George Salzman

John Ross, a feet-on-the-ground struggler for human rights and decency

John Ross

by George Salzman

Building circles of trust and communication

In a small community, if the social environment is a healthy one, it may be that practically everyone knows everybody else. That was the situation I observed in San Pedro, Cántaros when I visited during three days in September 2008 with Jonathan Treat and his class from the School for International Training.[1] We were hosted by what amounted to little more than an extended family, with a total population of, I would guess, probably not more than about thirty to fifty. Under those conditions, close familiarity was natural. I believe that ideally the degree of familiarity in indigenous communities in Oaxaca that are self-governing under the practice of 'uses and customs' is similar, though of course many of them don't come close to the ideal. In order to build community, mere geographical closeness is not enough.

Changing History, 1

Originally posted March 18, 2006, slight revision for today's posting

by George Salzman

Of course one can’t change what has happened in the past. One can only wish it had been different. What’s done is done. But for the present and the future, we do have choices. This paper is the start of an effort to discover how we, the entire human species, can maximize our chances for robust humane survival here on the earth.[1]

I know that many people, who like to think of themselves as “realists”, will dismiss my ideas as “mere utopian dreams”. Yet many of them don’t hesitate to acknowledge that they think the world is headed towards catastrophe, that their own children and grandchildren will inherit at most a dismally ravaged biosphere, one in which the human species might be threatened with a degree of decimation not so different from the near extinction of many other species in this era of massive global capitalism through which we now are living.

Alan Hart, a new friend and ally on the need to ‘sacrifice’[0]

Alan and Nicole Hart with Yasser Arafat at his headquarters in Tunis, 1985, some time after publication of Hart's first book, Arafat, Terrorist or Peacemaker?

by George Salzman

Alan Hart's focus is pretty much the same as mine, though his scope is much broader. His impact is, as it deserves to be, far greater. I wrote him a month ago: