Who Is the Occupy Movement?

The occupy movement is a global network of local people.

What we share in common is the realisation that contemporary economics and politics benefit far too few people. They actually allow, continue and proliferate suffering, and we all agree that that is immoral, and unreasonable.

There are global issues, there are regional issues, and there are local issues. It is down to each Occupy movement – each Occupation – to decide what those issues are, and how we shall choose to engage with them.

What that means is that *We Are In Control Of Our Own Destiny*

We hold the responsibility for deciding for ourselves what democracy looks like, for us, in our immediate context.

We decide on what terms we will engage with existing economic and political structures.

http://media.citytv.topscms.com

At the same time, we are a small part of a massive, increasingly intricate, and strengthening global network with a horizontal nature. This is inherently collaborative, and the scope for knowledge and experience sharing is almost unlimited. That’s a lot of solidarity and strength upon which to draw, and it makes us powerful. The very nature of participatory democracy that we have formed over the last few weeks in our own cities and squares throughout the world in our General Assemblies, and our various nascent workgroups, is being reflected in hundreds of other cities, by hundreds of thousands of friends and allies, throughout the entire Occupy Network.
We do, truly, Occupy Together.

What we need to realise, on a deep and personal level, is that we are on to something new and important, here.

I want you to consider this for a moment. I want you to realise this fact—the fact that What You Are Doing Is Important.

Fire and Ashes

[Written in Calgary, Canada; July 12, 2010]

“Yesterday is ashes. Tomorrow is green wood. Only today does the fire burn brightly.“
~ Esquimo Proverb

You gotta deconstruct, to reconstruct.

One year ago on this date, Theresa and I split up.

Since then, everything in my life seems to have come around to the opposite point in its cycle, if not having come a full cycle…

It’s summer instead of winter. I’m in the opposite hemisphere, about to (re)begin a relationship instead of ending one.

I’m a fresh and mature evolution of myself on many levels compared with this time last year.

The Wellington Kiss

I walk down Courtenay Place, and I can see everything. The contrast of colours and tones in the buildings and street markings; the garish, desperate shop window displays; and the sun bursting intermittently through muted gray clouds; all are sharp edges and clear spectra. Colours are saturated and vibrant; the movements of vehicles and people seem precise and certain. I am aware of every individual person ambling, charging, striding and waltzing along the pavement around me. Each one sticks out, unique, and I see all of them at the same time; all of them are in razor focus simultaneously.

I smell the diesel of passing busses and define it against the petrol of passing cars; I pick out the aroma of roasted and brewing espresso, and the fresh pulpy scent of new books in Whitcoulls. The whiff of baked pastry takes a seat on my tongue, contrasted against the must of wet leaves on wet concrete. The perfume of a woman strolling six meters away caresses my olfactory sense. I smell all of this simultaneously, and my brain hums and processes.

The fresh northerly breeze—the Wellington Kiss—chills my face and fingers as I hunch my shoulders under four layers of cotton and nylon. I swear I can perceive each molecule of air bounce off my skin as I walk along, dodging emo kids and manoeuvring around shoppers stuck inside their buying-bubbles, spending all their attention on what they’re about to spend all of their money on. The chill air cools my corneas, and I blink them warm again. My jeans rustle against my legs; my top rubs against my neck; and my tactile processing cortex extends itself confidently across all these sensations simultaneously.

I hear and understand every single sound around me. The conversation between the couple who walk in front of me; each vehicle in the traffic as it fits and starts; and the soft Kiss of the city whooshing quietly around my ears; each voice and noise is distinct and crystalline, and I hear it simultaneously.

Everything combines in a smooth synaesthesia of intimate awareness of this place, where I am here in time and space, right now. Everything is sharp with the awareness that after tomorrow, I may never see, hear, feel or taste this place again; that I may never walk along this busy street alongside all these people any more.

I am not sad. I am going to earnestly miss this place and these people—my people—and at the same time I am righteously happy about that. The knowledge that I will miss all these friends and family and strangers and places reminds me of how precious they are to me, and how much value I hold for them.

This is not a feeling like I want to hold on to this, like I’m trying to preserve all these senses like a snapshot in my mind and heart; this is a feeling like I am allowing this Time, this Moment, to permeate me and suffuse me and define me against it, even as it absorbs me into its throbbing, pulsing heart. The sensory input cannot overload me, because I allow it to flow through me from second to second. I pay all my attention in this present not to a moment in time, but to the passing of time and all these things through it.

The keen attention I am paying to Everything here reminds me of how much I love this place, and all of you. All of you whom I know to varying degrees of intimacy, and all of you in this city and this country whom I never have met, and never will; and yet who share this time and this place—this Motion and Movement—with me.

All of you.

Kiss kiss, Wellington.

Kiss Kiss, Wellington.

Speed of Sound: Mach III – Debrief

SoS: Mach 3 was BEYOND EPIC. It’s 1:30pm the next day and I am still buzzzzzzzing… The punters loved us; we had a queue outside at 1:30am while Marshall Law was playing; Mike the owner was there most of the night despite saying he was going to leave early; and he is dead-keen to have SoS back again soon. The vibe was so indescribably positive… Loads of punters thanked us for our sets and we had a full dancefloor from about 11pm until 3am. We knew we had the concept sold when there were whoops, whistles and cheers during the breakdowns…!

The concept? “Participatory, Interactive Rave.” This is our vision of Rave Culture upgraded for the 21st Century.

The S.o.S. CyberBuddha

I’ve worked in bars & restaurants for almost 15 years, so I think I can say with some authority that I know what people are looking for when we go out on the weekend: We’re looking for a sense of community—a sense of belonging. We spend hours of our time and dollars of our money on disinhibiting liquors in order to be around and make contact with other human beings in a social setting. What we’re doing with S.o.S. is overtly encouraging people to make those connections.

We sought to bring some of the founding principles of Burning Man / Kiwiburn to the rave scene of Wellington, such as participation, inclusion, radical self-expression, gifting, etc. Generally we were just looking for the kind of party we’d all like to go to, yet weren’t finding available. So we did it ourselves. We put on a free gig, and got some really friendly points of difference put into play. We sought to implement some of the Good Things that we experienced at various burns into our mainstream, “default” world; and, we sought to demonstrate that it could be done without the need for a lot of money, or fake hype, or big-name artists—just by doing what we love. This is our Sense of Community… and we invite you to be a part of it.

More photos from the night can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50163262@N04/sets/72157624087417905/

Ownership

I sold all my stuff. I could easily riff lyrically about how we don’t really “possess” anything, about how we are just with things and people. Let’s be honest, though: you already know all that shit. It’s old news. Either you buy it (no pun intended…maybe) or you don’t.

Sure it feels good. The car is gone and I don’t have to think about warrants of fitness, ongoing repairs or registration costs. I bought that car for $2,750 two years ago and I’ve spent over $3,000 since then just keeping her on the road, let alone full of gas from week to week.

The kayak is gone, too, and I was actually a bit emotional as Dean off TradeMe drove off down the driveway with the trusty steed on the roofrack. I’ll miss having that particular chunk of plastic.

fff

Lana and the Steed

Seen, Done, Been

I’ve had it said to me a few times, with incredulous expressions, “cripes! You’ve done everything!”

Of course, it doesn’t feel that way to me. One life, it seems, is not enough… there is too much to learn; too much to experience and become. It gets overwhelming sometimes, thinking about the uncountable things that I want, sometimes desperately, to do or achieve within my time here. We all search for Meaning in  our lives, but for me I see so much Potential, so many options that, now and then, it freaks me out a little.

It’s one of the prime motivators for me to Go Places and Do Things, and for me to put so much effort into analysing and understanding everything that happens. It’s why I crave questions and fervently seek their answers. It’s why I often find myself heaped-over with projects and commitments — because I see something that looks interesting, challenging, fun, rewarding— and immediately I want to do it, to feel it, to be it. Often I find myself in too deep too quickly, and I balk. Other times I’m frustrated and bored because I end up committed to something that isn’t as rewarding as I’d hoped. And (probably too) often I notice something that quite simply Needs Doing, and my overdeveloped sense of responsibility kicks in; but that’s not really the best reason to do something, now, is it?

With my recent acknowledgement of What I Want To Do With My Life, I’ve begun to wonder if there really is as much of a pattern to my journey so far as I want to believe. So, here’s the list of all the things I’ve seen, and done, and been. See what you can make out: