A note on abstract thought

Australians seem to have largely lost the ability for abstract thought. The reasons for this are many with consumerism, and the media being two significant factors (I’d also probably add an increased comfortability and a relatively stable country).

It is because of this that people like John Howard can get away with describing the Green’s Policies as ‘kooky’ when they are really relatively conservative, at leas historically speaking. It is also the reason that ideas such as socialism are now dirty words and the environment movement cuts down anyone with ideas that are out side the main stream, including so called ‘radical’ environmental groups.

This is a problem which is further compounded by the fact that we are the most educated we have ever been which one would think would increase our overall capacity for abstract though, not diminish it. I don’t know what the answer is but it probably has something to do with stepping outside the reductionist disciplines that are being taught to most of us and actually engaging in meaningful debate. Somehow the whole ‘my tax cuts are better than your tax cuts’ sort of debates that have dominated the current federal election just haven’t captured my imagination.

The Age has today reported that a group called the Network of Concerned Farmers have taken matters into their own hands with regards to the secret trials of GM canola being under taken by Bayer CropScience.

The Network of Concerned Farmers have charted a plane to fly over western Victoria and have photographed six different farms that could be the secret crops. So far the Network have been advised in writing that one of the crops were not GM and they are hoping that other will do the same so they can narrow it down to those that are GM.

Direct action is never a clean cut operation. By its nature it requires a degree of Machiavelli logic. Compromises need to be made to some extent as it generally involves infringing on the liberties of an entity (be it a person or otherwise). However I think I’d disagree with this particular tactic.

I think it is a safe bet that if you can discover which crop is GM that this crop will be vandalised to some extent. I’ve no problem with this really, Bayer are a bunch of fascist bullyboys and you should steal from them. However I am concerned for the legit farmer who could well reap the wrath of an over zealous activist.

Organisations such as Greenpeace who are quite renowned of their direct action but it is invariably backed by a considerable amount of research to support their claims. They can point directly at the perpetrator and back up their allegations with evidence. I’m concerned about the way the Network are working backwards.

There is the other interesting issue here of the secrecy that has been awarded to Bayer. It is of great concern that this sort of privilege can be given to a corporation as it certainly wouldn’t be given to a non-profit (for example). Will the results of the test be made available? Will there be the opportunity for independent review? Is the safety of GM foods in Australia going to be determined by the results found by the very corporation that serves to benefit from a positive report?

It is understandable that the location is made secret as they would most likely be vandalised – however this is a concern for Bayer. What about the concerns of the surrounding farmers. This is highly un-democratic.

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There are two anti-Howard rallies this weekend – everyone should attend as democracy is about more than just voting on Oct 9.

The first one is 5pm Friday outside the state library – Free the Refugees

The second one is 1:30 Sunday – outside the state library – End the Lies.

I’m sure I’ll see you all there.

Many of you may have noticed what would, at first glance, appear to be a bit of crass commercialism.

However this is not the case. I am encouraging everyone to download a free copy of Firefox and for them to use it as their web browser. Because a) it is simply the best web browser there is, b) its development is a model of democracy, the source code is available to anyone to inspect and alter as they please c) it’s faster, safer and blocks both spyware and pop-ups; and d) it’s not Microsoft.

So they have asked the community of Firefox users to spread the word. They can’t afford the advertising so we’re doing it for them.

As their web site says:

Firefox is not just another piece of software. It is built by a community of volunteers passionate about maintaining innovation and choice on the web, and preserving the standards that make the Net so different from gated online communities that preceded it. Our source code is free available for anyone to inspect and hundreds of experienced developers help us make our code more secure and add the exciting new features Firefox users have come to love.

So please use it, for the betterment of everyone.

Please also note a new link in my links section – to the highly entertaining blog of Richard Higgins.

I’ve mentioned industrial relations before. It seems to be an issue that receives little attention when it is really quite alarming – in fact the Howard government’s reforms which almost completely strip workers of their rights seems to be taken as a given. Two items in today’s news illustrate this.

Firstly, the Democrats publicly offered support for the government’s Australian Workplace Agreements. Need we say more about the Democrats?

Secondly, Fuji Xerox workers today (possibly yesterday) walked off the job in a protest against plans to introduce satellite technology to monitor the movements of their staff. Surely this should be illegal. Not only is it distrustful, the assumption of guilt and punishing the many for the few but surely this is just outright abuse of workers rights.

My greatest concern is that because these ideas are taken as a given a Labour government would do little more than pay lip service to correcting this imbalance.

On another note I attended a hypothetical on the new Terrorism Laws. The panel included a range of notables including Malcolm Fraser, Robert Manne, Rod Quantock, Natasha Stott Despoja, and several other including Philip Adams who moderated the discussion. These laws are highly concerning and go further than the draconian Patriot Act that has been enacted in the US.

However perhaps the most interesting point for me was discussion regarding the motivation of the terrorists. Peter Faris (who I think could be described as a far right wing QC who hides behind a mask of the moderate centre left sort) completely refused to accept that terrorism is cause by anything other than ‘Islamism’. In the past I have flatly put the problem down to poverty. But the question arises: what is the common thread between all terrorists? It is the methods they use. It is important to remember that not all terrorists are Arabs. The IRA is a neat example. So terrorists are people who have an agenda and this does mean that these Arab terrorists are motivated by a religious agenda. So we will never actually stamp out terrorist. It is simply impossible, even in the most just of worlds.

However poverty still plays a part. It means that fundamentalist governments can get into power. It means that there are massively disenchanted masses. It means that these terrorists have a never ending supply of ‘cannon fodder’ – youths who are willing to give their lives in suicide bombings. It means that there is massive ‘anti-western’ sentiment which only further breeds these sorts of ideas.

There is a lot of disinformation here. There is a lot to distortion and over simplification – much of which conveniently suits certain agendas.

I guess my point is that it is such a highly complicated issue that there is no one answer. Certainly bombing innocent civilians, economic sanctions, economic exploitation and corruption only make the situation worse. However we need to be wary of the ‘Fog of War’ where there is just so much going on that you can never be certain.

I think Vandana Shiva’s criticism of GM foods is perhaps the most convincing. There is obviously still a lot of debate about the effects that these food crops will have on biodiversity and the interaction with surrounding environments.

However the premise of these crops (or seeds more specifically) presumes that monocultures are superior. Shiva draws the distinction between Yield and Output. Yield is the economic gain from one crop while output is the total output of a field. By utilising poly-cultures, and preferably indigenous ones, you can increase your Output but up to 10 times while simultaneously having a crop which is more drought resistant, more disease resistant, requires lower levels of herbicides and pesticides and so on.

It would be foolish to assume that these systems are perfect but they are much better.

In other words, the idea that GM foods are the only way we can feed the Majority world is based on the falsehood that monoculture is the best way to grow food stuffs.

However this would pose a significant problem for a highly industrialised country like Australia – a challenge I’d like to see taken up. Poly-cultural farming has traditionally been highly localised, often providing for a family or local community rather than an industrialised nation. This is fine in India or other majority world countries, which as Shiva points out were always poor but were well nourished and feed, but how does this translate to an Australian situation?

It requires a massive rethinking and reorganising of our agricultural practices including a massive localisation of production which has the added benefits of reducing transport costs – undoubtedly the biggest problem with out current food production methods. It could well mean that we have a wonderful supply of seasonal, indigenous and organic foods and hopefully higher levels of community involvement in food production. I’ve a feeling this isn’t compatible with economic rationalism.

Sometimes the most obvious things can seem like a revelation.

A few posts ago I said I was a collectivist. What a lie. Surely talk of a collectivist/individualist dichotomy is an modernist, anti-revolutionary dualism. The enemy itself.

What an absurd proposition, that you can’t concern yourself with the welfare of an entire ecosystem and concern yourself with animal cruelty at the same time.

This extends to all things. Most importantly that the rights of the individual do not have to be sacrificed for an egalitarian society and vice versa. Surely this was the failing of both communism and liberalism.

Wallerstein sums up the failing of liberalism with some eloquence: “Liberals have always claimed that the liberal state – reformist, legalist, and somewhat libertarian – was the only state that could guarantee freedom. And for the relatively small group whose freedom it safeguarded, this was perhaps true. But unfortunately that group always remained a minority perpetually en route to becoming everyone.”

You never have to look far for explanations of the failings of communism.

Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’
Go and see ‘The Corporation’

Seriously, one of the most important films ever. Featuring many heroes of mine including Chomsky, Klein, Zinn, Shiva and so many more.

It’s a cold reminder that it is not just a few ‘bad eggs’ that are giving corporations a bad name. Most, if not all, are implicit in the problems of the world.

However, more importantly it offers hope – there are cracks in the wall. The people are fighting back.

The Age today reported on BRW’s Young Rich List.

Yes, the definition of “young” is a little odd and many of the members of the list are hardly surprising (John of “Crazy John”, Nicole Kidman, Lleyton Hewitt, Kylie and so on) but what rang alarm bells to me was that numbers 3 and 7 were Child-care centre owners and number 2 was Sonic Healthcare.

Surely the high levels of profitability and commoditisation of these services (which I believe to be basic human rights) is alarming to even the casual observer. It is also noteworthy that it was not so long ago that these were publicly owned services (at least more so).

In other news, I saw an extremely funny thing earlier: The Star Wars Kid.
Like other outsider art (Wesley Willis and Wing) the beauty lies in the enthusiasm and lack of restraint in the performers. Their giving it their all and I love it!!!

I think from here on in my activist motto will be: ‘All I’ve ever asked for is free beer’.

I have a new thesis topic:

“A failure of engagement: why social and environmental movements are slowing the revolution”

The argument remains the same but the topic is now reflective of what I have to say. Not sure about the word “slowing” – sounds a bit pussy to me.