[P2P-F] [starhawk] Why I'm Going to Freedom Plaza

[ideasinc at ee.net]

given the interest in pagan issues recently this may be of interest.  
Starhawk is one of the more prominent advocates of Reclaiming wicca, which  
has permaculture as one of their fundamentals in addition to non-violence  
and using liturgy as a visioning and organizing tool,,

Tadit

Why I’m Going to Freedom Plaza

     		 After nearly two months on the road, I managed to touch down  
briefly at home, long enough to hug my sweetie, connect with my dear  
friends, do the laundry and dry it on the line just before the first rains  
of the winter blessed us with their showers.  Then I packed the bags again  
and headed out, this morning, to Washington DC to join the protests  
planned at Freedom Plaza.  Asking myself, “Why?”  And “Do I really need to  
do this?”

             As much as I’ve spent years of my life involved in  
demonstrations and various forms of political actions, I don’t really like  
them.  I like being home, playing with the big white fluffy dog and the  
baby, sleeping in my own bed and making myself a cup of tea any time I  
want to.  I’m older now.  My knees are stiff and I get more like an Ent  
every year—that is, more treelike and less bendable.  I have a hearing  
problem that amplifies all kinds of ambient, irritating sounds so they  
reverberate around in my head like a very bad sound system while  
meaningful noises and conversation get harder and harder to hear—which  
makes loud, noisy demonstrations a form of purgatory.  I have a very full  
life, full of meaningful work aimed at changing the world for the better.   
There are many constructive things I could be doing, should be doing, am  
doing—besides getting out in the streets.

             Yet, here I am.  Do I really need to do this?  Well, yes.   
Why?  Because in the end, it always comes down to the streets.  When the  
greed, the hypocrisy, the assaults on our freedoms, our pockets, our  
future and our common sense go so far beyond the level of toleration,  
there’s no substitute for the outrage of the streets.  Internet petitions  
are fine, and constructive programs of creative community-building keep us  
sane and help point the way to a future, but those noisy bodies in the  
streets put the politicians, the greedy bastards and the high-level  
criminals to take their frakkin’ boots off our necks, thank you!

             The protests mark the 10th anniversary of the war in  
Afghanistan, linking the continuation of that war with the erosion of our  
civil rights, the assaults on workers and the middle class and the Obama  
administration’s reluctance to take a strong stand on climate change and  
environmental protection.  But more than that, they’re part of this global  
phenomenon, this surge of people swarming into public space in Egypt and  
Wisconsin, in Greece and Spain and Israel, in London and in Wall Street,  
New York City, to say “Enough!”  Globally, the rich are stealing from the  
poor at a level that has reached almost surreal proportions.  They back  
the theft with all the instruments of war, repression, and massive  
propaganda.  Meanwhile the earth’s life support system are racing toward  
melt-down and the people in power are unable to do the clear and simple  
things we need to do to assure our children a viable future because they  
are bound to the service of greed.  And so I find it hopeful that around  
the world people are rising up and demanding something different: a world  
where we remember that we are mutually interdependent, and develop systems  
that let us get good at it.

             So, here I am, in a big Pagan cluster slumber party in the  
house of a supportive and brave friend in the DC area.  We’ve had our  
morning meeting.  We’ve made our plans for the day and for tomorrow.   
We’re going to create a water station on the Plaza, with filtered water,  
and some sort of permacultural toilet facilities, hopefully.  I’ll be  
helping out with a nonviolence training tonight.  We’ll be offering  
trainings on the Plaza, and some sort of public ritual, sometime.  Besides  
the actions in Freedom Plaza, we’re interested in connecting with the  
Occupy DC group in McPherson Square, who are linked to the Occupy Wall  
Street protests in New York and around the country.  On the 7th, there  
will also be actions targeting the hearings around the tar sands pipeline,  
the plan to pump the world’s dirtiest, least energy-efficient oil from the  
New Mordor the tar sands have created in Alberta across the country’s key  
aquifer to refineries in Texas.  Obama could stop this travesty with an  
executive order, and we intend to make sure that he feels pressure to do  
so, and that indigenous elders are heard at the hearings.

             Riyanna and I will be sharing blogging duties.  I love her  
blogs from actions—and that way we will each be able to sleep  
occasionally.  Mine will be up here, at http://starhawksblog.org/ and hers  
will be at http://wildandserene.blogspot.com/.  We encourage you to read  
them both, to join us here if you can (email pagancluster2011 at gmail.com)  
or to look for the many sister actions in your own areas.  Magical  
support, energy and protection are always welcome—think of us being in the  
right place at the right time in the right way, with the protection,  
energy, support, health and luck to do the work.

             And when this is all over, I promise to catch up with reports  
 from the awesome International Permaculture Convergence in  
Jordan--meanwhile, a lot of it is archived at http://www.ipcon.org/.

             Love to you all, Starhawk

 
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