BORN AGAIN COMMUNISTS

BORN AGAIN COMMUNISTS

http://arcade.stanford.edu/born-again-communism-or-simply-love-doctrine

....Neoliberalism is becoming more and more bankrupt around the world.  In fact, even in Russia, one of the most significantly neoliberal states, people came out and supported largely left parties.  Elections in March are probably going to be stolen, but Russian people started to talk about this oligarchic and corrupt system.  Events in Greece and other European countries are also extremely interesting.   Arab countries are preparing for elections and some like Syria are still in the turmoil.  It looks like it will be very interesting season starting this spring in America.

  The Occupy Wall Street movement raised many hopes of bringing the left back – after virtually 30 years of almost complete absence in the Western World.  But again, everywhere – there is an ideological challenge – it is not a death of ideology – but a labor over a new ideology being born.  I want to examine who and what contributes to this labor of new idea being born.  Is it just a return of an old stereotyped ‘communism’ or is it something new coming that has never been here?  I tend to think the latter is more likely – but we have to wait and see until something shows up.  One good thing is that it is the first time since the 1960s when it is not considered bad to engage in civil disobedience and when going to prison is once again becoming one of the ways to demonstrate your political disagreement with the World Order.  This in itself is very encouraging and I think the new generation deserves credit for this.  Life is becoming worthy again and ideas are playing a role again – it is not just money, prestige and other materialist categories.  I must say that idealism – political idealism has a chance of coming back – and even more so.  Living for idea – and dying for idea – has been a best part of human experience and humanity is not going to be living a worthy life without us believing in our ideals.  So instead of bourgeois-careerist discourse of plain materialist mediocre life once again we can see the youth that is fired up and not shy to go to prison for something that they believe in.    An alternative discourse is coming – and it is articulated not by white-male civilization but by women and non whites in this case.  I guess this happens because they have seen more pain and understand suffering more genuinely.   Diagnosis and prognosis were pronounced so well by different people.  I can bring here just couple of examples.

Yana Djin’s poem “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” that has the similar name as the famous film of Bunuel has a different look at the problem and perhaps an even more contemporary one.    It is not just corruption of the bourgeois mind, but its lack of authenticity that is bothering many people – in order to make a career and become ‘successful’ people in our time are required to be so fake – to repress and suppress their real aspirations, dreams, desires, emotions.  Today’s careerist discourse is inadequately false – that has become a requirement of success.  That is one more reason that 99 percent came out to the streets.  It might be that prison cell is more genuine place than the room for ‘success’. 

          The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

          Oh, to be one of those placid souls  

          who cozy up with a cup of pale tea  

          to warm the palate and wash   

          their hands off the day like   

          resigned Pilate in an armchair  

          left by someone’s great great great grandmother  

          With a hard-back of Proust in the lap  

          and a saccharine stare directed at the window   

          where the afternoon is as slow as   

          one’s thoughts of deliverance  

          Snow as deliberate in its falling  

          as sentences on the page  

          which rustle in step   

          to someone’s footsteps  

          in an upstairs bedroom  

          Footsteps which speak neither  

          of resolution nor resignation  

          neither hurry towards him nor from him  

          which betray neither hate nor desire  

          Just to sit there in an armchair  

          in an arrested artificial silence  

          and brood over that nothing which is life  

          and which overall has turned out  

          To be able to numb the faraway sting of pain or regret  

          and imagine that one has reached salvation.   

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