Meet the New Boss - Same as the Old Boss

Last week, the meeting of the G20 spawned several protests. The protests themselves were less than shocking or even surprising. Much like a womyn's study professor being a dyke - or at least hating herself for not being one - protests of WTO, G summits, IMF and UN conferences are predictable. And the protesters themselves are predictable too. The likely suspects are the university-aged population set to do what idealists do... that is to do something... anything... start local, etc... the cynic in me tells me that others attend so as not to feel left out... while others just 'cause it's a good excuse to party.

But just below the surface, we find these protests are fairly well-coordinated by all manner of groups. Again, these groups are as predictable as the attendees: the communists', socialists', and workers' parties set up the entertainment, secure the necessary paperwork for the demonstration, and sprinkle their particular flavors of political philosophy (re: indoctrinal propoganda) throughout the staged event... attendees only meagerly aware of of who their hosts are. And while each group calls for "change" - and in actuality the "change" sought by each of the governing philosophies (whether communist, marxist, stalinist, nationalist, socialist, green, [insert other here]) is revolutionary... that is, the governing systems they advocate cannot peacefully coexist with capitalism. Yet, participating in these demonstrations amounts to nothing. In fact, it can be argued that these protests amount to less than nothing. In terms of advancing any of the systems on display, the resulting impact is zero. One could argue that attending these faires only provides benefit to the rulers themselves... the enemies make themselves known... are filmed and documented... the enemies are corralled and given a "peaceable" manner in which to "blow off steam".

The worst of these are the so-called anarchists, whose actual popularity is due to having a spectacular logo and a great history in punk-era UK. I say this because the anarchist movement is nothing but a pathetic, watered-down movement - near as I can tell. Lots of talk and no anarchy to speak of. What's worse is that the movement (if there really is one) has been largely subsumed by the larger socialist movements... to the degree that there is nothing radical that remains beyond the cool logo.

Which brings me to my point - I am all for the systemic collapse of this particular era. And it seems to me that the watershed is quite close. It is time for a systemic re-boot. I will not share with you in this piece why I believe we need one... desperately... but I will tell you that none of the movements out there (including radicalised Islam) can expedite it. Not one. And each day, we move closer to the inevitable - and each day I pray for the collapse to happen rapidly and definitively. It is not a political system which must be born in the wake of the collapse... which is why no political philosophy can help to bring it into being.

Wave you banners and choose a side... the moment you do, you have already chosen the losing side - and the winning side - and the losing side - and the winning side - in a hand-crafted dichotomy. The sooner you check out of the illusory state of affairs, the closer you will come to being where you desperately want to be.