That pushing through of a different world is not just a question of rage, although rage is part of it. It necessarily involves the patient construction of a different way of doing things, the creation of different forms of social cohesion and mutual support. Behind the spectacle of the burning banks in Greece lies a deeper process, a quieter movement of people refusing to pay bus fares, electricity bills, motorway tolls, bank debts; a movement, born of necessity and conviction, of people organising their lives in a different way, creating communities of mutual support and food networks, squatting empty buildings and land, creating community gardens, returning to the countryside, turning their backs on the politicians (who are now afraid to show themselves in the streets) and creating directly democratic forms of taking social decisions. Still insufficient perhaps, still experimental, but crucial. Behind the spectacular flames, it is this searching for and creation of a different way of living that will determine the future of Greece, and of the world.
Really? Squatting empty buildings, community gardens and food networks? That's just too Road Warrior for me to get excited about. I mean we do still live in a good (albeit crumbling) country here - can't we just get rid of the greedy fucks and fix this shit up? Frankly, I think the climate's going to demand some sophisticated solutions. So, just thought I'd weigh in to say this post-apocalyptic scenario could happen, I suppose, but it really shouldn't be our goal.
it wasnt quite the same thing, but i wrote a paragraph contra the drop-out thinking of the 70s in a long opus i wrote in the early 80s...the people who fought the in the civil rights & war movements were moving to the countryside forming rural organic communes...my point was that we (cause i did it too) became irrelevant to history & the society as a whole...ie, a handful of us dropping out would make no difference to world where everyone was driven to get a biggger piece of the pie...and that's what happened; the leadership that changed the country in the 60s abdicated, and the result is the world you have today...
ReplyDeleteOh no...you just went "Really?" on us. One of the things 99% of people do these days that makes my skin crawl.
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