Occupy Power

The defenders of the status quo who have abandoned humanity for the sake of keeping their positions, are maintaining their denial and ignorance of our current crisis by claiming that the Occupy Movement doesn't know what it is about.

Sarah Pond who travelled from the Sunshine Coast to participate in Occupy Vancouver, and who is quoted in The Tyee, says  "In my home and in my community, income has been going down while the costs of everything else keeps going up. Meanwhile, social programs are being cut and the largest corporations are posting unprecedented profits".

"There isn't just one problem," says Tina Mohns, in the same article "There are many ... [it's] about people showing that they have a voice ... [t]his will be a success if it initiates more momentum, gets people to take even small initiatives, and gives those in power the sense that there is a rumbling out here."

People have known for a long time about the abuse of power as food banks became necessary, as families find themselves working twice as hard for less pay, as students realize they may never be able to pay off their student debts or own a home.  There have been many church organizations who have protested the centralization of wealth and power, and organizations such as Avaaz and Amnesty who have kept their eyes focused on human rights abuses.

The Occupy Movement is another enormous collective of public energy that attempts to show the world that what is shown in the commercial media networks is merely the propaganda paid for by an elite.

The major focus of centralized power is to make its lies seem believable and to replace reality with an over-arching ideology to numb the minds and imaginations of the masses, to make them feel worthless and powerless, and whose labour is required to maintain their oppression for the benefit of one percent of the world's population.

The Occupy Movement is saying we know the truth that you have worked so hard to conceal. People are saying we are not just the means to the ends of your bank account.

If we can shift this energy into a sustained dialogue, waking to the reality that our individual well being, our self-interest, is tied inextricably to the justice and well-being of all - we shall replace the oppressive ideology with our shared perceptions.  And then we shall work harder than we've ever worked before, to create a society based on free participation - or slip back into an apathy that allows another system of oppression to take the reins.

Everyone Needs Affordable Housing

We all need a home, a shelter from harm, a place to return to, cupboards for the archive of our lives, tables to prepare and eat food, a bed to sleep in, and a toilet. If we are lucky we hope for beautiful views and good neighbours. Regardless of whether you earn $10,000 a year or $100,000, whether you need five hundred or five thousand square feet, whether you own or rent, you need a home you can afford.

Affordable means more than money. It means the ability to sustain the place, to maintain it as a shelter from chaos or threat. It means the capacity to nurture those other beings who share it with us. This is a basic need we worked out centuries ago. No civilized society believes it’s okay for some to be left to live in the forest or storefront doorways because they can’t afford a home, so why would anyone think we don’t need affordable housing?

What cleavage in our common sense would lead anyone to be against affordable housing? Who benefits from the lack of it?

In the public domain of conversation, ‘affordable housing’ has come to mean housing for those who, for some reason of luck, health or happenstance, have less income than the price of a home. If you can’t afford a home then you can’t afford peace or self-esteem, and in the process you lose community support. Friends and family that most of us take for granted, become distant, lost even, because the desperation felt by those who are homeless is heartbreaking and difficult to endure. Loved ones want to rescue, help, advise, even take control sometimes, but as long as a person is homeless nothing seems to help. We all grieve and squabble to fix it.

The state none of us can afford for long is to see others suffer. Those who suffer are marginalised, placed out of sight and out of mind. I know this because I was homeless when I was twelve. My parents split up. They were not bad or irresponsible, but through a series of events they could not control, found the emotional cost of living together was unaffordable.

Suddenly my mother, brother, sister, and I found ourselves living in the homes of our relatives. Suddenly we were a burden. Then we followed our mother to a house where she would clean for a widower and his children. Soon after arriving, my mother feared the home-owner expected her services in bed too. Furthermore we felt the resentment of the children whose home we had invaded, so we lived in one bedroom as quietly as possible.

Now we were the recipients of freely given advice from self-appointed experts, indicating the many ways in which we were to blame for the predicament we found ourselves in. Our world held us in judgement, and wherever we went we carried the marks of failure, and entered a new landscape of pot holes and opportunists.

However, we were lucky. With the help of others, we found a temporary home above the local clinic, and didn’t need the numbing effects of alcohol and drugs to survive the chill of storefront doorways.

When we have food and shelter, when we are not worried where the next mortgage payment, meal, or couch will be found, we have the capacity to explore who we are within our community. Sure there are some who can do this in dangerous and dire conditions, but most communities are built on the civil engagement of people who are not heroes, but who have found compassion and creativity because their own pain is manageable.

Bullied to Death

Rick Mercer was interviewed today on The Current about his rant on Tuesday after the suicidal death of 15-year-old Jamie Hubley, earlier this month.

Why would kids bully those they think are gay?  How does it threaten them?

And why do we have so many reports of school aged children committing suicide because of bullying, or if not because of bullying, bullying was a factor in their lives?

What has happened to our places of learning that children are violated in this way, and the school,  teachers, principals, boards, seem to be unable or unwilling to intervene effectively?

What happened to that social factor of teaching fairness?

Society and all its cultural knowledge was sacked in the early eighties, by the people and institutions who are paid to govern, who set upon a course of dismantling civil society in order to appease the power of transnational corporations.  So all we need do is look at the systems running our world.  There is no bigger bully than big business, who have consistently lobbied to undermine human rights, protection against violence, social safety nets, medicare, education for all, ethical journalism and participatory democracy.

Civil service takes years of money, training and discipline but once the student leaves the school for the workplace he learns that the game is about power and strategy for his own survival, and those who do the work they were trained to do, will be tripped up and chucked out. The winners are those who have no conscience and who put all their resources into winning the game.

Civil society has been bullied to death. 

It is a top down ritual of bullying whoever is beneath you, whoever is vulnerable: your spouse, your children, your employees, your cleaning lady and the sales representatives at your local market. Intelligence has been subverted to a single thrust - that of exercising power, control or force over whoever you can.

This is the reason we are unable to deal with bullying - we are in denial. Whenever someone points out injustice, we hate them, we hate the messenger.  Participating in the game is a device to avoid seeing the violence that is all around us.  It is mob rule through unexamined fear, because the ruling principles and ideology is misogynist, misanthropic and nihilistic.  Disaster capitalism is designed to keep us, the members of our fractured and broken civil society, in fear and feeling powerless, through their funded media replays of all that makes humanity appear brutal, unreflective, violent and primitive.

Power is a central element in education and the running of all institutions.  Kids learn about power from the time they are born.  By the time they reach high school and have witnessed how their parents cope, and the thousands of hours watching commercial programming, they feel and sense the tight rope they are placed upon.  They may not be able to articulate that, but they know.  And so they target others in their group - who might be gay, or whose ears may stick out, or who dress differently - for that fleeting sense of power, of superiority. Their fearful hearts sense it won't last but for now they will find a thing more vulnerable than them.

Who will stand up and risk their job to work for social justice by teaching others how power currently works against them if they contribute to its brutality; and how power is in our hands if we work together to return to life affirming principles, such as the nurture we receive from true friends, good parents, and honourable communities?

If you think this conflict between power-over and power-from-within can be dismissed in our society, then consider what happened in the death camps of Nazi Germany.  Consider the women of Afghanistan under siege from their warrior men who courageously set up civic education, and who were crushed again by Western nations, because, instead of giving them protection and support they gave their men more guns. Consider the billions spent on arms in foreign wars as citizens go hungry, without health care, without homes. Consider the degradation of our earthly home so that the most powerful bullies are given unchallenged rights to exploit and rape every imaginable element for greater profit and power.

Consider all this and witness our children committing suicide before they have had time to know who they are. Then look at bullying in a new context.

Jean Crowder defends funding for the CBC

Below is a message from Jean Crowder, sent in response to my letter regarding the funding of CBC. Re-printed here with permission:

Good Morning,

Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning the future of CBC/Radio-Canada, and for your continued advocacy on behalf of a vigorous public broadcasting system. Heritage Minister James Moore’s recent musings about a 5% cut to CBC/Radio-Canada’s total budget represent the latest in a series of statements and actions which confirm his government’s ambivalence to public broadcasting.

In contrast, my New Democrat colleagues and I believe strongly in the importance of public broadcasting to help promote Canada's cultural identity and linguistic and regional diversity, both at home and abroad. Today’s unprecedented deficit may not permit immediate large-scale funding increases, but my colleagues and I are committed to provide stable, long-term funding for CBC/Radio-Canada, and to depoliticize the funding process by making permanent the Corporation’s annual funding allocation.

CBC/Radio-Canada took action to address a persistent deficit in 2008/09, reducing overhead costs by $171 Million – an ambitious voluntary reduction in excess of 10% of the Corporation’s annual operating budget. Even before this display of fiscal accountability, per capita spending on CBC/Radio-Canada lagged far behind that in other developed nations. For instance, the UK spent over $124 CAD per citizen on the BBC, while France’s public broadcaster received $77. In contrast, CBC/Radio-Canada’s allocation of $33 per Canadian is woefully inadequate.

My colleagues and I have proposed the following plan to enable CBC/Radio-Canada to strengthen critical components of its operations:

· Strengthening accessible local news service in rural Canada, vigorous regional programming and minority language broadcasting

· Revitalizing infrastructure to compete in the media marketplace of the 21st century

· Supporting the expanded production of compelling original Canadian content, and

· Continuing efforts to ensure transparency and fiscal accountability to taxpayers.

 As we move into the new session of Parliament, the New Democrats will redouble our efforts to protect and build upon the legacy of this important Canadian institution.

 You may be interested in a recent petition I presented to the House on September 28, 2011 :

 Mr. Speaker, the second petition has to do with the CBC.

The petitioners say they love the CBC and call on the Prime Minister to reaffirm the importance of the national public broadcaster.

Further, they call on the Prime Minister to provide the CBC with adequate financing by raising the CBC's parliamentary grant from the current levels to $40 for every citizen, in keeping with the recent recommendations of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

 Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with me. With your continued support, we can ensure that when CBC/Radio-Canada celebrates its centenary in 2036, it remains the strong, vigorous and dynamic national institution Canadians overwhelmingly want it to be.

 Sincerely,

Jean Crowder, MP Nanaimo-Cowichan
101-126 Ingram St., Duncan, BC, V9L 1P1

www.jeancrowder.ca

Self-Esteem

I remember hearing something on CBC radio a couple of weeks ago, about or from a teacher, who said that marking students' work is fraught with conflict and difficulty because they feel entitled to get good marks from the institution their parents support with their dollars. The school, in an unregulated capitalist society is a commodity, and the teacher is a servant. Following this idea another comment claimed that self-esteem is something to be earned - that it was not a right or an entitlement.

So in this brief discussion where I cannot remember the program or cite the source, and for which I apologize, it seemed that entitlement and high self-esteem were linked. Maybe just by me, but the thought has remained even though the source has been forgotten.

Does high self-esteem threaten the quality of education and other social institutions? Certainly billions of dollars are spent in entertainment and advertising that tell us we are special and we deserve the best. And we are surrounded by devices–little genies that pop out of laptops, cell phones and electronic games, whose purpose in their short lives, is to please us. We learn how to press the  buttons to win. Millions of imaginations in the western world can easily believe, in the privacy of their small rooms, that they are in control. Millions of egos who watch endless examples on TV, internet, and game-boys, of how to succeed, without ever having to deal with other people, may think they already have all the answers.

Civil society is under threat from many things but I don’t think self-esteem is the biggest.

Do those who have the drive to lead others always have high self-esteem? Do those who have learned the tricks to get ahead, to come out on top, who are well groomed and good looking, have high self-esteem? Do celebrities have high self-esteem? In short, do the people we hold up as good examples of success have a grounded sense of their worth beyond beauty, money and status, so that when they wake at four in the morning, they feel satisfied?

It seems to me that the drive for material success is more an instinct of survival, in a hierarchical society that marginalises those who don’t play the win or lose game. No room on this planet for the ones who don’t consume. Who refuse, as Reggie Perrin says, to hand their balls over to the corporation. Even the meagre shelters that enable these souls a bed and a toilet at night are closing down for lack of funding.

Commodities really are a cosmetic application to self-esteem that is continually under threat from the competition. Self-esteem has to arise from a sense of worth that comes from being loved and wanted as a child, to loving as an adult, and belonging to community.

It’s poor self-esteem that is destructive. The inner voice that abuses the conscience after any achievement. The bully who endlessly looks for someone to hurt because she is unable to acknowledge the abuse received when she looked for love. The addict who keeps looking for his chosen fix because he can’t find that permanent intrinsic worth.

In reality, the commercial world assigns no intrinsic value to us. In the hierarchical, political realm  there is no esteem for the self because life has no value. No more than a global virus, we serve or die alone.

Self-esteem doesn’t exist outside of the self’s participation in a community that is radical enough to love life more than power and profit.

Challenging the Looming Threat of Fascism

In the alternative press there are many thoughtful articles and essays on the current state of this planet. Mostly, they target specific issues: democracy, health care, justice, poverty, homelessness, crime and the environment.

It's as though these issues stem from different sources, but when you read them day after day, you can't help but feel they are connected, leading to a vague feeling of dread. A disturbing sense that something much deeper and bigger is going horribly wrong, and that shadow, perhaps, belongs to the looming threat of fascism.

So what if we took on the big picture - the supposed cause, instead of the symptoms? 

Using a commonly posted list of fourteen defining signs of fascism (listed in black text), attributed to a Dr. Lawrence Britt, (whose bio is hard to locate and who may even be a fictitious character) I  suggest corresponding actions we can take to challenge them (in blue text). 

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: <creation and documentation of national forums that enable citizens to be heard as they express their concerns in a respectful, safe, environment.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights: <vigilant defense of human rights for all.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause: <determined and sustained defence of diversity, and equality.

4. Supremacy of the Military: <balance between military and civic powers in training and law.

5. Rampant Sexism: <reverence for the feminine and masculine natures within all.

6. Controlled Mass Media: <public and financial support for alternative, small media outlets, and transparent regulations that keep all media bound by laws of ethics.

7. Obsession with National Security: <democratic world government that sustains human rights by challenging abuses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined: <study of comparative religion as part of public education while upholding freedom of religion and separation of religion and state.

9. Corporate Power is Protected: <regulated corporate power for the protection of consumer and indigenous peoples rights.

10. Labour Power is Suppressed: <protected labour through labour laws, livable minimum wages and safe working places.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts: <support and promotion of the arts and intellectual development.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment: <focus on prevention through early intervention, support for those at risk, and rehabilitation for those who are in the criminal system.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption: <transparency in all systems of appointment.

14. Fraudulent Elections: <citizen based checks on media election coverage, polls and ballots.

Certainly any action has to be followed by a large portion of our population in order to be effective, but all of these actions are being tackled through various non-governmental agencies; they are viewed as different problems rather than symptoms of a larger threat to our future.

What would happen if, somehow, the majority of those who believe they are living in free democratic societies were able to see these movements as defending the freedom of all rather than a collection of special interest groups? And what if, those who are already in the trenches fighting poverty and discrimination, could see their work as having a larger, more profound impact?

What has become clear to me since 9/11

9/11 mostly consolidated what I had suspected as I witnessed changes in media, politics and behaviour patterns since arriving in Canada in the sixties.

In the years since that day I have come to see two parallel operating systems and all that is reported in the public domain fits into one or the other of those two. Power-over and power-from-within. These systems govern our feelings and emanate out towards our thoughts, actions, and relationships. So it could be said that 9/11 has either clarified my beliefs or that I have become a victim of my own ideology.

 

Watching the evolution of leadership in North America, Canada and Europe, the wars and crises in the Middle East and Asia, I perceive that those who organized 9/11, those who organized the war in Iraq, the rise of the Taliban, the rise of the Nazi's, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, and the illicit drug trade - are the same tribe. They may have different names and different ancestors and believe they have a unique role to play in the scheme of things, but they are committed to the goal of absolute power over all. All political, financial and ideological investment leads to the zero sum notion of power that decrees people must be kept away from their innate power and centralized into the realm of the ruling elite.

What is increasingly apparent in Western capitalist societies is that consumerism replaced civil society. The huge influence of the entertainment media has filled our lives with structural violence that informs us we should be scared of our community, that we are too fat, too ugly, don't know enough; and no matter how hard we try or wish to believe in ourselves, we are reduced to our fleeting appetites looking for the next fix. Whatever our true nature might be, we lock our doors, get in our cars, and compete for the most of what each of us wants. We have consumed our future and given up our imagination to corporate services. So when we are faced with countless images of crumbling towers, bomb shattered cities, we believe we must choose sides.

In the power-from-within world I have witnessed more determination, more strength in character, more insight and more organization to create community that reveres and sustains life. Theatre, health, music, support for those in crisis, along with the new examples of human nature. The strength of those who organize these events is often heroic.

 

Ten years after 9/11 I realize our greatest threat is our collective illusion of power. All the wars in our history  have not been about the enemies we have been told to fear, but about the power within we are asked to sacrifice, for the insatiable egos of those who have built their fleeting empires on the blood of others.