A Love-In-Action Taos Note From Rivera Sun
At the last Love-In-Action Taos Gathering on April 14, 2014, we enjoyed vegan cookies and a long discussion about “The Issues”. Prior to this gathering, we had decided to hold an open conversation to explore the interwoven problems that we perceive in our world. This built common ground of understanding, and I believe I was not alone in discovering some new perspectives on our situation.
What follows is a very abbreviated list of the subjects/topics we discussed over the two and a half hours. You will notice that discussing the problems stimulated the creativity for finding solutions. I think most – if not all – of us left the meeting inspired, full of thought, and interested in diving in deeper.
I arrived at the meeting with the long flier of events for the upcoming Global Climate Convergence in Taos. Looking at the flier, one of our members, Kimo, (knowing full well how I had pulled these events out of thin air, listed them on the website, and suddenly found the cup over-floweth with rich discussions, talks, and actions) began to ponder the notion of Love-In-Action hosting a series of educational events: theme camps at festivals, workshops, teach-ins, film screenings. I mentioned that Brian Heater, our fellow Love-In-Action Network founder in Salem, OR, had also had this idea. He had considered hosting a Love-In-Action theme camp at an activist gathering coming up this summer.
A taste of Taos. This is a grazing fence on the mesa by Rivera’s house.
Another concept that emerged was the notion of teaching ourselves about nonviolent action, the issues, the solutions, etc. I found myself very intrigued by what would happen if our Love-In-Action group dedicated the time for a weekend immersion. Each of us could present something we found interesting, and also learn from our fellow members.
As we progress, we’ll find out how our Love-In-Action group (and all the groups across the country) expresses its heart in action. The possibilities are endless. Our first action in Taos is to host a Potluck Picnic during the main Convergence Day of our Global Climate Convergence: fending people, spreading picnic blankets, and building community.
We look forward to hearing updates from other Love-In-Action members and groups. It’s easy to post a short note to this website, by the way. Just leave a comment and I (Rivera) will pick it up in a day or so. Thank you! We’re sending you all blessings.
Rivera, Love-In-Action Taos
Notes from our discussion on “The Issues”
Notions:
No time for television. We are the news.
Know your history.
Find the messengers
Issues to explore more deeply:
Fox News as a propaganda machine: why does it work? How does it work?
Income inequality
Wealth controlling politics
Climate Change
Healthcare and Oil & Gas Industries as pillars of support for the controlling elite
Military Industrial Complex
Banning war profiteering
What would an exit strategy for the 1% look like?
How do we take back our culture?
Changing the narrative: How to get away from the GAG Me discussion (Guns, Abortion, Gay Marriage) and into the real issues?
Participatory Democracy
Changing the narrative: Why are economics the central value in civic decision-making?
The role of discourse in democracy
How to grow a movement?
What can we learn from Australia/Bhutan/Norway/Nation X?
Local issues (very partial list):
Water extraction for fossil fuel industry
Climate change impacts
Economic justice
Love-In-Action Ideas:
Love-In-Action theme camps at festivals or activism gatherings.
Weekend workshops
Free Skools
Teach-Ins
Live stream talks
Film Screenings
Report backs from members’ readings, studies, workshops and webinars
TV show screenings of the climate change series “Years of Living Dangerously” (note: 350.org is organizing these, we could easily get involved.)