RAIN Community Communications Good News From Ghana VOLUME VIII No.9 $1.50 No Advertising
Page 2 RAIN July 1982 Table Of Contents Articles Reach Out, Reach Out and Byte Someone, by Steve Johnson............................................................................. 4 TSO KAM ZA BORLA AMASAACHINA: Self-Help Lessons From Ghana and Elsewhere, by Bruce and Ann Borquist .............................................................12 Out of the Pail at Rodale, by Mark Roseland...............................19 Access Foreign ...............................................................................................17 Freedom ...........................................................................................9 Futures ..............................................................................................20 Good Things .....................................................................................11 Health ...................... 20 Kids .............................. ...........21 Land........................................................................... 10 Networking ......................................................................................8 Women ..............................................................................................18 ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Rain Magazine Editors: Mark Roseland John Ferrell Contributing Editors: Laura Stuchinsky Gail Katz Graphic Design: Linnea Gilson RAIN COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER Staff: Rob Baird Ann Borquist Bruce Borquist Nancy Cosper Steve Johnson Steve Rudman Comptroller: Lee Lancaster RAIN: Journal of Appropriate Technology Volume Vlll, Number 9 July 1982 Printing: Times-Litho Typesetting: Em Space Cover Photograph: Bruce and Ann Borquist RAIN Magazine publishes information which can help people lead more simple and satisfying lives, make their communities and regions more economically self- reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, and ecologically sound. RAIN is published 10 times a year by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a non-profit corporation located at 2270 NW Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210, telephone 503/227-5110. Subscriptions are $25/yr. for institutions, $15/yr. for individuals ($9.50 for persons with incomes under $5000 a year). Copyright ® 1982 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. All you librarians and mailbox watchers might want to take note: there will be a longer than usual delay between this issue and the next one. This is not a mailing problem. Our combined August/ Friends, Religion and appropriate technology? [see RAIN VIII:7;12-16] Maybe the two aren't so far ap>art. How we view ourselves and our planet — and the relationships among species — helps to shape our sense of ethics. James Watt views nature and technology with one set of values. The hunter-gatherer people of the world have somethmg different in mind. Perhaps some of the readers of RAIN are developing a third course that will eventuaUy find a religious expression. Time will tell. I recommend two new books that often focus on the spiritual roots of the September issue (Vol. VIII, No. 10) will be out in mid-August. Nothing to worry about—we just need to work some extra time into our schedule to catch up on a hundred other things!—The Rainmakers ecology movement. Both books may be of special interest to RAIN readers. John Muir and His Legacy by Stephen Fox is more than a biography of the Sierra Qub's half-legendary founder. Historian Fox concludes his work with an excellent chapter on "the religion of conservation." It's a good historical account of the religious impulse behind the work of several prominent American envirorunentalists. (John Muir was published by Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, in 1981.) Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler is a thorough account, critical but Letters
July 1982 RAIN Page 3 sympathetic, of the author's meetings with American "neo-pagans." At first, it seems as if Adler is writing another sensationalized account of the suburban witchcraft scene. Books on the occult, the weird, and the bizarre never seem to go out of style with American publishers. Margot Adler, however, has broken away from the pack to present an intelligent introduction to a new generation of American witches and Druids. "Neopaganism" in the 1980s seems to have attracted a mix of radical feminists and ecologists. Much is being said in the new "covens" — "support groups" may be a better term — about environmental ethics, appropriate technology, and holistic concepts of health. (Drawing Down the Moon was published by Beacon Press, Boston, in paperback, 1980.) Fox and Adler may be picking up the early signals of something new and significant in American culture. In any event, the two authors have both written books that are worth reading. RAIN readers may want to take a look. Best wishes, David Murphy Boston, MA Dear RAIN People, Thank you for printing Murray Book- chin's "The Ecology of Freedom" in a recent issue [VIII:6:7]. Dense prose is right, but well worth it — the second, third and fourth times through! Keep that heady stuff coming! Sandy Kalmakoff Vancouver, B.C. Dear Rainers, Thank you very much for your nice review of our Human Economy Bibliography [RAIN VIII:7:10]. Sorry we forgot to give you the price. It's $7.50 to individuals, and $12.00 to libraries and bookstores. Also sorry about the weakness of our science section, which we acknowledge. We still have a long way to go to catch up with Stewart Brand and Bucky Fuller, who seem to know everything about everything. Probably by next year. . .. Thanks for all your good work. I hope to get to Portland one of these days, and look forward to a chance to meet with you. John Applegath The Human Economy Center Amherst, MA Dear Steve Rudman: Without a doubt, your review of the Conserve Neighborhoods Organizing Kit [RAIN VIII:6:6] is the most flattering notice that we have ever received. We appreciate the coverage and it boosted our spirits tremendously. Best Wishes, Maureen Ferris Pepson Conserve Neighborhoods National Trust for Historic Preservation Washington, DC Dear Editor: University of Washington Press recently mailed me several reviews of my books. Among them was your publication's attractive layout of my drawings from Wild Teas, Coffees and Cordials encircling a nice review of the book [RAIN VIII:1:24] written by one MR [Mark Roselandj. I was quite delighted to see this artistic arrangement and would like to thank whoever was responsible. Sincerely, Hilary Stewart Vancouver, B.C. Dear Nancy ICosper], Enjoyed your article ["Good Cooks in Their Own Write," RAIN Vni:5:12]. Learning to cook and eat lightly is an important aspect of weaning ourselves away from the patterns of the plastic fantastic energy age. Here are my favorites of the cookbooks I've discovered in recent years. They're the ones I really use (as evidenced by pages amply splattered by beet juice, soy sauce and various unidentifiable substances). — LanedeMoll Bean Cuisine: A Culinary Guidefor the Eco- gburmet, Beverly White, 1977, $3.95 from: Beacon Press 25 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02108 Full of Beans, Peta Lyn Farwagi, 1978, $4.95 from: Harper Colophon Books Wings of life. Vegetarian Cookery, Julie Jordan, 1976, $5.95 from: The Crossing Press 17 W. Main Street Trumansbutg, NY 14886 A joyful original cookbook that includes my favorite, "Dumbfounding Caraway Borscht." The recipes are full of nutritional, personal and general how-to information. I like it when the "I" of the author is an important part of a book — especially a cookbook. Vegetarian Cookery, Sunset Magazine, 1981, $3.95 from: Lane Publishing Co. Willow & Middlefield Rds. Menlo Park, CA 94025 10 East,53rd Street New York, NY 10022 Beans are an important part of my family's diet (when in doubt I cook lentils!) and I'm constantly finding tasty new combinations in these two books. Both draw heavily on traditional recipes from other countries, which makes sense since few people besides Americans have been able to afford a diet so heavily meat- centered. The photographs in this one make everything look so mouthwatering that I turn to it often for inspiration. I haven't tried Artichoke Hearts on Pizza yet, but the Fruited Rice PUaf is a winner and the tofu recipes are some of the best I've encountered. Some of the recip>es call for sugar, but that's easily left out. Good attention is paid to complementary proteins. Lane deMoll is a good friend, and former editor, of RAIN.
Page 4 RAIN July 1982 Reach Out, Reach Out And Byte Someone by Steve Johnson As many of our readers know, the Rain Umbrella shelters both RAIN Magazine and another information-rich entity called the Rain Community Resource Center (RCRC). Drawing upon thousands of books, files and resource lists and utilizing several computer-mediated com- municaton systems and databases, RCRC staffers provide a wide variety of information services to community groups, government agencies and individuals. Steve Johnson, RCRC coordinator, is himselfa remarkable information resource. A pioneer in the publication of people's yellow pages, a co-founder of RAIN Magazine in 1974, and an experimenter with several early community-based applications of computer technology, Steve now has more than a decade ofexperience in bringing the benefits of the "information revolution” to grassroots organizations. Recently, he distilled his considerable knowledge and experience into Informa- rion and Communication Technology for the Community, a book prepared in conjunction with a conference of the same name sponsored by Portland's Center for Urban Education (CUE). It is an excellent guide to the implications of the emerging information-based society and to applications of the new electronic technologies which can help community groups better cope with the current realities of short staffs and non-flowing cash. For people intrigued by (and perhaps a bit wary of) such terms as "computer conferencing," electronic mail," and "datdxtse communication," this book provides concise descriptions and scores of examples of ways in which the new information and communication technologies are being (or could be) put to socially beneficial uses. The excerpts which appear below summarize possible community- based applications and escribe how groups around the country are already putting computers or telecommunications technology to use in a variety of intriguing ways. These excerpts can only provide a taste of the wide-ranging text and exhaustive resource listings in Information and Communication Technology for the Community. To get the whole story, get the whole book. See page 23 to learn how. — John Ferrell One of the characteristics of the 1970s that may be remembered long after others have been forgotten is the emergence of issue-oriented organizahons. Contrary to Philip Slater's commentary in "The Pursuit of Loneliness that Americans seek isolation, we are also organizers and belongers. In the 70s thousands of public interest, grassroots, neighborhocxl and other community- based groups were formed. Volunteer and ad hoc associations allowed individuals to work with others to provide for themselves and/or to work toward a common social goal. Now there is some sense that these groups are threatened with extinction. It seems more likely, however, that volunteer and community-based efforts, instead of dying out, will reorganize like a stadium-sized play of musical chairs. A resource-scarce economy is dictating the reconfiguration of many organizations into coalihons and consortiums as well as networks of groups and individuals in touch with one another electronically. In addition to looking to new cooperative structures, small organizations, facing the financial enmeh, will need to examine their underlying information base and communication efforts. A group may, for example, be expending an enormous effort to inform the community about a workshop it is sponsoring. Really satisfied if only 30 people show up, the group sends out a mailing to 500 people, purchases an ad in a weekly newspaper that, in theory, reaches 20,000 people, and develops public service announcements for broadcast television and radio which, again in theory, reaches thousands more. All this to reach the 30 people who will ultimately attend the
July 1982 RAIN Page 5 workshop. As new information and communication technologies develop, groups can find more and better ways to reach these people. For example, a computerized mailing list can be sorted by keywords indicating the areas of interest of persons on the list. Thus it becomes possible to focus a mailing on a fairly specific group. Countless other examples come to mind of ineffective processes which may have underlying solutions in effective use of the new technology. For example, an inordinate amount of staff time and meager resources can be taken up with attending meetings and conferences. Although not satisfactory as a replacement for all meetings and conferences (which have their own raison d'etre in human contact) new forms of computer conferencing systems such as EIES — the Electronic Information Exchange System (see box) present us with some alternatives. Groups that need to keep in touch with like-minded groups around the country could develop on-going meetings via computer where no one would arrive late and no one would need to be responsible for keeping the minutes — the computer would do it. Lawyers and other individuals who provide technical assistance to small organizations could also use computer-mediated communication systems to good advantage. A model can be seen in Manfred Kochen's description in Information for the Community of a “referential consulting network" for libraries which would allow geographically dispersed librarians to assist each other with library patron information needs. An electronic commons, or bulletin board space, would be created where libraries could post information requests which could be read by other librarians and responded to at their convenience. A database of answers to inquiries might also be stored on-line, indexed, and made available to the rest of the network. These answers could be used as “canned" responses when similar questions were received in the future. They could be easily written up and incorporated into a response sent on-line or through the mails. Another underlying information expense ot small organizations is in continuing education for staff. Effectiveness, for example, in monitoring a policy issue and researching the possible alternatives and consequences demands a lot of time, especially in today's information- glutted world. The plight of the individual in a small organization is much like the situation of the modem scientist: In the world as a whole there are now more than 50,000 journals pouring through university and academic presses every year. They are increasing in size at a compound rate of four percent a year. It is common for journals to double their size every five years . .. Ifa scientist spends a given proportion ofhis time catching up with his field and continues dedicating the same proportion for twenty years, he will clearly acquire knowledge over a rapidly decreasing proportion of the necessary and relevant material. If he increases the proportion of his time dedicated to scanning the outpouring of the field, he will have no time for anything else. There are clear and painful mathematical constraints that must begin to operate. — Goodbye Gutenberg. On-line databases, such as offered through the DIALOG system, may abstract only a thin slice of the information a community organization desires. For example, very few databases contain information on what librarians call "fugitive literature": material prepared by non-standard publishers, such as community groups themselves. With good microcomputer technology and relatively inexpensive ways to communicate data, community groups could become providers for a database, working by themselves or in a consortium with others. Again, all through the electronic medium. An organization involved in publishing could obviously benefit by using a microcomputer or stand-alone word processing equipment. The group might also discover, as newspapers have, that the information it produces (once it has been made machine readable) can be reproduced in a variety of formats, all of which may serve as a commodity in addition to the original publication. It will be easy to update and (through selective keyboard retrieval) endlessly tailormade to the user's parhcular need. Clearly, community organizations can profit in many ways from using the new forms of electronic technology. Small organizations facing the financial crunch will need to examine their underlying information base and communication efforts. Learning how to use a computer is a good avenue to finding out about and participaHng in the electronic revolution, but important issues raised by that revolution must also be kept in mind: the control of distribuhon of knowledge; the social and environmental consequences (both good and bad) of the evolution of computer and telecommunication technology; questions of privacy; and societal vulnerability in an over-centralized, computer- managed society. As community groups improve their own "computer literacy" they will benefit by monitoring the information and communication industty, whose influence is spreading through direct control of vital resources and whose capacity is increasing to lead us into either an electronic nightmare or a fundamental transformation. Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz, who work with computer and telecommunication technology to develop humane social structures for community groups and others have expressed their vision of the future of social networks mediated by the new technology in this way: Decentralized interdependent networks are the backbone of the social and political movements of the 1980s. A richly interconnected web is emerging of local, regional and national
Page 6 RAIN July 1982 Qearly, community organizations can profit in many ways from using the new forms of electronic technology. networks including neighborhoods, communities, organizations and associations. This network is beginning to carry out the "Third Wave” into the communications era and out of the waning industrial era patterns of centralization, control of nature and exploitation of lesser developed cultures. By its very nature, this network of networks offers a locally owned and controlled, democratic alternative to centralized government and allocation of limited resources. Simultaneously, the advent of relatively low-cost micro-computers is making possible communications and information exchange networks which are themselves physically decentralized and locally owned and controlled. Such technology provides the nervous system of the emerging social change networks. □□ EIES New Jersey Institute of Technology 323 High Street Newark, New Jersey 07102 EIES (the Electronic Information Exchange System) is one of the more fascinating electronic communication experiments around. Over the past six years, hundreds of people have come and gone using the system for sociological experiments, as a tool for developing networks of like-minded individuals, as an interactive database, a participatory trip through the future of agriculture, an environment to offer related electronic age services, and an inquiry/exchange network among state legislators. EIES was developed to be used by computer illiterates and so is very user-friendly with pages and pages of on-line explanations of choices which can be easily retrieved with a simple question mark at any point where the user feels lost. One of the more dynamic asp>ects of EIES is the use of INTERACT, a “string-processing-oriented-language" which allows users to do some programming (in what is basically abbreviated English) to f>erform tasks to meet their specific needs. On EIES, communication takes place between individuals who type messages at their computer or computer terminal and send them to the EIES computer at the New Jersey Institute of Technology; the messages are delivered to the recipient's "mailbox" where it is available when he/she next logs-on to the system. Communication also takes place in a conference-format where individuals type in messages that are gathered in one place for all members of a particular conference to review at their convenience. Conferences can be used to hold on-line meetings, with aU participants on at the same time, or discussions about some topic(s) that may last for weeks or even years. Conferences are also used by some as a means to maintain regular communicaHon with certain other persons, e.g. branch offices. All the messages are kept (with occasional purges) and indexed so that participants may call forth old comments, or print-out the transcript of a "meeting." Text-editing and document formating commands are available so that text from a meeting, or other information stored in one's "notebook" can be nicely printed up. Extensive study has been done about the impact on communication patterns of people who use EIES. The Network Nation by Murray Turoff and Starr Roxanne Hiltz (Addison- Wesley, 1978) is filled wdth insights about computer-mediated communication environments and speculations about what roles such systems might play in the future. Access _ i.:)i ORGANIZATIONS USING COMPUTERS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS Alternative Media Center New York University 725 Broadway New York, NY 10003 The Center has designed and assisted in the development of community services using interactive cable-TV and other information and communication technologies, including a Nursing Home Telemedicine Project, interactive citizen participation system in Burkes County, Pennsylvania, and an education network at University of Wisconsin. More recently they have been involved in a demonstration of a broadcast videotex system through the Public Broadcasting System at its Washington, D.C. affiliate. Berkeley Solar Croup Computer Services 3140 Grove St. Berkeley, CA 94703 415-843-7600 Provides computing services for architects. The group offers its services directory to the local conununity and via telephone and computer or computer terminal from other locations using Telenet and Tymenet. Programs and databases include: FCHARTS and FCHART4 for analysis of active solar energy housing installations and CALPA3 for passive systems, as well as WEATHER, a database on climate features in 250 locations in the U.S. Communitree Group 470 Castro St., Suite 207-3002 San Francisco, CA 94114 415-474-0933 (voice) 415-928-0641 (modem/computer) Communitree is a teleconferencing system for Apple computer users, available in several locations around the country via telephone connections. Conferences are established about different topics, such as health, micro-computers and sharing software, while others are open ended.
July 1982 RAIN Page 7 Commimication Arts Department 6035 Vilas HaU University of Wisconsin Madison, W153706 (contact: Tim Haight). They are compiling a profile of community groups using computers. Commimity Computer/Altemet 9498 Argorme Way Forestville, CA 95436 707-887-%76 A locally owned and worker/member operated computer access center, they also publish an extensive directory to community computer activities, "The Com- puterists Directory." Community Computers 137SSt.,N.W. Washington, DC 20001 This group is developing computer services for community-based organizations. Community On-Line Information System do Roy Kaplow Division for Study and Research in Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139 The Communty On-Line Information System is being developed for the Cambridge Public Library and includes the development of a community database and computer-assisted educational instruction. Computertown PO Box E/1236 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA 94025 415-323-3111 Over a period of two years Computer- town has run many classes, playdays, learning fairs and on-going study groups, as well as making computers available in public places such as libraries, all in an attempt to provide computer literacy for p>eople of all ages. More recently, with a grant from the National Science Foundation, they are offering support for others to establish similar programs in other communities. Each issue of their newsletter lists yet more affiliated (and other) computer literacy projects around the country. COMPUTER AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROJECTS (COMMUNITY) Dallas Public Library 1954 Commerce St. Dallas, TX 75201 214-748-9071 The Dallas Public Library has used a computer in providing community information to the local community for seven years. They have expanded the database to include information about community resources in a 16-county area, and now provide access to on-line databases (dialog). Food for Thought 1834 East Speedway Tucson, AZ 85719 Food for Thought is an example of the growing number of computer access centers in local communities. Membership allows one to use a variety of computers and computer programs. Hands- on classes are offered to get p>eople up and running. Lower West Side Resource and Development Corporation 266 W. Tupper St. Buffalo, NY 14210 They collect information about the structural condition of housing, and neighborhood opinion information, using a small computer to analyze the data. Microcomputer Information Support Tools Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz 695 5th Ave. Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz have applied computer tools to the needs of neighborhoods, communities, and small organizations for seven years. They begin with a group's needs and then find or develop the computer tools appropriate for the situation. For the past five years, they have worked wdth the Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES), a computerized conferencing system for networking and group work. They have also developed a microcomputer system for networking and communication. MIST 2.0 (Microcomputer Information Support Tools) is "the networkeris electronic toolchest," combining word processing, document formatting, telecommunications, remote use, and database management in one integrated package. MIST can be used to prepare newsletters and directories, to manage mailing lists, to maintain community calendars and talent banks, and through remote access, as a local electronic message center, as a "network commons" of community information resources, and as an intelligent terminal to other computers. Midwood Kings Highway Development Corporation 1410 Avenue M Brooklyn, NY 11220 They are conducting a street inventory of the condition of existing trees and evaluating sites suitable for new plantings using a computer to sort and analyze the information. New York Public Library 8 East 40th St. New York, NY 10016 212-790-6161 The library uses a computer to compile a directory of over 2000 organizations in the Midtown area of New York. One 1105 W. Lawrence Ave. Chicago, IL 60640 312-769-3232 ONE is a coalition of 50 community-based organizations in a part of Chicago. In 1981 they received assistance from the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research at Norhwestem University to procure a micro-computer for the neighborhood. The Apple II they acquired with a grant from the Joyce Foundation is being used to develop a graphic mapping system which will track and display the neighborhood's demographic information. They are also considering using the computer for developing a skill bank, and to use it as an electronic bulletin board. Open Network (Network Resources) PO Box 18666 Denver, CO 80218 OPEN uses a computer in managing an information and idea exchange that has users in 37 states and nine countries. An account on the system costs $30 a year. Through the network one may locate individuals and sources of information to answer questions and needs. Users have found plumbers, writers, babysitters, mathematicians, anthropologists, consultants, cooks, and husbands. An information packet is available for $4.00; or their book. Network Game, explains the philosophy that guides the operation. Pikes Peak Library District 20 N. Cascade Ave. Colorado Springs, CO 80901 The library's computer "Maggie" has organized the community information files that are made available to the public. The database has over 750 agencies and organizations. The computer is offered to library patrons with information about education opportunities and events. They
Page 8 RAIN July 1982 also provide access to other on-line databases, such as DIALOG, at cost plus a $2.00 service fee. Public Interest Computer Services PO Box 1061 Berkeley, CA 94701 415-654-9880 Provides computer services to progressive groups and small businesses with public interest goals. Services include list maintenance, word processing, and database management. Sourcenet PO Box 6767 Santa Barbara, CA 93111 805-685-4444 Sourcenet provides computer services to local residents and has recently begun to compile databases, with the first one being a directory to 1500 alternative and community publications from around the country. Networking Networking: The First Report and Directory, Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, 1982, 398 pp., $15.95 from: Doubleday & Co. 245 Park Avenue New York, NY10167 Networking is a much-needed, accurate (and poetic!) account of what is happening in/with/to the social change movement. Now I know what to point to when someone asks "whatever happened to aU those radicals of the sbcties?" Networking is without a doubt THE best reporting on today's movement I've read. It is an incredibly mature piece of writing, full of humor, insights, and imagery that makes manageable what might be difficult for some readers unfamiliar with the subject matter. "Outsiders" might find the topic fascinating, but in the long run. Networking will be of most benefit to those who are already (or soon to be) part of what Lipnack and Stamp® call "Another America," the consciousness and heartbeat of the movement. Networking is two books in one. The first carefully describes the concepts of networking and divides the networks into sub-categories. These are healing networks — health and life cycle; sharing networks — communities and coop)era- tives; using networks — ecology and energy; valuing networks — politics and economics; learning networks — education and communications; growing netVillage Design (Community Memory) PO Box 9% Berkeley, CA 94701 Publishers of the Journal of Community Communications, one of the best journals dealing with computers, telecommunications, networks, community information and information politics. Also inheritors of the Community Memory legacy that goes back to the installation of computers in public places as electronic bulletin boards. They are developing software and information systems for community-based organizations. Volunteers in Technical Assistance 3706 Rhode Island Ave. Mt. Rainer, MD 20712 301-277-7000 VITA provides technical assistance through providing information, consultants and volunteers to projects that assist developing countries with technology development. They presently assist the works — p>ersonal and spiritual growth; and evolving networks — global and futures. While examining these parts separately, Lipnack and Stamps manage to give us a coherent picture of the whole. The "second book" is the dirctory, the shaded-comered and coded pages which mark the listings of some 1600 groups exemplifying each of the typ>es of networks Lipnack and Stamps describe. In addition, the groups are cross-referenced alphabetically, geographically, by issues and interests, and by a sampling of publications — a remarkable feat and an indispensable reference! It is evident that Lipnack and Stamps have infused their work with great love and respect. And because of this. Networking can and will — for those of us who read and use it — further the cause and vision of our own work. — Nancy Gosper Media Access Guide, 1982, 34 pp. $6.00 ppd. from; Metrocenter YMCA 909 Fourth Avenue Seattle, WA98V)4 The 1982 Oregon Media Guide, €9 pp., $7.50 from: Center for Urban Education 0245 SW Bancroft Portland, OR 97201 If you are a Northwest resident and want to get your message out but are not sure where to start, two media guides have recently been published that can help. Control Data Corporation in developing its Technology for Development Data Base, which Control Data offers to subscribers via computers and computer terminals on a subscription basis. For about a year they have supported a satellite conferencing program linking users of renewable energy information in the South Pacific to VITA staff/volunteers in the United States. In March 1982 they hosted a meeting to discuss issues concerning the information revolution's impact on developing countries. Women's Resources/Computers 613 Lombard St. Philadelphia, PA 19147 215-922-4403 A nonprofit feminist computer project that seeks to use information technology for outreach, networking, resource sharing and communication in the women's movement. Both list newspapers, radio, and television stations; and both give solid advice and examples of ways to communicate more effectively with and through the media. The Media Access Guide will help reach out in the King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties of western Washington. The strength of this guide lies in the strategies and techniques outlined for making effective use of the media. It details the hows, whys, and wherefores of a simple press release for an event, a public service announcement, or a press conference or story of major dimensions. It separates the media into dailies, weeklies, radio, and TV, followed by the directory listings. The Guide even takes you through the process of dealing with a complaint about improper media coverage, and ends with the names and addresses, in mailing list format, of the major media outlets in the Puget Sound area. The 1982 Oregon Media Guide, in its fifth edition bigger and better than ever, lists all of Oregon's media geographically. Access details the publishers, owner, circulation, format, scope, contacts, and comments. Special interest publications and newsletters from such categories as "The Arts," "Business," "Church," "Government," and "Public Affairs" are included, along with a listing of media groups and associations. The guide is indexed by medium and by city. The 1982 version of the Oregon Media Guide has gone up in price but, as one Oregon activist who uses it frequently put it". . .it is worth it's weight in gold." — Nancy Cosper
July 1982 RAIN Page 9 Freedom "How Long Would Germany Stand for It?” {Life, December 13,1917) From: The First Freedom Naming Names, by Victor Navasky, 1980 482 pp., $5.95 from: Penguin Books 625 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 Hollywood Red, by Lester Cole, 1981, 448 pp., $12.95 hardcover from: Ramparts Press P.O. Box 50128 Palo Alto, CA 94303 Ronald Reagan, so the story goes, was approached one day in the early 1950s by a young actress named Nancy Davis who had a serious problem. Her name had mistakenly shown up on a list of Hollywood “Reds" and she was being denied work in the film industry. As president of SAG (the Screen Actors Guild), could Reagan please help? He could and did. Nancy Davis' name was cleared and she soon became Nancy Reagan. The rest, as they say, is history. Or p>erhaps history in the making? Recently, Reagan's current successor as SAG president, Edward Asner, was the target of anonymous hate letters and death threats for his supposed "Communist sympathies" in raising money to buy medical supplies for Salvadoran rebels. And Reagan himself now presides over a national administration which has made noises about "unleashing" the CLA and FBI to resume widespread wiretapping, "black bag" operations, and infiltration of suspect citizen groups. It seems only prudent to review events in the Hollywood of thirty years ago where our Commander-in-Chief received his leadership training and develop>ed his peculiar notions about what constitutes subversion. Naming Names and Hollywood Red give us that opportunity. Naming Names focuses on the complexities of the moral dilemma facing actors, directors and screenwriters called to testify before HUAC (the House Unamerican Activities Committee) in the McCarthy/Cold War climate of the late 40s and early 50s. Failure to tell the committee what it wanted to hear could result in loss of work, imprisonment, and branding as a traitor. Talking — especially talking in detail about the suspiciously leftist actions of one's friends and co-workers — could save the job, bring momentary praise for patriotic behavior — and result in a lifetime of guilt. Author Victor Navasky, editor of The Nation, does a masterful job of portra3Tng an era of Hollywood history more bizarre, in its way, than any horror film. He makes clear that in the atmosphere of the time there were no easy answers for people targeted by HUAC. There were families to be considered, promising careers, and (in many cases) genuine confusion or ambivalence about responsibilities to "country" and loyalty to friends. Nonetheless, it is encouraging to note that for every Hollywood witness who informed before HUAC there were two who were willing to jeopardize themselves by refusing to cooperate. One who refused, and suffered the consequences for decades, was Lester Cole. One of the original "Hollywood Ten" who were sentenced to prison terms in 1947 for contempt of Congress, Cole was, and is, a well known screenwriter with Bom Free among his many credits. In Hollywood Red, he describes his prosperous pre-war career, his political associations, his experiences with HUAC and his life as a blacklisted screenwriter after his release from prison. Cole was able to complete his autobiography with the aid of crucial documents from his FBI file which were finally released to him in1980. Only after reading these documents did he realize the full absurdity of his situation: the government had carefully monitored his actions for nearly half of his life. Thirty-two years! Myself and how many others like me, for how long tracked, trailed and tailed. Hundreds of thousands ofcitizens' tax dollars paid to agents and informers, all to end in nothing. What frustration it must have been for them! Yet it is a frustration they seem only too willing to experience again—if we let them. — John Ferrell The First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America, Nat Hentoff, 1980,340 pp., $9.95 from: Delacorte Press 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza New York, NY10017 Perhaps the most hotly debated, misunderstood, yet cherished principle of our constitution is the First Amendment. For many second- and older-generation North Americans, the right to unlimited freedom of thought and action seems sacrosanct. Yet protection of speech, religious liberty and freedom of the press are all fairly recent concepts, subject to judicial interpretation and repeated public challenge. Well known and respected as a staff writer for New Yorker and Village Voice, Hentoff is also a board member of the N.Y. Civil Liberties Union. His writing reflects his partiality; nonetheless, his representation of history is fair and thorough. Hentoff's historical account of the First Amendment opens with a precedent- setting case, in 1735, establishing freedom of the press in the prerevolutionary North
Page 10 RAIN July 1982 American colonies. Outlining some of the major battles in opposition and defense of free speech, as well as the philosophical questions surrounding the issue. The First Freedom traces a wave of sedition laws during the early 1900s used against the Wobblies, anarchists and other radicals; court trials debating the line of separation between church and state in the schools; freedom of the press vs. national security; freedom of assembly in opposing the Vietnam war and in support of the National Socialist Party. Several chapters are devoted specifically to First Amendment cases in the public school system — questions of censorship, obscenity, libel and the right of student journalists to protect the confidentiality of sources. Judicial commentary and personal stories are quoted extensively throughout the chronicle, transforming the abstract into vivid reality. Considering the rightward swing of the country, the renewed debate over teaching evolution in the schools, and the resurgence of the KKK and Nazi party, this little refresher course might be in order. — Laura Stuchinsky J. Robert Oppenheimer, Shatterer of Worlds, by Peter Coodchild, 1981, 301 pp., $15 hardcover from: Houghton Mifflin Company 2 Park Street Boston, MA 02107 This book tells the story of a complex man, his terrifying invention, his troubled conscience and his tragic downfall. It is the story of the beginnings of the nuclear era and of events and attitudes which continue to shape and threaten our lives. . J. Robert Oppenheimer was a briUiant physicist, the head of the Los Alamos project which produced the world's first atomic bomb. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki he was acclaimed as a national hero, but it was an accolade which clearly troubled him. ("I have blood on my hands," he blurted out during a 1946 White House visit. President Truman was greatly offended). As America moved into a period of Cold War paranoia, Op- penheimer's use of his potent influence in a futile effort to head off a nuclear arms race was viewed with increasing suspicion. Allegations surfaced regarding his left-wing past, and in 1954 he was officially branded a national security risk. Oppenheimer the hero was transformed into Oppenheimer the pariah, but among the men who condemned his proUdes and questioned his loyalty, the popularity of his awful invention continued unabated. One could wish his biography were not quite so timely. Prepared in conjunction with a seven-part B.B.C. documentary on Oppenheimer's career, it is being published just as the arms race seems to have taken a new lease on life (or death). There is fasdnating material here on the Los Alamos project and on the shaping of Oppenheimer's character, but what may strike the present-day reader most forcefully about this book is the commentary it records from postwar military and political leaders regarding the need for rapid nuclear weapons development and increased attention to "national security." There is a real sense of deja vu here, an uncomfortable confirmation that what we are hearing today are all the same old lines, uttered by a new cast of Grade B actors. — John Ferrell Land The Marketfor Rural Land: Trends, Issues, Policies, by Robert Healy and James Short, 1981,310 pp. $12.50 from: The Conservation Foundation 1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20036 Written for a largely professional audience — regional planners, appraisers and public offidals — The Market for Rural Lana is a fairly technical, extensively referenced analysis of the rural land market: how it works, and what are its observable trends and surfacing issues. The first half of The Market for Rural Land is an overview of the rural land market— the underlying forces that determine supply and demand, resulting in changing ownership, prices and parcel sizes. Inflation, spreculation, new agricultural technology and changing social patterns are just a few of the factors involved. A sizeable portion of the book is devoted to the authors' original research, case studies of six rural communities scattered across the U.S. Land use issues such as increased parcellization, changing ownership patterns (e.g. from small farm operators to absentee "estate" owners) and rising land prices are common concerns of all the counties considered, as are social impacts. Economists by training, the authors view conservation through the filters of their trade. Rising land prices are blithely passed off as an incentive for more intensive use of the land by farmers and foresters. They reason that increased value will insure greater protection of soil quality, supported by public poUcy. Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest that higher prices will ensure greater care. In many instances the opposite has occurred. The final chapters of the book concentrate on policy alternatives, addressing absentee ownership, land-use issues, and inequalities in the distribution of land. Models of successful mixed-use developments (housing and agriculture/recreation) are suggested as means of meeting both individual and public needs. Tax incentives for rural owners who provide public access onto their land (e.g. for hunting or recreation) and tax reductions for owners who operate their land under a soil-conservation plan approved by their local Soil Conservation District are pieces of a rural tax program that might help ensure responsible rural development. The Market for Rural Land conveys the complexity of economic and social forces affecting land use. It also points the way TNIWUTMi WASHINOTOn, D. C ISOeOO DAILY mi SUNDAY SATURDAY. JULY U. IMT ’<3 U. S. ATOM SCIENTISrS BROTHER EXPOSED AS COMMUNIST WHO WORKED ON A-BOMB U.S. Speeds Arms GooIoI60mikcoU.,.,oo, . To Greece on Eye of jReoched Fint Time in History jCMI® CawWII lAIAAIi llRlNl M>.05S,000 Tm flit ImSl.Tif WRfc I.TM.000 6«toi«JM* j'"* lOA Swrf H tm mmm ^ I ^ ’***' *• (^OSJofci ^^***®*I*VS Frenk Oppenheimer Peris Perky on Aid The front page of the Washington Times Herald 12 July 1947 reporting that Oppenheimer's brother Frank was a one-time member of the Communist party. Wes At Oek Ridge, Los Alemos Plents futitlperiem ie SmI Ka«»R T« U.S. OHteteb «•» MmAi , Wm Pert MiwSii <A IPtf I la IMt r>» rr*a* [ Or J SaKtrt OAXalixawr. M l»« u»» . 'rkriKMri aiAlWH '»• A IIU Dt Fraak 0»»«a>ww> No A-Thoft IProof, Soys Hick«nloopcr| From: J. RobertOppenheimer
toward policy innovations that, if not relied upon exclusively, could protect public interests at a time of rapid rural change. — Laura Stuchinsky Protecting Open Space: Land Use Control in the Adirondack Park, by Richard A. Liroff and G. Gordon Davis, 1981, $32.50 hardcover from: Ballinger Publishing Co. 17 Dunster Street, Harvard Square Cambridge, MA 02138 The Adirondack Park is an undeveloped mountainous scenic area in New York state, about equal in size to the state of Vermont. During the late 1800s many of the successful entrepreneurs of the period built luxurious rustic camps in the Adi- rondacks. Today it is still a region with many well-off summer visitors and a depressed rural economy in the winter. In 1894 the voters of New York passed an amendment to the state Constitution saying that the state-owned lands in Adirondack Park would be "forever kept as wild forest land." Only 39% of the land within Park boundaries is state-owned; the rest is privately-owned, and there are numerous villages within the Park. For many years, however, there was no conflict between state and private interests there. In the early '70s, frightened by a fastgrowing market for second homes within the Park, New York created the Adirondack Park Agency to prepare a development plan. Protecting Open Space is the story of the Adirondack Park Agency, the plan it drew up, its successes emd failures. It is a bit dry and academic for my taste, but anyone interested in land use plarming will find it a valuable case study. And anyone familiar with land use planning in other places will find that both the successes and failures soimd familiar. The success is that the Adiron- dacks are being preserved as a scenic area, and several large developments that were in the works are no longer planned. The failures include a tremendous amount of wasted energy and heartache along the way — people who started projects and found the rules had changed midstream, local citizens who felt their needs and desires were totally ignored. At one point a load of manure was dumped on the agency's front stoop with a sign saying, "We've taken yours for three years, now take ours." This book is valuable because it takes an openminded position. Some problems with the Adirondack Park Agency could have been avoided; maybe next time they will be. — Elaine Zablocki Elaine is a freelance writer covering political issues in Oregon. Her primary focus is land use planning. Good Things Life at the Grassroots, 1981, 87 pp., $1.30 from: Guoji Shudian P.O.Box 399 Beijing, China An excellent primer on government pwli- des and local self-help problem solving in China, Life at the Grassroots also indudes many personal profiles to illustrate the attitudes and daily concerns of Chinese laborers, officials, retired seniors and yoimg people. We meet members of a commune in east central China, workers in a bicycle factory in Shanghai, and herdsmen in a grassland district of Iimer Mongolia. Of special interest is a description of the work of a neighborhood association in Beijing: members, who are elected by the people in their own community and serve without pay, p)erform the usual functions familiar to their American counterparts — and also act as marriage counselors, mediate legal disputes among neighbors, and inform each household when it is time for everyone to start killing mosquitos! This book provides us an absorbing grassroots view of China at a bargain price. — John Ferrell Alternative Americas, Mildred J. Loomis, 1982,175 pp., $7.95 tom: Universe Books 381 Park Avenue South New York, NY10016 Now in her eighties, Mildred Loomis was a longtime assodate of land trust pioneer Ralph Borsodi (see "This Land Was Made for You and Me" in last month's RAIN) and still serves as director of education at the School of Living. In Alternative Americas, a revised version of her 1980 book Decentralism, she traces the historical roots of many movements for change: intentional communities, cooperative businesses, organic agricultiue, holistic health and appropriate technology. The best parts of the book are Loomis' accounts of her own experiences with some of the more fascinating figures of the last half century: Borsodi, Organic Gardening publisher J. I. Rodale (father of Robert), owner-builder proponent Ken Kem, Community Service, Inc. founder Arthur E. Morgan and many others. Alternative Americas reminds us that many of today's movements for change are deeply rooted in American tradition. —John Ferrell From: L\fe at the Grassroots
Page 12 RAIN July 1982 1 TSO KAM ZA BORLA AMASA^ (Everybody Wants Amasaachina) SELF-HELP LESSONS FROM GHANA AND ELSE by Bruce and Ann Borquist Amasaachina is self-help and self-help work is Amasaachina work to the people of the Northern Region of Ghana, a West African nation the size of Oregon. It means unity, self-reliance, cooperation, and preservation of cultural heritage, and is a powerful force for these causes in Northern Ghana. We worked with the Amasaachina Youth Association for one of our three years of service to Ghana as members of the U.S. Peace Corps, and in the process we learned a great deal about self-help development from people who were experts in its practical application. It is amazing what villages accomplish with Amasaachina encouragement and little else. Self-help is quickly becoming a buzz word — everyone from Ronald Reagan to the head of your neighborhood association is using it these days. What is self-help like in practice and where is it actually being done? Here is an example from our experience with it, and examples of the efforts of self-help groups in other developing nations. The Amasaachina Youth Association was started in the late '60s by university students from Northern Ghana who wanted to use their educahon to help their home villages help themselves."Youth," in the Ghanian sense, are people of any age who are not members of the ruling class. "Amasaachina" is a Dagbani word which means "commoners," and emphasizes that this is a mass movement of the common people to help themselves. By 1981 over 300 of the 450 villages in our district of Northern Ghana had joined the association. Villages become members when they contact the national executive of Amasaachina and request a rally. During the all-night celebration, village leaders and Amasaachina guest volunteers make speeches and young people dance to traditional drumming. Speakers stress the need for unity if the village is going to develop. Anyone who has that village's best interests at heart is considered a member of Amasaachina after that and there are no dues or membership cards to make the association exclusive. Volunteer organizers stay in contact with the leaders chosen during the rally in order to provide encouragement and act as intermediaries if and when a self-help project is undertaken. We were posted to the area in October of 1980 at the request of the Western Dagomba District Coundl. Broadly called Village Development Facilitators, our project was basically to help the Council achieve its development aims as well as we could with no outside financial or material aid. Considering the depressed economy of Ghana, that was a tall order. A member of the Amasaachina executive committee, Mr. Iddrissu Fuseini, became our co-worker and colleague. For over eight years this man had dedicated countless hours to helping his people organize and do self-help projects, even giving up a high-paying job in another area to do this volunteer work. Together the three of us talked to elders in approximately 120 villages about their development priorihes, and soon found ourselves with a surprising problem. So many communities decided to undertake self-help projects that we had to switch our focus from surveying priorities to facilitating projects. Between October 1980 and July 1981 thirty-five villages undertook self-help projects of their own choice and invested over $150,000. The average worker at that time made about $5.60 a day. Villages dug dams for drinking water, started and built elementary schools, conducted literacy classes, constructed public latrines and access roads, and formed co-ops to buy agricultural supplies. The people themselves raised 100 % of the money for these projects. Let's look at how one community organized itself to dig a drinking water dam. The 1000 or so people in this agricultural community raise com, rice, millet, sorghum, tropical yams, and cattle for home consumption and sale. It is reached by a dirt road passable only during the nine-month dry season. The women must walk two miles to the nearest dam with their eight-gallon water cans two to three times each day. When that dries up they walk as far as eight miles for water. Few of the children attend the primary school in the next village two miles away. The farmers are always in need of hoes, machetes, fertilizer, and tractors to hire at reasonable prices when the farming season starts. When we met with the village elders they told us of these problems, and after much discussion they chose constiiiction of a dam as their first development priority. We encouraged them to start work on the dam themselves rather than wait for the government to dig it for them.
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