Small And Local

 A Friend gave us a talk on Nicaragua.

Nicaragua has had one godawful government after another- going back to the Conqistadors. The current government- run by Daniel Ortega's wife (Ortega himself is a sick man and essentially out of the picture)- has shut down the press, gaoled political opponents, exiled the lefty Catholic priests and let in the Chinese and the US Evangelicals. Our friend was working on a progressive project which survives by staying small, staying local and keeping its head down....

Incidentally, I think staying small and local is the way of the future- the way to stay hopeful, sane and creative.  Keeping one's head down maybe not so much, though inceasingly it seems to be the way of things- even in so-called liberal democracies like the UK as weak and fearful governments inflate themselves and inflate themselves and take up more and more space....

Endings

The Dom Cafe- where the Death Cafe met- has closed. It's a pity. It was a good cafe- but Eastbourne has a lot of pizza and pasta joints and if yours isn't positioned on a street the holiday-makers use you're going to struggle. The people who have bought the shop are planning to open it as a Persian restaurant in a few months time- and this, being niche, may find a steadier clientele.

The organisers of Death Cafe haven't found another venue and since they were both planning to retire at the end of the year this could be the end of it. The June Meeting has already been cancelled. If the Persians are willing to continue as hosts we may get in two or three more sessions- but there's no sign that they are. Ailz and I could have taken over at this point and worked on giving the project a future but our limited energies are fully engaged elsewhere....