That’s right. Society – which is not just about security – if it was we’d probably be living in an armed camp right now – no, this is a place where human beings interact with one another, learn from one another, realize their hopes, dreams, ambitions, in short, their potential in life: all in the social context of society that we all share. All of this is pretty clear.
Now how does our society measure up to this – well, there are people who do find fulfillment in life and effectively realize their potential and be all that they can be – but there are plenty more who don’t, they get stuck in dead-end jobs, lose their motivation, are trapped in poverty or substance abuse, are neglected, or just settle for less. I’ve met people in factories who would probably be more qualified for political office than most of the many lawyers who normally get elected. So we have a problem.
Speaking of politics – we all assume that we live in a democracy, that we live in the “free-world”, that we are free citizens, the envy of the world’s peoples etc. etc. etc. right? Well, what do we do on Election Day? We file into some pre-designated location, register, go behind a screen, put an “x” next to the name of a candidate you’ve almost certainly never met before and drop it in a box – then consider yourself a free and empowered citizen even though you only get to do that once every four years. What happens then – well the person with the most votes wins, goes to “speak for us” in Parliament or the Provincial Assembly – or more accurately goes to speak for his party and hopes to God that he can get into a position of influence so that he can somehow serve his constituents as well as his party – no mean feat given the divided loyalties imposed on him. So he claims to speak for us, we don’t speak for ourselves, we don’t actually participate in politics, we have no guarantee at all that our MP is not going to put partisan politics ahead of his constituents – we are, like Rousseau said – free only one day every several years when we vote.
In other words we rely on others to give us handouts, which is nothing new – it happens all the time, it is bloody pitiful to see all these poor people from around the world practically begging the global elite to give them rights, give them prosperity, give them freedom and you see this every time the G8 meets – usually spearheaded by some celebrity hotshot like Bono or Geldof. And of course it reveals the truth of where our rights come from – they were not God-given, they are not natural, they are certainly not sacred – they are completely artificial creations legislated by governments and liberally given to their citizens in exchange for obedience. They can be taken away, suspended, abused – they are very fragile and yet we, as human beings, see them as our source of self-worth and dignity which brings me to my final point.
Human dignity – for dignity to be human it cannot be an artificial creation – it makes no logical sense and seriously – how many times have people living under the most crushing oppression and brutal dictatorships or under the most terrible conditions imaginable and nevertheless carried on and persevered? How many times has the light of the human spirit burned bright even though buried under the weight of all the alienation in the world – it is that part of us that just refuses to die and illuminates even the darkest conditions. The human spirit yearns to find fulfillment, to express itself and to realize its potential and even if the mind gives up – the spirit can never allow itself to submit and we have seen this in every struggle for freedom throughout history.
It is this spirit that Georges Sorel was referring to when he rejected the efforts of socialist political parties to win concessions for the working classes in parliaments at the beginning of the 20th Century – that the only legitimate authority was the direct exercise of power by the workers themselves and that the workers should accept no handouts but only total victory in the class struggle. He recognized the uncompromising nature of the human spirit. If the oppressed knew that dignity was within them and completely independent of their rulers they would refuse to sell their souls in the name of rights and understand that free-men and free-women exercise power directly as equals side-by-side – together. If the progressive minded people of the world – those who fight so fiercely to win concessions from the G8 leaders – knew this truth, and understood the power of the human spirit, there would be nowhere near the same number of cynics as there are now in the world.
Put your trust in your spirit, not in rights. After all, what do you think keeps me going? Remember Bobby Sands and his words in The Rhythm of Time:
There’s an inner thing in every man
Do you know this thing my friend?
It has withstood the blows of a million years
And will do so to the end.
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