#Babelism & Revolution to Marilia

‘Nexus: Next: Nest!’ said dorothy, leaving the realm of Oz - if we can’t be on the same page, how we doing this again?”

summits. gatherings. encounters. occupy has been found of them in the last few months. good for occupy. Chicago, Rio+99 and now Philly, when our diversity and power becomes clear, and fears of our movement’s death fizzle.

these convergences pack revolutionary brains with fresh ideas: #unoccupation that soon becomes #occupation again, with new insights and friendships to color the struggle, horizons openning up, occupy dances in jubilee.

well, today would like to share with comrades one idea that emerged out of such gatherings. it’s called #babelism, dubbed after the old testament story Tower of Babel. bear with me now.

below is the exerpt from King James’ Bible•

Genesis 11: 1-9 
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

according to the account, humans were united and able to build a common project because they were on the same page, speaking the same tongue. all crumbled to oblivion when they were immersed in the “confusion of tongues” by forces in opposition to their
project of unity. our movement seems in similar waters. {can can can} we sail?

some answers were present at the OccuSummit Rio+99 camp: different languages roaming about, Portuguese, English, French, German, Espanhol - but also different langues broadly speaking: skaters, hipsters, anarchists, punks, reformistas, campesinos, feminists, trans, quilombolas, rainforest folk, favelados, orphans, nomadic travelers… a soup of a thousand voices, each with a peculiar taste, mannerisms, style; a dance of codes.

the imperative question became “how can occupiers jump from code to code, from langue to langue, from node to node and avoid the labyrinth of incommunicability?”

here : in another text : atchu wrote that music is not on the notes but in the intervals, in the spaces between notes. well, same goes to our movement now: the revolution is in the spaces in between ;;; if we consider a specific langue as a little islet, and see the whole set of langues as scattered archipelago ;;; the conclusion that follows is - if we are to achieve a wildfire, we gotta connect the • dots • and draw the picture. translate. translation. trans everything. inversion of || poles || polarities, roles, codes 0100110001

playing with the idea of translation as revolutionary tactic is the worst nightmare of our adversaries. strategy is literature in #occupy.

to different people in different scenes, we can deliver occupy messages in between, crossing the formal and informal barriers that are inherent in codex.

a new langue is a masterkey, it opens the door to different spaces.

with different people.

if occupy flows across social, economic and cultural landscapes,

the most dangerous trade in the world is translator. nexus, babelic tower.

— we are all translators —

now imagine a game unfolding. #babelism:

(1) post an occupy message in two different langues!
(2) spread the news!

just for shits and giggles.
in the revolution, maybe the most dangerous trade of all is to be a translator

Fuck Derrida.