February 22 in Berkeley
“Moloch” by Allen Ginsburg (with mask)
Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” has a middle section called “Moloch’ that is a criticism of the American capitalist society. Moloch is the name of the Canaanite god - he was a huge statue with holes in him that led to fire pits. Children were sacrificed to Moloch. I have rewritten the poem - instead of talking about Moloch in the third person. I am going to BE MOLOCH, wearing this mask.
I am Moloch! Capitalism, Alienation, Loneliness, Ashcans, Unobtainable Dollars!
I am Moloch, your nightmare! Moloch the loveless! Moloch the incomprehensible prison!
My mind is machinery! I am Moloch, my blood is running money!
My fingers are ten armies! My breast is a cannibal dynamo! My ear is a smoking tomb!
I am Moloch! Capitalism! My eyes are a thousand blind windows! My factories croak in the fog!
My love is endless oil and stone! My soul is electricity and banks! I created the specter of poverty.
I am Moloch. Dow Jones! Robot apartments, skeleton treasuries! Blind Capitals! Demonic Industries! Invincible madhouses! Monstrous Bombs!
You humans broke your backs and hearts lifting Moloch to heaven! All your visions, miracles, ecstasies, illuminations, and epiphanies were destroyed.
You are Crazy inside me now, crazy inside Moloch. Moloch frightens you out of your natural ecstasy.
I am Moloch, Eternal Profit, I carried your screams and suicides down the American river!
I made you jump off the roof, Moloch crushes you on the pavement of Wall Street.
What Are We Worth? (w/ murmuration video)
Hi - this might be the longest call-and response ever created - Its so long it might be more accurately defined as CULT INDOCTRINATION. —— I say regular type, audience says bold type
Hi - we are now going to read what might be the longest call-and response ever created - Its so long it is probably more accurately defined as CULT INDOCTRINATION. You all have a copy - on your chair - I will read the regular type and you read the Bold Face. If you doze off, I will casually but loudly mention your name. Because I believe in Audience Participation By Any Means Necessary - All right let’s start
I want us all to fly like skylarks in their fantastic murmurations
I want us all to swim like sardines in ecstatic swirls
Moving in harmony with each other
Leaderless, Intuitive, Self-organizing, Collective Intelligence
What am I worth? What is my value?
What are we worth? What is our value?
Am I just a dollar sign? is my value the sum of my assets?
Is everyone only a dollar amount? The total of their portfolio?
Am I worthless if I am poor?
Are we a negative if we are in debt?
Is Elon Musk more valuable than the combined population of 80% of the earth?
Is any person more valuable or less valuable than any other person?
The skylarks are all equal in their joyful synchronicity
The sardines are egalitarian in their peaceful cohesion
Why do humans fly against each other? I want to live in a flock of skylarks
I want to be in a sardine tornado
Why is there competition instead of collaboration?
Why must there be leaders, followers, winners, losers, rich and poor?
I want everyone to thrive together
in the sky the earth the ocean
There is an economy that looks just like the lovely coordination of skylarks and sardines
What is that Economy called?
Gift Economy is an option to capitalism - Imagine waking up everyday to give your community exactly what you want to give
I’d be happy to do that I really would
Imagine your community providing you with whatever you needed for FREE
Food? Housing? Health? Education?
Imagine working motivated by compassion, not forced by desperation or lured by greed.
Every day would be like Christmas? Giving gifts and getting gifts?
Yes Yes Yes Imagine a world where “the economy” is just…
people taking care of each other?
Our lives would be governed by empathy.
I’d like to be a very good person.
Gift Economy is generated by service to others.
where can I find this?
Gift economy is far away and everywhere
Be specific give me directions
Gift economy operates in Samoa, Fiji, and the Cook Islands.
Those are very expensive airline tickets.
Gift economy existed in Native American tribes like the Haida, the Salish, the Tlingit.
Are they still alive?
Gratitude was given to individuals who gave the most to others. Hoarding was the worst offense.
Billionaires are hoarders. Wealth must be circulated.
We need to share.
Yes, We need to share.
We need to be active in our communities like the swirling birds and fish
Never colliding with each other, because we’re sensitive
Capitalism says we never have enough.
We gotta buy junk all the time to keep the markets going.
Capitalism turns human beings into sharks
We’re supposed to eat little fish
Capitalism, they tell us, is the law of the jungle
We’re supposed to be crocodiles, gobbling the weak
Community Potlucks are a display of gift economy.
Bring a dish to share with everyone
I want to eat a slice of Marjorie’s pie
I want to eat three of Joanna’s muffins
There are no homeless people in a gift economy
Vacant buildings are given to those who need a home
Gift Economy is everyone being kind to each other
Skylarks fly together in ever-changing cooperation
Sardines swirl in collective unison.
What we do everyday can make change happen
What we do everyday
Can make change happen
What am I worth?
We are worth what we give to others.
Are we just a dollar sign?
We are not just a dollar sign.
Are we worthless if we are poor?
We are valuable when we help people feel empathy. This makes them human.
Is any person more valuable or less valuable than any other person?
No they are not.
I want us all to fly like skylarks in their murmurations
I want us all to swim like sardines in their ecstatic swirls
Moving in harmony with each other
Leaderless, Intuitive, Self-organizing, Collective Intelligence
Mutual Aid Among the Animals
[with actors holding pictures above]
Prairie Dogs are not dogs. They are related to Meerkats that are not cats. They live in large underground colonies that cover 2-3 acres. They spend hours daily grooming each other and giving each other nose-to-nose "kisses.” They use sophisticated vocals like a high-pitched bark that communicates the size and species of predators. Colony members share duties such as guarding, foraging, and maintaining the elaborate burrows.
Who wants to be a prairie dog? If you’re claustrophobic and afraid of the dark, it’s not ideal. But it’s very sociable and dirty, if you like dirt
African Wild Dog are dogs. They live in cooperative, carnivorous packs of 30-40. They share pup care, and care for sick, injured, or elderly members. They use cooperative hunting to chase prey for long distances. They regurgitate food for their young and they use complex, high-pitched twitters and whines to communicate and specific vocalizations to "vote" on when the pack should begin hunt.
The African Wild Dog is not a Vegan option. You only want it if you’re eager to run dozens of miles to eat raw antelope filled with stress hormones.
African Social Spiders are social. They form colonies that contain up to 2,000 individuals, mostly females. 40% of the females are breeders, the other 60% remain celibate and help with childcare. The spiders collaborate in hunting, foraging, and maintaining the web, and they raise their offspring as a group without any hierarchy or dominance system.
who wants to be an African Social Spider? this is fun for weavers.
The leader of an Elephant herd is the oldest female, the Matriarch. Elephants have tight-knit family groups, lifelong friendships, and they communicate with sound, touch, and gesture. They exhibit grief and compassion, they recognize hundreds of their fellow elephants, and they pass cultural knowledge down through generations. •
… so… Elephants are obviously the Unitarian model. Or the CodePink model. Governed by elder females. Who wants to be in an elephant herd? No men are raising their hands?
Crow live in large, loud, extended family communities, for warmth and safety. They are cooperative; juvenile crows help raise new chicks. They perform funeral ceremonies to mourn their dead, they use tools to obtain food. They work together to "mob" predators. They remember individual human faces for years, holding grudges or showing affection.
Who wants to be a crow? Everyone wants to fly, right? But you have to go to funerals. That’s also quite Unitarian. Raise your hands?
Sea Horses are social and very romantic. They form monogamous, long-term bonds that require daily, hour-long greeting rituals, including dancing, changing colors, and intertwining their tails to stay safe and together.
This sounds horrifying to me. Too much togetherness; it’s like my wife’s birthday but it’s everyday. Who wants to be a seahorse? Jeff and Margaret, I think you have to raise your hands.
Bonobos are egalitarian, matriarchal, peaceful, and cooperative. Females dominate bonobo society by forming strong alliances with other females, even serving as midwives. They use sexual behavior to manage conflict, reduce tension and maintain bonds. Bonobos exhibit empathy and the youngsters engage in complex play.
Are you thinking, that’s more fun than a Seahorse? Jeff, don’t put your hand up. Betsy - do you want to be a Bonobo? If you’re a Bonobo, I want to be a Bonobo.
I am a Human. We use thousands of sounds to poorly communicate. We are groomed by paid strangers. We live in small isolated family units separate from each other. We exhibit huge disparity in wealth, frequently due to skin color. We are more correctly categorized as “anti-social” because the word “socialist” is widely hated and feared.
Elon Musk Admits
[with mask above]
I want to live on Mars
I want to make self-driving cars
That’s what I want to do
Because I don’t care about you
I own twitter, I renamed it X
I have eleven children, I named one X
That’s what I wanted to do
Because I don’t care about you
I could halt starvation and disease
Or end homelessness, if I please
I could provide universal health
Or tuition-free college, with my wealth
I could end poverty
Or improve democracy
Make public transportation free
I am richer than Hungary, richer than Bangladesh
I’m richer than Malaysia, but I still want more success
I only have 800 billion
I want more more more more than a trillion
I want more money more money more money until my worth
Is greater than the planet Earth
Is greater than the universe
That’s what I want to do
I love tax evasion
I fear corporate regulation
But most of all, I hate hate hate socialistic nations
I do not want to be generous or kind
I want my money to be mine all mine!
I want to fly in rockets all over outer space
I want to get away from the stupid human race
That’s what I want to do
Because I don’t care about you
Anti-Capitalist Quiz Contest
“We’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, we’re going to fight it with socialism” - Fred Hampton
Hint: He was an extremely powerful public speaker
Hint: He was in the Black Panther Party in Chicago
Hint: He was killed by the FBI and police when he was 21 years old.
The goal of the future is full unemployment so we can play. That’s why we have to destroy the present economic system” - Arthur C. Clark
Hint: He lived in Sri Lanka and enjoyed scuba diving
Hint: He predicted satellite communication
Hint: He was an English science fiction writer
Hint: He wrote 2001 A Space Odyssey
Hint: His first name is Arthur
“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” - Ursula K Le Guin
Hint: She was born in Berkeley where her father was an Anthropology professor
Hint: Her mother wrote a book about an indigenous man in California
Hint: She was an award-wining science fiction & fantasy writer
Hint: Her first name was Ursela
"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires" - John Steinbeck
Hint: He won both the Pulitzer and the Nobel prize
Hint: He was a California novelist
Hint: He wrote books about Monterey and Salinas
Hint: His first name was John
The greatest bulwark of capitalism is militarism - Emma Goldman
Hint: Her work as a nurse and midwife — shaped her radical feminism.
Hint: She opposed World War I and got arrested for it
Hint: She was a Russian-born Jewish-American activist
Hint: She said “If I can’t dance I don’t want to be part of your revolution”
Hint: Her first name was Emma
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” - Edward Abbey
Hint: He worked as a park ranger and was a wilderness lover.
Hint: He was a radical environmentalist
Hint: He wrote The Monkey Wrench Gang
Hint: His first name is Edward
Those who do not move do not notice their chains - Rosa Luxembourg
Hint: She was very small and she walked with a limp
Hint: She was a Polish Russian German Jewish revolutionary activist
Hint: She was killed by a far right paramilitary group in Berlin in 1919
Hint: Her first name was Rosa
I believe in the possibility of democracy, but democracy needs to be emancipated from capitalism - Angela Davis
Hint: She studied philosophy in Europe
Hint: She was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List
Hint: She was tried for murder and acquitted
Hint: She lives in California and is a professor at UC Santa Cruz
Hint: She is a black intellectual interested in prison abolition and feminism
Hint: Her first name is Angela
"Capitalism is the belief that the nastiest of people for the nastiest of reasons will work for the benefit of all" - John Maynard Keynes.
Hint: He was part of the Bloomsbury Group — an intellectual circle famous for radical art, radical politics, and radical relationships.
Hint: He was an economist who founded a school of thought in macroeconomics
Hint: His first name was John
Hint: His middle name is Maynard
Ken and Barbie’s Woke Dilemma (w/dolls)
Ken and Barbie wanted to protest
The US fascist government
But in preparing for a rally
They both got hesitant
“Excuse me, Barbie” said Ken
In his masculine voice
“Your Givenchy jacket is elitist
Can you make a better choice?”
“Yes, you’re right,” said Barbie
In her feminine twang
“I’ll leave it here, I’ll just be cold
I don’t own a proletariat brand.”
Barbie now said:
“Ken, your coat Is from a sweatshop in Pakistan
You can’t wear it at this rally
Put it in a garbage can”
“You’re correct” said Ken, “I will take it off right now
But don’t you think your leather boots suggest
You massacred a cow?”
“You’re quite right,” said Barbie
I’ll pull them off, I will not tarry
But — Ken - your camo shorts -
are very military
“You’re correct,” said Ken, removing them
He stood in underpants and shirt
“But Barbie,” he suggested, “It’s violent and speciest
For you to wear that Leopard shirt and Zebra skirt”
Barbie disrobed and said “Dear Ken,
You hypocrisy has a foul smell
That shirt you’re wearing is Zionist
The brand supports Israel”
They stood there, their skins near clear
Just two panties, one brassiere
Ken said, “it is my again turn to be firm -
Our undies were created by enslaved silk worms”
Off these clothes came,
Ken and Barbie do not want to be rude
So now they are … completely nude
“We’re ready now,” said Barbie, “to go and virtue signal”
“I’m not so sure” said Ken, “we both shaved our public hair -
that will trigger someone, sometime, somewhere”
“No No No” said Barbie, “We’re as morally decent as can be.
We must march, wave signs and do the chants
Even though, we wear no underpants.”
Off they went, brave citizens, Ken and Barbie’s rumps
Went to cheer democracy
And boo the evil Trump.
The moral of this educational poem is - don’t worry
About your clothes or hair
Don’t delay for silly reasons
Just get your butt out there
—————————-
Suggested Changes
better Moloch mask or a film
Add Orca and maybe Penguin, Capybara, and African Social Spider
Faster pace
better jokes in-between
make smaller placards
cut out Human rectangle for my face
end with a joke or rhyme
Elon Musk - get an actor who can talk with Afrikaans accent
smaller placards for Anti-Capitalist Quiz
put their photo on the back
take out Emma Goldman, add in Dorothy Day