No Airplay for the Revolution
Thomas Sangkara, liberator and revolutionary of Burkina Faso
Ahem, the
revolution will not be televised
I repeat, the
revolution will not be televised.
For centuries, humanity has swapped despots for the hallowed revolutionary, just in the 20th century, the world was truly changed by the likes of Atatürk, Thomas Sankara, Qaddafi and even Nelson Mandela. What these men have in common is that they were once enemies of their respective states and then rose to power by liberating their people from the shackles of oppressive regimes. Their methods varied, but the word that echoed was revolution. The powers that be, tried all they could to suppress knowledge of the sweeping epidemic that was the movements of liberation. The Oppressor used covert means, infiltration, executions, massacres and sabotage. All of this to no avail as the people had tolerated enough under the boots of their leaders.
“Time is a mind trip so be mindful of it ‘cos your minds full of it.”
– Influ(h)ence Ill
Qadaffi, in his more useful days
Indeed time is a funny thing, one step along the time-line inching along with the passing days and seasons change and rearrange the earth we once knew. Tides sweep in and mountains give way, these once mountainous men have had varied success in achieving their ideals, Qaddafi is a perfect case study. Once revered as a hero of the people and for the people, he met his death on the streets of his home town at the hands of a blood thirsty mob, ironically spurred on, as the media would have us believe, by the peaceful ideals of democracy. You see, Qaddafi, had way too much of a good thing and finally, a tumultuous relationship with the global super powers and international authorities had reached its gut wrenching conclusion. He was a liability and had to be removed. This despite achieving a revolution, removing a colonial power and using oil resources to fund free education for his people, just one of his many successes. My point is not to argue the merits of the Qaddafi regime or the decision by NATO to proceed with bombing and the implementation of a no fly zone, but rather to illustrate how a revolutionary can over time become a villain. Qaddafi is perhaps evidence, from a certain viewpoint, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
“Revolutions, never losing, in the struggle of life.”
– Sam I Am the Maximan
What about our craniums? Filled with the Toxic Past.
Revolutions have almost always eventually gone rotten as the leadership transitions from one generation to the next, the dirty seed of power corrupting from within, then comes the inevitable power grab and the slow decay from the bastion of hope, rising from the charred earth like fynbos, to the virulent Port Jackson, whose sole purpose is, to spread its filth. Change then, for the sake of change, is far from what we need. In South Africa, we had averted a civil war to attain our democracy. The so-called bloodless revolution, RIP Hector Peterson, Ashley Kriel, Steve Biko and all the forgotten dead, ushered in democracy yet nothing has really changed in terms of economic power, the same wealthy elite, now sprinkled with the obedient porch monkey, still rule and neo-colonial economics are still the order of the day. While we bicker in parliament, the men in suits play with money on a computer and decide, literally, who gets to eat and who must live in the lower part of human existence, that dark hallway where morality is in direct conflict with survival.
“Wake the fuck up, because you not a fuck up.”
– The Sage
Change, I. Synonyms.
Evolving DNA
If we break it all down, it would seem that we are doomed to repeat this cycle, indeed, revolution means rotation. Rotation, in turn implies a cyclical movement.
Aluta Continua. The struggle continues, as long as we believe it will. Again, in our words we find our blockages.
Word. Sound. Power.
Indeed, life is a cycle, the cycle of life is continual creation. Life begetting life. My friends, we have mistaken ourselves into believing that life is something other than this beautiful abundance that lives off itself. A perversion of the truth. A perversion that has taught us to seek struggle. To seek trials. Attracting problems to first, ourselves, thus as a result, our communities and in turn the entire planet. We stand on the edge of a crisis. Ironically, the revolution is proof that good will prevail. The cycle is not completed and we will come full circle once again, like everything in the universe, to balance and wholeness. Martin Luther King Jnr. said,
“When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” The change and the self are locked together. The next stage of our cycle is our evolution. The evolution of our being. We became conscious of our individuality and communicated it, now we will become conscious of our oneness and communicate it. This means everyone will return to balance, all that means in a practical sense is for you, the reader, to
return to yourself.
“At least, I have one up on the beast, sounds and words are fun. You can’t take all my stuff from me, kak funny. Curse these days do not become a serpent slave, you followers who become hollow ones, those who are first to graze on dirty blades.”
– Allink impassing
You are who you want to be all of the time, when you required to be inspired just draw on your mind.
Again, I offer no solutions, there are many paths back to ourselves and you know which one is yours to walk. You will face resistance and it will all be your own. It will come disguised as people. Just remember it is your own. The alternative is turning your back on the truth and continuing living in struggle. It is certainly a rabbit hole of a journey and you may meet a few Alices on the road to your center. Just remember, you are who you want to be all of the time. You are not the construct of some obscure randomness, you are what you choose to be, despite all of that.
“Either way dead is what you bound to be, so it’s pointless saying your apostle’s creed, embracing greed, your riches you won’t need, ‘cos when the spirit leaves the vessel the body will be covered by dirt like seeds.”
– Son of the 021
End Game
We shall evolve, beyond this current quagmire. We believe it. We are already there. We are aligned with all.
The ego is as dead as the body.
We burn its corpse, so it may give life to more life.
Peace and Humility
The Sage
A-Om, The Cypher Divine, 360 degrees, we return
Defi(g)nition 