In Code

==Dec 15 2011==

[[File:Sign tour lovely 001.JPG]][[File:Narcissus.jpg]] [[File:Ricky.jpg]]

"We fail to understand why we should have to pay the cost of the crisis, while its instigators continue to post record profits. We're sick and tired of one injustice after another. We want human dignity back again. This isn't the kind of world we want to live in, and it's we who have to decide what world we do want. We know we can change it and we are having a great time going about it." From #HowToCamp by the Spanish indignados[[File:The sign tour 017.JPG]][[File:Ign tour 009.JPG]]

All is well.

The bank i was at this morning was robbed

and i was unable to withdraw money.

At the border I was turned back

so have hired a boat to take

the sign stateside. [[File:014.JPG]]

Without problems what would a life be?

==Seattle==

I lose contact with the captain of the ship as the west coast is swamped in fog. If the sign goes over board the salt water will ruin her make up and though she can swim she doesn't like to get wet. I leave in darkness and cross the border via an old logging road at dawn.[[File:Sign tour 007.JPG]] The trip is treacherous but the pine beetle infested forest provides cover as i emerge on the I-5 just past Bellingham. At speed I race to Seattle but the the captain fails to show at the appointed time...i spend the afternoon staring forlornly out to sea.

[[File:Sign tour 012.JPG]]

In the evening i walk the shore line for hours looking for any sign of the ship. Finally exhausted i rent a cheap motel room and fall asleep. I dream of rocks, waves and splintered plywood. As night turns to day i hear a soft knock. I open the door and the sign slurs "Good morning." [[File:The sign tour 003.JPG]]

I say, "Where the hell were you? I was worried sick." He explains woozily the ship arrived early and with time to kill he and the Captain went for a beer. Here he met an exotic Brazilian Cherry hardwood and one thing led to another. I scream, "You could have called!" I run into the bathroom, slam the door and sit on the toilet sobbing. After a good cry i go to see the sign but am horrified to see her smoking my cigarettes and drinking my beer.

[[File:The sign tour 001.JPG]]

I am flooded with tears and retreat once again to the can. After what seems like an eternity I open the door a crack and see the sign fast asleep on my side of the bed.

[[File:The sign tour 002.JPG]] I feel disrespected, used and start sobbing loudly. The sign knocks, knocks knocks. I open the door and the sign says, "Don't cry. The captain took some good shots and you can use them for your stupid wiki sign tour page." I slam the door in the signs face but deep down i can hardly wait to see the pictures. Even though she can be an asshole i still love her. [[File:Sign tour 016.JPG]][[File:Sign tour 040.JPG]][[File:Sign tour 021.JPG]][[File:Sign tour 027.JPG]][[File:011.JPG]][[File:Sign tour 032.JPG]]

Occupy the World!!! The sign tells his friend capitalism ain't going nowhere and in fact has no end game. Portland we're coming!

[[File:The sign tour 005.JPG]]

==Portland==

On the ride the sign is hungover and mercifully quiet as we listen to the National Public Radio announce the US troops have left Iraq. Over 4500 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's have been killed and over a million displaced. The war has destroyed that country and cost the American people over 850 billion dollars. But i love Portland and have a friends in the music and muscle business there. I call the record company to discuss the release of my new album and i call the muscle to lay a beating on the sign. The sign over hears the conversation and thinks I'm joking. When we get to the music office the sign sweet talks his way in to a record deal and for some reason my contract is put on hold.[[File:The sign tour 006.JPG]] I'm furious.

Under my breath I whisper "It's not all about u!" The sign just shrugs and keeps talking royalties. I grab her roughly and throw her into the back of the truck. I call the muscle and drive like a madman through downtown Portland. We somehow make it to the park without an accident and i yell at the sign, "You're gonna get it." I see "muscle" and drag the sign into the park. "Muscle" goes to work. [[File:The sign tour 014.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 019.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 018.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 016.JPG]]

The sign begs for mercy and when i ask, "Are you ready to go back to work." He yells, "Occupy Portland!"

[[File:The sign tour 032.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 030.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 010.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 021.JPG]]

[[File:The sign tour 026.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 028.JPG]]

The rally is a great success, the library signs out way too many books, the stamp is a hit and Portland is solid. I hook up with the cool cats and the sign does an interview with a local community radio station.[[File:The sign tour 027.JPG]] The sign is on side, the police are running and Frisco/Oakland '''we're coming...

'''[[File:The sign tour 009.JPG]]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/18/18703038.php

==San Fran==

On the I-5, the sign and table quietly chat as cars, trucks, RV’s, semi’s and the occasional motorcycle pass us by AS THE PLANET BURNS...Why are we in the Middle East again? The sign postulates humanities need to conquer starts with death…while the table comments people are now worried there will be no social network or running water in heaven…or perhaps many dare not consider the inevitable...I take the next exit and the the sign complains in a nasally voice, “I like the high way. ” I ignore her and absorb the desert like terrain, the lived in homes and sturdy fences. The sign annoyingly pipes up again, "You should take a picture of me." I am incredulous but stop none the less.[[File:Sign tour 003.JPG]]

I ask the table to join us and she replies, “What is best...cannot be said". I reply, "We don't want you to talk we just want a picture". He stares quizzically. We travel into the foothills, [[File:Sign tour 002.JPG]] hook up with an enlightened master and end the day pushing books in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

[[File:Sign tour 008.JPG]]The sun never sets on empire.

We sleep in a wheat field and in the morning continue...

In San Fran [[File:Sign tour 028.JPG]]a pig head is on a stick and [[File:Ign tour 016.JPG]] Goofy is bleeding.

[[File:Ign tour 001.JPG]]the sign is the toast of the town...beautiful people, regular people, working people, store people, Occupiers...even the graffiti wants a piece of the magic.[[File:The sign tour 023.JPG]][[File:Ign tour 008.JPG]][[File:The sign tour 042.JPG]][[File:San fran occupiers.JPG]][[File:Tour sign.JPG]] It is only when we hear the the 'po po' announce "No signs on the Bridge” do we relent but of course we take a picture.

[[File:Ign tour 005.JPG]] We've been in town a few hours and the sign is having the time of his life.I call some San Fran Occupiers (SFO's) and arrange a meeting at the Starbucks where the Occupation took place. [[File:Ign tour 015.JPG]] But when we're about to leave the sign doesn't want to go...i am relieved so i head off on my own needing time to myself...but when i arrive at the corporate coffee shop he is already there. "I thought you weren't coming." He replies, "You thought wrong." as he high fives a passer by. I leave in a huff...hit the street, drink, bullshit and play chess with the fellas. This guy beats me badly by pushing the pawns[[File:Ign tour 014.JPG]]. I get drunk and end up in a comedy club yelling "Wake up America...Wake up! I'm from Canada and I've got healthcare." [[File:The sign tour 033.JPG]] Occupy the Streets! hey!hey! no pictures!

==LA==

I call Oakland, they say it's on hold til 2012 and that we should come in the New Year.[[File:The sign tour 015.JPG]] A San Fran Occupier, with a broken leg, is heading to San Diego to help and i give him a ride. He lived at the encampment and i tell him of our Vancouver experience. He's well versed in the inequalities of the system, hooked into the internet, and active. He was arrested 5 times and i encourage him to make his court appearances. In a rare act of kindness the sign jumps in the back to hold down my fellow travelers crutches. "We cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet" is said on our eight hour journey. We discuss nuclear power, dirty oil and traction. He likes the mobile library [[File:Ign tour 007.JPG]]and i drop him off at the LA train station.

[[File:La sign tour 001.JPG]]

I get a room downtown... and learn in exchange for leaving city hall the Occupiers negotiated a hippo from the city zoo which has been under reported.[[File:La sign tour 005.JPG]] The sign says they are barbecuing it on xmas and feeding the homeless which is a small victory for the Occupy movement but i'm not sure about that... of course she loves LA. The Occupation site is well treed[[File:La sign tour 021.JPG]][[File:La sign tour 012.JPG]] but now it is defensively fenced with mesh, concrete and a less lovely sign threatens punishment...the commons is now entwined. As per usual the sign poses with the enforcement bylaw ...[[File:La sign tour 019.JPG]] and the MSM [[File:La sign tour 023.JPG]] Our supply of books is running low but fortunately we find[[File:La sign tour 032.JPG]] a final soldier in the near total infantilization of civilization. Put in a poem [[File:La sign tour 030.JPG]] and we load up[[File:La sign tour 031.JPG]] read a book...read a book...read a book! everyone!!![[File:The sign tour now.JPG]]

==Las Vegas==

In the golden dawn we cruise no where but leave LA early, around noon, to avoid traffic. The sign is going on and on about the oil sands while i drive comfortably in my truck/car...distracted we run low on fuel but amazingly there is a gas station...we arrive in Vegas. The sign excitedly demands a picture with his hero and i oblige .[[File:Sign tour lv 001.JPG]]Though some progressive liberal locals may argue differently [[File:Las vegeas day one 058.JPG]]this city makes no claims...a full on assault of the senses, yes! yes! In my home away from homes[[File:Las vegeas day one 010.JPG]] the Occupiers are still Occupying...[[File:Las vegeas day one 033.JPG]]off strip,[[File:Las vegeas day one 006.JPG]] close to the good music [[File:Las vegeas day one 043.JPG]] a kitchen [[File:Las vegeas day one 008.JPG]]a banking system [[File:Las vegeas day one 056.JPG]]and committed people.[[File:Las vegeas day one 023.JPG]] The sign hooks into the local library... [[File:Las vegeas day one 040.JPG]]chats with the people [[File:Las vegeas day one 031.JPG]] pretends to wash dishes and asks for a day off. [[File:Las vegeas day one 005.JPG]] This ain't a union..."Grapes of Wrath" anyone?

==Day 2 Occupy Vegas==

Hey Hey! My! My! Rock n' Roll will never die...[[File:Protest, hardrock, day 2 029.JPG]]

[[File:Protest, hardrock, day 2 060.JPG]]Occupy!!! Occupy!!! Occupy!!! [[File:Protest, hardrock, day 2 068.JPG]][[File:Protest, hardrock, day 2 076.JPG]] The people are well informed[[File:Protest, hardrock, day 2 070.JPG]] ...books are moving.

==Day 3 Occupy Vegas==

It is what it is

A woman who does not have the right to vote.

A black man who cannot sit at a counter.

A person who works 16 hours a day, six days a week.

The line is drawn and they protest on the street.

 

The atmosphere no longer able to absorb pollution

The banking system rigged, the taxes unfair…

The unions decimated…the middle east a nightmare…

The oceans are dying and no ones reading books.

Merry War on Xmas

http://peopleslovelylibrary.net/index.php/The_Sign_Tour

As the Say In the US

We pretend we live in democracies even though most of us know we live in a form that perverts the content of what it pretends to be. I’ve asked thousands of people if they believe governments­ federal,state, local, ­take better care of human beings or corporations and most everyone laughs.

It’s a stupid and obvious question that is why i am an American.  

When I ask whether governments are more concerned with the natural world or corporations. Often I am met with blank stares.

But for all our private understanding that we live in plutocracies­ governments by, of, and for the wealthy­ or more accurately, kleptocracies ­governments which have as their primary organizing principle theft, from the poor, from the land, from the future but often we publicly speak and act as though we do live in democracies.

As a politically conservative teenager, I liked to laugh at the fact the Politburo of the old Soviet Union was made up of something like 97percent members of the Communist Party. What a joke of a democracy, I thought. Yet how often do we ask ourselves what percentage of the United States House and Senate consists of members of the Capitalist Party?

Who’s the joke on now?

Another phrase for these governments­ which better serve corporations than human beings ­is governments of occupation. What do governments occupy for?

To facilitate resource extraction and maximize production, at the expense of communities and of the natural world.That’s what they do.

So, what does the United States government do?

It facilitates resource extraction and maximizes production at the expense of communities and of the natural world. The United States is functionally and systematically a government of occupation

and capitalism is functionally, systematically, an economics of occupation.

Of course all my indigenous friends say, “What took you so long to figure this one out?”

Here’s another way to say this: we have long been taught that the legal system is set up to protect us. But we have been lied to. It is well established that judicial accountability does not extend to those who kill or maim in the name of business, nor to those who impoverish our land bases.

A few years ago I communicated with a policeman who wanted me to understand that it is the job of police to protect people from sociopaths. I asked why it is they don’t protect us from rich sociopaths.And my African American friends ask why they so rarely protect African Americans from racists and from functional racism. And my women friends ask why they so rarely protect women from misogyny: only six percent of rapists spend even one night in jail.

And I ask why when there is a strike do they protect capitalists from strikers?

Why do they not protect strikers from capitalists? They use their batons or guns on strikers. Why do they not use their batons or guns to force capitalists to come to terms? Why, when there is a meeting of global financiers, do they protect the financiers from the people, and not the other way around?

Why have they not arrested Tony Hayward for murdering humans in the Gulf of Mexico, and for that matter, for murdering the Gulf of Mexico? Where were they when Massey Coal murdered miners, and where are they when Massey Coal murders entire mountains?

Where are they when chemical companies kill so many people, so many children, that an entire region is called Cancer Alley? Why aren’t they doing their jobs?

Of course the answer is that they are doing their jobs, which is to be hired muscle for the rich.

Here are a couple of riddles, not very funny.

Question: what do you get when you cross a long drug habit, a quick temper, and a gun?

Answer: Two life terms for murder, earliest release date, 2026.

Question: what do you get when you cross two nation states, a large corporation, 40 tons of poison, and at least 8000 dead human beings?

Answer: Retirement with fullpay and benefits. Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide, Bhopal.

Or here’s another one:

Question: what do you call someone who conspires to put poison in the subways of Tokyo? Answer: A terrorist, who is put in prison for life.

Question: what do you call someone who conspires to put poison in water supplies in the United States?

Answer: Dick Cheney.

Or an oil and gas man. A fracker. A capitalist.

Or, if the specific poison is cyanide, we call it a transnational gold mining corporation. Just to make sure we get it: what consequence does someone pay for murdering humans and nonhumans in the Gulf of Mexico? Answer: a million dollar a year severance package, and millions of shares of British Petroleum stock.

The guy shouldn’t receive stocks, he should be put in them.

Let’s spin out a fantasy here, where at least some of the police have the courage to recognize they share class interests not with the rich, but with those whose heads they’ve been cracking. Let’s pretend that some of them begin thinking about their legacies. Do they really want for their legacy to be that they were muscle for antidemocratic forces? When their grandchildren ask which side they were on, do they really want to say they were on the side of protecting corporations against human beings?That’s a hell of a legacy, ain’t it?

Of course we can ask these same questions not just of police, but of ourselves. If the police will not do their jobs to stop rich sociopaths,then we are the ones who must do this.

What would happen if we the people were to organize into militias, with or without the assistance of the police, to enforce cancer free zones,oil spill free zones, extinction free zones, home foreclosure free zones ­hell, why don’t we enforce rape free zones?­hunger free zones,economic and political democracy zones? And what if these zones were to extend all across our countries?
Because here’s a question, for all of us, not just the police: if you are going to have a government, and if you’re going to have a government worth a good goddamn, whom should this government serve: corporations or human beings?

Since the legal system won’t hold destructive institutions accountable,the responsibility falls on each of us. This means that all of us who care about the health of the land where we live, for example, must learn to be accountable to this land rather than loyal to political and economic institutions that do not serve us well. The same is true for those who care about democracy, for those who care about communities, for those who care about the future, for those who care about any living being.

And we must act on this loyalty; we must do whatever is necessary to protect our homes and our land bases from those who would destroy them.Only then will mountains and rivers and forests be saved. Only then will toxic dumping be stopped. Only then will we have democratic self-governance. Only then will we have a future. Because allowing destructive economic or political entities to destroy our land bases is not merely unethical and unwise but suicidal.
The Declaration of Independence for what became the United States holds,“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends[Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness], it is the Right of thePeople to alter or abolish it. . . .” It would be more precise, however,to say that it is not the Right of the People, nor even their responsibility, but instead something more like breathing­ something that if we fail to do we die. If we as a People fail to rid our community of destructive institutions, those institutions will destroy our community.

And if we as a community cannot provide meaningful and non destructive ways for people to gain food, clothing, and shelter then we must recognize it’s not just specific destructive institutions but the entire economic system that is pushing the natural world past breaking points.Once we’ve recognized the destructiveness of this economic system we’ve no choice, unless we wish to sign our own and our children’s death warrants, but to fight for all we’re worth and in every way we can to overturn it. There is nothing else to do.

You can ask: by quoting the Declaration of Independence am I calling for a revolution, to which I will respond that this answer should be clear.

You can ask, then, if this means that I am calling for the overthrow of the United States and other governments, to which I will respond that this question comes far, far, far too late. For the governments were long since overthrown, and those who overthrew them are known as ExxonMobil,British Petroleum, Haliburton, Monsanto, ADM, WalMart, Massey Coal,Goldman Sachs, Citibank.

They are the real governors, and the UnitedStates and other governments are wholly-owned subsidiaries, brought toyou by McDonald’s, Pfizer, and Lockheed Martin.

So then you can ask, am I advocating the overthrow of governments that are by, for, and of corporations, am I advocating the overthrow of corporate states, to which I will say, “Hell, yes.”

The Revolutionary Spirit

1.

if injustice creates a trembling indignation

perhaps she has touched you…

give everything yet still you may be unrewarded…

many nights you will feel brave

and many nights you will feel like a coward…

2.

the ogilarchy,

the plutocracy,

the corporate greed

the industrial military

media  complex

3.

prisons for profit,

schools for profit

healthcare for profit,

sports for profit,

a love life for profit

libraries for profit

4.

fuck facebook

mine data my data

i am not data

5.

money money on the wall

you are the fairest of them all

The Resistance

It’s full of good people who have no clue what they are up against.

The students, the unions, the homeless, the disabled, the activist, the environmentalist, the artists and other special interest groups are motivated as their name suggests in their own particular specialness.

This is result of a system in it’s late stage which ensures the consumer will not only consume but more to the point will be immersed in a exchange value equation that does not include the best interest of the many.

To give and expect nothing in return is anti-capitalism. 

Individually we are all in the way of the collective and the collective gets near zero air play while our specialness our differences are overplayed to the place of incessant.

By seeing our self as this way we see the others as different and thus can be violent. The premise being it is harder to be violent to those you know than those you don’t

ie to kill a stranger on a computer screen is different than killing a family member in person  

as otto rank explains in his book on the subject.

That any of the revolution could possibly take place on face book with all it’s gimmicks and tricks leaves one with a feeling of emptiness. Surely the user can see the childishness of plat-formed communications.

That my friends is 100% corporate space…they are taking your social lives and making money and you consent because in your linear world you think it is free.

in the old days they said and knew there were no free lunches…

my my my the dream marches on and they say the planet is burning and the redistribution of resources is being accumulated in the hands of the few.

the 61 richest have more wealth than the bottom 17,000,000 Canadians…this is what i heard and still want to believe is untrue…

This system has become a labyrinth as the court case today was put on hold because the defendant Mat the Hat couldn’t find the court room.

I saw him and he looked tired. He’s been arrested 4 times in the last month and sleeping outside.

His next court appearance is in December.

When i was in my late teen i would drive around my hometown imagining places i could have sex with my first girlfriend and then it would come true.

Like i said she was my first girlfriend.

occupy the world

corporations want to safeguard against risk desperately.     

121211

 

There has been some movement.

I yell and scream in a Richmond bar

we’re closing down the ports and i’m asked to leave by three very busty women.

I do not remember walking home though the next day

when i am putting up flyers and doing a re-con of the bridge I am tired.

I cannot get in touch with the direct action committee and have heard little information.

As usual Vancouver is out of touch.

At best maybe a few hundred will rally at the park

in solidarity with oakland and other long shoremen…

the unions are under siege and i have heard the bulk of goods

will be moving through Mexico where labor is unorganized

The lovely people’s communist library

will be the name of a new bookstore on the DTES.

The unions are under siege and

yet they do not want us calling for a shut down…

this is an indication of how far down the road we are…

there is too much money and the bourgeoisie puts up blocks

easier than can be with committee meetings ad nauseum

where nothing happens as if that was part of the plan

they call themselves NGO’s and other types of culturally controlling behavior so rest assured more people will have to be poor and not influenced most heavily by this posturing where knowledge is all second hand when it comes to human nature…and with a very long self interest lever.

do we need to continuously be in oppressive hierarchies…

and why is their such extremes in wealth…

even in death power is passed on…

it becomes you

121211               

The Rio

Worked the door with a good fellow from Montreal.

Set up the Occupy Vancouver Library and then went outside to have a smoke. The Wilderness group came in and said they wanted the table so i said fine cause they were putting the gig on and moved and mo slept some where and bill came with the tale and we got a good spot

then renee came moved not realizing that the best place to be is at the exit where people talk…the entrance is a mixed bag…exit through the gift shop.

Met a lady who knew Che’s child.

As the story goes

che was in the battle field and a he asked a soldier where his gun was

the soldier replied it was confiscated because he had mishandled it

Che said go to the frontlines and get a gun

a few days later che was in hospital viewing the wounded when he saw the soldier…the coldier said commandeer…

i went to the front lines…

a few hours later the soldier che wote

died happy he had found his courage

who said revolution or die

 

that is another story

 

Last night i think they talked about it being bad in northern alberta for the indians

and green peace said the enviroment is doing poorly which is his business

and naomi klein said she was happy the piple line didn’t get through

and a 10 year old girl sang at the end and i told her not to smoke

and her dad said i should quit to…everyone in the audience except the occupiers looked well rested and content…saving the world is an upper middle class endeavour which is problematic for obvious reasons…

when a white man speaks on behalf of ideas we are all embarrassed.    

overall nothing was accomplished but everyone left not totally satisfied

the agency in egypt was 20,000,000 people between the ages of 19-28.

last night were over fifty

a grey haired revolution…

good!           

Naomi Wolf on Occupy

“So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week it was the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence.

(so it’s not really a war but perhaps she meant it will be a precursor to a civil war) 

It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they represent.

Occupy has touched a third rail: personal congressional profits streams.

Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy

The three demands she says we had based on an internet survey are

“The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Most often cited was legislation to blunt the effect of the Citizens United ruling, which lets boundless sums enter the campaign process”.

“No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks.

This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.

No 3: was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.

++++

In Canada the protestors who camped would know very little of this…

the enmeshment of state and business cannot be avoided in a capitalistic system where money de facto buys power, land and people.

2. The debt in the system has structurally shifted from asset backed to debt backed…the debt is further removed from underlying assets in ways Wolfe does not see clear.

The separation of investment banks and commercial banks cannot occur again without structural damage to the current system. 

3. No one doubts the politicians are enriching themselves.

*****

Another example how far removed the professional activists are from understanding the crisis…they blather inanely around some NGO fuelled trend…lets reform the banks and close loopholes…microfinance, remittance, bankable frontiers etc. etc. etc. while the world burns and Iran is about to get bombed to Timbuktu…

What do you expect from Americans who believe they are part of the solution while all can see they are adding to the mess  yet it is important they not stop…

but their attitude must change…

views from the top down are inaccurate and impotent, the push will come form the street…once that number hits critical mass and the sooner the better as surveillance and technology create a tighter and tighter world…militarization will only increase…the revolution will not be blogged…but the rebellion should be.  

they must believe they will be leaders of great reform but not insight and somehow the ship will be righted…

human nature should not be governed or controlled…

 

ha!ha! i scream at the sun who whispers give me time…

the occupy movement was outside the confines of current constructs 

we did not need  external policing…that’s when the professionals left

 

we carved out space and made room for ourselves with nothing and gifts…

though we believed in our cause we believed in each other more…

 

Wolfe cannot know this through her symbolic way of thinking…

 

Liberal liberal liberal 

womens movement and gay rights are pushed in Egypt

the games keep getting worse and just repeated

with cultural diversions allowing the lock down

to continue…unabated

 

security and comfort

is all you deserve.  

 

60’s anyone?  

It’s Never Been Easy

In Egypt the noise, the language and the mistake of taking an apartment close to the road, just off Tahir square, where the taxi drivers honk through the night in a defiant conversation.

A race being persecuted for oil they are unable to defend.

At Occupy the anger in North America is directed at corporate fat cats primarily in the financial industry and what an industry that has become…the only place to really “make belief money”…

media problem…

once they have your image…

they have your soul.

 

And of course since I spend lots of time alone

as readers and writers must

big crowds are eventually overwhelming

Stimulus overload…

I

got drunk and yelled at everybody one night especially the Indians

that was fun so they put out the sacred fire

no one from money is expected to work in the trades and very few do…

and since money begets money…the divide between the rich and poor

becomes starker and starker.

 

And before you start jabbering about defining my terms

first let me say fuck off.

 

Poor is not owning a home, having a negative net worth…

and for you pathetic few rich is defined as over $10,000 a day

 

Capitalism has immersed us in her cold calculating grasp

Completely invading your social relations and so called media

 

With nowhere to expand the game is up…

 

we live off the land

we fish from the sea,

need clean water and air

yet we continue to pollute

and in fact pollute more

 

a system

of waste

excess

high unemployment,

overproduction

is lionized

through coercion

 

do you like having to pay for everything?

you people are so stupid you don’t even ask the question

just shuffle along and do what you’re taught.

It ain’t going to be pretty for your grandkids

but what do you care?

http://www.lacan.com/essays/?page_id=303

Saturday

The last vestiges of an Occupy were visible on the steps of the art gallery last night…i said hello to some of the faithful and headed to the downtown east side to drink my fill                  as is my habit.

As usual i blacked out and when i came to I was far from home.

I jumped a cab and forty dollars later arrived in Richmond.

I woke early, checked to see what i had lost and was presently surprised.

I have a bruised hand and a cut above my lip which would suggest some horseplay.

On the CBC i was informed that NATO had bombed a check point in Pakistan killing 24 soldiers.

I grabbed my shorts and towel and went for a sauna to sweat the beer out.

The Grey Cup is ninety nine years old and Vancouver is hosting the party. 

It’s lonely on the wet coast with low clouds and lots of rain.

The Fraser River calms and i feel resigned.

Occupy the Internet

As a right wing male white journalist comments

we should take our grievances as if we work for him

to a more appropriate space…

like the internet and we have followed course.

it is only by taking physical space as all oppressed groups have noticed will those in power noticeably get upset i.e. feel threatened

A war of words has already long ago been lost in symbols of symbols endlessly careening and refracting in a virtual world and corporate interest is well protected in mainstream press and de facto owned by such.

Like paper money we write more and more hoping we can reason our way out of this particular conundrum…but have those days of reason ever existed?

Marxists critique of capitalism has yet to be answered.

Where, once all is used up, will we expand?

The optimist must believe in evolution

and that we do not create problems which we cannot solve.

----------------

The state has tested our resolve…and we went with only a whimper

a guy from Richmond giving the Indians a hand and getting arrested and released

and mat the hat still holding vigil and sleeping on the stairs of the art gallery.

---------------------------------

Perhaps my favorites philosophy and poetry can save us

and then we need to attack mercilessly the end of history

as reported by fukyama of the rand corporation. 

-----------------

no one knew we would have an eight hour work day          

Run Vancouver Run

with apologies to Updike

Well the Occupy Vancouver encampment moved then moved again only the second time they didn’t pitch tents and last night they held another meeting at the art gallery.

That meeting i didn’t attend but unfortunately i was at the rest.

I cleaned up the area with the help of Jessie that was the library but most everywhere else was a mess.

The courts ordered us off the property by 2pm Monday and the city gave all the homeless people shelters so they didn’t mind and the professional activists weren’t going to put up a fight so everyone was in compliance…

as a group zero resistance

which for a city this size is unusual.

The city was in peace overdrive because of hockey riots in the spring.

The moonbeam mayor is a new age spiritualist with big money backing from rich US kids who believe they have achieved higher consciousness and are de facto running  Vancouver as a social experiment.

Through a not so complicated financial network they fund both politically and at the NGO level to set city policy.

The Occupy Vancouver move was heavily infiltrated by these Vision people who are basically any one who works for an advocacy or NGO or political party in any way…all young clamoring for power.

I met a woman on the last day who was condescending to the homeless and said she moved money into various accounts as part of her job description on the behalf of Joel Salomon who is partnered with Gregor.  

The helping world has become an industry and the children of rich capitalists are running the show unawares of their prejudice and context.

The people who work for them are pathetic in that awesome sort of way.

But there is nothing we can do…capitalism will implode through well critiqued internal contradictions…we will continue to believe in the magnitude of the first person…our collective well being will be through the individual…and we will continue to believe things are getting better…

Oh to be the elite in these end times is indeed heady

i can afford to do anything i choose or at least get lessons       

 

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.       

Occupy the Gong Show

The economy is a plutonomy and a precarious working class

an insecure working people who do not want to rock the ship

and will not ask for extra benefits or wages

and just be happy with what they have…

let them watch you tube

better to be exploited by capitalism than not…they say

Not having an income stream in a capitalistic system is dry

this is class war fare

 

Worker owned factories.

Obama took over the auto industry ie the people owned it de facto

and then he gave it back to the business or the monied class.

 

the us is extremely backwards in high speed transportation…

their are things we need which the people could provide…

via jobs…we need to work in the north

 

environmental destruction is an increasing  growing catastrophe

which the business community openly argues does not exist.

 

we must continue in a sustained dedicated way

there will be failures and set backs

but unless we stop neo liberal imperialistic agendas

or the complete submission to monied interests 

the chance for a decent future are not very high  

most people do not know this is happening

 

get people to understand and what they can do about it

 

no person should be deprived of rights

 

we need to gain the understanding of organizing

we need to learn from the people

we need to learn from…

                                                books not bombs

 

since the personal growth movement took off in the seventies

the whole world has gone to shit

so sitting in a circle sending out good thoughts

starts where it ends

 

we need to start taking over the civic elections

 

at the gong show

we have moved to the stairs of the courthouse

which like the rest of vancouver is kind of funny

as whole we offered zero resistance

which is quite zen like 

only bamboo blows in the wind

and big trees fall

 

unfortunately

we are a generation or two

from real trouble

so things are urgent.     

A Religious Blog

When i entered the court house they made me remove everything from my pockets and walk through a metal detector and then the wand and then my possessions were returned.

No cell phones but for the accredited media electronical devices were ok. 

This was an impediment on my freedom of movement and as a potential council person said every time you went through you felt violated or at the very least helpless.

It was a dehumanizing experience as most attempts at coercion and force are.

I was seen as a threat to the court house and our room had the most security.

In Palestine where the guards are not polite checkpoints are a daily reminder.

I shall no know hatred is a testament to the potential of mankind while the military is a continuous reminder of the worse.

Here the Occupy is symbolic while elsewhere it is not.

For the most part we are not seen as the enemy but just as wayward family members to be looked on with curiosity and pity not fear.

For the occupation to end in Palestine the people would have no bounds to their joy…and of course life must go on. 

In internetized countries we are under constant surveillance, there is no where to hide and even going underground is not the viable alternative it once was. I have very little experience not having a bank account and am enmeshed in the system for my very survival.

Capitalism has infantilized me and made me dependent.

At this stage it would be a stretch to live off the land or even by my wits.

As an extra measure instead of talking to people i type on a computer screen further atomizing my discontent and looking to subjective cures (personal growth and development, pharmacology, etc.) for relief…

The most damaged believe it is really all about them.

Surely there is no intellectual hope as empire continues to build up military presence in the middle east to ensure a steady fuel for an imperial agenda.

With nothing left to conquer

Iran will fall…time time time

To exist is to resist and

the laughter of children

is always my revenge.                     

Occupy Vancouver

Judgment Day

After three days of trial where i had made acquaintances with many of the sheriffs and explained our grievances to mostly sympathetic responses the judge named Anne announces she has sided with the city and we must leave by 1 pm on Monday.

though i did not think she would allow us to stay indefinitely i did wish with all my heart she would have been more historical in response.

Constitutionally the question from my limited understanding goes.

We are in contravention of a by law, many actually while engaged in the act of political protest which is one of Canada’s most cherished rights and formalized by the Charter.

They kept saying balance of convenience as in the public interest was not being served while we took over the land de facto

was becoming a bit of a police state with un voted expulsions,

food, water and power and sanitation toilets provided by the enemy.

Chairman mao and karl marx would be shocked i think but who knows.

So ann said the public was being unconvinced by the protest and in fact being denied usage of the park which was kind of true but not in spirit i mean 99% is pretty inclusive.

again once again the grey cup is the deadline

same thing with the Shaw strike 2002 Edmonton.

On a personal note after hearing the verdict i bought six heinies and shot the shit with a downtown friend, went back to the library and yelled we got to take it to general assembly, poked fun at colors, got six more beers yelled we got to take it to general assembly, told the Indians to light the fire and left for the down town to drink my fill.

Hit the 340, bought another sketch from an artist who does crack, got cut off, went to a weird smoke filled basement where a video camera caused a violent reaction , stayed off the hard drugs, buzzed the drive, ate a pizza, puked, jumped a cab and took the train to richmond.

amazingly propositioned by a street walker in my quiet hometown mall parking lot, which i declined, thought twice, got head and went to sleep.

Today was Indian day at Occupy so i cleaned the house, ate and rested.    

They want to move the library books as the city has said anything removed after two pm on monday will be destroyed.

i know

they are people too…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillygwailo/6324096204/

Occupy a bed

 

Slept on and a little off for a couple of days.

I exhausted myself with a date and needed the rest.

The encampment is tied up in the courts until the end of the week

and we look to be in relatively good shape.

i am a political protestor and feel a prisoner

in an ever increasing police state.

 

In canada i am protected by the charter of freedoms

in Egypt a blogger was just jailed…

 

wonderful institutions which the rest of the world cannot afford…

literally…only “affluence” buys rights at the cost of other.

 

…is free because Palestine is poor.  

Occupy Vancouver

printed from the world wide web

11/11/11

Globally

common people die in wars

and now in the 21st century

with an ecological crisis pending

militarization must stop.

 

remember “food not bombs”

 

Locally

tent city is getting it together

and the suburbs are fine

 

the peace keepers keep doin’ it

and the tea house is the tea house

 

the library is always open

and a fire warms the soul

 

Raven is taking the weekend off

and the medics are hanging tough.

 

Legally

An injunction states the organizers

are different from the campers

and rumor has it some of the early birds

have quit already…

 

the word awesome is heard less often

 

Che is not happy

Occupy Vancouver

a sacred fire was quickly doused

by firemen escorted by the police

 

The cameras recorded 

resistance and no arrests

 

No one who was there can doubt

the fact the state is violent

 

A system intent on exploitation 

is required to crush dissidence

 

2,000,000 Americans are in jail

the vast majority poor

 

While the crime rate decreases (in Canada)

Harper is building more jails

 

the imperialistic industrial

military complex

 

must stop

 

think!. 

Occupy Vancouver Monday

The rain has come and we have had our first casualty.

A young street woman died on site from causes unknown.

The city has threatened eviction but with an upcoming Mayoral election on the 19th it is unlikely any action will occur.

I suspect they may cut power and perhaps file an injunction

But with the encampment being on provincial land leased by the city it is a legal quagmire.  

The library continues to thrive and books and authors keep coming to visit.

The Food not Bomb tent serves over a 1000 meals a day and the medics are kept busy.

Tent city and the suburbs are fine.

The crowd is becoming more militant though at the general assembly non violence was voted in again.

The 99% encompasses a wide range of characters who live vastly differently lives and in fact inhabit spaces that are culturally, economically and socially foreign.

i.e. interrupting some one who is full of themselves is expected on “the street” but considered rude by the liberal class who love to hear themselves talk and use prevailing social constructs to dominate.

Really the bourgeoisie are incredibly boring and for the most part appear to want a bigger piece of the power pie in a society dedicated to the spectacle. 

At the very least they are elitist and strategic…

and thriving in late stage capitalism.

If not for….the movement would have no soul…

smile…

let it rain! let it rain! let it rain!

we got traction.          

Occupy With a Van Slant

 

SEATTLE

the encampment

has been moved

to a junior college

and though while still alive

they are gasping.

-

O’VAN sends a note

and a number.

-

a 69 year old

x marketing fellow

is talking politics

************

the site

as to be expected

in front of the art gallery

is like a movie set

with tents instead of trailers

a catering section

with a separate

beverage facility 

a production center

a lounge

and plenty of (yawn)

stimulating conversation.

*********************

I am not up to  date

as i continue to believe

many well intentioned

beings

are doing their best

9999999999999999

infrastructure is key

 

public media perception

must be played

 

the spirit of the place is to help

not show off.

 

happy halloween!

Occupy Sunday Oct 30th 2011

http://www.dangerousminds.net/tag/Scott-Olsen

I slept til 5pm and went to Safeway, bought a big sandwich, tomatoes, yogurt, a Greek salad, oranges and a starbucks coffee for 40 bucks.

Cigarettes another 10 and obviously i am not poor                                                    but still i do not qualify as the 1 per cent.

************************8

As we all know world economic theory and a Tobin tax                                     are not even in the vocabulary of the financially challenged.

@@@@@@@@@@@@

(Is yet another populist movement

who’s very back bone is the  disenfranchised

the homeless the poor and the downtrodden

to be co-opted by neo liberal foundations

who’s very aim is to reform?)

When i hear that word i think of prison.

@@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@##

In Vancouver

the special interest groups

continue to diminish

the food tent has a new piece of art,

the mayor is learning how to share

the poet has a new blank book

the leaky hose has been tightened

regular hours are being established

the library has a five year old chess champion

and the Tent City Kitties lost 3-0

to the Cedar Grove Lions

with one eye netting the hat rick.

here comes the winter…          

Two Weeks Down

 

In Canada the right to political protest

is well protected under the

 

Charter of Rights and Freedoms (get a copy)

 

And in 14 quick days we have accomplished much

 

-the medic tent is an oasis

-the food tent continues to inspire

-the library is full of intellectual debate

-the impromptu music is getting better

               -the coffee and thought provoking documentaries

                   are stewarded and well looked after

-the peace keepers are keeping the peace.

-infrastructure is improving

-the info. tent is clean

-the GA’s are regular

              and community is happening  

 

At a civic level we have a candidate in the race

real estate prices in Cedar Grove are rising

and Tent City is building roads.   

 

At a provincial level the healing continues with Ricky leading the charge.

At the federal Level our freedoms continue to be eroded with the current regime giving themselves permission to wire tap computers without warrants i.e. they do not need to justify themselves and have given themselves monitoring capabilities by insisting the service companies comply and even allow testing which is how Home-and security rolls

for obvious reasons be careful with the internet

Day 12 Recap

 

Legally our position is secure

we are on provincial land

in the middle of the city.

 

The rain is soothing and gentle

and Emily Carr is in the house

(library First Nation Section).

 

The general assemblies are difficult

but through listening and consideration

we are learning to persevere.

 

The kitchen continues to rock

and the coffee, tea refreshment house

has a new floor and is awesome.

 

If you see garbage            pick it up

if you see a dangerous situation              make it safe

if you see someone in need                 lend a hand

 

even on a wacky Wednesday night

there are only a few minor altercations

and nothing as a group we can’t handle

Occupy Day 9

Numbers good

and support tents

functional

 

freedom of expression

allows us stay

 

as long as we are able

 

and not in the way

of the public good… 

 

the land is owned

by the province

which is also relevant

 

UBC is on side

as are the city workers

 

special interest groups are dwindling

 

The leaves are turning color

the smell of winter is in the air. 

Occupy Vancouver Day 8

The mayor is peaceful

and deep down wants us to stay.

 

The weekend move

is different than

the work week.

 

It is Monday and we start again.

 

Many students took time off school

workers will be going back to their time off work

They will be going back to their regular lives.

 

We cannot have infinite growth on a  finite planet.

 

In BC we want to end poverty as Norway has done.

 

People  with disabilities should be able to live with economic dignity.

The working man should be free of  financial hardship.

Even the most disenfranchised should be given a home.

 

These are simple requests.

 

I know you say it cannot be done

 

yet we are being reasonable and

demanding the impossible…

 

why not?   

Lull Them Back to Sleep

The old writers say write from experience:

 

The mood in the community stationed

at the north side of the old justice building

is festive or as the professor says

“carnivalous ”

 

yet strangely we are still on message

occupying a bank and hugging a policeman…

which got some good press

 

Monday back to work

the NPA conservative candidate for mayor is giving us some hate 

But the food is vegan, peace keeping is tight and we are keeping it clean…

 

Robertson said as long as we are “non-violent”

he will not instruct the police to forcefully evict us…

 

hey! hey!

let it rain!

 

but not too much…        

One Week

 

We made it!

 

We have created community

based on dignity and equality

 

we do not need leaders

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

we are surrounded by the

the hard cold reality

of corporate capitalism.

+++++++++++++++

We are entrenched,                                                                                           well fortified and                                                                                                      have the support                                                                                                   of the general public                                                                                               for the winter ahead.

_____________

                            (Goodness needs no benefits)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We are communicating 

we are keeping it clean

we have a kitchen

a library and a kids area

we compost we recycle

and we are wheel chair friendly

 

it is about respect

we are getting over ourselves

and thinking of “other”

 

dig in my brothers and sisters

dig in

dig in

     dig in

Occupy Vancouver Day 6

So far as expected no major problems

Thoughts on Occupy

 

Of course occupying Vancouver and playing the stock market

at first does seem to leave one in a contradiction

until one looks at the spectacle.

****************

In Vancouver we do not take revolution seriously

and instead are mostly divided into special interest groups

who do have notions of discontent

which may  or may not be caused

by a  brutal neo liberal Washington consensus program.

 

The pervasiveness of financialization

demands one behave in accordance

within the guidelines of ‘private property”

or you will not own or even let a home.

 

terms don’t exist.

***************************

Yesterday i spoke with an old associate from high school he was now a sergeant in the Vancouver police force. He was always a good guy

and i told him we wanted to take oppressor hierarchies down

and he said for that to happen we would need more people…

he said on the weekend

_________________

i hope it is sunny this weekend.

Which is a different wish

than hoping

a mining company

I invest in

can discover

more natural

resources

so i can

become

more rich.

*******

prison for the poor

wage slavery

for the rest 

 

the world

for those

free of financial burden

 

“yes”

 

I write

the phone rings

more commercials.                

Occupy Vancouver Day 2

The crowd is down

from 500o to 500

more tents are in place.

The weather has been mercifully sunny and the mood has been generally good.

The police presence is large and so far there have been no arrests.

The food is being provided by Foods Not Bombs.

In Vancouver we always have water.

In New York they report they are “winning”.

(That terminology is inappropriate but does accurately describe personal experience but again from a neo liberal perspective which is the all consuming narrative). 

*@#$%

Change the way you view the world and you will be a different person says old Che before he died..

This of course takes time and it is still early days.

Hedonistic enlightenment is well entrenched and cameras are everywhere.

As Wade Rathke says

“Who knows if this will develop into a real movement rather than an exciting spurt, but for now if it’s the best we have , let’s keep the fire burning.” 

Conquer abroad oppress at home.          

Herbert Marcuse The Uni-Dimensional Man

And in the literature, this other dimension is represented not by the religious, spiritual, moral heroes (who often sustain the established order) but rather by such disruptive characters as the artist, the prostitute, the adulteress, the great criminal and outcast, the warrior, the rebel-poet, the devil, the fool – those who don't earn a living, at least not in an orderly and normal way.

To be sure, these characters have not disappeared from the literature of advanced industrial society but they survive essentially transformed. The vamp, the national hero, the beatnik, the neurotic housewife, the gangster, the star, the charismatic tycoon perform a function very different from and even contrary to that of their cultural predecessors.

They are no longer images of another way of life but rather freaks or types
of the same life serving as an affirmation rather than negation of the established order.

**************

The absorbent power of society depletes the artistic dimension by assimilating its antagonistic contents. In the realm of culture, the new totalitarianism manifests itself precisely in a harmonizing pluralism, where the most
contradictory works and truths peacefully Coexist in indifference.

Prior to the advent of this cultural reconciliation, literature and art were essentially alienation, sustaining and protecting the contradiction – the unhappy consciousness of the divided world, the defeated possibilities, the hopes unfulfilled, and the promises betrayed. They were a rational, cognitive
force, revealing a dimension of man and nature which Was repressed and repelled in reality. Their truth was in the illusion evoked, in the insistence on creating a world in which the terror of life was called up and suspended – mastered by recognition. This is the miracle of the chef-d'oeuvre; it is the tragedy, sustained to the last, and the end of tragedy – its impossible solution. To live one's love and hatred, to live that which one is means defeat, resignation, and death. The crimes of society, the hell that man has made
or man become unconquerable cosmic forces.

Occupy Vancouver

 

I  was almost moved to tears

but the occupy wall street party

is going to be camping

on a museum lawn

and not even the old

Vancouver Stock Exchange 

will be captured…

 

In Egypt

people were killed in the streets

police brutality was the norm

and young men would hold their chests

open to the red beam of the sniper rifle

death or victory was the cry

in Vancouver the organizers asked

if we were having fun

fuck

 

capitalism

and neo liberal Washington consensus

politics in particular.

the cuts will only get deeper,

the unions will only get weaker

the media will only get more biased

the military will only expand  

education will get more expensive

medical will get more expensive

more people will spend more time in jail

and the arts will continue to decline

there will be more people and fewer jobs

the environment will be degraded 

 

on the bright side it will be cheaper

to eat at MacDonald’s than go shopping.   

 

Technorati Tags: occupy vancouver

Intro

1.

advances

spiritual?psychological advances like 

the ability to treat “other”

as a human being

with all our hard fought rights

has not moved since the sixties.

 

As Harold Zinn points out

the seventies was a return to control.

We have been bounced along since then,

now almost completely infantilized.

 

Atomized, captured and entertained  

we aspire to empty recognition

based on quantity and not depth.

 

 

1.

in capitalism less is not more…

How many followers do you have?

Of course in a spiritual life

the teachers teach the opposite.

2.

We cannot claim to be a civilized country

if we continue to support the border cleaning

imperialized agenda in the middle east.

3.

Palestinians resists out of necessity

while we in the west pay for this oppression

surely you have heard of the wall.

 

A.

We cannot kill our family as easily as we can kill others.

We cannot kill a citizen as easily as we can kill a foreigner.

We cannot kill a believer as easily as we can kill a non believer.

We cannot kill a dog as easily as we can punch a wall.

 

*

If humanity is a family

we’re killing

our brothers and sisters

**

out of site

out of mind

***

ironically the tar sands rock.

Post Modernism lament

I have very little conviction…

i do not seem to matter

I say with an air

of self importance.

 

Why get books published?

why try to push civilization along?

 

q.what is the purpose of life?

a. to shine the brightest.

 

in a short time

would seem defeatist

do we move out of a love for the planet,

out of a love of life,

a love of nature

or a hatred of white men

who still run rough shod

over the planet…

 

let’s unwind…

 

the rich country

allies control

the resources

of the world

and take 70%

let’s say

 

Instead of feeding

we bomb and write reports

give money we stole

which strengthens

dependency…

 

in old fashion math

if you subtract

without adding

eventually you die

but by interfering

with nature we kill

200 species a day

for ever

as in extinct.

 

the far left cries.     

 

we all do

hopefully there will

be a few more

generations

 

in the city

one trusts completely

on global supply chains

which aren’t that secure

 

if the middle east

is any indication

 

yesterday

they drove a tank over people

worse than Tiananmen Square

some pundits argue

this is the end

of the revolution

now it is a coup d’etat

riding a populist wave

to victory.

 

the problems with governments

is they eventually get filled with people

and people like to hold on to power

and the military is backed by the US

 

130 countries and

700 military bases

 

the pirates may break

up supply chains

but half the oil

is used

on running the machine

militaristically

 

we’re running down

and this all seems

sped up

 

as i sit relaxed

with internet wealth

railing against

the machine

I live regally…

out of touch

 

i believe I’m an

extrivert

when i’m alone

 

feudalsim is upon us

as the masses scramble

for what they consider

their daily bread or monthly nut

or must have consumer items

 

The rich live in mansions

 

initially i am uptight

and loosen up very little

trauma stays in the body

if unable to express

and as freud writes

civilization

and its discontent

 

We have now come to the place where we no longer believe we are different than the machine…which could change in an instant with a change in attitude instead it is seen as an a priori…or a given…which is the conquering of the world led by the us military/government and unfettered capitalism…only a protection of property rights…those with the property rule most and the military is the final trump card.

It was sad being in Egypt because it did not feel like a country after a revolution should feel. There was none of the chaos, none of the madness, none of the humanness one would expect.

A Parliamentary election was coming up and there was to be a Presidential election in the spring. Now some argue that the Coptic Christian massacre was intended to destabilize the revolutionary forces and retrench the strength of the military who will be seen as the one to provide security…

in a good world

health food education housing a right 

advertising is banned…

which will allow for supply chains

to be distributed

more in terms of need

instead of ability to pay.

 

From each according to his abilities

to each according to his needs

which can come from many sources

 

first things first

food security for everyone

regardless of US dollars.

 

A feeling and a thought accompany every body response, forming a cycle of physical , emotional and intellectual information …we receive with our senses experience with our nervous system and translate information with our brains…we hope these three co-operate…knowing accepting and valuing one another's existence…

how about just knowing and accepting

When people receive mixed messages they feel like they are losing control or that we are stupid. This anxiety is countered by patterns of coping which is being right for some.

We all have thousands of experiences to justify ourselves and there in lies the problem of global poverty. We do not see it yet know it exists.

Psychologically we would rather be secure than rocking the boat.

Has the spiritual work been co-opted by the capitalists to reinforce a consumerist approach to life.    

What is your purpose or are you speaking in tongues again?                   

 

 

 

 

 

conflict

 

the operating of a civil society and emotion

which if not balanced with reason would be chaos

which would be a drag on progress

and require a new way of thinking

 

people are people

deep down

we’re all friends.

Wednesday

The grey clouds overwhelm      i do not belong there or here

the world is out of sorts…the cruelty of humans is consistent

…and this is what makes a life, a life

many many days of pain

made worse from exaggerating

no one can escape…

as the new country song goes

a 100 years ain’t as long as it use to be…

 

we have advanced technically

more in the last 100 years

than the rest of time

fueled by capitalism

and competition

which has become unhealthy

for the biodiversity of the planet…

by making the earth safer

we have eliminated

much of her beauty

the thin world of creativity

*****************

we are still inexplicably cruel

and are willing

to witness

the impoverished

at their expense

like the

gentry of the old south

talking about freedom of movement

as the black servants scuttle about

 

we do not need theories about why

we are willing to overlook social justice

but the academics believe

by exposing the problem

then it is possible to solve it…

so they write books

about the “The Occupied Lands” 

 

superiority issues

pyscho-analyze

and export the problem

of poverty and pollution

while continuing to write books

 

the current economic system

can only function with a debt

it can never repay…

 

Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation is not a charity

but in fact is a

propaganda arm for capitalism

as they team with the

Bankable Frontiers people

to get everyone a

account and credit cards,

mortgages and debt

they believe that everyone

should have identity cards …

we have facebook…

be seen

be counted,

be noticed

be the change you want

to see in the world

are jingoisms

  (of capitalism…)

 

Sarte said                          at the turn of the century

it is has changed from “others” to “self”

in a barrage of rights cloaked in an

ever improving standard of living

by feasting on the poor

 

reports 

 

how sad we are

how hungry they are

 

as in depression,

obesity and incarceration

 

as in poverty,

pollution and police states            

 

as in games

more sedentary and more violent

 

as in bad music

misplaced rhymes and self congratulatory

 

as in drones

murdering

from a high

 

shooting someone

from a chair in Nevada

does not have the same

visceral experience

as seeing the whites

in their eyes…screens

are not immediate.

 

 

quality  

the Ticos would call the fat man gorko

because he was fat…no because really

the intellectual liberals will say this

is a case of language…

symbols have become the end of all

we believe spiritual practice and compound interest

are operating from similar principles…

 

yes a struggle for life…

was against nature

now against man

as his greed

ensures inequality,

violence and depletion

 

(Why did god allows us to advance rapidly

if he did not know what he was doing?) 

 

In the long long term the sun explodes and we all die…

what if we live to be 200? same thing just longer

 

http://www.warisboring.com/2007/08/01/and-the-winner-is-northrop-grabs-killer-drone-contract/

What to Do? Herbert Marcuse from a "One Dimensional Man"

The capabilities (intellectual and material)
of contemporary society are immeasurably greater
than ever before -
which means that the scope of society's domination
over the individual is immeasurably greater
than ever before.

Our society distinguishes itself by conquering
the centrifugal social forces with

Technology rather than Terror,

on the dual basis of an overwhelming efficiency
and an increasing standard of living

(Walmart and Holt Renfrew),

the collusion of Business and Labor
within the strong State testify
to the integration of opposites...

as in the Air Canada negotiations where
union leadership and governement/business
are at odds with membership...

The bourgeoisie and the proletariat
in the Capitalist world are still the basic classes.
However, the capitalist development has altered the
structure and function of these two classes in such a way
that they no longer appear to be agents

of historical transformation.

An overriding interest in the preservation and improvement
of the institutional status quo unites
the former antagonists(proletariat/workers))
in the most advanced areas of contemporary society

with the"liberals" (whom we hate).

Forgive them They know not what they do...
their righteousness is wrong.

And to the degree to which technical progress
assures the growth and cohesion of communist society,
the very idea of qualitative change
recedes before the realistic notions
of a non-explosive evolution.

i.e. we don't want a revolution
if that means no coffee with desert

In the absence of demonstrable agents and agencies of social change,
the critique is thus thrown back to a high level of abstraction.

There is no ground on which theory and practice,

thought and action meet.

Here the cynical may rest in nihilism,

The ghost or the invisible (wo)man
may be an agent of change...

that seems proposterous!

Let us then explore no further
and return to the place where
words and actions shall never meet
and where we are all...more comfortable...

the god of consumption forbids sacrifice...

as in

if only you new the hardship of my story...
do you have a minute...let me explain blah blah blah

the outcasts believe they're special
and in fact use this unique status as fuel

"their reason for being"

magnifying the conundrum...
and enforcing the isolation
of a consumersitic society
that is always in first person

as in my children, my job, my feelings,
my facebook, my art my my my privacy

or said better:

The union of growing productivity and growing destruction;
the brinkmanship of annihilation; the surrender of thought,
hope, and fear to the decisions of the powers that be;
the preservation of misery in the face of

unprecedented wealth

constitute the most impartial indictment.

Only by... changing their way of life, of denying the
positive, of refusing...

One-Dimensional Man will vacillate
throughout between two contradictory hypotheses:

(1) that advanced industrial society is capable of containing qualitative change for the foreseeable future;

2) that forces and tendencies exist which may break this containment and explode the society

(but i love society...amazing, awesome, super super super ...yes of course you do...pain is free...and neccessary...run! run! run!)

I do not think that a clear answer can be given.
Both tendencies are there, side by side -
and even the one in the other.

For example the leader of NGO employs
the same techniques as a CEO and in
fact measures success along the same metrics...

of course what else could be the case you exclaim...

The first tendency is dominant, and whatever preconditions
for a reversal may exist are being used to prevent it.

Perhaps an accident may alter the situation,

but unless the recognition of what is being done
and what is being prevented subverts
the consciousness and the behavior of man,

not even a catastrophe
will bring about the change.

and we all knew/know this...

home is better

Well I am quite beside hope and feel more helpless

the cameras keep everything at a stand

My mind locked in an old place…

strangled

mother’s neediness

father’s brutality…

pain...

her pull magnetic

but empty…

his pull psychopathic

but greedy…

home is home…

on the move...

away from pain towards pleasure…

are we really as simple as that?…

inward in this way view the world…

first person with an emphasis on first

as a revolutionary

I am not convinced

Capitalism merely needs

to be reformed

very best tolerable

worst a polluted totalitarianism

controlled by a few capitalists…

It is by design I suppose if we can consider it part of our nature…those who abuse others do not believe they are abusing others…in the sense of abuse being punishment…physically or creating an atmosphere of dread…one of oppression…where if one was to step outside the lines which became tighter and tighter mimicking the double bind the perpetrator must find himself in, I the blue eyed blond haired son and then three daughters, surely god is trying to tell us something.

a society of consumption by definition will die from it,

either too much (environmental degradation) or to little (starvation)

strangely the system incorporates revolution quite easily

and the occupy wall street Is not fuelled by the same resentment

of a thirty year military dictator who employed street gangs to keep the order

dissent was met with torture imprisonment death

occupy wall street

though harmless shows a flicker of dissent

a young intelligent adult can see

he has not the mobility of his grandfather

or the choice of dropping out…

like union contracts that don’t include new hires

in the collective bargaining agreement

older generations have sold out younger ones in the interest of self desire

demographically the number is too small too matter

the boomers still in charge and still in control

a concentration of wealth

migrating up the food chain

in deep tracks of globalization

we are unawares

of the damage

and have been caught

in the odiousness

of debt

whom do I owe?

a measure by which

I will be judged

regardless of character

birth and location

the heavy metrics

I have lost track of the time and am off to NY

to check out the protest in my new job

as reporter on revolutions

that are destined to fail

stabalaize

(poetic license assumed)

 

Dear Comrades,

I

am still in shock from what I have seen.

The difference between the life I live here

and the life over there…

is wide and shocking.

 

I live in the: “to the victors—

go the spoils”

they live in defeat…

(at least on a material basis)

 

When I see avoidable suffering

…

 

the hustlers get my money…

at the airport three surround

hiss “give me money”

and I went quickly

to the front of the line…

 

i meet a Marxist

who says

“casualty of capitalism”

quite a few times

decomprehension

(I wrote a poem about Palestine

and was asked by a Fringe Performer

if I had ever been.

Mistakenly I wanted to back up the poem

from the future

but apparently the poem can stand alone.

it was not to be…

true to nature I give up easily…

yes! yes! beautiful loser!)

 

Freedom of Movement

I was scared in Cairo without any of the objects I use to connect to the earth.

I did have a few possessions, slippers and some books, my cloths and my luggage.

I misplaced my visa and would yell stop tormenting me

in the large hostel with twenty foot ceilings.

I couldn’t sleep as the room I took was on a main thorough fare 

cars talking through the night,

The conference was over and the chances of getting into Gaza

seemed slim to non-existent…

so in a fit of insomnia and diarrhea

I changed my ticket 

 

luxury of choice.

weak from the heat and tired.

young child come home

My attempts to reach Palestine

were a few enquiries.

spoke with an American who worked for the government  

failing with the Bedouin in the Sinai Peninsula.

They had resorted to growing marijuana

which I thought was a good thing.

He said the Carter people were having a long time getting into Gaza 

required three levels of government clearance

and an invitation from the other side.

I had no relevant documentation.

I spoke with Oxfam 

I knew very little about Palestine 

If the intent is to draw attention to the plight of the Palestine people

then what tactic would be best employed?

 

A young intellectual studying applied linguistics

at the Cairo University said

two if his friends had gone through tunnels

but in seriousness I was not motivated.

A young activist was unsure whether she would visit Palestine

and I had never considered the question…

 

Until exposed to the patronizing nature of NGO’s

and the strange spectacle of other humans

photographing other humans who don’t have cameras

and are in liberal speak disadvantaged

one assumes privileged position is natural

 

A super structure of the viewed and the unseen.

 

The final humiliation

not only do we make them live

in the garbage of imperialism

but we also take images

to remind of us of our sin…

poor gutted peoples unite

against cruel globalization

 

college kid in jail

for a week or two

quickly ceases

to be an anarchist

 

a revolutionary in a third world

i know nothing of… 

economically, politically, socially…

 

to succeed one must follow the logic of capitalism

which is corporations personified…

 

a third world revolutionary  

wax on romantically…

 

In a rush the tactile world disappears

The unseen being the poverty tourists

pointing their cameras as guns

exposing the cruelty of their system…

not kind or fair 

compromises humanity

in the best sense.

thwarted but I can continue with my mission (what mission?)

 

I regressed back into a terror 

nights without sleep

or good nutrition 

 

the Egyptian vendors were hungry 

 

Sitting in the room with the teachers union

after the other foreigners had left.

The leaders speak in harsh tones

and the other twenty look on exhausted.

One who speaks English turns to me and says

we do not belong here

referring to the hotel where

the nightly fee is close to their monthly salary.

 

the vast gap between the rich and the poor

intentionally thwarted by the liberal class

who somehow believe we can muddle

through an evolutionary change

with reports and dialogue

 

war at this stage of technological advancement 

 

Unfortunately our way of life depends on their suffering…

as we all know the west takes more than her fair share.

 

In Amsterdam

Talking it up…gonna solve the Palestine conflict is a delusional thing to say…

but the conversation should be about concrete solutions (niave).

Now the dialogue is about the narrative

and how we need to be patient and long distance runners.

 

The capitalist are marching and Buffets quip about the elite killing us

may require more than a wait and see attitude…

life has been good in the west for a couple of generations.

 

At a coffee house I smoke a joint and speak

with two English guys about the goodness in the world…

or at least say David Beckham is overrated

and didn’t make much of a splash in the USA.

He too overshot carrying capacity.

 

The Conference Kind

of Went as follows:

The Growth of the Cotton Industry

went hand in hand

with the slave trade

in the American south,

that used a “free” wage system

or

imperialism continues

 

NYMEX and the IPE insist all oil transactions are in US dollars

which is in turn backed by the military and perversely with oil.

A list to do in Egypt

turn off camera each time

more city life around Egypt

good interview with June and me

take video of other people…include people

shots of Egypt city scene

keep camera still

do video entry every day

check video-organize your self

get some inspiration

Dis organized

There is no poetry at an organizing conference in Egypt and since i was the only poet i am to blame.

The other attendees were writers in the sense of spending time typing on computers.

They produce blogs, reports, books of a perceived nature.

I my self felt stifled.

 

I knew not the language or the culture…

 

a strange mixture of women.

Some a slit for eyes in black,

the irony predictable

when they are wearing glasses

 

a belly dancer

with stretch marks 

“Give me money”

as i arrive…

 

a westerner

and though not

immediately

i did oblige.

 

Smoking hash

like a king

fruit plates

cheese

beer

and cigarettes

with allah and

the forty thieves

 

the Egyptian

who spent time

in ottowa

rains pounds* on

the dancers head.

 

*Egyptian money 

 

What is demeaning ?

 

the modern dress of

the new bourgeoisie?

 

The weary faces of the men in long gowns?

 

Lenin said, “The wealthy nations will feast on the poor.”

 

A bus driving union organizers says

“Colonization has gutted this country.”

 

Individuals sold the people and the land.

 

money in modern banks

 

A security guard in Maadi

(a rich area of Cairo)

is paid six hundred

Egyptian pounds 600 

a month with a family

12 hours a day

six days a week

 

$100 USD

printed away

imagine you

yes you

owned

the printing

press.       

Garbage Dreams

There is a religious group in Egypt called Coptic Christians. In Cairo many of them literally live in what people call a recycling community but what most other people would call a dump.

I am not sure what the inhabitants call it but the lady leading the tour said their belief in an afterlife is critical to their tolerance and resilience in what can be only described as unacceptable conditions .

In the midddle east one is constantly reminded of the luck of location of birth.

These Christians make their living transforming waste into blankets, paper and other things which they sell to the wealthy as far away as New York and to me.

Is this what is meant by the term compassionate capitalsim?

At one time people were paying them extra to save shampoo bottles. These bottles were then filled with counterfiet shampoo and resold. This affected the bottom line of the multi nationals so through a conuslting agency they put a stop to this practice.

We were all relieved to see this co-operation.

When we the western tourists tried to take the Christians photos many of them would wave a finger. Most people in the west would not like peole from the east taking pictures of them going about their daily business.

No one likes to be patronized and dignity is a human right.

This poverty tourism is problematic.

At the top of this community was the largest church in Africa. It was carved into a limestone cliff and needless to say spectacular. One man from Poland has carved images and sayings into the cliff over the last twenty years.

I'm sure if you google "Coptic Christian Cairo" images and information will appear.

After that we went to the "City Of the Dead" which is on a cemetary. It is surprisingly quiet and the squatters stay out of site on Friday which is their Sabbath or the day of rest here.

In order for me to get into Gaza i need three levels of USA clearance and an invitation from the other side so an Americain who works for the government informs me.

The day finshed with dinner on a large boat on the Nile. I had an interesting conversation where the plight of the Palestinians was discussed and how Zionism continues to influence the region in ways that are unimaginable.

Cairo is beautiful, the people are people and all who can, should see it before they die.