One might think that artists wouldn’t mind being isolated and having more time in studios on account of the current Coronavirus situation. After all, we spend an enormous amount of time alone, and isolation allows us to have uninterrupted amounts of time to let our imaginations fly.
But there are other elements in play when we examine creativity. For example, it is crucial that we feel safe to expose all our senses to our environment so that we ground our minds properly to our surroundings, harmoniously with all our channels open.
When the “lockdown” started I was at an art residency in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I lived in a communal setting with twenty other artists and writers. As soon as public spaces became inaccessible and “social distancing” became the norm at the residency, many of the fellow artists experienced lack of productivity. I felt an immediate blockage to my making process.
Perhaps, since our society does not make artists’ activities a priority, this might be the last thing one would consider as a serious “problem” And to a lesser extent such a concern might be secondary to many artists themselves who will be subjected to enormous economic difficulties.
It is “understood” that this is a “crisis” and we must “fight together“ against our “common enemy” which is the virus.
But who could blame those of us who are very much suspicious of such a momentum, as we hear “decrees” being issued to dictate our social activities while all instruments of state violence and repression are in place to regulate our behaviors.
After all we live in the same society which has baselessly demonized Muslims while bombing, colonizing and destroying their countries in the name of “war on terror”. Young black people have been openly demonized to justify gentrification, mass incarceration, exploitation through substandard labor conditions and so on and so forth in the name of “war on drugs” and “tough on crime”.
We know that a “crisis” presents opportunities and tools for the ruling class to shape and perpetuate the social structure. The system in which they thrive is always “too big to fail” while oppressed people keep failing so that they are safely cornered into hopelessness, cynicism and complacency to the feudal order of money and violence.
It is not a speculation that there are people who prosper and even benefit during an economic crisis—as smaller business owners struggle, large corporations and banks benefit from huge government subsidies, giving them more power to buy failing small businesses, for example. And it is a fact that many of those people have enormous economic power to shape the policies that can benefit themselves. It is not a speculation that they would appreciate having strict measures of control against the people by limiting their freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to travel, or by installing means of surveillance, check points and official certifications for activities that might give freedom to the people beyond the capitalist framework. It is not a speculation that they would benefit from moving our social interactions to the digital realm, which can commodify our activities as marketable data for the advertising industry, insurance industry and any other moneyed social institutions including education, political institution, legal institution, and financial institution. Such matters should be seen within the context of the western history being shaped by unelected capitalists with their enormous networks of social institutions. In fact, private foundations and NGOs are working with governmental organizations and global institutions to implement potentially dangerous policies of draconian measures as well as financialization of our activities for some time. According to researchers—Cory Morningstar, Alison McDowell and others, the potential impact of the transformation which is about to take place through the Internet, block chain technology, artificial intelligence, and etc. under the banner of the fourth industrial revolution can be devastatingly inhumane to our species’ path. Examining those matters must not be subjected to being labeled as “conspiracy” and dismissed.
Needless to say, a draconian momentum against the capitalist hierarchy accelerates hardships of “invisible people” who struggle against economic deprivation and social repression. How do homeless people “stay home”? How do people in jail practice “social distancing”? How are people vulnerable to domestic violence protected? How do small business owners continue to stay in business? How do poor people survive while public services and spaces are eliminated, while affluent people are stock piling in their generously equipped gated communities. How do people with addiction stay sober? How do people with suicidal tendencies secure their dwindling connection to humanity?
But those discussions are rare among us. A hint of doubt can trigger those people who are “fighting together” Because once our creative minds learn to live safely in an authoritarian framework of draconian rules and decrees, the narrow framework restricts our thoughts and ideas. Our minds get weaponized to uphold the authoritarianism as a path to “democracy”, “freedom”, “justice” and “humanity”, which have been mere euphemisms to describe blank checks given to the ruling class. Once people turn into soldiers of the authoritarianism, the path to the ”solutions” is paved by their relentless adherence to corporate political parties, official decrees and carefully concocted narratives within the capitalist framework. Our discussions cease to be mutually respectful exchange; instead, they become battle grounds in which dissenting voices are vetted, attacked and eliminated.
A society that can’t sustain artists is a society that kills minds to care, understand, empathize and share. A society that enforces its imperatives with fear instead of trust in humanity deprives a healthy mechanism to guide itself.
As I see how public sentiment is developing over the virus situation, I must mention one more thing. There has been a proven method of silencing anti-capitalist voices within our society, used by media, political figures, corporate dissidents and others. It requires a few steps.
First, amplify the voices of people who willingly sacrifice those who they consider to hold lower positions than they do in demanding their righteous positions within the capitalist hierarchy. The voices might come from racist nationalists, patriarchal misogynists, flag waving anti-immigrant activists or heartless Trump supporters demanding old people to die during the coronavirus pandemic. Those people recognize that an aspect or a policy of the establishment will compromise their lives—after all they are also oppressed by the capitalist order. However, they do embrace the capitalist order in essence. They do not tolerate sharing their positions with people who they despise.
Second, claim that you are with victims of racism, misogyny or xenophobia, or old people who are vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic.
Third, falsely equate an anti-capitalist perspective with that of those political villains.
Fourth, dismiss those who are calling out the ruling class agenda as “racist”, “misogynists”, “fascist worshipers” and so on.
This method has been very effective. I am sure that anyone who has expressed a concern over capitalist domination can recall being labeled as what they actually oppose.
The method achieves a few things at the same time. First, it obscures the mechanism of capitalist hierarchy. Second, it divides people who should be fighting against the system together—obscuring the meaning of class struggle. Third, it augments the capitalist hierarchy. Fourth, it vitalizes the political legitimacy of corporate political parties which utilize the division. Needless to say, the narrative of division is actively generated by corporate political parties as well.
It is imperative that we recognize the predicaments of the people who are most oppressed within our society, while we firmly recognize the dynamics within the capitalist hierarchy, and stay away from being a part of the mechanism which safely turns our predicaments into driving forces of capitalism.
I hope above writing can generate much needed discussions on the topic among us.