Most of this was written immediately after hearing about the events in Paris.
I am struck at the moment by the curious coincidence of two completely opposite polar expressions, one of freedom, the other of fascism happening on the same day. We define fascism as anything that imposes a stricture, censorship or limitation on individual expression. "The word of sin is restriction," to quote a famous freedom fighter. Taking another life or causing injury to another makes for the ultimate act of fascism. The cowardly attacks on innocent people in the name of some malefic ideology or cause shows how out of control the diseased black hole of fascism has become in recent years. It's a severe sociopathic disconnect to take innocent lives in justification for some so-called religious viewpoint: a curse upon violent terrorism.
Contrasted with the news of the attacks in Paris is a video of "sacred begging" from Alejandro Jodorowsky to help finish funding his latest film project, Endless Poetry. It was sent to me earlier today by Yoko Yamabe. I watched this passionate affirmation of life before resting for a few hours catching up from long hours in the studio this past week. When I got up I heard the news of the violence in Paris. The only time I met Jodorowsky was at his apartment in Paris with Bill Laswell and Michael Lemesre. Paris is a city I love and am deeply influenced by. The bardo philosopher Gilles Deleuze was born and lived in Paris his whole life after the war. He pragmatically advocates "lines of flight," often through art and culture outside the fascist rules of any system or authority of control - what he calls "the state". Jodorowsky's film project plea gives a perfect example of what these lines of flight to individual freedom might look like. My response to the sickness of the recent violence is to highly recommend a viewing of this sacred begging. Philosopher/magician/hierophant that he is, naturally Jodorowsky communicates on multiple levels transmitting signals far beyond a plea for financing. For example:
A true piece of art has to change the very spirit of people. The very soul. When I go to the theater I should exit a different person. The movie must give me something, hope, knowledge, a hidden beauty kept inside that I didn't even know was there. ... We need to make movies that heal, optimistic, joyful, creative marvelous movies.
Again I highly recommend watching the whole video. It's only six minutes and two seconds long. At the end you can see Jodorowsky laughing at himself for the passionate dramatic delivery he just did.
About six weeks ago I wrote: "The amorphous violent war/jihad of terrorism from any kind of ideological fanaticism also declares a war against music." The attack on music is now as direct and literal as it gets. We have argued that the will to power of the creative act can effect changes in the world at large starting with rippling strings of quantum entanglement on the sub-molecular scale that eventually surface as alterations of human behavior on the Einsteinian/Newtonian level of everyday reality. Fight fascism with creativity; Endless Poetry.
love it. great, as always
ReplyDeleteThanks Oz. Just sent $15 to Jodorowsky.
ReplyDeleteI go through Paris every year en route to Dublin (my hometown). The hotel I stayed in last Xmas was very close to where those fuckers shot up the terraces of restaurants. As you say above they are anti-life, and try to stop those who are pro-life. By co-incidence I'm re-reading The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler, and am really struck by how the male dominated, war-God, anti women invasions of the Kurgans destroyed the equality based, goddess worshipping, artistic and pro-life cultures that existed all over Europe before that. Here we are in the 21st century and its still going on, though thankfully on a smaller scale. These Isil savages are barely human.
I can't keep reading. Fascism already means WAY more than that one word was ever meant to convey, and you're helping cheapen it out of all sense of possible understanding in a time where REAL fascists need identifying. You could only call these terrorists "jihadis" at best, and the "best" is that they've gone rogue on the fascists who've been siccing mercenaries in drag on us... but... probably NOT.
ReplyDeleteThanks Douglass!
ReplyDeleteTony, I've put the Eisler book on my books to read list, thank-you!
nines, the word "fascist" seems as expensive as ever. I don't understand why you're restricting its use in broader context? There's precedence for using "fascist" outside a strictly political definition..
I didn't identify the terrorists as "fascists" as opposed to jihadis or any other label. I called what they did an expression of fascism.
Maybe if you made it clear they're doing it for money and the people paying them are not Muslims, not even from the ME it wouldn't rattle me so much. The propaganda hose is on full blast and its whipping all over global media. European cities are on "lockdown" and the people who are dictating to OUR government are the root of it.
ReplyDeleteIn that sense, yes, they sure are an expression of fascism, but otherwise, they are a bunch of DESPERATE men who've been suffering grievously in their efforts to feed their families, what's left of them, for more than a decade because of OUR troops being sent in to destabilize their countries and the minute they stop getting this paycheck: End Of ISIS.
Don't be unclear about that! Remember all the "Islamo-fascist" screaming by the neo-cons to whip up fervor for turning the desert into glass? Well, this is a new version of it.
OUR side is the fascist side. The masses are being played like a cosmic symphony of fiddles again. There isn't anything fascist about the terrorists themselves. 99% of them have NO idea where their paychecks are coming from, think it's the faithful trying to help take back home from the very psychopaths who are financing them.
Fascism is corporatism... modern feudalism... and these days it PRETENDS not to be totalitarian because it's easier just to bullshit the citizenry into doing their bidding than risk too many of them getting together to put a stop to it.
These monsters prey on all of us, and we can be relied upon to run right out and heap flowers 'round the lit sterno cups on the sidewalks and stare meaningfully into the glow on cue... so they can wind up an even bigger slaughter than they have been inciting and maintaining for waaaaaaaay too long, slobbering for a full out WWIII. Well, they're close now. Very close.
Aagh! I'm going off to tear out more hair now.