Post by Valerie on Sept 22, 2014 14:47:23 GMT -8
12/2/1999
Seattle, WA
Good evening, readers.
I'm going to spare you all the breakdown of what occurred in Seattle a couple of nights ago: mainstream media outlets, underground news sources, and numerous other letters to this Press have already covered that. I'm here to help you know why this is happening, and how we can honor those who have laid themselves down at the foot of the cause.
The world is changing. (Really, it always is, but now is one of those thick fudgy ribbons in an otherwise slow vanilla melt.) This change is present in not just our own societies, but the greater living world which our own experiences crawl along the surface of. The World Wars and subsequent belt-tightening that marked the early part of the century bred a new generation of both traditionalists and libertines. Decades of self-affirmation and living in echo chambers where people became too afraid to speak to those they disagreed with because how dare they be questioned, or worse yet, made to change their mind have eroded the collective wisdom of reconsideration. We are Palahniuk's middle children of history. We are Yeats's deaf falcon.
And so, this brings us to our current predicament - America is still stuck in the most rigid caste system in the First World, only now we’re being judged slightly less on the color of our skin and more on the contents of our bank accounts. As set in our ways as many of us naturally become, the events that took place in Seattle this week have made one thing clear: the continued global press towards accruing power for power's sake is unsustainable. The young, inexperienced and simply unlucky members of society are no longer willing to have the energy they produce stripped from them by agents of unchecked greed masquerading as some new evolution of capitalism.
"Change" and "revolution” have stopped being plans and started being actions. It is no longer a scavenger, content to pick off the softness at the edge of a village and return dead thoughts to the earth. It is now a mad carnivorous thing, a rabid pack of ideals coming for your heart of your cities, with a growing hunger only able to be sated by a larger kill each time.
Brethren of the Movement, please hold your applause. This is not the only condemnation in need of issuing.
In the bloodlust, we’ve lost the goal.
The deeper we look into the news being generated, the more our own Movement’s role in this city’s riot becomes apparent. This is expected - wherever change is happening, there’s often an Anarch pushing it along. I’ve been to the meetings, I’ve downloaded the videos, I’ve taken your phone calls, I’ve responded to your emails, and sadly, I’ve seen this all before.
If you are proud of the events which went down in Pioneer Square two nights ago, or your role in them if you had one, I will be blunt: you are not helping. At all. If you believe that baiting humans or instigating sectarian violence is the most productive use of your resources at this time, you are mistaken. The temptation of going down in a fiery blaze to prove one’s dedication to the cause is strong, and a number of respected comrades-in-ideals place what I view to be an unnecessary premium on “war heroism”.
Yes, change is needed. Yes, change is happening. Yes, we are bound by our common goals and ethics to further those changes along. I urge you not to step away from that line of thinking in considering our next actions, but to use it a lens to look through to the deeper questions. What do we want? What are we so afraid of that we ask others that same question, over and over again?
We want to freedom. We want recognition. We want to evolve. To evolve, we must survive - not just by managing to avoid being destroyed or taken captive, but by allowing our ideals to move past our individual bodies and into the library of the Movement’s collective power. We must be more than a cautionary tale. We have done great things, and we can and will do more, but we must set aside our bestial impulses and instead dig our proverbial teeth into the meat of ideas.
Each of us has been granted an unique opportunity to learn new skills, stress test our philosophies, and create lasting change over an extended time span. Don't waste this. There will always be a Man. There will always be people who want to fuck him. Where success rides, the past tells us, is in the the negotiation.
For my part, I will remain here. I am willing to put my neck on the line as a diplomat because that is where I have proven my merit to you, as well as the respect of some citizens of this city despite my political differences with the majority of its members. My contact information is widely available elsewhere on the Free Press page: I will help you on your conference call. I will accept your Cc:s I will staple your zine. I will negotiate. Let me get your message through.
Put the gun down. All of us, it’s time to stand together and get some work done.
Valerie
Seattle, WA
Good evening, readers.
I'm going to spare you all the breakdown of what occurred in Seattle a couple of nights ago: mainstream media outlets, underground news sources, and numerous other letters to this Press have already covered that. I'm here to help you know why this is happening, and how we can honor those who have laid themselves down at the foot of the cause.
The world is changing. (Really, it always is, but now is one of those thick fudgy ribbons in an otherwise slow vanilla melt.) This change is present in not just our own societies, but the greater living world which our own experiences crawl along the surface of. The World Wars and subsequent belt-tightening that marked the early part of the century bred a new generation of both traditionalists and libertines. Decades of self-affirmation and living in echo chambers where people became too afraid to speak to those they disagreed with because how dare they be questioned, or worse yet, made to change their mind have eroded the collective wisdom of reconsideration. We are Palahniuk's middle children of history. We are Yeats's deaf falcon.
And so, this brings us to our current predicament - America is still stuck in the most rigid caste system in the First World, only now we’re being judged slightly less on the color of our skin and more on the contents of our bank accounts. As set in our ways as many of us naturally become, the events that took place in Seattle this week have made one thing clear: the continued global press towards accruing power for power's sake is unsustainable. The young, inexperienced and simply unlucky members of society are no longer willing to have the energy they produce stripped from them by agents of unchecked greed masquerading as some new evolution of capitalism.
"Change" and "revolution” have stopped being plans and started being actions. It is no longer a scavenger, content to pick off the softness at the edge of a village and return dead thoughts to the earth. It is now a mad carnivorous thing, a rabid pack of ideals coming for your heart of your cities, with a growing hunger only able to be sated by a larger kill each time.
Brethren of the Movement, please hold your applause. This is not the only condemnation in need of issuing.
In the bloodlust, we’ve lost the goal.
The deeper we look into the news being generated, the more our own Movement’s role in this city’s riot becomes apparent. This is expected - wherever change is happening, there’s often an Anarch pushing it along. I’ve been to the meetings, I’ve downloaded the videos, I’ve taken your phone calls, I’ve responded to your emails, and sadly, I’ve seen this all before.
If you are proud of the events which went down in Pioneer Square two nights ago, or your role in them if you had one, I will be blunt: you are not helping. At all. If you believe that baiting humans or instigating sectarian violence is the most productive use of your resources at this time, you are mistaken. The temptation of going down in a fiery blaze to prove one’s dedication to the cause is strong, and a number of respected comrades-in-ideals place what I view to be an unnecessary premium on “war heroism”.
Yes, change is needed. Yes, change is happening. Yes, we are bound by our common goals and ethics to further those changes along. I urge you not to step away from that line of thinking in considering our next actions, but to use it a lens to look through to the deeper questions. What do we want? What are we so afraid of that we ask others that same question, over and over again?
We want to freedom. We want recognition. We want to evolve. To evolve, we must survive - not just by managing to avoid being destroyed or taken captive, but by allowing our ideals to move past our individual bodies and into the library of the Movement’s collective power. We must be more than a cautionary tale. We have done great things, and we can and will do more, but we must set aside our bestial impulses and instead dig our proverbial teeth into the meat of ideas.
Each of us has been granted an unique opportunity to learn new skills, stress test our philosophies, and create lasting change over an extended time span. Don't waste this. There will always be a Man. There will always be people who want to fuck him. Where success rides, the past tells us, is in the the negotiation.
For my part, I will remain here. I am willing to put my neck on the line as a diplomat because that is where I have proven my merit to you, as well as the respect of some citizens of this city despite my political differences with the majority of its members. My contact information is widely available elsewhere on the Free Press page: I will help you on your conference call. I will accept your Cc:s I will staple your zine. I will negotiate. Let me get your message through.
Put the gun down. All of us, it’s time to stand together and get some work done.
Valerie