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“Embracing Global Goals (Part 3.5)": Segue From Antisystemic to Alice

The Outer – from the Inner

Derives its Magnitude –

'Tis Duke, or Dwarf, according

As is the Central Mood –

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Please check out our “anti-coercion commercials” posted on YouTube. Art by Wassily Kandinsky (except in “Future Freedom” which presents “Freedom Sun” by David Sterenberg) and original music and beats by Thandiwe Satterwhite. The entire collection (including the most recent) can be found at: “Nascence Anti-coercion Commercials”:

 

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* “WUR of April 5th, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 2):

[The spoken word of the following wordbeat is from the March 29, 2015 show:

 

““Can there be a broad… popular… movement for 'soul-sufficiency'? But there must be… for us to achieve our freedom. What would it look like? How would we know it?… if not by its goals… if not by its representing for all the world?… i.e., 'soul-sufficiency' necessarily means a design tied to others all over the world… necessarily has a global cast… taking on the challenge of consciously composing… a 'global symphony'… of all our voices…” “Laws for creations, For strong artists and leaders, for fresh broods of teachers and perfect literats for America, For noble savans and coming musicians. All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of the world, There shall be no subject too pronounced – all works shall illustrate the divine law of indirections. What do you suppose creation is? What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free and own no superior? What do you suppose I would intimate to you in a hundred ways, but that man or woman is as good as God? And that there is no God any more divine than Yourself? And that that is what the oldest and newest myths finally mean? And that you or any one must approach creations through such laws?.…” [Spoken word quotes Walt Whitman… and is from our March 29, 2015 radio broadcast.]

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Today’s show: “'Longing' Is the Taproot”

[“150405hiddenpower.mp3”:]

 

In abandoning our – we-the-people's – original understanding of the concept of 'the class struggle' as global social transformation… the professional Left abandoned us.… So we see from this… the importance of basing action on analysis… and of factoring into it… “hidden 'power'”. Because all our clear-headed theory otherwise… leading… as our Good Three do… to the global theater… will… time after time… get ship-wrecked on the rocky shoals of this strategic weapon…

 

[Sisters and Brothers… because edits to the "Embracing Global Goals (Part 2)" page no longer 'save'… I am posting the html text for this show on the: Excerpts from Arrighi and Gramsci page… but please also download the pdf form… available on the main 'Blog' section of the website… – P.S.]

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March 31, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: In abandoning our – we-the-people's – original understanding of the concept of 'the class struggle' as global social transformation… the professional Left abandoned us.

 

As for 'reason'… before… before my own up-close-and-personal experience with the shadow-global-state… I would have lain the cause at either Ignorance's or Intentional Misdirection's door… and it can fall to either… sure…

 

…but… now… I'd say… the cause should be placed… mainly… at the door of 'power's secret possession of… let's call it their 'EMF-strategy'… possession of a secret weapon – key to their need to stay hidden – so they may dispense with overt repression…

 

…for these things… and more… they want to keep their weapon (or family of weapons…) and keep it (and… particularly… the fact that it is being used against 'citizens'…)

 

…hidden…

 

…and their resources are effectively limitless.

 

So we see from this… the importance of basing action on analysis… and of factoring into it… “hidden 'power'”. Because all our clear-headed theory otherwise… leading… as our Good Three do… to the global theater… will… time after time… get ship-wrecked on the rocky shoals of this strategic weapon…

 

…time after time… will our clear-headed theorists… simply disappear from amongst us… while the false voices of the political pundits get pumped into our ears… ad infinitum…

(And… an aside: we are talking here about a massive secret played out in plain sight… as Shakespeare said: “seen in thought”… I don't know how many hundreds of folks are involved in just my tracking and monitoring alone… and one thing I've seen about this… is… 'power' uses a lot of the low-income… 'disposable'… I'm sure they consider them… I suspect 'power' keeps an accurate list and that its plans for them are not pleasant. We must never forget Miklos' lessons from Auschwitz.)

 

And another… as I've been forced to confront… perhaps more consciously than most… these 'assets' of the global-state… for over six years now: at the start of this journey into darkness – in which I nonetheless found love… and light – I would never have guessed the depths to which these 'power'-guys will go… the resources (which are infinite…) they will apply… to stop we-the-people from simply thinking. It is astonishing… no wonder it would never occur to us (and of course they count on this…) – they will put together teams just to study a subject's psychology… ferret out her vulnerabilities… plant agents in their way to fuel them… these perceived weaknesses… try to find whatever could be twisted into a false-skeleton with which they can construct a myth to say was closeted…

 

…point being: to say we are out-gunned is ludicrous understatement and we need each other to establish more clearly what is being done to us… and how to… not just move in it… but beyond it…

 

…and… what I've learned… is that we have to stay present… because it is when we lose consciousness (i.e. are asleep…) that they turn up the EMF-heat… and we have to be able to hear what our bodies are saying when they are experiencing that distress…

 

…please… let's talk about this.)

 

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[“150405passion.mp3”:]

 

Can we fall in love with ourselves as we discover each other's voices?… we asked in a recent show… longing for what we are… longing to see it live… …and what we are… is passionate… deeply… expansively… voraciously… passionate: we want our passion – and real passion 'power' fears as it can't be predicted or controlled… real passion… which is but our full human capacity rising in us – to live… Longing… hope… and of course determination… these are the qualities that fuel our movement. Aren't they the taproot of solidarity?

 

This World is not Conclusion.

A Species stands beyond –

Invisible, as Music –

But positive, as Sound –

It beckons, and it baffles –

Philosophy – don’t know –

And through a Riddle, at the last –

Sagacity, must go – …

Emily Dickinson)

(# 501)

This is Shakespeare's (and Whitman's… and all our “for-this-moment-of-'class'-dissolution-ancestors-of-heart's”…) point: “the heart has reasons that Reason knows not of…”

 

…which returns us… ever returns us… to this question of passion… and longing……

[Isn't this a perfect expression of 'longing'?:

Wynton Marsalis' and Eric Clapton's “Layla”.

Can we fall in love with ourselves as we discover each other's voices?… we asked in a recent show… longing for what we are… longing to see it live…

 

……and what we are… is passionate… deeply… expansively… voraciously… passionate: we want our passion – and real passion 'power' fears as it can't be predicted or controlled… real passion… which is but our full human capacity rising in us – to live.

 

It is a powerful force… It's called 'the earth': “life's longing for itself…” (this reaction to suppression is also what Alice Miller talks about in Prisoners of Childhood…)

 

…and I can speak on this first-hand. I was at risk of losing my love… I know this by the contrast… as it builds… as it grows… because I've never felt such longing as this… so weak you can barely speak… longing comes from the core of our being… longing for our voices to meet… to see ourselves – our passion – reflected back…

 

Walt Whitman expresses this with these lines: “The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.”

 

And Zora… with these: “She had been getting ready for her great journey to the horizons in search of people; it was important to all the world that she should find them and they find her…” (Their Eyes Were Watching God)

 

Longing… hope… and of course determination… these are the qualities that fuel our movement. Aren't they the taproot of solidarity?

 

–––

[“150405mothertongue.mp3”:]

 

We are in the moment of “coming to terms” with the mission of fulfilling our ancestors' vision… in realizing this transition to a world established consciously… by all of us. Our Good Three have been arguing that we need a new way of conceptualizing and describing this challenge… but we've had that language… held in trust for us… by the earth-connected: it is the language of truth and beauty… the language of our Grandmother Earth… our mother-tongue… which we have been systematically kept from seeing… or trusting… when we do. Our great ones of heart who speak it… are there for us to turn to now… when we need unshakeable authority… for mutually inter-linking our efforts globally.

 

Wild Nights – Wild Nights!

Were I with thee

Wild Nights should be

Our luxury!

 

Futile – the Winds –

To a Heart in port –

Done with the Compass –

Done with the Chart!

 

Rowing in Eden –

Ah, the Sea!

Might I but moor – Tonight –

In Thee!

 

(# 249)

…longing returns us…

 

…to that which is given to us… not by 'systems' – invented to convert passion into units of exchange… units of energy (never forget… it is our creative energy behind everything…) – but by… and from… the earth itself… the source of our inherent freedom…

 

It is this inherent freedom… this earth beneath our feet… and in our bodies – earth-given and -driven… what we're calling the quality of being 'soul-sufficient' – for which we long…

 

…and to achieve it… as a species… we have to work together… globally…

 

…and to work together we must agree on the meanings of things… have common definitions… possess a lingua franca…

 

…which we have… in our mother-tongue…

This is my letter to the World

That never wrote to Me –

The simple News that Nature told –

With tender Majesty

 

Her Message is committed

To Hands I cannot see –

For love of Her – Sweet – countrymen

Judge tenderly – of Me

 

(# 441)

…and so… circularly… destination is also means:

 

…we have to re-greet… explore… play with… become free with… our mother-tongue of freedom.

 

How do we re-learn it? Who speaks it?… if not our ancestors-of-heart… our living earth-connected… the indigenous… and the artists… those on the path of continuous growth… committed to its re-learning – despite state-suppression – through this project of becoming 'soul-sufficient'.

Much Madness is divinest Sense –

To a discerning Eye –

Much Sense – the starkest Madness –

'Tis the Majority

In this, as All, prevail –

Assent – and you are sane –

Demur – you're straightway dangerous –

And handled with a Chain –

 

(# 435)

We are in the moment of “coming to terms” with the mission of fulfilling our ancestors' vision… in realizing this transition to a world established consciously… by all of us. Our Good Three have been arguing that we need a new way of conceptualizing and describing this challenge… but we've had that language… held in trust for us… by the earth-connected: it is the language of truth and beauty… the language of our Grandmother Earth… our mother-tongue… which we have been systematically kept from seeing… or trusting… when we do. Our great ones of heart who speak it… are there for us to turn to now… when we need unshakeable authority… for mutually inter-linking our efforts globally.

 

[“150405whosetsterms.mp3”:]

 

…the issue they are really calling our attention to… with this question… is Bentham's… it's all about language: who controls the lexicon… the definitions… So… what does it look like… this freedom?… and the forms by which we achieve it?… And what are its dimensions? What does it mean to be 'antisystemic'?

 

Later on in the program we will read that:

In brief, in question is – assuming we're collectively and actively concerned with furthering the transformation of the capitalist world-system into a socialist world-system – 'whose' socialism? That, it seems to us, is the query posed by the growing if still muted 'anti-Westernism'. It addresses directly the assumption that the coming socialist world-system is of Western manufacture, so to speak.

Stated (to my mind) more helpfully… the issue they are really calling our attention to… with this question… is Bentham's… it's all about language: who controls the lexicon… the definitions… So… what does it look like… this freedom?… and the forms by which we achieve it?… And what are its dimensions? What does it mean to be 'antisystemic'?

[“150405theaxis.mp3”:]

 

…'truth' and 'beauty' must be the axis that regulates the wheel of the world we want… Presently it is the soulless who make the decisions for us… This cannot be… if we are to honor our full humanity…

 

I died for Beauty – but was scarce

Adjusted in the Tomb –

When One who died for Truth, was lain

In an adjoining Room –

 

He questioned softly “Why I failed”?

“For Beauty”, I replied –

“And I – for Truth – Themself are One –

We Brethren are”, He said –

 

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night –

We talked between the Rooms –

Until the Moss had reached our lips –

And covered up – our names –

 

(# 449)

You see… 'truth' and 'beauty' must be the axis that regulates the wheel of the world we want… Presently it is the soulless who make the decisions for us… This cannot be… if we are to honor our full humanity…

Perhaps the central question is this: how, and to what extent, can the well-organized arms of progressive movements in Western Europe, framed as they are by their current forms and immediate concerns, recompose themselves into agencies, not of national realization but of world-historical transformation? This recomposition would mean they became in the future as subversive of the interstate system per se as they have in the past been its products and proponents.

 

[Of the processes that stem… from 'capital's ongoing centralization…] the second and third… entail the redefinition of trajectories. For the de-nationalization of domestic labor forces suggests a fundamental change, on the part of the left, as to what “national” means…. To accomplish the reconception will entail a degree and kind of substantive and rhetorical inventiveness not presently in ascendance within prominent movements. And the third, the increasing salience of the gender question, entails… the further generalization, from the pauperization of women to the pauperization of people on a world-scale, that is precisely the change in consciousness the very effectiveness of the organizations in core zones may help to bring about, as part of world-scale movements that bypass and so subvert interstate arrangements.…

(We're going to be thinking more about this… the suggestion that you can 'bypass and so subvert interstate arrangements…' and still keep intact the overall centralization of capital processes that are going on – or… in the terms being developed here… maintain the global-state-statesmen… the 'power'-guys… hidden 'power'. And we're also going to be pondering this whole issue of: How do we create a global consciousness of our shared purpose and objectives…)

 

The Outer – from the Inner

Derives its Magnitude –

'Tis Duke, or Dwarf, according

As is the Central Mood –

[I like the way she puts that… that sort of covers it all… 'the central mood': be that 'dangerous… unhealthy obsession…' or be that… 'life's longing for itself…' (nothing healthier than that…) – P.S.]

The fine – unvarying Axis

That regulates the Wheel –

Though Spokes – spin – more conspicuous

And fling a dust – the while.

 

The Inner paints the Outer –

The Brush without the Hand –

Its Picture publishes – precise –

As is the inner Brand

 

On fine – Arterial Canvas –

A Cheek – perchance a Brow –

The Star's whole Secret – in the Lake –

Eyes were not meant to know.

 

(# 451)

She's describing the micro that applies equally to the macro… of this deadly… dangerous… system of 'class' we've been stuck in.

 

[“150405thingwithfeathers.mp3”:]

 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all –

 

'Truth' and 'beauty' must be the axis that regulates the wheel of the world we want… they are… as we speak… being disinterred by Emily… and Bob… and all the Karls… and Zora… – the ancestors of heart who have probed this millennia-long madness called 'class' and left their precious Hope:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

 

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –

And sore must be the storm –

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm –

 

I've heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb – of Me.

 

(# 254)

–––

 

[Today’s reading: the conclusion of Chapter 4, “Beyond Haymarket?”… and resumption of Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…, “1968: The Great Rehearsal”… – P.S.]

 

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* April 5th, 2015 reading: finishing Chapter 4, “Beyond Haymarket?”… before returning to Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…

 

[“[“150405ruleproduction.mp3”:]”:]

 

In our last show we questioned whether relations of 'rule' – the crafted 'legitimacy' (the internalized mental states that ensure 'citizens' obey…) nation-states use to compel our obedience – were… in fact… contradicted by relations of production… the rules for consuming the earth global statesmen invent to establish the material conditions that reinforce their rule… We could perhaps think of these two broad arenas as two locks on our ability to move… with the chain being our obedience…

 

Second [of three “subordinate 'directional' changes for the 'capitalist development' of capital” attendant upon “the growing contradiction between relations of rule… and relations of production.” The first was the challenge states face by increasing 'constituencies of welfare”… and the state's inability to meet popular expectations… – P.S.] is the seemingly contradictory growth – contradictory to the capitalist development of capital – of “human rights” as an organizing concern of growing numbers of intellectuals and popular leaders, of various persuasions, throughout the world. To a large extent – framed, as the issue has been, almost solely in terms of relations of rule (its immediate locus of course, as “issue”) – the comprehension of its emergence as reflecting the contradictions between relations of rule and relations of production (including relations of appropriation) has been slow to form.…

[In our last show we questioned whether relations of 'rule' – the crafted 'legitimacy' (the internalized mental states that ensure 'citizens' obey…) nation-states use to compel our obedience – were… in fact… contradicted by relations of production… the rules for consuming the earth global statesmen invent to establish the material conditions that reinforce their rule… We could perhaps think of these two broad arenas as two locks on our ability to move… with the chain being our obedience… – P.S.]

[“150405civildepth.mp3”:]

 

“The tendency shows more fundamentally, if less clearly theoretically, in the question of how relations of rule relate to relations of production. We reach here matters of very considerable civilizational depth, where even the distinction which we have been working with disappears. For the challenge, in process of realization, is to the 'Westernism' of our ways of thinking – and, to short-circuit much – to our ways of conceiving of the 'socialism' of a socialist world-system and so derivatively to our ways of identifying what is or is not 'progressive'…”

 

…The rights of workers in the end underpin all others. Without the former, such “rights” as others may have are but certificates issued; annullable by the particular apparatus of “stateness” that forms the confrontational relation. As elsewhere in our conditions of existence, so here too does the capital – labor relation organize the terrain of confrontation and discourse.

 

A third tendential development is the growing “anti-Westernism” of the peoples of the peripheralized and semiperipheralized zone of the world-economy's operations. Primarily channelled in and through the interstate system, the impetus for the sentiment lies not in mere “anti-imperialist” (positively put, “nationalist”) movements but rather in elemental challenges to the “Westernism,” as encompassing civilization, that the capitalist development of the modern world as historical social system has entailed. This is a domain of inquiry fraught with difficulties, both theoretical and historical, for the once colonized and the once colonizing alike (specifically presuming good faith on the part of each, however central the historical divide perforce remains).

[The points being made here are really worth exploring in greater depth… they're talking about an “anti-Westernism” that encompasses 'civilization' more so than representing simply 'anti-imperialism'… – P.S.]

The tendency shows more fundamentally, if less clearly theoretically, in the question of how relations of rule relate to relations of production. We reach here matters of very considerable civilizational depth, where even the distinction which we have been working with disappears. For the challenge, in process of realization, is to the 'Westernism' of our ways of thinking – and, to short-circuit much – to our ways of conceiving of the 'socialism' of a socialist world-system and so derivatively to our ways of identifying what is or is not 'progressive'.

[Our Good Three are wrestling with the real problems those of us who want a global social transformation to freedom… face… I haven't heard this since: what is the nature of the future we want?… if it is 'anti-civilizational'… what does that mean? And this is not to criticize Immanuel Wallerstein… at all… particularly now that I am seeing… what likely happened to his brethren… – P.S.]

[“150405denational.mp3”:]

 

“The further processes… entail the redefinition of trajectories. For the de-nationalization of domestic labor forces suggests a fundamental change, on the part of the left, as to what “national” means…” [I'm still wanting… at some point… to address the 'Black Lives Matter' issue – although it is “fraught with difficulties…” to use our Good Three's language… There was a photo in the local student paper in which was shown those words – “Black Lives Matter” – lit up in neon lights on the City Hall Lawn… and I couldn't help but think… what if all the resources (because there's money there…) had been put behind the Occupy Movement?… and all the media coverage?… Beaucoup… beaucoup… on this issue of how racism is supposedly still dividing us… discussion-time much better 'spent'… coming together and deciding what we want… instead of constantly reacting to what the media tells us is what we're supposed to be doing… We need our 'own things'… as Ntozake told us… back in the day… – P.S.]

 

In brief, in question is – assuming we're collectively and actively concerned with furthering the transformation of the capitalist world-system into a socialist world-system – 'whose' socialism? That, it seems to us, is the query posed by the growing if still muted 'anti-Westernism'. It addresses directly the assumption that the coming socialist world-system is of Western manufacture, so to speak.

 

Perhaps the central question is this: how, and to what extent, can the well-organized arms of progressive movements in Western Europe, framed as they are by their current forms and immediate concerns, recompose themselves into agencies, not of national realization but of world-historical transformation? This recomposition would mean they became in the future as subversive of the interstate system per se as they have in the past been its products and proponents.

 

The centralization of capital per se can be neither factually nor strategically a legitimate concern of movements, it as process being for them formative merely of terrain, not of objective.…

[The 'logic of capital' working against us again? Because if the privatization of our common earth is in fact part of the 'global-state-statesmen's conscious plan… it does indeed speak to our need to see the 'opposite' of that… come to pass… and that… reclaiming our human energy – which is the only meaningful expression of 'de-nationalization' is… by definition de-centralizing 'capital'… – P.S.]

…The further processes it entails, however, produce the very politics of movement formation and growth. The first observation above, about the relocating of the epicenter of overt “classical” class struggle, implies merely a refocusing of Western European movements. The second and third, in contrast, entail the redefinition of trajectories. For the de-nationalization of domestic labor forces suggests a fundamental change, on the part of the left, as to what “national” means (thus leaving to the right the systemically formed residues of “primordial” sentiments). To accomplish the reconception will entail a degree and kind of substantive and rhetorical inventiveness not presently in ascendance within prominent movements. And the third, the increasing salience of the gender question, entails; (1) the elimination from the movements of yet another (and in a different sense) “primordial” sentiment, and (2) the world-scale generality of – hence organizational subordination to – what is essentially a reforming movement (“capitalism” being quite able “to develop” under conditions of legal and substantive gender equality).…

[…and we see this too with… a lot of different things… I'm still wanting… at some point… to address the 'Black Lives Matter' issue – although it is “fraught with difficulties…” to use our Good Three's language… There was a photo in the local student paper in which was shown those words – “Black Lives Matter” – lit up in neon lights on the City Hall Lawn… and I couldn't help but think… what if all the resources (because there's money there…) had been put behind the Occupy Movement?… and all the media coverage?… Beaucoup… beaucoup… on this issue of how racism is supposedly still dividing us… discussion-time much better 'spent'… coming together and deciding what we want… instead of constantly reacting to what the media tells us is what we're supposed to be doing… We need our 'own things'… as Ntozake told us… back in the day… – P.S.]

[“150405vonwerlhof.mp3”:]

 

“An alternative is possible only if we, men and women, succeed in getting back forever not simply the wage, but much more – namely the means of production: our bodies and our children, our houses and our land, our knowledge and our creativity, and the results of our labor. We want all this without continuing to depend on “central powers” like puppets, so that we can work for our own, autonomous existence…” [What happens to all the hard work that is done by our good-hearted folks from academia?… – P.S.]

 

…It is the further generalization, from the pauperization of women to the pauperization of people on a world-scale, that is precisely the change in consciousness the very effectiveness of the organizations in core zones may help to bring about, as part of world-scale movements that bypass and so subvert interstate arrangements.… [And… again… notice the strategic thinking… what challenges the 'logic'… the premises… of the interstate-system (i.e., the 'power'-guys…) and what doesn't… – P.S.]

Claudia von Werlhof puts it like this:

 

The production of human beings in a society like ours [i.e. in a global 'class' system… – P.S.] is, however, not only the most important, permanently necessary, and the most difficult task; it is also particularly frustrating… That is why women have developed a specifically feminine capacity for work; they had to develop it. It gets its orientation from the fertility of their bodies. Creating a new life (through childbirth) is the principle that women apply also to all other activities – earlier for the common benefit of all people, today for the benefit of the system.

[…although really 'slave work capacity' works equally well… I don't think it's helpful at this point to make too much of female generative capacities… As our Good Three are saying… the point is to generalize our movement focus… and I think von Werlhof would agree… as generalized – and ever-growing – immiseration is a structural requirement of 'class'… – P.S.]

Everything that women do must bear fruit and it must be gratis, like the air we breathe.… All these duties and qualities make up the feminine work capacity.… Not the generalization of wage labor, but the generalization of housework is therefore the dream of all capitalists. There is no cheaper, more productive or more fruitful human labor, and one can also enforce it without the whip. I believe that the restructuring of our economy will involve the effort to re-educate the men and force upon them, as far as possible, the feminine work capacity.…

 

An alternative is possible only if we, men and women, succeed in getting back forever not simply the wage, but much more – namely the means of production: our bodies and our children, our houses and our land, our knowledge and our creativity, and the results of our labor. We want all this without continuing to depend on “central powers” like puppets, so that we can work for our own, autonomous existence. [What happens to all the hard work that is done by our good-hearted folks from academia?… – P.S.] (“The Proletarian Is Dead; Long Live the Housewife?” by Claudia von Werlhof, published in Households and the World-Economy [edited by Joan Smith, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Hans-Dieter Evers; published in 1984)

…The growing contradictions between relations of rule and relations of production will in all likelihood occasion a plethora of radical nationalist expressions and “movements”. But world-scale movements, with emanation in various national arenas, may prove world historically even more consequential. At least, this is the major positive direction in which to move.

[And this of course explains why Empire was commissioned. Negri and Hardt being (or were to be…) the 'Hegel' of this current 'post-capital' full-scale strut of the 'global-state': i.e. the Republic. We continue now our reading of Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…, “1968: The Great Rehearsal”… – P.S.]

–––

 

* “WUR of April 12th, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 2):

[The spoken word of the following wordbeat is from the April 5, 2015 show:

 

“[Of the processes that stem… from 'capital's ongoing centralization…] the second and third… entail the redefinition of trajectories. For the de-nationalization of domestic labor forces suggests a fundamental change, on the part of the left, as to what “national” means…. To accomplish the reconception will entail a degree and kind of substantive and rhetorical inventiveness not presently in ascendance within prominent movements. And the third, the increasing salience of the gender question, entails… the further generalization, from the pauperization of women to the pauperization of people on a world-scale, that is precisely the change in consciousness the very effectiveness of the organizations in core zones may help to bring about, as part of world-scale movements that bypass and so subvert interstate arrangements.” (We're going to be thinking more about this… the suggestion that you can 'bypass and so subvert interstate arrangements…' and still keep intact the overall centralization of capital processes that are going on – or… in the terms being developed here… maintain the global-state-statesmen… the 'power'-guys… hidden 'power'. And we're also going to be pondering this whole issue of: How do we create a global consciousness of our shared purpose and objectives…) “The Outer – from the Inner… Derives its Magnitude – […we're going to have to think about what Emily Dickinson is saying in relation to this system of 'class'… because it is a wheel that has been turning for thousands of years… and we have been arguing that… these 'power'-guys' longing to create their vision… that this vision of theirs has been turning the world for at least 250 years… and that the world of class itself… in a sense… has been turned by a longing for 'supremacy'… a longing to maintain a system of 'rule' that allows the very… very few to feel like 'gods'. So… we have been allowing this compulsion of the tiny few to drive all of us… so… we need to take charge of that 'axis' with a healthy longing: our longing for love… and truth… and beauty… and for the continuous growth of our humanness.] “The Outer – from the Inner… Derives its Magnitude – 'Tis Duke, or Dwarf, according… As is the Central Mood –” [I like the way she puts that… that sort of covers it all… 'the central mood': be that 'dangerous… unhealthy obsession…' or be that… 'life's longing for itself…' (nothing healthier than that…) She's describing the micro that applies equally to the macro… of this deadly… dangerous… system of 'class' we've been stuck in.][Spoken word is from our April 5, 2015 radio broadcast.]

–––

 

Today’s show: “'Longing' Is the Taproot” (Part 2)

 

[“150412deeplove.mp3”:]

 

I'd lost my passion by the side of the road… and she picked it up… and claimed it. She's helped me see so much – which is not why… but derived from: my love for her is endless.

[Sisters and Brothers… because edits to the “Embracing Global Goals (Part 2)” page no longer 'save'… I am posting the html text for this show on the: “Excerpts from Arrighi and Gramsci” page (which I am now also calling the “Embracing Global Goals [Part 3]” page…) but please also download the pdf form… available on the main 'Blog' section of the website… – P.S.]

April 6, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: In last week's show we noted the words of Zora: that it was vitally important that she find people, and they find her. This is, I'm arguing, what moves us – we-stuck-in-a-'class'-system –when we're young… and in possession of a deep connection to the earth…

 

…this was one of my motives – an important one – in starting the Nascence - to reach out to find my tribe…

 

…and while I don't yet have a tribe (I'm hoping to find one in time…)

 

…I did find love… a passionate… encompassing… voracious… love…

 

…deep love…

 

Who… tell me… who would walk in and take the hand of someone in the global-state's crosshairs… legs knee-deep in the morass of hidden 'power'?

 

Who would walk into that fire?

 

Nobody.

 

Nobody but her…

 

…and what did she get as recompense?

 

…nothing but trouble…

 

…she had no choice but to bend…

 

…and now I fear for her…

 

…I don't know all of what's going on… but please… hold her in your thoughts…

 

…I owe this woman so much…

 

I'd lost my passion by the side of the road…

 

…and she picked it up… and claimed it.

 

She's helped me see so much – which is not why… but derived from:

 

…my love for her is endless.

 

–––

 

[“150412newworldpremises.mp3”:]

 

…consider how completely absorbing is the project of founding a new world on a fresh foundation… based in premises that are opposite to the 'logic' of 'rule': non-commercial… non-utilitarian… our right to develop our earth-gifts without force being applied to this process (continuous growth…) …a project therefore… with clear 'terms of engagement'… with clear terms for our coming together… rooted in the understanding that we are… first… reclaiming our 'lost' gifts (which are not lost… are always there… waiting… to be re-ignited…) second… that we are… each one of us… the axis that turns the wheel. There can be no more ceding… giving up… relinquishing… our power… our leadership capacities… to some supposed possessor of 'higher knowledge'. This has been 'power's principle con for millennia…. Third… agreement that it is our responsibility to… literally… reclaim the world. And… fourth… all of our creative projects must be 'inclined' toward our future – our future together uncoerced… And there is a fifth: our projects acknowledge the existence of hidden-'power'… we need safe spaces that are safe in every sense… 'safe houses' all over the world working on this… on ending 'class' and making our interrelations with each other…and with the earth… healthy.

 

“Abstractions Re-Establish Hierarchical Relations”

 

When our Good Three said last week that the centralization of 'capital' is merely formative of the terrain on which our movement strives to achieve universal human freedom… and is “not strategically a legitimate concern of movements…” I questioned whether reclaiming our human energy necessarily… simultaneously… 'de-centralizes capital'… thereby re-making the 'terrain' on which we organize ourselves – the means also being the destination.

 

What's key… I think… is this notion of “by-passing interstate relations…”

 

…and how can we do that… given that each one of us manifests 'the state'… if we don't connect through our earth-taproot? We are all sprigs from that source… and we either choose to be it… or choose not to.

 

We either manifest the earth… or we manifest the state…

 

…because… in the absence of our 'establishing-conversations'… the 'fall-back thoughts' tend to kick in… after which we tend to picture the forms by which we usher in our freedom in terms of some 'next-level-organization'… particularly as we must combine our energies to challenge 'power' –

 

…and abstractions – a form of 'mind-deification'… when what is wanted (missing) is the integrity of the sufficient soul… and the structure / design that itself protects / ensures healthy human interrelations… both with each other… and with the broader earth (and that design… I'm arguing… I'm arguing… is 'distributed generation' – automatically establish… or re-establish… hierarchical relations…

 

…which is why 'soul-sufficiency' phrasing… and like terminology… is key.

 

How do we honestly source our original creative energy – expressed in any number of forms – inviting… re-igniting… our amorous play with that fire…

 

…and fall in love with our amorous selves?

 

What would entice us away from the 'power'-guys current almost exclusive hold on our attention…

 

…away from their version of events?

 

You see… they have taken away… from those of us closely monitored… almost all rivals for our attention. All other stimulation except that which is provided by 'power' (differentially… of course) – jobs… school… social relations dominated by the 'logic' of 'exchange' (safe routes for 'power') – has been removed from us… while they trap us in a utilitarian frame.

 

But…

 

…consider what utterly absorbs us in those rare moments when we experience it: those moments when we work together with others on creative projects… completing the circuit with our taproot…

 

…and then consider how completely absorbing is the project of founding a new world on a fresh foundation… based in premises that are opposite to the 'logic' of 'rule': non-commercial… non-utilitarian… our right to develop our earth-gifts without force being applied to this process (continuous growth…)

Publication – is the Auction

Of the Mind of Man –

Poverty – be justifying

For so foul a thing

 

Possibly – but We – would rather

From Our Garret go

White – Unto the White Creator –

Than invest – Our Snow –

 

Thought belong to Him who gave it –

Then – to Him Who bear

Its Corporeal illustration – Sell

The Royal Air –

 

In the Parcel – Be the Merchant

Of the Heavenly Grace –

But reduce no Human Spirit

To Disgrace of Price –

 

(Emily Dickinson, # 709)

…a project therefore… with clear 'terms of engagement'… with clear terms for our coming together… rooted in the understanding that we are… first… reclaiming our 'lost' gifts (which are not lost… are always there… waiting… to be re-ignited…) second… that we are… each one of us… the axis that turns the wheel. There can be no more ceding… giving up… relinquishing… our power… our leadership capacities… to some supposed possessor of 'higher knowledge'. This has been 'power's principle con for millennia…. Third… agreement that it is our responsibility to… literally… reclaim the world. And… fourth… all of our creative projects must be 'inclined' toward our future – our future together uncoerced…

 

And there is a fifth: our projects acknowledge the existence of hidden-'power'… we need safe spaces that are safe in every sense… 'safe houses' all over the world working on this… on ending 'class' and making our interrelations with each other…and with the earth… healthy.

 

We have to be free of all coercion to speak in our true voices.

 

This is what makes all the various 'speak-out' projects / exercises fundamentally so false (not 'false' in a 'personal health' sense… and not to trivialize the importance of this… but 'false' as a political strategy for challenging 'power'…) 'false' because they approach the problem of our silencing too (and intentionally so…) literally… as about simply relating events of our lives (generally what we do to each other as representatives of the state…) a form of group comfort in group-sharing… but devoid of means for achieving understanding… only possible if 'hidden power' is acknowledged.

 

Each generation… it seems… re-discovers 'speaking bitterness' (as our Chinese Sisters and Brothers put it…) – and though it might infinitesimally alter 'power'-relations… within the life of the individual that effect cannot survive the constant pressure of created and imposed material scarcity – i.e. 'the job'… in whatever form it takes (including 'the job' of being a cautionary tale for 'power'.)

 

'Coercion' is the dinosaur in all the 'state-sanctioned' 'living room discussions' of 'social problems'.

 

For instance…the local weekly now includes a parenting column in which the author advised parents to follow their dreams rather than impose them on their children. We've made a very similar point here… although usually framed in the context of 'listening to our bodies'.

 

But as my son said to me recently: we live in a world in which you can't listen to your body… a fact never acknowledged … let alone discussed… in pundit-speech.

 

–––

[Today’s reading: the conclusion of Chapter 4, “Beyond Haymarket?”… and resumption of Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…, “1968: The Great Rehearsal”… – P.S.]

 

–––

 

* April 12th, 2015 reading: returning to Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…

–––

 

[“150412worldrevolution.mp3”:]

 

“It seemed but a matter of decades until the goals of 1848 would be realized in every corner of the globe.” We are seeing here… once again… how critical is the focus on 'class'… the question of language… controlling the definitions… and… of course… acknowledging hidden 'power'… including the fact that each one of us is 'the system of class' in microcosm… – for if the 'central mood' moving that axis is 'rule'… 'hierarchical control'… the system of 'class'… and we do not challenge that… we are not 'antisystemic'.

Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements… “1968: The Great Rehearsal” began by saying that:

 

(…that chapter begins by saying…

There have only been two world revolutions. One took place in 1848. The second took place in 1968. Both were historic failures. Both transformed the world. The fact that both were unplanned and therefore in a profound sense spontaneous explains both facts – the fact that they failed, and the fact that they transformed the world….

 

1848 was a revolution for popular sovereignty – both within the nation (down with autocracy) and of the nations (self-determination, the Volkerfruhling)….

 

…1968… was a revolution against the counterrevolution represented by the U.S. organization of its world hegemony as of 1945. It too was an attempt to fulfill the original goals of the Russian Revolution, while very much an effort to overcome the limitations of that revolution…

…our reading resumes…

–––

 

Since the states could control the masses and the powerful strata could control the states, it was clear that a serious effort of social transformation would require counter-organization – both politically and culturally. It is this perception that led to the formation for the first time of bureaucratically organized antisystemic movements with relatively clear middle-term objectives. These movements, in their two great variants of the social and the national movement, began to appear on the scene after 1848, and their numbers, geographic spread, and organizational efficiency grew steady in the century that followed.

 

What 1848 accomplished therefore was the historic turning of antisystemic forces toward a fundamental political strategy – that of seeking the intermediate goal of obtaining state power (one way or another) as the indispensable way-station on the road to transforming society and the world. To be sure, many argued against this strategy, but they were defeated in the debates. Over the following century, the opponents of this strategy grew weaker as the proponents of the strategy grew stronger.

 

1917 became such a big symbol because it was the first dramatic victory of the proponents of the state-power strategy (and in its revolutionary, as opposed to its evolutionary, variant). 1917 proved it could be done. And this time, unlike in 1848, the revolutionary government was neither suborned [bribed] nor overturned. It survived. 1917 may have been the most dramatic instance but it was not of course the only instance of successes, at least partial, of this strategy. The Mexican Revolution beginning in 1910 and the Chinese Revolution of 1911 culminating in 1949 also seemed to demonstrate worth of the strategy, for example.

 

By 1945, or perhaps more accurately by the 1950s, the strategy seemed to be bearing fruit around the world. All three major variants of the historic “old left” antisystemic movements – the Third International Communists, the Second International Social Democrats, and the nationalist movements (especially those outside Europe) – could point to notable successes: the armed struggle of the Communist parties in Yugoslavia and China, the massive 1945 electoral victory of the Labour Party in Great Britain, nationalist triumphs in India and Indonesia. It seemed but a matter of decades until the goals of 1848 would be realized in every corner of the globe.

[We are seeing here… once again… how critical is the focus on 'class'… the question of language… controlling the definitions… and… of course… acknowledging hidden 'power'… including the fact that each one of us is 'the system of class' in microcosm… – for if the 'central mood' moving that axis is 'rule'… 'hierarchical control'… the system of 'class'… and we do not challenge that… we are not 'antisystemic'.

 

This was written… or at least presented… in 1988… and so obviously did not have the benefit of Keith Lowe’s Savage Continent… and its devastating portrait of where Europe was at in 1945… and the notion of a global antisystemic ‘sentiment’ at that moment that is ‘optimistic’… ‘minus Europe’… unless simply delusional… cannot stand up. It throws in even more stark relief the importance of Keith Lowe’s accomplishment… – P.S.]

[“150412fivesins.mp3”:]

 

“…the new left accused the old left of five sins: weakness, corruption, connivance, neglect, and arrogance…” …we are more and more… I'm feeling… rejecting the empty categories that we're told to think in terms of… and recognizing that this strategy of 'power' to impose this veneer of 'scientific rationality' on our lived and living experience in which we exchange mutually all the time… in which we reject categories all the time… we're moving… we're fluid – we're always… always changing and in motion… and… academe… I believe… has been complicit in the process of trying to freeze us in place…

 

This widespread optimism of the antisystemic forces was nonetheless quite exaggerated, for two reasons.

 

One, the institutionalization of US hegemony in the world-system as of 1945 made possible a generalized counterrevolutionary thrust…

[…not to belabor the point too much… but… the view from the ivory tower (and we must include among those who wear the ‘ivory tower’ tag the hierarchically-structured Left leadership of that day and beyond – remember Lowe’s documentation of how surviving Jews were thrown under the bus by such?) is necessarily skewed. We-down-here-in-the-cheap-seats are able to see that the “generalized counterrevolutionary thrust” had been stomping on us well before declared war removed millions of us from the planet: that the 'thirty-years'-war… as our Good Three view the combined world wars of the twentieth century… constitute a 'counterrevolutionary thrust… well before the US claimed world hegemony… after the field had been cleared… – P.S.]

One, the institutionalization of US hegemony in the world-system as of 1945 made possible a generalized counterrevolutionary thrust to slow down the pace of the growing political strength of the antisystemic movements. The US sought to “contain” the bloc of Communist states led by the USSR. And in Greece, in Western Europe, in Korea, they succeeded in such “containment.” The US government sought to “defang” the Western labor and social-democratic parties by rigidifying historic differences between the Second and Third Internationals and by erecting “anti-Communism” as an ideological carapace [shell]. This attempt too was largely successful, within the US itself and elsewhere. The US sought to slow down, dilute, and / or coopt the political expressions of Third World nationalism and, with some notable exceptions like Vietnam, this effort too was largely successful.

 

Were the counterrevolution all that had occurred politically, however, its effect would have been momentary at most.

[By defining ‘counterrevolution’ narrowly – i.e. to exclude totalitarianism with a ‘Left’ face – so distorts reality as to make it unrecognizable as such… – P.S.]

Were the counterrevolution all that had occurred politically, however, its effect would have been momentary at most. A second thing occurred to dampen the optimism of the antisystemic forces. The movements in power performed less well than had been expected; far less well. Already in the interwar period, the Soviet experience of the 1930s – the terrors and the errors – had shaken the world’s antisystemic movements. But in a sense Hitler and the long struggle of the Second World War washed away much of the dismay. However, the terrors and the errors repeated themselves after 1945 in one Communist state after another. Nor did the social-democratic governments look that good, engaged as they were in colonial repression. And, as one Third World nationalist movement after another created regimes that seemed to have their own fair share of terrors and errors, the optimism of the antisystemic forces began to be eroded.

 

While the US, and more generally the upper strata of the world system […what I call ‘power’… or ‘the global-state-statesmen’… – P.S.], attacked the antisystemic movements exogenously [externally] as it were, the movements were simultaneously suffering ailments endogenous to them, ailments which increasingly seemed to be themselves “part of the problem.”

 

It is in reaction to this double (exogenous and endogenous) difficulty of the traditional old left movements that the new social movements emerged, more or less in the 1960s. These new movements were concerned with the strength and survivability of the forces that dominated the world-system. But they were also concerned with what they felt was the poor performance, even the negative performance, of the world’s old left movements. In the beginning of the 1960s, the concern with the power and the evil of the proponents of the status quo was still uppermost in the minds of the emergent new movements, and their concern with the inefficacies of the old left opposition was still a secondary consideration. But as the decade went on, the emphasis began to shift, as the new movements bean to be more and more critical of the old movements. At first the new elements sought to be “reformist” of the tactics of the old antisystemic movements. Later, they often broke outright with them and even attacked them frontally. We cannot understand 1968 unless we see it as simultaneously a cri de coeur (“a passionate appeal”) against the evils of the world-system and a fundamental questioning of the strategy of the old left opposition to the world-system.

 

At its height, and when it had reached the highest level of screeching, the new left accused the old left of five sins: weakness, corruption, connivance, neglect, and arrogance. The weakness was said to be the inefficacy of the old antisystemic movements (the Social Democrats in the West, the Communists in the East, the nationalist governments in the South) in constraining the militarism, the exploitation, the imperialism, the racism, of the dominant forces in the world-system. The attitude towards the war in Vietnam became a touchstone on this issue. The corruption was said to be the fact that certain strata had, through the efforts of past antisystemic action, achieved certain material concessions and allowed their militance to be softened by this fact. The connivance was the charge of corruption taken one step further. It was said to be the willingness of certain strata worldwide actually to profit by the exploitation in the system, albeit at a lower level than that of the dominant strata. The neglect was said to be the obtuseness about, if not conscious ignoring of, the interests of the truly dispossessed, the real lower strata of the world-system (the subproletarians, the ethnic and racial minorities, and of course the women). The arrogance was said to be the contempt of the leadership of the old movements for the real problems of the lower strata, and their ideological self-assurance.

[Even a momentary plunge… into the sterile waters of ‘categorization’ following the vivid reenactments of Savage Continent feels jarring to me… but it highlights how far we’ve come… these past almost twenty-seven years… towards a living… practical-actual… global unity of humanity… because we are more and more… I'm feeling… rejecting these empty categories that we're told to think in terms of… and recognizing that this strategy of 'power' to impose this veneer of 'scientific rationality' on our lived and living experience in which we exchange mutually all the time… in which we reject categories all the time… we're moving… we're fluid – we're always… always changing and in motion… and… academe… I believe… has been complicit in the process of trying to freeze us in place…

 

[“150412walkinstep.mp3”:]

 

And… of course… von Werlhof's point… that: “…An alternative is possible only if we, men and women, succeed in getting back forever not simply the wage, but much more – namely the means of production: our bodies and our children, our houses and our land, our knowledge and our creativity, and the results of our labor.…” This was published at least four years earlier… written for some time before that… and by a woman in their own circle of academics… Why was it not followed up on?… There's confusion as to language in our Good Three's analysis: 'antisystemic' for instance… a point Giovanni Arrighi will himself be making… in the article excerpt shared on this page.… So we see… language… defining… is not some superficial nicety we glance at as we frame our strategic advancement (of the species… to our freedom…) – rather… it's the whole ball of wax… for without linguistic clarity we cannot have theoretical clarity… without which… we cannot… all of us globally… walk in step. Presently… we are not… walking in step… there is a gap… and what did Emily tell us about closing a gap? 'To fill a Gap… Insert the Thing that caused it – ' Brilliant woman, isn't she?

 

…we are feeling the future arriving… even as the ongoing ‘counter-evolution’ is doing all ‘it’ can… to stop it… It also seems to me… there is an insufficient appreciation of the point they were making… just two years previously… i.e.…

 

“…Perhaps the central question is this: how, and to what extent, can the well-organized arms of progressive movements in Western Europe, framed as they are by their current forms and immediate concerns, recompose themselves into agencies, not of national realization but of world-historical transformation? This recomposition would mean they became in the future as subversive of the interstate system per se as they have in the past been its products and proponents.… ”

 

[“Of the processes that stem… from 'capital's ongoing centralization…] the second and third… entail the redefinition of trajectories. For the de-nationalization of domestic labor forces suggests a fundamental change, on the part of the left, as to what “national” means…. To accomplish the reconception will entail a degree and kind of substantive and rhetorical inventiveness not presently in ascendance within prominent movements. And the third, the increasing salience of the gender question, entails… the further generalization, from the pauperization of women to the pauperization of people on a world-scale, that is precisely the change in consciousness the very effectiveness of the organizations in core zones may help to bring about, as part of world-scale movements that bypass and so subvert interstate arrangements.…”

 

And… of course… von Werlhof's point… that: “…An alternative is possible only if we, men and women, succeed in getting back forever not simply the wage, but much more – namely the means of production: our bodies and our children, our houses and our land, our knowledge and our creativity, and the results of our labor.…” This was published at least four years earlier… written for some time before that… and by a woman in their own circle of academics… Why was it not followed up on?…

 

There's confusion as to language in our Good Three's analysis: 'antisystemic' for instance… a point Giovanni Arrighi will himself be making… in the article excerpt shared on this page.

 

So we see… language… defining… is not some superficial nicety we glance at as we frame our strategic advancement (of the species… to our freedom…) – rather… it's the whole ball of wax…

 

…for without linguistic clarity we cannot have theoretical clarity… without which… we cannot… all of us globally… walk in step. Presently… we are not… walking in step… there is a gap…

 

…and what did Emily tell us about closing a gap? 'To fill a Gap… Insert the Thing that caused it – ' Brilliant woman, isn't she? What caused the gap… between us as human beings?… our having our common earth stripped from beneath our feet… our mooring… our lingua franca… our mother-tongue… Who speak it?… the tribe called 'Artists' are among them… those of them… I should say… who attend to the task for all humans in this moment of filling that gap… advancing our ancestors' gifts… restoring our humanness… – P.S.]

[“150412sixtyeight.mp3”:]

 

“When 1968 exploded – in Columbia University, in Paris, in Prague, in Mexico City and Tokyo, in the Italian October – it was an explosion. There was no central direction, no calculated tactical planning. The explosion was in a sense as much of a surprise to the participants as to those against whom it was directed. The most surprised were the old left movements… But the explosion was very powerful, shattering many authority relations, and shattering above all the Cold War consensus on both sides. Ideological hegemonies were challenged everywhere and the retreat, both of the powerful strata of the world-system and of the leadership of the old left antisystemic movements, was real. As we have already said, the retreat turned out to be temporary and the new movements were checked everywhere. But the changes in power relations effected by the movements were not reversed.”

 

These were heady charges and they were not made all at once, or from the outset. It was an evolution from the mild questioning of the Port Huron founding statement of SDS in 1962 to the Weathermen in 1969 and after, or from the conventional views (if militantly implemented) of SNCC in the early 1960s to those of the Black Power movements of the late 1960s. It was an evolution from the Jeunesse Etudiante Communiste in France in the early 1960s who dared to be “pro-Italian,” to the barricades of May 1968 in Paris (and the virtually open break with the CGT and PCF). It was an evolution from the Prague Spring which emerged in late1967 to the founding of Solidarnosc in 1980.

 

When 1968 exploded – in Columbia University, in Paris, in Prague, in Mexico City and Tokyo, in the Italian October – it was an explosion. There was no central direction, no calculated tactical planning. The explosion was in a sense as much of a surprise to the participants as to those against whom it was directed. The most surprised were the old left movements who could not understand how they could be attacked from what seemed to them so unfair and so politically dangerous a perspective.

 

But the explosion was very powerful, shattering many authority relations, and shattering above all the Cold War consensus on both sides. Ideological hegemonies were challenged everywhere and the retreat, both of the powerful strata of the world-system and of the leadership of the old left antisystemic movements, was real. As we have already said, the retreat turned out to be temporary and the new movements were checked everywhere. But the changes in power relations effected by the movements were not reversed.

 

[“150412legacies.mp3”:]

 

We have been arguing… that with the lens 'keeping the cattle herded'… along with “'power'-plans are clandestine” (a version of: “all politics… intra-state and inter-state… is theater…”) we can see clearly enough to begin to 'de-nationalize' ourselves as a whole… not just our 'labor'. Does Germany secretly work together with Russia to sink all hope of self-determination for Ukraine? Do the myriad 'terrorist' groups… from Mexico… to Nigeria… to Iraq… receive clandestine support from the global-state-statesmen? If we are waiting for 'proof' provided by the 'power'-vetted media to deliver us certainty on such questions… we wait in vain… It is to ourselves and our mutual authentic communications that we must now turn… to plan an authentic future…

 

The Legacies of 1968

 

Four main changes can be distinguished. First, while the balance of military power between West and East has not changed appreciably since 1968, the capabilities of either the West or the East to police the South have become limited. The Tet Offensive of early 1968 has remained to this day a symbol of the impotence of capital-intensive warfare in curbing the intelligence and will of Third World peoples. Within five years of the offensive, the USA was forced to withdraw from Vietnam, and a new era in North-South relations began.

 

The most dramatic expression of this new era has been the frustration of the US government's multifarious attempts to bring the Iranian people back to “reason.” It is no exaggeration to say that events in Iran since the late 1970s have had far greater influence on the internal affairs of the USA (notably on the rise and demise of Reaganism) than events in the USA have had on the internal affairs of Iran. This frustration is not the symptom of some peculiar weakness of the United States as world power, or exceptional strength of the Iranian state as an antisystemic force. Rather, it is a symptom of the increased national sovereignty enjoyed by Third World peoples in general since the withdrawal of the US from Vietnam. The close parallel between the recent experience of the USSR in Afghanistan and that of the US in Vietnam provides further evidence that the unprecedented accumulation of means of violence in the hands of the two superpowers simply reproduces the balance of terror between the two, but adds nothing to their capabilities to police the world, least of all its peripheral regions.

[What can we say… now that the dynamics – of which the events our Good Three observe are the visible effects – have advanced a bit… since when this was presented… in 1988?

 

When they point out… as they did earlier… that: “…the institutionalization of US hegemony in the world-system as of 1945 made possible a generalized counterrevolutionary thrust…” to which we replied: 'By defining ‘counterrevolution’ narrowly – i.e. to exclude totalitarianism with a ‘Left’ face – so distorts reality as to make it unrecognizable as such…' – suggests a response… Recall how they put it:

 

“And, as one Third World nationalist movement after another created regimes that seemed to have their own fair share of terrors and errors, the optimism of the antisystemic forces began to be eroded.”

 

We have been arguing… that with the lens 'keeping the cattle herded'… along with “'power'-plans are clandestine” (a version of: “all politics… intra-state and inter-state… is theater…”) we can see clearly enough to begin to 'de-nationalize' ourselves as a whole… not just our 'labor'. Does Germany secretly work together with Russia to sink all hope of self-determination for Ukraine? Do the myriad 'terrorist' groups… from Mexico… to Nigeria… to Iraq… receive clandestine support from the global-state-statesmen? If we are waiting for 'proof' provided by the 'power'-vetted media to deliver us certainty on such questions… we wait in vain… It is to ourselves and our mutual authentic communications that we must now turn… to plan an authentic future… – P.S.]

[“150412statuscracks.mp3”:]

 

“Thirdly, and closely related to the above, pre-1968 power relations between capital and labor have never been restored. In this connection, we should not be deceived by the experience of particular national segments of the capital-labor relation. What must be assessed is the likelihood that the commands of the functionaries of capital be obeyed by their subordinates over the entire spatial domain of the capitalist world-economy, and over a period of time long enough to allow for the interplay of commands and responses to affect the relations of production and the distribution of resources. From this point of view, the central fact of the 1970s and 1980s has been the growing frustration experienced by the functionaries of capital in their global search for safe havens of labor discipline. Many of the locales that in the early 1970s seemed to provide capitalist production with a viable alternative to the restive labor environments of the core zone have themselves turned, one after another, into loci of labor unrest…”

 

…Secondly, the changes in power relations between status-groups such as age-groups, genders, and “ethnicities,” a major consequence of the 1968 revolution, have also proved to be far more lasting than the movements which brought them to world attention. These changes are registered primarily in the hidden abodes of everyday life and as such are less easy to discern than changes in interstate power relations. Nevertheless, we can say with some confidence that even after 1973 (when most movements had subsided), the commands of dominant status-groups (such as older generations, males, “majorities”) continued in general to become less likely to be obeyed by subordinate status-groups (younger generations, females, “minorities”) than they ever were before 1968. This diminished power of dominant status-groups is particularly evident in core countries but may be observed to varying degrees in semiperipheral and peripheral countries as well.

 

Thirdly, and closely related to the above, pre-1968 power relations between capital and labor have never been restored. In this connection, we should not be deceived by the experience of particular national segments of the capital-labor relation. What must be assessed is the likelihood that the commands of the functionaries of capital be obeyed by their subordinates over the entire spatial domain of the capitalist world-economy, […I really like their rootedness in the concrete there… rather than abstractions… I like their practical definition of the strength of existing 'power'-relations… – P.S.] and over a period of time long enough to allow for the interplay of commands and responses to affect the relations of production and the distribution of resources. From this point of view, the central fact of the 1970s and 1980s has been the growing frustration experienced by the functionaries of capital […I would say of the 'global-state-statesmen'… the 'power'-guys… – P.S.] in their global search for safe havens of labor discipline. Many of the locales that in the early 1970s seemed to provide capitalist production with a viable alternative to the restive labor environments of the core zone…

[…Now… this is not rooted… in my mind… as directly as it needs to be… that when we're talking about 'capitalist production' that is an effect of the underlying social relations of domination of us… we-the-people… and we're going to be saying next week that 'the economy' is merely 'class' relations quantified… and if we allow 'the economy' to be sacrosanct… so we are then therefore allowing 'class' to be sacrosanct… Because… recall what job they do… these functionaries… in the furthering of this global-state: they privatize the globe… and they serve their masters without question… and they both 'serve' and 'are' – there's a lot of cross-over… I would imagine… – P.S.]

Many of the locales that in the early 1970s seemed to provide capitalist production with a viable alternative to the restive labor environments of the core zone…have themselves turned, one after another, into loci of labor unrest – Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Iran, South Africa, and most recently, South Korea. [We'll return to this thought next week… I think… because we need to consider where we are right now on this issue… – P.S.] We may well say that since 1968 the functionaries of capital have been “on the run.” And while this heightened geographical mobility has tended to dampen the unruliness of labor in the places from which the functionaries of capital have fled, it has tended to have the opposite effect in the places in which they have settled.

 

–––

 

* “WUR of April 19th, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3):

[This is Part 7 of our “Moving Forward” series… revisiting the Waking Up Radio conversation of September 30, 2012:

 

“…and I think it's important for us to remember that while we have to struggle to the truth… because 'power' has a monopoly on the media… and always has… and in terms of how we can interconnect with each other… they know how critical… at least since Plato they've been very clear… that the power of thought is dangerous… and rulers know this… have known this… and because they can devote their lives to planning… ” “…you said 'the power of thought is dangerous' and I wanted to talk about that for a second… and make a distinction… The way I would phrase it is: 'the power of thought is powerful in conjunction with the sharing of ideas'… that if an individual says, 'I am free… I don't let the system control me…' that that is not an 'earth-based' assessment of what's going on… So: 'power of thought' in conjunction with 'the free-flow exchange of ideas'… with… as Kropotkin put it: 'going to the people'…” “Yes precisely… and in fact that ['going to the people'] is what the media is doing in a very 'efficient' way… because when Helen Caldicott or Col. Ann Wright says something like: 'the military trains people to become violent'… we are all… thinking that at the same time… so… it is a form of collective thinking… we're all thinking together… there isn't the exchange… that's the next step… that's how thought develops… And so the media is a critical piece in terms of speeding up the process… so that's why it has been obvious to 'power' for millennia how important is to control how thoughts get out… what thoughts get out… and particularly in this moment with these accelerated means – the speed with which things can get out – …it's a safe bet that they have been planning for this moment for decades if not centuries… the moment when the planet has been consumed to the degree that it can no longer adequately fund their game of 'supremacy'… and by 'fund' I mean 'fund our energy'… 'fund keeping us bought-off or complacent.' It's a global game of 'supremacy' they play which requires our unconscious complicity… And when you are in the 'end game'… which we are in… it is a very dangerous moment… So you can bet they have been thinking about… 'how do we neutralize the Pacifica Network'… 'how do we make sure that no rogue element advocating a mass movement to end wage work'… which is so incredibly obvious…” “If we talked to one another… and that's where I want to go with this: talking about the fears around responsibility…” [Spoken word is from our September 30, 2012 radio broadcast.]

–––

 

Today’s show: “Creating the Spaces We Need” (Part 1)

 

[“150419systemdisintegration.mp3”:]

 

…'power's chief strategy is our atomization (achieved through many means… and primarily… up to now… through the wage work system…) and we're going to be thinking as we conclude our reading of Antisystemic Movements… and absorb the thinking of our Good Three (because it's very rich and has never been – as far as I'm aware – adequately followed up on…) we're going to be thinking more about how that atomization is achieved as the world-economy contracts… because of the consumption of the planet… and is unable to keep us all 'occupied'…

 

April 14, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: Until we build the numbers we need… that create the physical spaces which receive our 'founding energy'… spaces in which we seed a healthy alternative to this diseased system… all who long for love… truth… and beauty to be the axis that turns the wheel of our new world… are at risk…

 

“If we talked to one another…” about our fears… my son will be saying in the next word-beat in the “Moving Forward” series… we would finally overcome 'power's chief strategy: our atomization (achieved through many means… and primarily… up to now… through the wage work system…) and we're going to be thinking as we conclude our reading of Antisystemic Movements… and absorb the thinking of our Good Three (because it's very rich and has never been – as far as I'm aware – adequately followed up on…) we're going to be thinking more about how that atomization is achieved as the world-economy contracts… because of the consumption of the planet… and is unable to keep us all 'occupied'…

 

What does 'atomization' mean when so many people are cut loose from 'employment'?

 

If we talked to each other about our fears we would overcome 'power's chief strategy: our atomization'…which leads to dissent being isolated… and eliminated… with ease.

 

It feels to me very solemn… this moment we're in… on the cusp of something completely different… full of fear… and full of anticipation…

 

…and promise…

 

We will get there… to that space in which we breathe together… laugh… and plan… but the challenges are serious. Folks with means are afraid to 'get involved'… the 'power'-guys display… to intimidate… an astonishing array of technology and weaponry… thoughts out in the broad populace have been so exceedingly controlled that the bridge to new thoughts seems effectively closed.

 

What to do?

 

Safety is no doubt an issue….

 

…and yet…

 

 

What we have to keep in mind and ponder… are time- and space-frames: the global 'class'-system is disintegrating… it can no longer generate the necessary 'legitimacy'… anywhere in the world…

 

…which means we are confronted with a global 'power' that easily feels threatened… and as a result is taking the offensive…

 

…but the needed thoughts… though it may seem otherwise… are already out there… else the reaction from 'power' would be more measured…

 

…we need only…

 

…figure out a way…

 

…to call the question [of what world do we want].

 

–––

 

[“150419webringthehope.mp3”:]

 

It is in examining the underlying structure of things that we gain our footing… achieve the clarity we need… the certainty… to serve in a leadership capacity… membership in which is self-selected and dedicated… those of us who choose to do this are the doctors… the Miklos'… the givers of hope who take pains to see and accept the full strategic picture… the diagnosticians who take it all in… with passion and love… what is being done to ourselves and our brothers and sisters… grateful for the chance to help bend our collective energy to a future when coercion is off our backs…

 

I want to call attention to two points our Good Three make… one from last week… the other from today:/p>

…pre-1968 power relations between capital and labor have never been restored. In this connection, we should not be deceived by the experience of particular national segments of the capital-labor relation. What must be assessed is the likelihood that the commands of the functionaries of capital be obeyed by their subordinates over the entire spatial domain of the capitalist world-economy, and over a period of time long enough to allow for the interplay of commands and responses to affect the relations of production and the distribution of resources. From this point of view, the central fact of the 1970s and 1980s has been the growing frustration experienced by the functionaries of capital in their global search for safe havens of labor discipline. Many of the locales that in the early 1970s seemed to provide capitalist production with a viable alternative to the restive labor environments of the core zone [are themselves no longer safe…]

Looking long… and broad… as our Good Three advise… we can see multiple processes unfolding simultaneously…

 

…we see the loosening of the hold of states – of the notion of the legitimacy of 'status-power-groupings' (to use their language… mine would be 'the internalized state'… in its various forms / expressions… but basically boiling down to 'citizen / barbarian' being the core distinction of 'class'… of the 'power'-guys' system…) – on our minds… and as our Good Three show us… this is a well-established… and on-going… process…

 

…we see that we… as individuals… are striving for clarity… hunger to know the truth…

 

…while at the same time… we see the loosening of the hold of 'the economy' (i.e. 'class' quantified…) over our minds as well…

 

So… while…

There is no denying that from all these points of view 1968 is dead and buried and cannot be revived by the thoughts and actions of the nostalgic few. Granted this, we must nonetheless distinguish carefully between the movements and ideologies of 1968 and the underlying structural transformations that preceded and outlived those movements and ideologies. These structural transformations are the outcome of secular trends of the capitalist world-economy, and as such cannot be reversed by any unfavorable conjuncture that might ensue from their open manifestation.

It is in examining the underlying structure of things that we gain our footing… achieve the clarity we need… the certainty… to serve in a leadership capacity… membership in which is self-selected and dedicated…

 

…those of us who choose to do this are the doctors… the Miklos'… the givers of hope who take pains to see and accept the full strategic picture… the diagnosticians who take it all in… with passion and love… what is being done to ourselves and our brothers and sisters… grateful for the chance to help bend our collective energy to a future when coercion is off our backs…

 

…trusting our voicings of the truth… knowing that reality shifts to the open and free the more our longing for it is repeated… that voice names what exists (which is why it's so important that it be honest…) that claiming the right to name our experience of dispossession for what it is… is the first step to reclaiming the planet…

 

As Miklos showed us… to study the long-term trends that (as they are in motion… and will deliver the outcome they are burdened with…) that reveal our unburdened (of coercion) future… means we bring the necessary hope that builds the momentum we need to get to our freedom…

 

…means that we create the 'safe' spaces that foster the study and sharing and practicing of ideas for bringing about the living brotherhood and sisterhood of global humanity…

 

…because that's what we want… we want force off our backs.

 

–––

[Today’s reading: we continue with Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…, “1968: The Great Rehearsal”… – P.S.]

 

–––

 

* April 19th, 2015 reading: returning to Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…

 

[“150419democracycon.mp3”:]

 

“Notwithstanding the many and real differences that set the Prague Spring and the Chinese Cultural Revolution apart, the two movements had one thing in common: they were assaults on the dictatorship of the officials… But most Third World states, caught between higher prices for energy resources and stiffer competition from newly industrializing countries, have experienced even greater impoverishment and underdevelopment than they did before 1968. Similar considerations apply to the other subordinate groups. Thus, over the last fifteen years the progressive breakdown of generational, gender, and ethnic barriers to the circulation of elites (which has benefitted quite a few members of each group) has been accompanied by youth unemployment, double exploitation of women, and the immiseration of “minorities” on an unprecedented scale. As for the change in the balance of power between labor and capital, its benefits have accrued mostly to workers engaged in stepping up the automation of labor processes, or in servicing the expanded markets for elites, or in running the relocated plants in their new locations. For the rest, the gains of the late 1960s and early 1970s have been eroded, at first by the great inflation of the 1970s and then by the unemployment of the 1980s. It is probably too early to assess who is benefitting and who is losing in material terms from the crisis of dictatorships. But here too the preliminary record seems to indicate that the material benefits of greater democracy have accrued only to a small fraction of the population.”

 

[And…] Finally [of the legacies of 1968…], in the 1970s and 1980s, civil society at large has been far less responsive to the commands of the bearers (or would-be bearers) of state power than it had been before 1968. Although a general phenomenon, this diminished power of states over civil society has been most evident in the semiperiphery, where it has taken the form of a crisis of “bourgeois” and “proletarian” dictatorships alike. Since 1973, “bourgeois” dictatorships have been displaced by democratic regimes in southern Europe (Portugal, Greece, Spain), East Asia (Philippines, South Korea), and in Latin America (most notably Brazil and Argentina).

 

Alongside this crisis, indeed preceding and following it, has developed the crisis of the so-called dictatorships of the proletariat. Notwithstanding the many and real differences that set the Prague Spring and the Chinese Cultural Revolution apart, the two movements had one thing in common: they were assaults on the dictatorship of the officials (primarily but not exclusively on the dictatorship of the Community Party's officials) dressed up as a dictatorship of the proletariat. In China, the assault was so violent and unrestrained as to deal a fatal blow to that dictatorship. Subsequently, party rule could be re-established (as it has been) only by accommodating demands for greater grassroots democracy and economic decentralization. In Czechoslovakia, a nonviolent and restrained assault was put down speedily through Soviet military intervention. Yet, between 1970 and 1980 the challenge re-emerged in a more formidable fashion in Poland, eventually shaking the Soviet leadership's confidence in the possibility of patching up a crumbling hegemony indefinitely by means of repression and purely cosmetic changes in party dictatorship.

 

This tendency has been most evident among Third World states. The oil-producing states were able to take advantage of the new balance of power in the interstate system by charging after 1973 a much higher rent for the use of their natural resources than they were ever able to do before 1968. This advantage lasted about ten years. A few other Third World states have been able to step up their own industrialization by taking advantage of the relocation of industrial activities from core countries. How much of a gain this will constitute by the 1990s remains to be seen. But most Third World states, caught between higher prices for energy resources and stiffer competition from newly industrializing countries, have experienced even greater impoverishment and underdevelopment than they did before 1968.

 

Similar considerations apply to the other subordinate groups. Thus, over the last fifteen years the progressive breakdown of generational, gender, and ethnic barriers to the circulation of elites (which has benefitted quite a few members of each group) has been accompanied by youth unemployment, double exploitation of women, and the immiseration of “minorities” on an unprecedented scale. As for the change in the balance of power between labor and capital, its benefits have accrued mostly to workers engaged in stepping up the automation of labor processes, or in servicing the expanded markets for elites, or in running the relocated plants in their new locations. For the rest, the gains of the late 1960s and early 1970s have been eroded, at first by the great inflation of the 1970s and then by the unemployment of the 1980s. It is probably too early to assess who is benefitting and who is losing in material terms from the crisis of dictatorships. But here too the preliminary record seems to indicate that the material benefits of greater democracy have accrued only to a small fraction of the population.

 

[“150419sonsofthemother.mp3”:]

 

Is not the requirement that we be subjects inherent… not just in the 'capitalist world-economy'… but in the logic of 'rule' itself… across 'class'-time? And why should this premise of 'rule' be sacrosanct? Why should we relinquish our right to give to ourselves our own 'reproduction'… setting 'economic' categories aside so that we – as opposed to 'things' – may move about freely… and pursue our happiness? Here again we see the trap that is 'economic theory' leaves us nowhere to go… stuck in its 'logic'… In its frame and definitions we remain 'labor' – never human beings – ad infinitum… but in earth-speak… there is an opening… a road… a path… to freedom…

 

In all directions we are faced with the apparent paradox that a favorable change in the balance of power has brought little or no change in material benefit to the majority of each subordinate group. This apparent paradox has the simple explanation that the reproduction of material welfare in the capitalist world-economy is conditional upon the political and social subordination of the actual and potential laboring masses. To the extent that this subordination is lessened, the propensity of the capitalist world-economy to reproduce and expand material welfare is lessened too.

[Is not the requirement that we be subjects inherent… not just in the 'capitalist world-economy'… but in the logic of 'rule' itself… across 'class'-time? And why should this premise of 'rule' be sacrosanct? Why should we relinquish our right to give to ourselves our own 'reproduction'… setting 'economic' categories aside so that we – as opposed to 'things' – may move about freely… and pursue our happiness?

 

Here again we see the trap that is 'economic theory' leaves us nowhere to go… stuck in its 'logic'… In its frame and definitions we remain 'labor' – never human beings – ad infinitum…

 

…but in earth-speak… there is an opening… a road… a path… to freedom…

 

Recall Whitman's “laws for creations”:

Each of us inevitable,

Each of us is limitless – each of us with his or her right upon the earth,

Each of us allow'd the eternal purports of the earth,

Each of us here as divinely as any is here.

–––

Laws for creations,

For strong artists and leaders…

All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of the world,

There shall be no subject too pronounced – all works shall illustrate the divine law of indirections.

 

What do you suppose creation is?

What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free and own no superior?

What do you suppose I would intimate to you in a hundred ways, but that man or woman is as good as God?

And that there is no God any more divine than Yourself?

And that that is what the oldest and newest myths finally mean?

And that you or any one must approach creations through such laws?

–––

Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,

Be not dishearten'd, affection shall solve the problems of freedom yet,

Those who love each other shall become invincible,

They shall yet make Columbia victorious.

 

Sons of the Mother of All, you shall yet be victorious…

 

(Were you looking to be held together by lawyers?

Or by an agreement on a paper? or by arms?

Nay, nor the world, nor any living thing, will so cohere.)

 

(Walt Whitman, Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic A Voice)

[“150419workableplan.mp3”:]

 

“To the extent that this subordination [of us] is lessened, the propensity of the capitalist world-economy to reproduce and expand material welfare is lessened too…” What worth a 'benefit' conditional upon our subordination?… our 'agreeing' to relinquish our power as living beings?… 'The economy' is merely 'class'-relations quantified… and if 'the economy' is sacrosanct… so is 'class'… What if von Werlhof's point had been followed up on?… and of course if we own our bodies there's no such thing as putting them on the market… for hire – paid… to follow orders… to do what you're told to if you want to live – that's a set-up for fascism… and this has to be the conversations… not in this tiny space… but in the streets… we have to start acknowledging that 'facism-creep' that is all around us right now… And it may just seem accelerated here in the Bay Area because it's been such a fount of 'progressivism' that it's been massively infiltrated… seriously… I had no idea until I put myself in the crosshairs… but it's good to know… we have to know the truth… Miklos is right… we have to face the full… harsh… reality… to develop authentic planning… “…self-esteem begins with a workable plan…” for real.

 

What meaning this thing – 'material welfare' – to a soul enslaved? What worth a 'benefit' conditional upon our subordination?… our 'agreeing' to relinquish our power as living beings?… 'The economy' is merely 'class'-relations quantified… and if 'the economy' is sacrosanct… so is 'class'… – P.S.]

…To the extent that this subordination is lessened, the propensity of the capitalist world-economy to reproduce and expand material welfare is lessened too. [Only because 'rule' has been made sacrosanct… made to seem the 'necessary' footing… of the 'modern' way of life… – P.S.]

 

The history of the capitalist world-economy since 1973 has been the history of its adjustment to the social upheavals of the previous five years. The adjustment has been problematic, leading some to speak of a general crisis of capitalism, because of the scope, suddenness, and simultaneity of the changes in power relations ushered in by the social upheavals. When changes in power relations are limited and piecemeal, as they usually are, the capitalist world-economy can accommodate without difficulty imperceptible changes in the overall allocation of resources and distribution of rewards. But when the changes are numerous, significant, and simultaneous, as they were in the period 1968 – 1973, their accommodation involves long and serious disruptions in established patterns of social and economic life.

 

The inadequate access to means of production, of exchange, and of protection that characterizes subordinate groups makes the latter particularly vulnerable to these disruptions.…

[…what if… in the academic halls of the Left… there had been a concerted effort to follow up on von Werlhof's point…

 

…and the point just made: embrace the most vulnerable… embrace 'all of us'… recognizing in so doing that 'generalization of immiseration' is 'power's plan for 'all of us'… Von Werhof's point:

 

…that: “…An alternative is possible only if we, men and women, succeed in getting back forever not simply the wage, but much more – namely the means of production: our bodies…

…and of course if we own our bodies there's no such thing as putting them on the market… for hire – paid… to follow orders… to do what you're told to if you want to live – that's a set-up for fascism… and this has to be the conversations… not in this tiny space… but in the streets… we have to start acknowledging that 'facism-creep' that is all around us right now… And it may just seem accelerated here in the Bay Area because it's been such a fount of 'progressivism' that it's been massively infiltrated… seriously… I had no idea until I put myself in the crosshairs… but it's good to know… we have to know the truth… Miklos is right… we have to face the full… harsh… reality… to develop authentic planning… “…self-esteem begins with a workable plan…” for real.

[“150419technologybasket.mp3”:]

 

“One may wonder, however, whether this failure of a more favorable balance of power to deliver welfare might not be swinging the balance of power back in favor of dominant groups…” I don't think we need to 'wonder' on that one anymore. They took the technology and ran with it. They put all their eggs in that 'Technology' basket… that 'Weapons Technology' basket. The argument in this space is that… so long as 'class' remains unchallenged… so long as the originating-concession – that First Cause – of our bodies' loss remains unchallenged… there can be no 'improvement' worthy of claiming our ambition… as 'power's ultimate aim will ever be to impose permanent conditions of enslavement – differentially expressed – on all of us. There simply is no turning 'power' away from – whatever it temporarily concedes out of necessity – its totalitarian vision of a permanent global 'class' system… [But then:] “The competitive system absorbs the full energies of most of the people at all economic levels. Constant application, attention, and concentration of energy are the conditions of survival within it, primarily in the specifically economic professions, but also in other activities organized on their model… In a purely capitalist world, what was once energy for war becomes simply energy for labor of every kind…” What 'power' is engaged in at the moment… because they fear what is being called 'the periphery'… and the fact that there are some 'been-wide-awake' folk in this so-called 'periphery'… – that their main concern is locking us down… here in the so-called 'West'… because we have those [technological] resources [that would allow us to facilitate the unification…] and so they want us to remain… indifferent…

 

…and 'workable' means 'seeing reality'…

 

“…An alternative is possible only if we, men and women, succeed in getting back forever not simply the wage, but much more – namely the means of production: our bodies and our children, our houses and our land, our knowledge and our creativity, and the results of our labor.…”?

 

…'follow up'… not just among themselves… but beyond those halls… and out into the world of we commoners… to let us know… that heart… love… truth… beauty – was about to supersede 'economic theory'?… – P.S.]

…We should not be surprised, therefore, if most members of the subordinate groups have experienced little or no improvement over the last fifteen years in their material welfare, notwithstanding, nay even because of, the improvement in their power position. One may wonder, however, whether this failure of a more favorable balance of power to deliver welfare might not be swinging the balance of power back in favor of dominant groups.

[I don't think we need to 'wonder' on that one anymore. They took the technology and ran with it. They put all their eggs in that 'Technology' basket… that 'Weapons Technology' basket. The argument in this space is that… so long as 'class' remains unchallenged… so long as the originating-concession – that First Cause – of our bodies' loss remains unchallenged… there can be no 'improvement' worthy of claiming our ambition… as 'power's ultimate aim will ever be to impose permanent conditions of enslavement – differentially expressed – on all of us. There simply is no turning 'power' away from – whatever it temporarily concedes out of necessity – its totalitarian vision of a permanent global 'class' system… – P.S.]

The cultural and political backlash of the late 1970s and of the 1980s against everything that 1968 stood for seems to suggest that this is indeed what is happening. While still paying lip-service to Third World solidarity, Third World states have been engaged in widespread feuding and intense economic competition among themselves. [Sown by hidden-'power' do not doubt… and not just through the economic means of 'debt'… and the international financial institutions… – P.S.] The younger generations, the women, the 'minorities' have all switched, albeit to different degrees, from collective to individual concerns, while class solidarity and unity of political purpose among workers are in most places at an historical low. And in the epicenters of the struggle for political democracy, the desire for more and greater freedoms is often paralyzed by fears of economic disruption. [Do we see how effectively the con 'the economy' silences dissent… once we have been slotted into our 'nation' boxes?… – P.S.]

 

There is no denying that from all these points of view 1968 is dead and buried and cannot be revived by the thoughts and actions of the nostalgic few. Granted this, we must nonetheless distinguish carefully between the movements and ideologies of 1968 and the underlying structural transformations that preceded and outlived those movements and ideologies. These structural transformations are the outcome of secular trends of the capitalist world-economy, and as such cannot be reversed by any unfavorable conjuncture that might ensue from their open manifestation.

 

Thus, [Let me say at the outset that I'm still pondering this 'thus'… because… it seems to imply multiple things and I'm not sure which… if any… they mean… but let's read it first… – P.S.] Adam Smith long ago pointed out the negative long-term impact of an ever widening and deepening division of labor on the martial qualities of the peoples that are most directly involved in it. The greater specialization and mechanization of war activities themselves could counter this negative impact, but only up to a point. At the beginning of our century, Joseph Schumpeter made a similar point in support of his argument that capitalist development undermines the capabilities (as opposed to the propensities) of states to engage in imperialist wars:

The competitive system absorbs the full energies of most of the people at all economic levels. Constant application, attention, and concentration of energy are the conditions of survival within it, primarily in the specifically economic professions, but also in other activities organized on their model… In a purely capitalist world, what was once energy for war becomes simply energy for labor of every kind. (Joseph Schumpeter, Imperialism and Social Classes, 1955, p. 69)

 

[We are going to have to think more about what our Good Three and Mr. Schumpeter are saying here… in terms of the reduction of the ability [of the 'power'-guys] to engage in imperialist wars… because we are making a different argument here… that that was not necessarily to 'power's disadvantage… whether or not it anticipated and planned for it… – and it is this focus on 'the martial qualities of the people' that I'm pondering here… what it is they're getting at… whether they're talking about the erosion of the ability of the state to compel loyalty and allegiance… or whether they're talking about the erosion of the capacities of the people for true 'innovation' and creativity… we're going to have to think about this… I want to make sure we're doing full justice to this awesome work by our Good Three… which never got adequate attention from all the pundits out there… – P.S.]

To this we need only to add that the spatial unevenness of capitalist development has tended to undermine the martial qualities of peoples precisely in those states where it tended to concentrate wealth. Up to a point, core states have been able to counter the ensuing change in balance of power implicit in this tendency through an ever-increasing capital intensity of war. But at a certain point – as the experience of the US in Vietnam and of the USSR in Afghanistan have shown in exemplary fashion – further increases in the capital intensity of war bring rapidly decreasing returns, particularly when it comes to policing the periphery of the world-economy.…

[What 'power' is engaged in at the moment… because they fear what is being called 'the periphery'… and the fact that there are some 'been-wide-awake' folk in this so-called 'periphery'… – that their main concern is locking us down… here in the so-called 'West'… because we have those [technological] resources (that would allow us to facilitate the unification…) and so they want us to remain… indifferent… – P.S.]

[“150419statepowererosion.mp3”:]

 

“In order to reproduce, or re-establish, the command of capital over labor in the workplace, the functionaries of capital are induced to mobilize an ever-growing proportion of the labor force in wage activities but by so doing they revolutionize power relations between the genders and among age-groups and 'ethnicities.'” [I love the dynamism of their thinking here… I've said this before… it is like jazz… the 'I-feed-off-you'… the living interplay… They recognize that this is ever in play… ever dynamic… – 'power's play ever-dependent on our staying asleep… And… remember… that we are now in a moment when they can't… though they want to… expand the proportion of us in the 'labor force'… in this moment… and we're talking 'globally' – always… 'globally' we have to base our understanding… our assessment… our planning… our strategizing… – on the 'overall'… the global scene… – P.S.]

 

The same processes that undermine the power of core states over peripheral states over the longue durée of the capitalist world-system also undermine the power of capital over labor, of dominant over subordinate status-groups, of states over civil society. An ever widening and deepening division of labor makes capital increasingly vulnerable to workplace acts of protest and passive resistance on the part of subordinate workers, regardless of the level of class consciousness and organization expressed by those acts. In order to reproduce, or re-establish, the command of capital over labor in the workplace, the functionaries of capital are induced to mobilize an ever-growing proportion of the labor force in wage activities but by so doing they revolutionize power relations between the genders and among age-groups and 'ethnicities.' [I love the dynamism of their thinking here… I've said this before… it is like jazz… the 'I-feed-off-you'… the living interplay… They recognize that this is ever in play… ever dynamic… – 'power's play ever-dependent on our staying asleep… And… remember… that we are now in a moment when they can't… though they want to… expand the proportion of us in the 'labor force'… in this moment… and we're talking 'globally' – always… 'globally' we have to base our understanding… our assessment… our planning… our strategizing… – on the 'overall'… the global scene… – P.S.] Last but not least, the growing complexity of the division of labor within and across political jurisdictions makes the exercise of state power over civil society increasingly problematic.

 

These are the kinds of process that prepared the ground for, and eventually gave rise to, the movements of 1968.…

[Let's keep in mind that they are writing almost thirty years ago… and we must situate the out-flows from 1968 that they're describing in that moment… the moment in which they write… i.e.… they are now realities… realities that we take for granted – both the leveling of status-power-relations… and… despite that… the generalization of immiseration to everyone… – P.S.]

[“150419longueduree.mp3”:]

 

Eurozone?… No… US?… Can't do it… You see what I mean about the dynamism of the moment… about how everything is in flux… everything is on the table… is up for grabs… let's grab our lives back!… We are not going to have a moment more opportune… They are ready to roll in global fascism… They just have to get all their players in line behind it… and get us… here in the 'West'… and perhaps especially the US… locked down… by figuring out how to nullify the Internet… and the capacity for instantaneous communication – the capacity it brings us for organizing on a world-scale… literally we can organize a global General Strike overnight… if the consciousness is there to do it… if we start talking about it… if we put our agenda out in the streets… not be afraid to say the so-called illegitimate thoughts… the thoughts not sanctioned by the official media. We have to make our media the only one that matters… the 'people's media'… the media of our voices in the streets… and let those seeds blossom in multiple 'safe' planning spaces…

 

These are the kinds of process that prepared the ground for, and eventually gave rise to, the movements of 1968. Being processes of the longue durée, their unfolding spans the entire lifetime of the capitalist world-economy. The explosions of 1968 and their aftermath can be interpreted as symptom of the fact that the system is approaching its historical asymptote. 1968, with its successes and failures, was thus a prehide, better, a rehearsal, of things to come.

[And we do appreciate what they're saying: that they are looking over the entire course – five centuries plus – of what has been named the 'capitalist world-system'… so when they are saying that they are looking at 1968 as a 'rehearsal'… that is not speculation… they have been studying the long-term structural trends that drive the processes that comprise that 'system' of 'accumulation'… trends that are bringing to us the outcomes of 1968… and as they are about to say… that's in flux too… that's in movement too… and that it depends on us… – P.S.]

1968: A Rehearsal of What?

 

If 1968 is analogous to 1848 as a failed world-scale revolution and as a world-historical great rehearsal, for what sort of world-revolution may it be the great rehearsal? Can we on analogy project today's underlying secular trends, specify what was new about yesterday's new social movements, and thereby sketch in advance likely trajectories of the confrontation and progressive social changes they suggest? As we move chronologically towards the 1990s and the 2000s, our historical social system, the capitalist world-economy, continues to be faced with difficulties in four principal arenas.

 

First, the interstate system is marked by a military stand-off between the US and the USSR and the evident inability of either to control matters of consequence in states of the periphery. Hegemony is giving way to its conceptual counterpoint, the condition of rivalry. [We should think more about this: 'hegemony is giving way to its conceptual counterpoint, the condition of rivalry'… – P.S.] The possible realignments of alliances between the five major actors – the US, the USSR, Western Europe, Japan, and China – are only now beginning. And everyone is approaching such realignments most gingerly and most fearfully. And by 'everyone'… they mean the 'power'-guys… the global-state-statesmen… those looking at that whole 'world order'… trying to figure out their place in it… and how to keep 'their people' subjected… – P.S.] Hence, US hegemony is being eroded without any clear, and therefore reassuring, world order to replace it. [Eurozone?… No… US?… Can't do it… You see what I mean about the dynamism of the moment… about how everything is in flux… everything is on the table… is up for grabs… let's grab our lives back!… We are not going to have a moment more opportune… They are ready to roll in global fascism… They just have to get all their players in line behind it… and get us… here in the 'West'… and perhaps especially the US… locked down… by figuring out how to nullify the Internet… and the capacity for instantaneous communication – the capacity it brings us for organizing on a world-scale… literally we can organize a global General Strike overnight… if the consciousness is there to do it… if we start talking about it… if we put our agenda out in the streets… not be afraid to say the so-called illegitimate thoughts… the thoughts not sanctioned by the official media. We have to make our media the only one that matters… the 'people's media'… the media of our voices in the streets… and let those seeds blossom in multiple 'safe' planning spaces… – P.S.] Meanwhile, markets of all sorts – capital, capital goods, labor, wage-goods (ordinary), wage-goods ('durable') – are evolving at a rapid pace.…

 

[“150419titanic.mp3”:]

 

…and so… clearly… all the various financial meltdowns in the subsequent thirty years were entirely predictable and predicted by our Good Three… so let's don't kid ourselves that any of this was not clearly understood by the 'power'-guys… what was about to happen and was / is inevitable… because… as our Good Three say… these are structural trends that cannot be reversed… just like the Titantic… after so much water taken in… it's not going anywhere but down…

 

The possible realignments of alliances between the five major actors – the US, the USSR, Western Europe, Japan, and China – are only now beginning. And everyone is approaching such realignments most gingerly and most fearfully. Hence, US hegemony is being eroded without any clear, and therefore reassuring, world order to replace it. Meanwhile, markets of all sorts – capital, capital goods, labor, wage-goods (ordinary), wage-goods ('durable') – are evolving at a rapid pace.…

[The sixth major actor… the earth… in the master's tongue appears as 'the market'… or 'the economy'… but… as our source and mother tongue exerts a continuous pressure of her own 'realignment'… restoration of balance… expressed in the 'explosions of 1968… – P.S.]

…They are becoming less and less regulated social mechanisms of the circuits of capital and more and more loci of speculation…

[…and so… clearly… all the various financial meltdowns in the subsequent thirty years were entirely predictable and predicted by our Good Three… so let's don't kid ourselves that any of this was not clearly understood by the 'power'-guys… what was about to happen and was / is inevitable… because… as our Good Three say… these are structural trends that cannot be reversed… just like the Titanic… after so much water taken in… it's not going anywhere but down… – P.S.]

…They are becoming less and less regulated social mechanisms of the circuits of capital and more and more loci of speculation (what liberals call 'market forces') and increasingly show (as on 19 October 1987 in equity prices) the kind of jagged price movements which are at once their hallmark and the reason for their always and everywhere being objects of regulation.

 

Possibly the Group of Seven (with the IBRD, IMF, and BIS) can impose renewed order. Possibly the transnationals' ingestion of markets through vertical integration (and the analogous organization of their counterparts in countries of existing socialism) is sufficient for them to absorb and so to dampen the price movements. Whether, in this sense, the world-scale centralizing of capital is historically far enough advanced (as suggested by 'the absolute general law') to replace the interstate system's market-regulation via hegemony, we shall see.

 

–––

 

* “WUR of April 26th, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3):

[This is part of our “Moving Forward” series… revisiting the Waking Up Radio conversation of September 30, 2012:

 

“…at the very moment when our brothers and sisters in Egypt were using social media to get rid of a dictator… there was a group of young people in southern California who were using it to plan a pillow fight… ” “…Yeah…” [Spoken word is from our September 30, 2012 radio broadcast.]

–––

 

[“150426greensleeves.mp3”:]

 

There is a whole body… mind… and soul… there in Mr. Burns… showing us how it is a longing for freedom-in-union-and-wholeness being expressed… in all healthy longing… based in a soul-sufficiency of spirit – …where we're going… where we tend… is what we must cultivate within.… Essentially our Good Three are asking whether… and if so how… centralizing the resources of the earth into the hands of the Miniscule Few could “replace the interstate system's market-regulation via hegemony…” (i.e. a hegemonic state maintains 'order' in the world through its deciding control of where resources go… via its command of pricing mechanisms…)

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency” (Part 2)

Green sleeves and tartan ties…

Mark my truelove where she lies;

I'll be at her or [ere] she rise,

My fiddle and I thegither [together]. –

 

Be it by the chrystal burn [water],

Be it by the milk-white thorn,

I shall rouse her in the morn,

My fiddle and I thegither [together]. –

 

(Robert Burns)

 

There is a whole body… mind… and soul… there in Mr. Burns… showing us how it is a longing for freedom-in-union-and-wholeness being expressed… in all healthy longing… based in a soul-sufficiency of spirit –

 

…where we're going… where we tend… is what we must cultivate within.

April 23, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: Thirty years ago our Good Three – who did their analysis… identified the underlying structural trends inherent in what they call “the processes of accumulation”… and in what I call “the consumption of the planet”…

 

…they pointed out that as 'markets' (the resources of the planet…) get played out – i.e. as the earth gets tapped out – more and more they (markets) become “loci of speculation”… showing us that if they… our Good Three… could see the underlying 'economic' instability that necessarily follows a feeding frenzy… and therefore the inevitable 'crises'…

 

…then… the 'power'-guys… who have nothing else to do but devote their lives to foreseeing the obvious outcomes of obvious trends… and to intervening in our lives to make the 'reality' they want us to accept as authentic… happen…

 

…these 'power'-guys could also see the inevitability of 'capitalist crises'…

 

Our Good Three left us pondering “whether… the world-scale centralizing of capital is historically far enough advanced (as suggested by 'the absolute general law') to replace the interstate system's market-regulation via hegemony…”

 

Essentially they are asking whether… and if so how… centralizing the resources of the earth into the hands of the Miniscule Few could “replace the interstate system's market-regulation via hegemony…” (i.e. a hegemonic state maintains 'order' in the world through its deciding control of where resources go… via its command of pricing mechanisms…)

 

Recall from a previous show our discussion of how the market is not a value-determining but a value-assigning mechanism for 'power'… so when our Good Three ask that question… they're really asking (as when they say 'the interstate system' they're really saying 'power'…) if that form… (or masking ideology: 'the market'…) if that form… masking ideology of 'power' can no longer stand up… has lost too much substance (no actual earth to back it…) and so has lost all legitimacy…

 

…if that mask has fallen… is there any other mask that could replace it… because when all 'power'-masks fall… we finally can begin to live in a world we determine… all of us together… and claim our lives as global humans…

 

–––

 

[“150426theworldwewant.mp3”:]

 

So we can make planning spaces that are 'safe'… once we define their qualities. (And that's the theme for today's show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency”… so that's perhaps where we begin in defining these qualities: What would make a place a place of cultivation of soul-sufficiency?… because it has to be that to be 'safe'… we all of us have to be agreed on that… as a starting place.)… so another key quality is: 'continuous growth based in continuous discussion'… because we have to get to a place of 'comfort' in working with our Brothers and Sisters who… don't have access to the process that we're engaged in… and that's going to be difficult…What was the core longing of 1968 if not to be done with false divisions? – i.e. 'class' in all its manifestations?

 

That dream that's been haunting us for millennia is not a pipe-dream… it is our destiny… and the fact that we've been millennia in the striving don't make it any less… true… legitimate.

 

We have to begin discussing the fact… that the world we have… to which we are conditioned to adapt…

 

…a world in which no one lives free… no one becomes the sun they're meant to be… one… on the contrary… in which we stand in shadows cast wide and long… is… a profoundly unsafe place to be… because no one can see other than their own struggle to be seen… And that's not judgment… that's just reality… we are… each one of us… forced into this individual struggle to try to… not just to survive… but to 'figure out' why it is… the circumstances… the social arrangement… around us has been made so difficult… Why? (“The Outer – from the Inner… Derives its Magnitude – …”)

 

But…

 

…just as each individual under 'class' – when separated from his brothers and sisters – manifests the state… so each individual – in our daily lived reality of Unity – once we join hands – manifests Freedom.

 

So we can make planning spaces that are 'safe'… once we define their qualities. (And that's the theme for today's show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency”… so that's perhaps where we begin in defining these qualities: What would make a place a place of cultivation of soul-sufficiency?… because it has to be that to be 'safe'… we all of us have to be agreed on that… as a starting place.)

 

This week I ran into someone who had been a good friend… but writing Waking Up altered the course of my life fundamentally… drew me in and along a course I could never have anticipated… and… understandably… that course felt foreign to my friends…

 

I tried to provide a concise summary of the arguments and discussions that happen in this space… as she was short on time… I asked her whether she might consider hosting a discussion of some of the issues – and… that's a sub-theme of today's show: “what are some of the key discussions we should have?”… because another key quality of such a 'safe space'… would be not just 'continuous growth'… but 'continuous growth based in continuous probing'….

(…sad to say… we have a world of… 'souls-for-hire'… but then until we create these safe places for the 'cultivation of soul-sufficiency'… what alternative do we have?… We've been arguing that in this system… there is a totalitarian level of control of the thoughts we have access to… which means alternative possible thoughts… alternative possibilities… haven't been made available to us…)

…so another key quality is: 'continuous growth based in continuous discussion'… because we have to get to a place of 'comfort' in working with our Brothers and Sisters who… don't have access to the process that we're engaged in… and that's going to be difficult…

 

So 'discussions' is a sub-theme of today's show: “What are some places to begin thinking through… moving… the transition to the point where we're building our future?”

 

So I asked if she would consider hosting a discussion of the issues… could she find an issue-point of entry that might feel welcoming… I wondered out loud to her… a discussion-theme that would get us to the ultimate ones of 'work' (I learned… is the exact right place to start… if you want to end up in 'power's crosshairs… which… I'm afraid we do…) 'coercion' as core to 'the system'… and 'class' being totalitarian (none of this is discussed as we grow up in the world of 'class'… rather… just the opposite… they're presented as inevitable…) she said she could think of nothing.

 

Afterwards… I found myself coming again to this question of… longing… longing for that which has been silenced… In previous shows I commented on how I saw that 'longing' in two-year-olds… I saw them let it go… too…

 

What was the core longing of 1968 if not to be done with false divisions? – i.e. 'class' in all its manifestations?…

 

I think the question boils down to “What world do we want?”… because all the other necessary questions flow from it: “Why don't we think we deserve it?” “Why do we stop ourselves from asking for it?” “What do we think gets in the way of our having precisely the world we want?”

 

–––

 

[“150426redefinework.mp3”:]

 

…and we've talked about this in previous shows… how the wage-work-system makes of love… affection… and attention… a scarce commodity – ensuring that the mindset of 'being productive' is systematically reinforced by the structure of the family system itself… that we learn that we have to earn – and that we aren't really able to… truth be told – earn the attention of our parents… It is the perceived 'need' to 'prove' ourselves 'worthy' – the internalized state… our unconscious allegiance with 'power' – that is the problem we must overcome… and I have to add here… that it is real hard to do that while stuck in the wage… I can testify… but it can be done… I can also testify to that… and I write about this towards the end of Waking Up… that as we gain access to new ideas… new thoughts… and as they germinate within us… we can begin to redefine the meaning of wage work in our lives as 'that which must be done for now…' in order to gain the leverage to figure out a way to move beyond it… that's what this is all about… figuring out… how to get out of this trap that we're stuck in…

 

'Power' believes… that it 'organizes' the world for us… identifies 'the best'… eliminates the recalcitrant… assigns jobs to the rest… – allowing for the acquisition and pursuit… of 'Knowledge-Infinite'… and we have loaned them our agreement… pending discussion… across the political spectrum…. Here is the Marxist version:

Thus the secret of capitalist 'money-making' is resolved by the fact that the wage-labourer, who owns none of the means of production […always remembering Von Werlhof's point… that the key… the most important… 'means of production' are our bodies and those of our children… – P.S.], is compelled to work beyond the time necessary for the maintenance of his life – that he can only live at all, if he simultaneously sacrifices a part of his life to capital. Only by these means can capital valorise itself, create surplus-value. “What appears as surplus-value on capital's side appears identically on the worker's side as surplus-labour in excess of his requirements as worker, hence in excess of his immediate requirements for keeping himself alive.” [Marx, Grundrisse, p. 595] In this respect there is no basic difference between the social situation of the wage-labourer and that of the exploited classes of earlier epochs; since “Where capital rules (just as where there is slavery and bondage or serfdom of any sort), the worker's absolute labour-time [that is labour-time containing surplus-value] is posited for him as condition of being allowed to work the necessary labour-time, i.e. of being allowed to realise the labour-time necessary for the maintenance of his labour capacity in use-values for himself.” [Grundrisse, p. 533]

 

[…and I ruefully was smiling there because the perspective in Marx's words there is so totally utilitarian from the perspective of 'power'… it makes me weep a bit… – P.S.]

 

Thus, just as with previous modes of exploitation, capital's mode of exploitation is also based on the surplus labour of the direct producers. It is clear that the capital relations (and also that of serfdom and slavery) would not be possible if human labour merely provided what was necessary to keep the producers alive. “If the whole labour of a country”, wrote an English author in 1821, “were sufficient only to raise the support of the whole population, there would be no surplus labour, consequently nothing that can be allowed to accumulate as capital,” [from an anonymous pamphlet cited in the Grundrisse] Consequently, advantageous natural conditions, or a relatively high degree of productiveness of human labour, constitute the preconditions for every form of exploitation, for all forms of class-rule. In this sense, “it can be said that surplus-value etc. rests on a natural law, that is on the productivity of human labour in its exchange with nature.” [Marx, Theories of Surplus-Value, III] However… relations have to arise which compel the producers to work beyond their necessary labour-time. (Roman Rosdolsky, The Making of Marx's 'Capital', 1968, p. 220 – 221)

Implied here: that 'the system' (of 'rule') produces 'the surplus' that allows for the 'advancement' of 'civilization'… or 'modern life'… and a certain number of souls sacrificed is 'an acceptable price to pay'… in order to achieve 'it'. This is a key discussion.

 

We also must discuss both our intrinsic wholeness… how 'force' distorts… steals… not 'portions' of us merely… but our entire being… when it purports to commandeer just a piece… during the hours of 'work'… as a living thing cannot be partitioned and remain a cohesive whole…

 

…and along with this discussion… there is intimately tied another: the degree to which (under the influence of “hidden 'power'”) what's called 'human nature' is intentionally sculpted… our mental state shaped with the belief that we must be 'productive': that we're here to serve the state… essentially… when there is no alternative to 'the state' as a frame within which to place our allegiance…

 

It is the perceived 'need' to 'prove' ourselves 'worthy'…

(…and we've talked about this in previous shows… how the wage-work-system makes of love… affection… and attention… a scarce commodity – ensuring that the mindset of 'being productive' is systematically reinforced by the structure of the family system itself… that we learn that we have to earn – and that we aren't really able to… truth be told – earn the attention of our parents…)

It is the perceived 'need' to 'prove' ourselves 'worthy' – the internalized state… our unconscious allegiance with 'power' – that is the problem we must overcome…

(…and I have to add here… that it is real hard to do that while stuck in the wage… I can testify… but it can be done… I can also testify to that… and I write about this towards the end of Waking Up… that as we gain access to new ideas… new thoughts… and as they germinate within us… we can begin to redefine the meaning of wage work in our lives as 'that which must be done for now…' in order to gain the leverage to figure out a way to move beyond it… that's what this is all about… figuring out… how to get out of this trap that we're stuck in…)

[“150426mustbeglobal.mp3”:]

 

…because 'power' has figured out that in order to control our resistance they have to lead it – that's a deep conversation… we have to seriously think about that… and that the wage-work-system allows for that… coerced work allows 'power' to lead our resistance… that's a big conversation…

 

…instilled with mother's milk (per Bentham's advice…) it is an extremely powerful… if false… unnatural… impulse… conditioned in us irrespective of the official 'political' ideology of the parent…

 

…so 'Marxists' will manifest it (mistaking it for healthy 'competitiveness'…) no less than 'Fascists'.

(…I was thinking this as I was reading the Introduction to the Grundrisse… and the gentleman who wrote it mentioned that it was 'lost' – and when these things get 'lost' we know what that really means… like all those missing documents from Nikola Tesla's apartment that just got spirited away… never heard from again – well this was one of those 'lost' documents… and then they figured out at some point that Marxist theory actually was another… because 'power' has figured out that in order to control our resistance they have to lead it – that's a deep conversation… we have to seriously think about that… and that the wage-work-system allows for that… coerced work allows 'power' to lead our resistance… that's a big conversation…)

[“150426notilluminati.mp3”:]

 

I totally vibe with Karl Popper's optimism. And… I totally think that we have to stop giving our attention to what 'power' is doing. And… by the way… there is nothing to do with 'light' about them… except for that light that makes them melt away… like the vampires they are…

 

'Power' cannot take a 'piece' of us… short of taking the whole. We are bought and sold… all-together owned… by those who believe themselves to be 'Olympians' in essence… and so have staked their exclusive claim to the earth… and the heavens…

 

…and by our unconscious acceptance… it has become their's – unfair… and falsely got… but that's the reality we have to confront.

 

Karl Popper wrote that Marx didn't credit enough the influence of 'power'… what he calls 'physical power':

We must think in these matters in even more materialist terms, as it were, than Marx did. We must realize that the control of physical power and of physical exploitation remains the central political problem. In order to establish this control, we must establish 'merely formal freedom'. Once we have achieved this, and have learned how to use it for the control of physical power, everything rests with us. (Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 2, p. 128)

(I totally vibe with his optimism. And… I totally think that we have to stop giving our attention to what 'power' is doing. And… by the way… there is nothing to do with 'light' about them… except for that light that makes them melt away… like the vampires they are.)

 

[“150426millenniaofclass.mp3”:]

 

Karl Popper provides a key piece of the puzzle: the motivation of these 'power'-guys… the roots of totalitarianism in Plato… the point of their 'classical education – likewise Martin Bernal. It is in fact… those ancestors and present scholars of those areas of the world… who study 'class' and its related distresses over the centuries… who have been figuring it out for us… and we can't turn our back on all that work… we need their thinking to get free…

 

(Another conversation… point being: Karl Popper provides a key piece of the puzzle: the motivation of these 'power'-guys… the roots of totalitarianism in Plato… the point of their 'classical education – likewise Martin Bernal. It is in fact… those ancestors and present scholars of those areas of the world… who study 'class' and its related distresses over the centuries… who have been figuring it out for us… and we can't turn our back on all that work… we need their thinking to get free…)

 

[“150426nextweekgeneral.mp3”:]

 

I feel the need to continue our discussion of Antisystemic Movements another week. If folks have the time I hope you will read and think about the quotes I put up to do with “the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation.”

 

I feel the need to continue our discussion of Antisystemic Movements another week. If folks have the time I hope you will read and think about the quotes I put up to do with “the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation.”

 

–––

 

* “WUR of May 3rd, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3):

Here's a song to celebrate our Flyin' High Day: Freedom… Leisure… Independence… Happiness Is Global Humans… Day… this May 1st:

 

“Let the good times roll!…” [B.B. King]

–––

 

[“150503redemption.mp3”:]

 

…and part of the process of creating these 'safe' spaces… part of that 'safety' is this process of helping each other get 'big'… and that's how I define 'healing'… because it's reclaiming the lost 'self'…

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency” (Part 3)

 

…and part of the process of creating these 'safe' spaces… part of that 'safety' is this process of helping each other get 'big'… and that's how I define 'healing'… because it's reclaiming the lost 'self'…

I was looking at a photo of Mingus near the end…

and saw my swollen face in his…

…how many of the ones who love us most…

…have they taken from our midst…

…how many of the most courageous…

(…and I'm not talking me…)

…have they 'saved' us from​…

How much longer…

…will we let it go on?

…simply to hold back the day…

…when we finally live free…

…and be each other's bedazzling…

[“150503abilitytoexpresslove.mp3”:]

 

…because that's really what this is about… truly… the ability to express our love… 'power' has intentionally made our world hazardous on every level… in order to suppress our love… and our ability to express it… it's much deeper than I realized going in… six years ago… “Leisure IS Happiness…” …and our bodies know this… and when we trust ourselves enough to listen… we hear that… we know that… that we can't begin to be happy if we're being rushed around… compelled… coerced… to implement the objectives… the orders… of others… we have to own ourselves to be happy… no living thing wants to be in a cage… and we have not discussed the fact that we are living in a cage… in a class system… where our human energy is compelled…

 

April 28, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: As you know… how we can express our love… the importance of this…

(…because that's really what this is about… truly… the ability to express our love… 'power' has intentionally made our world hazardous on every level… in order to suppress our love… and our ability to express it…

 

…we're going to continue to delve into this issue… it's much deeper than I realized going in… six years ago…)

As you know… how we can express our love… the importance of this… has recently been brought to my attention (to my soul's salvation…) and… in that context…

(…and it must be said: the fact that I have put good-hearted folks – and one in particular who sets me aflame… my whole world rocking… a far greater heart than mine… as I walked in blind… – at risk… is my only regret…

 

– it's such an odd feeling… to be so simultaneously happy… and so worried… it almost makes you feel guilty… to be so happy… feel so light… at such a price…)

…I've been pondering this notion… of 'power' (and we-the-people… until we talk about it… and reconceive our allegiance…) believing that it 'develops us' as it uses us… as it makes us cogs in their machine…

 

There are (at least) two sides to this that we'll be considering today… the first we've discussed before… and I've written about on the page, Founding & Realizing A Test Site – not modeled on ‘democracy’… but on freedom – Premised On “Leisure IS Happiness… –

(…and our bodies know this… and when we trust ourselves enough to listen… we hear that… we know that… that we can't begin to be happy if we're being rushed around… compelled… coerced… to implement the objectives… the orders… of others… we have to own ourselves to be happy… no living thing wants to be in a cage… and we have not discussed the fact that we are living in a cage… in a class system… where our human energy is compelled…)

[“150503leveltowhat.mp3”:]

 

I've been pondering this notion of how we could imagine ourselves being 'developed' as we're being 'made-use-of'… made 'cogs' in their machine… in our earlier discussions of this issue… when we discussed De Tocqueville's contribution to global-'power's self-concept and definition of their objectives… their goals… we discussed this in the context of what De Tocqueville thought of as 'the leveling effect of commerce'… – that it tends toward an 'equality of conditions'.… “Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience; but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive…” How is it that folks can be 'happy' to be obedient?… Are we born that way?… No. We've discussed for a while how what feels happy is 'self-definition'… being 'big'… claiming ourselves… naming ourselves… that's what makes us happy… and energized… So how is it that someone can be 'happy' to be obedient?… which… De Tocqueville says… in that state they are not debased… Really? Just the opposite. I guess the point here is: what 'power' makes us to be is 'reality'… that's essentially what he's saying…

 

So I've been pondering this notion of how we could imagine ourselves being 'developed' as we're being 'made-use-of'… made 'cogs' in their machine… in our earlier discussions of this issue… when we discussed De Tocqueville's contribution to global-'power's self-concept and definition of their objectives… their goals… we discussed this in the context of what De Tocqueville thought of as 'the leveling effect of commerce'… – that it tends toward an 'equality of conditions'. But we should keep in mind as we read… that he is rooted in the notion that this process is 'civilizing'… he doesn't see within the scope of his notion of 'humanity'… the earth-connected indigenous… has no notion of the earth itself being the source… the fuel for… a broadening to a universal beauty and truth… of each individual one of us:

Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience; but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive… [This is a good expression of C.L.R. James' point that “…passive obedience is precisely the basis of bourgeois (I would say 'class'…) society… They want us to be 'happy' with whatever is our assigned 'place'…” and we've had… in this space… elaborated discussions of that point… because it's never discussed over the airwaves and it's a really important discussion: How is it that folks can be 'happy' to be obedient?… Are we born that way?… No. We've discussed for a while how what feels happy is 'self-definition'… being 'big'… claiming ourselves… naming ourselves… that's what makes us happy… and energized… So how is it that someone can be 'happy' to be obedient?… which… De Tocqueville says… in that state they are not debased… Really? Just the opposite. I guess the point here is: what 'power' makes us to be is 'reality'… that's essentially what he's saying… – P.S]

 

[“150503debasedbywage.mp3”:]

 

…and by 'universal level' we should hear 'a single pattern of thought'… the definition of 'totalitarianism'… Voice names what exists – that's why it's so critical we stop mis-naming reality to our children – if no one names totalitarianism for what it is… it can't be discussed. It's all around us… covered by 'the wage'… 'the price'… of a human being… wearing the face of normality. Notice – not even 'the Left' over the airwaves will say this… that we are debased by the wage… …Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America – this is a book I am absolutely certain 'power' uses as propaganda with our young people… because his words can be so mis-understood… and encouraged to be so mis-understood… like Plato's… it's a perfect propaganda tool for 'power'… We must not mistake his argument… he is wedded utterly to 'class'… Rather… he believes in the inevitability of 'social equality' between the 'classes'. And I think we're seeing indications of the influence of his thinking here in the US right now… we could include in that category the granting of legal equality to 'sexual minorities'… gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered… to all formerly discriminated-against groups… that in granting 'legal equality' (which begins the process of conferring 'social equality'…) we are seeing an expression of what De Tocqueville is talking about in terms of everybody becoming 'equal'… he is not talking about the elimination of 'class'… Just the opposite… he's saying that “to preserve 'class' we have to ensure there is 'social equality between the 'classes' and the various social groups…”

 

As soon as land was held on any other than a feudal tenure, and personal property began in its turn to confer influence and power, every improvement which was introduced in commerce or manufacture was a fresh element of the equality of conditions. Henceforward every new discovery, every new want which it engendered, and every new desire which craved satisfaction, was a step towards the universal level. […and by 'universal level' we should hear 'a single pattern of thought'… the definition of 'totalitarianism'… Voice names what exists – that's why it's so critical we stop mis-naming reality to our children – if no one names totalitarianism for what it is… it can't be discussed. It's all around us… covered by 'the wage'… 'the price'… of a human being… wearing the face of normality. Notice – not even 'the Left' over the airwaves will say this… that we are debased by the wage… – P.S] The taste for luxury, the love of war, the sway of fashion, and the most superficial as well as the deepest passions of the human heart, co-operated to enrich the poor and to impoverish the rich. [And by 'impoverish the rich'… he's talking about the destruction of the old feudal order… inherited wealth based in a connection to the possession of land… and not in the restless drive for 'Perfection' that bedevils the Plato's Tribesmen… P.S.]

 

From the time when the exercise of the intellect became the source of strength and of wealth, it is impossible not to consider every addition to science, every fresh truth, and every new idea as a germ of power placed within the reach of the people. Poetry, eloquence, and memory, the grace of wit, the glow of imagination, the depth of thought, and all the gifts which are bestowed by Providence with an equal hand, turned to the advantage of the democracy; and even when they were in the possession of its adversaries, they still served its cause by throwing into relief the natural greatness of man; its conquests spread, therefore, with those of civilization and knowledge; and literature became an arsenal, where the poorest and the weakest could always find weapons to their hand.

 

In perusing the pages of our history, we shall scarcely meet with a single great event, in the lapse of seven hundred years, which has not turned to the advantage of equality. (Alexis de Tocqueville, “Author's Preface”, Democracy in America)

And this is a book I am absolutely certain 'power' uses as propaganda with our young people… because his words can be so mis-understood… and encouraged to be so mis-understood… like Plato's… it's a perfect propaganda tool for 'power' (and I use the word 'propaganda' exclusively to mean “'power's attempts to manipulate our thinking”…)

 

We must not mistake his argument… he is wedded utterly to 'class'… Rather… he believes in the inevitability of 'social equality' between the 'classes'. And I think we're seeing indications of the influence of his thinking here in the US right now… we could include in that category the granting of legal equality to 'sexual minorities'… gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered… to all formerly discriminated-against groups… that in granting 'legal equality' (which begins the process of conferring 'social equality'…) we are seeing an expression of what De Tocqueville is talking about in terms of everybody becoming 'equal'… he is not talking about the elimination of 'class'… Just the opposite… he's saying that “to preserve 'class' we have to ensure there is 'social equality between the 'classes' and the various social groups…”

 

The issue for us to consider today is this: as we grow bigger… we global humans… as our knowledge of the world… our Brothers and Sisters… and how our imprisonment 'works'… as all this increases… 'power' wants to halt that process.

 

[Please listen again to some of our earlier thoughts on 'education'…. As the global-economy collapses… as the resources of the planet get consumed… or have been… 'power' has to figure out… since they can no longer buy off enough people with the wage… how they're going to buy us off… those who are left… and we're going to be talking about that…:]

 

Practical solutions… guidance – guidance that reflects the actual circumstances of our lives – is precisely what we’ve been denied… and this is what makes our Good Three’s contribution so important… and no less so Kropotkin’s… whose words… built on here suggests this: that ‘power’ uses ‘education’ (under ‘class’) to provide the ‘objective evidence’ of ‘natural inequality’… and ‘science’ (including Marxist theory…) as the legitimating ideology (full-spectrum propaganda-coverage…) ‘Vetting’ of the media is made automatic by the “‘class’ education project”… and that the ‘education process’ alone ensures that only the thought-parameters established by ‘power’ are allowed to see the light of day… the airwaves… [From our February 22, 2015 show.]

 

–––

 

…the ‘class’-system is based on the assumption of ‘scarcity’ (…because… if we think about it… if ‘knowledge’ is scarce… belongs to only a few… that can easily form the mental frame for ‘scarcity’ overall… because if we don't know what to do to preserve our own lives… reproduce ourselves… we are condemned to be slaves to Necessity…) – the belief that ‘there isn’t enough… stuff…’ and that we-the-people are not sufficient… and that we believe this… contrary to reality… because this is the substance of our ‘education’, both official and the unspoken ‘education’ embedded in our social relations… utterly dependent… And so… therefore… we also said… the flip-side of the story “The Elevation of The Few”… is our diminishment… in our own eyes. And truly… with this lens in our possession… the media-display becomes one long parade of illustration… of our conditioning to not see our own abundance. [From our January 25, 2015 show.]

 

–––

 

[“150503theystackthedeck.mp3”:]

 

Of course De Tocqueville did not really believe in an 'equality of conditions'… because that would mean… if he's honest… 'equality of education'… and this 'men who exercise power' would never allow. It seems to me De Tocqueville is right… that 'commerce' does tend toward a 'universal level' – if not an 'equality of conditions' – recalling our earlier point that 'universal level' implies 'single pattern of thought'… i.e. totalitarianism. This has ever been the direction Plato's Tribe intends to take all of us… globally… while telling us… per Bentham… that as long as we're all 'happy'… our particular place in their 'grand scheme' is 'objectively' fine… being 'objectively' defined… by the 'system' of 'education'… they will ever and always while they exist… stack the deck – always have… always will… while class exists – so… as we said during the February 22, 2015 show… it is on this – the 'system of education' – on which they intend to rely… which is why those they intend for 'low-slotted' positions… are slaughtered by 'terrorists' (across the ideological spectrum… and continents…) when they aspire (against this planned assignment…) higher… and… what has 'power' done in the past when there were 'too many people' – when we started talking to each other globally… getting rowdy… what has 'power' done: starved… crushed… blown our bodies up… in all the 'crises' made especially just for us…

 

…because I do believe that a lot of the apparent 'natural disasters' are not… and certainly the manufactured crises of 'under-the-table-paid-for-terrorist-groups' that cause havoc and destroy our hope – try to… let's don't let that work…

 

It seems to me De Tocqueville is right… that 'commerce' does tend toward a 'universal level' – if not an 'equality of conditions' – recalling our earlier point that 'universal level' implies 'single pattern of thought'… i.e. totalitarianism. This has ever been the direction Plato's Tribe intends to take all of us… globally… while telling us… per Bentham… that as long as we're all 'happy'… our particular place in their 'grand scheme' is 'objectively' fine… being 'objectively' defined… by the 'system' of 'education'… they will ever and always while they exist… stack the deck… so… as we said during the February 22, 2015 show… it is on this – the 'system of education' – on which they intend to rely… which is why those they intend for 'low-slotted' positions… are slaughtered by 'terrorists' (across the ideological spectrum… and continents…) when they aspire (against this planned assignment…) higher…

 

Of course De Tocqueville did not really believe in an 'equality of conditions'… because that would mean… if he's honest… 'equality of education'… and this 'men who exercise power' would never allow.

 

So as existing crises deepen… and in particular as more folks are cut loose from employment – or forced into accepting less-and-less… of everything… and those who accept 'less-and-less'-jobs… and find themselves patching them together… and rushing… rushing… rushing: even in those situations… the legitimacy of 'the state' breaks down – and those kicked to the curb for real… find they have more time… more time to think… more and more folks will be thinking about bigger things… even the biggest things. What has 'power' done in the past when there were 'too many people' – when we started talking to each other globally… getting rowdy… what has 'power' done: starved… crushed… blown our bodies up… in all the 'crises' made especially just for us…

 

…all the while… the supposed more 'realistic' (than 'democracy'…) model of 'China' is shoved at us. Haven't we been hearing this for some time now?… 'power's appreciation of how Chinese global-statesmen 'successfully' 'control' billions of commoner-Chinese… and so… “isn't there a need”… they say disingenuously… “to 'rethink' 'democracy'?…”

 

Last week we noted Karl Popper's point that Marx insufficiently credited the influence of 'the big fist'… the 'power'-guys'… who resist (refuse) all constraints upon their movements… and… (and this is my point…) operate behind scenes to create the 'reality' they need.

 

We can now add to this… that he didn't credit sufficiently the influence of “global 'power'”…

 

…or the degree to which it lives in each and every one of us under 'class': its ranking system… its 'productivity-emphasis'… its 'mind'-deification… all of which nullify our love for our Brothers and Sisters…

 

So as we said in that wordbeat… that the 'scarcity'-mindset is reinforced by the notion of 'knowledge' being scarce… in other show we've said that it's also reinforced… undergirded… by the 'wage work system' in many senses but in particular by the fact that parents have to go out and sell their human energy… and so children are left alone… when they need the tribe… full time… so because appreciation of our children… and love… and time… and attention… has been made a scarce commodity… our children are taught… with no words spoken about it… that love… attention… is something they have to 'earn'… and they grow up with this hunger for it… this need to be 'seen'… to be acknowledged… to be 'of use'… making them… ready soil for 'power' to plant its seeds in.

 

–––

 

[“150503economicruse.mp3”:]

 

…their creation 'capitalism' is sinking… that ship of Compelled Silence… which is the wage-work system… into which we've all been driven… with all our safe harbors inundated… washed into their sea of blood… They of course – those global-state-statesmen – knew all along it was meant to take on water… to bloat… to sink… to cast we hapless-many in the drink… but this 'economic ruse' is but one among their 'High Tech Tools'… …add to that: controlling discourse – our communications – on the Internet… and over the airwaves… and the physical elimination of dissent… by means of their development of EMF weaponry… …all of which they're doing now. Do any of us doubt their objective… is to install hardcore totalitarianism? So what can counter all this? What do we do about it?

 

So how do we seize this moment? How do we take back our lives?

 

It seems to me that with this question our Good Three posed: “[is]… the world-scale centralizing of capital… historically far enough advanced (as suggested by 'the absolute general law') to replace the interstate system's market-regulation via hegemony?…” they are asking if concentrated wealth in the hands of the Miniscule Few can wield an 'authority' equivalent to the 'authority of the market'… 'market-authority' – an equivalent authority based in the undisputed superiority of one set of global-state statesmen –

 

…to squash us… beat us down…

 

…and what I've learned… is that that – this squeeze on us materially…

(…which is what the market is about… and what it's for… what the concentration of all the resources of the planet into tiny… Miniscule Few… hands is for [to get us to do their bidding: “hunger will tame the fiercest animals…” – that's been their m.o. for a long time … thousands and thousands of years… it has served them well… and now 'power' is geared up to fix this class system in place permanently…] so this is a critical juncture… we don't want them to figure out how to snatch from our hands the advantage of… as our Good Three put it… 'electronification'…)

…but this 'economic ruse' is but one among their 'High Tech Tools'…

 

…add to that: controlling discourse – our communications – on the Internet… and over the airwaves… and the physical elimination of dissent… by means of their development of EMF weaponry…

 

…all of which they're doing now. Do any of us doubt their objective… is to install hardcore totalitarianism?

 

So what can counter all this? What do we do about it?

 

As to this matter of the loss of the 'martial-capability' of states… which we questioned during the April 19, 2015 show… our Good Three may only mean this in the sense they profess: that there are no hegemons (hegemonic states) left…

 

…nor can there ever be again…

 

…and in truth… 'hegemons' are but tools… the hidden and bidden global-state-statesmen have ever pulled the strings since they created the global-economy…

 

…and the true 'competition' has always been… since then… to identify the truly 'great' 'men'… of 'world-historic' proportions'…

 

…in truth but abandoned children.

 

These then… are the two ends of our dilemma… the harsh reality that must be faced: our strings are pulled by a Tiny Few… for no other reason than to see… their ignoble vision become reality… to determine who… in their competition for 'Most Misanthropic'… will reign 'supreme'…

 

…and the other side of this ignoble-ness… we-the-people mirror it internally… our mindset has been shaped to reflect… the priorities of 'power' perfectly…

 

…until now…

 

…as we finally see…

 

…their ship is sinking.

 

Friendly amendment: their creation 'capitalism' is sinking… that ship of Compelled Silence… which is the wage-work system… into which we've all been driven… with all our safe harbors inundated… washed into their sea of blood.

 

They of course – those global-state-statesmen – knew all along it was meant to take on water… to bloat… to sink… to cast we hapless-many in the drink…

 

But before then they'd fully intended to winnow our numbers such… that the survivors would be grateful much (a state of mind encouraged and supported – reinforced – by all the apocalyptic… 'fear-your-neighbors' propaganda…

…and have they ever been rolling that out thick and heavy… and the opposite is true… I must say… particularly as lots of good-hearted folks [including my son… addicted to this show I forget the name of… some vampire show…] the opposite happens when we have a crisis like an earthquake or whatever… we pull together… we help each other… the love we have within us is finally able to be expressed – that's the truth… not their so-called 'apocalypse'… please… let's remember that… don't be duped… even if you're hooked in the stories… because it's about forming a crew… 'power' knows what stories will hook us… we have to provide the counter-balance to that… with our discussions…

[“150503habitofobedience.mp3”:]

 

De Tocqueville's notion: 'leveling effect of commerce'… requiring the general imposition of 'the habit of obedience…' is… no less than Marx's 'general law of capitalist accumulation'… attempting to capture an extremely destructive process……in which… we're told… we 'develop' because that which is stolen from us… and from the earth overall… increases in quantity. De Tocqueville of course doesn't think about the depredations upon the earth required to force the globe into a common habit of obedience.

 

It's been difficult for us to come to grips with the reality that there are folks with this level of… essentially self-hate… because “I am thee… thee are me…” we are each other… and you cannot commit genocide… you cannot commit murder of any kind… without there being an element of self-loss in it… because we're all connected…

 

So… before they rolled out 'next-level' 'governance… they'd fully intended to winnow our numbers such… that the survivors would be grateful much (a state of mind encouraged and supported – reinforced – by all the apocalyptic… 'fear-your-neighbors' propaganda…) thankful for the wondrous 'science'… the 'magic' of which was used to 'save' our lives…

 

…so grateful we'd gladly accept… whatever crumbs they'd generously give us.

 

De Tocqueville's notion: 'leveling effect of commerce'… requiring the general imposition of 'the habit of obedience…' is… no less than Marx's 'general law of capitalist accumulation'… attempting to capture an extremely destructive process…

 

…in which… we're told we 'develop' because that which is stolen from us… and from the earth overall… increases in quantity. De Tocqueville of course doesn't think about the depredations upon the earth required to force the globe into a common habit of obedience.

(And this is of course Bentham's obsession as well: all these guys around the same time processing heads-rolling after the French Revolution and trying to figure out how to instill 'discipline'… how to have us do it for them – internalize discipline – and Bentham said… “have the parents do it… duh…” and they did.)

Marx… on the other hand… who does acknowledge this earth-impact… and our – we-the-people's – resulting general immiseration…

 

…doesn't think about the common imposition of 'the habit of obedience' as the necessary concomitant to the devastation of the earth…

 

…i.e.… we have to go along… with what is clearly insane.

 

[“150503seeyadontneedya.mp3”:]

 

But here's the catch that caught Marx's eye: that because there's a 'relative surplus' of us… this surplus of us grows “proportionately to the advances made by capitalist production not because the productiveness of social labour decreases, but because it increases…” […automation… 'electronification' of processes… instantaneous communication and flow of information… which to acquire converted huge amounts of the earth into physical things and money (financialization)… – and as all that 'social labor' increases… 'power' don't need us no more… it stole our substance and now it's time ('power' believes…) to say “bye… see ya… don't need ya…” Alright… so what does 'power' do? Now… Marx could see far but he couldn't see as far as into the diseased souls of these guys… plug in the technology… and you have a lot of room for a lot of misanthropy… a lot of genocide… a lot of blood-flow… a lot of phony-crises… and 'natural disasters'…

 

Let's consider… as we read… the full implications of Marx's “absolute general law of capitalist accumulation”:

We again meet here the previously defined law [in Capital, Vol. 1, p. 644: the tendency of the rate of profit to fall as “the capitalist mode of production develops and an ever larger quantity of capital is required to employ the same amount of labour-power…”] the previously defined law that the relative decrease of the variable capital, […'variable'… and this refers to us… we-the-people… 'variable' meaning: “how low can we make them go?” – 'power' is asking right this second… – P.S.] hence the development of the social productiveness of labour, […see… while we're driven low… we're supposed to be happy because 'we're' being 'developed' – our 'social existence'… i.e. our collective… concretized… capitalized selves… our 'stolen-human-energy-vested-in-objects' form… is growing… (yea!…) now… us individually… not so much… Now that's crazy. Why do we accept that deal? We should be talking about that… – P.S.] involves an increasingly large mass of total capital to set in motion the same quantity of labour-power and squeeze out the same quantity of surplus-labour. Consequently, the possibility of a relative surplus of labouring people […you feel me… it's time for 'heart'… phony 'Reason' and phony 'Rationality' has had its day – it's time for 'heart' to reclaim the intellectual discourse… because we are not happy with this deal… we do not want to see ourselves referred to as 'laboring people who are a “relative surplus”… meaning… that 'the economy' is all that matters… and not us… and 'the economy' being but the tool of global-'power' to privatize all the resources of the globe… and roll out its installed totalitarian state… But here's the catch that caught Marx's eye: that because there's a 'relative surplus' of us… this surplus of us grows “proportionately to the advances made by capitalist production…” – P.S..] develops proportionately to the advances made by capitalist production not because the productiveness of social labour decreases, but because it increases […automation… 'electronification' of processes… instantaneous communication and flow of information… which to acquire converted huge amounts of the earth into physical things and money (financialization)… – and as all that 'social labor' increases… 'power' don't need us no more… it stole our substance and now it's time ('power' believes…) to say “bye… see ya… don't need ya…” Alright… so what does 'power' do? Now… Marx could see far but he couldn't see as far as into the diseased souls of these guys… plug in the technology… and you have a lot of room for a lot of misanthropy… a lot of genocide… a lot of blood-flow… a lot of phony-crises… and 'natural disasters'… – P.S.] It does not therefore arise out of an absolute disproportion between labour and the means of subsistence, or the means for the production of these means of subsistence, but out of a disproportion occasioned by capitalist exploitation of labour, a disproportion between the progressive growth of capital and its relatively shrinking need for an increasing population. (Capital, Vol. 3, p. 222)

[“150503talkaboutpower.mp3”:]

 

…so 'capitalism' is doomed (was doomed from its onset…) – Immanuel Wallerstein was simply telling the obvious truth… …can we please start talking about 'power'?… We are at that point. Marx is right… this is the most important thing for us to be thinking about: as our social… collective… concretized… existence… stands in vast quantity hierarchically over us… and runs us via automation and electronification… we ain't needed anymore… And… no more 'capitalism'… This is why I'm focusing on this issue of 'obedience' right now… it seems like 'the point'… this issue of 'obedience'… that Marx did not devote enough time to… the point we just made: that you cannot have the accumulation of the entire resources of the planet into this Tiny Few's hands… unless you've had… prior to this… the broad imposition of the habit of obedience… and Marx didn't have time to get to this… So we have to finish that work… Right? We have to talk about the other side of our twin-dilemma: the fact that we've internalized this mess…

 

The rate of profit falls – and ever-expanding growth in the 'rate of profit' is what defines 'capitalism' – as the 'rate of profit' falls as 'capitalism' 'develops'…

 

…so 'capitalism' is doomed (was doomed from its onset…) – Immanuel Wallerstein was simply telling the obvious truth…

 

…can we please start talking about 'power'?

 

…'capitalism' is done… 'power' ain't… is the point… that we have to start discussing…

 

So as the rate of profit falls as 'capitalism' 'develops'…

 

…in earth-terms: the more of the earth (the physical resources of the planet…) are converted to 'capital'… (i.e. quantified and put in private hands…) – which… as crises deepen… ever-tends to its money-form ('financialization'… no more 'earth' to buy… plus… they know some difficult times are arriving and so it's good to have your stash…) whence conveyed to fewer and fewer hands…

 

…as this happens… there is less and less earth to do anything with… i.e. 'employ' us… we… the source of everything… we… the ones who make everything…

 

…nothing needs to be 'produced'… there is too much 'stuff' as it is (and they've already automated our humble tasks…) and so there's 'too many' of us (by their lights…) 'too many' stomachs… and we become 'superfluous'.

Marx concludes by saying that the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall is “in every respect the most important law of modern political economy… It is from the historical standpoint the most important law.” [Capital, III] It implies “that the material productive power already present, already worked out, existing in the form of fixed capital, together with the scientific power, population etc., in short all conditions… for the reproduction of wealth, i.e. the abundant development of the social individual – that the development of the productive forces brought about by the historical development of the productive forces brought about by the historical development of capital itself, when it reaches a certain historical development of capital itself, when it reaches a certain point, suspends the self-valorization of capital, instead of positing it.… (Roman Rosdolsky, The Making of Marx's 'Capital', 1968, p. 381 – 382)

We are at that point. Marx is right… this is the most important thing for us to be thinking about: as our social… collective… concretized… existence… stands in vast quantity hierarchically over us… and runs us via automation and electronification… we ain't needed anymore… And… no more 'capitalism'… This is why I'm focusing on this issue of 'obedience' right now… it seems like 'the point'… this issue of 'obedience'… that Marx did not devote enough time to… the point we just made: that you cannot have the accumulation of the entire resources of the planet into this Tiny Few's hands… unless you've had… prior to this… the broad imposition of the habit of obedience… and Marx didn't have time to get to this… So we have to finish that work… Right? We have to talk about the other side of our twin-dilemma: the fact that we've internalized this mess…

 

Apologies… for ending the show early… but these days I find… each day it seems like they 'up' the level of intensity on me… in every sense… I can't go for a walk these days… and I try to go every day… without it suddenly turning into Grand Central Station or something… Point being: not feeling able to continue at this moment… so we're going to continue this next week.

 

–––

 

* “WUR of May 10th, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3):

“This is always…” [Betty Carter]

[“150510thespear.mp3”:]

 

Perhaps there is someone out there who could help establish… using my home as base… for a physical space… a non-profit for the planning of just such an artistic flowering that an advancement of global human freedom means.

 

What we are doing… is for always… and for everything… Why should we settle? We deserve it all because we are 'all'… We are as infinite are our love…

 

But it is also true… that until we have a movement… a global movement… 'power' will force us to choose… and… to the one I love… I would not want her to experience any diminishment of her life… nor would any of you for yours…

 

I am won… that is certain… and now I am even more motivated… to do what I can… to see a global movement for generalized human freedom…

 

Perhaps there is someone out there who could help establish… using my home as base… for a physical space… a non-profit for the planning of just such an artistic flowering that an advancement of global human freedom means.

 

I think it's time to seize the initiative… because 'power' can keep us reacting ad infinitum. Just a few people can change the world… reclaim our global humanity.

 

Unfortunately… heretofore 'power' has provided the most dramatic example of what a very few… a Miniscule Few… can do… to us all… all life devastated in the wake of their very focused energy… it's time to stand with the earth and provide the counter-energy to their global misanthropy-plan.

 

All we would need is a few folks with vision in the arts to comprise the guidance – I suppose they would officially be a 'board'… but perhaps a better image is a spear.

 

–––

 

[“150510thestorymustchange.mp3”:]

 

…and we've found 'coercion' and 'division' to be… in many ways… the twofold-heart of the system of 'class'… in order to compel us… from birth onwards… 'to come in'… and to convince us to believe 'there is no alternative' to it… and that… therefore… “labor is our inevitable lot”… that we are forever condemned to implement the plans of others… and to never probe our own… or even to come to know they exist… for far too many of us… …and what we have been considering in our recent focus on the importance of being able to express our love… is that a key place to begin digging for these hidden truths… is with that core hidden truth within each one of us in a 'class' system: that our human energy should not be directed by the state… (…and in future shows we'll be considering that this is the missing piece in Alice Miller's analysis – although her contribution to our understanding of our entrapment under 'class' is critical… and she is absolutely right when she says: “As long as the child within is not allowed to become aware of what happened to him or her, a part of his or her emotional life will remain frozen, and sensitivity to the humiliations of childhood will therefore be dulled.… All appeals to love, solidarity, and compassion will be useless if this crucial prerequisite of sympathy and understanding is missing…”

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 4)

 

May 6, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: Over the course of these conversations… certain 'root-issues' catch at our feet and tell us to pause and dig deeper. We need 'numbers'… we've said repeatedly over the years… in order to begin to create the alternative to global-'power'. “What erodes our numbers?”… we've paused several times at that question… pointed our 'logic' at it… and found such things as: coercion in child-rearing… and the various forms of 'division' that are sown in us and which course essentially throughout the overall 'system' (all of them variations of the basic division between 'citizen' – 'barbarian'… or… put another way… the division between intellectual and manual labor…)

 

…and we've found 'coercion' and 'division' to be… in many ways… the twofold-heart of the system of 'class'… in order to compel us… from birth onwards… 'to come in'… and to convince us to believe 'there is no alternative' to it… and that… therefore… “labor is our inevitable lot”… that we are forever condemned to implement the plans of others… and to never probe our own… or even to come to know they exist… for far too many of us…

 

…and most recently… our foot tripped on the issue of 'obedience'… as the base mindset… the deep training… of 'class'… needed to inculcate a belief in the inevitability of 'power' (without…) and internalize discipline ('power' within…) early… requiring a relinquishment of our own power… our unique gifts… in order that global-'power' might direct our human energy as it sees fit…

 

And all of these key… root… issues… 'power' continuously keeps pushing underground… and manufactures innumerable song-and-dance numbers to keep us distracted from recognizing the thought… that there are… quite likely… hidden truths we should be delving for.

 

Please listen again to this wordbeat-excerpt from a recent show on this question:

“So all the various ways our numbers are systematically reduced… our numbers available to come to consensus… on the need to discuss what should be the world we live in – how do we make what we want… come to be… Because we in the U.S. have this codified right to 'pursue happiness'… and that is not an individual pursuit… they try when they put out their propaganda to frame it that way and make it seem loony… but… rather… it is in fact our right as a people to come together and collectively discuss: What does it mean… to 'pursue happiness'… if not to realize our inherent gifts… our right to grow our knowledge… as they do!… or as they think they do but as we do authentically… …our right as a people to pursue truth… We have the codified right to come together and discuss how we do that… as a collective… as a people… In a sense I'm asking the same question that our Academe Three are asking: How do we confront the dilemmas facing our ability to move on as a global humanity? How do we do that? Because we are… all of us global humans…living in a moment when the story has to change…” [From our February 1, 2015 show.]

…and it is not coincidence that… this moment when all the suppressed issues of 'class'… of 'power'… that explain the nature of our containment… are coming to the surface… is simultaneously the moment that Karl Marx… Rosa Luxemburg… and Our Good Three have been telling us inevitably falls due – when a 'system' that has been eating without stint is finally brought the check…

 

…how did they put it?

 

…as the “'social productiveness' of labor” increases – as 'power' sucks the life out of us and vests it in (relatively) permanent objects (an objective only realized with our obedience…) – they have no need for the greater number of us…

 

…and… they – Karl, Rosa and our Good Three – are unanimous… that the day will arrive – and that day is now – when 'power' has no need for a significant percentage of us… So we have a choice… we can either claw and scratch at each other to be one of those few 'the system' has a need for… or we can choose each other: love… and solidarity…

 

…and what we have been considering in our recent focus on the importance of being able to express our love… is that a key place to begin digging for these hidden truths… is with that core hidden truth within each one of us in a 'class' system: that our human energy should not be directed by the state…

(…and in future shows we'll be considering that this is the missing piece in Alice Miller's analysis – although her contribution to our understanding of our entrapment under 'class' is critical… and she is absolutely right when she says:

As long as the child within is not allowed to become aware of what happened to him or her, a part of his or her emotional life will remain frozen, and sensitivity to the humiliations of childhood will therefore be dulled.

 

All appeals to love, solidarity, and compassion will be useless if this crucial prerequisite of sympathy and understanding is missing. (Alice Miller, For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-rearing and the Roots of Violence, p. xv)

…and that this is the critical juncture… where that must change… our human energy must be reclaimed…

 

–––

 

[“150510safedesign.mp3”:]

 

…reclaiming our human energy globally is based in… …“reclaiming our 'within'…” …and how do we do that if not by coming together in discussion – with a dual purpose of understanding: global-'power'… and 'internalized discipline' / the inauthentic (false) self – i.e., in order to upend… both of them… …and while there will be inevitable infiltration… if we 'do our planning' of these spaces right… we can nullify that tactic… What makes a space 'safe'?… safe for the envisioning and building of a new world without coercion? Put practically: no agents… no infiltration. But… as that's not possible… is there a way to design a space… a project… such that the very act of participation in it… builds it… moves it toward its goals… What helps to realize the goal of a world premised on individual self- and soul-sufficiency? Let's slightly modify Kropotkin's guidance: he told us that “freedom is always the best solution to the problem of gaining our freedom…” If we want a world with no coercion… a space that's 'safe' would also be premised on the absence of coercion… beyond fundamental agreement on the end-goal as the purpose of our participation…

 

…and that this is the critical juncture… where that must change… our human energy must be reclaimed…

 

…and to begin to do that… we need 'safe spaces'… as…

 

…reclaiming our human energy globally is based in…

 

…“reclaiming our 'within'…”

 

…and how do we do that if not by coming together in discussion – with a dual purpose of understanding: global-'power'… and 'internalized discipline' / the inauthentic (false) self – i.e., in order to upend… both of them…

 

…and while there will be inevitable infiltration… if we 'do our planning' of these spaces right… we can nullify that tactic…

 

–––

 

Sisters and Brothers… we've been discussing the two sides to our dilemma… which is our containment under 'class': the 'outer' and the 'inner'…

The Outer – from the Inner

Derives its Magnitude –

'Tis Duke, or Dwarf, according

As is the Central Mood –

…and we've asked… where… at what point… does the reclamation of the true self – that self capable of becoming 'soul-sufficient' – start… and… with Emily's guidance… we've turned the spotlight on the internalization of global 'power'…

 

…global-'power' without… is premised on… global-'power' within…

 

…and noted the critical fact that as we reclaim our 'within'…

 

…we get targeted.

 

…which… again… makes the creation of 'safe spaces' a critical need…

 

What makes a space 'safe'?… safe for the envisioning and building of a new world without coercion? Put practically: no agents… no infiltration. But… as that's not possible… is there a way to design a space… a project… such that the very act of participation in it… builds it… moves it toward its goals…

 

If so… what would that design be?

 

What helps to realize the goal of a world premised on individual self- and soul-sufficiency? Let's slightly modify Kropotkin's guidance: he told us that “freedom is always the best solution to the problem of gaining our freedom…”

 

If we want a world with no coercion… a space that's 'safe' would also be premised on the absence of coercion… beyond fundamental agreement on the end-goal as the purpose of our participation…

 

–––

 

[“150510soulsupport.mp3”:]

 

We're making the case here that reclaiming the abandoned 'self' requires that we confront our training in obedience. Now… Alice Miller makes an interesting point… one which could be interpreted as a version of what De Tocqueville said about 'obedience'… Recall that he said that: “Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience; but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal […control the thoughts and you do control the reality – I guess that's the essence of what De Tocqueville is saying here…]

 

We're making the case here that reclaiming the abandoned 'self' requires that we confront our training in obedience. Now… Alice Miller makes an interesting point… one which could be interpreted as a version of what De Tocqueville said about 'obedience'… Recall that he said that: “Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience; but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal […control the thoughts and you do control the reality – I guess that's the essence of what De Tocqueville is saying here… – P.S.] and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive…” Alice Miller writes… using the word 'adaptation' in the sense of 'obedience':

One might ask whether adaptation must necessarily lead to depression [which… she argues… it does under 'class'… – P.S.] Is it not possible, and are there not examples, that emotionally conforming individuals may live quite happily? There are indeed such examples, and above all there were more in the past, for depression is a disease of our time. Within a culture that was shielded from other value systems, such as that of orthodox Jewry in the ghetto… an adapted individual was not autonomous and did not have his own individual sense of identity (in our sense) that could have given him support; but he did feel supported by the group.… Of course, there were some exceptions… [She is but pointing out that our nature is communal… that we are tribal… and that until 'rule' commandeered it… our communalism was used for us… – P.S.] Today it is hardly possible for any group to remain so isolated from others who have different values. Therefore it is necessary today for the individual to find his support within himself, if he is not to become the victim of various interests and ideologies. This strength within himself – through access to his own real needs and feelings and the possibility of expressing them – thus becomes crucially important for him on the one hand, and on the other is made enormously more difficult through living in contact with various different value systems. What's missing here in her analysis is hidden 'power'… because way she puts it suggests that there are these equally-weighted competing ideologies and value-systems… when… in fact… when you have amassed all the resources of the planet to support your particular ideology… that moves the entire world the way you want it… – P.S.] These factors can probably explain the rapid increase of depression in our time and also the general fascination with various groups. [She's thinking here about the 'appeal' and spread of fascism… which she expands on in For Your Own Good… – P.S.] (Alice Miller, Prisoners of Childhood, p. 59)

–––

 

[“150510thechoice.mp3”:]

 

The authority of the earth – present in the urge to grow our gifts in adventurous interrelationships with new lands and experiences… no less than in our communal traditions – is voiced in classless… as well as in 'class' societies. On the contrary… it is precisely the point of the totalitarian drive which came to exist in the era of De Tocqueville and Bentham to silence this authority of the earth… in order to compel our participation in the project of achieving… and fixing permanently in place… global-'power'.… The issue is 'force and division'… the choice before us in this transitional time is between the Open Society and Totalitarianism…

 

This raises an interesting question… one that also comes up in this notion of 'the development of the productive forces'… and returns us to the question we asked last week… “How is it possible for us to think that 'power' 'develops' us as it uses us?”

 

I think the way clear through all the issues compressed in this discussion is… again… to remember the authority of the earth as it is ever-expressed in counter-definition to the false authority of 'power'… or… as Nikola Tesla put it: “With… the full development and a perfect system of wireless transmission of energy to any distance man will be able to solve all the problems of material existence. Distance, which is the chief impediment to human progress, will be completely annihilated in thought, word and action. Humanity will be united, wars will be made impossible and peace will reign supreme.” (Quoted in Waking Up, p. 59 – 60)

 

The authority of the earth – present in the urge to grow our gifts in adventurous interrelationships with new lands and experiences… no less than in our communal traditions – is voiced in classless… as well as in 'class' societies. On the contrary… it is precisely the point of the totalitarian drive which came to exist in the era of De Tocqueville and Bentham to silence this authority of the earth… in order to compel our participation in the project of achieving… and fixing permanently in place… global-'power'.

 

It is under a global-'class' system when our need to grow our gifts is utterly silenced.

 

The issue is 'force and division'… the choice before us in this transitional time is between the Open Society and Totalitarianism…

 

…or… in Kropotkin's terms: between Freedom… and Authority.

 

–––

[“150510powerfetters.mp3”:]

 

“When it has reached this point, capital, i.e. wage-labour, enters into the same relation towards the development of social wealth and of the forces of production, as did the guild system, serfdom, slavery, and is necessarily stripped off as a fetter.” [To say that wage labor gets “stripped off as a fetter…” it's important that we understand that… even if so… that doesn't end 'power'… The global-state statesmen could end the wage – or call it something else… per Bentham… and Plato… you could call it a “guaranteed minimum income”… attach a few conditions for receiving it… – it's still someone else feeding us… we're still 'pets'… is the point… we still haven't grown up… So when Rosdolsky says wage labor gets “stripped off as a fetter…” I don't think the analysis goes deep enough… and that's where we're going in upcoming shows… – P.S.]

 

Marx concludes by saying that the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall is “in every respect the most important law of modern political economy… It is from the historical standpoint the most important law.” [Capital, III] It implies “that the material productive power already present, already worked out, existing in the form of fixed capital, together with the scientific power, population etc., in short all conditions… for the reproduction of wealth, i.e. the abundant development of the social individual – that the development of the productive forces brought about by the historical development of the productive forces brought about by the historical development of capital itself, when it reaches a certain historical development of capital itself, when it reaches a certain point, suspends the self-valorization of capital, instead of positing it. Beyond a certain point, the development of the powers of production becomes a barrier for capital; hence the capital-relation a barrier for the development of the productive powers of labour. [We've been led to believe… when Marxist analysis talks about “the development of the productive powers of labor…” that it is somehow simultaneously a development of us… when… as we're about to discuss… the opposite is the case… And the notion that this takes priority… this notion that the development of the our 'productiveness' takes priority over us… is a key blind-spot… or source of myopia… in Marx's analysis… – P.S.] When it has reached this point, capital, i.e. wage-labour, enters into the same relation towards the development of social wealth and of the forces of production, as did the guild system, serfdom, slavery, and is necessarily stripped off as a fetter. [To say that wage labor gets “stripped off as a fetter…” it's important that we understand that… even if so… that doesn't end 'power'… The global-state statesmen could end the wage – or call it something else… per Bentham… and Plato… you could call it a “guaranteed minimum income”… attach a few conditions for receiving it… – it's still someone else feeding us… we're still 'pets'… is the point… we still haven't grown up… So when Rosdolsky says wage labor gets “stripped off as a fetter…” I don't think the analysis goes deep enough… and that's where we're going in upcoming shows… – P.S.] The last form of servitude assumed by human activity, that of wage-labour on one side, capital on the other, is thereby cast off like a skin, and this casting-off itself is the result of the mode of production corresponding to capital; the material and mental conditions of the negation of wage-labour and of capital, themselves already the negation of earlier forms of unfree social production, are themselves results of its production process. [When he says that there will be a 'casting-off' of 'unfree social production he implies that we will then be in charge… but… as we're going to be discussing… and as our Good Three are going to say… that is far from guaranteed… and it is certainly not inevitable… – P.S.]

 

“The growing incompatibility between the productive development of society and its hitherto existing relations of production expresses itself in bitter contradictions, crises, spasms. The violent destruction of capital not by relations external to it, but rather as a condition of its self-preservation, is the most striking form in which advice is given it to be gone, and to give room to a higher state of social production.” [I don't think they're going to take that advice… because it isn't 'capital' that is our adversary… but rather these 'global-state-statesmen'… who stand in the way of our freedom… – P. S.]

 

The third section of the Rough Draft ends with this prognosis of “breakdown.” (Roman Rosdolsky, The Making of Marx's 'Capital', 1968, p. 381 – 382)

(Hasn't the Political Theater produced by the Right of late been amusing?… their relentless… no matter how nonsensical… attempts to 'blame' the sinking global-economy… and the loss of the hegemonic status of the US… on the Left overall… and Barack Obama in particular… as they tear and scrape… fangs all a'froth… in their single-minded attempt… to regain the office of US president?)

[“150510managementfetish.mp3”:]

 

“Hence the managerial fetishism that pervades our society, the accepted belief that modern industrial establishments or indeed large-scale establishments of any kind cannot be run without their hierarchy of managers in control of every detail of production and of organisation and in particular, of course of the workers. This fetishism accrues to the socialisation of labour by the fact that it is in the wrong hands, wielded by management in the service of capital and for the exploitation of labour instead of being the foundation for working class power in a society of production.… As seen from that angle the functions and conditions of [workers'] own socialised labour take on an appearance as of an object-nature extraneous to them, to be studied, elaborated, and enforced upon them by separate agents.” [We'll be returning to this quote as we continue unpacking the issue of 'obedience' with the help of Alice Miller in future shows… Suffice to say… an initial thought on this… is that the confusion we feel at age… say… two… as we experience the imposition by parents of their requirement for obedience… that that confusion over 'obedience'… which gets resolved under 'class' as 'power'-worship… easily transfers over to the whole mysterious work-process itself – a cast-veil of mystery that reinforces our submission to what seems the vast knowledge of an inscrutable 'power'. What we have to discuss is how to reincorporate this knowledge back within us… – P.S.]

 

Within the social relations of capitalism, however, the workers need an enormous effort to combat the limitations of their wage-labour status, the status more impotent today within the production process than in any previous epoch of capitalism; for never before has the individual performance of a worker been reduced to such fragments and fractions of fragments of a job as is his contribution to the present-day high-grade socialised labour process. At the same time, the productivity of his labour has increased a thousandfold compared to the labour done in the one-man shops of the Middle Ages. But the productivity is not his in terms of his individual labour, and taking his individual operations as a standard of judgment the productivity is that […or seems to be that… – P.S.] of the capital in whose employment he works and dependent on the efficiency of the management. Hence the managerial fetishism that pervades our society, the accepted belief that modern industrial establishments or indeed large-scale establishments of any kind cannot be run without their hierarchy of managers in control of every detail of production and of organisation and in particular, of course of the workers. This fetishism accrues to the socialisation of labour by the fact that it is in the wrong hands, wielded by management in the service of capital and for the exploitation of labour instead of being the foundation for working class power in a society of production.… As seen from that angle the functions and conditions of [workers'] own socialised labour take on an appearance as of an object-nature extraneous to them, to be studied, elaborated, and enforced upon them by separate agents. (Alfred Sohn-Rethel, “The dual economics of transition,” The Labour Process and Class Strategies, 1976)

 

We'll be returning to this quote as we continue unpacking the issue of 'obedience' with the help of Alice Miller in future shows… Suffice to say… an initial thought on this… is that the confusion we feel at age… say… two… as we experience the imposition by parents of their requirement for obedience… that that confusion over 'obedience'… which gets resolved under 'class' as 'power'-worship… easily transfers over to the whole mysterious work-process itself – a cast-veil of mystery that reinforces our submission to what seems the vast knowledge of an inscrutable 'power'. What we have to discuss is how to reincorporate this knowledge back within us… – P.S.]

[“150510fascismhasarrived.mp3”:]

 

…they wondered whether… and how… the total consumption of the earth… that pot of cash they sit on… conveyed with it the necessary control mechanisms to… in my words… keep the cattle herded… – P.S.]

 

So this transition-moment we're in… is a 'getting our own back'-moment… and that starts within… becoming 'soul-sufficient'… in places… spaces… that foster the rediscovery of 'self'… and in fostering the same in our Brothers and Sisters…

 

–––

[Today’s reading: we continue with Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…, “1968: The Great Rehearsal”… – P.S.]

 

–––

 

* May 10th, 2015 reading: returning to Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…

 

[“150510.mp3”:]

 

1968: A Rehearsal of What?

 

[During our April 19, 2015 show… our Good Three asked…]

 

If 1968 is analogous to 1848 as a failed world-scale revolution and as a world-historical great rehearsal, for what sort of world-revolution may it be the great rehearsal? Can we on analogy project today's underlying secular trends, specify what was new about yesterday's new social movements, and thereby sketch in advance likely trajectories of the confrontation and progressive social changes they suggest? As we move chronologically towards the 1990s and the 2000s, our historical social system, the capitalist world-economy, continues to be faced with difficulties in four principal arenas.

[…and the first one was the shake-up in the geo-political scene… the claims of the global statesmen of China… and Russia… and India… rising… as they jockey for place… no hegemonic state to cast the deciding vote. Recall they said:]

…Hegemony is giving way to its conceptual counterpoint, the condition of rivalry… The possible realignments of alliances between the five major actors – the US, the USSR, Western Europe, Japan, and China – are only now beginning. And everyone is approaching such realignments most gingerly and most fearfully. Hence, US hegemony is being eroded without any clear, and therefore reassuring, world order to replace it.…

[…and then they wondered whether… and how… the total consumption of the earth… that pot of cash they sit on… conveyed with it the necessary control mechanisms to… in my words… keep the cattle herded…

 

We proceed now to the other difficulties Plato's Tribe face in their 'self'-less determination… to rule the human race… – P.S.]

Second, the contradiction between labor and capital, given both the increasing centralization of capital and the increasing marginalization of large sectors of the labor force, will remain elemental. The new social movements have increased the worldwide pressure for higher wage-levels with world capital seeking ever more to respond to this pressure by reducing the size of labor input. As a result, there has perforce been a rising level of material well-being for a significant sector of workers and a deepening relative immiseration of many others, hence an absolute and relative increase in the inequalities of well-being among the world's workers. There has been thus a widening scope for the mechanism of unequal exchange in world-scale accumulation.

 

[“150510drawnandquartered.mp3”:]

 

“At the same time, capital's increasing search for safe havens from organized labor unrest carries with it of course a growing relocation of industrial proletarianization and hence of collective efforts to control that process and / or to ameliorate its effects. The net result may well be an increasingly class-conscious focus to the nationalist sentiment that pervades the zones outside the core, particularly in semi-peripheral states. Similar phenomena are increasingly occurring in socialist states, notably (but certainly not only) in Poland.…” [And in this context we should consider further Sohn-Rethel's point about how global 'power's design of the global 'class' work-system – i.e. a work-system global in scope – so (continuously and increasingly…) fragments our work experience that we feel it as external… and superior… to us – i.e. as disempowering… – P.S.]

 

…As a result, there has perforce been a rising level of material well-being for a significant sector of workers and a deepening relative immiseration of many others, hence an absolute and relative increase in the inequalities of well-being among the world's workers. There has been thus a widening scope for the mechanism of unequal exchange in world-scale accumulation.

 

At the same time, capital's increasing search for safe havens from organized labor unrest carries with it of course a growing relocation of industrial proletarianization and hence of collective efforts to control that process and / or to ameliorate its effects. The net result may well be an increasingly class-conscious focus to the nationalist sentiment that pervades the zones outside the core, particularly in semi-peripheral states. Similar phenomena are increasingly occurring in socialist states, notably (but certainly not only) in Poland. [And in this context we should consider further Sohn-Rethel's point about how global 'power's design of the global 'class' work-system – i.e. a work-system global in scope – so (continuously and increasingly…) fragments our work experience that we feel it as external… and superior… to us – i.e. as disempowering… – P.S.]

 

–––

 

* “WUR of May 17th, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue To Alice

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“Love Is Alive…” [Joe Cocker]

 

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“Just Because…” [Nikka Costa]

 

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[“150517wemustcreateourselves.mp3”:]

 

We can only be happy when we create ourselves.

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 5)

 

[“150517liveourbigness.mp3”:]

 

We need a world (designed by us) that allows us to live our bigness.

 

May 12, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: In Prisoners of Childhood Alice Miller writes about “the compulsion to repeat” as stemming from the silencing of the 'authentic voice'… with the construction… and inhabiting… of the 'false self'. This 'compulsion to repeat'… is called… 'in the literature'… 'acting out':

Can one portray a story that one does not know? This sounds impossible – but it happens in every analysis. The patient needs the analytic situation as a framework for the development of his transference before he can stage his story and make it understood. He needs somebody who does not need him to behave in a particular manner, but can let him be as he is at the moment, and who at the same time is willing to accept any of the roles with which he may be charged for as long as the analytic process requires.

 

The compulsion to repeat plays a prominent role in an analysis conceived in this way. Much has been written about the negative aspect of the compulsion to repeat: the uncanny tendency to reenact a trauma, which itself is not remembered, at times has something cruel and self-destructive about it… Nevertheless, the need to repeat also has a positive side.…

[Notice this means getting on the same side with your body… honoring its guidance… but also… as Walt Whitman said… probing the questions its urgings present… – P.S.]

[“150517traumaofclass.mp3”:]

 

Consigning us to the role 'wage labor' is a trauma… because it requires us to cut off huge trunks of ourselves… with no one confirming that that's what's going on… So it is a wound that never gets defined as a wound… and leads to endless confusion – the original trauma of a coerced-work system. What if “the story that one does not know…” is “the loss of the infinite…” that we all possess: “That what they have not – that which they possess – ” (Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece, line 135)…

 

…Repetition is the language used by a child who has remained dumb, his only means of expressing himself. A dumb child needs a particularly emphatic partner if he is to be understood at all. Speech, on the other hand, is often used less to express genuine feelings and thoughts than to hide, veil, or deny them, and thus to express the false self. And so there often are long periods in our work with our patients during which we are dependent on their compulsion to repeat – for this repetition is then the only manifestation of their true self. It lays the basis for the transference, and also for the whole mise en scene of the patient's field of interaction, which in the literature is described as acting out and is often met with mistrust. (Alice Miller, Prisoners of Childhood, p. 78 - 9)

Let's consider now whether the insights of Alice… in the case of the individual silencing… might likewise manifest societally:

“Can one portray a story that one does not know? This sounds impossible – but it happens in every analysis.”

 

[Consigning us to the role 'wage labor' is a trauma… because it requires us to cut off huge trunks of ourselves… with no one confirming that that's what's going on… So it is a wound that never gets defined as a wound… and leads to endless confusion – the original trauma of a coerced-work system. What if “the story that one does not know…” is “the loss of the infinite…” that we all possess: “That what they have not – that which they possess – ” (Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece, line 135)… – P.S.]

 

“The patient needs the analytic situation as a framework for the development of his transference before he can stage his story and make it understood.”

 

[How do we – as 'we-the-people'… particularly the more sensitive among us (those unwilling to revenge themselves on those who are 'weaker'… in terms of social status…) – stage that story? Might that not be what's happening in every 'protest'… might that not be its underlying motive-energy?… – P.S.]

 

“The compulsion to repeat plays a prominent role in an analysis conceived in this way. Much has been written about the negative aspect of the compulsion to repeat: the uncanny tendency to reenact a trauma, which itself is not remembered, at times has something cruel and self-destructive about it… Nevertheless, the need to repeat also has a positive side.…”

 

[Notice… as we go deeper… the parallels… on the global scale… in our repeated… and continuous… expression of outrage in 'protests'… in 'revolutions'… – P.S.]

 

“Repetition is the language used by a child who has remained dumb, his only means of expressing himself. A dumb child needs a particularly emphatic partner if he is to be understood at all.”

 

[So if 'we-the-people' – the nation – are the child… who… what… might be… the “emphatic partner”?… by which word… 'emphatic'… I take it she means… strong… in possession of certainty… We're going to be thinking about that in future shows… in terms of the kinds of 'safe spaces' we want to establish… – P.S.]

[“150517weneedtheopensociety.mp3”:]

 

De Tocqueville and Bentham saw this need of we-the-people's to speak… to break out of 'power's imposed constraints (and the French Revolution showed them this in spades [blades]…) – saw it would never cease. So the issue for both of them became… how to control it… this ceaseless attempt… Both of them… and the current crop of global-state-statesmen… are in fundamental agreement: control the thoughts we can think… to do which requires that we be tightly managed… i.e. requires 'closely-monitoring and managing' (of us…) nation-states… Nikola Tesla… on the other hand… worked in the opposite direction… Karl Popper's and Miklos' and Du Bois' and Bob's and Alice's and Zora's and Kropotkin's direction: greater openness… the 'open society'… Nikola worked tirelessly for the day – and we are in that day – when the technology would exist to allow our thought to blossom… and we could provide each other the mutual aid needed for a world… and a global humanity… premised on Freedom.

 

What we'll be considering today is that the 'outer world' of 'class' only exists because its mirror 'inner world' of 'class' is crafted in us… in each one of us trapped in 'the system'…

 

…that consigning us to the role 'wage-labor' steals our voices… after which… we've nothing else to say (by which I mean being unable to articulate our deepest feeling… and suppressed longing…) although the need to speak authentically never goes away.

 

De Tocqueville and Bentham saw this need of we-the-people's to speak… to break out of 'power's imposed constraints (and the French Revolution showed them this in spades [blades]…) – saw it would never cease. So the issue for both of them became… how to control it… this ceaseless attempt… Both of them… and the current crop of global-state-statesmen… are in fundamental agreement: control the thoughts we can think… to do which requires that we be tightly managed… i.e. requires 'closely-monitoring and managing' (of us…) nation-states…

 

…and particularly… don't give them the time… or allow them the chance to provide each other mutual assistance – the primary necessary conditions… that allow us to hear the earth speak…

 

'Power' can have its way with us because we're cut off from our Sisters and Brothers… and the earth…

 

…but cutting off other options is not 'development'… but rather 'soul-death'… the end of authentic creativity… fancy… and whimsy. 'Development' of ourselves we do unbidden… it's the earth in us. Under compulsion… driven… what we do is hemmed in by limits… sapped by the energy-sink of all our unanswered questions.

 

And of course this diminishment is accomplished by means of the wage-work system. Even controlling the means of thought-dissemination – by controlling the media and education – is less primary than this… because in controlling the former – what particular activities get funded – you control the latter…

 

Nikola Tesla… on the other hand… worked in the opposite direction… Karl Popper's and Miklos' and Du Bois' and Bob's and Alice's and Zora's and Kropotkin's direction: greater openness… the 'open society'… Nikola worked tirelessly for the day – and we are in that day – when the technology would exist to allow our thought to blossom… and we could provide each other the mutual aid needed for a world… and a global humanity… premised on Freedom.

 

But obviously 'power' will ever resist this – that's our 'outer' dilemma… but there's also the 'inner' one: we want to be free of 'power's Authority… but we're also full of fear… fears 'power' systematically fosters and manipulates.

 

As we conclude Antisystemic Movements… having… in our process… along the way taken in this key insight of Emily Dickinson:

The Outer – from the Inner

Derives its Magnitude –

'Tis Duke, or Dwarf, according

As is the Central Mood –

…we're going to be considering whether the story we – slowly but surely – are working our way out of… is not 'capitalism'… but 'class'…

 

…and that we succeed as we see it… see the story… and intervene in it consciously.

 

We are embarking on a process of healing 'the species' through the arts… 'the arts' in the sense of 'growing the soul'… of 'granting permission' for the 'true self'… to speak.

[Today’s reading: we conclude Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements…, “1968: The Great Rehearsal”… and then begin the 'Prefaces' of… and the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good – P.S.]

 

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* May 17th, 2015 reading: concluding Chapter 5 of Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements… and beginning "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

[“150517borntoboss.mp3”:]

 

“The notion that ruling strata seek to legitimate their rule – so that they are as morally obligated to command as those they claim to rule are morally obligated to comply – is both very old and very widespread. Weber's central theoretical claim – that certain beliefs in popular consciousness are an indispensable condition of routine compliance and so of the 'stability' of the relational network administering the rules – remains plausible.” [A restatement… it seems… of Bentham's point (or Plato's… for that matter… that 'the people' must be trained to obey by strictly controlling what thoughts are allowed into our consciousness… for 'governance' to occur…]

[Turning to our Good Three: they are going to tell us the last two difficulties they see… for the global-state-statesmen… in their ceaseless attempt to install a totalitarianism that is permanent… – P.S.]

Third, the ability of states to control their civil societies is diminishing. Historically, it is through the constitution of civil society, and its subsequent extension – notably, through the 1848-engendered 'incorporation of the working classes into society' of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – that one traces the successive transformations of the monarchies and patriciates of the nascent capitalist world-economy into its constituent and still evolving states. The organizing contradiction from the inception of stateness, state power versus civil rights and liberties, remains central to the state – civil society relation. Over time, of course, the scope of each has greatly expanded, thus sharpening the struggle, which the post-1968 world-scale 'human rights' movements profoundly reflect. The notion that ruling strata seek to legitimate their rule – so that they are as morally obligated to command as those they claim to rule are morally obligated to comply – is both very old and very widespread.

 

Weber's central theoretical claim – that certain beliefs in popular consciousness are an indispensable condition of routine compliance and so of the 'stability' of the relational network administering the rules – remains plausible.…

[A restatement… it seems… of Bentham's point (or Plato's… for that matter… that 'the people' must be trained to obey by strictly controlling what thoughts are allowed into our consciousness… for 'governance' to occur… – P.S.]

[“150517haspowertamedus.mp3”:]

 

“However, the very increase in the efficiency of the ways in which each state controls its civil society, the expansion of an instrumental bureaucracy, itself creates the limits of its efficacy by generating an ever more widespread skepticism among those whom the bureaucracy is administering.” [But is this true today… we should ask ourselves. Has 'power' tamed us with its tight control rather than provoked an organized challenge to its Authority?… tamed us by means of the education… media… and technology it has systematically shaped to do just that – and along with these tactics… add its successful defining of what is 'legitimate' 'protest'. 'Power acknowledges now the need for 'protest'… anticipates it (sometimes creates it…) infiltrates it… feeds its redefined version of it… manipulates us through it…]

 

…However, the very increase in the efficiency of the ways in which each state controls its civil society, the expansion of an instrumental bureaucracy, itself creates the limits of its efficacy by generating an ever more widespread skepticism among those whom the bureaucracy is administering. The reach of authority has come to be more and more denied, as both the US and USSR governments, among others, have increasingly discovered. 1968 symbolized the outburst of such skepticism. For a while, the coming to state power of old social movements limited this corrosion of authority. But these new regimes were quickly swept up in the increasingly 'anti-state' consciousness of the mass of the population.

[But is this true today… we should ask ourselves. Has 'power' tamed us with its tight control rather than provoked an organized challenge to its Authority?… tamed us by means of the education… media… and technology it has systematically shaped to do just that – and along with these tactics… add its successful defining of what is 'legitimate' 'protest'. 'Power acknowledges now the need for 'protest'… anticipates it (sometimes creates it…) infiltrates it… feeds its redefined version of it… manipulates us through it… – P.S.]

This process has been spectacularly abetted by the impact of new technology on the ability of states to control their space.…

 

[“150517tochallengeauthority.mp3”:]

 

“Fourth, the demands of the disadvantaged status-groups – of gender, of generation, of ethnicity, of race, of sexuality – will get ever stronger.… And the oppressed of each explicitly seek not the turning of the tables but social equality, not only structurally but ideologically as well (in the sense of the elimination from social consciousness of presumptions of superiority / inferiority in relations of gender, generation, ethnicity, race, sexuality, able-bodiedness).” [But… it's a huge step… from challenging presumptions of superiority / inferiority in terms of one status group over another… to challenging the notion of Authority altogether… What we've learned… thanks to Alice Miller… is that to challenge 'Authority' itself… and choose Freedom… we have to go deeper… – and that 'power' can… and will… 'expand civil society'… grant formal legitimacy to former 'outsider'… even pariah… groups… if it reinforces the legitimacy of the state… and forestalls the realization of our global unity…]

 

…Electronification is physically different from electrification and does not so much abridge the space of social relations as abridge the capacity to control social relations through controlling their space. The implications for stateness remain to be explicated – and experienced. But the control of populations through controlling the space they and their relations with one another occupy – as citizenry, as communities, as individuals – is in the process of being fundamentally undermined in the two key directions formed by the modern world-system's spatial jurisdictions, within states and between states.

 

Fourth, the demands of the disadvantaged status-groups – of gender, of generation, of ethnicity, of race, of sexuality – will get ever stronger. We must hear Gallaudet here and add the physically handicapped, who comprise the true pariah stratum of historical capitalism. All six status-group relations are deeply different one from another, and even more so in their specificities in the world's social structures, but they share three features. Each was a ground of a new left reproach of the old left. Each in a very real sense is as much a contradiction among the people as an element of the capital – labor or state – civil society contradiction. And the oppressed of each explicitly seek not the turning of the tables but social equality, not only structurally but ideologically as well (in the sense of the elimination from social consciousness of presumptions of superiority / inferiority in relations of gender, generation, ethnicity, race, sexuality, able-bodiedness).

[But… it's a huge step… from challenging presumptions of superiority / inferiority in terms of one status group over another… to challenging the notion of Authority altogether… What we've learned… thanks to Alice Miller… is that to challenge 'Authority' itself… and choose Freedom… we have to go deeper… and our Good Three… in a sense made this point themselves. Recall what they said (discussed in the April 5, 2015 show – “The further processes… entail the redefinition of trajectories. For the de-nationalization of domestic labor forces suggests a fundamental change, on the part of the left, as to what “national” means…” – and that 'power' can… and will… 'expand civil society'… grant formal legitimacy to former 'outsider'… even pariah… groups… if it reinforces the legitimacy of the state… and forestalls the realization of our global unity… – P.S.]

[“150517rehearsalforwhat.mp3”:]

 

“We have no answer to the question: 1968, rehearsal for what? In a sense, the answers depend on the ways in which the worldwide family of antisystemic movements will rethink its middle-run strategy in the ten or twenty years to come. 1917, for good or ill, was the result of an enormous amount of collective and conscious effort by the world's old left in the years following 1848. No doubt it was also the result of structural developments in the capitalist world-economy. But it would not have happened without human organization and revolutionary programs. The risks of drifting are very clear. The tenants of the status quo have not given up, however much their position is weakened structurally and ideologically. They still have enormous power and are using it to reconstruct a new inegalitarian world order. They could succeed. Or the world could disintegrate, from a nuclear or an ecological catastrophe. Or it could be reconstructed in the ways in which people hoped, in 1848, in 1968.” [We give thanks for their amazing heart in writing and disseminating (as best they could…) their essential analysis… We're now going to attempt a long-overdue synthesis and advancement of their gift… We're going to be thinking about how the wage-work – coerced-work – system itself abets the installation of totalitarianism… – that “inegalitarian world order” which is the objective of global-state-statesmen… who “have not given up…” – and how the mindset crafted to fit the wage-work system – obedience – likewise fits with… is the mindset of… totalitarianism… and that this mindset continuously reproduced by the wage-work system… is simultaneously reproduced – as both product and cause – in the home… What we are considering… is what the imposed 'wage-labor-status' as Sohn-Rethel talked about last week… does to us on a 'spirit'-level… We have the codified right… here in the U.S.… to… as a people… pursue happiness. So we need some people willing to move that thought and planning forward… people who see that word 'happiness' rooted in… and so posed as… a global convergence…]

 

We therefore project probable realignments in the alliance systems of the interstate system along with increased sharp economic fluctuations, a sharpened (and in particular a geographically widened) class struggle, an increasing inability of states to control their civil societies, and a persistent reinforcement of the claims to equality by all the disadvantaged status-groups. It is very unclear, in the nature of things, where this will lead. After 1848, the world's old left were sure that 1917 would occur. They argued about how and where and when. But the middle-range objective of popular sovereignty was clear. After 1968, the world's antisystemic movements – the old and the new ones together – showed rather less clarity about the middle-range objective. They have tended therefore to concentrate on short-range ones. There is clearly a danger that if organizations concentrate on short-range objectives, even in the name of long-range ideals, they may sacrifice middle-range success or even middle-run survival.

 

We have no answer to the question: 1968, rehearsal for what? In a sense, the answers depend on the ways in which the worldwide family of antisystemic movements will rethink its middle-run strategy in the ten or twenty years to come. 1917, for good or ill, was the result of an enormous amount of collective and conscious effort by the world's old left in the years following 1848. No doubt it was also the result of structural developments in the capitalist world-economy. But it would not have happened without human organization and revolutionary programs.

 

The risks of drifting are very clear. The tenants of the status quo have not given up, however much their position is weakened structurally and ideologically. They still have enormous power and are using it to reconstruct a new inegalitarian world order. They could succeed. Or the world could disintegrate, from a nuclear or an ecological catastrophe. Or it could be reconstructed in the ways in which people hoped, in 1848, in 1968.

[This concludes Giovanni Arrighi’s, Terence K. Hopkins’, and Immanuel Wallerstein’s Antisystemic Movements… We give thanks for their amazing heart in writing and disseminating (as best they could…) their essential analysis… We're now going to attempt a long-overdue synthesis and advancement of their gift…

 

…we're going to be thinking about how the wage-work – coerced-work – system itself abets the installation of totalitarianism… – that “inegalitarian world order” which is the objective of global-state-statesmen… who “have not given up…” – and how the mindset crafted to fit the wage-work system – obedience – likewise fits with… is the mindset of… totalitarianism…

 

…and that this mindset continuously reproduced by the wage-work system… is simultaneously reproduced – as both product and cause – in the home…

 

What we are considering… is what the imposed 'wage-labor-status' as Sohn-Rethel talked about last week… does to us on a 'spirit'-level…

 

We have the codified right… here in the U.S.… to… as a people… pursue happiness. So we need some people willing to move that thought and planning forward… people who see that word 'happiness' rooted in… and so posed as… a global convergence… a global planning focus tied to each individual… personal… process of growing beyond that 'world of class' trained in us… which so harms and limits… keeps us from claiming our 'infinite'…

 

…i.e… we deserve 'all'… because we are 'all'.

 

[“150517thebanalityofobedience.mp3”:]

 

“Since the end of World War II, I have been haunted by the question of what could make a person conceive the plan of gassing millions of human beings to death and of how it could then be possible for millions of others to acclaim him and assist in carrying out this plan. The solution to this enigma, which I found only a short while ago, is what I have tried to present in this book.… It can hardly be considered an idle academic exercise when somebody attempts to expose the roots of an unbounded and insatiable hatred like Hitler's; an investigation of this sort is a matter of life and death for all of us, since it is easier today than ever before for us to fall victim to such hatred.” […we're able to add that 'hatred' – conceived of simply – played less a role in the unfolding and carrying out of the horror than simply 'the banality of obedience'… built into the hierarchical structure of 'class' itself – fascism dressed up pretty… as 'productivity'… Recall Miklos' description of Mussfeld's pride in his efficient carrying out of his orders to kill… that eighty was no more difficult for him than one…]

 

We turn now to the 'Prefaces' of… and then the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

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“Preface to the American Edition”

 

This book is appearing in America some two and a half years after its first publication in Germany, and it is probably just as well that it wasn't available before now in this country. Had it appeared here earlier, American readers might well have asked: “Why should we still bother with Hitler today? That's all ancient history,” and “Who is this Christiane F.?” But now, after so many young Americans have see their own tragedies mirrored in the film and book about Christiane F., the teenage German drug addict, and after all the talk in the media the past few years about the danger of nuclear war, it should come as no surprise that I have chosen Adolf Hitler and Christiane F. as representatives, respectively, of extreme destructiveness on a world-historical scale and of extreme self-destructiveness on a personal one.

 

Since the end of World War II, I have been haunted by the question of what could make a person conceive the plan of gassing millions of human beings to death and of how it could then be possible for millions of others to acclaim him and assist in carrying out this plan. The solution to this enigma, which I found only a short while ago, is what I have tried to present in this book. Readers reactions to my work convinced me how crucial others find this problem too and how the terrible stockpiling of nuclear weapons worldwide raises the same question in an even more acute form: namely what could motivate a person to misuse power in such a way as to cause, completely without scruples and with the use of beguiling ideologies, the destruction of humanity, an act that is altogether conceivable today? It can hardly be considered an idle academic exercise when somebody attempts to expose the roots of an unbounded and insatiable hatred like Hitler's; an investigation of this sort is a matter of life and death for all of us, since it is easier today than ever before for us to fall victim to such hatred.

[But with the benefit of Miklos Nyiszli's Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account… along with the writings of Karl Popper and Jeremy Bentham… and with our own thinking on the wage-work system… we're able to add that 'hatred' – conceived of simply – played less a role in the unfolding and carrying out of the horror than simply 'the banality of obedience'… built into the hierarchical structure of 'class' itself – fascism dressed up pretty… as 'productivity'… Recall Miklos' description of Mussfeld's pride in his efficient carrying out of his orders to kill… that eighty was no more difficult for him than one… – P.S.]

[“150517everyactofcruelty.mp3”:]

 

“Hitler never had a single other human being in whom he could confide his true feelings; he was not only mistreated but also prevented from experiencing and expressing his pain; he didn't have any children who could have served as objects for abreacting [“'abreaction': the expression of a previously repressed emotion achieved through reliving the experience that caused it…”] his hatred; and, finally, his lack of education did not allow him to ward off his hatred by intellectualizing it. Had a single one of these factors been different, perhaps he would never have become the arch-criminal he did.… I anticipated a great deal of resistance on the part of the public when I advanced this thesis – which I am convinced is a correct one – so I was surprised to discover how many readers, both young and old, agreed with me. They were familiar from their own backgrounds with what I depicted. I didn't have to adduce elaborate arguments; all I needed to do was describe Hitler's childhood in such a way that it served as a mirror, and suddenly Germans caught their own reflections in it.… It was the personal nature of their responses to the three examples I present in my book that enabled many people to understand in a more than purely intellectual sense that every act of cruelty, no matter how brutal and shocking, has traceable antecedents in its perpetrator's past.”

 

A great deal has already been written about Hitler by historians, sociologists, psychologists, and psychoanalysts. As I attempt to show in the pages that follow, all his biographers have tried to exonerate his parents (particularly his father), thus refusing to explore what really happened to this man during his childhood, what experiences he stored up within, and what ways of treating other people were available as models for him.

 

Once I was able to move beyond the distorting perspectives associated with the idea of a “good upbringing” (what is described in this book as “poisonous pedagogy”) and show how Hitler's childhood anticipated the later concentration camps, countless readers were amazed by the convincing evidence I presented for my view. At the same time, however, their letters expressed confusion” “Basically, my childhood differed little from Hitler's, I, too, had a very strict upbringing, was beaten and mistreated. Why then didn't I become a mass murderer instead of, say, a scientist, a lawyer, a politician, or a writer?”

 

Actually, my book provides clear answers here, although they often seem to be overlooked: e.g., Hitler never had a single other human being in whom he could confide his true feelings; he was not only mistreated but also prevented from experiencing and expressing his pain; he didn't have any children who could have served as objects for abreacting [“'abreaction': the expression of a previously repressed emotion achieved through reliving the experience that caused it…”] his hatred; and, finally, his lack of education did not allow him to ward off his hatred by intellectualizing it. Had a single one of these factors been different, perhaps he would never have become the arch-criminal he did.

 

On the other hand, Hitler was certainly not an isolated phenomenon. He would not have had millions of followers if they had not experienced the same sort of upbringing. I anticipated a great deal of resistance on the part of the public when I advanced this thesis – which I am convinced is a correct one – so I was surprised to discover how many readers, both young and old, agreed with me. They were familiar from their own backgrounds with what I depicted. I didn't have to adduce elaborate arguments; all I needed to do was describe Hitler's childhood in such a way that it served as a mirror, and suddenly Germans caught their own reflections in it.

 

It was the personal nature of their responses to the three examples I present in my book that enabled many people to understand in a more than purely intellectual sense that every act of cruelty, no matter how brutal and shocking, has traceable antecedents in its perpetrator's past. The diverse reactions to my book range from unmistakable “aha” experiences to angry rejection. In the latter cases, as I have already indicated, the following comment keeps recurring like a refrain: “I am living proof that beating [or spanking] children is not necessarily harmful, for in spite of it I became a decent person.”

 

Although people tend to make a distinction between “spanking” and “beating” a child, considering the former a less severe measure than the latter, the line between the two is a tenuous one. I just heard a report on an American radio station about a man – a member of a Christian fundamentalist sect in West Virginia – who “spanked” his son for two hours. The little boy died as a result. But even when a spanking is a gentler form of physical violence, the psychic pain and humiliation and the need to repress these feelings are the same as in the case of more severe punishment. [What happens to our thought process when feelings are frozen?… is a question we'll be asking next week… – P.S.] It is important to point this out so that readers who receive or give what they call “spankings” will not think they or their children are exempt from the consequences of child beating discussed in this book.

 

[“150517poisonouspedagogy.mp3”:]

 

“Probably the majority of us belong to the category of “decent people who were once beaten,” since such treatment of children was a matter of course in past generations. Be that as it may, to some degree we can all be numbered among the survivors of “poisonous pedagogy.” [And as I said last week… in bringing our focus on… and analysis of… the wage-work system (including the critical contribution – to 'power's understanding of how to manipulate us… – of Bentham's advice…) to Alice's analysis… I believe we are adding a critical missing piece… needed to complete the puzzle of how we can free ourselves from 'power'… – P.S.]

 

Probably the majority of us belong to the category of “decent people who were once beaten,” since such treatment of children was a matter of course in past generations. Be that as it may, to some degree we can all be numbered among the survivors of “poisonous pedagogy.” Yet it would be just as false to deduce from this fact of survival that our upbringing caused us no harm as it would be to maintain that a limited nuclear war would be harmless because a part of humanity would still be alive when it was over. Quite apart from the culpably frivolous attitude toward the victims this view betrays, it also fails to take into account the question of what aftereffects the survivors of a nuclear conflict would have to face. The situation is analogous to “poisonous pedagogy,” for even if we, as survivors of severe childhood humiliations we all too readily make light of, don't kill ourselves or others, are not drug addicts or criminals, and are fortunate enough not to pass on the absurdities of our own childhood to our children so that they become psychotic, we can still function as dangerous carriers of infections. We will continue to infect the next generation with the virus of “poisonous pedagogy” as long as we claim that this kind of upbringing is harmless. It is here that we experience the harmful aftereffects of our survival, because we can protect ourselves from a poison only if it is clearly labeled as such, not if it is mixed, as it were, with ice cream advertised as being “For Your Own Good.” Our children will find themselves helpless when confronted with such labeling. When people who have been beaten or spanked as children attempt to play down the consequences by setting themselves up as examples, even claiming it was good for them, they are inevitably contributing to the continuation of cruelty in the world by this refusal to take their childhood tragedies seriously. Taking over this attitude, their children, pupils, and students will in turn beat their own children, citing their parents, teachers, and professors as authorities. Don't the consequences of having been a battered child find their most tragic expression in this type of thinking?

 

Although the general public is beginning to understand that this suffering is transmitted to one's children in the form of an upbringing supposedly “for their own good,” many people with whom I have spoken in the United States still believe that permissive methods of child-rearing allow children “too much freedom and that it is this permissiveness, not “poisonous pedagogy,” that is responsible for the marked increase in crime and drug addiction. Even cartoons and jokes make fun of parents who have a tolerant and supportive attitude toward their children, emphasizing the dangers if parents allow themselves to be tyrannized by their children. King Solomon's mistaken belief (if you spare the rod you will spoil the child) is still accepted today in all seriousness as great wisdom and is still being passed on to the next generation. These attitudes, although they now take a more subtle and less apparent form, are not far removed from those quoted in the following pages to illustrate the detrimental effects of child-rearing methods. Such views have not been borne out by my many years of experience. Theoretically, I can imagine that someday we will regard our children not as creatures to manipulate or to change but rather as messengers from a world we once deeply knew, but which we have long since forgotten, who can reveal to us more about the true secrets of life, and also our own lives, than our parents were ever able to. We do not need to be told whether to be strict or permissive with our children. What we do need is to have respect for their needs, their feelings, and their individuality, as well as for our own.

[And as I said last week… in bringing our focus on… and analysis of… the wage-work system (including the critical contribution – to 'power's understanding of how to manipulate us… – of Bentham's advice…) to Alice's analysis… I believe we are adding a critical missing piece… needed to complete the puzzle of how we can free ourselves from 'power'… – P.S.]

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[“150517breakingaviciouscircle.mp3”:]

 

“The more we idealize the past, however, and refuse to acknowledge our childhood sufferings, the more we pass them on unconsciously to the next generation. For this reason, I attempt to point out in these pages some underlying connections, with the hope of breaking a vicious circle. For a decisive change could well come about in our culture if parents would only stop combating their own parents in their children, often when the latter are still infants – something they do because their parents were able to attain a position of guiltlessness and inviolability by forcible means, i.e., thanks to the Fourth Commandment and to the methods of child-rearing they employed.… And if we are courageous enough to face the truth, the world will change, for the power of that “poisonous pedagogy” which has dominated us for so long has been dependent upon our fear, our confusion, and our childish credulity; once it is exposed to the light of truth, it will inevitably disappear.”

 

It is no mere accident that all three of the people I write about I this book had no children of their own. One of my readers wrote to me: “Who knows, perhaps the Jews would not have been sent to the gas ovens if Hitler had had five sons on whom he could have taken revenge for what his father did to him.” We punish our children for the arbitrary actions of our parents that we were not able to defend ourselves against, thanks to the Fourth Commandment. I have discovered that we are less a prey to this form of the repetition compulsion if we are willing to acknowledge what happened to us, if we do not claim that we were mistreated “for our own good,” and if we have not had to ward off completely our painful reactions to the past. The more we idealize the past, however, and refuse to acknowledge our childhood sufferings, the more we pass them on unconsciously to the next generation. For this reason, I attempt to point out in these pages some underlying connections, with the hope of breaking a vicious circle. For a decisive change could well come about in our culture if parents would only stop combating their own parents in their children, often when the latter are still infants – something they do because their parents were able to attain a position of guiltlessness and inviolability by forcible means, i.e., thanks to the Fourth Commandment and to the methods of child-rearing they employed.

 

On a recent trip to America I encountered many people, especially women, who have discovered the power of their knowledge. They do not shrink from pointing out the poisonous nature of false information, even though it has been well concealed for millennia behind sacrosanct and well-meaning pedagogical labels. The conversations I had in the United States gave support to my own experience that courage can be just as infectious as fear. And if we are courageous enough to face the truth, the world will change, for the power of that “poisonous pedagogy” which has dominated us for so long has been dependent upon our fear, our confusion, and our childish credulity; once it is exposed to the light of truth, it will inevitably disappear. (A.M., November 1982. “Preface to the American Edition,” p. vii – xii)

 

* “WUR of May 24th, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

–––

 

“Why Not?…” [The Manhattan Transfer]

 

–––

 

“P.S. I Love You…” [Billie Holiday]

 

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[“150524demagnetize.mp3”:]

 

…and… by the way… if 'they' – 'global-'power' – operating in all states irrespective of official political ideology – daily simply kill whoever they want to – and in the case of the US… silently and without detection – then quite obviously these political ideologies are plays we enact for them… for their amusement… How many people have they done this to… and will… if we don't reclaim our human energy now?

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 6)

 

I mentioned in a post to the 'Blog' page of 'the Nascence' this week that I'm beginning to think that the round-the-clock EMF assault on me – including… most recently (on May 4, 2015 around 2:30 AM… two hours earlier… coming home… I saw two helicopters flying fast at right angles to each other… over the neighborhood…) one that required me to fee the house fast because of the intense chest pain and ear-ringing – is about keeping their investment in their EMF weapons safe…

(…and… by the way… if 'they' – 'global-'power' – operating in all states irrespective of official political ideology – daily simply kill whoever they want to – and in the case of the US… silently and without detection – then quite obviously these political ideologies are plays we enact for them… for their amusement…

 

How many people have they done this to… and will… if we don't reclaim our human energy now?

…but even in that case… of bucks riding… it's about preventing de-legitimization – the strategic first step… toward which we're aimed…

 

…as their ('rule's) legitimacy in our eyes is… for 'power'… the whole game… without it their core of 'rule' de-magnetizes…

 

…and discussions – may they proliferate – of freeing captive human energy deeply de-magnetize.

 

That core of belief in the legitimacy of 'rule'… of 'Authority'… starts with we parents.

 

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[“150524actingout.mp3”:]

 

What are the relations between 'voice'… and frozen feelings… and the development of our thought… exposure to new thoughts… and the opening of the heart?… the development of 'empathy'… And while this is not our purpose… this process heals our tormentors… no less than ourselves… In what they do to us… the global-state-statesmen unerringly reveal what was done to them… they were turned into the puppets of their fathers… …and in our subjection to the hardships they impose… we have had to bear witness… to a massive… millennia-long… 'acting out'… …and it falls on us… to become the 'emphatic partner'… those strong enough and in possession of an accurate certainty… to help them… in the very reclaiming of our world… discover their true selves.

 

May 19, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: We've said that we succeed as we see it… see the story that has been done to us… and intervene in it with consciousness. “All difficulties are but easy when they are known…” said our William…

 

…and we said that we are embarking on a process of healing 'the species' through the arts… 'the arts' in the sense of 'growing the soul'… of 'granting permission' for the 'true self'… to speak…

 

What is this process we're engaged in more specifically… we're asking this week… How do we sort all the threads of its tapestry?

 

What are the relations between 'voice'… and frozen feelings… and the development of our thought… exposure to new thoughts… and the opening of the heart?… the development of 'empathy'…

 

And while this is not our purpose… this process heals our tormentors… no less than ourselves…

 

In what they do to us… the global-state-statesmen unerringly reveal what was done to them…

 

…they were turned into the puppets of their fathers…

 

…and in our subjection to the hardships they impose… we have had to bear witness…

 

…to a massive… millennia-long… 'acting out'…

 

…and it falls on us… to become the 'emphatic partner'… those strong enough and in possession of an accurate certainty…

 

…to help them… in the very claiming of our world… discover their true selves.

 

–––

 

Alice Miller makes an important point (among innumerable such…) in (Prisoners of Childhood, that might help us understand the connection between the freezing of feelings (keeping in mind that feelings freeze in reaction to a shock…) and the freezing of thought:

For a time this woman, who was normally capable of expressing herself so clearly, described everything in such an extraordinarily complicated and precipitate way that I had no chance of understanding it all, probably much like her parents earlier.… My patient now could hardly recognize me any more, although I had not changed. In this way she rediscovered with me her own childhood. A child, too, can never grasp the fact that the same mother who cooks so well, is so concerned about his cough, and helps so kindly with his homework, in some circumstances has no more feeling than a wall for his hidden inner world. (Prisoners of Childhood, p. 83)

Does thought freeze in the shock of that initial trauma?

In Waking Up I wrote that… fundamentally… we are creatures that like to figure things out… and to make things…

 

…and that children are “'figuring things out' made manifest…” are “dogged in their determination to find (or create their own) answers…” and that unresolved questions get carried infinitely forward.

 

It is a shock… requiring deep (unconscious) pondering… to realize that one's true feelings don't matter. 'Thought' gets stuck there… at those thoughts that we can't figure out: the clear demonstration… across 'class' society… but most particularly in those we most need… that only 'power' matters… that “might makes right…”

 

Why?… our unconscious ponders… “why do my feelings not matter?”… “why are they not acknowledged?”… “why does she not love me?”…

 

…our unconscious ponders… as does that of 'power's issuance's no less than that of our own…

 

…and while we are left to steep in that brew of confusion… across the generations… ad infinitum…

 

…'power' takes in hand its replacements …and says: “Do not pass 'go'… proceed directly… to Plato…

 

“…Father of Fathers… Paterfamilias… Ultimate Authority… provides this answer:

 

“To possess the Knowledge… provide the guidance… rule the 'lessers'… and manifest 'pure Logic'…”

 

…and suddenly… to the next-up-'ruler'-designates… it all makes sense… everything fits…

 

…the riddle is solved… the answer given…

 

…dressed in false robes of ancient wisdom…

 

…posed as 'benevolence'…

 

–––

 

How do all the threads that we need to see interweave as we embark on a globally-focused project of getting free: we have to consider the inter-relations between “developing 'thought'…” unlocking frozen feelings… and 'empathy.'

 

[“150524empathicconnectedness.mp3”:]

 

“Political action can be fed by the unconscious anger of children who have been so misused, imprisoned, exploited, cramped, and drilled. This anger can be partially discharged in fighting our institutions, without having to give up the idealization of one's own mother, as one knew her in one's childhood. The old dependency can then be shifted to a new object. If, however, disillusionment and the resultant mourning can be lived through in analysis, then social and political disengagement do not usually follow, but the patient's actions are freed from the compulsion to repeat.” How do we merge… or juxtapose… new information about the 'micro' and the 'macro'… the personal and the political… the 'inner' and the 'outer'… such that the heart is not just opened… but committed to engage in action… i.e. is connected to all human-ness? Or perhaps the better question is… how exactly does the heart open?… what is that process? How did it close? We could describe our communal nature as a capacity for empathic connectedness… but if we can't form a mutually-empathic connection with our 'mother' (in Alice's sense…) we can't form it with others… out capacity for empathic connectedness gets stunted… we cease to believe in it… we have no model for it… except of course with the earth… and the earth in us.

 

What starts the ice floes melting… those deeply-buried frozen feelings? Last week Alice suggested it was new information:

On a recent trip to America I encountered many people, especially women, who have discovered the power of their knowledge. They do not shrink from pointing out the poisonous nature of false information, even though it has been well concealed for millennia behind sacrosanct and well-meaning pedagogical labels. The conversations I had in the United States gave support to my own experience that courage can be just as infectious as fear. And if we are courageous enough to face the truth, the world will change, for the power of that “poisonous pedagogy” which has dominated us for so long has been dependent upon our fear, our confusion, and our childish credulity; once it is exposed to the light of truth, it will inevitably disappear. (“Preface to the American Edition”, For Your Own Good…)

…new information provided not to the adult who has come to be… but to the small child who was never seen:

What most needs to be understood is his compulsion to repeat, and the state of affairs behind it to which this compulsion bears witness. All this no doubt is the result of social pressures, and these do not have their effect on his psyche through abstract knowledge but are anchored in his earliest affective experience with his mother. His problems cannot be solved with words, but only through experience, not merely corrective experience as an adult but, above all, through a reliving of his early fear of his beloved mother's contempt and his subsequent feelings of indignation and sadness. Mere words, however skilled the interpretation, will leave the split from which he suffers unchanged or even deepened.

 

One can therefore hardly free a patient from the cruelty of his introjects by showing him how the absurdity, exploitation, and perversity of society causes our neuroses and perversions, however true this may be.… Things we can see through do not make us sick; they may arouse our indignation, anger, sadness, or feelings of impotence. What makes us sick are those things we cannot see through, society's constraints that we have absorbed through our mother's eyes – eyes and an attitude from which no reading or learning can free us.…

 

Political action can be fed by the unconscious anger of children who have been so misused, imprisoned, exploited, cramped, and drilled. This anger can be partially discharged in fighting our institutions, without having to give up the idealization of one's own mother, as one knew her in one's childhood. The old dependency can then be shifted to a new object. If, however, disillusionment and the resultant mourning can be lived through in analysis, then social and political disengagement do not usually follow, but the patient's actions are freed from the compulsion to repeat.

 

The inner necessity to constantly build up new illusions and denials, in order to avoid the experience of our own reality, disappears once this reality has been faced and experienced. (Alice Miller, Prisoners of Childhood, p. 99 – 101)

How do we merge… or juxtapose… new information about the 'micro' and the 'macro'… the personal and the political… the 'inner' and the 'outer'…

 

…such that the heart is not just opened… but committed to engage in action… i.e. is connected to all human-ness?

 

Or perhaps the better question is… how exactly does the heart open?… what is that process?

 

How did it close?

 

We could describe our communal nature as a capacity for empathic connectedness… but if we can't form a mutually-empathic connection with our 'mother' (in Alice's sense…) we can't form it with others… out capacity for empathic connectedness gets stunted… we cease to believe in it… we have no model for it… except of course with the earth… and the earth in us.

 

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[Today’s reading: the second ('original') 'Preface' of… and the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

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* “WUR of May 24th, 2015 Reading… continuing "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

[“150524encodedexperience.mp3”:]

 

“On the other hand, the general public is still far from realizing that our earliest experiences unfailingly affect society as a whole; that psychoses, drug addiction, and criminality are encoded expressions of these experiences. This fact is usually either disputed or accepted only on a strictly intellectual level. Since the intellect fails to influence the area of the emotions, the practical world (of politics, law, or psychiatry) continues to be dominated by medieval concepts characterized by the outward projection of evil. Can a book help to bring about knowledge of an emotional nature? I do not know the answer, but the hope that my writings will set an inner process in motion at least for some readers seems reason enough to make the attempt.” [We have been arguing that hidden-'power' is a key missing piece from Alice's essential insights into how the base mindset of 'class' (and totalitarianism…) – 'obedience' – gets established in the larger society by means of its inculcation into the next generation through us… the parents… – P.S.]

 

“Preface to the Original Edition”

 

The most psychoanalysis is able to do – according to a typical reproach – is help a privileged minority, and only to a very limited extent at that. This is certainly a legitimate complaint as long as the benefits derived from analysis remain the exclusive property of a privileged few. But this need not be the case.

 

The reactions to my first book, Prisoners of Childhood: The Drama of the Gifted Child and the Search for the True Self…

[I don't like that word 'gifted' – it's a tool of 'rule' – (as if we aren't all in possession of unique gifts…) What she's pointing out… or at least one aspect of what she's pointing out… is that problems of 'voice'… authentic 'voice'… 'historically' tended to reside in… was more often a malady of… those 'power' intentionally privileges… – P.S.]

…convinced me that resistance to what I have to say is no greater outside the psychoanalytic community than among members of the profession – in fact, the younger generation of the lay public shows perhaps even more openness to my ideas than do my professional colleagues. Reflecting on this, I realized how essential it is to make the insights gained from analysis of a few available to the public at large rather than hide these insights away on dusty library shelves. Thus, I decided to devote the next several years of my life to writing.

 

I am primarily interested in describing everyday situations occurring outside the psychoanalytic setting that can, however, be more fully understood if viewed from a psychoanalytic perspective. This does not mean applying a ready-made theory to society, for I believe I can truly understand a person only if I hear and feel what he or she is saying to me without hiding or barricading myself behind theories. Depth psychology practiced both on others and on ourselves provides us as analysts with insights into the human psyche that accompany us everywhere in life, sharpening our sensitivity outside as well as inside the consulting room.

[We have been arguing that hidden-'power' is a key missing piece from Alice's essential insights into how the base mindset of 'class' (and totalitarianism…) – 'obedience' – gets established in the larger society by means of its inculcation into the next generation through us… the parents…

 

…rooting the dynamics she sees within the 'class' system – which she does by implication when she (in her later 'American Preface') refers to the millennia of 'poisonous pedagogy' that it now falls on us to overcome – avoids the 'power'-sanctioned and so pervasive problem (for our honoring our solidarity…) of universalizing 'class'-specific patterns… – P.S.]

On the other hand, the general public is still far from realizing that our earliest experiences unfailingly affect society as a whole; that psychoses, drug addiction, and criminality are encoded expressions of these experiences. This fact is usually either disputed or accepted only on a strictly intellectual level. Since the intellect fails to influence the area of the emotions, the practical world (of politics, law, or psychiatry) continues to be dominated by medieval concepts characterized by the outward projection of evil. Can a book help to bring about knowledge of an emotional nature? I do not know the answer, but the hope that my writings will set an inner process in motion at least for some readers seems reason enough to make the attempt.

 

[“150524thechildintheadult.mp3”:]

 

“Since I do not believe in the effectiveness of giving prescriptions and advice, at least when unconscious behavior is involved, I do not consider it my task to admonish parents to treat their child in ways that are impossible for them. Instead, I see it as my role to convey relevant information of a vivid and emotional nature to the child in the adult. As long as this child within is not allowed to become aware of what happened to him or her, a part of his or her emotional life will remain frozen, and sensitivity to the humiliations of childhood will therefore be dulled. All appeals to love, solidarity, and compassion will be useless if this crucial prerequisite of sympathy and understanding is missing.”

 

Although the numerous letters I received from readers of Prisoners of Childhood were of the utmost interest to me. I was unable to answer them all personally. Hence this book. My inability to reply directly to my readers was partly due to other demands on my time, but I also soon realized that when it comes to presenting my thoughts and experiences of recent years I must go into a great deal of detail, for there is no body of existing literature I can refer to. From the professional questions of my colleagues and the general human questions of those affected by the problems I described (which are not to be understood as mutually exclusive), two distinct issues emerged: the extent to which my interpretation of the nature of early childhood deviates from the psychoanalytic drive theory [Footnote: The author prefers to have Freud's word Trieb translated as “drive” instead of “instinct” (the choice of Strachey, Freud's official English translator), which she considers misleading. – Translators Hildegarde and Hunter Hannum], and the need to distinguish more clearly between feelings of guilt and of sorrow. Related to the latter issue is the urgent and frequently asked question raised by concerned parents: Is there still something we can do for our children once we have realized to what degree we are victims of the repetition compulsion?

 

Since I do not believe in the effectiveness of giving prescriptions and advice, at least when unconscious behavior is involved, I do not consider it my task to admonish parents to treat their child in ways that are impossible for them. Instead, I see it as my role to convey relevant information of a vivid and emotional nature to the child in the adult. As long as this child within is not allowed to become aware of what happened to him or her, a part of his or her emotional life will remain frozen, and sensitivity to the humiliations of childhood will therefore be dulled.

 

All appeals to love, solidarity, and compassion will be useless if this crucial prerequisite of sympathy and understanding is missing.

 

This fact has special implications for trained psychologists, because without empathy they cannot apply their professional knowledge in a beneficial way, regardless of how much time they devote to their patients. The same is true for parents; even if they are highly educated and have sufficient time at their disposal, they are helpless when it comes to understanding their child so long as they must keep the sufferings of their own childhood at an emotional distance. On the other hand, it is possible for a working mother, for example, to grasp her child's situation immediately, provided she has the necessary inner openness and freedom.

 

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[“150524poisonousped.mp3”:]

 

“Addressing the child in my adult readers, I see it as my task to sensitize the general public to the sufferings of early childhood. I attempt to accomplish this in two different ways. In the first section of the present work I describe “poisonous pedagogy,” the methods of child-rearing practiced when our parents and grandparents were growing up. It is possible that many readers will respond to my first chapter with feelings of anger and rage, which can turn out to have a very therapeutic effect.”

 

Thus, I see it as my task to sensitize the general public to the sufferings of early childhood. Addressing the child in my adult readers, I attempt to accomplish this in two different ways. In the first section of the present work I describe “poisonous pedagogy,” the methods of child-rearing practiced when our parents and grandparents were growing up. It is possible that many readers will respond to my first chapter with feelings of anger and rage, which can turn out to have a very therapeutic effect. In the second part I recount the childhoods of a drug addict, a political leader, and a murderer of young boys, all of whom were subjected to severe humiliation and mistreatment as children. In two cases in particular, I draw upon their own accounts of their childhoods and later fate, trying to bring the reader to listen to their shattering testimony with my analytic ear. All three histories bear witness to the devastating role of child-rearing, its destruction of vitality, its danger for society. Even in psychoanalysis, especially in its theory of drives, we find traces of traditional pedagogy, I first planned to devote a chapter to this theme, but its scope forced me to make it the subject of another work, soon to appear [Thou Shalt Not Be Aware]. There I stress the distinctions between my ideas and specific psychoanalytic theories and models more clearly than in my previous writings.

 

This book is a product of my inner dialogue with the readers of Prisoners of Childhood: The Drama of the Gifted Child and is to be understood as a continuation of that work. It is possible to read it without knowing the earlier book, but if the subjects discussed here evoke feelings of guilt in the reader rather than of sadness, then it would be advisable to read the earlier work as well. It is important and helpful always to keep in mind in reading my present work that when I speak of parents and children I do not mean specific persons but rather certain conditions, situations, or questions of relative status that concern us all, because all parents were once children and most of those who are children today will one day be parents themselves.…

 

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[“150524hiddencruelty.mp3”:]

 

“Anyone who has ever been a mother or father and is at all honest knows from experience how difficult it can be for parents to accept certain aspects of their children. It is especially painful to have to admit this if we really love our child and want to respect his or her individuality yet are unable to do so. Intellectual knowledge is no guarantee of understanding and tolerance. If it was never possible for us to relive on a conscious level the rejection we experienced in our own childhood and to work it through, then we in turn will pass this rejection on to our children. A merely intellectual knowledge of the laws of child development does not protect us from irritation or anger if our child's behavior does not correspond to our expectations or needs or if – even worse – it should pose a threat to our defense mechanisms. It is very different for children: they have no previous history standing in their way, and their tolerance for their parents knows no bounds. The love a child has for his or her parents ensures that their conscious or unconscious acts of mental cruelty will go undetected. Descriptions of what can be done to children without fear of reprisal are readily available… Since training in many cultures begins in infancy during the initial symbiotic relationship between mother and child, this early conditioning makes it virtually impossible for the child to discover what is actually happening to him. The child's dependence on his or her parents' love also makes it impossible in later years to recognize these traumatizations, which often remain hidden behind the early idealization of the parents for the rest of the child's life.” [The challenge for us to begin thinking through… is how to begin doing this – “reliving on a conscious level the rejection we experienced in our own childhood and to work it through…” – on a society-wide scale… as we gain access to new information… and as we therefore begin to give ourselves new messages… tell ourselves new stories… We'll be considering that the feelings of anger and sadness that we repressed as children… that those feelings provide the source for our anger and sadness at the broader injustices of the world… the source for our love for… and determination to defend… our fellows trapped in this injustice… – P.S.]

 

How Child-Rearing Crushes Spontaneous Feelings: Glimpses of a Revered Tradition

 

“Poisonous Pedagogy”

 

Introduction:

 

Anyone who has ever been a mother or father and is at all honest knows from experience how difficult it can be for parents to accept certain aspects of their children.

[To statements from Academe about what 'humans' are we must always add the qualifier… “under 'class'”… The 'non-class society'… both that of some indigenous peoples… and certainly the one we must invent all together globally… is a completely different animal… – P.S.]

It is especially painful to have to admit this if we really love our child and want to respect his or her individuality yet are unable to do so. Intellectual knowledge is no guarantee of understanding and tolerance. If it was never possible for us to relive on a conscious level the rejection we experienced in our own childhood and to work it through, then we in turn will pass this rejection on to our children. A merely intellectual knowledge of the laws of child development does not protect us from irritation or anger if our child's behavior does not correspond to our expectations or needs or if – even worse – it should pose a threat to our defense mechanisms.

[The challenge for us to begin thinking through… is how to begin doing this – “reliving on a conscious level the rejection we experienced in our own childhood and to work it through…” – on a society-wide scale… as we gain access to new information… and as we therefore begin to give ourselves new messages… tell ourselves new stories. We'll be considering that the feelings of anger and sadness that we repressed as children… anger and sadness at our psychic and physical abandonment by parents turned over to a coerced-work system… parents trapped in the dilemma of simple survival on an abundant earth – that those feelings provide the source for our anger and sadness at the broader injustices of the world… the source for our love for… and determination to defend… our fellows trapped in this injustice… – P.S.]

It is very different for children: they have no previous history standing in their way, and their tolerance for their parents knows no bounds. The love a child has for his or her parents ensures that their conscious or unconscious acts of mental cruelty will go undetected. Descriptions of what can be done to children without fear of reprisal are readily available in recent works dealing with the history of childhood (cf., for example, Philippe Aries, Lloyd de Mause, Morton Schatzman, and Ray E. Helfer and C. Henry Kempe).

 

The former practice of physically maiming, exploiting, and abusing children [under 'class'… – P.S.] seems to have been gradually replaced in modern times by a form of mental cruelty that is masked by the honorific term child-rearing. Since training in many cultures begins in infancy during the initial symbiotic relationship between mother and child, this early conditioning makes it virtually impossible for the child to discover what is actually happening to him. The child's dependence on his or her parents' love also makes it impossible in later years to recognize these traumatizations, which often remain hidden behind the early idealization of the parents for the rest of the child's life.

 

–––

 

[“150524willfulness.mp3”:]

 

“The little ones' displays of temper as indicated by screaming or crying without cause should be regarded as the first test of your spiritual and pedagogical principles.… Once you have established that nothing is really wrong, that the child is not ill, distressed, or in pain, then you can rest assured that the screaming is nothing more than an outburst of temper, a whim, the first appearance of willfulness. Now you should no longer simply wait for it to pass as you did in the beginning but should proceed in a somewhat more positive way: by quickly diverting its attention, by stern words, threatening gestures, rapping on the bed… or if none of this helps, by appropriately mild corporal admonitions repeated persistently at brief intervals until the child quiets down or falls asleep.…”

 

In the mid-nineteenth century a man named Schreber, the father of a paranoid patient described by Freud, wrote a series of books on child-rearing. They were so popular in Germany that some of them went through forty printings and were translated into several languages. In these works it is stressed again and again that children should start being trained as soon as possible, even as early as their fifth month of life, if the soil is to be “kept free of harmful weeds.” I have encountered similar views in parents' letters and diaries, which provide the outsider with a clear indication of the underlying causes of the serious illnesses that developed in their children, who were later to become my patients. But initially, these patients of mine were unable to derive much benefit from these diaries and had to undergo long and deep analysis before they could begin to see the truth in them. First they had to become detached from their parents and develop their own individuality. […a process likely incorporated into what we're thinking of as 'soul sufficiency'… developing one's own individuality… – P.S.]

 

The conviction that parents are always right and that every act of cruelty, whether conscious or unconscious, is an expression of their love is so deeply rooted in human beings [under 'class'… – P.S.] because it is based on the process of internalization that takes place during the first months of life – in other words, during the period preceding separation from the primary care giver.

 

Two passages from Dr. Schreber's advice to parents, written in 1858, will illustrate the method of raising children prevalent at the time:

The little ones' displays of temper as indicated by screaming or crying without cause should be regarded as the first test of your spiritual and pedagogical principles.… Once you have established that nothing is really wrong, that the child is not ill, distressed, or in pain, then you can rest assured that the screaming is nothing more than an outburst of temper, a whim, the first appearance of willfulness. Now you should no longer simply wait for it to pass as you did in the beginning but should proceed in a somewhat more positive way: by quickly diverting its attention, by stern words, threatening gestures, rapping on the bed… or if none of this helps, by appropriately mild corporal admonitions repeated persistently at brief intervals until the child quiets down or falls asleep.…

 

This procedure will be necessary only once or at most twice, and then you will be master of the child forever. From now on, a glance, a word, a single threatening gesture will be sufficient to control the child. Remember that this will be of the greatest benefit to your child since it will spare him many hours of agitation inimicable to his successful growth, freeing him from all those inner torments that can, moreover, very easily lead to a proliferation of pernicious character traits that will become increasingly difficult to conquer. (Quoted in Morton Schatzman, Soul Murder)

[“150524themother.mp3”:]

 

“Dr. Schreber doesn't realize that what he is in fact attempting to curb in children are his own impulses.… I can only state that every small child needs an empathic and not a “controlling” human being (whether it be father or mother) as care giver.”

 

Dr. Schreber doesn't realize that what he is in fact attempting to curb in children are his own impulses, and there is no doubt in his mind that he is recommending the exercise of power purely for the child's own good:

If parents are consistent in this, they will soon be rewarded by the emergence of that desirable situation in which the child will be controlled almost entirely by a parental glance alone.

Children raised in this way frequently do not notice, even at an advanced age, when someone is taking advantage of them as long as the person uses a “friendly” tone of voice.

[Miklos Nyiszli… in Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account… shows us to what degree 'power' understands this… and applies this awareness – of the ease with which it can manipulate us… once our psyches have been undermined by control tactics such as these. Recall his observation that every lie from the officers was conveyed with smiles… and 'sincere' reassurances… – P.S.]

I have often been asked why I refer mostly to mothers and so seldom to fathers in Prisoners of Childhood: The Drama of the Gifted Child. I designate the most important care giver in the child's first year of life as the “mother.” This does not necessarily have to be the biological mother or even a woman. In Prisoners of Childhood I took pains to point out that looks expressing disapproval and rejection that are directed at the infant can contribute to the development of severe disturbances, including perversions and compulsion neuroses, in the adult. In the Schreber family it was not the mother who “controlled” her two infant sons with “glances,” it was the father. (Both sons later suffered from mental illness accompanied by delusions of persecution.) In the last decades, however, there has been an increasing number of fathers who have assumed positive maternal functions and have been able to give their child tenderness and warmth and to empathize with his or her needs. In contrast to the era of the patriarchal family, we now find ourselves in a phase of healthy experimentation with sex roles, and this being the case, I have difficulty speaking about the “social roles” of the father or mother without resorting to outdated normative categories. I can only state that every small child needs an empathic and not a “controlling” human being (whether it be father or mother) as care giver.

 

–––

 

[“150524themirror.mp3”:]

 

“An enormous amount can be done to a child in the first two years: he or she can be molded, dominated, taught good habits, scolded, and punished – without any repercussions for the person raising the child and without the child taking revenge. The child will overcome the serious consequences of the injustice he has suffered only if he succeeds in defending himself, i.e, if he is allowed to express his pain and anger. If he is prevented from reacting in his own way because the parents cannot tolerate his reactions (crying, sadness, rage) and forbid them by means of looks or other pedagogical methods, then the child will learn to be silent. This silence is a sign of the effectiveness of the pedagogical principles applied, but at the same time it is a danger signal pointing to future pathological development. If there is absolutely no possibility of reacting appropriately to hurt, humiliation, and coercion, then these experiences cannot be integrated into the personality; the feelings they evoke are repressed, and the need to articulate them remains unsatisfied, without any hope of being fulfilled. It is this lack of hope of ever being able to express repressed traumata by means of relevant feelings that most often causes severe psychological problems.”

 

An enormous amount can be done to a child in the first two years: he or she can be molded, dominated, taught good habits, scolded, and punished – without any repercussions for the person raising the child and without the child taking revenge. The child will overcome the serious consequences of the injustice he has suffered only if he succeeds in defending himself, i.e, if he is allowed to express his pain and anger. If he is prevented from reacting in his own way because the parents cannot tolerate his reactions (crying, sadness, rage) and forbid them by means of looks or other pedagogical methods, then the child will learn to be silent. This silence is a sign of the effectiveness of the pedagogical principles applied, but at the same time it is a danger signal pointing to future pathological development. If there is absolutely no possibility of reacting appropriately to hurt, humiliation, and coercion, then these experiences cannot be integrated into the personality; the feelings they evoke are repressed, and the need to articulate them remains unsatisfied, without any hope of being fulfilled. It is this lack of hope of ever being able to express repressed traumata by means of relevant feelings that most often causes severe psychological problems. We already know that neuroses are a result of repression, not of events themselves. I shall try to demonstrate that neuroses are not the only tragic consequences of repression.

 

Because this process does not begin in adulthood but in the very first days of life as a result of the efforts of often well-meaning parents, in later life the individual cannot get to the roots of this repression without help. It is as though someone has had stamped on his back a mark that he will never be able to see without a mirror. One of the functions of psychotherapy is to provide the mirror.

[I would encourage us all to hear her words about healing creatively… and with a broad sense… that of recovering lost bits as we acquire new information… which can happen both individually… and in a mutual process of sharing…

“Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature; for anything so overdone is from [alien to] the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure [stamp].” (Hamlet, III: 2)

What is the action?… love… establishing an authentic love-connection…

 

…i.e… we help each other do this… – P.S.]

[“150524waytoheal.mp3”:]

 

“Coercion often nips the development of these prerequisites in the bud and what then remains is a lifelong condition of strain. This is like soil too hard for anything to grow in, and the only hope at all of forcibly producing the love demanded of one as a child lies in the upbringing given one's own children, from whom one then demands love in the same merciless fashion. For this reason, it is my intention to refrain from all moralizing. I definitely do not want to say someone ought or ought not to do this or that (for example, ought not to hate), for I consider maxims of this sort to be useless. Rather, I see it as my task to expose the roots of hatred, which only a few people seem to recognize, and to search for the explanation of why there are so few of these people.”

 

It is true that psychoanalysis is still a process of the few, and its therapeutic achievements are often questioned. But having witnessed in case after case the forces that are set free when the results of child-rearing are counteracted; having seen how these forces would otherwise have to be mobilized on all fronts to destroy vital spontaneity in oneself and in others because this quality has been regarded as bad and threatening from an early age, I want to communicate to society something of what I have learned in the analytic process. Society has a right to know, to the extent that this is at all possible, what actually takes place in the analytic setting; for what comes to light there is not only the private affair of a few ill or disturbed people; it concerns us all.

[And of course in our process… we will be framing… and emphasizing… somewhat differently… as it is 'class'-society that is ill (a fact she stresses as well…) – P.S.]

Breeding Grounds of Hatred: Guides to Child-rearing From Two Centuries

 

For a long time I asked myself how I could go about giving a vivid and not purely intellectual portrayal of what is done to many children in their earliest days and the consequences this has for society. How could I best tell others, I often wondered, what it is people have discovered concerning the beginning of their life after having gone through a lengthy and laborious process of reconstruction? In addition to the difficulty involved in presenting this material, there is the old dilemma: on the one hand, there is my pledge of professional secrecy; on the other, my conviction that principles are at work here that ought not to remain the special knowledge of a few insiders. Furthermore, I am aware of the resistance on the part of the reader who has not been in analysis of the guilt feelings that arise when cruel treatment is discussed and the way to mourning still remains blocked. What, then, should be done with this sad fund of knowledge?

 

We are so used to perceiving everything we hear in terms of moralizing rules and regulations that sometimes even pure information may be interpreted as a reproach and thus cannot be absorbed at all. We justifiably resist new exhortations if moral demands were frequently imposed upon us at too young an age. Love of one's neighbor, altruism, willingness to sacrifice – how splendid these words sound and yet what cruelty can lie hidden in them simply because they are forced upon a child at a time when the prerequisites for altruism cannot possibly be present.…

[Moreover… coercion violates the natural process by which we learn… – P.S.]

…Coercion often nips the development of these prerequisites in the bud and what then remains is a lifelong condition of strain. This is like soil too hard for anything to grow in, and the only hope at all of forcibly producing the love demanded of one as a child lies in the upbringing given one's own children, from whom one then demands love in the same merciless fashion.

 

For this reason, it is my intention to refrain from all moralizing. I definitely do not want to say someone ought or ought not to do this or that (for example, ought not to hate), for I consider maxims of this sort to be useless. Rather, I see it as my task to expose the roots of hatred, which only a few people seem to recognize, and to search for the explanation of why there are so few of these people.

 

–––

 

* “WUR of May 31, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

–––

 

“If I Love You…” [Joe Cocker]

 

–––

 

[“150531fascismontheback.mp3”:]

 

And I have to apologize… because I've been in 'survival' mode – the amazing numbers of people helping to track me… to help with the targeting… has just astounded me… this is fascism on the back of a dollar… and I think fascism… totalitarianism… has always rode in on the back of a dollar – it's called the 'wage-work-system' – which compels the behavior you want… if you're hidden-'power'…

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 7)

 

…these spaces can be anywhere where enough love for the project flourishes…

 

…and while the breakdown of the barriers between us with the infinite expansion of the electronic space… expands the possibilities for our self-/soul-sufficiency spaces… we have to do this in actual physical reality… I'm committed to that being wherever my body cleaves… i.e. wherever my love is… the importance of face-to-face… in a mutual project of soul-expansion… cannot be over-estimated…

 

And I have to apologize… because I've been in 'survival' mode – the amazing numbers of people helping to track me… to help with the targeting… has just astounded me… this is fascism on the back of a dollar… and I think fascism… totalitarianism… has always rode in on the back of a dollar – it's called the 'wage-work-system' – which compels the behavior you want… if you're hidden-'power'…

 

…and we have to start talking about it – but because I've been in this tense place of simply trying to exist – combat the swollenness and burning of my head… knees… chest… try to hang onto a smile or two… when almost everyone I see seems to want me to leave the planet… because of this I've been too self-absorbed and I've missed some things… the full extent of how much trouble I've brought to some doors – the dead piling up…

 

You know in the last year of my neighbor's – Mrs. Trotter's – life she said to me… questioningly… “My feet hurt…” and she looked at me as if to say, “have you ever heard of such a thing?” And then she died… and then… my feet started to hurt. I think the folks paid to do this see themselves as 'high-tech-hunters' – they go for the head, chest, legs… and feet… to make the target less mobile… easier to kill. How many since then… indirectly connected to my actions? Fascism on the back of a buck… people paid to do these things. So this is a gloomy time for me… I look in the mirror and see a deep-haggardness from no sleep… graying-hair-stress… radiation cooking me into a toxic mess… It's taken me some time to see… the full extent of the trouble I've meant… to other beings… for which… there is no recompense…

 

…all I can say… is that on this point I would agree with Churchill: “If you're going through Hell… keep going.” But I would add… keep unmaking it as you go.

 

[“150531rootsrundeep.mp3”:]

 

Parents: don't you want your children to be full… complete humans? Well… if they do they will be targeted… We must ask what we want for our children.

 

May 25, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: With the loss of our earth-given empathic-connectedness… we lose authentic relationships… which means we lose ourselves… the ultimate theft… turning us into betrayers of life… but when… our heart opens… we are given again… our original… tenderness.

 

When we choose 'soul-sufficiency'… we become the top of the canopy… we become the roots run deep… bringing sustenance and light… to the whole tree.

 

Parents: don't you want your children to be full… complete humans? Well… if they do they will be targeted… We must ask what we want for our children.

 

–––

[Today’s reading: we continue our reading of the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

–––

 

* “WUR of May 31st, 2015 Reading… continuing "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

[“150531hardsoil.mp3”:]

 

“This gave me the idea of juxtaposing certain passages from this excellent but very lengthy book so that with their help readers can answer for themselves and on their own personal terms the following questions I shall be raising: How were our parents brought up? How were they permitted – even forced – to treat us? How could we, as young children, have become aware of this? How could we have treated our own children differently? Can this vicious circle ever be broken?… It may be that I am trying to attain something with these texts that either is not possible at all or is completely superfluous. For as long as you are not allowed to see something, you have no choice but to overlook it… This is a version of 'Socrates' Dilemma'…”

 

Recall from the opening of the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… Alice was just describing her thought process leading to her decision to write this important book… and the issues she considered most important to address… She left us thinking about the role of coercion in stunting the growth of the soul: – P.S.]

…Coercion [produces a soul with] soil too hard for anything to grow in, and the only hope at all of forcibly producing the love demanded of one as a child lies in the upbringing given one's own children, from whom one then demands love in the same merciless fashion.

 

For this reason, it is my intention to refrain from all moralizing. I definitely do not want to say someone ought or ought not to do this or that (for example, ought not to hate), for I consider maxims of this sort to be useless. Rather, I see it as my task to expose the roots of hatred, which only a few people seem to recognize, and to search for the explanation of why there are so few of these people.

 

–––

 

I was giving serious thought to these questions when I came upon Katharina Rutschky's Schwarze Padagogik (Black Pedagogy), a collection of excerpts from books on child-rearing, published in Germany in 1977. These texts describe all the techniques, which I refer to in this book as “poisonous pedagogy,” that are used to condition a child at an early age not to become aware of what is really being done to him or her; they offer clear corroboration on a concrete level of the conjectural reconstructions I have arrived at in the long course of my analytic work. This gave me the idea of juxtaposing certain passages from this excellent but very lengthy book so that with their help readers can answer for themselves and on their own personal terms the following questions I shall be raising: How were our parents brought up? How were they permitted – even forced – to treat us? How could we, as young children, have become aware of this? How could we have treated our own children differently? Can this vicious circle ever be broken? And finally, is our guilt any less if we shut our eyes to the situation?

 

It may be that I am trying to attain something with these texts that either is not possible at all or is completely superfluous. For as long as you are not allowed to see something, you have no choice but to overlook it, to misunderstand it, to protect yourself against it in one way or another. But if you have already perceived it for yourself, then you don't need me to tell you about it…

[This is a version of “Socrates' Dilemma”…

(…behind which… we'll be exploring… is: “our thought gets stuck in the question… 'what's true… what isn't?'” – and Samuel Butler deals with this question comprehensively… and children under 'class' must necessarily as well – because if nothing is what it seems… thought has nothing to which to cleave… Because we craft our souls from what we believe to be true… That being so… we are dependent on our fellows… for the quality of our souls… As Nikola said… everything that touches us… influences us. Samuel Butler puts it like this:

 

“A man should not only have his own way as far as possible, but he should only consort with things that are getting their own way so far that they are at any rate comfortable. [And of course here he's talking about free beings…free from any kind of compulsion… inner or outer… – P.S.] Unless for short times under exceptional circumstances, he should not even see things that have been stunted or starved, much less should he eat meat that has been vexed by having been over-driven or under-fed, or afflicted with any disease; nor should he touch vegetables that have not been well grown. For all these things cross a man; whatever a man comes in contact with in any way forms a cross with him which will leave him better or worse, and the better things he is crossed with the more likely he is to live long and happily. All things must be crossed a little or they would cease to live – but holy things, such for example as Giovanni Bellini's saints, have been crossed with nothing but what is good of its kind.”

 

Now… I disagree with his conclusion… as 'class' stunts us all… and we can't heal this thing unless we all consort joyfully – but this requires soul-sufficiency as our goal and focus – but it's worth discussing… I'm sure we'll return to it… after giving it its due pondering…)

[“150531theoryandpain.mp3”:]

 

For 'thought' to grow… and so for there to be a possibility to see through the lies of 'the system' – i.e. for there to be the possibility of de-legitimization – one's parents themselves must become questions. “Poisonous pedagogy” is in essence… Alice tells us… false information… i.e., lies… and with the hand of the state on our shoulders… its boot on our backs… we parents do tend… with the best of intentions… to lie to our children – not consciously… and not always in words… but as Alice says… with looks… inattention… and indifference.… In a post from September 4, 2014 of initial thoughts to our reading of the “Introduction” of Antisystemic Movements [see below], I argued that what was missing from the analysis and strategic thinking of the left was theory of why we obey. It seems this must be given a central place in our planning for how to make self-/soul-sufficiency gatherings 'safe'… and so for us to be able to reach our goals…

 

[…“Socrates' Dilemma”… which we learned about from Karl Popper. Recall what he said about this:

[“131006socrates.mp3”:]

 

“Socrates' Dilemma”: “This is connected with a question which seems to have puzzled Socrates a great deal: that those who are not sufficiently educated, and thus not wise enough to know their deficiencies, are just those who are in the greatest need of education. Readiness to learn in itself proves the possession of wisdom, in fact all the wisdom claimed by Socrates for himself; for he who is ready to learn knows how little he knows. The uneducated seems thus to be in need of any authority to wake him up, since he cannot be expected to be self-critical.…” (from chapter 7, “The Principle of Leadership” of Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies: The Spell of Plato) [I think the way out of this seeming dilemma of the ‘need – or not – for authority’… is to recognize, and to trust, the authority of the earth… its power to recapture mis-taught souls. The ‘force’ upon our minds of that which feeds us is profound… and authentic judgment rests… on being self-sufficient. – PS.] [This is an excerpt from our October 6, 2013 radio broadcast.

The way out of the dilemma we said… was when we… hear… recognize the superior authority of… the earth… superior in the sense of carrying the weight of truth (under what circumstances do the formerly deaf begin to hear again?…) We who hear her see her superiority to that in which we're told to believe: i.e, the authority of the state… which we are introduced to in the first place by our parents… as its representatives.

 

For 'thought' to grow… and so for there to be a possibility to see through the lies of 'the system' – i.e. for there to be the possibility of de-legitimization – one's parents themselves must become questions. “Poisonous pedagogy” is in essence… Alice tells us… false information… i.e., lies… and with the hand of the state on our shoulders… its boot on our backs… we parents do tend… with the best of intentions… to lie to our children – not consciously… and not always in words… but as Alice says… with looks… inattention… and indifference.

 

There was a point I was trying to make last week about how we are encouraged… by the 'power'-fed media… to think about the sadness and grief that often grips us under 'class' – we are encouraged to think about them as being as inherent in the human condition as the mourning of loss. But we're talking here… about a particular kind of pain: the pain of soul-loss – a pain that cuts to the core of us… – the pain of repressed suffering… which is unconsciously touched… when we experience any grief or loss… triggering a sense… that “it's all hopeless…”

 

…which is also going to come up when we meet in self-/soul-sufficiency gatherings.

 

In fact… I think we should sit with this for a minute… because the issues raised by the foregoing are coming up for me…

 

…and in terms of our organizing soul-sufficiency gatherings successfully… I think addressing them is key. We have to understand the real issues that sink us… generation after generation… not the phony ones generated by the 'power'-constructed 'Intellect' to the universal acclaim of the 'power'-fed media. In a post from September 4, 2014 of initial thoughts to our reading of the “Introduction” of Antisystemic Movements [see below], I argued that what was missing from the analysis and strategic thinking of the left was theory of why we obey. It seems this must be given a central place in our planning for how to make self-/soul-sufficiency gatherings 'safe'… and so for us to be able to reach our goals.

 

[“150531outrage.mp3”:]

 

…I don't think its 'sycophantic outrage' if you're doing everything you can to call attention to the fact that 'coercion' is the problem… the 'wage-work-system' is the problem… that this is a global issue… not the problem of one nation-state… but the nation-state system… and global-statesmen who have no allegiance except to themselves… and the world-view they all share and are working together to realize…

 

[“150531prigbegotten.mp3”:]

 

[Can you tell that this is a man who listened to his body… and as a result… a rich bounty came to him… not from 'the system'… but from the source into which he tapped… – P.S.] “You are surrounded on every side by lies which would deceive even the elect, if the elect were not generally so uncommonly wide awake; the self of which you are conscious, your reasoning and reflecting self, will believe these lies and bid you act in accordance with them. This conscious self of yours, Ernest, is a prig begotten of prigs and trained in priggishness; I will not allow it to shape your actions, though it will doubtless shape your words for many a year to come. Your papa is not here to beat you now; this is a change in the conditions of your existence, and should be followed by changed actions. Obey me, your true self, and things will go tolerably well with you, but only listen to that outward and visible old husk of yours which is called your father, and I will rend you in pieces even unto the third and fourth generation as one who has hated God; for I, Ernest, am the God who made you.”

Alice is key to our developing such a theory… but in thinking through this matter of psychic 'safety'… let's hear what Samuel… who pondered this question deeply… had to say about it:

 

[“150531leadstofollow.mp3”:]

 

How does this inform the design of a safe space? How do we build solidarity… mutual caring… meld our longings into mutually-reinforcing actions… unless we discuss how hidden 'power' is shaping us… keeping us unconscious through its conditioning of us… discuss the specific features of this conditioning… what circumstances prompt us to obey its dictates… and then how we resist it and turn again to our original earth-allegiance?

 

Samuel has just given us some leads to follow… as well as vivid confirmation of something we just said: that for 'thought' to grow… and so for there to be a possibility to see through the lies of 'the system'… one's parents themselves must become questions…

 

…and this familiar 'split'… that we feel emotionally even if it has not yet been articulated… between what our bodies say… and want to do… and the demands and dictates of 'the system'… must also become a question…

 

…and the source of the split… that initial trauma of discovering that our feelings don't matter… likewise.

 

How does this inform the design of a safe space? How do we build solidarity… mutual caring… meld our longings into mutually-reinforcing actions… unless we discuss how hidden 'power' is shaping us… keeping us unconscious through its conditioning of us… discuss the specific features of this conditioning… what circumstances prompt us to obey its dictates… and then how we resist it and turn again to our original earth-allegiance?

 

This is what we all want… and speaking to that longing is something we're going to be figuring out together how to do… so that we can increase the numbers of us who are willing to help expand these discussions… raise these necessary questions…

 

And to my One… my love… I just want to say 'thank you' for bringing it all together… and so miraculously… so unexpectedly… What a gift. Thank you.

 

–––

 

[“150531children.mp3”:]

 

“Theobald [the father] had never liked children. He had always got away from them as soon as he could, and so had they from him; oh, why, he was inclined to ask himself, could not children be born into the world grown up. If Christina [the mother] could have given birth to a few full-grown clergymen in priest's orders – of moderate views, but inclining rather to Evangelicalism, with comfortable livings and in all respects facsimiles of Theobald himself – why, there might have been more sense in it; or if people could buy ready-made children at at shop of whatever age and sex they liked, instead of always having to make them at home, and to begin at the beginning with them – that might do better, but as it was he did not like it.… It might have been better if Theobald in his younger days had kicked more against his father: the fact that he had not done so encouraged him to expect the most implicit obedience from his own children. He could trust himself, he said (and so did Christina), to be more lenient than perhaps his father had been to himself; his danger, he said (and so again did Christina), would be rather in the direction of being too indulgent; he must be on his guard against this, for no duty could be more important than that of teaching a child to obey its parents in all things.…”

 

So we need Alice Miller to help us learn how best to support each other… and strengthen our planning… but not only she.

 

Certain books are foundational for me… meaning they are cornerstones of my reason-to-be: this book… For Your Own Good… is one… The Open Society and Its Enemies… another… – and certain novelists have been key: George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte (Villette particularly…) and high on this list is Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh… which provides ample illustration of how parents lie to children. Samuel Butler brings a fully awake consciousness to the problem of unmasking the system:

Theobald [the father] had never liked children. He had always got away from them as soon as he could, and so had they from him; oh, why, he was inclined to ask himself, could not children be born into the world grown up. If Christina [the mother] could have given birth to a few full-grown clergymen in priest's orders – of moderate views, but inclining rather to Evangelicalism, with comfortable livings and in all respects facsimiles of Theobald himself – why, there might have been more sense in it; or if people could buy ready-made children at a shop of whatever age and sex they liked, instead of always having to make them at home, and to begin at the beginning with them – that might do better, but as it was he did not like it.…

 

It might have been better if Theobald in his younger days had kicked more against his father: the fact that he had not done so encouraged him to expect the most implicit obedience from his own children. He could trust himself, he said (and so did Christina), to be more lenient than perhaps his father had been to himself; his danger, he said (and so again did Christina), would be rather in the direction of being too indulgent; he must be on his guard against this, for no duty could be more important than that of teaching a child to obey its parents in all things.…

 

[“150531women.mp3”:]

 

“The practical outcome of the foregoing [his reading into “the wholesome authority” which should be “exercised by the head of a family over all its members…”] was a conviction in Theobald's [the father's] mind, and if in his, then in Christina's [the mother's], that it was their duty to begin training up their children in the way they should go, even from their earliest infancy. The first signs of self-will must be carefully looked for, and plucked up by the roots at once before they had time to grow. Theobald picked up this numb serpent of a metaphor and cherished it to his bosom.”

 

The practical outcome of the foregoing [his reading into “the wholesome authority” which should be “exercised by the head of a family over all its members…”] was a conviction in Theobald's [the father's] mind, and if in his, then in Christina's [the mother's], that it was their duty to begin training up their children in the way they should go, even from their earliest infancy. The first signs of self-will must be carefully looked for, and plucked up by the roots at once before they had time to grow. Theobald picked up this numb serpent of a metaphor and cherished it to his bosom.

 

[“150531splits.mp3”:]

 

“As for the child himself [I love that… well before Alice… he was clearly distinguishing between the 'true self'… and the 'false self'… – P.S.], he was naturally of an even temper, he doted upon his nurse, on kittens and puppies, and on all things that would do him the kindness of allowing him to be fond of them. He was fond of his mother, too… it was long before she could destroy all affection for herself in the mind of her first born. But she persevered.… Truly, Mrs. Theobald loved her child according to her lights with an exceeding great fondness, but the dreams she had dreamed in her sleep were sober realities in comparison with those she indulged in while awake.…”

 

Before Ernest could well crawl he was taught to kneel, before he could well speak he was taught to lisp the Lord's Prayer, and the general confession. How was it possible that these things could be taught too early? If his attention flagged or his memory failed him, here was an ill weed which would grow apace, unless it were plucked out immediately, and the only way to pluck it out was to whip him, or shut him up in a cupboard, or dock him of some of the small pleasures of childhood. Before he was three years old he could read and, after a fashion, write. Before he was four he was learning Latin, and could do rule of three sums.

 

As for the child himself [I love that… well before Alice… he was clearly distinguishing between the 'true self'… and the 'false self'… – P.S.], he was naturally of an even temper, he doted upon his nurse, on kittens and puppies, and on all things that would do him the kindness of allowing him to be fond of them. He was fond of his mother, too, but as regards his father, he has told me in later life he could remember no feeling but fear and shrinking. Christina did not remonstrate with Theobald concerning the severity of the tasks imposed upon their boy, nor yet as to the continual whippings that were found necessary at lesson times. Indeed, when during any absence of Theobald's the lessons were entrusted to her, she found to her sorrow that it was the only thing to do, and she did it no less effectually than Theobald himself, nevertheless she was fond of her boy, which Theobald never was, and it was long before she could destroy all affection for herself in the mind of her first born. But she persevered.…

 

Truly, Mrs. Theobald loved her child according to her lights with an exceeding great fondness, but the dreams she had dreamed in her sleep were sober realities in comparison with those she indulged in while awake.…

 

[May 31, 2015 show ends.]

–––

 

* “WUR of June 7, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

–––

 

“Why Can't We Live Together?…” [Sade]

 

–––

 

[“150607tosooth.mp3”:]

 

The vampire metaphor fits “hidden 'power'” because these behind-scenes 'power'-mad statesmen can only persist in darkness. Openness about our aims… drawing as much attention to what is… after all… our only possible future – unless we accept totalitarianism as the legacy we leave our children… and the earth… to struggle with – is the only way to get the world we want. They are bullies… they pick off people one by one… but two who work together (and if soul-mates… all the better…) moves life forward ('compassion' may come too late… but love… arrives right on time…)

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 8)

 

June 1, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: The vampire metaphor fits “hidden 'power'” because these behind-scenes 'power'-mad statesmen can only persist in darkness. Openness about our aims… drawing as much attention to what is… after all… our only possible future – unless we accept totalitarianism as the legacy we leave our children… and the earth… to struggle with – is the only way to get the world we want. They are bullies… they pick off people one by one… but two who work together (and if soul-mates… all the better…) moves life forward ('compassion' may come too late… but love… arrives right on time…)

A room… a space… a rendezvous…

…freedom can start with two… willing to plan to seize it…

…to say “I am done with duckin' and dodgin'…”

With just a little means… and a lot of love…

…we can have…

…the future we want…

As you know… because each day I must walk a gauntlet – not to sound overly-dramatic – and then try to heal from it… each day more times than the day before… I am more motivated than most… I want to realize the dream… and I've come… thanks to these play-pretend-double-o-seven-slash-minions of 'power'… to appreciate more than most the gift of a new day… hearing the pleas of the earth… and having one more chance to reply.

 

Have you ever wanted… more than anything… to sooth another person… in every possible way?… to sooth with moon a wind-ruffled water… That's the earth calling… take that feeling… and lay it across the world… To listen… to love… to long… On just such wings… our freedom comes…

 

–––

 

[“150607emfweapons.mp3”:]

 

Because I want these discussions of how we go about reclaiming our human energy to be useful… I've… as I found myself targeted and punished (with EMF: electro-magnetic force… weapons…) for my publication and trumpeting (to the best of my ability…) of our process of thinking this challenge through… I have incorporated my experience of being targeted and punished (with EMF weapons…) into our analysis and discussions… because if it is happening to me… it has happened… is happening… and will continue to happen to many many others… unless we talk about it… and make it a practice for 'power' that is no longer tenable… for the reason that they cannot run the risk of widespread de-legitimization.

 

[“150607emfweapons2.mp3”:]

 

We've said that what's missing from the theory and analysis of the Left is a theory of why we obey… Alice for the most part provides it… but it has never been incorporated… And never has it been more needed than in this moment… in which… as Alice warned (and many before her…) the power of our collective thought… amassed and hoarded in the hands of a Tiny Few misanthropists… is wreaking incalculable havoc…

 

The fact that some huge sum has been sunk into the development… and marketing… and sale… of these weapons – to global-statesmen and their functionaries of every stripe of authoritarian ideology… across the globe – means they will stretch the limits of legitimization… which provides to us an opening… which we must seize… to push our collective lives forward… by loosening 'power's grip on our heads.

 

We've said that what's missing from the theory and analysis of the Left is a theory of why we obey… Alice for the most part provides it… but it has never been incorporated…

 

And never has it been more needed than in this moment… in which… as Alice warned (and many before her…) the power of our collective thought… amassed and hoarded in the hands of a Tiny Few misanthropists… is wreaking incalculable havoc…

 

–––

 

[“150607streamdown.mp3”:]

 

The stream was down this week…

 

[“150607whyweobey.mp3”:]

 

So this is very straight-forward… we obey because 'power' has studied… plotted… and planned… for millennia how to get us to obey – how to compel our obedience – as… without it… unless we internalize these limits… 'power' does not exist… Now… this 'theory' of 'why we obey' has been proven… by its successful implementation… generation after generation… is not in dispute… So why does the Left not incorporate it into its strategic planning? The answer… partly… is that 'Marxist theory' seemed to supersede the need to… seemed to render it moot…. There is an 'historicist' (to use Karl Popper's word…) bend in it… that says… 'society' develops in 'stages'… inevitably… and once 'the people' have sufficiently grown into their 'historical mission'… then comes our freedom… But… as Karl Popper shows… 'power' will always ensure this never happens… and… instead… we-the-people ourselves… must take our lives into our own hands…That being the case… what are the strategic implications of the theory of 'why we obey?…

 

And while we on the Left need a theory of 'why we obey'… and to integrate this understanding into our strategic planning…

 

…the 'global-state-statesmen' have known for quite some time… at least since Bentham (if they forgot their Plato…) that such a theory was needed. Their agenda… of course… is control… so they devise the levers to apply… to force us to implement their designs…

 

By contrast… the thought of the left has been reactive in the extreme… and by ceding this question of our 'obedience' to them determined to compel it… they imply agreement… provide tacit support… to 'rule'… covert and overt.

 

Minimally… the Left… assuming a grasp of the centrality of 'obedience'… and the crafting of it in every human under 'class'… could have presented to us all a practical unmasking of Bentham… a translation into plain language and a framing of it in terms of a clear allegiance with our Sisters and Brothers… thereby furthering the discussion… and placing on center stage the most critical understanding we need… to get free.

 

In a previous show we discussed one of Bentham's key gifts to the global-state-statesmen: showing them how to craft popular acceptance of one's 'class' position by controlling the thoughts we are allowed to think (in order to make permanent our subservient position.) But in what follows we'll be examining the theory behind the strategy.

Obligation. – Obligations may exist without rights; – rights cannot exist without obligations.

 

Obligation – a fictitious entity, is the product of a law – a real entity.

 

A law, when entire, is a command; but a command supposes eventual punishment; for without eventual punishment, or the apprehension of it, obedience would be an effect without a cause.… [To obey unquestioningly is not our nature… so force must be applied by those who want to compel our tacit consent… to the terms of our enslavement… – P.S.]

 

The word right, is the name of a fictitious entity: one of those objects, the existence of which is feigned for the purpose of discourse… [I.e, 'rights' begin with the state… is what he's saying… By 'right' he means simply coercion. 'Scarcity'… and a harsh 'nature'… comprise the opening premises of his thought… – P.S.]

 

Law supposes government: to establish a law, is to exercise an act of government. A law is a declaration of will – of a will conceived and manifested by an individual, or individuals, to whom the other individuals in the society to which such will has respect are generally disposed to obey.

[So this is very straight-forward… we obey because 'power' has studied… plotted… and planned… for millennia how to get us to obey – how to compel our obedience – as… without it… unless we internalize these limits… 'power' does not exist…

 

[“150607bentham.mp3”:]

 

“Now government supposes the disposition to obedience: – the faculty of governing on the one part has for its sole efficient cause, and for its sole measure, the disposition to obey on the other part.” Bentham was very clear about his allegiance… We need to be as clear and focused in the opposite direction… Let's get the mind-locks off and start thinking…

 

Now… this 'theory' of 'why we obey' has been proven… by its successful implementation… generation after generation… is not in dispute… So why does the Left not incorporate it into its strategic planning? The answer… partly… is that 'Marxist theory' seemed to supersede the need to… seemed to render it moot…. There is an 'historicist' (to use Karl Popper's word…) bend in it… that says… 'society' develops in 'stages'… inevitably… and once 'the people' have sufficiently grown into their 'historical mission'… then comes our freedom… But… as Karl Popper shows… 'power' will always ensure this never happens… and… instead… we-the-people ourselves… must take our lives into our own hands…

 

That being the case… what are the strategic implications of the theory of 'why we obey?… – P.S.]

Now government supposes the disposition to obedience: – the faculty of governing on the one part has for its sole efficient cause, and for its sole measure, the disposition to obey on the other part.

 

This disposition may have had for its cause either habit or convention: a convention announces the will of one moment, which the will of any other may revoke; – habit is the result of a system of conduct of which the commencement is lost in the abyss of time. A convention, whether it have ever yet been realized or not, is at least a conceivable and possible cause of this disposition to obedience, from which government, and what is called political society, and the only real laws, result. Habit of obedience is the cause, a little less sure – the foundation, a little less solid, of this useful, social, disposition, and happily the most common.

 

[“150607lakeshorelockdown.mp3”:]

 

“Shall this habit of obedience be continued unbroken, or shall it be discontinued upon a certain occasion? Is there more to be gained than to be lost in point of happiness, by its discontinuance? Of the two masses of evil – intensity, duration, certainty, all included – which appears to be the greatest, that to which one believes one's self exposed from continued obedience, or that to which one believes one's self exposed by its discontinuance?….” Yes… by all means… let's talk about it… all of us… not just the global-state-statesmen… Bentham believed that for 'rule' to succeed 'rulers' must work behind scenes… and stay continuously focused on their vision… 'Indirect legislation' means… everything we're given to see… is crafted… E.g.… yesterday's 'Lakeshore Lockdown…' If we are turned against the police… we are effectively turned from our future… we have to begin working with the police around these messages that the issue is a coerced work system… that a coerced work system is inherently totalitarian…

 

The true rampart, the only rampart against a tyrannical government has always been, and still is, the faculty of allowing this disposition to obedience – without which there is no government – either to subsist or to cease. The existence of this faculty is as notorious as its power is efficacious.

 

Shall this habit of obedience be continued unbroken, or shall it be discontinued upon a certain occasion? Is there more to be gained than to be lost in point of happiness, by its discontinuance? Of the two masses of evil – intensity, duration, certainty, all included – which appears to be the greatest, that to which one believes one's self exposed from continued obedience, or that to which one believes one's self exposed by its discontinuance?…

 

But this calculation is not sufficiently rapid for those who choose for their amusement the destruction and reconstruction of governments. (Pannomial Fragments, p. 253 – 6)

[In what follows… consider the global-state-statesmen's obsession with regulation… control… predictability… and 'order'… Given those ends – and therefore the need to 'institutionalize' – throw in Machiavelli in service to Plato… put Plato on a pedestal – and out of this mix… one result you will get… inevitably… necessarily… is 'power'-driven child-rearing methods… Now this is obvious… once we think about it… yet it is never discussed on the Left… Most of us miss this because we're not accustomed or encouraged to look at the big picture when we think about the world… – P.S.]

[“150607whycantwebefree.mp3”:]

 

I hope folks will re-read the essay: The Limits of Jurisprudence Defined… If we are going to be successful we have to develop 'counters' to this that speak to our inherent truth… that speak to that child… as Alice Miller tells us… who wants to be honest… who wants those answers to those questions that never got answered as to “why is everything so false?”… “why are there things people don't talk about?”… “why can't we be happy?”… “why can't we be as free as the birds?… are they 'smarter' than we?”… I guess so. Let's start being like the birds…

[I hope folks will re-read the essay (below) from Bentham: (The Limits of Jurisprudence Defined… because I want to delve more into this in future shows: the implications of the fact that we live in a world in which what we're presented with is false… is a construction… the media… the entertainment… is crafted by means of the 'money-lever'. 'Money' determines what gets done… So we need to think about it: what are the exceptions to this?… what are the ways around this?… what are the 'counters' to this?… Because our children are being brought into this world which is a construction… in order to capture their brains… and hearts… early… This is why Alice Miller's work is so important…

 

If we are going to be successful we have to develop 'counters' to this that speak to our inherent truth… that speak to that child… as Alice Miller tells us… who wants to be honest… who wants those answers to those questions that never got answered as to “why is everything so false?”… “why are there things people don't talk about?”… “why can't we be happy?”… “why can't we be as free as the birds?… are they 'smarter' than we?”… I guess so. Let's start being like the birds… – P.S.]

[End of the June 7, 2015 show.]

–––

 

* “WUR of June 14, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

–––

 

“If I Can't Have You…” [Etta James]

 

–––

 

“Goldmine…” [Janis Siegel and Fred Hersch]

 

–––

 

[“150614wasteofourlives.mp3”:]

 

…our lives are being wasted… and they don't have to be… thrown away… unnecessarily… to inflate the egos of the few… so they can feel 'better-than'… that is the nature of 'class'… and now that we can… it's imperative that we bring this sad unseating of our souls to its long-overdue end…

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 9)

 

This week I've found… because of the ferocity – intended to de-stabilize… unseat… multiply – which bears its fangs at me daily (I mean… it's just so appalling that these guys mess about in our lives… lurk behind all the made-madness-grief-and-sadness… and we never talk about it…) I've found the need to re-ground in why I do this work: our lives are being wasted… and they don't have to be… thrown away… unnecessarily… to inflate the egos of the few… so they can feel 'better-than'… that is the nature of 'class'… and now that we can… it's imperative that we bring this sad unseating of our souls to its long-overdue end.

 

[“150614globalpower.mp3”:]

 

…planning requires some minimal degree of 'safety' in the spaces we make for gathering… for gaining certainty… and for building our numbers… globally…

 

June 8, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: Alice Miller is helping us to understand why settling for less than what we want … and deserve… feels so 'comfortable' for us… is helping us see that acceptance of 'less than' is built-into the nature of 'class'…

 

…it's called the 'scarcity mindset'… established in us… when we were children – shown hoops to jump through to 'win' a little attention…

 

“Why can't we be as free as the birds?”… unshackled of lies… we asked at the conclusion of our last show…

 

…because we have been kept'… as Alice Miller is showing us'… intentionally 'unaware''… because we forget our early questions'… in which'… our promise of freedom rest'…

 

…because 'power' acts clandestine… takes advantage of our having forgotten them… these questions… and reinforces this 'forgetfulness'… via its institutions…

 

So we will have to work concertedly… sharing thoughts and good fellowship… to get free of it – of global-'power'…

 

…and planning requires some minimal degree of 'safety' in the spaces we make for gathering… for gaining certainty… and for building our numbers… globally…

 

What are the elements of 'safety'… speaking broadly? (…and we'll be concretizing our understanding of them in future shows…)

 

[“150614livingouropposite.mp3”:]

 

…we must admit that the problem is coercion… a coerced-work system… not our Brothers and Sisters… that so long as our human energy is on the market… we are kept cattle to be priced… fatted… and slaughtered at the whim of the global-state-statesmen… we must recognize that every human being under 'class' has questions that they harbored as infants… which remain within them… and which must be addressed… for us to get our freedom… questions that manifest… and Alice Miller shows us this… a coerced-work system's dependence on our obedience… an obedience that must be sown in us… by means of coercion… as infants… and reinforced by all social institutions… which makes it deeply totalitarian… My son gave me a good name for this: “Total Immersion Coercion”… Fifth: learning is constant (so you see these points are the opposite of what we got… and that's the point… what we want is the opposite of what we got… and so we have to start living that opposite… in our spaces that we make for ourselves…)

 

The first broad element of safety in this crafted world of 'class' is that we must admit the existence of a global-'power' that operates behind scenes… clandestinely… through compelled (paid) functionaries… We must admit that the problem is coercion… a coerced-work system… not our Brothers and Sisters… that so long as our human energy is on the market… we are kept cattle to be priced… fatted… and slaughtered at the whim of the global-state-statesmen…

 

And second: we must recognize that every human being under 'class' has questions that they harbored as infants… which remain within them… and which must be addressed… for us to get our freedom… questions that manifest… and Alice Miller shows us this… a coerced-work system's dependence on our obedience… an obedience that must be sown in us… by means of coercion… as infants… and reinforced by all social institutions… which makes it deeply totalitarian… My son gave me a good name for this: “Total Immersion Coercion”.

 

Third: unbound time… no rush… because the earth is a constant lapping at the falseness… when we give ourselves to her…

 

Fourth: attention is given… we develop our capacity to listen… to encourage the earth in each other to speak…

 

[“150614practicalpolitics.mp3”:]

 

In our May 10th, 2015 show we asked… “is there a way to design a space… a project… such that the very act of participation in it… builds it… moves it toward its goals?…” and we emphasized the absence of coercion as a key element of this design… This quest is the opposite of Bentham's: a design so welcoming of freedom that even agents are accepted. But how realistic an expectation is this? How has agent-disruption worked in the past? Generally… folks are planted to influence / manipulate actions… thoughts… and emotions… such that the goal is never reached… the effort effectively derailed. Does our clear focus on the main goal of freeing human energy globally make it 'agent-destructiveness-proof'? We are getting to the nut… of the problem of our gaining our freedom… 'practical politics'… It's time to plan realistically for the 'power' we know exists out there… But how do we hold onto our tenderness (which is… after all… required of us to grow our souls…) in circumstances of constant attempts to destroy us?… our mutual support in knowing this is happening is key… and a huge advance… a treasure without measure… over previous activist generations…

 

Fifth: learning is constant (so you see these points are the opposite of what we got… and that's the point… what we want is the opposite of what we got… and so we have to start living that opposite… in our spaces that we make for ourselves…) growing our gifts occurs in the context of figuring out how to free our Brothers and Sisters… and ourselves…

 

Six and Seven: We've said that the most important quality that defines either 'safety' or its absence in a planning space is whether agent-infiltration is neutralized… or not. In our May 10th, 2015 show we asked… “is there a way to design a space… a project… such that the very act of participation in it… builds it… moves it toward its goals?…” and we emphasized the absence of coercion as a key element of this design… This quest is the opposite of Bentham's: a design so welcoming of freedom that even agents are accepted.

 

But how realistic an expectation is this? How has agent-disruption worked in the past? Generally… folks are planted to influence / manipulate actions… thoughts… and emotions… such that the goal is never reached… the effort effectively derailed. Does our clear focus on the main goal of freeing human energy globally make it 'agent-destructiveness-proof'?

 

We are getting to the nut… of the problem of our gaining our freedom… 'practical politics'…

 

Let's look at 'power's m.o. with infiltration to date: identify those they imagine to be most influential (the 'leaders') and try to both undermine their credibility – how others perceive them… – as well as to attempt to undermine them from within – how they see themselves.

 

But a movement for the release of human energy globally that is simultaneously a movement for soul-sufficiency by definition works against both these tactics.

 

These thoughts come from my son during a recent conversation… He said that a movement for freeing human energy and soul-sufficiency can't be taken over by paid agents and redirected (and eventually dissipated…) into narrow focuses because those who participate have 'done the analysis' and are clear on both the 'what' and the 'why' of the goal…

 

…and they go into the movement knowing the effort to undermine it will be made… clear that there will be those within the movement who are not authentic… and… I would add… that some will be targeted with EMF-variety weapons – and some will pretend to be…

 

…and that the stance of the 'movement-artist' must be the stance of the 'martial artist'.

 

This is another useful concept (in addition to 'Total Immersion Coercion'…) that he gave me in that conversation: the 'movement-for-global-freedom-artist' as 'martial artist'…

 

…i.e.: no expectations… no assumptions about our Sisters and Brothers. My son's martial arts teachers emphasize this point… the importance of being open.

 

But how do we hold onto our tenderness (which is… after all… required of us to grow our souls…) in circumstances of constant attempts to destroy us?

 

My son and I talked a lot about this. He said that our mutual support in knowing this is happening is key… and a huge advance… a treasure without measure… over previous activist generations…

 

(…and it is in fact 'mutual support' that is attacked with the tactic of 'infiltration'… that's the point of it…)

 

He put it like this: “We have greater knowledge of what's going on in terms of infiltration and know what we're in for when we commit ourselves to working on achieving global human freedom. Whatever is brought is good because it doesn't attack your core self… and the 'core self' is the group. Then the question is what do you do about attacks on your 'core self'… if the 'core self' which is the group is attacked… what is an appropriate [energy] response [so that the energy of the group is not dissipated and diverted from the goal…]”

 

So we then thought about the issue in terms of energy… when brought me… again… to Bentham… and once again… strangely enough… I found myself in agreement with him… on his emphasis on planning… careful design and strategic thinking… not obviously on 'the goal'… I almost feel like the 'anti-Bentham'…

[“121216antibenth.mp3”:]

 

“I almost feel like the 'anti-Bentham'…” [From the December 16, 2012 show]

…that if the design is well-enough thought-through the energy-wastage – in 're-centering on our vision' meetings… and 'processing hurt feelings' – would be minimal…

 

[“150614thedesignprovesitself.mp3”:]

 

…and… on questioning the utility of whatever we do… asking always the question: “how does this action further the goal?” – the 'principle of utility' applied to establishing the soul's free expansion in a realm of its own creation.… because if the beast we're wrestling with is totalitarian… it necessarily starts in child-rearing… So this first step …then… which needs to be taken… is withdrawing our children (and ourselves… in time… with each other's help) from 'the system'… (…and I've thought a lot about that about how when my energy was claimed by the 'wage-work-system' I could not do what I'm doing now… and I'm really pondering that… the difficulty of that… particularly as I take these walks and I see the numbers of folks who have no choice but to participate in what I think of as a 'high-tech-lynching'… To see the ease with which 'power' can… commandeer our human energy and turn us against each other…)

 

…and… on questioning the utility of whatever we do… asking always the question: “how does this action further the goal?” – the 'principle of utility' applied to establishing the soul's free expansion in a realm of its own creation.

 

In such circumstances someone who pushes back against getting to the destination really stands out… it becomes obvious what they're about… and no energy-usage is needed in 'figuring-things-out'… and 'the design' 'proves itself'…

 

…and the 'core-self'… is reinforced. That's what I mean by “'the design' proves itself”: i.e.… as we're successful… it builds the confidence… the certainty… of the group… And that's the design that gets us to the world we need… the one in which our human energy is free.

 

For us to reach our free future love must triumph in enough of us… to tip the balance away from concern for 'self' in a narrow sense… to concern for 'self' in its expanded sense.

 

So herein… in our planning sessions… we see the answer to our previous question: “What are the strategic implications for 'we-who-want-our-freedom' of the theory of 'why we obey?”… and we can now phrase the question differently: “What are the strategic implications of 'Total Immersion Coercion'?”

 

Phrasing it in this way means the focus of our efforts shifts… to children: both freeing our own minds by addressing 'the child we were'… and to the actual children around us…

 

…because if the beast we're wrestling with is totalitarian… it necessarily starts in child-rearing…

 

So this first step …then… which needs to be taken… is withdrawing our children (and ourselves… in time… with each other's help) from 'the system'…

 

(…and I've thought a lot about that about how when my energy was claimed by the 'wage-work-system' I could not do what I'm doing now… and I'm really pondering that… the difficulty of that… particularly as I take these walks and I see the numbers of folks who have no choice but to participate in what I think of as a 'high-tech-lynching'… To see the ease with which 'power' can… commandeer our human energy and turn us against each other…)

 

…and beginning to incorporate Alice Miller's wisdom and her methods into our lives.

 

And these methods speak as well to the issue of 'safety' in our planning spaces… to all of the elements identified so far for 'safety'… that as we listen to each other… as we grow our souls… as we link to our Sisters and Brothers globally… we speak to those unanswered questions… which we all had (under 'class'…) as infants.

 

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[“150614scienceofcontrol.mp3”:]

 

He's saying… per Plato… that if the design itself is 'hard' enough… it can serve as a lodestone… a lodestar… a proof… – that tests the worth of any tactic (legislation, e.g.…) or strategy (the 'foreclosure crisis, e.g.…) So perhaps he's not advocating one ('indirect') over another ('direct')… so much as urging the statesmen of his day (and beyond… he was a visionary for his cause…) to get focused… and to… methodically yet surely… get there: get to the goal… in which no change is possible… all possible contingencies have been accounted for… all escape routes for we-the-people… anticipated and closed. So you see why I'm thinking of what we're doing as the 'anti-Bentham'… the opposite of this… because we want 'the goal' to lead the decisions we make…

 

Continuing with our reading of Jeremy Bentham:

 

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Legislation is a state of warfare: political mischief is the enemy: the legislator [and the updated word for 'legislator'… given we exist in a single world-system… is 'global-state-statesmen'… – P.S.] is the commander: the moral and religious sanctions his allies: punishments and rewards (raised some of them out of his own resources…

[Bentham's is an early acknowledgement of a point we discussed in our readings of Diana Spearman (See Founding & Realizing A Test Site – not modeled on ‘democracy’… but on freedom – Premised On “Leisure IS Happiness…, an online page and pdf) and her book Modern Dictatorship: i.e. that a monopolization of 'power' – held in the hands of the global-state-statesmen… respects no boundaries or rules… which… it is understood among them… exist to control we-the-people… i.e., ensure our obedience… – P.S.]

…others borrowed from those allies) the forces he has under his command: punishments his regular standing force…

[I have a story or two to share about those 'punishments'… Bentham… we've discussed… serves the 'power'-guys as a 'Practical Plato'… the modern advisor to 'power' who took the time to identify all the things that move us… all the ways to turn us into puppets… just as Papa so converted them… when they were infants… – P.S.]

…rewards an occasional subsidiary force too weak to act alone: the mechanical branch of legislation, the branch we have been treating of in the present chapter, the art of tactics: direct legislation a formal attack made with the main body of his forces in the open field: indirect legislation a secret plan of connected and long-concerted operations to be executed in the way of stratagem or petite guerre. All these heads except this last have been discussed already. It remains that we should say something of this irregular system of warfare: a system which on account of the economy with which it may be used and the ingenuity which it is thought to require and which it often gives Beccaria [Cesare] to display stands in much higher favour with men in general than that which is carried on by open force.…

[Let's repeat that: 'Direct legislation' is “a formal attack in the open field…” 'indirect legislation' is “a secret plan of connected and long-concerted operations to be executed in the way of stratagem…” And… because of “the ingenuity… it is thought to require…” it “stands in much higher favor with men… than… open force…” In what follows he suggests that 'power' consider the advantages of being 'indirect': it is the result of 'cool heads'… and so… presumably… bullet-proof…; it is hidden and therefore free from popular interference…; and – at the intersection of these two – most importantly… it can be viewed along the line of your (i.e, 'power's) requirements for furthering your ('power's) vision. He's saying… per Plato… that if the design itself is 'hard' enough… it can serve as a lodestone… a lodestar… a proof… – that tests the worth of any tactic (legislation, e.g.…) or strategy (the 'foreclosure crisis, e.g.…) So perhaps he's not advocating one ('indirect') over another ('direct')… so much as urging the statesmen of his day (and beyond… he was a visionary for his cause…) to get focused… and to… methodically yet surely… get there: get to the goal… in which no change is possible… all possible contingencies have been accounted for… all escape routes for we-the-people… anticipated and closed.

 

So you see why I'm thinking of what we're doing as the 'anti-Bentham'… the opposite of this… because we want 'the goal' to lead the decisions we make… about what we do.

 

Now… the question that seems to rise… for us… from this is: can we counter 'power's head-start and concerted focus in pushing its requirements… furthering its vision… with our own requirements for an opposite future?… – P.S.]

[“150614principleofutility.mp3”:]

 

“In a system thus constructed upon this plan, a man need but open the book in order to inform himself what the aspect born by the law bears to every imaginable act that can come within the possible sphere of human agency…” ['The system' can only be 'self-regulating' if we are 'self-regulating'… the 'habit of obedience' is here assumed… always aimed toward an end. What end? Bentham would say 'happiness'… and add – to the global-state-statesmen – “make certain you control the definitions…” – P.S.] [So we see why his emphasis on 'punishment'… because 'punishment' ensures that there are no rogue violators of these mandates… because everything depends on what's written down in the law… if folks don't do it… then this perfect… crystalline… ideal… tool that he thinks he has made is useless… So 'obedience'… for the global-state-statesmen… is everything. (Notice too the assumption… deeply-held by statesmen to this day… that we are infinitely malleable… or… alternatively… can be made to be so like machines that the difference would be negligible… and notions like 'artificial intelligence' made to seem credible… They want us to be totally their creation… or believe ourselves to be…) – P.S.]

 

If the science of legislation were as far advanced as that of grammar, and it were the custom for legislators to be as well acquainted with that science as it is for school boys to be with grammar, a statesman would be thought to have but a small proficiency in legislation, if in any book of law that were set before him there were a word which he knew not how to refer to the place that it occupies in some mandate. But to love power is one thing: and to love the labour which alone can qualify a man to exercise it as he should do, is another.

 

Laws that are hasty have often been cited in proof of the necessity of interpretation… but… they [also] bespeak the infancy of the science: and that when once it shall have been brought to a state of tolerable maturity the demand for interpretation will have been in great measure if not altogether taken away.

 

Now the mischief in cases of this sort being manifest, it was necessary to apply a remedy.… A cure and that a pretty effectual, need not be despaired of. Such an one unless I am much mistaken, might be extracted from the principle of utility. To demonstrate that this may be done and to shew how it may be done is part of the object of the present work. Let the legislator have carried his views over the whole field of human action, let him have given a certain degree of perfection to his method, of regularity and consistency to his laws, he may bring them to such a degree of perfection, that they shall need no more interpretation than he himself is equal to apply.

 

In a system thus constructed upon this plan, a man need but open the book in order to inform himself what the aspect born by the law bears to every imaginable act that can come within the possible sphere of human agency ['The system' can only be 'self-regulating' if we are 'self-regulating'… the 'habit of obedience' is here assumed… always aimed toward an end. What end? Bentham would say 'happiness'… and add – to the global-state-statesmen – “make certain you control the definitions…” – P.S.]: what acts it is his duty to perform for the sake of himself, his neighbor, or the public: what acts he has a right to do, what other acts he has a right to have others perform for his advantage: whatever he has either to fear or to hope from the law. In this one repository the whole system of the obligations which either he or any one is subject to are recorded and displayed to view: delineated either actually by the commands it pronounces contained in it, or potentially by the powers it confers: powers of manual governance, or powers of issuing commands either permanent in the shape of laws or transient in the shape of executive mandates.…

[So we see why his emphasis on 'punishment'… because 'punishment' ensures that there are no rogue violators of these mandates… because everything depends on what's written down in the law… if folks don't do it… then this perfect… crystalline… ideal… tool that he thinks he has made is useless… So 'obedience'… for the global-state-statesmen… is everything. (Notice too the assumption… deeply-held by statesmen to this day… that we are infinitely malleable… or… alternatively… can be made to be so like machines that the difference would be negligible… and notions like 'artificial intelligence' made to seem credible… They want us to be totally their creation… or believe ourselves to be…) – P.S.]

[“150614breakthecycle.mp3”:]

 

“In a map of the law executed upon such a plan there are no terrae incognitae, no blank spaces: nothing is at least omitted, no thing unprovided for, the vast and hitherto shapeless expanse of Jurisprudence is collected and condensed into a compact sphere…” [And in this we should understand the objective of identification and controlling minutely every human action – their longing that every possible human be seen… tracked… defined… and its limits set within the law… And trust… they are very much on this right now… very much wanting to get us on lockdown… because of their concern about these communication tools we have right now. In a previous show we discussed the 'Minerva Project” in which social scientists have been told to develop the rationale for criminalizing the kind of dissent expressed here… so they wouldn't have to resort to under-the-table… extra-legal means to shut it down… – P.S.]

[And in what follows we should understand the objective of identification and controlling minutely every human action – their longing that every possible human be seen… tracked… defined… and its limits set within the law… And trust… they are very much on this right now… very much wanting to get us on lockdown… because of their concern about these communication tools we have right now. In a previous show we discussed the 'Minerva Project” in which social scientists have been told to develop the rationale for criminalizing the kind of dissent expressed here… so they wouldn't have to resort to under-the-table… extra-legal means to shut it down… What are the implications of the 'theory' of 'why we obey' for our strategic planning? To end this system we have to end the 'habit of obedience'… to do which requires breaking the 'cycle of contempt' (as Alice terms it) for each other… and for ourselves (which is implicit in our putting ourselves on the market…) – P.S.]

In a map of the law executed upon such a plan there are no terrae incognitae, no blank spaces: nothing is at least omitted, no thing unprovided for, the vast and hitherto shapeless expanse of Jurisprudence is collected and condensed into a compact sphere which the eye at a moment's warning can traverse in all imaginable directions.

 

Such are the fruits of a method planned under the auspices of the principle of utility, in which the laws are ranged according to the ends they have in view. (The Limits of Jurisprudence Defined, p. 164 – 7)

[What are the implications of the 'theory' of 'why we obey' for our strategic planning?… i.e. how would we incorporate what Alice helps us see?: discussions of her insights… certainly… but what she tells us essentially is that to end this system we have to end the 'habit of obedience'… to do which requires breaking the 'cycle of contempt' (as Alice terms it in Prisoners of Childhood…) for each other… and for ourselves (which is implicit in our putting ourselves on the market…) – included in which as a basis: we have to love our children… and give them permission to pull the world within their circle of empathic-connectedness… to learn an open tribalism… a heroic concern for furthering the soul-expansiveness of all humanity… Let's think more about the steps involved in doing this… What are our requirements? What do we require to be successful? I mean… we have the technology… there is no need to wait for some hypothetical 'future'… we are in that time… when we can reclaim our lives… – P.S.]

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[Today’s reading: we continue our excerpt from Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh and of the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

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* “WUR of June 14th, 2015 Reading… continuing our excerpt from Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh and of the chapter "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

[“150614wayofallflesh.mp3”:]

 

“Ernest was to choose the first hymn, and he chose one about some people who were to come to the sunset tree. I am no botanist, and do not know what kind of tree a sunset tree is, but the words began, “Come, come, come; come to the sunset tree for the day is past and gone.” The tune was rather pretty and had taken Ernest's fancy, for he was unusually fond of music and had a sweet little child's voice which he liked using. He was, however, very late in being able to sound a hard “c” or “k,” and, instead of saying “Come,” he said “Tum, tum, tum.” [What we have to keep in mind as we read (some of) this… is that the deeper abandonment… of our parents'… and their's… across the generations… is the abandonment of their souls – their true selves – given over to a coerced-work system that is deeply totalitarian… a system that rests… as Alice Miller shows us… on coercive child-rearing… resulting in a 'system' that is… in actuality: “Total Immersion Coercion”… – P.S.]

 

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[The narrator is Mr. Overton, Ernest's godfather… what follows are his observations during a visit… – P.S.]:

 

I was there on a Sunday and observed the rigour with which the young people were taught to observe the Sabbath; they might not cut out things, nor use their paint-box on a Sunday, and this they thought rather hard, because their cousins the John Pontifexes might do these things. Their cousins might play with their toy train on Sunday, but though they had promised that they would run none but Sunday trains, all traffic had been prohibited. One treat only was allowed them – on Sunday evenings they might choose their own hymns.…

 

Ernest was to choose the first hymn, and he chose one about some people who were to come to the sunset tree. I am no botanist, and do not know what kind of tree a sunset tree is, but the words began, “Come, come, come; come to the sunset tree for the day is past and gone.” The tune was rather pretty and had taken Ernest's fancy, for he was unusually fond of music and had a sweet little child's voice which he liked using.

 

He was, however, very late in being able to sound a hard “c” or “k,” and, instead of saying “Come,” he said “Tum, tum, tum.”

 

“Ernest,” said Theobald, from the arm-chair in front of the fire, where he was sitting with his hands folded before him, “don't you think it would be very nice if you were to say 'come' like other people, instead of 'tum'?”

 

“I do say tum,” replied Ernest, meaning that he had said “come.”

 

Theobald was always in a bad temper on Sunday evening… I had already seen signs that evening that my host was cross, and was a little nervous at hearing Ernest say so promptly “I do say tum,” when his papa had said he did not say it as he should.

 

Theobald noticed the fact that he was being contradicted in a moment. He got up from his arm-chair and went to the piano.

 

“No, Ernest, you don't,” he said, “you say nothing of the kind, you say 'tum,' not 'come.' Now say 'come' after me, as I do.”

 

“Tum,” said Ernest, at once; “is that better?” I have no doubt he thought it was, but it was not.

 

“Now, Ernest, you are not taking pains; you are not trying as you ought to do. It is high time you learned to say 'come,' why, Joey can say 'come,' can't you, Joey?”

 

“Yeth, I can,” replied Joey, and he said something which was not far off “come.”

 

“There, Ernest, do you her that? There's no difficulty about it, nor shadow of difficulty. Now, take your own time, think about it, and say 'come' after me.”

 

The boy remained silent a few seconds and then said “tum” again.

 

I laughed, but Theobald turned to me impatiently and said, “Please do not laugh, Overton; it will make the boy think it does not matter, and it matters a great deal;” then turning to Ernest he said, “Now Ernest, I will give you one more chance, and if you don't say 'come,' I shall know that you are self-willed and naughty.”

 

He looked very angry, and a shade came over Ernest's face, like that which comes upon the face of a puppy when it is being scolded without understanding why. The child saw well what was coming now, was frightened, and, of course, said “tum” once more.

 

“Very well, Ernest,” said his father, catching him angrily by the shoulder. “I have done my best to save you, but if you will have it so, you will,” and he lugged the little wretch, crying by anticipation, out of the room. A few minutes more and we could hear screams coming from the dining-room, across the hall which separated the drawing-room from the dining-room, and knew that poor Ernest was being beaten.

 

“I have sent him up to bed,” said Theobald, as he returned to the drawing-room, “and now, Christina, I think we will have the servants in to prayers,” and he rang the bell for them, red-handed as he was.… (Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh)

Alice illustrates her points with lengthy excerpts from the 'child-rearing' pedagogues who set untold numbers of children up for a lifetime of abuse. What we have to keep in mind as we read (some of) this… is that the deeper abandonment… of our parents'… and their's… across the generations… is the abandonment of their souls – their true selves – given over to a coerced-work system that is deeply totalitarian… a system that rests… as Alice Miller shows us… on coercive child-rearing… resulting in a 'system' that is… in actuality: “Total Immersion Coercion”… as my son says. But as we access our repressed feelings of sadness and anger that our 'mother' was not psychically or physically there for us… we release that energy to spontaneity… and the ability to feel deeply… care… about the normalized abuse under 'class' that our Brothers and Sisters experience… here… and around the world. The excerpts Alice provides are difficult to hear… I must admit I prefer Samuel's critique-infused account… making the same points as Alice… richly-elaborated… But I think Alice is right… though difficult… we must face what was done… is being done… to our children… torture that atomization shields from our eyes… – P.S.]

 

[June 14, 2015 show ends here.]

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* “WUR of June 21, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

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“Sonnyboy…” [Hugh Masekela]

 

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[“150621weneedtoworktogether.mp3”:]

 

…whoever designs 'the inner' defines the society… and the 'inner' is defined in 'child-rearing'… We want a world that's honest for the children… a world that is a flower for all of us to tend… that is what this is about… and when we trust our hearts… we get it. Our free future is a careful interweave of notes… a harmony… …no matter not (yet) positive as sound… I hear that music… that voice… and am forever drawn…

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part Part 10) And we have to work together on this… you know two heads are better than one in figuring out dilemmas – particularly as 'power' has limitless heads arrayed against us… – because of the coerced-work-system – and perhaps it would be best while I still have a little brain left…

 

June 15, 2015… In a blog from a few years back… I wrote that… my whole life… every time the subject of freedom from a privatized 'work-system' arose (to which was usually attached the moniker 'socialism'…) to be achieved by some intellectual elite in the Far-Away time of Never-Come… the question generally came up: “But who will do the 'dirty work'?”

 

We are now in possession of a vantage… thanks to Alice – the vantage 'Total Immersion Coercion' – that allows us to view this question more authentically: i.e.… that whoever designs 'the inner' defines the society…

 

…and the 'inner' is defined in 'child-rearing'…

 

We want a world that's honest for the children… a world that is a flower for all of us to tend… that is what this is about… and when we trust our hearts… we get it.

 

Sisters and Brothers… our free future is a careful interweave of notes… a harmony…

…no matter not (yet) positive as sound…

…I hear that music… that voice…

…and am forever drawn…

…though I dare not weave – cat-like – between…

…I stand in awe…

…the future and the falconer is here…

…I wait I strain impatient…

…full of fear… and longing…

…to see to touch to hear…

…that music…

…is all for which I long…

…and dream…

…there is a need…

…for my simple song.

Kropotkin would have us never forget… that freedom answers best the problems of freedom… and I believe it speaks best no less… for the problems of its achievement…

 

…that if we allow our children (and we) to stay free… they (we) create the society in which 'dirty work' means as much to us… as to the swimming birds above us.

 

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[“150621dustonmybrain.mp3”:]

 

…from where I sit – not a public figure whose speech is limited – there's absolutely no doubt Nina was targeted… and that the assault was relentless… and that she fought back as best she could… and that expressing what was happening… however obscurely… took tremendous courage: “dust on my brain” is a good description of what it feels like… particularly when you consider that ear-ringing can sound like static electricity… and the mucus-build-up like extraneous stuff crawling around in your head.

 

In our September 15, 2013 show [included in the pdf: “Reclaiming Our Leadership… Our Stolen Gifts… to Establish a Future Based on Distributed Generation (Vol. 2)”]… we gave thanks for these words of William:

Bad is the world; and all will come to naught,

When such ill dealing must be seen in thought.

[‘observed but not referred to’]

(William Shakespeare, Richard the Third, III, vi)

…arguing that:

I am but voicing what we all know…

…so the illusion has been seen through…

When the magician’s trick has dissolved to truth…

…we will not long continue in our fetters…

…seeing the key to the mystery of our bound hands –

– commodification of our common treasure…

…taking from us… and earth…

…and listing it for ‘the market’ –

– removed the bindings…

…first from our minds…

…after which…

…flows the rest –

– our wholeness…

…but my current experience of being tracked and hounded… targeted for hidden 'power…' in plain sight… is forcing me to reevaluate… or rather 'modify'… those words.…

('This morning'… e.g.… actually 11:30 last night… when I 'got up'… in my vehicle… parked unwisely on a very wide street with no traffic and small tree-cover… there were three cars pointing their headlights at me… three drones high in the sky arrayed around me… my face… knees… brain… swollen… chest congested… my whole body a'fire… I'd been beaten up bad… by the dutiful daughters and sons… of the coerced-work-system… and there was no way to fight back… so dispiriting… and infuriating… assault with intent – but 'the peace' was not disturbed… [This is actually a really bad example… as… this is my 'every night'… and they've been trying to stay out of sight… these minions of the 'power'-guys… only the wide expanse of sky exposed it… A much better example is the helicopter that followed me around and then to the house after I'd just left but turned back… overwhelmed by the extent of the vehicular traffic… in response to my heading out is what I've come to accept… It hovered… seeming to notice my son… who was just leaving too… and was looking up at it… and then sped off…]

 

Why am I going so far with this… in this context?… in the context of a decision-making before us… in the contest for the souls of our young ones? Because it is precisely those voices with certainty about the need for an earth-allegiance… instead of an allegiance to 'the state'… that our youth will be told not to listen to.

 

I was saying recently to my son… that it's quite a hideous technique… this use of secret technology to whittle away someone's vitality… and eventually take away their life… silently…

 

…to know it's happening but you can't speak… because to do so would hurt your credibility… and so those who are besieged resort to expressing themselves poetically… do an awkward dance… and hope folks will understand…

 

Take this song… for instance:

 

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“Fodder In Her Wings…” [Nina Simone]

 

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…from where I sit – not a public figure whose speech is limited – there's absolutely no doubt Nina was targeted… and that the assault was relentless… and that she fought back as best she could… and that expressing what was happening… however obscurely… took tremendous courage: “dust on my brain” is a good description of what it feels like… particularly when you consider that ear-ringing can sound like static electricity… and the mucus-build-up like extraneous stuff crawling around in your head.

 

But… obviously… I believe the time has come for speaking plainly (except when it comes to protecting those we love…) – and for no longer allowing those who speak for generalized human freedom to be isolated and killed…

 

…and… more and more I'm convinced… we're here to free ourselves… yes… but we're also here to set the record straight (you can tell Nina felt the same…) for the ancestors… and not just the ones we know of… but… as Karl Popper reminds us… all the anonymous dead… victims of this sick system.)

 

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“You Took My Teeth…” [Nina Simone]

 

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“Blackbird…” [Nina Simone]

 

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[“150621wehavetobreakthesilence.mp3”:]

 

……they are fully conscious… that we are effectively controlled by the 'simple' means of atomization… and by the universal hierarchical relation / world organization – from the tiny boxes we live in… to the nation-state-system – which ensures that the top spots are all in that pocket… on board with the project of keeping us herded… from heads-of-state… to heads of media outlets –So 'power' trumpets its dominance… wants us to know it exists… and to be afraid of it… but not to say this… and especially not to say this… to the children. (Which is why we adults have to break the silence… start saying that states are here to corral us… are ruthless against their own 'citizens'… particularly those who dissent… that the problem is the coerced-work system… and the 'nation-state-system' itself… that we don't need them… that we are here to live our gifts… and that together we are limitless… They know… that to snow the next generation… perpetuate… ad infinitum… the illusion… they must control what thoughts reach them… Our children are being poisoned by this system… we have to get them healthy information…

 

So… the finger-in-your-face blatant stepping-out-front-fascist tactics is helping me to see… that hidden 'power' doesn't care that we know it exists… in fact it struts its ascendance…

 

…it only cares that we not say it…

(…they are fully conscious… that we are effectively controlled by the 'simple' means of atomization… and by the universal hierarchical relation / world organization – from the tiny boxes we live in… to the nation-state-system – which ensures that the top spots are all in that pocket… on board with the project of keeping us herded… from heads-of-state… to heads of media outlets – it's not by happenstance that we never hear discussions… of the root of all political… social… and environmental 'problems'… in the selling off of our earth and ourselves… at the behest of the global-statesmen… We should think more about that 3-phase power issue (discussed in Waking Up…) in relation to claiming our future… Consider what… how much more… gets done when we unify ourselves under our own initiative… our own will…)

So 'power' trumpets its dominance… wants us to know it exists… and to be afraid of it… but… not to say this… and especially not to say this… to the children. (Which is why we adults have to break the silence… start saying that states are here to corral us… are ruthless against their own 'citizens'… particularly those who dissent… that the problem is the coerced-work system… and the 'nation-state-system' itself… that we don't need them… that we are here to live our gifts… and that together we are limitless…)

 

They know… that to snow the next generation… perpetuate… ad infinitum… the illusion… they must control what thoughts reach them… Our children are being poisoned by this system… we have to get them healthy information… From birth onward (under 'class'…) they (we) are told to be a 'role'… from the very beginning we're lied to… then sunk deeply in that lie as we live out the rest of our lives… and rarely can we fight our way out of it… So we need the opposite… a world in which we create ourselves according to our own inclinations… free from the pressure of necessity… a world in which we can be what we are… free of the compulsion to 'serve'… to be 'of use'… to a Tiny Few who pretend they 'rule'… while our true selves get subsumed. We need to help each other out of the trap… free our minds… and get our true selves back.

 

[“150621wewanttodevelopourthought.mp3”:]

 

…while we are turning around a huge global system… embedded for millennia… it's been running on sheer inertia… on driven… unconscious… energy… 'single-phasing'… life wants its thought engaged… and that… this… is what tips the balance toward health…

 

We have to remember that… while we are turning around a huge global system… embedded for millennia… it's been running on sheer inertia… on driven… unconscious… energy… 'single-phasing'… is the analogy I used for this at the beginning of Waking Up…

 

…with no truly opposite operating premises… and by 'opposite operating premises' I mean really 'thought-through in a systematic way'… continuously fueled by concerted… intentional action… to which to expose our children and ourselves…

 

…and with which to engage our thought…

 

…and that… this… is what tips the balance toward health… life wants its thought engaged… death (a 'death-worshiping-system'…) freezes it… and ultimately kills it… kills the thought-process…

 

So it is… as we've said before… a matter of enough discussions of these opposite operating premises… disseminated broadly enough…

 

…enough minds engaged… using the expanded available means for sharing these ideas…

 

…enough people figuring out the small steps… small actions… that lead to big effects…

 

…and how to link these actions globally.

–––

 

[Today’s reading: we continue the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

–––

* “WUR of June 21st, 2015 Reading… continuing the chapter "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

[“150621destroyingthewill.mp3”:]

 

In what follows I am particularly interested… given what we earlier said… about the importance of three-phase-power – as applied to humans (under 'class'…) – for healing this mess… and tending our delicate flower called 'the earth': we said that we must allow our children to 'unify themselves' under their own initiative… their own (self-) will… I mean imagine… making that term the ultimate indictment of a child… imagine hurling it as an epithet at any creature except the human (under 'class'…)

 

It may be that I am trying to attain something with these texts that either is not possible at all or is completely superfluous. For as long as you are not allowed to see something, you have no choice but to overlook it, to misunderstand it, to protect yourself against it in one way or another. But if you have already perceived it for yourself, then you don't need me to tell you about it. Although this observation is correct, I still do not want to give up the attempt, for it strikes me as worthwhile, even though at the moment only a few readers may profit from these excerpts.

 

I believe the quotations I have chosen will reveal methods that have been used to train children not to become aware of what was being done to them – not only “certain children” but more or less all of us (and our parents and forebears). I use the word reveal here although there was nothing secretive about these writings; they were widely distributed and went through numerous editions. We of the present generation can learn something from them that concerns us personally and was still hidden from our parents. Reading them, we may have the feeling of getting to the bottom of a mystery, of discovering something new but at the same time familiar that until now has simultaneously clouded and determined our lives. This was my own experience when I read Rutschky's book about the phenomenon of “poisonous pedagogy,” Suddenly I became more keenly aware of its many traces in psychoanalytic theories, in politics, and in the countless compulsions of everyday life.

 

–––

 

Those concerned with raising children have always had great trouble dealing with “obstinacy,” willfulness, defiance, and the exuberant character of children's emotions. They are repeatedly reminded that they cannot begin to teach obedience too soon. The following passage by J. Sulzer, written in 1748, will serve as an illustration of this:

[I've been struggling with the reading Alice has given us to do… with putting such thoughts on my tongue… despite knowing she is right… that we must face the lies with which so many young people… i.e.… all of us… to some degree… were 'conditioned'… that we must understand the full extent of the challenge we are confronted with… In what follows I am particularly interested… given what we earlier said… about the importance of three-phase-power – as applied to humans (under 'class'…) – for healing this mess… and tending our delicate flower called 'the earth': we said that we must allow our children to 'unify themselves' under their own initiative… their own (self-) will… I mean imagine… making that term the ultimate indictment of a child… imagine hurling it as an epithet at any creature except the human (under 'class'…)

 

Given the sad obsession with 'rule' of the 'power'-guys… their insistence on monopolization of decision-making… is it any wonder they honed in on this – shattering our wholeness – destroying our ability to challenge them?… These guys are all Cronus'… fearful of losing the chance of being elevated to 'Ultimate Authority' over all the rest of us'… – P.S.]

As far as willfulness is concerned, this expresses itself as a natural recourse in tenderest childhood as soon as children are able to make their desire for something known by means of gestures. They see something they want but cannot have, they become angry, cry, and flail about. Or they are given something that does not please them; they fling it aside and begin to cry. These are dangerous faults that hinder their entire education and encourage undesirable qualities in children. If willfulness and wickedness are not driven out, it is impossible to give a child a good education. The moment these flaws appear in a child, it is high time to resist this evil so that it does not become ingrained through habit and the children do not become thoroughly depraved.

 

Therefore, I advise all those whose concern is the education of children to make it their main occupation to drive out willfulness and wickedness and to persist until they have reached their goal. As I have remarked above, it is impossible to reason with young children;…

[You hear this still today: “children cannot be reasoned with…” Of course this is covert propaganda… this elevation of 'power's key con to the status of a god… Remember when Alice said that she could foresee a day when “…we will regard our children not as creatures to manipulate or to change but rather as messengers from a world we once deeply knew, but which we have long since forgotten, who can reveal to us more about the true secrets of life, and also our own lives, than our parents were ever able to. We do not need to be told whether to be strict or permissive with our children. What we do need is to have respect for their needs, their feelings, and their individuality, as well as for our own.” – This is the way out of 'class'… and into our free future… – P.S.]

[“150621methodicalbeatdown.mp3”:]

 

“…thus, willfulness must be driven out in a methodical manner… But if parents are fortunate enough to drive out willfulness from the very beginning by means of scolding and the rod, they will have obedient, docile, and good children whom they can later provide with a good education. If a good basis for education is to be established, then one must not cease toiling until one sees that all willfulness is gone… These, then, are the two most important matters one must attend to in the child's first year… They must also keep very fresh in their minds the outline or image of a mind disposed to virtue, as described above, so that they know what is to be undertaken.” [This is straight-up Plato… only the 'form' matters… life must be beaten and molded to conform to 'the idea' in the mind of the totalitarian… – P.S.]

 

…thus, willfulness must be driven out in a methodical manner, and there is no other recourse for this purpose than to show children one is serious. If one gives in to their willfulness once, the second time it will be more pronounced and more difficult to drive out. Once children have learned that anger and tears will win them their own way, they will not fail to use the same methods again. They will finally become the masters of their parents and of their nursemaids and will have a bad, willful, and unbearable disposition with which they will trouble and torment their parents ever after as the well-earned reward for the “good” upbringing they were given. But if parents are fortunate enough to drive out willfulness from the very beginning by means of scolding and the rod, they will have obedient, docile, and good children whom they can later provide with a good education. If a good basis for education is to be established, then one must not cease toiling until one sees that all willfulness is gone, for there is absolutely no place for it. Let no one make the mistake of thinking he will be able to obtain any good results before he has eliminated these two major faults. He will toil in vain. This is where the foundation first must be laid.

 

These, then, are the two most important matters one must attend to in the child's first year. When he is over a year old, and is beginning to understand and speak somewhat, one must concentrate on other things as well, yet always with the understanding that willfulness must be the main target of all our toils until it is completely abolished. It is always our main purpose to make children into righteous, virtuous persons, and parents should be ever mindful of this when they regard their children so that they will miss no opportunity to labor over them. They must also keep very fresh in their minds the outline or image of a mind disposed to virtue, as described above, so that they know what is to be undertaken. The first and foremost matter to be attended to is implanting in children a love of order; this is the first step we require in the way of virtue. In the first three years, however, this – like all things one undertakes with children – can come about only in a quite mechanical way. Everything must follow the rules of orderliness. Food and drink, clothing, sleep, and indeed the child's entire little household must be orderly and must never be altered in the least to accommodate their willfulness or whims so that they may learn in earliest childhood to submit strictly to the rules of orderliness. The order one insists upon has an indisputable influence on their minds, and if children become accustomed to orderliness at a very early age, they will suppose thereafter that this is completely natural because they no longer realize that it has been artfully instilled in them. If, out of indulgence, one alters the order of the child's little household as often as his whim shall dictate, then he will come to think that orderliness is not of great importance but must always yield to our whim. Such a false assumption would cause widespread damage to the moral life, as may easily be deduced from what I have said above about order. When children are of an age to be reasoned with, one must take every opportunity to present order to them as something sacred and inviolable. If they want to have something that offends against order, then one should say to them: my dear child, this is impossible; this offends against order, which must never be breached, and so on.…

 

[“150621childrenlosewhotheywouldhavebeen.mp3”:]

 

“Obedience is so important that all education is actually nothing other than learning how to obey… It is quite natural for the child's soul to want to have a will of its own, and things that are not done correctly in the first two years will be difficult to rectify thereafter. One of the advantages of these early years is that then force and compulsion can be used. Over the years, children forget everything that happened to them in early childhood. If their wills can be broken at this time, they will never remember afterwards that they had a will.” [“If primary emphasis is placed upon raising children so that they are not aware of what is being done to them or what is being taken from them, of what they are losing in the process, of who they otherwise would have been and who they actually are, and if this is begun early enough, then as adults, regardless of their intelligence, they will later look upon the will of another person as if it were their own…” – A.M.]

 

The second major matter to which one must dedicate oneself beginning with the second and third year is a strict obedience to parents and superiors and a trusting acceptance of all they do. These qualities are not only absolutely necessary for the success of the child's education, but they have a very strong influence on education in general. They are so essential because they impart to the mind orderliness per se and a spirit of submission to the laws. A child who is used to obeying his parents will also willingly submit to the laws and rules of reason once he is on his own and his own master, since he is already accustomed not to act in accordance with his own will. Obedience is so important that all education is actually nothing other than learning how to obey. It is a generally recognized principle that persons of high estate who are destined to rule whole nations must learn the art of governance by way of first learning obedience. Qui nescit obedire, nescit imperare: the reason for this is that obedience teaches a person to be zealous in observing the law, which is the first quality of a ruler. Thus, after one has driven out willfulness as a result of one's first labors with children, the chief goal of one's further labors must be obedience. It is not very easy, however, to implant obedience in children. It is quite natural for the child's soul to want to have a will of its own, and things that are not done correctly in the first two years will be difficult to rectify thereafter. One of the advantages of these early years is that then force and compulsion can be used. Over the years, children forget everything that happened to them in early childhood. If their wills can be broken at this time, they will never remember afterwards that they had a will, and for this very reason the severity that is required will not have any serious consequences.

 

Just as soon as children develop awareness, it is essential to demonstrate to them by word and deed that they must submit to the will of their parents. Obedience requires children to (1) willingly do as they are told, (2) willingly refrain from doing what is forbidden, and (3) accept the rules made for their sake. [J. Sulzer, Versuch von der Erziehung und Unterweisung der Kinder (An Essay on the Education and Instruction of Children), 1748, quoted in Rutschky]

It is astonishing that this pedagogue had so much psychological insight over two hundred years ago. It is in fact true that over the years children forget everything that happened to them in early childhood; “they will never remember afterwards that they had a will” – to be sure. But, unfortunately, the rest of the sentence, “the severity that is required will not have any serious consequences,” is not true.

 

The opposite is the case: throughout their professional lives, lawyers, politicians, psychiatrists, physicians, and prison guards must deal with these serious consequences, usually without knowing their cause. The psychoanalytical process takes years to work its cautious way back to the roots of the trouble, but when successful, it does in fact bring release from symptoms.

 

Lay persons repeatedly raise the objection that there are people who had a demonstrably difficult childhood without becoming neurotic, whereas others, who grew up in apparently favorable circumstances, become mentally ill. This is supposed to be proof of an innate predisposition and thus a refutation of the importance of parental influence.

 

The Sulzer passage helps us to understand how this error can (and is meant to?) arise on all levels of society. Neuroses and psychoses are not direct consequences of actual frustrations but the expression of repressed traumata. If primary emphasis is placed upon raising children so that they are not aware of what is being done to them or what is being taken from them, of what they are losing in the process, of who they otherwise would have been and who they actually are, and if this is begun early enough, then as adults, regardless of their intelligence, they will later look upon the will of another person as if it were their own. How can they know that their own will was broken since they were never allowed to express it? Yet something one is not aware of can still make one ill. If, on the other hand, children experience hunger, air raids, and the loss of their home, for instance, but in such a way that they feel they are being taken seriously and respected as individuals by their parents, then they will not become ill as a result of these actual traumata. There is even a chance for them to remember these experiences (because they have had the support of devoted attachment figures) and thus enrich their inner world.

 

–––

 

[“150621thestateisacronus.mp3”:]

 

“Such disobedience amounts to a declaration of war against you. Your son is trying to usurp your authority…” [Here is a good expression of Bentham's point: that the parent is the manifestation in the home of the state… the parent is the state… and the state is a Cronus… requires that 'its' children be crippled… stripped of 'will'… of authentic selves… so the 'master's will can be inserted in them… that was Bentham's whole reason-to-be: defining 'the logic of the will' that you then insert in the children… – P.S.] [“…the sad truth, which unfortunately still holds today. For parents' motives are the same today as they were then: in beating their children, they are struggling to regain the power they once lost to their own parents. For the first time, they see the vulnerability of their own earliest years, which they are unable to recall, reflected in their children. Only now, when someone weaker than they is involved, do they finally fight back, often quite fiercely…” – A.M.]

 

The next passage, by J.G. Kruger, reveals why it was (and still is) so important to pedagogues to combat “obstinacy” vigorously:

It is my view that one should never strike children for offenses they commit out of weakness. The only vice deserving of blows is obstinacy. It is therefore wrong to strike children at their lessons, it is wrong to strike them for falling down, it is wrong to strike them for crying; but it is right and proper to strike them for all of these transgressions and for even more trivial ones if they have committed them out of wickedness. If your son does not want to learn because it is your will, if he cries with the intent of defying you, if he does harm in order to offend you, in short, if he insists on having his own way:

Then whip him well till he cries so:

Oh no, Papa, oh no!

Such disobedience amounts to a declaration of war against you. Your son is trying to usurp your authority,…

[Here is a good expression of Bentham's point: that the parent is the manifestation in the home of the state… the parent is the state… and the state is a Cronus… requires that 'its' children be crippled… stripped of 'will'… of authentic selves… so the 'master's will can be inserted in them… that was Bentham's whole reason-to-be: defining 'the logic of the will' that you then insert in the children… – P.S.]

…and you are justified in answering force with force in order to insure his respect, without which you will be unable to train him. The blows you administer should not be merely playful ones but should convince him that you are his master. Therefore, you must not desist until he does what he previously refused out of wickedness to do. If you do not pay heed to this, you will have engaged him in a battle that will cause his wicked heart to swell with triumph and him to make the firm resolve to continue disregarding your blows so that he need not submit to his parents' domination. If, however, he has seen that he is vanquished the first time and has been obliged to humble himself before you, this will rob him of his courage to rebel anew. But you must pay especial heed that in chastising him you not allow yourself to be overcome with anger. For the child will be sharp-witted enough to perceive your weakness and regard as a result of anger what he should deem a meting out of justice. If you are unable to practice moderation in this regard, then yield the execution of the chastisement to another, but be sure to impress upon the person not to desist until the child has fulfilled his father's will and comes to beg you for forgiveness. You should not withhold your forgiveness entirely, as Locke justly observes, but should make it somewhat difficult of attainment and not show your complete approbation again until he has made good his previous transgression by total obedience and has proven that he is determined to be a faithful subject of his parents. If children are educated with befitting prudence at a young age, then surely it will very rarely be necessary to resort to such forceful measures; this can hardly be avoided, however, if one takes children in to be reared after they have already developed a will of their own. But sometimes, especially when they are of a proud nature, one can, even in the case of serious transgressions, dispense with beatings if one makes them, for example, go barefoot and hungry and serve at table or otherwise inflicts pain upon them where it hurts. [Gedanken von der Erziehung der Kinder (Some Thoughts on the Education of Children), 1752, quoted in Rutschky]

Here, everything is still stated openly; in modern books on child-rearing the authors carefully mask their emphasis on the importance of gaining control over the child. Over the years a sophisticated repertory of arguments was developed to prove the necessity of corporal punishment for the child's own good. In the eighteenth century, however, one still spoke freely of “usurping authority,” of “faithful subjects,” etc., and this language reveals the sad truth, which unfortunately still holds today. For parents' motives are the same today as they were then: in beating their children, they are struggling to regain the power they once lost to their own parents. For the first time, they see the vulnerability of their own earliest years, which they are unable to recall, reflected in their children (cf. Sulzer). Only now, when someone weaker than they is involved, do they finally fight back, often quite fiercely. There are countless rationalizations, still used today, to justify their behavior. Although parents always mistreat their children for psychological reasons, i.e., because of their own needs, there is a basic assumption in our society that this treatment is good for children. Last but not least, the pains that are taken to defend this line of reasoning betray its dubious nature. The arguments used contradict every psychological insight we have gained, yet they are passed on from generation to generation.

 

There must be an explanation for this that has deep emotional roots in all of us [under 'class'… – P.S.]. It is unlikely that someone could proclaim “truths” that are counter to physical laws for very long (for example, that it is healthy for children to run around in bathing suits in winter and in fur coats in summer) without appearing ridiculous. But it is perfectly normal to speak of the necessity of striking and humiliating children and robbing them of their autonomy, at the same time using such high-sounding words as chastising, upbringing, and guiding onto the right path. The excerpts from Schwarze Padagogik which follow indicate how much a parent's hidden, unrecognized needs stand to profit from such an ideology. This also explains the great resistance to accepting and integrating the indisputable body of knowledge about psychological principles that has been built up in recent decades.

 

There are many good books available describing the harmful and cruel aspects of traditional methods of child-rearing (by Ekkehard von Braunmuhl, Lloyd de Mause, Katharina Rutschky, Morton Schatzman, and Katharina Zimmer, to mention a few). Why has all this information brought about so little change in the attitudes of the public at large?…

[But add the fact that 'power' acts clandestinely to maintain this way of things… that 'all' (for them…) depends on capturing and controlling human energy… on convincing us that we are 'workers'… and the puzzle is solved… We're going to be continuing to think through the ways in which this process of stripping us of 'self'… is captured in equivalencies across 'the system'… globally… and how reclaiming our true self is regaining three-phase-power… – P.S.]

 

[June 21, 2015 show ends here.]

–––

 

* “WUR of June 28, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

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[“150628littlemo.mp3”:]

 

As we said last week, we have to work together on this… and perhaps it was in this vein that a lyric came… a love letter. I've made a deal with the ancestors that if I'm given something from their creative gifts… that abundance… I put it out into the world, even when it's an embarrassment… “Open Letter to Little Mo: Is it OK to offer your piece…”

 

Sisters and Brothers: As we said last week, we have to work together on this… and perhaps it was in this vein that a lyric came… a love letter. I've made a deal with the ancestors that if I'm given something from their creative gifts… that abundance… I put it out into the world, even when it's an embarrassment…

 

I was moved by a story my son told me about the alto sax player… Ben Ball… with Little Mo, who would come in and work with the students in his high school band… fifteen years ago. He gave my son his CD… which is how I came to hear “I Wanna See You” and wrote a lyric based on it.

 

If there is an established singer or band out there who can use this… (I know it's a stretch… at best…) use it to generate some 'thank-you' cash for Little Mo… please let me know… I'm very serious about this.

 

Open Letter to Little Mo: Is it OK to offer your piece to a better singer than me?

 

“I Wanna See You…” [Little Mo]

 

–––

 

“I Just Want To See You…” [Consider this…]

 

–––

 

[“150628claimingwhoweare.mp3”:]

 

'Unbound time' implies one's time is not owed to… owned by… someone else… – as is the case for the small child in the home… and we in the workplace.

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 11)

 

June 22, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: What Alice will be explaining this week… is how 'power' creates the sadists needed to implement its ruthless 'rule' (I mean… you need whole armies of sadists willing to do the bidding of the puppet-masters if world-domination is the aim…) –

 

…she will say that they accomplish this through a child-rearing process that intentionally suppresses affect…

 

…a process which can usefully (for our purposes…) be viewed through the frame we used last week… from Waking Up… of three-phase-power…

 

In Waking Up… the 'three phases' referred to are the ancestors… the earth… and each other… But those terms could as well be: 'mind' ('thought'… the ancestors…) 'body' ('longing'… the earth…) and 'spirit' ('feelings'… our empathic connectedness with each other… or affect… – and consider that when you suppress one [feelings…] you suppress the other [empathic connectedness…])

 

Alice views the mutilation of self both from the perspective of what it does to the individual – stealing from him or her the person they should have been (and I can speak to this… as I've been embarking on this process I more and more see that that is what I'm doing here… even though it is also the fact that I want to be part of this transition to freedom that is long overdue… thousands of years in the making… but now is the time… yes… I want to be part of that… but it's also my claiming my voice… so I'm very moved by that process… claiming the person we should have been… the person we are…) and she also looks at this process with a wide lens: that it's a set up for the fulfillment of totalitarian ambitions… which can lead to (and has led to) the callous annihilation of millions.

 

–––

 

In our show a couple weeks ago… we listed some qualities of a planning space that would make it 'safe'… one of which was that we would… as best we could… unhitch our lives from the notion of 'time'… exercise our empathic-connectedness… and let the requirements of the global planning / soul-sufficiency process drive our actions…

 

'Unbound time' implies one's time is not owed to… owned by… someone else… – as is the case for the small child in the home… and we in the workplace.

 

A question for us to discuss: Do we think it's the case that 'owning oneself' is a necessary prerequisite to regaining who we were before 'class' staked its claim on our ass… sucked us into its requirements… while eliminating other options? And what does it mean to 'own oneself'… if not to be consciously seeking to base oneself in material and soul-sufficiency?… and thought developed communally…

 

…and how attain material and soul-sufficiency if not in the establishment of interconnected mutual aid relationships?

 

Always linking the three… within the frame 'three-phase-power'… means we avoid making material self-sufficiency 'the point' of our gathering… and locate soul-sufficiency centrally… along with the development of our thought communally… the initial task of which being the intermediate goal of establishing clear 'opposite operating premises' for our 'opposite' free society – premises thought-through in a systematic way… as we said last week… meaning that we see the ways in which our 'selves' get stolen across the system (i.e.… 'systematically'…) – a development of thought tied to action…

 

[“150628thoughtfrozenwithfear.mp3”:]

 

So… if fear halts the thought process… how do we break the logjam of fear? Again… we consider the circumstances in which it was planted… translated into the language of feeling… what would the judgment… the frowns… the endless lessons and examinations mean?… if not: “I'm not good enough… he doesn't love me…” And if whatever you did was met with judgment… and you didn't know why (beyond “not being good enough”…) and you were subject to… utterly dependent on… this ruthless Authority?… Samuel Butler is absolutely right… we'd be like that puppy with the shade that drops over his face… would this not set us up for a lifetime of trying to please?… of seeking 'the master's praise?… a perfect way of things for those who want to suck on our energy… to sculpt a world in their own image…

 

In the excerpts from the child-rearing pedagogues Alice provides… consider what it would feel like to be the child 'labored over' by these manipulative sadists… who were once themselves 'labored over'… consider what the experience of being 'labored over' tells the child about his or her 'time' (a.k.a. their lives…): that it is not their own… that they are owned by this person who can halt their thought process and numb all emotion but fear… in fact… halt their thought process with fear…

 

…and consider as well what turning us into functionaries (automatons) of a 'system' requires… It requires that we have no thought process… that we follow orders without question… that we have no 'will' of our own… Recall Alice's words:

If primary emphasis is placed upon raising children so that they are not aware of what is being done to them or what is being taken from them, of what they are losing in the process, of who they otherwise would have been and who they actually are, and if this is begun early enough, then as adults, regardless of their intelligence, they will later look upon the will of another person as if it were their own. How can they know that their own will was broken since they were never allowed to express it?

What this means… perhaps… for getting our true selves back… is that it requires recovering our thought process… restarting it… from where it got hijacked… with fear…

 

The lived pace of force is fast – 'power' wants us to obey orders without question… be as much like machines as possible… – but the pace of freedom (once we are living it…) slow… (I'm not talking about our response to the totalitarian threat today – that threat we are confronted with is enormous… which means we have no choice but to react… and create our alternative… apace… Alice is right… we have no choice but to fight back… on multiple fronts…) – as the process we're in defines what it requires of us…

 

…and if we are living the freedom we want to see… helping our Brothers and Sisters empathically to face that early fear that was so debilitating (without… perhaps… our recognizing it as such …) we must consider that early experience: the sense that our time is not our own is deeply tied to the fear that we are on our own… because of the frowns and judgment from those we depend on most (for literal survival…) after which… we must then be ever-busy to 'prove' ourselves worthy. To then attempt to claim ourselves… with this worm eating… means to intervene in… and abolish that negative cycle…

 

So… if fear halts the thought process… how do we break the logjam of fear? Again… we consider the circumstances in which it was planted…

 

…translated into the language of feeling… that children know but we have lost… what would the judgment… the frowns… the endless lessons and examinations mean?… if not: “I'm not good enough… he doesn't love me…” And if whatever you did was met with judgment… and you didn't know why (beyond “not being good enough”…) and you were subject to… utterly dependent on… this ruthless Authority?…

 

…Samuel Butler is absolutely right… we'd be like that puppy with the shade that drops over his face… would this not set us up for a lifetime of trying to please?… of seeking 'the master's praise?… a perfect way of things for those who want to suck on our energy… to sculpt a world in their own image.

 

–––

 

[“150628falsevestment.mp3”:]

 

We will be asking whether… – if 'the will' of the parent is exorcised by seeing him or her through a new frame – the same might hold true for the broader 'will' of 'power'… for which… after all… the parent serves but as deputy. And we will be considering the implications of this insertion of the parent's 'will' for building an authentic (i.e. based in a process of the cultivation of 'soul-sufficiency…) global movement for generalized human freedom: considering that we must confront the tendency in us to attach ourselves to Authority… to 'power'… before we are conscious of it as a tendency… because it's our life-long training (under 'class'…) to do so… …and that we have falsely (in the sense of self-betrayal…) vested in illegitimate Authority… our authentic… true… power… It is in using our authentic 'power' / voices that – increasingly as we do so – breaks this paralysis of action… in ourselves… and in our Brothers and Sisters… …and… offers some measure of protection from death-abrupt-and-calculated made to look unplanned… an important reason for openness…

 

We've been arguing both that 'class'… 'work'… is the critical missing piece in Alice's analysis… and that the necessary development of her gift therefore lies in its extension to the 'general population' (i.e. 'society'…) including… most importantly… the techniques she will be advocating for our confrontation with false authority and the reconstruction of our authentic selves with the gaining of new information…

 

We will be asking whether… if 'the will' of the parent (which… she explains… gets inserted into the child before he or she can develop his or her own 'will'… which means… among other things… that the child never becomes aware that this false transaction occurred…)

 

…whether – if 'the will' of the parent is exorcised by seeing him or her through a new frame – the same might hold true for the broader 'will' of 'power'… for which… after all… the parent serves but as deputy.

 

And we will be considering the implications of this insertion of the parent's 'will' for building an authentic (i.e. based in a process of the cultivation of 'soul-sufficiency…) global movement for generalized human freedom: considering that we must confront the tendency in us to attach ourselves to Authority… to 'power'… before we are conscious of it as a tendency… because it's our life-long training (under 'class'…) to do so…

 

…that… it's difficult to let go a sense of dependence on that which was installed so early in us…

 

…a dependence on it for all the power and agency ('will') we think we possess… not seeing that what we manifest in our unconscious attachment to 'power'… is not our 'will' at all… but its'…

 

…and that we have falsely (in the sense of self-betrayal…) vested in illegitimate Authority… our authentic… true… power…

 

You know… in this quite elaborate tracking (of me) operation… I've noticed three broad and over-lapping types of functionaries: sheepdogs-and-soldiers- (of the faith… true believers in the religion of Plato…) -in training… and the same across the age-spectrum; non-citizens; and the low-income… across race… across all 'power's categories for us…

 

…and it is from this latter group that I've received terse confirmations of this assessment of our present situation… staring in the face of a global totalitarianism: “They have all the power… they're gonna win anyway… so there's no point in trying to fight them…”

 

Now this is nonsense… we are 7 billion… they are ten thousand… we have the Internet… we have our global communications…

 

…but thinking it makes it so – this is the mentality they count on to fix us into statuses and roles they decide for us… across the globe… locking we billions into subject (read: 'slave'…) status – so our free future depends on addressing this question…

 

It is in using our authentic 'power' / voices that – increasingly as we do so – breaks this paralysis of action… in ourselves… and in our Brothers and Sisters…

 

…and… offers some measure of protection from death-abrupt-and-calculated made to look unplanned… an important reason for openness… for if we loudly proclaim our right to be a free human society… a free global humanity… proclaim our passion to achieve it… and that to as many people as possible… sudden death turns public attention to that message… and this they absolutely don't want (and my son can provide confirmation of where my heart lies… if it's needed…)

 

Ultimately of course… the only safety… is in numbers.

–––

 

[Today’s reading: we continue the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

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* “WUR of June 28th, 2015 Reading… continuing the chapter "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

 

[“150628sadistsaremade.mp3”:]

 

“The easier it becomes by means of technology to destroy human life with the touch of a button, the more important it is for the public to understand how it can be possible for someone to want to extinguish the lives of millions of human beings. Beatings, which are only one form of mistreatment, are always degrading, because the child not only is unable to defend him- or herself but is also supposed to show gratitude and respect to the parents in return. And along with corporal punishment there is a whole gamut of ingenious measures applied “for the child's own good” which are difficult for a child to comprehend and which for that very reason often have devastating effects in later life.”

 

…I used to try to address the numerous individual reasons for problems resulting from child-rearing, but I now believe that there is a universal [to 'class'… – P.S.] psychological phenomenon involved here that must be brought to light: namely the way the adult [under 'class'… – P.S.] exercises power over the child, a use of power that can go undetected and unpunished like no other. Seen superficially, it is not in the best interest of any of us to expose this universal mechanism, for who is willing to relinquish either the opportunity to discharge pent-up affect or the rationalizations that enable us to keep a clear conscience? Nevertheless, making these undercurrents of our behavior known is crucial for the sake of future generations. The easier it becomes by means of technology to destroy human life with the touch of a button, the more important it is for the public to understand how it can be possible for someone to want to extinguish the lives of millions of human beings. Beatings, which are only one form of mistreatment, are always degrading, because the child not only is unable to defend him- or herself but is also supposed to show gratitude and respect to the parents in return. And along with corporal punishment there is a whole gamut of ingenious measures applied “for the child's own good” which are difficult for a child to comprehend and which for that very reason often have devastating effects in later life. What is our reaction, for example, when we, as adults, try to empathize with the child raised according to the methods recommended by Villaume:

If a child is caught in the act, then it isn't difficult to coax a confession from him. It would be very easy to say to him, so-and-so saw you do this or that. I prefer to take a detour, however, and there are a variety of them.

 

You have questioned the child about his peaked appearance. You have even gotten him to confess to certain aches and pains that you describe to him. I would then continue:

 

“You see, my child, that I am aware of your present ailments; I have even enumerated them. You see, then, that I know about your condition. I know even more: I know how you are going to suffer in the future, and I'll tell you about it. Listen. Your face will shrivel, your hair will turn brown; your hands will tremble, your face will be covered with pustules; your eyes will grow dim, your memory weak, your brain dull. You will lose all your good spirits, you won't be able to sleep, and you'll lose your appetite, etc.”

 

It is hard to find a child who will not be dismayed by this. To continue:

 

“Now I am going to tell you something else. Pay attention! Do you know what the cause of all your suffering is? You may not know, but I do. You have brought it on yourself! – I am going to tell you what it is you do in secret.…

 

A child would have to be extremely obdurate if he did not make a tearful confession.

 

Here is another path to the truth! I am taking this passage from the Pedagogical Discourses:

 

I called Heinrich to me… […much later in this agonizing interchange… – P.S.] “Heinrich, there must be another reason; your face betrays it. You are becoming more upset. Be honest, Heinrich; by being honest, you make yourself pleasing in the sight of God, our Heavenly Father, and all men.”

 

H: “Oh, dear – ” (He began to cry loudly and was so pitiable that tears came to my own eyes – he perceived this, grasped my hand, and kissed it passionately.)

 

“Well, Heinrich, why are you crying?”

 

H: “Oh, dear.”

 

“Shall I spare you your confusion? Is it not true that you have done what that unfortunate lad did?”

 

H: “Oh, dear! Yes.”

 

This second method is perhaps preferable to the first if one is dealing with children of a gentle, sensitive character. There is something severe about the first one in the way it almost assaults the child. [1787, quoted in Rutschky]

Feelings of resentment and rage over this devious form of manipulation cannot surface in the child here because he does not see through the subterfuge. At the most, he will experience feelings of anxiety, shame, insecurity, and helplessness, which may soon be forgotten, especially when the child finds a victim of his own. Villaume, like other pedagogues, takes pains that his methods remain undetected:

One must observe the child closely but in such a way that he does not notice, otherwise he will be secretive and suspicious, and there will be no way of reaching him. Since a sense of shame will always impel the child to try to conceal this sin, we are not dealing with an easy matter here.…

The conscious use of humiliation (whose function is to satisfy the parents' needs) destroys the child's self-confidence, making him or her insecure and inhibited; nevertheless, this approach is considered beneficial:

It goes without saying that pedagogues themselves not infrequently awaken and help to swell a child's conceit by foolishly emphasizing his merits, since they are often merely large children themselves and are filled with the same conceit.… It is then important to eliminate this conceit.… Hold up to a talented lad the examples of living or historical figures who possess far more splendid talent than his and who have used their talent to accomplish admirable deeds; or hod up as examples those lacking in any especially brilliant mental powers who have nevertheless achieved far more by means of a sustained iron discipline than has a frivolous talent – here too, of course, without explicit reference to your charge, who will of his own accord make the comparison privately. Finally, it will be useful to call to mind the dubious and transitory nature of merely material things by occasionally pointing out appropriate illustrations of this: the sight of a youthful corpse or the report of the collapse of a commercial house has a more humbling effect than often repeated warnings and censure. [K.G. Hergang, ed., Padagogische Realenzyklopadie (Encyclopedia of Pedagogy), 1851, quoted in Rutschky]

Feigning friendliness helps even more to conceal this type of cruel treatment:

When I once asked a schoolmaster how he had been able to bring it about that the children obeyed him without being whipped, he replied: I attempt to persuade my pupils by my entire demeanor that I mean well by them, and I demonstrate to them through example and illustration that it is to their disadvantage if they do not obey me. Further, I reward the one who is the most amendable, the most obedient, the most diligent in his lessons by preferring him over the others… […these are tactics as old as 'class' itself… as we saw in our reading of Xenophon… applied in that instance to 'slaves' and 'laborers'… – P.S.]

[“150628torturoustechniques.mp3”:]

 

“When one of them then upon occasion does something that deserves punishment, I reduce his status in the class, I don't call on him, I don't let him read aloud, I act as though he were not there. This distresses the children so much that those who are punished weep copious tears. If there is upon occasion someone who cannot be educated by such gentle means, then, to be sure, I must whip him, however, for the execution thereof I first make such lengthy preparations that he is more affected by them than by the lashes themselves…” For purposes of self-protection, it is only the adult's friendly manner that remains in the child's memory, accompanied by a predictable submissiveness on the part of “the little transgressor” and the loss of his capacity for spontaneous feeling… [A.M.]

 

[Continuing:] Feigning friendliness helps even more to conceal this type of cruel treatment:

When I once asked a schoolmaster how he had been able to bring it about that the children obeyed him without being whipped, he replied: I attempt to persuade my pupils by my entire demeanor that I mean well by them, and I demonstrate to them through example and illustration that it is to their disadvantage if they do not obey me. Further, I reward the one who is the most amendable, the most obedient, the most diligent in his lessons by preferring him over the others; I call on him the most, I permit him to read his composition before the class, I let him do the necessary writing on the blackboard. This way I awaken the children's zeal so that each wishes to excel, to be preferred. When one of them then upon occasion does something that deserves punishment, I reduce his status in the class, I don't call on him, I don't let him read aloud, I act as though he were not there. This distresses the children so much that those who are punished weep copious tears. If there is upon occasion someone who cannot be educated by such gentle means, then, to be sure, I must whip him, however, for the execution thereof I first make such lengthy preparations that he is more affected by them than by the lashes themselves. I do not whip him at that moment when he earns the punishment but postpone it until the following day or the day thereafter. This provides me with two advantages: first, my blood cools down in the meantime, and I have leisure to consider how best to go about the matter; later, the little delinquent will feel the punishment tenfold more sharply because he has had to devote constant thought to it.

 

When the day of reckoning arrives, directly after the morning prayer I make a pathetic address to all the children and tell them this is a very sad day for me since the disobedience of one of my dear pupils has imposed on me the necessity of whipping him. The tears begin to flow, not only his who is to be chastised but also those of his fellow pupils. After this lecture is over, I bid the children be seated and I begin the lesson. Not until school is over do I have the little sinner step forward; I then pronounce my verdict and ask him if he knows what he has done to deserve it. After he has given a proper answer, I administer the lashes in the presence of all the children, turn then to the spectators and tell them it is my heartfelt desire that this may be the last time I am constrained to whip a child. [C. G. Salzman (1796), quoted in Rutschky]

For purposes of self-protection, it is only the adult's friendly manner that remains in the child's memory, accompanied by a predictable submissiveness on the part of “the little transgressor” and the loss of his capacity for spontaneous feeling:

 

[“150628punishment247.mp3”:]

 

“Fortunate are those parents and teachers who have educated their children so wisely that their counsel is as forceful as a command…” Fortunate are those parents and teachers who have educated their children so wisely that their counsel is as forceful as a command […Samuel Butler describes this well… I'm seriously thinking about ending the show early as I'm getting hit hard here… We must begin demanding of the Department (of the Navy) that develops these weapons (DARPA) to know exactly what they got… – P.S.]

 

Fortunate are those parents and teachers who have educated their children so wisely that their counsel is as forceful as a command […Samuel Butler describes this well… I'm seriously thinking about ending the show early as I'm getting hit hard here… We must begin demanding of the Department (of the Navy) that develops these weapons (DARPA) to know exactly what they got… – P.S.]

[June 28, 2015 show ends here.]

 

–––

 

* “WUR of July 5, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

–––

 

[“150705letthegoallead.mp3”:]

 

We've been arguing that… while individually it's very difficult for our certainty (needed to overcome millennia of conditioning and begin organizing for our free future…) to survive the determined onslaught of the tactic of calculated-falseness… we cope with it in our planning spaces by relying on the strength of our planning design – commitment to the goal: letting the goal lead… asking the 'utility' of everything we do for realizing the goal of a free future…)

 

Good Lord it's been intense! The drones! The bombardment with EMF! The harassment! Do you think the fourth of July had anything to do with it?

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 12)

 

June 30, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: It seems these 'power'-guys take it as a personal affront when we refuse to accept the constructed world they've made for us… like children furious that the plastic people that they carefully arranged about their nation-scapes suddenly developed a will of their own… stepped out of the scenes and began talking with each other… and ignoring them…

 

The 'solution' they generally rely on when confronted with this threat… is to send in the false folks with instructions to create havoc: create divisions and dissensions… interrupt the flow of the conversations… and try to herd us back into the artificial constructions…

 

Their world exists by our belief in it… depends entirely on their training us to accept it.

 

I've been thinking about what distinguishes the totalitarian child-rearing that the 'power'-guys and their devotees give themselves from that imposed on the rest of us… and… yes… they rear their children to rule… but even more fundamentally… and to a much higher degree than is true for the rest of us… they rear their children to be duplicitous. Implicitly (and perhaps outright if reframed…) falseness… performance… is elevated… as Bentham told us a few shows back… to the most highly revered 'skill'…

 

…and for us… as its targets… when it is wormed in among us… we who are committed to being honest (for who more honest than those who recognize the primary authority of the earth… and the earth in us… her infinite abundance…) most debilitating and distressing…

 

…because the whole millennia-long mess – calculated-falseness-made-systematic – is contained in the act: artificiality and irreverence being the core qualities of 'class' (with 'scarcity' – a fundamentally false notion when applied to the constructed world of 'class' – being its created mindset…)

 

We've been arguing that… while individually it's very difficult for our certainty (needed to overcome millennia of conditioning and begin organizing for our free future…) to survive the determined onslaught of the tactic of calculated-falseness… we cope with it in our planning spaces by relying on the strength of our planning design – commitment to the goal: letting the goal lead… asking the 'utility' of everything we do for realizing the goal of a free future…)

 

…and that a strong planning design includes… most importantly… a strong 'core self': building 'abundance' (based in individual 'self / soul-sufficiency…) into the form of the group.

 

–––

 

[“150705soulsufficiencypiece.mp3”:]

 

A case can be made that the planning design to realize the goal of global freedom… based in soul-sufficiency – and… 'soul-sufficiency'… reclaiming our true voices… our true 'self'… has… arguably… been missing in the analysis and in the prescriptions of the official Left… for reasons that are not by accident… and we have to locate that piece centrally in our planning and action… to create the world we want…

 

“Attention must be given… we develop our capacity to listen… to encourage the earth to speak in our Brothers and Sisters…” was our 'point four' 'safety-element' for our planning spaces (discussed in the June 14, 2015 show…): the practical expression of the 'principle of reverence'… which… we will be arguing… demonstrates (is felt by the soul as…) 'abundance' – the soul's satiety being the most fundamental meaning of 'abundance'…

 

This is the opposite of what is practiced under 'class'… in which the eyes of subjects get trained 'up'… must ever… as Plato instructed potential (and actual… through his writings) rulers… must ever seek their masters'… “thought's absence” attendant upon the master's every wish…

 

A case can be made that the planning design to realize the goal of global freedom… based in soul-sufficiency – and… 'soul-sufficiency'… reclaiming our true voices… our true 'self'… has… arguably… been missing in the analysis and in the prescriptions of the official Left… for reasons that are not by accident… and we have to locate that piece centrally in our planning and action… to create the world we want…

 

[“150705secrecyinkilling.mp3”:]

 

(We have to demand accountability from the Department of the Navy for an accurate reporting of the EMF weaponry they have developed [with our tax dollars…] I really don't understand why the ACLU or some organization like that doesn't put two and two together: that if there are weapons that can kill people… or silence them by causing them enough physical distress that they disappear into the 'illness industry'… that 'power' would use that against dissent… there has to be an organization whose job it is to protect our civil liberties that takes a proactive stance… that says: “because 'the state' has these weapons… it is obvious that they would be used against dissent… That's what 'power' has done over the millennia… secrecy in killing is their wet-dream: to get rid of folks they want to get rid of with no repercussions…)

(We have to demand accountability from the Department of the Navy for an accurate reporting of the EMF weaponry they have developed [with our tax dollars…] I really don't understand why the ACLU or some organization like that doesn't put two and two together: that if there are weapons that can kill people… or silence them by causing them enough physical distress that they disappear into the 'illness industry'… that 'power' would use that against dissent… This is so obvious… I cannot be the only one who sees that that is obvious… and there has to be an organization whose job it is to protect our civil liberties that takes a proactive stance… that says: “because 'the state' has these weapons… it is obvious that they would be used against dissent… That's what 'power' has done over the millennia… secrecy in killing is their wet-dream: to get rid of folks they want to get rid of with no repercussions…)

(We have to demand accountability from the Department of the Navy for an accurate reporting of the EMF weaponry they have developed [with our tax dollars…] I really don't understand why the ACLU or some organization like that doesn't put two and two together: that if there are weapons that can kill people… or silence them by causing them enough physical distress that they disappear into the 'illness industry'… that 'power' would use that against dissent… This is so obvious… I cannot be the only one who sees that that is obvious… and there has to be an organization whose job it is to protect our civil liberties that takes a proactive stance… that says: “because 'the state' has these weapons… it is obvious that they would be used against dissent… That's what 'power' has done over the millennia… secrecy in killing is their wet-dream: to get rid of folks they want to get rid of with no repercussions…)

 

[“150705comingtogether.mp3”:]

 

(We have been divided from each other by the tactic of 'atomization'… and it has worked like a charm… and because of the atomization… it makes it very difficult to empathize with each other's dilemmas… and if we cannot empathize with each other's dilemmas… then we can't unify… it's a key puzzle piece to put in place… and we here in the U.S. have the right to… as a people… pursue happiness…)

 

(We have been divided from each other by the tactic of 'atomization'… and it has worked like a charm… and because of the atomization… it makes it very difficult to empathize with each other's dilemmas… and if we cannot empathize with each other's dilemmas… then we can't unify… it's a key puzzle piece to put in place…)

A case can be made that the planning design to realize the goal of global freedom… based in soul-sufficiency… cannot 'prove itself' unless the 'core self' (to use my son's language… i.e 'the group'…) becomes the 'abundance'… and that the 'core self' cannot become the 'abundance' without incorporating the notion of 'three-phase-power' into the design…

 

A case can be made that it has been the continuous and increasing and increasingly systematic withdrawing of attention from successive generations of infants… under 'class'… that has stripped we-the-people-captives of our power…

 

'Attention given' equals not just time and affection returned to our lives… but its communal expression… our communal expression as 'a people'… as well – the sine qua non for challenging global-'power' – and I think we should consider this further next week (along with the right that we have here in the U.S. to… as a people… pursue happiness…)

 

[“150705stayingfocused.mp3”:]

 

That we know the attempt to undermine is happening… (…inevitably… and… again… this is the coerced-work system… it puts human energy on the market… available to the highest bidder… to… ultimately – as the highest bidder will be them-who-have-hoarded-the-resources-of-the-planet for this moment of intensifying resource-shortages brought about intentionally – bring in a permanent global totalitarian order for the benefit of these would-be 'masters' / 'gods'… to rail against the functionaries themselves… makes no sense – particularly as… their service to 'power' as buffers… creating yet another division… is included in their function […and to a degree this is every one of us… consider that we're always at each other's throats – when we're frustrated… when we're stressed… – who's nearest… this is something that we all do to each other…) 'Betrayal'… 'abandonment'… 'falseness'… 'duplicity'… fear that one is 'not good enough'… fear of being judged… fear that one is not loved: these are the 'legacy-issues' of childhood in a 'class' system… which 'power' is well aware of… and will direct its agents to stimulate accordingly…

 

But “attention must be given” also means: “attention must be given to that which was hidden… buried… and neglected…” because it posed a threat to 'power' / 'Authority' – its manifestation in our parents… i.e. we must give attention to our early questions… fears… and suppressions – in our discussions and in our private reflections (journaling is highly recommended…)

 

…but it is precisely these fears that agents are instructed to stimulate… encourage… and manipulate in order to create dissension and discord… to ultimately de-rail the planning effort…

 

'Betrayal'… 'abandonment'… 'falseness'… 'duplicity'… fear that one is 'not good enough'… fear of being judged… fear that one is not loved: these are the 'legacy-issues' of childhood in a 'class' system… which 'power' is well aware of… and will direct its agents to stimulate accordingly…

 

…but if met with 'abundance' manifested by 'the group'… the 'core self' itself… can we not sooth ourselves to calm… particularly when we know what rides on it?

 

That we know the attempt to undermine is happening…

(…inevitably… and… again… this is the coerced-work system… it puts human energy on the market… available to the highest bidder… to… ultimately – as the highest bidder will be them-who-have-hoarded-the-resources-of-the-planet for this moment of intensifying resource-shortages brought about intentionally – bring in a permanent global totalitarian order for the benefit of these would-be 'masters' / 'gods'…

 

…to censure… implying thereby we locate blame in the functionaries themselves [and this reminder is for me mostly… I… more than anyone… need a 'core self'… But we can voice the suppressed thoughts to each other… not while in the job perhaps… but with our friends and relations… that… we're not here to be put on the market…] and that this locating blame on our Sisters and Brothers makes no sense – particularly as… their service to 'power' as buffers… creating yet another division… is included in their function ([…and to a degree this is every one of us… consider that we're always at each other's throats – when we're frustrated… when we're stressed… – who's nearest… this is something that we all do to each other… and we have to help each other not do it…] – and we must guard against the temptation… and help each other stay focused…)

…that we know the attempt to destroy the group is happening… is a treasure beyond measure…

 

…it means that the objective of protecting the integrity of the 'core self' is key… and must be bought-into as clearly by those who participate as the goal of global human freedom itself…

 

…it means that the problem of intentional undermining of the group will have been discussed in advance… as well as ways to address it… and 'addressing it' is essentially a form of “outing 'power'”… as this tactic – sniping on the down-low – depends on staying hidden: i.e. depends on not being brought to the 'core self' to receive from its abundance… of love… attention… and the communal thought process which is always guided by 'heart'…

 

It's in this context of the group enduring over time that 'authenticity' as a political tactic becomes apparent… in which each participant recognizes that 'individual' emotional stabs are not surface… i.e. unimportant… but drive to 'the core'… and must be taken there… whatever it was that happened… to be soothed…

 

(…and to prevent this process from itself being manipulated… this possibility will have been discussed and the solution presented that the planning structure itself delimits this 'attention-to' process on a daily basis – as the 'three-phases' planning design structures our efforts to accomplish our goal… protects its forward momentum – while allowing it to be open-ended over time (into the future… such that it takes what it takes…)

 

Next week… and for some time to come… we'll be continuing this 'practical-politics' discussion.

 

–––

 

[Today’s reading: we continue the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

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* “WUR of July 5th, 2015 Reading… continuing the chapter "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

[“150705thebeautyandgoodnessofus.mp3”:]

 

“The more persevering and patient one's disposition in general, the more efficient it is in specific cases in overcoming an inclination or bad habit. Thus, all exercises that teach children self-control…” [This is a key objective of 'power'… that we be 'self-regulating… toward the realization of their vision… They know exactly what they want… and we have to catch up. But… once we start discussing it… I don't think it will take us long to come to agreement… We all want the same things: to have our lives back… to have time… to smell and breath with an earth that has not been messed with… to saturate ourselves in the beauty and goodness of us… We've been denied access to each other for far too long… – P.S.]…

Fortunate are those parents and teachers who have educated their children so wisely that their counsel is as forceful as a command, that they seldom have cause to mete out an actual punishment, and that even in these few cases such methods as withdrawing certain pleasant but dispensable things, banishing the children from one's presence, recounting their disobedience to persons whose approbation they desire, etc., are feared as the harshest punishment. Yet few parents are so fortunate. Most of them must occasionally resort to more severe measures. But if they want to instill genuine obedience in their children by so doing, both their miens and words during the chastisement must be serious but not cruel or hostile. [The falseness… the calculated monitoring of the effect of one's demeanor… the Machiavellian manipulativeness… – all of this… we can now see… with Alice's help… becomes the revenge the 'power'-bred-and-raised… unleash on we who have not been able to defend ourselves – because we didn't understand how or why it was happening. How defend ourselves except by not permitting this dynamic to remain hidden?… except by exposing such tactics by the contrast with our own? … – P.S.]

 

One should be composed and serious, announce the punishment, carry it out, and say nothing more until the act is completed and the little transgressor is once again ready to accept counsel and commands.…

 

If after the chastisement the pain lasts for a time, it is unnatural to forbid weeping and groaning at once. But if the chastised use these annoying sounds as a means of revenge, then the first step is to distract them by assigning little tasks or activities. If this does not help, it is permissible to forbid the weeping and to punish them if it persists, until it finally ceases after the new chastisement. [J. B. Basedow, Methodenbuch fur Vater und Mutter der Familien und Volker (Handbook for Fathers and Mothers of Families and Nations), 1773, quoted in Rutschky]

Crying as a natural reaction to pain is suppressed here by means of renewed beating. To suppress feelings, various techniques may be used:

Now let us see how exercises can aid in the complete suppression of affect. […So when we look around at ourselves and think how robotic we are… too often… we have to appreciate the degree to which the conscious intention of 'statesmen' has been behind the achievement of that effect… – P.S.] Those who know the strength of deep-seated habit also know that self-control and perseverance are required in order to break it. Affects can be regarded in the same category as deep-rooted habits. The more persevering and patient one's disposition in general, the more efficient it is in specific cases in overcoming an inclination or bad habit. Thus, all exercises that teach children self-control… [This is a key objective of 'power'… that we be 'self-regulating… toward the realization of their vision… They know exactly what they want… and we have to catch up. But… once we start discussing it… I don't think it will take us long to come to agreement… We all want the same things: to have our lives back… to have time… to smell and breath with an earth that has not been messed with… to saturate ourselves in the beauty and goodness of us… We've been denied access to each other for far too long… – P.S.]

 

[“150705ouraffectisourself.mp3”:]

 

“Now let us see how exercises can aid in the complete suppression of affect… Thus, all exercises that teach children self-control, that make them patient and persevering, aid in the suppression of inclinations.” [Doesn't that just make you want to cry? Children raised under this regime are not supposed to want anything… Our 'affect'… our feelings… is our 'self'… It's taken me a lifetime to recover my 'self'… the certainty that I have the right to the feelings that I feel… – P.S.]

 

…Thus, all exercises that teach children self-control, that make them patient and persevering, aid in the suppression of inclinations. [Doesn't that just make you want to cry? Children raised under this regime are not supposed to want anything… Our 'affect'… our feelings… is our 'self'… It's taken me a lifetime to recover my 'self'… the certainty that I have the right to the feelings that I feel… – P.S.] For this reason, all exercises of this sort deserve special attention in the education of children and are to be regarded as one of its most important elements even though they are almost universally ignored.

 

There are many such exercises and they can be presented in such a way that children gladly submit to them; you need only know the correct manner of approaching the children and choose a time when they are in a good humor. A example of such an exercise is keeping silent. Ask a child: Do you think you could remain silent for a few hours sometime, without saying a word? Make it pleasurable for him to make the attempt, until he eventually passes the test. Afterwords spare nothing in persuading him that it is an accomplishment to practice such self-control.

 

[End of July 5, 2015 show.]

 

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* “WUR of July 12, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

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“Going Out of My Head…” [Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66]

 

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[“150712standtogetheractivism.mp3”:]

 

…standing with our Brothers and Sisters across the false divisions is Number One in our activism… not just because there's a direct line between doing that and our free future… but because it's the right thing to do… it respects our inherent truth… the truth our bodies guide us to…

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 13)

 

July 6, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: Recently I wrote in my journal: Have I become less sensitive to the feelings that come from being forced to get up and 'go to work'? For someone who thinks about these issues almost exclusively… it took me a surprisingly long time to see that this was what was going on with my son one recent morning…

 

Force… coercion… dogs us… the theft of our lives makes us furious (although generally of that cause we are unconscious…) These are the real issues before us… ignored… uniformly… on the Left…

 

…but I also have to admit… it was rather disheartening for me… to see how easily we forget each other's dilemmas when we don't share them…

 

[Please consider in this regard the following excerpt from an earlier show which frames this question globally:

“A key argument of these discussions is that ‘power’ triumphs over us by disconnecting us from our earth-given knowledge – and boy does that happen early… in a 'class'-system… – I am deeply concerned about our earth-connected Brothers and Sisters… because there is a push – it feels like an acceleration… 'power' has been rushing rushing to annihilate earth-connected peoples [from Day One…] and it's only gained speed… every year it gets faster and faster… this huge maw going for our Brothers and Sisters who harbor within them the heart… the knowledge… we need… We here in the U.S. are being encouraged to not see as our Brothers and Sisters folks who are being slotted into that 'Hard Work' category… and then being massaged and wooed with the notion that… “well… we need certain sectors to do this… and other sectors to do that… and you guys [in the privileged regions of the world-economy…] are going to have to do the 'brain work' and you're needed…” and that's seductive because everybody [has the need… under 'class'…] to see themselves as 'smart'… – being asked to do the 'thinking' for the whole globe… for everybody: “Help us figure out this 'global warming' thing…” – and I'm very concerned that we might get suckered into it… We have to always remember: Number One for our activism… before even global warming… is getting our lives back… standing with our Brothers and Sisters.… We need those discussions.” [From the January 25, 2015 Waking Up Radio show.]

…standing with our Brothers and Sisters across the false divisions is Number One in our activism… not just because there's a direct line between doing that and our free future… but because it's the right thing to do… it respects our inherent truth… the truth our bodies guide us to…

 

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[“150712powerofavision.mp3”:]

 

All the 'official' issues we've been fed… on the Left… are designed to keep us going in circles… bootless… reproducing – turning over to the next generation – the same illusions… The real issues… critical for us to address in order to break free from 'the system' (in us – which ends 'the system') are never even discussed: that our true selves were stolen from us when we were too young to resist… crushed before they had a chance to grow… because the central issue is 'class'… not 'capitalism'… because 'work'… controlling human energy… is the key issue for us to address… and that all other issues are subsidiary to this… that 'hierarchy' serves none of us… that 'power' hides behind scenes… uses false folks to infiltrate and deconstruct (from within…) our movements… that it has hidden (including EMF…) weapons that it uses extra-legally against 'its' citizens… both arbitrarily… and against dissent (and also as part of its 'world-sculpting' process…

 

In a sense… the transition to freedom we are in… may be described like this: creating the 'abundance' (of soul-sufficiency) that we need to maintain our forward trajectory… pushing past any obstacles 'power' puts in our path… This is 'practical politics'… and… within that… coping with falseness in its myriad manifestations across 'class'…

 

Everything about the world of 'class' is false… and we are hungering for 'the real'…

 

…and we've been making the case… that the chief difficulty we've faced… is the absence of an accurate picture… the real issues to be thought-through by us all… to enable us to embrace what our bodies have wanted all along…

 

In every generation of 'class' there are those who… once their thought starts out down that path of the truth… arrive at the same conclusion: that there is a constructed political terrain on which 'power'… 'rule' encourages (or rather forces…) us to play (in recent times called the 'nation-state'…)

 

…and… there is the reality… that we are a single global humanity entitled to live our inherent freedom… a truth they will ever (while we remain unfree…) try to suppress… with every tool they possess. So there is a fundamental falseness at the core of a 'class' system… and each nation stages its particular version…

 

All the 'official' issues we've been fed… on the Left… are designed to keep us going in circles… bootless… reproducing – turning over to the next generation – the same illusions… The real issues… critical for us to address in order to break free from 'the system' (in us – which ends 'the system') are never even discussed: that our true selves were stolen from us when we were too young to resist… crushed before they had a chance to grow… because the central issue is 'class'… not 'capitalism'… because 'work'… controlling human energy… is the key issue for us to address… and that all other issues are subsidiary to this… that 'hierarchy' serves none of us… that 'power' hides behind scenes… uses false folks to infiltrate and deconstruct (from within…) our movements… that it has hidden (including EMF…) weapons that it uses extra-legally against 'its' citizens… both arbitrarily… and against dissent (and also as part of its 'world-sculpting' process [against people it considers 'redundant'… 'bad for business'… inconvenient… to use their deaths to threaten… whatever…]) that we are trained to be obedient… that we need to be with our children… and with each other… to prevent them… or us… from becoming servants of an ignoble project… that there is another way to organize ourselves… call it 'freedom'… call it 'decentralization'. (The only real [core] issue that the Left… on occasion… addresses is 'economic hardship'… but it's never framed real… and no authentic solution is ever offered.)

 

The following author begins his essay by… much as we have here… pointing out how 'power' maintains control over our huge numbers… despite themselves being a miniscule number… by ensuring that all social organizations are structured hierarchically. (Bentham explained this to 'power' exhaustively.) Then he tells this story:

[“150712cooperationisorganization.mp3”:]

 

[I like how he puts that: “the organization is how we cooperate…” and in a future show we're going to unpack that… I saw a good example of that when I was working as an electrician… – P.S.]

 

[I like how he puts that: “the organization is how we cooperate…” and in a future show we're going to unpack that… I saw a good example of that when I was working as an electrician… – P.S.]

 

[“150712decentralizationbyus.mp3”:]

 

“The principle of decentralism is that people are engaged in a function and the organization is how they cooperate. Authority is delegated away from the top as much as possible and there are many accommodating centers of policy-making and decision. Information is conveyed and discussed in face-to-face contacts between field and headquarters. Each person becomes increasingly aware of the whole operation and works at it in his own way according to his capacities. Groups arrange their own schedules. Historically, this system of voluntary association has yielded most of the values of civilization, but it is thought to be entirely unworkable under modern conditions and the very sound of it is strange.” ['Power' is rushing to claim this notion of 'decentralization' right now… now that it sees that it can't hold the notion back as the technology itself forwards it… is designed that way… it's designed to empower 'decentralization'… 'Decentralization' is what we're meant to have… and it has to be designed by us… freely… – P.S.]

 

The principle of decentralism is that people are engaged in a function and the organization is how they cooperate. Authority is delegated away from the top as much as possible and there are many accommodating centers of policy-making and decision. Information is conveyed and discussed in face-to-face contacts between field and headquarters. Each person becomes increasingly aware of the whole operation and works at it in his own way according to his capacities. Groups arrange their own schedules. Historically, this system of voluntary association has yielded most of the values of civilization, but it is thought to be entirely unworkable under modern conditions and the very sound of it is strange. ['Power' is rushing to claim this notion of 'decentralization' right now… now that it sees that it can't hold the notion back as the technology itself forwards it… is designed that way… it's designed to empower 'decentralization'… 'Decentralization' is what we're meant to have… and it has to be designed by us… freely… – P.S.]

 

[“150712electromagnet.mp3”:]

 

[I have to put this out there… as I may have to end this show early (forgive the repetition…) the electromagnetic field weapon being used against me currently is different from whatever they were using on me at first (which I assumed was ultra-low frequency radiowaves…) and because the assault is so continuous… I can't get my face 'unswollen'… it feels like being in an electromagnet… feels and looks like my face has been pulled askew… – P.S.]

 

[I have to put this out there… as I may have to end this show early (forgive the repetition…) the electromagnetic field weapon being used against me currently is different from whatever they were using on me at first (which I assumed was ultra-low frequency radiowaves…) and because the assault is so continuous… I can't get my face 'unswollen'… it feels like being in an electromagnet… feels and looks like my face has been pulled askew… I think we can safely say that we do not live in a 'democracy'… by whatever definition of it you prefer… – P.S.]

 

[“150712themagicandthemystery.mp3”:]

 

[…there is a lot of mystery in the world… I have learned in the course of my life… a lot of magic… that the mythic tales we are told are happening all around us and we just have to get on the path of the truth… start talking to each other… in order to compare notes to see the degree to which the magic and the mystery is all around us…

 

[The prescience bordering on mystery of the use of garlic to protect against the vampire: there is a lot of mystery in the world… I have learned in the course of my life… a lot of magic… that the mythic tales we are told are happening all around us and we just have to get on the path of the truth… start talking to each other… in order to compare notes to see the degree to which the magic and the mystery is all around us… – P.S.]

 

[“150712powersuppressestruth.mp3”:]

 

“Now if, lecturing at a college, I happen to mention that some function of society which is highly centralized could be much decentralized without loss of efficiency, or perhaps with a gain in efficiency, at once the students want to talk about nothing else. This insistence of theirs used to surprise me… From their tone, it is clear that in this subject something is at stake for their existence. They feel trapped in the present system of society that allows them so little say or initiative, and that indeed is like the schooling that they have been enduring for twelve to sixteen years…” This was written a half-century ago… and provides us with… among innumerable such… a really good illustration of the degree to which 'power' suppresses the obvious truth… the truth each generation gravitates to… it suggests 'power's control… by granting or withholding funds… of what gets disseminated…

 

Now if, lecturing at a college, I happen to mention that some function of society which is highly centralized could be much decentralized without loss of efficiency, or perhaps with a gain in efficiency, at once the students want to talk about nothing else. This insistence of theirs used to surprise me… From their tone, it is clear that in this subject something is at stake for their existence. They feel trapped in the present system of society that allows them so little say or initiative, and that indeed is like the schooling that they have been enduring for twelve to sixteen years.…

 

Naturally, at each college we go over much the same ground. The very sameness of the discussions is disheartening evidence that the centralist style exists as a mass-superstition, never before questioned in the students' minds. If I point to some commonplace defect of any centralized system, or one which leaps to the eye in the organization of their own college, I am regarded as a daring sage. No other method of organization was conceived as possible. (Paul Goodman, People or Personnel, 1963)

This was written a half-century ago… and provides us with… among innumerable such… a really good illustration of the degree to which 'power' suppresses the obvious truth… the truth each generation gravitates to… it suggests 'power's control… by granting or withholding funds… of what gets disseminated to us… while… to see its opposing vision become reality… it never stops… sculpting the world it wants.

 

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[“150712weneedeachother.mp3”:]

 

'Politics'… we-the-people are trained to believe… is not about us growing up… our souls expanding beyond the condition of being 'managed' by so-called 'betters' (an expansion to do which we need each other…) but is rather an 'activity'… like 'voter registration drives'… or 'protesting'…The problems that face us are big… and it's time we acknowledged that in the scope of our thinking-politically… Hierarchy serves none of us (commoners…) none of us like it and 'power' must pound us mightily to force us to accept it… but the questions never die… and not just… or simply… because the earth (in us) will ever rise…

 

'Politics'… we-the-people are trained to believe… is not about us growing up… our souls expanding beyond the condition of being 'managed' by so-called 'betters' (an expansion to do which we need each other…) but is rather an 'activity'… like 'voter registration drives'… or 'protesting'… something to do… like 'sports'… or going dancing… Challenging 'power's exclusive prerogative to rule over us… no longer comes up… we are 'the governed'… never encouraged to think… about what that word means – but that doesn't end the longing for freedom.

 

The problems that face us are big… and it's time we acknowledged that in the scope of our thinking-politically… instead of always being on the defensive… each 'issue' jealously guarding its crumbs…

 

Hierarchy serves none of us (commoners…) none of us like it and 'power' must pound us mightily to force us to accept it… but the questions never die… and not just… or simply… because the earth (in us) will ever rise…

 

We've been arguing… citing Bentham… that 'power' 'deputizes' the parent… authorizes… rather… compels… the parent to subject his or her children to its totalitarian regime…

 

…but that parent also harbored questions… which means she or he harbored dreams… suppressed but still pressing… as to why… they had to die.

 

The falseness of a 'class' system… the falseness all around us… is obvious… 'power' can't deny it… so it attempts to define it… as a problem of personal integrity… and… in the absence of a challenge from us… which it forestalls by controlling the media… too many of us tend to agree.

 

To realize the truth of our inherent abundance – our certainty of which 'power' steals from us (because 'power' knows that for us to see our abundance dispels our fear… in its multiple manifestations…) – requires a different form of organization from us: a self-organization… entirely free of coercion…

 

…and in violently suppressing this alternative… 'power' ensures that everything about our lives is dominated by 'lack of options'…

 

As children we inherit our parents' fears… but we also inherit their longing to be free… – it resides latently in us all… by virtue of being alive… waiting… to be revived.

 

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[“150712counterrevolution.mp3”:]

 

“More specifically, the neo-liberal counterrevolution did not just result in the destruction of the illusions of the older family of antisystemic movements as we pointed out. [And by 'neo-liberal' he's referring to the ultra-Right… but I think we can substitute 'the power-guys'… the 'global-state-statesmen'… and this counter-revolution is on-going… – P.S.] As we do not seem to have realized, it had also a profoundly corrupting and divisive impact on the 1968 family of antisystemic movements…”

 

It is our atomization – most fundamentally… disguised as lack of empathy – that has held us from our future.

 

Towards the end of Antisystemic Movements… our Good Three listed some challenges to global-'power's continued 'rule… among which was a growing and spreading 'anti-authoritarianism' globally: the refusal of targeted groups to accept degraded status…

 

…but two decades or so later… one of them… Giovanni Arrighi… had this to say about that:

[“150712truthtellers.mp3”:]

 

…getting out what they got out… even though it could not get out on a scale broad enough to reach we who need to be discussing it took courage… And given what I now know about what they do to folks who tell the truth… I cannot help but wonder… as I said before: any death of a powerful person (and I mean inherently… self-created… powerful… not system-identified-'powerful'…) any death of a powerful person is suspect… and Terry Hopkins died too young… and I suspect Giovanni Arrighi did too…

 

[I was about to say that our Good Three underestimated 'hidden-power'… did not fully credit this 'world elite' they talked about… those ten thousand guys… but to say that trivializes the courage they displayed in getting out what they got out… even though it could not get out on a scale broad enough to reach we who need to be discussing it. It took courage… I have no doubt. And given what I now know about what they do to folks who tell the truth… I cannot help but wonder… as I said before: any death of a powerful person (and I mean inherently… self-created… powerful… not system-identified-'powerful'…) any death of a powerful person is suspect… and Terry Hopkins died too young… and I suspect Giovanni Arrighi did too… It is time for us to make this a safer thing to do: telling the truth… and to start saying and writing down that we want to be free as a global humanity… and that the way we achieve it is through the strategy of organizing on-going and continuously-building global General Strikes… a wave that overwhelms the existing global class-system… as we see the truth of it… as our bodies move toward it… we shift the discussion… and that can happen very fast… given the present technology… – P.S.]

 

More specifically, the neo-liberal counterrevolution did not just result in the destruction of the illusions of the older family of antisystemic movements as we pointed out. [And by 'neo-liberal' he's referring to the ultra-Right… but I think we can substitute 'the power-guys'… the 'global-state-statesmen'… and this counter-revolution is on-going… – P.S.] As we do not seem to have realized, it had also a profoundly corrupting and divisive impact on the 1968 family of antisystemic movements. In the North in general and in the US in particular, the corruption of antisystemic forces has primarily taken the form of an acritical acceptance of the benefits of financial expansion and of the conversion of dominant groups to the anti-authoritarian and anti-statist thrust of 1968. In the South, it has taken the form of an equally acritical acceptance of the neo-liberal or some other religious creed as a prop or a substitute for the discredited ideology and practice of national emancipation. In themselves these trajectories of corruption have divided and increasingly alienated from one another antisystemic forces within the South and between North and South. But underlying the division and mutual alienation of antisystemic forces was the success of the neo-liberal counterrevolution in shifting competitive pressures from North to South. Corruption and divisions have not prevented antisystemic forces from resisting with some success further advances of the counterrevolution--from Seattle, through the formation and consolidation of the Social Forum, to the anti-war movement of 2003. But it remains unclear whether this resistance can produce an agency capable of promoting change in the direction of a more egalitarian and democratic world (see Silver and Arrighi 2001).

 

[“150712hiddenpowerfactor.mp3”:]

 

…creating the totalitarian system that Plato did not believe could ever happen… a 'problem' his devoted followers solved a couple millennia later… with the creation of the global economy… which… we're supposed to believe… matters more than our own physical bodies… we're supposed to defend that before ourselves… and that massive con has held us in check for too long… This is what Giovanni Arrighi means by saying that 'power' conned the Left into an “acritical acceptance of the benefits of financial expansion…” the notion that 'financial expansion' was going to solve all the problems of inequality (and I shouldn't say 'the Left' because the full Left never has a chance to speak… all we hear of what 'the Left' thinks is what has been cherry-picked and put over the airwaves… and in the media generally… so getting authentic / suppressed discussions going is something that we're going to have to do… We have to use the means we have… and then hopefully… down the road… we'll get the means we need…)

 

There is a close resemblance between the “repression-accommodation” process through which successive hegemonic powers have increased the social inclusiveness of the world capitalist system […i.e. creating the totalitarian system that Plato did not believe could ever happen… a 'problem' his devoted followers solved a couple millennia later… with the creation of the global economy… which… we're supposed to believe… matters more than our own physical bodies… we're supposed to defend that before ourselves… and that massive con has held us in check for too long… This is what Giovanni Arrighi means by saying that 'power' conned the Left into an “acritical acceptance of the benefits of financial expansion…” the notion that 'financial expansion' was going to solve all the problems of inequality (and I shouldn't say 'the Left' because the full Left never has a chance to speak… all we hear of what 'the Left' thinks is what has been cherry-picked and put over the airwaves… and in the media generally… so getting authentic / suppressed discussions going is something that we're going to have to do… We have to use the means we have… and then hopefully… down the road… we'll get the means we need…) – P.S.] and the “restoration-revolution” process that characterizes Gramsci’s passive revolutions.… A proliferating literature on the crisis of national states and the formation of a transnational capitalist class and world proletariat implicitly or explicitly rules out both the need and the possibility of such a function. Some advocate the formation of a purely class-based “world party”… These assessments of the present and future of antisystemic forces, like some of our own assessments in Antisystemic Movements, miss the significance of the US-led neo-liberal counterrevolution of the 1980's and 1990's in reflating US world power through an accommodation of the anti-authoritarian and anti-statist aspirations of 1968 and a simultaneous repression of its egalitarian aspirations. The result of this new passive revolution has been a general crisis of dictatorships and a sharp increase in between-state and within-state inequality… The outcome largely depends on the kind of social conflicts that will emerge out of the growing inequality within countries and on the kind of regional order/disorder that will emerge out of these conflicts. Whatever the outcome, however, it is hard to believe that states will not actively intervene in the struggles not just in support of particular social groups but also as their substitutes, thereby exercising some kind of Piedmontese function […a leadership role in the reorganization… – P.S.] “The key problem for putative antisystemic movements in the 1990's is the search for a new or renewed ideology, that is, a set of strategies that offers some reasonable prospect for fundamental social transformation.” (Arrighi et al 1992: 239) [From Giovanni Arrighi’s “Hegemony and Antisystemic Movements” (2003)]

[“150712trackingagencies.mp3”:]

 

[It is the 'hierarchical organization' that is the problem… control the top-spot and you then have the whole organization under your thumb… – so… for instance… in noticing the clear and unmistakable use of the vehicles of certain public and private agencies in the tracking of my location… I'm assuming they got the top-spot covered… – P.S.]

 

[It is the 'hierarchical organization' that is the problem… control the top-spot and you then have the whole organization under your thumb… – so… for instance… in noticing the clear and unmistakable use of the vehicles of certain public and private agencies in the tracking of my location… I'm assuming they got the top-spot covered… – P.S.]

 

[July 12, 2015 show ends here.]

 

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* “WUR of July 19, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

 

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[“150719arewehappy.mp3”:]

 

Are we happy… when we can't use our gifts as we see fit (we who harbor them and are the only ones who can determine their proper direction​…) to help our Brothers and Sisters?… The state exists to command our energy… in order to create and maintain conditions of artificial scarcity… so to fulfill its aims for the further aggrandizement of its 'power'… it therefore must prevent our self-organizing… our organizing ourselves authentically… as this would manifest the abundance that we are. Do these petty… ignoble… unjustifiable… restraints on our ability to grow our gifts make us happy?

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 14)

 

July 14, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: There is not in this country (nor has there been in any other under 'class'…) 'democracy'. From its inception… decision-making for the aggregate – 'the people' as a collective – has been delegated to a narrow few. From its inception… there has been targeted repression… suppression of designated 'outsider' groups… And from its inception… there has been a saturation… a through-and-through… falseness defining it… a falseness nowhere more pronounced… than in the consciousness of its chief architects: those who wrote… protected… and carried forward its 'law'.

 

To the degree that the words of these 'Founders' have any import to we who were made subjects… subject to those who have seized the contested remains –

 

…that is to say… to the degree we too labor in their misconceptions – they apply to a people poised for flight… who must gather themselves – using them – as a clarion call to communion.

 

Are we happy… when we can't use our gifts as we see fit (we who harbor them and are the only ones who can determine their proper direction​…) to help our Brothers and Sisters?

 

Are we happy… to feel helpless in the face of so much unnecessary hardship… all around us… and globally?

 

The state exists to command our energy… in order to create and maintain conditions of artificial scarcity… so to fulfill its aims for the further aggrandizement of its 'power'… it therefore must prevent our self-organizing… our organizing ourselves authentically… as this would manifest the abundance that we are. Do these petty… ignoble… unjustifiable… restraints on our ability to grow our gifts make us happy?

 

 

[“150719aglobalchallenge.mp3”:]

 

“All countries which have long continued progressive, or been durably great, have been so because there has been an organized opposition to the ruling power, of whatever kind that power was… [and 'organized resistance' when 'power' is global… must be global to be meaningful… this is our Good Three's point… – P.S.]” I particularly want to challenge those on the Left to accept the reality of the situation. There is no other way… but to accept this as a global challenge.

 

John Stuart Mill puts it like this (within… necessarily – given his submersion within it – a 'class' framework…):

There must, we know, be some paramount power in society; and that the majority should be that power, is, on the whole, right, not as being just in itself, but as being less unjust than any other footing on which the matter can be placed. But it is necessary that the institutions of society should make provision for keeping up, in some form or other, as a corrective to partial views, and a shelter for freedom of thought and individuality of character, a perpetual and standing opposition to the will of the majority. [I would add… particularly when that 'will' has been… per the counsel of Mill's teacher… Bentham… been constructed by the few… by means of 'traditional' 'Western' child-rearing… – P.S.] All countries which have long continued progressive, or been durably great, have been so because there has been an organized opposition to the ruling power, of whatever kind that power was [and 'organized resistance' when 'power' is global… must be global to be meaningful… this is our Good Three's point… – P.S.], – plebeians to patricians, clergy to kings, free-thinkers to clergy [so we see Mr. Mill has been paying attention… this is what 'power' does across the millennia… it strives to eliminate all opposition… – P.S.], kings to barons, commons to king and aristocracy. Almost all the greatest men who ever lived have formed part of such an opposition. Wherever some such quarrel has not been going on; wherever it has been terminated by the complete victory of one of the contending principles, and no new contest has taken the place of the old, – society has either hardened into… stationariness, or fallen into dissolution. A centre of resistance, round which all the moral and social elements which the ruling power views with disfavor may cluster themselves, and behind whose bulwarks they may find shelter from the attempts of that power to hunt them out of existence, is as necessary where the opinion of the majority is sovereign, as where the ruling power is a hierarchy or an aristocracy. Where no such point d'appui exists, there the human race will inevitably degenerate… (John Stuart Mill, Essay on Bentham)

I particularly want to challenge those on the Left to accept the reality of the situation. There is no other way… but to accept this as a global challenge.

 

[“150719issueofwork.mp3”:]

 

We will be returning to this question of a coerced-work-system in this time of increasing disparity globally… the 'power'-guys cannot provide the jobs in sufficient numbers… and so they have to reframe this question of 'work' themselves… or be overwhelmed by 'the obvious'… which are the discussions we put out here… So they're very desperate to reclaim the initiative on the issue of 'work'… and… with that… the notion of 'decentralization'… and 'saving the planet' – all of this they want to massage into an integrated whole which leaves some need for them… when the reality is: there is no need for them. The need is for us to be unleashed so we can use our gifts freely – that's the need.

 

A global 'class' system is by definition totalitarian – in being self-reflective… and as it is from the entire globe that it seeks to eliminate all opposition… Within its categories of thought… our bodies' truth doesn't exist… and so we cannot ask the tough questions – the needed ones that come (though we are generally unconscious of them…) when our bodies clash with 'the system' – they cannot rise to the level of our awareness.

 

Yet… this moment of transition we are in… is altogether fresh… a moment when original questions rise from that bed of suppression.

(We will be returning to this question of a coerced-work-system in this time of increasing disparity between that .0001% and everyone else… because… globally… the 'power'-guys cannot provide the jobs in sufficient numbers… and so they have to reframe this question of 'work' themselves… or be overwhelmed by 'the obvious'… which are the discussions we put out here… So they're very desperate to reclaim the initiative on the issue of 'work'… and… with that… the notion of 'decentralization'… and 'saving the planet' – all of this they want to massage into an integrated whole which leaves some need for them… when the reality is: there is no need for them. The need is for us to be unleashed so we can use our gifts freely – that's the need.)

[“150719afreshmoment.mp3”:]

 

…this moment of transition we are in… is altogether fresh… a moment when original questions rise from that bed of suppression… As we explore the suddenly emerging possibilities… with each others help… globally… using the technology to develop each other's thought more quickly… we are finally overcoming the millennia of conditioning…

 

Yet… this moment of transition we are in… is altogether fresh… a moment when original questions rise from that bed of suppression.

 

As we explore the suddenly emerging possibilities… with each others help… globally… using the technology to develop each other's thought more quickly… we are finally overcoming the millennia of conditioning – that has… indeed… come to occupy our heads like superstition – that told us to ignore our original questions and think only the thoughts that the state (in any of its myriad manifestations…) tells us to.

 

[“150719newmentalframes.mp3”:]

 

…that the question as to the state's 'utility' for achieving our freedom (as defined by us… not by 'power'… which will say it means 'safety' from the violence it creates…) was made unthinkable… evidences the complete suppression of all opposition… evidences that we have arrived at that state of degeneration (and to force fixed rigid constraints on our humanness is degeneration…) that Mill is here warning about…

 

So… in Paul Goodman's language… 'the state' exists as a 'mass-superstition'… a centralization… suppression… and harnessing of human energy that dovetails perfectly (and of course intentionally so – by design…) with the mental frames of totalitarian ('Western') childrearing…

 

…that the question as to the state's 'utility' for achieving our freedom (as defined by us… not by 'power'… which will say it means 'safety' from the violence it creates…) was made unthinkable… evidences the complete suppression of all opposition… evidences that we have arrived at that state of degeneration (and to force fixed rigid constraints on our humanness is degeneration…) that Mill is here warning about.

 

We need to pursue our gifts… the pursuit of which… is ground zero for reverence… for 'reorganization'… for 'decentralization'… for leaving behind the 'class' mindset…

 

…and for working / sharing with our Brothers and Sisters…

 

For to work with our Sisters… and Brothers… we must have something to offer: our 'selves' to share… to mutually inspire… and model the future we are bringing into being.

 

It is a process… no doubt: to be… to bring… and to become… all happening at once – that's the excitement of it… of this moment… of listening again… to life.

 

It means the state will never again claim our allegiance… for we cannot honor life and 'it'…

 

…and our primary responsibility as life must ever be to life.

 

In this engagement with each other we are crafting new mental frames to replace the totalitarian mindset we have all been indoctrinated with… it is a process… in a sense… of self-birth… and this process is the pursuit of happiness… i.e. the pursuit of 'the true'… that which stands up to… conditioned falseness…

 

–––

 

[“150719myriadwaves.mp3”:]

 

Arrighi is right to bring again to our attention Gramsci's concept of the 'passive revolution'… We've said that the role of the state is to create scarcity in order to force us to work… This point was also made in a recent show in reference to Gramsci's 'passive revolution'… that unfolds and engulfs in “myriad waves concurrent…” The two points together suggest… that a 'state' cannot play that leadership role expressed by the words 'Piedmontese function' in our freedom-wave… not if we are to grow up as a global people…: It – that which springs to action – is only 'antisystemic'… when antisystemic by conscious intent… eschews all particularisms… is antisystemic in depth… is the result of 'inner' development… and sees long… within both inner and outer histories.…the 'passive revolution' concept is useful because that is how our thought develops… in “myriad waves concurrent…” once we bring ourselves into contiguous relation… side by side… in thought and action……

 

But what should our lives be… rather than this harried… hurried… hustled… and harassed… chronic and increasing diminution of our possibilities… that we are coerced into accepting as our daily gruel… by the continuous suppression of this very alternative we ever strive to make?

 

We're going to be fleshing this out over the coming weeks… in exploring our concept of 'voice'.

 

Focusing on 'voice' is strategic in many senses… not least of which being… it's the best reply to 'power's belief that it eliminates dissent 'surgically'… by concentrating on those who speak… who've seen through the illusion of 'rule'… and use their recovered true selves to raise a call of resistance to their Brothers and Sisters. We have to multiply the numbers of people who… from within the shelter of… and energized by… their 'core selves' (the group)… are doing this.

 

–––

 

What is 'anti-authoritarian' is a complicated… or rather deep… question which… now that we're reading Alice… we can see is the same question as (one which Giovanni Arrighi also asks in his follow-up article…): “what is 'antisystemic'?” The answer argued in these pages is not only that as we reframe / reclaim our 'inner'… the 'outer' manifestation shifts… but also that Arrighi is right to bring again to our attention Gramsci's concept of the 'passive revolution'… We've said that the role of the state is to create scarcity in order to force us to work…

(…this is exactly what Bentham said… – Sad to say… there is a good illustration of this being done currently to the Chinese people… in a cynical state-sponsored-copying of the 'lure-to-take-on-debt-so-to-impose-austerity / privatization / discipline' scam that we've all had imposed on us globally… But the global-state-statesmen don't want to rely on the 'debt-mechanism'… 'money-lever'… alone. This is why they're so obsessed with 'weather-control'… They've seen… most notably in Cuba… that if a people can feed itself… it can escape the Debt-Slavery-Motel called the 'Global Economy'… So… I'm sure their reasoning goes… to really achieve a global control… you have to keep exclusive hold… on the keys… to the Pantry… So you buy up arable land in Africa… Central and South America… reduce numbers in the Middle East'… eliminate the powerful earth-connected… ensure the beat-down remainder are thoroughly quiescent… buy off the more privileged with nice-sounding rhetoric and cool toys…)

…This point was also made in a recent show in reference to Gramsci's 'passive revolution'… that unfolds and engulfs in “myriad waves concurrent…” The two points together suggest… that a 'state' cannot play that leadership role expressed by the words 'Piedmontese function' in our freedom-wave… not if we are to grow up as a global people…: It – that which springs to action – is only 'antisystemic'… when antisystemic by conscious intent… eschews all particularisms… is antisystemic in depth… is the result of 'inner' development… and sees long… within both inner and outer histories.

“In the last show when we read together Antisystemic Movements (the February 22, 2015 show) our Good Three helped us see… essentially… that the ‘debtor – creditor’ relation exists to discipline ‘labor’ (that would be you and me…) – on whatever ‘level’ of collective grouping we imagine… or individually… our skins are scored… cut… by this weapon (because when we consider it… we are… all of us… at every moment… 'in debt' to the state – that is structurally ensured…) and that the ‘role’ of the ‘debtor state’ is to so degrade the conditions of life for ‘its’ people… as to make us ‘willing’ to serve as ‘cheap’… and certainly as ‘willing’ ‘labor’… such that the ‘creatives’ in the ‘creditor-states’ can play their ‘role’ of providing the ‘knowledge’-products that strengthen the hand… increase the ‘power’… of Plato’s Tribesmen… They said… but I find I'm thinking something so I'll go ahead and say it: it is impossible to predict how that 'wave' which Gramsci is encouraging us to think about… how it starts to build… or where it starts to build… But perhaps it's with that word 'composition'… and beginning to meld our music together… in some way we haven't yet seen a way to…” (From the March 22, 2015 Waking Up Radio show.)]

…the 'passive revolution' concept is useful because that is how our thought develops… in “myriad waves concurrent…” once we bring ourselves into contiguous relation… side by side… in thought and action…

How will you know the pitch of that great bell

Too large for you to stir? Let but a flute

Play ’neath the fine-mixed metal: listen close

Till the right note flows forth, a silvery rill:

Then shall the huge bell tremble – then the mass

With myriad waves concurrent shall respond

In low soft unison.

(George Eliot)

…It may very well be… that our right as a people to be happy… may be the right note.

 

–––

 

[“150719totalitarianintent.mp3”:]

 

But… the present moment… with Plato's Tribesmen sneaking in behind official political ideologies… globally… trying to hide their totalitarian intent… allows us to see into this metaphor more darkly… see a more sinister aspect (seeing from their perspective…) “How do you know what's going on with 'the people'?” The French Revolution and its aftermath took the 'power'-aligned completely by surprise… They never wanted to find themselves in that position again… …which is the point… I think… of this massive surveillance structure being set up globally: to have every move we make tracked electronically… every thought we think 'power'-sanctioned and guided… How clear are we-the-people that that's the point of it? Why are we not discussing it?

 

But… the present moment… with Plato's Tribesmen sneaking in behind official political ideologies… globally… trying to hide their totalitarian intent… allows us to see into this metaphor more darkly… see a more sinister aspect (seeing from their perspective…)

 

“How do you know what's going on with 'the people'?” The French Revolution and its aftermath took the 'power'-aligned completely by surprise… They never wanted to find themselves in that position again…

 

…which is the point… I think… of this massive surveillance structure being set up globally: to have every move we make tracked electronically… every thought we think 'power'-sanctioned and guided…

 

So… can they? How clear are we-the-people that that's the point of it? Why are we not discussing it?

 

–––

 

[“150719itsaclasssystem.mp3”:]

 

“Blogs can disrupt society, business, and government activities [well… I would certainly like to disrupt the activities of this government to target this blogger with its weapons… I just had a new one unleashed on me at 4:30 this morning… a large… low-flying drone that roared across the sky when I was outside leaving seeds for the birds… after which the swelling in my head and chest took an hour to somewhat clear… – P.S.] [can] propagate anarchist messages… The question of oversight-free authorship remains the prevailing concern… Governments must combat bloggers engaging in deliberately radicalizing rhetoric… The assumptions of this piece are really interesting – its tacit acknowledgement of what our Good Three said: that the interstate system – and the men who run it – is where the authentic decision-making happens… its tacit admission both that 'the system' is global'… and by implication and definition… totalitarian… …a single… uniform… global… system of class… it's a class system… let's please stop saying 'capitalism'…

 

Recent shows have also reached the conclusion that breaking through the paralysis of action in which we here in the U.S. are stuck involves several things all happening at once: jump-starting our thought process… facing early questions and fears… finding one's true 'self' / authentic voice… addressing the 'reproduction' issue – the fact that hidden-'power' must reproduce itself…

 

…the several aspects of which – this need of 'power' to reproduce itself – we can now see in much greater depth… with Alice Miller's lens: that when totalitarian child-rearing suppresses the development of our authentic 'self'… we come to adopt the 'will' of Authority as our own…

 

…this is one aspect… the beginning and basis of the next: 'power's ongoing assault on the development of our thought… the development of which is the key to our recovery of our authentic… our true… personalities…

 

…But simultaneously it also must… quite literally… physically… reproduce itself as a megalomaniacal bunch of Plato's Tribesmen.

 

On the second assault-front… preventing the development of our thought… I recently read this… a recommendation to governments… on the 'necessary' suppression of blogs that could 'unsettle' 'society'… i.e. 'the people':

Blogs… represent a tremendous capacity for the masses to disseminate information, encouraging public participation and interest in politics and opinions which in many countries can be openly expressed without censorship, barriers, or editorial boards.… Without oversight and checks, blogs can serve morally dubious intentions by those who aim to spread propaganda, radicalize readers or exacerbate antagonisms… Blogs can disrupt society, business, and government activities [well… I would certainly like to disrupt the activities of this government to target this blogger with its weapons… I just had a new one unleashed on me at 4:30 this morning… a large… low-flying drone that roared across the sky when I was outside leaving seeds for the birds… after which the swelling in my head and chest took an hour to somewhat clear… – P.S.] [can] propagate anarchist messages… The question of oversight-free authorship remains the prevailing concern… Governments must combat bloggers engaging in deliberately radicalizing rhetoric, employing hate-speech, or engaging in criminal activity… (Nayef Al-Rodhan, “Free-Wheeling Web Commentary Challenges Media's Traditional Power”, YaleGlobalOnline, in Epoch Times, May 14 – 20, 2015)

The assumptions of this piece are really interesting – its tacit acknowledgement of what our Good Three said: that the interstate system – and the men who run it – is where the authentic decision-making happens… its tacit admission both that 'the system' is global'… and by implication and definition… totalitarian…

 

…which means… for us… that… our theatre of action must be the world… must mean developing strategies (like the ongoing… rolling and escalating Global General Strike…) that unify us globally… as… legal systems of particular states – e.g. “freedom of speech”… or “the right of the people to pursue happiness”… are… by implication… irrelevant… to the statesmen.

 

All of this 'busy-planning-our-future' and 'guiding governments' is happening without the slightest response from us… without our having a shred of discussion about it…

 

In the July 13, 2014 Waking Up Radio show we discussed the 'Minerva Project'… Here's an excerpt from that show:

“…the “Pentagon-funded social science research programme partnering with universities up and down the United States (and around the world…) sponsoring academic research to track…” but also… I would argue (recalling our Bentham…) to get social scientists to develop the rationale (i.e. the language… – because they’ve got the law in place… right?… but they need the logic…) it’s for the propaganda campaign to justify… clamping down… as on its face it makes no sense: “why would you say someone for ‘peace and non-violence’ is a ‘terrorist’?”…) to develop the rationale for designating all political dissent as ‘terrorism’… in potential. So they are roping in social science (an old… time-tested tactic of ‘power’…) to… as Bentham schooled them… “claim the lexicon”… develop the language that would allow them to do what they want. “‘Scientists’-in-service-to-the-state”: putting their brains at the disposal of a totalitarian system… what other system would require them to do that? – ‘criminal doctors’ Miklos termed them… calling them the most dangerous agents of the state… are we beginning to see his point? No greater threat than ‘scientists’ with brains and hearts for sale.” [From the July 13, 2014 Waking Up Radio show.]

…and what is to my mind even scarier… given what we now see about 'power's need to reproduce itself cross-generationally… is the NSA crawling all over our children: “National Security Agency funds summer camp at UC Berkeley”: “…to teach high school students about cybersecurity… The camp, called CYBEAR, is part of a system of 43 camps funded by the NSA and the National Science Foundation to fill the 'very large' shortage of about 1 million cyber security workers in both government and industry…” (The Daily Californian, July 9, 2015)

 

…a single… uniform… global… system of class… it's a class system… let's please stop saying 'capitalism'…

 

[“150719govtgonerogue.mp3”:]

 

When a government says that it cannot… for the sake of 'its' preservation… reveal whether (identifying the specific means…) whether it has the means to kill or injure its citizens secretly… silently… invisibly… without there being any way for media or victims to expose this action… there can be no doubt it has become “destructive of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” and it is our right to alter or abolish it… When it comes to 'the state's ability to destroy us in secret… undetected… it cannot claim a 'national security' exemption: our “life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness” takes precedence.

 

…because there is no reasonable rationale for claiming that the dissemination of “anarchist messages” is a 'terrorist' threat. In fact… the City of Berkeley is helping a bookstore stock-full of such messages (Revolution Books) relocate itself in a complex owned by the City adjacent to the UC-campus so that it could “have a more visible presence from the street…” (The Daily Californian, June 25, 2015) No… there is no available legal framework or 'logic' for the state to silence dissent… the state will have to rely on all those weapons it keeps secret.

 

And so… we see the implications: the closet-fascism eagerly waiting to make an open appearance… an opportune moment to begin to mobilize us… but we-the-people have not been adequately prepared yet… prepared to forget whatever meager (and routinely ignored by governments…) civil liberties we thought we possessed… prepared to turn against whoever the 'legitimate media' targets as threat… prepared to forget our humanness.

 

When a government says that it cannot… for the sake of 'its' preservation… reveal whether (identifying the specific means…) whether it has the means to kill or injure its citizens secretly… silently… invisibly… without there being any way for media or victims to expose this action… there can be no doubt it has become “destructive of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” and it is our right to alter or abolish it. So… how many people have they tortured? How many of our brightest stars – in Gorky's sense – have they robbed us of? Was Bruce Lee tortured? Bob? Ntozake? Nina? The capability exists… which means they are doing it. A consultation please… someone out there… is needed… I believe… with the American Civil Liberties Union as to this question (as they are on me like white on rice… and this is not a matter of 'proof'… but rather 'protection' from government-gone-rogue…)

 

When it comes to 'the state's ability to destroy us in secret… undetected… it cannot claim a 'national security' exemption: our “life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness” takes precedence.

 

–––

 

[Today’s reading: we continue the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

–––

* “WUR of July 19th, 2015 Reading… continuing the chapter "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

 

[“150719silencingthechild.mp3”:]

 

“…such exercises… can be presented in such a way that children gladly submit to them; you need only know the correct manner of approaching the children and choose a time when they are in a good humor. A example of such an exercise is keeping silent. Ask a child: Do you think you could remain silent for a few hours sometime, without saying a word? Make it pleasurable for him to make the attempt, until he eventually passes the test… Children especially love the pleasures of the senses. One must occasionally test whether they can control themselves in this regard. Give them fine fruits and when they reach for them, put them to the test. Could you make someone a present of it? “Now let us test whether you can stop prattling. I shall see how many times you speak today without thinking first.” Then one pays careful heed to everything he says, and when he prattles, one makes clear that he is in error and makes note of how many times this has happened in one day…” [The results of this struggle against strong emotions are so disastrous because the suppression begins in infancy, i.e, before the child's self has had a chance to develop… – A.M.]

 

…Thus, all exercises that teach children self-control, that make them patient and persevering, aid in the suppression of inclinations. For this reason, all exercises of this sort deserve special attention in the education of children and are to be regarded as one of its most important elements even though they are almost universally ignored.

 

There are many such exercises and they can be presented in such a way that children gladly submit to them; you need only know the correct manner of approaching the children and choose a time when they are in a good humor. A example of such an exercise is keeping silent. Ask a child: Do you think you could remain silent for a few hours sometime, without saying a word? Make it pleasurable for him to make the attempt, until he eventually passes the test. Afterwords spare nothing in persuading him that it is an accomplishment to practice such self-control. Repeat the exercise, making it more difficult each time, partly by lengthening the period of silence, partly by giving him cause to speak or by depriving him of something. Continue these exercises until you see that the child has attained a degree of skill therein. Then entrust him with secrets and see if he can be silent even then. If he reaches the point of being able to restrain his tongue, then he is also capable of other things, and the honor attained thereby will encourage him to undertake other tests. One such test is to go without certain things one loves. Children especially love the pleasures of the senses. One must occasionally test whether they can control themselves in this regard. Give them fine fruits and when they reach for them, put them to the test. Could you make someone a present of it? Proceed as I have just instructed in connection with keeping silent. Children love movement. They do not like to keep still. Train them here as well to learn self-control. Also put their bodies to the test insofar as their health permits: let them go hungry and thirsty, bear heat and cold, perform difficult labors, but see that this occurs with their acquiescence, force must not be applied or these exercises will lose their efficacy. I promise you that they will give children brave, persevering, and patient dispositions that will later be all the more efficient in suppressing evil inclinations. Let us take the case of a child who prattles, very often talking for no reason at all. This habit can be broken by the following exercise. After you have thoroughly explained his misbehavior to the child, say: “Now let us test whether you can stop prattling. I shall see how many times you speak today without thinking first.” Then one pays careful heed to everything he says, and when he prattles, one makes clear that he is in error and makes note of how many times this has happened in one day. The following day, say to him: “Yesterday you prattled so and so many times. Now let us see how many times you will be in error today.” And one continues in this manner. If the child still has any sense of honor and good instincts, he will be sure to forsake his error little by little in this way.

 

Along with these general exercises, one must also undertake special ones that are directly aimed at restraining affect, but these must not be tried until the above mentioned methods have first been used. A single example can stand for all the rest, because I must pull in my sails a little in order not to go on at too great length. Let us assume a child is vindictive and your methods have brought him to the point of being inclined to suppress this passion. After he has promised to do so, put him to the test in the following manner: tell him you intend to put his perseverance in controlling this passion to the test; admonish him to be on his guard and to be watchful for the first attacks of the enemy. Then secretly order someone to give the child an undeserved reproof when he is not expecting it so that you can see how he will behave. If he succeeds in self-control then you must praise his accomplishment and cause him to perceive as much as possible the satisfaction proceeding from self-control. Later, one must repeat the same test. If he cannot pass it, one must punish him lovingly and admonish him to behave better another time. One need not be severe with him. Where there are many children, one must hold up as examples to the others those who have done well in the test.

 

One must help the children as much as possible with these tests. One must teach them how to be on their guard. One must make them take as much pleasure as possible in the process so that they are not intimidated by the difficulties. For it should be mentioned that if the children do not take pleasure in these tests, all will be in vain. So much for the exercises. [Sulzer, quoted in Rutschky]

The results of this struggle against strong emotions are so disastrous because the suppression begins in infancy, i.e, before the child's self has had a chance to develop.

 

[July 19, 2015 show ends here.]

 

–––

 

* “WUR of July 26, 2015… “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’” (Part 3.5): Segue From Antisystemic Movements… To Alice

 

–––

å

[“150726.mp3”:]

 

Today’s show: “Establishing a 'safe' place to plan and express our love: places for the cultivation of soul-sufficiency… which necessarily means: helping each other get 'big' – the process of reclaiming… sharing… and expanding our original 'selves'…” (Part 15)

 

July 20, 2015… Sisters and Brothers: We have to tie the two notions together: 'the abundant self' (manifested in 'voice'…) and 'the pursuit of happiness as a people'…

 

The way in… is through passion… and longing… We long to have what happened explained: What happened to us… to that original person who got hammered flat and stuck into boxes that were pre-determined… Where did we go? We long to know… What price was paid… for what?… and why? And can we say 'no'? Can we refuse a deal unspoken… but forced upon us with every institution of a coerced-work-system… its constructed world that is self-reflective… The upshot of this is… we grew silent. – That's the world they want for us… that's the world they plan: Silence. (And in what they do to us is writ… a deep history of abandonment…)

 

–––

 

We've said that their – Plato's Tribe's – treatment of us is an unerring guide to what happened to them… when they were infants: cruelty was paraded as benevolence (and insecurity rules when the child cannot distinguish the false from the true…) their bodies were put at the disposal of the heartless… duplicitousness infused every part of this… disconnection from their bodies was structurally ensured… they were taught only to value their Master's 'word'… which… they were told… like a faithful star led the way… explained why they must obey… explained how tumultuous feelings (made so by their parents…) could be tamed… explained why misery must be embraced… so to realize their Master's dream… one day…

 

…and to make certain no warmth could ever invade and undo… no tenderness ever threaten to sooth… the theft of their voices imposed an effective silence on truth –

 

And as “organized 'power'” – Plato's Tribesmen – came to dominate… this false 'knowledge' has infiltrated our 'everyday'… and we find that we ourselves have been made… into 'power's drones and clones… into softer versions of them… that carry their traits within…

 

But is there an alternative? What should our lives be instead?

 

Historically when we've attempted to answer this question… that very training… that false 'knowledge' (because never exposed as 'false…) shaped inevitably and irredeemably our reply… necessarily we leaned to technical solutions… eagerly we leapt to call it 'science'… obediently deferred to 'experts' and their formulas… and unconsciously reproduced the central 'class' divide.

 

And while each of us possessing the necessary technology with its associated knowledges is important (as Paul Goodman said: “Each person becomes increasingly aware of the whole operation and works at it in his own way according to his capacities…”) – we must… to preserve our free future… warily approach any division between 'mind' and 'hand'… as that gradually-de-trenching-but-still-within-us 'class' training leaps to serve an 'outer'… to avoid the fear of an empty 'inner'…

 

The suppression of feelings has been tied to the notion of 'the triumph of science' – necessary… we're told… to secure our survival… This is the protection scheme – global-'power'- style – in another of its guises: the 'power'-guys create the problems… then tell us only they can solve them. (But seeing that is not enough to escape the trap… we have to want our souls [our voices…] back.)

 

And this mis-understanding of what this constructed world of 'class' is… how it got made… and how it's reproduced… has been the chief means of keeping us from seeing… how to get free.

 

What I'm realizing – something I sorta knew – is that we can't be fully alive unless we know what's (truly) going on in the world we're born into – in terms of its motive forces… the real factors shaping it…

 

…and that to the degree we accept the lies of Plato's Tribesmen… to the degree that we have not achieved any independence of thought… we mistake their 'will' for our own…

 

When Plato's Uncle Critias waxed poetic about the 'cleverness' of one of his unknown predecessor-'ruler-statesmen' in inventing 'the gods' – with which to con 'the people' – he's helping us to see the primary function of 'class-based' mythologies: to keep us from wanting to know.

 

 

[Today’s reading: we continue the chapter “Poisonous Pedagogy” in… Alice Miller's For Your Own Good… – P.S.]

 

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* “WUR of July 26th, 2015 Reading… continuing the chapter "Poisonous Pedagogy" in Alice Miller's For Your Own Good

[To paraphrase Langston Hughes: “What happens to a voice silenced?” Does it collapse into a black hole?… a freezing vortex of cold?… that sucks in the fire of life… bitter-seeking to smother… the sound of others' laughter?

 

The 'power'-aligned and defined believe they can freeze our warm hearts in a spirit-sense… and if all their cons fail… they have planned and use… weapons against us… to implement… a literal interpretation…

 

To welcome back our voices from the deep-freeze where they languish… we must re-kindle our longing to know… facing our common history (under 'class'…) of abandonment… – P.S.]

Another rule with very important consequences: Even the child's permissible desires should always be satisfied only if the child is in an amiable or at least calm mood but never while he is crying or behaving in an unruly fashion. First he must have regained his composure even if his previous behavior has been caused, for example, by his legitimate and periodic need to be fed – only then, after a brief pause, should one grant the child's wish. This interval is necessary because the child must not be given even the slightest impression that anything can be won by crying or by unruly behavior. On the contrary, the child perceives very quickly that he will reach his goal only by means of the opposite sort of behavior, by self-control (albeit still unconscious). A good, sound habit can be formed with incredible swiftness (as, on the other hand, can its contrary). Much will have been gained by this, for a good foundation has an infinite number of far-reaching consequences for the future. Here again, however, it is clear how infeasible are these and all similar principles – which must be regarded as of the utmost importance – if, as is usually the case, children of this age are entrusted almost exclusively to domestics, who rarely have the requisite understanding, at least in these matters.

 

The training just described will give the child a substantial head start in the art of waiting and will prepare him for another, more important one: the art of self-denial. After what has been said, it can be taken almost for granted that every impermissible desire, be it to the chid's own disadvantage or not, must be met with an unfailingly consistent and absolute refusal. Refusal alone, however, is not enough. One must at the same time see to it that the child accepts the refusal calmly; one must take care that this calm acceptance becomes a sound habit, if need be by making use of a harsh word, a threatening gesture, and the like. Be sure not to make any exceptions! – then this too will take place much more easily and quickly than one thinks possible. Every exception of course invalidates the rule, both prolonging the training and making it more difficult. – On the other hand, accede to the child's every permissible desire lovingly and gladly.

 

Only in this way can one aid the child in the salutary and indispensable process of learning to subordinate and control his will, to distinguish for himself the difference between what is permissible and what is not. This cannot be done by anxiously removing everything that arouses impermissible desires. The foundation for the requisite spiritual strength must be laid at an early age, and it – like every other kind of strength – can be increased only through practice. If one waits until later to begin, then success will be much more difficult to attain, and the child, who has had no preparation for this, will become bitter in his disposition.

 

A very good exercise in the art of self-denial, appropriate for this age, is to give the child frequent opportunity to learn to watch other people in his immediate vicinity eating and drinking without desiring the same for himself. [D. G. M. Schreber (1858), quoted in Rutschky]

Thus, the child is supposed to learn “self-renunciation” from the very beginning, to destroy as early as possible everything in himself that is not “pleasing to God”:

True love flows from the heart of God, the source and image of all fatherhood (Ephesians 3:15), is revealed and prefigured in the love of the Redeemer, and is engendered, nourished, and preserved in man by the Spirit of Christ. This love emanating from above purifies… and strengthens parental love. This hallowed love has as its primary goal the growth of the child's interior self, his spiritual life, his liberation from the power of the flesh, his elevation above the demands of the merely natural life of the senses,… Therefore, this love is concerned that the child learn at an early age to renounce, control, and master himself, that he not blindly follow the promptings of the flesh and the senses but rather the higher will and the promptings of the spirit. [Bentham applies to all cons-of-'class'. Here speaks Bentham to the deputies of the state… and of course to the statesmen: “always… always… control the definitions…” 'Spirit' for we earth-connected is our empathic-connectedness with all life… our ability to feel deeply… breathe deeply of that rich blend… all that the earth brings… the very thing Mr. Schmid would force children to renounce… – P.S.] This hallowed love can thus be severe even as it can be mild, can deny even as it can bestow… it also knows how to bring good by causing hurt… [Bentham and Hegel… all snuggled up close here… what did Hegel say?:

The History of the World is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony – periods when the antithesis is in abeyance… Society and the State are the very conditions in which Freedom is realized…The mutations which history presents have been long characterized… as an advance to something better, more perfect. The changes that take place in Nature… exhibit only a perpetually self-repeating cycle; in Nature there happens “nothing new under the sun,” and the multiform play of its phenomena so far induces a feeling of ennui; only in those changes which take place in the region of Spirit does anything new arise. This peculiarity in the world of mind has indicated in the case of man… a real capacity for change, and that for the better – an impulse of perfectibility… In actual existence Progress appears as an advancing from the imperfect to the more perfect…

…who benefits from a 'child-rearing' method in which children are convinced they are 'not good enough' as the earth made them… and must work ever-harder to become 'more perfect' and achieve recognition… if not those who see themselves as our puppet-masters?… and we as the energy to realize their schemes… 'prove' their belief in 'scarcity'?… – P.S.] “Thou shalt beat him [the child] with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell” (Proverbs 23:14). With these words Solomon reveals to us that true love can also be severe.… (K.A. Schmid, ed., A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Education and Instruction, 1887, quoted in Rutschky]

It is a foregone conclusion exactly which feelings are good and valuable for the child (or the adult) and which are not; exuberance, actually a sign of strength, is assigned to the latter category and consequently attacked:

One of the traits in children that border on abnormality is exuberance, which can take many forms but usually begins with exceptionally agitated activity of the voluntary muscles, followed to a greater or lesser degree by other manifestations, should an aroused desire not be immediately satisfied. Children who are just beginning to learn to talk and whose dexterity is still limited to reaching for nearby objects need only be unable to grasp an object or not be allowed to keep it; if they have a tendency toward an excitable disposition, they will then start to scream and make unrestrained movements. Malice develops quite naturally to this child, for whom feelings are no longer subject to the general laws of pleasure and pain but have degenerated from their natural state to such an extent that the child not only loses all capacity for sympathy but evinces pleasure in the discomfort and pain of others. A child's ever-growing discomfort at the loss of the pleasure he would have had if his wishes had been granted eventually finds satisfaction only in revenge, i.e., in the comforting knowledge that his peers have been subjected to the same feeling of discomfort or pain. The more often the child experiences the comforting feeling of revenge, the more this becomes a need, which seeks satisfaction at every idle moment. In this stage, the child uses unruly behavior to inflict every possible unpleasantness, every conceivable annoyance, on others, only for the sake of alleviating the pain he feels because his wishes are not being fulfilled. This fault leads with logical consistency to the next; his fear of punishment awakens the need to tell lies, to be devious and deceitful, to use these stratagems that require only more practice in order to be successful. The irresistible desire to be malicious gradually develops in the same way, as does the penchant for stealing, kleptomania. Willfulness also appears as a secondary but no less serious consequence of the original fault…

 

…As in the case of all illnesses that are difficult to cure, so too, in the case of the psychic fault of exuberance, the greatest care must be devoted to prophylaxis, to prevention of the disorder. The best way for an education to reach this goal is by adhering unswervingly to the principle of shielding the child as much as possible from all influences that might stimulate feelings, be they pleasant or painful. (S. Landmann, ed., On the Character Fault of Exuberance in Children, 1896, quoted in Rutschky] [Clearly… the point of totalitarian child-rearing is to de-sensitize children to what their bodies say… – P.S.]

Significantly, cause and effect are confused here and what is attacked as a cause is something that the pedagogues have themselves brought about. This is the case not only in pedagogy but in psychiatry and criminology as well. Once “wickedness” has been produced in a child by suppressing vitality, any measure taken to stamp it out is justified:

…In school, discipline precedes the actual teaching. There is no sounder pedagogical axiom than the one that children must first be trained before they can be taught. There can be discipline without instruction… but no instruction without discipline.

 

We insist therefore that learning in and of itself is not discipline, is not a moral endeavor, but discipline is an essential part of learning.

 

This must be kept in mind when administering discipline. Discipline is, as stated above, not primarily words but deeds; if presented in words, it is not instruction but commands.

 

…It proceeds from this that discipline, as the Old Testament word indicates, is basically chastisement (musar). The perverse will, which to its own and others' detriment is not in command of itself, must be broken. Discipline is, as Schleiermacher puts it, life-inhibiting, is at the very least curtailment of vital activity insofar as the latter cannot develop as it wishes but is confined within specific limits and subjected to specific rules. Depending on the circumstances, however, it can also mean restraint; in other words, partial suppression of enjoyment, of the joy of living. This can be true even on a spiritual level: for example, the member of a church congregation can be deprived temporarily of the highest possible enjoyment, the enjoyment of Holy Communion, until he has regained his religious resolve. A consideration of the idea of punishment reveals that, in the task of education, healthy discipline must always include corporal punishment. Its early and firm but sparing application is the very basis of all genuine discipline because it is the power of the flesh that needs most to be broken…

 

Where human authorities are no longer capable of maintaining discipline, divine authority steps in forcibly and bows down both individuals and nations under the insufferable yoke of their own wickedness. [Enzyklopadie… quoted in Rutschky]

Schleiermacher's “inhibition of life” is openly avowed here and extolled as a virtue. But, like many moralists, the author overlooks the fact that warm and genuine feelings are unable to grow without the vital soil of “exuberance.”…

[Inclusion of “hidden 'power'” in Alice's analysis allows us to consider that 'the author' did not 'overlook' at all the fact that the methods advocated would eradicate warm and genuine feelings. As Alice has herself pointed out… the suppression of feelings is the point…

 

Alice… despite the very titles the pedagogues choose – “of families and nations”… e.g. – telling her as much… that these pedagogues have a larger agenda… misses the conscious intent behind this mis-education… – P.S.]

…Theologians and pedagogues who take a moral viewpoint must be especially inventive if they are not to resort to the rod, for charitable feelings do not grow easily in soil that has been dried out by early disciplining. Still, the possibility remains of “charitable feelings” based on duty and obedience, in other words: another case of hypocrisy.

 

In her book Der Mann auf der Kanzel (The Man in the Pulpit) (1979), Ruth Rehmann, herself a minister's daughter, describes the atmosphere in which ministers' children have sometimes had to grow up:

They are told that their values, by virtue of their nonmaterial nature, are superior to all tangible values. The possession of hidden values encourages conceit and self-righteousness, which quickly and imperceptibly blend in with the required humility. No one can undo this, not even they themselves. No matter what they do, they have to deal not only with their physical parents but with the omnipresent super-Father, whom they cannot offend without paying for it with a guilty conscience. It is less painful to give in, to “be a dear,: One does not say “love” in these families, but rather “like” and “be a dear.” By avoiding use of the verb “love,” they take the sting away from Eros' arrow, bending it into a wedding ring and family ties. Warmth is prevented from becoming dangerous by being relegated to the home fire. Those who have warmed themselves by it will be cold ever after wherever they may be.

After telling her father's story from a daughter's perspective, Rehmann sums up her feelings with these words:

This is what makes me uneasy about the story: this particular kind of loneliness, which doesn't look like loneliness at all because it is surrounded by well-meaning people; it's only that the one who is lonely has no way of approaching them except from above by bending down as St. Martin bent down from his lofty steed to the poor beggar. This can be given a variety of names: to do good, to help, to give, to counsel, to comfort, to instruct, even to serve; this does not change the fact that above remains above and below below and that the one who is above cannot have others do good to him, counsel, comfort, or instruct him no matter how much he may be in need of this, for in this fixed constellation no reciprocity is possible – no matter how much love there is, there is not a spark of what we call solidarity., No misery is miserable enough to make such a person come down from the lofty steed of his humble conceit.

 

This may well be the particular kind of loneliness of a person who, in spite of his meticulous daily observance of God's word and commandments, could incur guilt without being aware of any guilt because the recognition of certain sins presupposes a knowledge based on seeing, hearing, and understanding, not on dialogues with one's own soul. Camillo Torres had to study sociology in addition to theology in order to understand the sufferings of his people and to act accordingly. The Church did not look with favor on this. The sins associated with wanting to know have always seemed more sinful to it than those of not wanting to know… [the Church as a manifestation of 'power' is shown in the ideology of 'class' it promotes…-- P.S.], and it has always considered those people more pleasing to God who have sought what is essential in the invisible and have ignored the visible as non-essential.

The pedagogue must also put a very early stop to the desire to know, so that the child does not become aware too early of what is being done to him.

Boy: Where do children come from, dear tutor?

Tutor: They grow in their mother's body. When they have gotten so large that there is no more room for them, the mother must push them out, something like what we do when we have eaten a lot and then go to the privy. But it hurts the mother very much.

Boy: And then the baby is born?

Tutor: Yes.

Boy: But how does the baby get into the mother's body?

Tutor: That we don't know; we only know that it grows there.

 

Boy: That's very strange.

Tutor: No, not at all. – Look at that whole forest that has grown over there. No one is surprised by this because everyone knows that trees grow out of the earth. In the same way, no reasonable person is surprised that a baby grows in its mother's body. For this has been so as long as people have been on earth.

Boy: And do midwives have to be there when a baby is born?

Tutor: Yes, because the mothers are in such pain that they can't take care of themselves all alone. Since not all women are so hardhearted and fearless that they can be around people who must undergo so much pain, there are women in every town who are paid to stay with the mothers until the pain has passed. They are like the women who prepare dead bodies for burial, washing the dead or undressing and dressing them are also tasks not to everyone's liking, which people therefore perform for money.

Boy: I would like to be there sometime when a baby is born.

Tutor: If you want an idea of the pain and distress mothers experience, you don't need to go and see a baby being born; one doesn't have that chance because mothers do not know themselves at what moment the pains will begin. Instead, I will take you to Dr. R. when he is about to amputate a patient's leg or remove a stone from someone's body. Those people wail and scream just like mothers giving birth.…

Boy: My mother told me not long ago that the midwife can tell right away whether the baby is a boy or a girl. How does the midwife know?

Tutor: I will tell you. Boys are much more broad-shouldered and large-boned than girls; but primarily, boys' hands and feet are always broader and coarser than girls' hands and feet. For example, you need only look at the hand of your sister, who is nearly a year and a half older than you; your hand is much broader than hers, and your fingers are thicker and fleshier. That makes them look shorter too, although they are not. [J. Heusinger (1801), quoted in Rutschky]

Once the child's intelligence has been stultified by answers such as these, then he can easily be manipulated:

It is rarely useful and often harmful for you to give them [children] reasons why you are not granting their wishes. Even when you are willing to do what they desire, accustom them now and again to postponement, to being satisfied with just part of what they want, and to accepting gratefully a boon other than the one they requested. Divert a desire you must oppose, either through some activity or by satisfying a different one. In the midst of eating, drinking, or playing, tell them from time to time with friendly gravity to interrupt their enjoyment for a few minutes and undertake something different. Fulfill no request you have once denied. Seek to satisfy children with a frequent “perhaps.” You should grant this “perhaps,” however, only occasionally and not always, but when they repeat a request, having been forbidden to, you should never grant it. – If they have a distaste for certain foods, determine whether these foods are of common or rare variety. If the latter is the case, you need not take great pains to combat their aversion; in the former case, see if they would rather go hungry and thirsty for a time than eat that to which they have an aversion. When, after abstaining for a time, they do partake of nourishment again, mix the despised food with others without their knowledge; if it tastes good and agrees with them, use this fact to persuade them they have been in error. If vomiting or other harmful bodily symptoms result, say nothing, but see if secretly adding the food in question will help their bodies gradually become accustomed to it. If this is not possible, then your attempts to coerce them will be in vain. If you have discovered, however, that the reason for their aversion is a figment of their imagination, attempt to remedy this by making them go hungry for a considerable period or by other methods of coercion. This will be more difficult to accomplish if children see that their parents or those who take care of them show aversion to this and that food.…

 

If parents or caretakers are unable to take medicine without grimacing or making woeful complaints, they must never let the children see this but rather must frequently pretend they are making use of these vile-tasting medicines that the children may have to take someday. These and other difficulties will usually be overcome if children become accustomed to perfect obedience. The greatest problems are presented by surgical operations. If only one is necessary, say not a word about it to young children ahead of time, but conceal all preparations, perform the operation in silence, and then say, My child, now you are cured; the pain will soon be gone. If more than one than one operation is required, then I have no general counsel to give as to whether an explanation should be given in advance or not, because the former may be advisable for some, the latter for others. – If children are afraid if the dark then we have only ourselves to blame. In their first weeks of life, especially when they are being fed during the night, we must occasionally extinguish the light. Once they have been spoiled, this condition must be cured little by little. The light is snuffed out; after a time is it reintroduced, then again after a longer time, finally after more than an hour. Meanwhile, there is cheerful conversation and the children are given something they like to eat. Now there is no light at all any more; now they are led by the hand through pitch-dark rooms; now they are sent into these same rooms to fetch something agreeable to them. But if parents and caregivers are frightened of the dark themselves, then I have no counsel for them except to use deception. [Basedow (1773), quoted in Rutschky]

Deception seems to be a universal method of control, even in pedagogy. Here too, as in the political sphere, ultimate victory is presented as “the successful resolution” of the conflict. [No matter how much blood is spilled in the process… no matter the cost of so many souls lost… I've noticed in the tracking of me a broad public (USPS… AC Transit… PG&E… Berkeley Fire Department and Public Works… East Bay Paratransit… for instance – when I asked one firefighter why they were parked in that particular location with the truck's hazard lights flashing… he replied that they had been dispatched there…) - private (UPS… FedEx… Waste Management… Penske Truck Rental… [AT&T and Comcast go without saying…] and lots of smaller businesses' vans or trucks…) a broad public – private partnership is going on… The level of coordination and cooperation across various government departments… and between public and private… the fact that so many people could be mobilized so instantly and easily (using the technology that we all created… and that we need to get free…) – this can be done simply because all humans under 'class' are subject to hierarchical organization… is due… most fundamentally… because a few were told… or told themselves… a story called 'Scarcity'. It goes like this: “There is not enough for all… only 'the best' deserve to be fed… only 'the best' deserve to be rewarded…” This is the Abandoned Child's story… who set off on a quest… to 'prove' the 'truth' of Scarcity… this story he was told… and to 'prove' himself deserving…

 

This is the only story we living under 'class' have ever been told – even 'Marxism' is but a version of it – it's never been discussed… all the 'disciplines' are based on it… because the entire scam by which 'power' rules depends on it… that to get free we must challenge it… I believe is obvious… – P.S.]

Similarly, self-control must be demanded from one's charge, and in order to learn it he must be made to practice it. Along with this as Stoy explains very nicely in his encyclopedia, goes teaching him to observe himself, but without spending time before the looking glass, so he will recognize those faults he must devote his energy to subduing. Then, too, certain accomplishments are expected of him. The boy must learn to go without, must learn to deny himself things, and must learn to be silent when he is rebuked, to be patient when something disagreeable happens. he must learn to keep a secret, to break off in the midst of something pleasant.

 

Moreover, in the case of practicing self-control, fortitude is required only in the beginning. “Success breeds success” is a favorite adage of educators. “With each victory, the power of the will increases and weakness of will wanes until it is vanquished entirely… [Later Alice will quote Hitler saying something similar: “My pedagogy is hard. What is weak must be hammered away. In my fortresses of the Teutonic Order a young generation will grow up before which the world will tremble. I want the young to be violent, domineering, undismayed, cruel. The young must be all these things. They must be able to bear pain. There must be nothing weak or gentle about them. The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from their eyes. I want my young people strong and beautiful. That way I can create something new.” I think in our good-heartedness we have missed the degree to which these behind-scenes 'power'-mad-few – and one gift of this quite surreal aftermath to my writing and speaking out about the quite obvious immorality of training us to see as 'normal' the commodification of our human energy… has been learning to what extent hidden-totalitarians… Plato's Tribesmen and perhaps subscribers to Hitler's philosophy… have been insinuating themselves throughout 'society'… keeping their secrets… playing their false parts… to fulfill the demands of their fathers… to realize Plato's vision… – P.S.]

 

…We have known boys to become so angry that they were beside themselves with rage, as the saying goes, and just a few years later have seen them become the amazed spectators of outbursts of rage in others, and we have heard them express their gratitude to those who trained them. [Enzyklopadie… quoted in Rutschky]

If this feeling of gratitude is to emerge, conditioning must begin at a very early age:

It is hard to go wrong if one bends a sapling in the direction in which it should grow, something that cannot be done in the case of an old oak…

 

The infant is fond of something he is playing with that amuses him. Look at him kindly, then smilingly and very calmly take it from him, with a light air, replace it immediately, without making him wait long, with another toy and pastime.…

[How like its 'taming of a beast'… the contempt 'power' shows to its 'least'… is this training given… to its progeny… Contempt for one's own progeny exposes a deep self-hate… – P.S.]

…He will then forget the first object and eagerly accept the second. Frequent and early repetition of this procedure… will prove that the child is not so intractable as he is accused of being and as he would have been had he not been sensibly trained. He is not so likely to turn out to be headstrong with a familiar person who has won his confidence by means of love, play, and tender supervision. Initially, a child does not become agitated and refractory because something has been taken away from him or because his will has been thwarted but because he does not want to give up his amusement and endure boredom. The new diversion he is offered induces him to relinquish the one he had so strongly desired before. If he should show displeasure when an object he covets is withdrawn, should also cry and scream, then pay no heed nor seek to pacify the child by caressing him or by returning the object. Rather, continue your efforts to divert his attention to a new pastime. [F.S. Bock, A Manual of the Art of Pedagogy for the Use of Christian Parents and Future Teachers of the Young, 1789, quoted in Rutschky]

This advice reminds me of one of my patients, who was successfully conditioned at a very early age not to heed his hunger pangs; his attention was diverted from his hunger “solely by demonstrations of affection.” A complicated set of compulsive symptoms concealing his deep feelings of insecurity later resulted from this early training. Naturally, this attempt to divert his attention was only one of many ways used to stifle his vitality; facial expressions and tone of voice are very popular and often unconsciously used methods too:

A very fine and worthy position is assumed by silent punishment or silent reproof, which expresses itself by a look or an appropriate gesture. Silence often has more force than many words and the eye more force than the mouth. It has been correctly pointed out that man uses his gaze to tame wild beasts; should it not therefore be easy for him to restrain all the bad and perverse instincts and impulses of a young mind? If we have nurtured and properly trained our children's sensitivity from the beginning, then a single glance will have more effect than a cane or switch on those children whose senses have not been dulled to gentler influences. “The eye discerns, the heart burns,” should be our preferred motto in punishing. Let us assume that one of our children has told a lie but we are unable to prove it. When the family is together at the table or elsewhere, we happen to bring up the subject of people who tell lies, and with a sharp glance at the wrongdoer refer to the shameful, cowardly, and pernicious nature of lying. If he is still otherwise uncorrupted, he will sit there as if on hot coals and will lose his taste for untruthfulness. The silent, pedagogical rapport between us and him will grow stronger. – The right gestures are also among the silent servants of child-rearing. A slight movement of the hand, shaking of the head, or shrugging of the shoulders can have a greater influence than many words. – In addition to silent reproof, we can also use verbal reproof. Here, too, there is not always a need for many high-flown words. C'est le ton qui fait la musique, and this applies to pedagogy as well. Anyone fortunate enough to possess a voice whose tone can convey the most diverse moods and emotions has received from Mother Nature a fortuitous means of meting out punishment. This can be observed even in very small children. Their faces light up when Mother or Father speaks to them in a kindly tone, their wailing mouths close when Father's grave and resonant voice enjoins them to be quiet. And when a certain tone of reproof is used to order an infant to drink, it will often obediently take the bottle it had pushed away but a short time ago.… The child does not yet understand enough, cannot yet read our feelings clearly enough to perceive that we are compelled to administer the pain of punishment only because we want what is best for him, only because of our good will. Our protestations of love would only strike him as hypocritical or contradictory. Even we adults do not always understand the biblical words, “For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth.” Only long years of experience and observation along with the belief that the salvation of the immortal soul takes precedence over all earthly values can give us a glimpse of the profound truth and wisdom of this verse. – Losing control of ourselves should not be a part of moral censure, which can still be emphatic and forceful without it; losing control only lessens respect and never shows us from our best side However, one should not shy away from anger, from noble anger that arises from the depths of injured and outraged moral feelings. The less accustomed a child is to see lack of control in the adult and the less the adult's anger is accompanied by lack of control, the stronger will be the impact if there is finally thunder and lightning to clear the air. [A. Matthias, How Shall We Rear Our Son Benjamin?, 1902, quoted in Rutschky]

Can it ever occur to a small child that the need for thunder and lightning arises from the unconscious depths of the adult psyche and has nothing to do with his or her own psyche? The biblical quotation, “For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth,” implies that the adult shares in the divine omnipotence, and just as the truly devout person is not to question God's motives (see the Book of Genesis), so too the child is supposed to defer to the adult without asking for explanations:

One of the vile products of a misguided philanthropy is the idea that, in order to obey gladly, the child has to understand the reasons why an order is given and that blind obedience offends human dignity. Whoever presumes to spread these views in home or school forgets that our faith requires us adults to bow to the higher wisdom of Divine Providence and that human reason must never lose sight of this faith. He forgets that all of us here on earth live by faith alone, not by cogitation. Just as we must act with humble faith in the higher wisdom and unfathomable love of God, so the child should let his actions be guided by faith in the wisdom of his parents and teachers and should regard this as schooling in obedience toward the Heavenly Father. Anyone who alters these circumstances is flagrantly replacing faith with presumptuous doubt and at the same time overlooking the nature of the child and his need for faith. – I do not know how we can continue to speak of obedience once reasons are given. These are meant to convince the child, and, once convinced, he is not obeying us but merely the reasons we have given him. Respect for a higher intelligence is then replaced by a self-satisfied allegiance to his own cleverness. The adult who gives reasons for his orders opens up the field to argument and thus alters the relationship to his charge. The latter starts to negotiate, thereby placing himself on the same level as the adult; this equality is incompatible with the respect required for successful education. Anyone who believes he can win love only if he is obeyed as a result of explanations is sorely mistaken, for he fails to recognize the nature of the child and his need to submit to someone stronger than himself. If there is obedience in our hearts, a poet tells us, then love will not be far away. In the family it is usually weak mothers who follow the philanthropic principle, whereas the father demands unconditional obedience without wasting words. In return, it is the mother who is most tyrannized by her offspring and the father who enjoys their respect; for this reason, he is the head of the whole household and determines its atmosphere. [L. Kellner (1852), quoted in Rutschky]

Obedience appears to be the undisputed supreme principle of religious education as well. The word appears again and again in the Psalms and always in connection with the danger of loss of love if the sin of disobedience should be committed. Whoever finds this surprising “fails to recognize the nature of the child and his need to submit to someone stronger than himself.”

 

The Bible is also cited to discourage the expression of natural maternal feelings, which are described as doting:

Is it not doting when the baby is coddled and pampered in every way from infancy? Instead of accustoming the baby from the very first day of his life on earth to discipline and regularity in his intake of nourishment and thereby laying the groundwork for moderation, patience, and human happiness, doting lets itself be guided by the infants's crying….

 

A doting love cannot be severe, cannot refuse anything…

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* “Embracing Global Goals, Scope and Action: Becoming Global Actors… Claiming the ‘All’”: Introducing Our Discussion of: Antisystemic Movements… by Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein.

 

September 4th, 2014… Sisters and Brothers: In the WUR show of August 31, 2014 we argued that most of the ‘thought’ on the Left is ‘magical’… because based in and on a notion of ‘reality’ from which critical bits are extruded: ‘the democratic introjection’ (as Marcuse put it…) or ‘poisonous pedagogy’ (as Alice Miller put it…) – or ‘the state in us’ (as I’m putting it…) – and what’s also missing is an accurate understanding (as to source and aims) of ‘power’ as a conscious actor… i.e. with a clear vision and goal – an ‘original’ as their mentor Plato might put it – a model ever before their eyes that they use to sculpt… or pound… us into the shape they want. In short… what’s missing is the ‘theory’ of why we obey.

(We give our allegiance to the state because we have no other allegiance and we are communal beings and must plant our ‘solidarity’ somewhere. The state ensures we can have no other allegiance… the global-statesmen brook no challenges – these are not folks to whom we can entrust our earth… especially… the earth in us… the ‘ownership’ of which… once transferred to else but self… is lost.)

We can’t move forward until we confront our obedience. Here’s a mini-video – first in a series of ‘non-coercion commercials’ that I’m planning – that presents the concept:

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…or visit the video on you tube:

 

“Children are disappearing. Is it really just the state that’s robbing our children of their youth?… or is it also the state… in us?”

 

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But… I believe… ‘the state within’… and ‘the global state’ that ‘power’ is unfolding apace… must be confronted simultaneously… that confronting one confronts the other ‘naturally’… because the one is but the micro of the larger ‘death’… and ‘life’ is ‘life’… and cannot be split… is one continuous whole.

 

What this means… as we said in an earlier show… is that it’s critical that we – across all the false categories – start bulking up our solidarity… with the ancestors… the earth… and each other. And we’re going to be continuing to argue in upcoming shows… that the opposite of solidarity… is force and coercion… and that when we manifest force and coercion… we manifest the state… and when we oppose force and coercion… we oppose the state.

 

To help us think this through we will be reading together the first chapter of Antisystemic Movements… by Giovanni Arrighi, Terence K. Hopkins, and Immanuel Wallerstein; followed by “The Proletarian Is Dead; Long Live the Housewife?” by Claudia von Werlhof, and then “A Manifesto for Global Capital?” by Ellen Meiksins Wood.

 

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* “Introduction” to Antisystemic Movements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sergei Konionkov’s To Those Who Fell Fighting for the Cause of Peace and the Brotherhood of Nations (1918) (…floating in a Goya sky… “as Peace should still her wheaten garland wear… (Hamlet, V. 2.41)]

 

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The concept of antisystemic movements is one which presumes an analytic perspective about a system. The system referred to here is the world-system of historical capitalism which, we argue, has given rise to a set of anti-systemic movements. It is the contours of this process that we are proposing to outline here. We are in search of the system-wide structural processes that have produced certain kinds of movements and which have simultaneously formed the constraints within which such movements have operated.

 

The movements have had their own mode of self-description. This self-description emerged largely out of categories that were formulated or crystallized in the nineteenth-century capitalist world-economy. Class and status-group were the two key concepts that justified these movements, explained their origins and their objectives, and indeed indicated the boundaries of their organizational networks.

 

The contemporary dilemmas of these movements are part and parcel of the same problem as the dilemmas of the concepts of class and status-group. That is why we felt that we could not analyze the movements, either historically or prospectively, without first rethinking these two concepts from a world-systems perspective.

 

We shall not repeat in this introduction the arguments that are to be found in the articles. We would merely like to suggest that if the structural processes that gave birth to these movements have been world-scale from the beginning, the organizational responses hitherto have been predominantly at the level of the various states. It is because we believe that new organizational responses will begin to surface that will be more world-scale that we think it urgent, not only for theory but for praxis, to reexamine the patterns and the degree of success of the world-system’s antisystemic movements heretofore.

[…“urgent… for praxis…” perhaps I’ve been too closeted in my personal journey… but I don’t believe there is today in academia any such concept of itself… as ‘urgently’ moving to help ‘praxis’ along… I don’t believe that… in general… it thinks much about we-cattle at all… – P.S.]

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* “Rethinking the Concepts of Class and Status-Group in a World Systems Perspective”

(…begins by revisiting The Wealth of Nations….)

 

This essay was presented at the IVth Colloquium of the annual International Colloquia on the World-Economy, sponsored by the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations; the Maison des Sciences de L’Homme; and the Starnberger Institut zur Erforschung Globalen Strukturen, Entwicklungen, und Krisen… in New Delhi, January 4 – 6, 1982.)

In his well-known but often neglected conclusion to Book I of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith defined the interests of “the three great, original and constituent orders of every civilized society,” that is, those who live by rent, those who live by wages, and those who live by profit….

[…“he who owns the lexicon rules the world…” truly… truly… we have been effectively penned… by definition… told… that the very existence of ‘civilization’ depends… on our being trapped… strapped… booted… leashed… bound to ploughs… and beat… – P.S.]

…His argument was that the interests of the first two orders coincide with the general interest of society because, according to his analysis, the real value of both rents and wages rises with the prosperity and falls with the economic decline of society. The interests of profit earners, on the other hand, are different from, and even opposite to, such general social interest, because to widen the market and narrow the competition are always in the interest of merchants and manufacturers. And, while to “widen the market may frequently be agreeable enough to the interest of the public; …to narrow the competition must always be against it, and can serve only the dealers, by raising their profits above what they naturally would be, to levy, for their own benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens.”

 

Profit-earners not only have an interest contrary to the general one. They also have a better knowledge of their interest and a greater power and determination in pursuing it than those who live by either rent or wages….

[…perspective and scope of ‘interest’… I’ve never heard discussed… that the (constructed) structure itself places some… to ‘look long’… ‘think big’… and places us to see… and be… the opposite… never discussed (outside of Virginia Woolf…) is what it means that it’s only the miniscule few… who take responsibility for ‘the all’ of things… globally… and how this disproportion in ‘interest’… skews the very ‘quality’ of ‘humanity’ to suit the soul’s damage of the tiny few… – P.S.]

…The indolence of landowners, “which is the natural effect of the ease and security of their situation, renders them too often, not only ignorant, but incapable of that application of mind which is the necessary in order to foresee and understand the consequences of any public regulation.” As for the wage-earner, “he is incapable either of comprehending the general social interest, or of understanding its connection with his own.” Moreover, in the public deliberation, “his voice is little heard and less regarded, except upon some particular occasions, when his clamour is animated, set on, and supported by his employers, not for his, but their own particular purposes.”

[…as I read these words… the singularity of this present moment we are in… in which we finally can move… together… to a world that reflects our interests… we… whose energy has been… ‘historically’… ‘set on’ and used for other people’s purposes… the few… who ‘little hear and less regard’ our voices…. His words are true: we’ve never spoken before in our true voices… as our true voices need our true world to speak true. As we seek… as we see… as we speak… as we become… we bring into being… the world we need… to clarify our voices into that perfect harmony our souls have been seeking… for so long… – P.S.]

…Profit-earners, on the other hand, particularly those who employ the largest amount of capital, draw to themselves by their wealth the greatest share of the public consideration. Moreover, since during their whole lives they are engaged in plans and projects, they have a more acute understanding of their particular interest than the other orders of society.

 

The Wealth of Nations being a work of legislation, the purpose of this “class analysis” was to warn the sovereign against the dangers involved in following the advice and yielding to the pressures of merchants and master manufacturers. As the head of the national household, he should instead strengthen the rule of the market over civil society [i.e. allow ‘competition’ to exist… – P.S.], thereby achieving the double objective of a more efficient public administration and a greater well-being of the nation.

 

It is not our purpose here to assess the soundness of the advice given by Smith to the national householder or of the substantive analysis on which it was based. Rather, we want to point out those aspects of his analysis that can be considered as paradigmatic of political economy and that we can find duplicated in contemporary class analysis.

[…implicit… in drawing this equation between ‘political economy’ and ‘class analysis’… that runs clearly through The Wealth of Nations… is the heretofore undisguised thought… that humans-made-‘citizens’ have no ‘legitimate’ claim to existence… apart from our service to the state… following the ‘order’ to which we are assigned…. Now… confronting this fact – the fact that we tell ourselves… by our obedience… the very thing that Goering said of himself: “It is not I who live, but the [state] who lives in me…” – in broad, public discussions… signals the advance of humanity itself… – P.S.]

First, the tripartite social order of which he spoke was a predicate of a particular kind of society; that defined by the territorial reach of a definite sovereign or state. These were the states of Europe as they had been and were being formed within mutually exclusive domains operating within an interstate system.

 

Second, his social orders (or classes) were defined on the basis of property relations. The ownership of land, of capital, and of labor-power define his three great orders of society. Among the proprietors of capital, what some today would call a “fraction” of capital (merchants and master manufacturers) is singled out for special treatment in view of its political-economic power, of its greater self-awareness of its own interests, and of the opposition of its interests to the general social well-being.

 

Third, the interests of each of the social orders / classes were identified with its market situation; that is, both their competitive opportunities in relations to each other as classes (and of individuals within each class to each other), and the costs and benefits to each of them of monopoly power within markets, understood as restriction of entry. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith limited the subjective ground of collective action by a class to these market interests. Monopoly power in the product as well as in factor markets was traced back to the creation of tolerance of restrictions to entry on the part of the sovereign / state.

 

Fourth, market relations were defined within or between national economic spaces. Class conflicts and alignments were thus limited to struggles within each state for influence / control over its policies. The unit of analysis, in other words, was the nation-state, which determined both the context and the object of class contradictions.

 

Fifth, a “relative autonomy” of state actions in relation to class interests and powers was presupposed. The enactment of laws and regulations by the state was continuously traced to the powers and influence of particular classes or “fractions” thereof. But the sovereign was assumed to be in a position to distance himself from any particular interest to promote some form of general interest, reflecting and / or generating a consensus for this general interest.

 

If we contrast this analytical framework with that associated with Karl Marx’s critique of political economy (that is, of Smith and other classical economists), we notice two consequential shifts of focus: a shift away from state-defined economic spaces to world-economic space on the one hand, and a shift away from the marketplace to the workplace on the other.

 

The first shift implied that the market was no longer seen as enclosed within (or “embedded” in) each nation-state as an independent economic space, and that the world-economy was no longer conceived of as an interstate economy linking discrete national economic spaces. Rather, nation-states were seen as jurisdictional claims in a unitary world market. By effecting the socialization of labor on a world scale, the world market determined the most general context of the class contradictions and therefore of the class struggles of capitalist society, which Marx defined by its constitutive orders, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat:

The modern history of capital dates from the creation in the sixteenth century of a world-embracing commerce and world-embracing market. (Capital, Volume I)

 

This market has given an immense development to commerce, to navigation, to communication by land. This development has, in its turn, reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion as industry, commerce, navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the Middle Ages. (The Communist Manifesto)

This was not a mere matter of trade relations between sovereign states. Rather, the developing bourgeoisie…

…compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois modes of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeoisie themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image. (The Communist Manifesto)

The world so created was characterized by a highly stratified structure of domination and had more than market interests as subjective grounds for collective action:

Just as it has made the country dependent on the towns, so it has made barbarian and semi-barbarian countries dependent on the civilized ones, nations of peasants on nations of bourgeois, the East on the West. (The Communist Manifesto)

The second shift implied that the antagonism between the two great classes into which, according to Marx, bourgeois society as a whole tends to split, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, was no longer traced to relations in the product or factor markets but to relations in production. In order to define the interests of the nation and of its component classes, Smith took leave of the pin factory whose scenario opens The Wealth of Nations to follow the interplay of supply and demand in the marketplace, and of class interest in the national political arena. Marx, in his critique of political economy took us in the opposite direction. We take leave not of the shopfloor but of the noisy sphere of the market place (and, we may add, of the political arena) “where everything takes place on the surface and in view of all men,” and follow the owner of the means of production and the possessor of labor power “into the hidden abode of production, on whose threshold there stares us in the face ‘No admittance except on business.’” (Capital, Volume I) In this hidden abode of production, Marx discovered two quite contradictory tendencies that implied two quite different scenarios of class struggle and social transformation.

 

The first was the one generally emphasized in Marxist literature after Marx: even if we assume that in the marketplace the relationship between the owners of the means of production and the owners of labor-power appears as a relationship between equals, in the sense that the commodities they bring to the market tend to exchange at their full cost of production / reproduction (which, of course, is not always or even normally the case),…

[…and of course… as Polanyi reminded us… human energy is not… can not be… a ‘commodity’… i.e. it is not ‘produced for exchange in the market…’ and that applying this term to the earth and us… is a fiction…

 

…and of course… as Bentham reminded ‘rulers’… fictions can be enforced as real… by the state… but what a toll it takes… this living lives premised on lies… on our souls… – P.S.]

…the relationship would still be a fundamentally unequal one. This is so because of the longer-run effects of capitalist production on the relative value and the relative bargaining power of capital and labor. Capitalist production, that is, is seen as a process that tends to reduce the value of labor-power (its real costs of reproduction) and simultaneously to undermine the bargaining power of its possessors, so that the advantages of the reduction of labor’s costs of reproduction tend to accrue entirely to capital.

…but are not these “longer-run effects of capitalist production”… the ever-increasing disparity in relative ‘power’… and so in ‘relative bargaining power’… a function of ‘political’ ‘power’ – ‘the state’ as the tool of ‘power’? – and never… in reality… of ‘capitalist production’… at least if we use that word to suggest an effect of ‘market laws’… – P.S.]

This tendency obviously poses problems of realization of the growing mass of surplus labor that capital appropriates in production. These problems periodically manifest themselves in crises of overproduction that are overcome on the one hand…

…by enforced destruction of a mass of productive forces; on the other, by conquest of new markets, and by the more thorough exploitation of the old ones. That is to say, by paving the way for more destructive crises, and by diminishing the means whereby crises are prevented. (The Communist Manifesto)

 

[…Kropotkin’s words… about seeing ‘history’ with fresh eyes – once they’re open… (“Petr understood that ‘power’ selectively passes down the ‘stories’ that further its mission, and that, “Ere long history will have to be re-written on new lines….” we said in the Waking Up Radio show of February 23rd, 2014…) – is never more relevant than when we’re looking at what’s called ‘the economy’…

 

…i.e. could it be that Marx… who wrote so forcefully about taking the world away from ‘philosophy’ and setting it on its feet again… was likewise viewing things falsely?… Adam Smith’s words – their full import – have never been taken to heart: we commoners have been “little heard and less regarded….” The whole point of ‘class’… is to establish (irrevocably… soon… they hope…) that we ‘don’t matter’… so why would any of its ‘thinkers’ – whose allegiance is to ‘Thought’… or so they might imagine – consider it worthwhile to try to see the world from the eyes of those who ‘can’t put two sentences together’?… who are ‘mere matter’… to the mind of ‘Thought’… to be used to advance… a ‘bigger’ agenda that they could ‘never understand’.

 

All to say… consider this… that ‘war’ is not to reinvigorate dead markets… but to suppress our uprisings against injustice. In the Waking Up Radio show of March 9th, 2014 we said that…

The book Savage Continent provides prodigious illustration of resources being removed from our use… and…turned back over to ‘power’… He describes… an orgy of destructiveness. This systematic attack on ‘economic life’ was itself the ‘economic system’ working at a clip (because the point is privatization: atomization plus privatization equals control of us… manufactured ‘scarcity’…) racing at a pace unequaled since… The ‘economic system’ is not ‘capitalism’…. It’s called ‘power’… and they invent a tool called ‘the economy’ to keep us confused… War is an expression of this ‘economic system’… and ‘the economy’ is war by other means… i.e…. it’s about controlling the energy of the majority… the goal being… to beat us into submission… and… in the ‘normal’ course of events… overt violence is (as Solozzo said…) “too expensive…” in terms of maintaining legitimacy… as a means of controlling. And so they ‘normally’ rely on Bentham… whose Panoptic guidance says: “wage war by other means… i.e. be ‘economic’… and ‘efficient’….” “Let the weight of scarcity weigh on their minds…” Bentham advised.

 

But when the people arise… ‘economy’… ‘efficiency’… and all that jazz… flies out the door…

 

…and in walks war.

 

‘Economy’ is just a tool… like any other technology.

 

So ‘war’ is always war on us… whether they spill our guts with guns… or markets.

 

The economy is just war by other means… and war is the profligate failure of ‘breeding’… to control the energy of the majority (the true point of the ‘education’ we’re all given.)

 

What they (the ‘power’-guys…) hate most… is resistance. What they love most… is obedience –

Further… can we finally now be honest about those “means whereby crises are prevented”? When Marx and Engels say ‘overproduction crises’ are only ‘solved’ by digging ever deeper ‘power’s grave… that is to say… by eating ever more “means whereby crises are prevented”… those ‘means’ are the earth and us… where ‘conquest’ – the raison d’être of ‘class’ – mowed right over us…. As our authors said: “the structural processes that gave birth to [resistance] have been world-scale from the beginning…” – and our ‘place’ in the structure has always been premised on the privileging or suffering of those ‘higher up’ or ‘low’…

 

What happened to us was not ‘economic’… but rather deeply ‘psychological’… – P.S.]

It would seem from the above that the unequal relation between labor and capital, continuously reproduced and enhanced in the workplace, leads capital either to self-destruction in the marketplace or to a greater development of the world-economy, both extensively (incorporations) and intensively. Given a finite globe, the more thorough this development, the greater the self-destructiveness of capital.

 

In this scenario labor plays no role in precipitating capitalist crises except in a negative sense; it is its growing subordination in the workplace, and consequent weakening of bargaining power in the marketplace, that are ultimately responsible for the outbreak of the “epidemic of overproduction,” as Marx called it. Labor, or its social personification, the proletariat, plays an active role only in transforming the self-destructiveness of capital into political revolution. The increasing precariousness of working and living conditions induces proletarians to form combinations against the bourgeoisie.

Now and then the workers are victorious, but only for a time. The real fruit of their battles lies, not in the immediate result, but in the ever-expanding union of the workers….

 

This organization of the proletarians into a class, and consequently into a political party, is continuously being upset again by the competition between the workers themselves. But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier….

 

Altogether collisions between the classes of the old society further, in many ways, the course of development of the proletariat. The bourgeoisie finds itself involved in a constant battle. At first with the aristocracy; later on, with those portions of the bourgeoisie itself, whose interests have become antagonistic to the progress of industry; at all times, with the bourgeoisie of foreign countries. In all these battles it sees itself compelled to appeal to the proletariat, to ask for its help, and thus, to drag it into the political arena. (The Communist Manifesto)

Alongside this scenario, however, as we indicated, Marx suggested another one, quite distinct in its unfolding. Both in the Manifesto and in Capital we are told that, along with the growing mass of misery, oppression, and degradation, the strength of the working class grows too, not so much as a result of political organization aimed at counteracting its structural weakness, but rather as a result of the very process of capitalist production.

Along with the constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital… grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation, but with this too grows the revolt of the working-class, a class always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organized by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself. (Capital, Volume I)

 

The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage labor. Wage labor rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. The advance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the laborers, due to competition, by their revolutionary combination, due to association. The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. (The Communist Manifesto)

Here, therefore, the strengthening of labor in the workplace is the cause of the crisis of capital.

 

As we know, Marx never managed to reconcile these two contradictory tendencies that he discovered in the abode of production, let alone to work out fully and systematically all their implications for the analysis of class contradictions in capitalist society. Instead, Marx, in some of his historical writings, and many followers in their theoretical writings, gave up the critique of political economy and reverted to the Smithian paradigm of class analysis, reviving rather than carrying out the critique of political economy.

 

In the case of Marx, this retreat is most evident in his writings on the class struggle in France, in which class interests were defined in terms of a national political-economic space, and what goes on in the abode of production simply does not come into the picture at all. Obviously, Marx himself thought that the shift of focus he was advancing to analyze the overall, long-term tendencies of capitalist society had a limited relevance for the concrete analysis of a concrete instance of class struggle at a relatively low state of development of such tendencies.

[Let’s pause and recap… perhaps slightly translate (for our purposes…): Marx saw two (contradictory) ‘tendencies’ as inherent in the ‘process’ of capital accumulation (or ‘production’…): first… the unequal ‘power’ relation between those who “put ‘capital’ to work”… and we-who-do-the-work… is a bias that but increases over time… because ‘power’ uses its ‘power’ advantage to drive our bargaining position ever lower (‘cheapen its costs of labor’…) resulting in our increasing ‘immiseration’…

 

(…time-out to vent a suppressed rant… I am looking at a red line under ‘immiseration’… that is a politically-motivated red line… as are the lines under ‘commodification’… ‘commodify’… and ‘ain’t’… the rest will have to wait…)

 

…continuing… resulting in our increasing ‘immiseration’ over time… and… even though this results eventually in a ‘crisis of overproduction’ for ‘capital’… also referred to as a ‘crisis of realization’ – i.e., no one to buy its ‘stuff’ – this is not by our – we commoners’ – action or plan… as we are politically-weak paupers.

 

(But… I would argue… it’s also not “by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself…” – ‘power’ hides in so-called ‘economic forces’… there is absolutely no ‘objective reason’ why ‘the state’… in theory… could not undo the bias… except for the one we’re all trained in… of ‘might makes right’…. ‘Power’… ‘rule’… are not inevitable… though they are made by the few to seem so.).

 

However… despite our increasing pauperization… Marx prophesied our growing strength due to our increasing numbers and organization in ‘the abode of production’ (neglecting to consider that ‘society’ overall… was modeled on the design of the Panopticon.) Still… given that the scope… frame… and audience… for these two respective ‘analyses’ are different… it’s hard for me to see them as ‘contradictory tendencies’.

 

What I see as the pressing need for us… for all of us (globally)… is getting on the same page… which means we need to come to some agreement… as to what these “overall, long-term tendencies of capitalist society…” are… exactly… – P.S.]

Moreover, even at the theoretical level, the shift of focus away from the noisy sphere of political economy did not imply any belittlement of the nation-state as the main locus of political power, that is, of the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence over a given territory. This power embodied in nation-states, whatever its origins, could obviously be used, and has indeed generally been used, simultaneously in two directions: as an aggressive / defensive instrument of intra-capitalist competition in the world-economy, and as an aggressive / defensive instrument of class struggle in national locales. True, the growing density and connectedness of world-economic networks on the one hand, and the displacement of class contradictions from the marketplace to the workplace on the other, would ultimately make nation-states “obsolete” from both points of view. In outlining this tendency, however, Marx was only defining the situation that the capitalist world-economy would asymptotically [“asymptote: a line that continually approaches a given curve but does not meet it at any finite distance. From the Greek ‘not falling together’…”] …that the capitalist world-economy would asymptotically approach in the very long run. The farther the class struggle was from the projected asymptote, the more it would take on a political / national character. Even the proletariat, the class which in his view had neither country nor nationality, had first of all to wage a national struggle.

Since the proletariat must first of all acquire political supremacy, must rise to be the leading class of the nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is, so far, itself national, though not in the bourgeois sense of the word. (The Communist Manifesto)

 

[Our intent… in examining ‘Marxism’… is… in translating it into terms that unify us globally – into ‘earth’-terms… as we all feel the same earth under our toes – to show that the path to freedom does not lie down a ‘Marxist’ road. This is not an easy task. ‘Marxism’ has claimed the energies of the Left for so long… its ‘intellectualism’ has such a cachet about it – it’s a language hard to learn… and a certain pride attaches to those who labored long to learn it… it’s acquisition then being such… that few who have it… are willing to relinquish it.

 

Nonetheless… I believe ours is a worthwhile project – this effort of ‘translation – ‘necessary’ even… perhaps… but I must say I’m not fully convinced… as simply trusting our bodies… should be sufficient….

 

But as we read this together… I ask that we keep in mind… what was discussed in the Waking Up Radio show of August 31, 2014… that… “the ‘modern’ language of ‘classification’… of ‘specialization’… of ‘ranking’ as to ‘historical stage’… and certainly as to ‘class’… is itself the key tactic of control… of containment… so it’s not just that when we’re trying to ‘win’ (play ‘power’s game…) that we’re snuggled up close and sucked right in… but even when we challenge its propaganda… because engaging with it hardens our chains… and in some sense validates the system….”

 

Reminding us of this caution is reminding us of the central problem: we’re told ‘civilization’ itself depends on our enslavement… we’re told Thought itself requires the categories ‘power’ provides… the key one being ‘class’. With the benefit of hindsight we could reply to Marx’s idea that “the proletariat must rise to be the leading class of the nation…” by saying that it has no empirical basis…

 

but it’s intent was polemical… not analytical…

 

…but when we reject the terms themselves… how reply? Why argue with false premises… except that so many still believe in them?

 

Within the mindset of ‘class’… we commoners can never become ‘the leading class’… surely this is obvious?

 

But what is less so… is whether we can re-define ‘the nation’… to our advantage… whether we can re-claim ‘the state’ from the global-statesmen – is that’s what’s happening this very moment (September 18, 2014) as the Scottish people vote on independence?… the transition?… a piece of it?… the first of the intermediate steps… to freedom?…. We will return to this question… – P.S.]

Marx’s empirical retreat into political economy did not, however, entail a corresponding retreat at the theoretical level. It simply implied a recognition of the distance separating the historical circumstances of nineteenth-century Europe from the asymptotic circumstances projected in the Manifesto and in Capital.

[But this assumes a ‘logic’ to ‘history’ that ‘it’ does not possess… – P.S.]

Far more than this was implicit in the retreat into / revival of political economy by Marxists after Marx, however. The most striking characteristic of the theories of finance and monopoly capital, of imperialism, and of state capitalism, synthesized in canonical form by Lenin, is that they take us back to the noisy sphere of political economic relations. Their main concerns are the forms of capitalist competition, and the class contradictions identified are those defined in terms of market interests and state power. However much such formulations may or may not be justified in terms of the political strategies of the time, we are concerned here with their elevation by epigones [“…a less distinguished follower or imitator of someone, esp. an artist of philosopher…” “from the Greek ‘epigonoi’: ‘those born afterward’…”] into theoretical advances rather than pragmatic retreats from Marx’s critique of Smithian political economy.

 

This theoretical retreat into political economy had some justification in the tendencies that came to characterize the capitalist world-economy around the turn of the century. The growing unity of the world market presupposed by Marx’s paradigmatic shift began to be undermined by the re-emergence of state protectionist / mercantilist policies. These policies increasingly transferred world capitalist competition from the realm of relations among enterprises to the realm of relations among states. As a consequence, war and national / imperial autarky [“…economic independence or self-sufficiency in a country, state, or society…”] came to the fore and in pragmatic terms shaped the scenario of the world-economy. Connected with this tendency, the high concentration and centralization of capital, characteristic of most of the new leading / core sectors of economic activity, led to a resurgence of practices, often backed by state power, that restricted competition within the national / imperial segments into which the world-economy was splitting. States thus returned to the forefront of world-economic life, and monopoly in and through the sovereign became once again the central issue around which conflicts and alignments among classes and fractions thereof revolved. This situation, which has broadly characterized the first half of the twentieth century, undoubtedly warranted a revival of political economy as the most relevant theoretical framework for the short- or medium-term analysis of class contradictions and conflicts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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* “The Proletarian Is Dead; Long Live the Housewife?” …by Claudia von Werlhof

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Francisco Goya’s Third of May, (1808, Portion)]

 

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If We Have Understood Housework, Then We Have Understood the Economy

 

Housework is a phenomenon that is most difficult to understand, but if we have understood housework, then we have understood everything. But this requires (and this requirement is still unfulfilled) that we do not view housework too narrowly or use it in a restricted sense, and that we relate it and indeed apply it to nothing less than the whole economy – in fact, to the world-economy. Only then will the explosive character and the significance of the so-called women’s question become recognizable in its generality. The women’s question is the most general – and not the most special – of all social questions, because all others are contained in it;…

[…because she’s putting them in it… – P.S.]

…because it, in contrast to all the questions to date, leaves no one out. This claim reflects not conceit, or arrogance; on the contrary, it reflects something inherent in the functioning of our society itself. For our society itself has created an historically unique (to date) situation, namely the situation that the women are always “the one below”. But only from below, hence at the bottom of the cask, can the whole be seen as the whole. Nothing is more important – actually nothing is more vitally necessary – than to support this tendency of analysis “from below.”

[…I agree… but what’s even more ‘below’ than women?… look beneath your feet… notice then… as we dissolve to dust… there is no difference… – P.S.]

The Connection between the World Economic Crisis and War danger: War Economy

 

The reasons that a really general theory of society and corresponding policy are necessary are nothing less than the currently beginning world economic crisis and the danger of war that is threatening us. I wonder more and more why this time no connection is being seen between crisis and war. In any case, the topic has not been raised up to now, not even in the rather broad peace movement in the Federal Republic of Germany, which is strange, because this connection has otherwise always been the subject matter of discussion. But today people are concerned only with moral or military-technological arguments. Why don’t people simply ask, “how come there now is suddenly a danger of war? The east-west conflict is actually nothing new!” Or, “What does it mean, we must tighten our belts? What has happened to the economic miracle for which we sweated a whole life long? What have you done with that?” These simple and fundamental questions of war and crisis are simply missing, at least in the public discussion. Why?

 

The answer is at first very simple: If there is a worldwide economic crisis, then it means that everywhere economic changes will take place. But can these be implemented without the application of violence?

[…is it clear that ‘power’ counts on suppressing the key discussions… to prevent our thought’s development from one generation to the next… to keep us treading water… while they continuously move… systematically… toward their dream’s installation… their fantasy of statis (how does Kissinger put it?… I listened to him yesterday – September 9, 2014 – hawking his book by the same name: World Order…) – P.S.]

Recently a German politician himself used the term “war economy”, and it is a kind of war economy towards which we are proceeding. I do not know what he meant by that, but I think that surely there is some objective background for this statement. To me it appears that changes in the world-economy are proceeding at full speed and are beginning to be noticeable more and more clearly also in the Western industrial nations. What is involved is not merely a cyclical crisis or a moderate structural change, but the beginning of a totally new phase of capitalist development, and nobody knows how it will look. It is characterized by the fact (which is exactly what is of primary importance) that it more or less does away with “free” wage labor. With this development, simultaneously, democracy, human rights, equality, freedom, and brotherhood are also called into question, not to speak of emancipation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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* “A Manifesto for Global Capitalism?”, by Ellen Meiksins Wood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[From John Boswell’s The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe From Late Antiquity To The Renaissance]

 

(During the May 18, 2014 show, we finally remembered to add Alice Miller and Jeremy Bentham to the “puzzle pieces” we needed to see what ‘power’s plans are… and in the May 25, 2014 show we remembered John Boswell… for his The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe: From Late Antiquity To The Renaissance….)

 

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A capitalist manifesto

 

Imagine a manifesto for global capital, written by a guru of globalization. Its object would be to present a picture of the world in which opposition to globalization and to capitalism itself would be futile, a world in which the best we can do is go with the flow, lie back and think of Nike.

 

[We first considered these words of Ellen Meiksins Wood during the Waking Up Radio show of September 14, 2014:

 

“What would be the essential propositions of such a [capitalist] manifesto?… the nation-state has become a fiction… supranational institutions as the WTO and the IMF to facilitate capital flows, and the movements of labour… problems will be solved not by resistance to global capital, not by less globalization, but, on the contrary, by more…” – and I have to say… the perspicacity of Terence Hopkins is impressive. Recall our quote from him in Palmers’ Chat… in which he placed his finger on the key problem ‘power’ faces – in their determination to arrest our building confidence… and attempt to yet again meet it with suppression – which is… the use of the nation-state as a tool wielded from ‘below’ – Scotland… is the present case in point… and… the on-going uprising of the Indigenous… ditto… (We’re going to be thinking deeply… in upcoming shows… about this question of the ‘nation-state’.)

 

What would be the essential propositions of such a manifesto? It would probably begin by insisting that the globalization of capital and the integration of the global economy have so transformed the world that the nation-state has become a fiction, as capital flows have far outreached the borders and the powers of the state. The world is now essentially ruled by the impersonal laws of the global market. To the extent that capital flows, and the movements of labour, still require some regulation, we may need such supranational institutions as the WTO and the IMF. But their role is to facilitate, not to dominate. To be sure, there are still a few flaws in the system, such as the disparity between rich and poor. But such problems will be solved not by resistance to global capital, not by less globalization, but, on the contrary, by more. Those who resist the relentless movement of capitalist globalization are doing much more harm than good.

 

We can come back in a moment to challenging this picture of the world. But let us first ask this: if the purpose of this analysis is to discourage opposition, at what point in the argument is resistance to global capital most effectively disabled? Of course, the general lesson we are supposed to draw from it is that capitalist globalization is an irresistible force and that opposition to what is practically a law of nature is futile and counterproductive. But an even more significant element in the argument is that it denies that there is any concentration of power in the global economy.

[Exactly… ‘power’ must hide to exist… Bentham schooled them well on this… and Plato (implicitly…) before him ( ‘power’ is ‘power’ is ‘power’…) – P.S.]

Either power is an inappropriate category in defining the globalized world, or power is so diffuse and immaterial that it might as well not exist at all. In either case, there is no target for opposition.

[Precisely the point of all of ‘power’s ‘modern’ propaganda – and what elaborately crafted propaganda Empire was… which should flatter the folks it was trying to convince… – P.S.]

In this respect, the manifesto would be the equivalent on a global scale of much older ‘pluralist’ arguments in political science, challenged by Marxist theories of the state way back in the 1970s. According to that old liberal orthodoxy, there were no concentrations of class power in the liberal democratic state, only an infinite diffusion of countervailing powers throughout society. Now, we are told, even the state itself is effectively powerless, and political domination, no less than class rule, is a thing of the past. All political forces and organizational forms once designed to challenge the power of capital at the level of the state are even more irrelevant than they were in an earlier pluralist world, as irrelevant as the nation-state itself.

 

Such a manifesto would seem to imply that there is no effective possibility of opposition. The diffusion of power in capitalism has, to be sure, always presented a problem for oppositional forces. It has never been as easy to trace the class power of capital to a visible source as it was in pre-capitalist societies, where the capacity of economic exploitation rested on ‘extra-economic’ political and military powers. In capitalism, not only are the ‘economic’ and the ‘political’ separated, but the impersonal forces of ‘the market’ do much of capital’s work. Nonetheless, as long as there was some identity between national states and national economies, struggles against capital could be directed not only against specific employers ‘at the point of production’ but also against the capitalist class at a point of concentration in the state.

[And now – post-World Social Forum… post-‘Occupy’… – we see ‘power’ trying to hide… no longer in ‘strong’ industries… or ‘strong’ states… but in ‘strong’ individuals… ‘talent’ that seems ‘by nature’ to have got that way (i.e., ‘strong’…) – P.S.]

It was, in fact, the essence of Marxist critiques of pluralist theories that the state did indeed constitute a point of concentration of capitalist power. But even if the state did once represent such a concentration of power and hence also a target of opposition, in today’s globalized world, we are told, such possibilities of opposition no longer exist. What good are struggles at the point of production, when capital is organized in huge, transnational corporation? What good are political struggles when the nation-state is dead?

 

If it is really true that capitalist power is now a mystical force, immanent in the world and completely disembodied [she is using the language of… and restating the argument of… the book Empire… – P.S.], everywhere and nowhere, it is the end of anti-capitalist struggle. Of course, the most sensible thing would be to embrace this ubiquitous force. But, in any case, resistance is futile. No amount of whistling in the dark about the insurrectional energies generated by globalization can change the fact that for us the game is over. The only opposition available to us is symbolic gesture and spectacle…

[Does this shoe fit… the massive protest against the inaction of the global-statesmen in the face of global warming… that we just witnessed on September 21, 2014 in New York City? (I’m writing this on September 23, 2014…) I’ve heard nothing to suggest otherwise… – P.S.]

…or the internal refusal that gives a kind of spiritual freedom to the prisoner in chains. If there really is no material point at which the power of capital can be challenged, and with all forms of political action effectively disabled, the rule of capital is complete and eternal.

[And of course recent events… from the election of Barack… to the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt… to the Occupy Movement… to Ukraine… and the massive scale and the deep… diffuse… forms of resistance occurring globally… in this moment… show otherwise… – P.S.]

This counsel of surrender would be the message of a manifesto on behalf of global capital. It is also, like it or not, the message of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Empire. This monumental and ambitious book has been read by supporters and critics alike as a relatively optimistic manifesto for oppositional forces in the globalized world. It has been praised as an eloquent voice for anti-capitalist movements. But for all its insistence on the possibilities of insurrection and the power of the ‘multitude’, it is much less persuasive as a call to opposition than as an argument for the futility of oppositional politics; and it has rather more to say abut the irrelevance of old oppositional struggles and forces than about the possibilities of new ones.

 

“In this smooth space of Empire,” Hardt and Negri tell us, “there is no place of power – it is both everywhere and nowhere. Empire is an outopia or really a non-place.” What does this mean for the possibilities of opposition? We are told – in sweeping generalities – that, precisely because the power of Empire is everywhere and nowhere, “the virtual center of Empire can be attacked from any point.” What precisely this means remains unclear. But, as the argument proceeds, it is difficult to see what kind of opposition it allows, apart from spontaneous gestures on the part of an inchoate ‘multitude’, which, instead of resisting the processes of globalization, can somehow reorganize them toward new ends – though by what means and to what effect (apart from creating new ‘subjectivities’) remains a mystery.

[For each new generation… ‘power’ but redesigns its old cons. Just as she pointed out the basic equivalency between Empire’s key message and that “of much older ‘pluralist’ arguments in political science, challenged by Marxist theories of the state way back in the 1970s…” so too can we see in this pseudo-optimism in non-resistance (“…instead of resisting the processes of globalization, [we’re supposed to] somehow reorganize them toward new ends…”) the false encouragement of pseudo-resistance of Mr. Steele (discussed in the Waking Up Radio show of July 27th, 2014… – P.S.]

We are told in rather more concrete terms what kinds of opposition are not possible. Political movements and organized working-class struggle are fruitless, especially local and national struggles (Hardt and Negri are very critical of anti-capitalist movements that focus on such struggles), because their traditional targets no longer exist. The simple fact is that, since there is no locus of power, there can be no real counter-power.

The idea of counter-power and the idea of resistance against modern sovereignty in general thus becomes less and less possible…. A new type of resistance would have to be found that would be adequate to the dimensions of the new sovereignty…. Today, too, we can see that traditional forms of resistance, such as the institutional workers’ organizations developed through the major part of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have begun to lose their power. (quote from Empire)

[It’s interesting to contrast the shrouding effect of Hardt and Negri’s false pronouncements with the invigorating effect of Terence Hopkin’s… in his examination of Marx on this same issue:

 

“True, the growing density and connectedness of world-economic networks on the one hand, and the displacement of class contradictions from the marketplace to the workplace on the other, would ultimately make nation-states “obsolete” from both points of view. In outlining this tendency, however, Marx was only defining the situation that the capitalist world-economy would asymptotically [“asymptote: a line that continually approaches a given curve but does not meet it at any finite distance. From the Greek ‘not falling together’…”] …that the capitalist world-economy would asymptotically approach in the very long run. The farther the class struggle was from the projected asymptote, the more it would take on a political / national character. Even the proletariat, the class which in his view had neither country nor nationality, had first of all to wage a national struggle.” (Terence Hopkins, “Rethinking the Concepts of Class and Status-Group in a World Systems Perspective”)

 

(Discussed in the Waking Up Radio show of September 21, 2014 – “…Even the proletariat, the class which in his view had neither country nor nationality, had first of all to wage a national struggle.…” “Since the proletariat must first of all acquire political supremacy, must rise to be the leading class of the nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is, so far, itself national, though not in the bourgeois sense of the word…” – and is planned for discussion during the September 28th, 2014 show as well…) – P.S.]

And so on. For all Empire’s lofty sentiments about new forms of contestation, this will be music to the ears of global capital. We are left with a mystical force opposed, if at all, by immaterial resistance.

 

But let us at least grant that Empire has its heart in the right place. Unlike our putative manifesto for global capital, it really does intend to celebrate, not to deny, the possibilities of contestation. The trouble is that its analysis of Empire denies us any such hope, no less effectively than the globalization manifesto does, and in alarmingly similar terms.

[…a ‘manifesto’ that robs us of our hope for freedom… cannot have its ‘heart in the right place’… because it has no heart – that we can see this is not just because we have the benefit of hindsight… that we’ve seen the World Social Forums… seen ‘Occupy’ catch fire globally… tied to massive and on-going anti-privatization mobilizations… seen one-third of the population of Egypt in the streets… seen… the beginning of the fulfillment of Nikola Tesla’s prophesy: that once we can communicate instantaneously with each other globally… we can no longer be lied to about each other – as easily – and global unity becomes a goal that’s achievable… if we can ‘disarm’ the global-state-statesmen…

 

…it is the absence of Plato’s Tribesmen in one’s analysis… that limits its effectiveness – and which would… in this case… have allowed us to see the propagandistic thrust of the argument – to recognize that the result: our demoralization… was in fact… the intention – and therefore to state unequivocally… the absence of ‘heart’ of Hardt and Negri – this book did not ‘achieve’ ‘celebrity’-status by accident… – P.S.]

The problem begins with the very first premise on which the whole argument of Empire is based. “Our basic hypothesis,” write Hardt and Negri, “is that sovereignty has taken a new form, composed of a series of national and supranational organisms united under a single logic of rule. This new global form of sovereignty is what we call Empire.” Its primary symptom is “the declining sovereignty of nation-states and their increasing inability to regulate economic and cultural exchanges.” This does not mean that sovereignty has disappeared together with the nation-state. It has simply changed its character. With the growth of transnational corporations, and global networks of production and circulation, “which have undermined the powers of nation-states, state functions and constitutional elements have effectively been displaced to other levels and domains.”

 

There is, of course, an important point here – which many other commentators have also made – about the ‘internationalization’ of the state: that nation-states, like other institutions in the global system, are now responding not simply to the demands of national capital but to the ‘logic’ and requirement of global capital. Although we should not underestimate the persistence of national capital and, for that matter, the roots of transnational capital within it, this is certainly a point worth making. It does not require us to assume that the nation-state is effectively dying; and I have even heard Michael Hardt explain, in a public lecture, that globalization did not exclude the nation-state. The point, he insisted, was simply that the state was now subsumed in the logic of Empire.

 

That said, the essential argument of Empire is something else: at the very least, it requires us to accept that there is an inverse relation between the degree of globalization and the importance of the nation-state. And herein lies the problem, because surely the critical point about the ‘internationalization’ of the state is that the nation-state is useful to global capital not to the extent that it is unable> to “regulate economic and cultural exchanges.” On the contrary, it is useful precisely because it can intervene in the global economy and, indeed, remains the single most effective means of intervention. The essence of globalization is not the declining capacity but the unique ability of nation-states to organize the world for global capital. This reality, and global capital’s inescapable need for territorial states to make possible its navigation of the world economy, is lost in the argument of Empire.

 

The book even seems indifferent to the coercive power concentrated in the state. That indifference is reflected in a conception of ‘sovereignty’ that allows Hardt and Negri to speak of the transfer of sovereign power away from the state, even though (a point on which Empire remains silent) it remains the dominant instrument of coercive force.

 

The first premise of Empire’s argument, then, is that the movements of sovereignty are parallel and conjoined with the movements of the economy, the networks of production and circulation. Give or take the odd time-lag or failure of synchronization, the two go hand-in-hand, so that the more global the economy becomes, the more global, too, will be the reach of sovereignty.

 

This account of the connection between the economic and political moments of capitalism displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how the system works. The consequence of this misunderstanding is that Empire never confronts the realities of power or the possibilities of ‘counter-power’ in the world of global capitalism. This, in fact, is the most striking characteristic of the book: that, while purporting to be a study of power in the new world of global capitalism, its argument depends on evading the issue of power.

 

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Economic hegemony and political sovereignty

 

Capitalism is distinctive among all social forms in its capacity to extend its dominion beyond the limits of political authority, by purely ‘economic’ means….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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* “TBA, 2014 Show …”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[From Jean-Leon Gerome’s The Slave Market, (early 1860s)]

 

(During the May 18, 2014 show, we finally remembered to add Alice Miller and Jeremy Bentham to the “puzzle pieces” we needed to see what ‘power’s plans are… and in the May 25, 2014 show we remembered John Boswell… for his The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe: From Late Antiquity To The Renaissance….)

 

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* “TBA, 2014 Show …”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[From John Boswell’s The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe From Late Antiquity To The Renaissance]

 

(During the May 18, 2014 show, we finally remembered to add Alice Miller and Jeremy Bentham to the “puzzle pieces” we needed to see what ‘power’s plans are… and in the May 25, 2014 show we remembered John Boswell… for his The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe: From Late Antiquity To The Renaissance….)

 

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* “TBA, 2014 Show …”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Francisco Goya’s Third of May, (1808)]

 

 

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Thandiwe's Word:

ithedawn@gmail.com

...on the challenge of beginning to create the alternative:

 

“The imagination has to be stimulated – that imaginative part of ourselves that manifests our dreams, through that fire, that passion, that is our art. Asking questions stimulates that process of figuring out, visualizing, and manifesting what we want. But we need each other's help in order to do that – to manifest our power – and we've been cut off from helping each other.”

 

 

 

© Nas2EndWork (the NEW)

http://www.nas2endwork.org