They Told Whatever Lies Were Needed To Keep Everyone Passive.

 The Apocalyptic Cost of Losing Trust.

Fossil fuels are an addiction. Like a heroin addiction most of the global population are hooked on. Think of the oil industry as pushers, pimps, dealers. They have profited handsomely from your addiction. Their job is to keep this addiction going. In 2022 we have half the planet burning, and half drowning, and it’s going to get worse. There is no time for rehab, we have to go cold turkey. It’s going to be tough. Laying real hardship (which will come whether we act against climate change or not) over hyper-inflation, mass-surveillance, existing feelings of social isolation, pointless jobs, free-floating anxiety and frustration, is pretty much a make or break situation for humanity.

 

We have poor choices. Many would prefer to ‘die like heroes rather than die like sheep’. Those are words stolen from the Warsaw ghetto, when it was already too late to change the trajectory of the Nazi genocide. If we act now against the rush of climate change we might salvage something other than cockroaches for the living world. If we do not act now, then we die like sheep and take every living thing with us.

 

To act, we need the catalyst of good leadership. There is none. We have been told lies, half-truths and omissions by politicians, by the corporate media, by the church, and even by science, where our proud institutions have subsumed their treasured independent thought beneath the pursuit of funding. This easily gives credence to well-crafted conspiracy theories and the rise of charlatans with their empty promises. In this cacophony of useless noise we are missing the leadership we need. For example: Truss or Sunak? Biden or Trump? A false choice based on elementary salesmanship. Do you prefer the shoes in blue, or maybe the yellow ones? The only important thing is that you buy the shoes. In the case of western leaders, it is only important that you buy the false solutions of neo-liberal ideology.

 

Meanwhile the private armies grow. Their unaccountability hidden. Fascism peers from under the covers and judges the time is almost right. Well trained militia, armed and ready, lurk in every country. White supremacy regains new strength and neo-nazism readies itself across the world. Coups against democratically elected governments abound. Refugees desperately cross the world and climate change is weaponized. Democracy slips out of our hands.

 

I believe there is a way out. We can keep on the present course of inevitable destruction, view ourselves as a biochemical machine that has to be entertained, dumbed down, kept in the perpetual anxiety of debt and technological surveillance, or can we reach out and find our truth in the beautiful language of nature. The first choice is the ‘do nothing’ option. We stay as sheep and are herded into oblivion. The second choice will uplift us. It does not guarantee we will win, but if we lose, we will have lived the truth and die as heroes.

Poetic Symmetry

 

There is something visceral and exciting when your second book is fully published, and copies are sent out into the world to live a life of their own. I love it when they find their way back to me in feedback and reviews.

This second book of mine continues the themes of human rights and climate change which are so close to my heart. I researched the real journeys children and young people have made over the high Himalayas to escape persecution, and some of their stories are in this book, which I have dedicated to the monks and nuns of Tibet.

Alongside this journey are the climactic events foreseen by climate scientists as London floods irretrievably. The story moves from 1968 to 2030. It is fast and exciting as a lively young woman peels herself away from a thankless job in advertising and enters a world she never knew existed. In many ways this is the beginning of her story of self-discovery and awakening.

This is part 1 of a Trilogy - The Symmetries. Part 2 is on it's way, and Part 3 is in the birth canal ( so to speak).

BARBARIAN - the time for learning, adaptation and humility.

It is a strange and wonderful thing to have your first book in print, and with climate change so much on our mind, this book comes at precisely the right moment. The time for warnings is over, the time for action is passing, which leaves the time for learning, adaptation and humility - for we are all humbled by the voracious forces of nature, who once disturbed, will not forgive lightly.

The book is not a heavy read, for I want people to be able to read it fairly quickly. There is no time to waste, for the oceans swell as I write, and the forests burn. Yet there is still time to stop the worst of it.

Here's a little bit about the book:  

Barwin and her grandmother are living hand to mouth in a post-apocalyptic world where scavenging is the only means of survival. Capitalism, overconsumption of natural resources along with the ceaseless pursuit of profit by multinational corporations, at the expense of the natural world, have finally caught up with humankind. To top it off, millions have perished in the onslaught of the highly contagious Mallavirus. For Barwin and others who understand why the planet is finally taking its revenge, there is hope, albeit small, that they can be a part of a new beginning where respect forthe earth and all its living inhabitants is at its core. In her struggle to survive, Barwin meets people who fill her with hope and love for all living things, as well as those who inflict pain and fear in their attempts to control and dominate.

You can pre order the book here 

https://pegasuspublishers.com/books/coming-soon/barbarian

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barbarian-Pippa-Bartolotti/dp/1784655791/ref=sr_1_1?keywords

https://www.amazon.com/Barbarian-Pippa-Bartolotti/dp/1784655791/ref=sr_1_1?keywords

https://www.waterstones.com/book/barbarian/pippa-bartolotti/9781784655792

https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/barbarian,pippa-bartolotti-9781784655792

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/barbarian-pippa-bartolotti/1131810009?ean=9781784655792

I really hope you enjoy it!

CONTACTS

Copies of Barbarian can be purchased direct from the publisher by visiting our website at www.pegasuspublishers.com or by calling 01223 370012. Contact can be made with the author via elaineavon@outlook.com.

BARBARIAN  by Pippa Bartolotti
ISBN: 9781784655792    
Genre: Modern & contemporary fiction 

Price: £7.99
Imprint: Vanguard Press 

Paradise Lost, or Active Redemption

As I write, hurricane Harvey is preparing for another onslaught on Houston and the surrounding areas. There has never before been a storm like it.

More than 50” of rain has fallen in 3 days, sea surges of 15ft are expected, displacement of humans and wildlife is such that if it was a war zone people would still be shocked.

This lonely blue planet is the nearest thing we have to paradise. We are hunting through the universe for similar life supporting zones, so far nothing even slightly resembling this blue dot has been found. We are sending out messages in the hope that somewhere, somehow, they will be picked up by other life forms. Maybe they should have been Mayday messages, for knowing, as we do, that this blue paradise is all we have, we cannot bring ourselves to respect it, enhance it, protect it.

The events in Houston were predictable – warming seas, more moisture in the atmosphere, a slowing jet stream, polar ice melt… the list is very long. We have known much of what we know now since the 1970’s. Many individuals have declared intellectual independence and fought the tide of consumerism and waste with great success. It is entirely possible to live as a one planet person. But these cherished individuals do not make up a world population – itself rising faster than the waters of Texas.

Instead of hearing the voices of science and reason, the inhabitants of this one habitable planet have chosen to block their ears. Seduced by the god of money they have chosen to pollute, spend, waste. They have turned flood land into concrete deserts, poisoned the air we breathe, turned the seas into plastic soup and built nuclear weapons to protect us from ourselves.

And the media reports the cost to the economy, the cost of insurance, the cost to GDP, that 2 million barrels of oil are lost a day… and so we fall.

The rains in Houston are so bad that the weather forecasting service had to invent new colours to describe the deluge. It will stop of course, for a while. And the desertification of other areas will inexorably march steadily onwards. And the nuclear waste from Fukushima will seep ever more poison into the ocean, and the cars will keep driving on fossil fuels…. and we fall further.

The tipping point has been a long time coming. Between the water and the desert there will be places to live safely, to grow crops and live a good life. But there will be a lot less room, and self-preservation will not bring out the best in humans.

After he had written Paradise Lost, Milton wrote Paradise Regained. It is an altogether more simple work, emphasising the possibility of reversal.

We have been bombarded with the ridiculousness of a debt-based money supply in order to keep the economy going, bewildered by political sleight-of-hand from short sighted careerists, muzzled by an explosion of conflicting information, and malnourished ourselves on a diet of GM crops, pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones and antibiotics. We may need a spiritual redemption, but more than that, we need a practical redemption.

Humans are both God and Satan. The possibility of reversal is in our hands. The path of no change is clear, but the path of reversing our impoverished way of life has never been clearer. Complexity has led us to an existential crisis. The clarity of simplicity can lead to something richer.

Redemption is a revolution in thought. Our food supplies, our monetary system, our energy, building practices, our education, they can all be rethought and simplified. Collaborative human thought and action can rise above the tribulations of neo-liberal market capitalism and return us to the values we all share and the ways in which we would rather live our lives.

Blood does not have to be spilt in this revolution, sweat does. Tears are being shed daily, now. The shadow of Katrina is long. The shadow of Harvey will be longer. How long will the shadows have to be before we change to a healthier, more inclusive society.

Paradise can be regained. The possibility of reversal will always be with us, but the law of diminishing returns ensures that acting now is more fruitful than acting later. A telescope looking at us from another world would ask, ‘What is taking them so long?’

A Liturgy For World Peace

The Peace Mala Liturgy for World Peace held in Llandaff Cathedral on 20^th July 2017 was more uplifting than anyone attending could possibly have expected.

The capabilities of Pam Evans, who devised the Peace Mala project, are considerable, and I had a fairly good understanding of what the day would bring, but in many ways I was unprepared for the effect it would have, not just on me, but on all who were gathered.

Immediately I could feel that the company would be good, but as the service started, and the heartrending melody of Karl Jenkins’ Benedictus (from The Armed Man) swelled through the lofty cathedral stones, there drifted in through the open doors, as if on a fledgling tide of universal harmony, the human emblems of every domination known to this lonely blue planet.

They passed under the statue of Christ designed by Jacob Epstein, himself the child of Jewish refugees, a welcoming Christ, serene, androgynous, a Christ for all people, and a fitting symbol for the momentous events quietly passing below.

If the rock from which these stones were hewn could move, the procession in all its colour, reaching out beyond these walls to an older consciousness, it’s resplendent robes of red and purple, sky blue, gold and orange, would have moved them.

Slowly they walked through the cathedral, and those gathered upon the seats turned, and watched, silently, and there was awe. It was like a dream as these visions proceeded as one in perfect harmony. It was a dream of what could be, what should be, and how we all can be the very best, compassionate, humans every one of us has the capacity to be.

I was not alone in experiencing a sudden, tear-jerking, sense of love. For a moment we were all one, encircled by a peculiar spirituality which drew us all closer. A feeling which lingers still, and that is the real point.

The Peace Mala Interfaith Community brought more than the earthly representatives of all the major religions, from Buddist to Jewish, Zoroastrian to Earth; it told of suffering, and pain, but above all it brought hope and the reinvigoration of a subtle wisdom rising from ancient spiritual practices buried under a broken world of empty celebrity, fast-food farming and rampant consumerism.

It was an unparalleled experience to watch the Sufi dervish whirling in perfect concentration in the centre of this great cathedral. As the dervish spun on the axis of his heart, he was accompanied by the soft singing voice of Sheikh Ahmad Dede which soared gently and surely into the highest places of the building, touching us all with his mystical entreaty to greater love.

Many children were present, themselves in receipt of the Peace Mala teachings and the colourful bracelets of 14 bright beads representing the 14 major religions. They sang and rejoiced, recited their poems and thoughts, and brought us the message of the peace mala bracelet. We witnessed their drawings of the journey of the Peace Mala dove across the world, stopping at the centres of religion in every country. The children, too, felt the awe.

Spiritual and organic human survival face the combined challenges of climate change, debt based monetarism and the wholesale promotion of fear. Yet this day of unity showed that if we can empty our minds of the clamour of misunderstanding, and just for one moment – even for just one moment – embrace the unity of all things living, new possibilities can arise.

I am an atheist, and have been all my adult life. I feel no need to shout about it because but I know every one of us seeks connection in one form or another in this chaotic world. Peace Mala bravely strikes out to embody those connections. The courage of the Dean of Llandaff to enable this event is remarkable, and I honour every single person who took part in this shared celebration of glorious unity.

Is this how we will greet the New Year

Is this how we will greet a New Year, to the raucous sound of racism, inequality and poverty, and the mindless applause which spurs them on?

Or can we set aside the politics of division, of class and money, and instead give our ovations to real, inspired change born of our innermost need to see all people, all living things, in mutual benefit of the resources we share.

Will we pull back from the trash culture of negative excess – excessive inequality, excessive pollution, excessive debt and excessive hate – and turn towards more joyful pursuits like sharing, giving, growing, advancing. 

Turning a blind eye to the suffering of others will not bring us the world we wish to see. Poverty is not a crime, but inequality on the scale we see today is.

In the 7^th richest country in the world, the grinding pain of the trap of poverty should by now be completely abolished. Yet it continues, entrenched in our society, and gets worse.

Most people on welfare are in work. One third of all UK families are relying on welfare to make up more than half their income, and more than 90 per cent of new housing benefit claims over the past two years have been made by employed people. This is unsustainable and wrong. Unsustainable because claims of this growing magnitude are both costly and a negative drain on the taxpayer. Wrong because in the 7^th richest country in the world, poverty should be impossible.

Welfare and benefits keep families in the poverty trap. They do so by shelling out just enough to keep people going, whilst removing any sense of self worth and forcing people into the first low paid job which comes to hand. The price of housing is rising too steeply for most pockets, and rental payments have followed suit. Add that to a freeze on wages and rising living costs and you can see that this is heading to a pretty grim picture of rising welfare claims and desperate poverty. 13 million people already live below the poverty line. The rise in the number of foodbanks – currently around 400 – illustrates just how bad the problem is. A person should not be expected to choose between food and fuel. 

There is an obvious and enlightened solution, and that is the Citizens Income. This is a universal payment to every man and woman as an individual right, and would be enough to cover all basic food, clothing and housing needs. It wouldn’t be fancy, but it would be simple to administer because there would be no means testing – everyone would get it. Those earning more than enough would be taxed accordingly, thus smoothing the playing field.

The current social security system is demeaning and ignores the real roots of poverty. A Citizens Income would transform social security from a compensatory system into an emancipatory system, one that trusts people to make their own decisions, and does not stigmatize them for their circumstances.

Just imagine what the country would look like if we could all take time to look for the right job, learn and train whilst our core needs were being looked after, choose to stay home and look after the children.

The welfare state as we know it has outgrown its purpose. Poverty is a mean old master, and the welfare system, as we know it, sets a trap from which it is very hard to escape. A Citizens Income would ensure self-respect and participation. Many studies have shown that this type of income doesn’t make people lazy. On the contrary it stimulates us to do more, do better. It provides purpose and dignity, closes the income gap and increases choice.

How can we not afford to educate our children, to feed them well and house them properly; how can we not afford to give them choices and give reign to their talents for the common good.

2014 could be the year when the first steps to envisage a Citizens Income are planted firmly in the ground. It could be the year for preparing a fertile foundation from which could grow a sustainable and classless society in which all could flourish. We can afford a Citizens Income, and we can’t afford to miss the opportunity.

Failure of multiculturalism? No, Failure of Government

There has been much talk about the apparent failure of multiculturalism, but little talk about the successes.

In Newport, where I have lived for 30 years, multiculturalism has long been a way of life, but that’s not to say it can’t be improved.

The media punishes us with scaremongering ideas of hoards of immigrants crossing the channel. Government is worse. It continually announces immigration figures as if they are a bad thing, yet government doesn’t have a firm idea of what the figures are. What we do know is that per head of population, Germany has twice as many immigrants, and welcomes them.

We also know that the UK is not a poor country. However, the distribution of wealth distorts the picture. In the UK wealth is concentrated into the hands of the very rich few. Conversely poverty among the rest is increasing. Immigrants are the traditional scapegoat for all our ills, and right now they are being wrongly blamed for this increasing poverty.

It is government policy which is creating inequality, not immigration. Migration is natural. In fact without the natural urge to move around, the first humans may not have left the East African rift valley 200,000 years ago.

The migration of culture is a slightly different matter. Its success depends on mutual understanding, and without this understanding tolerance is difficult. Yet we like to think we are a tolerant people.

When another state joins the EU, the resultant influx of people from another culture is inevitable. It is how we deal with it which counts. Fear of ‘the other’ manifests itself in several ways, but all too often the flames of fear are fanned by government and media alike. ‘They are taking our jobs.’ ‘They are using our healthcare’.

The blatant omission here is ‘Who are they?’

That is precisely where multiculturalism is being forced to fail.  People living in the UK have a right to know more about the people coming to join us. We need to know about their values, their religions, their ethnicity and education. We need to know their history and their politics. In short we need to understand our differences and our similarities. All this could be provided simply and cheaply through TV programmes and news items, newspaper articles and websites. Multiculturalism works. It always has. 

We do not have a failure of multiculturalism. We have a failure of government.