Megaliths, 9500 BCE

Megalithic stone circles of 30 metre diameter with stones 5 meters high have been excavated in Turkey. But they date to 9500 BCE, some 4500 years before the earliest recorded megalithic structures. Furthermore, unlike the more recent megaliths which were built by horticultural/agricultural societies these were built by village-dwelling hunter-gathers. They are also covered in carvings of birds, pigs, lions and snakes.

See:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080421/FOREIGN01/54504074/1003/FOREIGN

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/23/archaeology.turkey?gusrc=rss&\1feed=science

Ten Ways To Save The Planet by Evo Morales

Ten methods suggested by Evo Morales, Presidente de Bolivia,
to save the planet, humanity and life  in general.

1. Abolish the capitalist system.
2. No more wars.
3. A world without imperialism.
4. Water as a basic right.
5.  Development of clean energy sources.
6  Respect for our mother the earth.
7. Basic services as a human right.
8. Promote the diversity of cultures and economies.
9. Combat inequality
10. Live well, but not at the cost of other people.

I challenge anyone to disagree with this list!

Thanx to Visiones Alternativas, 
ttp://www.visionesalternativas.com/  

On Grumpiness In Old Age

That "things sure ain't what they usta be!" has been a complaint of the elderly since time immemorial. This nostalgia for the past and hostility toward the present are usually a defense mechanism by the elderly to hide from their sad, abused lives. You see this well in my parental generation (circa 1900-1920) who would tell you how lovely their parents were, and in the next breath will come the truth, "But Dad would tolerate no back-talk, we'd get a real bejezus whippin' if we cheeked him." Behind the nostalgia lies the unspoken message that those were the days when children, women and people of color "knew their place".

But complaints about the present cannot be simply reduced to reactionary nostalgia or defence mechanisms. Along with all the obvious benefits of modernity; higher living standards, plumbing, human rights, medical care, have come a host of genuine problems. That the "skies were bluer" might well be true with the spread of pollution well beyond the city core, that "folks were friendlier" due to the community now destroyed by suburban sprawl. And indeed, they probably did "have a lot more fun" since pleasures were DIY, now replaced by what I call KKK. (Kommercial Krap Kulture)

Now when it comes to my cohort, War Babies and Boomers, born say, 1939-1960, I suspect that we have little nostalgia for our childhood. Any positive feelings we have are rooted in reality, for unlike the previous two generations, who saw a marked improvement in their lives, post-WWII, we, later in life, have experienced a period of reaction. We definitely have not forgotten the authoritarianism and conformism of our up-bringing, nor the Cold War, nor the vicious racism and sexism of the period. But our childhood and adolescence was not just this catalogue of horrors.

Living standards have either stagnated or shrunk since the 1970's. Government services (remember the notion of service?) once free, are now expensive, or non-existent. Thanks to the evil of suburban-sprawl-shopping mall anti-culture which came on heavy in the 1970's, we have had an ever-greater decline in community, destruction of the down town and all the attendant social ills. Thanks to outsourcing, decent jobs are disappearing. A union job used to be the norm, not any longer. Thanks to Walmart, we are inundated with cheap junk that breaks and is too expensive to fix, thus ending up as landfill.

Thanks to the CIA's kindness of shipping in tons of cocaine to pay for terrorizing the Nicaraguans, we now have a real drug problem. Prior to the 1980's there were no small town drug problems and the only addicts were a handful of junkies in the inner cities.

Then there are those little needling things. Why are shoe laces so long now? Why does it cost so much to mail a letter or a parcel (13X price rise since 1968 compared to 7X for a litre of milk) How about hollow shoe heels? They wear out long before the uppers and since they can't be repaired the shoes have to be thrown out. Why is seemingly everything designed so ineptly? Is it just greed alone, or are products now designed to deliberately irritate the customer? I could go on and on...

People born in the 1970's, or after, have never known a time that jobs weren't precarious, government services functioned badly or were non-existent, a "drug problem" existed or when greed and corruption reigned absolutely. The Class Warriors of the ruling elite count upon loss of social memory to kill hope for a better world. For if life was better once, and in a society a lot less wealthy than today, surely the potential exists for a situation vastly better than now. So it is incumbent upon us elders – the veterans of the 60's struggles - to recall the way life was in our youth, to keep alive the memory of a time when working people were better off. Without sounding like grumpy old-timers, need I add?

Free Will Proven A Myth

Studies show  that the unconscious brain makes the decision
for you in advance of your conscious choice. This means, as
we have long suspected, "free will" is a myth. Good riddance.
How much cruelty has been inflicted upon us by this
notion.  See

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/414/3?rss=1 

Chile Part 5 - More Failures of Neoliberalism

I have already touched on the problem of rapid economic growth coupled with price inflation and wage stagnation. (With the exception of the 1998 Asian Tigers Crisis, GDP growth has averaged betweeen 5 and 10% annually. (1) ) I also referred to the grotesque level of inequality, one of the worst in the world (2), and the refusal of the government to create proper social welfare and education systems in an attempt to rectify this. But there are more problems than these facing Chile.

An export-dependent economy. What happens when the global economy goes into the toilet? What will happen to Chile in the coming years when the rising oil prices make it uneconomic to export fruit?

The central part of the country where most of the population lives and most of the fruit growing occurs is drying up and may well become desert in the coming decade. Due to global warming, the Andes get less snow, lowering the water table and river flow. Furthermore, clear-cutting and poor water usage are contributing factors, Chileans have told me.(Yet, you read not a word about global warming in the Chilean press.)

Chile has almost no oil and natural gas. This at a time when prices for these resources are sky-rocketing. Power brown-outs are blamed upon Argentina's refusal to renew its natural gas export contract, as it seems that country needs its gas for its own use. And since there is less water, hydro projects don't seem to be the answer. The electricity problem is a fine example of the failure of neo-liberalism. Central and North Chile get sun 365 days a year. The coastline gets wind off the Pacific. You would think solar and wind power would have been introduced. But no, Chile is 30 years behind other countries in this technology. Utlities were corporatized under Pinocho and thus cannot see any further than this years profit margins.

Meanwhile, the authorities have applied the US model of suburban sprawl and vast shopping malls everywhere. (It was never so evident as this trip, and the disease was only beginning in 1996.) At a time of water and power shortages and rising oil prices, the most energy-inefficient way of living in the world is being actively promoted.

Agribusiness is driving campesinos off the land. They crowd into the cities and exacerbate the problems there. The remaining campesinos are being forced into mono-crop sub-contracting for the corporations. This further undermines campesino life and threatens the farmer's markets, the one source of cheaper food for the populace.

The inability of the Peruvian state to deal with its economic problems is forcing many Peruvians to immigrate (legally and illegally) into Chile, a country that is wealthy by comparison with theirs. The Peruvians add to the number of poor in the cities and due to racism are blamed for "stealing jobs." and a rising crime rate.

I am left with the feeling that these problems will tear the country apart in the coming years.

One final point that I didn't know where to fit in. Chile used to be one of the most socially progressive countries in Latin America. Thanks to the Pinochet dictatorship, this is no longer the case. It was a deliberate policy of the dictatorship to stamp out socially progressive ideas and it shows. Chile is in many ways like stepping back 40 years. "White" Chileans will cheerfully tell you that People of Color are inferior and that Indians are stupid, the sort of talk that went out of style among middle class Canadians a good while ago. Even though blonds only make up maybe 15% of the population, most women in advertisements are rubias. There are no women bus, taxi or truck drivers and no women tradespeople or contruction workers. Only 30% of Chilean women are engaged in wage work, the lowest in Latin America and the same as Canada in 1960. This dependence upon one income is a contributing aspect of the poverty in the country and is a direct and long-term expression of the social reaction of the Pinochet regime.

1.) Average GDP growth between 1990 and 2001 was 4.7% Average growth, 2002-2007 was 4.71% (2007 at 5.2%) Sources, CIA Fact Book

2.) The GINI Index. Zero would equal absolute equality and 100 absolute inequality. Chile stands at 58.3, Costa Rica 48.9, Brazil, 56.7, and by way of comparison, Canada at 33.1, France at 32.3 and Norway at 25.7. Sources CIA Fact Book

Church Members Arrested For Supporting First Nations

Church Members Arrested during Easter Mass
for Challenging Archbishop
Sunday, March 23, 2008 2:00 pm PST

Four young Catholics were arrested and dragged out of Easter Mass by police this morning after they challenged statements by Archbishop Raymond Roussin about aboriginal protestors outside Holy Rosary Catholic Church in downtown Vancouver.

Ellen and Tatyana Dobrowolski, Josh Regnier and Vikram Uchida were assaulted by police in their pews after Ellen, a student at Simon Fraser University, stood to dispute comments from the Archbishiop contained in a "pastoral letter" from him being read to the congregation by priest Glen Dion.

"I began shaking with anger when he read that letter. I couldn't just sit there with the Archbishop saying such lies, attacking the native people outside and saying they were making up the stories about children being killed in the residential schools. So I got up and I said it wasn't true, that the Archbishop shouldn't be trying to discredit people who have the courage to stand up and name what happened to them.

"I was beginning to say that our church should admit what it did, that people should make up their own minds and go speak to the protestors, and then I was grabbed by that police sergeant. He yanked me by my arm and dragged me across the person next to me, then hauled me and the others right out of church."

Outside Holy Rosary, residential school survivors and other protestors welcomed the four churchgoers as they were "warned" and then released by police, several dozen of whom blocked the entrances to the church.

"You're brave people and we honour what you did in there" said Skundaal, an aboriginal woman from the Haida Nation who survived Indian residential schools.

"I only hope others in there wake up and see through the lies they're being fed."

The protest action was called by the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD), following a similar action on March 16 when hereditary chiefs posted an Eviction Notice on Holy Rosary and other downtown churches of the Anglican and United churches. Once again, the event was heavily covered by the local and national media.

"People are driven to occupying churches when they're ignored" said FRD organizer Kevin Annett, who was personally attacked and slandered in the Vancouver Sun newspaper after the March 16 action.

"But what's so encouraging about today is that members of Archbishop Roussin's own church are getting up and challenging him for the crimes of their church. That's what's going to start shaking things up, which is why the four of them were arrested so quickly. The church knows their time is over. It's like the last days of Ricahrd Nixon around here."

A lawyer for the Vancouver Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, Mary McKinnon, contacted Kevin Annett after the March 16 protest and said the church wished to negotiate, but refused to listen to any of the FRD's demands.

"She started attacking me personally, saying I didn't represent anything and was looking for publicity. I asked her why her church refused to address the evidence or the stories of eyewitnesses, and she said they didn't have to answer to them. I thought that said it all."

Recent forensic evidence from mass graves at residential schools in B.C. has prompted the FRD to plan an escalation of their protests if the Catholic, Anglican and United churches do not surrender the remains of children who died in their Indian Residential Schools. But for survivors like Rick Lavallee of the Cree Nation, who saw his brother Randy murdered by a Catholic priest at the Portage La Prairie residential school, a lot more is needed.

"We've told them to get off our land and we'll be back with a hundred homeless people to take over their church if they don't!" shouted Rick to the cheering crowd.

"This church belongs to us residential school survivors and not the people who killed my brother."

For more information: www.hiddenfromhistory.org or 1-888-265-1007

FRD National Committee
23 March, 2008
Squamish Nation territory

Chile Today - Part 4 The Failure of Neo-liberalism

Seventeen years is a long enough time for an experiment in economic development. South Korea moved from Third World misery to developed status in hardly more than that. How has Chile fared in the 17 years since my first visit? When I returned in 1996 it seemed the place was hopping, lots of new houses – small houses for normal people, not MacMansions – were built by the thousands, unemployment dropping and the squatter colonies were going to be a thing of the past. Of course masses of unemployed and underemployed were still selling pens on the street and long hours, low wages was still the lot of 90% of the employed, but it was supposed to improve.

The optimism of '96 had dissipated somewhat in 1998 due to the collapse of the Asian Tigers the year before. This should have been a wake up cry to the fact that the neo-liberal "export-based" model makes a country highly vulnerable, but I saw nothing about this in the press. Back again in 2001, and the economic motor seemed chugging along again, but still the problems of underemployment and low wages persisted. Added to these problems was the fact that almost no social services existed. No welfare, no health care system, a pension tied to a fluctuating stock market, privatized education and therefore the burden of school fees and university tuition.

What do I find in 2008? Low wages, long hours, poor or non-existent social services, guys selling pens in the streets and tin shack colonies. Middle class people tell me, as they did in 1991, '96, '98 and 2001, that they really wonder how they survive given the low incomes and high cost of everything. Three quarters of Chileans earn less than $440 CDN a month. Yet the prices on most items are about as high as in Canada. In Canada during the early 1960's when most Canadians earned less than $440 a month, prices were in accordance with income – a quart of milk was 20 cents, a kilo of bread 40 cents, a bus ticket 20 cents and so on. Chileans in 2008 pay $1.40 for a litre of milk, $2.30 for a kilo of bread and $1.10 for a bus ticket, and earn 1962-level wages! Professionals and skilled workers make from one quarter to one fifth what their Canadian counterparts make. I should also mention, that the hours are longer and the benefits are also far less, so it is even worse that the wage figures would indicate.

The claim is made that Chile is too poor to afford social services or a more egalitarian wage structure. According to the CIA Source Book Chile's 2007 per capita GDP was $14,400. Adjusted for inflation, Canada's per capital GDP was about the same in the early 1950's. But by then we had a whole raft of social welfare measures and social reforms such as welfare, unemployment insurance, hospital insurance, the eight hour day, two weeks vacation, minimum wage legislation etc. We had a system of public education and wages were rising and would continue to do so until the mid-1970's. Unionized industrial workers were now seen as "middle class" and lived accordingly. All on a per capita GDP of $14,400 which the Chilean rulers find too feeble.

But Chile does have a lot of newly minted multi-millionaires and billionaires...

To be continued