wakingtimes--2020-04-14--Turn Self Isolation Into Self Liberation

Turn Self Isolation Into Self Liberation One of the most famous paradoxes of this blessed experience called Life , is known as ‘ the law of unintended consequences ’ ; and we are at this very moment of time , in the midst of a manifestation of cosmic Lila which exactly fits this paradox .
Under the unprecedented blanket regulatory lock-down imposed by governments all over the planet , a highly unlikely opportunity has arisen to fundamentally redress our life circumstances .
An opportunity which will positively equip those who need to become aware , to face the uncertainties that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The number one opportunity which being stuck in one ’ s home for most of the working day presents , is to do some long overdue thinking ; the kind that taps into that region of ourselves which has been/is particularly starved due to being heavily preoccupied by the daily chores of the standard working week .
That part of ourselves which gives genuine direction to our lives , and brings us face to face with the plethora of superficial activities that preoccupy us , most of which we have , up until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are being supported in this vital pursuit by changes underway in the natural environment which surrounds us .
Changes for the better that result from a sudden flux of a high percentage of the frenetic hustle and bustle which forms the basic daily pattern of our materialistically centred life , and which brings with it a heavy load of pollution , noise and stress , choking both our planet ’ s natural environment and our own health and welfare .
Pause to consider , how remarkable it is that the impositions imposed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unintended consequence of enabling much of nature to finally take some decent deep breaths !
Enable her sinews to be at least temporarily cleansed from the antithetical materialistic pursuits of the modern world .
Pursuits so misguidedly hailed as ‘ progress ’ and so crassly utilised for achieving the bloated ambitions of corporate giants .
Nature can breathe because motorways are largely free of the noise and pollution caused by rushing cars and trucks , and the air largely free from the constant passage of disruptive commercial jet airlines .
The sky is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ air is full of the sound of Spring inspired birds .
It is generally calm – even peaceful .
I remember a state like this from my childhood .
Something is happening .
Something unusual .
And it is coming about due to the ‘ law of unintended consequences ’ which is actually a cosmic/universal law and not unintended at all , but a direct reflection of Divine Lila .
It has provided us with this opportunity – right in the midst of an unprecedented deep-state engendered global crisis – to join in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recharge our spiritual batteries and shed our worn-out life styles in favour of a more integrated and conscious sense of purpose .
It ’ s an opportunity we should not ignore .
Listen carefully : the circumstances facing all of us in the immediate two to three years ahead are going to present a quite unique challenge .
Not least because they are being conducted by people either ludicrously unfit for the tasks they find themselves responsible for – or who wish to deceive and exploit us so as to acquire powers to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right to control .
This means that the first call on our meditations about our immediate futures will be to raise and appraise some very practical considerations ; the first of which involves taking a big step towards a much more robust and self-sufficient life style .
Bear in mind that a return to typical easy access to the ‘ daily conveniences ’ many have become accustomed to , is no longer a secure bet .
Even if governments might make it appear that ‘ everything is under control ’ and/or ‘ things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clearly it is not – and they will not , as by now we are surely well aware – and wishful thinking will not change this situation .
As I mentioned above , we must use this brief open window to shift ourselves towards a much more self-sufficient and simple life style .
A largely self-sufficient life style involves knowing how to cultivate the ground so as to grow our own basic food requirements .
And/or if not doing this directly , making sure to be closely associated with supporting colleagues who do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the harvests that result .
This is not going to be possible within an urban environment at this point in time , given not only that there is insufficient cultivatable land available , but that urban environments are largely unconducive to mental , spiritual and physical health .
They do not enhance one ’ s immune system and ability to build the inner and outer strength vital to staying strong throughout the challenges in store for us .
So to make best use of this period solitary confinement , plot the course that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ control of your – and your family ’ s – destiny .
Recognising , of course , that under the imposition of a quasi dictatorship there is only ‘ x ’ amount of room in which to move .
In this article I am taking a deliberately positive line concerning making maximum use of our largely untapped potentials as creative beings .
So let ’ s recognise this as exactly the moment to tap these blessed creative powers – since many have been far too preoccupied with selfish pursuits instead of dealing with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of invention ’ so use this one in a million opportunity to meditate on exactly what your key necessities are and how to best manage them .
This should not be an anxiety based exercise .
On the contrary , we are in a time of great energetic cosmic support due to the Earth now being in a particularly powerful alignment with the centre of our galaxy , resulting in the rapid growth of heart based empathetic instincts throughout humanity .
It is because dark directed forces know about this , that such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ block the rising-up which is already well underway in us .
Draw upon this gift we are being sent .
It is to strengthen the heart beat of mother Earth and human kind .
If you are not already doing so , start each day with Yoga .
Hatha yoga exercises , for example , that have been honed over millennia to bring nourishment to every part of the body and mind .
This practice , by co-ordinating breathing and movement , revitalises the chi ( energy ) of one ’ s whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what is the best and most true action to take each day .
A Theseus thread to guide one through the chaos which has been deliberately invoked on this planet .
Couple such practice with a diet rich in immunosupportive foods , preferably direct from the farm .
Yes , the farmers you have linked-up with and offered your support .
Hands in the soil and the company of ( farm ) animals is immensely curative .
For millions , it is the life-line to earthed , reawakened health .
The forces intent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so once our spiritual and physical energies are awakened and maintained .
Truly vital right now .
This means , for example , we can devote our new-found ‘ freedom ’ into actions specifically targeted at stopping the roll-out of the microwave radiation 5G weapon .
A brutal technology of human paralysis and planetary ecocide , increasingly implicated in playing a covert role in the current ‘ Corona Virus ’ scam .
The family of man is ONE family .
Our fate is inextricably linked to the fate of all others , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a disease far more deadly than any Corona Virus .
Make use of your period of isolation to rid yourself of narcissistic tendencies , as the ‘ Real I ’ in each one of us is not the one that seeks self-satisfaction or indulgence in vanities .
It is the one that liberates us into recognising our oneness with all life and all peoples , regardless of colour , race or creed .
Treat the domestic imprisonment being forced upon us – as an opportunity – not as cause for fear .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ placed in front of you so as to make you reach deeper into yourself for the solution !
Because that ’ s what it actually is : a wake-up call without which you might never have the opportunity to discover your divine eternal flame of greatness , of Godliness .
Julian Rose is a writer , organic farmer , international activist and holistic practitioner/teacher .
Two of Julian ’ s books ‘ Creative Solutions to a World in Crisis ’ and ‘ Overcoming the Robotic Mind – Why Humanity Must Come Through ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
See www.julianrose.info for more information .

Turn Self Isolation Into Self Liberation
Julian Rose, Contributor
Waking Times
One of the most famous paradoxes of this blessed experience called Life, is known as ‘the law of unintended consequences’; and we are at this very moment of time, in the midst of a manifestation of cosmic Lila which exactly fits this paradox.
Under the unprecedented blanket regulatory lock-down imposed by governments all over the planet, a highly unlikely opportunity has arisen to fundamentally redress our life circumstances. An opportunity which will positively equip those who need to become aware, to face the uncertainties that lie ahead with courage and fortitude.
The number one opportunity which being stuck in one’s home for most of the working day presents, is to do some long overdue thinking; the kind that taps into that region of ourselves which has been/is particularly starved due to being heavily preoccupied by the daily chores of the standard working week. That part of ourselves which gives genuine direction to our lives, and brings us face to face with the plethora of superficial activities that preoccupy us, most of which we have, up until recently, taken as gospel.
We are being supported in this vital pursuit by changes underway in the natural environment which surrounds us. Changes for the better that result from a sudden flux of a high percentage of the frenetic hustle and bustle which forms the basic daily pattern of our materialistically centred life, and which brings with it a heavy load of pollution, noise and stress, choking both our planet’s natural environment and our own health and welfare.
Pause to consider, how remarkable it is that the impositions imposed by mostly clueless governments, would have the unintended consequence of enabling much of nature to finally take some decent deep breaths! Enable her sinews to be at least temporarily cleansed from the antithetical materialistic pursuits of the modern world. Pursuits so misguidedly hailed as ‘progress’ and so crassly utilised for achieving the bloated ambitions of corporate giants.
Nature can breathe because motorways are largely free of the noise and pollution caused by rushing cars and trucks, and the air largely free from the constant passage of disruptive commercial jet airlines. The sky is blessedly blue and the sweeter that usual air is full of the sound of Spring inspired birds. It is generally calm – even peaceful. I remember a state like this from my childhood.
Something is happening. Something unusual. And it is coming about due to the ‘law of unintended consequences’ which is actually a cosmic/universal law and not unintended at all, but a direct reflection of Divine Lila. It has provided us with this opportunity – right in the midst of an unprecedented deep-state engendered global crisis – to join in this natural healing process so as to recharge our spiritual batteries and shed our worn-out life styles in favour of a more integrated and conscious sense of purpose.
It’s an opportunity we should not ignore.
Listen carefully: the circumstances facing all of us in the immediate two to three years ahead are going to present a quite unique challenge. Not least because they are being conducted by people either ludicrously unfit for the tasks they find themselves responsible for – or who wish to deceive and exploit us so as to acquire powers to control events which they have no legal right to control.
This means that the first call on our meditations about our immediate futures will be to raise and appraise some very practical considerations; the first of which involves taking a big step towards a much more robust and self-sufficient life style. Bear in mind that a return to typical easy access to the ‘daily conveniences’ many have become accustomed to, is no longer a secure bet. Even if governments might make it appear that ‘everything is under control’ and/or ‘things will soon return to normal’. Clearly it is not – and they will not, as by now we are surely well aware – and wishful thinking will not change this situation.
As I mentioned above, we must use this brief open window to shift ourselves towards a much more self-sufficient and simple life style. A largely self-sufficient life style involves knowing how to cultivate the ground so as to grow our own basic food requirements. And/or if not doing this directly, making sure to be closely associated with supporting colleagues who do – and who are willing to share the harvests that result.
This is not going to be possible within an urban environment at this point in time, given not only that there is insufficient cultivatable land available, but that urban environments are largely unconducive to mental, spiritual and physical health. They do not enhance one’s immune system and ability to build the inner and outer strength vital to staying strong throughout the challenges in store for us.
So to make best use of this period solitary confinement, plot the course that will provide a practical way of taking control of your – and your family’s – destiny. Recognising, of course, that under the imposition of a quasi dictatorship there is only ‘x’ amount of room in which to move.
In this article I am taking a deliberately positive line concerning making maximum use of our largely untapped potentials as creative beings. So let’s recognise this as exactly the moment to tap these blessed creative powers – since many have been far too preoccupied with selfish pursuits instead of dealing with necessities. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ so use this one in a million opportunity to meditate on exactly what your key necessities are and how to best manage them.
This should not be an anxiety based exercise. On the contrary, we are in a time of great energetic cosmic support due to the Earth now being in a particularly powerful alignment with the centre of our galaxy, resulting in the rapid growth of heart based empathetic instincts throughout humanity. It is because dark directed forces know about this, that such an intense effort is being made to block the rising-up which is already well underway in us.
Draw upon this gift we are being sent. It is to strengthen the heart beat of mother Earth and human kind.
If you are not already doing so, start each day with Yoga. Hatha yoga exercises, for example, that have been honed over millennia to bring nourishment to every part of the body and mind. This practice, by co-ordinating breathing and movement, revitalises the chi (energy) of one’s whole being and provides a clearer insight into what is the best and most true action to take each day. A Theseus thread to guide one through the chaos which has been deliberately invoked on this planet.
Couple such practice with a diet rich in immunosupportive foods, preferably direct from the farm.
Yes, the farmers you have linked-up with and offered your support. Hands in the soil and the company of (farm) animals is immensely curative. For millions, it is the life-line to earthed, reawakened health. The forces intent upon pulling us down cannot do so once our spiritual and physical energies are awakened and maintained. Truly vital right now.
This means, for example, we can devote our new-found ‘freedom’ into actions specifically targeted at stopping the roll-out of the microwave radiation 5G weapon. A brutal technology of human paralysis and planetary ecocide, increasingly implicated in playing a covert role in the current ‘Corona Virus’ scam.
The family of man is ONE family. Our fate is inextricably linked to the fate of all others, as theirs is with ours. Selfishness is a disease far more deadly than any Corona Virus. Make use of your period of isolation to rid yourself of narcissistic tendencies, as the ‘Real I’ in each one of us is not the one that seeks self-satisfaction or indulgence in vanities. It is the one that liberates us into recognising our oneness with all life and all peoples, regardless of colour, race or creed.
Treat the domestic imprisonment being forced upon us – as an opportunity – not as cause for fear. In fact see it as a hurdle being placed in front of you so as to make you reach deeper into yourself for the solution! Because that’s what it actually is: a wake-up call without which you might never have the opportunity to discover your divine eternal flame of greatness, of Godliness.
About the Author
Julian Rose is a writer, organic farmer, international activist and holistic practitioner/teacher. Two of Julian’s books ‘Creative Solutions to a World in Crisis’ and ‘Overcoming the Robotic Mind – Why Humanity Must Come Through’ are particularly prescient reading for this time. See www.julianrose.info for more information.


wakingtimes--2020-04-14--Stories of Space in Times of Quarantine

Stories of Space in Times of Quarantine

Stories of Space in Times of Quarantine May 25 , 1720 .
The Grand Saint-Antoine , a three-masted French merchant ship , sails into the port of Marseille on the southern coast of France .
Its journey has been troubled : nine passengers have died since departing from Lebanon two months earlier .
Following protocols designed to prevent disease outbreaks , Marseille ’ s health bureau orders the ship , its passengers , and its cargo of precious silks to be held in quarantine on a nearby island .
In a notable breach of protocol , however , the bureau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the mainland—a fatal decision , made under pressure from silk merchants who want to bring the goods quickly to market .
June 20 , 1720 .
A woman dies abruptly in downtown Marseille , an area of narrow streets and dense housing .
She is the first victim of community transmission of the Great Plague of Marseille , a pandemic of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis .
By the middle of August , more than one thousand individuals are dying every day .
By now , the wealthiest have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Bodies are left on the streets , and prisoners are forced to carry them toward mass graves .
March 1721 .
Fearing the spread of the pandemic , King Louis XV sends thirty thousand soldiers to enforce a strict quarantine over the entire region .
Fifty miles north of Marseille , he requisitions local villagers to build a seventeen-mile-long drystone wall to prevent escape .
Despite these efforts , the plague kills one hundred thousand people over the course of two years : fifty thousand in Marseille—half the city ’ s population—and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It is Europe ’ s last major outbreak of plague .
The legacy of the plague in Marseille is complicated .
Street names and public sculptures honor the dead .
Every year the Basilica of the Sacred Heart honors the anniversary of a promise made by the city council in 1722 to hold a special mass every year , in perpetuity , if the plague spared the city .
And the foundations of the drystone wall still stand to the north of the city , now branded the mur de la peste—the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guides .
The wall and the ceremony remain as traces of a society ’ s attempts to restructure its relations with its environment and its diseases : the church service through an act of imagination , and the wall through the reorganization of space .
Yet they betray the fact that Marseille ’ s greatest trauma never prompted a comprehensive reevaluation of its urban fabric : no Haussmann-like boulevards to bring fresh air and water into the dense urban core ; no new sanitary practices or governance strategies ; just business as usual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The story of Marseille helps us interrogate our present situation .
Beyond memorials and rhetoric , what will be the legacy of COVID-19 ?
How will it restructure our societal narratives and the ways we manage space ?
How will the quality of our attention now , in the midst of crisis , shape this future ?
Pandemics are ancient—as old as human culture itself .
Wherever they have struck , they have challenged humans to reevaluate their relations to their environment—as well as the cultural myths that underly these relations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ myths—the stories we tell about ourselves—can act as foundations for resilience just as they can constitute sources of vulnerability .
At the “ Designing the Green New Deal ” conference in Philadelphia in the fall of 2019 , the writer and activist Julian Brave NoiseCat spoke of the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy—a five-hundred-year-old constitution that has guided its people through settler colonialism , military invasion , pandemics , and the systematic government kidnapping and reeducation of children .
“ Cultures are really just manuals for how we ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If the Haudenosaunee can maintain their Great Law against an apocalypse , against genocide , I do believe that culture , and the stories that we tell about ourselves , and the words that we use to tell these stories , are some of the most powerful things that we have.
” As we sit in quarantine , it ’ s worth asking what COVID-19 says about our ways of inhabiting the planet—and how our stories might change in response .
We wouldn ’ t be the first to do so : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ questions about what it means to be human .
In Albert Camus ’ s The Plague ( 1947 ) , an Algerian city is walled off following the outbreak of plague .
When the disease abates , the city celebrates , but the protagonist , a doctor , knows that the plague will eventually come back , because “ everyone has it inside himself , this plague , because no one in the world , no one , is immune.
” More than a simple disease , the plague is a reminder of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Mary Shelley ’ s The Last Man ( 1826 ) , a shepherd witnesses the progressive falling apart of human civilization due to plague .
Cities , art , and society all disintegrate , leaving the shepherd to roam alone through an emptied landscape .
Shelley ’ s is a pessimistic plague , insisting that humans are not the center of the universe , that pride comes before the fall In Boccaccio ’ s Decameron ( 1353 ) and Edgar Allan Poe ’ s “ The Masque of the Red Death ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flee the cities—to a rural villa and a gothic abbey , respectively—to avoid disease and pass the time in celebration .
Bocaccio ’ s youths use their quarantine as an opportunity to inspire and amuse each other with tales of humanity ; Poe ’ s bored aristocrats come to a bloody end among the decadent trappings of their entertainment .
In Bram Stoker ’ s Dracula ( 1897 ) , a group of educated young friends pursues an aristocratic vampire landlord through a complex network of cities , ships , trains , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and especially F. W. Murnau ’ s 1922 film adaptation Nosferatu , use vampirism and disease to speak of the fear of the Other—especially the Easterner—and of the spread of contagion through an increasingly globalized infrastructure .
Each of these stories imagines disease through specific spatial contexts .
For Camus , walls keep the plague in ; for Poe and Bocaccio , they hold it out .
Shelley ’ s shepherd is left to wander the ruins of urban and rural life , whereas Stoker ’ s young professionals travel through a highly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disease are also stories of space , of how its management—through walls , public squares , roads , and countryside—enables life and death .
In 1721 , the French painter Michel Serre depicted a scene from the Great Plague of Marseille .
Dreary clouds loom over buildings that appear empty and lifeless .
The city square , the heart of the public realm , is strewn with bodies , the distinction between living and dead blurred .
At the center of this maelstrom , sitting calmly on a rearing horse , a city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a modicum of order in a portrait of devastation .
Pandemics are not works of art .
They are real , tragic events , occurring in the real , physical world .
In “ The Ecology of Disease , ” the ecological writer Jim Robbins explains that epidemics “ don ’ t just happen .
They are a result of things people do to nature.
” In other words , human socioeconomic systems interact with the environment to create conditions that harbor and produce disease .
Our contemporary systems are characterized by neoliberal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unceasing encroachment on wildlife habitat .
Potential disease vectors like mosquitoes , ticks , and bats are most prevalent at the urban periphery , where human activity penetrates biodiverse ecosystems .
It on these peripheries that diseases are most likely to make the jump to humans .
This , along with modern air travel , the intense growth of animal agriculture , and wildlife trafficking are all characters in our modern stories of pandemic .
[ 1 ] From the ancient past to the present day , the management of space—of people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the primary strategy for containing the spread of disease , even if the theories about how that spread happens have changed dramatically over time .
In just a few years at the end of the 1340s , the Black Death , again caused by Yersinia pestis , killed at least a third of the European population , along with millions across Asia and Africa .
Governments , especially of societies built around trade , responded by managing the movement of people and goods across borders .
Ships suspected of harboring diseases were held @ @ @ @ @ @ @ specially constructed facilities known as lazarettos .
The lazarettos of maritime nations were close to the water , often isolated on islands .
Though not explicitly prisons , the lazarettos were nevertheless highly surveilled ; they often served an additional role as hospitals for contagious diseases like leprosy .
The Philadelphia Lazaretto , built in 1799 , still stands on the Delaware River , surrounded by the sprawl of Philadelphia International Airport .
It ’ s easy to forget the extent to which our landscapes have been designed to mitigate disease .
Nineteenth-century @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was built on notions of cleanliness .
Frederick Law Olmsted was obsessed with the environment ’ s influence on the body , convinced that parks could benefit the health of weary urbanites by exposing them to fresh air and greenery .
He also believed , paternalistically , that such spaces would inspire moral behavior among the poor , immigrants , and alcoholics , helping them integrate into the bourgeois public realm .
Theodore Roosevelt , the stalwart defender of natural conservation , himself suffered from debilitating asthma as a child and embraced an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ response .
In Roosevelt ’ s personal narrative , shaky health led him to an appreciation of “ wild nature ” as source of vigor—in turn informing his promotion of national parks .
And Le Corbusier , the icon of modernist urbanism , lived through the 1918 flu pandemic , which killed perhaps three percent of the global population .
His views on city planning were inspired by the architecture of Alpine sanitoria—resorts in places like Davos , Switzerland , where one could fight lung diseases like tuberculosis with the weapons of fresh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rest .
Corbusier ’ s vision of the “ tower in the park ” evokes these efforts to optimize light , air , and space .
[ 2 ] Our contemporary stay-at-home orders follow in this long tradition of containing disease through environmental design and the control of space .
As a landscape architect interested in how we manage and feel our way through space , I am captivated by how quickly our experiences of space have changed in the past few weeks .
For over a month , I have barely ventured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Berkeley .
This limited range of observation is telling in itself : staying at home has hyper-localized my daytime routine .
My neighborhood is typical of Berkeley : houses separated by driveways , small gardens out front , little activity visible to the public .
In the past two weeks I have met more of my neighbors than in the previous two years .
Our conversations feel like breaths of fresh air , as previously separate social worlds meet for the first time .
Our voices join a humble symphony of sounds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : not just birds , HVAC whirs , and police sirens ; but also the echo of footsteps on asphalt , a wooden door closing , the clicking gears of a passing bike .
They ’ re all sounds I ’ ve heard a million times before ; but they emerge with particular clarity when there is quiet , and time to pay attention .
The internet is filled with news—some fake , some real—claiming that nature is reclaiming locked down urban spaces .
Yet although there is clear evidence that some environmental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the time being ) , many of these claims are simply expressions of renewed attention to what ’ s been around us all along .
It appears we have forgotten that spring happens every year , that the moon waxes and wanes .
Meanwhile , I look at surfaces with unprecedented anxiety : that bench , this grocery bag , my phone , the mailbox—how long can the virus linger on them ?
I offer lemons that I have picked from a tree to a friend .
She refuses them ; I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interconnectivity of human beings suddenly takes a dismal turn : human networks as disease networks .
The instinct to love , to share , to touch , is challenged as we are forced to share our humanity in innovative ways .
Online video sessions take on new significance as we realize our colleagues have living rooms , kitchens , partners , and lives of their own .
Blaise Pascal once quipped that “ all of humanity ’ s problems stem from Man ’ s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are reminded that we live in a culture addicted to speed and a mythology of more-more-more .
Even though there is no shortage in food supplies—at least not in rich neighborhoods—we raid the supermarket shelves to reassure ourselves that we can fill our existential void with something , anything .
World leaders promise that the economic engine is only slowing down , not shutting down .
At Whole Foods , the music buzzing out of the loudspeakers says the same thing : don ’ t worry , be happy .
Everything is OK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not OK , not when employment is tied to carbon-intensive supply chains , not when slowing down means going hungry , not when a functioning economy means threatening life on Earth .
Despite the omnipresent government rhetoric of war against the virus , we need to be crystal clear about something : COVID-19 is not the true enemy ; the real struggle is against its underlying conditions of environmental destruction and social inequality .
I say this keeping in mind those most impacted by the virus—the sick , the poor , the elderly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the unemployed .
The suffering and fear are inarguably real .
Yet the pandemic is the symptom of a much larger crisis of how we inhabit the planet .
I won ’ t dwell on the relationships between the coronavirus and the climate crisis—many others are exploring these questions .
[ 3 ] All I will say is that a return to normal can not be our goal .
It ’ s tricky writing about a crisis in the midst of it—something like painting an earthquake in real time .
Yet if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they touch the core of our humanity , and yet we still manage to forget them when times are good .
Today , our fragility , our love , and our folly are as clear as the unpolluted skies .
But tomorrow they may fade away into the haze of business as usual .
No one knows what the legacy of COVID-19 will be .
In quarantine , our perception of space is seeded with a growing awareness that we are connected not just physically—through infrastructure , public space , and microbes—but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are discovering to be much , much less than we are accustomed to .
Whenever we begin to slowly emerge from our homes , these newly recognized essentials must serve as the building blocks of our designed environments .
Perhaps sunlight is the greatest work of public art ; perhaps looking our neighbors in the eye is the missing ingredient in our desire to build smarter cities .
Perhaps letting go is as powerful as grasping for more .
Marseille still celebrates an annual mass to honor a three-century-old promise ; the plague @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strolls .
Where will COVID-19 leave its traces ?
No one knows , but one thing is certain : it will be expressed in the stories and the spaces we share .
Now is the time to mourn and to dream ; to quietly listen and to fine-tune our attention to the possibilities at hand .
Félix de Rosen is a student of life , born in France , raised in the US , and currently based out of the US West coast .
Visit his website www.felixderosen.com .
[ 1 ] Roger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harris Ali , “ Outbreaks like coronavirus start in and spread from the edges of cities , ” The Conversation , February 17 , 2020 .
[ 2 ] “ What Tuberculosis did for Modernism : The Influence of a Curative Environment on Modernist Design and Architecture , ” Journal of Medical History , October 1 , 2005 .
[ 3 ] See Megan Crist ’ s article on the subject , among many others .
**This article ( Stories of Space in Times of Quarantine ) was originally published at The McHarg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the author .

Stories of Space in Times of Quarantine
Félix de Rosen, Guest
Waking Times
Europe’s Last Plague
May 25, 1720. The Grand Saint-Antoine, a three-masted French merchant ship, sails into the port of Marseille on the southern coast of France. Its journey has been troubled: nine passengers have died since departing from Lebanon two months earlier. Following protocols designed to prevent disease outbreaks, Marseille’s health bureau orders the ship, its passengers, and its cargo of precious silks to be held in quarantine on a nearby island. In a notable breach of protocol, however, the bureau allows the early transfer of the cargo to the mainland—a fatal decision, made under pressure from silk merchants who want to bring the goods quickly to market.
June 20, 1720. A woman dies abruptly in downtown Marseille, an area of narrow streets and dense housing. She is the first victim of community transmission of the Great Plague of Marseille, a pandemic of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. By the middle of August, more than one thousand individuals are dying every day. By now, the wealthiest have fled, along with many government officials. Bodies are left on the streets, and prisoners are forced to carry them toward mass graves.
March 1721. Fearing the spread of the pandemic, King Louis XV sends thirty thousand soldiers to enforce a strict quarantine over the entire region. Fifty miles north of Marseille, he requisitions local villagers to build a seventeen-mile-long drystone wall to prevent escape. Despite these efforts, the plague kills one hundred thousand people over the course of two years: fifty thousand in Marseille—half the city’s population—and another fifty thousand in the surrounding provinces. It is Europe’s last major outbreak of plague.
The legacy of the plague in Marseille is complicated. Street names and public sculptures honor the dead. Every year the Basilica of the Sacred Heart honors the anniversary of a promise made by the city council in 1722 to hold a special mass every year, in perpetuity, if the plague spared the city. And the foundations of the drystone wall still stand to the north of the city, now branded the mur de la peste—the “plague wall”—by regional hiking guides.
The wall and the ceremony remain as traces of a society’s attempts to restructure its relations with its environment and its diseases: the church service through an act of imagination, and the wall through the reorganization of space. Yet they betray the fact that Marseille’s greatest trauma never prompted a comprehensive reevaluation of its urban fabric: no Haussmann-like boulevards to bring fresh air and water into the dense urban core; no new sanitary practices or governance strategies; just business as usual, but with a new annual mass. The story of Marseille helps us interrogate our present situation. Beyond memorials and rhetoric, what will be the legacy of COVID-19? How will it restructure our societal narratives and the ways we manage space? How will the quality of our attention now, in the midst of crisis, shape this future?
Stories of Disease, Stories of Culture
Pandemics are ancient—as old as human culture itself. Wherever they have struck, they have challenged humans to reevaluate their relations to their environment—as well as the cultural myths that underly these relations. In the face of crisis, these myths—the stories we tell about ourselves—can act as foundations for resilience just as they can constitute sources of vulnerability.
At the “Designing the Green New Deal” conference in Philadelphia in the fall of 2019, the writer and activist Julian Brave NoiseCat spoke of the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy—a five-hundred-year-old constitution that has guided its people through settler colonialism, military invasion, pandemics, and the systematic government kidnapping and reeducation of children. “Cultures are really just manuals for how we’re going to do all these things together as people. If the Haudenosaunee can maintain their Great Law against an apocalypse, against genocide, I do believe that culture, and the stories that we tell about ourselves, and the words that we use to tell these stories, are some of the most powerful things that we have.” As we sit in quarantine, it’s worth asking what COVID-19 says about our ways of inhabiting the planet—and how our stories might change in response. We wouldn’t be the first to do so: artists have long used plagues to amplify questions about what it means to be human.
In Albert Camus’s The Plague (1947), an Algerian city is walled off following the outbreak of plague. When the disease abates, the city celebrates, but the protagonist, a doctor, knows that the plague will eventually come back, because “everyone has it inside himself, this plague, because no one in the world, no one, is immune.” More than a simple disease, the plague is a reminder of the fragility of the human condition.
In Mary Shelley’s The Last Man (1826), a shepherd witnesses the progressive falling apart of human civilization due to plague. Cities, art, and society all disintegrate, leaving the shepherd to roam alone through an emptied landscape. Shelley’s is a pessimistic plague, insisting that humans are not the center of the universe, that pride comes before the fall .
In Boccaccio’s Decameron (1353) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842), groups of nobles flee the cities—to a rural villa and a gothic abbey, respectively—to avoid disease and pass the time in celebration. Bocaccio’s youths use their quarantine as an opportunity to inspire and amuse each other with tales of humanity; Poe’s bored aristocrats come to a bloody end among the decadent trappings of their entertainment.
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), a group of educated young friends pursues an aristocratic vampire landlord through a complex network of cities, ships, trains, and properties. Stoker’s novel, and especially F. W. Murnau’s 1922 film adaptation Nosferatu, use vampirism and disease to speak of the fear of the Other—especially the Easterner—and of the spread of contagion through an increasingly globalized infrastructure.
Each of these stories imagines disease through specific spatial contexts. For Camus, walls keep the plague in; for Poe and Bocaccio, they hold it out. Shelley’s shepherd is left to wander the ruins of urban and rural life, whereas Stoker’s young professionals travel through a highly connected urban-rural landscape. These stories of disease are also stories of space, of how its management—through walls, public squares, roads, and countryside—enables life and death.
In 1721, the French painter Michel Serre depicted a scene from the Great Plague of Marseille. Dreary clouds loom over buildings that appear empty and lifeless. The city square, the heart of the public realm, is strewn with bodies, the distinction between living and dead blurred. At the center of this maelstrom, sitting calmly on a rearing horse, a city official directs the removal of corpses, a modicum of order in a portrait of devastation.
Spaces of Disease
Pandemics are not works of art. They are real, tragic events, occurring in the real, physical world. In “The Ecology of Disease,” the ecological writer Jim Robbins explains that epidemics “don’t just happen. They are a result of things people do to nature.” In other words, human socioeconomic systems interact with the environment to create conditions that harbor and produce disease. Our contemporary systems are characterized by neoliberal capitalism, intensive resource extraction, and unceasing encroachment on wildlife habitat. Potential disease vectors like mosquitoes, ticks, and bats are most prevalent at the urban periphery, where human activity penetrates biodiverse ecosystems. It on these peripheries that diseases are most likely to make the jump to humans. This, along with modern air travel, the intense growth of animal agriculture, and wildlife trafficking are all characters in our modern stories of pandemic.[1]
From the ancient past to the present day, the management of space—of people, animals, objects, and environment—has been the primary strategy for containing the spread of disease, even if the theories about how that spread happens have changed dramatically over time. In just a few years at the end of the 1340s, the Black Death, again caused by Yersinia pestis, killed at least a third of the European population, along with millions across Asia and Africa. Governments, especially of societies built around trade, responded by managing the movement of people and goods across borders. Ships suspected of harboring diseases were held in quarantine, their passengers stationed in specially constructed facilities known as lazarettos. The lazarettos of maritime nations were close to the water, often isolated on islands. Though not explicitly prisons, the lazarettos were nevertheless highly surveilled; they often served an additional role as hospitals for contagious diseases like leprosy. The Philadelphia Lazaretto, built in 1799, still stands on the Delaware River, surrounded by the sprawl of Philadelphia International Airport.
It’s easy to forget the extent to which our landscapes have been designed to mitigate disease. Nineteenth-century city planning in Europe and North America was built on notions of cleanliness. Frederick Law Olmsted was obsessed with the environment’s influence on the body, convinced that parks could benefit the health of weary urbanites by exposing them to fresh air and greenery. He also believed, paternalistically, that such spaces would inspire moral behavior among the poor, immigrants, and alcoholics, helping them integrate into the bourgeois public realm.
Theodore Roosevelt, the stalwart defender of natural conservation, himself suffered from debilitating asthma as a child and embraced an out-of-doors, physically active lifestyle as a response. In Roosevelt’s personal narrative, shaky health led him to an appreciation of “wild nature” as source of vigor—in turn informing his promotion of national parks. And Le Corbusier, the icon of modernist urbanism, lived through the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed perhaps three percent of the global population. His views on city planning were inspired by the architecture of Alpine sanitoria—resorts in places like Davos, Switzerland, where one could fight lung diseases like tuberculosis with the weapons of fresh mountain air, luminous balconies, and rest. Corbusier’s vision of the “tower in the park” evokes these efforts to optimize light, air, and space.[2]
Our contemporary stay-at-home orders follow in this long tradition of containing disease through environmental design and the control of space. As a landscape architect interested in how we manage and feel our way through space, I am captivated by how quickly our experiences of space have changed in the past few weeks. For over a month, I have barely ventured beyond a one-mile radius around my home in Berkeley. This limited range of observation is telling in itself: staying at home has hyper-localized my daytime routine.
My neighborhood is typical of Berkeley: houses separated by driveways, small gardens out front, little activity visible to the public. In the past two weeks I have met more of my neighbors than in the previous two years. Our conversations feel like breaths of fresh air, as previously separate social worlds meet for the first time. Our voices join a humble symphony of sounds previously muted by the noise of traffic: not just birds, HVAC whirs, and police sirens; but also the echo of footsteps on asphalt, a wooden door closing, the clicking gears of a passing bike. They’re all sounds I’ve heard a million times before; but they emerge with particular clarity when there is quiet, and time to pay attention. The internet is filled with news—some fake, some real—claiming that nature is reclaiming locked down urban spaces. Yet although there is clear evidence that some environmental stressors like air pollution are down (for the time being), many of these claims are simply expressions of renewed attention to what’s been around us all along. It appears we have forgotten that spring happens every year, that the moon waxes and wanes.
Meanwhile, I look at surfaces with unprecedented anxiety: that bench, this grocery bag, my phone, the mailbox—how long can the virus linger on them? I offer lemons that I have picked from a tree to a friend. She refuses them; I don’t blame her. The interconnectivity of human beings suddenly takes a dismal turn: human networks as disease networks. The instinct to love, to share, to touch, is challenged as we are forced to share our humanity in innovative ways. Online video sessions take on new significance as we realize our colleagues have living rooms, kitchens, partners, and lives of their own.
Blaise Pascal once quipped that “all of humanity’s problems stem from Man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” As we sit at home, we are reminded that we live in a culture addicted to speed and a mythology of more-more-more. Even though there is no shortage in food supplies—at least not in rich neighborhoods—we raid the supermarket shelves to reassure ourselves that we can fill our existential void with something, anything. World leaders promise that the economic engine is only slowing down, not shutting down. At Whole Foods, the music buzzing out of the loudspeakers says the same thing: don’t worry, be happy. Everything is OK.
But, no, everything is not OK, not when employment is tied to carbon-intensive supply chains, not when slowing down means going hungry, not when a functioning economy means threatening life on Earth. Despite the omnipresent government rhetoric of war against the virus, we need to be crystal clear about something: COVID-19 is not the true enemy; the real struggle is against its underlying conditions of environmental destruction and social inequality. I say this keeping in mind those most impacted by the virus—the sick, the poor, the elderly, people of color, healthcare workers, the unemployed. The suffering and fear are inarguably real. Yet the pandemic is the symptom of a much larger crisis of how we inhabit the planet. I won’t dwell on the relationships between the coronavirus and the climate crisis—many others are exploring these questions.[3] All I will say is that a return to normal cannot be our goal.
It’s tricky writing about a crisis in the midst of it—something like painting an earthquake in real time. Yet if pandemics teach us anything, it is that they touch the core of our humanity, and yet we still manage to forget them when times are good. Today, our fragility, our love, and our folly are as clear as the unpolluted skies. But tomorrow they may fade away into the haze of business as usual.
No one knows what the legacy of COVID-19 will be. In quarantine, our perception of space is seeded with a growing awareness that we are connected not just physically—through infrastructure, public space, and microbes—but also through our needs, which we are discovering to be much, much less than we are accustomed to. Whenever we begin to slowly emerge from our homes, these newly recognized essentials must serve as the building blocks of our designed environments. Perhaps sunlight is the greatest work of public art; perhaps looking our neighbors in the eye is the missing ingredient in our desire to build smarter cities. Perhaps letting go is as powerful as grasping for more.
Marseille still celebrates an annual mass to honor a three-century-old promise; the plague wall is now a place for bucolic strolls. Where will COVID-19 leave its traces? No one knows, but one thing is certain: it will be expressed in the stories and the spaces we share. Now is the time to mourn and to dream; to quietly listen and to fine-tune our attention to the possibilities at hand.
About the Author
Félix de Rosen is a student of life, born in France, raised in the US, and currently based out of the US West coast. Visit his website www.felixderosen.com.
Sources:
[1] Roger Keil, Creighton Connolly, and S. Harris Ali, “Outbreaks like coronavirus start in and spread from the edges of cities,” The Conversation, February 17, 2020.
[2] “What Tuberculosis did for Modernism: The Influence of a Curative Environment on Modernist Design and Architecture,” Journal of Medical History, October 1, 2005.
[3] See Megan Crist’s article on the subject, among many others.
**This article (Stories of Space in Times of Quarantine) was originally published at The McHarg Center and is re-posted here with permission from the author.


wakingtimes--2020-04-14--In Brazil, COVID-19 outbreak paves way for invasion of indigenous lands

In Brazil , COVID-19 outbreak paves way for invasion of indigenous lands With outsider encroachment into indigenous reserves continuing to escalate in the Brazilian Amazon and the COVID-19 outbreak spreading rapidly throughout the country , indigenous people are increasingly vulnerable to both violence and infection .
The threats are exacerbated by a reduction in environmental oversight by authorities due to social distancing restrictions imposed in response to the pandemic .
Indigenous leaders and advocates told Mongabay they fear the situation will get worsen in the coming months as loggers , land grabbers and illegal miners take advantage of the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ territories , emboldened by President Jair Bolsonaro ’ s rhetoric and reports of a drop in enforcement activities .
In Rondônia state , the epicenter of last year ’ s Amazon fires , members of the Karipuna indigenous people have submitted a complaint to the local Federal Prosecutor ’ s Office ( MPF ) , reporting non-indigenous people clearing forest inside their reserve , less than 10 kilometers ( 6 miles ) from the village where the group lives .
The document was also signed by Brazil ’ s Indigenous Missionary Council , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Greenpeace .
Fear of the spread of COVID-19 by non-indigenous invaders inside Brazil ’ s indigenous communities has grown in recent days following reports of the hospitalization and death of an indigenous Yanomami teenager .
At least five other indigenous people have been infected by the virus in Brazil so far , according to a map produced by the ISA .
At least two indigenous people living in cities have died after being infected .
The Yanomami reserve in Roraima state is Brazil ’ s largest indigenous reserve and is overrun @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Indigenous leaders from the region say they suspect the current increase in illegal activity due to high gold prices and low local gasoline costs because of the epidemic .
Recent images published by BBC Brasil show illegal miners advancing on an area of the reserve populated by an isolated indigenous community .
In response to the outbreak , many indigenous groups across the country have blockaded villages and cancelled meetings and advocacy events .
Respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 can be especially deadly for indigenous people .
Over the last 50 years in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perished from diseases brought by settlers .
Adriano Karipuna ’ s village was nearly wiped out during the 1970s by contagious illnesses after a disastrous contact policy instated by Brazil ’ s National Indigenous Agency ( FUNAI ) , when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship that encouraged the colonization of Rondônia and other Amazonian states .
Today , the Karipuna number just 58 , with several indigenous members more than 60 years old .
Their reserve is constantly targeted by loggers and land grabbers who operate from the nearby cattle-ranching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ area , according to investigators heard by Mongabay , illegally logged timber is processed in unlicensed sawmills before being sold on with forged documents , mostly to Brazil ’ s industrialized southeast or abroad .
Tractors and diggers are stored on rural properties on the reserve ’ s edges to use during illegal incursions , while watchmen , positioned at strategic points or on motorbikes , use walkie-talkies to alert their accomplices if authorities arrive , investigators say .
In the past few years , an estimated 11,000 hectares ( 27,200 acres ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 378,000 acres ) of forest cover has been destroyed .
Last June , in an operation dubbed SOS Karipuna , authorities found illegally logged wood valued at an estimated 3.2 million reais ( $ 627,000 ) .
They arrested nine people in connection with illegal logging and selling patches of land inside the reserve , and seized assets worth 46 million reais ( $ 9 million ) .
Also in Rondônia , the local NGO Kanindé has warned authorities that the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau indigenous reserve is at risk following the recent release from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The pair were arrested last year after being accused of leading an invasion of the vast indigenous reserve — which sits next to Pacaás Novos National Park and is also home to an unknown number of isolated indigenous groups — to deforest , occupy and illegally sell patches of land inside .
They were released as part of the government ’ s pandemic response to prevent a potentially disastrous outbreak in the country ’ s overcrowded prisons .
A third leader , who is on the run , has also been spotted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ message heard by Mongabay , an unnamed official at the Chico Mendes Institute ( ICMBio ) , the government ’ s environmental agency in charge of biodiversity conservation , said the group was planning to invade again .
In a statement , Rondônia ’ s Federal Prosecutor ’ s Office said it was aware of the risks , as were the federal police , and that they were keeping an eye on the situation .
FUNAI told Mongabay it was “ aware of the threats of invasions ” and “ has been working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with governmental , environmental and public security bodies.
” On the other side of the Brazilian Amazon , in Maranhão state , an indigenous man , Antônio Filho Guajajara , was shot in the head and nearly killed on the Arariboia reserve , just days after local leader Zezico Guajajara was shot and killed nearby .
Zezico was the fifth Guajajara indigenous member to be murdered since November , in a conflict thought to be motivated by powerful logging mafias and landowners who dominate the region .
Last year , after Bolsonaro took @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the worst levels of deforestation in nearly a decade , with huge fires and a sharp increase in invasions of indigenous lands The end of April , by which time Brazil ’ s health minister says the country ’ s health system will likely collapse , marks the onset of the dry season in the region , when deforestation typically begins to peak , before burning season in August .
Deforestation rates so far this year are already 51 % higher than in the first quarter of 2019 — 796 square kilometers ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ km2 ( 203 mi2 ) in 2019 , according to DETER , a real-time detection system from the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research ( INPE ) .
The deforestation figure for August 2019 to the end of March 2020 is reportedly nearly twice that of the same period a year earlier According to Oviedo at ISA , loggers and land-grabbing gangs have adopted new strategies of invasion and deforestation .
He said loggers enter the area with motorbikes making smaller entrances so that the canopy of taller trees makes the logging more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reports of a drop in environmental enforcement activities due to the pandemic have also raised concern that illegal extraction gangs will take advantage .
In a recent interview with Reuters , Olivaldi Azevedo , the director of environmental protection with Brazil ’ s environmental agency , IBAMA , said his office would be forced to scale back operations .
Marcio Astrini , executive secretary of the Climate Observatory , a group of NGOs , said that in the past a drop in enforcement and surveillance missions was almost always accompanied by a spike @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IBAMA operation against an illegal mining site on the Aptereua indigenous reserve in Pará state , which culminated with the destruction of two diggers , was widely shared on social media and denounced on Whatsapp groups of illegal miners as “ terrorism.
” Also in Pará state , local experts have expressed concern about the Ituna Itatá reserve , which is home to an unknown number of isolated indigenous peoples and has been devastated by land grabbers , following the construction of the nearby Belo Monte hydropower dam .
In February , Edward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was arrested there during an IBAMA operation .

In Brazil, COVID-19 outbreak paves way for invasion of indigenous lands
Sam Cowie, Guest
Waking Times
With outsider encroachment into indigenous reserves continuing to escalate in the Brazilian Amazon and the COVID-19 outbreak spreading rapidly throughout the country, indigenous people are increasingly vulnerable to both violence and infection. The threats are exacerbated by a reduction in environmental oversight by authorities due to social distancing restrictions imposed in response to the pandemic.
Indigenous leaders and advocates told Mongabay they fear the situation will get worsen in the coming months as loggers, land grabbers and illegal miners take advantage of the coronavirus chaos to accelerate their attacks on indigenous territories, emboldened by President Jair Bolsonaro’s rhetoric and reports of a drop in enforcement activities.
“These criminals won’t respect social distancing. Much the opposite: they will take advantage to be able to work more peacefully,” Antonio Oviedo, a monitoring coordinator at the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA), an NGO that defends indigenous rights, told Mongabay.
In Rondônia state, the epicenter of last year’s Amazon fires, members of the Karipuna indigenous people have submitted a complaint to the local Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), reporting non-indigenous people clearing forest inside their reserve, less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the village where the group lives. The document was also signed by Brazil’s Indigenous Missionary Council, which is affiliated with the Catholic Church, and Greenpeace.
“We are scared that one of these invaders will bring the virus inside our territory,” Adriano Karipuna, one of the group’s leaders, told Mongabay. “Bolsonaro has told these people that it’s just a little flu and that they can go back to work.”
Fear of the spread of COVID-19 by non-indigenous invaders inside Brazil’s indigenous communities has grown in recent days following reports of the hospitalization and death of an indigenous Yanomami teenager.
At least five other indigenous people have been infected by the virus in Brazil so far, according to a map produced by the ISA. At least two indigenous people living in cities have died after being infected.
The Yanomami reserve in Roraima state is Brazil’s largest indigenous reserve and is overrun by tens of thousands of illegal goldminers. Indigenous leaders from the region say they suspect the current increase in illegal activity due to high gold prices and low local gasoline costs because of the epidemic.
Recent images published by BBC Brasil show illegal miners advancing on an area of the reserve populated by an isolated indigenous community.
In response to the outbreak, many indigenous groups across the country have blockaded villages and cancelled meetings and advocacy events.
COVID-19 threats
Respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 can be especially deadly for indigenous people. Over the last 50 years in Brazil’s Amazon, thousands have perished from diseases brought by settlers.
Adriano Karipuna’s village was nearly wiped out during the 1970s by contagious illnesses after a disastrous contact policy instated by Brazil’s National Indigenous Agency (FUNAI), when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship that encouraged the colonization of Rondônia and other Amazonian states.
Today, the Karipuna number just 58, with several indigenous members more than 60 years old. Their reserve is constantly targeted by loggers and land grabbers who operate from the nearby cattle-ranching district of União Bandeirantes.
In that area, according to investigators heard by Mongabay, illegally logged timber is processed in unlicensed sawmills before being sold on with forged documents, mostly to Brazil’s industrialized southeast or abroad.
Tractors and diggers are stored on rural properties on the reserve’s edges to use during illegal incursions, while watchmen, positioned at strategic points or on motorbikes, use walkie-talkies to alert their accomplices if authorities arrive, investigators say.
In the past few years, an estimated 11,000 hectares (27,200 acres) of the reserve’s 153,000 hectares (378,000 acres) of forest cover has been destroyed.
“We’re scared that they take advantage of this time when we are vulnerable when authorities are in quarantine,” Adriano Karipuna said.
Last June, in an operation dubbed SOS Karipuna, authorities found illegally logged wood valued at an estimated 3.2 million reais ($627,000). They arrested nine people in connection with illegal logging and selling patches of land inside the reserve, and seized assets worth 46 million reais ($9 million).
Also in Rondônia, the local NGO Kanindé has warned authorities that the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau indigenous reserve is at risk following the recent release from prison of two notorious local land grabbers.
The pair were arrested last year after being accused of leading an invasion of the vast indigenous reserve — which sits next to Pacaás Novos National Park and is also home to an unknown number of isolated indigenous groups — to deforest, occupy and illegally sell patches of land inside. They were released as part of the government’s pandemic response to prevent a potentially disastrous outbreak in the country’s overcrowded prisons.
A third leader, who is on the run, has also been spotted in the region. In an audio message heard by Mongabay, an unnamed official at the Chico Mendes Institute (ICMBio), the government’s environmental agency in charge of biodiversity conservation, said the group was planning to invade again.
In a statement, Rondônia’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said it was aware of the risks, as were the federal police, and that they were keeping an eye on the situation.
FUNAI told Mongabay it was “aware of the threats of invasions” and “has been working on monitoring and inspection actions in partnership with governmental, environmental and public security bodies.”
Increasing violence and deforestation
On the other side of the Brazilian Amazon, in Maranhão state, an indigenous man, Antônio Filho Guajajara, was shot in the head and nearly killed on the Arariboia reserve, just days after local leader Zezico Guajajara was shot and killed nearby.
Zezico was the fifth Guajajara indigenous member to be murdered since November, in a conflict thought to be motivated by powerful logging mafias and landowners who dominate the region.
Last year, after Bolsonaro took office, Brazil’s Amazon saw the worst levels of deforestation in nearly a decade, with huge fires and a sharp increase in invasions of indigenous lands
The end of April, by which time Brazil’s health minister says the country’s health system will likely collapse, marks the onset of the dry season in the region, when deforestation typically begins to peak, before burning season in August.
Deforestation rates so far this year are already 51% higher than in the first quarter of 2019 — 796 square kilometers (307 square miles) compared to 526 km2 (203 mi2) in 2019, according to DETER, a real-time detection system from the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INPE).
The deforestation figure for August 2019 to the end of March 2020 is reportedly nearly twice that of the same period a year earlier
According to Oviedo at ISA, loggers and land-grabbing gangs have adopted new strategies of invasion and deforestation.
“These days they are working all year round including in the rainy season,” he said. “Then when the rain stops for a few days and the ground dries a bit, they call in the trucks to remove the wood.”
He said loggers enter the area with motorbikes making smaller entrances so that the canopy of taller trees makes the logging more difficult to detect on satellite images.
Reduced enforcement
Reports of a drop in environmental enforcement activities due to the pandemic have also raised concern that illegal extraction gangs will take advantage.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Olivaldi Azevedo, the director of environmental protection with Brazil’s environmental agency, IBAMA, said his office would be forced to scale back operations.
“There’s no way you can take these people who are at risk and expose them to the virus,” he said. “There is no choice between one thing and the other. It’s an obligation.” He added the Amazon would not be affected by the curtailing of enforcement operations.
Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a group of NGOs, said that in the past a drop in enforcement and surveillance missions was almost always accompanied by a spike in deforestation.
Recent video of an IBAMA operation against an illegal mining site on the Aptereua indigenous reserve in Pará state, which culminated with the destruction of two diggers, was widely shared on social media and denounced on Whatsapp groups of illegal miners as “terrorism.”
Also in Pará state, local experts have expressed concern about the Ituna Itatá reserve, which is home to an unknown number of isolated indigenous peoples and has been devastated by land grabbers, following the construction of the nearby Belo Monte hydropower dam.
In February, Edward Luz, an anthropologist supportive of Bolsonaro, was arrested there during an IBAMA operation.


wakingtimes--2020-01-06--Australian Fires are Largest in The World And 5 Times Bigger Than Amazon Fires

The graphic above , created by Statista , with information provided by the BBC , the New York Times , as well as local fire and rescue organizations , gives a visual illustration of just how big the fires in Australia are .
The graphic also notes that 6.7 million acres of land were burned in Siberia The wildfires that are current ripping across Australia have gotten only passing mentions in the global media , but they are actually far more serious than many similar acts of nature that have happened in recent years .
Very few people around the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these fires , even when compared to the recent , and ongoing fire crisis in the Amazon .
To put the current situation into perspective , about 12 million acres have burned so far in the Australian fires .
Meanwhile , just over 2 million acres of land have been burned so far during this year ’ s fires in the Amazon .
2 million acres is certainly still significant , but it is one part of a wider problem that is impacting ecosystems all over the world .
The graphic below , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the BBC , the New York Times , as well as local fire and rescue organizations , gives a visual illustration of just how big the fires in Australia are .
The graphic also notes that 6.7 million acres of land were burned in Siberia .
The fires have become so large that the resulting smoke has disrupted weather patterns across the continent , and has even caused the glaciers of neighboring New Zealand to turn brown .
As Truth Theory reported in early January , nearly a half-billion animals are estimated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since they began in September .
Heavy rains last week gave emergency crews a bit of help in some areas , but over 100 fires are still burning across the country .
So far , up to 17 people have died in the fires and an incalculable amount of property damage has occurred .
As Truth Theory reported last month , the fires in New South Wales could be responsible for wiping out all of the koalas in the region , who were already experiencing dangerously low population levels .
According to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Nature Conservation Council ( NCC ) , koalas were already on their way to becoming extinct in New South Wales due to deforestation , and this was before the fires even began .
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture , and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems .
He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast .

Australian Fires are Largest in The World And 5 Times Bigger Than Amazon Fires
John Vibes, Truth Theory
Waking Times
The graphic above, created by Statista, with information provided by the BBC, the New York Times, as well as local fire and rescue organizations, gives a visual illustration of just how big the fires in Australia are. The graphic also notes that 6.7 million acres of land were burned in Siberia
The wildfires that are current ripping across Australia have gotten only passing mentions in the global media, but they are actually far more serious than many similar acts of nature that have happened in recent years. Very few people around the world are aware of the magnitude of these fires, even when compared to the recent, and ongoing fire crisis in the Amazon.
To put the current situation into perspective, about 12 million acres have burned so far in the Australian fires. Meanwhile, just over 2 million acres of land have been burned so far during this year’s fires in the Amazon. 2 million acres is certainly still significant, but it is one part of a wider problem that is impacting ecosystems all over the world.
The graphic below, created by Statista, with information provided by the BBC, the New York Times, as well as local fire and rescue organizations, gives a visual illustration of just how big the fires in Australia are. The graphic also notes that 6.7 million acres of land were burned in Siberia.
The fires have become so large that the resulting smoke has disrupted weather patterns across the continent, and has even caused the glaciers of neighboring New Zealand to turn brown.
Near Franz Josef glacier. The “caramelised” snow is caused by dust from the bushfires. It was white yesterday pic.twitter.com/Ryqq685Ind — Fabulousmonster (@Rachelhatesit) December 31, 2019
How one country's tragedy has spillover effects: Australian bushfires have created haze in New Zealand with particular impact on the south of the South Island yesterday & now spreading more widely. Impact of ash on glaciers is likely to accelerate melting: https://t.co/U3JRYkqL0F https://t.co/50ExGMdXR6 — Helen Clark (@HelenClarkNZ) January 1, 2020
As Truth Theory reported in early January, nearly a half-billion animals are estimated to have been killed in the fires since they began in September.
Heavy rains last week gave emergency crews a bit of help in some areas, but over 100 fires are still burning across the country. So far, up to 17 people have died in the fires and an incalculable amount of property damage has occurred.
As Truth Theory reported last month, the fires in New South Wales could be responsible for wiping out all of the koalas in the region, who were already experiencing dangerously low population levels.
According to a report published last year by WWF Australia and the Nature Conservation Council (NCC), koalas were already on their way to becoming extinct in New South Wales due to deforestation, and this was before the fires even began.
About the Author
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast.


wakingtimes--2020-01-06--California’s Increasing Weed Taxes are Fueling Crime, Destroying the Environment, and Killing Jobs

California — It ’ s been two years since California began licensing businesses to sell legal marijuana .
Unfortunately , however , the legal scene is far outmatched by the black market and the state government is 100 % responsible .
Instead of reacting to the negative effects of state involvement in the cannabis market , the government of California has doubled down and will vastly increase the burden on legal operations which is certain to create more crime , damage the environment further , and stoke unemployment and business closures .
And the state couldn ’ t care less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Cannabis Advisory Committee warned Gov .
Gavin Newsom and California legislators that high taxes , overly burdensome regulations and local control issues posed debilitating obstacles to the legal marijuana market .
In response , California officials enacted a new a law on New Year ’ s day to increase these taxes and overly burdensome regulations .
Miramon told KCRA his pot shop pays a whopping $ 120,000 a month in combined state and city taxes — and those fees are going up .
Cannabis wholesalers were already paying outrageous excise fees of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those fees went up to 80 % .
Cultivation fees are also going through the roof .
The effects of extorting the legal cannabis industry for more and more money are devastating both for crime and the environment .
The effects of officials steadily stealing more and more from the market via higher taxes and more regulations have been staggering .
In fact , despite bringing in $ 3.1 billion in licensed pot sales — becoming the largest market in the world in 2019 — it is estimated that over 80 % of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ black market .
That is nearly $ 9 billion going to people who are willing to break the law .
While many of the folks on the black market are good people who simply wish to conduct business outside the burdensome economy taxed into oblivion by the state , others are ruthless killers and members of the cartel .
El Dorado County sheriff ’ s Deputy Brian Ishmael was one of the victims of this policy .
A private resident who was allowing the cartel to illegally grow weed on his property called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pay him all his money .
When Ishmael responded to the call , cartel members harvesting the last of their weed , shot and killed him .
Ishmael is one of many victims in this drug war that ’ s been created and maintained by prohibition and government regulation .
The criminal element created by government regulation is only one facet of their careless and idiotic addiction to red tape .
Black market cannabis cultivation is also wreaking havoc on the environment as well .
Despite knowing what ’ s causing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the opposite direction by doubling down on regulations and taxes —pushing more people into the black market — ensuring years of future destruction and violence .
Many of the black market cannabis grow operations are run by careless individuals who are polluting streams with pesticides and fertilizers , while siphoning huge amounts of water from the same streams for irrigation .
Small waterways are a precious resource in this region , and the historic drought has already lowered stream levels dramatically .
Rat poison , industrial pesticides , and banned chemicals are used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crops .
These highly toxic pesticides lay waste to insect populations , sicken or kill predators , and are having a significant impact on the Pacific fisher .
The Pacific fisher is a cat-sized mammal that feeds on rats and fish , and is close to becoming endangered .
As the LA Times points out , experts say carbofuran is so hazardous that a teaspoon will kill a full-grown bear .
Partly because of illegal grow sites , traces of carbofuran ’ s deadly chemical composition have been detected in streams and rivers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and dead — including threatened species such as the Pacific fisher .
Streams in Northern California are being sucked dry by illegal cannabis farms .
While reducing valuable aquatic habitat in these areas , it is especially harmful to salmon and steelhead , which depend on these streams in their young stage .
Clear-cutting forests for cultivation , creating sediment runoff from road-building , and fertilizer/pesticide runoff further threaten the aquatic life .
Experts estimate that cannabis cultivation in California uses nearly twice as much water as wine grape cultivation , or almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ season .
When done in a sustainable manner , it is manageable , but the current black market process is anything but .
On top of the increase in crime and the environmental destruction are the effects on the economy and the devastation of small businesses and jobs .
Before these tax and regulation increases rolled out on the 1st of January , legal cannabis growers were already reeling from current regulation and taxation .
In November , Flow Kana , which bills itself as “ California ’ s No .
1 selling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fifth of its entire workforce .
Now , it will likely get much worse .
All these companies know what ’ s causing it too but they are powerless to stop the behemoth that is the greed of the state of California .
Sadly , however , it appears his letter fell on deaf ears and the state has made moves to ensure the downfall of legal weed in California—crime , the economy , and the environment be damned .
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state .
Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world .
Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project .
Follow @ MattAgorist on Twitter , Steemit , and now on Minds .

California’s Increasing Weed Taxes are Fueling Crime, Destroying the Environment, and Killing Jobs
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
California — It’s been two years since California began licensing businesses to sell legal marijuana. Unfortunately, however, the legal scene is far outmatched by the black market and the state government is 100% responsible. Instead of reacting to the negative effects of state involvement in the cannabis market, the government of California has doubled down and will vastly increase the burden on legal operations which is certain to create more crime, damage the environment further, and stoke unemployment and business closures.
And the state couldn’t care less.
At the end of 2019, the Cannabis Advisory Committee warned Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators that high taxes, overly burdensome regulations and local control issues posed debilitating obstacles to the legal marijuana market. In response, California officials enacted a new a law on New Year’s day to increase these taxes and overly burdensome regulations.
“Essentially, the state is raising our taxes $3 on every $100,” said Eric Miramon, co-owner of All About Wellness in Sacramento.
Miramon told KCRA his pot shop pays a whopping $120,000 a month in combined state and city taxes — and those fees are going up.
Cannabis wholesalers were already paying outrageous excise fees of 60%. But this year, those fees went up to 80%. Cultivation fees are also going through the roof. The effects of extorting the legal cannabis industry for more and more money are devastating both for crime and the environment.
“Increasing the taxes over and over a little bit every month, this is pushing people further and further into the black market,” Miramon said.
The effects of officials steadily stealing more and more from the market via higher taxes and more regulations have been staggering. In fact, despite bringing in $3.1 billion in licensed pot sales — becoming the largest market in the world in 2019 — it is estimated that over 80% of cannabis sales still take place in the black market.
That is nearly $9 billion going to people who are willing to break the law. While many of the folks on the black market are good people who simply wish to conduct business outside the burdensome economy taxed into oblivion by the state, others are ruthless killers and members of the cartel.
El Dorado County sheriff’s Deputy Brian Ishmael was one of the victims of this policy. A private resident who was allowing the cartel to illegally grow weed on his property called police in October after the cartel refused to pay him all his money. When Ishmael responded to the call, cartel members harvesting the last of their weed, shot and killed him.
Ishmael is one of many victims in this drug war that’s been created and maintained by prohibition and government regulation.
The criminal element created by government regulation is only one facet of their careless and idiotic addiction to red tape. Black market cannabis cultivation is also wreaking havoc on the environment as well.
“These are federal lands, and they are being systematically destroyed through clear-cutting, stream diversion, chemicals and pesticides,” said U.S. Atty. McGregor Scott at a news conference in November after a massive illegal grow operation was found in the remote areas of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. “It’s a vitally important issue.”
Despite knowing what’s causing the problem, officials continue to move in the opposite direction by doubling down on regulations and taxes —pushing more people into the black market — ensuring years of future destruction and violence.
Many of the black market cannabis grow operations are run by careless individuals who are polluting streams with pesticides and fertilizers, while siphoning huge amounts of water from the same streams for irrigation. Small waterways are a precious resource in this region, and the historic drought has already lowered stream levels dramatically.
Rat poison, industrial pesticides, and banned chemicals are used to prevent pests from getting at cannabis crops. These highly toxic pesticides lay waste to insect populations, sicken or kill predators, and are having a significant impact on the Pacific fisher. The Pacific fisher is a cat-sized mammal that feeds on rats and fish, and is close to becoming endangered.
As the LA Times points out, experts say carbofuran is so hazardous that a teaspoon will kill a full-grown bear. Partly because of illegal grow sites, traces of carbofuran’s deadly chemical composition have been detected in streams and rivers, and found in animals — living and dead — including threatened species such as the Pacific fisher.
Streams in Northern California are being sucked dry by illegal cannabis farms. While reducing valuable aquatic habitat in these areas, it is especially harmful to salmon and steelhead, which depend on these streams in their young stage. Clear-cutting forests for cultivation, creating sediment runoff from road-building, and fertilizer/pesticide runoff further threaten the aquatic life.
Experts estimate that cannabis cultivation in California uses nearly twice as much water as wine grape cultivation, or almost 3 billion liters per kilometer in one season. When done in a sustainable manner, it is manageable, but the current black market process is anything but.
“It’s a web of death that happens,” said Mourad Gabriel, co-director of the Integral Ecology Research Center, a natural-resource nonprofit that has spearheaded the effort to track the environmental impacts of trespass grow sites, and also leads the charge to clean them up.
On top of the increase in crime and the environmental destruction are the effects on the economy and the devastation of small businesses and jobs.
Before these tax and regulation increases rolled out on the 1st of January, legal cannabis growers were already reeling from current regulation and taxation. In November, Flow Kana, which bills itself as “California’s No. 1 selling cannabis flower brand,” cut a fifth of its entire workforce. Now, it will likely get much worse.
“It was one of the toughest decisions that I’ve ever had to make,” CEO Mikey Steinmetz said in November. As the SacBee reports, Flow Kana isn’t the only cannabis company forced to make cuts. In recent weeks, companies like Eaze and Weedmaps have also laid off part of their workforce. Other companies have laid off employees or completely shuddered their businesses forever. “It almost feels like an epidemic of companies of similar size going through similar processes,” Steinmetz said.
All these companies know what’s causing it too but they are powerless to stop the behemoth that is the greed of the state of California.
“The combination of overtaxation, overly-complicated regulations, and lack of dispensaries due to local moratoriums have created significant imbalance in the biggest legal marijuana industry in the world,” Steinmetz said in a letter to the state at the end of 2019, requesting they roll back some of the red tape.
Sadly, however, it appears his letter fell on deaf ears and the state has made moves to ensure the downfall of legal weed in California—crime, the economy, and the environment be damned.
About the Author
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.