Went to an indie/art/experimental film screening with Agrippa, the Greek activist from NYC. All of the artsy shorts I hated and they just made me even more agitated than I already felt from the last three days. But the feature film was the infamous “we interrupt this empire.” An underground activist video film. Told the story of how the enlightened rebel forces (read ‘American citizens’) shut down almost the entire city of San Francisco the day that the evil empire (read ‘puppet regime pretending to be American government’) started their invasion of (read ‘war on’) Iraq. Over twenty thousand people went to the streets and just shut that city down in a non violent direct action that was seen and heard all over the world. At one point I felt like crying because I was so moved. There are so many people now that are fighting all these different causes all over the world. After the film, several people spoke. Some one said that they get confused because there seems to be so many causes. And what exactly is “the cause?” one by one many people stood up to explain it to him. It was a thing of beauty. Cleopatra called. We spoke briefly. I told her it was a rough four days. Have you not seen the news this week, I ask. Yes she says. I am disgusted by it all. By the police brutality? I ask sleepily. No, she says. By the protestors. I hang up. I don't know what else to do. it is too late at night and I am too ragged and tired and outraged to hear that or to argue with her. Obviously the media movement that we attempted this week didn't work as well as we wanted or needed it to. Most of the citizens of South Florida and the world were fed so much false information over the TV news that they have no idea what really transpired. When people as smart and informed and pro-active as Cleopatra (she was born into a very politically active and socially conscious family both her parents total hippies, she born and raised for the first half of her life in communes around Europe and Canada) think that there were violent protestors who needed to be controlled by the police in order to save a city, when in fact there were none, then you know things are really being spun out of control. As if there are two realities. There is reality, and then there is the reality that the corporate controlled governments force-feed the media; and when we say force feed the media now I have a feeling that it really is just that. I don't think they have a choice now in what they run. from what the reporters from TV and the newspapers have told me over the last four days it appears that the situation is that the media “feels between a rock and hard place. even though we are on your side and agree with you about the FTAA and most of the other causes that activists fight for, our newspapers and TV networks are owned by the same companies that you are often fighting against. So if we write an article that is too biased towards the activists or towards the causes, no matter true or accurate a portrayal it may be, it always somehow gets canned or shelved or ends up on the cutting room floor. That's just the way it is.” I heard this time and time again from many of them.

Luckily there is now this huge movement in the world bubbling up in cities across the globe called ‘Independent Media.’ We can access it by going to www.indymedia.org. and many other sites. It is a revolutionary idea. Independent media. Think about it. the truth being reported with absolutely no corporate spin or sponsorship or commercials or boards of directors or governments or network censors or owners to answer to. just truth in reporting for the sake of good journalism. How do you make money at it? well that's what makes it so brilliant. If you don't sell advertising like regular media does then you can’t really make money at it. so its just normal everyday people hooked up all over the world with cameras and editing equipment who just go around filming everything and posting it to this huge global network of websites just for the sake of getting the truth out there to the rest of us. they don't make money at it. they're just sick of the matrix. A brilliant idea. I have been to this other space here in Miami where there are members of the IndyMedia from several different cities around America who are working around the clock in these ten hour shifts where they take turns some of them sleeping while others of them edit all the hundreds of hours of film that they captured of the police beating people over the last three days. Everyone trying to finish before they have to leave town. Then the tapes will get disseminated to all the national and international mainstream media who from what I heard will not air much of it, not an ounce, but it will also go to all the different indie media outlets around the world. As an example of how powerful and popular indie media is getting, during the last six months of the Iraq invasion by American forces the various IndyMedia websites have been neck and neck with cnn.com as far as how many people are visiting per hour or per day. Everyday more and more people are turning off the corporate controlled media and getting their news from these independent news sites. Its very cool. For the last four days I have watched them in action. Although I have gotten none of their names. 

We are in the last days of the media arm of this movement. People working around the clock. The week has been so profound for me on so many levels. I have met one or more people from just about every social or environmental or political cause or charity or NGO (non-governmental organization) that anyone has ever heard of or not heard of. Oftentimes the situation is just so tense or fast paced (think Matrix but the cast not all dressed in black but instead dressed like Deadheads and you get the vibe of what the movement looks and feels like, it’s the Matrix movies super-fast-paced-working-for-the-cause-against-the-evil-empire-type-non-stop-action around here---other thoughts: obviously some people don't even realize that the matrix movies were actually (or are being used by some as) metaphors for what is going on right now in the people’s fight against corporate global totalitarianism in the real world now, but today I realized that it wasn't so much a metaphor as much as that is what the movies are about—its like a real world Matrix thing is happening now in the world—maybe it always has been---often referred to in social activism) Often times the days are so fast paced and insane that you may be working next to someone for a few days and not even know who they are, barely their first name, and then a few days later they give you their card and you're like ‘oh, you're from Public Citizen? Or United for Peace? Or the Steel Workers Union?” etc etc. so yeah that's cool. Because you get to connect all these organizations to faces and vice versa. You feel at once this grand sense of purpose and honor to be among this elite group of activists. One word to sum it all up? and this is the part that is so revolutionary about the revolution: humility. Everyone very respectful and humble and just tries to focus on the jobs at hand.

You got freespeech.org people filming interviews with people, Indymedia people editing protesting footage, groups talking food irradiation, members of the American Indian Movement pow wowing in another room, non-GMO food people eating organic carrots talking about communes, protestors against environmental degradation sitting on the floor writing press releases, demonstrators against slave labor in Mexico and Columbia designing postcards in another office, it just goes on and on....sometimes its hard for me cause I haven't been in the hippie scene in so long (not that activism equals hippies cause it doesn’t); I left it years ago; so I could make some fucking money, but now I understand why. you have to be in the world that suits you best so you're in top shape in order to do your best to help. I see the role that each of us plays. And you don't have to be a hippie to be an activist and vice versa. Lots of ‘causes.’

Its interesting in matrix terms because if you think about it you start to realize that if the world wasn't being controlled by people that didn't care about these issues, then the issues wouldn’t exist. There wouldn’t be any ‘causes.’ And of course then there wouldn’t be such a struggle, and this need for all these charities and protests and demonstrations. The people in control would just make sure that the basics, like human rights, and labor laws, and environmental protection, etc were all taken care of before they concerned themselves with money making. But right now its in total reverse to that. so it takes all these other people to pay attention to all these causes for us. this idea that these people are somehow subversive couldn’t be further from the truth. These are just the really plugged in and smart people from all the different demographics from our society. And for some reason they are selfless enough and caring enough to actually do something about it. 

Thoreau and the Camel and I have been talking for the last two hours. I am very moved by this experience of talking so openly and intelligently with people. there is no real boundaries in our conversation because we are all so knowledgeable on all the different subjects that we choose. It is refreshing not to have to fake dumb or fake interest in matters that are entirely irrelevant or mundane in order to have communication with another being.