Iconoclast Media

15 IDEAS for YOU!
To live out side of the corporation; methods and structures in which to conduct business, to make art, to explore, to express yourself and reclaim your life.

DIY: Do It Yourself culture: It’s fun, sometimes free, and very empowering. There are tons of books and websites showing you how to do things yourself and start a new hobby instead of simply buying a factory-produced and plastic ‘thing’ to suit every need and desire.  This is a DIY zine!

Subtervising: the art of “changing” advertisements. An example: one of the billboards on Fanshawe Park Road for a new subdivision reads: “Fox Fields has it all.” Someone could add: “except fields and foxes.” This would be brilliant.

Co-operatives: London is home to dozens of cooperative housing communities and the London Food Co-op on Princess at Adelaide. Co-ops are not-for profit and are run and owned by their own members. Memberships are generally cheap and usually require some participation.

Garage Sales: Although it is a bylaw infraction to have more than 2 per year the garage sale is your right to operate outside of government taxation and involvement.

Bartering and Trading: get into that garage and see what you don’t need or use, put it up on kijiji.ca and choose the option for barter/trade.

The World of FREE: Dumpster Diving, Freecycle.org, Salvaging, Recycling, Found Object Art:
To some the world of free is a lifestyle, which comes in many beautiful and adventurous forms.

Small Local business: As Sean Hurley said about Walmart at the Reclaiming Creativity Conference (held at London’s Aeolian Hall in 2006) “ignore it and it will go away!” We should all be shopping at locally-owned stores and ignoring the big box whenever possible. This may not be a good time to start your own business, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to consider a low-cost, home based business as an alternative to looking to the corporation for a steady job. I did!

Local Markets: it is healthier and better to eat local produce and support local farmers and workers. If we stop supporting corporations who ‘employ’ the poor in third world countries those corps will be forced to leave and the people may have a chance at reclaiming their land and growing their own foods.

Slow Food and Grow Food: Those who can grow their own food are truly empowered. The slow food movement is a return to a lifestyle which incorporates respect and knowledge about local foods and the process of cooking/preparing and nourishing yourself and your family.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
—Margaret Mead

I came to London from a city in northern Ontario called Thunder Bay.  It’s a small city, and kind of isolated, but it’s also home to a lot of really passionate activists.  Coming to a bigger city I assumed that I would find bigger activism, but that wasn’t the case.  In my search for like minded people I began to ask why so few people were taking on issues in the community.  This article came to mind as a response to this question, but also to help fascinating people like yourself find ways of sharing your passion with others.

Step One: Start Talking
Whether you’re passionate about peace in the Middle East, safer neighborhoods, or saving cats, chances are there are others that share that passion.  The easiest way to find people who share your view is to start talking about it.  Discussing an issue can actually be activism in itself, because it gets people thinking.  This discussion can happen in an everyday conversation, a blog, a Facebook group, a radio show, or a full blown action.  There’s a myth is society that says we have to be passionate about big social issues, and making big public displays of ourselves to be activists, but that’s not true.  If you’re actively bringing attention to an issue, you’re an activist.

Step Two: Collaboration
You may find through all the talking and discussing about this issue that you want to start meeting as a group, or perhaps join an existing group.  This can be an exciting and nerve wracking step.  Joining an existing group is a little easier, and requires less of a commitment on your part.  There are a few networks in London that advertise group meetings, such as the London Activist Network, and London Commons.  Before creating your own group, it is important to be aware of what’s already in the community.

Creating your own group can be an exciting venture, but it also requires commitment and energy.  Be prepared to start slow.  People are often cautious about joining new groups, especially if they are not normally activists, or are already over involved in issues.  Make sure to advertise your meetings as much as possible.  This can be done using flyers, Facebook, other social networks, or even simple word of mouth can be effective.

If you’re finding it difficult to attract new people, you may want to consider broadening the scope of your issue, or paying more attention to how you approach new members.  First impressions are important, if a person’s needs are not being met by the group they will not likely return.  Remember that everyone has strengths and resources that they bring to the group, and try to encourage everyone to contribute.  It may seem more convenient to keep things organized on your own, but that’s the fastest way to burn out.  Just because you started the group doesn’t mean you always have to take the lead.

Step 3: Get Out There!
As your group develops ideas will begin to take shape.  You may want to have demonstrations, share information with the community, or work on building the structure of your group.  What you do will vary from group to group and there are no set rules.  Some groups such as PETA have guides than can help you organize your group and plan actions, but most grassroots groups develop organically.  There will be appropriate times to put some structure in place, but this varies according to the group’s needs.

If you’re looking at going out into the community, consider your audience.  The general population prefers easy to understand information that explains the issue clearly, but briefly.  Politicians want proof and formal writing to even look at the issue, and make sure you send it to the right people.  When contacting the media, prepare for great coverage, but don’t expect it.

The three most important things to remember when creating and running a group:
1)    Avoid excluding people – everyone has something to offer, don’t discourage interest

2)    Be flexible – once your issue is a group issue, you’ve opened it up to people that may have different opinions that are also valid.  Group are dynamic, they change.

3)    Have Fun – if you’re not having fun, it’s probably not worth doing.

That issue that’s been eating at you won’t get any attention by sitting and complaining to yourself.  If you want to be an activist – get active!

Smart!Centres (Walmart) applies
for London zoning by-law changes

so they can establish a Complex at
the corner of Meadowlilly Road South

and Commissioners East right next
to Meadowlilly Woods’ lovely stand,

that environmentally sensitive area
close to the Thames.  Deep pockets

vie against deep wood.  Development
vs. organic diversity.  Tarmac vs. trillium

What do you love?  The choice is yours,
in season: Nature’s long cycle or fake

hype selling discounted bargains months
before due date.  Veracity vs. voracity.

Walmart’s pumped buys cost us dear in
exorbitant charges never marked down:

cheap overseas labour unrecognized,
deplorable working conditions ignored.

Walmart offers low, low prices way
beyond what we can humanly afford.

The tag you gleefully pay can’t account
for inevitable recompense in lost resource.

And the consequence?  Invasive species
multiply in a virus of corporation logos

that we collect and prize in vain, while
native plants die out.  Not a good deal.

What we don’t know, we can’t care for.
Meadowlilly Woods’ worth is now in flux.

How do you evaluate a loss of habitat
tamped down by asphalt, crushed by

power complexes where brand names
replace the reality of life that feeds us?

Smart!en up, Walmart.  Organized to
oppose development, we won’t shop.

What do we pay for the irreplaceable
place if it’s lost?  Memories all too soon

are boxed in by big stores selling greed.
Nostalgia like guilt is a sop to be sold.

“What’s a meadowlilly?” kids will ask,
reading a street name, its reality lost.

What do we tell them when simulacra
of names replace the fullness of life?

How do we appreciate the natural world,
changing, wild, free and our only home?

Ask what lasts.  Glacial meltwater carved
a spillway through the Ingersoll moraine,

floodplain to terraced loam to upland clay,
Carolinian and northern Great Lake forest.

Over ten thousand years, so many species
found their place, settled and now co-exist.

Native phlox and poppies from an old farm.
Willows sun-sparkle green on warbler song.

Beech on the hill slope shelter Spring Beauty.
Hemlocks mingle over fern in lacy ravines.

A boy wades into the river, fixing his lure to
wait, just as still as nearby Great Blue Heron.

What cost beauty?  What value do we place
on trail walks through harmonious complexity?

In the woods, you can breathe deeply and be
inspired.  Here we know we belong, participating

in the co-creative process of simply living,
sensing continuous wholeness.  Drawing

on the energy of nature, we emerge renewed
in a relationship of respect, understanding

what a wood is worth.  Stand your ground!!

Penn Kemp
myspace.com/pennkemp

1. Food crisis:
As farms are turned over to fuel production to keep cars running, stomachs will be running on empty around the world. Food prices will shoot up, and the crisis will be felt everywhere as western economies crash and food can no longer be shipped here. We need to plant community gardens, and learn what foods are available naturally in our ecosystems now. Learning how to conserve food is also very important to survive the winter months. Getting to know farmers and building relationships with them is also crucial. There is enough food for everyone to eat, but we will need to re-localize our diets.

2. Fake terrorism… again:
There are growing signs that another staged terrorist strike will occur in the United States to justify a broader ‘war on terror’. The ‘war on terror’ has become quite unpopular and those who wish to see it continue must scare the population back into supporting military aggression. It is quite possible that we’ll see another 9/11-style attack soon after Obama takes office, or even beforehand to justify attacking Iran. We must be prepared to expose it as a false flag and bring those responsible for it to justice. We cannot let ‘terrorism’ paralyze our movements like 9/11 did.

3. 2010 Olympics on stolen land:
The 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver-Whistler are only 14 months away. This multi-billion dollar corporate circus will be met with resistance everywhere! There will be disruptions of every Olympic-themed event and all corporate sponsors will be targeted. To know why check no2010.com.

4. G8 in Huntsville:
In the summer of 2010 the infamous G8 summit comes to Huntsville, Canada. There, the leaders of the eight most industrialized world powers will plan the fate of the world for the following year. These meetings are always met with riots in Europe because of their undemocratic nature. Not much resistance has been officially planned as of yet, and activists in Ontario need to start preparing now in order to disrupt this summit.

5. Obama not changing anything:
Although seeing a black person elected president of the U.S. is a historic moment and victory against racism, it does not change the fact that America is a corporat-ocracy. The same corporations who put Bush in power put Obama in power. We need to prepare for the catalyzing moment when the majority of the American population loses faith in him and the system he represents. We need to be prepared to show others how to work for change from outside the system.

6. Grassroots activism turning to direct action:
Most movements for social change have gravitated away from symbolic actions and are moving towards direct action already. This will no doubt continue as activists see their more passive efforts fail. In this upcoming year we will see more direct public confrontations, and a massive increase in unconventional actions take place. Sabotage, lockdowns, blockades and disruptions are coming to a town near you, so prepare yourself for social conflict and learn some new tactics.

7. Tar Sands showdown:
Mainstream organizations like Greenpeace and the Council of Canadians are gearing up for a big fight against the oil companies involved in the toxic tar sands of Alberta. The tar sands have been described as the world’s worst ecological disaster and can be seen from space as ‘scars’ on the earth.

8. CANSEC arms fair:
This May the nations biggest arms fair descends on Ottawa, and it is up to us to shut it down. The biggest names of the military-industrial-complex will be there to sell our government their newest killing machines.

9. School of Americas road trip:
Next November join 100 others from southern Ontario to travel to meet 20,000 people at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, for a festive, non-violent, celebration of resistance. Go to soaw.org for more info.

10. The collapse of capitalism:
We all know that capitalism is unsustainable, and the current economic crisis is a telling sign that it’s reaching the tipping point and teetering over the edge. The more money they print up to bail out these corrupt institutions, the quicker their ship will sink. We must seize this moment and offer real solutions and a vision of what kind of world we want.

Darius Mirshahi

The Importance of Independent Media

“There are times that reality just asserts itself, despite the haze created by television, news and entertainment. Sometimes crisis rips a tear in the fabric of myth and propaganda.”
-Paul Jay of the Real News

Informed citizenry must be a fundamental principle of civil society and global democracy. Speech concerning public affairs is more than self-expression; it is the essence of self-government. Independent media empowers people with independent journalism, information and media tools to change the world. This is key if we are to win the battle on global warming.

Is it a journalist’s job to ’speak for the planet’? Is environmentalism an ‘aganda’? How do the media industries themselves affect the natural world? How do we get a clear picture of the facts? The coverage is often diluted by corporate concentration as the values of big meadia resmble those of other corporate entities. Corporate news won’t ask the questions that we need answered. We need truly independent sources of news to tackle issues like these with courage and the interests of average citizens in mind. We need news that’s independent of corporations and governments, because free, independent, professional and analytical media are essential for diseminating news and information, and ensuring transparency in public affairs.

Are the environmental issues getting the media treatment they deserve? Do stories like our toxic air get enough attention? In struggles over massive projects, do all sides have an equal media voice? From local industry to international treaties, ecological issues directly affect our communities, food supply, health and the sustainability of our economic development. So, why isn’t the ecosystem a primary news beat like sports, celebrities and business?

Recently Environment Canada has even ‘muzzled’ its scientists, ordering them to refer all media queries to the federal government, where communications officers will help them respond with “approved lines”. Environment Canada scientists, many of them world leaders in their fields, have long been encouraged to discuss their work on everything from migratory birds to melting Arctic ice with media and public. Several of them were co-authors of the United nations report on climate change that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. This just makes independent media all the more valuable.

The host of Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, has said that”independent media institutions are esssential, as independent media can hold power accountable through providing alternative information,” and “will bring together both academic and grassroots perspectives.” “It is essential that we continue to build a challenge to the corporate media,” explains Goodman. “Today the media are the most powerful institutions on earth, more powerful than any gun or missle; the Pentagon has deployed the corporate media and we have to take it back.”

We feel that the mainstream corporate media is downplaying the undercurrent of resistance that is spreading everywhere. What we see is that the legitimacy of the system and of the elite is being challenged. People are raising questions about the logic of the market, nationalizing the auto industry, nationalizing banks, the growing discrepancy between the realities of most working class folks and a privileged few. Why is there no planning apparently tackling the issue of changing our major industries as to waste and pollution? Because the media have taken turns defending the status quo, extending it, extolling it, justifying it.

The whole point of our Iconoclast project is looking toward the future and working on solutions. There is no point to watching the news if it isn’t about how you can engage in the world to make it better. what makes us different than the mainstream is our funding comes from the people. When we are working on a story, we are only thinking about empowering the citizenry. So, supporting local independent media is supporting views outside of that of government and corporate influence. Which is one essential ingredient to addressing the problems before us.

By Heatscore

On Wednesday, March 25^th a small group of us set out for the UCC building at the University of Western Ontario to protest the school’s decision to allow members of the Canadian military to use the space as part of their ongoing and seemingly insatiable effort to recruit our nation’s young adults into the armed forces. In the middle of the building’s high-volume foyer, the Canadian Forces had set up shop, nestled in between tables advertising jobs with Service Canada and the RCMP. Directly across from them, two uniformed police officers stood watch in front of a table laid out with propaganda advertising the “rewarding and challenging” careers available with the London Police department. Armed with several flats of corrugated cardboard and some thick black sharpies purchased for the occasion from the University book store, our group headed for a booth at the nearby Spoke tavern to begin constructing some signs and to discuss strategy. The two rows of recruitment booths had been arranged so as to form a tight corridor down the center of the hallway, and the area was packed tight with students, offering little room for direct engagement by the members of our group.

After we finished with the signs, we decided to split up into smaller groups. A few of us went out front and taped a large sign that read “UWO ? Recruitment Zone” to a prominent pillar in between the doors of the building’s main entrance. A second group set up signs in front of the second set of doors to the building, and established itself there in the building’s antechamber to directly engage students coming in and out of the UCC. This ended up being a good idea, as the spot’s high-traffic location allowed them to talk to quite a few people, to answer questions and discus the notion of campus recruitment drives with several interested onlookers.

While a couple of us went up to engage the military recruiters directly, several others took signs and stood directly at the front entrance of the corridor of recruitment booths, effectively blocking off traffic and establishing a visible presence to a growing number of intrigued students – many of whom were eating a late lunch at the building’s adjoining food court.

After about ten minutes of this, the recruiters figured that they’d had enough, and began packing up their table – their colleagues at the RCMP table having done so five minutes earlier.

While the grunts packed up their leaflets and bumper stickers, those of us who were not still stationed in the room’s antechamber picked up signs and joined the others standing in front of the recruitment booths, where we remained until the military recruiters had left the premises. At this point, several university students made their way over to us from the food court to voice their support for our protest, and a handful of passers-by asked how they could get involved with any future actions. We thanked them for their support and encouraged them to join us the next time the Canadian Military should deign to send their representatives to proselytize at UWO, telling them that “If they come back, you can be sure that we will be here.”