This can not be our revolution

For the first time in many years I find myself motivated to pursue cultural revolution. And ashamedly, I find my motivation in a selfish desire to avoid violent protests of a banal consumer nature to beat me to it. My distraction almost complete, I felt prompted to write about it.

Let me explain:

Every 20 or so years there is a cultural revolution. The beat and jazz revolution in the 40’s with the likes of Kerouac, rhythm and blues, and the emancipation of women’s clothing (The Bikini!) and employment and the dissolution of old empires. The 60’s had their revolution spurred on by rock’n’roll, the evolution of the beat movement into ‘counter-culture’ and the sexual revolution. The technological revolution of the 1980’s and the rise of hiphop and DIY rock in a variety of forms emerged (I won’t mention the fashion). All accompanied by new invention, new cultural expression and social forms.

…And then it would seem that we waited for 30 years… We shelved space travel and interplanetary colonization, we developed the genres incrementally and diversely but didn’t really create much that was new, there was nothing new under the sun, and we could have it all… and we had ‘the clash’ playing ‘know your rights’ on repeat. We didn’t really go anywhere from there, and we re-embraced 80’s fashion, and vinyl, and aviators. We were cyclical consumers, re-living the latest revolution through our on-demand discographies (don’t get me wrong.. I love listening through my collection of late 90’s grunge or early millennium pop-punk).

And then on a Monday morning in 2011 I find myself watching the youth looting the European cities that I love, destroying their own neighbourhoods, demanding ‘respect’ and ‘equality’ and change. I see the whole world irrecoverably indebted to each other and facing collapse. I see a season crying out for creative invention and re-definition. What do we live for now? What is our future in this new uncertain world? And how do we get the change we want for our youth and for our cities? And not just incite unproductive conflict.

These latest riots in England have been characterised by one thing. Consumer choice. Sold a culture of accessories that they can’t afford, and unable to dismiss the proseletising of the TV, the rioting in London was not directed at symbols of the state or symbols of questionable morality, but at shoe stores and electronics games retailers and a few jewellery stores. Ipods, Gucci, Sony and Nike. Lootings looked like a child’s Christmas wish list rather than the hard won artifacts of rebellion.

Now note where the looting is taking place... Looters are targeting places based on their innaccessible consumer choices because that is what they think a) they need, and b) will demonstrate their rise to power and garner respect from authority and people to make them pay attention to their issues.

They can’t possibly really believe that A) we give a rat's arse about foot locker, and B) This crap they are taking is worth anything politically or socially. Are our youth really that naïve???

This is not meant to read as a justification by any means, I find it increadibly pathetic and very very sad. Here we have the cyclical cultural revolution (I suspect there is one brewing on the back of a GFC2.0, as essentially we have been waiting for one since the 80's)… ...but these kids are wasting their youth, their energy, and their creativity on shit. And we may only get a few opportunities to define what it is this future culture will be about beforeit gets hijacked by the hyper polar nodes of extremism and ultra-conservatism. I do not want 'my-revolution' to be about gucci bling and xbox. I want my future to be about communities, fiscal responsibility, p2p economies, creatively hacking oppressive systems to iterate and establish new equitable ones which focus on social rehabilitation instead of exploitation, and the power and purpose of youthful play and creative resilience in the face of immovable conservatism. I want it to be about liberty to create better freestanding systems that can be folded into the mainstream as a result of their success in a meritocracy. There has to be more for the youth to inherit. There has to be connection and ownership and civic evolution and cultural filigree.

We need alternatives to consumer-citizen engagement with place and people, and we need it now! We need to identify our limits, and overcome them daily with new creative and beautiful actions that, based upon their merits and success, can change the way we see and interact with the world.