Permaculture's Covid Conundrums | The Gift Economy, Anarchism and Strategies for Change

Permaculture and the Pandemic Download pdf from here

Permaculture’s Covid Conundrums
Terry Leahy
5th February 2022
[A shorter version of this was published in Arena]

Intro

People in the permaculture movement disagree about the politics of the pandemic. Up until the last few months, this disagreement was not a huge drama on permaculture pages. There were certainly permaculture people posting comments about the pandemic. But they were not arguing that we should take one side or the other to show our commitment to permaculture.

This changed when David Holmgren wrote a blogpost on his permaculture site (September 11th, 2021). David is one of the two founders of permaculture and the only one still alive. This was a long and complex piece of writing. Boiling it down, it attacked the lockdowns, it promoted the idea that the vaccines we have been offered are not safe, it suggested there were various cheap cures, it opposed the mandates as authoritarian overreach. Binding all this together were some overarching themes. The virus was not as serious a problem as it had been painted. It mainly affected the old, infirm and obese. The way forward was for the human species to develop natural immunity rather than mandating dangerous vaccines. A point of view which has much in common with far right ‘eugenics’ discourse – survival of the fittest. Resistance to this state tyranny would usher in a generalised refusal to participate in the economy. People would vote with their feet to live an alternative rural lifestyle, kick starting system change. A high-tech response like the new vaccines would be impossible in a low energy future, so we might as well start looking for low tech solutions now.

There is so much in this that it would take dozens of long weeks of research to consider each point. For just one example, David argues that treatment options are being tried out with success in countries like Mexico and India. It seems likely that this refers to an Egyptian study of Ivermectin that was published in a peer reviewed journal. Following this publication, the Ivermectin treatment took off in hospitals in India and Latin America. This Egyptian study later turned out to be fraudulent – they faked the data. In the news every day, mainstream sources painstakingly unpick the latest anti-vax medical theory. Try a subscription to the Age, the Guardian or the New York Times and follow the links to scientific journal articles. For me, the most interesting stuff in David’s blogpost is his vision of social change, his response to the role of the state and his speculations on science in a post-capitalist permaculture utopia. I have considered some of these issues in other Murderbot Inquiries posts on Facebook and on my ResearchGate site.

As you can imagine, there was a very divided response to David’s post in the Permaculture community. Some posts by well-known permaculture people critiqued his blogpost or otherwise indicated their disagreement. For example, Linda Woodrow, Hannah Moloney, Russ Grayson, Rowe Morrow, Penelope Swales, Keri Hopeward, Robyn Francis, Kirsten Bradley, Nick Ritar, John Champagne and Rick Coleman. This is close to a roll call of influential activists in Australia. On the other hand, there have certainly been a few influential permaculture supporters of David’s position in Australia. For example, Ian Lillington, Artist as Family, Miriam Baxt.

I am less on top of the situation in the United States. It seems likely that a lot of permaculture people there are unaware of this controversy in Australia. I know of two leading activists there who have criticized David’s position — Heather Jo Flores and Wesley Roe. Maddy Harland, a leading permaculture activist from the UK, has indicated her support for Rowe Morrow’s statement on vaccines.

It is likely that Rowe Morrow expresses a common view in the movement. What we permaculture people might worry about most is the inequity of the distribution of the vaccines globally. This inequity is a structural racism. It expresses the economic interests of rich country governments and global pharmaceutical companies.

In the last few years, I have conducted interviews with a global sample of permaculture grass roots participants for my book “The Politics of Permaculture”. Questions were not addressed to this issue. At the time, the permaculture response to Covid was not a controversial issue in the movement. What I did ask about was technology and science. By and large interviewees trusted some high-tech science and envisaged this science continuing to inform a post-capitalist future. These views clash with the logic of some of David’s arguments against the vaccine.

The next event in this saga was that David and some other Australian permaculture people attended two ‘freedom’ rallies opposing the lockdowns, mandates and vaccines (the 13th and 20th November). In the rallies they carried a highly visible permaculture banner. The second of these was also in opposition to the Victorian government’s Pandemic Bill and was the largest rally so far. Participants estimated numbers at more than 200,000. Groups that are part of the far right organized this rally as they have organized all the previous ones. The mainstream media have been noting this far right connection since day one. It was somewhat obvious to anyone who was looking. Demonstrators carried Australian flags, a dog whistle sign of racism. The far right ‘sovereign citizens’ favoured the red ensign. The demonstrations almost always ended up at the Shrine of Remembrance, a popular focal point for far-right rallies. Demonstrations were addressed by far-right politicians such as Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson. Typically, on the 20th November, far right parties proselytized the crowd with party leaflets. Threats to parliamentarians were symbolized by nooses. People who attended the rally said that there was a very celebratory mood. Many were enthusiastic about the diversity of the protest crowd. In other words, a total coup for the far-right organizers. It is quite difficult to determine whether this diversity means that members of the crowd were from a range of political viewpoints. It is not out of the question that the far right includes at least this number of people living in Melbourne. It also makes sense that some Australians are opposed to the vaccines, mandates or lockdowns — without being affiliated to the far right. In an incident shortly afterwards, a nutty anti-vax freedom fighter drove his car into a nurse standing on the pavement near a vaccination centre.

Implications for permaculture

As I argue in “The Politics of Permaculture”, permaculture is like most social movements in being organized independently through a variety of groups and activists, connected through their common commitment to a set of key ideas and networking to produce various joint actions. There is no top down centralized authority structure.

In that understanding this division of opinion is not really a problem for the movement. We can agree to differ on this issue. David makes it quite clear in his blogpost that he is not aiming to set out a definitive permaculture movement position. He hopes that the different factions to continue to work together on common projects. My belief, as I explain in another “Murderbot Inquiries” post, is that this issue will blow over. More than ninety per cent of people in rich countries will end up vaccinated — through a combination of voluntary choice and government supported mandates. After that we will see a painfully slow extension to the third world — as global capital protects tourism and extractive industries in the global south. It would be a shame to lose the permaculture movement through an issue that is likely to last another three years at most.

A different way to look at permaculture as a social movement is to focus on the way the movement is organized through common commitment to the ideas set out in three canonic texts, the first by David Holmgren and Bill Mollison together, the next by Bill alone and the third by David. These three writings give a complexity and depth to permaculture. In my conversations with permaculture activists at the grass roots, permaculture people define their adherence to the movement through these texts and cite them in numerous ways when explaining their practice. To that extent permaculture is informed by a “charismatic foundationalism”. The two founders of the movement and their three canonic texts are charismatic within the movement. This situation confronts permaculture people who do not agree with David’s blogpost with an awkward conundrum. How to continue to define yourself as permaculture in relation to these three canonic texts. Two of these were co-authored or written entirely by someone whose current opinions you regard as ill founded, unscientific and even unethical. This awkward situation is exacerbated by the presence of David with a permaculture banner at a demonstration organized by the far right. As far as the world can see, permaculture and its remaining living founder have thrown their weight behind the anti-vax movement and do not hesitate to turn up to a demonstration organized by the far right.

An interesting response is that of Heather Jo Flores. Heather Jo Flores is a prominent US permaculture activist. She wrote a piece for Medium that she has since taken down. She argued that David’s post defines him as a racist and ableist. She claimed his work was never mentioned when she undertook her permaculture training. This was before David’s “Principles and Pathways” was published. Still somewhat hard to credit given David co-authored the first canonic book of permaculture. She refuses to consider him as a founder of the movement.

My own view is that there has always been a tension in the movement between “charismatic foundationalism” and the networked, multi-centred flat organisational structure of a social movement. This was most manifest when Bill Mollison was alive and decided that a whole cohort of established teachers of permaculture had strayed away from the ideas presented in his “Designers’ Manual”. Their fault was that they had embraced unscientific viewpoints he referred to as “woo woos”, such as ley lines, dowsing and ecofeminist spirituality. He attempted unsuccessfully to exclude these teachers from awarding PDCs to their students.

The way I see it, permaculture needs to move away from “charismatic foundationalism” and define itself in terms of a set of shared ideas. In this interpretation, the three canonic texts are certainly the inspiration for the movement. On the other hand, people interpret these texts differently and you do not have to accept every word of these texts as defining permaculture. Likewise, it is not necessary to agree with every opinion of a permaculture founder to identify as permaculture. Their interpretation of what it means to be permaculture is not authoritative within the movement.

There are two threats to the movement coming out of this situation. One is that a lot of current permaculture people will drop their permaculture identity, becoming “degrowth” or “agroecology”. This is already a tendency affecting the movement and the current conflict can only exacerbate this.

The second is that we will find it much harder to recruit new people to permaculture.
A very large majority of people who now identify as permaculture come out of a background in some part of the left. They are people who like permaculture for its grass roots strategy for system change. That pathway of recruitment has been compromised. There is a plethora of posts coming out of the young leftist milieu, condemning permaculture for its links to a rally organized by the far right. Supporters of David’s position can wax lyrical on the need for permaculture to be taken up across the political divide. In my view this is unlikely.

Very few people in Australia, whatever their politics, are taking an anti-vax position. More than ninety three per cent of those over sixteen have taken two Covid vaccinations by now. These ordinary Australians are unlikely to join a movement that is now associated with anti-vaxxers.

Permaculture could be severely compromised in the United States. In the USA, people see the anti-vax position as connected to Trump and the far right. Republican state Governors have passed legislation to prevent schools from getting students to wear masks. People in counties that voted more than sixty per cent for Trump are dying at 2.73 times the rate of those in counties voting for Biden. Republican voters are less likely to be vaccinated – sixty per cent compared to ninety per cent of Democrat voters. Democrat voters, the most likely recruits to permaculture, are unlikely to join a movement that is anti-vax.

The Far Right and Permaculture

Permaculture people involved in these rallies see their participation through the lens of their own good intentions. As Holmgren’s posts and videos from Artist as family indicate, they see the freedom rallies as expressing a grass roots resistance to authoritarian government — drawing participants from across the political spectrum. They see authoritarian overreach during the pandemic as the system, the ‘deep state’, learning how to set up a centralized command economy. Resistance to protect our democratic freedoms is vital. They see these rallies as standing up for basic democratic freedoms that the left should also support. The right to work, the right to free speech without censorship, the right to privacy, the right to choose your medical treatment. The permaculture movement has an opportunity to tap into this spirit of resistance to promote permaculture solutions.
This is all very understandable, and I will not rehearse the various replies to these positions.

My own view is that there is no doubt that the far right has played a major part in organizing these rallies. Not just in Australia but globally. It is difficult to know the political allegiance of members of the crowd. Members of the far right do not all come labelled with swastikas and short haircuts. Rather than looking at these issues from the perspective of the permaculture participants, it is worth considering how these events may be seen by the far right.

Visions of the far right

The far-right dreams of a white ethno-state. A racially pure state that has excluded the racialised other. Jews are hated by most versions of the far right. Nevertheless, in a strange paradox, a far-right Zionist has been one of the organizers of the Melbourne rallies. In the USA, Black Americans are hated. In Australia, anti-Asian feeling is on the back burner, but Muslims are now the enemy. Likewise in the UK, USA, Russia and Europe. The presence of Aboriginal flags at the pandemic rallies in Australia may express Indigenous identity for some participants. But it is also a convenient prop to mask the racism the organisers want to background for current purposes. The conspiracy theory that Aborigines in the Northern Territory are being forced at gun point to vaccinate has gone global and is being spread by the far right.

The far right sees feminists, gays, lesbians and trans people as undermining the proper role of men — making men victims. The ideal family is the heterosexual couple with the man “protecting” his woman from the forces of evil.

The far right also hates “Communists”, “cultural Marxists”, the “liberal” left and “anarchists”. The far right is convinced that even the US Democrats are “communists”.

It does not take a lot of imagination to work out that a lot of us permaculture people fit into one category or another that the far-right hates.

The far right does not have an ethical problem with eliminating all these out groups by murder and assassination. They refrain from this only because they fear retaliation and arrest. The people who have engineered mass attacks on Muslims are heroes of the far-right. Also, those who have murdered social democrat politicians. In Norway, a far right terrorist killed 69 young people attending a summer camp for a social democrat party. Likewise, those who have murdered “Black Lives Matter” demonstrators. Similarly, those who have killed medical workers giving vaccinations. The nooses at the pandemic rallies in Australia are meant in full earnest. It is no accident that people at far-right militia training camps pose for photos giving Nazi salutes. Racist bashings, domestic violence, threats on social media and arson are the everyday violence of the far right in action.

The far-right has stepped up its anti-authoritarian rhetoric and downplayed its racism in response to the pandemic. We should be very sceptical when they appear as the champions of freedom. They also hope for a strong state, dealing death to the enemies of white civilisation (see above). The freedom envisaged by the far-right is the freedom to enact one’s anger in warrior adventures, a band of brothers in arms.

It is beyond obvious that the ethical views of the far right are at odds with a permaculture ethic. Members of the far right could not “become” permaculture without losing their far-right identity and viewpoints. Members of the far right could perhaps take up aspects of permaculture as sustainable agriculture. Working against this is their concern about issues they see as a lot more pressing. Elite conspiracy, the replacement of white people, men as victims. Far right parties oppose climate change policies as excessive state interference in “our” freedom. It makes sense for the far right to play up the dangers to our freedom posed by environmentalist elites — to recruit the angry young white men who are their target demographic.

Crumbing

The far right knows that most people regard their views as abhorrent or nutty. “Breadcrumbing” is the term for the typical tactic the far right uses to get round this distaste. It can be performed online or through public political actions. “Breadcrumbing” is so called after the Hansel and Gretel folk tale. Hansel and Gretel follow a trail of breadcrumbs, walking from one crumb to the next. In online crumbing the first post you read on your social media channel may appear innocent enough. For example, vaccine mandates are chucking a nurse out of her job. By clicking on a link, you end up at another site which says we no longer have democracy, and the votes are rigged. Following a link there, a third site claims this is the work of an evil conspiracy. The next site tells you Jewish billionaires are working hand in glove with Muslims trying to destroy “our” civilisation.

Breadcrumbing is also the strategy of the far right in the current rallies. Come along to a diverse rally of “ordinary” folk, participate in a festive rejection of vaccine mandates, demonstrate against restrictions on our freedom. At the same time, far right groups will be handing out pamphlets for far-right parties. Rhetoric and stage props will threaten to kill mainstream politicians. The rally will wend its way to the “Shrine of Remembrance” where we can remember our brave ancestors fighting to defend our freedom. Most participants may take this with a grain of salt, but organizers hope that some will end up voting for far-right parties and joining far-right hate groups. Organizers can hope that people coming along will at least conclude that the far right is not as bad as they are painted.

Breadcrumbing is also the reason why the far right has been so vocal on this issue. I am going to suggest that far right organisers are not particularly bothered by the vaccines or mandates. But it makes sense for them to tap into the anger created by this issue. They use this occasion to recruit those who are angry for a host of reasons. The insecurity of the job market, the ridiculous housing prices. Many young men experience these economic difficulties as their failure to achieve the status of “breadwinner” — a status their fathers took for granted. The far right offers them another path to adult manhood. Join a band of warriors defending the community. The pandemic provides a perfect opportunity to give this myth legs. Be courageous to save the community from evil elites and dictatorial governments. Star in your own action movie. Crumbing assembles support through focusing on whatever issue is likely to galvanize this cohort.

Accelerationism

The demands of the far-right are multiple and contradictory. They seize on any cause whatsoever. Their tactics are violent rallies, bashings, arson, social media blitzes and assassinations. All this engineered chaos fits with a key strategy of the far right. This is “accelerationism”.

Far right thinkers believe that representative democracy and its combination with capitalism cannot last. This combination is headed for collapse. They share this view with parts of the environmentalist movement. In permaculture itself, energy descent is a key belief. The capitalist economy depends on growth and cannot survive a groundswell of incidents that together make a growth economy impossible. For example, climate change, the exhaustion of topsoils, the build-up of toxic waste, the shortage of oil and minerals, the immense cost of renewable energy. How much the far right shares this environmentalist analysis is not clear. My impression is that far right thinkers are much more concerned with threats to Western civilisation supposedly coming from Muslim migrants, feminists and “socialists”.

The aim of accelerationism is to bring on this crisis of current civilisation and accelerate it. The method is to make it impossible to maintain order within the framework of representative democracy and capitalism. Mass rallies and violent attacks on the police give the impression that things are getting out of hand. The invasion of the Capitol after Trump’s defeat was a triumph of accelerationist tactics. A theatrical performance of zombie apocalypse served up with the mythology of a failed election. In the far-right response to “Black Lives Matter” rallies, scenes of far-right activists carrying assault rifles are photo opportunities for posting on social media. Citizens are taking matters into their own hands — because the police force is not strong enough to restrain chaos. The far right is here to protect you from these hordes. In Australia a pared back version of these theatrics sees demonstrators waving flares and attacking the police.

The far-right embrace of anti-vaccine propaganda and myth is intended to stymie efforts by governments to restore economic functioning and end lockdowns. The effect, in countries where this tactic is successful, is that up to thirty per cent of adults are not vaccinated and the medical system becomes unworkable. In response democratic governments are forced to ramp up mandated vaccination to save the hospital system — exacerbating the impression that governments have run out of answers and are hell bent on destroying our freedom.

The scenario intended by far-right thinkers through these accelerationist tactics is that ordinary people will come to realize that “normality” can only be guaranteed by strong government, with the far right in charge. The far right in power will crack down hard on all the groups that the far-right hates. They will deal with the problems plaguing ordinary citizens. Or so they promise.

In large rallies attended by a diverse section of political groupings, the far right takes the lead, with national flags and other symbols of far-right allegiance. The implication is that all these ordinary people following behind the organizers are equally disenchanted with the political process. Nothing less than the murder of mainstream politicians is required. Thousands of supporters on the streets show that extreme actions are proportionate to the issue.

Permaculture in all this

If permaculture people attend these rallies and bring a permaculture banner, they serve several functions for the far right. Their presence contributes to the view that the far right has the support of diverse sections of the community. In the warrior narrative of the far right, permaculture ends up playing the part of “the community” that the far right has a mission to protect. By going along to the rally, permaculture seems to be saying – yes, please protect us. Because permaculture is perceived as benign, generally harmless and peace loving, the presence of permaculture at a rally speaks against the impression that the far right is a violent and dangerous force. By attracting people to these rallies through the message of earnest goodwill that permaculture implies, the crowd swells. The far right has enhanced opportunities for crumbing the people at the rally and those watching on TV or social media. At the same time, by participating in one of a series of demonstrations aimed at destabilizing the political system through symbols of chaos, permaculture assists the far right in its accelerationism.

Concluding notes

I am far from sure about what to conclude for this permaculture conundrum. Let us look at it from two angles.

There are those like me who are reasonably optimistic about the vaccines and not too concerned by lockdowns and some implementation of vaccination mandates. We do not have to take David’s view as authoritative in the movement. We can go on identifying as permaculture if we want to. But what if permaculture has been damaged beyond repair? I can understand why some might want to abandon a sinking ship and try some other allegiance. Time will tell. Perhaps I am exaggerating the dangers to permaculture, and this will all blow over. Does it do any good for permaculture people to even get involved in discussing this fracture? The far right thrives on dividing the left and on taking up our time with side issues. A lot of people in permaculture are just keeping quiet. Maybe that makes sense.

For those who are anti-vax there is another set of choices and possibilities. They believe that the possible dangers to permaculture are a small price to pay to defend freedom against an encroaching command economy. Holmgren asks rhetorically whether he is concerned that his participation in these rallies may damage permaculture. ‘You’ve got to be kidding’, he replies. Permaculture participation is an opportunity. These are discontented people looking for the solutions permaculture can provide. Members of the far right may be attracted to permaculture and abandon their racist and patriarchal identities.

This pandemic conundrum provides an example of how permaculture works as a social movement. Groups and individuals who participate in a social movement do not take orders from a guru or a central committee. There is no way to declare that any one viewpoint expresses the will of the movement — taken as a whole. This can lead to fragmentation if the various parts start to disagree strongly. Permaculture is a microcosm of the fragmentation of the left at large. As I show in “Politics of Permaculture”, permaculture people have quite diverse views on the kind of social order that should follow capitalist industrialism. There are ways in which this pandemic fracture expresses these differences. For example, can we support representative democracy? Will system change dismantle the state? Is high tech science feasible in a degrowth future? What is the ultimate fate of money and markets? Will bioregions be independent and largely self-sufficient? I am not saying that views on these questions imply any particular answer to the pandemic conundrum. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that permaculture people have these questions at the back of their minds. It is no surprise that they end up with different conclusions about the pandemic.