Really. Truly. Have no idea:) (ffffound)
Archive for the ‘society’ Category
What I did before
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Claude Lévi-Strauss died
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009It has to be mentioned about. Claude Lévi-Strauss, the French anthropologist whose revolutionary studies of what was once called “primitive man” transformed Western understanding of the nature of culture, custom and civilization, has died at 100. I was writing about his 100th birthday a year back on this blog. Undoubtedly, he was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century!
(news&photo: nyt)
Declare interdependence
Thursday, July 16th, 2009The declaration of cultural revolutionaries for 2009 is an open experiment created, stated and set forth by art-ecology-education.org. It is a “putting in words of what is already in the air.”
The intention is viral, that is, the more these ideas are being read, spoken out, thought and discussed, the more their energy will manifest in our world and in our society. It counts with the participation of everyone with whom it resonates with. To get involved I’m starting to translate it into Polish:)
DECLARATION OF CULTURAL REVOLUTIONARIES 2009
_live, act, work with and not against nature
_know that life is too complex to understand it intellectually
_build and support local, self-governed economies
_value and safe-guard diversity of all kind
_value interdependence, since they know that nothing is separate
_regard themselves as equal to all life forms
_protect and support life
_love and support children unconditionally
_work on themselves towards greater awareness
_know about ecological principles and integrate them into their lifes
_see music and dance as an integral part of their expression and communication
_live on an animate earth and regard it as sacred
_know how to grow their own food
_appreciate their sensory awareness
_celebrate life
_cooperate
_make the shift from thinking ‘either, or’ to thinking ‘as well, as’
_share their knowledge
_understand and integrate process as a way of being
_are not identified with their body, thoughts or emotions
_see the mind as a tool
_realize that there is no right or wrong
_are not identified with any social tag, their past or their future
_are aware that the very essence of who they are is life itself
_take responsibility for their emotions
_are aware of and value their relationships to their living and seemingly non-living surroundings
_value and integrate the wisdom of women
_value and integrate the wisdom of indigenous cultures
_value generalist knowledge
_are aware of change as one of the core principles of evolution
_work towards diversification and decentralization
_engage in and create bonds to the place where they live
_turn from dependent consumers to responsible producers
_are looking for ways so that their interests and talents may unfold
_have the courage to resist and disobey laws that render self-rule, self-provisioning, and self-sustenance illegal
_are informed about the current money system and identify it as a contemporary form of enslavement
_identify and boycott biological, cultural, social and philosophical monocultures
_boycott monopolies of any kind
_question everyone who promotes one solution
_value environmental and human ethics over profit maximization
_boycott corporations and banks operating for profit maximization
_reclaim land and forests as common good
_reclaim water as common good
_reclaim biodiversity and knowledge as common good
_are aware that they participate in the process of co-creation at all time
_allow life to unfold through them
(via socialdesignblog)
Century of all-consuming Self: Happiness machines
Saturday, February 28th, 2009Very interesting BBC documentary about human striving for happiness (in two parts). Beginning form Freud’s theory it tries to uncover the great forces which are used to control the masses in the modern democracy. The first episode is about Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays who broke the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom. But Bernays was convinced that this was more than just a way of selling consumer goods. It was a new political idea: by satisfying the inner irrational desires that his uncle had identified, people could be made happy and ready to be controlled. It was the start of the all-consuming self which unfortunately has come to dominate today’s world.
Part 1
Happiness machines 1/6
Part 2
(via neo-nomad)
Claude Levi-Strauss Turned 100
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
(photo: independent.co.uk)
On 28th of November in Paris, one of the last icons of 20th century French intellectual life turned 100. Claude Levi-Strauss not only reshaped the nature of how anthropologists do their work: he changed the world’s perception of so-called “primitive” tribes in Asia, Africa and America. His structuralism (Structural anthropology, 1967) revolutionized anthropology and sociology and is still considered a foundation for the social sciences, but it was with his 1955 book “Tristes Tropiques,” a sort of anthropological meditation based on his travels in Brazil and elsewhere in the 1930s, when he became world famous. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest minds of humankind!
Some media coverge:
NYT, 100th-Birthday Tributes Pour in for Lévi-Strauss
Open Democracy, Claude Lévi-Strauss at 100: echo of the future
The independent, Grand chieftain of anthropology lives to see his centenary
M.L. King’s Dream came true
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008The segregation and discrimination and civil rights movement have always been the issues which interested my the most about American history and society. This is a very emotional and strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s racial history. During March on Washington, 1963 Martin Luther King said:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” (…) I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Well, the dream came true. For me, that’s the most significant and historic effect of this election.
Watch the whole M.L. King’s speech:
I’m voting Republican
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008Sure, I’m voting Republican. Fun:)
Slavoj Žižek on toilets and ideology
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008I LOVE him! Just check this out:
Girls can change the world
Saturday, July 5th, 2008The powerful social and economic change can be brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society – this is called the girl effect.
Don’t protest
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008Visual essay about social apathy and the culture of protestation by Jean Jullien. In Poland the slogans would more sound like: “I don’t care”, “I complain everyday, but do nothing”, “It wouldn’t change anything”, but the social indifference remains the same.
