Orange Coloured Glasses

From Point Douglas with love

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Vertical Farm - The Seed Starting

The vertical farm could and I would suggest, should be part of our food security solutions. The North End of Winnipeg currently suffers from some food deserts, and many other areas are not completely dry but are close to it. Growing our own food here in the local North End Community would be amazing. It would create strength in so many ways. Not only would the food be local and affordable, these farms would provide employment and training opportunities.  Furthermore, creating a vertical farm would get us past some of the soil issues that we face in gardening in the ground. Additionally, with every new farm built up in the cities, there is more land that can return to nature in the country. Allowing for a whole other life for people, hunting and gathering.

The time is now to set into consultation and full planing of one of Canada’s first inner city vertical farms. There would be such a large range of benefits for our community. Vertical farms are a new concept, and have been built in several parts of the word. Government, and private money have both supported these projects. 

Our neighbourhoods need jobs, and need to stake a claim in our own food sovereignty as large corporations close down shop seemly on a whim.  We must localize and democratize the food systems. Build resilience and true triple bottom line sustainability. 

If we are growing healthy food in our communities for our communities we will see health indicators improve. 

Let's get this conversation going. 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/ideacity/ID/2314171580/ 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/The+Nature+of+Things/ID/2198181840/?page=2

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WTF?

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Bunch of Garbage

Tyson Cormack Collage 

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The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation CCF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative_Commonwealth_Federation

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MOUSELAND

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I am so down with The Social Gospel. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Blaikie

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Tyson Cormack Creation 

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Tommy D

Tyson Cormack Collage 

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Anarcho Syndicalism

The ideas behind the Anarcho-Syndicalist movement have been truly foundational to my political theory and leanings. However, as with many of the historic political and economic ideas I find myself cherry picking from across the "spectrum" to try to carve out a new way forward. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalism

Preamble to the IWW Constitution

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth.

We find that the centering of the management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers.

These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or in all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.

Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."

It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.

http://www.iww.org/en/culture/official/preamble.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6os8BRJxvI4&feature=fvwrel

IWW DOC above 

http://www.chomsky.info/

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Tyson Cormack Original 

Inspired by For The Love of Winnipeg 

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MY CAPITALISM 

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Orange Coloured Glasses

History and context always move politics along. It can happen over a long arc or overnight. With the rise of a new leader or large event what we supported and believed in can change. Finding ourselves voting, and apologizing for values beyond our own. The flip-side of that being that we may need to look at organizing with those that were formally on the other side. Somehow many get stuck in the way things were, or how they were written in manifesto from two centuries past. 

Those that continue to cling to the mantle of ideologies that really never were fully seen through or practised, serve to hold us all back from moving into a new way of relating and organizing. 

We can move beyond the parochial politics of yesterday with out abandoning the core values that defined ideas and practices that took us there. There are some on the Canadian "left" that continue to rail against all forms of business and capitalism. Often these are the same people that give a subtle pass to the brutal history of Stalin or Mao in the name of the supposed greater good. The revolution has not failed when young committed Canadians are moving to become social entrepreneurs and co-op owners, it has evolved. 

All of our prevailing institutions have failed the people in one way or another. The Churches abuse children, Corporations kill the planet for money, Governments are selling out to the 1%, and Unions are often corrupt boys clubs. With all that being said: there are many millions of people of faith doing good for others in the name of their gods, there are Corporations using their capital to invest in the new green economy, there are Governments that are actually Democratic and doing what is in the best interest of the people, and there are Unions that are getting a good deal for their members, the company and the environment. We must not throw the baby out with the bath water. We must not allow ourselves to get stuck in political silos with horse blinders on. 

Both the left and the right have failed people. We need to move forward in a new way. That does not mean for those of us on the "left" that we walk away from our values. 

History has proven that those with power will do what they can to take all they can. If the early 90's showed us that Communism was a failed path, then certainly Bush and the banks have shown us that American "capitalism" is too. 

The real issues of Environment, Sustainability, Oil, War, Greed, will be best tackled with as many possible working together. We will need to be adaptive and compromising. We will need to reach consensus where we can. However, we need to stay strong in our values of social justice, equity, fairness, and democracy. 

History folds in and out on it's self, recreating the context and the frame in which we look at the world. Today my glasses are orange.