The Apprentice wrote:
I agree with you that people need to stop contracting away their physical labour to the wealthy and that is key.

But that will take the parents of future generations to not let their kids be raised by MSM and TV.

It will take the parents of future generations to not let their kids do the heavy labour for the rich.

And it will certainly take the parents of future generations to not let their kids join the armed forces.

Anyone can go live off the Grid but it will also take the rest of humanity to set up a better system.


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I agree with you as usual there Mr ......

Mr Apprentice, have you heard of Bougainville? There's a documentary about them overthrowing their colonial masters by the methods you describe:

Their land, drinking water and so on was ruined by foreign industry/mining etc.

have done in the past and will do again soon

To answer the last several post above, some great insight in all, we are heading very quickly into the last stages of a failed monetary eystem, Obama has just cut his holiday in Hawai short today and heads back to the mainland, to try and avert the beginnings of the fiscal cliffe many have waited so long to appear.

Soon everyones labours and skills will be very valuable indeed, I have akways tried to get this message across, even 22 G's worth on DIF in both guises, I think this is the big one coming folks.

But as Cpl Jones says, don't panic, start working out how to work together.

I would not have a lot of problems walking away from the current rhythmn. 2 years ago I lost my home and forced to sell or donate all my posessions; furniture, cookware, books, music, 70% of my clothing, etc. So I don't really have much left to lose or worry about but I do like being comfortable.

noseymutegirl wrote:
Truly sorry to here that NMG, we have had similar here before during and after our trials and tribulations, but great freinds and time soon made us realise where the way out lay.
I would say to anyone today, there is still time to gather the necessary skills and comunity spirit to ease any gatherers or articifers through whatever lies ahead.

Guevarista wrote:
I hav'nt seen the documentary as yet, but I can guess what went down, this kind of movement is people adapting towards what is known in the beekeeping world, As Isolation Starvation, basically, one starts slowly jot to feed the slight of hand you think is helping anyone but themselves.

At first these criminals can fall back upon their insider tradesmen, to try and starve the opposition within the castle they wait outside. But in our case we are outside the walls and they hold fast beyind the walls of the banks of the planet, banks are not strontholds without the people inside holding them up.

There comes a change over point, where the ones in charge can no longer contain all the protective barriers to the people simply walking away, the key is to stay at home instead of coming out fighting ourselves, then the penny soon drops and the result is a society without the old system in place, and what Icke in his wisdom calls a PNC.

The Apprentice wrote:
They'll just extend the debt ceiling and kick the can down the road some more, just as the EU are doing.

This and related sections of the forum is where I am going to 'take up residence' from now on.

In this thread I will be posting, thoughts, ideas and experiences on steps we can take to walk away from the system that dominates.
It's my hope that others will join in and post any thing they consider helpful.
It's my hope that absent friends such as Griswald may notice that this area of the forum is receiving fresh stimulus. It's my hope that The App will likewise gravitate this way. It's my hope that all of you that can see the benefit in taking steps away from ties to the dominant system will gravitate this way.

So to start with, here's a short video about Local Exchange Trading schemes:


LETS are not a perfect solution, far from it. They are however a massively powerful step along the walking away path. I strongly encourage any of you to look into them. Your area may already have such a scheme, if not, why not try setting up something along the LETS lines?

www.letslinkuk.net/

When I get back down to Cornwall in a week or so I will be starting the process of engaging in this kind of activity in my new 'home' area.

www.uk.freecycle.org/

Freecycle is another fantastic thing on so many levels.
It's helped us recently. Moving from a 3 bed house with outbuildings to a mobile home obviously results in needing to get rid of stuff.
Several bulky items have already been 'freecycled'. We get to not have to worry about getting rid of an old but perfectly useable sofa, someone else gets an old but perfectly useable sofa. Win win

love freecycle and have also used preloved - shall be looking into the lets stuff though my nearest one is still a little far away in exeter - but then everything in devon is far away when you dont drive! - have found doing the craft fairs that many fellow crafters are more then happy to swap makes for makes which has been awesome for xmas nice thread

Your craft skills and artisan approach are totally relevant to this thread thor One of the most crucial steps we can take is learning to do things for ourselves. Employing our own skills and labour to meet our needs and desires rather than automatically going to our wallets and the high street. Am loving the fact that you are mixing with others with a similar approach and swapping things rather than totally relying on exchange of dirty 'money'.
I wonder if your skills would not only be useful in a LETS style scheme through distributing your wares but perhaps also in teaching others how to do what you can do. Of course, you don't actually need to use a LETS at all, putting the word out in our communities that we are available to help each other is every bit as valid. We are lucky in Britain that there is already an existing culture of Community volunteers, that culture could easily be expanded upon

It's of course worth mentioning that whilst we may be in the process of walking away, we will no doubt also still have to be interacting with the current system. It's pretty much unavoidable and we should not feel bad about ourselves for having to have a bank account or visit a supermarket for example.
That said, we do have control over HOW we interact and which parts of the system receive benefit from our interaction.
In Britain for example, the Co-operative, whilst not a perfect organization IS far preferable to say shopping at Tesco or banking at Barclays.
The co-op bank has a process of consultation with it's members that forms policy on it's investments. That leads the bank to avoid investment in atrocious system activities like, the arms trade and vivisection.

www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/ethical-banking/

The Co-op is just that, anyone can join. Membership gives you a say in the running of the organization and a share of the profits. Ok you aren't going to reap massive reward financially but that isn't the point. The point is that by even just shopping at the Co-op you are choosing to interact with the system in a way that is far preferable than say lining the pockets of the shareholders of Tesco.

www.co-operative.coop/membership/what-is-membership/

As I said, the Co-op isn't a perfect antidote to the system of exploitation, but it IS a far better model and approach than the one presented by the likes of Tesco and Barclays.
There are of course things like building societies and credit unions which if wisely investigated can offer a better way of interacting with the system.
I guess the point I'm making is look into things, there are alternatives that whilst they may not be perfect, do represent steps along the path of walking away.

I don't know whether it is because I live in the southwest where there are a lot of close knit small communities but there is a plethora of schemes and stuff available. One that I hope to participate in in the new year is one where people donate home grown/reared foodstuffs and cooking lessons are run by volunteers - the food is then used for communal meals for anyone who wants to come socialise. Which helps on so many levels - get kids cooking from scratch with their parents, provides meals for those on low incomes and social gathering for those who may not get to go out much - be great to set up more of these types of schemes across the country.

dubmeup wrote:
I have a severe aversion for all things tesco and only shop at the co-op. It's better than nothing I guess.

It's far more than better than nothing sket. Imagine how quickly the corporate supermarkets would shut down if everyone bit the bullet and went to the Co-op for things that they just can't get direct from their communities.

Of course this opens another angle of the subject of walking away. That being we are well advised to take a good look at the things we think we need. For example do we need an air freshener to remove the stench of Andyh's butt ejections when half an onion left in a room does a very good job of sucking up bad odours? Cleaning products? How many of them do we actually need when our Grannies and Grandads coped perfectly well without a cupboard full of Procter and Gamble etc? Here's one of the results of a 0.2 second Google search on the subject:

housekeeping.about.com/od/environment/a/...leaning-Products.htm

Ok I appreciate that Lemons don't exactly grow on trees in Britain too well, tend to come in on boats and planes and no doubt involve agrichemicals and low paid pickers but my point is more that there are plenty of alternatives to a lot of the products we think we need.

dubmeup wrote:
Well on this particular subject I can also say that I don't do the cupboards full of these either as I'm a great believer in good old soap, water and some elbow grease. Have to admit to liking dettol which I buy then pour about one part into a preused squirty bottle then dilute with water. I've been using this method for years and its the only spray type cleaning product I entertain. I certainly don't have a product for every different worktop, floor, etc in my house and find it a ridiculous and money wasting notion.

Have you ever considered replacing the Dettol with vinegar sket?

homesteadsurvival.blogspot.co.uk/ I love this blog and several others that are available on the net for recipes and ideas and alternatives.

So much info on the web and people willing to share their knowledge

dubmeup wrote:
I do use vinegar too from time to time and am a great believer too in using plain old baking powder for eliminating smells etc.

@thor... got that site bookmarked and you're right, the webs full of useful little tips