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| Peurta del Sol, Madrid, Spain, April 2011 during the "Spanish Revolution" |
As now night falls upon Zuccotti park in New York City, as the lights of the grand boulevards illuminate the skyline, as planes, like flashing stars dash through the Manhattan sky, one man looks down. That man a normal man probably in his 50's, a typical, banal man, of which we do not much looks down. And as the plane starts its decent into the New York City airspace, he senses somehow, somewhere, something in this city, this huge megalopolis of millions and millions of inhabitants, the cosmopolitan "neo-babylonia" has changed. And who could deny him that though? Who could tell him that his perception was wrong?
Mr X flying lonesomely on that Boeing 747 overflying the labyrinth of lights that is NYC, sensed something that we've known for a bit over 2 months, something that the whole world has felt deep down in its "general" gut, the "general" gut feeling that Zuccotti park, alike Peurta del Sol in Madrid, or Tahir Square in Cairo is one of those front-lines, in the tricky war to redefine what democracy and justice is in the 21st century.
For years now, we've heard about fault-lines, fault-lines that were drawn throughout this world, drawn in the tears, the pain and the blood of millions of working families, throughout the world. Detroit and New Orleans the American fault-lines of this universal crisis created by some, but paid by the many. The burning streets of Athens, the open veins of Latin American, and carbonized cars of Seine Saint-Denis are also the fault-lines of this massive counterrevolution.
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| Occupy Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A. 2011 |
A counterrevolution, for revolution in its primary sense, and it's rightful meaning is rotation of things until they realign into their rightful order, basically the way things should be.
And this is were history, and "The Movement" enters the scenery. Maybe it's a very plain, simple line of thought but after an analysis of modern history, two key movements seem to push forward.
Let's stroll back through history lane, to find the source of this amazing movement of "civil rights/ democratization". Probably some would say that this movement of perpetual change progression (revolution), that like a drop of water in an almost full cup, that drop by drop tries overflow, started a while back way before my "starting" date, but in this case I underline 5 particular popular movements in modern history that founded the basis for our actual society: The Reformation (Peasants Wars), The Liberal Revolutions (The American and French Revolutions), The Marxist Revolutions and finally later on in the 20th century, the Fights for National Liberation in the 3rd world, and the Civil Rights Movement were drops that tried to push the balance of universal justice more and more to it's righteous position.
At the same time for each step forward, their was the possibility if an error was committed to take three steps backwards. For inter-tangled in the common massive and impressive human "general" psychology, are two sides, one side progressive that embraces revolution and the other side regressive or conservative that in the face of revolution enhances counterrevolution. Of course in detail this is far form being true, their are zones of grey that are more important, then the clearly defined zones of white or black. Even so, general trends do exist and do help us understand the "general" maybe even very general direction of our human enterprise.
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| Moscow, Russia December 2011 |
As I've said earlier we now live in a world that is cut-up and devised through lines. Fault-lines and front-lines. We live in a world of gates and gate keepers, of those that have and those that have not or nothing. And the history of the world has always been this way, for some it will always be this way, it's as some say part of human nature. But I beg to differ, I think that from time to time the general subjugated conscience of those "have-nots" does get to a boiling point, and at that specific moment when those that the established power has underestimate, revolt and push for change, it's at that specific moment that the "movement" is born.
Back in the 1960's a similar movement was born. At the end of the 1960's the movement that eventually broke-up into very divergent "sub-movements" (from the Black-Panther Party for Self-Defence and the Weather Underground Organization to the non-violent Hippie movement) it started far away from the urban centres of Chicago or New York, it started in the deep south (in Alabama). Alike the "general" civil disobedience movement in the 1960's this movement of revolt was born in the most improbable and in a what can be considered the periphery. It started in Tunisia about a year ago and spread throughout the world at an amazing speed rate. The links between all of this movement, tend to draw a general trend, of this bigger then life "movement". For example Reformation ignited Europe like a wild fire, creating more 100 years of Political instability, and the Reformation was started by the most odd of acts and surely Martin Luther himself predicted little, if not anything of how the pinning-up of his statement would change forever the world as he knew it. Little did the leaders of the Boston Tea Party know that their acts would inspire a new revolutionary era.
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| Occupy Portland, November 2011 |
But from my point of view it seems as if this movement that was supposed to continue in a sort of Hegelian manner it's "progress" stalled along the way.
For I believe that we are at a very critical turning point in the history of humanity. The values that were born in the aftermath of the Reformation (a specific set of values, not the entirety of the values that came out of the religious and theological upheaval that was the Reformation), the same values as the thesis of Max Weber has proven we're the basis of modern Capitalism and of our modern Liberal democracies are exhausted.
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| Curitba, Brazil 2011 |
I think that we are at a time alike the realignment of the world, after the birth of "modern" religions such as the birth of Christianity.In history there have been major shifts that have redefined how us "inhabitants" vision our place in our common environment. I believe that one of the major shifts in our world was the "building-up" of modern Capitalism as we know it. I also have for firm believe that the installation of this Capitalistic system created the long and brutal 20th century (in this logic WWI and WWII were in some sort reactions to this construction of Capitalism). And I believe that what we are witnessing today, what we are participating in today is anew realignment of the world.
Looking back to the 1960's, the general civil disobedience movement, was the basis for a real realignment in the way we apprehend our world, in the way we interact inside our own environment and also how we conceive the world that surrounds us. It was overall a revolt, but beyond that it was redefinition of our common sense, by common sense I mean the social fabric that brings us together and out of which we can create bonds, in the end common sense is the foundation of the world-systeme we live in.
The Christian revolution of values or the monotheistic revolution fundamentally changed the social fabric/ "common sense" of the ancient world and built the basis of the modern world. But little by little this monotheistic foundation of our "modernity" was chipped away by the new realignment that had for philosophical source the enlightenment. The enlightenment built the basis for the liberal philosophy. The first big revolution that started to "pull the rug" underneath the feet of the monotheistic (in the occident) was the Reformation it built the theological bedrock for protest, and at the time to contest the authority of the church of Rome was to contest the major legitimate power of the time. After the liberal revolutions that started in England in 1688 and the liberal revolutions that fallowed in 1774 and 1789 set the battlefield for the 19th century, between the slipping power of religion and the new liberal influence.
During the 20th century the political theory known to us as Liberalism clearly implanted itself, through what we could call the institutionalization of democracy, something that seems at times paradoxical. By affirming such a thing I affirm the fact that democracy is fundamentally very little "institutionalized" and our current "crisis of democracy" has for direct origin this fundamental paradox that lies in the construction of representative "liberal" democracy (our modern form of democracy).
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| Damascus, Syria "The Arab Spring" April 2011 |
And we are at this point in time, in this space and dimension, and things oddly seem to be shifting. Things in general (the common history of mankind) and things in particular (each and everyone's singular experience) tend to at some times function in the same manner. It's when you least expect it, in places less probable and of improbable people that fundamental change outbursts. And that is probably what is so great about life in general, it's improbable side to it. Looking back on 2011 who, would of expected all of these occurrences, we try to plan things its part of human nature, we tend to find confront in planing the future and building on that... of course no one can build on the improbable, but we must rejoice of this improbability and this unknown and unmapped face of our lives and our common future in this human society.
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| Cairo, Egypt 2011 |
As now the evening lights give into the dark nightfall skies, as the smoke lifts in Tahrir square in Cairo as the army now burns down to the ground the marks of any physical resistance. As the cold night swifts into Zuccotti square through the grand corridors of New York City's avenues and once again the occupiers face the dreadful night. As another Athenian family turns off the lights in the once cradle of democracy, now riddled with debt. As so many in this time of discontent and full of incertitude. Let us remember and recollect, that the movement still on goes, and still thrives and that this is just the beginning and what a start it is. The road ahead is long and steep, narrow and screechy, but we now know that the road out of here does exist. And everything depends on our capability to "occupy" our hopes and dreams, our expectation and beliefs, all depends on our efforts to reinstate our moral paramount over our fears and grievances, our restraint and disbeliefs. That's the big personal and general fight of humanity, revolution or counterrevolution, for change is possible, but are we ready to "occupy" that change? I personally think that we are.
Sky.
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| Tahrir Square on Fire, December 2011. |
