: : EC:
: : You cannot grow much food in the parking lot of the factorySDF:
: Try this: get a bunch of hatchets. Bring your friends out to the factory, and have them attack the concrete of the parking lot until it's all removed. Put the concrete into a pile. Double-dig the soil that was once under the concrete. Get some pea seeds, put them in the ground. Liberate a hose from the garden store, hook it up to one of the faucets in the factory, water the peas. If management doesn't like it, strike.
EC:
Are you sure you are not an IWW? You seem to understand the 'direct action' that is the IWW's legacy! You and I know they would quickly fill the jails with those who would do as you have advised, and that is why we organize, to give them more than the jail will hold! The free speech fights did just that; as quickly as they pulled one Wob off the soapbox, another would take his place. It helps to have enough people who feel this strongly to press on as they jail the one before you (and jail you, too).
I agree whole heartedly with not waiting until the birth of 'the commonwealth' to do good today. I think if you re-read a few of my posts, you will see I have never said that. I did, however, say that to ignore the industrial reality and the need for organization, you will never get there.
EC:
: :or in contaminated soil.
SDF:
: The Amish, according to Wendell Barry in THE UNSETTLING OF AMERICA, when they buy fields that were used for corporate agribusiness, let the fields lie fallow for two years until the pesticides leach out of the soil.
EC:
A wise move. I think the longer you can wait, the better, if that luxury presents itself. And heavily fortifying the land with added organic matter can speed the process. Sheet composting (no till!) and green manure crops would certainly aid the land until it is ready.
EC:
: : Unfortunately this is the reality of too much of the planet, and it is my feeling that the union organizing must precede any agrarian society.
SDF:
: The people discussed in this link are not going to wait for some dream of union organizing (which may be corrupt, or which may never come) to plan out their ideas of society.
EC:
And they shouldn't! And neither should any of us. But should I take that to mean 'don't organize'? If it is truly democratic, it will be awfully hard for it to corrupt. The corruption of many of today's unions is a direct result of the concentrated wealth of the bosses, and their influence over 'union bosses'. This is where the IWW differs. It is rank and file, democratic, no 'union boss' to golf or fish with the corporate boss.
EC:
: : So lets keep our vision of the future even as we concentrate on the job at hand today
SDF:
: The job at hand today is composting, where we take the Fall leaves and make them decompose to help our Spring crop grow tall. Our vision of the future is of the day when the workers of the world can agree upon something besides a corrupt union with ties to the Trilateral Commission or (in the US) the Council on Foreign Relations.
EC:
My compost pile is STEAMING in the yard, even as we read. Soon it will be ready for veggies, herbs, and ornamentals (actually, not quite as frivolous as that word sounds. The beneficial insects and birds need the nectar of my ornamentals to fit nicely into my bio-diverse yard).
My lawn is disappearing as my beds grow, and I use no chemicals or pesticides. I mow what is left of my lawn with a push mower. I see a permaculture garden on my postage stamp city lot within a few years.
As far as the Intentional Communities links, I have enjoyed them. I have on occasion picked up a copy of "Communities" magazine from my local free-speech-loving independent book store, and my brother lived in an IC for about a year (Terramonto, in WA). It was not without it's problems, (like anything else), but I am familiar with them, even as I try to make my Accidental Community a little better!
To direct action, now and in the future!
Mike, The Everett Citizen
