An economic-cultural crisis is in the works

Guy Rundle has a couple of articles up on Crikey in which he proposes a post-capitalist system that "reverses the current relationship between culture/society and market/economy so that the former determines the latter and not, as currently happens, economy dictating to society and culture."

A neat excerpt:

2) Relocalisation and decommodification -- the current culture economy web of capitalism is based on an implicit social contract, that no-one ever signed up to. Under this contract you work longer and harder, while the price of essentials -- especially home ownership -- are ramped up into lifelong servitude to payment to institutions. The pay-off? Cheap consumer durables and entertainment services.

Forget the civilisational critique of this for a moment -- on its own terms, it pitches the whole society into trembling economic fragility in which a whole way of life is based on Xmas sales, and shopping becomes an essential patriotic activity.

Of course this can't continue -- but the expectations it has raised in people cannot be assuaged by any shift to a harsher economy. A half-century ago, you could get people to work 48 hours a week for a weatherboard, a radiogram, a pub counter meal once a week and three course meal when their daughter got married. Any breach of the current contract -- 50 hours in the office partition for $12 cocktails and DVD box sets -- ain't gonna fly.

Protestant capitalism cannot be re-established after consumer capitalism. And consumer capitalism cannot continue to sustain the Western economy. An economic-cultural crisis is in the works.

and later he says..

a left vision grounds itself ethically on the notion -- promulgated in the great religions, secularised by Kant – that humans should treated each other as ends, not means.

This is from the final part (part three) of Guy Rundle’s rather in-depth but interesting musing on the state of the modern Left, and it's vision of the future.
Part two - "The past and future of the Left" and part one - "The Australian can’t tell its left from right" are also online at Crikey.

sock and awe

Play it!


My top score is 13.

size 10 shoe for Mr Bush

I know this isn't good for world peace and all, but i had to laugh at this clip of shoes being thrown at George Bush in Iraq yesterday:

Shoes thrown at Bush on Iraq trip

Notice how well he seemed to dodge them, as well as the 4 security men that pour out of the door behind him as soon as it happened. (a bit too late, i might add)

Image from the BBC

Quote of the day

"you can't fire cruise missiles at the global final crisis."

NY Times' Op-ed columnist Nicolas Kristof explaining how the US can use Obama to rebrand itself and restore it's international reputation. "That’s not because we crave admiration, but because cooperation is essential to address 21st-century challenges; you can’t fire cruise missiles at the global financial crisis."

Well said sir.

Article here: Rebranding the US with Obama.

still streaming...

...a few more mini-streams and updates that come to mind... with pictures!

Capoeira
Julie and i started capoeira a few weeks ago, here at the ANU gym. It's great fun, and reminds me a lot of my 2 years dancing at the state theatre in Pretoria, and primary school gymnastics. It's a kind of mix between dance, martial art and music. Very tiring and enjoyable. Look it up on YouTube.

Kubb & Ben Boyd
Last month we went camping down to the coast with some friends. It was Sally's 30th, and about 15 folks trekked 4 hours to Ben Boyd National Park, just outside of Eden. It is a beautiful coastline, and i hope to get down there again soon. It was also so good to be out in a tent again. We ate, hiked, spoke, slept and played Mafia around the campfire. Good times, good times. Sally's brother in law is German, and he brought along his Kubb set. The game is a bit like pétanque, but with a bit more strategy. Maybe pétanque cross chess. We played it on Sunday morning before leaving, and i seemed to do rather well! Now to make my own set and teach my friends.

a breathtaking view of 'disaster bay' at Ben Boyd
looking out to Antarctica

Affluenza
I realised last week that the new guy in the ACC&C office is actually rather famous. I knew his name was Clive Hamilton and he was from CAPPE, but didn't know he was the Clive Hamilton of Affluenza fame. Next time he's in his office I'll have to have a chat and hear his story. I like what he writes.

Gardening
Canberra seems to come alive in Spring. The city looks fuller and greener when the weather warms up, daylight savings kicks in, and you can enjoy the long evenings outside. The spring feel also seems to get people into their gardens. We don't have a garden, but that didn't deter me from spending Saturday planting some seedlings on the patio. The garden will still develop, but for now i'm happy with my tomatoes, rocket (arugula), yellow capsicums, basil (in an old frying pan) , celery and carrots. I also plucked a few cuttings, a small oak tree, and some bulbs. I'll try to keep them alive until we have a place with a garden. Here is a pic or two:

rocket pot and basil frying

Floriade
Another neat thing about springtime in Canberra is Floriade - a display of over 1 million bulbs and tulips. Breathtaking colours! We visited 2 weeks ago - it was quite a sight. Take a look at this flowery goodness (click to enlarge):


Wheels
(this stream is very outdated, but still worth mentioning)

3 months ago Julie and i went shopping. After successful negotiations and test drives etc, she has four wheels and I have two wheels.

Julie's transport is a '04 Mazda2 Maxx, with really low kms, 1.5l, 5speed automatic and CD changer. We looked at a lot of old Subaru station wagons, but in the end chose something newer, lighter on fuel and less maintenance risks. I hadn't really noticed the Mazda 2 before, but now i see them everywhere. It is neat little car that is very spacious inside. It's in the same fold as the Honda Jazz, Toyota Echo/Yaris, Hyundai Getz etc and often reviews as best in its class.

My transport is a second hand road bike that i got from a frisbee guy here. Although not as retro and character-full as my previous bike, it does the job just fine. Canberra has the highest proportion of population in Australia that cycle to work, and extensive cycle paths and lanes throughout the city. Law here requires helmets, and front and back lights fitted on each bicycle, so in addition to the actual bike ($150) I spent almost double that on 'extras' (lights, helmet, lock, pump, puncture kit, pannier bag ... the list goes on). I'm almost fully kitted out for the daily (25min) commute to work.
As always, once i'm more financially settled, i still hope to get a fixie, and a mountain bike - there are great off road tracks in the mountains hills around Canberra.



So, things are developing rather well here in Canberra. We seem to be meeting people, making friends, learning new things etc etc. Still miss home and my family and friends there, but i'm trying to be as present as possible here in Aus-land.

my workplace diversity (religion,politics&woodwork)

For the last two months I’ve been filling out job application essays, and have often come across the terms ‘workplace diversity’ and ‘participative management practices’. Once I worked out what they were, I had to think up ways to prove to the recruitment people that I practiced/believed in/followed these cool terms. Thankfully, I don’t have to do any more proving, as I’m employed! Hooray. And… what’s more – I didn’t just find one job, but three! I’m workplace diversity all in one!

These three jobs are all tasters/testers for now, and I guess I’ll have to pick one sometime, but for now I rather enjoy the variety and exposures. So, here then is what keeps me busy during the week in Canberra:

First up (monday & tuesday): Religion with the ACC&C
(Am I taking Jesus’ words ‘seek first the kingdom’ too literally here?) ;)

It’s a big title, but as the Global Network for Public Theology Officer, basically all I’m doing is organising a conference (something I’ve done before). My employer is the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, where I work with Julia Pitman and James Haire. Julia is of the opinion that James is the top theologian in Australian. I don’t know too many theologians yet to make that call, but the impromptu lectionary commentary and exegesis we get each week at staff meetings is phenomenal. It’s really hard not to want to record all that he says!
Anyway, back to work – the conference I’m organising is in October, and entitled: The Christian Mission in the Public Sphere. It’s a mixture of public theology and mission studies – both areas of interest to me. And, would you guess, the keynote speaker is Prof Nico Koopman from Stellenbosch! He was on the board of the SACC Parliamentary Office in Cape Town where I worked last year, and is the chair of the Beyers Naude Centre for Public Theology! It’s a small world! The actual conference logistics aren’t that exciting, but the papers seems promising, and the contacts valuable. (Oh, and the centre where I work is on a beautiful site overlooking lake Burley Griffin, with a labyrinth and a Bible Garden and outdoor chapel!)

Moving on to the secular (wednesday): Politics with the ALP IP

I’ve just started one day a week working with the Australian Labor Party (the folks in power) in their International Projects office. Development work is really big here in Canberra, and something that I looked into quite a bit when I arrived. All the development work here in Aus is focused on South East Asia (an area I know nothing about), but I’m keen to learn and see where it takes me. So I work with the director Michael Morgan and help out where I can. As funds become available, and the work increases, this job may expand. The IP office has a $1 million a year democracy building program in SE Asia, as well as historic links to the ANC and trade unions in South Africa (not to mention close ties with the UK Labor, and the Democrats in the US). A good place to be I think!

And to round the week off (thurs&fri), a bit of manual labour: Woodwork with Fox Antiques

When I was in SA I googled a few job pages in Canberra and saw an advert for an Antique Furniture restorer at Fox Antiques. I didn’t apply for the job, but kept the idea in my mind. After a failed attempt at being a waiter at a restaurant, I thought that if I were to do some low paying physical task, it may be in an area that I enjoy (I was top woodwork student at high school, and have done some restoring as a hobby) So I went to see the folks at Fox and asked to work, It’s been 3 weeks so far, and I’ve enjoyed every day. The pay ain't great, my hands are really dirty, and there’s a lot of heavy lifting, but it’s not every day that one gets to play around with 19th century French antiques. I’m learning a whole bunch, and getting my hands dirty with beautiful woodwork. And, on Friday after work we all have a beer (corporate bonding) and a chat. It’s not theology or politics, but good old labourer conversations!

So... that's what keeps me busy.
Add to this mix Frisbee 3 times a week, and I’m a full and happy man. Just have to find time to garden and read (and maybe blog)! This full-ness is probably not sustainable, so after the conference in October, I’ll have a look and choose one of these jobs. Or perhaps something else – I’m talking to a local Uniting church about a community faith development position that seems very exciting. So, that’s my diverse workplace. And I’m very thankful for it.

children can't be beaten

Children are people too! Hooray!

Keith (my boss type guy) is busy with the annual report of the Parliamentary Office at the mo. He asked me to scribble down a few lines summary of the Child Rights Conference that I we organised all by myself in November. So, if you want the official low-down on the conference, have a read. If you don’t really, then make yourself a cup of tea and read one of Ed Monkton’s interesting thoughts instead. I'll understand.

Low-down below:

SACC hosts Child Rights Symposium

Following the leading of our constitutional democracy, which seeks to advance the rights of all, the SACC, in partnership with Save the Children Sweden, hosted a Child Rights Symposium in Cape Town in November 2007. The two day conference brought together a significant number of legal, religious and psycho-social academics as well as children’s work practitioners in order to charter a way forward for the end to corporal punishment and the promotion of positive discipline. Twenty resource people were joined by representatives from seven provincial councils, twelve member denominations as well as civil society organisations. The 100 strong conference delegates engaged well and were bold in seeking to create a culture of dignity, respect and equity for our children, and desiring alternative discipline models to that which we have inherited from our apartheid and colonial past.

The comments during the closing session of the conference brought home the valuable discussions that had taken place. Delegates had their thinking around corporal punishment, discipline, and parenting changed, and were moved towards restorative justice and positive discipline alternatives. A moving moment was the brave comment from a church leader who informed the meeting that he was going to call his son and apologise for the times when he had beaten him, thinking then that that was the best form of discipline. The concluding commitment was to take the gleanings and discussions back to the delegate’s local constituencies, as well as advocate on a political level to ensure that the Children’s Bill gets passed in its entirety.

mundane Monday

So, this is me. Back in cape town, back to work, back at my desk on this boiling hot Monday day.

First off, some political commentary. Tired of the analytical and ‘objective’ coverage of the US primary election race that fills up the pages of South African newspapers when there are more pressing issues to speak about? Well, here’s a great, humorous take on all the contenders, their foibles and contradictions by Moby:

everyone’s a pundit

(Yes, Moby the musician, not the whale. He has a rather poignant blog worth reading if you want.)

So, with that international politics low down, back to me in the office. Still boiling hot here in Cape Town where for once the wind is not blowing. Umm… yeah, welcome back! I had a great holiday in Jozi - catching up with my family, saying farewell to very close friends off to Thailand, England and Aus, meeting people for coffee, and having others over for dinner. Good times, good times. Sorry if I missed some of you, I had to find a balance between spending time with my family or time on the highways driving the full extent of Jo’burg.

For now I’m still working at the SACC PO until my CPE course in March. I’ve already been to a meeting today trying to mobilise a Right To Food coalition between the EJN, Black Sash, Cosatu, the SACC and other players. Looks interesting and promising. The question of Food Security is not really an issue I’m fluent in, but can already see its importance. Bread prices are set to rise another 40c already this month, making the high unemployment rate here (estimates between 29% and 40%) even more critical. So, watch this space as I work with advocacy people on this issue, as well as finish up a publication from November’s Child Rights Conference.

Oh, lastly, at Aiden’s recommendation, I bought and have started reading Andrew Feinstein’s After the Party. With all the current news about Selebi and Zuma’s corruption charges, I doubt this book will lift the sombre atmosphere much. One cool thing is that, having worked with PMG in Parliament, I can imagine the scenes he describes all the more vividly.

Back to work. It's still hot!