Awakening From The Capitalist Nightmare.

Pt 3.

"Each “now” is the now of a particular recognizability. In it truth is charged to the bursting point with time..It is not that what is past casts its light on what is present, or what is present its light on the past: rather image is that wherein what has been comes together in a flash with the now to form a constellation." -Walter Benjamin ( quoted in Baucom:p5)

Just as the observer absorbs the artwork into themselves,- just as the listener draws the story into the subconscious- just as the dreaming collective absorbs the phantasmagoria of the modern world -so as to find the meaning relevant to themselves -so too the historian blurs the boundaries between past and present, seeking to let the voices of the past speak to the present. In his work Benjamin presents us with a new methodology of history which is as powerful as it is simple. As always with Benjamin he presents his insights in allegory- the result is his great unfinished work the Arcades Project . Schwarz refers to this work as “part encyclopedia of the nineteenth Century, part model of a philosophy of history for the twentieth century.” (Schwartz:p1721) Benjamin was an itinerant wanderer- he spent hours wandering the streets of Berlin, Moscow, Paris, contemplating the sights. In A Berlin Chronicle he tells us, he often thought of his life as a map. Places of significance to him would stand out as the main features on the map while places of little significance fade into the background.
So too with history.

"A Highly embroiled quarter, a network of streets that I had avoided for years , was disentangled at a single stroke when one day a person dear to me moved there. It was as if a searchlight set up at this persons window dissected the area with pencils of light".- Walter Benjamin (1979:p 69)

Typically, Benjamin presents us here with a personal experience which contains within it an allegory. The tangle of streets can be taken to represent the labyrinth of the past, and our experiences and interests in the present throws spotlight on aspects of the past- particular times and places that we are drawn to- making sense of it. In the same way the Arcades of Paris comes to represent a historical map of the 19th Century and Benjamin, the wanderer , the flaneur, comes to represent the historian, who is familiar with his surroundings but allows himself to become lost within them, walking where he wills, following every whim, every distraction. For Benjamin the ruined, deserted arcades are a repository of the capitalist dream. As the items on display go out of fashion , as the arcades themselves become abandoned, turn to ruin, they loose their use value, but become valuable as repositories of allegory. This is what is left behind when a thing is no longer of use- its story.
“Allegories are in the realm of thought what ruins are in the realm of things.” (Benjamin:1979:p13)
Wandering through the arcades contemplating, writing, making random connections, following distractions Benjamin is offering us an allegory of history in the making. As Sontag puts it : for Benjamin “ To understand something is to know its topography, to know how to chart it. And how to get lost.” (Benjamin:1979:p13). Benjamin spatialised time-he conceived of the past as a space in which one could wander. Thus the historian should view the past. Familiar enough to get lost within it, and aware enough to allow oneself to be drawn to those distractions that present themselves."What for others” he stated in the Arcades project “ are deviations are for me the data that determine my course.” (Benjamin: Quoted in Schwartz:p1738) Or as Arendt put it : “It is to him aimlessly strolling through the crowd in the big cities in studied contrast to their hurried, purposeful, activity that things reveal themselves in their secret meanings"- “ The true picture of the past flits by” and only the flaneur who idly strolls receives the message.” (Benjamin:1969:p12) In this way the historian becomes aware of how the past informs the present, in ways unseen by the linear approach. One becomes aware of new constellations.

“History decays into images not stories”- Walter Benjamin (quoted in Schwartz;p1723)

When we think of the past, fragmentary images come to us first and we impose a story on those images, to create a linear narrative. Thus Benjamin’ s history “is written as an argument advanced by montage and juxtaposition rather than as a systematic presentation of evidence in support of a clearly stated thesis.” (Schwartz :1723). This is how we experience it and this is how Benjamin tries to understand it- in its immediacy- the way it speaks to us. For Benjamin the linear mode of history constructs the present status quo as the logical, and only possible outcome. But this results in the “triumphal procession” which comes to “benefit the present rulers every time”.(Benjamin:1969:p256) Instead he reminds us that “without exception the cultural treasures he surveys have an origin which he cannot contemplate without horror.” (ibid:256) He uses the image of Paul Klee’s Angel Novelus to show us the true state of the past. “ His face is turned towards the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he see one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet.” (ibid:257) The result of this catastrophe is that masses are “sprawled underfoot” in the triumphal procession. To reclaim history we need to pick through the rubble, to discover what has been lost to us. Benjamin reminds us that our cultural heritage, which he calls the spoils of the triumphal parade, owes it’s existence “not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have create them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries.”(ibid:256) In the process of transmission however it is passed only into the hands of the victors, ensuring that “all rulers are the heirs of all those who conquered before them.”

In every age there exist voices which challenge the inevitable march of history, (Nietzche’s “fighters against history’) there are “moments of danger” which pose possible alternative outcomes . In defeat they are however discarded . It is these voices , these moments that need to be recovered, reclaimed as part of the tradition of history. We need to remember that “ the struggling, oppressed class itself is the depository of historical knowledge”.(ibid:p260) We need to recount events without distinguishing between the great and the small. Nothing is irrelevant, nothing should be overlooked- the most insignificant detail or event can have a profound effect. If we use the analogy of history as a tapestry, the historians task is too find the loose ends , the lost threads and weave them back into the tapestry. But this had been said before and was in itself is not enough. Benjamin sought a new understanding of the relationship between past and present -one in which the historian must “sieze hold of a memory as it flashes at a moments of danger”, (ibid:p255) and by drawing a connection between past and present, bring them into constellation with the present thus “exploding the continuum of history.”

"The idea is a monad….an indistinct abbreviation of the rest of the world of ideas…every single monad contains in an indistinct way all others." (Benjamin; quoted in Gilloch;p71)

The historicist sees the present moment as a transition between the past and the present, and the past as a “homogenous empty time” which he fills with a mass of facts. Benjamin however sees the present, in fact each moment, as a frozen image - “in which time stands still and has come to a stop”- “where thinking suddenly halts in a constellation pregnant with tensions” and the past as “filled with the presence of the here and now.”( Benjamin: 1968:p161) Each moment represent “ a revolutionary chance in the struggle with the repressed past.” (ibid). Just as objects are fragments-monads- of a greater constellation- an idea they embody, so to is the frozen image of each moment is a fragment of the greater constellation of history. Each fragment can only be understood in its relation to all other fragments. As does a crystal, each fragment holds within it the seeds of the greater whole. Thus rather then arranging these images in chronological order which sees each image only in relation to the preceding, imposing a chain of cause and effect- each moment leading seemingly naturally to the next and inevitably forward into the future, Benjamin proposes they should be arranged in news way which emphasizes their relation to all other images, to all other moments. In this way previously hidden connections come to light and new connections, new constellations, new possibilities are revealed- the potential for change inherent in each moment, and their connection with the present moment become clear, making alternative futures possible. Thus “the task of the historical materialist is to set to work an engagement of history original to every new present.”(Benjamin:1979:p 352).“Nothing that has ever happened should be regarded as lost to history… only for a redeemed mankind has its past become citable in all its moments.” ( Benjamin:1968:p254)

"They alone possess the earth who live from the power of the cosmos." -Hillel (quoted in Benjamin:1979:p103)

Much has been lost in the triumphal procession. The saddest loss for Benjamin is the loss of our “ecstatic contact with the universe”(ibid:p103). With the advent of the scientific worldview this experience is come to be seen as irrational and unnecessary. We no longer value the spiritual, the mystical side of life. The view that matter is inert and exists only for human exploitation has come to dominate and led to the us the situation where “because the lust for profit of the ruling class sought satisfaction through it, technology betrayed man and turned the bridal bed into a bloodbath.” (ibid :104) Technology has become the mastery of nature, rather than as it should be- “the mastery of our relationship with nature.”(ibid:104)

Society is still caught in the grip of the capitalist induced sleep. The Enlightenment promise of progress under capitalism has become nightmare, relieved only by the distracting, illusory Phantasmagoria of consumerist capitalism. “Today the most real, the mercantile gaze into the heart of things is the advertisement. It abolishes the space where contemplation moved and all but hits us between the eyes with things as a car, growing to gigantic proportions, careens at us out of a film screen.” (Benjamin;1979; p88) This is even more true today than in Benjamin’s time. In those days the forces of fascism were a tangible enemy whose distortions and lies could be actively opposed. Today we do not have such an obvious foe. We face a much more subtle foe which has convinced the masses of its benignity- the cold impersonal power of greed which dominates modern capitalism. With the demise of Communism , and the accompanying disillusionment with Marxism, progressive forces in the world lack a coherent , unifying alternative to capitalism.

"He must be alert to every humiliation done to him and so discipline himself that his suffering becomes no longer the downhill road of grief , but the rising path of revolt."-Walter Benjamin (1979:p56)

Benjamin offers us a way forward. His surrealist –inspired world view reminds us that the world is alive with possibilities. His poetical, mystical writings speak to us powerfully today. Many of his themes are even more relevant than in his own time : domination by forces of consumption and commodification, the shock and overstimulation of living in the modern city, the proliferation of new technologies, ‘supersaturation’ by images and its effect on human consciousness, the need for new understandings of history drawing in the “counter-histories” of marginalized groups, the destructive capacity of science, the illusion of progress , the need for a new paradigm to transcend the alienating dualism of modernism, and the search for meaning in a world seemingly devoid of it are all themes common in post-modern philosophy. His manner of crossing boundaries between the disciplines is also a post-modern trend, in fact he is considered by many to provide a model for modern day interdisciplinary studies. He does not offer us any grand theory, any sweeping answers, instead he offers us stories, allegories, almost Zen in nature.( “All decisive blows are struck left-handed” (Benjamin :1979: p13)) He draws from his own experience, that of wanderer, mystic, radical, exile, storyteller, flaneur, with “the counsel woven into the fabric of real-life.” He speaks to our subconscious and remind us of our mystical, magical connection to the universe and the political consequences of that connection. He argues that we have a responsibility to act- To halt the triumphal procession and “to wrest tradition away from the conformism that is about to empower it.” We do this by politicizing art, we do this by seeking new constellations, we do this by opening our awareness to the voices of the living objects, and the lost voices of the past that are ever present in the ruins that surround us. We do this by “blasting open the continuum of history.” We do this by willing ourself to wake from the sleep into which the phantasmagoria of consumerism has lulled us. Our task is to disrupt the transmission of the document of barbarism that is history -to “brush history against the grain.”(ibid:p257)

Awakening From The Capitalist Nightmare.      PT2. 

"Our taverns and our metropolitan streets, our offices and furnished rooms, our railroad stations and our factories appeared to have us locked up hopelessly. Then came the film and burst this prison-world asunder by the dynamite of the tenth of a second, so that now in the midst of its far-flung ruins and debris, we calmly and adventurously go travelling".- Walter Benjamin (1968:p236)

New technology in the form of film and photography, Benjamin believed, holds the key to this transformation. In his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” he looked at the effect of these on society. Marx explored the connection between a society’s modes of production and its culture and ideology (ie its base and superstructure). To orthodox Marxists the base is seen as the determining factor, and the superstructure merely its reflection- even though this is probably not what Marx meant. Engels argued at length that his and Marx’s emphasis on the pre-emminence of the material base of society was a tactical one which should be seen in the context of their ongoing debate with the idealism of the Young Hegelians. (Hasslet:P 20) Hasslet also points to the fact that the original German terms interpreted as base and superstructure are actually railroad terminology for the rails and the moving carriages. This calls to mind a much more fluid image than the English terms which suggest static image of a house and it’s foundations. Benjamin saw a dialectical interplay between the two and sought “the expression of the economy in its culture……, not the economic origins of culture.”(Benjamin; Quoted in Schwartz:p 1727) He argued that “(t)he mode of human sense perception changes with humanities entire mode of existence.” (Benjamin:1968:p111)

New technology offered not only a change in superstructural modes of thought and culture but entirely new modes of perception and existence. What photography did was to offer mass reproduction of original artworks. The effect of this was to make these works of art accessible to a much wider audience. It also however interferes with the “authenticity” of the original (which Benjamin described as “the essence of all that is transmissable from its beginning…it’s testimony to the history it has experienced”(Benjamin:1968:p 220)). The reproduced object is “detached from the domain of tradition”. It loses its “aura”. Film and photography also reveal aspects of reality invisible to the naked eye : it -“reveals the secret of motion” and through enlagement “reveals visual worlds which dwell in the smallest things.”(Benjamin: quoted in Gilloch:p 175). Film has the ability to shock and disorientate the viewer through use of close ups, position changes, slow motion, flashbacks and numerous other techniques. It also allows collective rather than solitary viewing, thus calling into being a new collective audience able to experience and express a collective dreaming. According to Benjamin “These processes lead to a tremendous shattering of tradition which is the obverse of the contemporary crisis and renewal of mankind.”(Benjamin:1968: 221) Art over time has become so laden with the voice of tradition that it is impossible to hear its true voice. This shattering makes way for new interpretations, new voices, new traditions. The masses are now able to relate to art in a way that is meaningful to them. He goes on to remind us that art had its origin in ritual- its primary purpose being magical or religious-, but as society had become secularised this had led to the rise of the cult of beauty and the doctrine of art for arts sake- which denied the social function of art. Thus mechanical reproduction “emancipates the wok of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual” instead “it begins to be based on another practice –politics.”(Benjamin:1968:p224). Art becomes a weapon for “the formulation of revolutionary demands.” Looking at the art of the time we can see how this loss of aura played out.

On the negative side there is the commodification of art through advertising. We also however see the rise of the “avant-garde.” Photography makes realistic presentation in the fine arts ( painting. sculpture) redundant, freeing the artist to experiment with new ways of representation- thus we see the rise of Dada, surrealism, and cubism which are revolutionary in that they challenge traditional ways of seeing and experiencing the world. Benjamin reminds us , at the end of the essay however that though the positive potential inherent in the new technology may be harnessed for progress it was also being used by the Fascists to further their own ends. He warns that the fascist “aestheticisation of politics” (Benjamin:1968:p242)- by which he referred to the Nazi’s harnessing of art, film, music, architecture to create a new mythology- attempts to re-create aura- replacing it with a new tradition- (the spectacular theatrical ritual of Nazi rallies and the “Cult of the Fuhrer”)- and will lead to “violation of the masses” and inevitably to war. “It’s (ie humanitys) self-alienation” he wrote “has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order. This is the situation of politics which fascism is rendering aesthetic. Communism responds by politicizing art.” (Benjamin:1968:p242) This last sentence is not merely a statement of fact but a powerful call to arms to those wishing to counter the rise of fascism to actively participate in the process of using new modes of technology- and the new ways of experiencing the world they herald in-to bring about the “shattering of tradition” and “the renewal of mankind.”

While in his “Mechanical Reproduction” essay Benjamin revels in the role of self-confessed nihilist glorifying the death of tradition, in “The Storyteller” he reveals a more ambivalent attitude - bemoaning the loss of the traditional art of storytelling. Storytelling was a communal art and conveyed the experience and wisdom of previous generations on to the living community. The storyteller draws from his own experience and through the “counsel woven into the fabric of real life” provides illumination.(Benjamin:1968:p 87) The story does not make its meaning obvious, but rather speaks to us through the subconscious. It does not provide answers- rather “a proposal concerning the continuation of a story which is just unfolding.” (ibid p86) “(I)t is half the art of storytelling to keep a story free from explanation as one reproduces it” -Benjamin writes -“The most extraordinary things, marvelous things, are related with the greatest accuracy, but the psychological connection of the event is not forced on the reader. It is left up to him to interpret things the way he understands them.” (ibid:p89) The story doesn’t end , it continues on as new events are constantly added, new experiences lived. The problem is that in that in the modern world ( and this applies even more so today than in Benjamin’s time)- “the new form of communication is information” and this is incompatible with story telling as “no event any longer comes to us without already being shot through with explanation.”(ibid;p89) Information explains the meaning of the story and brings it to an end. There is no room for independent speculation- for meditation - for letting the story speak to the subconscious. Although there seems to be some contradiction between the two pieces of writing- one reveling in the loss of tradition, the other bemoaning it - there is however a common theme. Both tradition and information impose a layer of meaning or understanding between the subject and the object. Benjamin’s concern is to strip away this imposed layer and allow the object/story to come together with the subject in a way that allows for new, rather than imposed understanding.

Welcome to Onymous Rites

Dear Reader

 Welcome and thank you for taking the time to contemplate my musings . I hope that they will provide stimulating food for thought and encourage an ongoing debate.

I would really like to hear your comments and reactions, so please feel free and sign in and share your thoughts.

much love

David

Awakening From the Capitalist Nightmare: Walter Benjamin's Challenge To Rethink History And It's Relevance To The Modern World.pt1

Walter Benjamin was an intriguing and unorthodox philosopher who attempted to reconcile Qabbalistic mysticism with Marxistic philosophy. He challenged the traditional view of history, arguing that the predominant concept of linear progression resulted in a "triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate." He famously urged historians to "brush history against the grain". In this essay I discuss his concepts which encourage us to rethink history and it's relevance to us today.
It is a fairly long read so I have broken it down into shorter digestible chunks.

"You have reckoned that history ought to judge the past and to instruct the contemporary world as to the future. The present attempt does not yield to that high office. It will merely tell how it really was."
Leopold von Ranke

" Historicism gives the “ eternal” image of the past; historical materialism supplies a unique experience with the past. The historical materialist leaves it to others to be drained by the whore called “Once upon a time” in historicism’s bordello. He remains in control of his powers, man enough to blast open the continuum of history." Walter Benjamin (1968;p262)


Von Ranke’s view of history expressed in the above quotation encapsulates the view of history, born in the Enlightenment, that dominated Western thinking until well into the Twentieth Century. This view was tied to the concept of progressive scientism, which valued rational, objective, empirical criteria above all else. Like many successful theories it was considered radically critical in it’s time. Historians had come to rely on a number of canonical texts, and what von Ranke urged was a return to primary original sources, and from these to reconstruct the true facts of history. This historicist approach assumes that historians have no preconceived notions of their own , or are at least able to suppress these, and that the facts can speak for themselves, unmediated by the voice of the historian. Benjamin was by no means the first to criticize this approach to history, but his voluminous, esoteric critique is one that speaks powerfully to the (post)modern world. The language he uses in the above quote to condemn historicism is particularly scathing. He believed that the Enlightenment view of historical progression was used to justify the status quo and led to “a triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate” (Benjamin; ;p256)
Benjamin addressed not only history but an impressively wide range of subjects which continue to perplex contemporary thinkers. He embarked on the ambitious project of trying to overcome the dualistic thinking which had plagued modern philosophy. Benjamin particularly strove to reconcile two strands of thought which were seen as irreconcilable- the mystical and the material. In his younger days he was attracted to Jewish mysticism, in particular the Qabbalah. Later in life he discovered Marxism. Unlike many other converts, however, he never abandoned his earlier mysticism, but rather sought to reconcile the two, embarking on a quest, in the words of Jay, to “displace his originally metaphysical and theological concepts of experience into an entirely materialist register” (Jay p 341).This is what makes Benjamin’s philosophy unique, and particularly attractive in an age where mysticism is seen as having no place in serious philosophy. The increasing secularization and materialism of twentieth century thought has led to a loss of spirituality- resulting in a growth of fundamental religion which denies any critical thought and obversely critical thought which denies any spirituality. Benjamin attempted to heal this rift by taking on the bold task of expressing a new holism that takes account of the dialectic. As a mystic he believed that at critical moments of illumination, boundaries break down and opposites come together in new constellations. As a materialist he believed these moments were powerful tools for political transformation.

"Ideas are to objects what constellations are to stars."- Walter Benjamin (quoted in gilloch:p70)

Benjamin’s pantheistic view of the world sees objects as part of greater whole. Objects in this schema are alive in a very real way and embody the material and cultural forces that created them. Thus they can also speak to us- and they do so through allegory. Everything has a story to tell. “To observe a thing”, he wrote “means only to arouse it to self-recognition…through the heightening of one’s own consciousness, through magical observation, one might say, getting nearer to the thing and finally drawing it into oneself.”( Benjamin quoted in Jay; 324.) In consumerist society however this heightened consciousness is lacking. Instead of manufactured objects speaking to people of the exploitative, dehumanising labour practices that create them a new myth is created, which glorifies the object as commodity. Design, display, advertising conspire to create an object of desire, a “wishimage” which promises the consumer the gratification of all their genuine needs and desires thwarted under capitalism- material abundance, freedom from the drudgery of labour, better lives for all. Capitalism is built on the promise of the fulfillment of these dreams. The commodity becomes an object of worship in the cult of fetishism. Luxurious arcades and department stores which are built to house these objects become “dreamhouses of the collective”- powerful projections of not only individual but collective desire. (Benjamin here comes close to suggesting an entity similar to Jung’s collective unconscious).Mass production, a result of increasing industrialization and mechanization of the labour process, promises an almost magical creation of an endless array of commodities, but in truth leads to mass unemployment and a corresponding proliferation of prostitution and the commodification of the human body itself.

"The world dominated by it’s phantasmagorias- this, to make use of Baudelaire’s term, is modernity." –Walter Benjamin (quoted in Baucom:p80)

In spite of the obvious negative aspects of this process - ideological mystification, economic exploitation, capitalist deception – Benjamin (unlike many of his contemporaries who saw mass culture as a form of false consciousness ) saw its potentially progressive aspects. He believed that the wishimage was a repository of powerful utopian ideals and sought to “take mass culture seriously not merely as the source of the phantasmagoria of false consciousness, but as the source of collective energy to overcome it” (Buck- Morss quoted in Schwartz 1734). This involved evoking a higher consciousness -of listening to the voices of objects in new ways. He saw Capitalism as a “ phenomena with which a new dream filled sleep came over Europe, and through it ,a reactivation of mythical forces.” ( Benjamin quoted in Schwartz 1728). In other words what he called the “ Phantasmagoria” of capitalism lulled the people of Europe into sleep, but that the dreams that filled this sleep awoke powerful, unconscious mythological forces which could be used to waken people from this sleep. Referring to the new methodology inherent in his work he wrote: “A work of history such as this was vital in order to slay capitalism by waking the slumbering collective from it’s nineteenth century dream.”(ibid;1728) Differing from orthodox Marxists who believed that the contradictions within capitalism will cause its natural, inevitable downfall he argued: “capitalism will not die a natural death,”(ibid 1728). Instead it requires an active intervention at the level of the collective unconscious to bring about its demise . History thus becomes for Benjamin becomes a “technique of awakening” (ibid 1728), of accessing “the unconscious world of remembrance” (Ibid 1728) expressed in the collective dream.

Christianity and Homosexuality

We are exposed on a daily basis to people telling us that homosexuality is a sin. We are told that the bible and other holy books condemn it. If we examine the bible we see that homosexuality is actually rarely mentioned. Jesus himself never spoke against it. The texts quoted are either from the Old testament or from the teachings of Paul. We have to look at these in context. The Old Testament is based on law. If we wish to live by the teachings of the Old testament we should also be stoning adulterers and sacrificing animals. Jesus taught a new covenant of love which supercedes the law.
In the new testament it is Paul not Jesus who condemns homosexuality. Yet Paul also believed that women shoud not speak in church and supported slavery.The Bible has been used in the past to justify the exploitation of women and black people. Its very easy to interpret the bible in this way.
Christianity is based on the teachings of Jesus, who taught love and acceptance and not condemnation. Using the bible in this way is a corruption of the true spirit of Christianity.
I light of this I would appeal to all Christians leaders (along with all community leaders) to carefully consider before they speak against homosexuality. Consider the harm you are doing to young people. Your words carry an immense influence. Contrary to popular belief homosexuality is not a choice. We have no more influence over who we are attracted to than we have over the colour of our skin or which hand we write with. Imagine telling people that being black is a sin. This would not be acceptable and would be considered hate speech. By telling young people that something they have no control over is a sin, you drive them to despair-- lead them to think there is something wrong with them. ( I know because i along with untold number of young gay people grew up thinking this). The despair and isolation experienced by young gay people as a result of intolerance towards homosexuality is one of the leading causes of teenage suicide. Ask yourself: Are not those who continue to condemn homosexuality contributing to these deaths?? It is time we recognised the dangers of condemning homosexuality and brought an end to this form of hate speech.

Whats Mlungu Doing Here

David Jones

Heres something I wrote after a recent march in Bisho by the Unemployed Peoples Movement and alied organisations.
Comments welcome.

 Recently I joined a march of some 1000 people to the Bisho legislator. (You will not read about this march in the mainstream press, or about the thousands of similar protests which take place on a daily basis around the world. ) The aim of this march was to let the politicians know that people are unhappy with the job they are doing. To remind them that they work for us. To put power back in the hands of the people. A wide variety of organisations were represented and each presented a memorandum to the legislature outlining their grievances of their constituencies. No doubt it will get passed off as another service delivery protest, but it was so much more than that. It was but one instance of a revolution sweeping the planet.

 So what was I, a white middle class student doing there- one of two white faces in a sea of black? Surely this is not my struggle. Friends and family are concerned for my safety. Should I not be? Am I not - by accident of having a pale skin- the enemy of the people gathered here? Most (though certainly not all) members of the middle class ( predominantly white) believe that this gathering, and the worldwide insurrection of which it is a part poses a threat to them and their way of life. They believe that in the eyes of the people here they are the enemy, that the people want to take away their cars and their houses and their land and their jobs. This is simply not true. There is in fact, with proper management, more than enough for everybody. So why do why do they feel so threatened? We should be working together.

  I was at the march because I believe that we are all (white black pink brown yellow red and blue ) oppressed and imprisoned by the ‘mind-forged manacles’ of the present system. Look around you speak to your friends, ask questions. How many people are happy with the way things are? Are you? Certainly millions of people around the world are not and are taking to the streets. Why are they unhappy? I cannot begin to list the ills of the present system without launching into a thesis on the subject . If you are not aware of the crisis I suggest you do some research- find out for yourself.

 Where to begin? How about the effect of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals on the environment? The deliberate suppression of sustainable alternatives? The massive inequity of distribution of world resources? The disastrous effects of the present systems of food production and distribution? The destruction of the eco-system through genetic modification of foods? The corruption of our governments by corporate interests and capital? The increasing militarisation of our society and the unrelenting drive to military solutions and police control? The increasing willingness to kill to maintain the status quo? The absolute insanity of viewing the disappearance of ice at the polar regions as an opportunity to scavenge these last wildernesses on earth for yet more fossil fuel? The inhumanity bred by a system where people have become mere tools for the accumulation of wealth? The brutal rape and destruction of a fragile ecosystem of which we are an organic part and without which we cannot exist? ( I would also suggest some writers- Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Richard Pitthouse) EDUCATE YOURSELVES.

As you read you will see a pattern begin to emerge. It becomes apparent that the resources and wealth of our planet, which in fact are the common heritage of all humanity, have been co-opted by a small elite who pursue their own agenda for material wealth with no regard for the cost. They control the worldwide economy through the massive corporations they have created, manipulating and imprisoning us all. They colonise our minds and drive us through their obscene obsession to the edge of the precipice from which emerge the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Poverty, War, Famine, Disease.

  Read Revelations lately? Its all in there- rivers turning to blood, horrendous plagues, nations laid waste by fire and greed, gruesome monstrosities created by genetic manipulation, and relentless never-ending war. Whats next? The Mark of the Beast? A microchip inserted into every one of us so that our every movement is monitored and controlled. This is the future promised by the corporations. A planet laid waste, unable to sustain natural life, inhabited by new forms of warped, mutated beings , which feed on toxic waste to survive. Humanity itself, diseased corrupt and mutated, in perpetual slavery to the New Lords of the earth who live in obscene wealth in sealed domed fortresses from which they regularly unleash genetically manipulated bacterial and viral horrors to destroy the unnatural monstrosities they have created so they are not overwhelmed by them. As the gulf between rich and poor widens and more and more of humanity finds themselves wretched and starving, the greater the chances for a descent into a vicious spiral of violence as we turn on each other in desperation to wring the last scraps of food and water from the tomb of a dead planet.

 I was at the march because I believe that humanity faces a struggle for its survival. The mind-colonisers have convinced the middle classes of the world that their best interest lies in alliance with them. They would have us sell them our souls for material wealth. They have us believe that if we spend our lives slaving away to fulfil their demonic quest of converting the abundant natural resources of our planet into cold, hard, inedible and largely IMAGINARY money, the “wealth” so created benefits us all by allowing them to create more jobs, in truth binding us all in wage slavery to the corporations. The wealth they say will “trickle down” to the less fortunate. The only thing trickling down is their poisonous waste. They are shitting on us. The truth is we are in a war against a demonically inspired 0.01% of the population who have ransomed our future . The unemployed, the poor and the homeless are on the frontlines of the battle. They bear the brunt of the horror and the suffering inflicted by the brutalisers and their minions. They are our natural allies. They have the numbers to resist. They are survivors.( Contrary to popular belief it is the capitalist accumulators, not the poor who are lazy(and fat) . What do they do but push imaginary piles of money around and plot and scheme to make more. The poor work bloody hard just to survive each day.) They offer hope for humanity’s renewal.

 It is time for us to say enough. We are all fighting the same struggle. The majority of people in the world have no wish to fight one another. There is no need for violence. The living planet we inhabit provides more than enough for all to live in relative comfort and harmony. We need to put aside our differences and work together. We must build alternative networks of power, creating communities where we grow our own food, generate our own power through use of natural, renewable resources, educate our own children, make our own decisions about what crops we grow, what substances we choose to put in our bodies.

 We do not need to rape the earth to extract fossil fuels. Oil should stay in the ground it has an important part to play in lubricating the massive plates which constantly move around, preventing earthquakes. This is true of all the minerals, resources and creatures of the miraculous planet we inhabit. Together they form a living bio-system in which each plant, each animal indeed each rock plays a part in sustaining the whole. The death of even the smallest of creatures sets in motion a chain reaction of dire consequences. Think of what would happen if bees became extinct. We are not the lords of nature, as our arrogance leads us to believe. We tamper with nature at our peril.
We need to de-colonise our minds and radically rethink our values—co-operation must replace competition, sharing of resources must replace capitalist accumulation, personal fulfilment through meaningful work must replace wage slavery.

 There is , at least on paper, a wonderful system for creating co-operatives in place in this country. Like everything to do with the present government that system has become corrupted and the money intended to go to the people ends up in the hands of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians. We need to educate ourselves about the process and begin building co-operatives so that businesses are owned by the people doing the work and taken out of the hands of the capitalists accumulators.( We need to be wary of nationalisation passed off as socialism-- putting business in the hands of the state is not the same as putting them in the hands of the people. This was the mistake made in the Soviet Union and led not to communism but state capitalism).

  We do not need centralised states,( a fairly recent invention in the history of mankind and one designed for control) with politicians and bureaucrats legislating our lives away. We can govern ourselves by coming together as communities in a system of participatory democracy where all members of a community have a say in the making of any decisions that affect that community. And we definitely do not need corporations.

 Capitalism is not the result of a natural historical process . it is not the peak of human evolution . it is not a sane a rational way of distributing or managing the resources of our world. It is an abomination, born in the blood and agony of genocide, rape and slavery. Again if you are not aware of your history do some research.. read up on the genocide of the Aztecs, the Incas, the North American Indians. The enslavement of the people of Africa. The rape of nations called colonisation. The death of millions today ignored as though it never happened. And still it continues. Today the corporations enslave us all through debt and send their own citizens to kill and die for oil. They are the only ones who today benefit from the atrocities of the past and the present.. Money= blood. The only debt crisis is the debt owed, in blood, by the corporations to the rest of humanity. We owe them NOTHING. It is time we removed this abomination.

  It is time for a new system. We do not have to repeat the errors of the past. We have not yet come up with a system that works. Historically all our political systems have lead to bloodshed and chaos eventually..... So what?.. Does that mean we must settle for what we got....no.... We keep trying till we get it right. Innovation, experimentation --CHANGE. The very things the corporations have us fear are most vital for our survival. I believe that we are rational and intelligent enough to create a new system... from the ground up. Not based on capitalism or communism or any other ideology but something new. A system that works for everyone. But first we have to destroy the present system of corporate rule before it destroys us.

 The first step is to remind the governments of the world that they work for the people not the corporations. They must decide , as must we all, if they stand with the people or the corporations.
That’s why I was there. I know which side I’m on. The people on the march know the system isn’t working. They know it’s time for change.
Of course the real question is “why were you not there?”