Vietnam War Photo
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Date: |
Thu, 12 Oct 2000
22:45:21 -0700 |
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To: |
"Alternatives 2001 List"
<alt-2001-planning@dca.net> |
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From: |
"Tough Tony"
<tuff_tony@hotbot.com> |
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Subject: |
Re: the
business of this list |
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I have been perplexed about how to participate in
this discussion. I think I really don’t
know what I want to see happen at Alternatives
2K+1.
On Thu, 5 Oct 2000 09:05:26 Wipkugler wrote:
There may no better venue than “Alternatives”
for discussion about work.
Right or wrong, we live in a society
where people define their identity by
what they “do.” Employment (not to
mention self-employment) is a vehicle we
can all use to define ourselves and
create alternatives in the direction of
our lives.
This is an example of where I have problems.
Previously Linda Andre said something about
how the ‘old-timers’ are into human rights
and the ‘newbies’ are into employment. Well
my problem is that the ‘employment’ commonly
comes out as somewhere between indifferent
to human rights to being an oppressor of
human rights. In 1995 I was the lead
organizer of the Jobs Now! conference in the
S.F. Bay Area, which turned the fashion to
the ‘employment’ side. But what has occurred
has been that people get involved in ‘do’
and don’t care any more about what’s
DONE.
So we “create alternatives in the direction
of our lives,” as long as we are better at
stepping on other clients than they on us.
I know that’s cynical but excuse me it’s a
real worry. Not that everybody’s mean-spirited
but I do mean we haven’t concentrated on
having it so that employment alternatives are
(1) wholesome and (2) consonant with the
human rights agendas Linda reminds us of.
Something like facing this issue would make
sense to me as a topic for Alt. 2K+1. But
so far I haven’t seen things written which
indicate that people have the stomach for
something like this.
Whence, I’m perplexed.
Andrew Phelps
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