Do Men Need to be Feminists?By Nirmala Nydia BaroneThat’s a funny question for anyone who is a progressivethinker. It’s like asking, why should all people have equalrights?It’s happening everywhere. The workplace, social set-tings, clubs, on the street and in homes everywhere.Women are paid less than men for the same job;women are still the main caretakers in families with chil-dren. On an average day, 67 percent of men do somehousework compared with 85 percent of women (Renni-son, 2002).Single women shoulder the burden of financial stabilityfor their children and many women are still either ha-rassed or ignored when they have something to say. It’snot only women who are abused or harassed, but that’sthe majority of cases. Ninety-one% of the victims of rapeand sexual assault are female, and nine% are male (Fil-ipovic, 2016).Most of the men I know believe in respect, generosityand compassion for all beings, plants, animals and ofcourse, fellow human beings. Many men today are femi-Continued on page 7

Women Proutists of

North America

R i s i n g S u nJuly 2018

More Inside:UN Urban Agenda

Healing from WithinHealth Care in Nigeria

Cooperative Leadership

Winning WordsBy Miirabaii Price and Dada MaheshvaranandaWe all would like to think that we’re incontrol of all of our perceptions and our decisions. The suggestion that we may have beenmanipulated into buying something, whether it’s adress or political rhetoric, is repugnant.Yet it happens all the time. Why? Because as humanbeings, we have strong emotions that shape our per-ceptions and influence our opinions. According to cog-nitive linguist George Lakoff most thought lies belowthe level of consciousness. He argues that our politi-cal decisions are not rational, but are filtered throughunconscious metaphors that shape our thinking abouteverything from how children should be raised to hownature should be regarded to how the governmentshould be run.Continued on page 8

2018 Asheville Women’s March

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What is Prout? PROUT is an acronym for the Progressive Uti-lization Theory which was propounded in 1959by Indian philosopher Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar.PROUT presents a viable alternative to the out-moded capitalist and communist socio-eco-nomic models. Neither of these theories hasadequately met the needs of humanity.Proutists are seeking to convey the compre-hensive and visionary goals of PROUT theory,which combines the wisdom of spirituality, thestruggle for self reliance and the spirit of eco-nomic democracy. As women who areProutists, in this magazine, we are attemptingto focus on the particular struggles thatwomen face in attaining self reliance in soci-ety. However, we also wish to present thecomplete vision of Prout as a new ideology fora new world.Toward the goal of being inclusive, we inviteProutists and others who are interested inproviding a platform for social change to submit articles, letters to the editor, poetry,blogs, and other writings to Rising Sun. Wewant to take the pulse of the 99 percent andto try to reflect in some small way the voice of the people.

Key Principles of PROUT and Neo-Humanism:Neo-humanism expands the humanistic love for all human beings to include love and respect for all creation - plants, animals and even inanimate objects. Neo-humanism provides a theoretical base for creatinga new era of ecological balance and planetary kinship.

Basic necessities guaranteed to all: In order to be ableto actualize their highest aspirations, people need to havetheir basic needs met. Access to food, shelter, clothing,education and medical are fundamental human rightswhich must be guaranteed to all.

Balanced economy: Prout advocates regional self-re-liance, cooperatively owned and managed businesses,local control of large scale key industries, and limits onthe individual accumulation of wealth.

Women’s Rights: Prout encourages the struggleagainst all forms of violence and exploitation used tosuppress women. Prout’s goal is coordinated coopera-tion, with equal rights between men and women.

Cultural Diversity: In the spirit of universal fellowship,Prout encourages the protection and cultivation of localculture, language, history and tradition.

Mission StatementWomen PROUTists are working togetherto create a world in which all people havethe opportunity to develop their full poten-tial. We educate and organize our commu-nities to resist oppression, exploitation anddiscrimination. Women PROUTists supportthe all-round physical, economic, intellec-tual and spiritual development of women.

Rising SunJuly 2018

© Women Proutists, July 2018Editor—Mirra Price Design—Jody WrightContributors— Didi Ananda Ruchira, Dada Mahesh-varananda, Dada Daneshananda, Satya Tanner, LiinaLaufer, Diane Moan, Anna Girresch, Nydia Barone-Labensart, Alanna Hartzok, Sara Giita, Nancy Pulley,and Nina Shapiro

Submissions:  We invite you to submit articles 500-1000 words, poetry, photos, graphics and news ofyour projects. Deadlines are six weeks before publication—May 15th for the July 1st issue and November 15th forthe January 1st issue. Send to womenproutists@gmail.com. Content from this newsletter may be used in any Proutpublication with credit given to Rising Sun. We prefer if you ask permission to reprint articles, and we suggest thatyou contact the authors of articles for specific permission to use individual articles. Thank you.

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Cooperative LeadershipWhat Makes for an Effective Leader?A regular column by Satya Tanner

Leadership development can be thought of in two ways:competency vs. behavior. The competency-based ap-proach might mean ‘fixing up' the boss who does not haveso great problem solving abilities, communication skills,and relationship management skills. But attending a com-munication course alone rarely makes someone a betterleader. What is often required is a change in mindset.What goes on inside of you, manifests outside of you.Many of the leadership effectiveness models instead as-sess leaders based on two key axes. One axis has a taskvs. relationship focus. A leader who is too task-focusedrisks becoming the subject of Bob Sutton’s book, The NoAsshole Rule. For example, s/he may be a bossy dominat-ing, perfectionist, argumentative person who doesn’t con-sider the people around them. On the other hand, a leaderwho focuses too much on relationship at the expense ofthe task may become ‘spineless’. Such a leader is tooscared to make a hard decision for fear of losing the rela-tionship, running away from conflict and being steam-rolled. The ideal is to have a balance of task andrelationship: Through healthy relationships you canachieve the task.The second axis in many leadership effectiveness modelsis related to defensive vs. assertive mindset, or as RobertAnderson and William Adams call it in their book, Master-ing Leadership, playing-not-to-lose vs. playing-to-win. Inthe playing to win game, we ‘play’ life as though there isnothing to win or lose. When we are playing to not lose, wedon’t focus on winning, rather just not losing. Adams andAnderson explain that this deeper mindset is like an oper-ating system on a computer. Upgrading the operating sys-tem makes all the software (i.e., leadership competencies)run better. Playing defensively only gets you so far, but playing withyour full passion and heart means that you can transcendthe patterns that otherwise bind you to the same old out-come. For example, there is the leader who makes surethat there is always cake and takes good care of people,but doesn’t have the courage to stand up to an employeewho is taking advantage of their good nature. Likewise,there is the leader who is always critical about every sug-gestion rather than being open to new ideas, or one whodoesn’t trust people’s motivations and so dominates ratherthan empowers others to make decisions.However, playing to win, or an assertive mindset is noteasy to do. It involves letting go of fear and fear is oftendeep rooted. In my personal experience, letting go of fearis an act of surrender and trust. It’s something that takespractice; it operates on a deeply emotional level and thusrequires good emotional awareness. It’s hard to rationalizeyour way out of fear; you have to feel your way out of it,

usually with the help of good emotional hygiene and theapplication of an emotion that removes fear, such aslove. For example, when you really love and care for thepeople you are leading, then you want them to feel em-powered and you will help them develop themselvesthrough methods such as giving them more decisionmaking power. This is not to say that you hand over avery significant decision to someone who is not ready forit, but rather that you really consider if you are holding ontoo tightly out of fear and thus preventing people fromgrowing.Thus, leadership effectiveness combines focus on task,relationship, and the ‘operating mindset’ we are using. Adefensive mindset keeps us locked up in our patterns ofbehavior, but ‘playing to win’ opens us up to new possibil-ities and reaching greater heights.

ReferencesAnderson & Williams, Mastering LeadershipSutton, Bob, The No Asshole Rule

Ananda Vanii“In the transitional period of civilization,honesty in individual life is a prime neces-sity. We shall have to remain ever vigilantthat the darkness of petty self-interestmay not shroud this supreme human treas-ure. With the very extinction of honesty,civilization too will not survive; the longsadhana of the human race will go in vain,and all intellectual achievements will be-come meaningless. Book knowledge thatcannot be utilized in life has no value.”

— Ananda Purnima 1958Ananda Vanii Samgraha is a collection of seventy-fourinspiring spiritual messages given by Shrii Shrii Anan-damurti on special holidays. The first message in thebook was delivered on January 1, 1956 and the lastmessage was presented in May of 1990.

Satya Tanner had a 16-year careeras a pilot and aerospace engineer inthe Royal Australian Air Force, lead-ing people and managing projects.She has studied Prout at a postgraduate level and has a passion forhelping organizations and communi-ties that are in search of innovation,leadership, healthy cultures andconscious business principles.

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Hats for Haiti: An Inspiring Project for WomenBy Sara Giita FloresCan we create a world of true equality? How do wemaintain our motivation when injustice and inequalityreign around the globe? In addition to spiritual nour-ishment, I look to success stories for inspiration.Here in Denver, USA, we are celebrating the successof our recent benefit concert for the AMURTEL proj-ects in Haiti. After the concert, my co-organizer,Kusuma Donnelly, told me, “it exceeded my wildestdreams!” We raised over $3,000 with an audience of150 people.We were two women organizing an event at awoman-owned concert venue, with the proceedsgoing to a woman-run project... yet gender was neveran issue in any part of the process. We were met with

nothing but open doors; we were treated withnothing but respect.Let me illustrate the point for you. I sent a mediapitch to a popular local magazine. The title of myemail read "Assault Survivor/Songwriter CreatesBenefit for Orphans in Haiti". The male magazine ed-itor forwarded my pitch to a male reporter, whopromptly contacted me to set up an interview. I wassexually assaulted by a friend's dad at age five, andthe reporter wrote a beautiful article about how myexperience as a survivor has driven me to heal theworld through music.

I believe we must tell our stories of healingafter injustice, and I was met with more re-spect and open doors. While I am inspired by my experience, I am awarethat my reality is a sharp contrast to the reality ofwomen in Haiti, and women in poverty everywhere.Human trafficking, barriers to education and a lack ofopportunities haunt so many women, in addition tothe problems of sexual assault and unequal pay that Ihave experienced in my life. Yet we must build onour success stories. Kusuma has twice volunteeredin Haiti and has taught knitting to women, men andchildren. Using old T-shirts or plastic bags, the hard-working Haitians learn to create marketable items.The AMURT and AMURTEL projects in Haiti are cre-ating an oasis of hope and progress.

Reflecting upon our fundraising concert, Iexperienced living proof that a post-genderworld is possible. I realize that it exists in abubble, among progressively minded, well-educated people. Yet I believe we muststart with creating progress and empower-ment in small circles. We can create a worldof equality and respect, beginning small andcreating ripples in ever-expanding circles.

Colorado singer/songwriter Sara Giita’s music chroni-cles her journey from assault survivor to empowereddiva. Her clear, shimmeringvoice breathes life to her mes-sage of personal transforma-tion and spiritual awakening.You can hear her music onSpotify, YouTube, and iTunes,or connect with her at saragiita.com orfacebook.com/saragiita.

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Healing from WithinAchoo Yet Again!A regular column by Dr. Diane MoanThe grass and trees are lushly green and the bushesand trees are budding and flowering. Spring is alovely season, but it can be miserable for people withenvironmental allergies. The most typical reactionsare sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, runny nose,nasal congestion, scratchy throat and hives. Thesesymptoms are caused by the release of histaminesinto the blood from chemical mediators called mastcells.Mast cells take their orders from IgE antibodies in re-sponse to contact with the offending allergen. Over-the-counter drugs, such as Zyrtec, Claritin, Allegraand Benadryl, help by blocking the histamines fromattaching to cell receptors. These drugs often haveside effects such as drowsiness, dizziness,headaches, dry mouth, nose or throat, increased ap-petite and weight gain, upset stomach, thickening ofmucus, constipation, diarrhea, and feeling nervous,excited or irritable. These antihistamine drugs allcontain two or more of the following: carcinogenicdyes, polyethylene glycol, waxes, titanium dioxide,talc, corn and lactose (milk). Better options for symp-tom suppression are natural antihistamines likequercetin, nettle leaf and bromelain. These sub-stances come from food. They work by preventingthe mast cells from producing histamines. The histamines that cause allergic symptoms alsocause inflammation. Effective natural anti-inflamma-tories include: curcumin (a turmeric derivative) andaloe vera juice.Naturopathy likes to get to the root cause of healthissues. Often, people have overburdened adrenalglands which, due to their weakened state, makepeople more vulnerable to having allergic reactions.Natural adrenal gland strengtheners are: pan-tothenic acid (vitamin B5) found as a supplement orin Royal Jelly or bee pollen, vitamin C, rest andstress reduction. Environmental allergens often cross react with cer-tain foods. Many people who have environmentaltriggers have food triggers that may be the rootcause. I think everyone who has environmental aller-gies should be checked for food intolerances (IgGand IgA antibody-delayed reactions). The IgE foodtests are usually not necessary (except in children)

because these cause immediate, anaphylactic re-sponses that most people already know they have.Lastly, some foods are higher in histamines than oth-ers – like alcohol, fermented and aged cheeses, andpickled foods. It would be best to avoid these foodswhen having allergic symptoms. Fresh foods are lowest in histamines and also have the most vita-mins, minerals and antioxidants.This time of year, we start having more fruits avail-able to us, especially berries. Berries have more an-tioxidants, are more anti-inflammatory and are lowerin sugar than other fruits. I attached an easy berryrecipe for you to try. Enjoy!

Creamy Berry Pops 2 cups plain yogurt (coconut or cashew) or one 14oz. can whole coconut milk1 cup berries1 medium to large banana1 teaspoon vanilla1 tablespoon agave nectar or maple syrup or a cou-ple of drops of liquid stevia to tasteBlend all ingredients in blender. Pour into popsiclemolds. Freeze three or more hours. Makes 10 pops.Variation: add ¼ cup cocoa or carob powder and twotablespoons nut/seed butter.

Dr. Diane Moan is a NaturopathicDoctor, who graduated fromBastyr University in Kenmore,Washington, an accredited natur-opathic medical school. Licensedin the state of Washington, shepractices in Seattle at Dahlia Nat-ural Health Clinic.

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Liina writes: "I love to cook from scratch. I prefer sim-ple, all natural ingredients, the fewer thebetter. I was raised on the sentient Margiidiet, so I cook without onions, garlic, mush-rooms, eggs, or meat. Check out my sen-tient recipes atrecipesdeliina.wordpress.com.”Recipe Corner

A regular column by Liina Laufer

Vegan Potato Salad

Potato salad is a great dish to bring to a picnic, bothhealthy and hearty. Here’s my variation:Boil potatoes until they can be pierced easily. Rinsein cool water or let cool down. Peel off skins, andchop into half-inch pieces.Chop vegetables and herbs, and mix together withcubed potatoes in a bowl. Add mayonnaise and vine-gar (white, rice, or apple cider.)Add spices and salt to taste. Best prepared in ad-vance and refrigerated before serving. Makes 7 cups.

Ingredients:• 5 potatoes/4 cups chopped• 1 cup carrots (2 carrots)• ½ cup bell pepper (½ a pepper)• ½ cup celery• ¼ cup pickles or cucumbers or artichoke hearts• ¼ cup olives• 2 Tbsp dill (fresh if available)• 2 Tbsp fresh basil• 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro• 1 tsp turmeric• 1 tsp coriander powder• ¼ tsp black pepper• salt to taste• 1 cup vegan mayonnaise

Contact Women Proutists of North America

Women Proutists of North AmericaPO Box 733

Florence MA 01061Call us at: 828-274-1683. Visit us online at:

www.proutwomen.orgEmail: womenproutists@gmail.com

Facebook: Women Proutists of North America

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Do Men Need to be Feminists? From page 1nists in their own right. The challenge is how to put that beliefinto action. It’s still a work in progress. We thank the womenwho have spoken up about injustice of various kinds and theycontinue to make their voices heard. Now it comes to the men. We are hearing the phrase, “speaktruth to power”. We know that it means standing up for whatyou believe in. It’s time for our feminist brothers to do thesame. Sexism is in the fabric of our culture. In all of our American his-tory, white males are the dominant group. We all forget some-times to be conscious of what we say and how we behave.Men need to wake up to the subtle things they say and thesubtle things they don’t say. A change in attitude is the begin-ning; behavior is the way forward.

Stand up for a woman when you hear someone (male or fe-male) telling sexist jokes, discuss equal opportunities in theworkplace; listen to a woman if she feels that she has notbeen treated with respect. Develop compassion and nurturingin your own children, both girls and boys. Set an example of re-

spect for one another. Maybe a better name for the movementshould be ‘personism’.We are headed for a great future where both wings of the birdwill be equally strong in order for it to fly.ReferencesRennison, C. A. (2002). Rape and sexual assault: Reporting topolice and medical attention, 1992-2000 [NCJ 194530]. Re-trieved from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of JusticePrograms, Bureau of Justice Statistics:http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsarp00.pdf Filipovic, Jill, (November 6, 2016). “TheMen Feminists: Left Behind”. The NewYork Times, nytimes.com Nydia Barone-Labensart is a writer, yogainstructor and retired English teacher.She has taught writing to sixth and sev-enth graders for over 20 years. Her writ-ing has been published in The SunLiterary Magazine and the RAWAnewsletter.

A new column written by Guest Gardeners. Mirra Price is this issue’s guest author.

Hugelkultur Hugelkultur are no-dig raised beds. They hold moisture,build soil richness, and are great spaces for growing fruit,vegetables and herbs. These beds are stuffed with rottenwood and other organic materials, which as years go by,makes the soil rich and alive. Please see the photos fromNina’s gardens. Hugelkultur, pronounced Hoo-gul-culture, means hill cul-ture or hill mound. Rather than hauling wood to the dump,chipping it, or putting it in bins for yard waste, make hugelraised beds. Simply make a mound of leaves, grass clip-pings, straw, cardboard, petroleum-free newspaper, ma-

nure, or compost and similar materials. Then top with soiland plant your veggies.(https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/many-benefits-hugelkultur)Hugelkultur raised garden beds can be built only two feettall; they will hold moisture for about three weeks. Thesebeds can be raised a foot or so every year so that neigh-bors may not notice. If you build the beds high enough,you won’t need to irrigate. Start by building six feet tall(seven to account for shrinkage) because the beds willshrink, mostly in the first month.(https://richsoil.com/hugelkultur/)The first few years, this composting process will make thesoil a bit warmer, extending the growing season a little.The woody parts keep an excess of nutrients from passinginto the ground water, and then refeeds nutrients to yourgarden plants later. A hugelkultur system could even growplants in the desert with no irrigation.The ideal wood to use for your beds are: alder, apple, cot-tonwood, poplar, willow (dry) and birch. Avoid cedar as itfull of natural pesticides, anti-fungal, and anti-microbialchemicals. Maple would probably be good, as well. Preferrotten wood over slightly aged wood. Rotten wood does notrob the garden of nitrogen as less seasoned wood does.

You will enjoy the luscious vegetables, herbs, and fruits ofany kind grown in hugelkultur raised beds. Join thehugelkultur movement! Check out the You Tube How toHugel video.

Referencehttps://www.permaculture.co.uk/videos/huw-visits-charles-dowdings-productive-no-dig-gardenPhoto by Nina Shapiro from her garden.

Garden Gems

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Frames and MetaphorsFraming and the use of metaphor is necessary to say whatyou believe. It is a false idea that reason is conscious, uni-versal, logical, literal, and unemotional. We think that if wemerely provide the facts and figures on any issue, thatpeople will grasp our meaning and will reason to the rightconclusion. According to Lakoff, this is not accurate for thefollowing reasons:• Ninety-eight percent of thought lies below the consciouslevel.• Reason requires emotion. Studies have shown that peo-ple, who had brain injuries which disabled the parts of theirbrains which control emotions, were unable to reason.• We have different world views. Politics is about morality,not issues. Politicians propose policies they feel are right.People can be bi-conceptual, and can hold views, some ofwhich are progressive and some of which are conserva-tive. Progressives can be progressive in one area, but con-servative in another area. There is no line dividing the Leftfrom the Right, nor is there a political ideology of the Mid-dle.• We always think in frames. Framing and the use of metaphor is necessary so we cansay what we believe. Every word is defined with respect toa frame. If you say a word, it activates a frame. For exam-ple, I say, “Don’t think of an elephant.” Invariably, listenerswill picture an elephant, despite my instruction not to doso. As in formal debates, and according to linguist Debo-rah Tannen in The Argument Culture, there are always twosides on each issue, a pro and a con. To have two posi-tions, you must use the same frame for both issues.Therefore, a frame will be set from the perspective of oneof the two positions. The corporate-owned media in theUnited States frames debates on all major issues betweenthe conservative Republican Party and more liberal Demo-cratic Party. For example, for the Iraq War, the Republi-cans stated:° The United States has vital interests in Iraq (oil)

° The War on Terror was authorized by Congress basedon the best available information° The War on Terror is winnable. The Democrats said:° The war does not serve the national interests.° The war is based on false information; Iraq had noweapons of mass destruction.° The war is unwinnable.The media frames the debate, using the same terms sothat people can understand the two positions, and in thisway, tries to show fairness. The Republican frame soundscoherent and consistent. By negating that frame, the De-mocrats activate it, empowering the Republican terms, ‘na-tional interests’ ‘information’, and ’winnable’ (even if it is’unwinnable’). Calling The War on Terror an ‘invasion’ andan ‘occupation’ gives a much different image, because aninvasion sounds criminal and an occupation does notsound ‘winnable’. This terminology (our public ‘interests’and ‘best information available’ although from unreliableintelligence) wedded 9-11 terrorism with the Husseinregime in Iraq in the mind of the American public. TheUnited States began waging war on Iraq in 2003, finallytoppling the regime of Sadam Hussein in 2011.

Frames are in your brain. Once frames arethere, you cannot erase them. All you cando is create alternative framing or to add tothe frame, like making fun of it.

The Political ClimateIn the United States, unlike most other societies, manyworking class people are conservative and vote for conser-vative candidates and conservative causes. This happensfor several reasons. First, because people need meaningand purpose in their lives. They vote based on their moralvalues. Conservative churches talk about the breakdown

Winning WordsFrom page 1

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and crisis in families and in the country, and say that thecause is selfishness. The Left rarely, if ever, mentions thisissue. Conservative churches also offer their members afeeling of belonging and connection.

Capitalism gives people a lot of pain, frus-tration, and stress in the family, because itmakes the majority who are not succeedingfeel that it is their own fault. Many peoplefeel it’s their fault if they cannot find a job.Why? Meaningful work is a human right. Itis society’s duty to provide an honest,meaningful job with an adequate wage forevery person who wants it.The second way that the Right wins support is that it ar-gues that selfishness in our society arises from “special in-terest groups”―immigrants, women, LGBTQ, Blacks,Muslims, etc. They claim that if these groups get morerights and more access, working class white people willlose the little that they have. This allows frustrated workingclass people to shift their sense of self-blame for their lackof success and “not being enough” onto a social problemcaused by other groups. It allows people to understandthe pain they feel without having to blame themselves.During the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clintonsaid, “you could put half of Trump's supporters into what Icall the ‘basket of deplorables’. Right? They’re racist, sex-ist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you nameit.” In this way, she insulted her political opponents. Todaymany opponents of President Trump say that those whovoted for him are stupid or worse. Some on the Left alsodismiss all people who are religious as ignorant or justplain stupid. If you insult someone, you will never win thatperson over to your side.

How Conservatives Manipulate Public OpinionConservatives in the United States have spent decades

defining their ideas, carefully selecting the language withwhich to present them, and building the Fox News Net-work as an infrastructure to communicate them. Conser-vative advisor Frank Luntz is a master of opinion polls andusing focus groups to find out what words resonate withpeople and sway them. He has advised Republicans toalter their political language in the following ways:• Instead of talking about ‘smaller government’, theyshould talk about ‘more efficient and effective govern-ment’, which appeals to more people today. Governmentspending should be condemned by calling it ‘waste’.• Instead of ‘tax reform’, talk about making the IRS taxcode simpler, flatter, and fairer. People hate the complex-ity of the U.S. tax code. Inheritance tax should be con-demned as ‘death tax’.• Instead of mentioning drilling for oil or fracking for gas,

Luntz proposes using the phrase ‘energy exploration’ • Whereas healthcare is something everyone wants, guar-anteeing it to everyone should be condemned by conserva-tives as ‘government takeover’• Rather than discussing economic opportunity andgrowth, Republicans should talk about creating a healthierand more secure economy. Logically, everyone shouldbenefit if ‘economic health’ is restored. And while economicopportunity would be nice, security is a necessity.• Instead of talking about curbing crime, discuss publicsafety, appealing to people’s primal needs to be safe andsecure.• Today many people in the United States have a negativeimage from the word “capitalism”. Luntz suggests that con-servatives should avoid the word, and instead call capital-ists as ‘job creators’ and bonuses for super-rich corporateexecutives as ‘pay for performance’. Most interesting of all,he advises conservatives to call capitalism itself as ‘eco-nomic freedom’. ‘Freedom’, which sounds very positive toalmost everyone, here means ‘freedom to accumulatewealth without limits or taxes’.

Choose Winning WordsAs activists, we want to appeal not just to fellow activists orto a small segment of society; we want to reach everyonewith our message. Our words should appeal to both thoseon the political Left and the political Right.

The bottom line is to frame language in away that resonates with people and acti-vates internal, subconscious frames. Most ofthe frames that people hold are embeddedin their subconscious. There are some wordsthat trigger positive frames in almost every-one, such as appeals to decency, fair play,safety, security, trust, respect, freedom,family values, honesty, truth, win-win, love,happiness, belonging, level playing field,practical, peace of mind, integrity, honor, re-sponsibility, justice, harmony, transparency,hope, prosperity, and change.Using some of George Lakoff’s ideas as a model, we needto (1) build an effective communication system, (2) commu-nicate our general progressive value system, (3) repeat thetruths that reveal what is right about those values, and (4)act with courage to promote the sense of courage, confi-dence and hope that allows the truth to be meaningful andpowerful. For example, to stop oil drilling in the Arctic, name a singletruth: oil companies destroy the planet for their short termprofit. Point out that when there are oil spills and pipelineleaks, livelihoods of people in the affected areas are com-promised. People’s personal safety is put at jeopardy.Many animals are injured and killed. The government

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wastes money cleaning up the environmental disaster.These points activate people’s mental frames for safety,security, and financial well-being. This takes the debate toa personal level rather than framing it as an issue for aclean environment, which is much more abstract.

ConclusionTruths are made meaningful by values, which are weddedto them. Make truths matter. Win with words that resonateby activating already existing frames, by using words thatembody moral values, and by respecting each person inyour audiences.References

Butler, Katy, “Winning Words”, Sierra Club Magazine, July-Au-gust, 2004.

Cohen, Adam, “Why the Democrats Need to Stop Thinking AboutElephants”, New York Times, Nov. 15, 2004

Lakoff, George, Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Valuesand Frame the Debate: The Essential Guide for Progressive,September 2004 , Chelsea Green Publishing.

Luntz, Frank, Words That Work, Revised, Updated Edition: It'sNot What You Say, It's What People Hear, Hyperion e-Books:January 2, 2007.

MacFarquhar, Larissa, “Thank you for Not Fighting: Deborah Tan-nen Wants Us to be Nice”, New York Times, April 5, 1998.

Tannen, Deborah, The Argument Culture: Stopping America’s Warof Words, Ballantine Books: New York, 1998.

Dada Maheshvaranada is anactivist, writer, and yogicmonk.

Mirra Price, a retiredEnglish teacher, is a writer,editor, copyeditor and activist.A member of Prout (Progressive

Utilization Theory), for several decades, she has givenworkshops and classes on social justice issues and neo-humanist education. www.mirraedits.com, women-proutists@gmail.com.

Spiritual Practice for LiberationA regular column by Annie Girresch

“You must have a flaming moral purpose sothat greed, oppression and exploitationshrivel before the fire in you.”

- Shrii P.R. Sarkar, The Jamalpur Years, p. 7

Does deepening into the Divine necessarily call us tothe shores of liberation? Does liberation work call usto engage with the Divine.These were the questions we danced with at a recentSt. Louis workshop, “Sowing the Healed Future.”During this day-long intensive, I got to sit at the feetof three powerful teachers who live at the crossroadsof spirituality and social change: Rebecca Bennett,founder of Emerging Wisdom and co-chair of Mis-souri’s Forward through Ferguson Commission; Car-olyn Griffeth, my spiritual director and practitioner ofshamanic energy medicine; and Taya Shere, founderof the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. In a roomfull of activists and spiritual seekers of many faith tra-ditions, this was a very juicy conversation.Many spiritual traditions, especially in the West, haveemphasized dualism—dualism of the mind and body,dualism of private and public responsibility, dualism ofspiritual experience and material reality. Often in theU.S., religious folk avoid responsibility for societal op-pression by claiming separation of church and state—

Isaiah Hammett and his mother, Gina Torres.

Visit our website:www.proutwomen.orgOr Facebook us at:

Women Proutists of North America

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year-old Isaiah within minutes. He rushed to protecthis disabled grandfather, a Vietnam Veteran, from theincoming stream of bullets. Anyone who enters Gina’shome can see the bullet holes scattered through thewalls and the floor, and the beautiful shrine she’s built

to honor Isaiah’s life.Though the St. Louis policehave claimed that Isaiahfired first, an independentforensic expert concludedthat all shots fired—over100 rounds—were directedat Isaiah.Since last June, Gina hasboldly publicized her griefin the fight for an investiga-tion into this heinous crime.The St. Louis Police De-partment has dragged itsfeet in a supposed on-going investigation, and thecity has withheld basic in-formation and reports fromthe day of the murder fromIsaiah’s family and their at-torney. On June 7th, thefamily along with local ac-tivists honored the one-year anniversary by holdinga protest, in the form of amemorial, outside of St.Louis City Hall. Tragically,Isaiah is only one of many

victims killed with impunity at the hands of police.Thisis the reality of the fight for liberation.Where is God in the face of such evil? I’m not sure I know the answer to that question, but Iknow that I see God in Gina’s fight to seek justice forher son. I see it too, in all of the mothers who bearthis painful witness to a rotten system where thosewho are deemed protectors of justice become themost brutal perpetrators of injustice. And I know thatmy spiritual practice is whatgrounds me enough to keepshowing up in love and supportfor this liberation struggle.

Annie Girresch is a lover oftrees, an apprentice to thehealing arts of the Web of Life,and a divinity student at EdenTheological Seminary.

let politics be politics, and let prayer be prayer. Itdoesn’t matter how immoral Donald Trump’s policiesor personal behavior become; evangelical Christian-ity continues to pledge its unwavering support.Another way that I experi-ence this is a deep rift be-tween spiritual groups andthose laboring for libera-tion from all oppression.My spiritual teacher, Car-olyn Griffeth, talks abouthow these are often twocompletely differentcamps of people who areoften at odds with oneother. On the one side,spiritual folk want to medi-tate away from all of theworld’s problems. Spiritu-ality becomes that great“opiate of the masses”—even the liberal masses—that Karl Marx warned of.On the other side, thoseworking for social changeare so consumed by thestruggle itself that theylose themselves. In theirorganizations and their in-terpersonal ways of being,they embody the very evilsthey are seeking to eradi-cate.

However, there are also traditions across the worldthat are born uniquely out of the re-unification ofthese parts. The beauty in PROUT is that it sees noseparation: Sarkar taught that our relation to theSupreme Consciousness necessarily calls us tobuild a healthy human society. In my last column, Italked about how working for liberation is a spiritualpractice. Today, I’m reflecting on how our spiritualpractice can ground us in the deep waters of abidingpeace so that we are sourced enough to face theevils of our unjust society.

In the last few years, I’ve witnessed how exhaustingand even traumatizing the work of social change canbe for activists and organizers. One of the clearestexamples I know of is the fight that Gina Torres hasled for justice to be served for her son Isaiah Ham-mett, who is among the tragically long list of victimsmurdered by police. On June 7th, 2017, a St. Louispolice SWAT team raided Gina’s home, killing 21-

“Built for This”. Artwork by Molly Costello,http://www.mollycostello. Used with permission.

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The United Nations New Urban Agenda hasPROUT Values and GoalsBy Alanna HartzokThis is a shortened version of the original article,which may be viewed at proutwomen.org.

The Global ContextThe United Nations Center for Human Settlements,commonly known as UN-HABITAT, has recently is-sued the New Urban Agenda, the agency’s detailedplan for the next 20 years. Adopted by a consensusof all UN member states, the Agenda was finalized atthe major global conference held in Quito, Ecuadorfrom 17 to 20 October 2016 and endorsed by the UNGeneral Assembly on 23 December 2016.

The process of creating the New UrbanAgenda (NUA) was inclusive of all stake-holders. Several preparatory conferenceswere held in several countries prior to itsfinal formulation in Ecuador. Heads of Stateand Government, Ministers and High Repre-sentatives, subnational and local govern-ments, parliamentarians, civil society,indigenous peoples and local communities,the private sector, professionals and practi-tioners, the scientific and academic commu-nity all had opportunities to give specificinput. Among the NUA’s 175 numbered paragraphs(henceforth “paras”) in its 30 pages are several state-ments relevant to the vision, values, goals and poli-cies of PROUT. While admitting that improvements have been madein the quality of life for millions of urban inhabitantssince UN-HABITAT was founded in 1976, para 3 ad-mits that “the persistence of multiple forms ofpoverty, growing inequalities and environmentaldegradation remain among the major obstacles tosustainable development worldwide, with social andeconomic exclusion and spatial segregation often anirrefutable reality….”Para 5 states the diverse concerns and goals of theNew Urban Agenda of readdressing the way cities

and human settlements are planned, designed, fi-nanced, developed and managed. The New UrbanAgenda will help end poverty and hunger by promot-ing sustainable economic growth, achieve genderequality and empowerment, improve human healthand protect the environment.Other themes relevant to Prout are stated throughthe NUA, including local decentralization by fosteringlocal economies, using resources efficiently and pro-gressively, promoting cultural heritage , and the em-powerment of women and girls in all levels ofdecision making, gender pay parity with the elimina-tion of all forms of discrimination and violenceagainst women and girls.

A Key New Urban Agenda Public Finance PolicyThe five great global United Nations conference ofthe 1990s produced excellent documents with highideals and a positive vision for building a world thatworks for everyone. The problem of how to finance allthe good things then emerged. So the UN started an-other focus area, that of Financing for Development.This writer is pleased that the NUA has a great dealof clarity in its approach to public finance policy forfunding infrastructure and other needed public goods.There is no mention made of taxing wage incomeand productivity, as the NUA I aims to promote “fulland productive employment and decent work for all”(14b) and these are PROUT goals as well. Rather the NUA recommends land value based pub-lic finance policy which promotes the use of legal andeconomic foundations of value capture, including thequantification, capturing and distribution of land valueincrements.Land value based public finance fits well with manyof PROUT values and goals. This practical public fi-

The Global ContextCities today occupy just 2% of the totalland, however they provide/use about: • 70% of the Economy (GDP)• Over 60% of Global Energy

Consumption • 70% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions • 70% of Global Waste

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nance policy is understood by many to be based onwhat PROUT founder P.R. Sarkar called “cosmic in-heritance.” According to Sarkar:As members of a joint family human beings shouldsafeguard this common property [the earth and herresources] in a befitting manner and utilize it prop-erly. They should also make proper arrangements sothat everyone can enjoy it with equal rights, ensuringthat all have the minimum requirements of life to en-able them to live in a healthy body with a sound mind(source info).

Possible New Urban Agenda Actions for PROUTists UN-HABITAT will continue to be inclusive of all sec-tors of society as it moves into the implementationphase of the NUA. UN-HABITAT staff, in preparingthe Action Framework for the Implementation of theNew Urban Agenda carefully reviewed the entiredocument in order to facilitate the conversion of theNUA into a pragmatic and efficient framework of im-plementation. For this purpose, the contents of theNUA have been analyzed in fifteen categories, in-cluding the four cross cutting principles of the strate-gic plan of UN-HABITAT, available on their website:http://nua.unhabitat.org/list1.htm#. PROUTists thus have many opportunities to broadenand deepen support for the several aspects ofPROUT that are in alignment with the NUA. They can engage in the Action Framework for Imple-mentation of the New Urban Agenda (http://nua.un-habitat.org/AFINUA19thApr.pdf). PROUTists are hereby encouraged to read the entireNew Urban Agenda in order to determine the particu-lar areas and categories of activity for which they canbest make a contribution. The New Urban Agendacan be found in 11 languages here:http://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/

Since 1973 Alanna Hartzok has worked for economicdemocracy and Prout with a particular focus on land

tenure and public financepolicy. Her book – TheEarth Belongs to Everyone –received the Radical MiddleBook Award. She is a UnitedNations ECOSOC NGO rep-resentative and the Interna-tional Liaison for the RobertSchalkenbach Foundation.She has twice been a candi-date for US Congress.

Clothes ClosetBy Nancy Pulley

Here, I brush againstmy discarded costumes:bell bottom pants swirling at a bar in downtown Indianapolistangled in protests and rebellion,young love and the kind of hurt the heart will only let you feel once.

Overalls that were rough and real on a Farmall tractor, lunging over stones in a Southern Indiana field.

That leather jacket and go-to-hell sock hat that screamed John PaulSartre.

Button down the sideDr. Kildare blouse

worn by a girl who could give her heart to some dream man in a minute.

Green army jacket, drab attirefor anti-war rallies, a uniform of sortswhen we all wanted to be the samein our differences.

Just clothes, my spring skins, sloughed offand me arranging them, stroking eachwith an old hand, remembering.

Nancy Pulley is a graduate of theUniversity of Indianapolis. Herpoems have appeared in The FlyingIsland, Arts Indiana Literary Supple-ment, Passages North, Plainsong,The Sycamore Review, HumpbackBarn Collection, A Linen Weave ofThemes, and The Tipton PoetryJournal. She received a 2013 Indi-ana Arts Commission IndividualArtist Grant in Poetry. Nancy haspublished two chapbooks andWarren Avenue, a full length po-etry book, published by Chatter-house Press in 2014.

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Making Primary HealthCare Work in the Nigerian VillageBy Dada DaneshanandaAMURT started the maternal health program in Nige-ria’s Ebonyi State in 2010. When the first Rising Sun ar-ticle came out, we had just passed one thousand births.Today we are close to ten thousand births. The numberof health centers has grown from five to eight. The growth of the program can be attributed to the strat-egy of community mobilization and participation, madepossible through local capacity building and intensiveand extensive health education campaigns.

Maternal Health Promoters forming agrassroots network for change In 2014 AMURT conducted village meetings throughoutthe five project areas. With the support of the male pop-ulation, the women in each village elected from amongthemselves women to be trained as a Maternal HealthPromoter. The number of maternal health promoters ac-tive in the AMURT project areas is now 179. The Maternal Health Promoters’ duties include identify-ing local pregnant women and to conduct monthly sup-port group meetings for all the pregnant women. Onehealth worker from the local health center attends tohelp teach and answer questions. The maternal healthpromoter guides and encourages each pregnant womanto attend prenatal check-ups at the health center to gothere to give birth. She also monitors home births forthose who still chose give birth at home. AMURT offersfree delivery to the women who attend meetings andpostnatal check-ups at the local health center.The maternal health promoters have grown into a dy-namic grassroots network for health promotion.

Capacity building and scholarships for young health workersAMURT recruits staff from the local project areas tohelp ensure 24-hour service in the health centers. Thepresence of locals on the staff helps to strengthen thebond between the health centers and the communities,resulting in community confidence and higher patron-age. AMURT offers a scholarship program to give the mosttalented and committed of these community volunteersthe opportunity to become qualified health workers.Through employment and support for further education,AMURT has given dozens of young rural women, andsome young men, a career and opportunity to servetheir communities. Today 81 % percent of the health workers in AMURT inthe AMURT assisted health centers stem from the localareas. Seven women are studying on AMURT scholar-ships to become qualified health workers, with an addi-tional ten set to receive scholarship this year.

Family planning reaching the rural areasIn Nigeria’s rural villages, children are highly valued. Apopular woman’s name is ‘Nwankaego’ which means‘children are better than money’. The child mortality ratehas been high, and families have many children as theyfear that some of their children may not survive. Nearly100 % of the families are farmers and often state theneed for help on the farm as a reason for having manychildren. Finally, children are seen as a gift from Godand as such are welcomed warmly. Even among veryyoung unmarried women, the culture is supportive for apregnant woman. Abortion is seen as an abomination.There is much pressure on women to produce children.Childbearing is seen as the primary work of the rural

Good prenatal education leads to successful births.

Training for Maternal Health Promoters

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women. The women who don’t have children don’t getrespect and are looked upon with pity or even spite.With very few opportunities for education or careers inbusiness, young women have no options, and oftenmarry and have children early, settling into a life of farm-ing and child rearing like their mothers before them. Ebonyi state’s fertility rate is 5.3 births per woman,while in the remote villages where AMURT works manywomen have many as eight or ten children. Maternalhealth promoters organize programs for the AMURThealth education team to raise the awareness and ac-ceptance of the health benefits of child spacing. In theAMURT assisted health facilities, the rural populationnow has access to counselling and a variety of contra-ceptive options. In 2017, 261 women accessed injectable contracep-tives and 836 chose implants. We did 16 IUDs and fourbilateral tubal ligations. Hundreds more chose naturalbirth spacing methods. Long held cultural beliefs are evolving as families puthealth first. The awareness of a woman’s right to de-cide if and when she wants to get pregnant is graduallystarting to gain acceptance among the women and alsothe men. There is still much work and a long way to goon reproductive health and reproductive rights in Nige-ria’s rural villages.

Economic Empowerment for women whoare sole breadwinnersThrough the health centers, AMURT encounters manywomen who are the sole breadwinners in their families.Most are widows; others have husbands with disabili-ties. Local traditions continue to place widows at a bigdisadvantage. In the economic empowerment program,indigent women come together to cooperatively man-age a revolving credit scheme. Interest free loans aremade available to the women to start their own busi-nesses. After two months, they start paying back 10 %monthly. After one year the loan is fully paid back.

Every month a new member is empowered by thegroup. AMURT provides basic training in businessplanning and bookkeeping. Over 150 women in six dif-ferent groups have been supported to start businessesthrough this cooperative program. The capital, man-aged by the women, remains intact as new membersare welcomed. The AMURT primary healthcare program in Ebonyi Statenow has a staff of over 160, including seven doctors,three laboratory scientists, nine midwives, and 120 healthworkers in the village health centers. We have 13 vehi-cles, including five ambulances. Odeligbo Health Centerwas upgraded to a Comprehensive Emergency Obstetricand Newborn Care Center, and has already done 45 ce-sarean sections. There are plans for upgrading two morecenters in 2018.

It’s the dedication and hard work of the health workersthat has enabled AMURT to set the standard for primaryhealth care in southeast Nigeria. Dada wrote a previous article, “Community Driven Ma-ternal Health Programs in Nigeria” in the January 2014issue of Rising Sun. Contact us! Web: www.nigeria.amurt.net Facebook: AMURT West Africa E-mail: nigeria@amurt.net

Dada Daneshananda has spentthe last eighteen years in WestAfrica coordinating primary health-care, maternal health and waterprojects, first in Ghana, then inBurkina Faso and currently inNigeria. The photos in this articlewere taken by Dada of educa-tional programs offered by hisprogram.

Successful families thrive in a community of health education and support,

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Contact Us!Online at: www.proutwomen.orgWomen Proutists of North AmericaPO Box 733Northampton MA 01061Call us at: 828-274-1683Email: womenproutists@gmail.comFacebook: Women Proutists of North America

The German philosopher TheodorAdorno coined the term ‘pseudo-cul-ture’ in a 1959 essay “Theory ofPseudo Culture”. He explains that theexistent “crisis in culture” cannot besolved by more education; rather, heconcludes that the decline in culture isa product of culture itself: What has become of culture, now de-posited as a kind of negative objectivespirit … can be deduced from the laws ofsocial movement, even from the conceptof culture itself. Culture has become so-cialized pseudo-culture – the omnipres-ence of alienated spirit (T. Adorno,“Theory of Pseudo-Culture”, p. 16.)

A lack of true culture is not theproblem; instead, pseudo-cul-ture develops out of the very attempt tomake culture independent from its historicalroots. When that happens it reduces cultureinto its pseudo opposite: “Any culture…whichposits itself autonomously and absolutizes it-self, has thereby become pseudo-culture.” (T.Adorno, p. 17). Pseudo-culture and culture arelocked in an intimate yin-yang relationship. Indeed, capitalist consumerism is the main perpetratorand beneficiary of pseudo-culture. Capitalists exploitculture, instantly transforming it into ubiquitous pseudo-culture. What could be a better example than “Open aCoke, open happiness”? Villagers in remote places maynot have enough food, or may have to walk 20 kilome-ters daily for water, yet everyone drinks Coca Cola….and knows the latest slogan. We are so immersed in pseudo-culture that it’s difficultto extricate ourselves from it. Pseudo-culture will haveus all with same value system – as least as far as ourconsumer preferences. We may be out protesting in thestreets against -or for- guns, mass murderers, globalwarming, or the latest political scandal, but we’ll all bewearing this 2018 season’s Rose Violet, Coral Blushand Azure Blue garments. It can hardly be avoided be-cause those colors will be the only ones in the storesthis year.

Facebook is perhaps the ultimate in pseudo-culture. It started off with a grand idea—tobe connected online with your friends. For the most part, it quickly became the ultimate inpseudo relationships, turning your private life into con-

sumer fodder. Facebook’s debaclewith regards to its complicity in theRussian manipulation of the USA 2016elections, really opened a lot of eyesto how deep a hole we’ve slid into.Is there a way out? At this point, thiswriter thinks at this time in this era,there’s no way out completely. Turn offyour phone? Stop using your creditcard? Shut down your internetprovider? Not many can do this.

Still, one must fight against itat every step. Becomingaware, becoming active infighting the causes of ex-ploitation and sharing that awareness with others is prob-ably the only practical solution.

ReferencesAdorno, Theodor. “Theory of Pseudo-Culture”. Telos Magazine 95 (March 20, 1993): 15-38, Telos Press Publishing.http://jounal.telospress.com/content/1993/95/15.

Didi Ananda Ruchira, has been ayoga and meditation teacher formore than 40 years. She was thefounding chairperson of theKenyan Society of Homeopaths,and is the Director of Abha LightFoundation, www.abhalight.org,

Fight Pseudo-CultureBy Didi Ananda Ruchira

A MacDonald’s in Thailand.