<nettime> Theory for pragmatists.

["Content-Wire.com" <PGalaxy@compuserve.com>]

Brian,

Thanks for reading my posting.

Reading it retrospectively it really sounds utopistic and so naive.

Well, I always wanted to live in dreamland, and now it feels like I am
getting closer. Cant be far now.

Dont ask me why, maybe I am coming closer to death, or all those yoga
excercises and substances taken during last few years have started having
an effect and my body has started producing proprietory chemicals and I
feel kind of high all the time. Nice but my ability to concentrate on
dense intellectual byproducts is diminishing, and it is now limited to a
few paragraphs at the most. After which my attention span fades, and
concentration hops off to the very things the discourse calls upon...into
other trains of thoughts. Maybe I should do some of those concentration
excercises again. Maybe its just part of my aging process.

I read Alan' piece and other pieces line Bruces and Brians' and get
fascinated and think I used to be able to think like that once now I think
in small packets, cant even read it all in one go, and never have time to
go back to it because I trying to surft the wave which is always in
motion.

I have not lived in Italy for the past twleve years, I have travelled
around the world and settled in the Uk countryside for the moment but I do
want to go back to Italy one day, perhaps when I shall be able to claim a
small piece of sovreignty that all citizens are entitled to and say this
is my country too. Not quite yet, cause of the bullshit they spread
everywhere everyday.

I don't know how we are going to do it. I don't know how we can manage to
change the institutions. I guess not giving in to the temptation of
blowing them up is the first step. I guess asking them to honor the
principles that they were instituted to serve, is the next. I guess
stressing that they are acting outside their own legality of the system
that they should be represening is the following.

It takes out of the box thinking to see whats in the box. I am trying to
see if there is anything worth being defended. I want to believe that the
institutions should serve the citizens individual rights given to them by
the constitution, everything else is abuse. I belive in the constitution
because it is the only thing that I have that tells me 'you are a citizen,
and you ve got the right to live, work think speak what the hell you want'
I know I know that that there are violation and abuses and it should not
be necessary to have a piece of paper to say that but look at the worlds
history. it's either the law of the jungle - strongest rules - or a
democratic constitution

Man I am going to hang on to that piece of paper. Scrap that, and every
person is for themselves.  I dont want to handle guns, I do not want to
have to carry a guy in the street to defend myself for personal or
institutional abuse. I want to have civil rights and that should keep me
quiet.

This is why, as a free thinking individual who treasure freedom of thought
and speech highest values above all, I must trust in the constitution and
defend it.

I kick the arse of those inepts who sit on the constitution - all public
offices carry the seal of the republic above every entrance door - and
they dont defend it. Those institutions are not legal, the constitution
is.

Any citizen can constitute themselves 'parte civile' and take legal action
if they have a good case. Now I have not brushed up on my law course (but
can still hear the professor voices echoing in my memory:..do study the
law...)
 There must be jurisprudence, there must be laws.  Otherwise Italy is not
a 'state of right' stato di diritto and as such the credibility of the
European Union is at stake too.

Is this theory?

Italy is a tassel, a cluster of ignorance and fanatism fuelled by media
propaganda and fascist passion may be taking over the majority. But Europe
has a few such clusters, and it is obvious that there is some kind of
exploit waiting to happen, I can see it can you?

How can this have  happened? 
When journalists who have to denounce something to the public opinion get
shut down, society is bound to become corrupt, because the public opinion
does not get the stimuli to reflection. This has happened constantly over
the last few years.

I am only a dreamer, my friend, and have little spare time. I believe in
the power of the word, words that carry truth will spread.

If I had been the editor of some national press I would be hammering my
words out I would have a column called 'bullshit' right on the first page,
where I would have told them what I think of every one of them everyday.
Maybe the message would have come across the italian peoples
 But people like me do not become editors of newspapers, we get kicked
out.

Somehow I believe that we can set to reach our goals irrespective of
whatever road we chose to follow. I am a technology writer, I am not
interested in politics.

But if a media tycoon with dubious mafia links cannot be prevented from
participating to the elections it means that the country is not in a state
of right, and Europe is not in a state of right either, I will take a
stance My stance is not political, is civil.

The institutions must be integer to support themseves, or they will
disintegrate.

Let's suppose something absurd happens, and an economic coalition pulling
together fascists, northern separatists, and recycled money investors all
pull together to control politically and economically Europe.

What will I do, what would you do? Organise the cultural resistance, my
friend, and make those responsible for upkeeping the state of right feel
the heath of hell in whatever way I can (torches anyone?)
 
I'll have to take off my pointy starry deep blue dream cap and wear a
earth colored berret for a while.  Sometimes a dreamers gotta do that too.


Am I awake? Am I asleep? Is this really happening? dream or nightmare or
both? Dont' ask me. I have nausea. I also got deadlines and backlog
work...


paola di maio














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