democracy vs democracy

Augusto Boal: “I believe in real democracy, not phony democracy.”

http://bigthink.com/words-of-wisdom/augusto-boal-i-believe-in-real-democracy-not-phony-democracy

thanks taking

@alalohwhydee: instead, we celebrate “thanks taking” … for what we are about to seize…

the wild in the beast… the race of the rat

in my bedside journal
a rough, hastily composed story
of sorts…
perhaps a passing idea?
maybe just a collection of thoughts…
just a dream?
or reality?

in my weary eye was a great savanna
a vast, rolling landscape
multitudes of wildebeest like beasts
swarming in their circular rush
the baying of herds
the honking of horns

like millions of ants
frantic
desperateness
moving nest
as if to escape some fire or flood
but eventually coming back
to the same original place
only afterwards
much fewer in number

driven on by some inner foe
a circular motion
of circular reason
death defying
death denying
or so they think

crossing rivers and open fields
exposed
running wild
meekly together

but this time
was different
as if the usual predators were insufficient
the outer enemy
was now amongst their own
the beasts turned on each other
on themselves
nipping at heels
ripping flesh from sides
tripping up
and being tripped
falling, failing
piercing
necks to the left
eyes to the right
charging
jabbing
high and low
at full gallop
pressed in
against each other
trapped
no way out
got to keep on running
intoxicated
exhausted fumes
expelled emissions
the smell of seeping blood
burning runners
flayed flesh
high pace
no space
no place to hide

blurred, dusty vision
distracted eyes bulging
tongues swaying in desperate gasps
hearts pounding
ribs breaking
lungs heaving

one by one
they turned on each other
together

and all the while
the bankers kept account
presiding chiefs
made sure
that no one was left out

one for all
all for none
none for all

and the bankers stood back
and smiled
for there would be another run next year
…and the next
…and the next

modern slaves?

more than 35 million people around the world are trapped in a modern form of slavery (according to a report from the Walk Free Foundation)

* forced labor * human trafficking * forced marriages * debt bondage * commercial sexual exploitation  etc.

what about the role of Democracy in all of this?

does present day Democracy help or hinder?

could it perhaps be argued that Democracy itself presents a charade of freedom, personal autonomy and individual self determination?

could Democracy be seen as an effective herding of the masses towards a sociopolitical pen built exclusively for mass exploitation (slavery through consumerism by unscrupulous politicians controlled by warmongering bankers)?

could it be argued that Democracy is only a malicious front for big money, big power players?  …big financial players who enslave the vast majority to an artificially induced consumerist reality which is itself disguised slavery?

could it be that by voting in and for this charade which we call Democracy, the unwitting electorate are effectively selling themselves into slavery?

if so, the figure of 39 million should be changed to being possibly much more than 95% of all the people in the world… not so?

our little ones

we will all have our little ones
and we will either sell them into slavery,
or raise them to be fearless kings

a bad idea

there’s this shocking idea

that the road of folly that leads to destruction

is wide and well traveled

that the vast majority walk this way

a way paved with good intentions

a happy road

filled with pleasure

bulging with easy access

*

like all things

this shocking idea has another shadowy side

not a nice side

mostly unpleasant

a side not well frequented

few if any find it

and it’s not at all popular

in fact, it’s a side so out on the edge

it’s a whole different road

a road that seems almost to track in tangent

a lonely road

of brokenness and mourning

desolate and empty

bumpy and not marked

there are no signposts

it is not even found on Google maps

actually people don’t find this path

in reality they can’t

instead, they seem to find themselves on this path

usually on their knees

not in prayer mind you

but in pain and suffering

because they have stumbled and fallen

rather, the path calls them

then falls on them

and being bruised and broken

they have no strength to keep on walking

it’s too painful

too difficult

so they stay on bleeding knees

mostly it’s quite embarrassing

bitterness and pain are foul companions

eventually

almost reluctantly

they get up and keep walking

the humiliation keeps them moving

it takes time

but eventually they walk

some even run

*

we’re so full of new ideas these days

but strangely,

this idea has been with us all the time

we don’t know how, we don’t know why

*

it starts and stops

as it goes on by

we don’t know how

and we don’t know why

*

in the end

beginnings come

there’s no such thing

as a rising sun

*

fools in high places

many fools are placed in high places
while the wise are pressed down
slaves are seen riding on horseback
as princes walk on foot below
yet even as the fool rides high
he lacks sense
and revealing his stupidity
he opens his mouth to utter decrees
but it’s the folly of the masses who flick his tongue
yet he thinks from his lofty place
that wisdom flows
but no
it’s the dull voice of the present age
drunkenness in the midday sun
a rumbling from the throat of the senselessness
that makes the fools speak
louder and louder folly prevails
and the wise resolve to remain silent
they know that the bitter mouth cannot be stopped
and wind cannot be caught and kept in a box

we the people…

the science of religion,

and the religion of science

a passionate hymn

echoing out from both sides of the sanctuary

either way…

and from any direction

the worship of man

…by man

…for man

and all simultaneously,

but at different times

refusing voluminously to plead the 5th amendment

can’t bare to look

we don’t see
because we never look
we don’t look
because we like what we see
and so the lament
we refuse to sing
is called ‘we are lost, woe is me’