One of my first acts in Chico was to organize a food buying co-op direct from farmers. After that we set up community gardens. They were fun. Even capitalist families read Martha Stewart to learn the joys of gardening. Peasant farming sucks because of the situation in which peasants farm. Working in the community gardens, you could have every bit as fine a conversation as in a coffee shop. Bracero work or peasant farming sucks because the people who do it are denied the proper resources, cultural or human, as well as technical. Peasant farming sucks. When Jerry Brown was governor, I was invited to give some advice about an army base that was closing in a rural area. The question was what could be done to revitalize the locale. My advice was to build a college. A good one. Not some stripped down Junior College. Give the community the same cultural resources that the city has -- just like Castro tries to do in Cuba. Peasant farming sucks. So does factory work and secretarial work. So does teaching when the bureaucracy becomes too heavy. Peasant farming sucks. No. Capitalism sucks. The peasants at the bottom of the heap feel the brunt of it. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
