Bigger Picture ... by what alternatives (introduction and discussion)
Hosted by Christian Weiss
Forty people around a large table in the sweetness of a summer evening on the terrace of the inn Remspach in Cleo and Mark gathered for this first Stammtisch Citizen AC (SAC !!!!) around a theme proposed by Dominique and Christian who launched the initiative of a Coffee Den in Florival. After a short introduction to locate and "framing" the debate, the floor is left to those who were eager to share-es, exchange. Of anger experiences related to sound and concrete proposals, the diversity of interventions made the wealth of this first encounter, even if sometimes we were far from the theme initiated. This report is necessarily incomplete as it is always difficult to transcribe more than 3 hours debate.
INTRODUCTION:
Liberalism, financial bubble, deregulation, favoritism, political lobbying, all this led us to a serious crisis and the capitalist house of cards collapsed.
Many took refuge in individualism, believing able to get by "working more to earn more" by accumulating assets, consuming in excess, traveling halfway around the world in luxury hotels sunny feet in the sand but which does not even left the chamber. It feels good that we went into the wall and that some warning messages are now more meaningful.
We can also re-create social ties, regroup in initiatives, consume less and more locally, rediscover the joy of daily pleasures, recognize the "other" who will give you something or who will bring something , replace the human in our relationships, exchange, tolerance, respect ...
course itself can be a limiting factor of frustration. But we should not forget to think globally to understand that conversion to social, economic and ecological our society, our planet is inevitable. And this break may also resemble the words of Gandhi: "Live simply allow other just live "....
DEBATE:
Yes, we are in the country, a continent rich, but the minimum is even more certain (food, shelter, clothing) for many people. We must recreate the "solidarity" in the same area, enrich the experiences of others to advance the action and local initiatives: AMAP, buying group, mountain markets with local products, circuit courts food distribution for example. Several projects are underway and implemented in the valley of Florival Association (VAL-Linthal Collective Citizen-Guebwiller). If there is much talk of bio, there is also the high price of these products. However, we must not forget that it also depends on the subsidy system that leads to monoculture (subsidies per hectare) and not the quality or the encouragement of agricultural conversion. It must also be attentive to the scarcity of raw materials and first to the most vital water and thus save, preserve
... When we say "it goes straight into the wall" with the liberal system, capitalist current, it should be noted that we speak of a category (more general, broad people) but that's not all: the haves, the rich are doing and continue to enjoy tax breaks, endowments and investments in financial havens. They are only few cases masses of unemployed people left out since only their profit is important. Work is no longer a value, it becomes a privilege.
Our consumerist behaviors are criticized, propaganda, advertising, excess, but it is not trivial, because an entire system that leads to these behaviors, and even the acceptance of this system by a sleep General-driven media. In politics, there has few alternative programs and it will take the finding of a very shaky democracy. The bitter that result from anger should be able to translate into action: eating is a political act, a garden is a revolutionary act.
Speaking of housing and the need to build still more HLM (SRU law not applied in full of Commons), it is clear that this is not done. In addition, some note that this is not the only solution. Those who live in these bars are all these blocks to get out and move elsewhere for better quality of life. In addition, if you count the number of empty homes, one quickly realizes that the situation is exacerbated by the owners who determine criteria for hire (employment, security, racism sometimes ...) and prefer to leave their premises empty rather than rent "taking risks"!
For clothing, there are flea markets, recycling, scholarships and exchanges that are alternatives to reduce its budget "duds".
can also live better with simple things that are not expensive, not necessarily travel in faraway lands, but go to meet others and share (that means "I pay for that for me? ).
The lack of reaction to the current situation may be related to a low level of consciousness (but when you're in survival, it is not easy to "rise"), related to the fear of going out Herd, think for yourself ..., also linked to the conditioning, propaganda, disinformation, media manipulation, speeches, promises ....
But the value of money can also "to denigrate" in the future. We can recover the sense of sharing, pool tools, initiate small things coming together, recreating the neighborhood communities and especially back of the human in our lives, our relationships.
Knowledge Exchange (the Rezo), social economy (which is not taught in any school work or even in high school economics courses), practical steps local field activities to raise consciousness, politicize the Ecology and do not bury it in the ecocitizenship without attacking the causes and greening vocabulary ambient ouster of its meaning (organic, sustainable, low-carbon, etc ...), helping to relocate production and continue the civic engagement, associational trade union, political union because the pressure is still useful to move towards change, to show that we do not agree, as resistors exist.
should not necessarily expect changes from a state, but starting with himself, by his entourage, the changes have always come from "active minorities".
(report by Christian Weiss synthetic-1 July 2009)
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