from 28 september 2003 blue vol II, #98 |
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The Solidarity Option ![]() by Jan Lundberg
My own formula for being supported for working for the community is unusual: some of my key supporters I have never met. Nevertheless, with some minor differences it could well be a neighborhood-based support system. Most community-supported activists, however, are reliant on a whole town at least, in order to survive. This is not all pure activism; some extra jobs are added in many cases, temporarily, at any time. Or there is often a stable part-time gig, to come up with some cash. Yet, Earth First!ers often get by for several months only on community donations and a tribal form of mutual support. It would be nice if I could enjoy my liberated life more, but I have what amounts to a routine that is work-oriented. It's not the best thing for my body and soul. Yet it is a far better situation than John and Jane Commuter find themselves in. Their lifestyle trashes their bodies and tends to kill their spirit. If they are typically complacent they contribute to war for oil and global warming. Maybe they don't compost or even recycle! They may, however, assist in some community project and be very sweet people. There is so much to do (or not do) to live well in just one day, that I was moved to write "Doing What YOU WANT To Do" for the first Culture Change magazine almost two years ago. There is a close relationship between how much money we have and how badly we had to pay for it. The simple life, when obtainable, has the least material things and least worries over wealth. Wealth in many cases impedes community involvement. A wealthy class means a divided "community." Managing and protecting material things is time-and resource-consuming. Graffiti seen in Arcata stenciled on sidewalks: You are not what you own. People actually walk and bike around here a lot, making it more of a community experience when you run into almost everyone you'd want to. No car helps this community experience. As for my personal regret that I'm not doing daily yoga, swimming, hiking, songwriting, etc., this reality does not change the fact that I have sort of achieved a safety net, upon reaching "poverty level" in some years. I have a large number of people interested positively in my activities, ideas and welfare. So I am lucky and in large measure fulfilled. Realistically, due to others' past criminal behavior, I cannot now reject making money, and I must keep working and perhaps find new ways to support my family and friends. However, some day my fantasy may be fulfilled with a community that I help create or locate, that will be rather nature-based and thus more simple and supportive. I have formerly made large amounts of money and "enjoyed" making it and spending it. The experience made it easier for me now to see objectively the "value" of going for the big bucks somehow as an alternative to working for and with the community. As an example of bartering to help get by, in the indirect way I often do, I "pay rent to Earth" with activism. Last week I played songs and spoke briefly at an observance at Humboldt State University for the two-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. When I took the stage I was just doing my job and spreading the word on oil. The rewards were in the pleasant reactions, new contacts, and a news report including some of my music that went out on the activists' favorite radio station, KMUD in southern Humboldt. This is what my far-flung support network wants me to do. (Some would rather I appear more in the national mainstream press, which our office does accomplish a few times a year.) Not everyone trying to depend on a support network has the ability, as I have, to receive compensation via tax-deductible contributions. But there is more room out there for nonprofit work that yields various forms of community support. ![]() ![]() Culture Change and SEI: P.O. Box 4347 Arcata California 95518 USA E-mail: info@culturechange.org Website: www.CultureChange.org Published by Sustainable Energy Institute, a nonprofit charity 501(c)(3) California corporation. Useful link: dieoff.com
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