I'm enjoying following this series. There's so much to ponder, and I like how it is coming together - community. Your exposition is so clear. I love how you've demonstrated the link between locations so far apart, sharing the same base history.
My understanding of permaculture is that regard for community is very much part of the design process, but with eroded communities, most projects are managed by individuals or family units so never really become a community endeavour nor really serve the community of which they may or may not be a part.
My own writing keeps bringing me back to this concept of community and at some point want to give it serious consideration. Thank you for extending and pushing the thought process. I've been feeling rusty!
Lovely and heartfelt post. Thank you for bringing all of this together. 🧡
I can't remember if this was in that Farmerama series or not, but I heard that the compensation the British government paid to slave owners when it was made illegal in the UK is still something that the British taxpayer is covering to this day?
Oct 13, 2023·edited Oct 13, 2023Liked by John Lovie
I remember visiting the ruins of crofter's homes in northern Scotland and learning that history long ago, but only in bits and pieces really, until I read more about the scope of it all, with the enclosures, removals, etc. The full extent of the loop of colonization pushing others to essentially become colonizers and slave owners in the americas....it's so insidious. And the line about where's your community? So so real and true. So weary of hearing about individual solutions. I wrote a while back about how the myth of rugged individualism in Alaska and how pervasive it still is when every Indigenous person here is like no one survives alone. It's absolutely true. And yet we have that mythos so embedded in ideas of sufficiency, productivity. And so many buy that whole entire myth in places like Alaska. It's hard to continue to watch.
The perpetual cycle of oppression and pain generating more oppression and pain cannot be more evident than this paragraph alone "Displaced Scots were well represented among the enslavers and plantation managers in the British Caribbean. Following the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833, former enslavers were paid £20 million in compensation. Some of that money was used to purchase land in Scotland, in turn dispossessing and displacing more Scots, who in turn participated in the genocide of Native Americans. Profits from the plantations were used to found schools and universities and pay for infrastructure throughout Scotland.”
This is such significant piece of history often overlooked in discussions of colonialism and wealth drain. Thank you for highlighting this correlation John.
I’ve long talked about the need for community, tamping down the perpetuation of greed in a capitalist society. I teach a course at the University of Illinois (online) called sustainable food systems, and one of the things I love is that many of my students want nothing more than to find a way to be self-sustaining within a community that values sharing abundance over hoarding it. Thanks for this insightful post!
I'm enjoying following this series. There's so much to ponder, and I like how it is coming together - community. Your exposition is so clear. I love how you've demonstrated the link between locations so far apart, sharing the same base history.
My understanding of permaculture is that regard for community is very much part of the design process, but with eroded communities, most projects are managed by individuals or family units so never really become a community endeavour nor really serve the community of which they may or may not be a part.
My own writing keeps bringing me back to this concept of community and at some point want to give it serious consideration. Thank you for extending and pushing the thought process. I've been feeling rusty!
Lovely and heartfelt post. Thank you for bringing all of this together. 🧡
I can't remember if this was in that Farmerama series or not, but I heard that the compensation the British government paid to slave owners when it was made illegal in the UK is still something that the British taxpayer is covering to this day?
Very much looking forward to reading this - just my sort of thing! Many thanks.
I remember visiting the ruins of crofter's homes in northern Scotland and learning that history long ago, but only in bits and pieces really, until I read more about the scope of it all, with the enclosures, removals, etc. The full extent of the loop of colonization pushing others to essentially become colonizers and slave owners in the americas....it's so insidious. And the line about where's your community? So so real and true. So weary of hearing about individual solutions. I wrote a while back about how the myth of rugged individualism in Alaska and how pervasive it still is when every Indigenous person here is like no one survives alone. It's absolutely true. And yet we have that mythos so embedded in ideas of sufficiency, productivity. And so many buy that whole entire myth in places like Alaska. It's hard to continue to watch.
The perpetual cycle of oppression and pain generating more oppression and pain cannot be more evident than this paragraph alone "Displaced Scots were well represented among the enslavers and plantation managers in the British Caribbean. Following the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833, former enslavers were paid £20 million in compensation. Some of that money was used to purchase land in Scotland, in turn dispossessing and displacing more Scots, who in turn participated in the genocide of Native Americans. Profits from the plantations were used to found schools and universities and pay for infrastructure throughout Scotland.”
This is such significant piece of history often overlooked in discussions of colonialism and wealth drain. Thank you for highlighting this correlation John.
I’ve long talked about the need for community, tamping down the perpetuation of greed in a capitalist society. I teach a course at the University of Illinois (online) called sustainable food systems, and one of the things I love is that many of my students want nothing more than to find a way to be self-sustaining within a community that values sharing abundance over hoarding it. Thanks for this insightful post!