[Pil-pc-oceania] Permaculture People's Party

[pacific-edge]

On 2/7/07 11:39 AM, "Terry Leahy" <Terry.Leahy at newcastle.edu.au> wrote:

> Dear Permaculture,
> 
> Agree with those who worry that all this energy might better be spent
> working with the Greens or doing something to promote permaculture in
> its own right.  I am wondering what it is that Permaculturists might
> have against the Greens party.T his has been suggested a number of
> times but I am not sure what specifically people are worried about with
> the Greens.  

Their duplicitous role in voting against renewal of the lease for the
Eastern Suburbs Community Garden (Waverly Greens on Waverly Council).

In comparison, the Randwick Greens supported the campaign to retain the
community garden at UNSW.

This shows that the greens are somewhat erratic when it comes to policy and
in complying with their own myth of being suppportive of community.

> More importantly I am not sure that what we permaculturists
> might be worried about with the Greens would be the same across the
> movement.  My own concern with the Greens is that their utopia - what we
> are working towards to replace the present social system - strikes me as
> unlikely to work; they favour what can be called a mixed economy model
> with aspects of socialism, capitalism and anarchism; I favour an
> anarchist moneyless gift economy model.  I doubt if this problem and my
> solution are exactly what might be the go with other permaculturists!!!

This seems quite a long term aim rather than one based on present
realpolitik. But who dares predict the evolution of complex societies? You
never know.

> I also worry that they put people off sometimes with what amounts to a
> whole lot of proposed legislation that can seem like the state trying to
> control your every move.  For example bans on four wheel drives on
> beaches and so on.

Yes, this too. Too many laws but not those we really need for the long term.
Too much interference in people's everyday life.

> Despite all this I still support the Greens; they are the only party
> that really acknowledges the depth of the environmental crisis and the
> drastic nature of what has to be done to solve it.  I also think that
> voting for them within the preferential system (i,e giving second
> preferences to the ALP) is very effective in putting pressure on the
> major parties to do something.  What worries me at the moment is the way
> their vote has remained at roughly the same level for more than a decade
> despite the recent and growing concern about global warming.

I spoke about this with a long-term member of the ALP connected to the
judiciary. He puts it down to the erratic nature of Green pronouncements and
policies. 

>  What is more likely is that most people are still too worried about their own
jobs or income to support any party which may seem to threaten that.  Watch this
space.

And this is what the PPP will have to deal with.
> 
> Terry

>>Grahame George of Earthcare Permaculture <earthcarepc at virtual.net.au>wrote:

>>We seem to have two camps developing, those wanting revolutionary change and
>>those taking an evolutionary approach.  As a biologist and pragmatist I
believe that the latter approach is more likely to succeed in our industrialised
society.

Is this analogous to the way the German Green Party split betweeen the
'realos' - the pragmatists - and the 'politicos' - the ideological branch?

...Russ