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The Cockney Guide to the History of Oomanity

By orwellwasright
Right, so, billions of years ago there was fack all, yeah? A big shiny dollop of fack all it was, sitting on a pile of nafink, then BANG! apparently, and a shitstorms let loose loads of shit started spreadin out, growin, congealin, formin, joinin, expandin, mergin, solidfyin evolvin, yeah? This carries on for a few billion years as it happens bacteria amoeba crustacean fish amphibian insect lizard dinosaur bird mammal and all that shit, yknow, fackin fish learnin how to walk, chimps pickin up bones n usin em as dildos n all that, until one day, aliens came down and gave some neanderthal slags a right good seein to and bingo! wotcha my man! Oomanity begins! Cushdy yeah? No far fackin from it. Fackers had us doin all their chores, didnt they? The legwork, the graft, diggin their fackin gold mines n buildin their fackin pyramids sos they could point em at the fackin stars n elp em get from A ta B Ive had some shit gaffers in my time Ill tell ya but these baggers really took the fackin biscuit. Slave drivers? Extra terrestrial cants, more like it. Bunch of mugs that we are though, we only goes and worships em, dont we? The beins from the eavens in their sky chariots an all that, had us all scurryin around drawn fackin doodles of em on caves, raisin our ands in the air like a right pillock, happy as Larry that they was so gracious and magnanimous as to let us lick their fackin boots. And all this from what? Eh? Some fackin intergalactic bastard muckin about with our primordial whajammacallit mitochondrial DNA bollocks? Theyre takin the piss! Cants! So anyway they baggered off and left us in the lurch like nonces with our dicks swayin in the playground at half term, probably on account of the huge fackin flood that wiped most of us out and turned the planet into fackin waterworld xcept without that nobend Costner with his stupid fackin gills swimmin around like a twat. Those of us that werent washed down the plughole like my nephews fackin amster forgot about those alien bastards and started again, like, as you do, pull yer socks up sort yer shit out crack on with fings lifes too short an all that. Some of us set up shop right next to the aliens old stompin grounds and calls it Egypt my reckonin is thats a mistranslation and we calls it Eeejit instead, to remind ourselves what prats we was lettin ourselves get pushed around by a bunch of bullies. Did we learn? Did we fack. As the sayin goes theres fack all new under the sun, an alls we do is replace one bunch of self-righteous holier than thou slave drivers with another. See, some of us learned a thing or two from old Spock and his pals about power and control, and these cants they go and get the upper and over the rest of us and make us do all their dirty work for em, dont they? So heres we go again, the masses toilin away for sake of a few lazy sods sittin around on their fat arses dishin out the orders. You might say fack alls changed since then oomanity has it in its nature to treat itself like shit on a shoe. Over time we forgot about our creators and only goes and makes up somefink else to worship the fackin sun if you can believe that. Well sure sure it keeps us warm (only in the day mind, fackin part timer) and helps us grow food n shit, but come on its the fuckin sun! Might as well be an inanimate object for all it cares about oomans. Nevertheless, bein thick as pigshit and prone to silly fancies as customs and placin our faith in somefink other than ourselves, we starts takin this sun worship malarky a bit too seriously gets a bit carried away, dont we? Sacrifices virgins an all, of all things, if that aint a fackin waste I cant tell you

what is I honestly cant fackin wars and stupid bleedin temples instead of summit useful, yknow, practical like a new local Tescos or some fackin decent aand cream. And as you might expect a few clever fellas quickly twigged on to all this and said to each other, hang about, hows about we tell these muppets that that that thing in the sky they adore is God and weve been sent here to instruct on how to live according to his will? Itll be a doddle, no problem pop on some fancy robes and all that well have em all wrapped round our pretty little fingers in a jiffy! Sos thats what they did, innit? Fackin Amen-Ra an Joopiter an all those boys, fackin cartoon characters doodled all over the shop if you ask me. That said, fair is fair and Im not gonna sit ere and tell you thats all there is to it. Far from it. No sir. A lot of other shit has happened and credit where credits due, pillocks that we are by and large we werent completely fackin useless. Take the Greeks, for example. Admittedly theyre not much cop these days theyre shit with money and quite partial to a good riot but back in the day they had their heads screwed on, inventing triangles and democracy and philosophy, which to my mind is the art of gettin out of doin any hard graft by talkin a load of shite. Which is about what youd expect from a group of poofs like Plato harpin on about the pleasure of bummin young boys. I mean fer facks sake the man thought echoes were fackin demons! A tragedy, really. Somfink the Greeks knew a lot about. The Romans of course was famous for many things most of which we know about thanks to Monty fackin Python yknow the bit I mean dontcha? The aqueducts, the roads, sanitation, irrigation, medicine, wine, public baths an all that on account of all that you might forgive em for introducing that fackin confusin Roman numerals bollocks that they use on film

and TV credits. And some clocks. But you cant forgive em for Christianity. Okay so the Romans didnt invent it, but if it wasnt for them those fackin Holier than thou pious do-gooder bastards wouldnt've got a foothold in the proverbial door to mankinds spirit and given us the fackin dark ages. And dark they certainly was for fackin centuries. Ysee if theres one thing Christians fackin hate fackin detest its the rest of us havin a laugh, right? Dont like that at all, do they? So what do you expect will happen when you allow a bunch of God botherers to run the show? Fackin misery all round, innit? No progress, thats for sure wes gets our dunces caps on good an proper for the next few centuries, dont we? Callin the earth flat, burnin witches, self-flagellation. launchin fackin Crusades in the name of our lovin Lord an all that a fackin prime example of religion destroyin the spiritual, if you ask me. Not that Im spiritual, mind far from it. Jesus Christ I couldnt tell you the difference between a prayer mat and a door mat if there is one. But I do know that strappin a rat in fackin cage to a fellas chest and watchin it eat its way through him is hardly fackin at one with Gods so-called message of peace an forgiveness. Right? Fackin animals, werent they? As youd expect there was only so much of this bollocks people were gonna take although quite frankly how they stood for all this religious bullying for so long is beyond me. But we did, for our sins, and we calls this change of heart the renaissance. Not then, mind, but thats what we know it as nowadays, innit? That said its all a load of bollocks when you look at it without the rose tinted specs on, innit? We do like to use our achievements to take attention away from our transgressions, dont we? Sure, the religious wankers werent quite so brutal to the rest of us and they did pay some gifted

doodlers to draw some whoppin great paintings, but when it boils down to it we was still fackin slaves. But if theres one thing that the powers that be were getting pretty fackin good at excellin at, you might say and I wouldnt disagree with you it was trickin the rest of us into thinkin we was free. And boy, dont we just swallow that nonsense these days, eh? So, from renaissance to enlightenment, and what a fackin joke that was too. Talk about givin something a misleading label enlightenment my fat arse. More like fackin a new era of rapacious greed, gluttony and mass murder with a bit of ecological rapin thrown in for good measure. Hang about, wasnt that what came before? Okay, my mistake, getting confused a bit more of the same, allow me to stand corrected (said the man in the orthopaedic shoes). Some geezersll try and tell you how good it all gets from here the importance of the scientific method, religious tolerance, a new era of capitalism and prosperity, the spread of democracy an all that. Well let me tell you that anyone who tells you that is either thick as pigshit or pullin your leg, or perhaps the wool over your eyes, yeah? Now I realise some of you may be thinkin whats this wanker on about now? but bear with me, it may sound like a bit of a departure from conventional thinkin an all that but conventional I am not and with good fackin reason. See, I know a thing or two about gangsters an hoodlums and thieves and braggards and thats the kind of scumbag were talkin about when we talk about democracy and capitalism and all that malarky were told is so fackin wonderful and arent we just a bunch of clever so and sos and dont the sun just shine out of our pretty little arses and all that. But truth be told and fer facks sake we hear enough lies these days, dont we? oomanity is livin in lalaland if it thinks the enlightenment marked the beginnin of an era of progress.

Any doubting Thomases out there who dont wanna take my word for it should take a long hard look at the 20th century before they dismiss out of and the wisdom of my natterin. Democracy? Nothin more than bein given the choice of which fackin soulless stooge is gonna bleed you dry through taxes and ignore the will of the people, innit? Science? Perfected the art of killin in all new efficient manners, aint it? Capitalism? Puttin a respectable face on loan sharks and crooks, celebratin puttin the little man out of business all in the name of free markets. Theyve turned entire nations into corporate entities without anyone twiggin on to it mark my words theyve put us all up good an proper, tax slaves from birth to the grave, slaves to their products, slaves to their bells and whistles and dupes to their propaganda. Smart fellas really gotta and it to em shame theyre fackin unscrupulous cants whod sell their grandma for a penny. Still, nafink new under the sun, as the sayin goes. You might say it dont take a fackin Einstein to see where things is goin, and youd probably be right. After all, the Popes still stickin up for his paedo pals in their fackin stupid robes, the politicians are still lyin through their teeth sos they can bomb some poor bastard in some poor country who aint never done nafink to none of us, and oomanity is still dazzled by its silly fackin trinkets n fackin Jeremy Kyle n all that bollocks. Still, fack it, yeah? The pubs open in a mo and I aint half hangin after a pint. Your round, yeah?

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So its Freshers week. Everything is new. Youre entering a new, vibrant community. You might have been into politics before you came to Uni. You might be still just trying to figure out what you think about the world. Well what better place to find out than at University? At your freshers fair you may be greeted by a whole host of left-wing and radical organisations which will (if you come from a conservative shit-hole like I did) seem exciting, new and worlds away from whats going on back home. What better way to start figuring out the world than joining one of these socialist groups? What better way to challenge injustice and inequality than standing by like-minded individuals? Well, think again. Now I know what youre probably thinking at this point. The reputation of the Left precedes it Im sure. What I am not going to argue here, as many other of the socialist groups you will encounter will do, is the superiority of the Peoples Front of Judea to the Judeans People Front. The Left is horribly sectarian, filled with bitter little grouplets who despise each other. If thats the kinda thing youre looking for Im sure your latest issue of Weekly/Socialist/ Communist Worker will provide, Im not interested in that bollox. There are many reasons why you may want to get involved in socialist politics - you may feel disillusioned, angry (and rightly so!) but the best reason to stay involved is to be to able challenge and rethink your preconceptions of how society should and can be organised. This implies a process of education, REAL education that is. You see, for all the pretence that Universities have about being spaces for free thought, the fact is that radical ideas are under-funded, badly taught (usually by highly unsympathetic lecturers) and generally marginalised. Unfortunately, the only real opportunity you have to really explore radical ideas is either through independent study (something that is very difficult to sustain) or through discussions and practical action with like-minded people. Accordingly involvement with the Socialist Party/Socialist Workers Party/ Communist Party of Britain/Communist Party of Great Britain/Alliance for Workers Liberty/International Bolshevik

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What these groups traditionally wont tell you, however, is that they are not just socialist groups but identify with a very specific tradition of socialism Leninism.
reality are firmly in the control of paid organisers and provide a steady recruitment stream for the party. These are not spaces for debate, discussion and common action but are cynically exploited for party building. For example, if you have at any point put your details down for a petition What these groups traditionally wont tell you, however, is that they are not just against the BNP or for free education socialist groups but identify with a very on a freshers fair stall you can guaranspecific tradition of socialism Leninism. tee that those details will go no further Leninism is the interpretation of Marxist than the organisers list of sympathetic theory forwarded by Lenin, leader of the contacts (recruiters will often be quite candid about this if you ask them). The Russian Communist party, in the years leading up to and after the Russian revolu- what is socialism? or socialism 101 meetings that these groups will host in the tion. Now you can argue until the cows first few weeks will always be filled with come home the ins-and-outs, triumphs party members (to give the impression of and failures of the Russian revolution, in fact Im sure these people will indulge you inflated interest in their group) who will if you were to ask. Whatever conclusions ask sympathetic questions from the floor you may draw, the fact is that Leninism, where do I sign up?, your group sounds as embodied by the practice of many con- great, where can I find out more?. The temporary socialist groups, has changed talk itself is likely to be nothing more than very little since 1917. It is still based on the party-line handed down from the Lenins original vision of an authoritarian, leadership and discussion tightly controlhighly disciplined organisation of profes- led by the chair (so as to save the embarsional revolutionaries who need to win rassment of a few awkward questions). leadership over the working class. How All in all, its anti-democratic, its madoes this translate into everyday pracnipulative and its total bullshit. tice? Well typically the people who will be manning the stalls and megaphones Students who do end up getting induring you first weeks of university wont volved with these groups will typically be students; theyll be paid recruiters follow two paths; either they will eventuworking for the party. The leadership of ally join the party, maybe even become these organisations are well aware that a paid organiser or they will get bored of many students are interested in left-wing the lack of control, the sectarianism and ideas and will typically exploit these first the pointless activity (endless newspafew weeks to swell their organisations membership. The party requires a passive per sales and badgering from regional and obedient rank-and-file to unquestion- organisers to fulfil your monthly quotas) ingly carry through the strategic vision and sack off all lefty politics convinced of the leadership. The very reason that so that this is all it has to offer. I think this is many different lefty sects exist is a culture a real shame. in which it is preferable to simply expel dissidents from the party than allow for Now, I know what you are thinking: open and honest debate - debate that may hes just going to say, join the anarchists bring the wisdom of this leadership into instead, theyre awesome!. Well you know what? Im not going to do that. question. The result: hundreds of little Radical politics is about challenging the Lenins in hundreds of different groups world we live in and that should include all proclaiming their one and correct those who identify as the left. It should revolutionary strategy. be about empowering people to have the confidence to take action, not indocLeninism is also a highly manipulative trinating them with party positions or practice. Organisations will often set up front groups like Unite Against Fascism wasting their time in petty squabbles. My advice therefore: question, discuss and or Another Education is Possible which are seemingly admirable attempts to unite debate. There are plenty of open websites and discussion boards, like Revleft and activists around a common cause, but in Tendency/International Committee of the Fourth International/Student Broad Left (No, Im not bullshitting you, there are literally this many groups) may appear to be an appealing option. Libcom, that can be used to debate and discuss ideas and are independent of any organisation or political group. Indymedia is a good resource for discovering what activism and events are going on in your local area; you can see which groups are active and if it takes your fancy maybe go along to a meeting and check it out. Many cities have radical, social centres that act as a hub for political activism. There has also been a recent resurgence in class struggle forums or communist discussion groups which provide an excellent opportunity to explore and discuss ideas without the pressure of recruitment always hanging over your head. Get out there and get involved - just dont be duped into thinking that the boring, dead-end and authoritarian politics offered by the socialist left has anything to do with the kind of fair and free society we hope one day to create.

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libcom.org presents the top five best Trotskyist pick-up lines to use on the cute Marxist-Leninist at your local paper-sale.

5 Hey sweet thang, wanna dictate my proletariat?

4 My revolutionary Party has a huge, militant membership - wanna lesson in Entryism? 3 Is your father a commisar of production and distribution? Because he surely expropriated some bourgeois diamonds for your eyes

2 Do you believe in love at first sight?

Or do you need to be broken of your false consciousness by the vanguard since without us youre only capable of trade union consciousness?

1 Is that a deflected permanent revolution in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

I dont know but he does

I dont know but he does, whos he? Stewart was pacing about, looking anxious. He was waltzing around his living-room in a furious kind of dance. There was no music on. No television either, what was he doing? Was he repeating tribal rhythms in his head? Was his mind simply in another, far-out, more rhythmic kind of place? I dont know, but he did, sort of.

with me is; theres a talking me, and theres a thinking me. But were both different. We arent at all the same, in any way shape or form, we are opposite. But we are one; we will always be one, but the water man the fucking water. Why the fuck are you looking in the fruit-bowl? Does it resemble ones thoughts? My thoughts, they arent yours no more sunny Jim, youre a few apples, Sh-short of an orchard my boy, better call FRANK.

-Ware tha fuck avva putit?

I gesture at the cat for some kind of answerThe first sign of madness istalking to animals, asking them for answers to questions.Just tell that to the dog whisperer.

What the fuckin el avva dun wivvit? I adit a minit-ago.

Im just walking around like a complete and utter twat; looking for it. For what you ask, my marbles?NO. Not quite, I never had them to lose, none of us did. Its water, thats what Im looking for. A bottle of; fresh from the fridge, I took it out but five minutes ago. But I cant think where it is. Where have I put it? The thing

FUCK FRANK, FUCKHIM, FUCK- HIM, FUCK-HIM AND EVERY FUCKING BODY YOU BASTARD WHERE HAVE YOU PUT MY WATER? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS FUCKING DO THIS TO FUCKING ME.
Im, well him, hes beating the wall ha-ha, chuckle-chuckle, giggidy-giggidy. What the fuck am I, is he doing? I assure you these are not my actions; I would never plan such a vile and stereotypically repulsive act of selfvandalism. The whole thing is bloody preposterous. And still no fucking water, I need water as well Stewart you buffoon. Where is it Stuart oh

where is it sonny? Oh where is it Jimmy boy? Where is it lad? Where is it kid? What are you crying for child? Are your hands cut? Do they hurt? Pour some vinegar in my friend, maybe some salt as well, and then tear at your own flesh, with your own teeth. It will taste good, it might hurt at first but escape the pain, let me take over. Mind over matter, you are as good as vegetable matter. A pointless existence leadeth you. Yoda is summoning the darkness, the darkside of the force. Legislative manslaughter. Cries and whispers and murmurs. God this is fun, man your fun Stuart.

So now Im gonna look behind the door, whatever he, I, we, mean by that.

FUCK ITS FUCKING THERE, ITS THERE, ITS HERE, HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS HERE, YOU BASTARD, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, I HEAD-BUTT GLASS TO FUCK YOU MOTHER-BITCH
Hes gone and head-butted the bloody glass-panel in the kitchen door now. Whats he like eh? Mad as fuck and still no water. Hes out cold instantly; the glass has severed one of the main arteries in his neck. Hes drowning in his own fluid. Blood, Puddles of blood galore, the cat looks on. His eyes remain open, his hand reaching for his own neck, trying to strangle his way to freedom, out of this life and onto another. He doesnt want to die like this, not bleeding, not on the floor with the cat watching. Not like this. Then the oxygen and blood, it stops. Gone forever, replaced for piss and shit in an hour or so. And then the stench, the smell of death, it will come to us all one day. This lifes for living, we got the afterlife for sleeping. Jay.M.Thrashnikov

BUT NOW IM THIRSTY LOOK BEHIND THE DOOR STUEY. LOOK BEHIND THE DOOR.
Im back, hands hurting, broken but Im all right, I didnt eat my flesh if thats what youre thinking; Although I may do later, if he keeps on asking me. I dont like to upset him; I dont like to upset anyone.

An account: an exploration of my working practice

What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.
Susan Sontag

The portrayal of women in todays society is dominated by manmade conventions and, more often than not, images of femininity are constructs made by, and for, the male gaze. The femininity that is portrayed by such work contains the codings and idealisations of womanhood from the male perspective. This malecentric approach too often determines what constitutes female beauty. This tradition has been a long-standing one within the arts and dates back throughout the history of image making. For example, Botticelli, Manet, and more recently, Balthus and Vetrianno have all sexualized their subjects in paint. Photographers too, such as Helmut Newton and Roy Stuart, have published semi-pornographic images of women disguised under the mantle of positive images of female nudity. As a female image-maker and, to be even more specic, a lesbian artist, one of my objectives as a painter, is to redress and reclaim the male dominated construction and visualization of the female image. I am both mining and channeling the inuences of my female predecessors. My current work expresses connotations and denotations, both consciously and subconsciously, of such artists as Cindy Sherman, Tamara Lempicka, Jenny Saville and Frida Kahlo. I work predominantly in the medium of oils, utilizing diagonal plains of paint to construct my images. Most of the women in my work confront the viewer head on. Perhaps, subconsciously this is to counteract the likes of Vetriannos male voyeurism of the female form. My intention is not to objectify or sexualise my subjects. On the contrary my intention is to beautify and sensualise them. Within my practice I deliberately avoid depicting my subjects in a photo-realist manner in favour of rendering them in essence; partially faceless, while retaining crucial abstract elements that depict the subtle nuances of femininity. Crissy Perez

07825252012

Magpie with a Typewriter

By Emilie Lecocq
We were surrounded by empty rooms and fresh memories trussed up in bin liners. Ever y window was closed a n d b olted leaving the air standing still. They had d issipated i rretrievably like a fistful of leaves scattered to a c r oss-wind. They may m eet again but it would never b e l i k e it was; not l i k e it had b een around the fire, on the landing, in the kitchen, next doo r to t hose neighbours. Ther e had b een goo d wine and bad, tuneful music and broken strings, a bath full of empty cans and a fridge devoid of f oo d . W e had piled into taxis a n d b een swiftly whisked towards the hum of town and successions of p u b s . W e had staggered back to o u r r espective beds only to wa k e - l ate morning - with our heads in vices and coffee i n o u r hands ruminating over the night before. We had d iscovered The Park and come to understand the simple bliss of a waterfall i n summer sunshine. Ther e had b een nights when we had n ot s lept at a ll and entire day s w e had s lept throug h ; I had falle n asleep drinking wine, woken only to finish t h e b ottle and find the previous evening still afoot . W e had mopped-up the endless spillages with clothes for lack of towels and innumerable essay s had b een smudged by countless cocktails. There were coffee s tains on to p of wine stains on the coffee table. Naturally there had b een the cold, wet d ay s w h e n w e hadnt two pennies to r u b b etween us and life s eemed a horrible ordeal, but come spring and pay-day the warming sun would melt any memory of it seamlessly away . I t had, all-in-all, bee n a spectacularly disastrous success.

At the end of Julys Mapping Alternative Derby week I organised and facilitated an open space workshop titled working together for social change. At the end of the workshop I asked participants to write down what they thought were the 3 most important questions we should be asking as well as their final thoughts...
Who are you? What are you? Where are you?
? ge? ruth eir fear of chan tic t atic? le overcome th n? How can peop of playful actio then ocr h cess the spirit m e? y au unities throug How can we ac d an more de of abus rnative comm fin ster alte n? How can we fo n we ociety cycles communicatio ca nisation and means of orga How ake s we end

WORKING TOGETHER FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Open Space Technology is a powerful method, we can use this more in future. A series of O.S.T workshops in Derby would be a fertile ground for all sorts of innitiatives. The biggest thing coming out of today for me was the peoples kitchen and related discussion of real community. Also I was reluctant to come in today, uncertain what would happen, but so glad I did.

d inspired to have ben able and by such dy to participate namic discus in sions with sim motivated pe ilarly ople for positi ve social chan To ge. qu

We cant work individually for social change, we have to work together. Events like this support and nurture the ideas we all already have and make them feel possible.

I feel lifted an

ote

How can we create more Self awareneess is the key to realising liberatory educational practises? you are part of the whole? How do we engage the wider community in Being part of the whole means activism and alternatives for social change? taking responsibility for What is the way forward for the media globally and locally? your community. Change can only . ity an nity happen um u ss. when we n h mm ene o m c co war all m i take co ent nd a g responsibility in uth r a nd g a we and fi in o of ish al p this ce bl n starts tan esta erso or f p with p s im ce o ne you? e
Ga nd h i B et he ch an ge y ou wa nt to se e

we m w can can Ho Should we embr How ace communit Is religion misre y for the purp ad and misspok ose of world ch en to the poin ange? t that it effec Should we mak ts our individu e more effort ality? to exchange ou r ideas?

n o Th orta ing . ogy t p nol m ltiva ech etings i e T me nt u pac n S eeman re of c Ope e Fr he ith in sity Mor ts w n he ces eve T c ty uni ne e comm e r Th Mo

:-)

STRONG LESSONS FOR ENGAGED BUDDHISTS

Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who reject you, and brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or dispute the passage with you? Whitman, Stronger Lessons In the middle of the Vietnam war Thich Nhat Hanh and a few other Buddhist monks, nuns and laypeople broke with the 2500-year tradition of Buddhist apoliticism and founded the Tiep Hien Order in an effort to relate Buddhist ethical and meditational practice to contemporary social issues. Members of the order organized antiwar demonstrations, underground support for draft resisters, and various relief and social service projects. Though the movement was soon crushed in Vietnam, Nhat Hanh has carried on similar activities from exile in France, and the idea of socially engaged Buddhism has spread among Buddhists around the world. One of its main expressions in the West, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, defines its purpose as being to bring a Buddhist perspective to contemporary peace, environmental, and social action movements and to raise peace, environmental, feminist, and social justice concerns among Western Buddhists. The emergence of engaged Buddhism is a healthy development. Despite the bullshit that Buddhism shares with all religions (superstition, hierarchy, male chauvinism, complicity with the established order), it has always had a core of genuine insight based on the practice of meditation. It is this vital core, along with its freedom from the enforced dogmas characteristic of Western religions, that has enabled it to catch on so readily even among the most sophisticated milieus in other cultures. People engaged in movements for social change might well benefit from the mindfulness, equanimity and self-discipline fostered by Buddhist practice; and apolitical Buddhists could certainly stand to be confronted with social concerns. So far, however, the engaged Buddhists social awareness has remained extremely limited. If they have begun to recognize certain glaring social realities, they show little understanding of their causes or possible solutions. For some, social engagement simply means doing some sort of volunteer charitable work. Others, taking their cue perhaps from Nhat Hanh remarks on arms production or Third World starvation, resolve not to eat meat or not to patronize or work for companies that produce weapons. Such gestures may be personally meaningful to them, but their actual effect on global crises is negligible. If millions of Third World people are allowed to starve, this is not because there is not enough food to go around, but because there are no profits to be made by feeding penniless people. As long as there is big money to be made by producing weapons or ravaging the environment, someone will do it, regardless of moral appeals to people good will; if a few conscientious persons refuse, a multitude of others will scramble for the opportunity to do it in their place. Others, sensing that such individual gestures are not enough, have ventured into more political activities. But in so doing they have generally just followed along with the existing peace, ecological and other so-called progressive groups, whose tactics and perspectives are themselves quite limited. With very few exceptions these groups take the present social system for granted and simply jockey within it in favor of their particular issue, often at the expense of other issues. As the situationists put it: Fragmentary oppositions are

like the teeth on cogwheels: they mesh with each other and make the machine go round the machine of the spectacle, the machine of power.1 A few of the engaged Buddhists may realize that it is necessary to get beyond the present system; but failing to grasp its entrenched, self-perpetuating nature, they imagine gently and gradually modifying it from within, and then run into continual contradictions. One of the Tiep Hien Precepts says: Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from enriching themselves from human suffering or the suffering of other beings.2 How is one to prevent the exploitation of suffering if one respects the property that embodies it? And what if the owners of such property fail to relinquish it peacefully? If the engaged Buddhists have failed to explicitly oppose the socioeconomic system and have limited themselves to trying to alleviate a few of its more appalling effects, this is for two reasons. First, they are not even clear about what it is. Since they are allergic to any analysis that seems divisive, they can hardly hope to understand a system based on class divisions and bitter conflicts of interest. Like almost everyone else they have simply swallowed the official version of reality, in which the collapse of the Stalinist state-capitalist regimes in Russia and East Europe supposedly demonstrates the inevitability of the Western form of capitalism. Secondly, like the peace movement in general they have adopted the notion that violence is the one thing that must be avoided at all cost. This attitude is not only simplistic, it is hypocritical: they themselves tacitly rely on all sorts of state violence (armies, police, jails) to protect their loved ones and possessions, and would certainly not passively submit to many of the conditions they re-

proach others for rebelling against. In practice pacifism usually ends up being more tolerant toward the ruling order than toward its opponents. The same organizers who reject any participant who might spoil the purity of their nonviolent demonstrations often pride themselves on having developed amicable understandings with police. Small wonder that dissidents who have had somewhat different experiences with the police have not been overly impressed with this sort of Buddhist perspective. It is true that many forms of violent struggle, such as terrorism or minority coups, are inconsistent with the sort of open, participatory organization required to create a genuinely liberated global society. An antihierarchical revolution can only be carried out by the people as a whole, not by some group supposedly acting on their behalf; and such an overwhelming majority would have no need for violence except to neutralize any pockets of the ruling minority that may violently try to hold on to their power. But any significant social change inevitably involves some violence. It would seem more sensible to admit this fact, and simply strive to minimize violence as far as possible. This antiviolence dogmatism goes from the dubious to the ludicrous when it also opposes any form of spiritual violence. There is, of course, nothing wrong with trying to act without anger in your heart and trying to avoid getting caught up in pointless hatred and revenge; but in practice this ideal often just serves as an excuse to repress virtually any incisive analysis or critique by labeling it as angry or intellectually arrogant. On the basis of their (correct) impression of the bankruptcy of traditional leftism, the engaged Buddhists have concluded that all confrontational tactics and divisive theories are misguided and irrelevant. Since this attitude amounts to ignoring virtually the entire history of social struggles, many

richly suggestive experiences remain a closed book to them (the anarchist experiments in social organization during the 1936 Spanish revolution, for example, or the situationist tactics that provoked the May 1968 revolt in France), and they are left with nothing but to share with each other the most innocuous New-Agey platitudes and to try to drum up interest in the most tepid, lowest-commondenominator actions. It is ironic that people capable of appreciating the classic Zen anecdotes fail to see that sharp wakeup tactics may also be appropriate on other terrains. Despite all the obvious differences, there are certain interesting analogies between Zen and situationist methods: both insist on practical realization of their insights, not just passive assent to some doctrine; both use drastic means, including rejecting pointless dialogue and refusing to offer ready-made positive alternatives, in order to pull the rug out from under habitual mindsets; both are therefore predictably accused of negativity. One of the old Zen sayings is: If you meet a Buddha, kill him. Have the engaged Buddhists succeeded in killing Thich Nhat Hanh in their minds? Or are they still attached to his image, awed by his mystique, passively consuming his works and uncritically accepting his views? Nhat Hanh may be a wonderful person; his writings may be inspiring and illuminating in certain respects; but his social analysis is nave. If he seems slightly radical this is only in contrast to the even greater political navet of most other Buddhists. Many of his admirers will be shocked, perhaps even angered, at the idea that anyone could have the nerve to criticize such a saintly person, and will try to dismiss this leaflet by pigeonholing it as some bizarre sort of angry leftist ideology and by assuming (incorrectly) that it was written by someone with no experience of Buddhist meditation.

Others may grant that some of these points are well taken, but will then ask: Do you have any practical, constructive alternative, or are you just criticizing? What do you suggest that we do? You dont need to be a master carpenter to point out that the roof leaks. If a critique stirs even a few people to stop and think, to see through some illusion, perhaps even provokes them to new ventures of their own, this is already a very practical effect. How many actions accomplish as much? As for what you should do: the most important thing is to stop relying on others to tell you what you should do. Better make your own mistakes than follow the most spiritually wise or politically correct leader. It is not only more interesting, it is usually more effective, to pursue your own experiments, however small, than to be a unit in a regiment of units. All hierarchies need to be contested, but the most liberating effect often comes from challenging the ones in which you yourself are most implicated. One of the May 1968 graffiti was: Be realistic, demand the impossible. Constructive alternatives within the context of the present social order are at best limited, temporary, ambiguous; they tend to be coopted and become part of the problem. We may be forced to deal with certain urgent issues such as war or environmental threats, but if we accept the systems own terms and confine ourselves to merely reacting to each new mess produced by it, we will never overcome it. Ultimately we can solve survival issues only by refusing to be blackmailed by them, by aggressively going beyond them to challenge the whole anachronistic social organization of life. Movements that limit themselves to cringing defensive protests will not even achieve the pitiful survival goals they set for themselves. By Ken Knabb - BUREAU OF PUBLIC SECRETS

www.bopsecrets.org

Designed by Jermz

Designed by Jermz

Designed by Jermz

Warm Breeze
Theres something in the air today as it rages round the park, Clearing out old leaves amongst the trees and from my heart. Theres a warmth within the breeze that seems to waken up the dark, And hints of fulfilled dreams and refound love and brand new starts. And whilst the wind is racing around the hills and through the grass, I find myself remembering deep-felt loves that did not last. And I pray into the sky this wind will cleanse me from my past, So that I will feel renewed and love will put me back on task.

By Helen McSweeney