What a month! Scary, stunningly beautiful (at least in this part of the country), on our own, yet all together as never before, full of despair, loss and possibility. I have been incredibly fortunate to have been spared—thus far—the sharp edge of loss, and I focus here on possibility.
I’ve added a few new resources which I hope may be helpful. I’m thankful for all of you, and wish you connection, joy in small things, and resilience on the road ahead.
Love,
Pamela
Breaking free
One of the more pernicious consequences of this pandemic is how it aligns with and amplifies the voices of isolation and helplessness from our childhood: Though we may want to make things better, the external situation is way too big for us to influence. We are separate, small, scared and alone. The best we can do is try to keep ourselves and our loved ones intact and get through our days.
So for me, and I imagine for many others, I have been focusing on what is within reach. I sanitize knobs and switches and handles in the house. I wash my hands. I reach out to others who might be feeling lonely and even more vulnerable. I keep the tiny free library box at the corner of our park stocked, from our overabundant supply of books. I do my paid work remotely, lead my classes on-line, and work in the garden (where things can seem blessedly normal). I take in what I can of the larger situation, staying in touch with friends in Northern Uganda whose food supply is insecure and a man I know who has the misfortune to be in jail.
Yet there is a way that I have remained deep in crisis-response mode. While doing what is there to be done, my mind has been caged within this new and overwhelming reality. It has been taken up with survival, with strategizing how to process new information, how to handle fears and unknowns, how to make it through. This, too, has the ring of the constraints of childhood.
But I want more! As my mind struggles to slip the cage, what come first are the questions. What would it mean to think big about how to make use of this new window of opportunity that COVID-19 has offered?
How can we elevate the conversation about what is possible, drawing on things that are now happening that nobody believed could ever happen here? There are so many! The government is finding money to give almost every non-wealthy citizen $1200, no questions asked. Coronavirus testing is being offered whether a person has insurance or not. Cities are finding ways to give all children computers and make internet available, when this seemed unaffordable just weeks ago. Government is requiring private businesses to respond to public needs. We are learning how much work can actually be done remotely, and how many events can happen effectively online. In the process, we are discovering how much travel is unnecessary, and the corresponding importance of local resilience.
In a similar vein, how can we elevate the new conversation about who is an essential worker in our society? Front-line workers in health care, grocery stores and trash removal, to name just a few, are being recognized widely for the critical role they play. What can we do to ensure that this perspective is lasting?
How can we translate these new possibilities and understandings into an effective movement for change? How can we harness the new energy in all the mutual support efforts that have sprung up around the country? How can we link an abstract idea—that this is a window of possibility—to a grassroots movement that could actually impact policy? (And how can we do that from the isolation of our homes?) The youth climate movement and what might remain of the Sanders campaign have extensive on-the-ground capacity and a big vision. Is there a way the energy of those movements can be harnessed to more fully take advantage of this window of opportunity? What would need to happen to make that possible?
I am excited about more and more of us breaking free from that cage and using our minds in as big a way as we can—then following up with action. I look forward to thinking freshly together, and backing each other in acting as effectively as we can.
Celebrating Easter during a pandemic
The sunrise service that I love,
in a meadow overlooking the city skyline,
putting our gathered attention
to the end of night
and the coming of a new day,
was not to be.
Instead, I climbed to our roof—
moon to the west, over the Catholic church
sunrise to the east, through the skyline—
and settled in to witness
the coming of the light.
And it came.
Back down, my early morning walk
led me round the park
and to the city garden that we share.
Under the peach tree
that I planted years ago
and has yielded so abundantly
I found a tiny seedling poking up—a peach!
As I looked, I kept on finding more—
life in abundance,
unexpected and unearned
ready to grow, to nourish and delight—
an Easter gift to warm the heart.
Dare to imagine: A new economy is possible!
We are seeing it all around us these days, as economic policies and practices to serve the public good are being implemented that seemed impossible just weeks ago. The challenge now is to find a way to hold on.
Some things that have made me hopeful recently:
The hundreds of mutual aid networks that are popping up across the country, introducing many thousands to values and possibilities of the solidarity economy. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/people-fighting-coronavirus-mutual-aid-efforts-help-each-other?
A victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota on Wednesday, in a federal judge’s ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/25/huge-victory-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-federal-court-rules-dapl-permits-violated-law
A call by ministers from 10 European countries for coronavirus recovery to be based on a Green Deal, and not come at the expense of people and planet.
https://350.org/#updates
Rent, utility, and debt Freezes by the government of El Salvador in order to provide economic relief for those hardest hit by COVID-19.
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/el-salvador-to-offer-relief-for-those-hit-by-coronavirus?
The Spanish government’s position that not only would universal basic income payments be implemented, but that they would become a structural and permanent instrument.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-spain-universal-basic-income-europe-a9449336.html?
Resources
Finding Steady Ground
If you need reminding of some simple ways to stay grounded in challenging times, I recommend this website, which I helped a friend develop following the last presidential election.
www.findingsteadyground.com
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
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/
Climate Resistance Handbook, or I was part of a climate action. Now what? https://commonslibrary.org/climate-resistance-handbook-or-i-was-part-of-a-climate-action-now-what/
Leading Groups On-Line. https://www.trainingforchange.org/training_tools/leading-groups-online-book/
Money and Soul
My new book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.")
Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8
Toward a Right Relationship with Finance
A 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
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: New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)
Money and Soul
My new book (based on a pamphlet of the same name) available via QuakerBooks or other on-line distributors.
("If money troubles your soul, try this down-to-earth Quaker perspective on economies large and small.")
Money, Debt and Liberation
A video of a talk I gave at Pendle Hill in January, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nP8eJ5vy8
Toward a Right Relationship with Finance
A 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
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: New link: https://www.peaceworkersus.org/docs/muscle_building_for_peace_and_justice.pdf (or just google the title)
