Letters in issue 19

Depleted uranium article causes a stir

I am writing in response to the article ‘Legacy of Treason’ (byronchild March–May 2006), about depleted uranium and Howard’s agreement that the US may test DU weaponry here in Australia.

First I need to thank-you from the bottom of my heart for your magazine, I feel it is playing a major role in creating a shift in my consciousness to someplace higher, as I’m sure it does for many others. Thank-you also to Kali personally for your editorials; not only do they nurture my growth but I also find in you an inspiring role model and living reminder for me on those occasions when doubts enter me regarding fulfilling my own higher purpose and contribution to humanity and evolution.

I hadn’t watched the news since the last elections (here and USA), I was that devastated, but after reading the editorial in a back issue (War & Children, Mar–Jun 2003) about exposing ourselves to the pain of what is going on in our world, I decided it was time I lifted the veils of illusion once again.

I was doing fine, then I read ‘Legacy of Treason’. I cried. I floated in and out of a state of horrified distress each time I remembered the article over the following few days. Then I read it again. And again. And now I’m angry.

To quote Kali in the above-mentioned past editorial: ‘...let the photos rip you apart, let the statistics sear you and break your stride...what will that do? It will brew a storm inside’.

I’m old enough to have learnt to turn my anger around and use it to motivate me. I am now informing as many people as I possibly can about this issue, joining an activist group, showing the DVD...

Thank-you to Alok O’Brien for this article. Saving the whales, the ozone layer...they all suddenly seem to fade in significance next to the issue of DU.

Rachel Rotenberg
Brisbane, QLD



I am writing you about one of your articles which is called ‘Legacy of Treason, Depleted Uranium and the Poisoning of Humanity’. At first, I want to congratulate you about this article.

I am working as an attorney at law in Istanbul for a company which has a radio station and several websites. They would like to translate this article into Turkish and publish some part of it in their websites and radio channel.  We would like to get your permission for this translation and publication.
 
Hasan Akbay, email
Member of Istanbul Bar Association
Turkey   



What is happening in our world? Not good things. I have always had a concern for our environment and in my own small way have endeavoured to be environmentally friendly, eco-minded and generally a kind and thoughtful person.

Recently, however, I have been conscious of a creeping guilt over my consumption and an alarming concern about what we are doing to ourselves and our world. Having recently had my second baby I’m frightened of the world we are creating or un-creating for our children. While I believe that bringing up our children to be loving of the earth and to treat it and their fellow humans with respect is an essential way to make a difference, it is also a cop out.

We need to be active.

I have just read your article on Depleted Uranium (byronchild March–May 2006) and how much radioactivity is released into the air in Australia and all over the world. There have also been numerous articles in the media recently on global warming, rain forest depletion, on a culture obsessed with consumerism, on cancer, obesity, diabetes and the list goes on.

What are we doing? Nothing. Well, that’s what I’m doing. Nothing.

I don’t want to do ‘nothing’ anymore. This final article has moved me into action. But I don’t know what action I will take.

Where does one begin?

There are hundreds of organisations standing up for what they believe in. I cannot join them all. I have two children. How much time can I devote to a cause? What can I do?

So I am writing this letter. To whom I will send it is still a mystery but I want to put it out there. I want to do something. I will do something. I am doing something.

I’m sure there are many people out there that feel the same way. How can we mobilise ourselves into a concerted action? We must be able to make a bigger difference than the thousands of admirable but small groups working towards a better world but only chipping away at the problems.

I would like to hear from individuals, their ideas, concerns and what is out there. Meanwhile I shall be researching ways of making a difference.

Karen Peradon-Alaga
Email
You may reply to Karen at: kperadon@hotmail.com



Editor’s response
Thank you for your email, for your passion and concern and for heeding the call to stand up and make a difference in any way that you can. It’s easy to feel disempowered, but your efforts are immeasurable and important.

One of the most powerful tools we have is the ability to purchase local food and support local food systems. Food is the lynchpin of social change because it is the huge momentum of the economics, oil consumption and ethics behind the globalised agri-business that ultimately lead to decisions like using depleted uranium in military exercises and wars for oil. Buying local, supporting local farmers’ markets,  local food co-ops and creating local community gardens are some of the most effective ways you can serve change. Plus it supports others to do so also.

Another initiative readers should know about is called Hundred Hearts: Media that Matters, which is a collaboration of three ethical businesses, byronchild magazine, Santos and Creative Edge Facilitators. Our purpose is to bring people together to discuss and respond to the big issues of our time, to support local sustainability initiatives and co-create community responses.

Hundred Hearts is a community outreach program bringing innovative social- and environmental-justice documentary films as vehicles for those discussions in communities throughout Australia. We help couple those screenings with panels, discussion groups, workshops and follow up material — so that people become deeply engaged in the issues presented in the films, and can move forward to create change in their own lives.

Hundred Hearts sells Screening Kits which allow community-learning screenings to happen through individuals and organisations on a grassroots level regionally and nationally. Becoming a Hundred Hearts associate, means that you, your school, your friends or neighbourhood can host inspiring and informative documentaries that really do help make a difference. An informed public is a powerful public. Call or email our office to find out more.

(Please note. As of Nov 06, Hundred Hearts no longer exists as an entity. The vision was bigger than we had the ability/time to manage. However screening packs etc are available from Kindred)

Alok has recently created a Yahoo users group since this article was published that will allow people to post and receive the latest updates on this issue. It seems to be growing into a strong activist forum that may yet force some change on this issue. Go to http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/Duresist and register. You can receive and add information at will there.

Beyond attachment, authentic parentingI read Robin Grille’s article (byronchild June–Aug 2006) with delight.  As a parent of a four-year-old, I relish increasing the authentic connection between us. Robin Grille talked about a child’s healing and empowerment when his hurt, sadness, or rage (tantrums) is given empathy.

As an Aware Parenting instructor, I have observed that it is not only children and parents who need to show their authentic feelings. From his birth onwards, a baby experiences feelings such as overwhelm, confusion, sadness, and frustration, which require expression. He does this through crying, moving vigorously, and sweating, whilst being held in the arms of someone who loves him. This way his whole being is accepted. As a toddler and child he continues to express his feelings and that way is able to stay open to connection. 

A baby whose every feeling apart from happiness is rocked, jiggled, or fed away soon learns that there are many parts of him unwelcome. As a toddler his need to let out his feelings and be heard becomes stronger, as the tension of holding them in becomes more uncomfortable. Behaviours that parents find challenging, such as hitting, biting, lack of cooperation, and agitation, usually signal a child’s desperate need for expression and connection. It is our loving ‘no’, said when we are in tune with our own feelings and needs, which gives the child a reason to show all that has been hidden.

Crying and raging allows the stress to be released, so the child can again connect. Allowing a child to express his feelings from birth means the parent has lots of practice hearing the hurt, and so eases the transition from ‘all-giving’ parent to ‘parent-who-also-has-needs’.  The parent lets go of fear and guilt about hearing her child’s emotional pain and is thus freed to express her feelings to her growing child in an authentic, self-responsible way.

Marion Badenoch Rose
www.awareparenting.blogspot.com


Thank you
Just wanted to thank you for such a wonderfully informative magazine which the whole world needs to read. I feel very privileged to have been able to have my daughter here in the hills near Mullumbimby and to also be exposed to so many ideas on natural parenting.  We are sleeping with our baby, practising elimination communication and attachment parenting.

All the extra effort we are putting in is worth it when I see how healthy and happy my baby is. Anyway I hope you enjoy the photos I have sent you, although I’m sure you must receive many cute pictures.  (No room to publish them this issue, unfortunately: Ed) Thanks again to the byronchild team.  Love your work.

Steph
Mullumbimby, NSW