I talked to Richard Oxman recently to ask 6 critical questions about some of the pressing problems we face in modernity and what should be done about them. But before getting to those questions I asked Richard about to tell me a bit about himself:
Richard Oxman: One of the things that’s different about me from other academics and activists is that during the fifty-five years I’ve served as a professor and an educator on all levels worldwide I almost always — every single year — held down a blue collar job. In part, to keep myself in touch with the so-called real world. With all that under my belt, though, I’d say that my greatest learning came from my interaction with loved ones, three wives and three kids (now 48, 34 and 19) and a very special woman — a genius and compassionate soul if there ever was one; the “learning” has come in waves, much in retrospect. In addition, I’ve had the great fortune of having studied under glorious souls charged with the grandeur of God, not the god that is so very popular across the U.S. in most circles in various guises, but the Ultimate Reality that’s touched upon in Rilke’s poem A Walk. I’ve also crossed paths with deeply talented and generous people, some very famous, some completely unknown to the general public. I should mention that of all the blue collar gigs I embraced, taxi driving in New York City for two years was… the most instructive. I have Stage IV metastasized Colon Cancer, but I’m actually thankful for that, as it’s had something to do with my present laser focus and hope to be able to create the watershed in history which is now necessary in solidarity with others. That’s an important statement ’cause I’ve been at it incessantly 24×7 since 2004. And I’ve been a highly proactive concerned citizen since I was seven-years-old in 1949… having witnessed the brutality of the Peekskill Riots.
Question 1: Henry David Thoreau once said “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to the one who is striking at the root.” – So let’s get at this root right away. We have a lot of big ecological and economic problems manifesting out there, that as another common saying goes are the symptoms and not the sickness, so what in your view is the root cause of our sickness in these times?
RO: The first thing that comes to mind is the lack of an authentic spiritual base. Many branches to explore there, yes? Yes. For one, that can translate into selfishness, a self-centered outlook that’s encouraged up the wazoo by virtually every aspect of our thoroughly sick society. That’s, of course, deeply connected to our obsession with consumerism and our abominations abroad, without which we could not possibly be destroying the planet with purchases, incessant acquisition of unnecessary goods requiring slavery and desecration of many kinds overseas and domestically. In short, because of our lack of that spiritual dimension (which the indigenous could surely help us with these days, if we let them) we cannot honor what Dr. Albert Schweitzer called reverence for all life. It is a mistake to tune primarily into ideological frameworks if that precludes embracing who we are, which means acknowledging that we are a true mystery as individuals in the midst of a setting wherein we absolutely do not know what’s around the corner. And if anyone doesn’t know what I’m talking about with those words, I urge them to glance at Philip Larkin’s First Sight, a poem which was atypical for his death-obsessed, depressed personality, and which he himself disliked. Not fully accepting that we are ignorant about the Big Picture is a root cause of our restlessness, our profane lifestyle, and daily disrespect for the grandeur of this Heaven on Earth. Which has led to Hell on Earth as we speak.
Q2: So to follow up on that question, on a global level there seems to be a collective sense the current societal construct needs to undergo a metamorphosis where we make a shift into something entirely new, and due to the ecological pressures we now face we are quickly running out of time to undergo this process. And while there does seem to be increased awareness, at the same time the installed powers that be appear to be stronger than ever, as we exist in a surveillance state armed with every conceivable gadget to physically suppress the populace while we remain ensconced in a chunky layer of almost inescapable distraction propaganda – So if what we have is a spiritual problem at the core of our issues, a loss of connection to each other and the natural world, what do you think could serve as a catalyst to drive a spiritual/societal transformation and hence widely compel people to want to change how we are living?
RO: We definitely need a “radical restructuring of society”…to use Martin Luther King’s words. And no one can argue against your point about the collective deadlines we face. The daunting odds you cite, however, though in place as you say for, in part, the reasons you note, mean nothing. Or should mean virtually nothing to today’s activists. “Nothing”… as long as proper precautions are taken. Meaning, you cannot any longer assume safety in any quarters, cannot not be prepared for infiltration from all sorts of angles, and absolutely must not announce plans for serious protest via the usual megaphones which are used. I’m talking about how activists routinely emulate activists of old letting the powers that be in on every detail of their agenda. This gets us back to the business of the “daunting odds”…and how to deal with it. One cannot effectively mount a movement by initially going for numbers, critical mass. For starters, it is essential that a core group of totally committed citizens make sure that they’re on the same page with one another in every imaginable respect. It’s like if you’re going to rob a bank — and the powers that be (with their billions) see protesters in that light (setting up to deplete their fortunes) — you’ve got to make sure that no one’s going to put the fat mouth on the operation if they’re caught prior to pulling off the game plan. Meaning, you can’t have a core group member who will cave if caught and spill all the beans. And — not at all to discourage anyone — there are a lot of other considerations that have to be honored to ensure safety, success.
Following the formation of a proper core group, numbers can begin to be recruited appropriately. It is not appropriate to get people on board with one’s organization via the signing of a petition. When I first made contact with, for example (and I can literally cite hundreds of examples) the much heralded Sunrise Movement people repeatedly tried to get me into their fold on a generic basis. I had to make three or four attempts with them to stop our initial interaction being all about my responding to their interest in having me recruit others as per the approaches they had set up, which had to do with signing up in one of various potential capacities, donating, etc. I insisted upon being able to first have leisurely discussion with someone in a decision-making capacity on their end, and as I speak these words I am waiting by the phone to get with their promised call; ready to meet them ASAP at a place of their convenience. In person interaction is ideal, of course, but reps of such organization invariably recoil from even having an exchange on the phone; they always going back and forth with telegraphic talk via email… avoiding the in-depth experience that’s necessary to make sure one is on the same page. And none of this is about my trying to impose my “game plan” (recommendations) on them and their agenda. Rather, it’s about getting down in an authentic way.
Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky — in a recent exchange on Ralph’s radio show — underscored the pluses of the Sunrise Movement. Well, it’s good that they praised the youngsters, but as much as I have the deepest respect for them both, the greatest possible respect in the world, I feel comfy in saying that when it comes to the Sunrise Movement (and some others they’ve praised in the past) they’re a bit out of touch with what dynamics are in gear on the ground with members. With SM the members are operating generically, burning out before my eyes making long delays between contacts inevitable, not taking advantage of every single day, every single necessary minute which must be used, and — definitely — not operating in such a way that folks like myself (with creative ideas to contribute which would serve as an asset for their agenda) can be given time to address tactics and strategy.
To cite one example among many again, I ask you to look at how Nader and Noam spotlighted the fact that the youngsters comprising Sunrise were “striking at school”…refusing to go to classes here and there. How they were organizing a huge event in April along those lines. Well, yes again, they should be praised, encouraged and supported in their efforts. But, really, how can anyone think that that pace of theirs is appropriate? It’s truly the pace of an arthritic snail; I use that phrase often these days. It’s far too slow, clearly out of step with the fact that — one way or another — some core group needs to be generating “critical mass” attention to the cause daily, not monthly. Recruiting above and beyond the obsolete business of getting folks “on board” in the form of “likes” and signatures. Discussion of that is not even taking place. Just this minute I took a break to take in an email which just arrived from Sunrise. Just now. I couldn’t believe that after repeated respectful requests for them to help me set up a meeting with the youngsters who recently appeared on Amy Goodman’s show (who had taken part in the Feinstein fiasco) — the kids and their parents, or someone associated with the highly-publicized exchange — so that the Feinstein rebuff — the instructive interaction — did not get lost in the activist shuffle… Sunrise tells me that they lost my “content”…my emailed questions and requests. That is a huge red flag that Noam and Ralph are not privy to because they’re not engaged, as I am, on the ground level with trying to make hay out of the positive Sunrise momentum.
I have been wanting to get down with what was valuable lesson-wise, so that the grand event didn’t just come and go, as such events tend to do routinely in the media… until the next scandalous interaction is recorded and goes (temporarily) viral. Without making more of what came down the energy and power of that Sunrise momentum will dissipate, as was the case with Occupy and its counterparts that followed Occupy’s hey day on Wall Street. I had also offered to work as a deeply experienced volunteer with singular resources to donate 24×7, underscoring how Sunrise could not expect to carve out lasting inroads if inquiries were not addressed immediately. I was — after the passing of a few days — thanked by one point person… and then they fell off the planet. No more contact. I wrote repeatedly to get the communications going again… and then finally — just now — that “point person” informed me that my “content” had been lost in the ether. What’s up with that? Why is their staff not jumping on my gesture? Why does stuff get lost? The answer has something to do with the fact that there’s been no deep commitment formed by a core group which, then, passed down the visceral commitment made to the volunteers recruited.
The overworked volunteers are doing all they can to keep up with inquiries, but are losing the interest of concerned citizens who are reaching out to them by channeling them into some generic grab bag of obsolete civic engagement. Sign up for our march! Call your representative! Boycott this, boycott that! Such “recruitment” can go nowhere. And all of those well-meaning heartbeats spent in that way preclude ever getting down with Sunrise members about questions like why — at this very late date — youngsters were encouraged to hold out any hope of any kind with the likes of $97 million dollar baby, Diane F. C’mon, folks, they’re going to keep beating their heads against the Democratic Wall if they continue to not see that Wall Street and its first cousins in the military realm are calling the shots, and are not at all interested in what the general public cares about. And to embrace such a perspective would require their making in-depth discussion time with the likes of me possible.
The catalyst necessary to give us a shot at transforming individual and societal transformation along spiritual lines can only be stirred up by folks getting off of their various treadmills. Meaning, for starters, that must be accomplished with a small group of deeply bonded souls, NOT via high tech gadgetry, NOT via an obsession with numbers. Unless a core group — very different, by the way, than the old concept of a vanguard — spends the quality time off of their treadmills (present routines, agendas) to address the nature of the commitment required to bring about institutional change, and discuss the options respecting tactics and strategy in total confidence (acknowledging the power of the surveillance you cited), nothing can be accomplished that will be nonviolent and lasting. Blasting the powers that be for their age-old agenda does nothing worth the heartbeats. The “critical mass” that will be necessary at some point down the road sometime soon can only be pulled together properly by having core group members have their ducks in an unprecedented row. The bottom line, you might say, is that a life and death commitment must be made by the core group.
One way to get what I’m talking about when I cite “life and death commitment” is to tune into what Thich Quang Duc did during the sixties to protest the Diem abuse of Buddhists during the Vietnam War. There does not have to be self-immolation going on, but I’ll get to what the value of that might be vis-a-vis stirring up the kind of “catalyst” you were asking about. First, though, let me point out that acknowledging a “life and death commitment” as being necessary to fight the overwhelming power of the powers that be today requires at the very least to have core members of a given organization working literally 24×7 to deal with the fact that the opposition is operating 24×8. Non-profits are not doing that. Why? Well, they’re still functioning as if folks like Feinstein are reachable. They’re still — if say, they’re a third party — not informing their followers and supporters that even if, say, a very radical Green Party were to secure enough votes to win, say, a gubernatorial office — a highly influential office — they would not be allowed to declare victory. Electoral fraud, for sure, in some form would kick in. Or, if necessary, an assassination would take place. Activists are not being real with the enthusiasm which rises in their ranks from time to time; they routinely gravitate toward obsolete forms of protest, dated ways of dealing with the powers that be.
Okay, so let’s explore self-immolation in highly telegraphic terms. Imagine what the impact would be if 55 concerned citizens — individuals healthy in heart, mind and soul — self-immolated in or around the next Democratic Convention (or in their separate states an U.S. territories) simultaneously, leaving a simple, single paragraph declaring exactly why they took such radical action. I’m not talking about a Ted Kaczynski-type tract that hardly anyone read in the New York Times back in the day. Rather, I’m speaking of a clear statement respecting why we must begin to disrespect the U.S. as it stands, and how to keep it from continuing to stand and commit abominations that go far beyond what Hitler, Mao and Stalin together did in the 20th century. Of course, one has to have an imagination to go with the flow of what I’m touching upon here, and I fear that a lack of “imagination” among prosaic activists runs rampant today. On that note, I recommend a little glancing at what Walter Brueggemann has to say about the prophetic imagination. And for bringing in the spiritual dimension that I said was so important in all this, I heartily recommend that one couple exposure to Brueggemann with a reading of Alan (“Cry the Beloved Country”) Paton’s Instrument of Thy Peace. One does NOT have to be traditionally religious to embrace the thrust of their messages.
I am NOT saying that activists — core members of a given organization or not — have to consider self-immolation. Rather, I am underscoring the depth of seriousness and the dire need for creativity which is now cried out for in the activist realm. But, having said that, I should also note that although an act as radical as self-immolation might not be necessary, there’s no reason why one couldn’t recruit (in the name of recruiting a “critical mass” post haste) 55 folks like me nationwide, people who are suffering from Stage IV cancer, and who are looking for meaning in their lives to consider being part of… the Democratic Convention… in a new way. Ralph Nader always emphasizes how one would only need something like 3% of the country to get into serious activist gear to bring about change. Well, if I’m in Las Vegas and placing a bet on what mass self-immolation might accomplish if carefully planned out so that the mainstream media couldn’t spin it all to their advantage, I’d say that the good money is on pulling together far more than that 3% overnight.
