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The UPGRADEmag (or just the "UP") is a global edutainment round-up, ‘broadcast’ weekly to =[10,519]= Alternative// Activist// Zippy// Trance// New Age folks who’ve been recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity//Megatripolis Dance Dept as "showing signs of life". Since many recipients choose to forward it to their own lists, we estimate 29,000+ recipients. Further, because of its less 'specialist' content, it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide, making a total weekly ‘readership’ of 275,000+ * * * * * * * * * *ASTRO ENERGY ANALYSIS JULY 31 AUGUST 7* * * * *
UP! 2035 NEWS Fidel Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.THE FUTURE CALLS! This is an important week in which we gather our forces to push on into the future. Our main strengths now are our ideals and our needs to be of service. It’s time for a changing of the guard, and, as the old departs, we need to be clear about what we want for the future. Everyone is stubborn and determined now, and conflict is inevitable. August 5th and 6th will be strange. For details, see the Daily Success Guide at www.daykeeperjournal.com
Deep Red Collective Hahaha, the weekend after I connect with some amazing Buddhist ravers, the Deep Red Collective in Halifax, you return from Buddhafield with your finding-the-still-point-meditation plans for the BE-IN!! Sometimes I just love how this planet spins! Check out this lovely website for more background on Deep Red. www.innerrave.org. By the way - is the NEW HUMAN BE-IN exclusive to people in London and SF, or can we play too? :-) We are kinda half way on the ley line! Phil / Halifax, Canada - hey any ley line suits me in a storm, phil! but this is probably going to be the first in a whole series of global NEW HUMAN BE-INS leading up to the Summer of Peace next year so I’d say keep checking the humanbe-in site for developments. certainly a whole loada stuff will be getting beamed out live from the club, before during and after, but am not sure yet how much u ‘ll be able to contribute directly. UP! 2035 NEWS Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon). london SAT SEPT 28 One day to make sure you keep clear in your diaries (it's gonna be a big one!) National demo. Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square. - the day after the NEW HUMAN BE-IN UP! 2035 NEWS New California law requires all nail clippers, screwdrivers and baseball bats be registered by January 2036. COURT BLOW TO CHENEY OVER ENRON Washington: A federal judge rejected attempts by the White House last Friday to block the disclosure of documents detailing meetings between the President of Vice and executives from the energy company Enron. The public interest law firm Judicial Watch has filed a suit that aims to establish if big business has influenced US policy on gas and oil exploration. An energy task force led by Mr Cheney called last year for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power programme. UP! 2035 NEWS Ozone created by electric cars killing thousands in Los Angeles. THE LAW OF THREE Hi Fraser. The BE-IN is on September 27th. The 27th? WOW!!! A friend many years ago pointed out to me that 27 is a special number. It all comes from the number 3. Unity is composed of Yin and Yang. What we perceive as opposites are two parts of one third thing, the whole. Unity = 3. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. But lissen - If 3 is magic, how about 3 x 3 x 3 = 27?! A most auspicious choice of date, Fraser. Much love, Chris / London UP! 2035 NEWS Afghanistan still closed off - physicists estimate it will take at least ten more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels. HUMAN BE-IN UPDATE: SATISH KUMAR TO address ALTERNATIVE FYOUTURE POWWOW A leading figure in the spiritual and environmental fields in Britain, Satish’s unique life experiences as an Indian monk and philosopher brings a whole new dimension to education, religion, work and politics. For 24 years he’s been editor of Resurgence magazine, now established as a healing edge journal on ecology, the environment, new economics and spiritual values. He’s also Director of Programmes at Schumacher College, an international centre of study informed by ecological and spiritual values. “I became a Jain monk when I was nine, and from then on I practised total non-violence. You can’t go out of the house, and even within the house you sweep the floor with a little soft broom before you put your foot down, so that you won't step on an insect on the floor. Tremendous respect for every living being on the earth, and every green life in the Jain religion everything has life - the rocks, the water. So I received a tremendously ecological training. “I lived the monk’s life for nine years, studying Sanskrit and meditating for hours in the morning and evening, and going once a day to beg for food. “But life was lacking in balance, I was pursuing the inner path at the expense of the rest of my being and the rest of the world. “Then I read Mahatma Gandhi saying that the pursuing of the inner journey should not be separated from pursuing the outer, social journey, because we are not isolated beings. We are pretending that we can follow our own individual enlightenment and let the rest of the world go to hell, so to speak. “So, although extremely grateful for such strict discipline, I saw Gandhi’s living example in the world. On the one hand he meditated, prayed and studied the holy books, but he also went to meet the Governor General of India and worked on economic development, rural development. So he not only thought about balance; he was living it. That example inspired me, and I felt that my monk life was a bit too narrow and even self-centered.” Satish Kumar. UP! 2035 NEWS Microsoft announces it has perfected its newest version of Windows so it crashes BEFORE installation is completed. OTHER HUMAN BE-IN UPDATES: Davey Graham, mythical blues singer/guitarist and instrumentalist in the YOUMAN Room remember his No 1 hits Cocaine and Angie. A rare appearance! Pok Star, legendary pagan poet/new age anarchist troubadour from the Space Goats performing live/solo. Joie Favier just completed her new album, and the belle of the San Francisco underground music scene! Break your hearts, guys! THE COMING OCTOBER WAR IN IRAQ Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, is a Marine Corps veteran and card-carrying Republican in the conservative-moderate range. Though he voted for George W. Bush, he now says that the coming war in Iraq is about nothing more or less than domestic American politics, based upon speculation and rhetoric entirely divorced from fact. “The Third Marine Expeditionary Force in California is preparing to have 20,000 Marines deployed in the (Iraq) region for ground combat operations by mid-October. The Air Force used the vast majority of its precision-guided munitions blowing up caves in Afghanistan. Congress just passed emergency appropriations money and told Boeing to accelerate their production of the GPS satellite kits, that go on bombs that allow them to hit targets while the planes fly away, by September 30, 2002. - that’s the monday after the NEW HUMAN BE-IN scary, intoxicating, inspiring (to action) Why? Because the Air Force has been told to have three air expeditionary wings ready for combat operations in Iraq by mid-October. SO WHY BELIEVE HIM WHEN SO MANY WELL PAID LACKEYS SAY DIFFERENT? Ritter spent seven years in Iraq with the UNSCOM weapons inspection teams, performing acidly detailed investigations into Iraq's weapons program, Iraq simply does not have weapons of mass destruction, and does not have threatening ties to international terrorism. Therefore, no premise for a war in Iraq exists. · · · · Everything they found was later destroyed in place. Iraq is no longer technically capable of restarting its weapons manufacturing capabilities undetected, according to Ritter. They would have to start completely from scratch, having been deprived of all equipment, facilities and research because of Ritter's work. · · · MAYBE THE PRES HAS SECRET EVIDENCE? Some have claimed the Bush administration may hold secret evidence pointing to a threat within Iraq, one that cannot be exposed for fear of compromising a source, but Ritter has dismissed this out of hand. "If the administration had such secret evidence, we'd be at war in Iraq right now. We wouldn't be talking about it. It would be a fait accompli”. “I just came back from London, and I can tell you this - Tony Blair may talk a good show about war, but the British people and the bulk of the British government do not support this war. The Europeans do not support this war. NATO does not support this war. No one supports this war." UP! 2035 NEWS Osama bin Laden - Hunt continues; sighted at Yasser Arafat's tomb in Detroit. london UK CLUB CRISIS RESTRICTED TO SUPERCLUBS Superclubs are ‘on the brink of collapse’ though dance music itself is as strong as ever, Guardian clubbing expert Jacques Peretti suggested this week. “The fact that 200,000 people turned out for Fatboy Slim’s gig on Brighton beach a fortnight ago demonstrates that there’s a still a massive appetite for dance music,” he pointed out. “It’s just that no-one wants to be charged a fortune to see the same thing in a cheesy superclub.” <scrufff.com> - and there i was just finished writing our european press release describing how ravers have been growing out of clubland into social activism and inner development, not because they want to, but because the commercial clubs have not evolved beyond 3 rooms of banging loud music. and where does that lead? the commercial people get purified out, and we move on to... NEW HUMAN BE-INS where you can dance, as they want to as much as ever and ALWAYS will, but can also network, catch some good culture, be ‘edutained’, and so on on and on and on ... UP! 2035 NEWS Thirty-five year study proclaims diet and exercise is the key to weight loss. Fraser Clark, Editor UP! Dear Fraser, I do wish that Africans would start to visualise prosperity and abundance for their country, instead of debt and poverty. It's high time they started to understand that this $320 billion debt hanging over their country simply has no real existence - it's just a figment of somebody else's imagination. They need to establish a Bank of Africa, which would have as its primary axiom, that money shall not breed money. Left in this bank, money would not grow - and nor would debt. I believe that all Africans will see the sense of this principle. This is an Islamic principle, it's in the Koran, so this bank could interact with Islamic banks. It could not interact with world markets, where money does grow of its own accord. This isolationism would mean that Africa would have to make its own cars and hi-fi sets etc. When the white guys arrive to collect the interest on the debt, the polite reply would be: we don't use your currency, and we don't know about these debt agreements, we didn't make them. I believe there are no problems in Africa which Africans could not solve, if only they’d get rid of the illusion that they have a huge foreign debt which they have to repay. There’s wonderful wealth and prosperity in that continent, but to harness it, Africans first need to re-adjust their concept of money and how it works. They should not just accept the European definition of money (whereby money is created at source by the banks as interest-bearing debt). There is no 'punishment' that Western nations could inflict upon that continent in retaliation for this debt-negation, except for some degree of isolationism. There would be a beneficial knock-on effect, of causing a collapse of the international monetary system. African philosophers are really needed, to mull over this pan-African initiative. Sincerely, Nick Kollerstrom - is this what gaddafi is about? UP! 2035 NEWS Texas executes last remaining citizen. San Francisco Cronicle WASN’T THAT A TIME?!
"Wasn't that a time?" photographer Robert Altman has said about the '60s, which he chronicled in black and white. At one point the longtime San Franciscan was Rolling Stone's chief photographer. His shots of hippiedom - anti-war demonstrations, Black Panther rallies, the Stones at Altamont and many, many idyllic scenes of back-to-the-landers - are definitive and often instantly recognizable. This fall a Summer of Love consortium plans a 35th anniversary of the original HUMAN BE-IN - in London, not San Francisco. As a concession to the BE-IN'S hometown, perhaps, the committee is mounting Altman's "Sixties," a retrospective of his work from the period, at Studio Z. For those who weren't there, the show will help explain why it was, in fact, "a time." . Robert Altman's "Sixties," opening reception 5:30-9:30 tonight, gallery hours 3-7 p.m. through Aug. 27 at Studio Z, 314 11th St. Free. (415) 252-7666 or UP! 2035 NEWS Upcoming NFL draft likely to focus on use of mutants. //YOU FEEDBACK Hi Fraser, Love your list. I am interested in raising a point about the Nigerian woman's uprising against Chevron. Doesn't it strike you as sadly ironic that these women are agitating for employment opportunities with this beastly company? The point is the oil industry needs to be dismantled completely! These people already have grounds enough, I would think, to sue Chevron for damages and claims against the company for what has already happened, environmental destruction, cultural invasion etc. Is anyone in a position to advise the women of their options in a legal struggle instead? Do they really want their sons committed to a life of drudgery working for the oppressor? Your thoughts are most welcome. Sincerely, Diana R. Trimble - u r, of course, absolutely right, diana. I don’t have a solution, except the one I’m aleady working on a general but fundamental change in the Culture. wot else u got? UP! 2035 NEWS Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped. THE HEALING OF AMERICA "Within the next ten years, America will have a renaissance or a catastrophe. Something is going to happen to take us back to who we are. 'If America were an individual in therapy, a good counsellor might say. One, you're not really sober. Two, you're obsessed with material things and your spiritual life is begging for attention. Three, you rarely take responsibility for your own problems and you project the blame onto others. Four, you're neglecting your kids. Five, the size of the security system surrounding your house indicates you have paranoid tendencies. Six, you have a lot of amends to make. And seven, your attraction to generals is neurotic.' Marianne Williamson: "The Healing of America." UP! 2035 NEWS Authentic year 2000 Florida "chad" sells at Sotheby's for $4.6 million. Correcting distorted vision of the corporate media MEDIA LENS ALERT: CONSPIRACY-FREE CONFORMITY HOW THE MAINSTREAM SMEARS DISSIDENT OUPUT Chemistry teachers have long delighted students by showing how near-perfect symmetrical structures can be produced by pouring a large number of small balls into a square box, whereupon a perfect pyramid is inevitably produced. The balls either land in a pyramid-building position, bounce into such a position, or bounce out of the structure. The resulting pyramid like crystalline structures found in the natural world - looks for all the world like it has been carefully designed; in fact it is merely a consequence of the random flow of small round objects over a square framework. We believe that the flow of journalists in and out of the framing structure of the mainstream corporate media accounts, in a roughly analogous way, for the remarkably uniform patterns found in mainstream reporting. As we have shown in earlier Media Alerts, the corporate media is structured in a way that protects and furthers the interests of state-corporate power in the absence of any conspiracy, or even overt interference. The uniformity of reporting simply follows from the interaction of human nature with the framing structures of state-corporate capitalism - journalists with the correct views, priorities and goals 'fall into place' in the media pyramid, while others bounce (or are bounced) out. This does not mean that there is no dissent in the mainstream; on the contrary the system strongly requires the +appearance+ of openness. In an ostensibly democratic society, a propaganda system must incorporate occasional instances of dissent. Like vaccines, these small doses of truth inoculate the public against awareness of the rigid limits of media freedom. The honest dissident pieces which occasionally surface in the mainstream are quite as important to the successful functioning of the propaganda system as the vast mass of power-friendly journalism. Dissidents (a tiny number of them) also have their place in the pyramid - the end result, however, is an overall performance that tends to mould public opinion to support the goals of state-corporate power. Consider, for example, the remarkable conformity of mainstream criticism of dissident output. In the Guardian, columnist Roy Hattersley recently reviewed John Pilger's latest book, The New Rulers of The World. Hattersley wrote: "But, although his descriptions are vividly coloured, his judgments are predictably black-and-white. The notion that those he exposes and denounces might have any merit has never entered his head." Nothing odd in this, we might think. But now consider the only other review of Pilger's book to have appeared in the national mainstream since publication on May 20. In the New Statesman, Stephen Howe writes of Pilger: "There is very little light and shade in his world-view. No situation is morally ambiguous, no history is complex and contested. There are only heroes (the title of one of his previous books) and villains.” Joe Joseph of the Times takes a similar view of Pilger's output: "The world, according to Pilger, is pretty much black and white: his journalistic retina doesn't recognise shades of grey." Channel 4 newsreader, Jon Snow, sheds further light: "Some argue the ends justify his means, others that the world is a more subtle place than he [Pilger] allows". Of course it is possible that these views merely reflect the rational consensus - this could be a conformity based on common sense, not on framing conditions. Turning elsewhere, however, we discover a review of one of Chomsky's recent books by Steve Crawshaw. The title of Crawshaw's piece is strangely familiar: "Furious ideas with no room for nuance". (Crawshaw, the Independent, February 21, 2001) Crawshaw perceives an odd contradiction in Chomsky's work: "Chomsky knows so much, but seems impervious to any idea of nuance." Like Pilger, then, Chomsky suffers from a "black and white" view of the world. Lambasting his criticism of the NATO bombing of Serbia, and echoing Hattersley and Howe, Crawshaw expands: "Misguided isn't enough [for Chomsky]; the policy must be plain evil." Writing in the Guardian, Martin Woollacott observed of Chomsky: "Those who direct American policy... are allowed no regrets, no morals, no feelings, and when they change their policies they appear to do so for entirely Machiavellian reasons... [Chomsky] seems to deny the complexity of human affairs by setting up too rigid an antithesis between an inherently amoral elite and an inherently moral mass." Pilger again shares the same disability, as Hattersley notes: "Pilger can never end his criticisms and condemnation at the point when most people would think it reasonable to stop." Implicit (and often explicit) in these reviews is the suggestion that both Pilger and Chomsky are victims of the blinkering effects of anger: Chomsky with his "furious ideas"; Pilger, "still angry after all these years", with arguments that are "longer on anger than on analysis". (Howe) Another of our prominent dissidents, Harold Pinter, is afflicted by these same curses. Writing in the Observer, Jay Rayner quotes Timothy Garton Ash: "He has this terribly imaginative vision of the world and everything has to fit it." Again anger is to blame: "Late Pinter is all about sound and fury", Rayner notes. Time and again, with remarkable consistency, 'liberal' journalists follow the same line - dissident writers have much merit, but their work is fatally marred by their blinkered, angry, black-and-white view of the world. Why do journalists continuously reproduce this pattern? Again, it could simply be that they are right. But anyone who has read Pilger and Chomsky is surely struck above all by the calm and powerful rationality of their analyses - vitriol is certainly added, but often humorously, or for effect (as a way of waking us up from our mainstream slumber) - there is never any sense that their basic rationality is distorted by anger. What dissidents like Pilger and Chomsky have to say is so completely contrary to what most people believe, and to what many people would like most people to believe, that they would be instantly dismissed as lunatics by public and critics alike but for the fact that they present extremely powerful arguments. Dissidents, of course, know this only too well, which is why their standards of reporting are generally far higher than the crude productions of the hacks who, as one media insider told us, "really just bash it out". Mainstream journalists promoting the interests of the powerful and privileged have nothing to fear - they know they can get away with journalistic murder. The real explanation for the apparent contradiction in mainstream reviews is found in the fact that writers like John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Ed Herman, Gore Vidal et al are telling the truth, but they are telling truth that conflicts with the "necessary illusions" of society, media society included. The problem for the "journalists of attachment" is that dissidents write with undeniable rationality, their arguments are backed up by, and indeed often based on, a vast array of highly credible sources. For this reason their work simply cannot be dismissed as nonsense. Thus Hattersley writes: "The brilliance of John Pilger's reporting is, or ought to be, beyond dispute." Thus Crawshaw writes of how "Chomsky knows so much". Thus Woollacott writes of Chomsky's "rare combination of moral vision and intellectual rigour". There is also the fact of Chomsky and Pilger's popularity with the public - the public the media is supposed to serve. Chomsky is the world's best-read writer on international politics. His book 9-11 has sold well over 100,000 copies, despite the endless smears and neglect of his work. Pilger's latest book has been on three best-seller lists - the Guardian's own included - despite having been reviewed, and smeared, just twice in the national media. Journalists have to recognise these achievements if they are to retain credibility. But the structural demands of the mainstream are such that it is sheer folly for reviewers to be seen to fully endorse those who powerfully expose the deceptions on which the mainstream itself depends. Thus in an apparently stunning self-contradiction, Hattersley talks of Pilger's brilliance but then writes, "Reading The New Rulers [sic] makes it easy to understand why so many people say: 'If Pilger's for it, I am against it.'" This, Hattersley explains, is because Pilger is "right but irritating". It's worth examining just what is being argued here. Leaving aside the question of just which opinion polls Hattersley is referring to when he talks of "so many people" rejecting Pilger's work (he actually, of course, means the political and media elites he mixes with) consider that Pilger is all but unique in the UK mainstream for the depth and breadth of his criticism of ruthless power. Pilger has, for example, tirelessly reported Western responsibility for genocide in Iraq, while the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent, the BBC and ITN, have all but turned a blind eye. Given that Pilger has been one of a tiny number of journalists willing to communicate credible accusations of our responsibility for genocide, what sane individual would respond to his efforts with the observation that he is "right but irritating"? If on September 10, a lone individual had burst into FBI offices presenting highly credible evidence for an impending terrorist attack against thousands of civilians in the World Trade Centre, what would we have made of someone who responded that he was "right but irritating"? We would assume that they were completely alienated from the reality of human suffering and the idea that we might be responsible for doing something about it. But Pilger has long performed a comparable role in warning of infinitely greater horrors that are being perpetrated now, in our names, in Iraq, and all around the world. To keep their place in the pyramid, mainstream journalists have to cast doubt on the 'irrational' and 'extreme' views of those who are notable precisely for their rationality and objectivity. They have to admit there is merit in dissident work, but they also have to provide a bolt-hole for editors and other journalists who treat dissident work with contempt. 'Yes, Chomsky has merit, but it's over the top - we can't keep publishing that kind of distorted view.' 'Yes, Pilger is brilliant, but it's so irritating - we can only stomach so much.' Despite his enormous popularity with the public, Pilger has appeared just four times in the Guardian since 1999, once in the Observer, and not once in the Independent. Recently, to the shame of the 'serious' broadsheets, Pilger has begun reaching an enthusiastic audience through a tabloid, the Daily Mirror. Chomsky is all but ignored by the Guardian/Observer, with four articles published by them since September 1998 (with just one of these published since October 1999). He has appeared once in the Independent since January 1999, and is ignored by BBC TV, ITV and Channel 4. Figures like these make a mockery of the idea that we have a free press. Other major writers like Edward Herman and Howard Zinn appear to be completely unknown to the British mainstream. Let's be clear that the likes of Chomsky and Pilger are brilliant because they are supremely skilled at marshalling and presenting evidence supplied by highly credible sources. Open-minded readers find that this evidence demolishes the illusions propagated by state-corporate power the personalities and emotions of dissidents are side issues beside this fundamental achievement. The perennial abusive caveats are a lie, a rationalisation, a necessary smear imposed, ultimately, by the framing conditions of the corporate media functioning within state-corporate capitalist society. <www.MediaLens.org> SUGGESTED ACTION Write to Guardian literary editor, Claire Armitstead: claire.armitstead@guardian.co.uk Ask her why Pilger's book was given to Roy Hattersley for review, after Hattersley had previously denounced Pilger for being unable to be "right without being righteous". Copy your email to the Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger: alan.rusbridger@guardian.co.uk And to the Guardian's Readers' Editor, Ian Mayes: ian.mayes@guardian.co.uk And to Observer literary editor Robert McCrum: robert.mccrum@observer.co.uk Ask him why the Observer has failed to review the latest book by John Pilger, the country's leading dissident. Ask him how this can be justified, given Pilger's unique position in British journalism, and given that Pilger's book has appeared on three best-seller lists. And to Boyd Tonkin and Susie Feay, literary editors of the Independent and Independent on Sunday, respectively: b.tonkin@independent.co.uk s.feay@independent.co.uk UP! 2035 NEWS White House demands Saddam Hussein's resignation for 748th time. No response. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP //YOU LITERATURE SECTION UUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP AN AMERICAN IN LONDON PART THREE I'm back from one delay after the next. A trip to Greece, computer problems then email problems. So much to report, so little time! First, see Human Traffic. It's a film about some young clubbers in Wales that takes a frank and humorous look at club life and real life in modern England. Some truly classic scenes capture the essence of social escapism and the search for meaning among those starting out on the road of life. And it says a thing or two about why there’s an underground in England. Glastonbury If you ever wondered what has made Britain so weird, you can find the roots of it in Avalon, that south western part of the island where King Arthur and Merlin once lived in a mythical past. Did I say weird? YES. In northern California there is so much fringe culture that it all starts to blend into, well, the fringe. By contrast, pagan, mystical, mythical, stellar, sorcery and magic - these are concepts right out of Britain's past. And there's plenty of evidence that Avalon was once the seat of it. Glastonbury is the cultural hub of Avalon, if you have some insight into the pagan scene. This week the Glastonbury Festival will be raging again, bringing 100,000 together in some farmland that’s a fraction of the area of Burning Man's Black Rock City. Just for reference, BM has grown to 30,000 or so, if I recall correctly. As I'll note later on, there were perhaps 20,000 at a festival in a regular park in south London, just on a given weekend. About two months ago Joie and I got a nice tour of the Glastonbury area by our friend Mark, and it is stunningly beautiful. Pastoral and ancient, it has some of the feel of the rolling hills and meadows in parts of Italy or France, but there’s something different about it. On a moonlit night, looking across a misty valley, it feels like something mystical is hanging in the air. The Glastonbury Tor, a stone tower standing on a hill in the town, is an ancient monument with some long-forgotten purpose, and many small things remind you this is a special place - the white and red springs bubbling out of the bottom of the hill (reputed to enhance health), the special bush that flowers on Christmas day, and little businesses with cannabis or activist in the title. The main avenue through town is like a New Age high (main) street, but with an ancient feel. Of course, there were more encounters with remarkable people, namely Sarah and John who run a B&B, and people from the pagan tribe, one of whom is actually named Merlin. In one weekend I felt like my brain got an immense download of new insights, new perspectives, a new take on life, a bit like going down to the Santa Cruz mountains and communing with the tribe there, but different. It's both more "fringey" and more rooted, somehow. Stonehenge is about two-thirds of the way to Glastonbury, and lies just outside the fabled part of the land where some ancient system called the Star Templar is represented in actual parts of the land by bizarre zodiac signs. Mark is publishing a magazine this year at the Festival to introduce the mythology of the region to a broader audience. So more on that in the next Log. May Day (or a Stroll in the Park) May 1 is recognized in Europe as the beginning of spring and seems to have a tradition of political rioting. A friend and I searched that afternoon for some riots, but all we found were rows of police around barricades in various parts of London. It was quite amusing driving by all those cops while discussing the underground scene and smoking roll-ups. It was odd that there was amazingly little traffic in the middle of the day. It turns out the riots happen in particular areas, probably somewhat furtively. We decided to check out Hyde Park for any suspicious crowds, and ended up strolling through the park on a beautiful afternoon. Hyde Park is just north of the centre of town and is quite an expansive, manicured and idyllic retreat, with the famous Speaker's Corner where anyone can say whatever they want, and paved paths for some stimulation. On Sundays, Speaker's Corner is populated with provocative opinion-staters and their provoked audiences, while the skaters, bladers and bikers cruise the paths. But the main part of the park is open, flat grassland with neatly placed trees and well-groomed vegetation, stretching as far as the eye can see, believe it or not. As a couple of philosophers trying to understand the state of the world and the roles of America and Britain in it, Fraser and I could not have found a more noble setting. The parks, by the way, are a major feature of London. Some are huge, each is different, and they seem to be all over, adding significantly to the general feeling of green-ness in many parts of the city. Fraser is eminently quotable, and there are many insights he has imparted that are worthy of further discussion. For now, I'll draw on feeble memory to recall two. As we walked across the park, he pointed to people passing us, and asked if I had any sense that they were English and not American. I carefully considered clothing, demeanour, and anything external. Yes, I suppose there were subtle characteristics that distinguished Brits from Americans, nothing too overt. As usual, Fraser was probing at a deeper level and made the statement that his feeling in America, walking through a park amongst strangers, is a slight sense of menace arising from the possibility that the next stranger could pull a gun or just be a latent psycho one hair-trigger away from exploding. I can't say I felt that way, but he certainly did. It's true, it was hard to imagine any of the strangers that day disturbing the highly civilized and peaceful setting, but his point was that there is a sense of desperation in America. Some people are starving there, living on the street, barely able to cope with staying alive. There is no social safety net, so when you fall, you fall hard, or if you're already down you're desperate to move up - or explode. And mug the first guy you see. Later, sitting by a lake, we finally saw some protesters, holding up large white banners and marching quietly but boldly down the opposite side of the lake. If my addled brain could recall more precisely I would write it as elegantly as he said it, but it went something like this: Where have we come to when people promoting the good of mankind can be hassled and arrested? It used to be that your enemies were treated that way! That evening on TV we watched the newscast of the riots. In Paris they interviewed liberals with rough English concerned about the possible election of a racist prime minister. In London they showed policemen being bonked on the head by inflatable hammers and bouncing balls, as the protesters scurried about making secret plans on cell phones. Maybe Brits aren't prone to explode because they're normally so rowdy? Cannabis Festival One fine weekend the annual Cannabis march terminated in south London at Brockley Park, near Brixton. What an eye-opener that was. I missed the march but the Cannabis Festival was impressive. Full-on presence of you-know-what (people dealing and smoking everywhere), in a park that must have been huge because just the part with the Festival must have held tens of thousands of people. Hard to say how many - I heard estimates ranging from 20 to 40,000 (right, think Burning Man). On just another weekend? At a regular park? It was a scene. Tents and stalls ringed a large open area with a sizable stage tent, and there really were tons of people, with a slight inconspicuous presence of authorities. In one tent they were giving away free buds. It was a full-on festival, all under the banner of promoting the peaceful use of Cannabis. The last band was a Moroccan dance band that was fabulous, but the show had to end at 8pm and three workers had to come out to get the crowd to accept it. The point is, we have to keep our agreement with the authorities so we can do it again next year. Yeah, I spoke to people afterward who missed it quite casually, they were busy with something or whatever. Yeah, just another weekend. Sheez. Greece, the Cradle of Democracy To get my head clear from the hectic jumble of my first two months in London, I took a two-week vacation in Greece. My friend Monique was back home in Athens for Greek Easter and we met up for a few days. So this part is somewhat more of a travelogue, but yes there are some juicy insights I gleaned from my stay. Monique was immersed in her family so it was a treat to see Greek life from the inside. My general observation about the quality of life is that overall it was quite high. It reminded me of how America is mostly middle class. Most people here seem to have the nicer amenities in life, and I learned from one of Monique's relatives that a significant part of the population runs small businesses, adding to a non-official economy that has a stabilizing effect when world economies fluctuate. Apparently Italy is somewhat similar in that respect. This would account for why some things, like family-run hotel rooms, are quite cheap, while other things, like rental cars, are normally priced. I later learned from a businessman in Crete that the Greeks have begun to emulate America and its consumerism, focusing more on making money and living comfortably. This was not viewed as a positive trend by those that held older values, but it was excusable in light of the struggles Greece suffered as a result of massive disruption in World War II. Nevertheless, it’s difficult to run a business with some of the ancient bureaucracy getting in the way. In Athens I got a taste of a sort of suburban chic in Glifada in the southern part of the city, checked out a quaint and hip old neighbourhood called Plaka in the centre of town, walked by the Parthenon which is gloriously lit at night, and got some cheap shopping done in a street market called Monasteraki. The language barrier is tough, like it is in France or Italy. Greek is just that much further away from English, as you can tell from the alphabet, which has strange superficial similarities to the Euro-American alphabet. Phonetical spellings of Greek words in English vary widely for even common names and landmarks, and it's clear from how Monique would order certain foods in a restaurant that there are really no English equivalents for some things. Well, what about that travelogue? Athens to the nearby island of Hydra, where only donkeys provide locomotion, back to Athens, then a short flight to Crete, a ferry to Santorini, a ferry to Mykonos, a short flight to Athens and back to London Luton airport on EasyJet. Not really one of those restful vacations, I suppose, but I had five days in Mykonos to chill out. Tourist season hadn't really started so things were still somewhat quiet. The old harbour part of Chania on Crete is lovely, and the large island is quite diverse, boasting the largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon (Samaria Gorge) and the only palm forest in the Mediterranean on its Eastern tip. Santorini is quite striking, having been blasted by a volcanic eruption many eons ago. There’s a theory that Santorini is the center of a land mass that sunk after a cataclysmic eruption, and that land mass was Atlantis. This actually holds water, so to speak, based on Plato's description. If you look on a map, Santorini could be the center of a large circle with Crete forming the southern edge. There are excavations going on there that seem to get little attention, other than as a tourist attraction, but something tells me the government and the people are keeping something to themselves. I missed visiting hours for the public excavation site, but I did sit on a cliff nearby, taking in the calm, foreign beauty. At one point a pick-up truck drove by, winding its way from the site down to a tiny church far below at the edge of the land. What goodies were they stashing away that day in that refuge of sanctity? A Greek friend I made in Mykonos was quite well read on many subjects, but his view of the mystical aspects of Greece was definitive. He had no doubt there is something profound about the place. There is a mountain on the mainland whose top is in the shape of a perfect pyramid. He travelled there to see it, and gave me the name of the town and mountain - Mount Thayitos in the town of Sparti Does anyone outside of Greece hear about these things? What about the astrolavos that divers found, which seems to be an ancient, highly evolved tool for navigation? What else is special about this place, other than being the cradle of democracy and Western civilization? Mykonos is known as a party island, second to Ibiza, but I found it was a nice place to relax as well. It wasn't too difficult to find private sections of beach away from tourists. Some of the beaches are quite nice, and at night there are raves and clubs on some beaches as well as in the main town. Mykonos town is like an adult playground. It's made for aimless wandering through cosy little alleys always leading to some bar or club. Greeks are direct, strong and hard-working. Lots of backbone and intensity. I was impressed by the interactions between my Mykonos friend (who's actually from the mainland) and his Greek buddies, and his insane work hours (7am to 10pm). All the folks I got to spend time with impressed me as thoughtful people, holding onto core values as they engaged with the world. Driving in London People always ask about driving on the left, so let me issue the following detailed warning. There is nothing difficult about driving on the left. Crossing the street, on the other hand, can be dangerous, and every crosswalk has helpful wording painted on the ground to look left or right. Driving in London is not easy for the average American, and driving on the left is the easiest part. I have to admit that I was nuts to buy a car after three weeks and have at it. Really, lots of folks get around on tube, bus or bicycle, just like in NY. But London is huge, and there are so many neighbourhoods within it, so having a car can be a great convenience. Buses run all night and go just about anywhere, but it can take a while to get there if you have to change buses three times. So here's what's difficult: sporadic signs of street names, extremely narrow streets where you take turns with the oncoming traffic or take on a bus head-on, no straight roads going from A to B, illogical names of major roads, one ways and weird restrictions at some intersections, complex traffic lights that go green in one direction but not another, and what else? Well, there are three positives: people are polite, often letting someone into a stream of traffic; lights go from red to yellow to green as well as green to yellow to red; and parking is quite easy and lax relative to most big cities, though there seems to be considerable debate about this. In the centre of town during the day, be careful, and in certain neighbourhoods you need a resident permit during the day, but otherwise it seems quite lax to me. You can drive right into Soho for a night out and park there. Which brings up a related point about the police. I was pulled over one night and given a breathalyser (no, but it was quite funny considering), and I suppose if the cops do get on your case it can be a hassle. But overall it seems like they're not out to bother you. It's definitely not the parasitic relationship between law enforcement and the public that you can see in the US. Maybe the language isn't a stretch, but the driving is. The bible is London A to Z, and everyone in London has one. Even the most experienced, dyed-in-the-wool Londoner needs it to find a party on such-and-such a street in whatever postcode (zip code). I've actually had debates with London buddies about which street we were really looking for. Yeah, it's a big place, and most people stick to their local hood. Next time: Glastonbury Festival, and How Londoners Love to Complain UP! 2035 NEWS E-mail messages, like this one, now charged at $5 per word. Please remit. 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