Aboriginal elder takes on the cops at occupy

Love this, I am far less patient.

Oh catch me 2.30pm, this sunday 15th January at tent university at occupy lsx, I am doing a panel discussion on commons and land with Fred Harrison who will be talking about land tax.

I am not a George-ist but land tax is a decent policy supported by the Green Party.

Public Meeting (Sat 21st Jan: London): Engaged Islam ~ Contemplative Action In Our Changing Times

Date: Sat 21st January 2012

Time: 3.15pm to 5.30pm
Venue: 4th Floor, Muslim World League, 46 Goodge Street, London, W1T 4LU (entrance on the corner of Charlotte Street); Nearest Tubes: Goodge Street (Northern Line), Euston Square (Hammersmith & City, Circle & Metropolitan Lines) & Warren Street (Victoria Line).
Streetmap: 


Speakers:
Dr Shumaisa Khan, (Food & Ecological Justice Researcher & WIN activist)

Dr Muzammal Hussain, (WIN activist)

Dr Derek Wall, (Green activist, writer and economics)

Photo from Occupy LSX (CC BY-NC-ND)

On the one hand we have corporate domination, economic marginalisation and climate change; on the other, we have spontaneous movements such as 'Occupy', community food growing/permaculture, consensus-decision-making, and a thirst for alternative currencies and economics. In the context of bottom-up, 'non-hierarchical' movements for social change, this public meeting will consider, 'what contribution can be made by Islam and Muslims?' It will include short talks from our speakers, a chance for participants to share their own reflections and experience, and time to hear about volunteering and networking with like minded people in the context of an engaged Islam for our times. 

Snacks will be available. This is a free event, with optional donations. 

MORE DETAILS

Tory councillor resigns over government attacks on disabled

A disabled councillor has decided to step down in protest at Government plans to abolish Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

Ollie Flitcroft, a wheelchair-user, is one of the first Conservatives to criticize ministers publicly for targeting disabled people disproportionately with cuts.

Cllr. Flitcroft served as a Conservative member of Barrow Borough Council since 2006. It remains to be seen what impact his protest has on Government policy.

According to Cllr. Flitcroft, the Government’s claim that the application process for DLA requires self-assessment is “nonsense”. He also said it was ”ludicrous” for the Government to suggest that a wheelchair-user capable of propelling themselves short distances might not need a mobility component of DLA.

“Why does the Government want to spend a lot of money on reassess­ing every single claimant, some of whom have impairments that will not improve. I’m not suddenly going to be able to walk tomorrow, so why have I got to go through an assessment?” 


MORE HERE

Cuba and worm composting

Great to get this from Sandie Anne, sad that US citizens are banned by their government from visiting Havana!


Sandie Anne has left a new comment on your post "Compost Cuban style": 

This is very interesting about Cuba and worm composting. They are really ahead of the game. Worms certainly eat lots of garbage and create great fertilizer. I do worm composting in the US. I started with 1000 redworms and now have 3 Rubbermaid bins filled with worms. They are easy to take care of. I would be interested to learn more about Cuba and India and their programs for vermicomposting.

Thanks,
Sandie Anne 

Jenny Jones makes social justice priority as Green Mayor candidate

Jenny Jones seems to be building up some support at Green Party candidate for London Mayor, great to see her campaigning on issues like abortion rights and getting down to occupy.


Green = social justice!




'She said she would also build more social housing and pledged to regulate pay so that no-one in the Greater London Authority earned less than a tenth of the highest paid worker.'


More from her BBC interview here

Occupy and the politics of the commons

I am speaking on commons at 'Beyond Capitalism', Tent City university, Occupy London next sunday 15th.

The vid is a taster of my stuff if you want to get the idea!

Just found this from Jodi Dean and  Marco Deseriis on commons and occupy

A Movement Without Demand

Because a broad-based politics of the commons does not yet exist (even as the conditions are ripe for it) and will not emerge over-night, the tactical use of demands creates opportunities for testing and learning from experiments in managing the commons. For example, what if the environmental movement against hydraulic fracturing were to envision a national campaign to declare the ground waters a commons? This not only would prevent gas companies from putting at risk the lives of millions, but it would immediately empower water management boards elected by local communities with unprecedented powers. How would these governing bodies be constituted and how would they be run? Following this logic, we may also ask similar questions in regard to education, health care, and the production of energy. In each of these sectors, we may have to design solutions to manage these resources not as commodities but as goods whose mode of disposition and usage is determined by the community of their users and producers.

Such questions are only the beginning of a larger investigation that takes the commons not as a one-size-fit-all solution but as a mobile concept that can and should operate at different levels of granularity and on different plateaus. As a preliminary exploration, we suggest that a politics of the commons should operate on three levels: 1) the management of land and natural resources; 2) the production and reproduction of social life (including care work, housing, education, and labor); 3) the production and allocation of energy, knowledge, and information. Because these three layers interpenetrate one another, multiple conflicts arise as soon as one attempts to set priorities. Yet it is also clear that there are elements that cut transversally across these areas, namely, the understanding that the commons is a finite resource that can not only be extracted but needs to be actively reproduced. Such a notion, we believe, marks a decisive break with the capitalist system of production. This system has been thriving by constantly overcoming the limits to its own expansion—with the result of producing an unprecedented demographic explosion while bringing the life support systems to the brink of total collapse. The Occupy movement is an extraordinary opportunity to rethink this model. But in order to do so, the movement has to dispel the illusion that all proposals and visions are equivalent as long as they are democratically discussed, and begin to set priorities on the road to a truly transformative and visionary politics.

1. David Harvey, The New Imperialism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). ↩
2. Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1990). ↩
3. Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006). ↩

Little Green Gathering 2012 tickets now on sale!

You can email Tim on  tim@nineveh.co.uk and he will send you a booking form


When


Friday, 10 August 2012 at 13:00 until Sunday, 12 August 2012 at 16:00


Where


The Sustainability Centre, South Downs, Hampshire

Ticket prices for 2012 are as follows:

Full weekend full price £40.00
Full weekend concessions1 £25.00
Day ticket - Friday £15.00
... Day ticket - Saturday £25.00
Day ticket - Sunday £15.00
Under fives Free

1 Concessions means in receipt of state benefit or in full time education.

These prices include camping and all events. They DO NOT INCLUDE food. You can bring our own or buy from one of our two on-site veggie caterers. There will be free canvas crash space if you need it.

If you want to stay in the Hostel you need to pay these ADDITIONAL charges. The weekend room rate is £60 (single occupation or couple) which includes a simple breakfast. a weekend hostel bed in a shared room is £30. Places in the hostel are limited.

There is also a carbon charge of £5 a day for those arriving by car (disable persons badge holders excluded) and an additional charge of £25 for camper vans brought on site (sorry, no caravans). The shuttle bus (incoming Friday and outgoing Sunday) connecting with Petersfield station is free. If you come on foot or by cycle we give you a free beer when you arrive.