Chavez Sends 15,000 Military Troops to Columbian Border

I disagree with Hugo's strategy here. The use of the Institutionalized Violence of the Military is counter to Fidel Castro's proclamation that we are all policeman.

A military man, like a national flag is a symbol of oppression and divisiveness.

To counteract the USA funding of the Columbian military (and arming of plain clothesed Columbians?) Hugo should supply his plainclothesd citizen allies with weapons, if necessary.

I think that if citizens whether armed or unarmed were meeting and working together with each other over common and mutual interests, it would be much more productive than employing military resources and personnel.

I am Libertarian Socialist, and/but would not welcome a Military presence whether it be Socialist or Capitalist in my neighborhood/village, community, region.

Mike Morin
Eugene, OR, USA

With Respect to Food Policy and Programs

Dear AGRA Kenya and AGRA Ghana et al.


As brother/sister communities in a world of potential unity and cooperation dedicated to meeting the needs of people within the confines of a finite planet, I applaud your initiative.

At least one caveat: as we aim to move from industrialized oligarchies and Finance and Market dominated paradigms of Agriculture, so much the colonialist mentality of the "first world", to a world which is free from such domination where local needs are primary and ALL areas strive for relocalization of production and distribution of the food resource (and other necessities), remember the mission and basic principles of inclusion. humanity, equity, quality of life, environmental/public health and wellness, sustainability and peace.

You need to see your initiative as one consistent with a cooperative communitarian/mutualist/socialist world effort to wash off the irrational and self-serving shackles of Capitalist Market hegemony that enslaves the world over.

You must be sufficiently Cynical, in the truest sense of the word, and although Mr. Gates is often credited with being a great innovator (I am using a fabulous tool that he and MILLIONS OF OTHERS WHO YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD MENTIONED, NOR NEVER WILL, AND THEY WORK IN CUBICLED MINE-LIKE WORK TO MAINTAIN THIS GREAT COMMUNICATIONS ABILITY WHICH MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HOPES THAT WE HAVE FOR THE FUTURE. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THESE WORKERS, MOSTLY THE DIRECT CONTACTS THAT I HAVE ARE IN INDIA ARE COMPENSATED WELL AND ENJOY A QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THEIR HARD, INTELLIGENT, and speaking from experience, WHAT CAN BE ALIENATING AND DEHUMANIZING WORK....

Anyway, the "first green revolution" was Financed by Ford and Rockefeller and USAID, with a partial good intention to feed the planet, but also with the intention to monopolize the means of production, inputs, etc.

Gates is MS-NBC/GE, he is the biggest Corporate Capitalist of our times, and one should approach his intentions with caution.

A good Friend bemoans that with all the mergers and acquisitions of the last generation, that we will soon be ONE BIG CORPORATION. My response is that Maybe that is close to what we need to be, but mind thee all, a company that is not-for-profit, and non-profit where it needs to be, and is dedicated to meeting the needs of all folks on the planet within the mission and principles that I have stated previously. And a company that can not allow unscrupulous operators to eschew their personal responsibilities


Mike Morin

Unsimplifying and Concisely Describing Socialism

Thank you, Duncan.

It is a longstanding social and economic theory known as cooperative communitarianism, mutualism, (and incorporating the word socialism to impart the idea that we need take care of the elderly, the infirm, the displaced, in essence each other) predating Marx by centuries, and contemporary to the bearded one in the form of some gentlemanly disagreement. Certainly, if one follows closely the evolution of "socialist" thought, one would see the errors of their jumping to conclusions about simplifying "isms".

There are two fundamental fronts in the struggle for equity and economic and environmental justice. There are the necessary anti-Capitalist forces and there are theorists, who hope to become practitioners, who study the history of the equity/economic justice and environmental justice movements, the arguments both for and against "socialism" and try to come up with a peaceful mission, plans, programs, and policies, to try to build consensus, and hope that there is time for the sufficient education, reorganization, and implementation of such.

The most enlightened school of thought is perhaps those of the libertarian socialists. Foolishly, some of these folks cling to the term anarcho-syndicalist, not understanding that anarchist was a derogatory term used against the early cooperative communitarians/mutualists/socialists to turn the average citizen against them in a reactionary manner.

The libertarian socialist believes in a minimum of government intervention and participation. They believe in an economic democracy that comes from the people in their local "villages", encourages and promotes inter-community, inter-regional, and world unity and cooperation. The libertarian socialist believes that consensus must be reached with respect to the local to world mission, principles, policies, and programs and that any form of government would be transitioning from the military and economic dominance of today to one of peaceful inter-community cooperation. The modern libertarian socialist purview recognizes the need to fundamentally change the ways and means by which resources are allocated to and within communities and within and among economic sectors. It is not centralized planning. It is decentralized consensus. Inclusion, equity, humanity, quality of life, environmental health and wellness, sustainability, and peace are fundamental principles to be accepted, inculcated, implemented, and maintained in all aspects of the "plan and implement" modus operandi.

I hope this essay is edifying to your attempts to understand the alternatives.


In Peace, Friendship, Cooperation, and Solidarity,

Mike Morin

One Cooperating "System"

If only it were so simple as "two competing systems".

Socialist critics of the USSR and the Peoples' Republic of China call such countries "State Capitalism". I think that is partially what Quinny is referring to when he talks about "the Soviets" falling for the "higher living standards' dogma of Capitalism.

I'm not so sure that it was consumerism that toppled the "Soviet" Empire, although the old adage, "how ya' gonna' keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen the lights of the big city" was certainly a greed based propaganda weapon of the Capitalist "West".

The Soviets and the Chinese found that they had serious quality of life issues and that the reality of socialism was harder than the theory and they found themselves in an expensive arms race because they recognized that they needed to counter the Western economic and military hegemony (and the "West" (read USA and the wimps of NATO) recognized that the Communists seeked a worldwide (international) counter-hegemony).

Since the fall of the USSR, the USA led Capitalists have proven their worldwide hegemonic intentions.

Who knows what the Chinese are doing? Any and all information about that country needs to be filtered through the lens of Western propaganda. Maybe they are beating "US" at our own game.

Regardless, the future is not ours to see in China.

What the world needs is "one cooperating system". That is what socialism is, in theory.

Comparative vs. Competitive Advantage

Maybe we're getting new people involved, but oldsters like Robert should know the following by now.

The history of eutopian socialist experiments the largest and perhaps most successful (outside of the realm of the soviet countries), Mondragon, tell us that socialism can not maintain itself as enclaves within a larger Capitalist paradigm. The Capitalists are incessant at pushing their competitive advantage regardless of the consequences with respect to the equity of any particular region's comparative advantage and the health, well being, humanity and sustainability of such locales.

Capitalism must be defeated one way or another. To come to that understanding is relatively simple. To accomplish it is a whole 'nother story.

Capitalism will eventually disintegrate, but they are madmen and will probably not yield and thus will destroy life and any hope for a future on planet earth.

They are extremely irrational beings and one wonders how to get the message across to them when they seem to either deliberately and/or unconsciously be totally committed to a fight to extinction.

Everywhere Men
(adapted from John Lennon’s “Nowhere Man”)



We are real everywhere men
Workin’ in our everywhere lands
Making all our everywhere plans for everybuddy

We all have our point of view
But people where are we going to
Everywhere men ain’t we a bit like me and you

Everywhere men don’t worry
Give your love don’t scurry
Everywhere men the world needs your helping hands

We are real everywhere men
Working in our everywhere lands
Making all our everywhere plans for everybuddy

We all have our point of view
But children where are we going to
Everywhere men ain’t they a bit like me and you

Everywhere men don’t worry
Work real hard don’t hurry
Give it all
‘til sumbuddy else lends you a hand

We are real everywhere men
Workin’ in our everywhere lands
Making all our everywhere plans
For everybuddy
Making all our everywhere plans for everybuddy…

Imagine (Slightly Updated)

Imagine (slightly updated)


Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try
Only potential hell on earth
around us only sky

Imagine all the people
living for the children, ah-ha

Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do
Imagine nothing to kill or die for
understand religion too

Imagine all the people, living life in peace, you-u

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
and the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions, I wonder if they can
No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people, sharing all the world, You-u

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
and the world will live as one

A Brief Overview of My Intentions and Plans

A Brief Overview of My Intentions and Plans



I am trying to organize locally, regionally, and worldwide.

I have contacted Eugene-Springfield Solidarity (Oregon, USA) with respect to their initiative and to express to thee all that peace, equity and sustainability, and relocalization need to be the among the major pillars of an ecological economic redevelopment plan. I am also independently working to do local community organizing.

At risk of going into a long-winded explanation, I will elaborate some.

I am sufficiently knowledgeable and experienced to be quite cynical about the prospects for people. However, I maintain hope based on being in a position where I am allowed to pursue a right livelihood at assessing the world, local, and regional situation and imagining alternatives to what is extant.

We need to put great efforts into organizing on the local/regional level, yet we cannot separate our efforts from those of other regions of the world. That is, we cannot isolate ourselves. That has been the mistake of all eutopian experiments (according to Lewis Mumford, eutopian means "good place", outopian means "no place"), Thus, if we progress along the lines of local/regional organizing, we must also reach out and find, and/or foster and facilitate the formation of similar organizing efforts in all locales of the planet. Only working together as one world can we hope to overcome the peril facing the people.

We must reform the financial system. The alternative to the status quo is to form an Equity Union. Perhaps we may want to call it (in English) The Peoples' Equity Union. It would be a worldwide united equity system with cooperating inter-community entities. It would preclude the use of loans, which are fundamentally usurious. It would place the most destitute, the most in need, and all children (which I define as about 25 years old or less) as the highest priority. However, the Plan would include the needs of everybuddy. As the old Socialist slogan goes, "for all according to their needs, by all according to their abilities".

A major focus of the Ecological Economic Redevelopment Plan is the walkable neighborhood. This Plann(er) recognizes that the age of the automobile is racing to a disastrous ending and that if we want to maintain the true benefits of automotive power and sustain our precious fossil fuels (as well as other natural resources), that we must reduce the use of automobiles by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years. There will be great resistance from the economic interests of the status quo. We need to work in cooperation with them as well.

Locally, we need to begin to organize in neighborhoods (however they are to be defined). The City of Eugene has taken an initiative to identify neighborhoods and encourage the formation of neighborhood associations. In Eugene, this would be a good place to start, and such could serve as a model for other communities.

Walkable neighborhoods are defined as neighborhoods where people can get the things they need within walking distance and have the goal and create the resources to facilitate the maximum amount of people working in their neighborhoods and/or at home. Bring the goods, services, and the means of communication to the people instead of all those willy-nilly inefficient, and tragically squandering automobile trips. Perhaps a part of the Plan would be an evolution to a pre-order cooperative system for food and other necessities. Such a system would go a long way to promote accurate and quality production, efficient distribution and a large reduction in waste.
Building and renovating buildings for community centers is a large part of the plan. Also building more YMCAs or reasonable facsimiles, renovating housing, and creating equity opportunities for all is part of the plan. Also adaptive reuse of greyfields and soon to be greyfields will be in order.

My philosophy is that no one gets hurt (i.e. everybuddy wins). The wealthy and their followers may have to adjust their lifestyles and accept the concept of “quality of life” in lieu of “standard of living”