In one of my blog posts (http://huanui.blogspot.com/2011/09/self-sufficient-as-community-is-this.html) I raise the question if it is possible to be legally self-sufficient as a community. I believe that based on all the regulations which do not allow us to legally share food in a community a self-sufficient community is not possible without the investment of a lot of money to pay for compliance. I am shocked that a government is obviously not supporting self-sufficient communities.
What do you think? I know a lot of people don't care about regulations. Is this a way? Do we have to cheat and brake laws to form self-sufficient communities? What can we do?
Cheers
Peter
Replies
Thanks to Roxy for pointing out this thread to me :-) What bugs me about this bill is how little discussion there is in the mainstream media about it. I learnt about it only through a friend who had read something about it on stuff.co.nz. I listen to National Radio at work most days and if they mentioned it I missed it and they are generally quite good at keeping you informed. I did e-mail them about it, but no reaction so far. I guess I failed to mention funny facts about puppies or opening jam jars...I hope they pick it up after the rugby and election are over.
I spent one evening trying to read up on the bill and still feel under-informed. Worse, I e-mailed my MP to express my opposition to the bill and after making sure I actually was in his electorate (no use wasting time on someone who can't vote for you, eh?), he sent me an answer that made me think he knew hardly any more than I do. He actually told me the bill had gone through, then his assistant told me it hadn't yet. The assistant send me what seems like an excerpt of the bill that mainly deals with sausage sizzles and suggested I make a submission :-P
Anyway, it seems like the worst bits of the bill have been amended, but I don't really like that tactic: You introduce a real shocker of a bill, see if people will notice, then tweak things so that it's a bit more acceptable and they'll swallow it because it could have been so much worse (like with the new copyright laws, also something that came out of the US) Or maybe I'm just a cynic.
For those people who think we are getting a bit hysteric about this thing, maybe I can give you some ethnic background (tongue firmly in cheek). Like Peter I'm German, we like following the rules, so it really annoys us if we have to break them just to go about our normal lives :-)) But secondly and more importantly our dear mother land had some rough patches last century concerning democracy, so Germans have (hopefully) learned that you have to nip bad stuff in the bud, it won't just go away if you ignore it. That funny little guy with the bad hair cut didn't mellow out when we made him chancellor and Monsanto won't suddenly start to protect the genetic heritage of our seeds and look out for the small farmer if we just open the door wide enough for them. I don't really enjoy politics, I much rather spend my spare time reading about chickens or veggies :-) but living in a democracy is a privilege that we do have to guard at times.
You've made some excellent points, Hanna and very eloquently, if I may say so. The trouble with NZers is that we have been so over-legislated for so long that we've become almost immune to new laws. They come; they go, when a new government is elected. Now, I realise that this Bill has a hidden agenda, namely, bringing NZ in to line with WTO (& Monsanto) dictates, which is cause enough for worry. What no-one has so far mentioned on this forum (that I've noticed), is that the Bill has already passed its first reading in the House.
Last time something like this happened, it was the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), the precursor to the WTO. This was sneaked in under cover of the America's Cup, the year NZ won. It was a paper of at least 1600 pages and contained some scary stuff. My husband cared enough to put a full-page ad in the paper to alert people, for all the good it did! Can we expect them to push this one through under urgency in the middle of RWC hysteria? Who knows....
Meanwhile, we'll just get on with our lives as best we can and try not to fall foul of the 'food police'.
This is good news. And I strongly believe that these things are triggered by discussions we and others have out in the public. And this is one of the things we need to do more, have public discussions where we openly and frankly voice our opinion. Because lets be honest, politicians will only do something if they have to. No matter what party they belong to. The Green Party actually supported the initial draft of the food bill. Now due to open public discussions they see it worthwhile to take a more critical stand.
Cheers
Peter
This is awesome news Peter. You've made my day :)
How long b4 we know weather or not they will remove 'small growers and home owners' from the bill?
Do you guys know about the sit in at Wall St, America. Check out this site for info and access to signing their woldwide petition. You can see how many others (over 434,000 so far from all over the world) have signed it and you can read their comments and add your own. You can see via video link what is happening there at the moment. Some one was singing the Bob Dylon song-the times they are a changing. Absolutely amazing. http://www.avaaz.org/en/the_world_vs_wall_st/?tta Hope that's right, am unsure about the underscores or whether they are just gaps. Well worth A look.
After all the profession of accountancy is mainly to find the best way to legally avoiding paying taxes.
Why not Barter is the oldest form of Trade. This Country over legistrates.
Igf it take breaking rules to be self sufficient then I say break them!
But why do we have to break a law to be self-sufficient? What with people who are not comfortable to break laws? Why not fight against the laws instead?
Cheers
Peter