Question monetized relationships.

Mother Earth does not charge for her services.  So, why should I? "That's the way the world works," they say... I say that's the way the world is NOT working.  For the majority of human existence, we functioned solely on a gift economy.  Debt is a recent invention.  The idea of "savings" translates roughly to "hoarding" in many indigenous worldviews.  Question monetized relationships.  Embrace your heritage. We are beautiful, Earth-serving, cooperative, imaginative, creative, passionate problem-solving heart-centered thinking, feeling, walking expressions of Creation.  Remember that.  Hug the person next to you.  Give thanks to the Universe for providing the opportunity to Love and to reflect upon Love.  A new era is here, a return, a great synthesis of ancient wisdom and modern knowledge, and we are here to bring it about.  As go the words attributed to the Hopi: "All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we've been waiting for."  In Lak'ech and Namaste (I am another yourself, I recognize the divinity in you that is the same as the divinity in me.)

lamp posts along our journey

The realised vision of an egalitarian society rooted in justice, collaboration, and mutual aid may still exist far on the horizon, but lamp posts of compassion in action continue to light our way forward.  It's important to savour the seemingly small victories, especially when they mean the world to one individual, one family, one community.  Today I reflect upon such an event with gratitude and encouragement.

Noelia Ramos with her two children.

Lessy Noelia Ramos was one of the 361 victims of the horrific New Bedford raid over five years ago. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, invaded a factory where workers like Lessy were making backpacks for U.S. troops. The workers were chained and shipped all over the country away from their families and their communities.)  After years of fighting the possibility of deportation, the 27-year-old mother of two was instructed to show up at the ICE office this past Wednesday with her bags packed a ticket back to Honduras.

Thanks to the mobilisation of community members, student groups, immigrant advocates, elected officials and many others, Noelia has received a one year stay of deportation, pending further review (see article about the victory, here.)  This mother, who suffers from post-partum depression, will remain with her family.  The people of New Bedford will retain a valued community member.  She will be able to continue working hard to support her family and to continue paying taxes to the country she calls home, a "nation of immigrants."

I'm writing this post not to expound upon the arguments for immigration reform, but to record my excitement and gratitude for everyone who made this happen, and my love and shared excitement for Ramos family.   

I learned about the case on Sunday afternoon, when I was walking by Arlington Street Church on my way with others to the #OccupyBoston Strategic Action Assembly.  A group of student activists with Student Immigration Movement were holding a vigil on the front steps of the church.  I went over to ask what it was about, and, my heart stings effectively pulled, immediately realised that this is a battle that we should be able to win!  I spent some time the next day helping to organise online support for the call-in day targeting the local ICE department and for the last-minute press conference to be held on Tuesday (see the action alert).  I also stopped by the Vigil during the madness of the Boston Marathon to help gather signatures.  It was a beautiful day to stand in solidarity and connect for change.

Noelia shares her story at a press conference on Tuesday.

Much gratitude to everyone who made a phone call to ICE and/or their elected representatives, to everyone who signed the petitions, to everyone who stopped to talk to folks at the vigil, to community members in New Bedford, to the organisers of this campaign, to immigrant advocates, to student activists, to elected officials and decision makers who finally made the right choice!  Thank you!

This might just be one small victory in the grand journey of the transformation that we are taking as a society, but celebrated and combined, these winds will fill our sail towards the horizon of justice and liberty.

Love and Gratitude, and Congratulations to the Ramos family.

Proceed, with Caution: the 99% Spring

Ever since Occupy started, I've wondered "OK, when are we going to start with the trainings...?" I have been involved with various environmental and social justice organizations and movements for a few years now, and I've been part of several special training events, including: the Northeast Climate Confluence, the Southeast Climate Convergence, Mountain Justice Spring Break, Mountain Justice Summer, and three PowerShift's, and the Tar Sands Action, to name a few. I know, first hand, how critical these intensive training programs have been to the ongoing successes of various grassroots, community-based movements across the country.

The Occupy Movement has brought so many wonderful, concerned and awakening individuals out of the woodwork, people across the political, economic and social spectra, people ready to put their necks on the line to bring to light root cause problems and propose radical (root word: radix=root) solutions. But quite frankly, while it is at the same time one of our strengths as a movement, most of us are not veteran activists. Most of us lack the organizing and activism experience and training to effectively do such things as: assemble an efficient, coherent goal-oriented campaign; recruit, train and retain volunteers; draft targeted talking points; speak to media without getting skewered; deal with police or counter-protesters; de-escalate potentially violent situations; execute effective soft-blockades; employ gators and lock-boxes; quickly scale trees, flagpoles or tripods; drop banners; canvass door-to-door; perform listening projects, street theater, brand-damage, or just table at a community event. These are all skills that I have obtained and improved at the above-listed and other training camps and events. In my opinion, it would serve Occupy well to make a concerted effort at incorporating, perpetuating and employing these types of skill sets.

Enter: "The 99% Spring". I rejoiced when I learned that a broad coalition of progressive organizations hadcoalesced to offer trainings to the Occupy Movement. An estimated 100,000 people will be trained between April 9-15 in communities across the country. Of course, these trainings won't include everything I listed above, but its a start. I hope this is just the beginning of these types of training programs targeted to the Occupy movement, and I implore all of my fellow Occupiers to consider attending their local "99% Spring" with open minds, ears and eyes. That being said...

Many of my friends and comrades have been quite vocal in their concerns that these organizations (especially MoveOn.org) are trying to co-opt Occupy: THANK YOU for attempting to immunize our movement and making this issue clear, and PLEASE KEEP IT UP. It is so important to maintain our autonomy, our vitality, and to not get sucked into the quagmire of institutionalized, mainstream, partisan activism. At the same time, I have worked with many of the organizations involved in 99%Spring for far longer than I have been with Occupy, and I know that they have so much to offer the Occupy movement, if we only accept their offer and stop to listen (ie. especially Rainforest Action Network, Energy Action Coalition, 350.org, Greenpeace and the Ruckus Society). Knowledge is Power. Let's take all we can get, and maintain our stance of autonomy. Learning from teacher does not make you their slave.

For a sufficient breakdown of answering the question "What is the matter with 99% Spring?," my comrade and fellow Boston Occupier, Brian Kwoba, has written a wonderful and thought-provoking piece, appropriately entitled "What is the Matter with 99% Spring?"

After properly immunizing yourself against mainstream Democratic temptations, you can find and register for your local training at http://the99spring.com/ Last I heard that are still quite a few openings in the Boston area. Fortunately, several of our local comrades have been trained as trainers, so even if you miss it this weekend, I'm sure there will be future opportunities. For those already Occupying or those curious to join the movement, this is an incredible chance to bring new growth to a new season of resistance and solutions-oriented organizing. Join us!

radical bioregionalism is where it's at

I used the word "bioregion" in a facebook post, and a friend took the bait.

What is bioregionalism?

I'm glad you asked. As opposed to arbitrarily defined political boundaries, a bioregion is an intact, ecologically-defined region, of varying scales, that takes into account watershed areas, predominant ecosystsms, and other practical considerations that truly define place. If we examine our relationship to the land, we can decolonize our mind and reconnect to sustainable and sane ways of being. Radical bioregionalism is where its at.

How a bioregion is defined depends on how the people defining it interact with the land. Where does the water come from? Where does the waste go? Where is there fertile soil? Where are the ecological buffer zones? How do humans interact with the land? What is the history of interaction? What is the culture of the people on the land? It's these types of questions that we've stopped asking ourselves, and that we should start asking again.

For more in depth examination of bioregionalism, I found what looks to be a decent thesis from Warren Wilson hippy training ground: http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~library/Bioregionalism%20-%20Kalinowski.pdf

Within contemporary environmental politics and environmental philosophy, the discourse known as “bioregionalism” provides both an alternative vision to the ecologically destructive path of mass consumerism and globalization, and a realistic means of transitioning to that alternative society.

The Third Flame: The Worldwide Mystical Renaissance

I feel compelled to share some excerpts from Andrew Harvey's book, "The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism." If you resonate with these words, I would strongly suggest you check out the book. It has helped me immensely with processing the gravity of our collective crises, and has helped me find a greater peace and purpose.

I also found a recent teleseminar podcast that you can download for free. It's a 90 minute recording of a dialogue that sums up the theory and practice of Sacred Activism. You can access this and a whole series of free podcasts about emerging manifestations of spirituality. http://beyondawakeningseries.com/blog/archive/

The Third Flame: The Worldwide Mystical Renaissance

Excerpts from "The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism"

It is no coincidence that as our desire to exploit and dominate Nature at all costs reaches a climax of destructiveness, a complete, transfiguring mystical awareness explodes from within the human psyche. Anyone who is coming to understand the universe as a incessant dance of opposites will come to see the interconectedness of these seemingly "opposed" phenomena with a smile of hope.

At a time when we are ruining the wold and devastating all forms of life including our own, the Mother that creates, evolves, and lives in all things is returning to us to illumine our minds with her knowledge of interconnection, to inflame our hearts with her passion of compassion, and to awaken our bodies by the revelation of her living ecstatic presence. This causes the birth of a humble, exalted, and practical being, a Sacred Activist whose action inspired by the Mother can potentially transform all realms of earth life.

Through this potent return of the Divine Feminine and all of its aspects, the Sacred Marriage of Mother and Father, Immanent Godhead and Transcendent Absolute, can now take place within the human race. It is a return to nothing less than the evolutionary power of Divine Love and Wisdom, at work in constant transformation on all the levels of the universe.

As the crisis deepens, the drive to experience this empowering marriage of opposites within us will become more and more insistent and more and more vital to our survival. We are being compelled, through the logic of our own secret destiny, to take a quantum evolutionary leap. This leap could transfigure us and transform all existing social, economic, and political systems so that they honor equality, harmony with nature, justice for all sentient beings, and a sacred way of life that will bring peace to our earth. This is the Hope I have dedicated my life and work to, the Hope that illumines my vision of Sacred Activism.

Return to the Circle

Divine timing! It just so turns out I have a need for these tools... The Universe provides...

Last night at Occupy Boston General Assembly I was handed a copy of a book that will surely inform the way I seek to build community in profound ways. It's called "The Little Book of Circle Processes: A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking." This is something that everyone concerned with creating a healing culture of restorative justice should check out. I'm looking forward to discussing and developing these tools with my comrades at Occupy Boston, as we co-create a new way of relating to each other and the Planet.




From the back jacket:

"Our ancestors gathered around a fire in a circle, families gather around their kitchen tables in circles, and now we are gathering in circles as communities to solve problems. This peacemaking practice draws on the ancient Native American tradition of a talking piece and combines that with concepts of democracy and inclusivity."

This book is a brief introductory volume, and I was able to put a large dent in it during a short sit in the unseasonably warm park this afternoon. Looking forward to checking out the other related books which were donated to the Occupy Boston library.

I'm so excited to learn that Western/European people have been redisovering these techniques in more recent time, and making them accessible to those who have become disconnected with the old ways. We are all going to have to come together in a fantastic act of co-creativity if we're going to manifest a world that works for everyone. We are broken people coming from a broken society, and we could all use some tools to help us heal, together. The Peacemaking Circles may prove to be an invaluable and transformative tool...

An Overview of Circle

A Peacemaking Circle is a way of bringing people together in which:
-everyone is respected
-everyone gets a chance to talk without interruption
-participants explain themselves by telling their stories
-everyone is equal - no person is more important than anyone else
-spiritual and emotional aspects of individual experience are welcomed

Peacemaking Circles are useful when two or more people:
-need to make decisions together
-have a disagreement
-need to address an experience that resulted in harm to someone
-want to work together as a team
-wish to celebrate
-wish to share difficulties
-want to learn from each other

The Peacemaking Circle is a container strong enough to hold:
-anger
-frustration
-joy
-pain
-truth
-conflict
-diverse world views
-intense feelings
-silence
-paradox

Sounds like some powerful stuff, huh?


There are some resources online, such as this. The short book I'm reading is available for $4.95 at your local bookstore.

I'd be happy to discuss these topics with anyone, so feel free to comment tweet me up @radicaloptimist (or say hey at OB).

Walking Creation

Walking Creation
I am Breathing Creation
All is connected!