Last night I saw the film on DVD the infamous, “I, Robot”- 2004 Hollywood production, which is an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s 1950 Sci-Fi novel with the same title. I never read the original book yet (the robot series), so I am not sure how the film recreated its characters out from its original adaptation. But if nothing was altered in the film, especially the portrayal of original characters from the book, I might give now my observation that the narrative is basically a mixture of Jewish and Christian discourse on Morality. But what amazes me was the process of Immortalization of the character Dr. Lanning- the chief robotic engineer, after his mysterious death. The engineer will be indentified later by the uniquely assembled robot named "Sonny" as his Father the Creator. Through out the film, Dr. Lanning- now Father/Creator, remained an important thing for Sonny, the robot, for him to deliver a message about salvation among robots and human. If we look closer into these characters, a Father and Son relationship is observed.
I forgot to remember the name of the person who described the link between Judaism and Christian belief as similar to Father and Son relationship. The reference person whom i forgot has furthered that Jesus himself, the main spiritual hero of Christianity, represents the Son of God, which is in reference to Father Yahweh- the Divine Being of Judaism.
The primary followers of these two beliefs, who were mostly middle-eastern people, for a long time has experienced wave upon waves of Colonization and Subjugation from dominant Civilizations. Therefore, Jesus the son and Yahweh the father stands side by side to remind its followers that their Supremacy will provide them total redemption against plunderers.
Obviously, the whole narrative of both beliefs tells us a story about liberation. Therefore it is necessary for them to give birth for a hero to fulfill the story. In Joseph Campbell’s comparative studies on ancient Mythologies, he discussed the vital role of heroes in making the whole mythological narrative complete. According to him there are two kinds of hero, one is Spiritual and the other is Physical, yet both of them possesses supernatural powers.
In the case of Judaism, Moses represents more or less a Physical hero for the enslaved Jews in his role on the realization of Exodus and his ceaseless battles against the Pharaoh of Egypt. But Jesus is much more like a Spiritual hero for the Christians than a warrior Messiah that Judas Iscariot, a disciple of Jesus, has tried once to imagine. It is because of the fact that Jesus fought freedom against the Roman colonizers using only his power of ideological speeches and amazing miracles among the enslaved Jews, rather than leading his followers to revolt and topple down the Roman Empire and its puppet government. But what is interesting about Heroes, most especially for Spiritual Heroes, is that they have to die tragically in order for them resurrect and finally complete the process of immortalization. This is how mythological narratives operate.
The film "I, Robot", two types of heroes were obviously identified and of course the whole narrative was complete to tell a very delightful Mythology about robots.
note: I made this haiku as the blooming of Sakura flowers were about to end. First week of April is popular for the very short Sakura Blooming in Japan. It is believed that Haikus originated from this fleeting Sakura moment. But my haiku is not about Sakura, in fact, it tells about my indoor experience.
TITLE: Situating the Philippine Anarchist Movement in the Geopolitics of Resistance
The seemingly unperturbed rise of Global Capital, on the verge of its unimaginable peak, has caused enormous deterioration to our natural environment and social poverty tripled its gigantic scale, while at the same time the illusions of comfortable living echoes around the corners of the world ignoring the Capitalist tragedy like nothing is happening. But not everybody is wide asleep from this docile slumber.
In various corners of the world there are Others[1] who are wide-awake dreaming of life amidst the consolations of death. Together, as they dream lucidly, these Others are doing all the possible means to break the colossal foundations of Capitalism that caused us death for a long time since the conception of Civilization came into existence.
This paper is my attempt to articulate myself as part of the Others who are working on our way to liberate ourselves. Though we are very diverse, our common experience of Capitalist exploitation unifies our desire of mutual aide and solidarity without having a need to turn the others into the same. (italics stolen from J. Neil C. Garcia’s Postcolonialism and Filipino Poetics)
GLOBAL RESISTANCE AGAINST CAPITALISM
Capitalism just like asthma has its inherent disease, it is called the crisis of Overproduction, which keeps coming back without a cure. This chronic disease of Capitalism, again just like asthma, has also its own relief medication but it’s a kind of dark and horrible temporary relief that is very different to common asthma. One of its glaring examples of relief medication is the historical World Wars (WW1 and WW2)- it temporarily pacified the Capitalist crisis of overproduction at the expense of million innocent lives.
Since then, on the process of recuperation, global market economy was established under the name of World Trade Organization (WTO) formerly known as International Trade Organization. Big businesses, national corporations and rich governments across the world gathered together to further their ambitions for more profit by introducing Free Trade. Obviously, under this Capitalist organization, they never aim to save the natural environment neither equally distributes the wealth to ease world hunger, however, it has only worsened the gap between rich and poor nations and restricted the borders against refugees and migrants. The capital is free to roam but the people are not.
Under this new world order, we have now the label Third World and First World to emphasize the global division between the rich and the poor. International Monetary Fund (IMF)- a loan shark, advanced this global division further during the same moment when free trade established itself after the war. Here the IMF leaves the Third World with huge debt after lending them monetary assistance with high interest rates. Helpless from the situation caused by debt, the Third World has no option but to let the IMF, in collaboration with their national government, dictate the local economy and allow measures in exploiting their reserve of natural resources. One of its examples is the terrible displacement of ethnic minorities in the Philippines due to intensive mineral mining by multi-national corporations under the powers of IMF. The Mining Act of 1995 instituted by the Philippine government robs off the ethnic minorities their ancestral domain, culture, identity and means of livelihood. This kind of ethnocide under the principles of Neocolonialism also happens the same way in other Third World nations most especially in Southern America.
The unlimited accumulation of natural resources ripped-off from the Third World by these insatiable First World multi-nationals has also included the liberalization of their local Labor.
By cheapening the cost of labor, a certain commodity-product will most likely win in the Market competition. In other words free trade has become a literal blood sport, pushing the poor nations to compete each other in the brutal arena of cheap labor market, but only the multi-nationals get the price. Whoever gets the cheapest labor wins and will have the monopoly of Capital at the expense of dead grinded bodies of poor working people.
“Ya Basta!” (Enough Already!), shouts the armed indigenous people in the deep jungles of Chiapas in Mexico- endangering the local Capitalists and its cohorts out of their regular businesses unexpectedly. The outcry of dissent echoed around the world after the successful insurrection they held in 1994 liberated six municipalities from the clutches of greedy local landlords. Since then, the indigenous outcry snowballed in various corners of the planet that gathered a diverse network of autonomous movements, activists, and women’s groups, unions and civil rights movements. The days of global dissent against Capitalism soon followed.
In Prague, September 2000, black-clad protestors armed with cobblestones torn from its historic streets, seized the city that led to the successful disruption of the supposed meeting between International Monetary Fund/World Bank (IMF/WB) and the representatives of few rich governments. The previous year, World Economic Forum (WEF) attended by the same rich governments failed to proceed its meeting in Melbourne after hundreds of thousand demonstrators started to flood the streets- blocking the whole city.
But, among the series of anti-capitalist actions in the present, one of its unforgettable moments was the unpredicted dissent that happened right in the center of the belly of the beast- Battle in Seattle of 1999 as it was called. The uprising is known for its success in shutting down the World Trade Organization Ministerial meeting over the days of endless revolutionary riots, non-violent resistance and hair-raising direct actions.
What made Battle in Seattle possible was the formation of Peoples Global Action (PGA) in February 1998 that gathered a diverse network of social movements worldwide. Since then, the slogan: Let Our Resistance be Transnational As Capital, became its powerful Mantra.
According to the history of PGA, the initial inspiration for its formation came from the global meeting called in 1996 by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). Using the technology of e-mail the global meeting was made possible. It was participated by various grassroots radical movements from over 40 countries and was held in the deep jungles of Chiapas and is known as Encuentro, the purpose of the gathering is “to discuss common tactics, problems and solutions”[2] against the onslaught of neoliberalism and Capitalist globalization. But what really propelled the success behind this gathering was the result of an indigenous insurrection the previous years back that inspired radical groups from other continents of the World.
On New Years Eve of 1994, while the mindless politicians were happily celebrating the coming of year, armed indigenous guerillas went down from the mountains of Chiapas in Mexico and seized their respective local municipalities. Right before the break of dawn the indigenous war of resistance against the Mexican Government was officially declared to the surprise of the Mexican Federal Army who were then out of their barracks partying.
The declaration of war was an indignant condemnation of the indigenous against the legalization of North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Mexico that took in effect shortly before the end of the year. Wearing black ski masks and faded military fatigues holding stolen high-powered rifles, the indigenous rebellion was instantly recognized by the Mexican people. As they stand courageously occupying the Municipal hall and the Plaza, along its name, Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN), their notability also resonated around the corners of the world saying, “the voice that armed itself to be heard, the face that hides itself to be seen, the name that hides itself to be named…behind our black masks, behind our armed voice, behind our unnamable name, behind us who you see, behind us we are you.”
The powerful words of the Zapatistas suddenly became the embodiment of global dissent against Capital, which is faceless, nameless and borderless. This image of dissent also reflected on EZLN’s Second Declaration of La Realidad during the Encuentro, making it clear among the participants of the gathering that “it has no central command or hierarchies” but rather a network of all who resist against Capital.
DECLINE AND REAPPEARANCE OF ANARCHISM IN THE WEST
A faceless, nameless and borderless resistance, mutual solidarity and non-hierarchy are very much reminiscent to classical Anarchist practices in the past. But this time, the similar practice is being revived back in the East (Third World)- outside its place of origin where it was first propagated as a force against Capitalism. Then quickly it started to revitalize again among radicals in the West (First World) after been inspired by non-authoritarian groups from the Third World, namely, Brazilian Landless Workers Movement, EZLN, Kuna of Ecuador, Argentinian Teachers Union, and KRRS in India, etc.
The propagation of theory and revolutionary practice of Anarchism is first conceived in Europe shortly after the horrible side effects of Industrial Revolution came to realize in everyday life of common people. Since then, along with Marx and Marxism they both became the furious enemy of Capitalism during its early stages until to this age of Information Technology. However, there are major differences between Marxism and Anarchism in terms of practices and views. In David Graeber’s description of its differences, according to him, Anarchism is Marxism’s poorer cousin because the former lacks affinity with the academe comparing to the latter (Marx has a Phd. while Anarchist ideologues are social drop-outs and/or organic intellectuals). That is why in most cases Anarchism is disregarded as a nuance in political struggles for it lacks grandiose and coherent theoretical doctrines in guiding the principles for the emancipation of the working class.
But despite of it all, in the early 19th century, working-class organizations and revolutionary elements were popularly inspired by Anarchism throughout the Western hemisphere. This resulted to its historical heyday that started from Paris Commune of 1871 until the Spanish Revolution in 1936. During this period of time, it is believed to be the most vibrant moment of classical anarchist movements that would later on inspire other radicals in the East (read: Japanese Anarchism) and Southern countries. In this period also, Anarchism developed itself into various strands of practices and principles, namely, anarcho-syndicalism, insurrectionism, anarchist communism, cooperativism and platformism, etc. None of it is named after great thinkers and/or aiming towards centralized organization.
On the other hand, at the beginning of 20th century, Marxism was already gaining popular ground on mainstream politics. Its theory of seizing state power (read: Communist Party) captured the imagination of middle-class Idealists and soon to be authoritarians in the guise of the working class under the slogan “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”.
In the turn of events, right during before and after World War One (WW1), Marxist revolutionaries or commonly known as Leftists, succeeded in practicing their theoretical doctrines that has led to the existence of Communist Regimes by overthrowing former Governments (read: Bolshevism, Stalinism and Maoism) or simply reforming Capitalism rather than overthrowing governments (read: Social Democracy). Meanwhile, anarchist’s views, as an alternative revolutionary force, became more and more less appealing during this period of communist recuperation but it never ceased to exist, despite the fact that most anarchists, both in Capitalist Regimes and Communist Regimes, were annihilated and incarcerated. This is also the period, according to David Graeber, the most violent in human history because the Powers-that-be were entirely preoccupied in maintaining killing machines for waging wars or preparing for them, which he also stressed that most Marxists are very good at it as well.
Only during after the Cold War and war between industrialized nations, “anarchism reappeared just where it had been at the end of 19th century, as an international movement at the very center of the revolutionary left.”[3]
The revitalization of anarchism as a revolutionary force, who refuse itself to be named, against Capitalism in this present period of time can also be understood through the effectiveness of new technological communication advancement, which is considered to be a very important aspect of Globalization. Capitalist industrialists coined this aspect as Information Technology or commonly known as Internet. It’s supposed purpose is to seek effective advancement for Free Trade (Capitalist globalization) and its pretext to push-button-satellite-operated warfare.[4]
Surprisingly, there is a clear detournement [5] of usage towards such technology; it suddenly became an effective tool for networking the internationalist anti-capitalist resistance. Hence, it made communications easy for networking rebels around the world and keep them in contact. In fact, the successful means of communication for People’s Global Action (PGA) as an international network, before the Canadian Postal Workers Union as PGA’s communications hub, they heavily relied on Internet technology. But, what is interesting about this technology is its capacity, as a new media communications tool, that goes along with horizontal politics of internationalist anti-capitalist resistance. This infrastructure gave the possibility of melting down the imaginary barrier that divides the Third World apart from the First World- at least in the virtual reality.
THE CRISIS OF AUTHORITARIAN LEFT IN THE PHILIPPINES
to be continued....
1. Discuss horizontal politics and informal structural organizing of global anti-capitalist resistance. 2. Put it in contrast with the nature of left politics in the Philippines. 3. What went wrong during and after the split? What happened next? 4. Sectarian groups versus Affinity groups
----- NOTES:
1. The term Others is referred to as Minorities i.e. illegal/legal migrants, refugees, ethnics, womyn, unemployed, autonomous activists and movements, etc.
2. Proposal Based on an EZLN email invitation entitled “Encuentro” that called for an international gathering. It is also believed to be the general objectives of the gathering.
3. “…the moment Cold War ended, and War between industrialized powers once again seemed unthinkable, anarchism reappeared just where it had at the end of the nineteenth century, as an international movement at the very center of the revolutionary left.” David Graeber, “THE NEW ANARCHISTS” New Left Review 13, January-February 2002
4. “Ikinukumpara ito ng mga propagandista ng kapitalismo noong maibento ang "steam engine" na nagbunsod ng "industrial revolution". Tinatawag nila ang kasalukuyang panahon bilang isang "communication revolution" na radikal na bumabago sa takbo ng produksyon.” Popoy Lagman, “Ang Aming Paninindigan Laban sa APEC at Globalisasyon” Anti-Globalization Primer 1996
5. In detournement, an artist reuses elements of well-known media to create a new work with a different message, often one opposed to the original. The term "detournement", borrowed from the French, originated with the Situationist International; a similar term more familiar to English speakers would be "turnabout", although this term is not used in academia and the arts world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detournement
1. The Puppet And The Dwarf (2003) by Slavoj Zizek
2. Postcolonialism and Filipino Poetics (2004) by J. Neil C. Garcia
3. A Short History of Japanese Anarchism by Le Libertaire Group
4. The Philippines: A Past Revisited (1975) by Renato Constantino
5. An Introduction to Existentialism (1962) by Robert G. Olson
6. Black Skin White Mask (1967) by Frantz Fanon
7. The Minori Cave Expedient Lithic Technology (2002) by Armand Salvador B. Mijares
8. 1904 World's Fair: The Filipino Experience (2004) by Jose D. Fermin
9. Reinventing the Filipino Sense of Being and Becoming (1995) by Arnold Molina Azurin
--- HELLO 2007... GOODBYE 2006 GOODBYE LIVEJOURNAL HELLO TO MY NEW BLOG [ HERE ]
Finally, the agony of longing has come to end. I am now reunited with my Desert Woman. Together we dream under the same ozone layer. Living dangerously together, wearing the same ring that reads Revolution to remind us that we exist and resist.
Queer Vegan Bar's last night at Akane, i went there to eat the last vegan meal- it was a Thai Curry. Toppie is really a great vegan cook, though that night she never served my favorite vegan wrap which i call it the Vegan Bomb (lettuce, tomatoes, onion, spices rolled in a rice wrapper). But the home-made Strawberry liqour that she prepared that night was just amazing.
Akane is a collective-run space infront Waseda University (the alma mater of Haruki Murakami) from which the Queer Vegan Bar serves its non-violent food twice a month, the space is about to end. I didn't bother to seek the reason behind its demise but back in my mind i am thinking that maybe the collective has some kind of economic problem to sustain the space. Too bad.
Anyway, that night i met again some of the few familiar people that i usually meet in Protest actions. I left the bar an hour before the Subway closes, together with Steven- an Archeologist from Sweden, we took the Tozai Line and departed each others way after i got-off from Iidabashi. It was cold when i emerged from the underground. Winter is really on its way.
SUNDAY NOV. 19
In Hachiko plaza, amidst the flood of people and small amount of rain, I met-up with my friend Jasser. A couple of days before, we agreed to hang-out together after work to exchange information of Philippine current events. We directly went to the radical bookshop owned by my Japanese friend in Shinjuku. I introduced Jasser to my friend, we drank beer and he exchanged stories of his militant past as a radical activist. My japanese friend was amused.
MONDAY NOV. 20
Solidarity action for the revolting people in Oaxaca, Mexico was held infront the Mexican Consulate in Tokyo. During that same day, the same protesters went to the Philippine Embassy to demand for the unconditional release of illegally detained punks and FoodNotBomb volunteers by Philippine authorities.
While the exciting life is happening outside by these people who were showing their love and solidarity, my soul is kept behind the walls of work.
They said Haikus were made to capture the lucid moment of changing seasons. Words were utilised to follow its pattern into the dark cosmic alleys of the unknown. Just like Basho wandering around the cold nameless narrow streets chasing fireflies. Just like the Yamanote-sen at 18:00 running in circle around Tokyo chasing senselessly the night.
And you will never really understand anything on the plexiglass window overlooking the tracks, not until you freeze-frame a moment in seconds.
You will see nothing but a glimpse of Leonard Cohen singing the most beautiful lonely song in Autumn saying "All men will be sailors then, until the sea shall free them" as you sink slowly in your tears while everyone is dreaming of Hydrophobic Nightmares.
The best way to get off from work for a while is to call in sick. This tactic works efficiently for me if I run-out of reason in asking permission, most especially if the reason behind is related to the critique of Work itself.
So there, I told to my boss that I was having a sudden attack of Diarrhoea only to attend a gathering of Tokyo anarchists last Saturday.
If you are not yet ready to abandon the relationship of labour and capital in your system, you can’t say to your boss that you will be attending to some anarchist meeting. The power relation of hierarchy won’t allow you this. Because Anarchy and Capital doesn’t fit together the same as chaos and order, they are both in permanent clash.
And speaking of power relation and hierarchy, there is this infamous Anthropology Professor from Yale University who was recently denied by the University Admin to rehire him. The reason behind his dismissal from the Academe was simply because the said Professor is a staunch anarchist and his ideology is critical to the hierarchical tradition of the Academe.
Surprisingly, the anarchist gathering that I attended was a meet-up and socialization with the said infamous Professor. His name is David Graeber- author of two books entitled “Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology” and “Towards an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams”. He’s been in Tokyo for a week now giving lectures on his recent anthropological research on Madagascar’s anarchistic tradition and his theories on New Anarchism. The gathering was held on an apartment rooftop where CIRA-Japana (Anarchist Archive) resides.
It’s an honor to meet David. And it was indeed a great opportunity to talk with him. And during that lucid encounter, we excitedly exchanged our admiration and dislikes towards John Zerzan’s Future Primitivism. If I remember clearly and quite understood it right, his opinion against Zerzan was the potential danger to grab Zerzan’s anti-civilization discourse by the Media as something Sensational. Echoing property damage and property destruction to ironically strengthen the State. This reminds me of Frantz Fanon’s discourse on the idea of racial role-play and colonialism where binary opposites (black/colonised and white/colonizers) systematically operate in society. For Fanon, only by abandoning this enforced role-playing can give us the path towards liberty, hence decolonisation.
In a brief explanation of David’s “Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology”[1] in wikipedia.org, it is said that in his study of Madagascar’s northwestern Tsimihety tribe, their practice on autonomy and culture has maintained up to the present “not by confronting the government, but by retreating.” In some way, David’s idea on Revolution through Non-confrontation might be in one way or another related to non-violence that possibly sits in contrary with Zerzan. But I don’t know. I still have to read the whole book for me to have a deep grasp of his cohesive concepts on Non-confrontation and Revolution.
I took a photo of him after I shared some thoughts on Barangay[2] in a pre-colonised Filipino society. I shared my idea on how I am quite inspired by Zerzan when I explained that Barangay is an embodiment of egalitarian inter-personal relationship of pre-civilized individuals composing a tribe. And how its economic living in a form of subsistence economy is ecologically sustainable. Not until the colonizers came in to introduce civilization through forced assimilation and brutal erasure of identity from our collective memory.
The rooftop was about to get really cold as we went further from our exchange of ideas. We end up sharing a beer and some few foods left from the table of Pirate Cafe. And then a while, he went on chatting with others. I continued drinking my beer.
THE MAN INLOVE (An Ode to Abigail) by Jong Pairez 2004
the man that loves you will not only love the people but love life as well and savour the taste of every human breath it's been done before, but he will do it again
the man that loves you will not just contain you in the jar of memories but rather expropriate you like loose atoms that will forever gives oxygen to life like waging a classwar
your man in love will not just shout "i love you" in the midst of a senseless crowd, the word is better be carved in the rubbles of civilization after it has been bombed
our utopia will not just put the boxes back again into ourselves no more kitchens, no more domestications, no more barriers, everything is permissable because we are a multitude and everything is ours and ours is everything
we smash the history into pieces fall in love like wild beasts do. LOVE is your lover's ultimate weapon.
(note: taken from Giaconda Belli's "The Man Who Loves Me")
let's have first a list of our Definition of Terms before we start this exciting discussion related to Gender, Society and Politics that may interest us as sexual minorities.
1. Lesbian: A lesbian is a female who is exclusively emotionally, sexually, romantically and/or aesthetically attracted to other females. (source)
2. Feminist: Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerned with the experiences of women. Most feminists are especially concerned with social, political and economic inequality between men and women (in the context of it being to the disadvantage of women); some have argued that gendered and sexed identities, such as "man" and "woman", are socially constructed. Non-Feminist is a direct opposite of the said term. (source)
3. Chauvinist: Chauvinism is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. This may also apply to gender which may also be called in other term as SEXISM or Sexual Discrimination. (source)
My topic is a hypothetical question rather than a statement (it can be proven true or false). But more or less the topic requires a dynamic approach of creating an opinion related to building an intelligent approach to know more our gender and our relationship to Others that may possibly lead to the total destruction of all possible discriminations among ourselves (not to mention nature and animals).
SUBVERTING GENDER
It is obvious that imposed gender roles are very much present in our everyday lives, these roles is the fundamental reason behind the existence of Modern Society we live in. We may ask what reinforces the idea behind these imposed gender roles in society? It needs not be theorized extensively only to get the answer, what we need is only a clear observation of our surrounding and the relationship that binds us. And we will be surprised to know that imposed gender role (Man and Woman) is only a by-product of Domestication or domestic relationship.
Domestication determines our imposed sexual identities. That is why it is not surprising to know that our Mothers are kept behind the Kitchen and/or Household chores while our Fathers provide the necessities of Family. If we observe closely, there is a clear unequal relationship in this status. In the economic sense, the provider obviously Dominates. This may now give us a classic picture of how Gender operates in society. Yet we may ask again, how did the Male became the powerful Authority of Domesticated Household? I may not be able to detail it Historically but we can get the general concepts behind this.
The historical existence of domestication is the saber that torned the pre-civilised egalitarian societies apart. And that the institutionalisation of Males as dominant figures of early domestic societies was the physical ability to conduct War which enables to extend domesticated spatial territories violently. Thus the term Patriarchy existed along with Modern Society and Civilization. Throughout the historical process, imposed gender was reproduced systematically.
Imposed gender roles is clearly a very Modern concept made out of domestic violence.
BREAKING OUT, SUBVERTING GENDER ALL THE WAY
What i mean about Gender Subversion is not to conduct the same violence that Modern society imposed upon me. But rather a will to liberate from society itself and reclaim the equal participation of others in creating a non-bigot gender-free community. You are a Lesbian, so what? The will to liberate shall not stop right there after realising yourself a Lesbian.
Without the concious critique of Domestication and deep understanding of gender, we may unconciously replicate the very same Male-Macho-Sexist relationship to others no matter if you are Gay, Lesbian or Transgender. Worst is we become unmindly a disgusting selfish chauvinist that Modern Society has ever produced.
And now for the question, "Non-feminist Lesbians Worst than a Chauvinist Male?" it is now your turn to give this an insightful opinion.
"Cats are renowned for just disappearing when they're ailing. And then they're just gone," says Jason Lytle when he was asked the meaning behind the latest album motif of Grandaddy's "Just Like the Fambly Cat" (V2 Records 2006). It's the last album produced by my latest favorite band. Yes, I started to appreciate Grandaddy a couple of months they disbanded. Too bad.
Talking about cats, it's a coincedence that i used the image of a cat as a logo for my recent sound project with Giroyan. After several months of on and off electronic music sessions, we finally declared to stick-up together as an electronic duo and named the project as ONINARI STRIKE.
We are a mediocre of synthpop-electro-industrial-newwave.
Our band bio:
Two like minded individuals despite language differences- a diversity in action, making music and sound experiments. Yes, Oninari Strike is a Japanese/Filipino electronic duo who is on their way of attempting to break down imposed boundaries. Thus the name Oninari which literally dispels the institutionalised word/meaning of the japanese kanji Kaminari (thunder or God sound). Oninari Strike is now a synthesis of subverted word/meaning of a certain imposed behaviour and idea/language. The name may also imply the word- Sound of Resistance.
Oninari Strike is Jong (TokyoSundown) who has been making sound project of his own and Giroyan who is also making the same. The duo started to collaborate formally after a year of sound sessions and noise experiments from particular event invitations.
Last week I gave a translated copy of Bob Black’s “Abolition of Work” pamphlet to a Japanese co-worker who lately decided to quit his job in the Supermarket. He complained of required too much working time and that it breaks his body and soul. It was an interesting remark that I heard from a common Japanese who were conditioned from birth to work hard (Gambarou System).
Yet, despite these personal awakenings of common people from a seemingly epistemological break of their daily lives, on the other hand my life still goes on selling my labour in the Market. Exchanging dreams with a few hundred of bucks.
I have to reclaim back myself from dead time and pre-occupied time, I really should.
This momentary life on Earth should have a mark of my existence. Telling other generations who will soon fade away to bring forth a new one that we existed. That I existed. That we enjoyed a life. That we were sad, happy and angry.
In my attempt to recuperate from dead time, I transformed my wasted energy into something meaningful.
I came back again making music and for the first time I went to Giroyan’s apartment last Wednesday to rehearse with him. We experimented some few electronic tunes, then viola we came up with a new track. It was such a blissful feeling to produce a track that we both don’t usually make since we first jammed last year. After such a wonderful feeling, a sudden attack by bad chemistry of beer and anti-depressant medicines that Giroyan took during that day caused me a hassle. He almost lost his conciousness after puking badly and it made me panicked. But after a few minutes he gradually came back. So I left early to give him space to recover.
Thursday, I strolled around with Maria Taniguchi (a schoolmate from Art School) who just came in Tokyo from Osaka. Dada Docot- another schoolmate of mine from University of the Philippines who is now having her post-graduate degree in Tokyo University asked me to stroll around Maria because she cannot attend her for being pre-occupied with her research writing due on next week.
And so Maria and I went to alternative art spaces around Harajuku, visited my artist friends in the homeless community at Yoyogi Park. After that, we went to a Gay, Lesbian and Transgender community center in Nishi-Shinjuku to inform Maria about the homosexual situation in Japan since Maria is a proclaimed Lesbian herself. She enjoyed exchanging infos with the community head person at the said center.
My day ended seeing blue skies and velvet nights. It started me to ressurect my long forgotten life from the dustbin of memory after realising that i only made a very few collection of drawings, collages and anemic poetries in Tokyo.
And it is already 2:54 a.m., few hours from now the dawn will break for another boring day of Work.
A brief and simple explanation of the idea of ANARCHY. Take note, the filmmaker tries to explain the said term without judging wether it is practicable or not.
I am seven months old now in my new job since i left the Love Hotel in February. The Supermarket is my new workplace but essentially there is nothing new in this job, it's the same shit as my previous job. Same Master-Slave relationship and the same spectacle of power domination among workers. But what interest me is the sudden revelation of this consumerist dwelling space that i have never observed before. It's a mind depressing experience since the idea of a Supermarket came into my conciousness.
OH IT'S VIOLENT
Not unlike the Love Hotel, the Supermarket is vividly violent but its violence cannot be seen outright by our naked senses and/or the docile conciousness.
In the Supermarket where i'm working, we have sets of sound system and cutting edge design television screens to create a sense of paradise for the consumers. They are all been set up strategically in every corner of its architectural space. This technology is meant to highlight the paradise of abundance, comfort and pleasure. To compliment it with persuasive consuming, every morning the television is tuned-in to CNN breaking news. As the screen broadcast latest informations of WAR in Iraq and the recent bombing raids in Lebanon, the consumers mindlessly consume themselves in comfort. The television flashed a moving image of lights that captured Lebanon wrecking havoc under carpet bombs dropped by Israel's war planes. It is unimaginable to think of the casualties flashed before the screen. Yet, the Supermarket dwellers pass in and pass out as if nothing happened.
Too much apathy and too much indifference. This is the worst violence i have ever experienced aside of considering the fact that voracious consumption of the Earth's limited resources is a heinious crime in itself.
CONFRONT THE IDEA OF VIOLENCE
"..there are no innocent bourgeois.", says Emile Henry(1872 - May 21, 1894)- a French anarchist who bombed a decadent Cafe in Paris that wounded several others and killed a filthy rich man. The kettle bomb he hurled upon the swamp of rich people in the said Cafe intends to avenge the series of violent death imposed to arrested freedom frighters by the Authorities during his era.
This kind of committed violence may possibly come into our senses as a vicious systemic cycle of violence itself. But one has to understand that the presence of Authority and its binary opposite involuntarily creates this kind of vicious cycle of action and equal re-action. On the other hand, if we ignore the violent nature of Authority and blindly agree to its power relation among ourselves, it will only prolong our miserable existence.
Violence must be confronted but not to the point of condemning it to pave the way for a pacifist perspective. There is no neutral ground in the Authoritarian society, one has to take stand and defend it.
Radical Ecologists has an intellegent idea of how to reclaim violence from its core practitioners (Authority). Defense is the word and according to Sun Tzu, "Defence is the best attack". Then from here we go back to Emile Henery's era of Propaganda by the Deed to the present practice of Direct Action. Property and Material Objects has no sense of feeling, says John Zerzan, but it affects the human sensebilities and the natural order of things that violently controls our conciousness. Therefore by committing the self for the destruction of these medium of controls, it may pave the way for the total abolition of violent relationship of man to his fellow and man to his nature.
Sa kasaysayan ng panlipunang rebolusyon, hindi na bago ang mga partikular na sitwasyon sa usapin ng kontribusyon ng dayuhan (migrante o taga-labas) sa panlipunang transpormasyon ng partikular na bansa. Isang halimbawa dito ang karanasang Digmaang Sibil sa Espanya (1936); mula sa pinaghalong pwersa ng International Brigades (ibat-ibang nasyunalidad, etnisidad at kultura na boluntaryong sumapi sa gera laban sa Pasismo) at lokal na organisasyong masa ng Espanya ay radikal na nabago ang lipunang Espanyol. Dito natapos ang absolutong monarkiya, diktaduryang militar hanggang sa pagbubukas ng panibagong yugto ng nagsasariling rehiyon sa ilalim ng pederalistang kaayusan.
This morning i missed the scheduled time to throw my garbage currently rotting in my kitchen. Thinking can be really exhausting. These past few days that turned out to be a composition of a weeklong hiatus inside my cubed apartment has suprisingly turned me into a miserable gunk. Exhausted. Confused. Lost.
I am eating decay.
As i sit in my red couch staring on a screen, i am thinking about Prison and the post-industrial architectural designs of Japanese Apartment as complementary to each other. The definition of Prison according to wikipedia.org, says that:
"A prison or a correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Prisons are conventionally institutions which form part of the criminal justice system of a country, such that imprisonment or incarceration is the legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime."[1]
Meanwhile, an Apartment is:
"...is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants)."[2]
In modern urban living, the distinctive difference between a facility for rehabilitation and a dwelling space has blurred out its separate meaning. Raoul Vanegem in his critique against Urban Development particularly in modern France has led him into conclusion that City Planning is part of the Capitalist ideology in conditioning its dwellers to obey authority. Thus, making the possibility of regular occurence of conditioned desires in a Spectacle of space as a means of pacification. The apartment in other words is nothing but a place where individuals are physically confined. A place for the physical body to take rest which became part of the conditioned routine imposed by Capitalism.
The penal system in Japan includes a routine similar to urban daily life. This includes working to earn a wage for personal consumption, vocational and formal education with an emphasis on learning social values.[3] But upon discovering the effect from this kind of conditioning process, a massive isolation between individuals is an enormous outcome.
What complements between a Prison and Apartment is the system of isolation . They both become identical in function in other sense of a word.
Urbanism is a by-product of Civilization and Domestication. This is true when Imperial Colonialism in pre-20th century that reached the Philippines and other Third World Nations and stole their distinctive cultural identities and was replaced with Civilized emblems. Brainwashed the natives as much as Prisons rehabilitates the prisoner.
Renato Constantino's book on revisiting Philippine history, the Spanish colonizers have to start somewhere in the aspect of gathering all subjugated natives under a centralised system of community, they called this project as Reducciones. Breaking pre-civilized communities for their objective: Exploit and Pacify.
In this manner, the colonizers will enable them the easier way to control pre-civilized natives who were then living in a highly decentralised free communes which later Raoul Vanegem was inspired by the natives and would describe this as an "experimental life" opposed to a centralised system of community.
Urbanism was first introduced for the purpose of disentigrating the communal life of people who were then sharing and participating.
Going back to the issue of Prison and Apartment, both are simply a manifestation of subjugation inherent to Civilization where Capitalist ideology is imposed. We are all prisoners and lost forever in the labyrinth of domesticated and conditioned space.
The suggested resolution of Situationist Internationale to this particular problem was written in their Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism, saying:
"Our first task is to enable people to stop identifying with their surroundings and with model patterns of behavior. This is inseparable from making possible free mutual recognition in a few initial zones set apart for human activity. People will still be obliged for a long time to accept the era of reified cities. But the attitude with which they accept it can be changed immediately. We must encourage their skepticism toward those spacious and brightly colored kindergartens, the new dormitory cities of both East and West. Only a mass awakening will pose the question of a conscious construction of the urban environment."
getting there.....but, i doubt it that you can't live with Common People like ME.
COMMON PEOPLE by Pulp
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge, she studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College, that's where I, caught her eye. She told me that her Dad was loaded, I said "In that case I'll have a rum and coca-cola." She said "Fine." and in thirty seconds time she said,
"I want to live like common people, I want to do whatever common people do, I want to sleep with common people, I want to sleep with common people, like you."
Well what else could I do - I said "I'll see what I can do." I took her to a supermarket, I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere, so it started there. I said pretend you've got no money, she just laughed and said, "Oh you're so funny." I said "yeah? Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here. Are you sure you want to live like common people, you want to see whatever common people see, you want to sleep with common people, you want to sleep with common people, like me." But she didn't understand, she just smiled and held my hand. Rent a flat above a shop, cut your hair and get a job. Smoke some fags and play some pool, pretend you never went to school. But still you'll never get it right, cos when you're laid in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall, if you call your Dad he could stop it all.
You'll never live like common people, you'll never do what common people do, you'll never fail like common people, you'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw, because there's nothing else to do.
Sing along with the common people, sing along and it might just get you through, laugh along with the common people, laugh along even though they're laughing at you, and the stupid things that you do. Because you think that poor is cool.
I want to live with common people, I want to live with common people etc...
ABRIL 8, 1994 sa maliit na kwarto sa itaas ng garahe, isang malakas na putok ng shotgun ang bumasag sa katahimikan. Iniwan nitong nakahandusay ang katawan ng biktima, sabog ang utak at nagkalat ang dugo sa sahig. 27 anyos lamang ang biktima, may katamtamang haba ng buhok, lampa ngunit may matipunong pangangatawan, nakasuot ito ng puting t-shirt, kupas at gunit-gunit na pantalon. Sa tabi ng nakabulagta nyang katawan ay isang liham na kanyang isinulat bago kinalabit ng biktima ang gatilyo; hinalaw niya ang liham mula sa kanta ni Niel Young- "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)". Para daw ito sa kanyang matalik na kaibigan.
Pagkalipas ng ilang oras, natagpuan ang bangkay at kinilala ng awtoridad ang biktima.
ABRIL 8, 1994 1:30PM tanghali, huling araw ng klase, kakauwi ko lang galing ng eskwela- ang Mataas na Paaralan ng Kalookan (Kalookan HighSchool). Ganito ang iskedyul ng karaniwang paaralang hayskul sa Pilipinas, partikular sa Maynila. Para ma-accomodate ang mataas na bilang ng estudyante sa napakaonte na bilang ng classroom- kinakailangang hatiin sa Pang-umaga at Pang-Hapon ang klase. Kung baga sa pabrika, may Day-Shift at Night-Shift. Ang nakatalagang iskedyul ng aking obligasyong mag-aral ay Day-Shift. Sa loob ng limang oras sa isang araw, pinagkakasya naming matutunan ang Agham, Kasaysayan, Matematika, Wika at Moral Values. Sapat na ito para maging katanggap-tanggap kaming produkto sa merkado ng lipunan.
Binuksan ko ang Telebisyon mga alas dos (2:00pm) ng Tanghali, ipinihit ang tsanel sa MTV. Matapos luminaw ang tsanel, biglang nag-Flash News: "Patay na si Kurt Cobain sa edad na 27, ang bokalista ng NIRVANA- tanyag na grupong banda ng dekada 90. Nagpakamatay ito sa loob ng kanyang tahanan sa Lake Washington matapos paputukin ang hawak nitong shotgun na kanyang isinubo na nagresulta naman sa pagsabog ng kanyang utak. Hindi pa matiyak ang dahilan ng pagpapakamatay."
Matapos ang nakakagulat na balita, nawalan ng resepsyon ang tsanel.
Sa loob ng telebisyon tuluyang lumabo at hanggang sa naging dagat na lamang ng maliliit na tuldok ang mga imahe. Ang kani-kaninang malinaw na boses ng taga-ulat sa telebisyon ay naging tunog na mistulang awit at koro ng kupas na ingay sa pagitan ng picture tube at kuryente. Nakakabagot ang ingay at edad 16 anyos lamang ako nang unang maranasan ang kakaibang ingay na ito.
AGOSTO 3, 2006 lumipas ang mahigit isang dekada. Marami na ang nagbago, nabago at binago. Hindi na ako nakatungaga sa harap ng telebisyon, si Gloria Arroyo na ang Presidente. Bagamat kapansin-pansin ang pagbabago ng itsura at modelo ng telebisyon- mula sa kuba hanggang sa naging flat. Hindi pa rin ako naengganyong balikan ang pagkahumaling ko rito dati. Hindi dahil sa wala na ang paborito kong rockstar na si Kurt Cobain.
Basta, ayaw ko lang manood ng telebisyon.
AGOSTO 3, 2006 8:00PM gabi, naabutan kong naghahanda ng hapunan si Abigail sa aking apartment. Kakauwi ko lang galing trabaho sa Marikina, pagod at hapung-hapo sa mahigit sampung oras na pagkikipaghabulan ng makina sa Pabrika. Ang malamlam na kulay ng gabi ay pinasaya ng nakakatakam na inihandang putahe ng aking katipan na sinadya pa akong bisitahin at sorpresahin. Isang manggagawa sa opisina ang aking kasintahan sa sikat na Telemarketing Agency sa Makati. Balingkinitan ang kanyang katawan at masayahin.
"Wow, Spaghetti!" sambit ko, "Randy, halatang gutom na gutom ka na, halika at maupo, madami pa akong ihihandang pagkain." imbita naman ni Abigail. Kaagad-agad ay walang pasubaling pumwesto na ako para punuin ang pinggan ng mga matatabang hibla ng Spaghetti.
Para akong anim na taong gulang na bata sa pagnguya ng paboritong pagkain habang suot-suot sa ulo ang mala-torotot na sombrero na may nakasulat na Happy Birthday. Ganyan kasi ako binibihisan ni Nanay tuwing kaarawan ko. Palibhasa, hindi kaya ni Inay na umarkila ng mga Payaso sa aking kaarawan, kaya binibihisan na lang niya ako na magmukhang Boyoyong Clown. Ang Birthday celebrant ang siyang Payaso. Astig!
Binati ako ni Abigail ng Maligayang Kaarawan habang ngumunguya pa rin ng pagkain, dahil dito naisip kong napakabilis pala ng Panahon. At hindi ko nga namalayan na tumanda na naman ako ng isang taon.
Sa sobrang bilis, parang walang nangyari. Palibhasa ang bawat araw ay tulad din ng dati, walang pinag-iba. Pero, tulad ng paglalakbay, kapag natisod ka pala sa pagitan nito ay naaalala mo ang layo ng iyong binaybay. Ang pagbati ni Abigail at ang inihandang Spaghetti ay nagpaalala sa akin ng panahon na bumubuo ng nakaraan, kasalukuyan at hinaharap. Kasabay nito sana ay mahihimok ang kamalayan na baguhin ito ayon sa kagustuhan. Pero ang tanong, nabago ko nga ba ang aking kalagayan bukod sa maswerteng nagkaroon ako ng kasintahan? Putsa, sino nga ba ang mag-aakala na may magkakagusto pala sa isang dugyutin, pangit at lampa na kagaya ko?
Ayon kay Renato Constantino- kilalang manunulat ng Kasaysayang Pilipino, ang kaibahan daw ng Hayop sa Tao ay ang kapasidad ng Tao na ibahin ang kondisyon ng kaniyang kalagayan. Sa sistematikong kalagayan ng tao sa kasalukuyan at ang paulit-ulit na rutina ng buhay tila naging Hayop ang Tao na kung saan dalhin ng agos ay doon din maaanod. Ito ay marahil sa nawalan na sya ng kapasidad na baguhin ang kanyang kalagayan bukod sa dati-rati ay naglalakad lamang siya sa kalsada at ngayon magmamaneho na siya ng Kotse matapos pangaraping makabili nito. Ngunit nasaan nga ba ang esensyal na pagbabago?
"Pengeng tubig, aaahh.. arrghh.. nabulunan ako!" nagmadaling inabot ni Abigail ang isang basong tubig, kaagad naman ay nilagok ko ito upang mahabol ang hininga.
Akala ko matitigok na ako sa sobrang dami na Ispageting bumara sa aking lalamunan. Putsa kung nagkataon, lalampas lang ako ng isang taon sa edad ni Kurt Cobain at dead na rin ako. Pero hindi.
Mukhang malalampasan ko ng mahigit ilang taon pa ang edad ni Kurt Cobain. At ang huling mensahe ni Kurt Cobain na iniwan niya para sa matalik na kaibigan na nagsasabing, "It's better to burn out than to fade away." ay mananatiling orasyon sa aking patuloy na paglalakbay sa kung saan di ko alam. Ang mensahe ay magsisilbing babala at paalala.
Sa sistematikong kapalaran at paulit-ulit na rutina ng pamumuhay. Patay na ako.
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longingforabi's journal
Last night I saw the film on DVD the infamous, “I, Robot”- 2004 Hollywood production, which is an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s 1950 Sci-Fi novel with the same title. I never read the original book yet (the robot series), so I am not sure how the film recreated its characters out from its original adaptation. But if nothing was altered in the film, especially the portrayal of original characters from the book, I might give now my observation that the narrative is basically a mixture of Jewish and Christian discourse on Morality. But what amazes me was the process of Immortalization of the character Dr. Lanning- the chief robotic engineer, after his mysterious death. The engineer will be indentified later by the uniquely assembled robot named "Sonny" as his Father the Creator. Through out the film, Dr. Lanning- now Father/Creator, remained an important thing for Sonny, the robot, for him to deliver a message about salvation among robots and human. If we look closer into these characters, a Father and Son relationship is observed.