Freda Bedi, by Wikipedia

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Re: Freda Bedi, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sat Jun 22, 2019 3:40 am

History of the Lama Foundation: A Dramatic Reading
by Steve Fox
April 17, 2010

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


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Many Taoseños have connections to the Lama Foundation, just north of San Cristobal, and many more know of the eclectic, spiritual intentional community through its printed prayer flags, Dances of Universal Peace and annual summer retreats. Many around the country and across the world have heard of Lama because the foundation sold and distributed, beginning in the ’70s, the famous “Be Here Now,” Ram Dass’s account of his conversion to the guru Neem Karoli Baba’s teachings in India. Hand printed and assembled loose in a box, the book sold 770,000 copies in 32 printings by 1991, providing Lama a small stream of income that helped keep the community stable.

While all the other collectives and communes in northern New Mexico—and in most other U.S. locations—faded from the scene years ago, Lama endures, even after the catastrophic Hondo Fire in 1996 created a raging firestorm that took 1,000 firefighters four days to control and destroyed 20 of its 23 buildings. Rebuilding drew in volunteers who helped with spiritual renewal as well as structural, after Stewart Brand printed an appeal in the Whole Earth Catalog.

How Lama was born, faced its crises of doctrine, fire and succession of core membership—and kept regenerating itself—is the subject of “Lama Genesis/Lama Incarnations,” a two-act dramatic reading that spans the history of the Lama Foundation since its founding on land in northern Taos County in 1968. This production draws from 100 hours of interviews to tell Lama’s dramatic story in the words of the founders and other residents. It tells of Lama’s efforts to create and recreate itself over 40 years of changing conditions.

Lama Foundation rode the wave of the back-to-the-land movement in the late ’60s. It remains a viable intentional community, founded on the principle that all spiritual traditions maintain a “kernel of truth” and are practiced and respected as such. Its dedication to consensus decision-making, respect for the land and ecology, conflict resolution and life-affirming paths continues to invite and inspire all comers.

The interviews were conducted over the last five years by Ammi Kohn, who began spending summers at Lama a decade ago and realized that no one had begun taking its oral history. Such stories from within are very important for anyone trying to learn from this place that is one of the handful of Sixties collectives still viable after 40 years, anywhere in the country. Oral histories have been taken from the charismatic founders, the average “Lama Beans,” and from those “coordinators” who took on the task of overseeing, for a year, Lama’s rich network of shared work assignments and what they call “tuning,” or dispute resolution and tension reduction.

The reading will include voices explaining the impact of the “Holy Wars,” when founder Steve Durkee returned from Saudi Arabia in the ’70s, having converted to Islam, and demanded that all Lama residents convert. A community confrontation ensued in the main geodesic dome, with complicated personal relationships and new alignments facing off in a climactic struggle over community identity, decided by popular vote.

The chief challenge for spiritual groups started by charismatic founders has always been to establish effective succession of leadership, and then to continue appealing to second and third generations of members. This reading will address how Lama has fared in that rare process. Because of funding from the state Humanities Council, a question-and-discussion session will be held after each performance, with humanities scholars familiar with Lama’s history available to provide context.

The performance is directed by Bruce McIntosh and produced by Metta Projects Theater of Taos. Four performances are scheduled: April 22, 23, 24 and 25 at their Metta theater, located in El Prado at 1470 Paseo del Pueblo Norte. An eight-page portfolio of pictures spanning Lama’s history, taken by Ahad Cobb, will be available free (donations to cover costs appreciated). Linking key quotes from the reading performance, the portfolio will give the audience images to go with the oral history’s significant phases.

For further information contact Steve Fox at 758-8101 or Ammi Kohn at 719-256-5080.
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Re: Freda Bedi, by Wikipedia

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Part 1 of 2

Lama Alive -- Lama Foundation: The Little Village That Could
by Lama Foundation
December, 2006

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


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Photo Courtesy of Willie Peck © 2006

Inside This Issue:

• Our New Coordinator
• The Residents
• Rebuilding Lama Foundation
• Hondo Fire, Ten Years After
• To Market, To Market
• Church of Conscious Harmony
• American University
• Sacred Sites
• Maqbaras
• Photo Album
• Donors
• 2007 Summer Schedule
• Raffle Winners
• Oral History Library
• Lama Endowment Fund
• Ways to Help
• Wish List
• Flags

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A message from our new Coordinator -- Kathy Lyons

…..So I hiked up to the Healing Tree this morning. The intention was to receive a transmission of truly phenomenal words that I could then write for the newsletter. I didn’t hear any words, but I was aware of my heart pounding in my ears, the wind through the golden aspen, and the elk with their unearthly bugling cry. Was this it?

…..So I slipped and slid down the path to the Maqbara and sat on the new flagstone seats that encircle the grave. Along with my heartbeat, the wind, and the elk, I heard zikr and dances (Ancestors, Sky People, all here today, hear my heart song. Hear my respect. Hear my love. Hear my grateful tears fall. I am truly blessed.) weaving in and out and around my memories of the now, then, and when. Was this it?

…..So I followed the path down and around to the springhouse and listened to the water bubbling up from the depths of the Mother. I listened here for a very long time. I think I fell asleep because when I opened my eyes I noticed the sun had shifted lower on the horizon and there was a trail of ants crawling over my foot. Was this it?

…..So I let the path take me to the Tipi Circle, whirl me around the labyrinth and launch me towards the ISC where I sang my thanks to the open sky and firm ground. (You are truly blessed. We are truly blessed.) The path led to the gardens, once abundant with squash, beans, corn, but now tattered with frost bitten stems and leaves. I stood there feeling a sense of awe at the limitless possibilities represented by a garden. Was this it?

…..So I ended up in the Dome, looking around at the vestiges of Chris and Rita’s wedding: the benches still covered in the white muslin that we use for our prayer flags and, here-there, a dried marigold petal, crispy, yet retaining the fragrance of summer. The wind has picked up a bit and the Dome ceiling creaks and shifts with it. It's amazing, really, how long this space has been here. The view from the window expands and contracts as I breathe in and out. I pause to listen for the heartbeat and voices of those who came before me and of those who will come after me.

Kathy Lyons

Kathy (with her husband Austin and their two cats) has been at Lama Foundation for three years and has held a number of guardianships during this time. Most recently, she has turned over the Kitchen Manager and Secretary positions to fellow Beans. Kathy eagerly anticipates the next stage in the ongoing saga of her relationship to Lama and the Mountain. She is also quite fond of Fritos (or anything salty-crunchy) and scalding hot showers.

The purpose of the Lama Foundation is to be a sustainable community and educational center dedicated to the awakening of consciousness, respect for spiritual practice in all traditions, service, and stewardship of the land.

-- Lama Foundation Mission Statement


Purring through the Winter Membership Meetings

Dearest Beloved Lama Friends,

Greetings and Salutations from Lama. Here is an update of the happenings from the kitty perspective at Lama Foundation. As some of you know, Keshiva and I are still the oldest current residents here at Lama. Many have asked "what is your secret for surviving the consensus or what are now called winter membership meetings?" Simple -- the art of purring through the meetings. We have noticed that none of the human residents are bothered by our presence here in the winter. That helps as well. But, just to make sure that the circle is content with us, we keep purring.

(Keshiva) - Keeping my claws sharpened and my coat loaded with dust helps keep the humans in check.

(G) - Well, our mousing ability, or lack thereof, certainly has no impact on our membership!

(K) - Yeah, I still think it's hilarious that they have a guardianship filled to do our job as Mouse Guardians.

(G) - As a non-voting member, I do wish to express gratitude for the warm laps and good petting qualities of this year’s candidates. I feel that all of them have done an excellent job of keeping our food and water refreshed promptly, and they do a decent job of opening the doors for us. I feel this is a result of good communication skills between the human residents.

(K) - Are you saying that you’re forgiving them for leaving you trapped in the Dew Drop over night?

(G) - Oh no, that was an act of intention on my part, it was sooo cold that night, and I wanted to make sure that I stayed indoors.

(K) - That reminds me of the reputation you had before of being the tent hopper. Off from one tent to another.

(G) - O.K. Keshiva, let’s not go there.

(K) - Ah, I remember the night I went to teach Thomas Renault a very important lesson about boundaries.

(G) - Oh yes, you were quite ruthless!

(K) - Silly man, he let me right into his nice warm sleeping bag, right in between his legs. Then, hee- hee, when he wasn't focused on me, I went right for the jewels! Though I must say, the man has some quick reflexes. He did use a broomstick to create the necessary boundary between my claws and his suffering!

(G) - Well Keshiva, I'm glad that the two of you are still getting along. Oh, and I am glad that with Beth's help as mediator, we are now getting along.

(K) - Well, I think that's where the humans have it made. They can work out issues in a tenth of the time that it took us.

(G) - You know, there is the milk-offering issue I still feel needs smoothing out.

(K) - Nothing to work out G, the milk offerings are all mine!

(G) - Not if you get trapped in the Dew Drop when it's offered, hee-hee!

Blessings from GiGi and Keshiva Katz
Translated by Mouse Guardian Kunga Chokyong

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The Residents

♥♥♥The New Circle - Who, Where From, How Long They’ve Been Here, and Their Practice ♥♥♥

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Kathy Lyons
Overseas - 4th Winter
Chado/Zen/Sufi

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Krishna Das Rayfield
North Carolina - 5th Winter
Sufi

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Lynn Farquhar
Colorado - 4th Winter
Hindu/Catholic

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Kalman Gallay
Canada - 3rd Winter
Goddess-Centered Worship/
Insight Meditation/
Native Earth-Based

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Mika Kraemer
New Mexico
Returning Resident
Radical Faerie

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Jack Cormier
Pennsylvania - New Resident
Zen Buddhist

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Mia Cohen
Tennessee - New Resident
Judaism/Earth-Based

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Meredith Mason
Wisconsin - New Resident
Melody/Human

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Kunga Bill Brower
Colorado - New Resident
Tibetan Buddhist

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Paolo Caserta
Louisiana - 2nd Winter
Buddhist

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Alia Caserta
Lama - 2nd Winter
Precious Love Light

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Lori Cohen
Florida - 3rd Winter
Earth-Based

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Beth Garrigus
Midwest - 4th Winter
Sufi/Prayer

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Austin Babcock
California - 4th Winter
Music/Tea/Sufi/Builder

Blessings to our
2006/2007 Winter Circle

Meeting of the Ways

We come as many
Gathering around a single Truth.
Let our differences dissolve
In the light of reality,
That we may join together
In a single purpose,
A unified vision,
A purified desire,
For what we forever share unchanged.

Alia… Precious Love Light

Being at Lama as a family is such an amazing blessing. Having so many loving people around her, Alia is really thriving, and she is so happy! She is full of noises and expressions which make us all laugh constantly. At her first birthday, August 2, Alia met her two little cousins, Gabe and Zach, who came all the way from Florida to celebrate with her. Her first words were “Ya Fattah!” (it’s true!) followed by hi, baby, Momma, and Amen! Alia started walking around thirteen months, and she loves her new mobility. We have found that she is incredibly musical! She loves Kirtan and Zikr and has a tendency to be dancing, making up songs, or finding something to create music with, especially shakers and drums.

Alia is very much a part of the Circle – she joins hands with us when we circle up and copies the hand movements during Dances of Universal Peace. One of her favorite things is being outside, whether picking flowers or playing with dirt or rocks. She has meant so much to all of us. It is such a gift to watch her and learn; she is often referred to as our teacher. Alia loves books - especially ones with animals, and was a ladybug for Halloween! She still hasn’t had a haircut, and it has been said that people pay good money for hair like hers….

Lori Cohen

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Alia Caserta - Teacher in Residence

May the sun
bring you energy by day,
May the moon
softly restore you by night,
May the rain
wash away your worries,
May the breeze
blow new strength into your being,
May you walk
gently through the world and know
its beauty all the days of your life.
Apache Blessing

***

Thank you to our departing residents!!
Erik Memmott, David Vargo,
Nathan Wherly,
Chris Daniels, & Rita McElmury
Blessings on your next journey!

***

Little trees grow where big trees fell
Prayer flags they don't burn so well
We breathe, we share, in One we're found
The Dance of Hope goes round and round

Little green trees on a mountain of love
Water and earth and sky above
We build here now and sing this song
The Dance of Hope goes on and on

It’s up to You, it's up to Me, it's up to Us:
the Dance of Hope, HOPE!

"Dance of Hope"
Lyrics by Frank Meyer, Steve Kemble, and Rob Norris

Rebuilding Lama Foundation

During these past ten years of rebuilding, re-visioning, and rededicating Lama Foundation, a new branch of the Lama family tree has blossomed: the natural builders. They brought state-of-the-art mud and straw knowhow, a passion for after-hours fun such as dancing and drumming, and most importantly, a heart-centered dedication to re-building Lama with an emphasis on both beauty and function.

The only buildings left intact after the Hondo Fire were the Dome Complex, the Old Kitchen, the New Kitchen foundation, the Dew Drop office, and a single residence. This was barely enough to keep Lama Foundation in operation. The wintertime vulnerability of straw bales wrapped around trailers, thinly insulated tipis, yurts and domes challenged year-around residency. This in turn destabilized the on-going rebuilding effort. Nevertheless, Lama supporters threw themselves into the fray and gave until they had nothing left to give. And yet, Lama Foundation's special "magic" remained intact; new people came up the mountain each year, fell head-over- heels in love with Lama, and continued the huge task of rebuilding.

Starting in the summer of 1996, thousands of willing hands came up and felled trees along the contours of the land to preserve the top soil, planted baby trees, developed a long-term building site plan, and worked diligently to complete new buildings. For several years, the task was overwhelming because building projects during the busy summer season competed with serving summer retreats, growing food, and enjoying the fruits of Community. However, because so many believed in Lama Foundation’s vision and supported it with donations and/or their time, Lama has not only risen from the ashes, it is soaring!

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Community Center Portal - 1999 The Workshop - 2002

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The Workshop - 2002

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The Kanaat - 2000

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The Tree House - 1998

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BHN Apprentices - 2006

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Myles & Clarity - 2002

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Community Center Complex, etc.

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Maqbara Hermitage - 1997

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Mollie - 2006

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Making Adobe Bricks - 2004

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Keyline - 2003

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Vault One - 2004

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BHN Apprentices - 2003

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The Bear Hermitage, etc.

Ten years after the Hondo Fire, the long list of building accomplishments is impressive:

• The "Community Center" complex with new kitchen, pantry, larder, outdoor eating area, meeting rooms, and office space
• Seven straw-bale buildings
• One chainsaw-joinery building for year-round resident housing
• One summer-housing building made of strawclay
• One chainsaw-joinery hermitage
• One straw-bale hermitage
• Three important infrastructure straw-bale buildings (a recycling materials building, a woodshop/workshop, and a land-tool storage building)
• Some of the ISC complex has been rebuilt.

In 2007, we are planning to finish and occupy another straw-bale vault for year-round housing and also the straw-bale Cottage Industries Building, which includes a studio for making prayer flags and other hand-made Lama products, office space, and a "Lamassary - Love Emporium" retail facility. These days Lama Foundation resembles a small village as seen from the old High Hermitage site. Not only has Lama's ever-changing community completed some one and a half buildings each year (and we're still going), but each building has unique details that reflect the hearts of the many hands who gave so fully of themselves.

A few important guiding principles were adhered to while rebuilding. The "Lama Foundation Site Plan" (written in 1998-1999) provided an important over-all perspective in harmoniously siting buildings with the surrounding landscape, road access, and overall mapping of Lama. An ever- deepening understanding of straw-bale construction together with passive-solar design has proven to be an inexpensive and environmentally-sound method of creating new buildings. Building projects have been overseen by building professionals in conjunction with Lama community members, and so we continue to learn how to accomplish each project a little bit better. The result is a "new and improved" Lama Foundation with warmer buildings, a more modern utility infrastructure, and vast spaces of land left untouched. One might say that the Hondo Fire catastrophe provided an opportunity to upgrade.

While there are many accomplishments, Lama Foundation is still lacking adequate indoor summer housing for the many visitors who do not tent, and we are in need of funds to complete the Cottage Industries Building, which will greatly enhance Lama's ability to generate year-round income. So, we will continue to rebuild.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support. Rebuilding Lama Foundation is a community effort, and we absolutely could not do it without you!

Blessings, Austin Babcock

Magnificent Manifestations Of Your Generosity!

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The Community Center Complex

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Flag Mountain Cottage Industries

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The Solar Shed & Panel Array

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The Workshop

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The Recycle & Storage Shed

Hermitages

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The Maqbara Hermitage

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Housing

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The Kanaat

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The Greensong and the Keyline

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The Bluebird

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The ISC

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The Eco Nest

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Vault One

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The Tree House

The Hondo Fire, Ten Years After

Yesterday was gorgeous with the Mountain displaying its full autumnal splendor. The reds, browns, and bronzes of Gambel’s oaks are more varied and vibrant this year, perhaps due to our abundant spring and summer rains. Oaks have replaced ponderosa pine as the dominant plant species after the Hondo Fire, and they seem to huddle together in clumps separated by grassy areas and pathways.

Immediately after the burn, the Land Restoration Team was primarily concerned with retaining the soil that had previously been held in place by the montane vegetation. Our hastily constructed check dams and erosion barriers functioned well to preserve a healthy substrate that now supports a much greater variety of plant life than was present pre-fire.

Rico Zook, Lama Foundation’s Land Manager for several years, said, “The land looks good now, and I am pleased on many levels. It is normal for oaks to move in after a fire, but they could be cut back to speed up the return of the ponderosas. In the near future, Lama will have several options, such as thinning the aspen grove to manage its health.”

The meadow area behind the Main Dome was the first area to fully recover. It is filled with thick grasses, oaks, and seasonal wildflowers, including bursts of purple asters this fall. Yellow-flowered chamisa shrubs line the roadway leading up to Central. Walking along the Maqbara path, I was delighted by the contrasting colors of leaves in transition: yellow snowberries, red wild roses, and yellow-green deer brush. Occasional ponderosa pine seedlings provided a refreshing dash of vivid green against the drabber grasses.

Many planted ponderosa saplings adorn the Maqbara Hill, some of them four feet high. Most of the burned pines on Foundation property have been felled by chain saw or the gusting winds. Yet a dead forest still stands in the Mountain’s upper reaches, towering like blackened grave markers. The land is more open and spacious now, with stunning views of the gorge and surrounding country, yet also possessing a rawness that urges residents and visitors to search ever more deeply within and without.

Resident Lynn Farquhar, head of the Land Team said, “All the rain this year was heavenly. The Mountain has been exploding with asters that combine with the yellow sunflowers to make an eye- popping spectacle.” She noted that mule deer, elk, black bear, raccoons, and bobcats are much more numerous in the post-fire landscape. The bird life has also become more varied with bluebirds, hawks, magpies, flickers, and ravens frequently seen.

The aspen grove has come back full force with trunks reaching twenty feet skyward as their golden leaves gently sway in the breeze. Overgrown stacks of felled aspens remind me of the fierce flooding that swept over Lama just two months after the Hondo Fire. These barriers protected the springhouse from those destructive waves that roared off the denuded slopes above the Foundation.

The plant life along the drainage is thick and luxurious with young narrowleaf cottonwoods rising above snowberries, clumps of Rocky Mountain maple, mullein, and nodding brome grass. Check dams in the creek bed still slow the erosive forces of spring runoff and summer thunderstorms.

Our tree planting, reseeding, and erosion control certainly helped to minimize the effects of fire and flood. Yet it was the restorative, regenerative forces of Mother Nature that revegetated and that will eventually reforest this land. Once again, the Mountain humbles me. And, once again, I am grateful.

jai cross

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Lama Goes To Market

After Kathy and I attended several organizational meetings this past winter and spring, it was exciting to be 'on the ground floor' of the new Questa Farmer's Market this summer. Each Sunday, we'd go set up our booth, evolving from a comedy team like Lucy and Ethel struggling with our canopy parts in the grocery store parking lot to a smooth team of booth organizers, growers, bakers, and candle/cream/ lipbalm producers, interacting with our customers, and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow marketers. It was a delight getting to know our neighbors and swapping stories and bread and produce with others passionate about community building and organic food.

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As luck would have it, our booth wound up right next to where most weeks a musician (including fiddle-playing Meredith with her beautiful voice and banjo-playing Mia with HER great voice!) or group of musicians would play and sing to make the time zip by. It's been so inspiring to develop relationships with these folks, with their wealth of knowledge and stories about planting, harvesting, baking, and just living in beautiful northern New Mexico. As a result, I've a feeling that, more and more, Lama's produce will be coming directly from our own gardens and greenhouses as well as from local farmers like Daniel Carmona of Cerro Vista Farm, who gave such a fascinating and inspiring presentation during "Build Here Now, Grow Here Now, Live Here Now".

We really lucked out with this summer’s rains, and consequently we were able to enjoy lots of homegrown produce all summer long, and we still have root crops going strong! During the cold season, we're looking forward to visioning about which crops to grow where, how to perfect our 'value-added products' like candles, and ways to expand the number of people enjoying the new Questa Farmer's Market. See you there next summer!

Lynn Farquhar

Lama Alive will be on-line soon!
Go to http://www.lamafoundation.org and click
on the Newsletter Link to see the entire
December 2006 Newsletter, in color!
Additional color photos are also available


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Church of Conscious Harmony
From a conversation with Youth Minister Don Hale


The Church of Conscious Harmony in Austin, Texas, was co-founded by Tim Cook 18 years ago after he experienced a spiritual awakening during a Ram Dass retreat at Lama Foundation. Its Abba is Father Thomas Keating, a monk, author, and founder of the world-wide ministry of Contemplative Outreach. Church of Conscious Harmony (CCH) youth and chaperones first came to Lama in 1997, a year after the Hondo Fire, in response to requests for help with rebuilding. Another group returned to Lama in 2001, and CCH youth have returned every summer since that time.

The journey is a multi-leveled pilgrimage, an opportunity to go more deeply into prayer and to see prayerfulness modeled by practitioners from different spiritual traditions and walks of life. To experience the open-hearted welcome and acceptance of the Lama community in which the youth feel safe and held has a much greater impact on their lives than simply reading about religion. Lama has become a second home.

Youth Minister Don Hale explained, “The youth prepare for every pilgrimage by raising funds through the sale of calendars, peaches, baked goods, and an annual spaghetti dinner attended by over 100 people, but we try not to get lost in the fundraising. The week before our departure, we participate in an all-night vigil with centering and contemplative prayer. Each participant contributes to a group aim. This gives the youth a sense of the trip and an opportunity to deepen both individually and in their relationships with one another. Our departure is blessed by our pastor, Tim Cook and his wife Barbara, family, and other community members.”

“Our first ‘official’ stop is the cross overlooking Santa Fe, where we do a sit. We spend the night in Espanola and do morning devotion at the Hanuman Temple in Taos. One of our goals in taking the centering prayer to different sites is to realize that although external environments change, the inner environment is the same.”

“We come to Lama to serve and work with the community. Through the relationships that form with members of the summer community, the youth have an opportunity to see how they affect others’ lives. Watching the Lama Community open to them is an experience they don’t get anywhere else. They feel the ancient wisdom of the Mountain and the natural world that surrounds Lama, manifested in members of the community, and come to realize that this wisdom is part of their nature as well. At Lama, they experience a world that is slower – in a different rhythm – than the world from which they have come and so they learn to match rhythms with those around them.”

Mountain Learning

We arrived at Lama with the air of hustle hovering on our shoulders. We were excited and nervous to see just how a course entitled “Contemplation and Sustainable Design” would unfold on the side of a high-desert mountain.

Under the guidance of Professor Paul Wapner, seven American University graduate and undergraduate students left the walls of our Washington, D.C. campus this summer and embarked on the adventure of a non-traditional class. The course syllabus had prepared us for training in natural building techniques and global environmental politics discourse. Our days were spent mixing cob and slathering it onto the blossoming Cottage Industries Studio, reflecting on global issues within a personal context, and incorporating all of this into artful journaling. We soon learned that what was not on the syllabus offered an equally important lesson: Seva, tuning, lodges, Shabbat, yoga, sweat, tears, connections to the soul, sharing meals made with intention, looking for thunderheads, exploring the raspberry trails on the land, sleeping hard, and living lightly.

We left Lama with song, presence, and love in our hearts. We are fortunate to have lived a bit of Lama’s place, people, and spirit. The residents, summer stewards, and other visitors transformed a “class” into a course on the intricacies of life. Thank you to all of our Lama teachers!

Leah Baker ( AU student of Paul Wapner)

What is Centering Prayer?

Prayer is our relationship to God. Centering Prayer is a method of exercising this relationship - it provides access to deep forms of prayer known in the tradition as contemplation or contemplative prayer. This prayer may be described as silent communion with God. It is the core practice for spiritual growth and transformation.

We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Centering Prayer is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being - to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions. We open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing - closer than consciousness itself. Centering Prayer is a process of interior purification leading, if we consent, to divine union.

Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer; it simply puts other kinds of prayer into a new and fuller perspective. During the time of prayer we consent to God's presence and action within, while at other times our attention moves outward to discover God's presence everywhere.

Centering Prayer, one of the two core teachings upon which Church of Conscious Harmony is based, is designed to give us a direct experience of God's presence and action in our lives.

Reprinted by permission from Church of Conscious Harmony
http://www.consciousharmony.org


Lama Foundation will be hosting a
“Contemplative Prayer Silent Retreat”
The tentative dates are July 10, 2007 - July 19, 2007.
Look for it in our 2007 Summer Brochure.


American University Workshop: Contemplative Sustainable Design
July 29-August 13, 2006

We came to the Mountain to reflect on and even try to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. We wanted to learn how to respond to climate change, loss of biological diversity, increasing scarcity of fresh water and the overall degradation of the earth’s air, water, soil and species diversity. As students of global environmental affairs at American University, we understood that our current ways of life are unsustainable. We wanted to know how to steer ourselves, our nation, and the world in new, more hopeful and sustainable directions.

We came from Washington DC, arguably the belly of the beast. We were used to trying to change the world by staring at computer screens and competing against each other and many others to win the attention of policy-makers or, really, anyone who would listen. Many of us were worn down by the frenetic politics and the city itself. We came to Lama for refuge and to experience a model of sustainability. Lama was our summer laboratory for experimenting with ourselves and our grand ideas of how to make the world a better place. When we arrived, I asked Das what to expect. He replied, “Well, let’s see what happens.”

Things, in fact, did happen. We helped build the new Cottage Industries Studio with mud, straw, and, as Austin always reminded us, love. We sat in the prayer room and listened to our breath, heart, and souls. We practiced yoga, walked in the woods, stared out across the gorges, valleys and mountains, and shared our fears and thoughts about global environmental problems. Most of all, and most rewarding, we joined the community.

Tuning, eating, talking, dancing and smiling with the residents and summer staff is a profound experience. Lama continues to be a place where people come together to support each other’s journeys and the community’s unfolding, and this proved to be our biggest lesson about sustainability. We learned that, more important than all the technical know-how revolving around environmental well-being, at the root of things is finding a way of living together that honors each other’s souls, cultivates a sense of caring about each other, and harmonizes our lives with the natural world.

At the end of our stay, as the shuttles left the mountain to the sound of the conch shell, these kinds of things started to sink in and we were able to appreciate the deeper meaning of sustainability. We did so, it turns out, by becoming different people. We arrived as individual students dedicated to environmental protection. We left as a thankful community more understanding of ourselves and more supported in our political and spiritual aims. Over our three weeks at Lama, we grew thankful for the land, for the opportunity to live alongside the wise folks of the Mountain, and for the transformative powers that flicker at the center of life.

Paul Wapner

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Ned O’Malia

Three Credits and an Outhouse

There is a long familial bond between Lama Foundation and the Honors Program of the University of New Mexico. For almost 20 years, Lama has been host, academic center, and spiritual guide to an unusual Honors seminar entitled: Sacred Sites of Northern New Mexico. Using Lama as a home base, this ten-day, three-credit seminar allows fifteen students to experience Lama and visit other spiritual communities.

For me, there is no greater joy than driving to Lama during Community Camp, wondering who will be there. We enter into whatever rhythm of spiritual life we encounter. Once, we arrived on a day of silence when an orientation and land tour were conducted by use of writing on a clip board. We have arrived several times to be greeted by the spiritual chords of Stew Baba Britton’s saxophone kirtans. We once arrived to the music of three Iranian men from Denver playing archaic Iranian instruments most of the night in the Dome.

Sacred Sites has a Web page (http://www.unm.edu/~nomalia/) which relates some of the history of this seminar. In time we will have photos of each of the seminar years. There is a section entitled “Sacred Characters” to honor the people we meet in our travels who have had a profound effect on us. This year at a roadside picnic stop near Abiquiu, we met Roy C. Johnson, a cowboy traveling with his horse and bed roll from San Antonio, Texas to Spokane, Washington. He had already been on the road for 71 days and expected to be riding for another 6 months. His wife told him he was not the man she had married and that he should go find that man. Roy was on as true a Yantra as any soul flying to India. Fatima Rigsby is one of our favorite “Sacred Characters.”

One of my greatest pleasures in teaching Sacred Sites has been seeing the familiar through the new and enthusiastic eyes of students. It is a tradition that we stop in the lower parking lot and walk slowly and consciously in silence up the longest route to the Dome. In the Dome, we circumambulate clockwise seven times and then sit in a circle to begin our orientation. The experience of seeing this spectacular building on the top of the wide meadow, then feeling the wooden floor, danced on and prayed over so many times, creates an electric wave about all of us.

In the hallowed tradition of Seva, the Sacred Sites students became quite good at building and refurbishing outhouses in the very beginning of this long union. We would usually tackle one of the hermitage outhouses, dig a new hole in rocky ground, move the outhouse, replace worn boards, and paint it with the brightest paint we could find. We took endless photos of these grand creations, and I once showed former Governor Jerry Apodaca photographs of the seminar. When he asked about the outhouse I told him that we build them as part of the seminar work. He replied, “Finally a resume item worth something.”

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Roy C. Johnson, (Cowboy), Ambrosia Ortiz (Teaching Assistant 2007), Ned O'Malia

Our grandest Seva was moving building materials, including a wood stove, to the High Hermitage. Plans were under way for this movement, which included talk of a helicopter lift, when I chimed in that I had college students eager to work. We placed the cast iron wood stove in a wheel barrow, and in the Chinese style, I attached three ropes to the front of the wheel barrow so that the stove was pulled and pushed up the long rocky path to the High, and the old one brought back down.

Even when I think I am beyond being surprised by student reactions to Lama, I am surprised again. A young woman boldly stated that she enrolled for this seminar because it was shorter than a semester and looked easy. After a week, I met her one night crying, saying she had just called her mother and had asked to be baptized in their family church. If there is a trend with my students at Lama, it is that they reawaken to the discarded religion of their childhood. Now they see the adult version of that teaching with its complexities, mysteries, and opportunities.

Sacred Sites is not all outhouses, sweat lodges, teepees, or Willie’s wondrous cinema. Each student writes a research paper, which is shared with the class. Each student creates an annotated workbook of writings, musings, questions and 25 images, which can be photographs, drawings, found art, and once a bone fragment. These workbooks are a gift to that student later in life. They are a record of a moment in their lives, which most will never experience again. Some of these workbooks are of museum quality with high imagination and huge creativity; some are merely adequate to meet the goal.

I am often surprised by where and when the seeds planted during this seminar come to sprout. In May of this year, I spent an afternoon in the Maqbara reading the hermit journals. One stated, “I first came here twelve years ago with a college class; I have gone downhill since that time. I am back to recover something.” He signed his name, which I immediately recognized, as he was somewhat of a pain in the neck. Of all the people on all the seminars, how he found his path back here still amazes me. Plus, as he was carrying his Blackberry with him, he was able to contact the Hermit Master Krishna Das through the Internet for his daily supplies. Wow!

In reflection, I am grateful that over 300 college students have felt the heartbeat of the Lama Foundation, walked the meadows, drank tea, danced in the Dome, cooked silently in the morning kitchen, and met great spiritual beings. There is no measure of how the Lama experience will translate into their lives. I am aware of the smiles shared and the tears dropped. I have felt heart spaces open in many students. I am thankful to have been a part of this Lama Foundation – Honors Program seminar. I am thankful to have learned something from each student - about them and about me. With the grace of the Goddess, may it long continue.

Thank you Lama Foundation! Ned O’Malia

Maqbaras on Lama Mountain

Murshid Samuel L. Lewis’ Maqbara

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Samuel L. Lewis was Lama’s first “teacher”. Following is an excerpt from his diary of that time (1970): “Here I am in a spiritual commune way up in the Rockies (Lama), where they practice, practice, practice what others preach, preach, preach. It is marvelous. It is the New Age. It is the New Age without any recent Messiahs. Just human beings who demonstrate love and humanity, and worship according to the forms of all religions and don¹t waste time on endless lectures.”

Murshid Sam was buried on Lama Mountain in the deep of winter in January 1971. The Maqbara of Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, like the shrines of Sufi teachers in the East, is a place of Baraka, of blessing, of peace. It is a place of pilgrimage where we can reconnect with spiritual reality, recharge our batteries, and seek an answer to life’s problems. Lama celebrates Murshid’s birthday on October 18th and his Urs (day of passing, or wedding with the Beloved) on January 15th. All are welcome!

Funded by Sufi Ruhaniat International, work was done this past summer to improve the seating around his Maqbara. The crescent above the grave was expanded and new stones were laid along the top. The area can now seat 25 to 30 people.

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Toward the One
The perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty
The only Being
United with all the Illuminated Souls
Who form the Embodiment of the Master
The Spirit of Guidance

Murshida Vera Corda’s Maqbara

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This summer a group of volunteers from the local community, lead by Rahaman Brown worked on a beautification project at Murshida Vera Corda’s Maqbara.

Excerpted here are a few words Shabaz Juan Lopez shared about the project: “(The) volunteers lovingly hauled over two tons of rock, stone by stone, from the base of the trail...to the Maqbara site. It is quite steep... The cement used was made with rainwater (gathered from the roof of the bench shelters at Murshid Sam’s Maqbara up the hill)... The cookie jar urn (with Murshida’s ashes)... is now under the floor of the little grotto in the center of (a stone) crescent... There is still work to do. The monument still needs some finishing details. The path and landscape will be (improved) and two beautiful benches (made by John Murray who built the bench shelters at Murshid Sam’s Maqbara as well as the Maqbara hermitage hut) will be set (in place). The floor and walls of the small grotto will be decorated with (quartz) crystals being collected... Hopefully the honoring of our teachers will carry on the four winds to the highest heaven.”

This project (materials and food for the volunteers) is being funded by donations to Holistic Human Development, Inc., a trust set up to further the work of Murshida Vera Corda. Contact them c/o Zahira Rabinowitz (mzahira@ comcast.net) (707) 763-6078.

Pilgrims are welcome to visit both Maqbaras any time.
Please call for road conditions.
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Part 2 of 2

2006 Snapshots

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Everybody likes to plaster

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Dervish Healing Order - 2006

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Pilgrims

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Mary

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Liz & Jai

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Jan Daugherty

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Alia - “Hug me”

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Jethro

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The Ram Dass Bus got a new paint job

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Diana, Rabia, Pat, & Chen

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Tamar

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On September 23, 2006, more than 200 well-wishers attended the wedding of Chris Daniels (Foundation coordinator and long-term Lama stalwart) and Rita McElmury (Flag guardian and artiste extraordinaire). Diane Adkins married the loving couple at Lama in a ceremony punctuated by talented musicians, poignant singing, and heart-felt vows. Afterwards, the multitude celebrated with fantastic food, fire dancers, and wild dancing in the Dome. Chris and Rita honeymooned in Hawaii before settling into their new duties as caretakers at the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Taos. Join us in blessing the newlyweds in this and all their future endeavors together!

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Mollie, Donnie, Kaki, & Steve

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Jamie, Arielle, Heather, & Courtney

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Tea in the new Flag Building

Thanks & Blessings to our Beloved Donors

For Your Monetary Support: ♥Diane Adkins ♥ Lynda Aiman-Smith & Larry Taylor ♥ Bear & Kathryn Albrecht ♥ Nicholas Alexander ♥ Margaret Allsebrook ♥ Jonathan & Kathleen Altman ♥ Loretta Armer ♥ Stephen Ascue ♥ Catherine Auman ♥ Ana Alpern Avital ♥ Austin Babcock & Kathy Lyons ♥ Joseph Peter Badalucca ♥ Saul Barodofsky, Ananda Cronin & The Dervish Healing Order ♥ Zet Baer & Rudi Harst ♥ Margaret Baird ♥ Vadan Baker ♥ Pamela Barrale & Mary Elizabeth Ford ♥ Brenda Barstow ♥ Mary & Aziz Bartley ♥ Lisa Bayne ♥ Shama Beach ♥ Van & Zakira Beasley ♥ Red & Molly Beckley ♥ Michelle Beittel ♥ Guy Benintendi ♥ John Bennett ♥ Susan Berman ♥ Asha & Andre Uwais Bernard ♥ Dr Samuel A Berne ♥ Sandy Berrigan ♥ Gabriele Birnbaum ♥ Jeffrey Birnbaum ♥ Candice Blocker ♥ Michele Boccia & Lewis Sawatzky ♥ Karen Bolander-Claus ♥ Jan Boyer ♥ Fadhilla Nancy Bradley ♥ Jessica Brady Hogan ♥ Varda Brahms ♥ Linda Chase Broda ♥ Kate Brown ♥ Larry Brown ♥ Roy T Bruno ♥ Carolynn Bryan ♥ Tasnim Janice Burton ♥ Bob Campbell & Melissa Russo ♥ William & Marie Carman ♥ T. Bruce Carpenter ♥ Katherine F C Cary ♥ Marti Cate ♥ Donna Chamisa ♥ Dr James J Childress ♥ Katherine Chudoba & David Powelson ♥ Derek Clark ♥ Kenneth D Clements ♥ Abraham Cobb ♥ Ahad Cobb ♥ Nat and Sarah Cobb ♥ Elizabeth Coe ♥ Elizabeth & Robert Cogburn ♥ Douglas Conwell ♥ Marguerite Craig ♥ Jai & Jan Cross ♥ Jay Cross ♥ Lenora & Jim Cross ♥ Kenneth Cuthbertson & Douglas Calderwood ♥ David & JoAnn Dalley & SIRS Mid Atlantic ♥ Rameshwar Das & Kate Rabinowitz ♥ Janice Daugherty ♥ Richard & Elaine Davis ♥ Terry Davis & Bruce Holthouse ♥ Annie Degen ♥ Kristina Deimel & Richard Pollens ♥ Devi Elena & Thomas Akbar DeJardin & DUP Portland ♥ Deb & Robert Denome ♥ William Diehl ♥ Mark Dixon & Sandy Fazio ♥ Susan Drobeck ♥ Leonard Edmondson ♥ Susie & Barry Ehrmann ♥ Craig Ellis ♥ Christy Engels ♥ Merrybelle D England ♥ Rosemarie & Dean Enix ♥ Jim & Dorothy Fadiman ♥ Richard Falk & Francine Falk-Allen ♥ Maureen Fallon-Cyr ♥ Janice Jemila Felisko ♥ Calvin Fentress ♥ Allen & Lucy Fergusen ♥ Marigold Fine ♥ Kelley & CT Fitzpatrick ♥ Felicia Flower Gironda ♥ Kimmi Foree ♥ Azima Lila Forest ♥ Frank Fox ♥ Richard Fox ♥ Joel Frankel ♥ David & Deborah Franz ♥ Danielle Freeman ♥ Zev Freidman ♥ John Fridinger ♥ Justin & Linda Friedman ♥ Bill Fungaroli ♥ Donna Gaddie & Mark Chonko ♥ Don & Pat Gallegos ♥ John & Alyne Galm ♥ Teresa Gardner ♥ Herbert & Frances Garn ♥ Terry Garthwaite ♥ Agatha Gelderloos ♥ Georgia Gersh ♥ Rhoda Gilman ♥ Gayle Gilmore & Ozzie Curlee ♥ Marla Goedhart ♥ Caroline Goff ♥ Sarkis Gorial ♥ Rand & Teresita Greenfield ♥ Arthur Greeno & Hokoji Zen Temple ♥ Asha Greer ♥ Julie Grossman ♥ Raina Grygorowikz ♥ Tricia Guinle ♥ Richard Hammer ♥ Judith Henry ♥ Mark and Christine Hickman ♥ William & Susan Hogan ♥ Phillip Holliday ♥ Barbara E Horan ♥ Jiun Hosen & Bodhi Manda Zen Center ♥ Jim Hunt ♥ Rabia Hunter ♥ Bernard Iovine ♥ Martha Iwaski ♥ Jan Jahn ♥ Dawn, Eldon & Thomas Janssen ♥ Beth Johnson ♥ Mansur Johnson ♥ Mariel Margery Johnson ♥ Robert & Patricia Johnson ♥ Jean Jorgensen ♥ Shabda & Tamam Kahn & The Ruhaniat ♥ Joan Kaiser ♥ Kenneth Kalata ♥ Mel Kaushansky & Ph.D. & Gordon Wallace ♥ Susan Kazmierski ♥ Jeanne Rainwater Kelley ♥ Steve Kemble ♥ Jean and Steve Kenin ♥ Daniel Kennedy ♥ Jamil Kilbride & Karin Arielle ♥ Jeffrey S King ♥ Sandra & Jay King ♥ Randall Klarin ♥ Ammi Kohn ♥ Michael Kothrade ♥ Mika Kraemer ♥ Steve Krajacic ♥ Betty & Warren Kuehner ♥ Elizabeth Ann Kuhn ♥ Stuart & Virginia Kupferman ♥ David Kyle ♥ Veronica Lake ♥ Diane Lange ♥ William & Judith P Lanyi ♥ Linda Larkin ♥ Martha & Peter Laudert ♥ Kathryn Lawrence ♥ Katrina Lehman ♥ Lorie Levison ♥ Miryam Levy ♥ Jon Lipman ♥ Hugh Littlebury ♥ Charles Lonsdale ♥ Jim Lorentzen ♥ Steven Lovelace & Gary Clark ♥ Corinna Lyon ♥ Ed and Ann MacBeth ♥ Virginia Maclovia ♥ Anne Maedke ♥ Vishu & Nancy Magee ♥ Chris Mandeville ♥ Brenda Manning ♥ C Victor & Barbara Manny ♥ James E Marienthal ♥ Paula T Markham & DUP Blacksburg ♥ Rick Markov ♥ Ann Sophia Marshall ♥ Luzie Mason ♥ Mary Ann Matheson ♥ Randal McClure ♥ Chuck McKennon & Cotopaxi Band ♥ Glenn & Billie McNeal ♥ Virginia Melroy ♥ Devin Miller ♥ Uma & Vishwanath Miller ♥ Deborah Milosevich ♥ Robert & Sarah Moench ♥ Deborah Morin ♥ Marvin & Nancy Morse ♥ Molly Moyer & Ronnie Storey ♥ Gwendolyn Murphy ♥ Rev Alice Pintki & John Murray ♥ Lawrence Muscat ♥ Bette Kay Myerson ♥ Jeanette Nadeau ♥ Mary Neikirk ♥ Peggy Nes ♥ Liz Neve ♥ Alan & Deniese Newman ♥ Sharon Niederman ♥ Lorraine Williams Norby ♥ Heather Norfleet ♥ Ned O’Malia ♥ Estate of Mark Oberman ♥ Cheryl Dee Odom ♥ Lucy Oliver & Thomas Rightmyer ♥ Eileen Pappalardo ♥ T R Patterson & Daisy Schrock ♥ Gyana Pendleton ♥ Franklin & Linda Peters ♥ Nina Amina Peterson ♥ Rosie Powell ♥ Roger Pritchard ♥ Ivan Rasmussen ♥ Polly Margaret Raye & Bill Christmas ♥ Quentin Rebholtz ♥ Gilbert Renault ♥ Thomas Renault ♥ Wayne Rice ♥ Flora Richey ♥ Fatima Rigsby ♥ Ronald E Rinker ♥ Tamar Rivers ♥ Barbara Jemila Rose ♥ Judith Rousso & David Arneson ♥ Edwin A Ruber & William Payer ♥ Nuria Stephanie Sabato & Joseph Gorski ♥ Tovia & William Safford ♥ Joseph Salack & James Bailey ♥ Rachel Sanborn ♥ Theresa Sapunar ♥ Jan Schubert ♥ Andrea Scott ♥ Dona Seay ♥ Roberta Sharples ♥ Patrick Shaw & Jenny Kostecki ♥ Layla Shellie Steckel Sheppard ♥ Vakil Forest Shomer ♥ Scott Thomas Shuker ♥ Lawrence & Sarah Siegel ♥ Caryn Simon ♥ Steve Slusher & Jon Lewis ♥ Sandra Smiley ♥ Janet F. Smith ♥ Susan Ida Smith ♥ Shane Snell ♥ Bernadette Sonefeld ♥ Martha Stampfer ♥ Marti Stewart ♥ John Stocke & Polly Tifft ♥ Suzanne Stone ♥ Cathy & Doug Strubel ♥ Sully Sullivan ♥ Elaine Surya ♥ Andrew Swanson ♥ Charles Maboud Swierkosz & Tara Andrea Brunjes- Swierkosz ♥ Karen B Taylor ♥ Lori Thweatt ♥ Linda Shakura Trageser ♥ Patti Tronolone ♥ Nic Tuff ♥ Farishta Sara Ulrey ♥ David Vargo ♥ Rob, Julia & Marika Vazquez ♥ Peter Vennewitz ♥ Liz Vereycken ♥ Ruth Von Goertz ♥ Tom Wallace ♥ P.B. and Ron Walsh ♥ Regina Jamila Walther ♥ Catherine Wanek & Pete Fust ♥ Paul Wapner & Diane Singerman ♥ Gideon & Shirley Weisz ♥ Susan Elizabeth Werner ♥ Gail West ♥ Jess West ♥ Jill Wichlens & Rich Gabriel ♥ Larry Wiesner ♥ Stewart E Wiggers ♥ Rafia Marian Wilcox ♥ Dianne Gary Williams ♥ John Wilson MD ♥ Genevieve Windsor ♥ Melody Shekinah Winnig & Vincent Giuliano ♥ Alice Wirth ♥ Sandy Wolf ♥ Oscar Woodson ♥ Kyle Xhilone ♥ Wendy Zieve ♥ Polly & Steve Zimmerman ♥ Dave Zirin ♥ Melvin & Susan Zwillenberg ♥

Thanks to our Trustees: ♥ Diana Adkins ♥ Jai Cross ♥ Asha Greer ♥ Rabia Hunter ♥ Bob Johnson ♥ Pat Johnson ♥ Fatima Rigsby ♥ Elaine Surya ♥

Special Appreciation and Thanks to: ♥ Jonathan & Kathleen Altman Foundation [ALTMAN FOUNDATION Contact info 35TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10175-0003, Last update: 2008-12-01,
This nonprofit has assets of $207,778,412, income of $152,610,496.] ♥ Saul & Ananda Barodofsky and the Members of the Dervish Healing Order ♥ Don Hale and the Church of Conscious Harmony ♥ Ram Dass ♥ Annie Degen ♥ Holistic Human Development and the Friends of Murshida Vera Corda ♥ Shabda & Tamam Kahn and the Members of the Ruhaniat ♥

For Material and Energetic Support, Building, Landscaping, Meal Prep, Transportation,

Teaching, Counsel, and inspiration: ♥ David Abrams ♥ Diana Adkins ♥ Zaida Amaral ♥ Paula Anderson ♥ Richard Archuleta ♥ Estevan Arellano ♥ Ruthie & Jim Ashe ♥ Ernie Atencio ♥ Emma Avalos ♥ James Bailey ♥ Vadan Baker ♥ Nancy Barstow ♥ Bob Bassara ♥ Courtney Becker ♥ Trew & Tony Bennett ♥ Susan Berman ♥ Michele Boccia & Lewis Sawatzky ♥ Jan Boyer ♥ Jessica Brady Hogan ♥ Varda Brahms ♥ Christopher Briggs ♥ Rahaman David Brown ♥ Bud & Blanche ♥ Bob Campbell ♥ Jadi Carboni ♥ Daniel Carmona ♥ Curtis Cates ♥ Mark Choplin ♥ Cids Food Market ♥ Gary Clark ♥ Ahad Cobb ♥ Continuing & Free Associate Members ♥ Abe Cordova ♥ Julie Covington ♥ Carole Crews ♥ Jai & Jan Cross ♥ Mollie Curry ♥ David & JoAnn Dalley ♥ Janice Daughtery ♥ Annette F Daymon ♥ Richard & Linda Deertrack ♥ Annie Degen ♥ Jeff Dickinson ♥ Mark Dixon & Sandy Fazio ♥ Jody Drew ♥ Susie & Barry Ehrmann ♥ Jennie Evans ♥ Frank Fox ♥ Zev Freidman ♥ Ed & Lynn Galusky ♥ Tyson Galusky ♥ Terry Garthwaite ♥ Susannah Gelb ♥ Agatha Gelderloos ♥ Genny Genevich ♥ Mira Lyra Geroy ♥ Joel Glansberg ♥ Jasper Gomez & Rose Gatewood ♥ Sarkis Gorial ♥ Marica Graff ♥ Gary Greenstein & Heather Ferris ♥ Asha Greer ♥ Cedar Rose Guelberth ♥ Ben R Haggard ♥ Jeff Hartezer ♥ Cathy Hope ♥ Rabia Hunter ♥ Kaki Hunter ♥ Martha Iwaski ♥ Sita Jamieson ♥ Del Jiminez ♥ Mansur Johnson ♥ Bob & Pat Johnson ♥ Mark Johnson & Family ♥ Ken Kalata ♥ Steve Kemble ♥ Jean & Steve Kenin ♥ Ky Kenney ♥ Donnie Kiffmeyer ♥ Rick Klein ♥ Julilly Kohler ♥ Ammi Kohn ♥ Paul Koppana ♥ David & Madge Kraemer ♥ Kitty Kuluvar ♥ Lama Council Members ♥ Lama Neighbors ♥ Jamie Lamar ♥ Brad Lancaster ♥ Holly LeBerge ♥ Katrina Lehman ♥ Stewart & Sakae Lenox ♥ Eva Leveton ♥ Habib Dick Levison ♥ Lorie Levison ♥ Arielle Lewis- Zavala ♥ Joseph Lichtman ♥ Larry Littlebird ♥ Bert Lopez ♥ Shabaz Juan Lopez ♥ Steven Lovelace ♥ Toshiko Lyons ♥ Darvesha MacDonald ♥ Katie Maedke-Hall ♥ Richard Mahler ♥ Glen Martin ♥ Mary Ann Matheson ♥ Candice May ♥ MJ McCabe ♥ Jethro McClellan ♥ Laura Meltsner ♥ Gael Minton ♥ Sara Morgan ♥ Chien Motto ♥ Molly Moyer ♥ Kate Munger ♥ Gwendolyn Murphy ♥ Mystery School Band ♥ Mary Neikirk ♥ Margaret Nes ♥ Liz Neve ♥ Norbert with Off Road Performance ♥ Ned O’Malia ♥ Willy Peck ♥ Sarah Prasek ♥ Questa Health Center ♥ Zahira Rabinowitz ♥ Sylvia Rains Dennis ♥ Becky Reardon ♥ Baltazar Reed ♥ Gilbert Renault ♥ Thomas Renault ♥ Maura Rieman ♥ Fatima Rigsby ♥ Tamar Rivers ♥ Jose Romero ♥ Farrunnissa Lila Rosa ♥ Carl Rosenberg ♥ Micah Rosenberg ♥ Ruth Ross ♥ Melissa Russo ♥ Liam Rutan ♥ Tovia Safford ♥ Myles Saigh ♥ Joseph Salack ♥ Shanti Salima ♥ Shay Salomon ♥ San Cristobal Post Office ♥ Rachel Sanborn ♥ Miguel Santistevan ♥ Frank Schmit & Eve Marie Egan ♥ Colette Schmitt ♥ Dona Seay ♥ Patrick Shaw & Jenny Kostecki ♥ Scott Shuker ♥ Marney Solle ♥ Linzi Soloman ♥ Mirabai Starr ♥ Ronnie Storey ♥ Elaine Surya ♥ Al and Julie Sutherland ♥ Tony Sutherland & Harmony Haynie ♥ Elaine Sutton ♥ Maboud & Tara Swierkosz ♥ Julie Tato ♥ Terra Tiffany ♥ Ben Titelbaum ♥ Dylan Trachtman ♥ Nigel Valdez ♥ Julia Vasquez ♥ Siddiq Hans & Sakina von Briesen ♥ Beth Waldron ♥ Tom Watson ♥ Tim Weaver ♥ Daniel Weinman ♥ Mark Welch ♥ Genevieve Windsor ♥ Rico Zook ♥ and many more unnamed beloveds!

Congratulations to the winners of our
“2006 Caribbean Second Chance Raffle”!

Grand Prize Winner - Judy Henry of Santa Fe, NM
A trip for two to the beautiful Caribbean Coast in Tulum, Mexico

2nd Place Winner - Theresa Sapunar of Yellow Springs, OH
A weeklong Hermitage or Retreat at Lama Foundation

3rd Place Winner - Dakota Durkee Heim of Charlottesville, VA
A three-night Hermitage at Lama Foundation

4th Place Winner - Larry Brown of Olivebridge, NY
A $75.00 Gift Certificate to Flag Mountain Cottage Industries

Thank you to all those who participated in our raffle!
It was a great success, because of you!
Special thanks to EcoTulum Resorts for generously donating the accommodations!
Visit their website http://www.ecotulum.com


This issue of Lama Alive:

Editor:
Jan Cross

Layout, & Design:
Jan Cross and Fatima Rigsby

Contributing Writers:
Austin Babcock, Leah Baker,
Kunga Bill Brower, Lori
Cohen, Jan Cross, Jai Cross,
Lynn Farquhar, Beth Garrigus,
Ammi Kohn, Kathy Lyons,
Ned O’Malia, Fatima Rigsby,
and Paul Wapner

Photographers:
Austin Babcock, Lori Cohen,
Jai Cross, Beth Garrigus, Ned
O’Malia, Willie Peck, and
others

Tentative Summer 2007 Schedule

May 27 Opening Day
May 27 – June 2 Community Camp
May 31 – June 3 Family Retreat
May 27 – May 30 Spiritual Communities
June 14 – June 17 Eco Summit
June 17 – June 24 Build Here Now
July 10 – July 19 Contemplative Prayer Silent Retreat
August 12 – August 15 Vast Silence
August 16 – August 19 Women’s Gathering with/Asha, Zuleikha & Taj
August 23 – August 26 Annual Meeting
August 31 – September 3 G & L Reunion
September 6 – September 9 Singing in Circle
September 13 – September 16 Cooking with Thomas (Mediation Training)
September 20 – September 23 African Dance Weekend
September 23 Closing Day

Check the website in 2007 for more up-to-date information - http://www.lamafoundation.org.

A Snapshot of the Lama Library of Oral History and Memory

In July 2005, the Lama Council approved the creation of Lama Foundation’s Library of Oral History and Memory. This noteworthy project preserves the memorable stories of people intimately involved with the Foundation during its illustrious thirty-nine years of community life and service to humanity. The Library is headed by the indefatigable Ammi Kohn, who has recorded over 75 hours of memories on approximately 60 cassette tapes and CDs.

These colorful and revealing histories will be securely stored and archived at the Fray Angelico Chavez Library in Santa Fe. This library specializes in New Mexico history and is a branch of the Palace Museum of the Governors on the Santa Fe Plaza. Copies of the recordings will also be stored in the Lama Foundation Library, under the supervision of the Library Guardian.

To date, over sixty people have been interviewed, and some of these may be contacted for a follow-up interview as well.

Thanks to the generous donation of Jonathan Altman, a computer system for the project was acquired and processing of the interviews has already begun. In the immediate months ahead, the Library will focus on duplicating histories that have not been copied, physically archiving the tapes and CDs at the Lama Foundation and the Fray Angelico Library, and securing legal authorization from contributors to archive their contributions, which are necessary to make the interviews available to researchers, educational institutions, and other listeners.

During the coming year, Ammi plans to master the Voice Recognition system to redictate histories and create a computer text database of all completed interviews. Although there is money for basic library maintenance for a year, there is no funding to hire a transcriber. Data base design, information retrieval, analytic work, and careful administrative oversight are all necessary components.

The Library will also collect specialized histories. For example, Myles and Austin will collaborate to describe the Cottage Industry Building, from its initial conceptualization to its completion which will give special insights into Lama's building process.

We can all appreciate the importance of preserving the story of Lama's unique history, culture, and community over nearly four decades. To accomplish this daunting task, Ammi would welcome help, donations, and suggestions on other worthy interview subjects. He can be reached at 719-256-5080, ammikohn@yahoo.com, or PO Box 532, Crestone, Colorado 81131-0532.

Ammi greatly appreciates the expressions of support and encouragement that he has received over the past year and looks forward to deepening the work. Thanks so much!

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Ammi (right) takes a deserved break on the Portal

The interviewees to date, are: Karin Arielle, Austin Babcock, Saul Barodofsky, Zakira Beasley, Varda Brahms, Rahaman Brown, Doug Calderwood, Paolo Caserta, Ahad Cobb, Lori Cohen, David Cooper, Jai Cross, Mollie Curry, Ken Cuthbertson, Chris Daniels, Annie Degan, Noura Durkee, Sh. Nooruddeen Durkee, Lynn Farquhar, Beth Garrigus, Georgia Gersh, Will Giles, Natalie Goldberg, Asha Greer, Brian Herrera, Rabia Hunter, Joe Jackson, Steve Kemble, Jamil Kilbride, Mika Kraemer, Steven Lovelace, Kathy Lyons, Katie Maedke-Hall, Rita McElmury, Steven McElmury, Erik Memmott, Sara Morgan, Diane Nelson, Sharifa Oppenheimer, Willy Peck, Krishna Das Rayfield, Thomas Renault, Fatima Rigsby, Myles Saigh, Joseph Salack, Reb Zalman Schechter-Shalom, Marian Shirin, Scott Shuker, Eliezer Sobel, Mirabai Starr, Markus Stringer, Elaine Surya, Nick Tuff, Eliana Uretsky, Sakina von Briesen, Siddiq von Briesen, Abd al-Hayy Michael Weinman, Cynthia West, Abdul Hai Winer, and Rico Zook.


FOR TOMORROW

"It takes a noble man to plant a seed for a tree that will some day give shade to people he may never meet." -- David Trueblood

Lama Foundation Endowment Fund
For Donors Who Wish to Invest Today for Tomorrow

Lama Foundation has partnered with Taos Community Foundation to provide a legacy for future generations by creating a permanent endowment fund. This fund will generate a yearly income for Lama, yet the principal will remain in perpetuity for all those who come after us. An anonymous donor has kick-started the fund with a gift of $10,000 worth of highly appreciated stock. This enabled the donor to legally avoid significant capital gains and to receive a charitable contribution write-off, while contributing the full $10,000 to Lama.

Using the expertise of Taos Community Foundation, your gift of cash, stocks, bonds, IRAs, real estate, life insurance, art, and other assets will ensure the future of this magical mountain community. A variety of charitable instruments can be tailored to your unique situation, such as charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and charitable gift annuities. All gifts are tax-deductible to the maximum amount permissible.

Please help us protect and provide for the future of Lama. Check with your financial advisor to see how we could both benefit from a gift or bequest to Lama Foundation. Ninety percent of Endowment Fund contributions will go directly into the fund, while ten percent will fund Lama operational expenses.

For more information and to request an information packet, contact:

Lama Fundraising Office
Jan Cross: 505-758-8622
Email: taos@lamafoundation.org
PO Box 782, Taos, NM 87571-0782

Taos Community Foundation may also be
contacted directly:

Taos Community Foundation
505-737-9300
Email: foundation@taoscf.org
PO Box 1925, Taos, NM 87571-1925

We can help you with those pesky IRAs!
Individuals over 70 may transfer up to $100,000 from their individual retirement account to Lama this year – tax-free. A new law, enacted for 2006 and 2007 only, allows you to give more to charity and to pay less in taxes.


Ways You Can Help Now
Thanks for your continued generosity!

Cash Donations -

♥ At this point, Lama still relies heavily on cash donations for the many needs of the Foundation. General donations help to provide the basics, such as food, warmth, communication, medical care, resident stipends, repair and maintenance, vehicles, insurance, and the many other costs of keeping an entire village functioning.
♥ Flag Mountain Cottage Industries Building needs further funds to be up and running. Phase I, the exterior structure of this beautiful and functional building, cost $29,882. Approximately $25,000 more (of which we have already raised $10,000) will be needed for Phase II to completely finish the project next year. These funds will be used for the interior, furnishings (cabinetry, desks, work stations, phones and the computer system) and utility systems such as a solar radiant heating system, running hot and cold water, phone lines, computer lines, solar powered electrical system, and drainage system.
♥ The General Building Fund will be used for other necessary structures. Lama is still in desperate need of basic summer housing/dorms and infrastructure for our beloved Beans and retreatants.

Donate Goods or Services - see if you have an item from our wish list because these make a big difference to the folks on the Mountain! Professional services of all types are deeply appreciated!

Purchase our Cottage Industries Products – support our sustainable efforts! A portion of every flag purchase goes directly towards completing our new building!

Volunteer on the Mountain – cooking, gardening, building, cleaning, maintenance, serving retreats, and many other rewarding and fun jobs are always available.

Attend a Retreat at Lama - or tell a friend about a retreat that would interest them. Word of mouth is still the best advertising. Share the magic!

Spend Time at Lama as a Hermit - rejuvenating hermitages are available year round.

Tell Your Friends about Lama - or better yet, come visit us and bring a friend!

Include Lama in your Gift-Giving Plans – making a gift to the Lama Foundation Endowment Fund or remembering the Foundation in your estate plans will ensure that Lama will live on for future generations.

The Wish List

Physical donations have made a huge contribution to Lama’s re-growth after the Hondo fire. We deeply appreciate all these donations and the donors’ generous hearts.

We have a list here, both big and small, from things you already might possibly be looking to give to charity to the pies in the sky. In any case, if it is something beyond a “throw it in your car when you come here”, please contact the Lama Beans on the Mountain to make arrangements for shipping at 505-586-1269.

The Biggies – things we really need
(items or money towards)

*4WD vehicles able to withstand the Lama road
*Bio-diesel Conversion for our Suburban
*Solar Electric Panels & Equipment
*Greenhouse *Propane Freezer/Refrigeration

General

*Essential Oils
*Seven-day Candles
*Soy Wax for making candles
*DVD
*Video Movies
*Spiritual Books
*Reading Novels
*Warm Clothing for Gypsy
*Like-new Tents
*Snow Boots
*Warm Blankets
*Solar Flashlights
*Compact Fluorescent Bulbs & Adapters

Kitchen

*Industrial Veggie/Fruit Juicer
*Large Burr Grinder
*Serving Bowls/Platters
*Knife Sharpener
*Pure Vanilla Extract
*Cardamom
*Solar
Oven
*Wheat Grass Juicer
*Dish Towels
*”Nourishing Traditions” Cookbook
*Large
Plastic Storage Bins with Lids

Children

*High Chairs
*Art & Activity Resource Book
*Quality Play Set Equipment
*Art Supplies
*Balls
*Books
*Music
*Musical Instruments
*Protection Gates
*Kid’s Table & Chairs
*Costumes
*Sports Equipment
*Kitchen Set

Land & Building

*Tractor
*Flat Bed Trailer
*Wood-Miser Portable Sawmill
*Small Submersible Solar Pump
*Water Bladder for Truck
*Portable Winch
*Work Gloves
*Small Metal Drums for Greenhouse
*Insulated Cloth Curtains for Greenhouse
*Old Blankets
*30-80 Gallon Barrels
*Watering Cans
*Flower Bulbs
*Shade Cloth
*Lattice
*Garden Hoses
*Quality Garden Tools
*Heavy-Duty Iron Wheelbarrows
*Oxy-Acetylene Tanks
*Band Saw
*New Mauls & Hatchets
*Belt Sander

Sacred Spaces

*Small Table & Dressers
*Nice Rugs
*Like-New Futons & Mattresses
*Lockable Glass Display Bookcase
*Industrial Sewing Machine
*Comforters & Covers
*Insulated Curtains & Blinds
*Compact, Heavy-Duty Vacuum
*Ultrasonic Mouse Repellant Plug-ins
*Tapestries
*Ironing Board Cover
*Full-Length Mirror

Fantastic Wishes

*Large, Good-quality Flour Mill
*Potters Wheel

Flag Mountain Cottage Industries

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Remember
Purple & Blue
19”x 26” $7.00

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Lama Seal
Green
19”x19” $5.00

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Lotus Om
Green
19”x19” $5.00

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Cranes
Purple
19”x19” $5.00

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Yin Yang
Black
19”x19” $5.00

Lotus Om
Green
19”x19” $5.00

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Peace Flag Set
Lama Foundation 1967 - 2007

In commemoration of Lama Foundation’s 40th anniversary and its continued vision for peace, we are happy to offer this special flag set. The universal symbol of peace is positioned in the center, flanked by flags from six different religions. This commemorative flag set will be available in 2007 for $35.00.

Please visit our website (http://www.lamafoundation.org) to place your order, call 505-586-1269, or email flags@lamafoundation.org.

Help to complete our new Cottage Industries Building!

$2 of every Flag and $10 of each Flag Set sold by 06/30/07 will go directly into the building fund for this special project! See our complete line of Prayer Flags and Flag Sets on our website.

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Sufi Heart & Wings Set
Printed on hand-dyed fuchsia, bright yellow, and turquoise flags. $35.00

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Namaste
Red & Yellow
19”x 26” $7.00

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Meeting of the
Ways
Blue
19”x19” $5.00

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Ram Sun
Orange
19”x19” $5.00

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Green Tara
Green
19”x19” $5.00

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Flying Hanuman
Red
19”x19” $5.00

How To Contact Us

On the Mountain:
Lama Foundation
PO Box 240
San Cristobal, NM 87564-0240
Phone: 505-586-1269
Fax: 206-984-0916
Email: info@lamafoundation.org

Have you moved? Are you receiving duplicate mailings? Email the fundraising office with any change of name, address etc.
taos@lamafoundation.org

Fundraising Office:
Lama Foundation
PO Box 782
Taos, NM 87571-0782
Phone: 505-758-8622
Fax: 505-758-8622 (call first)
Please visit our website at http://www.lamafoundation.org Email: taos@lamafoundation.org

Lama Foundation
PO Box 240
San Cristobal, NM 87564-0240

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Non-Profit Organization
US Postage Paid
Albuquerque, NM
Permit Number 260
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Re: Freda Bedi, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:27 am

History of Lama Foundation
by LamaFoundation.org
Accessed: 6/21/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


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Origin of the term “Lama”

The name “Lama” comes from “la lama”, which means “mud” in Portuguese. Portuguese, not Spanish, interestingly, because the predominant culture and language of the early European immigrants who made their home in the Taos vicinity in the 1550’s were Spanish. How precisely the Portuguese term came to be used in this small settlement 20 miles north of Taos is uncertain, but the community that developed, and continues to this day, is aptly named. During the winter and spring, the roads and paths are perpetually muddy from the freeze/thaw of the snow and the spring rains. Nearly everyone on the Mountain has an anterior “mudroom”, where shoes are taken off in order to keep the rest of the house from becoming one large dirt floor.

Many mistakenly assume the name “Lama” refers solely to Lama Foundation and implies a singularly Buddhist focus. In fact, Lama Foundation was named for the Spanish community that was already here when the Foundation was founded. The land itself was historically an important crossroads for the Pueblo Indians that travelled through the area, and the spring on the land was considered a holy place, where warfare was not allowed. One of the original homesteads in the area, the approximately 110-acre property was privately owned before the Forest Service bought up the surrounding mountains and protected it as the Carson National Forest. Famously, the co-founders of Lama Foundation named it for the Lama area and the concrete foundation that existed on the property when they purchased it.

History of the foundation

Lama Foundation was founded in 1967 by Steve (now Nooruddeen) and Barbara Durkee (now Asha Greer) and Jonathan Altman, whose work with the psychedelic art community USCO in New York led to the intention and eventual creation of the community in Lama, New Mexico. Designed by Steve, the Dome complex was the first building constructed at Lama Foundation, and Little Joe Gomez of the Taos Pueblo, an early mentor to the fledgling community, directed its construction. Another early mentor, Hermann Rednick directed the formation of the invisible structure. On his counsel, Steve, Barbara, and Jonathan agreed to three fundamental rules that have shaped Lama since it’s beginning: 1) No drugs 2) Daily Meditation 3) Marital Fidelity. In 1968, the community was incorporated as a non-profit “educational and scientific” organization.

In 1970, Steve and Barbara’s friend Richard Alpert, now Ram Dass, returned from his first pilgrimage in India where he met his guru Neem Karoli Baba. With the aid of the artists in residence at Lama Foundation, Be Here Now was originally printed and sold by the members of the community in 1971, and eventually reformatted and printed for mass publication by Random House.

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The success of Be Here Now led to a flourish of activity, and Lama Foundation quickly became a landmark for spiritual renewal and discovery. One of the first centers in the United States to host Eastern teachers, the inter-religious dialogue at Lama helped to spark a national movement. During this time, Lama hosted many eminent spiritual leaders, notably Murshid Samuel Lewis of the Chisti order of Sufis who is now buried at Lama Foundation, Stephen Levine, Jack Kornfield, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Father Thomas Keating, Robert Bly, Baba Hari Dass, Natalie Goldberg, Bhante Gunaratana, Rabbi Zalman Schachter, and Joshu Sasaki Roshi.

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the original Maqbara (burial place) of Murshid Sam Lewis at Lama

Originally, the intent for Lama was to be a place of residence for the founders, and the programs and retreats held here were generally for them and a select group of people on a similar path. With the booming success of the 70’s, however, Lama quickly turned into a large retreat center, hosting gatherings upwards of 100 people, highlighted by the yearly Ram Dass retreat, which drew enormous crowds.

The success and evolution at Lama continued through the 80’s and 90’s, but on May 5, 1996, a massive forest fire turned the once highly forested area into a relative empty expanse. The fire, which consumed about 7,500 acres of national forest, nearly wiped out everything at Lama Foundation. However, the Dome Complex and the kitchen, along with the, as yet incomplete, new kitchen and community center, survived. Twenty-two other buildings were entirely destroyed. The Intensive Studies Center (ISC) was burned to rubble though much of the foundation and the original adobe walls remained intact. Work immediately began to rebuild Lama Foundation, and enormous outpourings of love, effort, and funds poured in. Later that year, Ram Dass suffered a debilitating stroke and his physical presence at Lama Foundation was forever lessened.

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The Intensive Studies Center after the 1996 fire

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Rebuilding Lama after the 1996 fire

Throughout the late 90’s and the first decade of the new millennium, Lama Foundation began building with a new vision, adding permaculture to the list of community efforts. Massive efforts were undertaken to protect the unstable soil from eroding and to provide clean drinking water. New buildings were constructed with fallen timbers, straw bales, cob walls, passive and active solar heat, and other natural building techniques. New gardens were developed, and the whole mountain buzzed with activity. During this time, Lama became a classroom for permaculture and natural building, hosting many workshops dubbed “Build Here Now”. Work continues to this day, and Lama Foundation has hosted a full program of retreats for many years now. Housing is available for a limited number of residents and guests, and work is under way for increased guest capacity.

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The resident circle in 1998

Since the fire, the resident circle has shrunk to about 8-12 people each year, but in the summer there may be as many as 100 people on the land: teachers, retreatants, stewards, guests, and volunteers. The sense of community is palpable, the core values are firm, the practices are breathtaking, and with God’s grace, the future will bring many more people to Lama.

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Lunch on the last day of summer – 2014

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Nishima and Ray looking at photos during the 50th anniversary celebration

The Governance of Lama

Lama is guided by the spirit of consensus, and every decision must go through some form of it. Each body, however, has a unique method of consensus.

The resident circle is responsible for most daily decisions. From summer programs, maintenance of the infrastructure, accounting, record keeping, organizing practices and events, conducting meetings, coordination of the kitchen, oversight of construction, editing the website, laundry, and doing the dishes – every detail of daily life at Lama is in the purview of the resident circle. This work is completed only with the enormous aid of the steward community in the summer and the dozens of volunteers that work tirelessly throughout the year.

Consensus among the residents evolves as problems emerge and new ideas are tried, however we have found some nuggets that appear to hold true throughout all iterations. Decisions must be made with everyone who is impacted in mind. The intent is always to include the desires and concerns of every person, and some meetings can last a long time as we put our heads together to craft a decision that accommodates all the various perspectives. Needless to say, meetings are an integral aspect of resident life at Lama.

Within the resident circle, there is a group of caretaking members, generally residents who have been at Lama longer and have an eye towards the long-term success of the Foundation. From these members are elected a Coordinator, Treasurer, and Secretary, the three officers of the Lama Foundation, the closest thing Lama has to an executive branch. The board of trustees places the legal responsibility for the Foundation in their hands.

As a non-profit, Lama Foundation is required to have a board of trustees. Ultimate legal authority rests in the hands of this board, per the structure of 501c(3) organizations, but the board, mostly comprised of past residents, chooses to serve as an advisory board rather than a decision-making body. They do not impose decisions upon the resident circle, but prefer to make suggestions. Their wisdom and insight, of course, are obviously invaluable and therefore they exercise significant “soft” power.

A third body of Lama is the assembly of continuing members. Made up of past residents who are elected to the body of continuing members, these people choose to serve Lama through service, financial support, prayers, or other intentional acts. Like the trustees, all continuing members have significant “soft” power.

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Residents, Trustees, Continuing Members, and interested people gather in the Dome for our annual meeting.

The highest decision making body of Lama is the Lama Council. Comprised of three caretakers, two trustees, and two continuing members, the Lama Council is responsible for any decision that costs over $5,000 or has significant long-term impact on the Foundation.

But wait! The community of Lama is more, much more, than those entrusted with responsibility and authority. All of the stewards and volunteers, every retreatant and visitor, every person who walks up the Mountain or holds Lama in his or her heart is a member of the Lama community, and the intent of all of Lama’s members is to create an association that serves everyone. The governors and boards of Lama are servants, seeking a consensus of the whole.

Be Here Now

Be Here Now, the story of Richard Alpert’s conversion and transformation into Ram Dass, amongst other things, is a perennial best seller and a 1970’s icon. A friend of Lama Foundation co-founders Steve and Barbara Durkee, Ram Dass returned from his first pilgrimage to India in 1970, taking up residence at Lama Foundation. During this time, he wrote what would eventually become the first section of Be Here Now, or Journey: The Transformation: Dr. Richard Alpert, PHD into Baba Ram Dass. He also, along with Steve and the other residents of Lama, contributed to the creation of the other three sections, the illustrations and aphorisms of From Bindhu to Ojas, the instructions given in the Cookbook section, and the recommended references in the Painted Cakes section. The work, originally hand-published by Lama Foundation quickly became a cultural phenomenon, and our portion of the sales continues to help support Lama Foundation to this day.

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Ram Das
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Re: Freda Bedi, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:43 am

The “Whole Earth Catalog" was a 1960s publishing sensation. It happened because its creator was given a chance to fail.
by John Markoff
November 22, 2018

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


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Bookstore managers didn’t know quite what to make of the oversized 64-page volume that showed up in their stores in the fall of 1968. It was called the “Whole Earth Catalog” and subtitled “Access to Tools.” For $5, buyers got a hodgepodge of photos, drawings and short written endorsements of books, tools, gadgets and materials, organized into seven sections ranging from “Understanding Whole Systems” and “Shelter and Land Use” to “Nomadics” and “Learning.”

With its striking cover photo of the Earth from space, it was unlike anything else in bookstores. But the Catalog touched a nerve. Leafing through took you on a winding path through a very late-’60s hippie, do-it-yourself world. Its busy, cluttered pages offered everything from buckskin, beads and L.L. Bean hunting shoes to kerosene lamps, electronic equipment, freeze-dried foods, a one-man sawmill and plenty of books, on topics such as camping, survival, “tantra art,” creative glass blowing and television production. The Catalog didn’t actually sell anything directly, except subscriptions to future issues — it referred readers to other sources for the goods it displayed.

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The cover of the first “Whole Earth Catalog,” published in 1968.

Overnight, the quirky publication exploded as a national bestseller, with its first run expanded from 1,000 copies to ultimately 2 million copies. It won the National Book Award in 1972. The “Whole Earth Catalog” captured the hippie spirit and helped to define a generation of young Americans who, alienated by the Vietnam War and an increasingly materialistic nation that seemed to have lost its soul, were forming a powerful counterculture.

Fifty years on, the Catalog still defines the concept of serendipity. With its eclectic collection of wares, it was the link between the old Sears catalog and the modern Amazon online emporium. When Apple co-founder Steve Jobs tried to explain the Catalog to a new generation in a Stanford University commencement address in 2005, he described it as being “sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along.”

And yet, despite its rapid and enormous success, the “Whole Earth Catalog” almost never happened. Its Silicon Valley origins were an early embodiment of a philosophy that later powered the Valley’s entrepreneurial explosion: It’s OK — even good — to fail.

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Inside page from the original "Whole Earth Catalog."

CREATING THE CATALOG

The Catalog has its own creation tale as told and retold by founder Stewart Brand, then a 29-year-old former paratrooper casting around for something to do after several failed ventures. In March 1968, he was flying back to his home in California from his father’s funeral in Illinois. As the nation’s heartland scrolled below, he jotted down ideas for a new business that would encompass a mail-order catalog and a delivery vehicle in the form of a mobile truck store.

Etched on the inside cover of a copy of Barbara Ward’s “Spaceship Earth,” Stewart Brand scribbled: “What I’m visualizing is an Access Mobile (accessory?) with all manner of access materials + advice for sale cheap. Including performances of stuff, books, dandy survival and camping equipment, catalogs, design plans, periodical subscriptions, copy equipment (+ other gathering equipment — some element of barter here). Prime item of course would be the catalog.”

As an afterthought, in a riff on a then-popular backpacking catalog with a cult following, he added: “Notion: every catalog item pictured is held by a naked lady.”

But while Brand — now a noted Silicon Valley author, sage and philanthropist — was the public face of the “Whole Earth Catalog,” another man, Dick Raymond, was the force that empowered Brand. Raymond, a business consultant and urban planner who died in 2015, ran the Portola Institute, an educational foundation where Brand was working when he came up with the idea for the Catalog.

The Portola Institute was Silicon Valley’s first true incubator. It not only birthed the Catalog, but several years later it also served as the seedbed for the Homebrew Computer Club, the hobbyist group that spawned several dozen personal computing companies, including Apple Computer.

That was a remarkable track record for a non-profit that operated on a shoestring. Explaining the Portola Institute, Raymond would point to a sign on his desk that read “Fail Young.”

Prior to starting the Catalog, that’s exactly what Stewart Brand had done.

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Inside page from the original "Whole Earth Catalog."

SHEDDING HIS ‘MIDWEST SKIN’

In 1956, Stewart Brand had followed his brother Mike to Stanford, where he studied biology and mostly spent his time trying to get himself out of his “Midwest skin,” according to a Stanford friend, Joan Squires-Lind. During his senior year, as a result of a class assignment, Brand stumbled upon the Beat scene in San Francisco’s North Beach.

A chance visit to the city’s bohemian neighborhood lit up Brand intellectually. He raved about his visit in a long letter home to his mother. After graduation, he spent the summer in an apartment in North Beach before leaving to join the Army on the East Coast. He washed out of Ranger training, but then succeeded as a second lieutenant and paratrooper and spent two years in the service.

Deciding to pursue photojournalism as a career, he hung around for a while with a small band of new-media artists in Greenwich Village, but in 1962, he returned to San Francisco, taking up residence in an apartment in North Beach and diving back into the Beat scene. He soon discovered LSD, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. He began working on the craft of photography somewhere at the line between art and photojournalism.

Not long after Brand returned, Raymond, a longtime family friend and mentor who was consulting for the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, offered him a job taking photographs at the reservation in Oregon. Brand’s trip there was a seminal moment. He was mesmerized by Native American culture, and when he was introduced to another friend of Raymond’s, San Francisco architect Zach Stewart, the two set out to capture the importance of Native American culture and contrast it with the modern United States in a show that Brand called “America Needs Indians.” With multiple slide projectors and a wild soundtrack, it foreshadowed a new art form that several decades later would come to life as “multimedia” in the personal computer era.

Brand used the show as the opening act for a three-day happening in January 1966 known as the “Trips Festival,” which became the defining moment for the emerging California counterculture. It became the most successful of a series of “Acid Tests” that had been organized by Kesey and the Pranksters. Intended to be a way to experience an LSD trip without taking LSD (actually there was plenty of LSD to be taken), the Trips Festival took place over three days at the Longshoremen’s Hall near the San Francisco waterfront and featured light shows and performances by the Grateful Dead and other bands.

Connecting “America Needs Indians” to the Trips Festival made Brand the bridge between the Beat and hippie cultures that blossomed in San Francisco. Later, connecting Native American culture to the “Whole Earth Catalog” helped shape the American environmental movement that arose during the 1970s.

By itself, the Trips Festival had a dramatic impact on San Francisco — it was the first time the 10,000 hippies who were then spread all across the Bay Area realized they were a defined community, leading directly to the emergence of Haight Ashbury during the following year. Brand, however, had little interest in the Haight Ashbury scene. Like many moments in his life, he was there early both as an observer and as a protagonist, and by the time the Summer of Love movement got off the ground, he was on to his next big thing.

The following year, Dick Raymond presented Brand with the opportunity to organize an even bigger event: a weeklong “Education Faire” on the San Mateo County Fairgrounds.

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The Whole Earth Catalog was a cornucopia of tools, clothing, books and oddities, put together by a small team led by Stewart Brand and backed by Dick Raymond (above).

‘THERE ARE NO RULES’

Raymond had been a close friend of Stewart’s older brother Mike at Stanford, and when Stewart arrived in 1956, Raymond and his wife, Ann, gave the younger Brand a haven away from the insular Stanford campus.

At the time, Raymond was working as an urban planner at Stanford Research Institute, where his clients included the city of Menlo Park and the Seattle World’s Fair. (Raymond convinced the fair organizers that its buildings should be permanent; the Space Needle and its surrounding complex remain Seattle landmarks to this day.)

The Raymonds lived in Ladera, a neighborhood in Portola Valley, then a small rural town just west of the Stanford campus. It was not far from Perry Lane, where Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters first took root in the early 1960s, and around the corner from where the Grateful Dead took up residence in the mid-’60s.

Raymond, who had a Harvard MBA, referred to himself as an economics consultant specializing in land use, recreational economics and community development. He started the Portola Institute in 1966, and it became a haven for freelance entrepreneurs in the field of education.

“There are no rules,” he wrote. “It demonstrates how the process of non-planning can work. The take we have now is making things happen but also having the air of complete simplicity — sometimes making things simple is more difficult than making things complicated.” For Brand, with Raymond as his patron, the Portola Institute was to become the base for a series of projects, with varying degrees of success.

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The Whole Earth Catalog was such a publishing phenomenon that it generated several editions. Brand, above, helped to paste up the second edition in 1969.

AN EDUCATION IN ACTIVISM

After the Trips Festival, Brand led a group of student activists in San Francisco in a similar event in October 1966 called “Whatever It Is.” The students took over the San Francisco State campus during a long weekend featuring a fugitive Ken Kesey, the Pranksters and the Grateful Dead.

At the event, Brand met two young student activists, James and Cynthia Nixon. James Nixon was student body president at San Francisco State, deeply committed to radical education and active in a student-run “experimental college” at the school.

In early 1967 Brand had come back from helping his friend Steve Durkee start the Lama commune in New Mexico with the intent of “letting his technology happen” in Menlo Park. He went to Raymond looking for a job and perhaps some kind of entry into the world of “business technology” in the pre-Silicon Valley regional boom. As it happens, Michael Phillips, a San Francisco banker who was a friend of Dick Raymond’s and a Portola Institute board member, had organized an “Educational Innovations Faire” that had recently taken place on the San Francisco State campus, exploring the intersection of education and technology.

Raymond asked Brand if he wanted to extend Phillips’ original idea and help organize a larger version. At first Brand demurred, telling Raymond that he was through with public events for a while. However, spurred on by his need for work, he gradually warmed to the idea and several weeks later took Raymond up on his offer. He brought in the Nixons after spending a night driving the streets of San Francisco and brainstorming with them.

At the time computer technology was already a significant force around Stanford. The plan for the fair was to bring companies that sold primitive computer-assisted education systems into the fair as exhibitors. Brand met Doug Engelbart, the inventor of the computer mouse and a computing system that was the forerunner of the personal computer and the internet, and he was enlisted as a fair supporter.

But what began with great enthusiasm would collapse after a half year’s hard work. Brand ended up deeply resenting the Nixons’ approach, feeling that they were immersed in the criticism/self-criticism style of the Movement. Burned out by endless meetings that accomplished little, Raymond pulled the plug on the project.

The experience permanently soured Brand on the New Left. He decided that the idealism of the students was largely ineffective.

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Inside page from the original "Whole Earth Catalog."

FINDING THE WHOLE EARTH

Brand continued to spend his time at the Portola Institute. He also continued to be a fount of ideas, some off the wall and one or two occasionally worth trying. In 1968, despite the failure of the Education Faire, Raymond gave Brand access to a garage hidden in the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains — part of an aging hippie crash pad known as Rancho Diablo set on 70 acres high above the Santa Clara Valley. Raymond had renamed it Ortega Park, with the idea of establishing an experimental laboratory to explore new ideas in teaching.

“What we’re trying to create here is a new administrative model,” Raymond told Gurney Norman, who co-authored a 1970 Esquire story on Brand, the Catalog and the Portola Institute, “a complete reversal of the success syndrome, a place to fail and feel good about it. That’s what education is all about, it grows on mistakes, without failure it just wouldn’t happen.”

Raymond’s faith in Brand, despite his string of failed projects, gave Brand the ability to take another chance. When Brand mentioned his idea of a wide-ranging catalog to Raymond, his mentor was quick to give him encouragement. With his then-wife, Lois Jennings, along with a young graphic artist and a typist, Brand moved into the garage at Ortega Park and quickly produced the first “Whole Earth Catalog.”

It was soon obvious that he had touched a nerve. Sales took off shortly after the first issue was published in 1968. The Catalog resonated with an entire generation. Millions of Americans were exploring more sustainable ways of living in the form of a brief but widespread back-to-the-land movement. Others were dabbling in everything from the human potential movement to psychedelic drugs, and the Catalog quickly became their bible.

For Art Kleiner, editor-in-chief of Strategy+Business, who as a young editor worked at CoEvolutionary Quarterly, a follow-on to the Catalog, Brand’s contribution was not just about “access to tools,” but also about instilling a deep faith in human progress. “It was the idea, ‘Let’s take this baby humanity out on the road and see what it will do,’” he says.

The “Whole Earth Catalog” went through several editions and supplements before sputtering out in the mid-‘70s. Today, at 79, Brand is still at it. His current project is Revive and Restore, an effort to spur the use of modern genetic engineering tools to help diversify the genomes of endangered species and thus increase their resilience in the face of climate change. It was, after all, the first sentence in the “Whole Earth Catalog”: “We are as Gods, and we might as well get good at it.”

And it wouldn’t have happened at all if Dick Raymond hadn’t given Stewart Brand permission to fail.
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Chapter 11: India, 1911-1945 [Excerpt]
The Anglo-American Establishment: From Rhodes to Cliveden
by Carroll Quigley

Chapter 11: India, 1911-1945

India was one of the primary concerns of both the Cecil Bloc and Milner Group. The latter probably devoted more time and attention to India than to any other subject. This situation reached its peak in 1919, and the Government of India Act of that year is very largely a Milner Group measure in conception, formation, and execution. The influence of the two groups is not readily apparent from the lists of Governors-general (Viceroys) and Secretaries of State for India in the twentieth century:

Viceroys

Lord Curzon, 1898-1905
Lord Minto, 1905-1910
Lord Hardinge of Penshurst, 1910-1916
Lord Chelmsford, 1916-1921
Lord Reading, 1921-1926
Lord Irwin, 1926-1931
Lord Willingdon, 1931-1936
Lord Linlithgow, 1936-1943

Secretaries of State

Lord George Hamilton, 1895-1903
St. John Brodrick, 1903-1908
John Morley, 1908-1910
Lord Crewe, 1910-1915
Austen Chamberlain, 1915-1917
Edward Montagu, 1917-1922
Lord Peel, 1922-1924
Lord Olivier, 1924
Lord Birkenhead, 1924-1928
Lord Peel, 1928-1929
Wedgwood Benn, 1929-1931
Samuel Hoare, 1931-1935
Lord Zetland, 1935-1940
Leopold Amery, 1940-1945


Of the Viceroys only one (Reading) is clearly of neither the Cecil Bloc nor the Milner Group; two were members of the Milner Group (Irwin and Willingdon); another was a member of both groups (Chelmsford); the rest were of the Cecil Bloc, although in two cases (Minto and Linlithgow) in a rather peripheral fashion. Three of the eight were members of All Souls. According to Lord Esher, the appointment of Lord Hardinge in 1910 was made at his suggestion, by John Morley. At the time, Esher's son, the present Viscount Esher, was acting as unpaid private secretary to Morley, a position he held for five years (1905-1910). From the same source we learn that the Viceroyship was offered to Selborne in 1903 and to Esher himself in 1908. The former failed of appointment because Curzon refused to retire, while the latter rejected the post as of too limited influence.

Of the thirteen Secretaries of State, two were Labour and two Liberals. One of these latter (Morley) was close to the Milner Group. Of the other nine, three were of the Cecil Bloc (St. John Brodrick, Austen Chamberlain, and Lord Zetland), two were of the Milner Group (Hoare and Amery), and four were of neither group.

The political and constitutional history of India in the twentieth century consists largely of a series of investigations by various committees and commissions, and a second, and shorter, series of legislative enactments. The influence of the Milner Group can be discerned in both of these, especially in regard to the former.

Of the important commissions that investigated Indian constitutional questions in the twentieth century, every one has had a member of the inner circle of the Milner Group. The following list gives the name of the commission, the dates of its existence, the number of British members (in distinction from Indian members), the names of representatives from the Cecil Bloc and Milner Group (with the latter italicized), and the command number of its report:

1. The Royal Commission on Decentralization in India, 1907-1909, five members including W. L. Hichens (Cmd. 4360- of 1908).

2. The Royal Commission on Public Services in India, 1912-1915, nine members including Baron Islington, the Earl of Ronaldshay (later Marquess of Zetland), Sir Valentine Chirol, and H. A. L. Fisher. The chairman of this commission, Lord Islington, was later father-in-law to Sir Edward Grigg (Lord Altrincham) (Cmd. 8382 of 1916).

3. The Government of India Constitutional Reform Committee on Franchise, 1919, four members, including Malcolm Hailey.

4. The Government of India Constitutional Reform Committee on Functions, 1919, four members, including Richard Feetham as chairman.

5. The Joint Select Committee on the Government of India Bill, 1919, fourteen members, including Lord Selborne (chairman), Lord Midleton (St. John Brodrick), Lord Islington, Sir Henry Craik (whose son was in Milner's Kindergarten), and W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore (now Lord Harlech) (Cmd. 97 of 1919).

6. The Committee on Home Administration of Indian Affairs, 1919, eight members, including W. G A. Ormsby-Gore (Lord Harlech) (Cmd. 207 of 1919).

7. The Royal Commission on Superior Civil Services in India, 1923-1924, five members, including Lord Lee of Fareham as chairman and Reginald Coupland (Cmd. 2128 of 1924).

8. The Indian Statutory Commission, 1927-1930, seven members, with Sir John Simon as chairman (Cmd. 3568 and 3569 of 1930).

9. The Indian Franchise Committee, 1931-1932, eight members, including Lord Lothian as chairman and Lord Dufferin (whose brother, Lord Basil Blackwood, had been in Milner's Kindergarten) (Cmd. 4086 of 1932).

10. The three Indian Round Table Conferences of 1930-1932 contained a number of members of the Milner Croup. The first session (November 1930-January 1931) had eighty-nine delegates, sixteen from Britain, sixteen from the Indian States, and fifty- seven from British India. Formed as they were by a Labour government, the first two sessions had eight Labour members among the sixteen from Britain. The other eight were Earl Peel, the Marquess of Zetland, Sir Samuel Hoare, Oliver Stanley, the Marquess of Reading, the Marquess of Lothian, Sir Robert Hamilton, and Isaac Foot. Of these eight, two were of the Milner Croup (Hoare and Lothian) and two of the Cecil Bloc (Zetland and Stanley). The chief adviser to the Indian States Delegation was L. F. Rushbrook Williams of the Milner Group, who was named to his position by the Chamber of Princes Special Organization. Among the five officials called in for consultation by the conference, we find the name of Malcolm Hailey (Cmd. 3778).

The membership of delegations at the second session (September-December 1931) was practically the same, except that thirty-one additional members were added and Rushbrook Williams became a delegate as the representative of the Maharaja of Nawanagar (Cmd. 3997).

At the third session (November-December 1932) there were no Labour Party representatives. The British delegation was reduced to twelve. Four of these were of the Milner Group (Hoare, Simon, Lothian, and Irwin, now Halifax). Rushbrook Williams continued as a delegate of the Indian States (Cmd. 4238).

11. The Joint Select Committee on Indian Constitutional Reform, appointed in April 1933, had sixteen members from the House of Commons and an equal number of Lords. Among these were such members of the Milner Group as Sir Samuel Hoare, Sir John Simon, Lord Lothian, and Lord Irwin (Halifax). The Cecil Bloc was also well represented by Archbishop Lang of Canterbury, Austen Chamberlain, Lord Eustace Percy, Lord Salisbury, Lord Zetland, Lord Lytton, and Lord Hardinge of Penshurst.

12. The Cripps Mission, 1942, four members, including Reginald Coupland, who wrote an unofficial but authoritative book on the mission as soon as it returned to England (Cmd. 6350).


The chief legislative events in this period were five in number: the two Indian Councils Acts of 1892 and 1909, the two Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935, and the achievement of self-government in 1947.

The Indian Councils Act of 1892 was put through the House of Commons by George Curzon, at that time Under Secretary in the India Office as the protege of Lord Salisbury, who had discovered him in All Souls nine years earlier. This act was important for two reasons: (1) it introduced a representative principle into the Indian government by empowering the Governor-General and Provincial Governors to seek nominations to the"unofficial" seats in their councils from particular Indian groups and associations; and (2) it accepted a "communal" basis for this representation by seeking these nominations separately from Hindus, Moslems, and others. From these two sources flowed ultimately self-government and partition, although it is perfectly evident that neither of these was anticipated or desired by the persons who supported the act.

The nominations for "unofficial" members of the councils provided in the Act of 1892 became elections in practice, because the Governor-General always accepted the suggested nominations as his nominees. This practice became law in the Act of 1909.

The Indian Councils Act of 1909 was passed under a Liberal government and was only remotely influenced by the Cecil Bloc or Milner Group. The Prime Minister, Asquith, was practically a member of the Cecil Bloc, being an intimate friend of Balfour and Rosebery. This relationship had been tightened when he married Margot Tennant, a member of "the Souls," in 1894. Margot Tennant's sister, Laura, had previously married Alfred Lyttelton, and both sisters had been intimate friends of Curzon and other members of "the Souls." Asquith had also been, as we have stated, a close associate of Milner's. Asquith, however, was never a member of the Milner Group. After 1890, and especially after 1915, he increasingly became a member of the Cecil Bloc. It was Balfour who persuaded Asquith to write his Memories and Reflections after he (Balfour) had discussed the matter with Margot Asquith over a tete-a-tete dinner. These dinners were a not infrequent occurrence on the evenings when Asquith himself dined at his club, Asquith usually stopping by later in the evening to get his wife and escort her home. Another indication of Asquith's feeling toward the Cecil Bloc can be found in his autobiography under the date 22 December 1919. On that occasion Asquith told Lady Hartington, daughter of Lord Salisbury, that he "had not expected to live to see the day when the best safeguard for true liberalism would be found in an unreformed House of Lords and the Cecil family."

In 1908-1909, however, the situation was somewhat different, and Asquith could hardly be called a member of the Cecil Bloc. In a somewhat similar situation, although much closer to the Milner Group (through H. A. L. Fisher and All Souls), was John Morley, the Secretary of State for India. Lord Minto, the Governor-General in India, was also a member of the Cecil Bloc in a peripheral fashion but held his appointment through a family claim on the Governor-Generalship rather than by favor of the Cecils.

The Act of 1909, however, while not a product of the groups with which we are concerned, was formed in the same social tradition, drawn up from the same intellectual and social outlook, and put into effect in the same fashion. It legalized the principle of election (rather than nomination) to Indian councils, enlarged their membership to provide majorities of non-officials in the provincial councils, and gave them the power to discuss affairs and pass resolutions. The seats were allotted to communal groups, with the minorities (like Moslems and Sikhs) receiving more than their proportionate share and the Moslems having, in addition, a separate electorate for the incumbents of Moslem seats. This served to encourage extremism among the Moslems and, while a logical development of 1892, was a long step on the road to Pakistan. This Act of 1909 was, as we have mentioned, put through the House of Commons by Sir Thomas Buchanan, a Fellow of All Souls and an associate of the Cecil Bloc.

The Government of India Act of 1919 is outstanding in many ways. It is the most drastic and most important reform made in Indian government in the whole period from 1861 to the achievement of self-government. Its provisions for the central government of India remained in force, with only slight changes, from 1919 to 1946. It is the only one of these acts whose "secret" legislative background is no longer a secret. And it is the only one which indicated a desire on the part of the British government to establish in India a responsible government patterned on that in Britain.

The legislative history of the Act of 1919 as generally known is simple enough. It runs as follows. In August 1917 the Secretary of State for India, Edwin S. Montagu, issued a statement which read: "The policy of H.M. Government, with which the Government of India are in complete accord, is that of the increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development of self-government institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire." The critical word here is responsible government, since the prospect of eventual self-government had been held out to India for years. In accordance with this promise, Montagu visited India and, in cooperation with the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, issued the Montagu-Chelmsford Report, indicating the direction of future policy. This report became the basis for the bill of 1918, which, after a certain amount of amendment by Lord Selborne's Joint Select Committee, came into force as the Government of India Act of 1919.

The secret history of this Act is somewhat different, and begins in Canada in 1909, when Lionel Curtis accepted from his friend William Marris the idea that responsible government on the British pattern should be extended to India. Two years later, Curtis formed a study group of six or eight persons within the London Round Table Group. We do not know for certain who were the members of the study group, but apparently it included Curtis, Kerr, Fisher, and probably Brand. To these were added three officials of the India Office. These included Malcolm Seton (Sir Malcolm after 1919), who was secretary to the Judicial Department of the India Office and joined Curtis's group about 1913; and Sir William Duke, who was Lieutenant Governor of Bengal in 1911-1912, senior member of the council of the Governor of Bengal in 1912-1914, and a member of the Council of India in London after 1914. At this last date he joined the Curtis group. Both of these men were important figures in the India Office later, Sir William as Permanent Under Secretary from 1920 to his death in 1924, and Sir Malcolm as Assistant Under Secretary (1919-1924) and Deputy Under Secretary (1924-1933). Sir Malcolm wrote the biographical sketch of Sir William in the Dictionary of National Biography, and also wrote the volume on The India Office in the Whitehall Series (1926). The third member from this same source was Sir Lionel Abrahams, Assistant Under Secretary in the India Office.

The Curtis study group was not an official committee, although some persons (both at the time and since) have believed it was. Among these persons would appear to be Lord Chelmsford, for in debate in the House of Lords in November 1927 he said:

"I came home from India in January 1916 for six weeks before I went out again as Viceroy, and, when I got home, I found that there was a Committee in existence at the India Office, which was considering on what lines future constitutional development might take place. That Committee, before my return in the middle of March gave me a pamphlet containing in broad outline the views which were held with regard to future constitutional development. When I reached India I showed this pamphlet to my Council and also to my noble friend, Lord Meston, who was then Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces. It contained, what is now known as the diarchic principle.... Both the Council and Lord Meston, who was then Sir James Meston, reported adversely on the proposals for constitutional development contained in that pamphlet."


Lord Chelmsford then goes on to say that Austen Chamberlain combated their objections with the argument that the Indians must acquire experience in self- government, so, after the announcement to this effect was made publicly in August 1917, the officials in India accepted dyarchy.

If Lord Chelmsford believed that the pamphlet was an official document from a committee in the India Office, he was in error. The other side of the story was revealed by Lionel Curtis in 1920 in his book Dyarchy. According to Curtis, the study group was originally formed to help him write the chapter on India in the planned second volume of The Commonwealth of Nations. It set as its task "to enquire how self-government could be introduced and peacefully extended to India." The group met once a fortnight in London and soon decided on the dyarchy principle. This principle, as any reader of Curtis's writings knows, was basic in Curtis's political thought and was the foundation on which he hoped to build a federated Empire. According to Curtis, the study group asked itself: "Could not provincial electorates through legislatures and ministers of their own be made clearly responsible for certain functions of government to begin with, leaving all others in the hands of executives responsible as at present to the Government of India and the Secretary of State? Indian electorates, legislatures, and executives would thus be given a field for the exercise of genuine responsibility. From time to time fresh powers could be transferred from the old governments as the new elective authorities developed and proved their capacity for assuming them." From this point of view, Curtis asked Duke to draw up such "a plan of Devolution" for Bengal. This plan was printed by the group, circulated, and criticized in typical Milner Group fashion. Then the whole group went to Oxford for three days and met to discuss it in the old Bursary of Trinity College. It was then rewritten. "No one was satisfied." It was decided to circulate it for further criticism among the Round Table Groups throughout the world, but Lord Chelmsford wrote from New South Wales and asked for a copy. Apparently realizing that he was to be the next Viceroy of India, the group sent a copy to him and none to the Round Table Groups, "lest the public get hold of it and embarrass him." It is clear that Chelmsford was committed to a program of reform along these or similar lines before he went out as Viceroy. This was revealed in debate in the House of Lords by Lord Crewe on 12 December 1919.

After Chelmsford went to India in March 1916, a new, revised version of the study group's plan was drawn up and sent to him in May 1916. Another copy was sent to Canada to catch up with Curtis, who had already left for India by way of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This itinerary was undoubtedly followed by Curtis in order to consult with members of the Group in various countries, especially with Brand in Canada. On his arrival in India, Curtis wrote back to Kerr in London:

"The factor which impressed me most in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia was the rooted aversion these peoples have to any scheme which meant their sharing in the Government of India.... To these young democratic communities the principle of self- government is the breath of their nostrils. It is almost a religion. They feel as if there were something inherently wrong in one people ruling another. It is the same feeling as that which makes the Americans dislike governing the Philippines and decline to restore order in Mexico. My first impressions on this subject were strongly confirmed on my recent visit to these Dominions. I scarcely recall one of the numerous meetings I addressed at which I was not asked why India was not given self-government and what steps were being taken in that direction."


Apparently this experience strengthened Curtis's idea that India must be given responsible government. He probably felt that by giving India what it and the Dominions wanted for India, both would be bound in loyalty more closely to Britain. In this same letter to Kerr, Curtis said, in obvious reference to the Round Table Group:

"Our task then is to bring home to the public in the United Kingdom and the Dominions how India differs from a country like Great Britain on the one hand and from Central Africa on the other, and how that difference is now reflected in the character of its government. We must outline clearly the problems which arise from the contact of East and West and the disaster which awaits a failure to supply their adequate solution by realizing and expressing the principle of Government for which we stand. We must then go on to suggest a treatment of India in the general work of Imperial reconstruction in harmony with the facts adduced in the foregoing chapters. And all this must be done with the closest attention to its effects upon educated opinion here. We must do our best to make Indian Nationalists realize the truth that like South Africa all their hopes and aspirations are dependent on the maintenance of the British Commonwealth and their permanent membership therein."


This letter, written on 13 November 1916, was addressed to Philip Kerr but was intended for all the members of the Group. Sir Valentine Chirol corrected the draft, and copies were made available for Meston and Marris. Then Curtis had a thousand copies printed and sent to Kerr for distribution. In some way, the extremist Indian nationalists obtained a copy of the letter and published a distorted version of it. They claimed that a powerful and secret group organized about The Round Table had sent Curtis to India to spy out the nationalist plans in order to obstruct them. Certain sentences from the letter were torn from their context to prove this argument. Among these was the reference to Central Africa, which was presented to the Indian people as a statement that they were as uncivilized and as incapable of self-government as Central Africans. As a result of the fears created by this rumor, the Indian National Congress and the Moslem League formed their one and only formal alliance in the shape of the famous Lucknow Compact of 29 December 1916. The Curtis letter was not the only factor behind the Lucknow agreement, but it was certainly very influential. Curtis was present at the Congress meeting and was horrified at the version of his letter which was circulating. Accordingly, he published the correct version with an extensive commentary, under the title Letters to the People of India (1917). In this he said categorically that he believed: "(1) That it is the duty of those who govern the whole British Commonwealth to do anything in their power to enable Indians to govern themselves as soon as possible. (2) That Indians must also come to share in the government of the British Commonwealth as a whole." There can be no doubt that Curtis was sincere in this and that his view reflected, perhaps in an extreme form, the views of a large and influential group in Great Britain. The failure of this group to persuade the Indian nationalists that they were sincere is one of the great disasters of the century, although the fault is not entirely theirs and must be shared by others, including Gandhi.

In the first few months of 1917, Curtis consulted groups of Indians and individual British (chiefly of the Milner Group) regarding the form which the new constitution would take. The first public use of the word "dyarchy" was in an open letter of 6 April 1917, which he wrote to Bhupendra Nath Basu, one of the authors of the Lucknow Compact, to demonstrate how dyarchy would function in the United Provinces. In writing this letter, Curtis consulted with Valentine Chirol and Malcolm Hailey. He then wrote an outline, "The Structure of Indian Government," which was revised by Meston and printed. This was submitted to many persons for comment. He then organized a meeting of Indians and British at Lord Sinha's house in Darjeeling and, after considerable discussion, drew up a twelve-point program, which was signed by sixty-four Europeans and ninety Indians. This was sent to Chelmsford and to Montagu.

In the meantime, in London, preparations were being made to issue the historic declaration of 20 August 1917, which promised "responsible" government to India. There can be no doubt that the Milner Group was the chief factor in issuing that declaration. Curtis, in Dyarchy, says: "For the purpose of the private enquiry above described the principle of that pronouncement was assumed in 1915." It is perfectly clear that Montagu (Secretary of State in succession to Austen Chamberlain from June 1917) did not draw up the declaration. He drew up a statement, but the India Office substituted for it one which had been drawn up much earlier, when Chamberlain was still Secretary of State. Lord Ronaldshay (Lord Zetland), in the third volume of his Life of Curzon, prints both drafts and claims that the one which was finally issued was drawn up by Curzon. Sir Stanley Reed, who was editor of The Times of India from 1907 to 1923, declared at a meeting of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1926 that the declaration was drawn up by Milner and Curzon. It is clear that someone other than Curzon had a hand in it, and the strongest probability would be Milner, who was with Curzon in the War Cabinet at the time. The fact is that Curzon could not have drawn it up alone unless he was unbelievably careless, because, after it was published, he was horrified when the promise of "progressive realization of responsible government in India" was pointed out to him.

Montagu went to India in November 1917, taking Sir William Duke with him. Curtis, who had been moving about India as the guest of Stanley Reed, Chirol, Chelmsford, Meston, Marris, and others, was invited to participate in the Montagu-Chelmsford conferences on several occasions. Others who were frequently consulted were Hailey, Meston, Duke, and Chirol. The Montagu-Chelmsford Report was written by Sir William Marris of Milner's Kindergarten after Curtis had returned to England. Curtis wrote in Dyarchy in 1920: "It was afterwards suggested in the press that I had actually drafted the report. My prompt denial has not prevented a further complaint from many quarters that Lord Chelmsford and Mr. Montagu were unduly influenced by an irresponsible tourist.... With the exception of Lord Chelmsford himself I was possibly the only person in India with firsthand knowledge of responsible government as applied in the Dominions to the institutions of provinces. Whether my knowledge of India entitled me to advance my views is more open to question. Of this the reader can judge for himself. But in any case the interviews were unsought by me." Thus Curtis does not deny the accusation that he was chiefly responsible for dyarchy. It was believed at the time by persons in a position to know that he was, and these persons were both for and against the plan. On the latter side, we might quote Lord Ampthill, who, as a former acting Viceroy, as private secretary to Joseph Chamberlain, as Governor of Madras, and as brother-in-law of Samuel Hoare, was in a position to know what was going on. Lord Ampthill declared in the House of Lords in 1919: "The incredible fact is that, but for the chance visit to India of a globe- trotting doctrinaire, with a positive mania for constitution-mongering, nobody in the world would ever have thought of so peculiar a notion as Dyarchy. And yet the Joint Committee tells us in an airy manner that no better plan can be conceived."

The Joint Committee's favorable report on the Dyarchy Bill was probably not unconnected with the fact that five out of fourteen members were from the Cecil Bloc or Milner Group, that the chairman had in his day presided over meetings of the Round Table Groups and was regarded by them as their second leader, and that the Joint Committee spent most of its time hearing witnesses who were close to the Milner Group. The committee heard Lord Meston longer than any other witness (almost four days), spent a day with Curtis on the stand, and questioned, among others, Feetham, Duke, Thomas Holland (Fellow of All Souls from 1875 to his death in 1926), Michael Sadler (a close friend of Milner's and practically a member of the Group), and Stanley Reed. In the House of Commons the burden of debate on the bill was supported by Montagu, Sir Henry Craik, H. A. L. Fisher, W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore, and Thomas J. Bennett (an old journalist colleague of Lord Salisbury and principal owner of The Times of India from 1892). Montagu and Craik both referred to Lionel Curtis. The former said: "It is suggested in some quarters that this bill arose spontaneously in the minds of the Viceroy and myself without previous inquiry or consideration, under the influence of Mr. Lionel Curtis. I have never yet been able to understand that you approach the merits of any discussion by vain efforts to approximate to its authorship. I do not even now understand that India or the Empire owes anything more or less than a great debt of gratitude to the patriotic and devoted services Mr. Curtis has given to the consideration of this problem."

Sir Henry Craik later said: "I am glad to join in the compliment paid to our mutual friend, Mr. Lionel Curtis, who belongs to a very active, and a very important body of young men, whom I should be the last to criticize. I am proud to know him, and to pay that respect to him due from age to youth. He and others of the company of the Round Table have been doing good work, and part of that good work has been done in India."

Mr. Fisher had nothing to say about Lionel Curtis but had considerable to say about the bill and the Montagu-Chelmsford Report. He said: "There is nothing in this Bill which is not contained in that Report. That Report is not only a very able and eloquent State Paper, but it is also one of the greatest State Papers which have been produced in Anglo-Indian history, and it is an open-minded candid State Paper, a State Paper which does not ignore or gloss over the points of criticism which have since been elaborated in the voluminous documents which have been submitted to us." He added, a moment later: "This is a great Bill." (2) The Round Table, which also approved of the bill, as might be imagined, referred to Fisher's speech in its issue of September 1919 and called him "so high an authority." The editor of that issue was Lionel Curtis.

In the House of Lords there was less enthusiasm. Chief criticism centered on two basic points, both of which originated with Curtis: (1) the principle of dyarchy — that is, that government could be separated into two classes of activities under different regimes; and (2) the effort to give India "responsible" government rather than merely "self- government" — that is, the effort to extend to India a form of government patterned on Britain's. Both of these principles were criticized vigorously, especially by members of the Cecil Bloc, including Lord Midleton, Lord Lansdowne, Lord Selborne, Lord Salisbury, and others. Support for the bill came chiefly from Lord Curzon (Leader in the Upper House) and Lord Islington (Under Secretary in the India Office).

As a result of this extensive criticism, the bill was revised considerably in the Joint Committee but emerged with its main outlines unchanged and became law in December 1919. These main outlines, especially the two principles of "dyarchy" and "responsibility," were, as we have said, highly charged with Curtis's own connotations. These became fainter as time passed, both because of developments in India and because Curtis from 1919 on became increasingly remote from Indian affairs. The refusal of the Indian National Congress under Gandhi's leadership to cooperate in carrying on the government under the Act of 1919 persuaded the other members of the Group (and perhaps Curtis himself) that it was not possible to apply responsible government on the British model to India. This point of view, which had been stated so emphatically by members of the Cecil Bloc even before 1900, and which formed the chief argument against the Act of 1919 in the debates in the House of Lords, was accepted by the Milner Group as their own after 1919. Halifax, Grigg, Amery, Coupland, Fisher, and others stated this most emphatically from the early 1920s to the middle 1940s. In 1943 Grigg stated this as a principle in his book The British Commonwealth and quoted with approval Amery's statement of 30 March 1943 to the House of Commons, rejecting the British parliamentary system as suitable for India. Amery, at that time Secretary of State for India, had said: "Like wasps buzzing angrily up and down against a window pane when an adjoining window may be wide open, we are all held up, frustrated and irritated by the unrealized and unsuperable barrier of our constitutional prepossessions." Grigg went even further, indeed, so far that we might suspect that he was deprecating the use of parliamentary government in general rather than merely in India. He said:

"It is entirely devoid of flexibility and quite incapable of engendering the essential spirit of compromise in countries where racial and communal divisions present the principal political difficulty. The idea that freedom to be genuine must be accommodated to this pattern is deeply rooted in us, and we must not allow our statesmanship to be imprisoned behind the bars of our own experience. Our insistence in particular on the principle of a common roll of electors voting as one homogeneous electorate has caused reaction in South Africa, rebellion or something much too like it in Kenya, and deadlock in India, because in the different conditions of those countries it must involve the complete and perpetual dominance of a single race or creed."


Unfortunately, as Reginald Coupland has pointed out in his book, India, a Re- statement (1945), all agreed that the British system of government was unsuited to India, but none made any effort to find an indigenous system that would be suitable. The result was that the Milner Group and their associates relaxed in their efforts to prepare Indians to live under a parliamentary system and finally cut India loose without an indigenous system and only partially prepared to manage a parliamentary system.

This decline in enthusiasm for a parliamentary system in India was well under way by 1921. In the two year-interval from 1919 to 1921, the Group continued as the most important British factor in Indian affairs. Curtis was editor of The Round Table in this period and continued to agitate the cause of the Act of 1919. Lord Chelmsford remained a Viceroy in this period. Meston and Hailey were raised to the Viceroy's Executive Council. Sir William Duke became Permanent Under Secretary, and Sir Malcolm Seton became Assistant Under Secretary in the India Office. Sir William Marris was made Home Secretary of the Government of India and Special Reforms Commissioner in charge of setting up the new system. L. F. Rushbrook Williams was given special duty at the Home Department, Government of India, in connection with the reforms. Thus the Milner Group was well placed to put the new law into effect. The effort was largely frustrated by Gandhi's boycott of the elections under the new system. By 1921 the Milner Group had left Indian affairs and shifted its chief interest to other fields. Curtis became one of the chief factors in Irish affairs in 1921; Lord Chelmsford returned home and was raised to a Viscounty in the same year; Meston retired in 1919; Marris became Governor of Assam in 1921; Hailey became Governor of the Punjab in 1924; Duke died in 1924; and Rushbrook Williams became director of the Central Bureau of Information, Government of India, in 1920.

This does not indicate that the Milner Group abandoned all interest in India by 1924 or earlier, but the Group never showed such concentrated interest in the problem of India again. Indeed, the Group never displayed such concentrated interest in any problem either earlier or later, with the single exception of the effort to form the Union of South Africa in 1908-1909.

The decade 1919-1929 was chiefly occupied with efforts to get Gandhi to permit the Indian National Congress to cooperate in the affairs of government, so that its members and other Indians could acquire the necessary experience to allow the progressive realization of self-government. The Congress Party, as we have said, boycotted the elections of 1920 and cooperated in those of 1924 only for the purpose of wrecking them. Nonetheless, the system worked, with the support of moderate groups, and the British extended one right after another in steady succession. Fiscal autonomy was granted to India in 1921, and that country at once adopted a protective tariff, to the considerable injury of British textile manufacturing. The superior Civil Services were opened to Indians in 1924. Indians were admitted to Woolwich and Sandhurst in the same year, and commissions in the Indian Army were made available to them.

The appointment of Baron Irwin of the Milner Group to be Viceroy in 1926 — an appointment in which, according to A. C. Johnson's biography Viscount Halifax (1941), "the influence of Geoffrey Dawson and other members of The Times' editorial staff" may have played a decisive role — was the chief step in the effort to achieve some real progress under the Act of 1919 before that Act came under the critical examination of another Royal Commission, scheduled for 1929. The new Viceroy's statement of policy, made in India, 17 July 1926, was, according to the same source, embraced by The Times in an editorial "which showed in no uncertain terms that Irwin's policy was appreciated and underwritten by Printing House Square."

Unfortunately, in the period 1924-1931 the India Office was not in control of either the Milner Group or Cecil Bloc. For various reasons, of which this would seem to be the most important, coordination between the Secretary of State and the Viceroy and between Britain and the Indian nationalists broke down at the most crucial moments. The Milner Group, chiefly through The Times, participated in this situation in the period 1926-1929 by praising their man, Lord Irwin, and adversely criticizing the Secretary of State, Lord Birkenhead. Relationships between Birkenhead and the Milner (and Cecil) Group had not been cordial for a long time, and there are various indications of feuding from at least 1925. We may recall that in April 1925 a secret, or at least unofficial, "committee" of Milner Group and Cecil Bloc members had nominated Lord Milner for the post of Chancellor of Oxford University. Lord Birkenhead had objected both to the candidate and to the procedure. In regard to the candidate, he would have preferred Asquith. In regard to the procedure, he demanded to know by what authority this "committee" took upon itself the task of naming a chancellor to a university of which he (Lord Birkenhead) had been High Steward since 1922. This protest, as usual when Englishmen of this social level are deeply moved, took the form of a letter to The Times. It received a tart answer in a letter, written in the third person, in which he was informed that this committee had existed before the World War, and that, when it was reconstituted at the end of the war, Mr. F. E. Smith had been invited to be a member of it but had not seen fit even to acknowledge the invitation.
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Part 2 of 2

The bad relationship between the Milner Group and Lord Birkenhead was not the result of such episodes as this but rather, it would seem, based on a personal antipathy engendered by the character of Lord Birkenhead and especially by his indiscreet and undiplomatic social life and political activity. Nonetheless, Lord Birkenhead was a man of unquestioned vigor and ability and a man of considerable political influence from the day in 1906 when he had won a parliamentary seat for the Conservatives in the face of a great Liberal tidal wave. As a result, he had obtained the post of Secretary of State for India in November 1924 at the same time that Leopold Amery went to the Colonial Office. The episode regarding the Milner candidacy to the Oxford Chancellorship occurred six months later and was practically a direct challenge from Birkenhead to Amery, since at that time the latter was Milner's active political lieutenant and one of the chief movers in the effort to make him Chancellor.

Thus, in the period 1926-1929, the Milner Group held the Viceroy's post but did not hold the post of Secretary of State. The relationship between these two posts was such that good government could not be obtained without close cooperation between them. Such cooperation did not exist in this period. As far as the constitutional development was concerned, this lack of cooperation appeared in a tendency on the part of the Secretary of State to continue to seek a solution of the problem along the road marked by the use of a unilateral British investigatory commission, and a tendency on the part of Irwin (and the Milner Group) to seek a solution along the newer road of cooperative discussion with the Indians. These tendencies did not appear as divergent routes until after the Simon Commission had begun its labors, with the result that accumulating evidence that the latter road would be used left that unilateral commission in an unenviable position.

The Government of India Act of 1919 had provided that an investigation should be made of the functioning of the Act after it had been in effect for ten years. The growing unrest of the Indians and their failure to utilize the opportunities of the Act of 1919 persuaded many Englishmen (including most of the Milner Group) that the promised Statutory Commission should begin its work earlier than anticipated and should direct its efforts rather at finding the basis for a new constitutional system than at examining the obvious failure of the system provided in 1919.

The first official hint that the date of the Statutory Commission would be moved up was given by Birkenhead on 30 March 1927, in combination with some rather "arrogant and patronizing" remarks about Indian politics. The Times, while criticizing Birkenhead for his additional remarks, took up the suggestion regarding the commission and suggested in its turn "that the ideal body would consist of judicially minded men who were able to agree." This is, of course, exactly what was obtained. The authorized biography Viscount Halifax, whence these quotations have been taken, adds at this point: "It is interesting to speculate how far Geoffrey Dawson, the Editor, was again expressing Irwin's thoughts and whether a deliberate ballon d'essai was being put up in favor of Sir John Simon."

The Simon Commission was exactly what The Times had wanted, a body of "judicially minded men who were able to agree." Its chairman was the most expensive lawyer in England, a member of the Cecil Bloc since he was elected to All Souls in 1897, and in addition a member of the two extraordinary clubs already mentioned, Grillion's and The Club. Although he was technically a Liberal, his associations and inclinations were rather on the Conservative side, and it was no surprise in 1931 when he became a National Liberal and occupied one of the most important seats in the Cabinet, the Foreign Office. From this time on, he was closely associated with the policies of the Milner Group and, in view of his personal association with the leaders of the Group in All Souls, may well be regarded as a member of the Group. As chairman of the Statutory Commission, he used his legal talents to the full to draw up a report on which all members of the commission could agree, and it is no small example of his abilities that he was able to get an unanimous agreement on a program which in outline, if not in all its details, was just what the Milner Group wanted.

Of the six other members of the Commission, two were Labourite (Clement Attlee and Vernon Hartshorn). The others were Unionist or Conservative. Viscount Burnham of Eton and Balliol (1884) had been a Unionist supporter of the Cecil Bloc in Commons from 1885 to 1906, and his father had been made baronet and baron by Lord Salisbury. His own title of Viscount came from Lloyd George in 1919.

The fifth member of the Commission, Donald Palmer Howard, Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, of Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, had no special claim to fame except that he had been a Unionist M.P. in 1922-1926.

The sixth member, Edward Cecil Cadogan of Eton and Balliol (1904), was the sixth son of Earl Cadogan and thus the older brother of Sir Alexander Cadogan, British delegate to the United Nations. Their father, Earl Cadogan, grandnephew of the first Duke of Wellington, had been Lord Privy Seal in Lord Salisbury's second government and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Salisbury's third government. Edward, who was knighted in 1939, had no special claim to fame except that he was a Unionist M.P. from 1922 to 1935 and was Chairman of the House of Commons under the National Government of 1931-1935.

The seventh member, George R. Lane-Fox (Baron Bingley since 1933) of Eton and New College, was a Unionist M.P. from 1906 to 1931 and Secretary of Mines from 1922 to 1928. He is a brother-in-law and lifelong friend of Lord Halifax, having married the Honourable Mary Wood in 1903.

The most extraordinary fact about the Simon Commission was the lack of qualification possessed by its members. Except for the undoubted advantages of education at Eton and Oxford, the members had no obvious claims to membership on any committee considering Indian affairs. Indeed, not one of the eight members had had any previous contact with this subject. Nevertheless, the commission produced an enormous two-volume report which stands as a monumental source book for the study of Indian problems in this period. When, to the lack of qualifications of its members, we add the fact that the commission was almost completely boycotted by Indians and obtained its chief contact with the natives by listening to their monotonous chants of "Simon, go back," it seems more than a miracle that such a valuable report could have emerged from their investigations. The explanation is to be found in the fact that they received full cooperation from the staff of the Government of India, including members of the Milner Group.

It is clear that by the end of 1928 the Milner Group, as a result of the strong Indian opposition to the Simon Commission, the internal struggle within that commission between Simon and Burnham (because of the latter's refusal to go as far as the former desired in the direction of concessions to the Indians), and their inability to obtain cooperation from the Secretary of State (as revealed in the steady criticism of Birkenhead in The Times), had decided to abandon the commission method of procedure in favor of a round-table method of procedure. It is not surprising that the Round Table Groups should prefer a roundtable method of procedure even in regard to Indian affairs, where many of the participants would have relatively little experience in the typical British procedure of agreement through conference. To the Milner Group, the round-table method was not only preferable in itself but was made absolutely necessary by the widespread Indian criticism of the Simon Commission for its exclusively British personnel. This restriction had been adopted originally on the grounds that only a purely British and purely parliamentary commission could commit Parliament in some degree to acceptance of the recommendations of the commission — at least, this was the defense of the restricted membership made to the Indians by the Viceroy on 8 November 1927. In place of this argument, the Milner Group now advanced a somewhat more typical idea, namely, that only Indian participation on a direct and equal basis could commit Indians to any plans for the future of India. By customary Milner Group reasoning, they decided that the responsibility placed on Indians by making them participate in the formulation of plans would moderate the extremism of their demands and bind them to participate in the execution of these plans after they were enacted into law. This basic idea — that if you have faith in people, they will prove worthy of that faith, or, expressed in somewhat more concrete terms, that if you give dissatisfied people voluntarily more than they expect and, above all, before they really expect to get it, they will not abuse the gift but will be sobered simultaneously by the weight of responsibility and the sweetness of gratitude — was an underlying assumption of the Milner Group's activities from 1901 to the present. Its validity was defended (when proof was demanded) by a historical example — that is, by contrasting the lack of generosity in Britain's treatment of the American Colonies in 1774 with the generosity in her treatment of the Canadian Colonies in 1839. The contrast between the "Intolerable Acts" and the Durham Report was one of the basic ideas at the back of the minds of all the important members of the Milner Group. In many of those minds, however, this assumption was not based on political history at all but had a more profound and largely unconscious basis in the teachings of Christ and the Sermon on the Mount. This was especially true of Lionel Curtis, John Dove, Lord Lothian, and Lord Halifax. Unless this idea is recognized, it is not possible to see the underlying unity behind the actions of the Group toward the Boers in 1901-1910, toward India in 1919 and 1935, and toward Hitler in 1934-1939.

These ideas as a justification of concessions to India are to be found in Milner Group discussions of the Indian problem at all periods, especially just before the Act of 1919. A decade later they were still exerting their influence. They will be found, for example, in The Round Table articles on India in September 1930 and March 1931. The earlier advocated the use of the round-table method but warned that it must be based on complete equality for the Indian members. It continued: "Indians should share equally with Great Britain the responsibility for reaching or failing to reach an agreement as to what the next step in Indian constitutional development should be. It is no longer a question, as we see it, of Great Britain listening to Indian representatives and then deciding for herself what the next Indian constitution should be.... The core of the round table idea is that representative Britons and representative Indians should endeavour to reach an agreement, on the understanding that if they can reach an agreement, each will loyally carry it through to completion, as was the case with Ireland in 1922." As seen by the Milner Group, Britain's responsibility was

"her obligation to help Indians to take maximum responsibility for India's government on their own shoulders, and to insist on their doing so, not only because it is the right thing in itself, but because it is the most certain antidote to the real danger of anarchy which threatens India unless Indians do learn to carry responsibility for government at a very early date There is less risk in going too fast in agreement and cooperation with political India than in going at a more moderate pace without its agreement and cooperation. Indeed, in our view, the most successful foundation for the Round Table Conference would be that Great Britain should ask the Indian delegates to table agreed proposals and then do her utmost to accept them and place on Indian shoulders the responsibility for carrying them into effect."


It is very doubtful if the Milner Group could have substituted the round-table method for the commission method in quite so abrupt a fashion as it did, had not a Labour government come to office early in 1929. As a result, the difficult Lord Birkenhead was replaced as Secretary of State by the much more cooperative Mr. Wedgewood Benn (Viscount Stansgate since 1941). The greater degree of cooperation which the Milner Group received from Benn than from Birkenhead may be explained by the fact that their hopes for India were not far distant from those held in certain circles of the Labour Party. It may also be explained by the fact that Wedgewood Benn was considerably closer, in a social sense, to the Milner Group than was Birkenhead. Benn had been a Liberal M.P. from 1906 to 1927; his brother Sir Ernest Benn, the publisher, had been close to the Milner Group in the Ministry of Munitions in 1916-1917 and in the Ministry of Reconstruction in 1917-1918; and his nephew John, oldest son of Sir Ernest, married the oldest daughter of Maurice Hankey in 1929. Whatever the cause, or combination of causes, Lord Irwin's suggestion that the round-table method be adopted was accepted by the Labour government. The suggestion was made when the Viceroy returned to London in June 1929, months before the Simon Report was drafted and a year before it was published. With this suggestion Lord Irwin combined another, that the government formally announce that its goal for India was "Dominion status." The plan leaked out, probably because the Labour government had to consult with the Liberal Party, on which its majority depended. The Liberals (Lord Reading and Lloyd George) advised against the announcement, but Irwin was instructed to make it on his return to India in October. Lord Birkenhead heard of the plan and wrote a vigorous letter of protest to The Times. When Geoffrey Dawson refused to publish it, it appeared in the Daily Telegraph, thus repeating the experience of Lord Lansdowne's even more famous letter of 1917.

Lord Irwin's announcement of the Round Table Conference and of the goal of Dominion status, made in India on 31 October 1929, brought a storm of protest in England. It was rejected by Lord Reading and Lloyd George for the Liberals and by Lord Birkenhead and Stanley Baldwin for the Conservatives. It is highly unlikely that the Milner Group were much disturbed by this storm. The reason is that the members of the Croup had already decided that "Dominion status" had two meanings — one meaning for Englishmen, and a second, rather different, meaning for Indians. As Lord Irwin wrote in a private memorandum in November 1929:

"To the English conception, Dominion Status now connotes, as indeed the word itself implies, an achieved constitutional position of complete freedom and immunity from interference by His Majesty's Government in London.... The Indian seems generally to mean something different. . . . The underlying element in much of Indian political thought seems to have been the desire that, by free conference between Great Britain and India, a constitution should be fashioned which may contain within itself the seed of full Dominion Status, growing naturally to its full development in accordance with the particular circumstances of India, without the necessity — the implications of which the Indian mind resents — of further periodic enquiries by way of Commission. What is to the Englishman an accomplished process is to the Indian rather a declaration of right, from which future and complete enjoyment of Dominion privilege will spring." (3)


This distinction, without any reference to Lord Irwin (whose memorandum was not published until 1941), was also made in the September 1930 issue of The Round Table. On this basis, for the sake of appeasement of India, the Milner Group was willing to promise India "Dominion status" in the Indian meaning of the expression and allow the English who misunderstood to cool off gradually as they saw that the development was not the one they had feared. Indeed, to the Milner Group, it probably appeared that the greater the rage in Britain, the greater the appeasement in India.

Accordingly, the first session of the Round Table Conference was called for November 1930. It marked an innovation not only because of the status of equality and responsibility which it placed on the Indians, but also because, for the first time, it tried to settle the problem of the Indian States within the same framework as it settled the constitutional problem of British India. This was a revolutionary effort, and its degree of success was very largely due to the preparatory work of Lord Irwin, acting on the advice of Malcolm Hailey.

The Indian States had remained as backward, feudalistic, and absolutist enclaves, within the territorial extent of British India and bound to the British Raj by individual treaties and agreements. As might be expected from the Milner Group, the solution which they proposed was federation. They hoped that devolution in British India would secure a degree of provincial autonomy that would make it possible to bind the provinces and the Indian States within the same federal structure and with similar local autonomy. However, the Group knew that the Indian States could not easily be federated with British India until their systems of government were raised to some approximation of the same level. For this reason, and to win the Princes over to federation, Lord Irwin had a large number of personal consultations with the Princes in 1927 and 1928. At some of these he lectured the Princes on the principles of good government in a fashion which came straight from the basic ideology of the Milner Group. The memorandum which he presented to them, dated 14 June 1927 and published in Johnson's biography, Viscount Halifax, could have been written by the Kindergarten. This can be seen in its definitions of the function of government, its emphasis on the reign of law, its advocacy of devolution, its homily on the duty of princes, its separation of responsibility in government from democracy in government, and its treatment of democracy as an accidental rather than an essential characteristic of good government.

The value of this preparatory work appeared at the first Round Table Conference, where, contrary to all expectations, the Indian Princes accepted federation. The optimism resulting from this agreement was, to a considerable degree, dissipated, however, by the refusal of Gandhi's party to participate in the conference unless India were granted full and immediate Dominion status. Refusal of these terms resulted in an outburst of political activity which made it necessary for Irwin to find jails capable of holding sixty thousand Indian agitators at one time.

The view that the Round Table Conference represented a complete repudiation of the Simon Commission's approach to the Indian problem was assiduously propagated by the Milner Group in order to prevent Indian animosity against the latter from being carried over against the former. But the differences were in detail, since in main outline both reflected the Group's faith in federation, devolution, responsibility, and minority rights. The chief recommendations of the Simon Commission were three in number: (1) to create a federation of British India and the Indian States by using the provinces of the former as federative units with the latter; (2) to modify the central government by making the Legislative Assembly a federal organization but otherwise leave the center unchanged; (3) to end dyarchy in the provinces by making Indians responsible for all provincial activities. It also advocated separation of Burma from India.

These were also the chief conclusions of the various Round Table Conferences and of the government's White Papers of December 1931 (Cmd. 3972) and of March 1933 (Cmd. 4268). The former was presented to Parliament and resulted in a debate and vote of confidence on the government's policy in India as stated in it. The attack was led by Winston Churchill in the Commons and by Lords Lloyd, Salisbury, Midleton, and Sumner in the House of Lords. None of these except Churchill openly attacked the government's policy, the others contenting themselves with advising delay in its execution. The government was defended by Samuel Hoare, John Simon, and Stanley Baldwin in the Commons and by Lords Lothian, Irwin, Zetland, Dufferin, and Hailsham, as well as Archbishop Lang, in the Lords. Lord Lothian, in opening the debate, said that while visiting in India in 1912 he had written an article for an English review saying that the Indian Nationalist movement "was essentially healthy, for it was a movement for political virtue and self-respect," although the Indian Civil Servant with whom he was staying said that Indian Nationalism was sedition. Lord Lothian implied that he had not changed his opinion twenty years later. In the Lower House the question came to a vote, which the government easily carried by 369 to 43. In the majority were Leopold Amery, John J. Astor, John Buchan, Austen Chamberlain, Viscount Cranborne, Samuel Hoare, W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore, Lord Eustace Percy, John Simon, and D. B. Somervell. In the minority were Churchill, George Balfour, and Viscount Wolmer.

Practically the same persons appeared on the same sides in the discussion regarding the White Paper of 1933. This document, which embodied the government's suggestions for a bill on Indian constitutional reform, was defended by various members of the Milner Group outside of Parliament, and anonymously in The Round Table. John Buchan wrote a preface to John Thompson's India: The White Paper (1933), in which he defended the extension of responsible government to India, saying, "We cannot exclude her from sharing in what we ourselves regard as the best." Samuel Hoare defended it in a letter to his constituents at Chelsea. Malcolm Hailey defended it before the Royal Empire Society Summer School at Oxford, in a speech afterwards published in The Asiatic Review. Hailey had resigned as Governor of the United Provinces in India in order to return to England to help the government put through its bill. During the long period required to accomplish this, Samuel Hoare, who as Secretary of State for India was the official government spokesman on the subject, had Hailey constantly with him as his chief adviser and support. It was this support that permitted Hoare, whose knowledge of India was definitely limited, to conduct his astounding campaign for the Act of 1935.

The White Paper of 1933 was presented to a Joint Select Committee of both Houses. It was publicly stated as a natural action on the part of the government that this committee be packed with supporters of the bill. For this reason Churchill, George Balfour, and Lord Wolmer refused to serve on it, although Josiah Wedgwood, a Labour Member who opposed the bill, asked to be put on the committee because it was packed.

The Joint Select Committee, as we have seen, had thirty-two members, of whom at least twelve were from the Cecil Bloc and Milner Group and supported the bill. Four were from the inner circles of the Milner Group. The chief witnesses were Sir Samuel Hoare; who gave testimony for twenty days; Sir Michael O'Dwyer, who gave testimony for four days; and Winston Churchill, who gave testimony for three days. The chief witness was thus Hoare, who answered 5594 questions from the committee. At all times Hoare had Malcolm Hailey at his side for advice. The fashion in which the government conducted the Joint Select Committee aroused a good deal of unfavorable comment. Lord Rankeillour in the House of Lords criticized this, especially the fashion in which Hoare used his position to push his point of view and to influence the evidence which the committee received from other witnesses. He concluded: "This Committee was not a judicial body, and its conclusions are vitiated thereby. You may say that on their merits they have produced a good or a bad Report, but what you cannot say is that the Report is the judicial finding of unbiased or impartial minds." As a result of such complaints, the House of Commons Committee on Privilege investigated the conduct of the Joint Select Committee. It found that Hoare's actions toward witnesses and in regard to documentary evidence could be brought within the scope of the Standing Orders of the House if a distinction were made between judicial committees and non-judicial committees and between witnesses giving facts and giving opinions. These distinctions made it possible to acquit Sir Samuel of any violation of privilege, but aroused such criticism that a Select Committee on Witnesses was formed to examine the rules for dealing with witnesses. In its report, on 4 June 1935, this Select Committee rejected the validity of the distinctions between judicial and non-judicial and between fact and opinion made by the Committee on Privilege, and recommended that the Standing Rules be amended to forbid any tampering with documents that had been received by a committee. The final result was a formal acquittal, but a moral condemnation, of Hoare's actions in regard to the Joint Select Committee on the Government of India.

The report of the Joint Select Committee was accepted by nineteen out of its thirty- two members. Nine voted against it (five Conservative and four Labour Members). A motion to accept the report and ask the government to proceed to draw up a bill based on it was introduced in the House of Lords by the President of the Board of Education, Lord Halifax (Lord Irwin), on 12 December 1934, in a typical Milner Group speech. He said: "As I read it, the whole of our British and Imperial experience shouts at us the warning that representative government without responsibility, once political consciousness has been aroused, is apt to be a source of great weakness and, not impossibly, great danger. We had not learned that lesson, let me remind the House, in the eighteenth century, and we paid very dearly for it. We learned it some sixty years later and, by having learned it, we transformed the face and history of Canada." Lord Salisbury once again advised delay, and attacked the idea that parliamentary government could work in India or indeed had worked anywhere outside the British Commonwealth. Lord Snell, speaking for the Labour opposition, objected to the lack of protection against economic exploitation for the Indian masses, the omission of any promise of Dominion status for India, the weighing of the franchise too heavily on the side of the landlords and too lightly on the side of women or of laborers, the provisions for a second chamber, and the use of indirect election for the first chamber. Lord Lothian answered both speakers, supporting only one criticism, that against indirect election to the central assembly. He made the significant statement that he did not fear to turn India over to the Congress Party of Gandhi because (1) "though I disagree with almost everything that they say in public and most of their political programme, I have a sneaking sympathy with the emotion which lies underneath them . . . the aspiration of young impetuous India anxious to take responsibility on its own shoulders"; and (2) "because I believe that the one political lesson, which has more often been realized in the British Commonwealth of Nations than anywhere else in the world, is that the one corrective of political extremism is to put responsibility upon the extremists, and, by these proposals, that is exactly what we are doing." These are typical Milner Group reasons.

In the debate, Halifax was supported by Archbishop Lang and Lords Zetland, Linlithgow, Midleton, Hardinge of Penshurst, Lytton, and Reading. Lord Salisbury was supported by Lords Phillimore, Rankeillour, Ampthill, and Lloyd. In the division, Salisbury's motion for delay was beaten by 239 to 62. In addition to the lords mentioned, the majority included Lords Dufferin, Linlithgow, Cranbrook, Cobham, Cecil of Chelwood, Goschen, Hampden, Elton, Lugard, Meston, and Wemyss, while the minority included Lords Birkenhead, Westminster, Carnock, Islington, and Leconfield. It is clear that the Milner Group voted completely with the majority, while the Cecil Bloc was split.

The bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 6 February 1935 by Sir Samuel Hoare. As was to be expected, his argument was based on the lessons to be derived from the error of 1774 and the success of 1839 in North America. The government's actions, he declared, were based on "plain, good intentions." He was mildly criticized from the left by Attlee and Sir Herbert Samuel; supported by Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland, Sir Edward Grigg, and others; and then subjected to a long-sustained barrage from Winston Churchill. Churchill had already revealed his opinion of the bill over the BBC when he said, on 29 January 1935, that it was "a monstrous monument of sham built by the pygmies." He continued his attack in a similar vein, with the result that almost every government speaker felt the need to caution him that his intemperance was hurting his own cause. From our point of view, his most interesting statement, and one which was not contradicted, said: "I have watched this story from its very unfolding, and what has struck me more than anything else about it has been the amazingly small number of people who have managed to carry matters to their present lamentable pitch. You could almost count them on the fingers of one hand. I have also been struck by the prodigious power which this group of individuals have been able to exert and relay, to use a mechanical term, through the vast machinery of party, of Parliament, and of patronage, both here and in the East. It is tragical that they should have been able to mislead the loyalties and use the assets of the Empire to its own undoing. I compliment them on their skill, and I compliment them also on their disciples. Their chorus is exceedingly well drilled." This statement was answered by Lord Eustace Percy, who quoted Lord Hugh Cecil on "profitable mendacity." This led to an argument, in which both sides appealed to the Speaker. Order was restored when Lord Eustace said of Churchill, "I would never impute to him . . . any intention of making a charge which he did not believe himself."

It is quite clear that Churchill believed his charge and was referring to what we have called the Milner Group, although he would not have known it under that name, nor would he have realized its extreme ramifications. He was merely referring to the extensive influence of that close group of associates which included Hoare, Hailey, Curtis, Lothian, Dawson, Amery, Grigg, and Halifax.

After four days of debate on the second reading, the opposition amendment was rejected by 404-133, and the bill passed to the committee stage. In the majority were Amery, Buchan, Grigg, Hoare, Ormsby-Gore, Simon, Sir Donald Somervell, and Steel- Maitland. The minority consisted of three ill-assorted groups: the followers of Churchill, the leaders of the Labour Party, and a fragment of the Cecil Bloc with a few others.

The Government of India Act of 1935 was the longest bill ever submitted to Parliament, and it underwent the longest debate in history (over forty days in Commons). In general, the government let the opposition talk itself out and then crushed it on each division. In the third reading, Churchill made his final speech in a tone of baneful warning regarding the future of India. He criticized the methods of pressure used by Hoare and said that in ten years' time the Secretary of State would be haunted by what had been done, and it could be said of him,

"God save thee, ancient Mariner,
From the fiends that plague thee thus.
Why look'st thou so?' With my cross-bow,
I shot the Albatross."


These somber warnings were answered by Leopold Amery, who opened his rejoinder with the words, "Here endeth the last chapter of the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah."

In the House of Lords the bill was taken through its various stages by Lord Zetland (who replaced Hoare as Secretary of State for India in June 1935), and the final speech for the government was from Halifax (recently made Secretary of State for War). The Act received the Royal Assent on 1 August 1935.

The Act never went into effect completely, and by 1939 the Milner Group was considering abandoning it in favor of complete self-government for India. The portions of the Act of 1935 dealing with the central government fell to the ground when the refusal of the Princes of the Indian States to accept the Act made a federal solution impossible. The provincial portion began to function in 1937, but with great difficulty because of the extremist agitation from the Congress Party. This party obtained almost half of the seats in the eleven provinces and had a clear majority in six provinces. The provincial governments, started in 1937, worked fairly well, and the emergency powers of the central governments, which continued on the 1919 model, were used only twice in over two years. When the war began, the Congress Party ordered its ministries to resign. Since the Congress Party members in the legislatures would not support non-Congress ministries, the decree powers of the Provincial Governors had to be used in those provinces with a Congress majority. In 1945 six out of the eleven provinces had responsible government.

From 1939 on, constitutional progress in India was blocked by a double stalemate: (1) the refusal of the Congress Party to cooperate in government unless the British abandoned India completely, something which could not be done while the Japanese were invading Burma; and (2) the growing refusal of the Moslem League to cooperate with the Congress Party on any basis except partition of India and complete autonomy for the areas with Moslem majorities. The Milner Group, and the British government generally, by 1940 had given up all hope of any successful settlement except complete self-government for India, but it could not give up to untried hands complete control of defense policy during the war. At the same time, the Milner Group generally supported Moslem demands because of its usual emphasis on minority rights.

During this period the Milner Group remained predominant in Indian affairs, although the Viceroy (Lord Linlithgow) was not a member of the Group. The Secretary of State for India, however, was Leopold Amery for the whole period 1940-1945. A number of efforts were made to reach agreement with the Congress Party, but the completely unrealistic attitude of the party's leaders, especially Gandhi, made this impossible. In 1941, H. V. Hodson, by that time one of the most important members of the Milner Group, was made Reforms Commissioner for India. The following year the most important effort to break the Indian stalemate was made. This was the Cripps Mission, whose chief adviser was Sir Reginald Coupland, another member of the inner circle of the Milner Group. As a result of the failure of this mission and of the refusal of the Indians to believe in the sincerity of the British (a skepticism that was completely without basis), the situation dragged on until after the War. The election of 1945, which drove the Conservative Party from office, also removed the Milner Group from its positions of influence. The subsequent events, including complete freedom for India and the division of the country into two Dominions within the British Commonwealth, were controlled by new hands, but the previous actions of the Milner Group had so committed the situation that these new hands had no possibility (nor, indeed, desire) to turn the Indian problem into new paths. There can be little doubt that with the Milner Group still in control the events of 1945-1948 in respect to India would have differed only in details.

The history of British relations with India in the twentieth century was disastrous. In this history the Milner Group played a major role. To be sure, the materials with which they had to work were intractable and they had inconvenient obstacles at home (like the diehards within the Conservative Party), but these problems were made worse by the misconceptions about India and about human beings held by the Milner Group. The bases on which they built their policy were fine — indeed, too fine. These bases were idealistic, almost Utopian, to a degree which made it impossible for them to grow and function and made it highly likely that forces of ignorance and barbarism would be released, with results exactly contrary to the desires of the Milner Group. On the basis of love of liberty, human rights, minority guarantees, and self- responsibility, the Milner Group took actions that broke down the lines of external authority in Indian society faster than any lines of internal self-discipline were being created. It is said that the road to perdition is paved with good intentions. The road to the Indian tragedy of 1947-1948 was also paved with good intentions, and those paving blocks were manufactured and laid down by the Milner Group. The same good intentions contributed largely to the dissolution of the British Empire, the race wars of South Africa, and the unleashing of the horrors of 1939-1945 on the world.

To be sure, in India as elsewhere, the Milner Group ran into bad luck for which they were not responsible. The chief case of this in India was the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, which was probably the chief reason for Gandhi's refusal to cooperate in carrying out the constitutional reforms of that same year. But the Milner Group's policies were self-inconsistent and were unrealistic. For example, they continually insisted that the parliamentary system was not fitted to Indian conditions, yet they made no real effort to find a more adaptive political system, and every time they gave India a further dose of self-government, it was always another dose of the parliamentary system. But, clinging to their beliefs, they loaded down this system with special devices which hampered it from functioning as a parliamentary system should. The irony of this whole procedure rests in the fact that the minority of agitators in India who wanted self- government wanted it on the parliamentary pattern and regarded every special device and every statement from Britain that it was not adapted to Indian conditions as an indication of the insincerity in the British desire to grant self-government to India.

A second error arises from the Milner Group's lack of enthusiasm for democracy. Democracy, as a form of government, involves two parts: (1) majority rule and (2) minority rights. Because of the Group's lack of faith in democracy, they held no brief for the first of these but devoted all their efforts toward achieving the second. The result was to make the minority uncompromising, at the same time that they diminished the majority's faith in their own sincerity. In India the result was to make the Moslem League almost completely obstructionist and make the Congress Party almost completely suspicious. The whole policy encouraged extremists and discouraged moderates. This appears at its worst in the systems of communal representation and communal electorates established in India by Britain. The Milner Group knew these were bad, but felt that they were a practical necessity in order to preserve minority rights. In this they were not only wrong, as proved by history, but were sacrificing principle to expediency in a way that can never be permitted by a group whose actions claim to be so largely dictated by principle. To do this weakens the faith of others in the group's principles.

The Group made another error in their constant tendency to accept the outcry of a small minority of Europeanized agitators as the voice of India. The masses of the Indian people were probably in favor of British rule, for very practical reasons. The British gave these masses good government through the Indian Civil Service and other services, but they made little effort to reach them on any human, intellectual, or ideological level. The "color line" was drawn — not between British and Indians but between British and the masses, for the educated upperclass Indians were treated as equals in the majority of cases. The existence of the color line did not bother the masses of the people, but when it hit one of the educated minority, he forgot the more numerous group of cases where it had not been applied to him, became anti-British and began to flood the uneducated masses with a deluge of anti-British propaganda. This could have been avoided to a great extent by training the British Civil Servants to practice racial toleration toward all classes, by increasing the proportion of financial expenditure on elementary education while reducing that on higher education, by using the increased literacy of the masses of the people to impress on them the good they derived from British rule and to remove those grosser superstitions and social customs which justified the color line to so many English. All of these except the last were in accordance with Milner Group ideas. The members of the Group objected to the personal intolerance of the British in India, and regretted the disproportionate share of educational expenditure which went to higher education (see the speech in Parliament of Ormsby-Gore, 11 December 1934), but they continued to educate a small minority, most of whom became anti-British agitators, and left the masses of the people exposed to the agitations of that minority. On principle, the Group would not interfere with the superstitions and grosser social customs of the masses of the people, on the grounds that to do so would be to interfere with religious freedom. Yet Britain had abolished suttee, child marriage, and thuggery, which were also religious in foundation. If the British could have reduced cow-worship, and especially the number of cows, to moderate proportions, they would have conferred on India a blessing greater than the abolition of suttee, child marriage, and thuggery together, would have removed the chief source of animosity between Hindu and Moslem, and would have raised the standard of living of the Indian people to a degree that would have more than paid for a system of elementary education.

If all of these things had been done, the agitation for independence could have been delayed long enough to build up an electorate capable of working a parliamentary system. Then the parliamentary system, which educated Indians wanted, could have been extended to them without the undemocratic devices and animadversions against it which usually accompanied any effort to introduce it on the part of the British.  
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Pacifica History
by KPFK, Los Angeles
Accessed: 6/21/19

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Overview

The Pacifica Foundation (now known as Pacifica Foundation Radio) was born in the late 1940's out of the (now nearly forgotten) peace movement surrounding World War Two. Lewis Hill, a conscientious objector and Washington, D.C. newsman, was fired from his mainstream reporting job when he refused to misrepresent the facts.

This was a time when the idea of a listener-sponsored radio station was a new one which had never been implemented. Many people doubted the viability of a broadcast model which didn't rely on some kind of corporate or government funding. But the idea was too compelling for Hill and others who agreed with him. Pacifica was born and in 1949 KPFA went on the air from Berkeley, California.

KPFK, in Los Angeles, was the second of what would eventually become five Pacifica Stations to go on the air. It was 1959 and Terry Drinkwater was the first General Manager. Blessed with an enormous transmitter in a prime location, KPFK is the most powerful of the Pacifica stations and indeed is the most powerful public radio station in the Western United States.

1946 Lewis Hill moves from Washington DC to the San Francisco Bay Area and begins work toward creating an alternative radio station.

1949 Pacifica first goes on the air April 15 as KPFA-FM in Berkeley CA.

1950 Opponents to the Korean war are among the many minority viewpoints given freedom of speech on Pacifica during the McCarthy era.

1951 Pacifica receives the first major foundation grant (Ford Founda- tion) for the support of a non-commercial broadcast operation.

1952 Jazz aficionado Phil Elwood debuts on KPFA, making him today the longest-running jazz programmer in the country.

1953 Philosopher/author Alan Watts begins a regular program on KPFA that continues until his death in 1973.

1954 An on-the-air discussion of the effects of marijuana results in the California Attorney General impounding the program tape.

1955 Poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti bring the Beat Generation to the airwaves. A few years later the FCC questions Pacifica's broadcast of some of their works as "vulgar, obscene and in bad taste."

1956 Pacifica wins its first broadcast awards for a program on the First Amendment by Alexander Meiklejohn and a children's series of _Robin Hood_ by Chuck Levy and Virginia Maynard.

1957 Pacifica/KPFA wins its first George Foster Peabody Award for "distinguished service and meritorious public service" for programming that takes strong issue with McCarthyism.

1958 Nuclear war and the arms race are debated on the air by Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling and Edward Teller, the "Father of the H-Bomb."

1959 Pacifica begins its second station--KPFK-FM in Los Angeles--with Terry Drinkwater as General Manager.

1960-1963 The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) investigate Pacifica programming for "subversion." Suspected writers include Bertolt Brecht, Norman Cousins, Carey McWilliams, Dorothy Healey, and W.E.B. DuBois.

1960 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requests a tape of a Pacifica broadcast of poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti that it found "in bad taste" with "strong implications against religion, government, the president, law-enforcement and racial groups"-- and demands full information on Pacifica finances and governance.

1960 Commercial station WBAI in New York is given to Pacifica by philanthropist Louis Schweitzer. Then- Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Mayor Robert Wagner, Jr. and Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz are among the speakers honoring the first day of Pacifica Radio in New York. Early programs include a documentary on George Lincoln Rockwell and a speech by Herbert Aptheker. The SISS requests files of WBAI programs and program guides.

1961 KPFK wins Pacifica's second George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.

1962 KPFK broadcasts women's history profiles of Dorothy healey and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn--programs that are later used in SISS Hearings charging Pacifica is communist infiltrated.

1962 WBAI is the first station to publicly broadcast former FBI agent Jack Levine's expose of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. The program is followed by threats of arrests and bombings, as well as pressure from the FBI, the Justice Department, and major broadcast networks.

1962 The FCC withholds the license renewals of KPFA, KPFB, and KPFK pending its investigation into "communist affiliations." Pacifica was never ultimately cited in any of these or subsequent investi- gations.

1963 I. F. Stone and Bertrand Russell take to the Pacifica airwaves, leading a long list of luminaries to oppose the war in Vietnam at this early stage of direct U.S. involvement.

1964 Pacifica trains volunteers to travel to the South for coverage of the awakening civil rights movement. Andrew Goodman, son of the Pacifica president, is murdered in Mississippi with Michael Schwerner and James Cheney.

1964 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) renews the licenses of all three Pacifica stations after a three-year delay.

1965 WBAI reporter Chris Koch is the first American to cover the war from North Vietnam.

1966 Leaders of organizations such as the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) discuss the future of civil rights over Pacifica stations.

1967 Pacifica broadcasts a live interview with Latin American leader Che Guevara months before he is killed in Bolivia.

1968 Pacifica Radio News (originally the Washington News Bureau of WBAI/New York) is established in Washington DC.

1969 Pacifica is the only news organization willing to break Seymour Hersh's story of the My Lai massacre. Hersh later wins the Pulitzer Prize for exposing the atrocities committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam.

1970 KPFT in Houston goes on the air and is bombed off twice during its first year by Ku Klux Klan attacks on its transmitter tower. After months of inactivity by federal agents and Houston police, Pacifica mounts a media campaign. Federal agents ultimately arrest a Klansman and charge him with plotting to blow up KPFA and KPFK, as well as the actual KPFT bombing.

1971 WBAI station manager Ed Goodman is jailed for refusing to turn over taped statements by rebelling prisoners at the "Tombs," the New York City jail.

1972 The Pacifica Radio Archive and Pacifica Program Service are established in Los Angeles to preserve and distribute Pacifica programming to schools, libraries, individuals, and other community radio stations across the country.

1973 Pacifica provides gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings.

1973 Third World programmers at KPFA organize to demand a programming department with paid staff and control over some airtime. The station management opposes this effort and obtains a court order banning Third World project coordinator Jeff Echeverria from the KPFA premises. The Third World programmers file a challenge to KPFA's license on grounds of discrimination in hiring practices. The lawyer representing them is David Salniker, later to become KPFA manager and Executive Director of Pacifica.

1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army delivers the Patty hearts tapes to KPFA/Berkeley and KPFK/Los Angeles. KPFK manager Will Lewis is jailed for refusing to turn the tapes over to the FBI.

1974 In the summer, KPFA staff and programmers go on strike to demand more democratic decision-making process, the reinstatement of the fired Third World staff, and the firing of station management. After KPFA is off the air for one month, Pacifica agrees to most of the strikers' demands. In the fall, KPFA formally creates the Third World programming department with a paid department head and control over some airtime.

1975 Joel Kugelmass becomes the first Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation.

1975 Comedian George Carlin's "dirty words you can't say on television" routine, broadcast by WBAI/New York in 1973, leads to several years of First Amendment litigation and a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. No sanctions are imposed, but the Carlin Case sets the limits of broadcasting for over a decade.

1976 The Pacfica documentary on the assassination of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier is instrumental in piecing together evidence that later convicts the murderers.

1976 In September, KPFA station manager Larry Bensky lays off two-thirds of the station's paid staff in one of the many financial crises perpetually plaguing Pacifica stations.

1977 WPFW/Washington DC goes on the air, after winning a six-year competitive process for the last available frequency in the nation's capital.

1977 Jack O'Dell becomes Chair of the Pacifica Foundation.

1978 The Pacifica Radio News begins to distribute news services to 20 non-Pacifica stations across the U.S. and Canada and expands international coverage by establishing correspondents in a number of foreign capitals.

1979 Pacifica, the League of Women Voters, and congressman Henry Waxman (D, CA) challenge the constitutionality of the prohibition on editorializing by non-commercial broadcasters.

1980 Pacifica interviews Sister Ita Ford a few days before she is murdered in El Salvador.

1980 Sharon Maeda becomes Executive Director of Pacifica.

1981 KPFT/Houston becomes the first public radio station to broadcast special programs in 11 different languages, serving the multi- ethnic Texas Gulf Coast communities.

1981 KPFA/Berkeley creates a Women's Department with a paid director and control over some airtime. Ginny Z. Berson (a member of the collective that created Olivia Records) becomes the first director of the Women's Dept. (Women's programming had been done on KPFA since the early 1970s by a collective called Unlearning To Not Speak.)

1982 Pacifica provides the only continuous live national coverage of one million people demonstrating for jobs, peace, and freedom in New York's Central Park during the U.N. special session on disarmament.

1982 After years of development by women and people of color, the KPFA Apprentice Program is formally established as an intensive training program in broadcast skills. It is now the most comprehensive program of its kind in the country.

1983 WPFW heads up the all-Pacifica team which covers the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington with Julian Bond and Justine Rector as hosts/commentators.

1984 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Pacifica's favor that non- commercial broadcasters have a constitutional right to editorialize.

1985 Pacifica broadcasts its first editorial, condemning the apartheid South African government. Pacifica Chair Jack O'Dell calls upon U.S. citizens to bring pressure on the White House to cut all ties with South Africa on the 10th anniversary of the Soweto uprising.

1985 WPFW helps launch the Capital City Jazz Festival in Washington DC.

1985 WBAI/New York organizes the now-annual Listener Action for the Homeless project to mobilize aid for New York's homeless.

1986 The National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) radio archives are consolidated with Pacifica's, making the Pacifica Radio Archive 30,000 tapes strong.

1986 David Salniker becomes Executive Director of Pacifica.

1987 Pacifica's coverage of the Iran-Contra affair is carried by 33 stations and wins two national journalism awards.

1987 Pacifica provides the only national live radio coverage of the complete confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, beginning a traditon that has continued to the present day of broadcasting important congressional hearings.

1987 Lady Smith Black Mambazo makes their first live U.S. radio appearance, on KPFK/Los Angeles.

1988 Pacifica stringers provide on-the-spot coverage of the Intifada, the Palestinian uprising, despite great personal danger.

1989 The Pacifica Radio Archive completes restoration of 7,000 one-of- a-kind recordings from the early 1950s and 1960s in conjunction with Pacifica's 40th anniversary.

1990 Pacifica's ongoing coverage of the preparations for and conduct of war in the Persian Gulf reaches listeners on dozens of public stations throughout the country.

1990 Pacifica declines two NEA grants because of content restrictions attached to the funds.

1991 Pacificia leads a coalition with PEN, Allen Ginsberg and broad- casters opposing Senator Jesse Helms' (R-NC) and the FCC's 24-hour ban against "indecency" on radio. The Court of Appeals agrees with Pacifica and sets the ban aside as unconstitutional.

1991 KPFA/Berkeley moves into its newly constructed building in September.

1992 KPFA's Flashpoints program, headed by Dennis Bernstein, becomes the third-most-popular program on the station (after the Morning Show and the Evening News). Flashpoints evolved from the daily Persian Gulf War update program.

1992 Senate Republicans put a hold on funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, claiming "liberal bias" on a host of issues, including environmental coverage. A bill is passed imposing "objectivity and balance" conditions on CPB funding. Almost alone among broadcasters, Pacifica protests any content-conditional funding, pressing CPB to shield all news programming and editorial integrity of individual producers--which CPB agrees to in its implementation protocols. Pacifica observes that no other broadcasters, commercial or religious, are any longer subject to access and balance requirements of the now-repealed Fairness Doctrine--making public broadcasters alone subject to editorial restrictions. Immediately after passage of the content restrictions, CPB Board member Victor Gold targets KPFK for strident African American programming and controversial speech aired during Black History month, by filing an FCC complaint.

1993 CPB Board member Victor Gold calls for de-funding Pacifica, echoing lobyying campaign orchestrated by right-wing media critics. In a unanimous vote, CPB reaffirms Pacifica's funding irrespective of program content. Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole (R-KS) threatens public broadcasting with Congressional revenge, his aide explaining: "The First Amendment, freedom of speech, doesn't apply, because we are able to put conditions on the grants of federal money. The same as we do for farmers." Pacifica launches a campaign for unconditional funding and self-defense, led by a tremendous outpouring of "fightback donations" from listeners nationwide. CPB funding narrowly escapes cuts in the House of Representatives, with program content the driving issue. A lobbying effort keeps Pacifica funding off the Senate agenda. This is the second year in which Pacifica has received no discretionary funding from CPB (only the matching funding based upon listener contributions).

1993 Pacifica wins its third Court of Appeals ruling in six years, overturning the FCC restrictions on "indecent" programming as unconstitutional restrictions of the First Amendment rights of the radio audience.

1993 WBAI wins the Roger N. Baldwin Award for Oustanding Contributions to Civil Liberties, presented by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, who state: "In the winter of 1991...a war hysteria seemed to engulf the United States and its mainstream media.... In this overheated, thought-muddling atmosphere, one of the few cool, on-target voices of rational discussion and dissent was a small FM radio station beaming steadily out of New York City.... From the armies converging on Iraq to the march for women's lives in Washington, from the killing field of East Timor to the mean streets of Manhattan's homeless, WBAI covers the local, national and international scene with a depth and integrity not even conceived of by commerical broadcasting."

1993 Amy Goodman, WBAI News Director and co-anchor of WBAI's Morning Show, wins the following awards for the program "Massacre: The Story of East Timor": Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for International Reporting; Unda-Gabriel Award for Nationally Distributed News and Information; Radio & Television News Directors Award; and the Unity in Media Award from Lincoln University.

1993 The CPB Silver Award for Children's and Youth Programming goes to "Youth in Control," the two-hour live radio magazine of Executive Producer Ellin O'Leary's Youth Radio Project, produced weekly in KPFB-FM studios. This two-time CPB Award-winning program is a show produced by teens for teens, a project recruiting low income and minority youth, providing training in all aspects of news and music programming, and featuring live weekly Pacifica broadcasts and special pieces on KQED-FM, NPR, Monitor Radio and Inner City Broadcasting.

1993 San Francisco Foundation Executive Director Robert Fisher selects KPFA/Pacifica for the San Francisco Chronicle's feature, "How To Spot a Charity That Deserves Support: Pros Pick Notable Nonprofits" (November 22).

1994 Amy Goodman wins another award for her programs on East Timor: the Alfred I Dupont-Columbia University Journalism Award.

March, 1994 Pacifica Radio wins a Commendation Award from the American Women in Radio and Television for "Audre Lorde: A Burst of Light", a documentary about the African American poet, essayist, and feminist Audre Lorde, produced by Jude Thilman, Ginny Berson and Melanie Berzon.

1994 Pacifica broadcasts live from the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall march and rally in New York, commemorating the birth of the modern lesbian and gay liberation movement.

May, 1994 Pacifica Radio broadcasts commentaries by Pennsylvania death row inmate and African American journalist Mumia Abu Jamal after National Public Radio decided not to air a series of audio essays it commissioned by him. While NPR caved in to political pressure and a vigorous campaign by the Fraternal Order of Police to silence Abu-Jamal, Pacifica took a strong first amendment stand against censorship by broadcasting the views and experiences of a man living on death row.

December, 1994 Pacifica Covers the Zapatista Uprising In Mexico.

1995 Pacifica Network News correspondents file daily reports from Haiti and document in detail the return to power of popularly elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide.

September, 1995 Pacifica Network News Director Julie Drizin travels to China to cover the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, where she files daily audio reports via computer, bypassing any potential censorship by Chinese authorities. Pacifica was the first public radio network in the U.S. to send international reports via the internet.

October, 1995 Pacifica covers the Million Man March on Washington.

February, 1996 Pacifica launches Democracy Now!: a daily grassroots election program focusing on the state of democracy in the U.S. and around the world. Hosted by Amy Goodman, with Larry Bensky, Juan Gonzalez and Salim Muwakkil and produced by Julie Drizin, this program garnered unprecedented listener and foundation support and stimulated dialogue and action for social change.

March, 1996 Pacifica Executive Director Patricia Scott, News Bureau Chief Julie Drizin and the Pacifica Radio Network are named one of the "Top Ten Media Heroes of 1996" by the Institute for Alternative Journalism "for tough, creative and unrelenting efforts in a time when alternative viewpoints and independent voices in the media have never been more vital.

October, 1996 Pacifica Network News carries live coverage of the Latino March On Washington.

1997 Pacifica names its new national board chair, Mary Francis Berry, and says farewell to long-time chair, Jack O'Dell.
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Re: Freda Bedi, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sat Jun 22, 2019 6:05 am

WBAI
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/21/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Image
WBAI
City New York, New York
Broadcast area New York metropolitan area
Branding WBAI
Slogan Your peace and justice community radio station
Frequency 99.5 MHz
First air date January 8, 1960 (59 years ago)
Format Public Radio
ERP 10,000 watts
HAAT 282.3 meters (926 ft)
Class B
Facility ID 51249
Callsign meaning Broadcast Associates, Incorporated (former owner)
Affiliations Pacifica Radio
Owner Pacifica Foundation
Webcast Listen Live
Website wbai.org

WBAI (99.5 MHz), is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York City. WBAI is a Freeform radio station, staffed mostly by volunteers. Its programming is a mixture of progressive political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, music programming featuring a variety of music genres and programs that serve New York City's minority communities. The station is owned by the Pacifica Foundation with studios located in Brooklyn and transmitter located at 4 Times Square.

History

Origins


Image
The former WBAI studios on the 10th floor of 120 Wall Street, Manhattan

The station began as WABF, which first went on the air in 1941 as W75NY, of Metropolitan Television, Inc. (W75NY indicating an eastern station at 47.5 MHz in New York), and moved to the 99.5 frequency in 1948.[1] In 1955, after two years off the air, it was reborn as WBAI (whose calls were named after then-owners Broadcast Associates, Inc.).[2]

1960s

WBAI was purchased by philanthropist Louis Schweitzer, who donated it to the Pacifica Foundation in 1960.[3] The station, which had been a commercial enterprise, became non-commercial and listener-supported under Pacifica ownership.[4]

The history of WBAI during this period is iconoclastic and contentious.[5] Referred to in a New York Times Magazine piece as "an anarchist's circus," one station manager was jailed in protest, and the staff, in protest at sweeping proposed changes of another station manager, seized the studio facilities, then located in a deconsecrated church, as well as the transmitter, located at the Empire State Building.[6] During the 1960s, the station hosted innumerable anti-establishment causes, including anti-Vietnam war activists, feminists (and live coverage of purported bra-burning demonstrations), kids lib, early Firesign Theater comedy, and complete-album music overnight. It refused to stop playing Janis Ian's song about interracial relationships "Society's Child".[citation needed] Extensive daily coverage of the Vietnam war included the ongoing body count and innumerable anti-war protests.[citation needed]

WBAI played a major role in the evolution and development of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s.[7] Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" was first broadcast on Radio Unnameable, Bob Fass' freeform radio program on WBAI, a program which itself in many ways created, explored, and defined the possibilities of the form.[8] The station covered the 1968 seizure of the Columbia University campus live and uninterrupted.[citation needed] With its signal reaching nearly 70 miles beyond New York City, its reach and influence, both direct and indirect, were significant.[citation needed] Among the station's weekly commentators in the 1960s were author Ayn Rand, British politician/playwright Sir Stephen King-Hall, and author Dennis Wholey.[citation needed] The 1964 Political conventions were "covered" satirically on WBAI by Severn Darden, Elaine May, Burns and Schreiber, David Amram, Julie Harris, Taylor Mead, and members of The Second City improvisational group.[citation needed] The station, under Music Directors John Corigliano, Ann McMillan and, later Eric Salzman, aired an annual 23-hour nonstop presentation of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, as recorded at the Bayreuth Festival the year before, and produced live studio performances of emerging artists in its studios.[citation needed] Interviews with prominent figures in literature and the arts, as well as original dramatic productions and radio adaptations were also regular program offerings.[citation needed]

1970s

In 1970, Kathy Dobkin, Milton Hoffman, and Francie Camper produced an unprecedented, critically acclaimed 4 1/2 day round-the-clock reading of Tolstoy's War And Peace.[citation needed] The epic novel was read cover to cover by more than 200 people—including a large number of international celebrities from various fields.[citation needed] Newsweek called this broadcast "one of the more mind-blowing 'firsts' in the history of the media". The complete reading (over 200 audio tapes) was the first Pacifica program to be selected for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Museum of Broadcasting in NYC.[citation needed]

Image
A poster in a WBAI broadcast booth warns radio broadcasters against using the seven dirty words.

In 1973, the station broadcast comedian George Carlin's iconic Filthy Words routine uncensored. WBAI's broadcast of Filthy Words became a landmark moment in the history of free speech. In a 1978 milestone in the station's contentious and unruly history, WBAI lost a 5-to-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision (FCC v. Pacifica Foundation) that to this day has defined the power of the government over broadcast material it calls indecent.[9]

In 1974 WBAI program director Marnie Mueller asked Charles Ruas to become director of arts programming.[citation needed] Thus the station, already at the forefront of the counterculture and anti-war protest, also became a platform for New York’s avant-garde in theater, music, performance, art, and poetry.[citation needed] When the downtown avant-garde opera A Letter to Queen Victoria by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson opened at the Metropolitan Opera, the station was right there to tape excerpts in rehearsals for broadcast.[citation needed]

Ruas initiated a year-long series on Marguerite Young’s epic novel Miss MacIntosh, My Darling. These readings were transformed into performances by Rob Wynne, who scored them with a complex collage of sound effects, music, and opera. The participants included Anaïs Nin, Marian Seldes, Alice Playten, H.M. Koutoukas, Leo Lerman, Michael Wager, Novella Nelson, Osceola Macarthy Adams, Owen Dodson, Wyatt Emory Cooper, Michael Higgins, Anne Fremantle, Peggy Cass, Ruth Ford, Earle Hyman and Daisy Alden.[10]

When William Burroughs returned to the United States from Tangier, Ruas invited him to present a retrospective of all his works.[citation needed] The series consisted of four programs, beginning with Junkie and followed by The Yage Letters, read by Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg, The Last Words of Dutch Schultz, and, finally, Naked Lunch.[citation needed] Bill Kortum oversaw this series as well as retrospectives of the works of Jerzy Kosinski and Donald Barthelme, co-produced with Judith Sherman, the station's music director.[citation needed]

A semester of Allen Ginsberg's poetry seminar held at the Naropa Institute in Colorado was presented by Ruas, and for many years the station covered the annual New Year’s Eve celebratory poetry marathon at St. Mark’s Church.[citation needed] The day the Vietnam War ended, poet Muriel Rukeyser came to the station to read her poem on peace.[citation needed]

Ruas inaugurated the Audio Experimental Theater, a series presenting the works of avant-garde artists: Meredith Monk, Yvonne Rainer, Ed Bowes, Michael Newman, Joan Schwartz, Benjamin Folkman, Vito Acconci, Charles Ludlum, Jacques Levy, Willoughby Sharp, John Cage, Robert Wilson, Philip Glass, Richard Foreman, and Joan Jonas.[citation needed]

In drama, the station defended Tennessee Williams against his critics during the last years of his life by covering his Memoirs and broadcasting a production of Two-Character Play.[citation needed] Other dramatists whose works were featured included Jean-Claude van Itallie, Richard Scheckner, Andrei Serban, and Elizabeth Swados.[citation needed]

Ruas initiated interview programs featuring nonfiction writers discussing their fields of expertise—Buckminster Fuller, Thor Heyerdahl, Ed Sanders, Jonathan Kozol and Nigel Nicholson.[citation needed]

Each of the arts had weekly coverage.[citation needed] Courtney Callender’s Getting Around covered the cultural scene.[citation needed] Moira Hudson was the dance critic.[citation needed] The visual arts critics were John Perreault, Cindy Nemser, Liza Baer, Joe Giordano, Judith Vivell, Kenneth Koch, and Les Levine.[citation needed]

Susan Howe produced a weekly poetry program presenting the works of John Ashbery, W.S. Merwin, Maureen Owen, Charles Reznikoff, Rebecca Wright, Ron Padgett, Carter Ratcliff, John Hollander, Anne Waldman, Helen Adam, Audre Lorde, Michael Brownstein, Mary Ferrari, and Muriel Rukeyser.[citation needed] She also produced specials featuring William Carlos Williams, V. R. Lang, Jack Spicer, Louise Bogan, Paul Metcalf, Jonathan Williams, Harry Mathews, and James Laughlin.[citation needed] John Giorno presented his 5-part series Dial-a-Poem Poets.[citation needed]

For a few years WBAI became a cultural force as these programs were disseminated nationally through the Pacifica Network.[citation needed]

In 1977, there was a major internal crisis at WBAI which resulted in the loss of the physical space of the station. WBAI was located in a former church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. For many years WBAI had believed it was exempt from New York City real estate taxes as an "educational" institution, but in March 1977 the City Tax Commission denied that status[11] and WBAI eventually sold the church (which it owned) to pay the back taxes. WBAI signed a new lease for the 19th floor (the former Caedmon Records office/studio) plus one office on another floor of an office building at 505 8th Avenue on the West Side of Manhattan.

Turmoil and change

After the events in 1977, the station began a shift to a more profound international direction. In 1980, Caribbean immigrant and Marxist activist Samori Marksman was hired as WBAI Program Director and with his ascension, there was more of a focus on international issues and the promotion of people of color to the WBAI staff which caused grumbling among long time white and Jewish progressives who felt they were being pushed out of the station. In 1983, Marksman abruptly left for the Caribbean island of Grenada to participate in a new government - a government that was thwarted by the US invasion of Grenada in October 1983.

In 1986, gay activist John Scagliotti became program director and he initiated many program changes and still more long-time programmers left the station. Scagliotti tried to professionalize the programming and smooth out the rougher edges of existing shows. During his tenure, several producers received accolades for their efforts including Robert Knight who won a Polk Award for his show "Contragate", future program director and Station Manager Valerie Van Isler won awards for her role in the film, "The Panama Deception" and award-winning producer and host Amy Goodman began her career under Scagliotti. Samori Marksman returned to WBAI in the early 90's and in 1994, he was hired again as WBAI's Program Director and during his five-year tenure, WBAI achieved significant progress in listenership and fundraising. Marksman founded "Democracy Now" in 1996, the award-winning program now helmed by Amy Goodman. Marksman was deeply-connected to the Caribbean and African diaspora and his own program "Behind The News" focused on international and national issues from a black nationalist and Marxist perspective. Marksman was profoundly loved by a broad cross section of the WBAI audience and staff and his shocking and sudden death from a massive heart attack on March 23, 1999 was a wound to the station that lasted for years. Over 3,000 people attended his funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.

Shortly before the death of Samori Marksman and following years of complaints about the outdated and filthy studios at 505 Eighth Avenue in New York, WBAI moved to new studios at 120 Wall Street in the Financial District in Manhattan in June 1998. After the death of Marksman, there was profound uncertainty and an explosion of pent-up feelings and resentments that was suppressed by Marksman and Mario Murillo, the Public Affairs director. Utrice Leid, a popular Caribbean radio host and producer had expected to succeed Marksman but was denied the post by then General Manager Valerie Van Isler. This led to an intense battle between various factions inside and outside the station and with The Pacifica Foundation, the parent company of WBAI. The culmination of this conflict was the "Christmas Coup" in December 2000 when a faction led by Leid, padlocked the station and took control of the airwaves and started an on-air and off-air war that lasted for several years. Some senior WBAI staffers, including General Manager Van Isler, were fired immediately. Van Isler, in particular, was blamed for the early death of Marksman. In 1994, Van Isler initially refused to hire Marksman, claiming Marksman had a mediocre credit report, then later in his tenure, refused to give him a salary increase. The autocratic and unpopular Van Isler also vigorously fought former staffers from obtaining unemployment benefits, including Bill Wells, the former WBAI Chief Engineer, who had a disability.

In late 2012 WBAI suffered extensive damages to their offices following the events of Hurricane Sandy.[12] The Manhattan offices saw flooding reach the second floor, trapping seven staffers inside, and the telephone systems being disabled. The devastation by Sandy occurred in the midst of fundraising efforts, which ultimately prevented WBAI from acquiring the necessary funds to remain operational. As a result of funding and operational difficulties, WBAI announced in 2013 it would be moving out of those studios to temporary studios of WHCR-FM located in Harlem, a station operated by City College of New York (CUNY).[13][12]

Lynne Rosen and John Littig, co-hosts of the monthly show The Pursuit of Happiness, were found dead on June 3, 2013, after committing suicide in their Park Slope home.[14]

In June 2013 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting suspended payments to WBAI citing accounting irregularities and a failure by the station to meet its financial obligations.[15] Layoff notices effective July 15 were subsequently issued to the station's staff and management.[16][17]

On August 9, 2013, Pacifica management announced that due to financial problems, WBAI was laying off about two-thirds of its staff, effective August 12, 2013. The entire news department was laid off.[18] Summer Reese, the interim executive director of the Pacifica Foundation, which owns WBAI, said that after talks with SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents broadcasting talent, "we will be laying off virtually everyone whose voice you recognize on the air," effective Monday. She corrected that and announced the final number was 19 out of the station's 29 employees, about 66 percent. Andrew Phillips, the former general manager of another of Pacifica's five stations, KPFA in Berkeley, California, was appointed WBAI's interim program director. The New York Times reported[19] that the station owes $2 million in broadcast fees to Democracy Now! alone, while cash on hand was just $23,000.

In March 2014 there were assorted rumors that the station will be sold or leased or moved, in whole or in part (including their equipment and antenna at the Empire State Building[20]) after contentions and firings both at WBAI and at Pacifica headquarters.[21]

On December 17, 2014 the California State Attorney General opened a full and formal investigation into the Pacifica Radio Foundation, owner of WBAI, with respect to its alleged irregularities as to its finances, violations of California law with respect to nonprofit organizations, and violations of its own bylaws.

In 2015 WBAI moved to new studios and offices at 388 Atlantic Avenue in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn.

On October 4, 2017 the court rejected WBAI’s pleadings as ill-founded and granted the Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) a summary judgement, in the amount of $1.8m plus attorney’s fees, immediately, for the monies due through the initial filing date of late 2016. ESRT was awarded with an additional $600k for the lease through the date of the court’s ruling and obligations of approximately $50k+ per month through lease expiry in 2020, also remaining in place.[22][23] A further settlement was announced on April 6, 2018, releasing WBAI from the court judgment and its obligation to continuing leasing the Empire State tower into 2020, with tentative plans for a new transmitter at 4 Times Square.[24]

Notable alumni

• Margot Adler
• Chris Albertson
• LaShonda Katrice Barnett
• Elombe Brath
• Neal Conan
• John Corigliano
• Larry Cox
• Bob Fass
• John Fisk
• Joe Frank
• Ira Gitler
• Amy Goodman
• Joanne Grant
• Jeff Greenfield
• Nat Hentoff
• Doug Henwood
• Susan Howe
• Jimmy Howes
• Larry Josephson
• Citizen Kafka
• Alen Pol Kobryn
• Dave Lambert
• Julius Lester
• Al Lewis
• Tom Leykis
• John Lithgow
• Leonard Lopate
• Marian McPartland
• Henry Morgan
• Dan Morgenstern
• Steve Post
• Nanette Rainone
• Ayn Rand
• David Rapkin
• Charles Ruas
• Eric Salzman
• Lynn Samuels
• Baird Searles
• Gunther Schuller
• A. B. Spellman
• Dick Sudhalter
• Mickey Waldman
• Manoli Wetherell

References

1. WABF (FM) Broadcasting - Telecasting. October 27, 1947. pg. 48.
2. CALL LETTERS ASSIGNED Broadcasting - Telecasting. July 4, 1955. pg. 83.
3. "RADIO: WBAI in the Sky". Time Magazine. January 25, 1960. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
4. Christopher H. Sterling; Cary O'Dell (12 April 2010). The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio. Routledge. pp. 551–. ISBN 978-1-135-17684-6.
5. Collins, Glenn (June 25, 2008). "The Station That Dared to Defend Carlin's "7 Words" Looks Back". The NYTimes. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
6. "Voice of the Cabal". Newyorker.com. 2006-12-04. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
7. Collins, Glenn (June 25, 2008). "The Station That Dared to Defend Carlin's "7 Words" Looks Back". The NYTimes. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
8. Active Radio: Pacifica's Brash Experiment. U of Minnesota Press. 1999. p. 116. ISBN 0-8166-3157-3. Retrieved 2012-02-23.
9. Collins, Glenn (June 25, 2008). "The Station That Dared to Defend Carlin's '7 Words' Looks Back". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
10. "Marguerite Young: Miss MacIntosh, My Darling". clocktower.org. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
11. "WBAI‐FM May Sell Its Studio". The New York Times. November 26, 1977. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
12. Matthew Lasar (11 February 2013). "Volunteers needed to help WBAI in NYC move to City College station". Radio Survivor. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
13. Matthew Lasar (11 July 2013). "CPB on WBAI: the good news is that we are talking, but . ." Radio Survivor. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
14. "Co-hosts of radio show 'The Pursuit of Happiness' committed suicide". NY Daily News. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
15. CPB Holds Back Funds From Pacifica As WBAI Is Late On Payroll And Antenna Payments All Access, June 20, 2013
16. WBAI Lays Off Entire Staff Lance Venta. Radio Insight, June 20, 2013
17. End Times for WBAI in New York City? Matthew Lasar, Radio Survivor, June 21, 2013
18. Ben Sisario (August 11, 2013). ""WBAI-FM Lays Off Most of Staff"". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
19. Ben Sisario (August 20, 2013). ""Democracy May Prove the Doom of WBAI"". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
20. "WBAI To Be Evicted From Empire State Building", Lance Venta, Radio Insight, 2014 June 24
21. "WBAI Actually Being Sold?", Radio Insight Forum, 2015-05-17
22. Real Estate Weekly
23. Current
24. Pacifica Settles NYC Tower Dispute, Radio World, 6 April 2018, Wikidata Q62625503

External links

• Official website
• Station History & Current Affairs
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WBAI
• Radio-Locator information on WBAI
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WBAI
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Re: Freda Bedi, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sat Jun 22, 2019 6:07 am

Louis J. Schweitzer Dead; Founder of Vera Institute
by Laurie Johnston
New York Times
September 21, 1971

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Louis J. Schweitzer, who as founder of the Vera Institute of Justice was instrumental in obtaining reforms of the bailbond system and other court procedures, died of a heart attack Sunday aboard the liner France while returning from Europe. He was 72 years old.

Mr. Schweitzer and his wife, Lucille Lortel, the Off Broadway theatrical producer, had spent several weeks off Antibes, France, aboard a boat owned by his brother, M. Peter Schweitzer of Lawrence, L.I.

The Russian‐born philanthropist was once described as having “a love affair with the Bill of Rights,” especially the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits excessive bail.

Backed by a family fortune made in the cigarette‐paper business, Mr. Schweitzer contributed some $2‐million to experiments designed to break bottlenecks and reduce case loads in the criminal courts. The emphasis was on avoiding long waits in jail for the accused, especially petty offenders, before their cases were brought to trial.

President Lyndon B. Johnson invited Mr. Schweitzer to witness his signing of the Bail Reform Act of 1966, calling the work of the Vera Institute an example of what “one man's outrage against injustice” could do.

Bought Theater in '54

Mr. Schweitzer bought the Theater de Lys in Greenwich Village in 1954 as a 24th wedding anniversary gift for his wife and with her created the White Barn Theater on their estate in Westport, Conn.

In 1957 he bought radio station WBAI in New York because he wanted to hear the kind of music he enjoyed and because he disapproved of commercials. He donated the station to the Pacific Foundation in 1959 but continued his financial support.

Along the way Mr. Schweitzer acquired a reputation for whimsical as well as significant giving.

He paid $17,000 for a New York City taxi medallion for a gray Mercedes‐Benz, splitting the daytime profits with a cab driver also named Louis Schweitzer, to guarantee his wife late‐night transportation from the theater. He also bought ner a gondola in Venice and a houseboat in Florida and purchased for his favorite barber the shop where he worked—so Mr. Schweitzer could have his fringe of hair trimmed after hours.

“Sure, I'm eccentric,” he once said, with a smile and a shrug. “If you're poor, you're only crazy.”

Mr. Schweitzer first set up the Vera Foundation, named for his mother, in 1961 after a friend told him there were “2,000 boys who had been in a Brooklyn, jail 10 months or more just waiting for trial.”

Mr. Schweitzer didn't believe it and went to see for himself. “When I saw that jail I was appalled,” he said later.

He wanted at first to lend bail money to those too poor to raise it. But with the help of the New York University Law School, and with Herbert Sturz as executive director, the Vera Foundation began the Manhattan Bail Project, supplying judges with facts about defendants and recommending for or against their release without bond.

Of the thousands released during a three‐year experiment, only a small number failed to appear for trial on schedule. In 1964 the city took over the procedure from Vera, extending to all five boroughs.

The foundation became the Vera Institute in 1966 when Burke Marshall, former assistant attorney general for civil rights, became chairman of the board to administer a $1.1 million grant from the Ford Foundation.

Since then Vera, with the help of a Federal grant, conducted another three‐year experiment, now taken over by the city, to delay prosecution of first and petty offenders who remain in a job program. It also conducts a $500,000 program to channel Bowery alcoholics and other derelicts into medical care.

Mr. Schweitzer was born in the Ukraine on Feb. 5, 1899, and was brought to this country at the age of 4.

Here, his father's company, Peter J. Schweitzer, Inc., manufactured paper for many of the leading cigarette brands. After buying a Subsidiary of the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company, it operated 18 cigarette‐paper machines, the largest of which had a capacity for 48‐billion cigarettes a month The Schweitzer firm was merged with Kimberly‐Clark in 1955. The younger Schweitzer was president.

Mr. Schweitzer graduated from the University of Maine as a chemical engineer in 1919 and continued his studies at the University of Grenoble, France.

He established a $20,000 fund to endow the Meyer Berger Awards in journalism, honoring his friend who was a New York Times reporter and columnist until his death in 1959.

In New York Mr. and Mrs. Schweitzer lived in an apartment at the Sherry‐Netherland Hotel. They had no children.

In addition to his brother, he is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Herman Leffert of Palm Beach, Fla., and Mrs. Sidney Licht of Hartford.

Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, former United States Attorney General and an associate of the Vera Institute, and Rabbi Edward Sandrow will be speakers at a funeral service Thursday at 10 A.M. at Frank E. Campbell's, Madison Avenue at 81st Street.

A version of this archives appears in print on September 21, 1971, on Page 40 of the New York edition with the headline: Louis J. Schweitzer Dead; Founder of Vera Institute.
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