**Gardens of Resistance**

A Dream in Seven Points for Gardens of Resistance

-A garden of resistance is an area, public or private, where the art

> of gardening -- for sustenance, pleasure, parks or other programs
> of accompaniment, urban or rural --is practiced in harmony with
> nature and man, free of market domination. Diversity, both
> biological and cultural, as well as the preservation of water,
> soil and air is encouraged *for the common good.*

- A garden of resistance is part of a life style that, in a larger

> sense, reflects the relationship between man and his
> socio-biological environment . As in the Garden in Motion, this
> relationship, or the *economy of life* , does as much for and as
> little against existing energies. This applies to daily acts in
> all domains and is relevant at all levels. However, a constant
> state of alert must be maintained in order to avoid confusing
> consumerist values with ecology.

- Environment friendly practices emerge from gardens of resistance.

> They propose a way of life that is not wasteful of the common good
> as a basis for a new economy.

This economy is the confrontation of two processes:

> \- One is the *planetary stirring* of all living things and of distant
> exchange systems, leading to a series of biological and social
> readjustments : *emergent ecosystems.*
>
> \- The other, *delocalization* of exchange and distribution systems,
> minimizes global production and management costs, hence controlling
> pollution and carbon balance.
>
> Planetary stirring multiplies exchanges and encounters between beings
> and cultures traditionally apart. These encounters produce the
> *natural and cultural* *hybridization* involved in the global process
> of *evolution.*
>
> The delocalisation of exchange and distribution systems resulting from
> planetary stirring is an important aspect of the *emergent economy,*
> composed of new patterns of exchange (emerging ecosystems) and of new
> priorities: spend less and better, consume less and better, establish
> a dynamic sharing process.
>
- The emergent economy of gardens of resistance consolidates two
> opposing forces:

- One is connected to distant exchanges, generating *dependence*

- The second , connected to local exchanges, allows self-sufficiency

> The emergent economy of gardens of resistance does not favor one or
> the other with regard to bulk exchange but establishes the frontier
> between dependency and self-sufficiency affirming that :
>
- *Non-vital exchanges* are tied to distance and dependence. A distant
> accident would only have an incidental impact upon the emerging
> economy and would not place it in danger.
- *Vital (or highly necessary)* exchanges are linked to proximity,
> hence to self-sufficiency. A distant accident would not modify
> performance.

- None of the exchanges that could occur in gardens of resistance

> should, in principle, contribute to the deterioration of the
> biological or social balance

- Gardens of resistance already exist on the planet in dispersed form.

> This dispersion ("*atomization*") is the logical consequence of
> self sufficiency but does not necessarily require a *network.*

> A policy favorable to the emergent economy, originating from gardens

> of resistance and in a larger sense from the Planetary Garden, should
> federate a system with no legislative curbs in order to:

- establish fair exchanges

- establish forums for high level artistic and scientific exchanges

- encourage the exchange of immaterial goods derived from planetary

> cultural diversity

*Dispersion* ("atomization"), difficult to apprehend, operates in favor

of resistance .

- As long as the belief persists that capitalism is the only possible

> model, its destructive presence must be energetically challenged
> by multiplying "resistances" on the planet, forming a Milky Way
> that gains in force and intensity with time.

> The substitution of one system by another is not necessarily a

> deflagration but an implosion, an irreversible shift from unjust to
> fairer distribution of imposition , from unjust to fairer distribution
> of goods -- at least statistically -- and from the privatization of
> the *common good* towards their municipalization.
>
> It then becomes possible to federate a dispersed "(atomized") system
> and establish a political project in harmony with the *planetary
> garden.*
>
- The Planetary Garden merges the Gardens of Resistance into a single
> concept. When resistance operates on a planetary level, a plan for
> *humanistic ecology* becomes possible.

> The Planetary Garden is based upon the notion of diversity,

> underlining humanity's dependence upon biological and non biological
> heterogeneity and hence its vulnerability. A key question is "How to
> capitalize from diversity without destroying it?" Indeed, any
> modification of the ecological balance through human behavior, causing
> the disappearance of non human species, ultimately condemns mankind. A
> scientistic vision of the future, substituting technology for
> circumspect management of natural resources, could only precipitate
> the "garden" towards destruction.
>
> The Planetary Garden must federate comprehension of the living with
> intelligent use of technological assistance. It presumes a level of
> *knowledge* sufficient to run the garden by offsetting removal and
> return to the *milieu*. *Symbiotic man* is in a key position to
> maintain this balance while biotic potential continues to obey the
> evolutionary process.
>
> Theoretically, these seven points open the way to new governance and,
> implicitly, prepare a new political program leading to the
> establishment of a novel government, complete with ministries and
> their responsibilities. As in a dream, the outline of a Constitution
> whose introductory articles establish the foundation for a society in
> which sharing and growth of knowledge supplant competition emerges.
>