NVC - Liv Larsson and Andy Paice

Notes from NVC and Social Change at Rainbow Mill 2017 on Liv Larsson and Andy Paice.

Book Group on Peace News

Our Next Read is the last 2 issues of Peace News:

• Issue 2624 - 2625 | December 2018 - January 2019, especially on #XR
• Issue 2622 - 2623 | October - November 2018, especially on Transgender issues

Does #XR have specific, winnable demands?

Does #XR have specific, winnable demands?
Extinction Rebellion has posted a Declaration at rebellion.earth/declaration and Demands at rebellion.earth/demands.

Mens rea for murder – oblique intention

Good summary at e-lawresources.co.uk/Mens-rea-intention of the problem as to whether a defendant has the necessary 'oblique intention' (or ' or indirect intention) that constitutes mens rea for murder. 

gender identity science

Just been looking up some of the scientific studies in the “gender identity” debate – prompted by this lively discussion forum on my.greenparty.org.uk.

Words That Come Before All Else

The Words That Come Before All Else address the People, Earth Mother, The Waters, Fish, Plants, Food Plants, Medicine Herbs, Trees, Birds, Four Winds, Thunderers, Sun, Grandfather Moon, Stars, Enlightened Teachers, and The Creator. Each element of the natural world is spoken to and thanked for their contributions to all life. These words bind us and promote empathy with all creation.

electric chargers

Guide to Using the Correct Charger or Power Adapter (and What Happens If You Don’t)

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Next Book Group choice (by BB) is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (2011).

Colchester local plan and Sajid Javid

Colchester Borough Council (CBC) has an ‘emerging Local Plan’ for 2017-2033. It’s a government requirement to have one. New CBC leader, Mark Cory, is holding a listening event about it at the Town Hall at 3.30pm on Tues 7 August. (Previously there was the Adopted Local Plan 2001-2021, an 80-page document that was largely ignored, as far as I can tell.)

My questions for the listening event would be:

Accidental Anarchist film report

Twenty-seven people attended the screening at Firstsite on Sat 30 June of Accidental Anarchist: Life Without Government. (See previous blogpost for details.)  It was free and there was a collection, which raised £75.

Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto

Next Book Group choice (by G) is Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto, published in 2010.

Librivox

Great find on Internet: Librivox - free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers from all over the world. 

Book Group 2015-2018

Book Group 2015-2018

rentier capitalism vs free market

Rentiers are the people who live off income gained from property and other assets – above all the “0.01ers”. Good book on this is The Corruption of Capitalism (Why rentiers thrive and work does not pay) by Guy Standing:

wood-fired pizza oven

Top links:

• www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/stories/how-to-build-a-wood-fired-pizza-oven and related blog at clayoven.wordpress.com
• How to build a clay oven in your garden in simple steps on YouTube

Murray Bookchin

The Murray Bookchin Reader is available as an ebook at libcom.org and a free audio (MP3) download at www.archive.org, which summarizes it thus:

On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky

Latest version of On Anarchism was published 2014 by Penguin, earlier versions available as PDF.

Colin Ward

Colin Ward (1924-2010) wrote Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction in 2004 (one in the Oxford VSI series).

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

Next month's choice is Lost Connections by Johann Hari (reviewed for example in the Guardian)

Shepherds pie

Ingredients

Bible quiz

In the King James Bible:
a) What kind of fruit did Adam and Eve eat in the Garden of Eden?
b) How many Kings travelled to see the baby Jesus in the manger?
c) What did Mary Magdalene do for a living?

Peter Matthiessen

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen tells "The story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's war on the American Indian Movement." Peltier was convicted of murder for the 1975 killing of two FBI agents after a trial which, the author alleges, involved government misconduct. The book portrays the violent turmoil on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during that time, including the 1973 'Wounded Knee Incident'. 

Matthiessen (1927-2014) was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, zen teacher and CIA agent. He also wrote The Snow Leopard (1978). 

All above from Wikipedia so check for reliability. 

Stansted deportation protesters charged with terrorism-related offence

Last year in March, 15 people grounded a deportation charter flight for ten hours to prevent it taking off. On 12 March 2018, they are going on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court charged with a terrorism-related offence. If found guilty they could serve many years in prison.

only a woman can be a mother

In 2015 Germaine Greer criticised Elton John and David Furnish for listing David as the mother on the birth certificates of their two sons.

queer theory critique by Sheila Jeffreys

Brilliant interview of lesbian feminist academic, Sheila Jeffreys, about queer theory by Derrick Jensen on Resistance Radio (21 Sep 2014) – even though, as an interviewer, Derrick sounds unprepared at times.

intentional communities - why most fail

Good essay at aeon.co looking at why, like most start-ups, most intentional communities fail. Conclusion is that:

Max Planck on dualism and creation

As a postscript to two-miracles, here is Max Planck on dualism and creation. Planck won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum theory.

Two miracles

There are two miracles which are routinely denied by thinkers whom I otherwise admire and respect who can be termed materialists (or atheists or physicalists). The first miracle is the creation of the universe. The second is human consciousness. I don’t understand how materialists can bring these two phenomena coherently into their system.