Iran and Israel – Flashback Friday

In 2004, I had a vision - a dream, if you will.

I had a vision that the Rainbow Family Gathering could happen in the Middle East - in a place where both Israelis and Iranians (and Syrians and Lebanese and Jordanians and in fact all the world) could come and gather together in peace.

I shared my dream at the council at the World Rainbow Family Gathering in Costa Rica (this is the council where it will be decided in which country the next World Rainbow Gathering would be). I said Turkey (the country, not the bird).

A lot of people argued against me. A lot of people said I was crazy - they said you can't have a Rainbow Gathering in Turkey - Midnight Express, Muslims, Military state... They said there is no way any Middle Eastern people would come. They said it would be a disaster and that there was no way Israelis would be able to be at a festival peacefully with Iranians.

At that time, I didn't personally know any Iranians, but I held my vision, I spoke my dream. And some people caught on. The council reached consensus, and the gathering happened.

I got myself to the Middle East, I walked my talk and went to Turkey to help find the place for the Gathering to be held. I spread the word, I promoted it. And I went there, with Littletree – she was two at the time.

It was a beautiful place in the mountains of Southern Turkey. There was people from all over the world - Australians, Americans, Canadians, Germans, English, French, Italians, Kiwis, Turks... about 40 countries were represented, in fact. And lots of Israelis. We all had fun, we sang songs and at food together and camped out.

And then one day, about a week into the month-long festival, a big truck drove right up to the main fire area - we ran over to ask the truck driver to leave, because Rainbow Gatherings are car-free zones; there's a car-parking area a short walk away, but we had problems with locals driving in all the time.
But before we could say anything about the truck being in what we feel is a sacred space, people started pouring out.

Iranians.

Twenty-one Iranians, men and women. They'd heard about the gathering and come together, caravanning all the way from Teheran. They'd been travelling for a few days in trucks, and they'd brought a king's ransom of food to share (dried fruits and nuts from Iran, and spices to start a chai tent).

They poured out of that truck, and kissed the ground, and we crowded around them and hugged them, and cried "Welcome Home!" (because that's what you say to newly arriving people at Rainbow Gatherings.)

And before I knew it, there was a mob of Israelis hugging Iranians hugging Israelis. And Germans. And Aussies, and Dutch and South Africans and Turks and Danes and Swiss... And we were all just people.

In the days that came, the Iranians set up a camp and started hosting parties and serving food and chai (in Rainbow Gatherings, everything is shared freely; there is no commerce). And friendships were formed.

Someone called for a "talking circle" (basically a group meeting where people sit in a circle and take turns talking) to discuss Peace. It was mostly Israelis and Iranians that came.

Virtually every one in that circle - Iranians and Israelis alike said the same thing:
"I grew up thinking the others were evil people who just hate us and want to bomb us, and we only want peace, I had no idea that the others are people just like us, who also want peace."

So many tears were shed, so many hugs were shared, and so many deep friendships forged.

This was my vision, and it carries on today - the "Peace in the Middle East" Rainbow Family Gatherings are still happening every year, mostly in Turkey, and I now have many friends from Iran, and from Israel.

Let go of your politics, let go of fear, let go of assumptions and media scaremongering and hate. Let go of fear, and see that we are all just people who want Peace.

And I’m not the only one

http://youtu.be/mYjuUoEivbE

Fifteen Year Dreadversarry

Well, this post is a little overdue, but yes, I marked the fifteenth anniversary since I started my dreadlocks!

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post Dread Beads with questions; I shall endeavour to answer them all, as well as a few I get asked regularly by random people.

How many dreads do you have?

I currently have nine dreadlocks. They’re pretty fat. I think I had around 25 when I started them, and slowly they merged. I was aiming for 13 dreads for a while… but they seem to have a mind of their own.

How long was your hair when you started them?

I started them when I was 16, my hair was fairly long, I guess about halfway between my shoulder and elbow. Here’s a very rare photo of me from before I had dreads, age 15 (and yes, I looked like that most of the time. At least in this photo I was sort-of smiling!)

Did yours start out loopy too?

Yeah, mine started out really messy – I did the neglect method. They do settle down with time, and a little palm-rolling helps. The loops are just part of the individual beauty of natural dreads. Here’s another rare photo of me, when my dreads were just starting out, age 16.5:

Though they did settle down, they shrunk a lot, and stayed on the short side of shoulder-length for a long time before they really started to grow. Here’s a pic from when I was about 18 (note how my brother and sister have grown up!):

Have you ever done a dread timeline?

Nope. But I kind of am now. Here’s a pic from when I was about 21 at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe (you can see how my hair grew in 3 years)

And this one is when I was nearly 22 in the Deadvlei in Namibia

How do you maintain them?

I don’t really do much of anything; mine are fully natural. I started them with the “neglect” method, which basically means stop brushing one’s hair, and no more using conditioner. I was living in the bush, and went to stay in a cave for a while, and lost my hairbrush.

After my dreads were well-formed enough, I went back to regular shampooing, but I stopped using shampoo or soaps of any sort on my hair when I was about 19. I wash my hair thoroughly at least once a week, just a really good scalp rub under lots of hot running water (or in a cold creek, as the case may be).

Then I set about making sure they dry as thoroughly and quickly as possible, so I usually only wash my hair early in the day when it’s sunny. I’ve also recently started making use of a hairdryer. Frequently damp dreads can get mouldy and stinky, so diligent drying is essential.

Me, age 24 in, Bolivia

A similar shot for comparison, age 30, in Far North Queensland

Also I am wondering if you had or have any dandruff problems and if so what you used. I've tried oils and its not working.

I don’t have dandruff or any problem with it, sorry. I have heard that using bi-carb soda and an apple cider vinegar rinse is good for that. I do use oils for head-lice prevention. I hate those nasty little @#$% and I don’t tolerate them anywhere near me or my kid. I spray Littletree’s and my hair daily with a mix of rosemary, geranium, lavender, citronella and tea tree essential oils (diluted). It smells really good too – people often ask me what the wonderful perfume is, and it’s very effective for preventing lice. :)

Here’s me with Littletree when she was about 12 months old (and I was nearly 25) in Costa Rica.

I don’t use wax and I don’t recommend it. I think the only people who really rave about wax and other dread products are people trying to sell them to you. Even if you don’t want to wait for the full neglect method (or just want neater dreadlocks), palm-rolling, back-combing and/or crochet are far better in the long run. Using wax will create nice-looking dreads overnight, but then you have a bunch of wax in your hair which is a pain to get out, and the dreads won’t hold over time.

How do you handle stray hairs or do you just let them do their thing?

I don’t worry about stray hairs. They always find their way into dreads when they’re good and ready. If you want to neaten up straight hairs, I think crocheting them is a good method.

Also is it wise to have a professional do the dreads?

That depends on what you want. Having them done professionally can be really pricey, but you do get them “done” in a day. Personally I’m a big fan of natural hair.

I wonder if I can get them done in Singapore.

I imagine you can, but I don’t specifically know of a place.

Are they super heavy or do you not even notice the weight anymore?

I guess they are heavy, but I really don’t notice the weight (except when they’re wet!) I usually find having them up in a bun means they’re well balanced and comfy (and out of the way). I’ll probably notice the lack of weight if I ever cut them off!

Do you use pins or hair sticks to hold them up in the bun you wear or do they just stay like that on their own?

I don’t use anything. They stay up like that all on their own. I just twist them around each other and then tuck the ends in. Takes me about 10 seconds. I do, occasionally, put a wrap or scarf around them, but mostly for aesthetics. I restrain them with a strong scarf when I go dancing though!

Do you keep the beads in all of the time?

Yep. What gets put in stays in till it falls out. I have almost never put anything into my hair myself; the vast majority of beads, wraps, bells, shells, and random trinkets get put in there by other people. I still have one ring in my hair that was put in there by a schoolgirl I didn’t even know, back when I was about 18!

Have you ever found anything strange in them? (I had a client once who found a big spider in his!)

While the spider thing is largely an urban myth, I will admit I’ve had spiders in my dreads before. I don’t know if I’ve ever had anything really weird in there though. I had a friend who used to plant seeds in his; some of them even sprouted!

And also do you ever get unwanted comments from people and if so how do you deal with them?

I have rarely gotten negative comments. When I first started them, pretty much everyone said “what have you done to your beautiful hair?!” because, yeah, though you can’t tell from that photo, I had that kind of ‘beautiful’ flowing, silky hair that looked like something straight out of a shampoo commercial. Strangers would regularly stop me in the street to ask who did my hair. Negative comments in general don’t bother me; what other people think of me is none of my business.

Do you think you'll tire of them?

Sure, maybe, one day. Maybe not; who can tell? I do like the idea of being an old woman with really long, grey dreadlocks!

Can I touch them?

If you ask me first, I usually don’t mind, but don’t think you can just sneak up behind me and feel my hair without me noticing, and probably being annoyed.

Is all of that really your own hair?

Yep. All the way to my knees.

Why do you have them?

I like them, and I have a strong belief about not altering my body’s natural state. I keep clean and healthy, without modifying. I don’t comb my hair; it just grows naturally like that – most people’s does. For some reason there’s a common myth that only African hair will dreadlock, and Europeans have to work hard to get their hair to dread. It’s just not true. There’s loads of cultures around Asia that have dreadlocks, and some evidence of it amongst ancient European tribes as well. I don’t see it as cultural appropriation, not for a second. I also don’t fit into many of the stereotypes associated with dreadlocks: I don’t smoke marijuana, I’m not unemployed or on welfare (nor do I have a trust fund), I’m not vegetarian, I’m not unwashed.

Mostly, I love that they’re extremely low-maintenance and I can do all sorts of crazy stuff with them :)

Nestlé – Voiding Your Right to Water

I’ve talked about boycotting Nestlé before, and you might have noticed the links I have on this page. I’ve been refusing Nestlé products for more than a decade now.

I knew Nestlé was a deplorable company, but I stumbled across an interview clip with the CEO of Nestlé, Peter Brabeck, and I have to say, I had no idea just how terrible these guys are.

Brabeck starts off by saying that organic food is stupid.

“Today people believe that everything that comes from nature is good… A good example is the organic movement… but organic is not best. After 15 years of eating GM products in the USA, not one single illness has occurred from eating them to date.”

Which is a bold statement to make, considering the mountains of evidence contradicting him.

But then he goes right off into saying that the concept of access to clean drinking water as a basic human right is a radical, extreme notion held by NGOs. I had no idea the UN was a radical, extreme NGO.

“Water is, of course, the most important raw material we have today in the world… there are two different opinions on the matter; the one opinion I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution. And the other view says that water is a foodstuff like any other, and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value.”

What a coup! Not only should everyone feed their babies with Nestlé formula, but they should pay for Nestlé bottled water to mix it with too. Unless you listen to radical, extreme NGOs like the United Nations, and chose to BREASTFEED, which is safer, healthier, and free.

Anyway, the interview is so outrageously shocking it’s almost comical. Unbridled Capitalism at its best! You can see the tape here: 

I don’t believe that my boycotting will really make a difference to the company’s policy, but I personally can’t support Nestlé. I won’t go into it all now, but you can read HERE to get more information if you’re interested.

I’m off now to drink some water while it’s still free, and perhaps enjoy a little air before the price rise hits.

The Great Firewall of China is Coming to Australia!

You might notice my blog was blacked out when it first loads – I’m participating in the Great Australian Internet Blackout, which is protesting against the Australian government’s plan to introduce a mandatory internet filter.

This basically means that Australia will join countries such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, which impose centralised Internet censorship. The internet filter will force internet service providers to block access to a website blacklist or “Restricted Content” (RC), created by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). However this list is confidential and not available to the public.

And might I point out that *this* website – my blog, is blocked in China.

While Communications minister Stephen Conroy thinks the filter will "the risk of Australians being inadvertently exposed to RC-rated material when they are online", the lists have been widely criticised for being too broad in scope.

What’s more, trials of the filter were largely considered to be ineffective. Yet, the government is still spending millions of dollars on this plot to rob Australians of their right to freedom of information.

Ostensibly, Conroy insists that the net-filter is for blocking out child pornography, and sites that would endanger our children, but the reality is that the RC list also includes sites that contain “politically sensitive” information, like pro-euthanasia sites.

Does this remind anyone else of the Aussie government’s plan to rob Australian women of the right to choose where they give birth?

Will this mean in the near future pro-homebirth sites will also be blocked? after all, the proposed maternity care laws state that anyone inciting a woman to homebirth would be illegal. What about websites about freebirthing, or unschooling, or natural healing. What about freedom of speech. What about freedom of THOUGHT!?

you can read more about the internet censorship here:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/internet-filter-protesters-set-to-fade-websites-to-black-on-australia-day/story-e6frfro0-1225821477370

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/12/21/the-swift-takedown-of-stephenconroy-com-au/

http://www.prisonplanet.com/australia-to-enforce-mandatory-chinese-style-internet-censorship.html

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24568137-2862,00.html