I write from New York – having just roared up the east coast in an aluminium snake of a train from Washington to stay here with some old friends from another hemisphere. The summer is well and truly Indian in the big apple, and the smell downtown is not unlike Delhi either. Despite the sticky subways, I’ve been enjoying vegan cuisine, Brooklyn community life and scintillating conversation. My friends, like me, have been recently introduced into the wonderful world of parenting and, naturally much conversation blossomed around this topic.

My friend quizzed me about what the difference between having one and two children was, my reply – its the same, just more. I think the hardest thing about parenting is the initial surrender of your old singleton values. Shifting your values to be centred around someone else other than yourself is not an easy or insignificant shimmy – however, I think it represents a great evolutionary jump in a person’s life journey. Why?

Let me explain a little. There is something unique that defines human beings- makes them what they are. This is their search for happiness! And not just ANY happiness, the nature of that happiness needs to be unbounded, ongoing, eternal. Anything less leaves one wanting more…….. The question is, how can humans fulfill this basic desire, in the form of a limited self-centred entity? The sad truth is that the small self we see in the mirror each morning is an inappropriate vehicle to try to hold all that happiness in and trying to do so causes us more suffering than happiness. All around me I see people trying to accumulate wealth, power, fame for themselves but do they succeed in fulfilling that original desire for infinite happiness?

America is, no doubt, at the heart of the capitalistic story that has dominated the last century. And capitalism, I have come to believe, is itself based on a self-centred philosophy – how much can I personally accumulate in order to be happy. The hierarchical systems of employment, government and social structure are all constructs to facilitate this style of self-centred accumulation. In fact, the whole nature of capitalist society seems to set its inhabitants up for ultimate frustration, because the successes it promises to many and grants to few, are ultimately self-centred and thus limited to the sphere of the limited individual self. And this is why I say that we are in a dangerous place in history, where the dominant socio-economic philosophy sets humans up to be frustrated and unfulfilled.

So, what do we do about all this? Well perhaps having more babies younger is a start. It would certainly shift society away from the anguish of self-centred accumulation. There has been an interesting debate happening in Britain recently over whether babies have become the new religion. It seems that the middle classes have taken obsessively to wearing the sling of progressive baby bearing and holistic child rearing. As I have said earlier, I see this as a step forward from career-centric or self-centric accumalists, because family oriented parents seem to focus on something greater than just themselves. I believe that the amount of happiness that a family can hold or bring is greater than the individual capacity of any one vessel in the family. Happy families… But even the family unit is somewhat limited.
So lets extrapolate this idea out? What if we become more community focussed? Will our fulfilment not increase still further as our cup of happiness becomes a water butt in a rainforest? How about if we work towards the common good of our one global human family? And then let your mind drift out towards those saints who serve the entire universe tirelessly with every breath – perhaps you can begin to grasp why they always seem to be smiling.

I think its time we told the man – self service ain’t no service at all.

It seems more relevant today than ever.

(on YouTube)

The European Union is seeking again to ban the swastika symbol. There has been a flurry of debate about the vastly different meanings the symbol has to different cultures.

This has centred on the feelings of the German nation, European Jews and Hindus.

From YNet News (via Anarchaia):

Germany plans to use its presidency of the EU to launch an initiative which could lead to common laws across the bloc making it a crime to deny genocide and display Nazi symbols.

“The swastika has been around for 5,000 years as a symbol of peace. This is exactly the opposite of how it was used by Hitler,” said Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain.

“It is almost like saying that the Klu Klux Klan used burning crosses to terrorize black men, so therefore let us ban the cross. How does that sound to you?”

Links

• BBC article
• Reclaim the Swastika reader comments
• Rainmountain posts to Flickr
• Positive Swastikas Flickr Group

Prout (PROgressive Utilisation Theory) is a visionary socio-economic system to encourage a cooperative society. A new short story competition has been announced for writers to open a window on a future, Proutistic society. From the press release:

IMAGINE A SOCIETY IN WHICH…
…food, clothing, housing, education and medical care are guaranteed to everyone.

…most farms, banks, industries and services are run as cooperatives owned by the workers.

…there are no multinational corporations.

…different voices, languages and cultures are respected.

…there is self-sufficiency in food, medicines, clothing, housing, and local transport.

…the environment is protected and restored, all agriculture is organic, waste is recycled and renewable energy is used.

…universal spirituality is valued, not religious dogmas or conflicts.

…leaders are selfless servants of the people.

STRUGGLE AND CONFLICT…
Naturally, such a society could never come about without great struggle. The richest one percent who control our world today would do anything to prevent it.

They direct the multinational corporations and manipulate the US Empire, going to any length to neutralise such a progressive society. When it does come about, there will always be selfish people who would try to destroy it for their own personal benefit.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE IN A COMPELLING WAY…
…the people, the struggles, the sacrifices, the tragedies and the triumphs that would be needed to achieve such a society?

…in which part of the world such a society would first take root and what threats, opposition, and deceit that would be employed to undermine it?

…how living in such a society would affect people?

SHORT STORY COMPETITION DESCRIBING A FUTURE SOCIETY BASED ON PROUT!
Prout stands for the Progressive Utilization Theory, an alternative socio-economic model. In the words of Noam Chomsky,
"Prout’s cooperative model, sharing the resources of the planet for the welfare of everyone, deserves our serious consideration."

To know more about Prout’s socio-economic model and its policies, see www.prout.org and www.proutworld.org.

The Prout Research Institute of Venezuela is hosting a short story competition about a future Prout society and the struggles needed to bring it about. Stories may not exceed 5,000 words and must be previously unpublished. Entrants may be located anywhere on the planet, but each person may submit only one story written in English, Spanish or Portuguese. The stories will be judged on whether the future society portrayed correctly represents Prout, as well as on good writing and originality.

JUDGES
A committee of four panelists, led by the published writer Devashish Acosta (author of "When the Time Comes" and "The Ashram"), will judge the contest. To ensure impartiality, all stories will be numbered and the authors’ names will be removed until the final decisions are made.

A Proutist who wishes to remain anonymous has generously donated funds so that we can offer the following cash prizes:

• First prize: US$500
• Second prize: US$300
• Third prize: US$200
• Five fourth prizes: US$100 each
• (Winners in economically developed countries will receive a check or bank transfer. Winners in economically undeveloped countries will be sent an international postal money order.)

The winning stories will posted on the Prout Institute of Venezuela website. In addition, the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela reserves the right to publish the stories in an anthology and in a Prout magazine.

DEADLINE
Midnight March 31, 2007 Venezuelan time (GMT minus 4 hours)
Winners will be announced May 15, 2007

All stories must be sent by email to shortstory[at]prout.org. There is no entrance fee. Stories that exceed 5,000 words, that arrive late or that do not describe the struggles to achieve or maintain a Prout society will be disqualified from the cash prizes. After June 15, 2007, all authors are free to submit their stories to other competitions or venues for publication.

Source: PRI Venezuela, via After Capitalism

It’s election time in south India and the propaganda is overspilling onto the streets.

Is it just coincidence that so many members of the Gandhi/Nehru family have been in power in this country?

Or that George Bush Junior followed in the footsteps of his father?
Could there be another reason?

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar commented that democracy – so often deified as the one true path – amounts to nothing more than mob rule. Since politicians are required to win as many votes as possible, their policies are naturally watered down and thoroughly conservative.

What percentage of the average electorate can be considered to be politically educated or, dare I say, wise? When the population of a country votes according to the views of mass media and political broadcasting, what hope is there of truly progressive leadership? In our society, we find the lowest common denominator being the guiding principle…

Could we imagine our nations being governed by the wise? And what if these sages had absolute power… Would their benevolent dictatorship improve on our flawed democracy?

Would the moralist revolutionaries please step forward! You time is coming now…

I just came across this shocking article about the cost of Cherie Blair’s hair maintenance.

The article claims that during the month leading up to the 2005 general election, the wife of the British Prime Minister spent £275 per day on personal hairstyling, mounting up to a total bill of £7,700.

I find it utterly sickening and irresponsible that the wife of the Labour party leader should squander wads of cash on hairspray and grooming while half of the world’s population lives below the poverty line.

I am writing this blog entry from India where a rural family of five will feed and clothe itself with the equivalent of £13 a month. Not to mention the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are sleeping in shacks, hovels and bare pavements on city streets while buses, trucks, cars and motorcycles spew toxic fumes just metres away.

The world is crying out for leaders who are firmly established in morality, universal spirituality and who look upon our peoples and planet with compassion and empathy.

The political world is ridden with this disease of hypocrisy. Empty notions of justice are worn like glittery badges at election time. But, when it comes to making real steps towards social progress, setting an example by one’s own conduct or, dare I say it, making some kind of personal sacrifice for the greater good, these so called leaders and their spouses would rather be splashing out on super-protein shampoo and ceramic hair straighteners than helping the development of the third-world.

I received this in an email from a friend, the day after the London bombs:

You call that a bomb! These new terrorists are just rubbish! I’ve lived in London on and off since 1973 and there has never been a time free from bombs. The IRA were much better at it.

The 1990 bombs in the city were very impressive. A big truck full of nitrate fertilizer parked outside what is now the Gerkin building, broke every window for four blocks. I was leaning out of my window in Islington at the time and it sounded like the explosion was just a block away.

The bus bomb yesterday was about six blocks away and I didn’t even hear it.

He went on:

Image by Beckster

Did you see Blair’s speech when he had all the leaders lined up behind him? Did you see the looks on the faces of Bush and Chirac? Those two trying to look serious, gave the impression that Blair was speaking from Mount Rushmore. There is definitely something weird about Chirac. Bush standing still, just like a robot in standby mode.

You might remember when Princess Di died, there was a big broohaha because Buckingham Palace didn’t fly the royal standard at half mast. They tried to point out that it is not a national flag, but an indication of the presence of the monarch and therefore does not fly at half mast (unless maybe she is in the basement or on the loo or something), but to no avail. Eventually they lowered it. This time they got right in there and dropped it before anyone said anything. The poor old buffers. They do try!

And:

Image by Will Wade

The police came by and told us to close up shop in the late morning, but we kept on working.

I drove around central London yesterday afternoon and it was a very surreal vibration. There were no buses and few cars so it was easy to drive, but the whole city was awash with pedestrians. All a bit like a scene from War of The Worlds.

This morning I walked past Kings Cross. There is nothing to see there but there must have been 50 cameras set up and a couple of dozen TV trucks with reporters from all over the world.

Over all though, everything is back to normal today. London is back to it’s usual buzz of useless lawyers in sharp suits, scruffy cockneys ducking and diving and overweight taxi drivers, with their thick necks and low sperm counts, explaining the real story to whoever is stuck in the back.

I do like living in London and if we could just get these scrawny-arsed terrorists to blow up the speed bumps, it would be just about perfect.

Karun

“I was on the train and there was a sudden jolt forward … There was a really hard banging from the carriage next door to us after the explosion – that’s where it happened. There was a fire beside me. I saw flames outside on the window of my carriage … I saw bodies. I think some people may have died.”
- Sarah Reid, the tube at Liverpool Street

Many stories have emerged from London of people coming out of themselves to help each other, amidst the panic of the bombs. I’ve felt a real sense of camaraderie, where normally we would expect just anonymous faces in the crowd.

It is this collective spirit that gives me hope. In times of adversity, we see how people can empathise and care for each other. Let us hold onto this spirit in the coming days, as the nine-to-five slog struggles to re-establish itself as the norm.

The determination of Londoners to join together and get on with their lives has been widely noted and praised. A perfect demonstration of the British “stiff upper-lip” that kept us level-headed during the turmoil of the Blitz and a long history of invasion.

But amidst our resolve to resume life as normal, let us not lose the opportunity to understand why this has happened. Let us not blindly absolve our responsibilities to the powers-that-be. They have played their part in creating this. Their greedy and divisive aims must be exposed and challenged – and at the same time, the selfish lie of the terorrists’ dogma must be laid bare and crushed.

We have fanatics on both sides. May we hold dear to our heart-felt, human values and fight the vested interests on all sides until the true spirit of humanity is established.

“However dense the cimmerian darkness may be, the crimson dawn must follow. The fiends of hell may burst out in loud laughter, but all must fade in the void with the sunrise…

Those who love humanity and those who desire the welfare of living beings should be vigorously active from this very moment, after shaking off all lethargy and sloth, so that the most auspicious hour arrives at the earliest.”
- Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, New Year’s Day, 1971

The meeting of the G8 world leaders in Gleneagles, Scotland is about to begin. And Third World Debt, together with the poverty and exploitation it creates, is firmly under the spotlight.

Below are the latest photos from the G8 and Live8 groups on Flickr… They automatically update as new images are posted. Click a thumbnail to view the original.

• AfterCapitalism.org – cooperative economics blog
• IndyMedia UK – independent journalism at the scene
• MakePovertyHistory.org
• Live8 official website
• G8 official website
• G8 on the BBC
• Live8 on the BBC

Today is the first full moon in May, a traditionally auspicious day known as “Ananda Purnima” (the blissful full-moon). On this day in 1921, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar was born in Jamalpur, India.

His early work as a railway clerk betrayed little of the storm that was soon to occur around him…

Sarkar started teaching yogic meditation to a growing band of followers, later forming the socio-spiritual organisation Ananda Marga. He became known by his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Anandamurti.

In 1959, he propounded a humanistic socio-economic theory, Prout, to challenge both Capitalism and Communism. I remember hearing his comment that society had been unable to fully accept humanism until it had witnessed the horrors of World War Two.

He formed a relief organisation, AMURT, which was the first global NGO founded in the Third World. AMURT has recently been working in the Tsunami region.

Sarkar went on to form a global cultural organisation, RAWA, for the realignment of the arts with the spirit of service and mysticism. And just to show how it was done, he composed a staggering 5018 songs in the last eight years of his life, before passing away in 1990. His collection of songs is called Prabhata Samgiita.

He went on to propound a new concept in science and psychology, called Microvita, and a holistic system of education based on his principles of Neo-Humanism.

Sarkar was a fountain of wisdom on ecology, womens’ issues, linguistics, history, farming and just about everything else that I can think of!

A strict moralist, and a tireless exposer of corruption, he fell on the wrong side of Indira Gandhi’s increasingly authoritarian government. Refusing to keep quiet about social exploitation and his Prout theory, he spent seven years as a political prisoner and survived a poisoning attempt while in jail.

By the time he re-emerged, his ideas had spread throughout the world, and continue to do so today.

So much in one lifetime…

I’ll be thinking of you today. Happy Birthday!