Kill the Revolution!

national | miscellaneous | news report

Friday June 13, 2003 16:02

by Nicola Murray - SOS

Cork

PARTYING THE SYSTEM TO DEATH

There are a number of events planned for the 21st June at Shannon airport; SOS, the National Demo and the Pitstop Ploughshares / Catholic Workers event, all generating a fair amount of controversy in the run up to the solstice. Nicola Murray muses on the significance of the SOS movement.

A critic of SOS wonders if its supporters really believe that they can “party the system to death”. His position, along with SOS’s other detractors, is that we can only march to peace. But what if the only route to peace is to kill the revolution as we know it? Kill, in this context, need not be thought of in negative terms: it can be seen as a kind of benevolent destruction, like the way the Hindu Goddess, Kali, destroys demons that would otherwise run amok, harming humans and divinities alike. Maybe the revolution as we know it is being used against us; used to entrap us in a dichotomous paradigm. What if we are being tricked into reacting rather than acting? Tricked into unconsciously imitating that which we wish to abolish. If this is the case, then even when the revolution succeeds, it can only bring us back to where we began – as the word revolution implies. SOS wants to break the cycle altogether; to kill the revolution. But how? By partying the system to death? Yes! By connecting with each other at events like SOS, cultivating friendships that transcend communities, nations and continents, we can transcend the “us v/s them” model of war and resistance. We can change the course of humanity from self-destruction to self-realization; the realization of the unity of all things. Indeed, there may be no other way to peace than to party our way there.

RECLAIM THE SKIES!