Protests As Ritual Energy Sinks

I don’t know if any of you have heard about what’s going on up here in Canada, because the international press isn’t giving it much coverage, but there has been a massive protest launched across the country this week. This movement, called “Idle No More,” is primarily coming from First Nations people, and is an outcry against not being consulted on an important omnibus bill that passed through our federal parliament just before all the politicians went on their holiday break. Among other things, this bill drastically reduces environmental protections for water quality, and allows for the privatization and sale of lands on Indian reserves. It’s basically a very devious, short-term strategy for the expansion of fracking development in Canada, at First Nations’ expense.  Many of my friends, students, and family members travelled to Ottawa to join the main protest on the solstice. My brother-in-law, who is not psychologically well right now, trekked out early on foot to set an example, traveling in sub-zero temperatures the whole way (this is basically like walking from Montana to New York, and he’s lucky that people picked him up and gave him rides along the way). The same day he started walking, an Attawapiskat Chief named Theresa Spence began a hunger strike, vowing that she wouldn’t eat again until she was able to meet with Stephen Harper, our Prime Minister. She’s currently on the thirteenth day of her fast, and may very well become a true martyr if Harper continues to ignore her request

I wanted to make you all aware of this situation, because it has been foremost in my thoughts all week. My training has of course continued, though I’ve been a bit limited by a sore wrist, which is not allowing me to really set to work intensely developing myself with the free-weights I recently purchased. I was, however, able to demonstrate enough CLF proficiency to get green-lighted for learning the TKD-inspired form, which is something I’ve definitely been looking forward to. Here are a few video highlights from my week…

But outside of the physical training, as I said, my mind has been on the events unfolding up here. I’m troubled by them, because I personally do not feel that protests have any real power at all. In fact, I see them as ritual safety-valves, intended to protect the system that the people are trying to undermine. Protests capture and absorb resistance energy that could be far better spent in other kinds of actions that would have more direct effects. When I look at the function of flocks, herds, and schools in nature, they are practical for evading an attacker, or rather offer individuals the greatest odds of safety when an attacker approaches. They are not, however, used as mere displays in protest of the fact that an assailant happens to exist. To have an effective offence, a different approach is needed. I’ve been trying to communicate this position to friends and family all week, and have not been well received. As an end note, I’d like to share something I wrote last night, a sad insight that I think relates also to our recent discussions about Jokers:

Here's what I observe: There are several very important causes worthy of our attention. They are not really new, they have been here all along. Some of us are perpetually engaged with them. But for the most part, they have been ignored by both the masses and minorities alike. In fact, the most important of them are cited as real issues only when serving human-centric political or financial ends

Regardless of how serious these causes may be, they also happen to function as convenient stages for a very small number of disturbed individuals, people who are in some manner seriously failing themselves and find, in the issues at hand, opportunities for redemption, for heroism. In their compromised state, these people frame their identities in opposition to a singular Other, a celebrity figure who cares nothing of them, but who can serve as a powerful and familiar symbol for all they wish they themselves were not. But alas, perhaps the target is not so unlike themselves, in scale of selfish motive supposedly pursued for the benefit of all, or in scale of stubborn aggrandizement. The disturbed place themselves at serious risk for fulfilment of their heroic fantasy. And in that act, some may get lucky and find at least temporary redemption in going as far as they claimed they would. Others, who set the bar too high from the start, place themselves in mortal danger. And when the cowardly masses witness the truly disturbed, they may very well greet them as heroes, reinforcing the fantasies

In the end, someone dies, whether physically or ideationally, whether celebrity or mad-(wo)man. And the serious issues go on, more deeply entrenched than ever