Just incredible, Tereza. My wish is that a movie is made out of this story. We need these stories to feed our imagination. Thank you for feeding my imagination!
That would be a great movie, marta! I remember thinking many years ago how insoluble US interference in Latin America seemed to be. And then the US got distracted by Africom and the Middle East, and it didn't take long for some hopeful sprouts to pop up. I think we're looking at that possibility in the not-distant future.
1. Never underestimate what the protective power of mothers can achieve.
2. "Participatory democracy based on their indigenous Purépecha traditions": Long term viability of a revolution necessitates that it be anchored in the civilizational heritage of a society.
Fadi, I've been wanting to tell you that I read about the Jewish Brigade from your link and concur--what were they doing for 15 mos after the end of the war that England found alarming? A link in that article led me to this one: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/british-white-paper-of-1939. On May 23, 1939, the British Gov't decides NOT to create a separate state for Israel and to limit Jewish immigration. Three months later, Hitler's 'Special Military Operation' to rescue ethnic German being maligned in now-Poland is deemed to trigger obligations of mutual defense, seen as the start of WWII. This article, that I 'happened' to open next, compares Putin's SMO in Ukraine to Hitler's: https://thegoodcitizen.live/p/for-no-reason-at-all. I don't know how anyone can deny the connection between Zionism & WWII. Thanks for that rabbit hole/ link!
Thank you Tereza! Another time you reveal something important, I had no idea about. How distorted our knowledge of history, and accordingly our perception of the truth!!
The comment I posted:
WOW... I had absolutely no idea about the persecution of German minority in Poland!
I agree, same playbook as was used later in Ukraine. The only difference being, UK & US instead of UK & France.
Stories like this need powerful amplification!! This one really reminds me of the Battle of Athens, another de-amplified example of a community shaking off blood-sucking parasites.
I would totally write a screenplay for either of those stories if I thought it could be produced.
Great essay, T. Thank you for bringing Cheran into my consciousness!
Lovely synchronicities concerning the subject of the era. I look forward to further fleshing out of their system. I believe anarchy's the only way forward following the fall of those who should not (will not) be. Thank you, Tereza.
I'm in complete agreement but might reverse the order. I think that a system of anarchy, well thought out, needs to precede their fall. I've been thinking that what my system does is leave the economic system of capitalism in place, and the socialist system of government that enables capitalism, but shifts ownership of the capital (homes) to backing a supplemental and voluntary anarchist economy.
That means that you're not responsible for maintaining people's 'quality of life'--something that's bound to decline without the slave labor of the rest of the world. Nor do you need to be responsible for fixing all the damages to people caused by the capitalist system--that's still the job of the socialist gov't. You can merely add new money in a system of reciprocity. And you write the rules for that money, rule by rules not by rulers. Thank you, sue!
"Other words for anarchy are community self-governance and small-scale sovereignty. I’m going to be talking about Appalachia and showing why standing up to government and corporations isn’t just for Mexico. These days, we all need to learn more about anarchy and what it really is."
Yes, understanding self-governance is quickly becoming essential.
It's such an encouraging story. The town of Cherán as example of what can be done when enough members of the community realize their own power.
As I'm learning from your book, How to Dismantle an Empire (great education!) size really does matter, when it comes to self-governance.
I'm glad you picked up on that full quote, Kathleen. Certainly another word trick has been associating anarchy with chaos, wanton violence and destruction. Nothing could be further from the truth! I was just reading about Hezbollah in Lebanon warning those living by military installations in Israel to move away from them, and those injured in recent attacks didn't listen. Their targets are entirely military, while Israel goes within their sovereign territory to assassinate Nasrullah and injures 4000 civilian administrative members of Hezbollah with the terrorist attack of the pagers without taking out a single soldier, who don't use them.
Cheran's military (40 modestly paid guards) are entirely defensive. 99% of anarchy is making the internal system work.
Thank you for the shout-out! You must be up to the "Too Small to Fail" chapter ;-)
Oh the many word tricks. (Doesn't CiM talk about that?)
Yes, I can't even keep up on the Israel horrors. Deep insanity there.
I love that. 99% of anarchy is making the internal system work.
My pleasure - and yes, that's where I am in the book.
There are sections I'm going to re-read. Money has always felt somewhat unreal to me in a way - which has not served me well :-) - so I want to find multiple ways to integrate its historical presence and meaning. Get past the knot of confusion and distaste I've had since it is so essential to controlling the world's people. (Of course it doesn't have to be that way.)
.
So refreshing to read how we the people can take control back.
I was just reading a meme I'd saved: "I don't want to go back to how things used to be. I want to go forward to how they should be." Yes!
I'd like to introduce a different way of thinking about the word control. When my kids were little, I wracked my brain trying to get them to obey me. Obedience has a bad name but kids shouldn't learn by consequences not to run into the street or carrying their baby sister over a cement floor. And parents shouldn't be the servants of their kids, wheedling and bribing them. Been there, done that!
I realized that most methods are emotional manipulation, and that everything I said to my oldest was a disguised version of "I am so disappointed in you." Psychological manipulation is much better but so much work! When I developed an economic system, it released me from all that. I could love unconditionally, I could be truly sad when they thwarted themselves. But I didn't need to enable it.
We the parent/ grandparent generation are looking to control the child/ adolescent/ young adult generation. The students surrounding me shouldn't have an equal say--or any say--in how we write the rules for reciprocity. We're the ones who are taking responsibility and only when young people also step up to that task should they earn the right to be here, not when they're a dependent on their parents.
An economic system controls fairness between generations but doesn't constrict choices.
That's a great meme and such a good point - that softer 'normal' we knew and many want to return to, was still in a slave-system. We can do so much better.
Yeah re raising kids. I'm pretty sure I've made all the mistakes.
I love that definition - 'controls fairness... but doesn't constrict choices'. Yes, please!
Not 'liking' the part where you say you've made all the mistakes. My Course reading this am was that God doesn't want anyone to experience the consequences of wrong decisions, which is why it's the job of Spirit to undo them all. I'm definitely waiting for mine to be undone, but I have confidence they will. And for you too.
Very nice photos and an inspiring story! Indigenous Mexico is one of the most fascinating cultures and what those townsfolk did needs to be repeated a million times! Schoon...in the immortal words of Sean Connery.
Tereza - all most interesting! Yet you do need to understand the Land Problem!!! Take a read through my book The Earth Belongs to Everyone here: https://theiu.org/books/ just look at the contents page, maybe start with the first article which was my EFSchumacher Lecture on Earth Rights Democracy, then the last one Economics of War and Peace. - Alanna
Hi, Alanna. I read through the synopses of all your chapters to see if I could answer my own question. Let me know if I'm mistaken and not getting it.
So in Cheran, the loggers and avocado plantations would be charged a land tax. That would be distributed ... throughout Mexico? the N. American continent? Or go to a global gov't? The people of Cheran would have no right to expel the Malos because that 20,000 hectares doesn't belong to them, it belongs to everyone. But they would get some share of the money so they could buy the products of those avocado plantations.
If anyone has a house, they should pay property tax on it at whatever the speculative value is--its value when it's dead to the inhabitants because it's sold and they can't live there anymore. So as money loses its value in terms of housing, people will need to pay more of it for houses they already own, like a permanent rent.
I think we want the same things, Alanna, in terms of values for people but our means of getting there are diametrically opposite. My system is based on increasing ownership of homes, small local businesses and small local landlords, and communities being the default owner of everything within their borders. I'd like to eliminate taxes on local goods and services. It seems like your system makes everything more dependent on money and globalizes governance. Am I mistaken?
Just incredible, Tereza. My wish is that a movie is made out of this story. We need these stories to feed our imagination. Thank you for feeding my imagination!
That would be a great movie, marta! I remember thinking many years ago how insoluble US interference in Latin America seemed to be. And then the US got distracted by Africom and the Middle East, and it didn't take long for some hopeful sprouts to pop up. I think we're looking at that possibility in the not-distant future.
Lovely story with lessons:
1. Never underestimate what the protective power of mothers can achieve.
2. "Participatory democracy based on their indigenous Purépecha traditions": Long term viability of a revolution necessitates that it be anchored in the civilizational heritage of a society.
Fadi, I've been wanting to tell you that I read about the Jewish Brigade from your link and concur--what were they doing for 15 mos after the end of the war that England found alarming? A link in that article led me to this one: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/british-white-paper-of-1939. On May 23, 1939, the British Gov't decides NOT to create a separate state for Israel and to limit Jewish immigration. Three months later, Hitler's 'Special Military Operation' to rescue ethnic German being maligned in now-Poland is deemed to trigger obligations of mutual defense, seen as the start of WWII. This article, that I 'happened' to open next, compares Putin's SMO in Ukraine to Hitler's: https://thegoodcitizen.live/p/for-no-reason-at-all. I don't know how anyone can deny the connection between Zionism & WWII. Thanks for that rabbit hole/ link!
Thank you Tereza! Another time you reveal something important, I had no idea about. How distorted our knowledge of history, and accordingly our perception of the truth!!
The comment I posted:
WOW... I had absolutely no idea about the persecution of German minority in Poland!
I agree, same playbook as was used later in Ukraine. The only difference being, UK & US instead of UK & France.
Excellent work!
Stories like this need powerful amplification!! This one really reminds me of the Battle of Athens, another de-amplified example of a community shaking off blood-sucking parasites.
I would totally write a screenplay for either of those stories if I thought it could be produced.
Great essay, T. Thank you for bringing Cheran into my consciousness!
Lovely synchronicities concerning the subject of the era. I look forward to further fleshing out of their system. I believe anarchy's the only way forward following the fall of those who should not (will not) be. Thank you, Tereza.
I'm in complete agreement but might reverse the order. I think that a system of anarchy, well thought out, needs to precede their fall. I've been thinking that what my system does is leave the economic system of capitalism in place, and the socialist system of government that enables capitalism, but shifts ownership of the capital (homes) to backing a supplemental and voluntary anarchist economy.
That means that you're not responsible for maintaining people's 'quality of life'--something that's bound to decline without the slave labor of the rest of the world. Nor do you need to be responsible for fixing all the damages to people caused by the capitalist system--that's still the job of the socialist gov't. You can merely add new money in a system of reciprocity. And you write the rules for that money, rule by rules not by rulers. Thank you, sue!
Now that makes real sense, Tereza - love it. You have a great brain!!!
"Other words for anarchy are community self-governance and small-scale sovereignty. I’m going to be talking about Appalachia and showing why standing up to government and corporations isn’t just for Mexico. These days, we all need to learn more about anarchy and what it really is."
Yes, understanding self-governance is quickly becoming essential.
It's such an encouraging story. The town of Cherán as example of what can be done when enough members of the community realize their own power.
As I'm learning from your book, How to Dismantle an Empire (great education!) size really does matter, when it comes to self-governance.
I'm glad you picked up on that full quote, Kathleen. Certainly another word trick has been associating anarchy with chaos, wanton violence and destruction. Nothing could be further from the truth! I was just reading about Hezbollah in Lebanon warning those living by military installations in Israel to move away from them, and those injured in recent attacks didn't listen. Their targets are entirely military, while Israel goes within their sovereign territory to assassinate Nasrullah and injures 4000 civilian administrative members of Hezbollah with the terrorist attack of the pagers without taking out a single soldier, who don't use them.
Cheran's military (40 modestly paid guards) are entirely defensive. 99% of anarchy is making the internal system work.
Thank you for the shout-out! You must be up to the "Too Small to Fail" chapter ;-)
Oh the many word tricks. (Doesn't CiM talk about that?)
Yes, I can't even keep up on the Israel horrors. Deep insanity there.
I love that. 99% of anarchy is making the internal system work.
My pleasure - and yes, that's where I am in the book.
There are sections I'm going to re-read. Money has always felt somewhat unreal to me in a way - which has not served me well :-) - so I want to find multiple ways to integrate its historical presence and meaning. Get past the knot of confusion and distaste I've had since it is so essential to controlling the world's people. (Of course it doesn't have to be that way.)
.
So refreshing to read how we the people can take control back.
I was just reading a meme I'd saved: "I don't want to go back to how things used to be. I want to go forward to how they should be." Yes!
I'd like to introduce a different way of thinking about the word control. When my kids were little, I wracked my brain trying to get them to obey me. Obedience has a bad name but kids shouldn't learn by consequences not to run into the street or carrying their baby sister over a cement floor. And parents shouldn't be the servants of their kids, wheedling and bribing them. Been there, done that!
I realized that most methods are emotional manipulation, and that everything I said to my oldest was a disguised version of "I am so disappointed in you." Psychological manipulation is much better but so much work! When I developed an economic system, it released me from all that. I could love unconditionally, I could be truly sad when they thwarted themselves. But I didn't need to enable it.
We the parent/ grandparent generation are looking to control the child/ adolescent/ young adult generation. The students surrounding me shouldn't have an equal say--or any say--in how we write the rules for reciprocity. We're the ones who are taking responsibility and only when young people also step up to that task should they earn the right to be here, not when they're a dependent on their parents.
An economic system controls fairness between generations but doesn't constrict choices.
That's a great meme and such a good point - that softer 'normal' we knew and many want to return to, was still in a slave-system. We can do so much better.
Yeah re raising kids. I'm pretty sure I've made all the mistakes.
I love that definition - 'controls fairness... but doesn't constrict choices'. Yes, please!
Not 'liking' the part where you say you've made all the mistakes. My Course reading this am was that God doesn't want anyone to experience the consequences of wrong decisions, which is why it's the job of Spirit to undo them all. I'm definitely waiting for mine to be undone, but I have confidence they will. And for you too.
Very nice photos and an inspiring story! Indigenous Mexico is one of the most fascinating cultures and what those townsfolk did needs to be repeated a million times! Schoon...in the immortal words of Sean Connery.
Hahaha! Schoon ... Thanks, DtW!
I found the cherani collective at this site https://www.veralistcenter.org/network/colectivo-cherani
Pam, you are both kind in your lovely compliment and helpful! Thank you so much for finding that!
I love the way you think😘
Tereza - all most interesting! Yet you do need to understand the Land Problem!!! Take a read through my book The Earth Belongs to Everyone here: https://theiu.org/books/ just look at the contents page, maybe start with the first article which was my EFSchumacher Lecture on Earth Rights Democracy, then the last one Economics of War and Peace. - Alanna
Hi, Alanna. I read through the synopses of all your chapters to see if I could answer my own question. Let me know if I'm mistaken and not getting it.
So in Cheran, the loggers and avocado plantations would be charged a land tax. That would be distributed ... throughout Mexico? the N. American continent? Or go to a global gov't? The people of Cheran would have no right to expel the Malos because that 20,000 hectares doesn't belong to them, it belongs to everyone. But they would get some share of the money so they could buy the products of those avocado plantations.
If anyone has a house, they should pay property tax on it at whatever the speculative value is--its value when it's dead to the inhabitants because it's sold and they can't live there anymore. So as money loses its value in terms of housing, people will need to pay more of it for houses they already own, like a permanent rent.
I think we want the same things, Alanna, in terms of values for people but our means of getting there are diametrically opposite. My system is based on increasing ownership of homes, small local businesses and small local landlords, and communities being the default owner of everything within their borders. I'd like to eliminate taxes on local goods and services. It seems like your system makes everything more dependent on money and globalizes governance. Am I mistaken?
I call that rhetorical devisive 'throwing the book at it,' Alanna ;-) Can you tell me specifically how you would apply those principles to Cheran?