Foods retain nutrient integrity. Heat denatures
(renders toxic) even the highest quality food
nutrients. Denatured nutrients setup small imbalances
which accumulate and amplify over entire lifetimes.
When you hear someone has died of "natural causes",
this usually means one imbalance has intensified so
far, death has resulted. Years ago I read a research
paper stating 99% of non-accidental deaths from less
than 5% tissue failure. In other words, small
imbalances lead to small failures of tissue, which
result in most deaths.

* Raw Food promotes ethical treatment of animals.
Visit any commercial farm, fishery, hatchery or meat
packing plant and if you have a conscience, you'll be
a Raw Fooder for life. Nothing like the torture of
small animals to put you on the Raw Food Diet for
life.

>From Zahira: I haven't been raw fooding it for very
long but I'm already hooked on this way of living. It
has made such a difference in my outlook on life. It
is a naturally cleansing diet so harmful substances
are literally washed away from the body. Raw foods are
the most delicious, rich, and beautiful foods on the
earth. I encourage anyone, EVERYONE, no matter how
skeptical you are to try a raw food diet for 1 week
and assess how you feel.

Some people consider a raw food way of life extreme.
To this I say that what people consider to be "normal"
eating habits in the United States are the true
extremity. People are committing gradual suicide
because they are addicted to deleterious substances
mistakenly labeled as foods. As a raw foodist, I am
not deficient or even craving cooked food.
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Posted: Jan 26, 2007 10:04am
10 Reasons for Animal Rights and Their Explanation
Nov 30, 2006
Focus: Civil Rights
Action Request: Various
Location: United States

10 Reasons for Animal Rights and Their Explanation

 

 

1. The philosophy of animal rights is rational
Explanation: It is not rational to discriminate arbitrarily. And discrimination against nonhuman animals is arbitrary. It is wrong to treat weaker human beings, especially those who are lacking in normal human intelligence, as "tools" or "renewable resources" or "models" or "commodities." It cannot be right, therefore, to treat other animals as if they were "tools," "models and the like, if their psychology is as rich as (or richer than) these humans. To think otherwise is irrational.

"To describe an animal as a physico-chemical system of extreme complexity is no doubt perfectly correct, except that it misses out on the 'animalness' of the animal."

-- E.F. Schumacher

2. The philosophy of animal rights is scientific
Explanation: The philosophy of animal rights is respectful of our best science in general and evolutionary biology in particular. The latter teaches that, in Darwin's words, humans differ from many other animals "in degree," not in kind." Questions of line drawing to one side, it is obvious that the animals used in laboratories, raised for food, and hunted for pleasure or trapped for profit, for example, are our psychological kin. This is no fantasy, this is fact, proven by our best science.

"There is no fundamental difference between humans and the higher mammals in their mental faculties"

-- Charles Darwin

3. The philosophy of animal rights is unprejudiced
Explanation: Racists are people who think that the members of their race are superior to the members of other races simply because the former belong to their (the "superior") race. Sexists believe that the members of their sex are superior to the members of the opposite sex simply because the former belong to their (the "superior") sex. Both racism and sexism are paradigms of unsupportable bigotry. There is no "superior" or "inferior" sex or race. Racial and sexual differences are biological, not moral, differences.
The same is true of speciesism -- the view that members of the species Homo sapiens are superior to members of every other species simply because human beings belong to one's own (the "superior") species. For there is no "superior" species. To think otherwise is to be no less predjudiced than racists or sexists.

"If you can justify killing to eat meat, you can justify the conditions of the ghetto. I cannot justify either one."

-- Dick Gregory

4. The philosophy of animal rights is just
Explanation: Justice is the highest principle of ethics. We are not to commit or permit injustice so that good may come, not to violate the rights of the few so that the many might benefit. Slavery allowed this. Child labor allowed this. Most examples of social injustice allow this. But not the philosophy of animal rights, whose highest principle is that of justice: No one has a right to benefit as a result of violating another's rights, whether that "other" is a human being or some other animal.

"The reasons for legal intervention in favor of children apply not less strongly to the case of those unfortunate slaves -- the (other) animals"

- John Stuart Mill

5. The philosophy of animal rights is compassionate
Explanation: A full human life demands feelings of empathy and sympathy -- in a word, compassion -- for the victims of injustice -- whether the victims are humans or other animals. The philosophy of animal rights calls for, and its acceptance fosters the growth of, the virtue of compassion. This philosophy is, in Lincoln's workds, "the way of a whole human being."

"Compassion in action may be the glorious possibility that could protect our crowded, polluted planet ..."

-- Victoria Moran

6. The philosophy of animal rights is unselfish
Explanation: The philosophy of animal rights demands a commitment to serve those who are weak and vulnerable -- those who, whether they are humans or other animals, lack the ability to speak for or defend themselves, and who are in need of protection against human greed and callousness. This philosophy requires this commitment, not because it is in our self-interest to give it, but because it is right to do so. This philosophy therefore calls for, and its acceptance fosters the growth of, unselfish service.

"We need a moral philosophy in which the concept of love, so rarely mentioned now by philosophers, can once again be made central."

-- Iris Murdoch

7. The philosophy of animal rights is individually fulfilling
Explanation: All the great traditions in ethics, both secular and religious, emphasize the importance of four things: knowledge, justice, compassion, and autonomy. The philosophy of animal rights is no exception. This philosophy teaches that our choices should be based on knowledge, should be expressive of compassion and justice, and should be freely made. It is not easy to achieve these virtues, or to control the human inclinations toward greed and indifference. But a whole human life is imposssible without them. The philosophy of animal rights both calls for, and its acceptance fosters the growth of, individual self-fulfillment.

"Humaneness is not a dead external precept, but a living impulse from within; not self-sacrifice, but self-fulfillment."

-- Henry Salt

8. The philosophy of animal rights is socially progressive.
Explanation: The greatest impediment to the flourishing of human society is the exploitation of other animals at human hands. This is true in the case of unhealthy diets, of the habitual reliance on the "whole animal model" in science, and of the many other forms animal exploitation takes. And it is no less true of education and advertising, for example, which help deaden the human psyche to the demands of reason, impartiality, compassion, and justice. In all these ways (and more), nations remain profoundly backward because they fail to serve the true interests of their citizens.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way its animals are treated."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

9. The philosophy of animal rights is environmentally wise.
Explanation: The major cause of environmental degradation, including the greenhouse effect, water pollution, and the loss both of arable land and top soil, for example, can be traced to the exploitation of animals. This same pattern exists throughout the broad range of environmental problems, from acid rain and ocean dumping of toxic wastes, to air pollution and the destruction of natural habitat. In all these cases, to act to protect the affected animals (who are, after all, the first to suffer and die from these environmental ills), is to act to protect the earth.

"Until we establish a felt sense of kinship between our own species and those fellow mortals who share with us the sun and shadow of life on this agonized planet, there is no hope for other species, there is no hope for the environment, and there is no hope for ourselves."

-- Jon Wynne-Tyson

10. The philosophy of animal rights is peace-loving.
Explanation: The fundamental demand of the philosophy of animal rights is to treat humans and other animals with respect. To do this requires that we not harm anyone just so that we ourselves or others might benefit. This philosophy therefore is totally opposed to military aggression. It is a philosophy of peace. But it is a philosophy that extends the demand for peace beyond the boundaries of our species. For there is a war being waged, every day, against countless millions of nonhuman animals. To stand truly for peace is to stand firmly against speciesism. It is wishful thinking to believe that there can be "peace in the world" if we fail to bring peace to our dealings with other animals.

"If by some miracle in all our struggle the earth is spared from nuclear holocaust, only justice to every living thing will save humankind."

-- Alice Walker

via: http://www.cultureandanimals.org

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Posted: Nov 30, 2006 8:25am
30 WAYS TO HELP TREES, 50 REASONS NOT TO MOW
Jan 8, 2006
Check out this link... new page... new ideas... http://www.pelagus.net/plant/stopmowing.html
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Posted: Jan 8, 2006 9:15am

 
 
 
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