Sound Of Sirens

Most of the so called “street-art” pieces are so boring and overused, but sometimes some guys like Dan Witz from NYC hit it so perfectly that we can’t get arround…

About his gentrification-critical series “Ugly New Buildings” he says:

“This year’s series, “Ugly New Buildings”, addresses how in the past few years much of my neighborhood in Brooklyn has been torn down to make way for luxury housing. Personally, I can’t say I like the new modern architecture very much. For the most part it’s sterile and alienating and so arrogantly disconnected with its surroundings sometimes it seems like giant alien space ships have landed in the night. But resenting gentrification in New York City is futile, like complaining about the weather or other forces of (urban) nature. For this year’s project I decided to work with it.
These are photo-based, heavily re-painted stickers, mounted on plastic and glued to the walls of the Ugly New Buildings. In May I put up around 30 and about half are still there.”

via Wooster Collective

Please refer also to The Wall

Ok, this is about the media and its functions. Again: I do not claim to be an expert, call me a generalist, however, let’s see how far we get.

I’ll start with a quote of a beautiful essay by Donella Meadows, a professor, biophysicist, systems analyst, organic farmer, author, journalist and inspiration in the movement for sustainability. The essay is called ‘Dancing with Systems‘ and this particular part is about ‘Honouring and protecting information.’

A decision maker can’t respond to information he or she doesn’t have, can’t respond accurately to information that is inaccurate, can’t respond in a timely way to information that is late. I would guess that 99 percent of what goes wrong in systems goes wrong because of faulty or missing information.

If I could, I would add an Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not distort, delay, or sequester information. You can drive a system crazy by muddying its information streams. You can make a system work better with surprising ease if you can give it more timely, more accurate, more complete information.

Please be aware of that. And please be aware that socalled free trade is an invention that destroys lifes, cultures and our planet.
Also we do not have to go to the rain forest, to India or North America, the same thing is happening in Finland, where indigenous people are being marginalized and robbed of their rights, land is being taken and robbed of its resources, governments are backing corporations.
Watch this documentary: Last Yoik In Sami Forests?, check the website: www.elonmerkki.net

The shift, the change will come through us, through people who speak up, who demand their rights, who create lively cultures and lively democracies, who think and act as an interdependent world family, looking for ways from being dependend consumers to responsible producers.

We have to replace the well being of corporations again with the wellbeing of real people and real societies. We have to create and build new self-governing economies. Connect which each other, learn from each other.
Know more: Vandana Shiva on zmag.org
Connect: CivWorld Interdependence Day,
Find support: Post Carbon Institute (Assists societies in their efforts to relocalize communities and adapt to an energy constrained world.)
Transition Towns (Local responses to the challenges of climate change and peak oil. Relocalization, Network and Support)

Just click on the play button and let her speak for a minute…She is clear, honest, accessible, intelligent,…

Read also SOS on Tour article on a talk of Vandana Shiva at the Schumacher College in march ‘08 (in german).

Find more articles of her here.

This is one of her book publications: ‘Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace’ / ‘Erd-Demokratie. Alternativen zur Neoliberalen Globalisierung’.

Vorweg - dieser Post steht ein bisschen in der Tradition von diesem, diesem und diesem.

Wer sich nicht dafür interessiert, dem kann ich nicht helfen, wer gar nicht weiss, worum es geht, der folgt diesem Link, der Rest geht einfach am 5. April aufs Strassenfest.

Over and out.

Der relativ kleine Raum des Schumacher Colleges war voll, richtig voll. Klar, Vandana Shiva ist echt ein Erlebnis! Zusammen mit Transition Towns Totnes veranstaltet das Schmacher College regelmässig offene Abende, diesmal war Vandana Shiva eingeladen: ‘Transformation of societies: Development, what next?’

Vandana Shiva ist eine inspirierende Persönlichkeit, einfach und freundlich im Auftreten, mit bestechendem Intellekt. Sie hat die Gabe, ausser den Fakten und Zahlen auch die Dynamiken und Strukturen, die dahinter stehen, anschaulich und sehr zugänglich darzustellen.

Als Einstieg gab Vandana Shiva einen kurzen Abriss über fünf vorherrschende Annahmen, die der westlichen Ökonomie zugrunde liegen und legte deren zerstörerische Auswirkung auf Natur und Menschen dar. Dann ging sie eingehend auf das Thema Biogas und Biodiesel ein. Irgendwo war mir schon klar, dass Biogas/Biodiesel im grossen Stil ‘Schmarrn’ ist, so to speak, aber ich war geplättet, dass weltweit in Biogas/Biodiesel eine ‘Lösung’ gesehen wird und geschockt darüber, wie weit die Umsetzung fortgeschritten ist, geschockt über das Ausmass der Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt, auf Bauern, auf ganze Kulturen. Und alles nur, um den Zusammenbruch unserer bestehenden Ökonomie und unserer Lebensweise, die auf Öl basieren, ein paar Jahre hinaus zu schieben! Macht mich sprachlos. Und was für einen Stellenwert hat Mobilität, das Auto, in unserer Gesellschaft, und was für einen Einfluss die Autoindustrie!

See, the thing is: I like gathering things I consider beautiful. These ‘things’ can be objects or images I saw, thoughts I found, ideas, activities, whatever. And then I like to go and share what I find…This project by Ã…sa Sonjasdotter is many things at the same time: It is about art and activism, about self-empowerment, about agriculture (past and future), about the beauty of diversity, about the beauty of people, about questions of sustainable living and cultivating, about the preservation of indigenous knowledge and culture, about europe and regulations, about personal experience, engagement and learning…you name it.

I find her work with this project deeply inspiring, educational and beautiful.

Now you take a look (www.potatoperspective.org).

Did you know, that there are less than a dozen “real” democracies on planet earth? (”Real” referrs to democracies without constitutional monarchies, so called “managed” republics and other forms of “democratic” governments with restricted voting rights… etc.) These and tons of other facts and reports about “Nations in Transit” or “Countries at the Crossroads” you’ll find at Freedomhouse.org - Sound Of Sirens link of the week.

Interactive “Map of Freedom 2007″ (Screenshot)

Freedomhouse.org