What
motivates and inspires you? How do you avoid burnout?
JB from Reclaim
the Streets
mk->> How do you keep from burning
out? What inspires you and keeps you going?
JB->> Well, to me Situationism is a key source, a reference
point. Not particularly as a political movement because I acknowledge
the enormous elitist, patriarchal kind of fundamentalism that
was involved with them, which I dislike enormously. But in terms
of their ideas, the whole idea of détournment for me is
very powerful. A lot of my art work used that, used those strategies.
I made a lot of spoofs and a lot of fakes, and stuff like that,
like Evading Standards. So that, for me, is very powerful. And
the street party itself is a détournment, and also the
carnivalesque, and all those things. So, for me that's the big
inspiration. I was very honored in France where I met a lot of
those people, I was at this conference the other day, and met
two people. A publisher, one who was the first person to publish
Guy
Debord and actually
brought Guy Debord to Paris. And another guy who published Debord.
They heard a slideshow that I did about RTS, and were absolutely
gob-smacked. And wouldn't leave me alone, and it was great, you
know? Because they could see Situationist theory in practice.
And that was a wonderful accolade really, that was fantastic.
So, yeah, Situationism is a big influence, all of the May
'68 stuff. Other
influences? All the Hakim Bey/Temporary Autonomous Zone stuff. The Provos are actually a big influence, and I know they're
often lumped in with the Situationists. Do you know who the Provos
are? A group in Amsterdam who were predominantly artists, involved
in the Happening scene, were kind of influenced by the Situationists.
What fascinated me about their projects was they developed projects
which used confrontation and construction at the same time. And
for me, in a way, that's what I'm searching for. You know, June
the 18th didn't do that. It was a fantastic day, but . . . .
For me it's a search. How do you create a situation which both
confronts capital, confronts the system, but at the same time,
in the same moment creates an alternative? Claremont Road was
a bit like that, that's why it had that magic. And the Provos
did that. Their classic action, they did a lot of anti-car stuff.
This was in the '60s. '63-'68, I think. And they did this thing
where they would have a white scheme for every confrontation.
So, they did these street blockades, I think there was kind of
a street-party-esque kind of thing. At the same time they'd do
a white scheme, which was the alternative. So they had a critique
of traffic, system, and the car, then they also provided these
white bicycles. They painted all these bicycles white and left
them on the streets. They were public property, and people could
take them and ride them. In my everyday life, what inspires me?
Well, the action really inspires me. The comradeship, the people
that I work with. I think one of the things that's kept me going
is that I speak quite a lot publicly to people who've not ever
heard about RTS. That, for me, is very empowering and keeps me
going. Because I see people being amazed, and being astounded.
And so, I'm very privileged to have talked in a lot of places
in Britain and also in Europe about RTS, and seen people's feedback.
And I think a lot of people within RTS do not have that experience,
are not able to see that. And quite often they'll become very
self-critical, and lose the sense of self-worth and self-belief,
and wonder really what we're doing. So I'm very lucky that I've
had that opportunity, really, because I think that's really helped
me keep going.
It also must be said, I get an income from it, so I'm not skint
all the time. So, in terms of sustainability, that's helped me
very much, being public about stuff, and seeing other people's
feedback, and not being stuck in the ghetto. I think there's
a big danger, the burnout happens when you're stuck in a ghetto,
not going outside of that ghetto. For me, in a way that's the
role of the artist, again not really wishing to define myself
as an artist. But, the artist's role has always been people who
don't fit and who move between different worlds. And I've been
very lucky to do that. One day that I specifically remember,
we did an action. It was Halloween in fact, two years ago? Or,
god, I can't remember. And in the morning I was being a father
looking after my son. In the afternoon-evening, I was giving
a talk at an international conference full of American, European,
British academics on the relation between art and politics. I
was giving a paper there, and it was in a very posh institute.
And then that evening I went to a squat and was being briefed
for an action on an open-cast mine. And went out and trashed
this open-cast mine in the evening. And in a way for me that
was a perfect day, where I had all these different kinds of life
experiences. Again, I think that's helped me keep going. There
aren't many of us who've actually gone from the M11 to now. The
drop-out rate is enormous, absolutely enormous. Some of the best
activists have dropped out. And I think that's one of the reasons
I've been able to keep going.
mp->> What do you think causes people to burn out?
mk->> Along with being in that anarchist or radical
ghetto?
JB->> It's difficult because sometimes I think I
have an inability to understand it. I'm so enthusiastic about
what I do, and I'm a bit of a workaholic. And it's so all-consuming,
I constantly think, "My god, I'm so fucking lucky!"
I mean, there must have been loads of people in anarchist groups
who try and do actions where fifteen people turn up. Or people
who are interested in Situationism and they spend their life
writing pamphlets. And I was thinking, "Fucking hell man!
I am so privileged to have met these people, to be living in
a time when it's all coming together." So, when I see people
burn out, I must say I do find it difficult to empathize. And
I kind of think, "How could you burn out? This is so exciting!"
It's not to say that they haven't got reasons for it, and I'm
sure I will burn out one day, probably with a big crash. But
I must admit it's difficult. When it's financial it's more understandable.
One of my friends, a fantastic activist, accidentally got his
partner pregnant, had a kid, they then split up, he's now got
to support the kid, got no money, has had to get a job, full-time
job, because he has to travel up to visit his kid. He's screwed.
I can understand that. He also burnt out because he nearly went
to prison for three years, after the M41, the drilling of the
trees in the tarmac. I can kind of understand that when it's
a more practical thing, but when people just kind of disappear,
I don't know. I find it harder to understand.
- Situationist International
Avant-garde group
of revolutionary artists that coalesced around 1957 in France.
Their incisive theories (especially that of "the spectacle")
& imaginative tactics have had a powerful & lasting effect
on radical culture & politics. They are best known for their
instrumental role in the May 1968 uprisings in Paris.
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- Guy Debord
Self-appointed
leader & one of the main sources of energy & innovation
within the Situationist International. Author of the painfully
dense yet ultimately insightful sociopolitical critique Society
of the Spectacle. Killed himself in 1994.
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- May 1968
One of the largest
& most effective general strikes in modern European history,
not to mention the largest wildcat strike ever. Thousands of
students & workers took to the streets of Paris & effectively
shut the authorities out, turning the inner city into a temporary
autonomous zone. The Situationists had a lot to do with this,
as well as anarchists, commies, & other radical groups
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- Hakim Bey / Temporary Autonomous
Zone
Provocative anarchist
writer, poet & scholar. His concept of the TAZ (Temporary
Autonomous Zone), along with his concept of "poetic terrorism,"
have been discussed & argued about quite a bit in the anarchist
& radical milieu.
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- Provos
Dutch group of
activist-artists operating in the early '60s. They set the stage
for the creation of the Merry Pranksters, Diggers, and Yippies.
They were among the first in the modern era to combine non-violence
and absurd humor to create social change. They created the first
"Happenings" and "Be-Ins." Also the first
to actively campaign against marijuana prohibition.
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