Patrick M. Pilon's Page

What attracted you to become a member?

Theoretical to the practical . . . In other words, the Transition movement is a great opportunity for philosophers/thinkers to make ideas, realities. This is the beginning of something of profound values, for me that is: true commonsense. «Commonsense» which has been forgotten for the benefit of few: the capital accumulation of multinational corporations. In other words, what has attracted me is the reappropriation of agriculture by and for the people.

And many other aspects...

If you are from the Ottawa area, in what neighbourhood area do you live (i.e. Nepean, Centre Town, Glebe, Vanier, etc.)

East of Ottawa

Would you like to be part of a transition initiative in your neighbourhood?

Yes

What issues are you interested in (Check as many as apply)?

Local food resilience, Alternative vehicles, Solar/wind energy, Community building, Public transport, Reskilling, Joyous simple living

What are your skills (Professional and amateur)?

Professional or amateur, I do not know... I’m presently in the process of «finishing» master degree in criminology. However, the question of crime or deviance is not my point of interest, on the contraire, my main focus is the creation of the normal in a (neo)liberal society. Being very critical of my discipline, I tend to critique its main object of research (deviance); an object that is presented by the dominant structures of our society.

The present title of my thesis is: The (neo)liberal excess and its strategies of normalization : the case of biofuels (agrofuels). The main question of my thesis is how a (neo)liberal society manages to normalize his excess; the normalization of destructive behaviors that comprises the future of the world, and thus the future generation... I’m interested in how an «advanced» civilization like ours tends to normalize a «mal-être civilisationnel» in order to serve short term economics benefits. The case of agrofuels is certainly a vivid example...

What part would you like to contribute to this?

I would like to contribute by providing my ideas and my critical thinking. I believe that have great knowledge of key concept as globalization, «technologies énergétique», the concept of «commodification» of nature (privatization of basics human needs) and etc.

Furthermore, originally from the country and working on farm, I like to think that I’m good with my hands as well :-) Agriculture has occupied a great part of my life.

If you could create your ideal participation with Transition Ottawa, what would it be?

Coming form an academic/university background, I would like to have the opportunity to give presentations, or perhaps seminars on the maybe broader picture of the social structures that forges our reality on this planet.

Moreover, has we live in a construct reality; I firmly believe that our civilization has the opportunity to change his own representation of the world. In that sense, a change of paradigm his certainly needed (including the way we think agriculture). The deconstruction of discourse in order to create new idealisms because discourses create realities