436

Numb.

That’s an authentic feeling of the rush of pain from the Longest Night

When we honour and remember our houseless neighbours who have gone to the next life,

some surrounded by loved ones, some feeling unloved

some lost into the darkness

though the brightest light still resides in them.

Almost double from 2022.

What went wrong?

Complacency.

Acceptance that in our city, our system

it is okay for neighbours to reside

in rough camps

in vehicles

outside

Not all are due to the opioid epidemic

though that faulty moralistic lens of punishment is an easy out for many

especially failed leaders and politicians in community, city hall and Alberta Legislature

I have been laughed at, and mocked

for decades saying this is solvable

for inspiring students when I was in the field from pre-k to doctorate

to students in my classrooms now

that it is solvable

it is about

H-O-M-E

but that begins with housing,

as I wrote for the now defunct long defunct PC Party of Canada for policy a seven step solution decades ago

to repair what the Federal Liberals and Provincial Conservatives did in a “common sense” revolution of the 1990’s.

A government created pandemic of lack

So simple

See the person before you from newborn to centerian

as a person (yes you can spiritualize if you belive, as I do and see the Image of God)

So simple,

Nationalize health care and expand to include pharmacare, optical and dental.

Nationalize housing builds, between 10-15% of all new builds regardless of type need to be on an affordable spectrum from rental to ownership. All new builds need to be fully accessible and universal design.

Universal Basic Income.

It works.

It removes the red tape and false myths of those that are out to game the system.

It allows many to shift from survival to thriving.

Gives all income.

Lowers domestic violence for stay at home and grandparents have money to be viable engagers in economy.

Housing, income, health.

Basics of life.

Purpose is not tied to employment (but more in church on Dec. 31 and Jan. 21), it is what we are passionate to be and give.

Belonging is beyond inclusion,

it is not about being able to access or having a space

it is being known.

Being neighbour.

As Henri Nouwen challenged us, cross the street and say hi to neighbour

and celebrate and engage with the beautiful mosaic that is us.

Release the anger. Release the hate.

Yes it is solvable.

Or are we okay, Calgary, with 436 neighbours dying for lack, a lack that we created through our own greed?

What will it take in 2024? Another doubling?

Or a baby?

Frozen or roasted in the heat or smoke or cold?

Or will we still simply walk by and say, hey its their fault…

For their sibling, aunt, uncle, mum, dad, poppa, nana, grandpa, grandma dying is no different….

but remain complacent…

Thoughts on ending extremism

This is what I was able to tweet, after another thread of the neo-nazi extremist freedom protests on Twitter, and hearing voices going how did this happen?

It happened because we allowed ourselves as humans to become commodities.

It happened because we move public service into a business mindset not a service mindset.

It happened because we decided that a commons was not necessary, and interdependence was something to villify in the pursuit of a myth of independence. Nothing in society is independent. It is about people working together. Many villify the idea of public education being about creating change agents. It is. Each generation builds better (or it should) so the next can built on the newest level. Bringing change. Knowing how to do things better. Understanding better.

It is stepping into reconciliation as we know the truth.

It is knowing the role government plays in creating robust and healthy communities—allowing for gardens, playgrounds, robust public schools and community centres as hubs for neighbours to connect, to enjoy arts, sports, and time together. Creating the public spaces that allow for inter-cultural and intergernational connections.

It is about a robust health care system that is nationalized (not simply universal), that encompasses care for the whole person and their supports– physically, mentally, dental, opticial, and emotionally. And yes–this is the auspice of the elected government.

It is about creating possibilities for inclusion–insuring all places are accessible (no more “grandfathering” and taking a look at what heritage preservation looks like); that there is a place for everyone (inclusion)–so that connection can lead to authentic belonging because one is known, cared about, and will be missed.

It is about having free and low cost places, spaces and activities for all ages to come together. Youth centres are amazing, sports leagues, martial arts, car groups, arts, drama, writing, music, etc. We have known for ever that positive investment between generations disrupts individuals being from high risk for addictions, extremism and crime to moderate to low risk, yet we do not see these as feasible investments from the public purse because we continue to believe the fallacy of the household budget bank statement is the same as a government’s budget.

It is knowing and living in to that there is a spectrum of care and healing for those who cope through addiction (substance misuse-abuse and/or compulsive behaviour/behaviour addictions) that runs from harm reduction to abstinence, but needs investment in support and healing.

It is shifting from a deserving poor/disabled/elderly/unemployed government entitlement model to the simplicty and creativeness of a UBI.

It it stepping outside our own algorythms and polarized points of view to fill the chasm.

For me, it begins with one simple truth:

Each person is created with intrinsic value.

We need to honour that in one another, and in the creation we live in and are blessed to be caretakers of. Are we willing to make decisions based on 7 generations from now? Are we willing to see the value of the neighbour?

We are in a season known as Holy Week, for many who identify within the Christian Religion, a time, when as my wife has termed, a bad ass non-person in society, so rattled the status quo, that their only recourse was to kill him.

And, I am reminded, when asked a few yeara ago on Light News Radio about Easter, that it was followed up simply, with the Universe uttering “Nu’Uh” 3 days later when the tomb was found empty.

During this week, the time of awaiting to come, the question on the soul is simple:

Are we finally ready, to end extremism? Or contunue the status quo?

Out of the Wreckage: A Reflective Action

Out of coffee with a friend/mentor comes a recommendation to explore George Monbiot (2017) Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for An Age of Crisis which encapsulates many of the thoughts around community renewal, postulates some new ones, but truly percolates what is needed in our divided times (see my reflections on Rabbi Sacks works)– that is discussion, discourse and community building. For I see this work as something that harkens back to use during a simpler time, that when Pastor Douglas was growing the CCF and Pastor Aberhart was growing the Social Credit (yes I realize there was many involved in growing/educating these movements, I am using the two historical premiers as a short hand not as an all inclusive they did it independently fallacy).

See, they had their resources, for Aberhart it was social credit, for Douglas it was the Regina Manifesto if you will. It happened a household at a time, over tea and coffee times, with friends invited for study and discourse (much like a church plant if you will, growing and learning together as healthy community has the same points of genesis). This is how I can see this book work, over a few weeks of meeting together with then each small group choosing an activism activity that has come to mind from the text.

It is at once a political science-political economics primer couched in cultural study which is easy to read and follow. Monbiot takes the reader through the short history of the shift from Keynesian theory underlying public policy and economics to Neo-Liberalism and its affect on the worker, community and shift from collectivism to exploited independent contractor to celebrity culture as they explore alienation. The continued exploitation and redefinition of the commons, whom it is actually to benefit. The writer touches upon what this looks like in ripple effects, and how it has impacted voting.

Two quick case examples are used, Trumps win in 2016 due simply to the fact that a plausible alternative could not be demonstrated to the Labour loss in the UK in 2015 to the Tories, simply because they had produced a till receipt platform (costed to remove their “threat” as seen in the media and corporate world) but forgot the connecting narrative of Hope that voters were looking for (wonder if this can be extrapolated to the NDP loss in 2015 in Canada federally?). Also a bonus snapshot later on is looking at Bernie Sanders, and how to empower volunteers and actual talk with folks to propel movements.

Why does this matter? Whether Monbiot is writing about economic choices, the balance between corporate or state control (actually more of a balance, with each having their own sphere of influence). To exploring what democratic reform needs to look like in its simplicity (single transferable vote) to online direct civic democracy like in the Nordic countries (quite a case study of rapid feedback and impact). Yet as you wind through the democratic reform what emerges is a topic I am familiar with, the important of co-operates, interdependence of citizens; fair taxation; belonging– more pragmatically for Canada is a renewal of the Constitution Act 1982 that would see an abolishing of the provinces to empower/equip the Federal and civic governments appropriately. It reads as the need for governance being local, known, and impactful (as well as held accountable).

It is not just a book for a bookshelf. I will be using ideas within my research on community building for my 2021 writing project. For the political activist though now, who wants to affect positive change I law out a simple path.

1. Online or within your cohort (it is covid times) establish a coffee-tea book klatch to read-discuss and activate.
2. As we head towards municipal elections, borrow from my 2006 playbook (which I borrowed from Rt. Hon. Joe Clark in Calgary City Centre 2000) and establish healthy rainbow coalitions of teams to run for the positions in your municipal or country councils; and school boards.
3. Ensure it is not the candidate with the most money you are voting for (especially with election donation rules changing), but the one most connected to your local communities.
4. Leverage the network of the rainbow coalition to renew community association, non-profit, community, sport league and if you have religious members, their boards for new vitality health and working together for the best of the communities you exist in and the households that make them up.
5. Take time to understand and discover who your neighbours are, and how different ideas of co-ops and alternative economics may benefit everyone.

Just a few thoughts to begin percolating your thoughts. Healthy community based transformation is possible, it literally begins one household at a time rejecting the concept that our governance bodies are for sale.

What’s your first step out of the wreckage and into the rebuild?

P.S. if you haven’t already Albertans check these folks out who are doing great work, Reboot Alberta,