For the past few weeks I’ve taken my time reading The Green Book as a part of my summer reading. It was a beautifully insightful book with how it went about deconstructing and contextualizing the ways in which an individuals power has been nullified and shifted away from them.
The book comes in 3 sections
(1) The Solution of the Problem of Democracy: The Authority of the People
(2) The Solution of the Economic Problem: Socialism
(3) The Social Basis of The Third Universal Theory
ALSO something really important that I didn’t recognize until reading the 3rd section was that this ENTIRE book was actually talking about The Third Universal Theory, as I write this I still have no context as to why it’s the third but fuck it we ball.
because I don’t feel like explaining what it is here is the wikipedia definition
A Review and Summary of Part One: The Solution to the Problem of Democracy
In this section we thrust in to deconstructing the lies of democracy that have been bestowed upon us. This is done by an analysis of power struggle and how current ‘democracy’ has come to be.
He most plainly calls the current parliamentary systems a democratic farce in the first chapter!
“Political struggle that results in the victory of a candidate with, for example, 51 per cent of the votes leads to a dictatorial governing body in the guise of a false democracy, since 49 per cent of the electorate is ruled by an instrument of government they did not vote for, but which has been imposed upon them. Such is a dictatorship.”
In first recognizing that voting for others in this measure only seeks to shift the ways in which we participate in the dictatorship the presides over us. We shift into how an individuals democratic capabilities are shifted away from them and into the hands of another through parliaments, the party, class, and the errors of plebiscites.
Gaddafi emphasizes the error of parliaments stems from the fact that their very existence obfuscates any true democracy that could come to be. The very fact that the people have representatives to act upon their behalf is undemocratic and provides the bedrock for furthered undemocratic processes to form and take root.
It is in the party where we see these issues come to the forefront of our attention. A representative elected by the people who is supposed to be acting with the will of those who has elected them. This representative will be participating in some form of dictatorial rule over their own constituents unless elected with 100% of their population. This same representative will convene with others of a similar mindset to aid in enacting change and form the party with other representatives.
The party and the representatives are supposed to be acting with the will of the people. But how can such a thing occur if the people aren’t directly involved.
Gaddafi puts the issue of the party succinctly as
“The party is the rule of a part over the whole. As a party is not an individual, it creates a superficial democracy by establishing assemblies, committees, and propaganda through its members. The party is not a democratic instrument because it is composed only of those people who have common interests, a common perception or a shared culture; or those who belong to the same region or share the same belief…Democratically, none of these parties should govern a whole people who constitute a diversity of interests, ideas, temperaments, regions and beliefs.”
It is through the party in which see our democratic power make its complete shift out of the hands of the people and into the hands of another. And with this shift a power struggle emerges.
This struggle comes at the cost of any benefit that the people could attain.
So how does this work?
The party serves as an answer to a problem for a specific portion of the population. With the mechanisms of parliaments only one party can serve as the head of state. One party’s answer to a population will be at the direct opposition to some other sect of the population, since the party cannot be an answer for the totality of the people.
The existence of multiple parties then creates a power struggle that fights to be at the head of state. To achieve this power all parties must participate in propaganda and targeted campaigns that mitigate the effect of other parties actions to help the people, while emphasizing the promise of change that will occur under the next administration.
Ultimately – this fight for power leads to a minimization of the accomplishments that have been made and a distrust in the system when an individuals unfavorable party takes the lead.
“The existence of many parties intensifies the struggle for power, and this results in the neglect of any achievements for the people and of any socially beneficial plans.”
“In order to rule, the opposition party has to defeat the existing instrument of government. To do so, the opposition must minimize the governments achievements and cast doubt on its plans, even though its plans may be beneficial to society. Consequently, the interests and programs of society become the victims of the parties’ struggle for power.”
“Party power, which is supposedly for the good of the whole people, is actually the arch-enemy of a fraction of the people, namely, the opposition party or parties and their supporters.”
“The opposition is, therefore, not a popular check on the ruling party but, rather, is itself opportunistically seeking to replace the ruling party.”
“According to modern democracy, the legitimate check on the ruling party is the parliament, the majority of whose members are [usually] from that ruling party.”
This whole clusterfuck headache game of power is made even more annoying when class is taken into account.
The figureheads of all parties inevitably represent the elite.
Class distinctions pervade all aspects of society and particularly in how we participate in politics.
The party shows this clearly in how it shows itself and acts. A party’s actions shows who truly has a say over how its power is used.
“Originally, the party is formed ostensibly to represent the people. Subsequently, the party leadership becomes representative of the membership, and the leader represents the elite.”
“The political class system is the same as a party… Classes, like parties, sects or tribes, are groups of people within society who share common interests.”
“Classes, parties, sects and tribes emerge because blood-relationship, social rank, economic interest, standard of living, belief, culture and locality create a common outlook to achieve a common end… These eventually develop into political entities directed toward the realization of the goals of that group. In all cases, the people are neither the class, the party, the tribe, nor the sect, for these are no more than a segment of the people and constitute a minority.”
(so many quotes..)
The methods between how party interests are actualized and how class interests are actualized are one in the same. The introspection of the systems we exist in that has occurred here has simply put some words to it that allow us to understand this in a new light.
Of this chapter of class the most important take away is in its final paragraph.
“In summary, all attempts at unifying the material base of a society in order to solve the problem of government, or at putting an end to the struggle in favour of a party, class, sect or tribe have failed. All endeavours aimed at appeasing the masses through election of representatives or through parliaments have equally failed. To continue such practices would be a waste of time and a mockery of the people.”
It feels kind of grim to end like that but I feel that it is the truth. With how my life has gone especially I feel like all I’ve seen of the political landscape is stagnation and decay. My material circumstance changes as if keys are being dangled before me as the room constricts.
To keep things going like this would be an insult to life.
Currently as I write I think about the episode of 60 Days of Ambidexterity – ‘They Murdered Her’ – The life that could be is halted. Stopped. And killed. For a standard that does not appease those around it but exists to further a control of life.
We have the language of class to understand the material disparity between us. We have the language of the party as an answer to the ideation of class amelioration. But where are we? Stuck in a cycle of those with a greater will to act violence making the strokes to ensure that their violence, their dehumanization, their will for control is met.
The Green Book has its own answers to the problem of political configuration in relation to how it affects our material circumstance.
But truthfully I am still trying to wrap my head around how it all works through words, the explanations were a lot.
But I do understand it in one way.
it is a torus of power
The Beauty of What is Envisioned.
Currently the political establishment works as a vacuum of both individual self determination and material well being into the hands of another. This makes itself apparent through how wealth is removed from individuals and how individuals still aren’t able to exercise the freedoms that are meant for them by simply being alive. What freedoms you may ask? to live freely – incredibly bland and open ended but that is the point – think about how our necessities are forcibly held away from us and are forced to stay necessities even in the face gross oversaturation that has pervaded the American markets in particular. And yet, I still see people begging for food to just survive not even 100 feet away.
If the government does not exist as an answer to ameliorate our needs then there is no need for it, it has forgotten its purpose.
So back to the torus of power that Gathafi verbally explains in his new political system.
It first starts with the individual exercising their self deterministic authority to its fullest to ameliorate their material and emotional needs, I think this can be fulfilled through practices of the trifecta of love I talk about in 60 Days of Ambidexterity.
But next is moving beyond that into the interpersonal connections that exist between you. Communication and action, thoroughly hearing out what needs to be done so that all you coexist with can live in a manner in which their needs are adequately met without obfuscating another’s.
From this synergy of action in tandem with care the material benefit that would occur would also aid and uplift you as well.
You pour yourself out into the world and make a difference, others also commit to this same action in following TRUE democracy that has been described, and your material circumstance serves to improve your overall well being.
Your needs are met and you could actually LIVE.
But for this to occur many changes to regular life would need to occur, primarily in the economy.
Gaddafi talks about all of this but I would be here for far too long talking about it if I went chapter by chapter.
But most simply, the economy should only ever function as a tool of ameliorating necessities and nothing more.
Along with this is the requirement for laborers to have an equitable share of what they produce for their own needs. He goes into much more depth with how socialism is a necessity and how it’s an absolute requirement for evolving society into a true democracy.
But it is not just the economy that would need to change but how we’ve been coerced to convene and socialize. I feel like naturally we all have a proclivity to want to participate in things we care about. To not simply just watch but to be apart of the dance of life.
But our current political establishment especially does not let this come to fruition.
The final chapter of this book speaks on the parallels between the consumption of our entertainment and our political participation.
Comparing sports to religious practice Gaddafi explains how the commodification of communal practices is not just odd but disruptive to the social fabric of life and society.
But I feel this can be taken further. It is not simply just sport that had been commodified and another expression for exploitation and objectification but human creativity as a whole.
The aspect to us that allows our individuality to breathe and our life to thrive has been slowly churned out from us to be something that is only viewed but never fully acted upon.
I feel that sport was the perfect avenue for such ideation to be expressed. But in our current climate I feel that it’s clear, those with the power to do so do not wish for life to be expressive for us. We are viewed as nothing but another cog in their machine of cancerous profit.
Antithetical to life.
So be creative and live a life of creativity, live the life of participation we were meant to have. Beyond labor, beyond survival. Day by day take control over your expression once again and live freely.
Do the hard thing and care for your life and those around you.
In 60 Days of Ambidexterity there were a few ideas that I went over that really speak to me now.
The first of which is on the trifecta of love – you can watch the video here – in short it is about the methods in which self love leads us to creating a life of care for ourselves, our material possessions, and those we care about and ultimately creating a better world through the effort of care we put into ourselves and outwardly.
The second of which is in the second to last video of the series – which can be watched here – this is about shifting how we look at what we would consider the future and really emphasizing the action that we take in order to create. The phrase I’ve come to use a lot since recording this is ‘let’s make the past’. Let me act in order to be a part of history, let me express myself to be, a freer form of living that puts you in a position of aware responsibility for what you can do for yourself.
At the conclusion of this whole post these two video come to speak to me now as I feel they are the two things that many struggle to commit to for themselves. The pain of self love comes with the most isolating realizations but blossoms the strongest love for life out of individuals that practice it. The action required to be taken to make the history of ones desired future comes with uncomfortable realizations about your work ethic, your outlook own your creations, and your patience.
We all want to see a better world come to fruition but it all starts with the individual saying that they want to be better.
I feel that it is through any form of creative expression in which growth for a better tomorrow in any form can come to be found.
So as always be you, be weird, be different, and express yourself.
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