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CounterPunch
January
16, 2003
The Tea Party
Thinking a Revolutionary
Vision
by STEVEN HIGGS
Before Linda Oblack, Chris Kupersmith, and Jeanne
Leimkuhler could proceed with plans for a "journal of revolutionary
thought," they had to decide just what the phrase means.
Their conclusion was necessarily simple and powerful.
"Our mission is revolutionary,"
Oblack writes in the introduction to the premier issue of Tea
Party: A Journal of Revolutionary Thought. "Our mission
is to make people think."
Published twice a year by the Center
for Sustainable Living and financed by contributions from area
businesses and individuals, Tea Party is a collection
of essays, poems, and musings from some of Southern Indiana's
most thoughtful and revolutionary writers, thinkers, poets, and
political activists. The premier issue - September 2002
is indeed a revolutionary document, as envisioned by Oblack,
Kupersmith, and Leimkuhler.
Think about these words from "Give
me liberty or give me debt" by James Alexander Thom: "He
who is in debt is not free. He who is not in debt is free. He
who fears the loss of his stuff is not free. He who has no such
fear is free."
Or these from "Funny Money, Anyone?"
by Jen Weiss: "So how did it go so terribly wrong? How did
we end up with a culture that is absolutely obsessed with acquiring
money and material possessions? Is there any way out?"
Or these from "Can Our Community
Make Sound Environmental Decisions?" by Lynton K. Caldwell:
"The challenge to this community, and others like it, is
to discover the route to a sustainable future of desired quality
and equity. This task requires an interchange of information
and ideas, and an unbiased assessment of the most reliable evidence
available."
***
Over Cuban black bean soup, salad, bread,
and wine at Oblack's cozy near Northwest side home, the trio
that evolved from a larger group of like-minded activists as
the driving forces behind Tea Party says the goal is broader
than just to make people think. It's to make them think in new
ways.
"This is information that they wouldn't
normally get," says Oblack. "They're not going to get
this through the traditional media."
As the concept for Tea Party developed
and the initial group shrunk through attrition, IU Press editor
Oblack, Center for Sustainable Living board member Kupersmith,
and graphic designer Leimkuhler discovered they had similar visions
and worked well together. They formed the core that produced
the first issue and is now planning a second for March 2003,
which will feature perspectives on sustainability from the writers
under 30.
They discussed at length the question
of whether to publish hard copies, online, or both, decided on
both, and set out to raise the money for printing and distribution.
At the same time, they sought writers, and had no problem finding
cash or scribes. Letters and personal visits to potential contributors
easily raised the $1,500 or so needed to pay for printing. "Even
Wendell Berry said he would contribute," Oblack says.
The first issue was published in September,
with Oblack offering readers insight and advice on the pieces
that appear: "Herewith are some thoughts written by people
like you. Read their thoughts and see if you like them; agree
with them; have further thoughts; or if they make you want to
write your own thoughts down."
***
Putting the "Eco"
Back in to Economics
Karyn Moskowitz
"Coming to grips with economics
is the key to understanding the forces behind the destruction
of our planet. A small but significant group of progressive
economists are beginning to put the 'eco' back into economics,
and utilize it to protect the planet."
"It is imperative that all people
interested in the protection of our planet try to grasp some
of these progressive economic concepts. Below we will see some
examples of economic concepts that are often ignored by conventional
economists quality of life, ecosystem services, and a revision
of economic geography."
Night Pains
Julia Dadds
"Our children wake gasping, choking
on air
clogged with the debris of ambition."
"By the Curious
Standard of the GDP "
Sustainability and Our National Accounts
Christine Glaser
"Currently the USA and most other
countries in the world use national accounting systems that tell
us we are doing better, when in reality we might be using up
our wealth, creating liabilities for the future, or staying incredibly
busy just mitigating the side-effects of our so-called prosperity."
Decay is the undeniable
right of all sentient beings
The Trouble Collective
"The eternal life of decay waits
constantly to be realized. Death has never existed and never
will."
Think about this
Paul Martens
"Local environmentalists believe
that commercial logging in State Forests has many detrimental
effects, such as erosion, destruction of wildlife habitat, and
pollution to an area that should be protected and allowed to
remain wild."
Unword Yourself
Milton Figen
"'One doeth not own property,' He
did say, 'but property owneth one.' Such an unWestern deity."
Endangered Species
Thomas Tokarski
I walk home in silence.
The pond will be quiet tonight.
My sleep will be disturbed
by the coming apart
of assumed order,
the reforming of truth
into strange shapes with strange needs
driven by forces that we the people conceived
but do not control.
Give me liberty or
give me debt
James Alexander Thom:
"We are not properly taught that
there is something more precious than stuff, or that we have
to trade off that precious something to get the stuff. That precious
something is one of the most important kinds of liberty: economic
freedom."
Funny Money, Anyone?
Jen Weiss
"What we really need is a brand
new purple dollar bill with Alice Walker and 'In Goddess We Trust'
on it. Seriously, if the U.S. Treasury would authorize something
like that, we would up the pace of human evolution to warp speed."
"Examining what you believe about
money is a powerful act. Most people would rather not think about
it. Money is a highly charged, button pushing, trigger pulling
subject that's bound to bring up some mixed emotions no matter
who you are."
Can Our Community
Make Sound Environmental Decisions?
Lynton K. Caldwell
"The course of wisdom now is to
ascertain as best we may from the most reliable evidence available,
the probable destination of the course toward which we are in
fact headed and to project the most probable route toward a destination
optimal for the preservation of life in our community, in our
county, and on the Earth."
Tea Party: A Journal of Revolutionary
Thought is available online at http://teaparty.indstate.edu
is provided free to members of the Center for Sustainable
Living, and is for sale for $2 per copy through a variety of
local venues.
Steven Higgs
is the editor of the Bloomington
Alternative. He can be reached at: editor@BloomingtonAlternative.com
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