“The problem is the
solution,” is a permaculture principle, but today the problem just seems
like a problem. I was hoping to start out these updates for the Scotland
G8 organizing with something upbeat and optimistic, but it hasn’t been
that kind of a day. Yesterday I was climbing a beautiful mountain above
a clear, calm loch where misty blue mountains rolled away toward the horizen.
Today I was sweeping pigeon shit off the floor of a warehouse in inner-city
Glasgow. That was actually a good part of the day—it is just these
little contrasts, after all, that keep life interesting. The frustrating
part was coming back into cell phone range last night to all the messages telling
us that the site for the rural convergence space had once again fallen through
at the last minute. The farmer who had been very keen on the deal had
backed out, unexpectedly, at the very last minute for mysterious reasons.
Erik Ohlsen, my permaculture teaching buddy, and I were climbing that mountain
to recover from the effort of teaching forty-odd students a ten-day crash course
in permaculture and ecological design, aimed at creating a resource pool of
knowledgeable people who could turn that rural convergence site into a model
ecovillage, For ten days we wallowed in compost toilets and graywater
systems—okay, I’m being metaphorical here—we wallowed in discussion
of these things, conceiving of ways in which problems might become solutions,
waste be transformed to resources, physical structures support directly democratic
social structures and people might be encouraged to wash their hands. How many
shits does it take to fill a 55 gallon drum, and what is that in liters? What
could you do with it afterwards? How many liters of graywater would 5000
people produce in a week, and where could it go if the clay soil doesn’t
drain? And just how did I become the Queen of Compost Toilets at this
point in my life, anyway?
The work was hard, the rain was cold, the meandering old stone farmhouse had
a beautiful simplicity in its design but three hundred years of cold and damp
seemed to ooze out of the stones, and the hours were long. Usually students
in our courses complain that they aren’t getting enough free time. These
seemed to fill every spare moment with extras—meetings to discuss policies
for the convergence spaces, special sessions to further discuss techniques of
bioremediating toxic soil with mushrooms, late-night screenings after post-session
rituals, all night watches for nuclear convoys passing by, and not a few parties!
The students ranged from young, full time activists who live full time in treehouses
in an ongoing road protest camp (while completing their Ph.Ds, in some cases)
to several steady, solid women and men my age, life long peace activists. Mother
tongues included English, Scots, Irish, German, Polish, Spanish, French, Swedish,
and Hebrew. Just try to decipher a Swedish/Scottish accent! There
was also a large contingent of dogs, intent on recruiting us to help them perfect
their stick-chasing form, and several exuberant and assertive children who often
wandered in, sat down, and offered their own comments on the proceedings. In
the end, we were exhausted but really, really pleased at how deeply the participants
seemed to grasp the material we taught and make it their own. And it was very
gratifying to see talents emerge—Brice giving a thorough and extensive
presentation on alternative energy systems, quiet Beth drawing a stunning design
for the convergence space,
Which is not to be—at least, not the one we were analyzing and designing
for all week. As I write tonight, we’re still in a cliffhanger mode—will
a new site be found by the Stirling Council? The Council, executive body
of the nearest town, has become very supportive of our efforts. They can
see the public health and safety advantages of having one campsite, with sanitary
facilities certified and provided, instead of roving bands of protestors depositing
their potential resource material willy nilly throughout the hills. I spoke
to one of the Council members who sounded quite genuinely interested in all
the features of greywater and especially the compost toilets. So our best
hope now that the Council will find us a site on land they own and control.
They’re looking. Cross your fingers, hold your breath, light a candle,
and pray…
Overall, I’m phenomenally impressed by the level of care and thought and
preparation going into every aspect of the mobilization. Dissent, the broad
network of direct-action oriented groups, has been organizing up and down the
land for over a year, and has managed to bring together a wide spectrum of groups.
There are convergence spaces in Edinburgh and Glasgow that have been rented
and will provide facilities for meetings, trainings, housing and feeding people.
There are medics in training and kitchen collectives coming to cook and
a two-week long training for trauma workers who will provide counseling and
support for anyone suffering post traumatic stress. A network of nonviolent
direct action trainers has been offering trainings for over a year in several
regions of England and Scotland. A group of Pagans, the Tribe of Brigid,
is coming with a geodesic dome to offer spiritual healing during the actions.
Watching this all come together, I feel confident that if we do someday
run the world—or rather, facilitate the world’s autonomous running
of itself—we’ll all be fed, housed, educated, and all our physical
and emotional needs will be well looked after.
And meanwhile, there’s the Cre8 Summit about to happen, an effort of a
coalition of local groups here in Glasgow who are resisting the building of
a motorway through a low-income community. The plan is to plant a garden,
designed by the community, in a vacant lot in the motorway’s path, and
hold a week of activities, workshops, cultural presentations and celebrations
that bring alive something of the world we keep saying is possible. Everyone
involved is deeply committed to strengthening the local, long term organizing
around this issue and I’m very excited and honored to be involved—it’s
just the kind of organizing and strategy that I think can be effective, tying
the local issues to the global, planting a garden in the path of the bulldozers,
opposing power-over and destruction with creativity and life.
Okay, I’m going to bed now. I don’t plan to send out daily
updates just yet, but will write when something interesting is happening.
-- Starhawk
Further information at: www.dissent.org.uk. Dissent
is the main group organizing actions.
Indymedia Scotland page scotland.indymedia.org
Website for alternative forums, etc www.g8alternatives.org.uk.
Donations to help support Starhawk’s trainings and work can be sent to:
ACT
1405 Hillmount St.
Austin, Texas
78704
U.S.A.
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Starhawk is an activist, organizer, and author of The Earth
Path, Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising, The Fifth
Sacred Thing and other books on feminism, politics and earth-based spirituality.
She teaches Earth
Activist Trainings that combine permaculture design and activist skills,
and works with the RANT
trainer’s collective, that offers training and support for mobilizations
around global justice and peace issues.