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Gigantomakhia

By: Cesar

GIGANTOMAKHIA : AN ECOπ-al STATEMENT
or
*An introduction to Political Ecology/

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Nb : About the title, see: http://www.gigantomachia.com/ ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantomachy
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FOREWORD
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“We later civilizations . . . we too know that we are mortal.

We had long heard tell of whole worlds that had vanished, of empires sunk without a trace, gone down with all their men and all their machines into the unexplorable depths of the centuries, with their gods and their laws, their academies and their sciences pure and applied, their grammars and their dictionaries, their Classics, their Romantics, and their Symbolists, their critics and the critics of their critics. . . . We were aware that the visible earth is made of ashes, and that ashes signify something. Through the obscure depths of history we could make out the phantoms of great ships laden with riches and intellect; we could not count them. But the disasters that had sent them down were, after all, none of our affair.

Elam, Ninevah, Babylon were but beautiful vague names, and the total ruin of those worlds had as little significance for us as their very existence. But France, England, Russia…these too would be beautiful names. (…)"
**-Paul Valery, Crisis of the Mind (1919)

“(…) France, England, Russia…these too would be beautiful names.” Humanity too, one might now add, is a beautiful name, just as Dinosaurs or even Te pito o te henua, Easter Island’s maiden name.

Ecologist are often perceived as having a radical perspective one the whole Man/Nature divide, thinking of nature as being violated by man and fighting to change that state of thing. Yet to the majority of ecologist today, political ecoloy is a Humanism, not an ethic of nature.(1) And the main reason why they fight for a global reasoned policy toward climate change, environmental justice and so on is because Mankind is on the brink of collective suicide, not because the earth is at risk of anything. They realize that the earth was here long before us, and will probably still be here long after all of us are gone.

INTRODUCTION : Modern Socrates

For, since “mechanical civilization (…) reached its final degree of savagery” with the atomic bomb.(2) Since the first step of man on the moon in 1969. Since the first picture of (the whole of) earth from space in 1972.(3) We have started to realize that our planet is as finite as the Easter Island or Nauru, just a little bigger, and to come to terms with the fact that, as Camus puts it : “We are going to have to choose, in a future that is more or less imminent, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of scientific conquests.”(2) We, Humanity. We, Men, creatures of culture, “political animals” who cannot but live in groups, are going to have to make a choice. For our current social and economical organization is unsustainable, and condemns us.

(1):
(2): http://www.nationalphilistine.com/baghdad/text/camus.html
(3):
(4): see (2)
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In A Nutshell : Political ecology is a global movement. It is about Mankind slowly perceveing itself, getting to grasp with the concept of Humanity, getting used to look at the cosmos through its lens. It is about Humanity realizing its contingency. It is about men getting accustomed to habitually take the point of view of Humanity.

Interestingly enough, it started from, was elaborated during and asserted itself by little, local community initiatives.
You will find collections of these initiatives here, along with some historical background, some educational videoclips & documentaries, some jokes and some films.
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/!\ WORK IN PROGRESS /!\*
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Plan :

I/ The state of things

II/ How we got there [1945 – Present]

III/ The way to go

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*OPEN TO ALL SUGGESTION
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..(=••= )
…ღ♥*♥ღ.•*
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I/ THE STATE OF THINGS
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1/ NO TO PLANNED OBSOLESENCE

2/ The Gleaners & I
Documentaire -Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse 1/4 by nature-boy-79

BONUS 1 : The World’s Biggest Shopping Mall

The World’s Largest Shopping Mall from Kontent Films on Vimeo.

3/ Ilha das Flores

4/ “If slaughter houses had glass wall” : even if, like me, would disagree with the second half of this statement, this first bit leaves you wondering …


Junkopia (Chris Marker, John Chapman & Frank… par praxis33

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..(=••= )
…ღ♥*♥ღ.•*
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II/ HOW WE GOT THERE
<Films are meant to be watch in this order, so as to form a coherent crash course into what’s at stake in contemporary history [1945- today]>
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“It is curious that the rejection of the hereditary principle in politics has had almost no effect in the economic sphere in democratic countries. (…) We still think it natural that a man should leave his property to his children; that is to say, we accept the hereditary principle as regards economic power while rejecting it as regards political power. Political dynasties have disappeared, but economic dynasties survive. I am not at the moment arguing for or against this different treatment of the two forms of power; I am merely pointing out that it exists, and that most men are unconscious of it. When you consider how natural it seems to us that the power over the lives of others resulting from great wealth should be hereditary, you will understand better how men like sir Robert Filmer could take the same view as regards the power of kings (…)”

Bertrand Russel, History of Western Philosophy (1946), Routledge 2010, p.567
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1/ The power of nightmares pt.1 : Baby, it’s cold outside
The Power of Nightmares Vostfr Baby it's Cold… by ManchaFu

2/ My enemy’s enemy

3/ Operation Condor
Opération Condor 1 by sinziana2

3bis/ The Battle of Chile
La bataille du chili 1 sur 5 by pepitogracia

4/ The terror’s advocate (The long version is really worth it)

5/ The power of nightmares pt.2 : The Phantom Victory

6/ Enron : The smartest guys in the room
Link : http://www.megavideo.com/?v=GTWRL0I7

7/ The power of nightmare pt.3

…/\¸_/\
..(=••= )
…ღ♥*♥ღ.•*
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III/ THE WAY TO GO
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1/ Think Global, Act Rural

3/ Small is beautiful

Small is beautiful 1/6 by Wakeup-

3/ V for Vendetta

4/ Education

[+ Jonas/ Habermas/ Rosenvallon = reform education around citizenship in a Sustainable Republican Democracy]

 

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Kenji

14Nov11

You had me worried- The Power of Nightmares is already on my Leftist and Liberal Films list :) Excellent film it is too.

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Kenji

14Nov11

Ah this is taking shape now

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