Opprør

Jeg har kommet over en liten bok fra Penguin med tittelen “Why rebel” av Jay Griffiths. Her tror jeg det blir litt som er verdt å sitere, så derfor denne posten. Første begrep ut – som jeg ikke hadde hørt om før – er Deus Invictus på latin.

Begrepet dukker opp på s. 28-30:

If Liberterianism has a mythic model, it is Deus Invictus, the ´God undbound´, who loathes any tether, schackle, og constraint. Invictus was the epithet applied to the supreme deity Jupiter, Übergott, and to Mars, god of war, and to the empire-building Caesar. It is associated with the triumph of individualism and totalitarianism, as well as solar monism, a sky-god, singular as the sun, and unbound from – and hostile to – the pluralities of the land. Deus Invictus drove the Italian Futurist´s demand to be free of the ´yoke´of the past and loosed from ties to the natural world.
Deus Invictus lies behind the Liberterian refusal to be shackled by cuts in carbon emission, as behind their demand to be free to fly, and their obsession with anti-natural technology. Deus Invictus is god of the Liberterian-supported Singularity. The Deus Invictus complex drives unfettered capitalism and the unregulated industry that allows some to live like gods by making others live like cattle. Characteristics such as kindness, modesty, slowness, generosity, receptivity, pity, honesty and truth are detested by Deus Invictus, for they are the fettered emotions. In honesty, you are bound to tell the truth. You are tied by respect, linked to others by love, tethered by kindness to kinship with nature, and restrained by a sense of justice and conscience. Liberterians loathe political correctness because it puts the brakes on bigotry, restricts racism, reins in sexism.
…
Deus Invictus is a ruthless enemy to the living world, the god unchained to scorch the earth. What has been set in motion is an ideology of monoism without plurality or otherness, furious for its own freedom, an idiot divinity unleashed upon the world.

Jay Griffiths

På s. 62 var det litt om vitalitet – som en del av de fem “karakter-styrkene” (det har jeg aldri hørt om, men det gir mening:

Vitality is at the heart of healing traditions: acupuncture or yoga, the concepts of Chinese Chi or Indian Prana, the life force in flow. It is among the five ´character strengths´most correlated with happiness, according to the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, the others being curiosity, optimism, gratitude and the ability to love and be beloved.

Jay Griffiths

Litt senere (s. 88) skriver hun om det som kalles “økosystem-tjenester”:

… Sometimes the worth of the insects is measured in money. ´Eco-system-services´, we say, as if the living world exists solely to serve narcissistic humanity. The insects that pollinate some three quarters of human food crops are said to perform a ´service´worth perhaps $500 billion every year. Insects deliver to us these benefits, costed into our dollars. Insects are beautiful to our aestethic. This is the particular tone in the dialog that surrounds narcissists.

Jay Griffiths

På side 119 er det et overraskende, og svært interessant sitat fra Tertullian som skal stamme fra omkring 200CE:

We overcrowd the world. The elements can hardly support us. Our wants increase and our demands are keener, while Nature cannot bear us.

Tertullian, ca 200 e.Kr.

I kapittelet om at det er tid for opprør fant jeg disse to stedene jeg vil ta vare på. Flrst side 136:

Sometimes I feel that I am in a constant state of farewell to the living world, knowing that it will not fare well at all.

Jay Griffiths

Så videre på s. 139:

Many protest movements have been damaged by an overuse of alcohol and drugs, leading to sometimes chaotic atmospheres. By contrast, XR bans alcohol and drugs on site so people really get their shit together.

Jay Griffiths

Mot slutten av boka blir det både personlig og veldig sterk lesning. Et av de siste kapitlene er talen forfatteren hold da hun ble dømt etter en aksjon med XR i London. Der skriver hun blant annet:

Each generation is given two things: one is the gift of the world, and the other is the duty of keeping it saf for those to come. This contract is broken, and it is happening on our watch.

Jay Griffiths

Dette er bare så sterkt, og hele talen hun holder i rettssalen burde vært sitert. Den er verdt hele boka, og jeg innrømmer gjerne at det kom en tåre eller to. Det gjorde det visstnok hos dommeren også… Boka anbefales! Veldig!

Griffiths, Jay (2021) Why Rebel
Penguin