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[Neoism]
THE OLDEST OF SUPPRESSED TRADITIONS
In a world dominated by illusion, it comes as no surprise that censorship
should be popularly misperceived as a form of social repression. The
contradictions which support such an inversion are manifest in every area of
daily life; they constitute the apparent "reality"
of our "time". Despite the
fact that it has been demonstrated time and again that consciousness is an
effect of a closed system of exclusive focus, of
censorship, "literate"
consensus maintains that censorship and silence are the negation of
consciousness. It is clear that Power has a vested interest in maintaining a
monopoly on censorship. The "concept
of freedom" is an unreachable,
collapsing, absolute. All experience becomes equal when exchanged via Capital;
with class "privilege" determining how much of this worthless "equality" each
person is entitled to.
THE NEGATIVE AND ITS USE
Anything can be censored for any reason;
start by censoring this text. The
censors of the "left", "right" and "centre", all do their collective part;
despite the fact that they imagine themselves to be motivated by the very
beliefs we will ultimately negate.
FROM ORIGINALITY TO ONTOLOGY:
THE DECLINE OF THE TEXT
The possibilities for communal transformation of this world lie in
disconnection from imposed notions of progress and democracy.
Plagiarism is
the "beginning", the negative point of a
culture which finds its justification
in the "unique". Censorship supersedes
plagiarism as an "intelligent" negation
of "originality" because it
suppresses not only ("original") production, but
also reproduction
(plagiarism, appropriation &c.)
which revalue the
"original" and maintain its circulation in
"reality".
Censorship is to the
present what plagiarism was to
history.
THE HEALING POWER OF DOUBT
Revolutionary propaganda sets itself the task of discrediting all received
ideas without offering a single "alternative" thought with which they might be
replaced. Kill your desires and live! Erase, destroy and make useless all
recorded information. Physically and otherwise attempt to suppress all
expression in art, politics,
history &c. Resist
culture and all other
forms of institutional
identity. Suppress, by refusing to participate in,
interpersonal and mass social relationships. As you see fit, smash the
"imagination",
"schizophrenia", "death",
"sexuality", "values", "time" and all
other forms of seduction and abstraction. Experimentally break down the frames
of reference by which you organise non-valued perceptions into valued entities:
i.e. objects, ideas, means of self-perception &c.
AN END TO SOCIAL RELATIONS
"Self-destruction" is a semantic swindle. The moralism against suicide is
reactionary resistance to change. Only total opposition, both theoretical and
practical (i.e. silence), is irrecuperable.
Anything else must necessarily
appear absolutest and contradictory.
The Festival Of Censorship is a
pata-national, decentralised event which will
take place in the Summer of 1988, two short years before the commencement of
the Art Strike - a period during
which (at minimum) no creative activity will
take place. The Festival aims to begin on a limited scale what will ultimately
constitute a new and total organisation of daily life. Some events have
already been planned for the Festival, including international performances on
May 1st and other holidays during which participants will look into the
daylight sun for a full hour. A day of "cover-ups" is also planned, during
which participants will go to rigorous lengths to hide traces of their mundane
activities. The Festival involves research into the practice of
censorship
both in "culture" and beyond(...)
Karen Eliot (issued as a leaflet in Spring '88).