I try most days to cause just a little bit of thought provoking activity to distress strangers and a few friends. However as much as I love to shoot my fist at the "man", I've come to realize in my rapidly advancing years, subtly can be just as effective. As Chairwoman of DFI, much of this boils down to accessories.
I've worn various pins and buttons to reflect a mood or tone, and the brave have asked to me explain, which of course I'm happy to do. While in LA I sported my Shirley Chisholm 1972 campaign button. Hey, she was all about the word "change" in the day people.
Today I'm wearing my new favorite accessory, it's a bracelet called " I Read Banned Books". You can get your own here.
Another component of my visual offering is my car which right now is a rolling advertisement for the Obama and Lewis campaigns. Since 2004 my car has sported a personal "mission statement" about Boycotting Chinese made goods. I usually see some one taking a peek at it in traffic, and I've actually met some cool (and weird) people because of it.
I've riffed on this before, but feel compelled in the midst of so much political activity to challenge this group again - in what way are you inciting revolution, or "change" if you must?
*rev·o·lu·tion
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English revolucioun, from Middle French revolution, from Late Latin revolution-, revolutio, from Latin revolvere to revolve
Date:
14th century
1 a (1): the action by a celestial body of going round in an orbit or elliptical course; also : apparent movement of such a body round the earth (2): the time taken by a celestial body to make a complete round in its orbit (3): the rotation of a celestial body on its axis b: completion of a course (as of years); also : the period made by the regular succession of a measure of time or by a succession of similar events c (1): a progressive motion of a body around an axis so that any line of the body parallel to the axis returns to its initial position while remaining parallel to the axis in transit and usually at a constant distance from it (2): motion of any figure about a center or axis
6 Responses to “You say you want a revolution*, well you know..”
I had the strangest urge to listen to Rage Against The Machine last night.
LOVE the banned books bracelet! I'm going to have to get one.
I think the biggest way in which I'm "inciting revolution" is by constantly challenging people's assumptions and stereotypes wrt sex work, sex workers, and sex workers' rights. Believe me, this is damn near a full-time job, as the ignorance runs rampant and unabashed. Unless there's a real impediment to me doing so, I call out bullshit on this issue whenever I see/hear it, no matter who its from. Friends, acquaintances, superiors, family members, allies - anyone. Somehow I am brazen and steadfast on calling out BS on this issue in a way that I'm not yet (but aspire to be) on others.
Tiny revolutions, on a one-on-one level. I can do those.
This site is called "Blog for Democracy". Now, call me old-fashioned, but I associate democracy with electoral politics. Electoral politics are not revolutionary, and will not bring about a revolution, except perhaps in reaction to electoral politics. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for a revolution. I advocate counter-economics and dual power institutions to further it. I just don't think the answer will be found in the ballot box.
Maybe the word you're looking for is reform. Reform, to a degree, may be accomplished with the vote. But that's the question: do you want reform, or do you want a revolution?
Oh, holy horseshit. I have a feeling this Lemuria person came over here via me (who I believe he found via Ren, as that's where I saw a comment from him earlier today). I feel like I should apologize, for some reason.
But look, y'all, now he's here to Tell Us How It Is! Boy oh boy, I can't wait.
Well, apparently "some" of the commentors didn't grown up on the Beatles music.. duh. the title is from a pretty famous tune.
And the definition was provided so that no one's undie got in a bunch over a pretty simple concept.
I'm all about democracy too but frankly it aint working exactly all that well for us, this admistration wets itself every time they shread another bit of the constitution so spare me the lectures, and the word reform is bullshit nicey nice like pablum, fuck that we need some radical shit to be happening come Jan 09.
Johnny Lemuria:
Perhaps you're unaware of the history of democracy? The Athenian democratic city-state (commonly recognised as the birthplace of democracy) did not practice elective democracy of the type you apparently associate with the term, but instead had a participatory democracy that literally gave everyone a voice, with legal decisions being made by people selected by lot.
Obviously, such a system would be unwieldy for a nation the size of the USA (or even for entities of the size of an individual State), but participatory democracy is certainly possible at the local level and can form the basis of a more representative elective democracy at national levels.
As to the question posed in the OP, I seek to incite revolution by asking questions, the awkwarder the better, of those who make decisions on behalf of others. I try to present to the world the perception I have of every individual as being of worth, in a world that still assigns value based on moral codes.