Oops

will write something soon. both really busy..

Pics of Cuenca from Oct

Puerto Lopez & the Coast..

Cuenca

We are in Cuenca now, a gorgous colonial city high in the mountians in the south. All is going swimmingly. Casey is working with a theatre group in vest and pants. The performance is the last week of october. Its a version of Los Ciegos (the blindies) by Maurice Maeterlinck. There is also the possibility of some paid sound engineering work setting up a theatre near the coast. Also doing some workshops with Proyecto De Muchachos Trabadores (project for working kids) on conflict resolution.

Erica is chipping away at the beauracracy as always and working with the Central Bank Museum. She´s also setting up another project twinned with Ryedale, however unlikely that sounds. But we´re both waiting for things to kick off. Heading down to the coast to do some snorkling and see some whales.

2009 Study Abroad video with students from the university of georgia..

Cuba & collective incentives

Our good friend socialist Fabian came back from Cuba yesterday understandably excited. He regaled us for hours with stories of the ideal society. A few things stuck in my mind, mostly in relation to incentives:

1 - he says things are extremely well organised, which means that people want to organise things (unlike Ecuador).

2 - propaganda has put meant a generation knows nothing but the revolution, but we also know nothing but capitalism.

3 - he said that everyone wants to work in tourism because you get tips. If everyone makes the same money, who would ever want to clean the bins..?

4 - If the US got rid of the embargo tomorrow what would happen? maybe a short story in the offing, but (like Ecuador scapegoating the US - rightly or wrongly) there would be no collective enemy and the black market, already huge, would take over the country.

5- he says people are motivated, not by individual gain as every economist would tell us, but by collective gains. If this is true then we don't need to tinker with the incentives as everyone has been telling us (carbon credits anyone) but we need to realise the satisfaction in things that only groups of people can grow. So maybe there is a future for collective ownership and action, even if we don't want such drastic measures of getting there..