To another capitalist Christmas

Money, money, money!

May business go well this season!

I cannot hear the commercials anymore, all the repeating Christmas songs, all the praise of the stuff that is the best to buy for the loved ones and who wraps them up most gloriously.

How much food we buy and prepare. Vomit or throw away. Or complain how we've gained weight over the holidays.

The feast of love!? It is the time of the year when more animals than ever are being killed and eaten. For love? o.O

Oh Lawd.... 

Spend well everybody!

Or just change the game, keep it simple, cook like for any other Sunday, make a symbolic small gift, join some humanitarian action or donate, and play board-games with the loved ones.

Make something good! =)

Artwork by #Banksy

Well, good bye 2016

So, there were not many posts here this year.
But why not say a few words nevertheless now, at the end of it =) About Trump? No.
Elections? Nope.
About change? Yes. Be the change if you don't like it!

Today I was tagged on a post on FB speaking about activism and how to finance it. Having a job and being vocal isn't easy they said. I would say we have to start somewhere and see where it gets us, right? Elvis said "a little less conversation a little more action please". And he was right. Good ideas, a good team, and good planning can make our activism work. Hoping we can make a living from our activism is nice, and possible. But shouldn't be the goal.
Alice Walker said "Activism is my rent for living on the planet." and Gandhi said "Be the change you want to see". So the moment we realize that something is wrong with this world and feel the urge to change something, we simply start being vocal, speaking up, start to change our lives. The waves and ripples of our personal change move around, touch others and their thinking is influenced. It is the viral effect.
A group might and should form, you can't do this alone. Ideas will come up, goals will be set, activities will be planned, projects will form, and resources can be found in some way or another. Good activities and projects can find donations, grants or funds today, the internet offers so many contacts to foundations, individuals, government and EU funding, etc., well and then there is crowd funding, yard sales, cook-outs, etc.
Just go and try to create a project/product that deserves funding. And if you have questions - here is a comment section or we can talk in private about your ideas. I am happy to help.

Sorry for the inconvenience. We are trying to change the world. 

So what I am trying to say here?
Start building your house from the foundation (yourself), not from the first floor (financing projects). "The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from you attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we've been waiting for." (Hopi) Yes, we don't even have to make up words - all has been said before. We only have to pick up the pieces and continue the work of the our predecessors. How? Start with yourself, be determined, team up, pick ONE goal, make a good plan - everything else will follow. I am not saying it s going to be easy. What I am saying is, that it can be done and you should not doubt yourself.

There are two kinds of folks standing in front of the mountain.
One just think how they are gonna climb it.
The other see all the obstacles that stop them from getting going.
Which one are you?

Be bold. Go for it. Be the change.

Well hello 2016!

So we left a 2015 with turbulent changes behind us. 
As a European I guess the refugee crisis is on top of the list of events from a political and economical point. Unrest, fear, so-called terror, militarisation of cities, endless willingness to help, social action, armchair activism and direct volunteering are only a few words that come to mind. 

We are torn between helping people, who have nowhere to be anymore, because their homes are attacked/destroyed, and hating them because they flow into our countries by the thousands. Arguments arise that these people are not refugees, they have new phones and good clothes, they have money. Stupid argument, if you ask me. If we watch how extremists destroy entire cities, we must understand that their possible stable income or at least pretty normal life did not prevent them from being under siege and made them run.With their new phones and good clothes.

European cities now overflow with people that have nowhere to go. New jobs thus are created to protect the borders, to handle bureaucracy, to take care of those refugees and the places they are placed. Lots of money is spent on that new-born system. And nobody knows where this will lead us. 

I heard a prediction that about 20 Million refugees will come to Europe in the coming time. Poor people, but also highly trained people. Recent figures from the U.N. and other aid organizations have shown that the majority of people arriving in Europe often come from upper middle class, well-educated backgrounds. Their children will enter our education system and form the next generation of Europeans. 

And then there is the famous "maybe there are terrorists among them" - as if those haven't been here before. Keeping refugees out will not stop terrorism yet letting them in will obviously stop them and their children from taking up arms.

So we cannot stop the refugee crisis, we cannot turn back time, not undo what happened until now, we can be against all this - but it will not change the fact that hundreds of thousands of people will keep coming to Europe. Instead of resisting and fearing this, we should accept this fact and try to find way to live with this new situation. It is not merely a crisis, it is a new situation.

Many of my school-mates in the 80s were refugees, from Iran, Lebanon, Vietnam even. There were my friends, I grew up with them. And today, they are just living their lives in our countries as we do.

So move aside a bit, make place, get your good will together. 
It's gonna be a bumpy ride this future - but it is happening. The world is changing.
Let's make the best of it.

Peace V