Dear all,
I still find myself disappointed when summer doesn’t bring great expanses of open time as it did in my childhood. But I’ve had the time to finish a wonderful book on climate solutions (Drawdown, www.drawdown.org), and I’ve certainly had my share of blessings: the garden in the cool of the early morning; the sound of wonder in a three-year-old’s voice when he makes a discovery about his world; a native woman from the midwest who not only brought great richness to a series of workshops at a Quaker conference but was able to use the space for her own growth.
The issue of right relationship has been much on my mind, and I hope you find this reflection helpful.
Love,
Pamela
Right relationship:
The Poor People’s Campaign; a National Call for Moral Revival
I was among fifty thousand people who gathered on the National Mall in Washington DC in late June for a teach-in, march and inauguration of the 21st Century Poor People’s Campaign. Built on the tradition of the US civil rights movement, and reflecting Martin Luther King’s growing clarity in his later years about the links between racism, poverty and militarism, the campaign boldly seeks to bring poor and working people together to transform society. Led by Reverend William Barber, the DC event marked the culmination of forty days of action in forty states around the country, and the launch of a National Call for Moral Revival.
It was a wonderful personal experience, as such occasions often are. Our bus from Philadelphia held a heartwarming microcosm of the diversity of the city, and people were incredibly good to each other—a deeply hopeful sign of what is possible when we come together. It was moving to witness the contingent of steelworkers at the rally—as the white working class can be so easily divided from others who struggle in this country. I loved the shared covenant that demands nonviolent discipline, including a commitment to “never wear a mask, so I can tell my story… in a manner that promotes honesty and trust”. The signs quoting MLK, “We are a new unsettling force,” and Frederick Douglass, "Power concedes nothing without a demand,” framed a stirring challenge.
The goals of the Poor People’s Campaign are broad, to unite people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality, lifting up the leadership of those most affected. The commitment to building unity across lines of division is palpable. Everybody is included. Nobody is out.
Thus far, the focus has been on building up groups in individual states that can come to their capitols with a show of strength and a willingness to face arrest for their values. What will happen next? I don’t think anybody knows for sure. But this is an opportunity to be on the right side of history. The long and short of it is that I believe each one of us needs to be in right relationship with the 21st Century Poor People’s Campaign.
It’s easy to be moved by the passion and prophetic words of Reverend Barber, but right relationship has to be two-way. There are many possibilities, differing for different people in different circumstances. We can throw ourselves in fully, deciding that this is the movement of our times. Perhaps some of us with greater experience can identify decision-makers and offer insights on what will make the work most effective. Or we can find a group that has committed to the campaign and support that group’s engagement in any number of ways. We can find one other person who has chosen to be involved, and offer them consistent encouragement, backing and support. We can make a point of following the campaign and doing what we can to amplify its message. We can hold the campaign, its goals and its leadership in our hearts. We can stay informed enough to know if/when our relationship might need to change. The one choice that I believe is not available to people of integrity, those who are grateful for the Civil Rights movement and want better for our country, is to stay disengaged.
Being in right relationship requires discernment. What is a role I can play that is a fit for my circumstances, my gifts, and the situation and needs of the other? Do my reasons for being involved or not involved stand up to testing? Whatever level of engagement we choose, being in right relationship also requires being an open-hearted peer, neither needy nor patronizing, ready to both give and receive.
We may have to try different things in the process of finding our way. We can start simply by joining up (https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org). I’m not sure yet what my right relationship with the campaign will be. Going to DC in June was one step in finding my way. Writing this is another. I’m confident there will be more.
Neighbors
Our neighbors have been acting strangely
as of late
No cheerful singing
They seem snippy and suspicious.
What’s got into them?
When travel seemed to be their thing,
they’re always close to home.
All becomes clear one day.
They were expecting.
Three little baby mockingbirds
in Denora’s great old rosebush.
We are delighted for them, of course
and eager to see the tiny babes.
Our interest is not welcome.
They hover, call out
rush at us with flapping wings.
It’s easy to judge:
Not the best spot to raise a family
on the main garden thoroughfare.
What could you have been thinking?
And why aren’t you more welcoming?
We only want to look, would never hurt.
I have to shake myself.
New families need their privacy,
try to protect their children.
lWhat could be more human?
Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!
Biomimicry
According to Dr. Janine Benyus, if you want to build a better world through technology, you simply crib the notes nature has written over millions of years. She lays out four amazing technologies that directly mimic the natural world.
One company has started using trehalose (the sugar that allows brine shrimp to remain in a dehydrated state) for vaccine preservation, which would eliminate the need for refrigeration. Another has applied the pattern on the skin of Galapagos sharks that reduces bacterial content, to hospital equipment and other products; with no anti-bacterial solution, there’s no risk of creating superbugs. The chemical recipe of coral is being used to make concrete out of repurposed CO2, reducing the carbon footprint of its production significantly. CO2 is also being transformed into low cost plastics, mimicking the enzymes of plants.
https://innotechtoday.com/4-nature-inspired-sustainable-technologies/
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
This year, for the first time ever, U.S. corporations must disclose the ratio between their CEO pay and the pay of their company’s median worker, a potential game changer in the struggle against inequality.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2018/02/21/as-companies-reveal-gigantic-ceo-to-worker-pay-ratios-some-worry-how-low-paid-workers-might-take-the-news
The Uttarakhand High Court in India has declared the animal kingdom as possessing rights, according the status of "legal person or entity" to animals in the state.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/uttarakhand/uttarakhand-hc-declares-animal-kingdom-a-legal-entity/615099.html
Care workers in women-dominated industries will get pay rises worth up to a $5000 a year after a historic settlement with the New Zealand government, in recognition that some jobs pay less because they are done mainly by women.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11840364
By ruling to leave in place a lower court decision mandating that the state of Washington replace salmon blocking culverts with passable ones, the Supreme Court upheld the treaty rights of tribes to have sustained access to their First Foods: salmon.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/supreme-court-affirms-native-american-treaty-rights-to-harvest-salmon-20180611
Resources
Money and Soul
A transcript of a keynote address I delivered at a Quaker conference in New Mexico, June 2017
https://westernfriend.org/media/money-and-soul-unabridged
Toward a Right Relationship with Finance
Check out this new book that I co-authored on Debt, Interest, Growth and Security.
The growth economy is failing to provide equitable well-being for humanity and a life-sustaining future for Earth. However our institutional endowments and individual retirement are dependent on that same growth economy. This book:
• offers background on our current economic system--how it is based on unearned income on the one hand and debt on the other, with a built-in momentum toward economy inequality and ecological overshoot;
• frames the conversation within the context of our deepest values and beliefs;
• suggests plausible and historically grounded alternatives to the current system, particularly with regard to financing retirement; and
• invites everyone to imagine new forms of durable economic and social security, and to help create the relationships and institutions that will make them a reality.
With many people now counting as never before on the performance of Wall Street for retirement security, how can this system be challenged with integrity and effectiveness? Can we break with our dependence on financial speculation and build up new structures of security in a transformed, life-centered economy?
To order the book, or read it on line, go to http://www.quakerinstitute.org/?page_id=5 and scroll down.
More resources
www.findingsteadyground.org
Resource from my friend Daniel Hunter, Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow; An Organizing Guide. http://www.danielhunter.org/books/building-movement-end-new-jim-crow-organizing-guide
Posts on other web/blog sites:
In http://www.classism.org/gifts-american-dream/, Pamela Haines locates her family's homey DIY celebrations on a class spectrum of different connections to upward mobility.
http://www.transitionus.org/blog/unlikely-suspects-–-deep-outreach-diverse-initiating-groups-–-pace-building-trust
http://www.classism.org/demolition-derby
Muscle Building for Peace and Justice; a Non-Violent Workout Routine for the 21st Century--an integration of much of my experience and thinking over the years: https://www.trainingforchange.org/publications/muscle-building-peace-and-justice-nonviolent-workout-routine-21st-century (or just google the title)
faitheconomyecology.wordpress.com, a website that I've contributed to often (check the archives)
www.ourchildrenourselves.com, a home for all the parenting writing I've done over the past 20 years. NOTE THE NEW URL.
Pamela Haines
215-349-9428
To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.
www.pamelalivinginthisworld.blogspot.com
