Though not extremely young, I'm not a "retiree" and keep working for my tortillas, often struggli... more

Though not extremely young, I'm not a "retiree" and keep working for my tortillas, often struggling with kids 50 years younger than myself. But since a very long time, my interests lay elsewhere. Around 1964, I was making a living in Amsterdan and in The Hague, working in several architectural firms. But, "life was in the streets", in the form of the Provo movement that opposed the city's invasion by the Automobile. Amsterdam was then still called familiary Mokum, from the Hebrew makkom, the place, the refuge. It was Europe's last urban refuge for pedestrians. Yet our mayor, Mr van Hall, wanted a modern, automotive A'dam (as the city is often called on official papers). Provo was a youthfull movement of what I would call "protestanto-anarchism", heir of a tradition of theologians turned anarchists. It was in close contact with Brussel's "situationistes" (remember Guy Debord?) and the artisitc movement COBRA (COpenhague-BRussels-Amsterdam), a group of artists in rebellion against Paris's hegemony (remember Karel Appel, Lucebert, Constant?). Constant, the Cobra painter (real name Constant Nieuwenhuis) issued the "white plans" for the conservation of A´dam as pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly space. Luud Schimmelpenninck gave the project its practical character (the project goes on with Luud, as "Depo", see Google). At the same time, I was following a seminar on "moderne planologie" (city planning) with the famous professor Steigenga. Yet, what could a young architect with an interest in city planning or rather "urbanism" but no particular biais in favor of the car do in the mid 60's and motorizing 70's? I returned to Switzerland, my birth country, and ended up building banks (only 2) until I had paid some debts I had. Then I went to Mexico and never left the country. I first met Ivan Illich, who was then working on Energy and Equity, and had with him an ongoing conversation until his death. For a while, I worked on two books with the French economist and philosopher Jean-Pierre Dupuy. Then I met Gustavo Esteva, and made some journalism with him, while starting a dry toilet project that flies on its own wings since now 30 years. What else? I wrote other books, many articles. By now, I'm very engaged with Chiapas's neozapatistas and, in Mexico, with an ongoing seminar on "descrecimiento", the Spanish translation of La Décroissance, a movement initiated by Alain Caillé, Serge Latouche... Paul Ariès, that expresses itself in al least two publications: La Revue du M.A.U.S.S. (Paris) and La Décroissance (Lyon). I'm presently working on a "manifesto against the war on subsistence" that I wish I will be able to finish this month. There are some "editorial projects" in the air. I'm also attemting to organize an "Ivan Illich Seminar" at a French university. less