GNP? Who needs that economic model when we can look to Bhutan and think about Gross National Happiness. Why not?

Exercise: What is the State to us and how has it affected us?
Everyone wrote what the state is to them and we placed it on the Board. We then categorized what we had. This is what we came up with.

Environment
Working for the EPA
Psychology
Regretfully America
Lied to about the nation of “embracing diversity”
State influences consumerisms
Media
War
War
Military Presence
Criminal (in)justice
Pulled over had to take a driving test, passed
Surveillance
Every time I see a cop car, particularly when it is behind me
Be arrested, pulled over, having my name taken by a cop
Incarceration of Youth
Police brutality
Criminalization of undocumented students
Arrested for disrupting a speech
Jail
Police
Friends in “law enforcement”
Interrogation, disrespected
Infrastructures
No safe transportation
Roads
Akaka Bill
Highway Construction
Don’t want to participate
Economics
Fed Govt. paid my paycheck for the last three years
No secure safe exchange
Working and never having enough money
No time for community
Planning
Participation in the work study program
Borders
The borders (Mexico& US)
Enforcing Borders- never seeing family
Airport security
Massive media cover-up of government lies
Imperialism
Oppressive/repressive registration
Prevent me From being with the one I love
Immigration Legislation
Immigration, Borders Separate family
Denied my people citizenship, but gave my people the right to naturalize
Laws/Courts
Family Law – restraining orders, gender, class and race oppression. Linguistic barriers
Civil marriage and divorce
External rules governing what I can and cannot do (e.g. vote as a woman, go to school)
Participating in jury duty
County Jail visitation
Prison industrial complex
Denies and protects my civil rights
Courts
Gives me freedom, but not enough
Sense of protection
Lack of social movement
Jury duty
Access to nation territories
Fear to speak against the state whether at rallies or in presentations
Education
Money, grants, finds and resources
Education
Federal loans/grants for college
Child support
Shitty education
Education system & socialization
Funding my education system – financial aid and loans
Free education
Higher education
My education has been through the public school system
Poor quality education within the educational system
Financial Aid
Oppressed- felt like I had more because I was granted access to higher education
When good teachers who stand for and truly teach and educate are fired and moved to another school
Social Service
Work City Hall jobs – precinct walking
Going to the DMV
Applying for free lunch in elementary school
Pentagon March
Utilities (i.e. electricity, water, gas, phones)
Summer youth employment (Job training partnership act)
Civil unrest in Newark, NJ
Social Service aka Food stamps
Advocating subsidized healthcare
Taxes
Taxes
Having to pay taxes that support a war that I do not support
Rich get richer
Paying taxes
Giving money to the state
Parking tickets & traffic accident
Waiting for my tax refund
Health
Lack of medical insurance
Having to go to TJ for dental work- No health insurance access that was affordable
Not having access to healthcare
Hospital
Being dependent on my job for insurance and medical care
Voting
Civic participation
Voting
Voting for president or presidential candidate
Allowing me as well as suppressing
Election 2000/2004
Voting feels so disoriented and unsatisfying
Religion
Protects & suppressed my freedom of religion

Yo...I just figured something out. I had an epiphany...

I was in my shower and I thought about our final presentation to other people outside our class. And I thought "Man how are we going to explain what revolution is?...we still haven't defined that..."
Then I thought...
"Well maybe that's the point. There is no one definition fo revolution because everyone has a different definition..."
I thought back to Irwin's presentation witht he visuals that made people upset, and the emotion that caused. And I thought back to when I had said "Who's revolution? To other people, this class, us in this room, we are the enemy." Kind of that old saying "One man's poison is another man's medicine."
Then I figured it out!
Revolution and the act of revolution is a collective conciousness that there is a threat of inequality coming, or an actual inequality happening. The "Revolution" is the change of the systemt to get rid of that "threat" and "opression" that holds down the people that are effected.
For example: The Nazi's called what they were doin a revolution because it was getting rid of the Jewish people, who were a threat to "purity" and such.
Slaves calles for rebellion and revolutuon to free from their conditions.
Depening on which side of the fence you are on, you are on totally different sides. A racist sides with the Nazi's, while a person of color sides with the slaves.
In n both circumstances, it was a call to action by a group of people of the same interests to change and rid themselevs of an oppressive circumstance.
In our case, most of the people in our class believe that the state, capitalism, and other systems that run this country and the world are unfair and oppressive to average citizen and are withholding power from those who should be holding more of it...I can't speak for the whole class, but in all we all seem to agree that there is something lacking that people aren't being given, hence rebellion in the forms of squatting, graffiti, etc etc...
SO..how about we define Revolution as a collective concious effort in order to change systems of power and to eliminate a threat to oppression, which maybe percieved or factual.
The role of the revolutionary planner is to use resources and institute the change and legitimize the efforts.
I think the problem we have been having the most is defining revolution because of the way WE see it...we see it as a positive change toward equality for the average joe...but a rich person sees it as making sure they stay rich...To some extent I think we may have to suspend our preferences for an unbiased definition...if that's what we're going for. Otherwise, we can define it however we like it!

Here is the definition I found in Merriam Webster...
2 a : a sudden, radical, or complete change b : a fundamental change in political organization; especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed c : activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation d : a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm revolution>

Think about it and holla at me...

Yo, I'm so stoked about this new CD- mainly because it's a group of songs that inspire revolution for my classmates. And there's something so deep, and inspiring and ART ful about that. I'm literally hyper right now, knowing that there is a group of 20 folks out there that is likely thinking about revolutionary art at this very moment. :-)

Just thought I'd share- I'll compile my list of favorite art shortly!

Taz

Hi all here's some art links I found. My favorite was of the handmade saree by Sharmila Samant. It's found at this link: http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?419
Scroll through you'll see a few of her pieces.

I also found another page of an art exchange between Indian and Pakistani artists: http://www.members.tripod.com/aarpaar2/02.htm

Enjoy...