Vision and Strategies for 2008

What we are putting forward is rather substantial, something that might be described as a movement to spark a revolution in consciousness.

In keeping with our vision and mission statements, we are proposing about three avenues of activity.

1. Education & Communication

We reaffirmed the importance of our ongoing commitment to learning and teaching, research and communication. Education that awakens an alternative consciousness and informs the struggle for justice is crucial, and we want to strategize strong initiatives on this front for 2008.

With the initial performance of “Trouble in Paradise” under out belt, we want to take it around to various places and employ it as an occasion for discussion on social justice issues. We need people interested in designing the educational component of this presentation to work together in a) revising the presentation itself; b) shaping the subsequent format of discussion; and c) devising literature that would provoke ongoing conversation and learning.

In addition, we mentioned the possibilities of regular educational forums, such as our once a month “Reading the Text / Reading the World” series of evenings, reading and discussion groups, day-long workshops / seminars, weekend conferences, film festivals, etc.

Perhaps we should also think about pedagogy: how do we best undertake the educational task? What kind of teaching / learning methods do we practise? There is room for thoughtful, creative ways of raising consciousness to issues of justice and alternative visions for living.

2. Public Actions of Resistance and Dissent

Awakening from our sleep of cultural assimilation and nurturing alternative ways of living requires acts of resistance and defection from the dominant culture. On this front, acts of resistance can take the form of day-to-day strategies of non-compliance as well as public symbolic actions that expose and challenge injustice and dehumanization hidden behind the routines of the status quo.

We need to discuss together a variety of practical initiatives that would encourage people to resist the grip of dominant culture on our thoughts, perspectives and desires, and rupture the routines of uncritical participation in its ways. One idea we had was to initiate a week-long fast in which we would invite people to participate. The fast would include many elements of resistance and rupture, defection and dissent (relinguishment of food, purchasing, entertainment, TV, etc.), but would also entail the counter practises of sharing, community celebrations, etc. – think Isa 58.

Undoubtedly there can be many other actions and initiatives we can imagine and undertake on this front, and creativity is key.

3. Establishing Alternative Practices

The more we teach and the more we take on public actions of resistance, the more need there is for grounding in our own lives the very social changes we seek. It is not enough to say what we as a society ought to do, how we should share resources, treat people with dignity, provide homes for those who have none, develop patterns of communal solidarity, etc. Of course we need to press our political and communal leaders to ensure justice and peace for all, to alter arrangements that oppress and dehumanize people; but we also must seek to embody what we envision.

In this case, we are looking at establishing a community initiative of alternative practises, a place where the modus operandi is other than that of the society around us, a space where solidarity with others, especially the poor, outcast, rejected, trumps individual self-actualization; where sharing of resources and open-handedness has priority over ownership of private property; where contentment and simplicity of lifestyle within an economics of enough takes precedence over personal material accumulation; where the nurturing of wonder and mystery in human relations erodes the pressures of commodification, etc. I know, it all sounds utopian; but that’s not the worst thing possible.

To move toward the actualization of such alternative modes of living together, we need to acquire an apartment building where we can live in proximity to one another and develop patterns of sharing and community care. Obviously, we have lots to work out here but I know some are keen to make it happen.

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In all of these ventures, we need the crucial involvement of art – visual arts, dramatic arts, public art, verbal arts, musical arts, etc. This is not something extra or added on as a means of aesthetic expression but art as essential to the revolution of consciousness, or awakening an alternative vision. It needs to disrupt our sensibilities cultivated by acceptable society, disclose the darkness, reveal what is hidden, imagine alternatives, see the beauty and mystery and worth of the discarded. Art as dissent, as rupture, as apocalyptic vision, as refashioning our sense of beauty.

For the implementation of these strategies we need to set up a base of operations somewhere, a space in which we can conduct our education campaigns, our initiatives of resistance and organize our alternative social structures. Perhaps there is a church somewhere in the area that is underutilized and would be willing to let us operate out of their premises, either for a nominal monthly rental fee or just enough to cover expenses of operating.

Each of these fronts (learning/teaching; acts of resistance; establishing alternatives) will require human energy and commitment. I’m proposing that the first three meetings in January be dedicated to discussing and strategizing around these three areas of engagement.

• Monday, January 7 – educational strategies
• Monday, January 14 – resistance strategies
• Monday, January 21 – alternative community strategies

Over the next few weeks, give some thought to your own participation in Streams of Justice, to how and where you would like to plug into this movement for justice and social change. Then join us in January for discussion, planning and action.