‽istis ponders much, including ‘sankofa’ (I) (weekending March 9th 2024)
This week,
as usual, ‽istis has pondered and wondered many things:
‽ responses to the Church of England’s proposed £100 million
fund to address historical links to the slave trade. Considered by an oversight
group to be ‘too small and should be expanded at least tenfold’[i],
while others have suggested that ‘Critics said the move risked putting
parishioners off donating to their cash-strapped churches as it would appear
the CofE had 'vast sums to throw around'. Reverend Ian Paul argued it was
'anti-Christian' and suggested it was motivated by 'a death wish for the Church
of England'. ’[ii]
‽ the potential nature of any interaction between thoughts,
feelings and action; the meaning of the words ‘spectrum’, ‘continuum’ and ‘taxonomy’
- and whether any of these could apply to how someone (well, OK, me) could act
to promote change:
·
indirectly
and positively: influencing, making a case, persuading, promoting discussion,
debate and encouraging the building of consensus;
·
indirectly
and possibly a bit less positively: deploying and dangling ‘carrots’
·
indirectly
and negatively – finding leverage so that someone may do something that they
don’t necessarily agree with, or they feel pressured to do to avoid a negative
outcome - setting up a lesser of two evils; deploying and waving ‘sticks’
·
directly
– through participation to a greater or lesser extent in democratic processes
or just doing/being the change, the new, that which you might wish to see in
the world, proving that different is possible, product or behaviour as proof[iii]
·
…and
wondering where protest and non-violent action may fit and be justified
·
…and
wondering where violent action may fit or ever be justified, especially if the
‘means’ is incompatible and incongruent with any desired ‘end’ (e.g: war to
bring about peace, assassination of an elected leader of a ruling or opposition
party or movement, etc.)
‽ retirement ages and, whilst against discrimination on age
grounds, ‽istis can’t help but wonder whether the USA could find contenders and
a prospective President where no doubts about age, or mental acuity or capacity
would be voiced
‽ the phenomenon of podcasts[iv]: 'A Muslim and a Jew go There'; 'Soul Survivor'; 'Electoral Dysfunction'; and an 'old-tech'? radio gem: 'Add to Playlist'.
‽ regional identity, customs and the contents of a pasty[v]
‽ Gaza this week: bombs dropped, life-taking weapons provided by the USA[vi]
– v – air drops, life-saving humanitarian aid provided by the USA[vii]…
and the death toll…
‽ and from the deeply serious and dreadful to the ridiculous: where does the
mud from a muddy dog go, once you’re back at home
So, a great deal has been internal-monologuing its way around,
mulling-over-style (including a snippet of a research finding cited on ‘X’ that
suggested that a fair proportion of people don’t have an inner monologue -
which opened up an interesting ‘www-labyrinth’ dive nicely distracting from
getting on with this week’s blog!)…
But the idea of ‘sankofa’[viii] (retrieving things of value from our knowledge of the past -
and mentioned in the blog weekending December 9th[ix])
has also continued to be
a preoccupation.
Some exploration and perhaps reclaiming of ‘our knowledge of the
past’ may feature from time to time in future blogs - and this week I have been
digging around[x] in the writings of Gerrard
Winstanley[xi] (leader and theoretician
of the so-called ‘agrarian communists’, the Diggers) from Civil War 17th
century England[xii] to see if there are
nuggets of wisdom to consider and perhaps, possibly, maybe reclaim.
Here are some extracts; the themed headings are my suggestions…
On levelling and equality, riches, poverty and war:
·
‘Every
man and woman shall have the free liberty to marry whom they love…’[xiii]
·
‘But
shall not one man be richer than another? There is no need of that; for riches
make men vain-glorious, proud, and to oppress their brethren; and are the
occasion of wars.’
On a challenge to those who might seek to hold office – to be chosen because they
are:
·
‘of
peaceable spirits, and of a peaceable conversation’
·
‘understanding…
and who are experienced in the laws of peaceable and right-ordered government’
·
‘of
courage, who are not afraid to speak the truth; for this is the shame of many
in England at this day, they are drowned in the dung-hill of slavish fear’
On office holders, governing (and a strategy to address migration?):
·
‘He
who pretends one thing in words, and his actions declare his intent was another
thing, shall never bear office in the commonwealth.’[xiv]
·
‘Governing
is a wise and free ordering of the earth and the manners of mankind by
observation of particular laws or rules, so that all the inhabitants may live
peaceably in plenty and freedom in the land where they are born and bred.’
On possessions and business:
·
‘The
earth is to be planted, and the fruits reaped and carried into barns and
store-houses… and if any man or family
want corn or other provision they may go to the store-houses and fetch without
money…’
·
‘In
every town and city shall be appointed store-houses… from whence every
particular family may fetch such commodities as they want, either for their use
in their house, or for to work in their trades…’
·
‘The
store-houses shall be every man’s substance, and not anyone’s.’
·
‘There
shall be no buying and selling of the earth, not of the fruits thereof.’
·
‘When
mankind began to buy and sell, then did he fall from his innocence.’
On ‘reviling and provoking words’ (even in an age before social
media and ‘trolling’!):
·
‘If
any give reviling and provoking words whereby his neighbour’s spirit is
burdened, if complaint is made…’ first time: ‘admonish the offender privately
to forebear’; continuation: ‘be openly reproved and admonished’ in public;
further continuation: ‘whipped’; fourth time: made a servant for twelve months…
On direct knowledge, evidence and not virtual reality or ‘fake
news’:
· 'And everyone who speaks of any herb, plant, art or nature of mankind, is required
to speak nothing by imagination, but what he hath found out by his own industry
and observation…’
On health care (free at the point of delivery) and Doctors pay (‽):
·
‘If
any persons be sick or wounded, the chirurgeons, who are trained up in the
knowledge of herbs and minerals and know how to apply plasters or physic, shall
go when they are sent for to any who need their help, but require no reward,
because the common stock is the public pay for every man’s labour.’
On justice or injustice in the absence of corroborating evidence and witnesses:
·
‘If
a man lie with a woman forcibly, and she cry out and give no consent; if this
be proved by two witneses (sic), or the man’s confession, he shall be put to
death, and the woman let go free; it is a robbery of a woman’s bodily freedom’[xv]
·
‘He
who strikes his neighbour shall be struck himself by the executioner, blow for
blow, and shall lose eye for eye, tooth for tooth, limb for limb, life for
life; and the reason is that men may be tender of one another’s bodies, doing
as they would be done by.’[xvi]
Hmmm! On balance, ‽istis is not sure of the potential for
reclaiming Winstanley’s ideas but, as the UK press debates a possible date for
a General Election, as ‘super Tuesday’[xvii]
comes and goes in the USA - and as ‘Time’ magazine proclaims:
‘2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps the election
year.
Globally, more voters than ever in history will head to the
polls as at least 64 countries (plus the European Union)—representing a
combined population of about 49% of the people in the world—are meant to hold
national elections…’[xviii]
then these lines below at least may be worth repeating and heeding:
‘He who pretends one thing in words, and his actions declare his
intent was another thing, shall never bear office in the commonwealth.’
‘Governing is a wise and free ordering of the earth and the
manners of mankind by observation of particular laws or rules, so that all the
inhabitants may live peaceably in plenty and freedom…’
As news is shared in the public domain of the divorce of Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied[xix], ‽istis wonders whether Ms Portman will receive half of her husband’s shoe collection...
Apologies all round...
©‽istisNB:
further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on X/Twitter with replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders.
X/Twitter ‘follows’ and
respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
[i] https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/church-england-expand-target-address-slavery-links-1-bln-pounds-2024-03-04/
[ii] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13156867/vicars-uproar-church-england-slavery-reparations.html
[iii] Often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, but… https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/10/23/be-change/
[iv] Listened to recently: https://www.premier.plus/soul-survivors/podcasts/soul-survivors; https://www.bestpodcasts.co.uk/podcast/a-muslim-a-jew-go-there/; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1meu_6ELAE; https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00106lb
[vi] ‘The
United States has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign
military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began Oct. 7, amounting to
thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters,
small arms and other lethal aid, U.S. officials told members of Congress in a
recent classified briefing.’ Washington Post report March 6th 2024: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/06/us-weapons-israel-gaza/
[vii] https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3697054/us-participates-in-second-humanitarian-airdrop-for-gaza/
[viii]
Sankofa: retrieving things of value from our
knowledge of the past. Sankofa: Embracing Past Lessons for a Brighter Future– AYEEKO
[x]
Pun intended…
[xi] ‘Gerrard
Winstanley (baptized Oct. 10, 1609, Wigan, Lancashire, Eng.—died 1676) leader
and theoretician of the group of English agrarian communists known as the
Diggers, who in 1649–50 cultivated common land on St. George’s Hill,
Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, and at nearby Cobham until they were dispersed by
force and legal harassment. They believed that land should be made available to
the very poor.’ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerrard-Winstanley
[xii]
Main source: ‘The True Levellers’ Standard Advanced’, ‘The Law of Freedom’ and
Other Writings – Gerrard Winstanley. Introduction and this edition © Will
Johnson (ISBN: 978-14992754879) 2014
[xiii]
From ‘those particular laws…whereby a commonwealth may be governed’ no.56, in
‘The Law of Freedom’ 1652
[xiv]
Nolan principles precursors…?
[xv] Mind
you… perhaps we have little room for complacency?: ‘The distressing truth is
that if you are raped in Britain today, your chances of seeing justice are slim’
a headline from 2022:
[xvi]
Proportionate, at least… and if this is
a part of a radical and progressive manifesto, then one may wonder how harsher
any norm may have been that prevailed at the time?
