STREET PARTY - ANTI BILLA PÁRTY PO 10TI LETECH

Prohlášení k akci 1. srpna 2009

STREET PARTY - ANTI BILLA PÁRTY PO 10TI LETECH
PROHLÁŠENÍ

Street party pořádáme v sobotu 1. 8. 2009 od 10°° hodin v Litvínově "park Pilařák". Tato akce, kombinuje pouliční zábavu s občanským protestem proti přístupu místní politické scény k alternativní kultuře a nekonzumnímu životnímu stylu.

Důvody
Hlavním důvodem je vzpomínkový akt na protest proti výstavbě supermarketu BILLA v Litvínově ve čtvrti Osada, kdy tehdejší místní politická scéna přehlížela a nerespektovala požadavky občanů dané lokality. Během protestů v roce 1999 kdy od 4. srpna probíhaly veřejné protestní akce byla několikrát využitá i síla moci ztělesněná policií proti protestujícím a když i toto se ukázalo jako málo zastrašují prostředek, uchýlila se místní politická scéna a dotčené firmy i k dalším represivním krokům - podáváním trestních oznámení na organizátory akce a aktivní odpůrce výstavby supermarketu!
My nezapomínáme!!!
Na lokální úrovni protestujeme proti zhoršujícím se životním podmínkám v našem městě, od nesnesitelného nárůstu předsudků, přes vzrůstající nezaměstnanost a prohlubující se sociální rozdíly až po katastrofální bytovou situaci. A konečně též proti místní politické scéně, která bez ohledu na nás všechny, koná jen v zájmu svém a svých přátel bez ohledu na dopady na naší kulturu, životní filosofii a úroveň životních potřeb jak jedince tak společnosti.

Cíle
Cílem naší akce je sjednotit všechny svobodomyslné lidi, kteří s námi chtějí budovat silnou opozici "ulice" proti politické zvůli v našem městě.
Proto jsou srdečně zváni ekologičtí aktivisté, lidskoprávní aktivisté, antifašisté, pracující i nezaměstnaní, studenti, odboráři - ti všichni a mnozí jiní co vyznávají respekt k druhému, přírodě a zvířatům. Naopak na naši akci rozhodně nejsou zváni ti, kteří vědomě alternativním životním filosofiím škodí, tedy politické, ekonomické špičky a lidé plní předsudků, nenávisti a marnosti.

Místo konání
Je park zvaný "Pilařák". Je to místo již několik let zaniklé vodní nádrže, "park" několik stovek metrů od centra města.

V Litvínově 2009

Organizátoři streetparty:

OS "Prevence" www.prevenceos.ic.cz
Alternativa Litvínovska - Klub Janov www.alternativa-litvinovska.ic.cz

telefon: +420 604 300 550
www.streetparty.ic.cz

Rovnost evropských občanů v praxi - Romové a kočovníci

Martina Kalinová

Institut evropského občanství je zcela mimořádným jevem. Tento, i v rámci evropského práva zvláštní, "institut sui generis" evokuje myšlenku jednoty a rovnosti evropských občanů a představu existence (rovněž mimořádných) výhod pro toho, komu členství v komunitě evropských občanů náleží. Můžeme se tedy tázat: kdo se může stát "evropským občanem"? Jsou si opravdu všechny tyto osoby rovné a panuje mezi nimi jednota? A jaké mimořádné výhody plynou z existence občanství pro jeho držitele? Na první pohled se zdá, že odpověď na všechny otázky bude jednoduchá a jasná, ale když se na toto téma podíváme důkladněji, shledáme, že skutečnost je mnohem komplikovaněší. Z údajů uvedených ve Smlouvě o Evropském společenství je možné dovodit, že evropským občanem je každý občan členského státu Unie a že každý tento občan má nárok na požívání několika určitých výhod.

více na: http://www.europeum.org/disp_article_text.php?aid=780

Usnesení Evropského parlamentu o evropské strategii pro romskou menšinu

který v souladu s čl. 108 odst. 5 jednacího řádu předkládají

	–	Lívia Járóka za skupinu PPE-DE
	–	Jan Marinus Wiersma, Hannes Swoboda, Katalin Lévai, Adrian Severin a Jan Andersson za skupinu PSE
	–	Viktória Mohácsi a Alfonso Andria za skupinu ALDE
	–	Elly de Groen-Kouwenhoven, Milan Horáček a Gisela Kallenbach za skupinu Verts/ALE
	–	Giusto Catania, Vittorio Agnoletto, Mary Lou McDonald a Dimitrios Papadimoulis za skupinu GUE/NGL

a který nahrazuje návrhy usnesení předložené níže uvedenými skupinami:

	–	PPE-DE (B6‑0050/2008)
	–	ALDE (B6‑0051/2008)
	–	Verts/ALE (B6‑0052/2008)
	–	PSE (B6‑0053/2008)
	–	GUE/NGL (B6‑0055/2008),

o evropské strategii pro romskou menšinu

Freeganism in Practice:

Strategies for Cooperative, Sustainable Living Beyond Capitalism.


by Adam Weissman



1- Visit http://freegan.info and learn about freegan philosophies, facts,
and practices.

2- Join the Freeganworld email list at http://freeganworld.freegan.info

3- Start a local community of people committed to resisting capitalism by
creating a sustainable, local, cooperative economic model as an alternative.

4- Read books on the injustice of capitalism, the unsustainability of
industrialism, and on practical strategies for sustainable living. Start a
book discussion group! Recommended books can be found at
http://reading.freegan.info Familiarize yourself with concepts like mutual
aid, the notion of a society based on voluntary cooperation, and gift
economics, an economic model where everything is shared freely. Learn about
why the threat of human extinction within the century as a result of climate
change makes ending our current economic model an absolute necessity. Visit
http://climate.freegan.info for details.

5- Grow your own food-- even if you live in the city! Urban dwellers are
growing food in abandoned lots, on rooftops, and terraces. To learn more,
visit http://gardens.freegan.info

6- Eat wild! Edible and medicinal wild plants grow all around us. Learn
about your local plants and forage them from parks and yards. For more
information, visit http://foraging.freegan.info. Share what you learn with
others!

7- Start a Really, Really Free Market at a local community center, school,
or place of worship. Really, Really Free Markets are fairs celebrating gift
economics and mutual aid. People bring food, clothing, books, and all
manner of goods cluttering their homes to give away to others free of
charge. People also freely share services, education, and entertainment--
musical performance, massage, lessons on practical skills like crocheting
and bicycle repair, free films and lectures on political affairs and current
events. Learn more at http://markets.freegan.info

8- Freely share and receive useful goods with others in your community via
http://freecycle.org

9- Live rent-free! With your community, occupy abandoned buildings and
restore them into "squats" - rent free housing and community centers with
arts and educational programs for low-income communities. More info at
http://squat.freegan.info.

10- Start a bike program to wean your community from petroleum addiction.
Set up a "bike library" -- a free bike sharing program. Establish a free
bike repair workshop, where people can build and keep working bikes out of
donated and discarded bike parts or fix their own bikes with the help of
experienced volunteer instructors. Learn more at http://bikes.freegan.info.

11- Set up free repair workshops for furniture, clothing, computers, and
other goods. Fixing the goods we already have divers resources from the
landfills and incinerators while helping people avoid buying more stuff.

12- Tap the waste stream! Recover wasted goods from the garbage of
supermarkets and other retail stores, college dorms, houses and apartment
buildings, factories and distribution centers, and offices and schools.
You'll easily find food, books, clothing, office supplies, furniture,
computers, construction materials, musical instruments, appliances and other
items, often in brand new condition. Food retailers discard enormous
quantities of fresh, clean usable food in great variety-- 50% of all food is
wasted worldwide! "Urban foraging" (also called "dumpster diving" can easily
reduce your food costs to zero! Visit college dorms around the end of the
semester-- homebound college students toss a treasure trove of usable goods
to avoid the cost and difficulty of moving them home. If you find things
you don't need, instead of leaving them in the trash or selling them, share
them for free with others on Freecycle or at a Really, Really Free Market.
Learn more at http://picktrash.freegan.info.

13- Share food with your community. Food Not Bombs groups in over 200
cities recover food that would otherwise go to waste and use it to prepare
warm meals on the street to promote and ethic of sharing and feed hungry
people, challenging a society that can always pay for war, but never seems
able to ensure that all are fed. Learn more at http://foodnotbombs.net.

14- Organize skillshares to disseminate practical Do It Yourself knowledge
on living sustainably and money-free-- teach people how to make clothing
soap, or ecologically friendly household cleaners; how to create set up
passive solar food dehydrators, ovens and heating system, or terrace
planters using materials found in dumpsters, rainwater collection or how to
convert cars to run on straight vegetable oil. Search the internet and DIY
manuals for info on how to make soap and all manner of practical goods for
free using waste mateirals

15- Embrace carlessness. Use bikes, feet, foot scooters, skates, or
skateboards. Get a free bike from a bike collective in your area. Try
hitchhiking (http://hitchwiki.org) or finding a ride from someone already
going your way on a rideshare board (http://rideshare.freegan.info) Hop
freight trains to travel long distances. If none of those are options, use
public transportation. Acquire a heavy-duty bike trailer or cargo tricycle
for moving groceries or other supplies. For multi-passenger trips, consider
a four wheel, four-seat quadracycle (http://quad.freegan.info).

16- If you must use a car, acquire a used diesel vehicle and convert its
engine to run on straight vegetable oil (http://svo.freegan.info ) .
Consider a shared community car or truck for heavy moving jobs or
passenger-dense road trips rather than owning a private car. If you are
making a road trip and have extra car space, pick up hitchhikers or post
details on your trip to rideshare boards. (http://rideshare.freegan.info)
Arrange carpools for regular frequent trips.

17- Once you've read a book, pass it on! Visit http://www.bookcrossing.com/
for suggestions. Or, create a lending library in your apartment building or
community center.

18- Develop free, independent, non-corporate media. Start a free newspaper
or news website or get involved with your local Independent Media Center
(http://indymedia.org). Launch a pirate radio station. (pirate radio link)
Get your information about the world from independent, free media, rather
than listening to the capitalist propaganda of the corporate media.

19- Keep a free box inside you home by your door of items you don't want or
need, but that are too useful to end up in the trash. Encourage friends,
relatives, and neighbors, to help themselves.

20- Set up a permanent "free store" at a local place of worship, community
center, or in a common space of your apartment building. Encourage
community members to donate items they don't need and freely take ones they
do. More info at http://freestore.freegan.info.

21 - As your monetary needs diminish, consider quitting your job, and
changing careers to work for a non-profit charitable or environmental,
social justice, or animal rights activist organization. Or cut back on your
work hours or quit your job altogether, devoting your time instead to
volunteering in your community. Freeing up countless hours from waged labor,
you'll also find more time for appreciating friends and family, communing
with nature, pursuing artistic interests and hobbies, and learning more
practical skills for freegan living. Learn more at http://work.freegan.info.

22- Avoid disposable goods. -The goods we use should be designed to last
and preserved for longevity. Use rags over paper towels, handkerchiefs over
paper tissues, and carry mugs rather than use disposable cups. In the
process you'll reduce your need to continually buy replacements and conserve
natural resources.

23- Appreciate and create free culture. Attend and share information about
free events parties, educational forums, free schools, nature hikes,
walking tours, workshops that teach practical skills, concerts, discussion
group and other activities where people can learn and have a great time
without spending a dime. Find events and activities on email lists, free
calendars, and websites like http://freenyc.net. Consider creating a print
and / or online free events calendar for your community. Organize free
movie screenings, lectures, and discussions on environmental and social
justice issues.

24- Welcome travelers and others who need a place to crash, and replace the
absurd, oxymoronic concept of the "hospitality industry" with genuine
hospitality. You can list the availability of your home as a crashpad for
travelers on couchsurfing sites. And when you need a place to stay on your
own travels, you can visit these same sites for a welcoming home happy to
invite you to crash. Learn more at http://couchsurfing.freegan.info.

25- Stop shopping! Resist manipulative advertisements that tell you that you
can find happiness and self-worth on retail store shelves. Research the
social and ecological consequences of every product you consider buying. For
a starting point, visit http://dontbuy.freegan.info. Before buying, ask
yourself‹do I really need this? Can I fix something I already have? Can I
acquire what I need by a means other than buying? If you must buy, purchase
second-hand items to avoid directly financing the production of new
commodities---and save money in the process! Craigslist
(http://craigslist.org) is a good place to look for 2nd hand items for fee
or for sale by individuals, not corporations. Local thrift stores are also
an option.

26- Celebrate Buy Nothing Day‹the international day of protest against
consumerism. Organize a creative protest or street theater event In your
community to tell people to stop shopping on the traditional busiest
shopping day of the year. Learn more at http://bnd.freegan.info

27- Establish a community healthcare collective. Develop a network of
healthcare practitioners who are willing to provide free or low-cost
healthcare, provide healthcare on a sliding scale, or to exchange healthcare
for goods or services. Hold free workshops on health and wellness.
Distribute publications on healing with wild herbs. Collect and redistribute
vitamin bottles discarded by vitamin shops. Hold free yoga classes. Set
up a free community health clinic for uninsured people. If you live in a
city with a healthcare collective, take advantage of the services they
provide! Learn more at http://healthcare.freegan.info.

28- Use passive solar (http://passivesolar.freegan.info) and passive cooling
(http://solarcook.freegan.info) instead of fossil fuel consumptive heat and
air conditioning. Make a solar cooker (http://solarcook.freegan.info) and a
solar food dehydrator (http://dehydrate.freegan.info) out of found objects.

29- Make candles and oil lamps using waste oil or grease. Learn how at
http://candles.freegan.info

30- Establish or volunteer with a mutual aid childcare collective. It takes
a village to raise a child, but under capitalism child care has become yet
another salable commodity. Childcare collectives share the childcare
responsibility, making childcare accessible to those who could not otherwise
afford it and making childcare a community function. Learn more at
http://childcare.freegan.info.

30 Start a free school. Free schools provide learning opportunities outside
of the money economy while rejecting the rigidity, coercion, competition,
and authoritarian hierarchal structure of conventional schools. Learn more
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school

31- Compost organic waste to create new soul for your garden. Learn how at
http://vegweb.com/composting/.

32- - For additional practical tips that go beyond the three Rs (reduce,
reuse , recycle), visit http://3rs.freegan.info

33 Bring it all together. Freegan practices are not intended to be
practiced in isolation, but rather are intended to be components of an
overall cooperative, decentralized, egalitarian social structure and
economic system based on ensuring that the needs of all people are met while
respecting the planet and the creatures we share it with. No one has time
to do everything, but everyone can do something. Maybe your focus will be
childcare or rooftop gardening or helping others create passive solar
heating systems. Maybe you'll rotate between a few tasks. Others will work
on the projects you don't have time for. The critical thing is for the all
these projects to network and coordinate the resources they offer. We need
all of these things. We need childcare and healthcare. We need food and
shelter. In isolation, living without participating in capitalism is
overwhelmingly difficult. However, as more and more projects come together
to offer alternatives to more and more needs normally served under
capitalism, living mostly or entirely within the freegan gift economy and
the capitalist economy will be a viable alternative. The freegan economy
will offers a better quality of life, more freedom, and a deeper sense of
community than people can find under capitalism. Organize meetings and
social events like freegan dinners to bring together representatives of
various mutual aid projects to build relationships and encourage
collaboration. Make sure the people of your community know the full range
of mutual aid resources and services available to them by publishing and
freely distributing community mutual aid directories in print and online.
Freegan.info is happy to host these directories, so email them to us at
ask@freegan.info

34 -Recognize that freeganism is primarily a social project, and avoid
"lifestylism." Lifestylists believe that all we need to do to protect the
environment, advocate for social justice, and stop animal exploitation is to
change our personal consumption practices. This makes about as much sense
as believing that the holocaust could have been stopped by a boycott on
German products. The significance of freeganism is not primarily in the
reduced consumption impact of each individual, but rather in the
construction of a new ecologically sustainable and socially equitable
economic model. As a new economy rises to provide for people's basic needs
amidst the ongoing collapse of global capitalism, a robust freegan
counter-economy will help people realize that the expansion of the freegan
economic model and the total destruction of global capitalism represents the
best chance of ensuring that their basic needs will continue to be met.
Similarly, at a time when global warming caused by industrial civilization
threatens the survival of all life on earth, a functional freegan economy
operating simultaneously with industrial capitalism will help people
recognize the solution to global warming is not "market solutions" or
regulation, but rather the total destruction of capitalism and a shift
towards simple, local, sustainable subsistence-based gift economies.
Industrialism and capitalism will collapse inevitably as they exhaust the
resources they rely on, but if they collapse on their own, the irreparable
damage they do our planet's climate and ecosystems will guarantee the demise
of almost all life on the planet, including human life, by the early 22nd
century. As we build our new, humane, equitable, and ecologically
sustainable culture, we also need to work to bring down capitalism and
industrial society. This will involve direct action in the tradition of the
Luddites and other revolutionary groups‹the capitalists will not voluntarily
surrender the system that has created their riches.. It will involve
conflict and risk. But given the price of inaction we have no other choice.
In the words of Frederick Douglass, " This struggle may be a moral one; or
it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must
be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it
never will.""

http://freegan.info/?page_id=2

Everyday Revolutions: Practices and Institutions for Living Beyond Capitalism in Everyday Life

By Adam Weissman

Overthrowing capitalism? Smashing the state? These phrases may inspire true believers, but to just about anyone else, they sound silly, sinister or even insane. Most people in the United States see industrial capitalist civilization as a basic fact of life and as absolutely necessary for their survival. If revolutionaries in this country ever hope to expand our resistance beyond a tiny fringe, then we must do more than campaign against socially irresponsible corporations and governments while spouting revolutionary rhetoric. We must demonstrate that our lives do not depend on playing by “the rules” as obedient and passive workers and consumers by demonstrating new and better ways to survive and thrive.

In this regard, we have one real advantage: many people in the US aren’t very happy^[1]. In 2004, the unemployment rate was over 8 million^[2], roughly the population of New York City^[3]. Middle and working class families are sinking into debt^[4], while the richest one percent continually grows richer^[5], aided by corporate welfare^[6], tax cuts to the rich^[7], pro-corporate trade policies^[8], government-supported union busting^[9], and rollbacks of vital environmental legislation^[10].

Even those who manage to stay employed in a society where working is deemed necessary for survival toil constantly just to make ends meet. They are too stressed out and exhausted to enjoy their free time as a result, and are limited in the time they can devote to their families and communities.

Nor are we healthy: a polluted environment^[11], work-related stress^[12], sedentary lifestyles^[13] from using TV^[14] and video games^[15] as recreation and jobs behind a desk or steering wheel, and a poisonous diet^[16] pushed by corporations^[17] and their government shills^[18] have compromised the health of the nation. Health care costs are spiraling out of control^[19], with no realistic expectation of meaningful healthcare reform in the foreseeable future^[20].

At a time when getting a decent paying job without a college education is becoming ever harder^[21], access to education is becoming more limited^[22]. Cuts to funding for public universities^[23] and college loan programs^[24], and attacks on affirmative action programs^[25], have forced thousands of low-income students to drop out of college or never even start. This has allowed the military, which continues to absorb roughly 50% of the federal tax base as social programs are slashed, to institute an “economic draft” by dangling the carrot of job training and tuition assistance in the face of teenagers with few other options^[26].

Even many of those who do manage to achieve some economic success often find that this provides no real happiness^[27]. In a society where our sense of community has severely eroded^[28], and where we are profoundly disconnected from the nonhuman world, multitudes of even the materially-comfortable experience a profound loneliness and alienation^[29]. Corporations offer a consumerist “fix” for this by selling the idea that people can find happiness and fulfillment in purchasing, ownership, and consumption- a house in the suburbs, trendy sneakers, a fur coat, the fastest laptop, or a sexy sportsca. Television, drugs, religious dogma, and jingoistic, and patriotic notions pollute minds searching for substance in an empty culture.

But what if we could build an alternative culture that allowed us to embrace the values that matter to us most in all aspects of our daily lives, one that promoted mutual aid over competition, adventure over monotony, conservation over consumptive excess, sharing over private property, joy over toil, egalitarianism over hierarchy, social concern over self-centeredness, simplicity and freedom over desire for material acquisition, and self-acceptance over social status-seeking? What if we could illustrate the spiritual bankruptcy of capitalist-industrialist society by creating a counterculture that is practical, ethical, truly cares about people’s real needs, and offers people the opportunity to feel a true sense of community rooted in a commitment to building a better world for all?

Waste Recovery

Known as dumpster diving^[30], curb crawling, trash trolling^[31] urban scavenging^[32] , or just plain old garbage picking^[33], practitioners of the art of recovering useable resources from the waste of a hyperconsumptive society are able to dramatically curtail or altogether eliminate their need to purchase commodities^[34]. Whether finding couches on the curbside^[35], recovering fresh, clean food from the dumpsters of food retailers^[36], building libraries from discarded books^[37], supplying kitchens with appliances^[38], plates and silverware^[39], creating wardrobes out of discarded clothing^[40], or recovering computer equipment^[41], foragers find that they rarely have to use money to acquire the items they need^[42]. They also reduce waste, limit their personal environmental impact^[43], curtail their economic complicity with the socially and ecologically destructive multinational corporations responsible for the creation of most consumer goods^[44], relieve the pressure to work two or three jobs to make ends meet^[45], and limit their contribution to a corrupt government by limiting their contribution to sales and income taxes. In rural areas, gleaners harvest fruits and vegetables spilled and left behind by inefficient industrial farming practices.^[46]

Urban scavenging is more than individualistic, self-righteous lifestyle puritanism—-it is a key component in renewing community around the principle of mutual aid^[47]. Many urban foragers recover goods in groups. Some use recovered food for communal meals^[48], sometimes in communal living spaces. Scavengers frequently point each other to reliable sites to recover useable goods. The website http://freegan.info offers an online directory of favorite scavenging sites in different areas and similar guides are distributed in print form. The creators of Freegan.info run tours where groups are introduced to reliable trash-picking sites. Directory creators and tour organizers hope that their readers and tour participants will then be inspired to seek out other promising locations on their own, which can be added to the future tours and directories.

Food Not Bombs

Food Not Bombs is a global grassroots movement founded to challenge the waste of massive military spending in a world where millions go without the basic necessity of food.^[49] Over 200 FNB chapters in cities on six continents recover food that would otherwise go to waste- either foraged or donated by retailers who would otherwise discard it- and prepare hot, wholesome, vegetarian meals to share on streets and in parks. Rather than “serving the poor,” FNB shares food with ANYONE who wants to eat, shucking the paternalistic notion of charity for the unfortunate, and instead promoting the idea that we can share and help one another as equals without a profit incentive. While our society for the most part accepts that giving to the destitute and desperate is admirable, challenging the assumption that we should expect payment from those who can afford to pay for that which we give them is nothing short of subversive. Visit FNB’s webste at http://foodnotbombs.net/

Wild Foraging

Humans began as a species of plant foragers. In anthropological terms, we have only recently adopting hunting and agriculture as means to provide food^[50]. Seeking to recapture this ancient and sustainable means of sustenance, some are rediscovering traditional wild foods and medicinal herbs. In the New York City area, naturalist Steve Brill leads tours in local parks introducing urbanites and suburbanites to edible and medicinal wild plants and mushrooms^[51]. Books like Brill’s The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook, his “Foraging with the ‘Wildman’,” video series^[52], and zines like Wildroots’ Feral Forager: A Guide to Living off of Nature’s Bounty^[53] are helping to widely disseminate this information, germinating a new culture of wild foraging, even in heavily urbanized areas. For more information on foraging, check out http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com.

Rewilding

While some practice wild foraging in the contexts of fairly urbanized lives, others go further, adopting a primal, wilderness-based existence—living in birch bark lodges, building stone tools, cooking on an open fire, and living in an interdependent community, healing with traditional medicine and wild herbs. Many rewilders are anarcho-primitivists, believing that civilization and “progress” have been disasters for the earth and its human and nonhuman inhabitants, and that the most egalitarian and ecologically sustainable human lifestyle can be found in primitive cultures^[54]. Anarcho-primitivists seek to return humanity to a way of living closer to a primitive existence, and view rewilders as pioneers^[55]. Sadly, many rewilders have embraced the killing of animals for food and clothing through hunting fishing and trapping.” Advocates of this position would do well to read Jim Mason’s An Unnatural Order, which offers a devastating critique of hunting as the social institution that began the culture of domination that grew into our current global malaise. Mason draws sharp distinction between hunter-gatherers and the non-hunter gathers that preceded them^[56].

Freecycle, Freemarkets and Free Stores.

Freecycle is a network of regional email lists where people who would rather share than waste post items they wish to give away, and individuals seeking to acquire items without purchasing post the items they are looking for. Giver and receiver make contact over email and arrange to meet to transfer the item with no expectation of reciprocity beyond gratitude. Freecycle.org’s Freemeets resemble flea markets where all available items are offered free of charge. People donate items they wish to share and acquire items they can use.

This is also the concept behind Really, Really Freemarkets. People happily share books, magazines, clothing, records, food and artwork. Freemarkets complement free goods with services, performance, and activitities—massage, dance, comedy, music, tarot readings—anything that can be shared freely^[57].

Projects such as Freecycle and Freemarkets foster community, prevent useable goods from becoming waste, provide a practical venue for an ethic of sharing, and break down the idea that the distribution and acquisition of goods must be accompanied by the exchange of money.

A smaller but more permanent version of this concept is the Free Store. At Free Stores, people can donate or freely take a plethora of useful goods any day of the year. By attaching cooperative values to a permanent community institution, freestores allow this ethic to become a part of everyday life. Sharing becomes second nature, while looking to fulfill needs in the competitive capitalist marketplaces ceases to be a necessity.

These approaches provide a realistic alternative to purchasing, foster a spirit of mutual aid, prevent the waste of useable items, and bring people together in a community that helps meet their practical needs.

For more information on Freecycle, see http://freecycle.org/.

For more information on Freemarkets, see http://freegan.info/?page_id=255.

And for more information on Free Stores, check out http://freegan.info/?page_id=85.

Squatters and Guerrilla Gardeners

Squatters and Guerilla Gardeners are challenging the idea that the property deed of an absentee owner should prevent urban communities from making use of empty, abandoned buildings and lots. Squatters take debilitated buildings and convert them into living spaces and vital community centers. Guerrilla gardeners find abandoned, often garbage-filled lots, and rehabilitate them into beautiful green spaces, oases in deserts of asphalt and concrete where city dwellers can witness the miracle of growing plants, cultivate the food they eat, breathe fresh oxygen, and develop an appreciation for the nonhuman world. For more information on squatting http://freegan.info/?page_id=172. And for more information on guerrilla gardening, see http://moregardens.org/

Sustainable Transportation

Few daily activities are more complicit in the destruction of the planet than automobile use. With every mile we drive, or gallon of gas we purchase, we not only foul the air and contribute to global warming, but support some war for oil and the destruction of habitat and indigenous cultures by exploration, drilling, and pipeline projects. Car culture also promotes suburban sprawl, a major contributor to habitat loss in the United States.

Rather than seeing bicycles, skates, foot scooters and skateboards as toys, we can recognize them as practical and efficient means of personal transportation that among able-bodied people can in many cases supplant cars for local trips, and can supplement public transit for longer trips. Organizations like New York City’s Recycle-A-Bicycle trains 10 to 18 year olds to bike repair discarded bicycles, avoiding consumption of further natural resources in the production of new bicycles while eliminating waste..

In a car-dominated society, users of human-powered transportation face road conditions designed for automobiles, aggressive motorists who honk and tailgate angrily, and the ever-present threat of collision with an automobile. In response, skaters and cyclists unite for Critical Mass, a traffic-calming exercise performed in cities and towns around the world. Autonomously organized and lacking leaders or central planners, critical masses are collective rides where hundreds, sometimes thousands, take to the streets at once using human-powered transportation. In a reversal of the norm, drivers of muscle cards and behemoth SUVs are forced to adapt to the pace of skaters and bicyclists. Critical masses are suggesting of the promise of a car free society, one where pedestrians don’t risk their lives every time they cross the street, where getting from one place to another doesn’t mean generating smog or complicity in imperialist oil wars. From critcal masses, cyclists gain a sense of solidarity and validation, and even safety for those who are terrified to bike or skates on streets filled with road raging motorists.

For long distance transit, many have adopted the old hobo tradition of hopping freight trains. And the old standby of hitchhiking, while not as easy as in more trusting times, is still an effective way to travel for those with the patience to wait for a pick-up.

Learn about the trainhopping at http://www.thespoon.com/trainhop/.

For more information on bike restoration, check out http://www.recycleabicycle.org/.

To learn more about critical mass, visit http://www.critical-mass.org.

Alternative Media

When major corporations own the mass media and corporate advertisers routinely influence and distort even “news” coverage, mainstream newspapers, magazines, television, and radio simply can’t be trusted^[58]. In response to this compromised information stream, a global independent media movement has flourished with the commitment to bring people credible information without corporate bias. Alternative media makers present news and opinions in a myriad of formats??websites, pirate radio stations, free newspapers and magazines, books on topics too dangerous for corporate publishers to publish, “zines” (small print run, often highly personal, magazines, commonly reflecting a punk visual and cultural esthetic), satellite and public access television, podcasting and streaming audio and video content, subversive videos and DVDs, independent documentary films, and public speaking and presentations.

Independent Media Centers (IMCs) have sprung up in cities a round the globe, to provide venues and resources for the creation and dissemination of news and information without the distorting filter of corporate influence. These centers are managed collectively through consensus decisionmaking and without hierarchy^[59]. Visit the global IMC website at http://indymedia.org.

Holistic Medicine

Holistic healthcare providers are upending the traditional medical model by shifting the focus from expensive, often dangerous, patented pharmaceuticals designed to treat diseases as isolated phenomena to a focus on prevention, overall health, and an understanding of body energy. Alternative therapies rely more on diet, exercise, stress management, procedures like acupuncture and spine adjustment, herbs and vitamin supplementation than on patented pharmaceuticals, and often achieve far better results. They offer the promise of healthcare without dependence on monopolistic, animal testing^[60], polluting^[61] megacorporations like Glaxo Smithkline and Merck.

Collective Healthcare

Even alternative treatments can be pricey^[62], and many are not covered by insurance providers^[63]. For patients, stress of illness is compounded by having to wrestle with a stingy, legalistic, inhuman, impenetrable corporate bureaucracy to be compensated for vital medical needs. 45.8 million Americans, or 15.7% of the population, lack health insurance altogether^[64]. Addressing the cost and availability of health care is as important as changing the type of treatment provided.

The Ithaca Health Alliance is a non-profit, non-governmental, membership based organization dedicated to providing healthcare to all, particularly the uninsured. The annual dues of members (around $100) are pooled to fund a variety of projects designed to improve health, not generate profits for doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Members can access rebates, grants, bonuses, and loans for health exams, emergencies, and dental work. A similar approach has made health care possible for 200,000 poor people in 11 countries in Western Africa^[65].

Believing in pro-active, healthy living and informed health care choices, the Alliance maintains a library of books and videos on “healing modalities, anatomy, physiology, counseling, [and] preventive care” as a resource for its members. The Alliance is opening a free health care clinic in downtown Ithaca, New York..

The Alliance’s website can be visited at http://ithacahealth.org.

Mutual First Aid

Collectives of health providers like Boston Area Liberation Medics (BALM), Medical Activists of NY (MANY) and Washington, DC Action Medical Network (DAMN) have formed to provide immediate, on-site health care to people who suffer injury or illness at rallies or demonstrations, to provide free health and safety information to activists via publications and workshops, and to run free health clinics for striking workers. These collectives are non-heirchal, all volunteer, and run by consensus decisionmaking. Members include doctors, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and other trained caregivers, as well as laypersons who monitor groups in large demonstrations for health emergencies and call over appropriately trained persons as needed^[66]. More than just a function of protest culture, these collectives show the promise of trained individuals freely helping others as part of an effort to improve the state of the world, and hints to the role health care providers could play in a post-capitalist society.

For more information, visit BALM at http://www.bostoncoop.net/balm/, MANY at http://www.takethestreets.org/, and DAMN at http://damn.mahost.org/.

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

Established in the immediate aftermath of the Hurricane Katrine disaster, Algiers, New Orleans’ volunteer managed Common Ground Wellness Center has provided services to poor communities that had previously received little or or assistance from the government or bureaucratic relief agencies. Common Ground is run by a volunteer staff of locals and supporters from around the contry, “medics, doctors, cooks, communications technicians, and community organizers” (http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/09/1767321.php). Projects include “community garbage pick-up program; mobile kitchens to provide free hot meals to; a first aid clinic, and a mobile first aid station; and bicycles for volunteers and residents to transport aid around the area; and a free school for children.”

Collectively Run Community Centers

In a society where town squares have been replaced by strip malls, places for people to come together are vital. Thriving communities need places for adults and children alike to come together, learn about topics local and world affairs in ways that won’t be discussed on the evening news, exchange ideas, build affinity, work collectively on community service and advocacy projects, and appreciate artistic expression.

New York City’s venerable ABC NoRio, an entire building squatted^[1] to serve as a community center bringing together activists and artists while trying to diminish the professionalization and elitism of both^[67] offers a computer lab, zine library, resources for silkscreening, hardcore rock concerts, a kitchen used by NYC Food Not Bombs, and a darkroom.

Infoshops

Infoshops are another community-building institution committed to creating space in communities for expression and dialogue on radical ideas. Infoshops integrate elements of libraries, bookstores, cafes, and community centers. While some infoshops are based in squatted buildings, others operate out of rented storefronts to maximize exposure to the general public. The shelves of infoshops are filled with magazines and books by radical philosophers, exposes of injustices hidden by the corporate media, and practical guides to activism and anti-capitalist living. While most infoshops do sell books, many also have lending libraries that encourage people to both donate and borrow books. Infoshops are full of free publications pamphlets, newspapers, zines, and magazines. Alternative press publications that expose corporate hegemony and preach sedition rarely find their way into chain bookstores, so infoshops provide a critical venue for these voices to share information and ideas to people in a vast array of communities. Conversely, infoshops provide information to local communities from a vast array of sources that they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. In addition to publications, infoshops also provide space for poetry readings, music events, art exhibits, lectures, workshops, discussions with authors, slide presentations, and films.

Infoshops are run not only run for communities, but by them. They are staffed not by paid employees, but by local volunteers. Decisions are made not by an owner or manager but by the volunteers themselves, who participate in nonheirarchal collectives generally based on consensus decision-making policy.

Most infoshops actually encourage people to “hang out” and many have tables and cafes for this reason. Infoshops offer meeting space to activist groups, provide bulletin boards for notices on community events, and serve as points of convergence in moments of crisis, like after a violent police attack and mass arrest on a peaceful demonstration.

The infoshop concept has been adapted to the internet at http://infoshop.org.

Fighting Back

Efforts to build a more just and sustainable culture are a complement, not a replacement, to direct resistance to the destruction of ecosystems^[68]. Some campaigns combine both approaches, building communities of resistance that embody principles of ecological sustainability, egalitarianism, autonomy from state or corporate power, cooperative mutual aid, collective, consensus decision-making, and opposition to all forms of oppression inside and outside our movements.

To prevent logging of the less than five percent of original old growth forests left in North America^[69], communities of resistance have been forged in the tops of ancient trees in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. Tree villages are series of inhabitated, rudimentary treehouses on circular platforms, interconnected by networks of rope traverses, constructed largely of salvaged materials. Inhabitants of tree villages like Oregon’s Red Cloud Thunder pose an immediate impediment to logging operations. None of the trees connected by the village can be felled without putting everyone living in the tree village’s life at risk. Loggers, unwilling to risk murder charges, are thus forced to leave these trees standing.^[70]

Supporters on the ground provide critical supplies like food, mostly recovered from dumpsters or donated by stores, which are raised into the trees by pulleys, extending the sprit of solidarity and cooperation beyond the tree tops. Tree villages are truly intradependent communities where decisions are collectively and nonheirarchally for the benefit of the community and the forests they defend.

Defending Our Communities

It should come as little surprise that the capitalist system, based on an ideology that views fierce competition as a natural imperative, has attempted to crush these new approaches to living rather than co-exist or cede ground to them. Time and again, corporations, state institutions serving their interests, and corporate front groups have undermined such projects. Retail stores deliberately damage merchandise as they discard it to prevent scavenging. Sharing food is criminalized and Food Not Bombs activists are arrested on felonies^[71]. Squattersand the buildings torched^[72]. Community gardens are bulldozed.^[73] Respected alternative physicians are smeared as “quacks^[74].”Forest service agents forcibly remove ecodefenders from tree villages^[75]. Critical mass bike riders face mass arrests.

Just as we resist the destruction of biotic communities, we must also defend the communities, institutions, and practices of the new culture that we are building.(note to self: make circular and bring back to ecosystems)

The struggles to preserve our spaces and ways of life and resist their destruction powerfully dramatizes the conflict between the real needs of people trying to live decent, ethical, sustainable lives and a government more interested in defending the economic interests of landlords, car manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and wasteful retailers. People facing similar threats can build alliances to defend our communities. In New York City, the More Gardens! Coalition, a movement of community gardeners and supporters built a citywide campaign of resistance to the destruction of gardens, exposing the officials and private interests behind the destruction of the gardens, winning broad public sympathy^[76]. Along with education and protest, garden defenders chaining their bodies to stationary objects in gardens to blockade these cherished spaces from bulldozers^[77]. While the activists were eventually removed, these passionate defense efforts heightened public outcry against the destruction of these cherished spaces, to the point where the City was forced to agree to leave over 120 gardens unmolested.

If we are to build a revolutionary movement with the power to truly challenge the status quo, we must demonstrate that the principles we uphold offer not only planetary survival, but a better everyday life. We must recognize that for most working people, the threat of not being able to pay rent is a much more immediate than loss of biodiversity , threats to civil liberties, or nuclear war..

To build a truly revolutionary movement, we link our indictment of the horrors of the current system, things like factory farming, the Iraq war, and rainforest destruction with the sense that we offer a better way than the status quo to provide for people’s food, shelter, health, community, security, intellectual stimulation, and joy in their lives. When we build a movement that demonstrates the capacity to offer all of these things, while challenging the greed, misery, and destruction of megacorporations, their puppet government, and entire capitalist-industrialist model, then we can begin to build broad support and engagement in ecological resistance struggles, and finally have a real chance to liberate this world.

^[1] The building has since become legal.
^[1] http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/happy.html
^[2] http://www.bls.gov/cps/home.htm
^[3] http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/census/popcur.shtml
^[4] http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/interestrates.html
^[5] http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7107
^[6] http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Nader/CutCorpWelfare_Nader.html
^[7] http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0605-01.htm
^[8] http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2004/issue3/0304p34.asp
^[9] http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/96legacy/releases.6/14339.html
^[10] http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views03/1120-01.htm
^[11] http://www.sierraclub.org/comunidades/ingles
^[12] http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html
^[13] http://www.nap.edu/books/030909142X/html/15.html
^[14] http://www.csun.edu/~vceed002/health/docs/tv&health.html#influence
^[15] http://www.cfah.org/hbns/news/video03-17-04.cfm
^[16] http://www.nap.edu/books/030909142X/html/15.html
^[17] http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/releases/msc060203.html
^[18] http://www.organicconsumers.org/school/foodpyramid050405.cfm
^[19] http://www.nwlaborpress.org/2001/10-5-01HealthCare.html
^[20] http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w3.391v1/DC1
^[21] http://www.monitor.net/monitor/10-9-95/angry.html
^[22] http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/24016/
^[23] http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/28/EDGTH39PUG1.DTL
^[24] http://www.thehoya.com/news/031805/news2.cfm
^[25] http://www.edbriefs.com/usa96-97/usa05.19.97.html
^[26] http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/War_Peace/Economic_Draft.html
^[27] http://www.newdream.org/newsletter/growth.php
^[28] http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Thomas9.html This phenomenon is not limited to the most privileged, of course; urban communities of color face additional challenges to maintaining a sense of community, such as fear of police brutality keeping people off the streets. See http://www.ntic-us.org/publications/reports/Issue_92_fall_2003/safety.html
^[29] http://www.allanschwartz.com/mesmo/mes_0701.htm. In Australia, even government is beginning to recognize this problem. See http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/02/1075570358124.html?from=storyrhs
^[30] http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/dumpster.htm
^[31] http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/this_just_in/documents/02831864.asp
^[32] http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1140523
^[33] http://www.colum.edu/echo/back/spring05/features1.html
^[34] http://houstonpress.com/issues/2004-11-25/news/feature.html
^[35] http://www.rocklincoln.com/dumpsterdiving.htm
^[36] http://tristateobserver.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3330
^[37] http://www.paladin-press.com/authormo_1202.aspx
^[38] http://www.cat.org.au/skippy/
^[39] http://w3.tvi.edu/~cgulick/dda.htm
^[40] http://www.frugalhomemaker.com/articles/02/article2006.htm
^[41] http://www.streettech.com/archives_DIY/dumpsterTech.html
^[42] http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3609/lib_whyfreegan.html
^[43]http://www.redefiningprogress.org/media/clips/030527_sac.html
^[44] http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3609/lib_whyfreegan.html
^[45] ibid
^[46] http://frugalliving.about.com/od/savewhenshoppingforfood/a/blgleaning.htm
^[47] See for example, http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=5&ItemID=1389
^[48][48][48] http://www.girlrobot.com/blog/jim_casebolt_et_al.html
^[49] http://foodnotbombs.net/firstindex.html
^[50] http://www.primitivism.com/future-primitive.htm
^[51] http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_lifestyles/urban_forager/
^[52] http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/TV.Pages/VideoSeries.html
^[53] http://wildroots.org/ff.php
^[54] Support for this position can be found in http://www.primitivism.com/primitivist-critique.htm and http://www.primitivism.com/earth-civics.htm
^[55] Anarcho-primitivist thinking is not uncommon among those practicing the more urbanized forms of anti-capitalist living described in this article, many of whom see their lifestyles as attempts to embody elements of primitive lifestyles and values in the context of our present civilization, with hope of eventually pulling all of our society in their direction.
^[56] Mason, Jim, “An Unnatural Order” See http://www.lanternbooks.com/detail.html?session=c126e57f9d3bc16d4a4d9ddeb50654a0&cat=16&id=1590560817 for additional details on this book.
^[57] http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/06/1683917.php
^[58] http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=101
^[59] http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/about.shtml
^[60] http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12462
^[61] http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0203/et0203s18.html
^[62] http://www.bpdworld.org/alternative_treatments.php
^[63]http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/About_Hepatitis_pdf/1.1.1_Living_With_HepatitisC/CAM.pdf
^[64] http://www.cbpp.org/8-30-05health.htm
^[65] http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/28/news/africa.php
^[66] http://damn.mahost.org/about.php
^[67] http://abcnorio.org/about/about.html
^[68] For an in-depth strategic analysis of how resistance and alternative institution building can complement each other, see Brian Dominick’s An Introduction to Dual Power Strategy at http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2002/09/2403.shtml
^[69] http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/old_growth/
^[70] http://www.efn.org/~redcloud/direct.html
^[71] http://www.practicalanarchy.org/fnb_crass2.html
^[72] Eviction of CHARAS http://www.geocities.com/zorikh/charas.html and Casa del Sol http://www.ainfos.ca/05/jan/ainfos00040.html
^[73] http://www.terrain.org/essays/13/light.htm
^[74] http://www.quackpotwatch.org
^[75] http://www.contrast.org/treesit/archives/000011.html
^[76] http://www.moregardens.org/?q=node/4
^[77] http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~garten/Buch/Stoneenglisch.htm

http://freegan.info/?page_id=174

Steps to Becoming a Freegan.

Saturday 17 January, 2009.

Steps to Becoming a Freegan

Becoming a freegan goes much deeper than adopting a name or joining an organisation. It has more to do with changing our attitude, priorities and lifestyle to become more sustainable. It is important to recognise that no one does this perfectly and that there are many paths to greater sustainability.

We have reached a point in human history where fundamental changes are necessary, both in our relationship to one another and to the environment. However, it is much better that we take small steps than choose to take no steps at all. Each step we take toward greater sustainability should increase the likelihood that we choose to take further steps, as our lives become positively affected by the previous steps we've taken. It's been said 'a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'. How true!

Freegans see the current socio-economic system as being unsustainable mainly due to the irrational policies that underline it. These policies are short-term in nature and are generally based around preserving the vested interests of the ruling elite (e.g. gaining popularity/votes in a democratic system), rather than the long-term good of the entire planet.

We regularly become complicit with the irrationalities of this system, usually at two main points of interaction: (1) How we spend our money; and (2) Who we give our time to. Freegans look for ways to reduce the damage caused by their involvement with this system, by spending less and by using their time positively rather than in the pursuit of more money.

Freegans would like to see a world where money is not used any more, as people come to realise that it really is not needed. Money only exists because of mankind's distrust and greed. The alternative to this is trust and sharing. The more we share with one another, the more our trust grows and the more we make the alternative a reality rather than just a theory.

Ultimately, freegans would like to see the complete breakdown of the current, flawed economic system and a replacement to be set up, based around such precepts as community, altruism, and long-term thinking.

This isn't going to happen overnight. Unless radical changes are made, and made quickly, it is more realistic to expect that the environment will force us to make fundamental changes before people in power will choose to do so! However, freegans see the need to lead by example, because waiting for others to do the right thing only serves to perpetuate the problem.


A CHANGE IN ATTITUDE

Is it possible to separate what we think/believe from who we are? Not if we wish to be sincere. If we're not living it, then our words become hollow and hypocritical. However, the truth is, that we are all hypocrites to some degree. But we can reduce this inconsistency by making our lives more consistent with our beliefs. As we do this, we will become a clearer example and greater source of help to others.

In the West we are bombarded by an extremely individualistic, 'wants-rather-than-needs' ideology each day. We are heavily conditioned from an early age to carve out a life for ourselves and our families, without truly considering the impact our way of thinking and living has on the wider world.

The truth is that we are all interconnected and interdependent. In addition to this, the world has a finite amount of resources. As we near the end of the earth's oil and mineral resources, this is becoming more real to most of us. So when we choose to take more than our fair share, we need to think about how it will affect others (those who go without because of it), as well as how it is going to affect future generations, as there are less resources to go round for us all.

Consciously choosing to think about the negative impact that selfishness and greed has on us and others is an important step in the process of changing our attitudes. The knock-on effect of this should be that we will just naturally WANT to be more sustainable, and it will result in real changes.


A CHANGE IN PRIORITIES

Once our attitude changes, it is likely that our priorities will change too.

Most of us in the West are encouraged to accumulate enough wealth to become financially secure so we can afford the luxuries that we have come to take for granted over here. It is easy to for us to believe that this is quite acceptable, without ever questioning whether it is right and/or sustainable.

A good, basic definition for sustainability is a situation where everyone can indefinitely maintain the same lifestyle/practices as ourselves. If it does not work for everyone, and if it cannot work indefinitely, can we really say that it works at all? Regularly asking ourselves this question should lead to changes in our priorities.

Re-prioritizing our hierarchy of needs to become (more) sustainable is an intrinsic aspect of freeganism. At the top of most people's priority of needs in the West are such things as material prosperity, respectability, security, and good health; whereas freegans see such things as having purpose, a clear conscience, good relationships with others and with the environment, as being more important. Paradoxically, when we choose to put these more intrinsic rewards higher up on our list of priorities, usually we end up discovering that we don't need many of the material things we were pursuing previously.


A CHANGE IN LIFESTYLE

Changing our attitude and priorities is an important steps in changing our way of life. Below are some ideas and principles to assist this process further.

(1) Sell and Simplify

It's healthy to take a long, hard look at everything we own and to ask ourselves questions like, 'Do I really need this?'; 'When was the last time I actually used it?'; and/or 'Could someone else benefit more from having this item than me wasting it by letting it sit idle?'

Selling stuff increases the chances that it will go to someone who will use it, but giving stuff away feels good, as long as you know that it is going to someone who will make good use of it. Usually, once we've responsibly discarded useless junk, and/or re-distributed useful items that we currently have no need of, we end up forgetting about these material items soon afterwards. Occasionally you will regret that you parted with something that you later needed, but it is usually offset by the benefits of having simplified your life. A great Internet tool for facilitating this simplification process is 'Freecycle', which enables people to advertise items they wish to give away for free to the first person who comes along to pick it up. Alternatively, donating items, or the proceeds of selling unused items, directly to needy people is a great way to feel good while simplifying our lives.

Being surrounded by clutter creates an untidy, disorganised feel. It also makes it harder to find items we need, from amongst so many other belongings. Have you ever bought something because you couldn't find what you were looking for, only to have it turn up later, leaving you with an extra that you do not need? This is another way that having too many possessions can create waste.

If we experience a genuine need to purchase items, it is much better to buy good quality, second-hand goods, that have been made to last. We live in a disposable, 'throw-away' culture, where goods can often be bought cheaply because they have been made to break down. Because they cost so little to begin with, we often miss the point that their disposal represents a much higher cost to the environment. Millions of cheaply-made, often unrecyclable items are discarded in landfill each day.

(2) Recycle and Re-use

Being creative with what we have, not only saves money and resources; it's great fun too! Getting the most out of an item is another form of waste prevention. When we buy a replacement item because we are too lazy to continue using or mending the existing one, our increased consumption negatively influences both the environment and ourselves.

There is a wonderful joy in being a good caretaker of what we have, in contrast to what is collectively called 'consumerism'. The buzz we feel by engaging in unnecessary retail therapy (shopping sprees) is often followed by feelings of emptiness and disappointment. Much of what we buy fails to live up to our pre-shopping expectations.

Advertisers, marketeers and retailers spend literally billions each year on elaborate campaigns and strategies aimed at deceiving people into spending billions more than they need to spend. They play on our fears and greed, and use our natural urges (e.g. the sex drive) to manipulate us into purchasing unnecessary luxury items. We need to recognise this and consciously resist it.

The fact is, we need very little to be content. The best way for us to see through the lie of consumerism is to realise that we don't have to play by the rules of this game at all... a game that isn't actually favourable to us anyway.

A popular freegan practice which embodies this concept well is 'dumpster-diving', or 'skipping', where usable resources, such as groceries, are liberated from the backs of supermarkets or industrial skips. This is the aspect of freeganism which has attracted the most media attention, although it is probably the one least used by the masses (often for fear of what others will think of us, but just as often because of ignorance or misinformation about such things as the dangers connected to it). Many freegans have found that they have been able to live almost entirely using this form of provision. There is much more information available for those who are prepared to take this next giant leap toward reducing their own consumerism and recycling the waste that an affluent society is guilty of.

Summing up, a major aspect of freeganism is learning to be resourceful and responsible with what we have in order to get the most out of it. Choosing to do this will naturally lead to us reducing our consumption levels.

(3) Communication and Community

Considering the impact our life has on the wider community should lead to us investigating how others live, what their needs are and how we can help to fill them.

The experience, skills, and expertise of others is often overlooked and wasted in today's individualistic, divided world. Helping one another and learning from one another are two simple ways to be more sustainable, and more fulfilled. Sharing in this way can be extremely energy efficient too. For example, a few people cooking up a meal for many others on a rotational basis can lead to drastic savings in gas, electricity, water, time, money, materials etc.

Communication is also important in terms of developing positive relationships. In our pursuit for more wealth and possessions, relationships often suffer and we end up having less time to enjoy life. It is better to work less and to enjoy the time we spend working and playing, than to slave away in a job our heart is not in, simply to secure a large pay packet.

Freeganism is about being positively connected to others and having the courage to do what we believe is right even if by system standards 'it does not pay'.

It is much easier to stay inspired with the ideals and practices we try to follow if we find fellowship with other sincere people who are also attempting to live out what they believe. Encouraging one another is another important aspect of being a freegan.

(4) "Best use of resources"

Resources are not just physical entities. Time and energy are valuable resources too and need to be factored in to any decision-making process, especially when considering issues of sustainability.

Other considerations such as cost (financial and otherwise) and ethics (relating to such things as the impact our actions may have on others for good, or bad), also need to be considered.

For example, if we spend a lot of time, energy and/or cost (in terms of fuel) on searching for free food, the benefit (i.e. finding free food) may end up being offset by our additional expenditure of resources (i.e. time, energy and cost). Although some hard-line freegans may disagree, there does seem to be a time and place for spending money, as long as we are sincerely weighing up the criteria for making good, sustainable decisions and not just being lazy and/or greedy.

If we are consistent in weighing up these criteria when making decisions, it is likely that our decisions will be wiser and lead to more sustainable practices.

Being considerate begins with taking the time to consider the bigger picture.


CONCLUSION

Being a freegan is more about following principles than about being all in (a "member") or all out (a "non-member") of a group. It is impossible to list every conceivable freegan action one could take. Whether we choose to dumpster-dive, cycle instead of drive, compost, turn off lights that aren't being used, or choose to volunteer our time helping out in the local or wider community, we are becoming part of this movement whenever we are letting ourselve be guided by sensitivity and consideration of others, and of the world we all share. With the right attitude our list of priorities will change and so will our way of life.

This may not be exactly what someone who is looking for a complete freegan rule book wishes to hear! However it is the best advice I can offer and the surest way, in my opinion, to become a 'better' freegan.

Good luck!

http://freegan.org.uk/pages/view_article.php?id=11

To Be of Use

To Be of Use

Part of having self-respect and getting respect from others is about, not only respecting others, but helping others and doing work that is useful and meaningful. I believe that each of us wants to do things that make a difference--and as we do them, we feel better about ourselves.

Of course, doing meaningful income producing work in today's economy is a near impossibility. A friend of mine recently quoted me lyrics from a song we both knew: "Your life is more than your work and your work is more than your job..." (I can't find the song on the internet but I'm pretty sure the folk group Bright Morning Star recorded it and maybe someone in the group wrote it.) Our real work seldom gets paid but it may be the most useful things that we do.

Of course this is all related to my post last month on 'People Who Need People' (6/6/09). I think that helping others is some of the more useful work that can be done; other than trying to make the world a better place (aka Social Change) which, of course, really does help others, if not directly then in the long run. What I'm saying here is that being useful not only feels good, but I believe it's a basic human need.


Resources:
Ram Dass and Paul Gorman, How Can I Help?--I mentioned this book in my resources to my 'People Who Need People' post; it's full of challenging and sometimes helpful guidance; a very condensed, 'digested' version is available online and though I think it may be out of print, the book is available from used book stores as well as Ram Dass Tapes
Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin, Your Money Or Your Life--A program for achieving financial independence that deals with the way that consumerism ruins our lives and the earth and advocates nine steps to increase financial security--I mentioned this in my resources to my post on 'Protection from Poverty' (6/18/09)
William Morris, "Useful Work versus Useless Toil"--An 1896 analysis of what work is actually useful, as opposed to what benefits the capitalist system instead of people (also on the internet here)
Marsha Sinetar, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow--A guide to developing 'Right Livelihood'
Barbara Sher, I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was--A motivational guide to figuring out what you really want to do

Quote of the Day: "The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies... The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real." - Marge Piercy

Squateři z Truhlářské: Zvali lidi na pokrmy z 'odpadků'

Včera 21:24

Suateři z Milady, kteří nyní bydlí v Truhlářské ulici v centru Prahy, uspořádali pro obyvatele ze sousedství první "freeganskou" večeři. Uvařili ji z potravin sebraných z odpadkových kontejnerů u supermarketů, jimž vypršela záruční lhůta, ale jsou ještě poživatelné.

Dvorem se nesla lákavá vůně vegetariánského barbecue ze sojového masa, v nabídce byl také mrkvový salát a řada dalších laskomin. Několik vrstevníků ze sousedních domů skutečně na večeři přišlo.

"Navařili jsme soju a veganské záležitosti, jako salát, mrkvový salát, smaženou soju a bramborovou kaši. Chystali jsme to od dvanácti nebo od jedné hodiny, je to jídlo pro 30, 40 lidí," řekl Štěpán Mareček, který v Truhlářské nebydlí, ale patří ke komunitě.

Squateři vytvořili na dvoře "výletní restauraci" s řadou stolků a židliček. Na velký stůl vystavili mísy s pokrmy a obstarali také několik bas piva, aby hostům dobře trávilo. Tradice Volksküche, kuchyně pro lidi, vznikla ve 20. letech minulého století v Berlíně jako výraz solidarity se sociálně slabšími a z potřeby utužování lokálních komunit ve městě.

Pozvání na večeři přijala například Dominika Tomečková, která řekla, že bydlí ve vedlejším domě. Na rozdíl od lidí, kterým squateři vadí, jí prý noví sousedé vyhovují. "Jestli je tady někdo nechce, je to jejich věc, nebudu to komentovat," řekla. Zprostředkovaně se na přípravě večeře podílela, protože půjčila squaterům svoji kuchyni, aby měli kde vařit.

Obyvatel squatu a člen komunity, který nechtěl prozradit své jméno, řekl, že zde bydlí dva týdny a už "mají tolik kámošů", že mohou pořádat společné akce. Zatím se zabydlují, postupně zařizují kuchyň, upravili si sklepní prostory a sociální zázemí.

K večeři pro veřejnost uvedl, že je to první pokus v tomto duchu. "Komunitní vaření se praktikuje hlavně v Německu, i komunitní sousedství, aby se lidé poznali v tom odcizeném světě, protože jídlo spojuje, proto to děláme a asi to budeme dělat každý týden," řekl.

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http://www.blesk.cz/clanek/zpravy-domaci/119634/squateri-z-truhlarske-zvali-lidi-na-pokrmy-z-odpadku.html