<nettime> counterpowers - masks

[Brian Holmes <106271.223@compuserve.com>]

The world is upside down. Democracy has its face in the mud. 34 of the most
violent people in the world are enclosed behind their own wall in Quebec.
Outside, crowds move freely beneath the cameras of the police. The crimes
inside are unbearable, the tension is too great. The Carnaval against
Capital is about to start. Already last night, thousands of bandannas began
to appear - orange, red, yellow, the colors of fire. They are hand printed
with a fantastic, grotesque, carnavalesque smile. They are masks. Folded
carefully, like a soft weapon. Every gesture, every word of resistance
counts. The weapons have these words inside:

The Gift of Masks

"A classic crisis of legitimacy has overtaken the key institutions of  
global economic governance.  If legitimacy is not regained, it is  
only a matter of time before structures collapse..."   Walden Bello

Inevitably as the global movements against neoliberalism and for life have
grown and become more vocal, so has the repression.  But with each act of
repression, the men of money reveal themselves further.  No longer can they
meet in relative anonymity.  Their unmasking has become a carnivalesque
ritual, repeated in Seattle, Prague, Seoul, and Buenos Aires...
        Now, the fences grow ever higher and the meeting locations ever
more remote as the mask of "tolerance" continues to slip further, revealing
an animal that is cornered, knows its time is up, and is fighting for its
survival.  Besieged by those who desire justice, the men of money are
getting scared.  They want to name the faces of resistance ­ name them
thugs, terrorists, flat-earthers, delinquents, dreamers.  They want to
capture, catalogue and criminalise the faces of those who are saying
"enough is enough." They want to wipe  the smile of resistance off these
faces forever. 

"Resistance is the secret of joy" Alice Walker

Carnival and rebellion have identical goals: to invert the social order
with joyous abandon and to celebrate our indestructible lust for life.  
Carnival breaks down the  barriers of capital, and releases the creativity
of each individual.  It throws beauty back into the streets, streets in
which people begin to really live again.  During Carnival, as in rebellion,
we wear masks to free our inhibitions, we wear masks to transform
ourselves, we wear masks to show that we are your daughter, your teacher,
your bus driver, your boss.  Being faceless protects and unites us while
they try to divide and persecute.  By being faceless we show that who we
are is not as important as what we want, and we want everything for
everyone.  
        So we will remain faceless because we refuse the spectacle of
celebrity, we will remain faceless because the carnival beckons, we will
remain faceless because the world is upside down, we will remain faceless
because we are everywhere. By covering our faces we show that our words,
dreams, and imaginations are more important than our biographies. By
covering our faces we recover the power of our voices and our deeds. By
wearing masks we become visible once again. 


Carnival against Capital
20-22 April, 2001
Quebec

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