And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 09:42:15 -1000
From: Scott Crawford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Gaviotas - another side of Colombia
In-reply-to: <v04104828b31d8e43fdb5@[204.94.118.85]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
At 8:30 AM -1000 3/23/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Tuesday, 16 March 1999
Seventy-three said killed in Colombia fighting
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CARTAGENA, Colombia -- At least 73 people have died in clashes between
Marxist rebels and a right-wing death squad in a rural area south of
Colombia's leading Caribbean resort city, government officials said on
Tuesday.
Aloha,
Headlines like those above are what we have come to associate with
Colombia. Kidnappings, death-squads, guerrillas, narcotraficantes, drug
war, cocaine and oil - these are the words we think of.
With recent events - with the loss of Lahe, Ingrid and Terence - the
tragedy of Colombia has been brought home to the people of Hawaii, the
indigenous world, and environmentalists.
Yet in the midst of all this strife a very different and unexpected story
has unfolded for the last 3 decades, in the midst of the vast Colombian
llanos, in a remarkable, inspiring community called Gaviotas.
Just prior to first learning of the abduction of Lahe, Ingrid and Terence,
I had ironically just begun reading a book published last year called
"Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World."
Gaviotas is a sort of spontaneous intentional community, founded in 1971,
now with a population somewhere over 500. It is a harmonious mixture of
engineers and visionaries from the cities and universities, rural peasants,
and Guahibo indigenos.
Gaviotas is completely energy self-sufficient, using solar, wind and
biomass. They are responsible for inventing a fabulous range of new
appropriate technologies, from windmills light enough to convert mild
tropical breezes into energy, solar collectors that work in the rain,
soil-free systems to raise edible and medicinal crops, solar "kettles" to
sterilize drinking water, and ultra-efficient pumps to tap deep aquifers -
some of which are hooked to children's seesaws. Their water systems have
been installed in over 600 villages all over rural Colombia, in government
and rebel controlled territories, to provide access to clean water. Their
solar hot water systems have been installed in major apartment complexes in
the cities, in government buildings, and even on the utilities' buildings.
They don't patent any of their technologies, but share them freely. They
have taken street kids in Bogota and grown them into solar engineers.
Gaviotas has planted literally millions of trees and reforested thousands
of hectares that was previously dry grasslands, and the native vegetation
is coming back under the shelter of the planted canopy. From their planted
pine trees (which don't reproduce in the region) they have developed a
sustainable industry of resin production, and also specialize in making
musical instruments. Most of their forestry project is conducted by Guahibo
indians who have been an integral part of the development of the village.
Paolo Lugari, Gaviotas' founder, says "Utopia literally means no place: we
call Gaviotas a topia, because it's real."
During their entire existence, while clashes have surrounded them and their
area has been active with the FARC, the military and paramilitarios, they
have been respected by all sides and their village has been a sanctuary of
peace in a war-torn countryside. They take the attitude that their best
defense is to be defenseless, and they have a rule that no guns are allowed
in the village. While this is not always respected, no violence has ever
come to the village. Once a FARC detachment entered the village and
questioned them, but then informed them that he had been instructed to
leave the village alone "because the work you are doing it so important for
us all" (I paraphrase here from memory, but that was the gist of it). In
their massive program over a year or two to install hundreds of their water
systems, they moved unimpeded through rebel territory and none of the
Gaviotans have ever been harmed in the armed conflicts.
As events have unfolded over the last weeks, while I have been hearing
about FARC, the paramilitaries, government, narcotraficantes, etc. from the
media and online, at the same time I have been reading about those things
as a periphery to a story of vast inspiration that tells another side of
Colombia which most never hear of.
What occurs to me is that if such an inspiring and real, practical
community can develop and thrive in a place as harsh as the Colombian
llanos, both in terms of the natural and social environment, it can happen
anywhere.
If anyone is interested in learning more about another side to Colombia,
and being inspired by the practical possibility of human cooperation and
ingenuity, I highly encourage you to get a copy of this book. It is a very
worthwhile read, and particularly relevant since our collective attention
has been focused on Colombia and the lessons it holds for us all.
http://www.chelseagreen.com/Gaviotas
Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World, by Alan Weisman, May 1998
Scott
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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