kipple
“But there is a time for depression.
And we shouldn’t underestimate its cognitive potential. Of course,
depressive intelligence is paralyzing. It gives rise to the feeling of an
immense discrepancy between sense and the everyday, and to the
feeling of the dispersion of desiring energy in the contact with the
world in time.
The investment of desiring energy is the origin of sense.
The world in time is the dispersion of this energy.
The activity of the philosopher is the fabrication of concepts.
Concepts are a concretion of desiring energy.
They give sense to the world, singularizing it and projecting desire in
such a way that it might become the world.
But the world flows and disperses itself.
Concepts no longer grasp configurations, they no longer project
sense in a shared reality.
The dissolution of shared experience is the entropy we have lived
starting from a certain moment in time – we could say from the very
beginning, but more intensely, painfully, rapidly, catastrophically
during the 1980s. The Winter Years.
The winter years are this, they are the time when the contradiction
dissolves.
The places of existential trajectory become poorer, more rarefied and
artificial, because concepts are losing their hold. Or maybe concepts
lose their hold because the sites of our existence have become more
rarefied, poorer, more artificial and ungenerous.
The desiring community is a chaoid, a provisional organizer of
chaos, a fragile architecture composed of shared happiness and common
vision.
The dissolution of a desiring community inaugurates the painful
spreading of chaos, of an absence of sense. It is ‘kipple’, Philip Dick
would say, cosmic garbage, what remains of the world when lovers are
lost and friendship dies out.”
Bifo- Felix Guattari; Thought, Friendship and Visionary Cartography
“Open Letter to the CFS”: Response from Activists in Quebec”
Copied from Facebook (link Below) a lot of the points in here could apply to UK based groups like NCAFC, NUS and others. A v. interesting perspective.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/j%C3%A9r%C3%A9mie-b%C3%A9dard-wien/open-letter-to-the-cfs-response-from-activists-in-quebec/398468000192562
In response to: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/krystalline-kraus/2012/05/activist-communiqu%C3%A9-open-letter-canadian-federation-student
Additional thoughts by Xavier Lafrance: http://www.facebook.com/xavier.lafrance.3/posts/338084006263427
We write as student activists in Québec who have been involved in organizing the 2011-2012 general student strike - on both anglophone and francophone campuses.
We are ecstatic to hear that so many students in English Canada are building a campaign to mobilize similar strikes in Ontario and elsewhere. We are heartened by the outpouring of solidarity, and we believe that the best way that students outside Québec can join the movement is by mobilizing strikes from the ground up in their own communities.
Open Letter to the CFS assumes that strikes can be organized by “elected student leaders” and masterminded provincially, if not nationally. Certainly, the Federation can and must support strike initiatives. However, these have to be built from the ground up and through structures of direct democracy - specifically, general assemblies which are fully empowered to make real decisions. This is something that we have learned again and again in Québec, and this method of organizing has consistently proven to be the only way to build viable strike movements. Students feel a sense of ownership over movements created this way, which cannot be undermined by claims of a minority imposing their will on a majority.
Strike campaigns or votes must not be imposed by student federations, or even individual unions. They must be organized by activists on the ground and discussed in regular general assemblies to involve the broader student body. Strategically, organizing strikes first where they’re most likely to succeed - in traditionally progressive departmental unions rather than faculty or campus unions - will ensure the kind of momentum-building that could lead to a general strike of Ontario students.
There are, however, a number of things that the Federation can and must do to support a general strike movement. Educational campaigns, facilitating solidarity delegations, workshops, and activist exchanges are extremely important, even if they do not replace locally-focused campaigns. Perhaps most importantly, the CFS could facilitate the creation or mobilization of politically autonomous departmental associations, which barely exist on many anglophone campuses. In fact, the first unlimited strikes in the history of McGill and Concordia Universities were organized mainly in previously dormant departmental unions.
The formation of mobilized, combative departmental unions built upon structures of direct democracy needs to be seen as a consequence of strike campaigns, not a necessary precondition without which activists’ hands are tied. There is always a way forward.
We are optimistic that a general student strike in Ontario can and will succeed, given the right ingredients. Open Letter to the CFS represents a first step towards creating a radical, democratic strike movement in Ontario and beyond. As we watch students lay the foundations for powerful strike movements across the country, we hope we can continue to share our experience in Quebec - both successes and failures.
1. Jamie Burnett - former member of the Board of Directors of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)
2. Jérémie Bédard-Wien - Coalition Large de l’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (CLASSE)
3. Kevin Paul - former Political Campaigns Coordinator, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)
4. Christopher Bangs - Strike Organizer, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)
5. Zachary Rosentzveig - Councillor, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) & Co-President, NDP McGill
6. Irmak Bahar - Concordia University
7. Robin Reid-Fraser - Vice-President External 2012-2013, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)
8. Mathieu Murphy-Perron - Staff, Dawson Student Union (DSU), Local 108, Canadian Federation of Students
9. Ethan Feldman - McGill Philosophy Strike Organizer, Victim of Police Brutality
10. Kenevin Søraynr Parent. Local 108. Dawson Student Union
11. Léo Fugazza - Dawson Student Union, 2011-2012 Director of Internal Affairs & Advocacy. Local 108, Canadian Federation of Students.
12. Kayla Christos, Director of Clubs and Services, Dawson Student Union.
13. Xavier Lafrance. York University. Local 84, CFS.
14. Nicholas Di Penna, incoming Director of external affairs. Local 108 Dawson Student Union
15. Audrey Deveault - Dawson Student Union, Chairperson. Local 108, Canadian Federation of Students
16. Fatima Santin- Dawson Student Union. Incoming Director of Student Life. Local 108
17. Gabrielle Brais Harvey - Fine Arts Student Alliance-Concordia.
18. Alexis Blanchard-Méthot - Société Générale des Étudiants et Étudiantes du Cégep de Maisoneuve, Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante
19. Laura Dolan, McGill University, OSMC
20. Rushdia Mehreen, Strike organizer, Concordia University; Coalition Large de l’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (CLASSE)
21. Farah Noun, Dawson Student Union. Local 108, Canadian Federation of Students
22. Marianne Breton Fontaine, AFESH UQAM
2005 Quebec Student Strike
translatingtheprintempserable:
Song: “The Special Goose” by Youtube user BoxVocal
[*The humour depends on a French pun: La loi spéciale = The spécial law // L’oie spéciale = The special goose]——-
Ahhhhh…
Who’s upset when we bang on pots?
Who puts out his BBQ with a little gas?
Who doesn’t have friends, except at the Assemblée national? (i.e. the Quebec legislature)
Who’s such an agoraphobe that more than 50 is illegal?It’s the special goose, goose, goose, goose, goose
It’s special goose-goose-goose-goose-goose *clap/clap*
It’s the special goose, goose, goose, goose, goose
He’s not an outcast. He’s just special. *hey*Who preserves our precious social peace?
Who defends access to collegial studies?
Who has golden values, but if you don’t agree,
who breaks your bank with fines, who punches you in the gut?It’s the special goose, goose, goose, goose, goose
It’s special goose-goose-goose-goose-goose *clap/clap*
It’s the special goose, goose, goose, goose, goose
He’s not violent. He’s just special.Yes, but the special goose *tap, tap, tap-tap-tap*
No one gives a damn *tap, tap, tap-tap-tap*
Yes, the special goose *tap, tap, tap-tap-tap*
No one gives a damn *tap, tap, tap-tap-tap*Wa-ouuu…
Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.
*Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective attempting to balance the English media’s extremely poor coverage of the student conflict in Québec by translating media that has been published in French into English. These are amateur translations; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may still leave something to be desired. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us at translatingtheprintempsderable@gmail.com. Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.
(Source: youtu.be)
Translating the printemps érable: AnarchoPanda: Philosophy on the sidewalk (Le Devoir)
translatingtheprintempserable:
Catherine Lalonde May 26th, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/350953/anarchopanda-la-philosophie-dans-le-trottoir
For several weeks a panda mascot has been at the front lines of the student protests. This anachronistic two-toned teddy arouses and…
“Since we are forced to divulge our itinerary to the police under the new ‘special law’ aimed at restricting the right to associate and demonstrate…” (via Phillippe Fournier on Facebook)
