not one that happens magically, but requires deliberate, concentrated and often plodding effort. We do indeed have very real conflicts between us that stem from centuries of class and cultural divisions which we can't pretend to ignore. But our conflicts should encourage argument aimed at helping us join forces to create a future in which we control our resources and livelihood rather than splinter us further into factions. We must, as Gerri says, "redefine in all that we do the relation of people to people and people to earth." ·-CC December 1979 RAIN Page 13 Gerri's piece is from her presentation TOGETHER to the Women and Solar workshop at the Center for Renewable Resources "Citizen's Energy Conference-Towards a Solar America," August, 1979, in Boulder, Colorado. training bases, as points of transformation where people can learn new ways of humanhood, learn cultural values, and learn new forms of right livelihood that deal with the production of essential goods and services which are more labor intensive and less energy consumptive. If we abdicate responsibility to the high-rise decision-makers who are dissociated from the needs of the people, we may expect to be absorbed into the massive demoralization of all citizenry, and to be passively contributing toward the entrenchment of an energy police state. . We are witnessing the devolution of centralization in two directions: evolution toward the global village on the one hand, and devolution toward the local community on the other-an interface with both ends of the synergistic spectrum without intermediaries. The exchange of commodities, information, cultural wisdom and skills not locally available will constitute the new free trade, maximize the cultural and economic evolution of all concerned and eliminate the world trade imbalance.... This will enhance the probability of world peace. We close on this note of peace and pray that our efforts will contribute to its achievement. May the Great Spirit guide your steps. Reprinted with permission from Amazing Tales of Real Life, newsletter published by The Farm, 156 Drakes Lane, Summertown, TN 38483. Also with permission from Akwesasne Notes, via Rooseveltown, NY 13683. Once upon a time, about fifteen years ago, there wasn't a women's movement. The media hadn't coined the sneer phrase, "women's lib." Women got unequal pay for equal work and didn't protest. Corporate annual reports did not brag that their companies had affirmative action programs for minorities and women. Jack Parr (remember him?-he was before Johnny Carson) could comment about the size of a woman's breasts without a peep from his audience. Housewives who ran for public office were an oddity. And even in burgeoning radical nooks across the country, "the girls can do the typing" was often heard. And we as women merely received provided services. We were the consumate consumers. We did not participate actively in the theorizing nor in the creation of possible alternative futures. We did not even perceive ourselves as a viable constituency that early a.t. theorists would address. "Women in Solar?" Such a panel was inconceivable. What has happened over these fifteen years? Why has our self-concept changed? I think it is important to understand why and how we got from there to here. It is particularly important to see how our individual political history relates to gaining the self-confidence necessary to carry out the things we need to do. During the '60s, a few of us became a part of the antiimperialist radiclib counter-culture-now called the male left. Then, our heroes were all who defied the establishment-from Abbie Hoffman to Dr. Spock, from the Weathermen to the Black Panthers and Young Lords, from Julian Bond to Mark Rudd. We sailed with the Venceremos Brigade, defied police in Chicago, extolled Ho Chi Minh, carried the red flag of revolution. We wore our jeans and army shirts defiantly and marched and chanted down barricaded streets. And, funny thing, within this subculture, we still typed, and cooked, and wiped the noses of our children. I lived a very schizophrenic life back then, sophisticated New York professional by day, aspiring revolutionary by night The contradictions were overwhelming. During involvement in a CR group for more than a year, these contradictions became more and more apparent, and more and more unlivable. While other women had already joined and confronted each other within NOW, or engaged in more militant actions, I stayed within the security of my male-left spawned CR group. I was not ready, able or willing to give up certain of the privileges that I had fought so hard for. Certain realities, however, could not be ignored. I .had no more status as a woman within the male left subculture than I had within my family, my traditional job, or my relationships with men. I sat on my hands during interminable political meetings just as I sat on my hands at professional meetings. If I ever got the nerve to speak, I wasn't listened to within our political group in the same way that I wasn't listened to by
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