The Immediate Environment-An Idea Project, by Johanna Dali

Once you have begun to polarise your own living space and have either experienced positive or negative relationships to these changes, it will be time to spiral outside the home, as you have spiralled out of your own mind and into the home. This is where you will come into contact with even more networks, as you come across contradictions to your perspective you may find that you will reach out to others for help in such matters.

Looking outside the home I see many of these contradictions straight away. The imposing individual nature of a housing estate, where people are placed, more or less on top of each other in a way that human contact becomes toxic. The layout of the housing scheme creates a psychological complex that makes it so communities can't actually develop in the communal sense of the word! People may smile at their neighbours when they see them getting in and out of their car, but the amount of cooperation that goes on between neighbours, the amount of interaction for two people that live five feet away from each other is scarce to put it generously.

This is a difficult form of psychological warfare to struggle against. Techniques to counter this imposed individualism that I have thought of are trying to get residents to share a green and create a communal garden, where people may come together, work together and learn more about each other. Also an estate could organise activities that help everyone out, creating a more dynamic and efficient lifestyle for all involved. For example, car pools, grocery runs, free and collective childcare, food and material co-op. There are many practical things a housing estate can do to come together and begin in an attempt to break the mental barrier that creates nausea when one comes across a neighbour. And it must be an alternative to the 'normal' forms of socialising, such as getting drunk together in the local public house, as all this really does is create little gangs amongst the residence. Pubs are a hive of bitching and misery at extortion prices!!!

In fact, alcoholism would be another point I would see worthy of trying to combat in my immediate environment. Also corporate advertising in public space, the meat market and pet stores, and perhaps real estate. It's easy to pick out things you disagree with in your neighbourhood and of course I realise that everyone is entitled to do what they want, and why should they listen to me and all that, but what's wrong with the free expression of ones views? If companies can litter my vision with their point of view then I don't see what would be so wrong with a little stencil work. Just because they pay for it, doesn't mean I have allowed them to spoil my environment!

But, like I said, you can't do all this on your own and you will probably come across other people with similar views. So why not officialize it and create a democratic collective in order to maintain a unified group set on a focused agenda? This is where people of a certain nature can come together and discuss points they disagree with, or that disagree with them, perhaps, and then discuss what to do about it.

Obviously the points I have made are personal ones and every individual will inevitably hold their own mind about issues. The main point I am making, however, is that of forming a collective or affinity group after you have spiralled out of your new found mind and began polarising your living space.

After the three years of thinking about activism I decided to turn the record label I had started (Mad Dog La Belle), into a collective. A half a year later and it had collapsed due to lack of interest, effort and collective direction. I set about forming a new collective theory involving not only the music side of things, but the community and political activism side also. I printed it up and handed it out, in hope of garnering some interest. It was to act as a filter system amongst the participants of the old collective, to determine who was interested and that I was to together and active.

The new collective is to discuss what exactly the aims we all wish to accomplish are, and how to go about achieving them. Obviously people involved will hold the global economy as a primary enemy to the development of the culture, due to the nature of the pamphlet I had distributed.

The pamphlet, called 'Await The Phoenix' (a new flame sparking from the ashes of an old idea), gave brief details about the aims I personally had in mind for the collective. Ranging from the community ideas I mentioned above, a community recording facility, ideas on music and art promotion to creating our own source of media and radical political activism.

I believe that from the practice of these collectives a lot can be understood about how a group of people wish to live if, of course they created and maintained their own autonomous space. My idea of the collective being democratic would mean that all participants would sit in a circle and they would take it in turns to detail and discuss issues and come to democratic decisions on what to do. Also, if it ever got far enough to take it a little further with the likes of a communal garden and sharing other responsibilities such as food and shelter. The idea and practice of a collective teaches people to live and work together, to cooperate with each other and to support one another, instead of working against one another and thus becoming alienated from each other, as is the case in our current, modern society.

One of the ideas I had for the new collective, which was originally meant for certain members of the old collective until it fell apart, was the idea of a debate club. Dialectics is where an argument is run and then countered, until eventually a perfect argument is formed. A debate club would start with a topic and members, sitting in an all inclusive circle would then, one by one, thrash out their ideas and opinions on the topic. As the first speaks their point of view the others patiently listen and take notes. This carries on around the circle and the notes taken challenge the original point of view and new ones are created. Finally a conclusion can be made and the participants are of a better understanding with one another, even if most retain their own original point of view.

I feel that this process of dialectics would strengthen the unity of an affinity group and support the conviction, therefore lessening fear when taking action, whatever this action may be.

Now it is time to spiral out of your community collectively with your affinity group and begin tackling issues on larger platforms such as national and international matters, be they political, economic, environmental, or anything that your group deem important. Its time to take on the world. . .

-- Johanna Dali, March 2004

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