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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2012)
letters TO THE EDITOR eugenemutualaidsociety.org and learn more about forming or joining a mutual aid society among your own friends and family, in your neighborhood or together with those who share a common interest, hobby or club. Each one of us can help us all be less dependent on government and the capitalist economic system that owns it. It’s fun, it’s free and empowers us all. Mutual aid societies build and strengthen communities in a way that makes us all more than just voters and consumers. All it takes is one meeting face-to-face the fi rst week of each month to discuss what you can all do to be more self-suffi cient, what your needs are and what resources you have to offer other groups. Your group then picks a representative to meet with those from other groups around you the following week. Such community groups are unlike other neighborhood associations in that they are open to everyone, not just homeowners, and are small enough — less than 30 people is ideal — to where meetings can be quiet, friendly occasions (maybe followed with a potluck or partay!) and all decisions made by consensus. Mutual aid societies can also help us grow more local commerce and cottage industry and home business opportunities; they can be skills-sharing centers to learn or teach self-suffi ciency and money- saving skills such as sewing, canning, brewing and fermenting, beekeeping and gardening. Please join us! Warren Weisman Eugene AWARENESS IS A START In response to the Jan. 5 cover story about young people in action, highlighting Perry Graham, I wholeheartedly agree that this generation of young people (age 18 to 25) have forgotten they can make a difference. In the article the readers learn that Graham was the “brains behind the Occupy Eugene’s Expression Center” and was also arrested while protesting. Graham is a reminder of how very few of today’s young people get involved in politics, even when it comes to local issues. As one of the young people myself, I believe we can disprove our current title of “apathetic” simply by being aware of what is going on outside of our own little worlds. How many young people were aware of Occupy Eugene? How many young people have voted since turning 18? Perhaps the core of this issue is that it is less common for young people in these times to be passionate about things they have become desensitized to. Celene Eldritch Eugene CIRCUMVENTING RIGHTS There is a fundamental understanding in America that “we the people” are born with inalienable rights that the government cannot violate. Yet all of these rights are now on hold while the government attempts to fi ght this modern threat known as “terrorism.” With the newly signed National Defense Authorization Act, the government now claims the ability to have the military arrest American citizens, hold them indefi nitely, without a trial, on the accusation that they may be terrorists. Over the last decade, an authoritarian police state has been erected not only to fi ght “terror,” but now to pepper spray peaceful protesters demanding that our fi nancial system not be run like a giant casino. The tools to fi ght terrorism were never to fi ght shadowy foreigners, they are aimed at us who demand equal protection under the law. Government continues to use 9/11 as justifi cation of the elimination of our rights and, until we know the whole story about 9/11, they will continue to do so. Sean Smiley Springfi eld LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows, with priority given to timely local issues. Please limit length to 200 words, keep submissions to once a month, and include your address and phone number for our files. Email to letters@ eugeneweekly.com fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 26, 2012 5
