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Law Suits, Activism And Community |
From: Alan Graf <[email protected]>
http://www.stc-law.com
(This is also someone who lived many years on the Farm Spiritual Community and who, after it lost it's collectivity, went on to become a lawyer. His perspective comes from living in a moneyless community and then seeing the greater culture as a lawyer in contrast. He is definately, like Dr. Keith, one of my favorite heros.)
Hello:
In response to Steve's plea for how to handle depression in an insane world and Martin's suggestion that a lawsuit serve as a method for combatting government intrusion into our private lives---my response is:
After working as lawyer for the last seven years, it has become clearer to me, (if it wasn't clear enough before) that the system is fundamentally designed to maintain the status quo of a severely unbalanced distribution of wealth. It is after all a complex system of institutionalized greed. It is in place to make sure that the "have's" have more while the "have nots" have less, at the same time promoting the illusion that the system will guarantee justice for all.
In my first year of law school, I spent three months learning feudal property law. I kept thinking, "who gives a shit about how they managed property in England in 1400", until it occurred to me that our society was still very much of a technocratic feudal state. Feudal societies transformed tribal peoples into peasantry and serfs who became beholden to the lords who owned the lands that they worked on. The lords were able to pass their property to their children while maintaining control over the serfs, who had abandoned their tribal ways in exchange for the right to farm the land that before was the property of no-one, but there for the use of all.
The depression that I feel, and I probably is shared by most of you, has roots in the fact that this society discourages tribal ways. Martin's example of how the government acts in a Nazi like fashion against pot smokers is an example. Anything that looks like, smells like or tastes like tribalism, e.g. an extended family that takes care of each other, cares for each other and has developed traditional ways as a result of that trans-generational caring, is a danger to the institution of feudalism, which demands loyalty from a serf based class structure. That's why there were witch hunts in the 40's against Communists, because Communism smells like tribalism in that its ultimate purpose, at least as hypothesized by Marx and Engel is a society that exists for the benefit of all, not just the benefit of the unfettered individual.
So--- where does that leave us. My formula for dealing with the attack on my tribal nature by the forces of greed (which is the source for our tribal depression), is to follow what I would call the nine fold path. I add the path, "right activism" to the proven list. If each of us choses one particular piece of activism in our lives to push on and push against, something that we do best, (for example, Steve, I think about what a wonderful musician and guitar player you are), WE, the big WE, the tribal WE, are going to make a difference in this crazy word.
This list and conversation that we are having is daily proof to me that the thing we shared on the Farm, that was more important than any particular teachings, was our extended family, the tribalness of it all. The nuclear family separated from other "nuclear families" within the same neighborhood, each fending for themselves is an unnatuaral state of things. You can see that feudal divisions break down in times of emergencies, when people forget that they have to be protective of their lines of property.
The long answer to the short question--- The law, as it stands now, can provide for some movement in the direction of justice, but the real movement comes from changes in the general level of consciousness. So, I am always looking, as an activist, to see how I can use the law to change consciousness. Feudalists, want to keep consistency. Chaos scares them. So the law can be used against the feudalists' interests when you point out to them, "excuse me, you can't do that, because you did it this way the last time"---works like a charm, almost everytime.
The tobacco suit, helped change consciousness. Here in Oregon, medical marijuana has been legalized and under an ounce maintained as a violation as a result of the last election. That is movement in the right direction. It was achieved by good people organizing, speaking their minds, and acting. If each of us speak our minds when called upon, or when not called upon, we will make a difference. If we act, we can do much more.
Love-
Alan Graf <[email protected]>
Midwives and Community L I G H T W O R K E R S !