Guest: David Osborn

On January 1, 2012, Occupy Portland put forward a bold call to action to shut down corporations on leap day, Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Occupy Portland is “leaping into action” for a not-to-miss day of civil disobedience to alert the world that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) must stop existing and that we as a society can reclaim our power over government!

Over 50 US cities are joining Portland and even Mexico City is uniting to end ALEC.

Through ALEC, Global Corporations Are Scheming to Rewrite YOUR Rights and Boost THEIR Revenue, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called “model bills” reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations. In ALEC’s own words, corporations have “a VOICE and a VOTE” on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. The Center for Media and Democracy on July 13, 2011 issued a report based on documentation received from a whistleblower about the hundreds of bills written of, by and for corporations that have been introduced by legislators who have joined and met with ALEC, out of view of the public.

David Osborn is an instructor at Portland State University where he teaches courses on culture, narrative and social movements. He was been deeply involved in the Occupy Movement and is also active in the Climate Justice Movement with Rising Tide North America.

Born in the US, he majored in psychology, philosophy and pre-med studies, and served in the Peace Corps’ first South Korea rural health program until 1970. He then moved to Kyoto, Japan where he studied Eastern medical theory, taught media studies, ran underground event spaces, and worked as an activist journalist. He is married, has three children, and divides his time between Kyoto, Kennebunkport, Maine, and Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Besides provocative publicity stunts like attacking Japanese yakuza gangs, running for Kyoto mayor, or winning the Democratic Vice-Presidential contest in the 2000 New Hampshire Primary, he is best known for his metamedical approach to eco-social illls and activism. Inspired by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, James Grier Miller, Ken Reiner and Eastern medical lore, Kubiak has used media, conferencing and electoral politics to publicize memes for “Big Body” (mega-corporate) disease, immuno-activism, industrial anthroculture, and the transformative powers of human attention.

Once described by Whole Earth Review as “one of the most interesting minds on the planet”, Kubiak depicts our era as the endgame in an evolutionary contest between sensual human communities and “Big Bodies”, vast corporate entities, which he describes as “alive, in charge and out of control.” He argues that insights from superorganisms, living systems theory, and immune cell biomimicry may offer more effective remedies than traditional political activity and that downsizing, decentralizing and democratizing “big bodies” across the board are our only hope of regaining democracy, planetary health or evolutionary control.

His recent writings include- The Belittle Big Bodies Banzai: A Year-End OWS Salute and Immune Key to 2012 and The Contract on Corporate America”, Green Tea* 2012 Campaign Pledge to the 99% - with a tip of the hat to the ‘94 GOP and the devious Dr. Newt which includes-

As the once and future sovereign 99% of the United States of America we propose to not just reclaim our government from corporate usurpations, but even more importantly, to rescue our children, communities and natural world from their cancerous growth and inhuman scale.

That is why, in this era of corporate coin-operated politics, we offer instead a self-fulfilling strategy for eco-social transformation that citizens can execute themselves in the next few years.

2012 offers a chance after five decades of corporate encroachment and dominion to finally expose this coup and inspire countless citizens to confront it without fear. This historic change would end the reign of morbidly huge bodies that promote autocratic values, addictive consumption, and the heedless destruction of cultures, communities and ecosystems worldwide. Given our finite living world, any entities striving for endless growth regardless of consequences are quite literally cancerous and must be combated like tumors before they kill our body politic and consume the biosphere. This battle can renew us as a nation that respects basic human rights, social justice and the sanctity of the natural world.

Like Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts and Eisenhower, our most corporate-leery presidents, we intend to expose these growth-obsessed monsters as humanity’s greatest adversary in the battle for justice, democracy and planetary health. Beyond exposure, we offer ways and means:

· To evict their henchmen from our statehouses, captured agencies and public nervous system. · To dissolve or defy the rules that shield them from social justice and ecological redress. · To legally downgrade them from “persons” to “hazardous instruments” with zero political rights. · To swiftly shrink them back in scale and power to an eco-socially harmless size. · To make us all proud again that real human beings with healthy values are back in charge…

It’s powerful medicine, indeed! His voluminous activities, writings, videos, insights can be found on his websites, which include- The Magic Ten Percent and Big Medicine Central.

Thursday, 26 January 2012 Guest: Dan Bacher

California, the golden state, is one of the most diverse, populous states in the country, producing half of the nations fruits, the most vegetables of any other state, with an economy, if it were a nation unto itself, ranking number 8 amongst other nations. Adding Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the black budget high tech industries to the mix, California has a major impact upon thought and culture far beyond its boundaries. The struggle for political control, as well as control over the resources, the water, the minerals, the airwaves, the people, the land of California is fierce. The state’s capitol is located in Sacramento, not too far from where gold was discovered in 1848.

Blessed or cursed by the confluence of two rivers, the American and the Sacramento. Sacramento was a major port, developed rapidly, became the seat of the state government, suffered from floods and epidemics. Government remains the largest employer in the city, levees and canals have been built which carry the life giving water to farmers and developments far to the south. The delta which has been a home to countless fish, providing people with recreational opportunities, has also been a major point of contention, as public funds have been lavished on projects, levees, canals, which haven’t always served the public interest. Fortunes have been made by those who have been able to control the political processes, the land, the water, the course of development.

Most recently Governor Jerry Brown gave a speech on the “State of the State” which in an Orwellian manner crusaded a massive project which he has been championing called “The Peripheral Canal.” While citizens, environmentalists, fishermen have voiced strong opposition to the boondoggle which seems to clearly serve a very few at great public expense, causing untold ecological damage, the project has found some support among other legislators and could slip by if the public is kept in the dark, without any popular means to oppose stealth legislation. Dan Bacher has been a very vocal opponent of the project for sometime, he blogs at FishSniffer.com” ,Sacramento for Democracy and Alternet.organd has tried to warn the people of Sacramento and California about the political machinations taking place to further the enrichment of the few. However, Californians have already lost many battles, against many giant industries, beset by challenges on many fronts, it’s hard to say how many Californians know about this project and the damning details which would kill it, if people were informed. Dan Bacher is able to cast much light on one of the darker corners of Californian politics, which mirrors, in many ways, the struggles faced in every state and every nation. His article on the recent turn of events is entitled State of the State: peripheral canal won’t ‘mend’ anything.

Dan Bacher is a committed activist, as well as an avid fisherman.

To learn more about the campaign to stop the project and to restore the Sacramento Delta, see- Restore the Delta. See the new 3 minute video entitled Kill the Canal.

Guest: Greg Coleridge

In the year following the outrageous Supreme Court decision blatantly granting corporations the right to buy elections, Move to Amend inspired by Occupy Wall Street and Dr. Cornel West is calling for a national day of protest and bold actions to mark the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision! Occupy the Courts is a call for a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday January 20, 2012.

People are responding to the call and organizing actions across the country.

Greg Coleridge Greg Coleridge is the Director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); member of the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy (POCLAD) national collective; and an original Move to Amend national steering committee member. He is author of Citizens over Corporations: A Brief History of Democracy in Ohio and Challenges to Freedom in the Future, writer of the documentary CorpOrNation - The Story of Citizens and Corporations in Ohio, and contributor of several articles to the anthology Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy - A Book of History and Strategy. He helped organize a 2008 municipal campaign opposing the privatization/corporatization of the wastewater system and a citizen-led initiative requiring voter approval of any future sale or lease of any public utility.

Greg’s Blog is Create Real Democracy.

The Committee for the Right to Know is a grassroots coalition of consumer, public health, environmental organizations, and food companies in California that is seeking the labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs).

On November 9, 2011, the coalition submitted the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act to the State Attorney General for title and summary, prior to circulation as an initiative measure for the November 2012 election.

The more you know about GMOs, the more that you would like to see them banned completely, but most people don’t really know that much about them and have no idea how prevalent they are in our food. The people in Europe have banned GMOs, but the battle against GMOs has been more torturous in the US.

Pamm Larry is a grandmother from Chico, Ca. She calls herself the Initial Instigator of the California Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Act. Through on-the-ground, grassroots efforts, there are now 115+ community leaders who share her vision and have committed to getting this on the ballot, then won. They are joined by businesses, organizations, and folks from all over the country who want to know what’s in their foods. She is Northern California Director of LabelGMOs.org. The Initiative has been approved and they are waiting for a summary, before they can begin gathering signatures. The Initiative process is still daunting in California and requires tremendous effort and grassroots support. It will also have a huge impact upon the entire nation and the food industry, if it passes. This effort is illustrative of the battle between corporate power and profits, and human and environmental health and well being, the challenge of getting out simple truths about what we put inside our bodies, so that we can safeguard our health, the way we feel, our ability to function and act. It also exposes the failure of government to protect people, the collusion between corporations and the regulatory agencies and how the light, the truth can force change in policies that have tremendous repercussions in our health and throughout the world.

Get inspired. Hear Pamm’s story and join this epic struggle. We can trump corporate power.

Additional Resources - The film The Future of Food The film One Man, One Cow One Planet

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 will mark the decade long anniversary of the first detainees being jailed at the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The terrible conditions imposed upon detainees at Guantanamo has indelibly enshrined torture as a facet of US policy in violation of international law and universal moral ethics. A broad coalition of groups have called for a national day of action against torture. There are plans to rally and form human chains in Washington DC, as well as San Francisco to pressure President Obama as well as Congress to return to the rule of law and to shut down the detention facility. The National Religious Campaign Against Torture,Amnesty International, Center for Constitutional Rights and Witness Against Torture are organizing the DC rally, which begins at noon in Lafayette Park; the San Francisco rally at noon at the Federal Building at on 7th & Mission is being spearheaded by Cynthia Papermaster ofCodepink with co-sponsoring organizations including Berkeley No More Guantanamos, Witness Against Torture , National Accountability Action Network,War Resister’s League-West, World Can’t Wait, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, and the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance.

National Religious Campaign Against Torture Director for Program Coordination, John Humphries gives an overview of the national and DC campaigns to end torture. He has more than ten years’ experience as a community organizer in rural Appalachia and in Connecticut. A member of the Hartford Friends Meeting, John has also traveled to Iraq in June 2002 with a Quaker/AFSC delegation, and he has helped organize a statewide interfaith network acting to oppose torture and the war in Iraq.

Cynthia Papermaster, is a 40-year resident of Berkeley, with a BA in Political Science and Master of Library Science degrees from UC Berkeley. She has been very involved as a parent with with PTA, and working on educational issues, as well as a champion of impeachment during the Bush reign; she continues to organize against torture and for accountability with Codepink.

John and Cynthia also mentioned these resources: Website with listings of many solidarity actions taking place nationwide -2012.witnesstorture.org

No More Gitmos - nogitmos.org

Guantanamo, Torture, Accountability & Indefinite Detention: We Are All At Risk Friday, January 6 - 7 pm in the Fellowship Hall ­ 1924 Cedar St. Film Screening “Ending U.S. Sponsored Torture Forever,” followed by a discussion led by members of Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture about what actions we can take.

Reception and Interfaith Service at 3 pm at New York Ave Presbyterian Church following the  January 11th DC rally and actions, hosted by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture

“Dr. Martin… is the author of the international legal framework for the Heritable Knowledge Trust and Heritable Innovation Trust programs. He has pioneered global programs to bring corporate and stock market transparency to multi–national extractive industries and has been instrumental in repatriating value to countries which have been subject to corporate and financial abuses. His work on ethical engagement and stewardship of community and commons–based value interests is at the forefront of global financial innovation. Dr. Martin is a Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. He has been named Chair of Economic Innovation for the UN–affiliated Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization and has served as an advisor to numerous Central Banks, global economic forums, the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, and national governments.

“A spokesperson for global financial and intangible asset accountability and quality reform, Dr. Martin has worked closely with the United States Congress and numerous trade and financial regulatory agencies in the United States, Europe, and Asia in advocating and deploying infrastructure to support growing reliance on contract and proprietary rights in business transactions. Under the leadership of Dr. Martin, M·CAM has supported the modernization of banking, intangible asset, tax, and accounting laws through its work with oversight agencies and policy makers.”

His novel, Coup d’Twelve: The Enterprise that Bought the Presidency is a fast paced spy thriller that looks at major events of this century, September 11, 2011 and the subsequent financial heists, from the point of view of someone who turned down the opportunity to play a part and profit from the crimes.

Dr. David E. Martin’s work has taken him to many countries and he has access and understanding of technologies that many people probably could not dream of or imagine. The main character in his novel is obviously himself and in this interview he fleshes out his own history and details why he wrote the book, and what the early phases of the plot were.

Unfortunately, we did have technical difficulties reaching Dr. Martin in Mexico and the connection was flawed, so some of the words and sound were lost.  He did however, verify that many of the events in the novel were based on his firsthand experiences, including the initial meeting of prospective shareholders where he was invited to join the conspiracy.  In the novel the shareholders come from many different countries and they do not know who is really in control or the mastermind who brought them all together.  There are fewer shareholders at the end of the tale than at the beginning and a couple of key CIA operatives who have coached the CIA Director on his speech are murdered.  David explains at the end of this interview that the US Intelligence apparatus is relatively new, that other intelligence networks have been around for much longer.  He explains that his novel forewarns of a newly emerging alliance between Iran, China and Pakistan, which is visible on the cover of the novel in the image of a slot machine coming up with the flags of those countries, displacing the US and Britain.

My review of his book is posted at Turning Down the Devil’s Offer.

His insightful blog is Inverted Alchemy: An Integral Economy. This is Part III of a series..

Dr. David E. Martin is the founder and Chairman of M·CAM Inc., the architect and founder of the Global Innovation Commons and was the founder of Mosaic Technologies, Inc.. The impressive bio on his company’s websites states that -

“Dr. Martin… is the author of the international legal framework for the Heritable Knowledge Trust and Heritable Innovation Trust programs. He has pioneered global programs to bring corporate and stock market transparency to multi–national extractive industries and has been instrumental in repatriating value to countries which have been subject to corporate and financial abuses. His work on ethical engagement and stewardship of community and commons–based value interests is at the forefront of global financial innovation. Dr. Martin is a Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. He has been named Chair of Economic Innovation for the UN–affiliated Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization and has served as an advisor to numerous Central Banks, global economic forums, the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, and national governments.

“A spokesperson for global financial and intangible asset accountability and quality reform, Dr. Martin has worked closely with the United States Congress and numerous trade and financial regulatory agencies in the United States, Europe, and Asia in advocating and deploying infrastructure to support growing reliance on contract and proprietary rights in business transactions. Under the leadership of Dr. Martin, M·CAM has supported the modernization of banking, intangible asset, tax, and accounting laws through its work with oversight agencies and policy makers.”

His novel, Coup d’Twelve: The Enterprise that Bought the Presidency is a fast paced spy thriller that looks at major events of this century, September 11, 2011 and the subsequent financial heists, from the point of view of someone who turned down the opportunity to play a part and profit from the crimes.

Dr. David E. Martin’s work has taken him to many countries and he has access and understanding of technologies that many people probably could not dream of or imagine. The main character in his novel is obviously himself and in this interview he fleshes out his own history and details why he wrote the book, and what the early phases of the plot were.  Ironically, as we were beginning to discuss the next phase which regards our current time, the station lost its power, due to a vacuum cleaner and a fuse not because of any alphabet soup agency.  We will continue our conversation next week on December 15th, as there are many more questions, issues that I’d like to explore.

My review of his book is posted at Turning Down the Devil’s Offer.

His insightful blog is Inverted Alchemy: An Integral Economy. This is Part II of a series, Part I, Technological Advances Across Time, The Global Innovation Commons is archived here.

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Guest:

Dr. David E. Martin

Dr. David E. Martin looks briefly at what innovation is, and challenges a few popular American myths regarding the origins of inventions which have had a profound impact upon humanity. He looks at the enclosure system, the evolution of patents, and how the current system has been misused to suppress technologies that threaten entire industries. To rectify the situation, He founded the Global Innovation Commons to provide a global repository of innovations which, while possibly protected in one or more countries, can be used in the rest of the world, enabling open source generic production of technologies.

Dr. David E. Martin is also the founder of M-CAM, a public policy advisor, and visionary. He has done pioneering work in unstructured data analysis and linguistic genomics, and ground-breaking work in global finance and ethics. He has woven some of his life experience, obtained in over 120 countries, into his first novel, Coup d’Twelve. Dr. Martin gained international notoriety for his data analysis in disclosure prior to the global financial crisis in 2008. He blogs regularly at Inverted Alchemy: An Integral Economy.

Dr. David E. Martin is extremely knowledgeable and active on many important fronts. This is Part I of a two Part series, and Part II, will focus on his novel Coup d’Twelve.

His address to the EU Parliament on Future of Proprietary Economic Models, on September 17, 2008 complements this interview.

William Douglas is a rather extraordinary person who has lived a courageous, unusual life. Our paths crossed at a critical time for me, and Bill and his wife Angela, appeared almost magically like angels, helping me when I needed help the most. As a political activist, I usually don’t have time for “fun,” “nonfiction” novels, but I made an exception for Bill and must admit that his novels are so engaging that they are very hard to put down, and I can devour one from cover to cover. I have learned, the hard way, over the years, that sometimes critical information is so heavily censored and attacked when one tries to “break it into the news” that one has a better chance of doing an end run and slipping it into the culture via the arts, through image, film, literature, poetry. Bill’s novels are filled with information, ideas, experiences, taboo and alien to the dominant culture. Dressed as fiction, beneath the character veils, one can see Bill, the people he knows and loves, and has worked with, risking life and limb, in service to truth, in service to life, to humanity, to planet, illustrating that the forces of Life are greater than Death, that together our efforts do make a difference, in mysterious ways, perhaps invisible or inexplicable to the boundaries of our modern belief system.

The novel takes on climate change, suppressed energy breakthroughs, the power of dreams and every individual’s capacity to tap into the tao where all is known, all is connected, all is one.

Have the one percent conspired to amass wealth and power at the expense of the vast majority of humanity? Are the 99% actually waking up and figuring out how to exercise their own power, despite the ominous construction of a police state, the rumblings of imminent disasters, the threats of terrorism, wars, unaccountable government, the duplicitous media? Will the 99% be able to take a deep breath together, find support amongst the wider population, steer us away from the endless war, destructive technologies, bleak off the cliff trail that we’re on, and forge a better path for the future?

Today was a momentous day, a Global Day of Action for the 99%. For William and I a magical day of convergence, validating our work, and expanding our understanding of reality and circle of allies. As we were speaking, I received a report from the Global Innovations Commons who have extensively researched and identified who has patented and suppressed innovative technologies threatening the dominant oil/nuclear industries and retarded the move towards benign, renewable energy sources. They have also pioneered identifying and encouraging the development of promising technologies in countries not shackled by the horrific patent laws and lawyers that have actively tried to keep a lid on these technologies. They just posted a report entitled Proprietary Environments: Innovation Paradox and Policy by Dr. David E. Martin, Executive Chairman, M•CAM Inc.

My earlier interview with Bill about his novel 2012 The Awakening is posted here.

Desert Treasures Threatened

Thursday, 10 November 2011

For Ruth Nolan the desert is filled with stories, alive, ecologically and multiculturally rich, comprised of diverse landscapes. Ruth Nolan, M.A., is a native of the Mojave Desert and Associate Professor of English at the College of the Desert near Palm Springs, California. She is also a poet, writer, and book editor/publisher, former BLM-California Desert District firefighter, and has extensively hiked, traveled, and embraced the essence of her desert homeland. She has been crusading to raise awareness and protect sacred sites, dense ecologic flora/fauna zones, endangered species, in particular the desert tortoise, and the people who live and breathe in the desert. Their lives are threatened by the federal government’s renewable energy policy, the false characterization of the Californian deserts as big, open “wastelands….” the mentality behind thinking that chunks of the desert can be chopped up and allotted to multi-thousand acre sites.

Ruth Nolan is editor of the new anthology, No Place for a Puritan: the literature of California’s deserts, published by Heyday Books. She was awarded a Joshua Tree National Park Affiliate Writers Residency for 2008-09, and collaborated on a film about the park with the UCR/California Museum of Photography. Her poetry has appeared in many literary publications, including Inlandia: a Literary Journey Through Southern California’s Inland Empire, Poemeleon, Askew, Pacific Review, Epicenter, Mosaic, Southern California Haiku Journal, and San Diego Poetry Annual. She co-edits Phantom Seed, a bi-annual literary magazine dedicated to the nuances of the California desert, and is advisor to the College of the Desert literary/visual arts magazine, Solstice. Her poetry collections include Wild Wash Road (1996) and Dry Waterfall (2008.) She lectures and speaks widely on desert literature and related topics, such as desert conservation and California Indian culture.

She believes that the paradigm/thinking needs to shift from “destroying more pristine land” towards “subsidizing more localized renewable energy for homeowners, businesses, communities, public institutions on already-reclaimed land” in order to “go green.” She recognizes the problem with the enormous gifts to corporate “investors,” who have already taken money, failed to deliver, and are now bankrupt, i.e., Solyndra.

She’s concerned that the “whole” desert, is at risk by the many proposed solar/wind projects on public BLM land. We need to re-evaluate the desert as a rare and precious resource, an important wilderness area, a thriving life zone of people, plants, animals, archaeology, culture, history, one that needs to be savored and protected, not exploited by a for-profit renewable energy that is based on a “somewhere-else” mentality, “out of mind” disconnect, as the nation pursues a shift towards renewable energy.

She shares her story and other stories from her anthology about the desert, the current threats, and about the unheralded, little known, promising efforts being made by various organizations, such as Solar Done Right, Basin and Range Watch,Solar Mosaic (Which is championing November 20th as Community Solar Day - Occupy Rooftops) - and the Renewable Energy Alliance. Ruth has also spearheaded Occupy the Desert.

The SACRED SITES PEACEWALK FOR A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD has begun. In Part I, I spoke with two of the organizers of the walk who have been working hard to shut down Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power plant, especially in the wake of the disaster of Fukushima. Working with the Mothers are a Japanese Buddhist order, including Jun-san and two native American groups dedicated to preserving sacred sites, Indian People Organizing for Change and Protect Glen Cove with Johnella LaRose, another main organizer of the walk. The Diablo Canyon plant was built, over community protest, on a site sacred to the Chumash people.

This is an unusual, rare interview with Gilberto Perez, a Buddhist monk from the Nipponzan Myohoji order, which was begun in Japan named “Guruji” by his friend Gandhi — who developed the practice of walking and drumming with the Lotus Sutra to proclaim the message of nonviolence, when Japanese imperialism returned in the early 20th century. Gilberto Perez and the monks generally don’t give “interviews” or do “public relations.” Originally from Cuba, he joined the Sacred Sites Walk yesterday in Oakland. A foot injury and spontaneous “need” allowed him to take time to patiently answer questions and offer his insights, and stories.

Jun Yasuda in solidarity and support with the indigenous people was a major impetus to organize the walk. Jun-san, as she is affectionately called by those who know her, is an extraordinary woman. In this interview, Gilberto describes how Jun-san was mugged years ago in Oakland… as we talk about the events that took place in Oakland on November 2nd and in the early hours of this morning when there were violent clashes between police and people wielding shields in the streets. When the Peacewalk arrived and prayed at Occupy Oakland the energy was definitely positive, peaceful, creative, and hopeful.

Walking for peace, justice, against the nuclear industry is not a new idea, but a powerful tool to raise awareness, build community and draw public attention and support to the important struggles that are far too often ignored by the press. Recently there have been anti-nuclear walks in Australia, France and New England.

The first Wall Street occupation only attracted a handful of people and, the occupations and walks continue to attract more and more people and support, as they weave those powerful bonds of love, friendship, support and understanding that nourish powerful social movements.

The walks have intersected the Occupations and the schedule has changed, so that the walk arrived in Oakland in support of the November 2nd General Strike. Tonight they will be in Oakland. They are scheduled to be in Berkeley on Friday, November 4th, at BFUU at 6 PM for potluck dinner with Joanna Macy.

The general public is warmly invited to take part in the peace walk; volunteers may elect to walk for an hour, a day, or the entire walk. To connect with the actual march, the East Bay schedule is posted here, for the exact locations - call 805-234-1769.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement has broken through the media barrier and provoked an international conversation about the problem with a system where less than 1% of the population lay claim to the world’s riches and rule with impunity over the 99% whose lives, health, lands, homes, livelihoods are threatened by an unfair economic system. Clearly it is time to change the rules of the current economic game, including the political game where politicians and legislation is written of, by and for powerful corporations siphoning off the rewards and saddling the public with unpayable debts.

Bill Veltrop is a pioneer of The Infinite Games, a resource for those seeking breakthrough approaches to organizational change and leadership development, it draws from the collective experience and wisdom of senior practitioners, thought leaders and organizational change champions spanning over 35 years of innovative organizational design and change work.

As the Occupy Movement struggles with survival, the challenges of police action, meeting the basic needs of the occupiers, communications within constantly expanding and shrinking groups, as well as with the media and between themselves and other groups, the individuals within the movement and the collective groups are faced with the challenge of figuring out how to draw out their collective wisdom, make decisions, improve the quality of their ability to determine and convey their messages effectively. They need to be able to identify and exercise their collective power, and channel it into realizing the changes they want to manifest in the world.

If you’ve been to one of the General Assembly Meetings or observed one, you will know that half of the early meetings have been devoted to process. Understanding consensus, facilitation skills, are in high demand. I found such a wealth of insights, including Generative Capacity-Building as a Core Organizing Strategy, that could assist those involved in and supporting the Occupy Movement.

In this show, Bill looks at the fatal design flaws of the existing Finite Game System:

1) Myopic, short term view

2) Striving to control, become permanent

3) They are serious

Whereas Infinite Games:

1) Aim for the largest possible picture, the well being of all

2) Co-create, co-operative, designed to evolve and grow with feedback loops

3) They are playful, fun

or

The finite game is played for the purpose of winning,

an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play,

…and bringing as many persons as possible into the play.

San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace is helping to organize the SACRED SITES PEACEWALK FOR A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD. They have been working hard to shut down Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power plant, especially in the wake of the disaster of Fukushima. Working with the Mothers are a Japanese Buddhist order, including Jun-san and two native American groups dedicated to preserving sacred sites, Indian People Organizing for Change and Protect Glen Cove with Johnella LaRose, another main organizer of the walk. The Diablo Canyon plant was built, over community protest, on a site sacred to the Chumash people.

Walking for peace, justice, against the nuclear industry is not a new idea, but a powerful tool to raise awareness, build community and draw public attention and support to the important struggles that are far too often ignored by the press. Recently there have been anti-nuclear walks in Australia, France and New England.

The first Wall Street occupation only attracted a handful of people and, I hope that the occupations and walks will continue to attract more and more people and support, as they weave those powerful bonds of love, friendship, support and understanding that nourish powerful social movements.

Louise Dunlap is the author of Undoing the Silence: Tools for Social Change Writing who assists people to make their voices heard in the challenging debates of our times. A longtime advocate for peace and justice, she began her work for social change with the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s, and taught at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s. Later she taught graduate students in policy and development at M.I.T. and eight other graduate schools including three in South Africa. She has shared struggles for justice with activists from many movements, and participated in peace walks on nuclear weapons, climate change, slavery and racism, the Wounded Knee Massacre, and the Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay area. She also teaches yoga and Buddhist meditation in the tradition of Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.

Linda Seeley is president of the board of directors of Terra Foundation, she began offering workshops in The Work that Reconnects,” experiential deep ecology training developed by Joanna Macy, PhD in 2003. Linda has worked closely with Joanna for nine years, and she sees the need in the community for expression of feelings related to the current state of the world and all its inhabitants. Linda is a certified nurse-midwife who has attended over a thousand births in SLO County, she is also the Vice-President of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace and the legal intervenor in the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

In this show we explore how the upcoming walk which begins at Diablo Canyon on Saturday, October 22nd and concludes, Sunday, November 6th at Sogorea Te (in Vallejo - after passing through much of the Bay Area including Santa Cruz, San Jose, Livermore, Hayward, Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond) relates to the other walks, the connections made individually and collectively on a group project like this, and how it is part of a much larger global effort, recognizing the parallels between the anti-nuclear efforts and the occupy movement (The walk will visit the occupations in San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Oakland). We see how they can nurture and learn from one another. We looked at how creating space and opportunity for dialogue, conversations, people can find their voice, break the silence, reclaim their power, and can turn the tide in Life’s favor…

We Stand With the Majority of Americans: Human Needs, Not Corporate Greed

A large majority of the American people consistently support the following agenda:

Tax the rich and corporations End the wars, bring the troops home, cut military spending Protect the social safety net, strengthen Social Security and improved Medicare for all End corporate welfare for oil companies and other big business interests Transition to a clean energy economy, reverse environmental degradation Protect worker rights including collective bargaining, create jobs and raise wages Get money out of politics The government, dominated by elite economic interests, is going in the opposite direction from what the people want.

The American peoples agenda is our agenda. For more see: The American People Could Rule Better than the Political and Economic Elites.

The broad agenda for Stop the Machine: Create a New World is to end corporatism and militarism and shift power to the people, so necessities can be met. In addition to stopping the machine we also want to show the new world we want to see.

While our agenda is based on fact, science and the type of world we want to see, not on polling, it is useful to know that the American people are in favor of the types of reforms October2011.org is advocating. There is a convergence of social movements taking place.

This show included the voices of many people at Freedom Plaza, transmitted live and unedited. They included Ann Wright, a former United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, best known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War, Robert Poteat and Jules Brouillet of the American Monetary Institute, Shahid Buttar of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Noel Ortega of the Institute for Policy Studies, George Ripley Director of Americans for Social Justice, Michelle Buscemi and Christopher Davis. They all speak about their own beliefs and passions which drove them to take part in the collective effort to challenge the fusion of corporate, military and financial power.

Next week the American Monetary Institute is holding its annual Monetary Reform Conference in Chicago. Last year I was invited to speak and I spoke on Strategy for the Monetary Reform Movement. This year my son, Jules Brouillet, an intern at the American Monetary Institute, a graduate from Oberlin College (in Economics), will be speaking on this topic.

Jules, was elected twice to the student senate at Oberlin, and has interned for elected officials and non-profits. In addition to assisting in AMI research and operations, in 2011 Jules Brouillet worked with the AMI Chicago Chapter, Moveon.org, and US Uncut, and other local groups to effect monetary reform. He has written on financial market crises, penitentiary privatization, public health policy, and grassroots organizing. He writes that at AMI they have “the economic know-how and the legal expertise to define money, account for the mishandling of the money power throughout history, counter Trojan Horse monetary reform proposals, and guide a real monetary reform bill into the Congress- we need only train our political muscle to make reform into reality! How can a non-partisan movement force corrupt, partisan officials in Washington to approve real reforms? Why and how Fractional Reserve banking must be made illegal, how every one of us can use our unique skills and strengths to grow monetary reform? How can we grow this into a real, national movement that cannot be ignored by a press whose primary responsibility is to preserve the status quo? How can we activate millions of adult Americans with imaginations destroyed, childhoods prolonged, and communities splintered by our education system?

Protestors at this moment are occupying Wall Street, and other financial districts. The majority of people realize that they are being robbed by the financial system, but they don’t know what to do about it.

AB 750, California’s bill to study the feasibility of establishing a state-owned bank that would receive deposits of state funds, has passed both houses of the legislature and is now on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown awaiting his signature.

It seems that the higher up the ladder one goes to effect change- from local to state to national to international, the less democratic the processes are and the more likely they are to favor the corporate interests of the powerful rather than the well being of the majority.

Jules will share his unique perspective on the current situation, the upcoming conference in Chicago, proposed legislation for genuine monetary reform, and the path forward.

On Wednesday, September 21, 2011, Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced The National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) Act of 2011 “to address our structural economic problems directly by creating over 7 million jobs.”

The Act “would allow the federal government to directly fund badly-needed infrastructure repairs and fund education systems nationwide by spending money into circulation without increasing the national debt or causing inflation.”

“Today, nearly 25 million Americans are either unemployed or cannot find a job on which they can live and support their families. FDR’s response to such circumstances was the New Deal. Today, we need similarly bold solutions,” said Kucinich. “We need a solution that will revive our economy in a sustainable way that will put millions of American back to work.”

“There should be work for those who are able to work. Government must become the employer of last resort. The private sector is not providing the jobs. When the private sector fails to provide the jobs, the government has a moral responsibility and a practical responsibility to step forward to put the country back to work.

“The ability to coin money is an inherent power under Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. The NEED Act would control inflation because it will enable the government to invest in America by creating infrastructure, which is real wealth. Inflation is caused when new money is created without the creation of new wealth,” explained Kucinich.

“The proposal would also establish fiscal integrity, reassert Congressional sovereignty and regain control of monetary policy from private banks.” Representative Kucinich was interviewed today about his proposal on C-Span. He also spoke before Congress on September 7, 2011 on International Policy: Its Relationship to the Domestic Economy.

Part of her “healing” experience has been to take part in a motorcycle ride fundraising effort to assist responders for things such as upgraded equipment, and families in the form of scholarships.

The huge motorcycle runs also help responders replace the intensity of what is encountered in disasters as one tries to go back to a “normal” life. In the most recent run British firefighters came from the UK, and from as far away as New Zealand, and about 900 others came, as well from across the country: north, south, west…TN, FL, CA, GA…

Kathy worked at the WTC site with an amazing group of angels who worked from September through December taking family members and survivors from the towers into Ground Zero to mourn. Every day, including holidays and weekends they took between 80 - 250 individuals into the damage zone. She would gather occasionally with her colleagues as they tried to adjust to life after their time at Ground Zero. She still is part of the Mt Sinai monitoring program. When responders gather together, they focus on celebrating life and each other. None of them knew each other before 9/11, but they all had the sense that they knew each other, they communicated (still) non-verbally, and have ties to each other that are strong as family. Their work was also chronicled in Gail Sheeheys book Middletown America.