The Most Valuable Resource

Imagine you are in the hospital with six months to live and you are given the option of spending your last months in one of two ways. The first one is to have a room full of one hundred dollar bills. We are talking about cash everywhere under your bed, covering the windows, tiled on the floor, draped over your bodyeverywhere you look in your room there is money. And while there are stacks of cash everywhere, no one ever visits you. Still, you have the ability to buy whatever you want and immediately, the cash you spend is replaced by more money. You can buy I-Pads, Prada purses, Mercedes, flat screen TVs, a pony anything you want. In the second scenario, you have no money none. At the same time just by snapping your fingers, your room becomes full of friends and family members. These are more than the friends you know now, but an accumulation of friendships and relationships built during a lifetime. Your room is packed with them. In fact it is so packed, that hardly anyone can move, but everyone beaming a smile because they are glad to be there with you. So my question is: which scenario would you choose? I think wed be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldnt prefer the second scenario to the first. This illustrates that at the end of the day, it is not money or material possessions that give us happiness, but the people in our lives with whom we share love. In fact, once essentials like food, water, and shelter are met, the most important resource to any human is other humans. We see firm evidence of this in another illustration. Pretty much everyone in the U.S. owns a car or knows someone who owns a car, right? In our society, the car is considered a fairly important resource. And while a car is a valuable resource, how many people helped in building that car? Who designed the car? Who mined the metals needed for the screws that hold the different car parts in place? How many people did it take to manufacture all the little screw, nuts, and bolts needed? How many people were involved in the process of getting that car from a conceptual design on a piece of paper to the physical car

sitting at the dealership? Who raised and educated all the individuals involved in the process of creating the car? Quite a few humans, right? This illustrates that no matter how much importance we place on the resources we value in our society, the most important resource we have is the individuals on this planet. What is true about the car is equally true for the meals you had today, the water that comes out of your faucet, and the roof you sleep under each night. In fact, other humans are such a huge resource to us that if humans do not have the touch of another human before seven months of life, they die. [1] And yet we are taught to devote a good percentage of our lives chasing after a "resource" weve erroneously been told makes the world go round money. A majority of working Americans will devote 40 hours or more out of a 168 hour week in that pursuit. Thats almost 24% of our week. Yet how many people can say they spend the same amount of time creating new bonds and nurturing existing ones with those around us? I cant. Can you? In fact, theres a good argument that in our pursuit of money as a resource, somewhere along the line we will neglect and destroy relationships with others. While money may be essential for Americas functioning economy, it is of secondary importance to the connections we have with one another. And it has no more natural value than the material it is printed on. At this moment in history, humanity faces growing challenges, especially where it concerns our economic and political structures. These are challenges we are beginning to see money cannot overcome. Insurmountable as these challenges may appear, it is only by relying on our most valuable resource that we will be able to conquer the terrain ahead. Whether we as a species make the conscious choice to recognize it now, or are forced to recognize it when weve been pushed into a corner with our backs up against the wall we need each other more than ever to carry on and survive. Jason Thomas
Sources 1. Benjamin, Ben E. "The Primacy of Touch." Health Touch News.

Zeitgeist Colorado

June 1, 2011

co.thezeitgeistmovement.com facebook.com/zmcolorado

Issue #1

World Hunger: Alarming

A billion people went hungry last year, virtually all in the Third World, many in Africa and Asia. One hundred and twenty-two countries were covered in a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Of these, hunger in 25 countries is alarming. And four countries (all in Africa) are classified as having an extremely alarming hunger level. These results confirm an earlier study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that indicated that the number of hungry people worldwide exceeded one billion in 2009. Virtually all the victims of hunger are located in the Third World. Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are the hardest hit by hunger. Except for Haiti and Yemen, all 25 countries with alarming levels of hunger are in sub-Saharan Africa or Asia. From least to greatest levels of hunger, the following countries were listed: Nepal, Tanzania, Cambodia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Djibouti, Mozambique, India, Bangladesh, Liberia, Zambia, Timor-Leste, Niger, Angola, Yemen, the Central African Republic, Madagascar, the Comoros, Haiti, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia. In Ethopia, a severe crisis looms. Exacerbated by recent droughts, the food crisis there has (continued on page 4)

Societal Collapse (cont.)

With more debt than money being created, it is easy to see how most of the world is going into debt. The only people that benefit from this system are those who don't have to while the earth is plundered for resources to maximize corporate profits. Eventually, the monetary system will collapse, at least to a degree, creating mayhem across the world. The bottom line is that we, as a species, are not currently fitting into the laws of nature. The collapse of this current societal system is inevitable, but ecological collapse can be avoided. Societal collapse would be the end of an outdated system, but ecological collapse would be the end of our human species. So, is societal collapse something that we need to be concerned about? 12

The answer is, absolutely, yes. We need to be concerned about a true collapse: an ecological collapse which would inevitably be accompanied by a societal collapse. We need to be concerned about the finite resources of our planet, not about perpetuating our utterly outdated and fundamentally flawed monetary system. We need to get rid of money as an institution and find a more intelligent way of managing resources. We need a system which takes care of humans and the environment, using science to maximixe efficiency and sustainability. Finally, we, as individuals, need to put in the time and effort to organize locally, regionally, and globally in order to create a better world for everyone. Matthew Semroska

Monsanto Threatens World Food Supply

In April, a group of organic farmers joined together to sue the biotechnology corporation, Monsanto, in an attempt to protect themselves from the companys patent infringement lawsuits. Monsanto creates and patents genetically engineered seeds designed to increase yields and reduce pesticide use. According to independent studies, the seeds actually do neither, but food grown from them has been shown to cause immune system and pancreatic changes in rodents, as well as reduced fertility, kidney damage, and other negative effects. The engineered seeds, like all seeds, have a tendency to intermingle with 1 neighboring crops, which has led Monsanto to sue a number of organic farmers for using their modified seeds without paying for them. This is a no-win situation for organic farmers. The market for organic produce demands naturally grown food with no unhealthy modifications. When Monsanto seeds contaminate organic crops, the farmers lose their ability to sell their product. They lose even more when Monsanto swoops in and sues them for growing stolen seeds. Potential end result: no more organic farmers. (continued on page 2)

Cholera Epidemic:
A Symptom of Underdevelopment in Nigeria and the Third World
Cholera killed 87 and infected 1,315 over the month of February in Nigeria. The two northern states affected most are Bauchi and Borno. In Bauchi alone 47 are dead and 1,200 infected. Borno State health commissioner Abdurrahman Terab said that 40 people had died in Borno and 115 were infected in the previous week. Cholera has a deadly history in Nigeria. In the last few months of last year, 260 died from the disease in Nigerias four northern states. 1,000 died from an epidemic in 2001. And, in 1996, 1,300 died. The transmission of cholera is tied to the rainy season in Nigeria because cholera is a water-born disease. It can also be transmitted by food that has been in contact with sewage. The real culprit behind the seasonal epidemic is Nigerias underdevelopment, especially poor sanitation and contaminated wells. Commenting on the earlier 2001 epidemic, Muktari Shagari, then the Water Resource Minister, stated: The highest price is often paid by the poor majority of people in terms of money to buy small quantities of water, calories expended to fetch water from distant sources, impaired health, diminished livelihoods and even lost lives. Lack of decent water, lack of decent sanitation, and the existence of extreme poverty are related problems that plague the Third World. Roughly 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water. 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Almost 2 in 3 people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day. And, 1 in 3 are living on less than $1 a day. More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day. 24,000 children die each day from poverty. Around 27-28 percent of all children in the Third World countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. A billion people are unable to read or write. Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population. By contrast, 25% of the poorest 20% have access to piped water. Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhea. These victims reside almost exclusively in the Third World. About half of all people in poor countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. Millions of women spend several hours a day collecting water in the Third World. However, water is decadently wasted every day in the First (continued on page 3)

Sustainability and Capitalism (cont.)

much more surprised when something actually does work than when it doesnt! I dont know about you, but I am certainly not interested in beating my clothes on a rock or wringing them through a 1950's washing machine that could very likely remove all of my fingers. However, what, if any, is the alternative here? Evidently the capitalists have figured out that product sustainability is not a profitable endeavor, nor do they care what unsustainable, flawed products are doing to our planet by means of excessive resource extraction and generation of waste. I will end my story with the lyrics to one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs, Wish You Were Here: So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, Blue skies from pain. Can you tell a green field From a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? And did they get you to trade Your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange A walk on part in the war For a lead role in a cage? How I wish, how I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls Swimming in a fish bowl, Year after year, Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears. Wish you were here.

The old saying Necessity is the mother of invention is true, and mans intelligence has certainly brought the human race to a point that has eased the toil of our lives, but to whose benefit? Ours? You know when you dont clean your fishbowl, your fish dies. Continuing this course of contaminating our habitat to line the pockets of the heartless and irresponsible capitalists will only bring on our own demise.

D~ Tapia-Gonzales

Denver High-Speed Rail (cont.)

Why High-Speed Rail? With so much opposition and lack of public support, why does Denver need to focus on high speed rail? The planet is running out of oil and fast. The people of Denver have maybe 15 years to bring trains to the city. There is absolutely no reason why Denver couldn't have passenger trains once again. Electric rail service has been around for decades in both Japan and Europe. Considering only one passenger line to Chicago, high speed rail could move passengers the 1,048 miles within five hours. Also, the ride would be much more comfortable than a plane with plenty of room to walk around. If the line were to have Maglev (magnetic levitation) for most of the trip it would take around 3 hours. If Denver does not take trains seriously then Denver will become an island in the middle of the country as oil prices become unaffordable. High speed electric passenger rail service is the only solution. With the addition of Solar Photovoltaic panels and Windmills along the rail line the cost of electricity would be fixed at today's prices. The environmental benefits would be shared by the world. 11

Monsanto Threatens Food Supply (cont.)

This scenario could only occur in a system that has allowed monetary incentives to blind people to the bigger picture of what they are doing. The problem isnt just that many organic farmers are finding themselves screwed from every direction. The bigger problem is that cross-pollination and wind scattering could eventually cause all the worlds seeds to contain the modified traits. In this scenario, Monsanto stockholders will find they control the worlds food supply and have billions of green paper tokens, but still cant get anything safe to eat. Over 80% of the corn, sugar beet, canola, and soybean crops in the U.S. are already genetically modified. How much more of the worlds food are we going to risk before we take a stand and change how things are done? Lynn Ross 2
Sources 1. Benbrook, Charles Evidence of the Magnitude and Consequences of the Roundup Ready Soybean Yield Drag from University-Based Varietal Trials in 1998 Mindfully Green, 13 July 1999. 2. Benbrook, Charles Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use: The First Thirteen Years The Organic Center, November 2009 3. Finamore, Alberto et al Intestinal and Peripheral Immune Response to MON810 Maize Ingestion in Weaning and Old Mice Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 14 November 2008 4. Magaa-Gmez, Javier A. et al Pacreatic response of rats fed genetically modified soybean Journal of Applied Toxicology, 27 November 2007 5. Velimirov, Alberta et al Biological effects of transgenic maize NK603xMON810 fed in long term reproduction studies in mice Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, 11 November 2008 6. Seralini, Gilles-Eric et al New Analysis of a Rat Feeding Study with Genetically Modified Maize Reveals Signs of Hepatorenal Toxicity Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 13 March 2007 7. Acreage NASS National Agricultural Statistics Board annual report, 30 June 2010

Connecting Denver to the rest of the U.S. via highspeed electric passenger train service is the only intelligent choice when it comes to transportation into and out of Denver in the coming decades. An electric passenger train could potentially be integrated into the future infrastructure of a global Resource-Based Economy. If enough people push for electric train service, it will become a reality. Where people lead, their leaders must follow. Richard Boettner

Thoughts on Sustainability and Capitalism:

Today vs. Yesterday
When I was a very young child, my hard-working parents purchased a brand new washer and dryer set. Load after load, year after year, my mother beat that washer and dryer up and pushed them to their mechanical limits. One day, following many, many years of uninterrupted service, my mother went out and bought a new washer and dryer set. By this time I was a struggling young mother myself, with two little children. Fortunately she gave her old set to me to now put to another dedicated test, and you know I tested it! For the next ten years, with one repair to the dryer, the set stayed in unwavering service. With the exception of being outdated in fancy-button technology, the pair still washed and dried clothes with absolute conviction. At this point, I was in my late twenties and decided to upgrade, so I went out and bought myself a brand new set and gave the old faithful set to a family member, who then repeated the process. My next set lasted less than seven years and the set after that lasted three years. Combined, the next two sets didnt even come close to the benchmark years of service my mothers set had delivered! My ability to make a sustainable purchase is one that I believe should still be in place today. Unfortunately, due to our modern-day capitalist system of warrantyselling and thus consumer-buying, forced obsolescence, unsustainable product life, planetary contamination, and so on, our technological lives have become a consumer charade! That early 1970s mechanical wonder-set of mans skill and ingenious innovation which diligently cleaned filthy clothes for 30+ years simply no longer exists in the present day! You cant buy a set like that for any amount of money in our contemporary world! Nowadays, in its place, upon purchasing a decent washer and dryer set, you will go into debt and have a large monthly payment including excessive interest, regardless of your credit status and payable a great deal longer than the actual life of the washer and dryer. Armed with that information, you most certainly can ascertain that you will now have more than one set financed at the same time or simply be going to the laundromat. Wait, theres in order to prevent potential mechanical catastrophe, and of course, this will add to your total bill. Your receipt is no longer your warranty or guarantee of customer satisfaction and product reliability. Does anyone wonder why this is our current state of consumer and purchasing affairs with so many items, as with my washer and dryer account? This is clearly not limited to just washers and dryers; I could go on and on about my own personal encounters with costly purchases that have failed me time and again, and at this point, I am (continued on page 11)

Denver: Why No High-Speed Rail, Yet?

Denver used to have passenger rail downtown until the later 1980's when only one main line to Chicago was left. The freight trains were pushed to the outskirts of downtown Denver. The city was at one point a major hub linking with Colorado's various mountain towns and with the East and West Coasts. But that is in the past; today we have virtually no connection with the outside world by rail. The Zephyr into Denver from Chicago ran daily from the late 1930's and added a line to Colorado Springs in the 1950's. The Zephyr operated into the 70's, declining after that as airline travel was encouraged as well as car travel with the addition of the highway system, namely I-70 and I-25. Train travel continued to decline and by the 80's had almost disappeared under Amtrak who bought the Zephyr in 1971. While Roy Romer was governor, 1987 to 1999, Denver had an opportunity to once again have high-speed passenger rail, but one thing stood in the way. (From a source I cannot name the following is believed accurate and true.) Romer pushed to move Stapleton airport to its new location where DIA is. He bought up the land at the new location only to sell it back to the city of Denver forcing taxpayers to pay a highly inflated price. With DIA he needed to prevent trains from once again becoming popular, So, when a foreign investment group wanted to bring trains to Denver that would take passengers to the various ski areas and mountain towns Romer asked for an extremely high fee. You already know what happened: no trains. Wellington Webb, who served Denver as Mayor for twelve years from 1991 to 2003, made it no secret that he did not like trains and heavily discouraged them from coming through downtown, so they stopped in their train yard just outside of downtown. The only exception has been the line that still runs to Chicago and the ski train, which was sold in 2009 but whose future remains uncertain. With RTD (Denver's public bus service) now in control of Denver's Union Station, train service in Denver is even more uncertain. (continued on page 11)

Cholera Epidemic (cont.)

World. For example, someone in the United States taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day. With wealth, clean water and sanitation, the First World has largely eliminated cholera and other deadly water-related illnesses. Even though Cholera is treatable, in 2009, the World Health Organization stated that reported cholera cases have remained relatively constant since 1995, varying from 100,000 to 300,000 cases per year, with Africa accounting for more than 94% of the total. There is no reason that cholera and other deadly water-related illnesses should exist anywhere in the world today. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and vomiting which leads to deadly dehydration. The main treatment is to replace all the fluids being lost. Nonetheless, peoples of the Third World do not have adequate health care to treat cholera. In addition, imperialism systematically denies access to the basic requirements of life, like clean water and sanitation that prevent cholera and other water-related illnesses. The problem is one of power. The imperial system is governed by the law of value. Profits, not people, are what matter to the imperial system. America and its imperial system place profit above human needs. Writers have called this part of the problem of the anarchy of production. The current system produces for the market, it does not produce to meet the needs of the vast majority. Gross global inequalities and systematic violence that affects billions of people allow imperialism to function. Imperialism is only able to reproduce itself because billions in the Third World suffer. Imperialism does not function despite this mass suffering in the Third World, it functions because of it. The 3 populations of the First World have the good life because the populations in the Third World are denied it. The anarchy of production is irrational from the standpoint of eliminating human suffering. Billions across the Third World cry out for radical change. Only people power can organize production rationally, around human need, to serve the people. The way forward is clear: a revolution that brings about global EQUALITY. We need to get rid of the American and First World way of life that is based on gross inequality. The American way of life is not even sustainable. It is leading us toward ecological collapse. If global catastrophe is to be avoided, we must take the necessary steps to establish a system which provides for the needs of all humans while protecting the planet's ecosystems. We must establish a global system which uses scientific principles to maximize efficiency, sustainability, and human and environmental well-being. We must live collectively and in harmony with each other and the environment, sharing the world as it is common heritage to all of us. We must move beyond the monetary system and its inherent corruption, establishing in its place a Global Resource-Based Economy.
Sources 1.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100816/wl_africa_afp/nigeriahealthc holera 2.http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/issue.cfm?id=2390 3.http://water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/facts/ 4.http://monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/shrinking -glaciers-caused-by-first-world-will-harm-third-world/ 5.http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/dec2001/nige-d11.shtml 6.http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/diarrhoeal/en/index 3.html

Privilege in Perspective
Humans around the world develop their own perspective based on the nature of their environment. Perspective can always change at a moment's notice as one embraces or endures a new experience. On a recent backpacking trip, I ran out of drinking water between streams. I had never before been in the position of having to conserve water for survival, and I had been careless. Once I drank the last drops of my initial water supply, I had no choice but to endure an hour and a half of steep hiking with parched throat before I reached the next stream. It was during this time of helplessness that my perspective on water changed. I imagined my indigenous ancestors facing the same dilemma when traveling by foot or horse into new territory, and how they managed. I thought about Third World countries, most of which have no running water, or worse, no clean, drinkable water at all. I felt vulnerable and quite humbled as I remembered the times I had left the sprinkler on for hours just so that my grass could be a brighter shade of green, or the many times I stood in the shower just to feel the steamy hot water run down my back only to allow it to fall to the floor and go down the drain. Now, I thought to myself, if I could just have one cupped handful of that water, I would be so relieved of this persistent thirst. I also remember thinking What if my young children were here with me and they, too, were becoming dehydrated and painfully distracted by relentless thirst? I now make a constant effort to keep in mind the billions of people around the globe who are not as 10 privileged as myself. But even with determined effort, I get busy, stressed, tired, and I forget. I forget that every 45 seconds, a mom loses her child to malaria in South Africa, or that 15 million children starve to death each year, or that 150 million children between ages 7-14 are engaged in child labor on a daily basis. I forget that each day, thousands of women and children are beaten, raped and chased out of their villages by violent opposition soldiers in Uganda, the Congo, and Sudan to name a few. According to Unicef.com, twenty two thousand children die each day from preventable causes. It is a shame that these statistics must be diligently sought out by any concerned individuals, as it is not a priority for the mainstream media to report, being that there is little profit to be made when reporting such ominous news. And, as they say, ignorance is bliss. So why choose to chase down the ever-elusive perspective of living in a Third World nation? Because you are human, and humans, absent the compulsive distractions of First World amenities, have a great capacity to demonstrate altruism. It feels good to help others. While we may believe that ignorance is bliss, it is only a mere fraudulent bliss. A genuine, true bliss can be brought forth by an ongoing effort to embrace a renewed perspective of our own privileged lives, followed by sharing awareness with others and working to replace this current system with one which recognizes the true value of all human beings. Amy Anthony

Societal Collapse: Should We Be Worried?

Societal collapse sounds like something that would happen after a nuclear war or a zombie apocalypse crippled the worlds ability to function, but is societal collapse really the stuff of storybooks? The people of the post-Cold War Soviet Union know that it is a very real possibility, even for a highly developed and advanced superpower. Is societal collapse something we need to be worried about? When tackling a subject as complex and misunderstood as societal collapse, it is perhaps best to start with a definition. No term as of yet exists in any of the major dictionaries so we are forced to improvise our own definition. Websters dictionary defines the word society to mean a voluntary association of individuals toward a common end, and the same dictionary defines the word collapse to mean to break down completely, to disintegrate, to suddenly lose force, significance, effectiveness or worth. The members of any given society work together in order to achieve a common end. Ideally the bottom line objectives of our society are (or should be) to keep us all safe and secure, to keep us healthy, and to prolong our survival both as individuals and as a species. After these bare essential goals are met most people would agree that extending civil rights, education, and perhaps access to technology should be the secondary goals of society. If a plant is raised in an ideal nurturing environment, it will bare more fruit. Using the same principles, we can provide the people of the world the best possible environment and expect the fruits of the human race (i.e. knowledge, technology, peace, etc.) to be maximized. If we assume the best goal of our society is the nurturing of the human race in a sustainable way, we are then able to measure how well our society is performing. One can say that a society is in decline or that collapse is imminent when all indicators of societal performance stop improving and actually begin to move in negative directions. How well is the current society performing, anyway? There are three major levels from which our societys performance can be measured: the personal integrity of individual citizens, the social integrity of all people, and the ecological integrity of the planet (earths ability to support us). On the individual level, the personal integrity of the earth's people is in decline. The World Health Organization predicts there will be 21 million cases of cancer in the world by the year 2030; when compared to the 7.8 million cases in 2008, cancer rates are expected to virtually double in the next 20 years. Per capita suicide also has doubled in the last sixty years. This argues that despite all of the technological and scientific progress we have enjoyed the last few decades, general health as well as mental health of our individual citizens is actually declining. So we are better equipped to solve these problems but we are doing a poorer job. What is the missing piece of the puzzle here? The world is not looking much better on a societal level, either. Unemployment does not show a complete picture because it does not include those people who are under-employed or discouraged job seekers, but it can be used as an indicator. The International Labor Organization reported 178 million unemployed in 2007, and later reported 213 million unemployed in October 2010, an obvious change for the worse. Lets look at a more telling statistic, world poverty. According to the World Bank, 1.4 billion people (21% of the earths population) live on under $1.25 a day, 2.5 billion (38%) live on under $2.50 a day, and finally 5.5 billion people (80%) live on under 10 dollars a day. This doesnt mean 10 dollars a day for food or clothes, this number includes everything from rent to food to transportation. These poverty levels around the world are a symptom of the ever-increasing inequality of income which itself has been proven to create numerous social problems. So the social health of our society is also showing signs of decline. (continued on page 9)

Naxalite Rebellion (cont.)

other vital steps to alleviate the suffering of the poor. Given the nature of social forces, it is unlikely that India's notion which the Naxals take to heart in waging armed struggle. India's poor are undeniably the victims of a class war, and it is to be expected that they should fight back. Whether or not one supports the Naxals' cause, an ever-increasing amount of scientific research suggests that the social tensions created by severe inequality lead to violence. As long as significant social, political, and economic inequalities exist within a society, a state of violence will exist irrespective of anyone's moral or political sensibilities. As individuals, we can strive for the equalization of social relations, or we can ignore the ill effects of social inequality and hope for the best. If there is one, universal message to be understood from the words of sociologists, human rights activists, Naxalite guerrilla fighters, and Indian government officials themselves, it is: "Share, or suffer."
Sources 1. Nadkami, Dev. "Growing Social Divide Feeds Maoist Insurgency." The New Zealand Herald. Auckland, 2 Aug. 2010. Print. 2. Dube, Siddharth. "Still Naked and Hungry: Land Reform Would Help India's Poor Emerge from Poverty but Today's Politicians and Policy-Makers Have Other Priorities." The Gazette. Montreal, 24 Sept. 1999. Print. 3. Burke, Jason. "More poverty in India than all sub-Saharan Africa." The Guardian International. 14 July 2010. Print. 4. "India in Talks With the I.M.F." The New York Times. 30 July 1991. Print.

5. Buncombe, Andrew. "Who Are the Naxalites and Will They Topple the Indian Government?" The Independent. London, 8 April 2010. Print. 6. Singh, Rakesh K. "Indian Maoists to Support 'Nationality Struggles' in Kashmir, North-East." The Asian Age. Delhi, 9 May 2007. Web. 7. Chopra, Anuj. "India Maoist Rebels Kill 73 in Major Attack." The Christian Science Monitor. 6 April 2010. Print. 8. Singh, Rakesh K. "Naxalites Eye Police Posts." The Asian Age. Delhi, 30 April 2007. Web. 9. "Indian Official Recommends Land Reforms to Check Maoist Violence." The Asian Age. Delhi, 5 Aug. 2006. Web. 10. Nolen, Stephanie. "Chairman Mao Lives - In a Rice-Paddy Revolution India Can't Stamp Out." The Globe and Mail. Canada, 24 Oct. 2009. Print. 11. "Naxal Arrests Spanner in Peace Process." The Statesman. India, 19 Feb. 2005. Print. 12. Bose, Soumittra S. "ANO Sensitizing Mumbai Cops on Naxal Activities." The Times of India. 3 Feb. 2011. Print. 13. "More Machines to Fight Maoists." The Statesman. India, 19 Oct. 2005. Print. 14. "India: Maoists Acquire Russian, US, Chinese Weapons." Press Trust of India. 15 April 2009. Web. 15. "Terminator Technology Needs a Probe." The Statesman. India, 6 Dec. 1998. Print. 16. Kumar, Pramod. "Commando Force Planned for Each State Hit by Naxals." The Asian Age. Delhi, 25 April 2006. Web. 17. "FTN: Activists vs. Government on Fighting Naxals." CNN-IBN (Global Broadcast News/Turner International). 8 Oct. 2009. Web. 27 April 2011. <http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ftn-activists-vs-govt-on-fightingnaxals/102891-3.html> 18. Wax, Emily. "Activist's Life Term Sparks Street Protests Across India." The Washington Post. 29 Dec. 2010. Print. 19. Hanley, Lynsey. "A More Equal Society Is Best." The Canberra Times. Australia, 23 May 2009: A17. Print. 20. "Ghana; Researchers Warn On Inequalities and Ethnic Conflict." Africa News. 27 March 2006. Print. 21. Foran, John. "Taking Power: On the Origins of Third World Revolutions." Cambridge University Press. New York, 2005. Print.

Societal Collapse (cont.)

Even more important than these two is the to support us. It is important to understand that a collapse on the societal level is, for all intensive purposes, a collapse of a man-made system that is actually meaningless except for the fact that we humans obey its laws. So the current social system which threatens to collapse and cripple our ability to function is essentially critical that we understand that the only true collapse is an ecological collapse. A full ecological collapse would mean the collapse of the organic systems which sustain the human race, supplying things like food and water. Ecologically, things are not looking good; we are seeing species go extinct everyday, the oceans are universally over-fished, irreplaceable rain forests are being chopped down at a very alarming rate, pollution is out of control and our population is growing at an exponential rate. On all three levels, nearly every indicator is pointing to an imminent collapse. When we comprehend the finality of an ecological collapse, it becomes apparent that an understanding of earths ecological systems is absolutely imperative for our survival. The organic ecological systems of this planet are cyclical. They are self-perpetuating and self-healing systems that can be sustained indefinitely. Fitting as seamlessly as possible into these systems is what will allow human beings to survive in the long term. The ecology of the planet and its relationship to the human species should be the primary focus everywhere from the 9 individual to the global level. The fundamental problem is where our focus lies. We have spent too much time focusing on ourselves and not enough time focusing on the world around us. We haven't noticed the ill effects of the monetary system itself. The monetary system is unsustainable for many reasons, most notably the corruption of human values due to the profit motive as well as the destruction of people and the environment for profit. The profit motive creates a culture of materialism and individualism, where people are divided along lines of class as well as nation, race, gender, and others. Today's global monetary system is based on an infinite-growth paradigm, a system which is completely unsustainable as the earth's resources are limited. The profit motive knows no bounds when it sociopathic behavior which maximizes profit is rewarded, no matter how much destruction it has created. Money is essentially an "IOU" because it is created out of debt. When you take out a loan at the bank, they charge you interest which you have to pay back on top of the original money they lent you. But the bank never actually had the money in the first place! The "Fractional Reserve" system of banking which exists today allows for a bank to lend out approximately ten times what it actually has in reserves, meaning that the money you borrowed from the bank was actually created out of nothing. The money which was created when you took out a loan must be paid back with interest, but that interest must come out of the existing money supply. (continued on page 12)

World Hunger (cont.)

placed over 6 million in danger of starvation unless something is done. By contrast, according to a 2004 U.S.D.A.-funded study, American families throw away 14% of their food. This accounts for 43 billion dollars worth of discarded food by American households alone. Fast-food chains can waste as much as 40% of their food. Supermarkets waste about 1%. And a shocking 40% to 50% of all food ready for harvest in the U.S. never gets eaten. Commodity markets drive growers in the U.S. to plow under their crops. Americans are wasting at least 75 billion dollars in food per year. In addition, the U.S. spends about 1 billion dollars just disposing of its food waste. The gap between wealthy and poor countries is shocking. A minority of wealthy populations benefit from the global economy while the vast majority in the Third World hardly get by. The problem is not that there is too little food. The problem is the way that food is distributed. Under capitalism, food is distributed in order to maximize 4 profit, not to satisfy human need. Capitalism is irrational from the standpoint of human need. Capitalism condemns billions to poverty, and it condemns a billion to hunger. At the same time, capitalism is leading us toward ecological collapse. The market must expand to survive, consuming more and more of our finite resources. There is a better way: the Resourced-Based Economy. This means breaking from the anarchy of production under capitalism. It means coordinating resources with human need in a rational, controlled way. It means using our resources collectively in a sustainable way that benefits everyone.
Sources 1.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101011/wl_afp/africaasiafoodconfli ctwomenchild 2.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/wl_africa_afp/ethiopiadrou ghtaid 3.http://monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/amerika ns-first-worlders-waste-food-third-worlders-starve/

have spoken out against official policy. Dr. Binayak Sen, a widely known and respected pediatrician and civil rights activist, has long been an outspoken critic of the Indian government, especially regarding its policy of forced land seizures. In 2007, Dr. Sen was detained for two years and, to the shock of many, sentenced to life in prison in 2010 on charges of sedition and conspiracy, a move which sparked street protests across India. While the Indian government claims he was secretly providing material support to the Naxals, Dr. Sen and others consider the prison sentence to be a response to his vocal ideological opposition to state policy and economic injustice, arguing that phony evidence and contrived testimony were used in his trial.18 Despite such harsh measures by the establishment, the Naxalite insurgency continues to grow, thus validating claims by human rights activists that more state repression only serves to inflame the rebellion and that land reform and other necessary changes must occur for hostilities to cease.

and violence (as well as environmental devastation). Wilkinson and Pickett draw the obvious conclusion from their research that societal health and individual health are integrally linked, and that social equality is a requirement for each. A study conducted by African and British researchers and published in 2006 compared various inequalities in the countries of Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Nigeria in Africa; Indonesia and Malaysia in southeast Asia; and Peru, Guatemala, and Bolivia in Latin America. The study found that ethnic and religious violence in these regions was primarily due to "horizontal inequalities in the area of land, income, capital, education, health services, political power, and cultural recognition."20 One interesting aspect of this study is its observation that economic and political inequality are less likely to lead to large-scale violent conflicts if they do not exist simultaneously. The coexistence of severe economic and political inequality is deadly, and like several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, conditions in India are undoubtedly ripe for social unrest as the poor find themselves both economically and politically disenfranchised. John Foran, a professor of sociology at the University of California, has noted five key factors in several Third World revolutions: an economy dependent on outside forces; a repressive state serving exclusive interests; a culture of resistance; a falling economy; and a shift in global conditions favorable to social change.21 Considering the influence and investment of multinational corporations in India, the lack of democratic representation of the poor, the repressive tactics of India's state forces, the increasing poverty in certain areas despite overall economic growth, and the country's historical resistance to colonial domination, the Naxalite rebellion in India fits Foran's model in several regards. The uprising, then, should be considered a predictable consequence to existing conditions rather than an anomalous occurrence. The underlying

The Naxalite Rebellion:

Social Inequality and Violence in India

While it is seldom mentioned in the Western

media, the Naxalite rebellion in India represents a significant threat to the establishment in its effectiveness and its level of popular support. According to some reports, the Naxals control up to one-third of India's territory at any given time, and in some places they have established alternate governments. The Naxals, an alliance of various parties across India representing the country's poorest and most exploited people, have taken up arms against India's government in what they say is a struggle against widespread poverty and oppression perpetuated by the policies of the ruling class and the theft of land and resources by Indian and multinational corporations. Both in India and in the West, the establishment views the Naxals as violent extremists who must be eliminated. The fact that the Naxals are retaliating against severe poverty, however, the legitimacy of the Naxalite struggle remains a topic of debate. While the conflict is undoubtedly bloody, establishment voices continue to advocate violent suppression of the insurgency even as its popularity grows. The response of the Indian ruling class so far has been to ignore the obvious economic solutions and instead focus on a counterinsurgency campaign using police and paramilitary units to suppress the rebellion, despite the criticisms of numerous human rights activists. This kind of response is certain to prolong the violence. Until extreme poverty and social inequality are eliminated, social tensions will exist and violence will occur, both in India and elsewhere. According to a study published in 2010 by researchers at Oxford University, India contains more impoverished people than all of sub-Saharan Africa, with over 421 million living in deep poverty in eight of India's 5

An abundance of scientific evidence exists that social and economic inequality are primary factors in violence. Two public health researchers, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, have authored a book "The Spirit Level," published in 2009, which contains information compiled from approximately 200 sets of data showing a strong correlation between economic inequality and degradation in societal health. Wilkinson, who has thirty years of experience researching the effects of social inequality, has written several books on the subject. In "The Spirit Level," Wilkinson and Pickett observe that wealthy societies which favor growth over equality tend to suffer from higher levels of unhappiness, shorter lifespans, and increased rates of violence, teenage pregnancy, obesity, addiction, and imprisonment. According to the researchers, social inequality manifests itself often as mental illness since it breeds alienation, isolation, anxiety, and consumerism. Wilkinson and Pickett claim that approximately onequarter of the populations of Britain and the U.S. suffer from mental illness at any given time due to the strong institutionalization of social and economic inequality in the two countries. The researchers point out that the ill effects of social inequality are widespread across society, affecting both rich and poor, and that these effects can be seen across the world in various countries. 19 Because humans are social creatures, social inequality is reflected in the human psyche of all people as a feeling of incompleteness often accompanied by the urges to dominate or consume. These destructive tendencies exacerbate existing social inequalities and destroy human relationships, forming a cycle of increasing social tension 8

unnecessary continuation of violence. There is no shortage of voices condemning the Naxals for their use of violence. However, human rights activists tend to criticize the Naxals' methods rather than the legitimacy of their struggle. Those siding with the establishment often overlook not only the violence carried out by Indian paramilitary forces in dealing with the insurgency, but also the structural economic violence suffered by India's poor as a result of the collusion between the government and multinational corporations. The Naxals, as violent and barbaric as one might consider them to be, enjoy such a high level of support among India's poor that they must be taken seriously. Besides constituting a physical threat, the Naxals represent a strong ideological threat to India's establishment due to their willingness to address key political and economic issues which affect the horrible conditions suffered by India's poor are the breeding ground of armed revolution, as it becomes the only perceived method of exercising self-determination. In India, it is acknowledged by government officials, human rights activists, and Naxals alike that the rebels are motivated out of resistance to severe oppression and exploitation. India's government, however, continues to rely on forceful means of suppressing the insurgency, rather than undertaking the necessary land reforms and

the world.1, 2 The study used a "multidimensional poverty index" (MPI) created by experts at Oxford to conduct a more in-depth examination of global poverty which does not focus solely on monetary conditions. The MPI concentrates on ten main factors in poverty, including access to nutrition, education, electricity, and sanitation. The Oxford study found that the severity of poverty in some parts of India exceeds that of Africa, and that the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh contains a level of poverty close to that of the war-torn Democratic People's Republic of the Congo, a country with a similar number of people. The study also found that about 1.7 billion people worldwide, or approximately one-third of the world's million more than World Bank has estimated to be in "extreme" poverty using its analysis based on household income.3 Considering India's severe poverty conditions, it is not surprising that an armed movement such as the Naxals has arisen in the country, as armed struggle is easily perceived as a means of survival by people who lack access to the basic necessities of life. India, the world's second most populous country, has seen much economic growth in recent decades due to industrial development projects. The country has accepted billions of dollars in IMF loans over the past decades and has established policies highly favorable to multinational corporations.4 Most of the upper- and middle-class in India support the neo-liberal economic reforms the country has adopted which have spurred growth; however, this economic growth has been highly uneven and its benefits have not been shared by India's lower classes who find themselves marginalized in the face of increasing industrial development and demand for resources. Poverty has

increased in India despite economic growth. According to Siddharth Dube in the Montreal Gazette:
India's reality is that 80 per cent of the poor live in rural areas, where they are typically bereft of assets (particularly agricultural land), illiterate, malnourished and sick. And only scarcely less than in colonial India, they are deeply oppressed by the landed. The lowest castes remain the most impoverished; brutal violence and ritual discrimination are ubiquitous; and democracy is a fiction at the village level in all the major states except Kerala and West Bengal, where leftist governments have undertaken substantive agrarian reform. These myriad disabilities bar the poor from participating in economic growth. They also ensure that the poor barely share in the gains of growth: little or nothing trickles down to them, too often not even higher wages for their labour. Moreover, these disabilities prevent them from translating universal suffrage and their massive numbers into political power. The record of the past half-century has proved all this beyond doubt.2

warfare tactics, routinely attacking police with machine guns, landmines, and improvised explosives.6 As the Naxalite movement has gained support, their attacks on Indian state forces have grown in intensity, with reports of increasingly more advanced weaponry being used by the insurgents.7 Besides attacking police, the Naxals have targeted mining operations, industrial plants, government buildings, and cell phone towers, destroying equipment and attacking personel in the process. They have also called for regional general strikes against industry.1 India's dense jungles combined with its extreme poverty create conditions favorable to a guerrilla insurgency, allowing the rebels to establish hidden jungle bases while receiving support from surrounding areas including villages and urban slums.

economic, and political imbalance exists in India which is reflective of overall global conditions of wealth disparity and vastly unequal power relations. The Indian government is well aware of the socioeconomic reasons for the Naxalite rebellion, although it has stuck with a counterinsurgency strategy that has led to an intensification of the violence. The reality of India's social conditions is summed up in the words of Bahukutumbi Raman, a former head of the counter-terrorism wing of India's external intelligence agency:
There are two Indias. The dazzling India which we see every day on our TV channels, in the spins of our political leaders and in the writings of our so-called strategic analysts. But there is another India which we rarely see or write about. This is the India of grinding poverty, a victim of social exploitation of the worst kind, where the inhabitants - mainly tribals - are treated like chattels and domestic animals by the upper caste political leaders, landlords and forest contractors... It is this India coming out from under the carpet, which is flocking to the banners of the Maoist ideologues. 5

76 police and wounded another fifty.5 Despite the Indian government's forceful response to the insurgency, Naxals continue to gain popular support from India's poorest areas and have begun using heavy weapons such as rocket launchers, which they used for the first time in 2009 against a Border Security Force camp in Bihar, catching security forces by surprise.14 Some Naxalite recuitment is a consequence of Indian military operations which injure or kill innocent villagers.5 Given the severe and widespread poverty in India, the longstanding mistreatment of the lower classes by the upper classes, and the current level of popular support enjoyed by the Naxals, it is extremely unlikely that any attempts by the Indian government to clamp down on the rebellion by force will produce any significant long-term results in eliminating the insurgency. More state repression will only produce more popular dissatisfaction with the government, fueling the insurgency which relies heavily on a sense of perceived injustice among the poor. In an effort to undermine Naxalite recruitment, the Indian government has taken some steps to ease economic and social pressure on the poor in certain areas strongly influenced by the rebels. For the most part, however, these steps have not been adequate to seriously hinder the growth of the movement. The Indian government has made only minor, insignificant agrarian reforms in support of the poor, but at the same time it has opened the country to large multinational corporations such as Monsanto which are taking over India's agricultural sector with patented, genetically-engineered crops. 15 In some places, the Indian government has enlisted the help of locals in fighting the Naxals, boasting job creation as a positive characteristic of its counterinsurgency program. According to one highranking Indian official, "With a view to wean away youth from the path of violence by providing them gainful employment, the government has earmarked a certain quota of vacancies in central police forces to be filled from Naxal-affected states."16 Ironically enough, in attempting to "wean away youth from the path of violence" by employing them as police, the Indian government has adopted a policy which is certain to inflame the conflict and increase the level of violence. Its ongoing rejection of diplomacy and land reform as a means to bring an end to the violence reflects the unwillingness of India's ruling class to seek a true, equitable solution to the conflict. Because of the terrible conditions faced by India's poor, several human rights activists have stated their sympathies with the Naxals' cause, condemning the establishment for its prolongued mistreatment of the lower classes. Among these activists is Arundhati Roy, the prize-winning author, who said of the Naxals: "If I was a person who is being dispossessed, whose wife has been raped, who is being pushed off their land and who is being faced with this police force, I would say that I am justified in taking up arms, if that is the only way I have to defend myself."5 Another activist, Gautam Navlakha, said of the Indian government's ban on Naxalite political organizing: "You proscribe them [Naxals], you banned them from political activities, you dont allow them to organise and mobilise people because of fears of them gaining popular support and then you ask why dont they take a democratic course? What democratic means have you left for them?"17 The Indian government has made examples of some activists who 7

With corporate abuse and theft of tribal land a regular phenomenon in India, many of its dispossessed peoples look for alternative ways of exerting political influence as they neither consider the Indian government to be representative of their interests nor perceive a democratic process for obtaining such representation under the current establishment. The oppression suffered by India's poor plays a fundamental role in shaping their view of society is not without consequence, as it conditions them into a bleak worldview based on a never-ending struggle for survival in which violence dominates every aspect of their lives. As people find themselves in desperate circumstances created by oppressive state and corporate policies, they can be expected to do what is necessary to defend themselves do because they offer what many of India's poor consider to be a feasible solution to the perceived lack of democratic representation and the loss of their land, resources, and livelihood to corporations. The Naxals' use of violence is a mere reflection of the routine violence experienced by India's lower classes from ongoing economic exploitation. The Naxals take their name from a village in West Bengal (located in eastern India) called Naxalbari where the movement began as an armed rebellion against India's government in 1967 inspired by Mao Zedong's communist ideology calling for armed peasant revolt against the upper classes and an egalitarian redistribution of land and wealth toward the ultimate goal of a classless society. The movement spread across India's central and eastern regions over the next three decades as it gained support from leftist intellectuals. The areas affected by the Naxalite rebellion the "Red Corridor" where Maoism has quickly become popular. Naxalite ideology has taken hold among various classes of economically disposessed people in India, aligning them against the middle and upper classes in a struggle to overthrow the Indian government and establish state power.1 Among the poorest and most oppressed of the people whose interests the Naxals claim to represent are the Adivasis (tribal people) and Dalits (untouchables), groups which have endured severe exploitation by the upper classes.5 The Maoist-led insurgents use guerrilla 6

According to the former Home Secretary of India's federal government, V.K. Duggal, "Naxal groups have been raising mainly land and livelihood related issues. If land reforms are taken upon priority [sic] and the landless and poor in the Naxal areas are allotted surplus land, this would go a long way in tackling the developmental aspects of the Naxal problem".9 These and other statements by Indian government officials reflect a broad understanding of the understanding which cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric. Despite such acknowledgements of the social, economic, and political factors in the insurgency, the Indian government continues to engage in paramilitary and policing operations against the Naxals, often committing brutal or illegal acts in the process. Torture is commonly used in interrogations of suspected Naxals, who often do not survive police detainment. 10 Police have illegally confiscated pro-Naxal literature from people and arrested sympathetic writers and activists in a campaign of force to disrupt the movement.11 As the Naxals have made an effort in urban centers to recruit personnel, the Indian government has begun cross-agency operations to counter the threat including intelligence-sharing and providing specialized training to police.12 Some police forces in India have received improved equipment and more advanced technology to fight the Naxals.13 As the Naxalite movement has spread, the Indian government has increasingly relied on the use of paramilitary force in its attempts to put down the rebellion, although the overall effectiveness of its actions in reducing Naxalite activity remains in doubt.14 The repressive tactics of Indian security forces are likely to increase popular support for the Naxals. Besides confiscating Naxalite and other Marxist-Leninist literature which is not banned under Indian law, the police also routinely make lists of anyone attending pro-Naxal meetings or demonstrations, often arresting ideological supporters of Naxalism without legal basis. According to The Statesman in 2005: "Pro-Naxal organisations and leaders feel that the recent arrests of alleged Naxalites and seizure of alleged Naxal literature by police would hamper the planned peace process between the rebels and the state government." 11 Indeed, the deadliest attack yet occurred in early April 2010, in which Naxalite guerrillas killed at least

The Naxals have undertaken a strategy of supporting various national liberation struggles across India, in an effort to gain supporters and build a broad front against the ruling class. A resolution entitled "Nationality Struggles of India" passed in 2007 by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) cites an alliance between the ruling class of India and Western imperialism, stating self-determination as a primary goal of the armed struggles:
Kashmiris and different nationalities of Northeast India, such as the Assamese, Nagas, Manipuris, Tripuris etc. have been waging armed struggle against the Indian government for their right to self-determination, including the right to secede from the so-called Union of India... ...The Indian ruling class and their imperialist masters, particularly US imperialism, have been suppressing these struggles mercilessly. They are being crushed under the boots of the Indian Army stationed in various states of the Northeast and in Kashmir. In Kashmir alone, the Indian military and paramilitary forces have murdered over 70,000 people in the last 16 years.8

Besides stating that "all possible support" would be given to the national liberation struggles, the resolution also condemns the Indian ruling class for attempting to split the alliance by coopting the leadership of various organizations, although it claims the attempts have failed so far. The large number of groups engaged in armed conflict with the Indian government reflects a strong and widespread backlash against the establishment which