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Your Questions Answered
Quebec City, Canada, April 20-22, 2001, summit of the Americas, FTAA, WTO. Same basic deal as Sydney, different specifics as to what's on the table. But still a bad deal for everyone and everything, except the very rich. The problem begins with the imposition of Order. This takes many forms, the main in QC was the fence errected around the meeting site to make sure no protestors could get near enough to be heard by the delegates. Results, predictably and understandably, though uselessly, in the violent sections of the protest movement attacking the fence, shaking it, periodically taking a section down and being repulsed by a water cannon. You might think that that is when Chaos comes in. It isn't. There's nothing Chaotic in any of this, it's all very much a product of Order. There's no way this side of hell the people who put the fence up didn't realize that it would be attacked, and the protestors who attack it are very much acting according to the script. It's the old standard failed revolution model, an small and relativly unarmed band of dissadents attacks a well armed and armored "military" who, while perhaps suffering setbacks along the way, basically smash the resistance. The only relativly new addition is the great show of "restraint" on the part of the police, using non-lethal (mostly) tools, like using rubber bullets rather than lead ones when shooting at the citizens they're sworn to protect. Our Prime Minister at the time: What's wrong with Pepper Spray? I have pepper on my steak all the time. I'm sure enough people on this list have been pepper sprayed that I don't need to outline how rediculous that is. The News media naturally focus on the pitched battle, back and forth, some protestors throw rocks, the police are noted to not shoot them into pieces, but use non-letal methods, the public having no idea how painful these "tools" are. And they only rarely do irreparable permenant damage. Convient excuse to not mention what these deals are all about and why they're so destructive to life, wouldn't ya say? Makes for damn good TV too, the ultimate reality TV show. Survivor kiss our colective ass. It all feeds back into the current Order, strengthening and entrenching the status quo. Chaos is what breaks the script, what allows a different possibility to manefest. Which didn't happen at QC. It was all very Ordered, though disorderly and destructive. Then there was the TAZ. Until they teargassed it. After surrounding it so no one could get out. Odd tactic for dispersing a croud if you ask me. Did you spot the imposition of Order in the above? You might think that it got Chaotic once they teargassed it. Certainly got crazy panicing people who can't breath, police with gas masks and big sticks. But again, that was all planned. Very much Orderly, though only those who could breath would likely appreciate that. You think they didn't intend what happened when the teargas hit? What was Chaotic was what was going on before the teargas hit. Convivality, people talking and laughing and networking, dancing and enjoying themselves, building relationships for future action, breaking the barriers the Authorities so despirately need between us (the fence again? attacked more usefully this time?). The celebration of resistance is pure Chaos, "a spontaneous organic order, totally different from the carrion pyramids of sultans, muftis, cadis, and grinning executioners" (Hakim Bey, spelling mistakes mine) Which is of course why They had to stop it. Order can't have that, the potential for newness. What's new cannot be predicted, and what cannot be predicted cannot be controled. Protests get violent so that they will follow the scripts the status quo expects, and can control the outcomes of. Many, including myself, suspect that at least some violent protestors aren't protestors at all, the concept of the agitator being nothing new. Plants to make sure that what must go violently does, and in the right place. Though mostly that isn't need. They know what conditions will give rise to enough people reacting the way They need them to. People getting hurt at protests is no accident. I'd bet that kind of thing will also happen at Sydney this year. And the less Chaos there is, the worse it will be. Bright Blessings, Chuckles, the Wonder Monkey TEXTS T.R.I.P.S. Foolish Idealist SYNCHROPHRENIA Saying "NO" Forcing rainbows into the clouds There's no place like Topeka Reality? Check Please! How to get to Sydney The Dutch Frog Cult Mad Monkey Manifestation... Is your life boring? The CTG Chantra From Grey to Beige in Double Bay More Flix..... Hindu goddess 'changes colour' The Grip Of The Grey Fungi on the Corpse of Reality Chuckles tells it like it is Mailing List for Sydney Node Mailing List for Italian Node a few ideas for non-ritual public actions Translations But Isn't Chaos Dangerous? (part 2) The CTG Flix database The Children Of Apsu Cultural Creatives Black and White => Grey => Full Colour Beyond Good And Evil Quebec Diary What happened to Arthur Dent? Call To Colour The Burning Arrow Rite - Update The Burning Arrow Rite Another Tarot Reading TOP NEWS STORY! How do we create a Chaosphere? But Isn't Chaos Dangerous? What do you do with Symbols? |