Maker of things, destroyer of gender norms.
I'm also on mastodon: http://queer.party/@Jas
So I've revisited Episode III: Revenge of The Sith after almost a decade and I must say it's still shite. I had no new insights whatsoever. It's plainly a poorly executed movie. But there's a strange feeling I can't shake off.
This terrible movie is still better than what Marvel churns out!
What do you call this pain you feel when you have to contain your creative urges because you're stuck wasting your time and energy on menial tasks at work?
do you have any idea how threatening it feels to be on the other side of a crowd that's that under control?
I've been thinking about occupy again, every few years something comes up that has me re-read After the Fall: Communiques from Occupied California (original is down) If you read nothing else of this, read the section titled Vortex: Wheeler
it's about Occupy UC, and the tactics they used successfully against a protracted police attack. Rules of engagement means that everything's essentially at the level of medieval, and without even talking to each other people just started doing it.
but the structures and rules of engagement and support and infrastructure were already in place -- Even if they'd never done them or considered them in their life, the roles were already familiar. Cyclists become barricades, scouts and runners without thinking about it.
but it's not spontaneous. It's the opposite. the information and tactics were background radiation, people just knew it, enough that you didn't need to give much context unless you lost the initiative and had to be doing things in a more organized way. But disorganized with a lack of practical experience still has it's advantages.
But when you go back and look? all the silly rituals?
it's a show of force; of how many people will work together with fine enough grained control to raise and drop the volume twice without any noticeable outliers. I'm not even sure the organizers realized that.
Text of a manifesto originally passed out by people marching with the ACT UP contingent in the New York Gay Pride Day parade, 1990. -
How can I tell you. How can I convince you, brother; sister that your life is in danger. That everyday you wake up alive, relatively happy, and a functioning human being, you are committing a rebellious act. You as an alive and functioning queer are a revolutionary. There is nothing on this planet that validates, protects or encourages your existence. It is a miracle you are standing here reading these words. You should by all rights be dead.
Don't be fooled, straight people own the world and the only reason you have been spared is you're smart, lucky, or a fighter. Straight people have a privilege that allows them to do whatever they please and f--- without fear. But not only do they live a life free of fear; they flaunt their freedom in my face. Their images are on my TV, in the magazine I bought, in the restaurant I want to eat in, and on the street where I live. I want there to be a moratorium on straight marriage, on babies, on public displays of affection among the opposite sex and media images that promote heterosexuality. Until I can enjoy the same freedom of movement and sexuality, as straights, their privilege must stop and it must be given over to me and my queer sisters and brothers.
Straight people will not do this voluntarily and so they must be forced into it. Straights must be frightened into it. Terrorized into it. Fear is the most powerful motivator. No one will give us what we deserve. Rights are not given they are taken, by force if necessary.
It is easier to fight when you know who your enemy is. Straight people are you enemy. They are your enemy when they don't acknowledge your invisibility and continue to live in and contribute to a culture that kills you.
Every day one of us is taken by the enemy. Whether it is an AIDS death due to homophobic government inaction or a lesbian bashing in an all-night diner (in a supposedly lesbian neighborhood), we are being systematically picked off and we will continue to be wiped out unless we realize that if they take one of us they must take all of us.
--
An Army of Lovers Cannot Lose
