Temporary Autonomous Zones..

Hakim Bey, who's name implies that he is a South Asian descendant (and that makes me proud), wrote an essay called Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZ). He defines TAZ as "an area...wherein transitory 'pirate utopias' can be hastily assembled as fly-by-night sites of cultural resistance". These utopias he speaks of are temporary in their very nature- ephemeral. Their temporality is permanent.
"As soon as the TAZ is named (represented, mediated), it must vanish, it will vanish...once again invisible because undefinable in terms of the Spectacle" (Bey). The Spectacle, the Society of the Spectacle, is an idea created by Guy Debord (a Situationist)which states that life and culture have been reduced to their image, their representation. The Spectacle is an image of society where relations between commodities have supplanted relations between people.
The problem with TAZ, as Bey notes, is that the revolution that comes with TAZ is temporary. But then, I wonder, is revolution ever permanent? Think of history; once the revolution is embraced by a large number of people, a critical mass, doesn't it simply change to the common lifestyle? Once enough people are on the side of the revolution, doesn't the revolutionary cause lose its meaning and simply become an ideology? or a culture?

PIRATE UTOPIAS
18th century. Sea-rovers and Corsairs spreading out over the world. Creating a network, a web of information (much like the Internet). The hubs of this net were small, hidden islands in the sea where ships stopped to pick up provisions, and fuel up for another journey. Business was the only information exchanged through this net. A few of these hidden islands were home to rebel communities- those people who wished to live outside the law. These islands did not fall under any jurisdiction, therefore they were lawless. The communities were free to create their own laws, or not- whatever suited their fancy. Bey calls these settlements "Pirate Utopias".

Bey suggests that such free enclaves are not simply a utopian dream, that they are possible in our time.

Bey observes that reaction follows revolution. Failed revolutions are named as uprising. The expected path/curve/stages for a revolution are: "revolution, reaction, betrayal, the founding of a stronger and even more oppressive State" and then back to revolution. This is the way history functions. This is the template that revolutions have to follow. The uprising, however, does not follow this curve. The uprising is a revolution outside of the the State's control, outside of history's pattern. Bey claims, "If history IS "Time", as it claims to be, then the uprising is a moment that springs up and out of Time, violates the "law" of History. If the State IS History, as it claims to be, then the insurrection is the forbidden moment, an unforgivable denial of the dialectic..." Revolution is a general, permanent state of being in opposition, uprising is a temporary peak moment of rebellion. As a very general example, I think that the rebellion is the public's attitude towards the US invasion of Iraq, and the uprising is the first suicide bombers that killed an American convoy. The rebellion takes place everyday. The uprising (though I don't necessarily support it) happened for one moment- a moment in which time stopped, history stopped, the world stopped and paid attention. And then that moment was over and rebellion became time again.
Coming back to the idea of the Temporary Autonomous Zones, Bey does not suggest TAZ as the ultimate way of life. Rather, the TAZ are "an uprising which does not engage directly with the State, a guerilla operation which liberates an area and then dissolves itself to reform elsewhere/elsewhen, before the State can crush it.

I end with my favorite quote from Bey's article:
"Getting the TAZ started may involve tactics of violence and defense, but its greatest strength lies in its invisibility- the State cannot recognize it bcause History has no definition of it. As soon as the TAZ is named (represented, mediated), it must vanish, it will vanish, leaving behind an empty husk, only to spring up again elsewhere, once again invisible because undefinable in terms of the Spectacle. The TAZ is thus a perfect tactic for an era in which the State is omnipresent and all powerful and yet simultaneously riddled with cracks and vacancies....realism demands not only that we give up waiting for 'the Revolution' but also that we give up wanting it. 'Uprising', yes-as often as possible and even at the risk of violence".

Activism in India

I am of South Asian descent. My skin color and background have always been a conflicting part of my identity...So it made sense for me to examine activism and activist art in the South Asian subcontinent, to understand my people.

For two centuries, the English dominated my people. And during the first half of the 20th centrury, extreme civil unrest, civil disobedience and small battles became the only narratives the Indians knew. The Indians wanted the British out, and they did care about the cost. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless...refugees in their own land. But it all worked. Eventually, the British caved. It may have involved economic factors as well, but the story told back home is that our passion and fight for freedom won us our land back.

In contemporary times, when social and national identities are at crossroads, when patriotism levels are at an alltime low, Rang De Basanti was produced. It's a film about a group of students, much like myself, who take up the fight for freedom. The film showcases the fight during the 1940's against the British, and juxtaposes it with the fight today against our own political powers. To me, Rang De Basanti (translated- Paint Me Yellow), is a commercial activist project.

Even if you haven't seen the film, a simple browse through of the film's website will relate it's activist spirit to you. The graffiti covered wall where the students hang out in the film is used as the background for the website. It has messages painted on it by the characters- things like "Inquilaab Zindabad" (translated- long live freedom), "nights are dark, days are darker" and "well, the rebel has arrived". These messages give off a sense of rebellion against the powers that dominate their lives.

In the next few days, I will upload a few images from the film and discuss motifs of rebellion and the acitivist spirit that is so popular in contemporary India.