Thought this might get some youthful creative juices flowing, in light of the increasingly intense situations happening in solidarity with the youth of Greece. Wrote this short creative approach in a comment on another blog and thought, hey maybe I ought to put it here!
For those who can give themselves permission to do something beyond mere reaction to authority's routine rigidized alienation. And in light of the realities of nonlethal warfare already leveled upon us all...
Imagine radicalized humor projected into such situations. This isn't to say that we allow authoritarians to trample us in other ways, by the way. But telling jokes which "bowl over" the human beings who are being tooled by their professions has an interesting and most excellently human impact.
Escaping the duality-stuck methodology of pretty much "normalized" ways of experiencing authoritarian challenge is my intent here. Why completely subordinate to so-called "tried and true" ways of movement building when it's obvious that these partially important truths are deeply lacking. And for those who believe I must be a major greenhorn, I've personally used such techniques, in a much more primitive scale, in "hairy" situations, and found surprising openings for such creativity.
The rest is up to your imagination, i.e. in how to carry such out.
My thought is, say you are faced with unleashed martial mindsets which are deploying for a sweep upon your home territory, a "humor mine" is tripped.
Someone could make such a "humor mine" that is tripped, remotely or automatically, beyond the group under direct management technique (one getting out of hand, especially). Then no author would be easily located, and such nonviolent "mines" could plague the unwitting war-minded. Including with much loudness.
Why not take this idea and run? Maybe at least play with it while you're doing your sit-ins or whatever. See how fun things can get when you use your creative imagination?!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
the Visionary Report: post-election action honoring indigenous HEART
Lastnight, after Barack Obama's Presendential win, I ventured out in a spontaneous silent, yet confrontive solo action to call attention to one paradigm usually silenced during election hype and hoopla: indigenous spirit, aka the people whose land we walk upon every day and whose resources and lives we have taken "legally"...
After I heard that Obama won the Presidency here in the u.s.a. I decided to do a spontaneous solo action where I walked about 2 miles around a particularly liberal neighborhood, stood at corners, and basically called attention to a paradigm beyond politics and the usual attending hype.
I did this as also a way to honor and help folks *not forget* the aboriginal-indigenous peoples of the world (including all of us as descendants of tribes and the values and ways of seeing we're usually taught not to think of as crucial).
Basically I walked around only about 2 miles (it was quite late in the evening already), first stopping in at a place I had been told that some of my two-spirit friends were watching the presidential proceedings. I thought for sure I was too late, but it turned out I had made it just before the end, and got to listen a little, and was actually moved by Obama when he echoed MLKj's words from decades ago. Making a silent presence "heard" there for awhile, I then decided to spontaneously walk around.
It was then that I felt that I should not merely walk on obediently on the sidewalk. So I began walking against traffic, knowing full well that the local cops might give me shit or worse. But I felt there was an opening more than usual, being that this was the immediate aftermath of all the giddiness of the surprise win (I think it WAS a surprise to many; I certainly was surprised).
Next I began standing for semi-long periods at various busy intersections. I was holding a prayer stick i've been making for many months now from birdfeathers I've come across on my path; this I think made a difference in distinguishing me from "some crazy drunk" to someone actually trying to "say something"; though no inquiries were made. Then again, I had my eyes closed (when I stood still) and had no sign. Only the prayer stick in my left hand and a single feather in my right.
When stopped, I kept my eyes closed as I said, and did not respond to passerby; i was actually "praying" silently to myself in a kind of meditation and paradigm-shift listening; going into an alternate paradigm, hearing the machines as though they were all lawn mowers... Fear was also with me as well as through my fears of being there and doing such a thing at all.
No one "organized" me out here; I was once again** out "in the unknown" on my own inititative...after quite a long hiatus. (**my last real actions were in 2001-2003, which you can read about at: www.angelfire.com/folk/magixnartz/flouggindex.html )
The local liberals here were driving around sounding their horns and resonating their voices, sometimes on bicycles (in one case, a parade of bikes, which I heard only, keeping my eyes closed) and on foot, all in relieved happiness (there was quite a tension around Portland,OR here as the voting day came). Lots of FEAR in the air.
While I realize that my particular spontaneous action of sorts could have been even better, creatively, I feel like it was "at least something" to possibly bring attention to those paradigms often forgotten and swept aside during "normal politics" today. Since I carried my prayerstick, with various feathers sticking outside of it, I reasoned that passerby would understand the basic thrust I was seeking to "get accross", even without words.
A better action would have been a widely coordinated one made up of singles dressed in their various indigenous regalias (Euro included), showing their serious faces all over the u.s.a. (especially in liberal enclaves). Perhaps this is something to "run with" in brainstorming ways to "possibly reach" people otherwise focused elsewhere (i.e. beyond politics). I recall the Cacaphony Society's action (as reported on in the 1990s zine "Shit Happy") where clowns were picked up at every other bus stop along a route in a large city. Imagine going further with that one!
And while I accept that this action was certainly not "radical" i still found myself, at my age in my 40s, being somewhat afraid; because I did worry about when/if the cops would show up and whether I'd be arrested or even tasered (I've read too many stories of trigger-happy taserers); so there is a fear associated with speaking up *at all* outside of the Given confines...But I resolved in my head that whatever happened it would be worth it...even though I have no real support network, or anything, really. And, anyway, what out-of-balance cop would be looking for trouble on such a night as this, anyway? Likely they had their hands full enough with angry conservatives...
I did see a cop car at one time, near an intersection I was coming to; and I actually HURRIED towards that intersection! Fearful, yet somehow emboldened.
Yes, yes, I know, I know, delusions of grandeur, and irrational glory!
But I wasn't merely standing on corners out of the roadway, or walking obediently on the sidewalk. I was actually walking *out in the street* on the street-side of parked cars! And the thought crossed my paranoid mind that I might be intentionally hit...at the same time thinking in my head that I was assisting in slowing down traffic on the two-lane, semi-busy roads, promoting late-night safety...while being a sort of presence outside of the dominant paradigm. Plus I had my yellow jacket on, with its bit of reflective tape. Though no mask (where in the past I had made one and wore it in many actions across country, along with signs and flyers I passed out).
If nothing else, the action was a weird "non-sequitor"; not "fitting in" with the "normal" Obama thing, yet not attacking such either. Merely a strange presence to folks so used to people who "fit in" to Given norms. Though I spoke up to a few passerby in the early part of the walk (about 2 miles in all), a few times about not forgetting on whose land they were walking upon and how that land was gotten, I resolved to remain silent most of the time.
At one place where I stood for at least a half hour (with my feet losing their feeling and my back starting to give me pain), a native-looking lady asked if I was alright, and the response that came from me first was that I was praying. Standing there, stoicly, eyes closed, prayer stick in left hand, raised half-way, and in my right hand, the single feather.
I half-expected cat-calls with sharpness from pained persons (reflecting them), but those who yelled out seemed mystified more than anything. A few carloads shouted encouraging whoops, and at one point the horn beeps seemed to be responding to my presence in particular.
Finally, I received a few whispers of input, visions I had been seeking. If there's any interest, I may share them, either here or on my visionary blog. re: visionaryhumanity.blogspot.com
I realize that this "action" wasn't much in terms of crucial input; but it was "something" and I just wanted to share it with you all.
For what it's worth...
(and WHAT DID YOU DO??? Do feel free to share here, if you like!)
After I heard that Obama won the Presidency here in the u.s.a. I decided to do a spontaneous solo action where I walked about 2 miles around a particularly liberal neighborhood, stood at corners, and basically called attention to a paradigm beyond politics and the usual attending hype.
I did this as also a way to honor and help folks *not forget* the aboriginal-indigenous peoples of the world (including all of us as descendants of tribes and the values and ways of seeing we're usually taught not to think of as crucial).
Basically I walked around only about 2 miles (it was quite late in the evening already), first stopping in at a place I had been told that some of my two-spirit friends were watching the presidential proceedings. I thought for sure I was too late, but it turned out I had made it just before the end, and got to listen a little, and was actually moved by Obama when he echoed MLKj's words from decades ago. Making a silent presence "heard" there for awhile, I then decided to spontaneously walk around.
It was then that I felt that I should not merely walk on obediently on the sidewalk. So I began walking against traffic, knowing full well that the local cops might give me shit or worse. But I felt there was an opening more than usual, being that this was the immediate aftermath of all the giddiness of the surprise win (I think it WAS a surprise to many; I certainly was surprised).
Next I began standing for semi-long periods at various busy intersections. I was holding a prayer stick i've been making for many months now from birdfeathers I've come across on my path; this I think made a difference in distinguishing me from "some crazy drunk" to someone actually trying to "say something"; though no inquiries were made. Then again, I had my eyes closed (when I stood still) and had no sign. Only the prayer stick in my left hand and a single feather in my right.
When stopped, I kept my eyes closed as I said, and did not respond to passerby; i was actually "praying" silently to myself in a kind of meditation and paradigm-shift listening; going into an alternate paradigm, hearing the machines as though they were all lawn mowers... Fear was also with me as well as through my fears of being there and doing such a thing at all.
No one "organized" me out here; I was once again** out "in the unknown" on my own inititative...after quite a long hiatus. (**my last real actions were in 2001-2003, which you can read about at: www.angelfire.com/folk/magixnartz/flouggindex.html )
The local liberals here were driving around sounding their horns and resonating their voices, sometimes on bicycles (in one case, a parade of bikes, which I heard only, keeping my eyes closed) and on foot, all in relieved happiness (there was quite a tension around Portland,OR here as the voting day came). Lots of FEAR in the air.
While I realize that my particular spontaneous action of sorts could have been even better, creatively, I feel like it was "at least something" to possibly bring attention to those paradigms often forgotten and swept aside during "normal politics" today. Since I carried my prayerstick, with various feathers sticking outside of it, I reasoned that passerby would understand the basic thrust I was seeking to "get accross", even without words.
A better action would have been a widely coordinated one made up of singles dressed in their various indigenous regalias (Euro included), showing their serious faces all over the u.s.a. (especially in liberal enclaves). Perhaps this is something to "run with" in brainstorming ways to "possibly reach" people otherwise focused elsewhere (i.e. beyond politics). I recall the Cacaphony Society's action (as reported on in the 1990s zine "Shit Happy") where clowns were picked up at every other bus stop along a route in a large city. Imagine going further with that one!
And while I accept that this action was certainly not "radical" i still found myself, at my age in my 40s, being somewhat afraid; because I did worry about when/if the cops would show up and whether I'd be arrested or even tasered (I've read too many stories of trigger-happy taserers); so there is a fear associated with speaking up *at all* outside of the Given confines...But I resolved in my head that whatever happened it would be worth it...even though I have no real support network, or anything, really. And, anyway, what out-of-balance cop would be looking for trouble on such a night as this, anyway? Likely they had their hands full enough with angry conservatives...
I did see a cop car at one time, near an intersection I was coming to; and I actually HURRIED towards that intersection! Fearful, yet somehow emboldened.
Yes, yes, I know, I know, delusions of grandeur, and irrational glory!
But I wasn't merely standing on corners out of the roadway, or walking obediently on the sidewalk. I was actually walking *out in the street* on the street-side of parked cars! And the thought crossed my paranoid mind that I might be intentionally hit...at the same time thinking in my head that I was assisting in slowing down traffic on the two-lane, semi-busy roads, promoting late-night safety...while being a sort of presence outside of the dominant paradigm. Plus I had my yellow jacket on, with its bit of reflective tape. Though no mask (where in the past I had made one and wore it in many actions across country, along with signs and flyers I passed out).
If nothing else, the action was a weird "non-sequitor"; not "fitting in" with the "normal" Obama thing, yet not attacking such either. Merely a strange presence to folks so used to people who "fit in" to Given norms. Though I spoke up to a few passerby in the early part of the walk (about 2 miles in all), a few times about not forgetting on whose land they were walking upon and how that land was gotten, I resolved to remain silent most of the time.
At one place where I stood for at least a half hour (with my feet losing their feeling and my back starting to give me pain), a native-looking lady asked if I was alright, and the response that came from me first was that I was praying. Standing there, stoicly, eyes closed, prayer stick in left hand, raised half-way, and in my right hand, the single feather.
I half-expected cat-calls with sharpness from pained persons (reflecting them), but those who yelled out seemed mystified more than anything. A few carloads shouted encouraging whoops, and at one point the horn beeps seemed to be responding to my presence in particular.
Finally, I received a few whispers of input, visions I had been seeking. If there's any interest, I may share them, either here or on my visionary blog. re: visionaryhumanity.blogspot.com
I realize that this "action" wasn't much in terms of crucial input; but it was "something" and I just wanted to share it with you all.
For what it's worth...
(and WHAT DID YOU DO??? Do feel free to share here, if you like!)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
one scenario of crucial nonviolence
Pacifism alone appears obsolete in the face of tyranny. Yet what if pacifism is but only one form of nonviolence in a spectrum limited only by our imagination? The author looks at one scenario sure to rock your world!
(inspired in part by the art of Eric Drooker; his art of the many horns!)
scenario:
While the industrially-stuck imaginations of seemingly most "demonstrators" and others seeking to 'speak truth to terrorism called "power" are off doing the same old thing, let's say we care enough to be waiting nearby, ready to spring into our radicalized desires at a most crucial time.
Let's say that the soldiers called police are on the brink of their usual orders--to smash heads and spray their peppers, WHEN SUDDENLY a terrific NOISE turns all attentions in various directions (NOISE bouncing off buildings or whathaveyou).
The NOISE is pure, deafening NOISE reflecting our intensities too long held secret. The NOISE has no notes, no "rhythm", just pure, unadulterated NOISE. Rough, tumbling, coming from many directions when noisemakers so desire.
Then becoming alternately more articulated, perhaps. Suggestion: Michael Jackson as a kid singing "A,B,C, 1,2,3," UNTIL musicians feel like throwing in their own input (as in jazz); then perhaps a string of Highland Pipers belts out their pipes and wend into the center, flanked by a line, on each side, of HEAVY METAL (or Blues) guitarists crouching, ready to reflect the soul of batons that may be raised, and go into *it* from there.
Authority attempts to move its soldiers called cops in response formations and as they do, in a chaos of various places (remote and not-so-remote), NOISEs cacaphony (especially near places where renewed war tension threatens).
Here comedians interspersed with ___(you name it!)___ initiate some form of ecstatic mobile ceremonial celebrating for the human beings everywhere caught up in and feeling trapped in a plethora of respective reductions of ourselves. Object: a spanarchy of becoming radically beautiful RIGHT NOW towards evolution of shared mind-set.
Even in the cacaphony of NOISE, song, and jokes, such quickly wouldn't be enough (since surveillers study even this writing right now, passing it onto their "superiors"), so this scenario invites (and would invite) all's radically creative input. All, returning to the scene (or creating others everywhere?) arting themselves as they see fit!
Imagine Christian fundies and other religionists tryin to inspire more followers with their best, joined in the chaos by the refrigerator bloc, the doughnut bloc, the abstract painting bloc. People dressed as paintings (famous and unknown) and mobile bushes being picked up (and "deployed") by giant hot-air balloon trees (the helicopter pilots would've reported seeing a large floating forest descending upon the scene).
You get the ideah. Utter chaos with intention. All invited , if ya dare !
Spectacular confusion in face of threat of force and other coercion
And when/if obedient soldiers smash anyway?
Send to the 'front' the doughnut bloc! Persons dressed in real tossed-out doughnuts piled high. And let the batons smash through the cops' known frustrations in their lives (all the while perhaps audibly narrating about how cops just gotta clobber their doughnut habits!); oh, the refrigerator bloc could come in too if it liked, old and new food spilling everywhere as batons and fire hoses crush back the naughty 'citizen' peasants and their *who do they think they are*. If a lull, perhaps the granny bloc joined with the be-suited businessman bloc could try to talk some sense into the human beings reduced to mere government machines.
And how about containments and chases? Running into buildings radically changed within--hall of mirrors anyone? Or in containment measure, giant black parachute raised and ad-hoc location transformed into something completely unexpected. All the while avoiding the stupidity and same old perpetuation of alienation!
Not all of us, of course, *want* to sacrifice ourselves to the gods of soldierdumb; so take this methodology and imagine where you might play!
(inspired in part by the art of Eric Drooker; his art of the many horns!)
scenario:
While the industrially-stuck imaginations of seemingly most "demonstrators" and others seeking to 'speak truth to terrorism called "power" are off doing the same old thing, let's say we care enough to be waiting nearby, ready to spring into our radicalized desires at a most crucial time.
Let's say that the soldiers called police are on the brink of their usual orders--to smash heads and spray their peppers, WHEN SUDDENLY a terrific NOISE turns all attentions in various directions (NOISE bouncing off buildings or whathaveyou).
The NOISE is pure, deafening NOISE reflecting our intensities too long held secret. The NOISE has no notes, no "rhythm", just pure, unadulterated NOISE. Rough, tumbling, coming from many directions when noisemakers so desire.
Then becoming alternately more articulated, perhaps. Suggestion: Michael Jackson as a kid singing "A,B,C, 1,2,3," UNTIL musicians feel like throwing in their own input (as in jazz); then perhaps a string of Highland Pipers belts out their pipes and wend into the center, flanked by a line, on each side, of HEAVY METAL (or Blues) guitarists crouching, ready to reflect the soul of batons that may be raised, and go into *it* from there.
Authority attempts to move its soldiers called cops in response formations and as they do, in a chaos of various places (remote and not-so-remote), NOISEs cacaphony (especially near places where renewed war tension threatens).
Here comedians interspersed with ___(you name it!)___ initiate some form of ecstatic mobile ceremonial celebrating for the human beings everywhere caught up in and feeling trapped in a plethora of respective reductions of ourselves. Object: a spanarchy of becoming radically beautiful RIGHT NOW towards evolution of shared mind-set.
Even in the cacaphony of NOISE, song, and jokes, such quickly wouldn't be enough (since surveillers study even this writing right now, passing it onto their "superiors"), so this scenario invites (and would invite) all's radically creative input. All, returning to the scene (or creating others everywhere?) arting themselves as they see fit!
Imagine Christian fundies and other religionists tryin to inspire more followers with their best, joined in the chaos by the refrigerator bloc, the doughnut bloc, the abstract painting bloc. People dressed as paintings (famous and unknown) and mobile bushes being picked up (and "deployed") by giant hot-air balloon trees (the helicopter pilots would've reported seeing a large floating forest descending upon the scene).
You get the ideah. Utter chaos with intention. All invited , if ya dare !
Spectacular confusion in face of threat of force and other coercion
And when/if obedient soldiers smash anyway?
Send to the 'front' the doughnut bloc! Persons dressed in real tossed-out doughnuts piled high. And let the batons smash through the cops' known frustrations in their lives (all the while perhaps audibly narrating about how cops just gotta clobber their doughnut habits!); oh, the refrigerator bloc could come in too if it liked, old and new food spilling everywhere as batons and fire hoses crush back the naughty 'citizen' peasants and their *who do they think they are*. If a lull, perhaps the granny bloc joined with the be-suited businessman bloc could try to talk some sense into the human beings reduced to mere government machines.
And how about containments and chases? Running into buildings radically changed within--hall of mirrors anyone? Or in containment measure, giant black parachute raised and ad-hoc location transformed into something completely unexpected. All the while avoiding the stupidity and same old perpetuation of alienation!
Not all of us, of course, *want* to sacrifice ourselves to the gods of soldierdumb; so take this methodology and imagine where you might play!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Angles on jump-starting our creative nonviolent intelligence
Three recent art pieces to possibly inspire (all anti-copyright; if you wish to use, please merely give this blog url/address wherever you post them, thanks!):
The art at the immediate left (or above?) is a visionary illustration of a movement which might start with a critical mass of balloonists tired of the same old fare (and lack of actual community-making they might experience). Imagine communities "in the sky", tying together, even soaring (in between bike work-outs to create more heat)! And then coming down to Earth and sharing their spirits with the "ground bound".
Visionary writers, poets, welcome to expound upon this idea!
Again, at left (or above?), the idea of the "information society" has been promoted everywhere (where "we" once were "an industrial society"); the reality of such, thoughtfully "arted" is that "we" are to be an "in formation" society, where the reality of the "chain of command" which runs "our democracy" is now being peeled back (re: "privileges" watered down and rendered meaningless), now that "we" are not so needed anymore and so-called "developing" nations' peoples "are needed"--with their "rights" curtailed scientifically even more.
But don't take my word for it, listen to this indigenous wisdom keeper explain reality. (link forthcoming soon)
What to do?
I'll assume that you've already been undertaking a course of intellectual self-defense, that you already have been able to connect your intuitive dissent feelings with facts (and contexts), and that your critical faculties are either being honed to crucial finery as you practice your visions or something of that sort. And you may've already begun entertaining and envisioning scenarios of contention and confrontation in creative nonviolent strategies.
I'm skeptical, of course. Because many creative people in my experience are deeply "strategically challenged"; that is, all our lives we've been imbibed with either the well-financed propaganda system, or one of its competing "alternatives". This is where I challenge you to not merely see how corporations manipulate, or how capitalism (merely one symptom) exploits the uncomprehending. This is where I challenge you to "see others as you would like others to see you"; where we see people coerced and manipulated into systems of domination (and submission), both as "dominators" and "dominated". Where we come to a critical understanding of how implementers (such as cops) can become so hostile and alienated. Where we start to see how the very systems that people (whom once had great ideals) find themselves stuck in confines and traps in which the so-called "alternatives" have a way of perpetuating (at least on the surface; behind the scenes is another story), and in my view, actually contributing significantly to the problem rather than "solving" it.
There are various factors at work in this reality, and I'll touch on just a few. One is that all of these competing elites (as Chomsky shows) are engaged in "propaganda" aka the techniques of thought control. You can see it most plainly when you understand how "PR" (Public Relations) works. Another problem is that everyone is working in the unstated/meta context of believing they must work only within these confines. In this way, the situation is like a war. Supposedly a non-killing war, but if you happen to be a member of a group that is being officially scapegoated...then, even your death doesn't make a dent in the enforced silence. "Too much" is supposedly "at stake" for the alleged arbiters of the "alternatives" to "stick their neck out" and get the word out that could save your life.
This is the problem of politics in general. People who buy into playing politics do not want to demystify the meta game they are all playing. If you'd like to educate yourself about this topic, take a look at www.anti-politics.net. This is as far as I'll touch on this for now. (And please do challenge me on this premise of mine!)
The next question then becomes, do we realize the value of seeking to reach the hearts of those whom have been manipulated away from being in touch with their own hearts and original desires (before the institutions which tool them wrapped around them)? I'm not saying that it's "not important" to reach the hearts of the groups traditionally known as being oppressed. They/we are important, OF COURSE! Yet, in order to enact CRUCIAL challenge, we're going to have to find ways of reaching the hearts of those who are part and parcel (and help support) war in all its forms, at home and abroad; openly aggressive and covertly aggressive.
So the question is how to move us *and* them in such creative ways that collective we's feel we need not any longer continue to always subordinate our intelligence to martial/war methods and ideology. How do we bridge with intensities of alienation while not getting trampled ourselves?
One way I'm envisioning is something along the lines of "anti-organization". Note that this is qualatively different from normalized ideas of traditional organization. There's a reason for this; the reason is to learn from those whom have already been pre-emptively attacked by the reality of today's politics and police methods. I'll go into this in more depth sometime (sooner if anyone speaks up).
So imagine this: varying "affinity groups" or "teams" (or individuals, even) of creative contention which "hammer" at formalized mind-sets planted within all of us, but especially those artificially separated from "the commons" by their uncritical trust in "The Way Things Is" and such.
Here we go out not only from the ghettos of "normal" methods of interaction but also of the ghettos of "normalized" ideas of contention. What does that mean? What does that entail? I'll let you percolate that in your mind for awhile! If you still don't get it, ask and we'll speak.
So imagine teams of comedians (coming away from their ghetto-like separated-away stages) and engaging folks known to be rife with severe alienation --in ways which inspire folks to come out from behind their armor and out into meaningful communications and community!
That's key: meaningful community. If we don't have something to offer human beings so that they realize the value of coming away from the war reality they've always known --(and hear me, ALL domesticated folks/most of everyone "in society" does live in various varieties of war, "low intensity" as such may be!)--why should they "risk their necks"? So we need to offer something that can INSPIRE.
(Of course, we'll have to *hear them out* just as we wish to be understood! The more creative and fun ways we can do this, the better! See, for example, the card game in the links section at right: "The Game")
Up to our imagination and courage how much sanity we birth!
Practice practice practice practice!
(And in case you poo-poo this angle on things, know that I've personally engaged varying degrees of the strategically challenged, including in potentially very dangerous situations, and yet, with this methodology, have found amazing openings! Challenge me sometime to pontificate, and I'll speak about it on live radio or TV; "Democracy Now" anyone?!)
Finally, this piece invites readers to *look behind* intensities which are launched at us informally (as opposed to formally, such as by soldiers/implements of the State who are on duty who are usually acting as they are trained/indoctrinated). When people fire out things upon us with particularly emotive invective, we need to listen to the Toltec teachings and first, "not take it personally" (unless that's your calling). Such hurlings are symptoms and if we can metaphorically "step out of the way" of such, and "take a step back", we may better see "the bigger picture".
That is, the idea that people who fire off such emotive things are seeking to make a kind of bridge! But since they/we have all usually been systematically separated from knowing how to even engage in the most basic dialogue (beyond "How are you?" "I'm fine, and you?"), thanks to our domestication, it's typical that early attempts at communications are enraged.
Listen to your favorite wisdom keeper on this. Krishnamurti, Osho, indigenous persons, who-ever; they all say similar things, I think. The question is, can we implement such consciousness in ways that are truly meaningful? Can we "run with the ball" further? Do we give ourselves permission?!?
One need not be fake about it, though; one need not be "nice". We can be enraged as well (or some grey area in between, depending on what spirit you want to perfect). We can be real. Hell, many enraged people DON'T TRUST "nice"; they see right through such!
More details to follow!
The art at the immediate left (or above?) is a visionary illustration of a movement which might start with a critical mass of balloonists tired of the same old fare (and lack of actual community-making they might experience). Imagine communities "in the sky", tying together, even soaring (in between bike work-outs to create more heat)! And then coming down to Earth and sharing their spirits with the "ground bound".
Visionary writers, poets, welcome to expound upon this idea!
Again, at left (or above?), the idea of the "information society" has been promoted everywhere (where "we" once were "an industrial society"); the reality of such, thoughtfully "arted" is that "we" are to be an "in formation" society, where the reality of the "chain of command" which runs "our democracy" is now being peeled back (re: "privileges" watered down and rendered meaningless), now that "we" are not so needed anymore and so-called "developing" nations' peoples "are needed"--with their "rights" curtailed scientifically even more.
But don't take my word for it, listen to this indigenous wisdom keeper explain reality. (link forthcoming soon)
What to do?
I'll assume that you've already been undertaking a course of intellectual self-defense, that you already have been able to connect your intuitive dissent feelings with facts (and contexts), and that your critical faculties are either being honed to crucial finery as you practice your visions or something of that sort. And you may've already begun entertaining and envisioning scenarios of contention and confrontation in creative nonviolent strategies.
I'm skeptical, of course. Because many creative people in my experience are deeply "strategically challenged"; that is, all our lives we've been imbibed with either the well-financed propaganda system, or one of its competing "alternatives". This is where I challenge you to not merely see how corporations manipulate, or how capitalism (merely one symptom) exploits the uncomprehending. This is where I challenge you to "see others as you would like others to see you"; where we see people coerced and manipulated into systems of domination (and submission), both as "dominators" and "dominated". Where we come to a critical understanding of how implementers (such as cops) can become so hostile and alienated. Where we start to see how the very systems that people (whom once had great ideals) find themselves stuck in confines and traps in which the so-called "alternatives" have a way of perpetuating (at least on the surface; behind the scenes is another story), and in my view, actually contributing significantly to the problem rather than "solving" it.
There are various factors at work in this reality, and I'll touch on just a few. One is that all of these competing elites (as Chomsky shows) are engaged in "propaganda" aka the techniques of thought control. You can see it most plainly when you understand how "PR" (Public Relations) works. Another problem is that everyone is working in the unstated/meta context of believing they must work only within these confines. In this way, the situation is like a war. Supposedly a non-killing war, but if you happen to be a member of a group that is being officially scapegoated...then, even your death doesn't make a dent in the enforced silence. "Too much" is supposedly "at stake" for the alleged arbiters of the "alternatives" to "stick their neck out" and get the word out that could save your life.
This is the problem of politics in general. People who buy into playing politics do not want to demystify the meta game they are all playing. If you'd like to educate yourself about this topic, take a look at www.anti-politics.net. This is as far as I'll touch on this for now. (And please do challenge me on this premise of mine!)
The next question then becomes, do we realize the value of seeking to reach the hearts of those whom have been manipulated away from being in touch with their own hearts and original desires (before the institutions which tool them wrapped around them)? I'm not saying that it's "not important" to reach the hearts of the groups traditionally known as being oppressed. They/we are important, OF COURSE! Yet, in order to enact CRUCIAL challenge, we're going to have to find ways of reaching the hearts of those who are part and parcel (and help support) war in all its forms, at home and abroad; openly aggressive and covertly aggressive.
So the question is how to move us *and* them in such creative ways that collective we's feel we need not any longer continue to always subordinate our intelligence to martial/war methods and ideology. How do we bridge with intensities of alienation while not getting trampled ourselves?
One way I'm envisioning is something along the lines of "anti-organization". Note that this is qualatively different from normalized ideas of traditional organization. There's a reason for this; the reason is to learn from those whom have already been pre-emptively attacked by the reality of today's politics and police methods. I'll go into this in more depth sometime (sooner if anyone speaks up).
So imagine this: varying "affinity groups" or "teams" (or individuals, even) of creative contention which "hammer" at formalized mind-sets planted within all of us, but especially those artificially separated from "the commons" by their uncritical trust in "The Way Things Is" and such.
Here we go out not only from the ghettos of "normal" methods of interaction but also of the ghettos of "normalized" ideas of contention. What does that mean? What does that entail? I'll let you percolate that in your mind for awhile! If you still don't get it, ask and we'll speak.
So imagine teams of comedians (coming away from their ghetto-like separated-away stages) and engaging folks known to be rife with severe alienation --in ways which inspire folks to come out from behind their armor and out into meaningful communications and community!
That's key: meaningful community. If we don't have something to offer human beings so that they realize the value of coming away from the war reality they've always known --(and hear me, ALL domesticated folks/most of everyone "in society" does live in various varieties of war, "low intensity" as such may be!)--why should they "risk their necks"? So we need to offer something that can INSPIRE.
(Of course, we'll have to *hear them out* just as we wish to be understood! The more creative and fun ways we can do this, the better! See, for example, the card game in the links section at right: "The Game")
Up to our imagination and courage how much sanity we birth!
Practice practice practice practice!
(And in case you poo-poo this angle on things, know that I've personally engaged varying degrees of the strategically challenged, including in potentially very dangerous situations, and yet, with this methodology, have found amazing openings! Challenge me sometime to pontificate, and I'll speak about it on live radio or TV; "Democracy Now" anyone?!)
Finally, this piece invites readers to *look behind* intensities which are launched at us informally (as opposed to formally, such as by soldiers/implements of the State who are on duty who are usually acting as they are trained/indoctrinated). When people fire out things upon us with particularly emotive invective, we need to listen to the Toltec teachings and first, "not take it personally" (unless that's your calling). Such hurlings are symptoms and if we can metaphorically "step out of the way" of such, and "take a step back", we may better see "the bigger picture".
That is, the idea that people who fire off such emotive things are seeking to make a kind of bridge! But since they/we have all usually been systematically separated from knowing how to even engage in the most basic dialogue (beyond "How are you?" "I'm fine, and you?"), thanks to our domestication, it's typical that early attempts at communications are enraged.
Listen to your favorite wisdom keeper on this. Krishnamurti, Osho, indigenous persons, who-ever; they all say similar things, I think. The question is, can we implement such consciousness in ways that are truly meaningful? Can we "run with the ball" further? Do we give ourselves permission?!?
One need not be fake about it, though; one need not be "nice". We can be enraged as well (or some grey area in between, depending on what spirit you want to perfect). We can be real. Hell, many enraged people DON'T TRUST "nice"; they see right through such!
More details to follow!
Friday, August 29, 2008
some ideas, an action, and a vision
Posted at the portland.indymedia.org site:
Homeless and etc. are allies others will exploit
Man holding up line in grocery store
Flailing man on Hawthorne
An orrior-style actions
Homeless are allies others will exploit
If we don't reach out to each other in radically excellent ways, we may find that those seemingly powerless (or so-called "worthless") now could be manipulated to be given tyranny over us in the future. This of course isn't the *best* reason to reach out to our fellow people, including homeless folks, but perhaps it's a wake-up call. Where do you think fascists and tyranny gets its footsoldiers for its martial stupidity? Where do you think the 1980s "Contras" (against the Sandinistas) came from mostly?
(Do you think this sounds naive? Discuss!)
I've reached out to various folks over time, had them over, even gave them a place to sleep off and on (especially in the cold months), and while I find some to be "much too wild" for me to be around every day (in their drunkeness), these folks deeply appreciate. And i've noted that appreciation develop over time.
If we could realize the value of informally aiding homeless folks in our midst, we'd find the reflections to be surprisingly significant. Don't throw money at the formal institutions, reach out in friendship! And, if you're a neighborhood organizer type, what if various neighbors aided their fellow human beings in a *rotational* way??!
Man holding up the line
A few months ago i found myself in a line where a guy was seemingly surprised that his plastic (credit card) wasn't working. He kept trying it, and wouldn't give up. Tension was rising visibly as it appeared that the man was not only growing increasingly frustrated (and might resort to violence?) but also the management began showing up and appearing increasingly agitated (as if they were ready to aggressively escort him from the store).
Well, I was doing okay money-wise so I went up the line and asked him if I could help. No official title or anything, just another guy wanting to be fair with my fellows instead of what seemed to be about to happen. Well, it turned out that the stuff he wanted to buy totalled only $2.50, so i volunteered to buy it for him. Visible relief showed up in everyone.
(Question: what would an anarchist do and why?)
Flailing man on Hawthorne
I heard yelling over on this local road and since I was already heading there, found myself going right up to the guy and asking him what was up. No fear, and he felt that. He had been yelling at others with this: "I OWN YOU!" And they had fallen back. Was he completely irrational? i felt he was flailing from some kind of heavy stress. He was drunk and his mind was set on getting "help" in the only way he seemed to know: wait until the cops showed up and then a night in the can.
Meanwhile, not only did I interact creatively with this stressed-out guy, but another dude showed up; an older guy. He walked by the guy from behind in a kind of silly-seeming way. Asking him later, he said he had expected to get punched. Hell, i guess i half-expected it as well; but i felt like i was "defending" the community--except not in alliance with any formal authority, but in alliance with the idea of re-village-ing.
The cops did show up and that's when I left, but had the local community had in place some kind of way to reach this guy...something like a local Shanti Sena calm space to go to... (yes, I know, i sound very greenhornish idealistic...)
An action
A really fulfilling one at the Alberta Street Fair in July. Walked around with a "FREE HUGS" sign! And got so many hugs that i felt DRUNK with that energy. Someone suggested "we" start a MOVEMENT of such; i can see such being done on a rotational basis, as tho hugging strangers can be liberating, it's also a little exhausting for we not used to having such connections with folks. (Anyway, I walked down the entire way like three times, so maybe it was my feet the most!)
A vision
Imagine x-country travel (human powered?) where "FREE HUG"-ers join with many other Great Spirited folks (folks wanting to share their great informal gifts) went into backwater places and etcetera and shared their humanity. Convergences of different spirited affinity groups not seeking to "speak truth to 'power'" but "speak truth to people"!
Imagine a forest of hotair balloon Old Growth Trees accompanying.
Imagine slower and faster bicyclists riding. The fast bicyclists riding ahead and then returning to meet up with the slower bikers.
Come on over to our blog and share your ideahhhs!
Homeless and etc. are allies others will exploit
Man holding up line in grocery store
Flailing man on Hawthorne
An orrior-style actions
Homeless are allies others will exploit
If we don't reach out to each other in radically excellent ways, we may find that those seemingly powerless (or so-called "worthless") now could be manipulated to be given tyranny over us in the future. This of course isn't the *best* reason to reach out to our fellow people, including homeless folks, but perhaps it's a wake-up call. Where do you think fascists and tyranny gets its footsoldiers for its martial stupidity? Where do you think the 1980s "Contras" (against the Sandinistas) came from mostly?
(Do you think this sounds naive? Discuss!)
I've reached out to various folks over time, had them over, even gave them a place to sleep off and on (especially in the cold months), and while I find some to be "much too wild" for me to be around every day (in their drunkeness), these folks deeply appreciate. And i've noted that appreciation develop over time.
If we could realize the value of informally aiding homeless folks in our midst, we'd find the reflections to be surprisingly significant. Don't throw money at the formal institutions, reach out in friendship! And, if you're a neighborhood organizer type, what if various neighbors aided their fellow human beings in a *rotational* way??!
Man holding up the line
A few months ago i found myself in a line where a guy was seemingly surprised that his plastic (credit card) wasn't working. He kept trying it, and wouldn't give up. Tension was rising visibly as it appeared that the man was not only growing increasingly frustrated (and might resort to violence?) but also the management began showing up and appearing increasingly agitated (as if they were ready to aggressively escort him from the store).
Well, I was doing okay money-wise so I went up the line and asked him if I could help. No official title or anything, just another guy wanting to be fair with my fellows instead of what seemed to be about to happen. Well, it turned out that the stuff he wanted to buy totalled only $2.50, so i volunteered to buy it for him. Visible relief showed up in everyone.
(Question: what would an anarchist do and why?)
Flailing man on Hawthorne
I heard yelling over on this local road and since I was already heading there, found myself going right up to the guy and asking him what was up. No fear, and he felt that. He had been yelling at others with this: "I OWN YOU!" And they had fallen back. Was he completely irrational? i felt he was flailing from some kind of heavy stress. He was drunk and his mind was set on getting "help" in the only way he seemed to know: wait until the cops showed up and then a night in the can.
Meanwhile, not only did I interact creatively with this stressed-out guy, but another dude showed up; an older guy. He walked by the guy from behind in a kind of silly-seeming way. Asking him later, he said he had expected to get punched. Hell, i guess i half-expected it as well; but i felt like i was "defending" the community--except not in alliance with any formal authority, but in alliance with the idea of re-village-ing.
The cops did show up and that's when I left, but had the local community had in place some kind of way to reach this guy...something like a local Shanti Sena calm space to go to... (yes, I know, i sound very greenhornish idealistic...)
An action
A really fulfilling one at the Alberta Street Fair in July. Walked around with a "FREE HUGS" sign! And got so many hugs that i felt DRUNK with that energy. Someone suggested "we" start a MOVEMENT of such; i can see such being done on a rotational basis, as tho hugging strangers can be liberating, it's also a little exhausting for we not used to having such connections with folks. (Anyway, I walked down the entire way like three times, so maybe it was my feet the most!)
A vision
Imagine x-country travel (human powered?) where "FREE HUG"-ers join with many other Great Spirited folks (folks wanting to share their great informal gifts) went into backwater places and etcetera and shared their humanity. Convergences of different spirited affinity groups not seeking to "speak truth to 'power'" but "speak truth to people"!
Imagine a forest of hotair balloon Old Growth Trees accompanying.
Imagine slower and faster bicyclists riding. The fast bicyclists riding ahead and then returning to meet up with the slower bikers.
Come on over to our blog and share your ideahhhs!
Friday, August 15, 2008
images to share
An angle of approach to inspiring creative folks' imaginations:
A possible cover for one of my visionary angles of approach:
This early 20th Century (?) picture below show how big Old Growth trees can get. I include them here for those possibly interested in designing a hot air balloon that looks "just like" an Old Growth tree. {imagine: a forest of Old Growth hotair balloons crossing the plains and all places which have long forgotten just how big Old Growth trees can be.}
A fellow visionary allowing himself to exotically art "normalized" ways of interacting. {i took his text and molded it into the kind of regalia i thought he might wear when engaging in da Crucial Artz way}:
Anti-authoritarians created this basic outreach text and drawing. i added the bit of collage later:
A possible cover for one of my visionary angles of approach:
This early 20th Century (?) picture below show how big Old Growth trees can get. I include them here for those possibly interested in designing a hot air balloon that looks "just like" an Old Growth tree. {imagine: a forest of Old Growth hotair balloons crossing the plains and all places which have long forgotten just how big Old Growth trees can be.}
A fellow visionary allowing himself to exotically art "normalized" ways of interacting. {i took his text and molded it into the kind of regalia i thought he might wear when engaging in da Crucial Artz way}:
Anti-authoritarians created this basic outreach text and drawing. i added the bit of collage later:
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Three Visionary Challenges to Challengers
The following all posted recently on these various indymedia sites.
re: Seattle indy media poster, angry rant/spell/letter to prison guards:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/08/268278.shtml
Be angry, yet exercise [and practice] with your intelligence towards the ends you truly want to have in this world. It is easy to be tooled by always-war-mentality.
The prison guards, like all others who buttress "the Wizards of Oz", know only truth from the narrative that has dominated them from childhood. They do not even know of the idea of solidarity with informal humanity. Their lives have been reduced to become so shallow in consciousness.
Remember the Milgram experiments; they do as they've been programmed, and know no better.
You may reach a few with your anger, yet how many might you/we reach by activating our most inspiring humanity?
Do as Chomsky has suggested for reporters in the documentary "Manufacturing Consent". Get to know the system more and learn its openings. How best to reach fellow human beings --who may *want* to help somehow, yet feel absolutely powerless?
(Like the proverbial hostage, adapting since childhood's compulsory norms, while knowing no better alternative, and begining to identify with the oppressive, severely alienated mindset--i.e. scientific models of prison "management")
We have the intelligence to reach our fellow human beings. The question is, do we learn how and when we can touch each other meaningfully enough?
re: "Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver), Kanada: Sheriff Van and Police Cruise"
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/08/268238.shtml
I agree that meaningful dialogue is needed, but I still see crucial truth in seeking to reach the human beings caught within the internalized values systems rather than merely attack them in these dark age "revenges".
Surely, once we get more used to thinking independently, we can activate our intelligence much more meaningfully than how alienation war has taught us so far.
For instance, take a look at the article "Good Peasant, Bad Peasant". See if you can find it. It was posted in an anarchist dialogue forum. It's a good starting off place for the uninitiated (to that form of confrontation).
Those who still choose the combative methods, I say most of you are choosing a way of so much hellish that I think you will regret such later. But we all do not have "all" the truth, so perhaps property damage ways are one way...to at least "gain" the attention (but whose will you get? It is better than nothing, you may say...) But if only many could depth together, instead of these seemingly isolated, last-ditch ways...
Felt like I had to comment.
re:
"Cannon fodder for the market"
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/08/268295.shtml
Good article, and great to see such depth!
Only, I don't see eye-to-eye with you about this idea you think the u.s. leaders/policy-makers have about *hating* those they move against in their routine diplomatic ways.
If there's any hatred, it's in the lower portions of the hierarchy, methinks. Those more deeply tooled, seeing their friends smashed in information without contexts.
As for those carrying out policy, closer to the top of the hierarchy, they're merely carrying out their methodology of statecraft. "Nothing personal..." as some have said from time to time. In my view such a methodology has been coercively passed "down" to them since they were in their youths, and has now solidified, as in every generation "up in age".
My inclination, in seeing that, is to somehow inspire a plethora of responses with our most creative and inspiring creativity. Along lines such as documented in the film "The Singing Revolution" I suppose, and beyond control by formal politics.
LET'S ACTIVATE OUR MOST INSPIRING HUMANITY!
psst, pass it on.
re: Seattle indy media poster, angry rant/spell/letter to prison guards:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/08/268278.shtml
Be angry, yet exercise [and practice] with your intelligence towards the ends you truly want to have in this world. It is easy to be tooled by always-war-mentality.
The prison guards, like all others who buttress "the Wizards of Oz", know only truth from the narrative that has dominated them from childhood. They do not even know of the idea of solidarity with informal humanity. Their lives have been reduced to become so shallow in consciousness.
Remember the Milgram experiments; they do as they've been programmed, and know no better.
You may reach a few with your anger, yet how many might you/we reach by activating our most inspiring humanity?
Do as Chomsky has suggested for reporters in the documentary "Manufacturing Consent". Get to know the system more and learn its openings. How best to reach fellow human beings --who may *want* to help somehow, yet feel absolutely powerless?
(Like the proverbial hostage, adapting since childhood's compulsory norms, while knowing no better alternative, and begining to identify with the oppressive, severely alienated mindset--i.e. scientific models of prison "management")
We have the intelligence to reach our fellow human beings. The question is, do we learn how and when we can touch each other meaningfully enough?
re: "Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver), Kanada: Sheriff Van and Police Cruise"
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/08/268238.shtml
I agree that meaningful dialogue is needed, but I still see crucial truth in seeking to reach the human beings caught within the internalized values systems rather than merely attack them in these dark age "revenges".
Surely, once we get more used to thinking independently, we can activate our intelligence much more meaningfully than how alienation war has taught us so far.
For instance, take a look at the article "Good Peasant, Bad Peasant". See if you can find it. It was posted in an anarchist dialogue forum. It's a good starting off place for the uninitiated (to that form of confrontation).
Those who still choose the combative methods, I say most of you are choosing a way of so much hellish that I think you will regret such later. But we all do not have "all" the truth, so perhaps property damage ways are one way...to at least "gain" the attention (but whose will you get? It is better than nothing, you may say...) But if only many could depth together, instead of these seemingly isolated, last-ditch ways...
Felt like I had to comment.
re:
"Cannon fodder for the market"
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/08/268295.shtml
Good article, and great to see such depth!
Only, I don't see eye-to-eye with you about this idea you think the u.s. leaders/policy-makers have about *hating* those they move against in their routine diplomatic ways.
If there's any hatred, it's in the lower portions of the hierarchy, methinks. Those more deeply tooled, seeing their friends smashed in information without contexts.
As for those carrying out policy, closer to the top of the hierarchy, they're merely carrying out their methodology of statecraft. "Nothing personal..." as some have said from time to time. In my view such a methodology has been coercively passed "down" to them since they were in their youths, and has now solidified, as in every generation "up in age".
My inclination, in seeing that, is to somehow inspire a plethora of responses with our most creative and inspiring creativity. Along lines such as documented in the film "The Singing Revolution" I suppose, and beyond control by formal politics.
LET'S ACTIVATE OUR MOST INSPIRING HUMANITY!
psst, pass it on.
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