It's been over a year and a half since my last post on here... which isn't to say that I haven't been thinking about place and politics. In fact, I've entered graduate school now, to study more deeply in the area of geography, and particularly regional economic development. I felt it was time to revive this blog, as I can now use it as an outlet for all the many thoughts and theories that are flowing through my mind, as well as my personal interpretations of current affairs.
Another thing has changed in the last 18 months: my geographic place. I am now in Wales. Full circle you could say, after years in Canada and Iran. It's interesting to be back and to be absorbing myself in the mindset and the educational system of what was the world's most powerful colonial power until arguably only a half-century ago. The UK is a country with a far richer history one could argue, than Canada. As always, the transition to another country has given me more perspective on all the other places I've been to. As always, I feel I've relived my whole life through this new perspective again.
The place or places we occupy in life affect our views on just about everything. That is why I chose to title this blog the way I did. Some people might think that their thoughts, feelings, and opinions are uniquely their own, and a result of their own independence and thought. I think that perhaps this is never the case. We are, as human beings with the ability to communicate, to understand and absorb, always the product of our environments, our opinions and thoughts and feelings come about through systems of understanding that we are exposed to, taught or implicated in. All these things come to us through a the greater social context of where we live, but also where our families our from.
This is not to say that we do not have the ability to manipulate and reshape those opinions. Far from it in fact. By understanding the influences that have formed our frameworks of understanding, we are in the position to take them apart and to rebuild them. And this is something that I would encourage every thinking being to do.
These are exciting times we are living in. Times in which power has been decentralized so dramatically that suddenly the citizen is not simply a pawn in the political game of the elite, but is a player in that game, with a plethora of options, and with access (at least for those of us lucky enough to live in a country that provides this) to vast amounts of information and knowledge. Never before has communication, dissemination of information and perhaps mobilization been so accessible and possible. Knowledge is power. Communication is power. And today, we citizens have more power than ever before.
But there's a catch. It may be true that anyone with access to the internet can now publish a blog, an article, an opinion peice, but then what? The blog world, the internet world in general, needs editors. But besides that, it's more important than ever to be able to think for yourself. And if you're not sure exactly why you hold an opinion that you do, it's probably because it's been fed to you. Also, it's no good going out there with the intention of simply confirming what you've already decided. You need to seriously consider all the opposing points of view.
And so, those are my somewhat scattered thoughts for the day. I will leave it there to continue my studying for now, but will be back with more thoughts soon.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Native Lands and Bioregionalism
In a social geography module during my degree, we were encouraged to think about the 'bioregion'. A bioregion is defined by certain geographical characteristics, generally a watershed. In the case of the bioregion of the Pacific Northwest, we were considering this fact that all precipitation that falls within the bioregion runs down in the same direction and ends up in the Pacific Ocean. All precipitation falling outside of that land area ends up in different bodies of water. This watershed area defines a "bioregion." I won't go into all the ways in which we considered the significance of the bioregion, but instead focus on what this could potentially mean in a more green political world.
In a sense, this way of understanding a region gives new meaning to the rest of our boundary-drawing activities, our territories, our countries with their borders... While we fight over territory, beneath this surface of politics something very fundamental and natural is occurring, and if only we paid attention to it we could perhaps reconceptualize our senses of belonging and attachment to adhere to something more fundamental, more natural, than the political boundaries and identities that we subscribe to. Seeing ourselves as belonging to the watershed area in which we live connects our sense of belonging, our citizenship even, with the non-human as well as the human environment in a new way. This concept seems so new to us, with our Western, rationalist ways of thinking, but from what I've heard at least, that sense of interconnectedness with natural systems and processes is much more inherent to what we call 'Native' or 'First Nations' cultures, for whom people are just one species amongst others and the land is home in a way that most of us city dwellers would struggle to understand. It seems to me that we're missing a trick, and that it's this other way of looking at our selves and how we fit into the systems that will ultimately save us from our own destruction, creating a more livable land for us all in the mean time.
In a sense, this way of understanding a region gives new meaning to the rest of our boundary-drawing activities, our territories, our countries with their borders... While we fight over territory, beneath this surface of politics something very fundamental and natural is occurring, and if only we paid attention to it we could perhaps reconceptualize our senses of belonging and attachment to adhere to something more fundamental, more natural, than the political boundaries and identities that we subscribe to. Seeing ourselves as belonging to the watershed area in which we live connects our sense of belonging, our citizenship even, with the non-human as well as the human environment in a new way. This concept seems so new to us, with our Western, rationalist ways of thinking, but from what I've heard at least, that sense of interconnectedness with natural systems and processes is much more inherent to what we call 'Native' or 'First Nations' cultures, for whom people are just one species amongst others and the land is home in a way that most of us city dwellers would struggle to understand. It seems to me that we're missing a trick, and that it's this other way of looking at our selves and how we fit into the systems that will ultimately save us from our own destruction, creating a more livable land for us all in the mean time.
Home, and Native Land
While Canada is home, it is not my native land. My native land(s) are Wales, UK, and Tehran, Iran. An odd variety of places to have lived and been part of perhaps. I certainly feel like a rubber band stretched across the globe. And one that is stretched tight at the moment.
I have been reading articles about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his defiant speeches, and I have to say, it's made me nostalgic about Iran in a good way. When I thought about the crowds chanting about their right to nuclear energy it made me think with warmth about people who are willing to stand up for what they believe in and not bow down before the ridiculous king of largeland. I'm ready to start chanting with them. They deserve the right to do whatever they want. It's tyranical for the US to try to govern them and beat them into submission. And I certainly don't feel that the US is a country governing in the best interests of the world. In fact, I'm doubtful about the fact that the US is intent on governing for the good of anyone, including their own sorry, incoherently righteous fool selves.
What's that cartoon where there's the red faced bounty hunter who just shows up yelling incoherently at everyone and firing guns into the air? That, my friends, is symbolic of the United States in the world political arena.
Oh but it's worse than that even. The bully in the playground has found out how manipulate people through fear as well, and when that doesn't work, through a multitude of other subversive methods. So if you're one of the lucky countries who has something this bully wants, you have left to wonder... how exactly will this rape and pillage take place?
Will they grab you by your embargoed balls, will they install an underground militia in your gut to make you keel over?, will they stab you in the back or will they stab you in the eye, will they cozy up in your belly with their own special government presented to you so generously to help out your own tragically unstable and obviously insane leadership body?
I have to raise my wine glass to Iran. Without any irony in that. The great Persian Pride. They say: "We, peaceably, will do as we please. And if you, forcefully, wish to try to stop us, we shall continue- to do as we please. Because we are free, and we are independent, and we have as much a right to say that as you do. You want to talk about countries being stifled by mis-used and mis-interpreted religious references? Why don't you hold up a mirror?
It takes some guts to stand up before a country led by a bully who wants to steal your lunch money and then take you outside and beat you up. Especially when that same bully just virtually obliterated a few of your neighbors ruthlessly and clumsily like a fat kid stomping on daisies.
So Cheers! Here's to people who are willing to stand up and face the FIRE for what they believe in. HallelujahAMEN!
I have been reading articles about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his defiant speeches, and I have to say, it's made me nostalgic about Iran in a good way. When I thought about the crowds chanting about their right to nuclear energy it made me think with warmth about people who are willing to stand up for what they believe in and not bow down before the ridiculous king of largeland. I'm ready to start chanting with them. They deserve the right to do whatever they want. It's tyranical for the US to try to govern them and beat them into submission. And I certainly don't feel that the US is a country governing in the best interests of the world. In fact, I'm doubtful about the fact that the US is intent on governing for the good of anyone, including their own sorry, incoherently righteous fool selves.
What's that cartoon where there's the red faced bounty hunter who just shows up yelling incoherently at everyone and firing guns into the air? That, my friends, is symbolic of the United States in the world political arena.
Oh but it's worse than that even. The bully in the playground has found out how manipulate people through fear as well, and when that doesn't work, through a multitude of other subversive methods. So if you're one of the lucky countries who has something this bully wants, you have left to wonder... how exactly will this rape and pillage take place?
Will they grab you by your embargoed balls, will they install an underground militia in your gut to make you keel over?, will they stab you in the back or will they stab you in the eye, will they cozy up in your belly with their own special government presented to you so generously to help out your own tragically unstable and obviously insane leadership body?
I have to raise my wine glass to Iran. Without any irony in that. The great Persian Pride. They say: "We, peaceably, will do as we please. And if you, forcefully, wish to try to stop us, we shall continue- to do as we please. Because we are free, and we are independent, and we have as much a right to say that as you do. You want to talk about countries being stifled by mis-used and mis-interpreted religious references? Why don't you hold up a mirror?
It takes some guts to stand up before a country led by a bully who wants to steal your lunch money and then take you outside and beat you up. Especially when that same bully just virtually obliterated a few of your neighbors ruthlessly and clumsily like a fat kid stomping on daisies.
So Cheers! Here's to people who are willing to stand up and face the FIRE for what they believe in. HallelujahAMEN!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Oh Canada
That was a hell of an exciting election I thought. I talked politics with people for days and days and it was actually very inspiring. In addition, during pre-election week I attended a talk on "Bioregionalism" which really ties into our ideas of goverment and democracy as well as our "place" and what we make of it. Since I've been thinking politics so much I decided to start another blog just so that I could talk about it without cluttering up my personal blog.
The election results are much what I expected. I'm actually quite pleased. Yes, I know. Harper won and that's obviously disturbing, but it's really much to be expected. Given that the bulk of Canada only considers there to be three real options as far as voting goes, and given the tremendous job the Liberals did of making themselves look like assholes, needing little help from the smear campaigns of their opposition, it's no suprise that people were not feeling the love for one of the two parties they deemed would win. From my travels through cyberspace I gathered that a good deal were voting Conservative just because they were outraged by the Liberal party's behavior of late. Thieves that they are 'n all. And it's understandable too. Additionally people focus on a few elements of a policy. If they don't agree with one of those policies (such as the right to carry firearms), they will not vote for that party. Some go as so far as to not vote for any party as they are in serious disagreement with all of them. So anyway, now for the good news:
Only 36.3% of Canadians voted for the Conservative party, and the percentage of those people who did so because they actually support Harper or his backwards ideas is actually much smaller. In spite of their determination to come off as total jerkoffs, the Liberals still got 30.2% of the vote and ended up with only 21 seats less than the Conservatives. I would imagine that most of the votes they got were either tradition votes or votes from the people who would rather have had them over the Cons.
Also good news is that the NDP got 17.5% of the vote, leaving them with 29 seats. 11 more than before! So we actually have a fairly nice mixture of seats going on considering what we had to work with. Obviously I'm disappointed that the Greens didn't manage to secure even one seat with over 650,000 votes, but it's actually pretty amazing that they got that many votes considering the fact that they are all but completely invisible, got pretty much no media coverage, had little local presence in most places, and are a new party that many people don't even realize exists. I even talked to people who didn't know that the Green party was in fact NOT the Marijuana party. And I'm talking native Canadians with University degrees here. Oy vey.
More good news is that while the Greens got 4.5% support overall in spite of their invisibility and the improbability of their triumph, in British Columbia that number jumped to 5.3%. And I'm proud to say that in my riding, where Libby Davis of the NDP rules (with a 56.6% vote this time around), the Green candidate got a whopping 6% support and 2536 votes. This in spite of the face that Libby's mug is posted ALL over town and she herself is extremely active and visible in the community and even stood at the skytrain station and probably other places handing out candy and badges (optional) during the pre-election week. And in spite of the fact that no ones ever seen or heard of Christine Ellis who is brand new to politics and as far as I know hasn't really been out engaging with the community very much. I've never seen a picture of her anywhere but the Green party website. 2536 votes! Fabulous. Go Vancouver East!
Voter turnout was at 65%, 5% more than last election. And there was so much discussion and debate going on between people in person and on the Internet. It was great. I would have liked to conducted a poll to find out how many people were actually true supporters of each party if the strategy was removed and people were just voting based on ideas and ideals.
My feeling about the Greens is that they have a long ways to go in terms of selling themselves but it's getting more and more feasible. I've read inspiring things about local community groups supporting the Greens and the increased voting that results from this. Clearly they need more of a presence and they need to start engaging with the communities with charisma and conviction. There are many people out there who are supporters of their ideologies and those people need to be reached out to particularly. Those people like me. I think change has to start with the younger generations as well. The most support for the Green party will come from young people and University attendees of various sorts. There is a large percentage of youth who currently do not vote at all, due to either apathy or disenchantment with the choices put forth to them. These are the people who will most likely support the efforts of the Greens. They have not developed voting habits and routines, are most open to change and most likely to have the freedom of mind to be able to vote Green.
In the time between now and the next election I think there is room for the Greens to really get organized, develop a strategy and start educating people about their presence and ideas. I really believe that they have the potential to vastly increase the percentage of the vote they get in a short amount of time if they really apply themselves. I think Canada is ripe for that kind of a change. There is a social environment of increased awareness and consciousness, and our peaceable attitude create an atmosphere that is ready for mind-expansion, openness of discussion and debate and the introduction of new ideas. I have hope for us yet.
The election results are much what I expected. I'm actually quite pleased. Yes, I know. Harper won and that's obviously disturbing, but it's really much to be expected. Given that the bulk of Canada only considers there to be three real options as far as voting goes, and given the tremendous job the Liberals did of making themselves look like assholes, needing little help from the smear campaigns of their opposition, it's no suprise that people were not feeling the love for one of the two parties they deemed would win. From my travels through cyberspace I gathered that a good deal were voting Conservative just because they were outraged by the Liberal party's behavior of late. Thieves that they are 'n all. And it's understandable too. Additionally people focus on a few elements of a policy. If they don't agree with one of those policies (such as the right to carry firearms), they will not vote for that party. Some go as so far as to not vote for any party as they are in serious disagreement with all of them. So anyway, now for the good news:
Only 36.3% of Canadians voted for the Conservative party, and the percentage of those people who did so because they actually support Harper or his backwards ideas is actually much smaller. In spite of their determination to come off as total jerkoffs, the Liberals still got 30.2% of the vote and ended up with only 21 seats less than the Conservatives. I would imagine that most of the votes they got were either tradition votes or votes from the people who would rather have had them over the Cons.
Also good news is that the NDP got 17.5% of the vote, leaving them with 29 seats. 11 more than before! So we actually have a fairly nice mixture of seats going on considering what we had to work with. Obviously I'm disappointed that the Greens didn't manage to secure even one seat with over 650,000 votes, but it's actually pretty amazing that they got that many votes considering the fact that they are all but completely invisible, got pretty much no media coverage, had little local presence in most places, and are a new party that many people don't even realize exists. I even talked to people who didn't know that the Green party was in fact NOT the Marijuana party. And I'm talking native Canadians with University degrees here. Oy vey.
More good news is that while the Greens got 4.5% support overall in spite of their invisibility and the improbability of their triumph, in British Columbia that number jumped to 5.3%. And I'm proud to say that in my riding, where Libby Davis of the NDP rules (with a 56.6% vote this time around), the Green candidate got a whopping 6% support and 2536 votes. This in spite of the face that Libby's mug is posted ALL over town and she herself is extremely active and visible in the community and even stood at the skytrain station and probably other places handing out candy and badges (optional) during the pre-election week. And in spite of the fact that no ones ever seen or heard of Christine Ellis who is brand new to politics and as far as I know hasn't really been out engaging with the community very much. I've never seen a picture of her anywhere but the Green party website. 2536 votes! Fabulous. Go Vancouver East!
Voter turnout was at 65%, 5% more than last election. And there was so much discussion and debate going on between people in person and on the Internet. It was great. I would have liked to conducted a poll to find out how many people were actually true supporters of each party if the strategy was removed and people were just voting based on ideas and ideals.
My feeling about the Greens is that they have a long ways to go in terms of selling themselves but it's getting more and more feasible. I've read inspiring things about local community groups supporting the Greens and the increased voting that results from this. Clearly they need more of a presence and they need to start engaging with the communities with charisma and conviction. There are many people out there who are supporters of their ideologies and those people need to be reached out to particularly. Those people like me. I think change has to start with the younger generations as well. The most support for the Green party will come from young people and University attendees of various sorts. There is a large percentage of youth who currently do not vote at all, due to either apathy or disenchantment with the choices put forth to them. These are the people who will most likely support the efforts of the Greens. They have not developed voting habits and routines, are most open to change and most likely to have the freedom of mind to be able to vote Green.
In the time between now and the next election I think there is room for the Greens to really get organized, develop a strategy and start educating people about their presence and ideas. I really believe that they have the potential to vastly increase the percentage of the vote they get in a short amount of time if they really apply themselves. I think Canada is ripe for that kind of a change. There is a social environment of increased awareness and consciousness, and our peaceable attitude create an atmosphere that is ready for mind-expansion, openness of discussion and debate and the introduction of new ideas. I have hope for us yet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)