Under Construction -- until tomorrow!

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Go Back to the Cave
by Azly Rahman

Let us go back to the cave, this New YearLet us move forth…beyond the hypocrisy of New York Time Square's ball-dropping …of those screaming and yelling amidst confetti falling More than just a night of fireworks in the sky, adorning, …Of drag racing, …Of disco-dancing …Of well-wishing …Of drunk-driving And next, another year of national forgetting …a nation in amnesia we are made to be in Let us not forget what must lie ahead As we retreat to the "cave" To think of shadows on its wall And to reflect upon the "doctrine of reminiscence" …the river of forgetfulness we drank from, intoxicated therein In this cave we congregateAnd begin to look at this Reality we have constructed Inside and outside of us as we are made to become cogs in the wheels of Industry Inside and outside of us we build Neon Gods and bow down to these and their creators Inside of us we have become these Gods In the cave we must contemplateThe nature of revolution we must initiateOne that must begin with the mind and end with the mindAnd in-between these we gather all thoseNot yet intoxicated by the fireworks displays nor the hypocrisy of celebrating Against the backdrop of world's poor suffering And in between these-- come forth will those be in full force to bring this corrupt system down its kneesFrom inside of us, into the outside of this… a revolt that must begin with the end in mind In this cave We are one We are many We are the powerful and the powerless and we are once the power abusers We speak the language of Nature Of one that will bring down this world of Materials Culture Of one that will rewrite our History So that the past will be closer to our Primordial Nature So that the future will be close to our Heart's desire This will be our caveIn it we will speak of Politics and Culture in its most Ideal form So that we may speak of The Culture of Vultures outside this cave …this vulture culture that is corrupting Human Nature …making the rich filthier …the poor poorer, trampled upon easier This will be our caveWherein we no longer speak of the national economy Calibrated by statistical lies only, trumpeted globally In fine imitation of the language of composite indexes and standards and poor And how bulls and bears will roam the streets running amuck …to the tune of the velocity of money ….as currencies move globally creating national tragedies This cave will be the placeWherein we no longer speak of how many billions and gold bullions we will need To prop up the next emperor with a kris Nor a place wherein we talk about curbing corruption Whereas we ourselves are too corrupt to curb ourselves In this caveThere shall be no fireworks to burn There shall be no slogans to clutter the timid mind of the people we govern There shall be no strategies of deception and intrigues of politics to renew There shall be no plans of monopolizing the prime media to honour the Neon Gods anew In this caveThere shall be dialogues our politics and pedagogy we once knew There shall be conversations around the idea of …Who should rule? …Why should we be ruled? ….What is a just government? …When does a government become ineffective, abusive, oppressive, and tyrannical? ….and what then must we do? Must investment bankers become emperors? Must future leaders ally with global corporate raiders? Must we disobey unjust laws? How must we learn to question authority? How must our children be taught? How must their intelligence be respected? Must these young minds be developed by State-conditioned educators? How must we stop the decay in our universities? How must we reclaim its prosperity and recapture its dignity? And vote out those who rule with arrogance and intellectual brutality What is an ideal society, a perfect government, a philosopher ruler How might we create a messiah out of wisdom and virtue? How might we make these possible? Through a revolution of Pure Reason That will overthrow governments run by robber barons This will be our cave As what Socrates once spoke of In which Muhammad the Prophet of Islam found illuminations in In which Lao Tzu would had also once retreated to Let us all go back to the cave Let us first make our way to the mountains There is no mountain high enough Come into our cave--- Educators, university professors, Vice Chancellors, students, activists, enlightened politicians, social workers, farmers, rubber tappers, fishermen, doctors, judges, lawyers, engineers, entertainers, religious leaders, military officers, artists, artisans, musicians, comedians, petty traders, currency traders, multimedia producers, princes and princesses, schoolchildren, … Come into our cave--- Revolt we must against the Gods of Materials Culture and Political Vultures Who reign through the Divine Right of Kings Reigned through Hidden Terror Mandated by the Modern State it Legitimates Through the use of The Ideological State Apparatuses it Finely Decorates So that the Masses will be cleverly subjugated Let us, when we are ready, come out of the cave--- To create a new social order For this world is too much for us. But we are not merely a speck of dust We have choices. And we evolve. This New Year, we should be in a cave.

From Malaysia Today. No link to author available.