building a global community

think of no one as "them" • don’t confuse your comfort with your safety • talk to strangers • imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels • listen to music you don't understand • dance to it • act locally • notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture

• question consumption •

know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation • look for fair trade and union labels • help build economies from the bottom up • acquire few needs • learn a second (or third) language • visit people, places and cultures -- not tourist attractions • learn people's history

• re-define progress •

know physical and political geography • play games from other cultures • watch films with subtitles • know your heritage • honor everyone's holidays • look at the moon and imagine someone else, somewhere else, looking at it too • read the un's universal declaration of human rights • understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water • know where your bank banks

• never believe you have a right to anyone else's resources •

refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination • question military/corporate connections • don't confuse money with wealth, or time with money • have a pen/email pal • honor indigenous cultures

• judge governance by how well it meets *all* people's needs •

be skeptical about what you read • eat adventurously • enjoy vegetables, beans and grains in your diet • choose curiosity over certainty • know where your water comes from and where your wastes go • pledge allegiance to the earth: question nationalism • think south, central and north -- there are many americans • assume that many others share your dreams

• know that no one is silent though many are not heard •

...work to change this...


:from the syracus cultural workers community: