#advocacy

digit@iviv.hu
ramil_rodaje@diasp.org

https://vimeo.com/708871732

delikado

DELIKADO

Defending paradise has never been so dangerous

#Palawan appears to be an idyllic tropical island. Its powder-white beaches and lush forests have made it one of Asia’s hottest new tourist destinations. But for a tiny network of environmental crusaders and vigilantes trying to protect its spectacular natural resources, it is more akin to a battlefield.

DELIKADO follows Bobby, Tata and Nieves, three magnetic leaders of this network, as they risk their lives in David versus Goliath-style struggles trying to stop politicians and businessmen from destroying the Philippines’ “last ecological frontier”.

It is a timely film emblematic of the struggles globally for land defenders as they are being killed in record numbers trying to save natural resources from being plundered by corporations and governments. As the world faces its sixth-mass extinction and the climate emergency worsens,

It is also a unique expose of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs’ in the Philippines, which has claimed thousands of lives and the International Criminal Court of Justice has said may amount to a crime against humanity. DELIKADO shows the drug war is used as a tool for politicians to control the levers of economic and political power.

DELIKADO offers a story of courage and resilience to inspire others into action.

The battles being led by Bobby, Tata and Nieves in DELIKADO are the same as those being fought by local communities in #Brazil, #Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of #Congo and elsewhere around the world where #corporations and #governments are seeking to plunder increasingly valuable natural resources.

They are being killed for trying to stop #mining, #agribusiness and #logging. Many of the deaths occur in remote villages or rainforests. The victims are often from indigenous communities and the killers are rarely caught. The powerful masterminds behind the murders virtually never. All these factors are in play in Palawan.

The film has a special relevance and urgency in highlighting the perilous fate of Palawan, the most biodiverse part of the Philippines and home to two UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural wonders.

Palawan, due to its remoteness, had long avoided the corrupt development seen around the rest of the Philippines over recent decades as the country’s population has boomed. Palawan’s rainforests are among the biggest, oldest and most diverse in Asia. They are home to thousands of animal and plant species.

But few people know it is on the path to environmental destruction. Politicians and businessmen are destroying Palawan at an unprecedented rate to extract its forests, minerals and fish. #Urbanisation and #tourism are other pressures leading to the depletion of Palawan’s natural resources.

Once the last of Palawan’s majestic #Apitong, #Kamagong, #Ipil and other endangered trees are cut down, these species will be forever lost. With the demise of these #forests will come the loss of Palawan’s incredibly diverse range of endemic animal species. Some of the world’s largest butterflies - bigger than an outspread human hand - can only be found in Palawan’s rainforests. They are also home to seven-foot monitor lizards, turquoise and violet-winged peacocks, giant grey bear cats, bulging-eyed geckos as long as an adult’s arm, flying squirrels and dirt-brown “horned” frogs.

Centuries-old #traditions and #customs for the tribal people still living in the forests will also disappear if the forests are destroyed. Other communities living in towns and villages outside of the forests will face floods and droughts when the forests are gone.

#Delikado #DelikadoFilm #documentary #film #nature #environment #activism #advocacy #Indigenous #Peoples #land-defenders #natural-resources #conservation #protection #preservation #Philippines #KarlMalakunas #ThoughtfulRobot #NarraviFilms #docu-films

ramil_rodaje@diasp.org

https://vimeo.com/518756378

Vandana Shiva

The Seeds of Vandana Shiva

When you control seed you control life on earth.

In her colorful sari and large scarlet bindi, Dr. Vandana Shiva is an arresting presence: She galvanizes crowds, advises government leaders, fields constant calls from the media, then retreats from big-city buzz to work alongside small farmers across the developing world.

Who is she? What is her mission? How did this woman from an obscure town in India become Monsanto’s worst nightmare: a rebellious rock star in the global debate about who feeds the world?

Among those engaged with organic food and farming, climate change, biodiversity, seed sovereignty, globalisation, and social justice, Vandana Shiva is an icon of a global movement.

But even among those who pride themselves on being well-informed, she’s relatively unknown. Few are aware of how this daughter of a Himalayan forest conservator rose from obscurity to become a world leader of Gandhian stature.

Hers is the remarkable and unlikely story of a girl who trekked from highland cabin to cabin alongside her father, tended a garden alongside her mother, and passionately pursued an education that freed her from the caste and gender constraints of traditional Indian society that culminated in a degree in Nuclear Physics, and then a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Quantum Theory.

But those achievements were merely a prelude to her awakening as a fully-committed activist.

Vandana Shiva brought her scientific expertise and Gandhian principles of non-violent resistance to the struggles of poor Indian villagers whose livelihoods were being crushed by corporate capitalism. She has become a formidable opponent to those corporations whose drive for privatization and profit are destroying the environment and changing the climate. Their predations in the name of a ‘green revolution’ with its promises of wealth and freedom and ‘feeding the world’ through patented and chemically-dependent GMO seeds are reducing traditional farmers and entire communities to inescapable servitude. In India, the fruits of the Green Revolution are an epidemic of rural suicides.

The Seeds of Vandana Shiva focuses on the people, circumstances and seminal events in Vandana’s life—what shaped her thinking and defined her purpose. It also shows how the battle against multinational agribusiness has become an international struggle between two visions for feeding the world: The first, a multinational corporate model of chemically dependent monoculture that rewards a capitalist imperative of profit and growth. And the other, ‘Earth Democracy, that honors ecology, biodiversity, sustainability and community—what Dr. Shiva demonstrates is the only way forward for the future of food.

#TheSeedsOfVandanaShiva #documentary #film #nature #environment #food #movement #awakening #seed #seeds #seed-freedom #seed-saving #seed-sharing #seed-sovereignty #advocacy #activism #CamillaBecket #JimBecket #BecketFilms #docu-films

wist@diasp.org

Quotation by Serling, Rod

The gifts and the lessons my father left me will last forever: Never take yourself too seriously, never miss a chance to laugh long and hard, speak out about political and social issues you believe in, use the written word as often as you can to make yourself and the world a better place, and love your children with all you’ve got.

Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Paraphrase of Rod Serling in Anne Serling, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling, Epilogue (2013)

#quote #quotation #activism #advice #advocacy #children #family #humility #humor #meaning-of-life #wisdom #writing
Sourcing and notes: https://wist.info/serling-rod/55492/

seebrueckeffm@venera.social

🪧📢 #RaisingVoices

@EuropeMustAct ermöglichte Online-Treffen zw. MEPs🇪🇺 und #RefugeesGR im geschlossenen Lager auf #Samos🇬🇷. Vertriebene sollten die Kontrolle über ihre Geschichten haben und die Möglichkeit, sich aktiv an Interessenvertretung zum Thema Migration zu beteiligen.


https://twitter.com/EuropeMustAct/status/1523259814637637633

#advocacy

digit@joindiaspora.com

#thesearethehands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHW8tfqs5eg

#thehourislaterthanyouthink #SaveOurNHS #sociopathic #nuremberg #patientsrights #moreexpensivelessefficientworseoutcomes #apatientcuredisacustomerlost #forprofithealtchare #wealthextraction #privatisation #stealthprivatisation #NHS #freeatpointofservice #need #afullyinformedpatient #doctoralautonomy #patientsovereignty #administrativeusurption #health

#clapping

one quick little quote from #DrBobGill (of #thegreatNHSheist #documovie and #saveournhs #campaign #advocacy fame)

"[Nationalised Healthcare, got copied around the world]... Because they realised there is no more efficient way of doing things. Can't be done. There is no healthcare service in the world that is privately delivered which looks after everyone. Privatised medicine, avoids sick people. Because they're expensive. The business model is not to spend more money on the sick.

You couldn't make it up, right? So we are copying, the most expensive, one of the worst performing systems which is endemically fraudulent, an estimate of 10% of US healthcare costs goes in fraud, double billing and all the rest to it. So it takes a certain type of person to knowingly do this to the nation, I hope you'd agree."


PS

and pertinent opening line from the first question:

"we don't have a political oposition in this country"

and closing line to it too:

"because the labour party is standing in the way"


"Educate each other".

#educateyourselvessoyoumayeducateothers

ramil_rodaje@diasp.org

Tribes Are Leading the Way to Remove Dams and Restore Ecosystems

https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2021/07/14/tribes-remove-dams-restore-ecosystems

When the Elwha River dams fell, it was the culmination of many decades of successful partnerships among the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and dozens of other local and national organizations. Today, those partnerships continue to support the tribe in righting historic wrongs.

#nature #environment #dams #dam #removal #rivers #watershed #waterways #Indigenous #peoples #advocacy #activism #yesmagazine

ramil_rodaje@diasp.org

https://vimeo.com/358955694

The New Environmentalists - From Liberia to Mongolia

The New Environmentalists share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is the latest in the Mill Valley Film Group’s Emmy Award-winning series featuring inspiring portraits of six passionate and dedicated activists. These are true environmental heroes who have placed themselves squarely in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries while building strong grassroots support. Narrated by Robert Redford, the New Environmentalists illustrates how ordinary people are effecting extraordinary change.

#TheNewEnvironmentalists #film #series #planet #earth #nature #environment #natural-resources #exploitation #pollution #grassroots #advocacy #activism #MillValleyFilmGroup

The New Environmentalists: From Hanoi to Paris

https://diasp.org/posts/04d4dfa07d0f013732bb047d7b62795e

The New Environmentalists - From Guatemala to The Congo

https://diasp.org/posts/092dd38043920136999d047d7b62795e

The New Environmentalists - From Peru to Tanzania

https://diasp.org/posts/2ed61ae00c8c0135ba5e4986d5cbec7f

The New Environmentalists - From Chicago to The Karoo

https://diasp.org/posts/f92634a027b90134b248782bcb452bd5

The New Environmentalists - From Ithaca to The Amazon

https://diasp.org/posts/cc6a4c6027b90134b244782bcb452bd5

The New Environmentalists - From Myanmar to Scotland

https://diasp.org/posts/31fad68027b90134b242782bcb452bd5

The New Environmentalists - From Kenya to the Arctic Circle

https://diasp.org/posts/dc361de027b80134b23c782bcb452bd5

The New Environmentalists - From Chicago to The Karoo

https://diasp.org/posts/c7d4e9720954ae60

The New Environmentalists - From Accra to Eleuthera Island (Trailer)

https://vimeo.com/585012973

ramil_rodaje@diasp.org

Conviction of Dam Company Executive for Murder of Berta Cáceres Hailed as ‘Step Towards Justice’

https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/colonialism/conviction-of-dam-company-executive-for-murder-of-berta-caceres-hailed-as-step-towards-justice/

Human rights advocates on Monday welcomed the conviction of Roberto David Castillo Mejía, a Honduran businessman and former military intelligence officer, for the March 2016 assassination of Indigenous environmental activist Berta Cáceres, while calling on authorities in the Central American nation to bring everyone involved in planning the murder to justice.

#environment #activism #advocacy #justice #Honduras #BertaCáceres #DeepGreenResistance

ramil_rodaje@joindiaspora.com

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thebentleyeffect

tbe

The Bentley Effect

When the coal seam gas industry staked a claim on the Northern Rivers region of Australia, alarm bells rang out. Thousands of people from all walks of life organised themselves to rally against the unconventional gas invasion. But despite the enormous public opposition, the gas industry and the State Government were determined to see their gas plan through.

A series of dramatic blockades ensued before the final battlelines were drawn in the peaceful farming valley of Bentley. A critical mass of people flocked to the site to stare down the threat of 850 riot police, ordered in to break up the protest. What happened next set an historic precedent.

Filmed over five years, The Bentley Effect documents the highs and lows of the battle to keep a unique part of Australia gasfield-free. This timely story of a community’s heroic stand shows that peaceful protest and non-violent direct action can not only overcome industrial might and political short-sightedness … but it can also be a lot of fun.

This highly acclaimed film chronicles and celebrates one of the fastest growing and most creative social movements we have ever witnessed, posing the question ‘what is truly valuable?’

Gasland showed us the problem – The Bentley Effect points us to the solution.

#TheBentleyEffect #documentary #film #nature #environment #pollution #resistance #social #movement #activism #advocacy #gasfield #mining #fracking #chemicals #Bentley #Australia #PlanetFunder #docu-films

dredmorbius@joindiaspora.com

Feet to the Fire: The next four years of US politics --- Achieving Change

A few days back, @Phil Landmeier (ᚠ) makes a strong case for political letter writing in the US by the newly remandated Left to both repair the damage of the past four years and make progress in accomplishing social change and facing future threats. He advocates letter-writing, to representatives nationally and locally.

That's a useful but incomplete step, and the idea that tens of millions of highly persuasive notes can swing policy alone is ... probably innacurrate.

A 2018 piece turned up in my feeds this morning, by Cory Doctorow on the hazards of Big Tech and AdTech, the power of targeting and impotence of persuasion:

The problem is that we’re confusing automated persuasion with automated targeting. Laughable lies about Brexit, Mexican rapists, and creeping Sharia law didn’t convince otherwise sensible people that up was down and the sky was green.

Rather, the sophisticated targeting systems available through Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other Big Tech ad platforms made it easy to find the racist, xenophobic, fearful, angry people who wanted to believe that foreigners were destroying their country while being bankrolled by George Soros.

Remember that elections are generally knife-edge affairs, even for politicians who’ve held their seats for decades with slim margins: 60% of the vote is an excellent win. Remember, too, that the winner in most races is “none of the above,” with huge numbers of voters sitting out the election. If even a small number of these non-voters can be motivated to show up at the polls, safe seats can be made contestable. In a tight race, having a cheap way to reach all the latent Klansmen in a district and quietly inform them that Donald J. Trump is their man is a game-changer.

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

(Emphasis added.)

That via PC Meyers, who adds his own observations:

I’m thinking about all those times I agreed to debates with creationists, and I’d show up at the venue to see church buses lined up outside and a crowd of people clutching Bibles filling the seats. There was no hope that I’d convince them (OK, maybe I deluded myself that I’d win over a few), and really, my role was to play the heel at a fixed match, to draw in the congregation to listen to the face, who got all the adulation. ...

The creationists were smarter than I was. They knew these events weren’t intended to inform or educate; the debate was all about rallying a crowd, drawing in more true believers who wanted to see that university egghead taught a lesson — and it didn’t matter that I wasn’t crushed, because they’d gather together all the conservative Christians and they’d find each other. It’s both sides, too. Debates at atheist events are also a sham, primarily about grooming a particular audience rather than teaching anything new.

Doctorow is focused on politics and the media, but it’s the same old story. The goal isn’t to persuade, it’s to align people with a gang.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2020/11/28/cory-doctorow-1/

So you've got to ask, what are the goals of letter-writing to political representatives?

Very, very, very rarely, it's to persuade.

Most often, it's to signal which way the wind blows.

Politicians live and die on a very few things:

  • Votes.
  • Money (mostly to buy votes).
  • Exposure: airtime, audience, column-inches, likes and shares, Q-score. Again, to buy votes.
  • Their career --- in politics or out, the next move.
  • Relationships. With constituents, donors, politicians, interest groups. Translating to the above.
  • "Values" are almost entirely flags politicians raise to signal, scare, or align their voters. Not personal convictions.

Letters signal voter intent (which way the wind blows), numbers (votes), and intensity (how strong and organised). You want to be a hurricane.

Letters to politicians, mostly, don't persuade. That's the role for position papers, political books, letters to the editor, op-ed pieces, Vox Pop 'listener viewpoints' on radio and television, blog posts, internal communications within activist groups, and overly-long Diaspora comments.

A think piece as an official position paper by a lobbying group can employ persuasive argument. Voters, mostly, need to make clear which of those papers matter, and which groups' interests they represent.

Corporations are made of money, and a surprisingly small amount goes a long way in politics --- the ROI on lobbying is said to be astonishingly high. If you don't need extensive fundraising (you've already got the cash on hand) and receive the benefits directly, most especially. Hence the focus on appropriations and taxation.

The public ... mostly isn't. Fundraising is extraordinarily expensive (80--90% of money raised often goes to raising money), and is better though of as outreach (by the organisation) and intent signalling (by the donors). But the public has votes, and in an online world can help with exposure.

If you can mobilise and deliver those votes you've got something. Mostly in marginal districts and states. If a few hundred votes will turn a seat, and a few seats a state legislature or delegation, that's power. Retiring politicians (look to older members of Senate, House, or statehouses). Letters and the organisation behind them is what signals most convincingly. Exposure is useful. Money is gravy --- a nice addition, but not the main dish. Though yes, individual letters, postcards, faxes, and emails are dutifully tallied. Pollsters are also on retainer though and tend to offer clearer insight.

The online epistemic battle is an interesting one. Submissions to discussions, early up-and-down votes, and enough kittens, titties, and pratfalls to keep people coming back, can make a surprising difference, though you're fighting with the algorithm. Zuckerberg owns the microphone, and he knows it.

The average person has an IQ of 100, and half are lower than that. I love me some rational debate, but its effectiveness is tremendously overrated. You may want to persuad core leaders within your group, but both internal and external communications should be short and sweet.

Internally, to your group, principally emotive.

Externally to representative, indicating issue, direction (support/oppose), and organisation (groups you allign with).

A letter is a signal. What's important is what it signifies.

And that's where I think you want to focus.

(Further thoughts on other aspects of politicking to follow.)

#politics #FeetToTheFire #advocacy #uspol