TOS-USA: Service Projects for all Humanity

With International Participation

ELP Information Bulletin (3rd of July 2008)

I suppose you will know by now that 43 days ago, Austrian police undertook 28 armed raids on homes of animal rights activist and on offices of 7 animal rights groups all over Austria. 10 people were put on remand, and still are, one of them being me. Because these police actions were completely out of any proportion and no well – founded reasons for the raids and arrests were forthcoming, I immediately went on hunger strike. I used my last means of protest against this unbelievable level of police terror and state repression.  read more »

by Elena F. Pisareva  (Wheaton: Quest Books, 2008, 113pp.)

The thirty years prior to the 1917 Russian Revolution were years filled with the discovery of Asian religious thought and practice including its more Westernized forms. In the 1870s, the Russian Tsarist empire started moving east to absorb what is today’s Central Asia. The Crimean War prevented Russia from moving toward the west, and British expansion in India made the Russians fearful of British control of Afghanistan and Central Asia. Russian troops started moving into Central Asia — the decisive battle of Tashkent was 1865. Along with troops, the Russian government sent scholars to study the way of life, and they started to write about Islam, the Sufi dervish movements, the Tibetan forms of Buddhism found in Mongolia and among other Central Asian peoples.

Along with government-sponsored scholars, there were independent individuals who went to Central Asia on a personal spiritual journey such as G.I. Gurdjieff. The reports of these finding created an interest in Asian thought among the educated elite.

At the same period, from the mid 1860s to the eve of the Revolution, wealthy Russians would spend the winter in Western Europe and sent their children to elite schools in Switzerland, Germany and France.  read more »

The TOS-USA currently has very high search engine rankings, meaning that any content placed on this site tends to come up very high in search engine ranking (a separate article on this is upcoming).  In short, TOS-USA is an excellent way for you to get your story or news to the attention of the world!  It is in fact the ONLY relatively high-profile TS/TOS site that accepts user-contributed content as well as comments, including comments from non-registered users.   You have a world audience for what you write here.   Take advantage!

We recognize that not everyone is able to use this site's content editor to compose a story (see howto here).  And the process of uploading an image file and inserting it into the article using the content editor might be particularly confusing for the computer-challenged!  read more »

Sicangu Sun Times  http://www.sicangusuntimes.com
ROSEBUD — At no time in the history of the Rosebud Indian Reservation has it been more important to have a homegrown newspaper reporting on the reservation.  That is the way PR Gregg-Bear, publisher and editor of the Sicangu Sun Times, sees the picture.

“When you get right down to it, it’s a humanitarian project of the first order, because it deals with passing on and exchanging information,” says Gregg-Bear, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.  read more »

At a time when rising food prices have become a global concern and food riots are weakening governments, we need to look beyond short-term measures to deeper structural reforms. It is important to understand the political and cultural background of necessary changes, and it is appropriate to look at the contributions of earlier reformers. George Russell (1867-1935) helped create agricultural cooperatives in Ireland after Independence as part of a larger aim of spiritual awakening to a greater life.  read more »

The TOS has been supplying survival assistance in the form of blankets and winter clothes, as well as Christmas presents for the children, to Rosebud Indian Reservation for several years. Our desire now is to escalate that assistance in ways that will be self-perpetuating and will encourage internal development to improve the quality of life on the Reservation. For the reader to have an appreciation of the magnitude of the problem, please review this link to an article in the Rapid City Journal of September 12, 2006.  Read the story.

In April of this year we began to support the publishing of the tribal newspaper Sicangu Sun Times. The newspaper was in dire need of more modern computers to replace old and failing equipment.  As of early June the publisher has received two Apple PowerMac computers – G4 and G5 - for the work of graphics design and page layout, and more equipment is on the way. We consider the newspaper to be a major player in spreading ideas and encouragement for building businesses and farming projects to improve the quality of life.   read more »

“Within a decade, no child will go hungry, no family will fear for its next day’s bread, and no human being’s future and capacity will be stunted by malnutrition” Then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the World Food Conference, Rome, November 1974  read more »

The webmaster of the TOS-USA site is pleased to announce that the site now accepts comments by unregistered users. Previously one had to be a site member to be able to post comments. Moreover, non-site members can receive emailed notification of followup posts or comments. This is similar to a "subscription" to content by registered members. The notification email includes a one-click cancellation link.

This is not a conventional article, but rather a type of discussion group. It is a page for users to post their comments on how we all might combat global warming by changes in our day-to-day lives. Please comment on this page, and "subscribe" to the page to receive email notices of new comments and discussion. Note that any site visitor can now post comments on this website without being a "site member."

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk:

"The death toll from last week's earthquake in south-west China has risen to 40,075, officials have said. Chinese aid workers are struggling to find shelter for millions who lost their homes. Foreign medical teams have started arriving in the area.
 read more »

I am sending a revised version of my food policy text to take into account the UN meetings in Switzerland on Monday and Tuesday and the calling of a World Food Security Conference for 3-5 June in Rome. It would be important to get more voices into the act than the regular Department of Agriculture people and the Farm lobbies. TOS members and all other viewers are urged to contact their representatives indicating the importance of the food shortages and the need for longer range agricultural policies. There is a short term need for money but the real problems are longer term.  read more »

Jackie Lapin
The Art of Conscious Creation: How You Can Transform The World
(Charleston, SC: Elevate, 2007, 210pp.)

There is a Zen story in which the student asks the master “What is the secret of enlightenment?” The master writes on his board “attention”. The student asks again “Is that all? The master writes “Attention, attention.”  read more »

(Editor's Note: The TOS is about action to relieve suffering.  At the end of this article you can find names and addresses of officials to whom you may appeal for redress.)

"Whether it is under the guise of survival and self-defence or directly expressed through domination and greed, the failure to recognise the common humanity shared by us all lies at the heart of our difficulties. To overcome it, we should begin to develop, from the level of the individual through that of society to the world at large, what I call a sense of universal responsibility; a deep respect for every living being who lives on this one small planet and calls it home." — the Dalai Lama

 read more »