[Scpg] Transition culture, permaculture, human rights and moral courage

[LBUZZELL at aol.com]

An important think piece  on the social and moral dimensions of Transition 
and  Permaculture
 
Linda
 
_http://www.energybulletin.net/49867_ (http://www.energybulletin.net/49867) 
Transition culture, social tolerance and moral  courage 
Why permaculture activists must work for human rights and  social justice 
By Lisa Rayner 
Permaculture began as a foresighted response to the needs  of energy 
descent. Initially, permaculturalists focused on food production. As  the movement 
has evolved, it has begun to merge with the Transition Culture  movement. 
There is an emerging awareness of the social side of descent culture  among 
permaculture activists. Transition Culture spurns individualist  survivalism 
and emphasizes the need for neighbors to work together to make our  
communities more resilient. The Transition movement is rooted in community.  
As high-energy societies like ours descend from the peak  and experience 
accelerating levels of economic and political instability, we are  at risk of 
losing centuries-worth of human rights gains. It’s a well-known fact  that 
resource scarcity leads to conflict and the mass migration of refugees,  
which in turn have an unfortunate tendency to inflame xenophobic,  
in-group/out-group tendencies in human nature, with a resultant scapegoating and  
persecution of minorities. 
Permaculture is well-suited to take on the mantle of  human rights in the 
Transition Era. Permaculture ethics include “Care of People”  and “Share the 
Surplus,” which encompass the psychological, social, political  and 
economic dimensions of human life. Permaculturalists have an opportunity to  bring 
to the table new approaches to social justice issues. Permaculture  
practitioners value diversity and the opportunity to work with the inherent  
characteristics of all living beings. We understand that to impose conformity is  
to work against nature. We also know that each function is supported by many  
(diverse) elements, and that there is much creativity to be found in the  
principle that the problem (of diversity) is the solution. 
Just as the time is now to implement core permaculture  strategies such as 
creating soil, planting trees and building water catchments,  it’s also the 
time to work on repairing human relationships at the community  level. 
Ideally, these elements ought to be in place before a local crisis  occurs. The 
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 demonstrates the chaos and  suffering 
that can happen when a community lacks such social  resiliency. 
As we work to make our communities thriving places full  of food forests 
and restored wild landscapes, I want to ensure that all the  people who live 
in those places experience freedom and equality. My vision for  the future 
does not include feudalism, warlords, slavery, pogroms or  witch-burnings. I 
fear a return to a world in which women lack control over  their bodies and 
lives, and where religious, ethnic and sexual minorities are  socially 
shunned, economically marginalized or at risk of physical  violence. 
My fear is not an abstract concept based on news reports  or the academic 
study of human history. It stems from multiple experiences of  exclusion, 
intolerance, and emotional, physical and sexual abuse. I’m a  bisexual, atheist 
woman who stutters. Throughout my school years, I was the  target of 
ostracization and bullying by my peers. I endured years of daily fear  and 
depression and survived two suicide attempts when I was 18. As an adult, I  
survived sexual assault and domestic violence. I will live with post traumatic  
stress disorder for the rest of my life. As a permaculture practitioner, my  
vision for the future includes me, as well as others who know what it’s like 
to  be a target of victimization and exclusion. Because of the experiences I 
have  lived through, I know that my work to establish a working local food 
system and  a relocalized economy is not enough. I also volunteer my time 
working for  expanded human and civil rights.  
Our debt to the  Enlightenment 
Despite the downsides of the European Enlightenment, such  as extreme 
individualism and global capitalism’s valuation of monetary gain for  a fortunate 
few at the expense of exploited peoples and ecosystems, the  Enlightenment 
also brought good developments for much of humanity, most notably  a belief 
in cosmopolitanism -- a philosophy of social tolerance and inclusivity  
towards traditionally oppressed religious and social groups. The Enlightenment  
began in the 17th century and blossomed during the 18th  century. It 
transformed feudal European societies in which Church and State were  a single 
entity into semblances of democratic ones, however imperfect they  continue to 
be. It ended the religious terrorism of the Inquisition and the  bloody, 
protracted Catholic-Protestant wars of the Reformation. It expanded  civil 
rights and liberties and promoted religious ecumenicalism. It instituted a  
conception of secular democracy that allowed members of ethnic, racial, and  
religious minority groups to begin to view themselves with dignity and to dare  
to envision themselves to someday become full and equal members of society.  
The last few centuries has seen the unfolding of a  succession of human and 
civil rights victories in societies which adopted  Enlightenment values and 
political systems:  
    *   freedom of  religion, thought, speech, and the press 
    *   the ending of  indentured servitude and chattel slavery 
    *   the gradual  expansion of voting rights, first for non-propertied 
Christian white men, then  men of color and lastly women 
    *   labor and  children’s rights
Today the gains continue with the movements for equal  rights for gay, 
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, immigrant rights and  members of 
unpopular minority religious groups like atheists and  Wiccans. 
However, the expansion of civil equality is not  inevitable. Martin Luther 
King, Jr. made famous a quote by 19th  century abolitionist Theodore Parker: 
“The arc of the moral universe is long,  but it bends toward justice.” It’
s a nice sentiment, but civil rights gains have  never been given to anyone 
simply for the asking. Expanded rights have been  obtained at great cost to 
the lives and health of generations of social justice  activists. Many of 
these civil rights movements took decades to come to  fruition. Many are not 
fully completed today. Furthermore, not everyone living  in modern secular 
democracies accepts the cosmopolitan world view. Religious  fundamentalists 
and other ideologues continue to promote belief in the absolute  truth of 
their particular religious or ideological teachings and the idea that  their 
holy texts should be the law of the land. 
Moreover, peak oil theorists have pointed out that  expansions of human 
rights happened concurrently with the Industrial Revolution,  as Western 
societies first harnessed coal, and later petroleum and natural gas.  The wealth 
gained from the expanding use of fossil energy allowed an ever  greater 
percentage of people to participate in society in ways heretofore only  
experienced by members of the aristocratic classes. As they did so, the common  
people began to demand full inclusion in political and economic life. As  
remaining supplies of fossil fuels dwindle, the economic pie will contract.  
Globally, the “haves” will do everything in their power to protect their wealth  
from the “have-nots.” Moreover, during times of crisis, human beings have a 
 tendency to fall back upon traditional religious and cultural beliefs that 
are  not necessarily supportive of human diversity. 
History demonstrates that reversals of rights happen on a  regular basis. 
Wars erupt, political regimes go out of power and civilizations  collapse: 
    *   After the  United States  abandoned Reconstruction in the South, 
black people lost newly-gained rights  like equality in public accommodations. 
The institution of Jim Crow laws  forced blacks into “separate and unequal”
 lives under threat of race- and  religion-based terrorism for another 100 
years.
    *   Jews and gays  enjoyed many new freedoms in  Weimar  Germany, only  
to end up in concentration camps within a decade after Germans elected 
Hitler  to power. 
    *   The 1994 Rwandan  genocide shows how quickly neighbors can turn on 
one another in horrifyingly  violent ways. 
    *   After the 2001  terrorist attacks on the United  States, the Bush 
Administration rolled back  numerous constitutional rights and endorsed the 
use of torture. 
    *   During the first  few chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina 
devastated New  Orleans, local law enforcement and communications  systems 
collapsed. White supremacists took advantage of the breakdown and shot  an unknown 
number of black men, simply for being black. 
    *   Today, women and  girls in  Afghanistan  and Iraq have  lost 
recently-acquired freedoms to go out in public without a male relative or  to 
attend school. GLBT people are being executed by death  squads.
Since Barack Obama became president of the United States,  we have 
witnessed a series of murders by right-wing, anti-government zealots,  including the 
killings of Mexican immigrants by border militia members, a  security guard 
at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,  the assassination of a 
high-profile abortion provider, and the killing of random  women by a 
fundamentalist Christian. 
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that, “Almost a  decade after 
largely disappearing from public view, right-wing militias,  ideologically driven 
tax defiers and sovereign citizens are appearing in large  numbers around 
the country. … A key difference this time is that the federal  government — 
the entity that almost the entire radical right views as its  primary enemy —
 is headed by a black man. That, coupled with high levels of  non-white 
immigration and a decline in the percentage of whites overall in  America, has  
helped to racialize the Patriot movement, which in the past was not 
primarily  motivated by race hate. … 
“‘This frequently happens when elections favor the  political left and the 
society is seen as moving toward greater social equality  or away from 
traditional societal hierarchies,’ Chip Berlet, a long-time analyst  of the 
radical right at Political Research Associates, said in a June  newsletter. ‘In 
this scenario, it is easier for right-wing demagogues to  successfully 
demonize liberals,’ immigrants and others.” 
The need to protect the values of secular cosmopolitanism  will be 
essential during the chaos of energy descent. First, humans have a  tendency to 
associate with others of similar characteristics, interests and  values. 
Throughout human history, it has been easiest for people to identify  most closely 
with kin groups. In today’s suburban car culture, for example, many  people 
have little contact with their neighbors, who may be very unlike them  
culturally or religiously. Second, swelling numbers of refugees fleeing from  
war, rising sea levels, drought and other regional crises will lead to 
increased  encounters between groups under conditions of resource scarcity and  
overpopulation. In The Human Rights  Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches 
and Documents from the Bible to the  Present, philosopher Richard Rorty 
explains, “The tougher things are, the  more you have to be afraid of, the more 
dangerous your situation, the less you  can afford the time or effort to think 
about what things might be like for  people with whom you do not 
immediately identify.” As the unfolding energy  transition makes it necessary for 
neighbors to cooperate with one another to  meet basic needs for food, shelter 
and health care, we will have to learn how to  work together despite 
sometimes deep divisions in our cultural and religious  value systems. 
Community, inclusion and social  tolerance 
As champions of rebuilding community, permaculturalists  tend to emphasize 
the positives of closer associations with, and reliance upon,  our 
neighbors. However, it is wise to remember that small, self-reliant  communities can 
also have their downsides if we do not explicitly endorse  cosmopolitan 
values. The necessary return to self-sufficient community life  holds two 
dangers for minorities and women: the persecution of people within a  community 
and intolerance towards strangers from outside the  community. 
Inside a community, social norms may be narrow and  stifling. As people who 
grew up in small, traditional communities oftentimes  know, everyone knows 
your business and feels entitled to tell you how to live  your life. Anyone 
who stands out as “different” may be subject to ostracism and  persecution. 
The Amish illustrate the dangers of in-group social  policing. First, I 
want to emphasize that I very much appreciate many of the  characteristics of 
Amish society: their simplicity of living, their care for the  land, their 
pacifism, and their live-and-let-live attitude toward outsiders.  However, it 
is also well-known that the Amish practice shunning against members  who 
transgress their values. If someone is truly violating basic norms of  decency, 
such as abusing a child, shunning may be entirely appropriate. It is  good 
to keep in mind that the Amish have no formal system of police, courts or  
law. Shunning is the only method they have to deal with those they view as  
troublemakers. As we return to localized community life, we, too, may have to 
 revive local methods of social control. On the other hand, shunning 
someone who  simply doesn’t “fit in,” for whatever reason, is a form of violence. 
I know from  personal experience in school just how emotionally damaging 
shunning can be.  Shunning can kill. 
Transition Culture activist Sharon Astyk wrote a March  2009 blog entry on 
her Casaubon’s Book Web site entitled, “The Role of Religious  Communities 
in the Long Emergency.” The essay discusses how existing,  self-reliant 
religious communities may serve both as blueprints and disaster  response 
centers during times of crisis. Astyk says that while she and her  husband are 
observant Jews, they have never had a problem getting along with  their 
conservative Christian neighbors in their rural farming  community. 
“(R)eligious communities are going to have a large and  powerful role in 
the future -- one that ideally, we’d begin shaping and  preparing for today.  
This is one of the reasons I’m never so  delighted as when I’m asked to 
talk to religious communities -- because in many  ways, I think that they 
provide an existing infrastructure that is potentially  powerfully adaptable to 
the life we will be living. The whole project of  Adapting-In-Place involves 
using what you’ve already got -- and one of the tools  we have is religious 
infrastructure, which provides things that few other  institutions in our 
society do. … (T)he reality is that there are few secular  institutions that 
are prepared to fill the needs that people have at moments of  crisis -- this 
is what religious communities tend to do very well -- they offer  people 
access to familiar, structural ways to deal with events that change your  
world. ” 
I agree with Astyk on her first point. Existing,  functional communities, 
of whatever kind, will become centers of learning and  assistance during the 
coming decades. However, I have serious reservations about  her belief that 
religiously-based communities are automatically a good thing for  everyone. 
It all depends on whether or not a group’s beliefs include the valuing  of 
diversity and cosmopolitanism. 
Some of the blog commenters took issue with this point,  too. One commenter 
stated, “I am actually rather afraid of ending up “the only  gay in the 
village” surrounded by a pitch-fork (bible, torah, qur’an) wielding  group of 
people, out for a scape-goat….Is this the flip-side of the coin  (community 
vs. exclusion)? How do you view these fears and what would we need to  do 
to prevent a reversion to earlier forms of religion in case tshtf (the shit  
hits the fan)?” 
I have had both good and bad experiences with religious  communities, 
depending upon whether or not the members hold a cosmopolitan  world-view. I have 
been working for the last few years on GLBT equality. The  group of people 
I work with is diverse, GLBT and heterosexual, religious and  non-religious. 
It has been a joy to work with liberal Christians who worship at  “open and 
affirming” churches (churches that accept GLBT people as full and  equal 
members). On the other hand, our main opposition has come from  fundamentalist 
Christian churches whose theology includes the belief that being  gay or 
transgender is a sin -- and the sin must be hated. 
In 2008, the city of  Flagstaff held a series of public  forums on our group
’s sample non-discrimination ordinance. I was appalled to  hear person 
after person from these fundamentalist churches get up in front of  their 
neighbors and claim that gay people are perverts and pedophiles and that  hiring 
GLBT people violated their value system. The disgust and hate was  palpable. 
The threat of violence hung thickly in the air. Those of us leading  the 
effort to pass the ordinance watched our backs as we returned home from  those 
meetings. 
Our local Planned Parenthood clinic is a target of  another group of 
Christian fundamentalists. They illegally harass patients and  employees with 
bullhorns, stick their heads through open car windows and charge  into the 
clinic waiting room to proselytize. As a permaculturalist, I strongly  support 
efforts to stabilize and lower population through contraceptive use and  safe 
and legal abortion. I also strongly believe in the right of women to  
control their own bodies. I am among the one-third of women who have had an  
abortion. I help organize weekly support rallies in front of the clinic. During  
times when the anti-choice protestors are not present, we hold signs of 
simple  affirmation such as, “I support Planned Parenthood” and “Honk for women’
s  health.”  
In both cases, I have little trust in such people to  treat me in a decent 
and caring manner, much less as an equal in a democracy.  Would they help me 
in an emergency? If local law enforcement broke down, how  would they 
behave towards their GLBT or non-Christian neighbors if they knew  nobody was 
watching? 
People of color experience another form of persecution  within their own 
communities -- racial profiling. In 2007, the American Civil  Liberties Union 
held a racial profiling forum in a  Flagstaff neighborhood with large  
populations of Native Americans and Hispanics. I had heard rumors of police  
unequally enforcing bicycle safety laws based on race. The forum left no doubt  
that this was in fact a significant problem. One man described in detail the 
 trauma of being stopped by police and harassed for simply walking back to 
his  own home after dark (a policeman told him he was “walking on the wrong 
side of  the street”). Another speaker confirmed the ubiquitousness of being 
stopped by  police for “WWI” -- Walking While Indian. 
There  are many examples of the dangers of xenophobia towards outsiders. 
For example,  during the crisis of the Black Plague in 14th century  Europe, 
up to one-third of the population died within a  few desperate decades. 
Without the knowledge of modern science, people fell back  upon a familiar 
scapegoat -- the Jews. Jews were accused of poisoning wells in  Christian 
villages. Christians banded together to burn down Jewish villages.  Thousands of 
Jews were murdered. In spring 2009, swine flu originating in  Mexico was in  
the headlines. Here in the  U.S.,  anti-immigrant right-wingers chose to 
scapegoat poor Mexican immigrants for the  epidemic. Never mind that the mutated 
virus appears to have originated in an  American-owned Smithfield Confined 
Animal Feeding Operation housing nearly one  million hogs, with large manure 
lagoons that provide a perfect  breeding ground for pathogens. 
Incorporating human rights and social justice into our  work 
Human beings are capable of living egalitarian lives  without fossil fuels. 
Many hunter-gatherer societies testify to the fact it is  possible, though 
not inevitable. Human nature includes both  cooperative/altruistic and 
competitive/“us versus them” tendencies. Our  empathetic and cooperative 
tendencies must be consciously cultivated in everyday  life if we are to create a 
non-violent, democratic future without fossil fuels.  It will take constant 
vigilance to remind people that diversity can strengthen  communities.  
Transition Initiatives are taking tentative steps to be  socially 
inclusive. For instance, the 2008 Transition Cities Conference in  Nottingham,  UK 
included a Diversity  Workshop with the theme, “Connecting beyond the comfort 
zone.” The Transition Handbook author Rob  Hopkins summed up some of the key 
issues that arose during the workshop as  including: 
    *   Beyond white,  accents, middle class, ‘usual suspects’ 
    *   ‘We’ as opposed to  ‘them’ 
    *   Working with  different faith communities 
    *   Social justice,  poverty and discrimination 
    *   Discomfort/curiosity 
    *   Celebrating  difference
As David Holmgren points out in Future Scenarios, we don’t know what the  
far side of energy descent will look like. We can only work from where we are 
 now and use our knowledge and skills to help ease our communities down the 
path  of Transition in the most humane ways possible. We can begin the 
process by  searching for common ground rooted in a sense of place. Conceptions 
of human  rights as developed during the Enlightenment are sure to change 
along with  everything else. As nations break down into smaller bioregional 
entities, the  burden of protecting the rights of women and minorities will 
shift from the  State to local governments and other community associations, 
in other words, to  us. We must learn to stand up for one  another and to 
solve problems without resorting to scapegoating and violence.  
This year I have begun to organize people interested in  Transition issues 
in my neighborhood. Naturally, I began by reaching out to  people I already 
knew and liked -- people who share my values. Politically, I  know that 
about 80 percent of the voters in my precinct can be categorized as  liberal or 
progressive. However, the other 20 percent are not. As we work to  establish 
a neighborhood association, we increasingly interact with neighbors  who do 
not share our core beliefs and values. We are learning as we go  along. 
A few ideas: when you do community organizing around  Transition issues, 
reach out to people with differing religious and political  views, of 
different races and ethnicities and economic classes than you, and  especially to 
stigmatized minorities like immigrants and GLBT people. Make a  special effort 
to include “invisible” people like the elderly and mentally and  
physically disabled. Include explicit discussions about diversity, inclusion and  
social tolerance during neighborhood potlucks and other community activities.  
Don’t be afraid to admit your own biases and stereotypes. Remind yourselves  
frequently that you are creating new cultures that draw upon the creativity 
 inherent in diversity. 
What human rights concerns are most important in your  community? Are 
racial divisions preventing deeper community ties from forming?  Are immigration 
and border security issues leading to expressions of hate and  physical 
violence? Are the religious “culture wars” creating animosity between  
neighbors? Are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people legally protected  
against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations? Are  
local permaculture projects inclusive of people with physical  disabilities? 
It is tempting to focus on similarities and shared  interests and avoid 
areas of disagreement. However, ignoring community divisions  is 
counterproductive. I agree with Mohandas Gandhi that true peace and harmony  cannot be 
attained until a conflict is brought into the open and dealt with in  an 
assertive, nonviolent manner. 
Authentic community life cannot exist unless people are  honest with one 
another about who they are and refuse to sanction prejudice and  
discrimination. 
During my city’s discussions about the human rights  ordinance, the 
opposition accused advocates of the ordinance of “bringing  division and tension to 
Flagstaff  where there was none” -- an emotionally painful lie that 
intimidates many people  from speaking up. It’s a tactic used repeatedly through 
the centuries to silence  supporters of social justice. Don’t fall for it. 
One way to ease the process is to help your neighbors  learn to 
differentiate between ideas  and people: It’s OK, even useful, to  have vigorous 
political and theological discussions, something Americans tend to  avoid out of 
fear of offending others or losing a superficial sense of  belonging. On the 
other hand, it’s not OK to stereotype and discriminate against  people 
because they belong to a particular religious or cultural  group. 
The moral courage to speak up in defense of our fellow  human beings 
requires inner strength. The most difficult acts of moral courage  are not those 
involving a “right” versus a “wrong.” Moral courage is most  necessary 
during situations that pit a right versus a right. Group loyalty is  one such 
right. Many people avoid confronting prejudice and discrimination  because it 
might require the need to transcend group loyalty and criticize one’s  own 
neighbors, friends or family members. Such situations are emotionally  
wrenching and can put you at personal risk of becoming a target yourself.  
Vow to never be a bystander when you witness  stereotyping, prejudice or 
discrimination. The apathy of bystanders can lead to  a loss of faith in 
humanity -- something that is crucial to successful energy  descent. Speak up 
whenever you hear someone making a slur or bigoted comment  about a stigmatized 
minority. Victims of harassment and violence say that  knowing that 
bystanders knew what was happening and yet chose not to intervene  is highly 
traumatic. As Holocaust survivor, writer and human rights activist  Elie Wiesel 
says, “To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of  all.” 
“Come out” as a member or ally of women and stigmatized  minorities. As 
GLBT people can attest, coming out is not a one-time event. It is  an 
uncomfortable process that lasts a lifetime. However, making yourself visible  
humanizes you and the group you are defending. 
The Southern Poverty Law Center has an excellent  publication that 
discusses how to confront prejudice and intolerance called  “Speak Up! Responding to 
Everyday Bigotry.” It is available for download at 
_www.tolerance.org/speakup/index.html_ (http://www.tolerance.org/speakup/index.html) . 
Lisa Rayner is a  permaculturist and Transition Town community organizer in 
Flagstaff, Arizona. She is the author of the permaculture book  Growing 
Food in the Southwest Mountains, The Sunny Side of Cooking solar cookbook  and 
her latest book Wild Bread, wwwLisaRayner.com.  
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