Geoff Lawton Guru or Charlatan?

Jamal Al Dean AKA Geoff Lawton & his current wife Nadia

A little known fact about Geoff Lawton is that he made his cash in the 1980 s from !rowin! and sellin! mari"uana on the #unshine $oast of %ueensland& Australia' A number of (ears& )ro)erties and wi*es later& that same cash )aid +in )art, for the )urchase of his current home& -a(tuna farm' .an( mi!ht consider that this use of /)ot mone(0 was a )ositi*e outcome& which )erha)s would be the case if it were not for Lawton s )resent da(& h()ocritical& holier than thou& anti1mari"uana rhetoric'

#indhu 2ebber teachin! Nadia s 3D$ in Jordan

4n 5001& Lawton and his now e61wife #indhu 2ebber& )urchased Di*ersit( farm& now -a(tuna farm +the name chan!ed with the wife,' #indhu was Geoff s )artner and "oint facilitator durin! the establishment of the /Greenin! the Desert0 )ro"ect and also Nadia Lawton s teacher on her initial 3D$ in Jordan'

After se*eral (ears of )h(sical and )s(cholo!ical abuse& #indhu ended u) in a battered woman7s refu!e in Lismore& N#2' 3er*ersel( it was durin! this time that Lawton returned to Jordan and married #indhu s student& the (oun! di*orcee Nadia' #ince then& all references of #indhu ha*e been erased from the annals of 384 histor(' .an( )eo)le includin! current students are )ur)osefull( miss1!uided to belie*e& that it was in fact Geoff and Nadia who established the ori!inal )ro"ect in Jordan& nothin! could be further from the truth' 9or a number of (ears a !ood )ercenta!e of 384 s )rofits ha*e been :uietl( filtered to Nadia s famil( in Jordan& who now& with new friends in the Jordanian 8o(al famil(& en"o( a lifest(le of relati*e lu6ur( in a sea of surroundin! )o*ert(' ;he Jordanian 3ermaculture 4nstitute is sim)l( (et another /co)( and )aste0 384 website& the whole thin! is a mone( launderin! scam to )ri*atel( finance Nadia s famil('

9rom left to ri!ht< Lesle( =(rne& 3rincess =asma bint Ali& Nadia& Geoff and Latifa Lawton& in Amman& Jordan

.eanwhile back at -a(tuna farm& students are obli!ed to share one filth( bathroom with u) to >0 other )eo)le and are chided as s)oiled 2esterners& should the( dare to com)lain' ;he chea)est& lowest :ualit( home brand su)ermarket )roducts are )urchased for student use& not onl( food items but also non1biode!radable& to6ic cleanin! )roducts and chea) bleached toilet tissue'

?ome brand )roducts for student use at 384

;here is *er( little in the wa( of )eo)le care at -a(tuna& students are treated as cattle& their worth to the institute e:uates to little more than the mone( the( )ut in the 384 coffers' $onsensus& feedback or an( kind of o)en democratic )rocess are fer*entl( discoura!ed' Lawton and his wife are the sole dictators of what is ultimatel( a )urel( )rofit dri*en e6ercise' ;he blatant lack of ethics is not merel( confined to -a(tuna itself' $rai! .ackintosh +Lawton s c(ber la) do!,& des)ite es)ousin! hi!h moral !round on sub"ects such as frackin!& is sus)iciousl( :uiet when it comes to the fact of coal seam !as e6)loration bein! undertaken "ust a few kilometres from -atuna farm' Local !rou)s ha*e been acti*el( o))osin! this for some time& without a sin!le word of reco!nition or su))ort& let alone action from the /so called0 3ermaculture 8esearch 4nstitute'

Drill ri! "ust a few kilometres from -a(tuna farm

$rai! .ackintosh is a )articularl( sus)ect character@ durin! one of his *isits to -a(tuna& he refused to sta( on site or eat an( farm food& )referrin! to eat "unk food from the local )ub +)robabl( better than what the( ser*e at -a(tuna an(wa(,' .r .ackintosh also has some *er( dubious connections in the mainstream media& not to mention his constant )raise of the warmon!erin! Abama administration' 4nfidels are treated as such at -a(tuna farm and )referential treatment is !i*en to the /!ood .uslim0 brothers and sisters' Des)ite this blatant ine:ualit(& non1.uslim students are still re:uired to to ado)t a twisted *ersion of #haria law durin! their sta( at -a(tuna& lon! slee*es and )ants are re:uired to be worn at all times +e*en when swimmin!,' ?owe*er the #haria dress code seems to sto) short of .rs Nadia Lawton& who is often seen )aradin! around in skin ti!ht "eans and a neon )ink head scarfB Ane #haria law for them and another one for usC There is no place for suspect ethics, religious fanaticism and prejudice in permaculture! Boycott PRI and Geoff Lawton on!t "uy his #ideos, attend his courses or #isit his we"site and forum and pass this on to e#eryone you $now in the permaculture world%

Below is a letter written to Geoff Lawton from one of his many disgruntled students: Dear Geoff ''4 have been reflecting on the PDC I attended in January and have some feedback with an intention to help you and any future PDCs held at the Zaytuna Research Institute !irstly I would like to comment that the food provided was unsatisfactory and certainly not to the standard I e"pected especially with the anticipation of residing on a Permaculture site and certainly did not match the description in the course outline #ot only were the portions very small and participants often left hungry$ but none of the ingredients aside from cucumbers$ sweet potato$ Portuguese spinach and the odd pumpkin were grown on the site and most of the ingredients bought were not organic but bought from the local supermarkets %his was very disappointing&& 'aving a passion for food myself I often helped in the kitchen with the preparation of meals and twice cooked a dinner time meal I was unable to find any parsley$ basil or oregano in the gardens %hese simple herbs grow wild in most gardens and in my suburban plot in ((((( I have Parsley and )asil plants growing out of the cracks in my concrete drive and the oregano and thyme I have to slash back it grows so vigorously with no maintenance at all I found this disappointing *y view of a Permaculture garden was one of abundance and variety but I did not find this the case on Zaytuna +es I am aware of cycles of plants and seasons but found the bare necessities unavailable +es I am also aware that the site is an institute and that you have many ine"perienced people helping and making mistakes but I find that a poor e"cuse for the scarcity of the )asics I feel there is a ,carcity mentality within the Institute and one of$ you should be grateful for what you get !or a - thousand dollar plus course I did have an e"pectation to have a decent budget set aside for food .n one occasion I arrived late for )reakfast and found the coffee had run out I approached the kitchen for more coffee and was asked if it was my first or second cup&& I found that very offensive&& on reply that I had not had a coffee another pot was made I also found the note above the dinner table offensive$ /uoting0 1Permaculture is about thinking of others please take a small amount of fruit salad1 2 I often helped prepare the fruit salad in the mornings and was astounded that such a small amount of fruit was to be shared amongst 34 People&& 53 )ananas$ 6 #ectarines$ 7 .ranges$7 Carrots$ 7 8pples9 I was even asked to chop it super fine so it would go further&&

I personally costed out the breakfast meal which most of the time was Porridge and !ruit ,alad and it worked out to no more than :; <= a head %his is appalling&& .n another occasion I offered to break the monotony of the same thing and asked #adia if I could make some )anana )read ,he said that there was no more money in the )udget to buy e"tra ingredients and that she was already using her own money to buy things as the budget had run out&&>>>> Rubbish&& %o help out$ I cooked %wo other meals during the two weeks the first meal a Risotto )ake and the second a Japanese Curry )oth meals the participants and woofers and staff were able to help themselves to seconds and even thirds and still some left over for the ne"t day and both meals did not cost more that :- <= per head&& !or the Japanese Curry I had to buy some ingredients myself and at the end of the course I presented #adia with the receipts and offered to do a Contra for a D?D on soils and she responded0 1#e"t time ask me before you go and buy anything1 I was ,'.C@AD and left speechless not a thank you not any acknowledgement for the efforts I went to but rather reprimanded for not asking permission %he receipt by the way was for :3< == I did bring the issue around the portions of the food up one morning during class but felt e"cuses were given and no validity taken to the concerns raised and nothing really changed )y the way$ I was not the only one who felt that way$ nearly all participants after thanked me for seeking as most of them were too scared to speak themselves Just this fact alone is not a good result where people are too afraid to talk&& %he care factor is B.C&& that is obvious from the talk from the people within the institution and the rapid turn over of staff I also felt your opening line for the course telling the participants$1if they want to use drugs to do them outside the gate and leave there needles and pot at the gate1 to be callous and insensitive& I appreciate that the institute is a drug free Done but find it hypocritical that most of your staff are stoned anyway +our delivery shows little sensitivity and as I spoke to you on the course$ Permaculture alone will not solve the problems of the world but rather how we deal with each other and that the macro is Eust a reflection of the micro I feel you should also make it clear in your course outline that Zaytuna is a *uslim site 'ad I known$ I personally would not have attended #ot that I have any preEudice towards *uslims but rather do not want to be controlled by e"treme Religious beliefs and have to swim with a shirt on I also feel that it would be useful to run courses according to the levels of

e"perience of the participants I found the course at times slow and laborious *ore humility and less time hearing about your stories and how great you are and more time spent on the content and the time allocated to the final presentation would have been helpful @indest Regards (((( ((((((( 5names of individuals F places withheld9

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