 Thanks, I hope you're all okay with the recording, but there's a lot of people that asked if we could record. And, you know, post your name and where you're from in the chat, so folks know where people are coming in from. And then we can get started. I'm Jodi Evans and I'm one of the co-founders of food pink and the local piece economy project eight years ago. And I'm Emily Franco. I'm the local piece company coordinator at code pink and I've been with good things since last May, helping to build some of the tools that we have shared with you will continue to share with you support people on the local piece economy journey. So like Jodi said, please continue to put your name and where you're calling in from in the chat. And we're going to drop in a little bit before we go any deeper. As Jodi said last week, we start with culture, music, poetry, art. So we're going to start with the poem tonight. Similar to how we did last week. And it's called you start dying slowly as a moment to drop in and some attribute this poem to the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and others attributed to Brazilian poet Martha Medeiros, and I wasn't able to find a clear attribution either way, but I think the message is really important. So let's take a moment to ground. Feel your feet. Feel your seat. If you're sitting down. Take a breath. Next to your belly. Next to your heart. You start dying slowly. You start dying slowly. If you do not travel. If you do not read. If you do not listen to the sounds of life. If you do not appreciate yourself. You start dying slowly when you kill yourself esteem. When you do not let others help you. You start dying slowly. If you become a slave of your habits, walking every day on the same paths. If you do not change your routine. If you do not wear different colors, or you do not speak to those you don't know. You start dying slowly if you avoid to feel passion and their turbulent emotions. Those which make your eyes glisten and your heart beat fast. You start dying slowly. If you do not change your life. When you are not satisfied with your job or with your love. If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain. If you do not go after a dream. You do not allow yourself at least once in your lifetime to run away from sensible advice. Thank you. I just, you know, again say welcome and the ways we pivot to are the ways of Indigenous cultures around the world. They are the ways that they learn to let peace and harmony and justice serve their communities. They knew we could all fall into crevices and get lost. There were ways that the community knew the behaviors were just that and not an indictment of the person or even the animal. They were attuned to the health of the planet and the people and all things living. We have so horribly lost our way and are thinking and feeling scrambled by the flood of toxic lies fueled by greed, power and trauma. The war economy works very hard to divest you from you from the community and then use you your heart and your mind as tools for its goals. So as we do this pivot. Just a reminder it's not a quick fix. It's been a long time in the work. So, yes, we must continue to expose the war economy. Just asking a few people to mute. Cool, thank you. So, yeah, it's not a quick fix. Yes, we must continue to expose the war economy disrupt it block it whenever possible. But we must cultivate a future. Because even in the work to block it it's owning us it's diverting our attention to what is necessary, which is the future. The cultivating a future also makes us more effective in addressing the war economy, as our roots deep and enriching into what lives inside of all of us. And we become a tuning fork for others. It helps them also find their way out, and it creates clarity. And we all know in this moment clarity is very hard to come by. Last week we we went in depth about what the local piece economy is and what we're working on and that recording is available, if any of you missed it but I want each week to be fresh and different so we're always learning so the recordings will be available for people who miss them. Since we were together two weeks ago, we've been watching a battle between the rules based order dictator Biden and company, destroying Gaza and her people and crush international laws. You know just today, the penalties for standing with South Africa are being leveled against the countries. That that stood there, innocent countries, all they did was stand against genocide, and the State Department is now declaring them not safe to travel to which will hurt their economy. So, I have never thought that this could happen so fast. But I think there's something to look at here. Right now, there is nothing in the way. The hegemony and the power of the United States, it's 75% of the weapons on the planet and nuclear weapons. As it was nothing in the way we threw international law at it, and it threw it back and everyone's faces on funding on rough, going at the countries that were with South Africa, basically saying, you know, we don't care about your international law, we rule, we have the weapons. I mean, we're literally back to the days of Genghis Khan. So that means that we're looking at the moment we live in in history. And we know that part of what it tries to do is overwhelm and depress us. Together because it is always the people that create change. And so here we are cultivating a future together. And so remembering it takes time. Pass has been laid by Israel for 75 years, the US hegemony for longer. But we've seen that it is people that we can't invest in power. We have to be investing in people. It's hard because you know, sorry, we've been actually, we've been taught to get caught up in this other world, but we're going to create another one. And please, please, please, never let how insane in human diabolical, what is happening now, crush you or overwhelm you. That's how they went. And it's we're creating a community. So we have each other to go to. So we have arms to hold. So we remember what the truth is. And I want to talk about a couple of ways that cultivating a local peace economy also works with engaged activism. Firstly, we have a victory. The biggest city so far Chicago voted the city council voted to stand for a ceasefire. Now, who made that happen. Local peace economy organizations, those people working on healthcare working on housing, working locally on the things that are essential for life. And this is one of the people that made the difference. And not only that that last deciding vote. He said, I don't really want to vote this way, but you have forced me to. And we hear that from the members of Congress that we have moved to say divest. It is people power, it is pressure. But where did that power come together. And then cultivating peace locally. It came in organizing and community that force. Everyone in the, you know, the blocking entire halls of the whole city hall of the city hall of Chicago. Every single one of those people were people who work on the local peace economy. There are people who work on what issues matter to the people's needs those are the people that work on life. So when I say, you know, it's it's integrated. It's like when you're doing the work, but when you need to do the other work, you're there together. And it was layers and layers and layers of local peace economy projects. And it was those people who are local those people who create power that forced this vote to happen. It's a great thing to get engaged in locally and, you know, it could pink even help you we're not here to talk about that and it's a great way for local peace economy projects to work together too. But I wanted to share that with you. And then I wanted to talk about what happened in San Francisco, and how, when you're doing this work. You know, I want to say there's like a magic that happens. And that's because when you're serving life, life is serving you. And it's kind of the way the pivots happens if you get deeper into the pivots you'll all of a sudden see there's something magical that happens it's like that pivot starts to serve you in a way that you didn't recognize or have available to you before. But another example is San Francisco. So the San Francisco crew have been engaged with the local peace economy since I started they were there with me day one. Many of them are created, like even peace economy center San Jose, got a whole house and they they teach gardening and cultivated a lot of front front gardens that were feeding communities and many many ways that they cultivate a local peace economy in the Bay Area it's it's really the, the, I don't know the pot of gold of local peace economies between Richmond and Oakland and Berkeley and San Francisco. One of the things that they do together and infused by the local peace economy is you know partly it's just what is life look what is joyful what is pleasure you know all the things that make life beautiful. And for the last 20 years they've done teas and picnics and teachings and been a beautiful things happening and Nancy Pelosi's house to ask her to have a meeting and talk to her that they'd like to teach her why war is a bad idea and it kills mothers and children and, and it's been quite beautiful. A few months ago, right after October, seven, they went over and they did a dying in front of her car so we couldn't leave. And she got very angry and told them to go back to China. And then the on Sunday we see her say something even more outrageous that the activism for Gaza is must be fueled by Putin, and that ceasefire is really Putin's message. So that has just world around the world as a way of a window and a spotlight to look back at how crazy all this is to help people understand the insanity. That's all the risen out of a local peace economy. So I wanted you to be able to see how activism and local peace economy go together. And those are two just examples from this week. But from the last meeting we were working on pivots. And so I want to talk a little bit about the pivots and where they came from. As I, as I saw, oh, wow, we're not going to end where to we in the war economy. And my deep look at like okay what's the war economy and what does it do and how does it affect us. Thank you john yes we get life from what we give so I think that's a, we should keep up with you because that's what the local peace economy work is when we're giving to life it goes back. That is a truth that comes out of this work. So the pivots have been kind of created over time, as we saw the things that the war economy forces us into a lot of people working on it, which share them. We have what we've developed over the years but I please, please, please, if you find one, if you're in something and you see this is an addiction and something doesn't serve life and it doesn't serve you, and it would be better this way. Please feel free to share us you can always send Emily or bring it as an offering to one of these calls because we're all learning together. This is, you know, it's a it's a fabric that we're weaving together. So pivots. We really want to hear this week, how the pivots went for you. What, what did you learn, how did it affect you, how do you feel, and maybe should. I want to just share just a couple of my favorites from people who've shared with me just a couple to get you this kind of fuel the conversation. One was a few years ago someone started, and they came back to me, and they said, Oh my God, did you know we lived in a field of generosity. As soon as I started being generous as soon as I started paying attention, and it was giving things away all of a sudden I realized, oh my God, the world is so generous. Things were coming back to me I would give and something gave back. So that was, that was one that I must have heard over and over and over again. And the other one was about sharing joy. And so, Emily has pasted in the chat, the pivots, if some of you are new and haven't seen them, they're turning 23 ways for you to divest war economy. I call them addictions because when you're not being nourished. You try to nourish yourself and you nourish, and the war economy creates these addictions. That's a fake nourishment. It's not really nourishing you so you get lost in that kind of hamster wheel, instead of the behaviors that do nourish you that do have you experiencing and being fed by life, fed by life and life feeding back as as we heard earlier. So I'd like to break you into groups of three. And for you to share either how your week with the pivots were, or if you weren't here last week. Take a look at the list and see, you know what, where you see the ones that speak to you. And I guess we'll give you all 10 minutes, three people is and, you know, and also just a chance to get to know each other and to get to have a conversation about the pivots. So, let's see, I just want to check, we've got one, two, three, see 24. Oh, perfect seven. So we'll break you into groups of seven. And that'll give you time. And, um, okay, so how did you work with the pivots last week. What did you learn what was surprising, what was joyful, it was interesting. And then for those of you that didn't have the pivots to work with take a look at the list and say, you know, what are the ones that look like you'd like to work with them next week. So we'll see you back in 10 minutes. I hope you all had a nice time together. And so I'm, I'm now going to also I just want to acknowledge like how many of you are local food pinkers and organized locally, and just deepest gratitude for all of that, and all that you do. And just, I, I'm just so grateful to be with all you amazing peacemakers and cares for peace. So I'm going to turn it over to Emily to start us learning what happened in your breakouts. Yeah, we'd love to hear from you. Hopefully, someone from each breakout room and share. What's something that struck you from your conversation something you're taking away. I just want to share first or I'll actually let us go from break out from the breakout room. And I'm not going to use my name directly. And we now goes. Yes hi. I was at one from Arizona and it seemed it went very quickly. Well, myself, I should say that this is my first time so I was kind of reviewing the pivots the piece. And then Moji and I shared some of his background and I started to share mine. But interestingly enough, it sounds like Moji is kind of well on the road with this kind of approach. I'm still learning some of the language and some of what the concepts are. So that's what I learned. And it was enjoyable, although short. So Moji, yeah. So Moji is kind of in the piece economy and is more deeply steeped in these practices. You know, when I'm in Iran, I understand that, you know, how much some some cultures still exist that are more deeply rooted in the piece economy and you know, us in the United States it's like we're like, we've been stripped stripped away for so long. But Moji's ahead of a little bit ahead of all of us. Thank you so much. It's practice. It's not about perfection. And we're all entering from where we're entering from. Great. So the next group to. Okay. Pamela Tom and whoever is named admin on here. I'm not sure what your name is, but anyone from that group care to share. What struck you what you learn what you're leaving with leaving that conversation with. Well, I'll share. We had a very lively conversation that Alice is a third member. And the time went quickly. What we came up with was like how familiar the pivots actually are in our prior work and that this is not brand new, but it's something we've been trying to develop for anybody who's trying to make the world a better place. These things speak to us. You know, so it's not a brand new language. It was applied by one person in the group is using in the church group, for example, you know, and having a little group in that context. So it's very flexible and adaptable these pivots because they are universal. Another thing that came up was that these are all attributes of that refer to inner spiritual development or growth as human beings. So whatever we want to cultivate in the world needs to be cultivated within us, you know, if we have to live with the real conviction that we're pivoting from scarcity to abundance. So we have to live with that, whatever one you want to pick rushing to wisdom, we have can't be rushing that they're like be able to have the wisdom to appreciate the beauty in the world. And it's not all heaviness. There's still a lot of beauty. And you can any one of the pivot could be unpacked that way, like how am I personally myself, cultivating that pivot in my inner life, and then practicing in a community, you know, and that's how we bring it to the world, not by telling them about the pivots, but by living the pivots. I think that's the point. So, Tom, is there a pivot that you played with this last week that you had a surprise with or that, you know, gave you gave you something back. Yeah, absolutely a number of them one I'll speak up briefly is the one about. Relationality transactional to relational. And it came about in in the in Wisconsin like we're talking about rural politics a lot we've been reading the Jordan County Dems, I read a book called dirt road revival. And it's all about like, how do we relate to the rural population because a lot of our presidential national politics and is just like so focused on the urban centers. And that builds resentment. There's a whole book, the politics of resentment in Wisconsin. That's why Trump did as well as he did here, because he like got them, you know. So how do you meet these people and this idea of relationality has to be at the core of our work, rather than transactional being like, if I give you this you'll give me this if I explain it the right way you'll believe that what I want you to believe, you know, it's all this that if this has to be set aside and left to pivot is towards. Who are you. How are you feeling. And that relationship between beings rather than looking at them as another vote that you want to get. Thank you that that's beautiful and I also think it speaks to this moment as we're watching the dehumanization of Palestinians. You know, like, as we say to look in the mirror of what's happening. It's that same thing you're talking about Tom when do we dehumanize in our lives. And that pivot from transactional to relational is a real pivot into not dehumanizing and we, none of us think we do it. But it is so it's the scariest one to me I have to say coping we work on it all the time, because we all of a sudden find ourselves like wanting results and wanting. I mean, nobody wants to behave the way we do but our minds are so acclimated to it. And so, you know, it's a it is the I find it's the hardest one, because of the bad habits that we're in. But to be relational like you say Tom is, you know, that is, I think the core practice is to because it'll catch just every day it'll you know that's the one that I get caught up with every day. Especially when I go too fast. Transaction shows up right away. So, so thank you for that. Yes, thank you Tom. Next group is John Rachel and Sue Ellen. John why don't you go because you talked mostly about your book that you had read. I think John you need to unmute. Yeah. I don't really have much to say except that I'm really really concerned. I think it as all of us were in the group I was in about the matter of what to do in November, none of us want to vote for either party and the and and the third party various third parties aren't viable. John, so guess what that is not what we, one of my things about elections is that if you cultivate a local piece economy, you will know how to vote. If you create a community, everyone in the community will know how to vote. And I'm looking for surprises. And I think the more that we build what we are building around Gaza, the more the people fall away. The more surprises will happen. And for me when we look at elections, I call that by being used by the war economy, because if we think we live in a democracy were diluted. So, you know, don't let that pattern that gets hooks us in have any power over you right now. It is a failure. It is not please do not anyone here give any of your time to that. If you cultivate a local piece economy, if you work together for life, everyone in your community will know what to do on Election Day. But boy, that the industry that is elections is at $4 trillion industry. It's at $4 trillion out and manipulates hearts and minds into either or. One of those pivots is about this either or us them, and it takes us into an us them that unroots us from our heart, it unroots us from our mind. It distorts us. And so I mean, if you want to be liberated for, you know, this is I call election years hell. If you want to be liberated from hell in 19 in 2024, cultivate a local piece economy because when everyone else's brains and hearts are getting trashed. Yours will be nourished. Yours will be stronger years will be more beautiful. And everyone will want know what to do Election Day. And I feel that by cultivating local piece economies by cultivating locally by being in communities, something there will be another choice. And it's not for us, you know, it's not for us to create except by creating the soil for it. And I see that both in our local piece economy work, and in our, you know, are organizing against war. It's building. There's something building. Stay in the build. Stay in building people power do not let an ounce of yourself be used by this horrible, horrible thing that is a lie. You cannot look at this moment right now and think that democracy. I mean, first, I just there is no democracy. 80% of Democrats say, you know, they want to ceasefire and nobody's listening. If you look at the numbers we you can look at Twitter on code pink today, we have the numbers of how many members have said ceasefire. It's like, you know, 8% and 26% Senate and Congress with all of all of the country at like 80, you know, 80, no, 70% 80 with the Democrats. That's not a democracy. So let's not get caught up in that thing. I'm promising you that like by an election day, let's create something totally different by creating the soil for something really surprising to happen. So sorry, John, if there is anything else you want to say that was because it sounds like you read a book you like. I think that I think that John's got confused. John Russell was with me and I don't know who else, but he basically summarized our group so nobody mentioned the last name. So Ellen and I were right in the middle of her discussion of the pivot from urgency to wisdom. And she got cut off because I talked too long from the start. But I'm fully behind. And I'm sorry you got so impassioned there, Jody. Sorry to John Russell, but I'm fully alive in your interpretation of the change we seek in the world. We are the change, as Gandhi said, it starts with us and it's all about perspective attitude. It's all about leading through example. Organize and lead your organized. Well, the organization committee is led by example. So when you are when you are living. Life with the perception that there are other alternatives besides this or that. That there's a road maybe that goes along. Goodness and badness. Well, that's that's contrary to I don't know that's hard for me to think out of the contrarianism. But there are other ways of viewing reality. And if we're not for capitalism's. Hegemonizing the world the planet. We might have native native cultures leading our, especially our, our progress our human development. So John, so thank you because I think what you nailed there is another one that's kind of hard. Which is, you know, the us them, you know, and right wrong that the, you know, instead of seeing the whole picture and the acceptance and that and that and that we are all it. And it is, you know, so having a relationship with instead of an, you know, an adversary. Being able to open our hearts and minds to be able to see all of it and at the core, what causes something to happen instead of hating it. I like to see it changing from the digital to the analog back to the analog where I look at the world. No, it's it's a melding of everything rather than a pixel of everything. So, John, we call that a proxy. And I think thank you for naming that because I think we don't recognize how much we live in relationship to proxies. You know, I say where we get the menu but not the meal. And having relating to the world through zeros and, you know, ones, instead of, you know, the, I mean, Tom's beautiful like lettuce there, you know, it's instead of having that visceral relationship. There's this thing in the way these these filters that are inter that have an effect on us that we're not. We're not so aware of when they're happening. But I like your analog analog digital analog we should add that one Emily that you know that how much can you move your day from digital the analog is another great practice. This was with somebody that did a whole month without a cell phone except for the just the flip phone so people could find them. And the recognition of how much of our world and how we get along in the world is controlled by this thing that distances us so it goes back to transaction relationship but thank you. There you go John you're leading the way thank you. But it also is empowering you know with my grandkids and see they can't even do their multiplication tables because they always have something else doing it for them and how does the not using our brains affect the future. So thank you john I'll let Emily call in the next group. Thanks John thanks Jody. Barbara and Carol. What happened to your group. Oh Carol I think you're muted. I guess I've been at the previous one, and we didn't know too many of the pivots but I talked about the connection of my community church, which is very focused on justice and peace and Barbara and I got to know each other and formed a connection that was special. Barbara did you have anything nice to let me do a lot of talking and kind of getting a lot of stuff off of my chest so I really appreciate it. And it would have been nice to have more time. Yeah. Yay, yay for relating well you can talk to each other in the chat and give each other your phone numbers or emails and continue the conversation. Yeah, thanks. Great. Dominic joy and Ronald's. What are you, what are you learning what pivots do you work with a volunteer if my new partners allow me. We, the three of us Ronald and joy we were also kind of new to this group I mean to the pivots idea. So, joy kindly read all of them and we were, I think all very impressed by the, as someone said earlier, the, you know, the sport on code spiritual level of these pivots and one thing joy kind of being a poet and I as an artist and a writer encourage her to see her poetry as a means to, you know, to talk about peace because you know artists have a big voice, which I think is only being discovered now. So I hope and joy did say that one of the poems which was I think about peace was published recently so we both rejoice for that. And it was a great meeting and I love code pink. And I'm a peace activist but I'm not always able to come to your groups but this is very, very special, because I can see the reunion of activism and and whatever you call this other side which I call spiritual. Some people may not like that word but it is sort of, you know, the more metaphysical aspect of things and, you know, we have separated things so much, you know, and now it's time to reunite them and so I get very excited when I'm in a group like this. You know, I can speak I'm an elder. And I get very excited and very grateful to be here tonight. Thank you. And if we could get that poem maybe sent to Emily so that we could share the poem with the whole group that would be lovely. And Dominique and I forgot someone else mentioned earlier the spiritual. So, when I say the roots and when I talk about that it takes us to ourselves. I mean, isn't that spirit and you know, every, why is every religion say the same thing, you know, why, because it's truth, because in the end it's the truth. But we've been, you know, diverted away from the essence. And I think what you're saying Dominique is the essence of being the essence of life and if, if life is, you know, a spirit and you know so yes it's all in there and like I've said from the very very beginning, we're not writing any of this we're just trying to pull it back into a past that we can all follow out of into. But you know like Moji's, you know Moji, Moji comes from Iran is a peace economy, like, giving sharing all of that is just Moji's way of being, because he was raised in it it's like Iran's not a capitalist culture. He's economy socialist culture a lot of the Middle East is that way. So they're a lot closer indigenous communities don't have to think about this. You know, mostly that have been really living inside of community that's a root. And we're all trying to find our way back and together, because we learn together and we learn in relationship. And so I'm loving the relationship buddings and please you know if you want to stay together right to each other in the chat and give each other your emails. So grateful and yes culture is at the core of like how we create change and nourish our hearts to thank you Emily back to you. And we're coming up against time but I think we have one or two more rooms Joshua Macy and Robert.