[Xmca-l] Re: Social Movements Discussion: From Lois Holtzman

[Lois Holzman]

Mike,
This is only part of my post.

Here is the whole post again.

I’ll jump in here to comment on two issues brought up in relation to the
All Stars and Carrie’s article—one on social movements and another on play
and performance.



We usually think of social movements as efforts/activities where people
protest, take to the streets, demonstrate, make demands, etc. The All Stars
is a different approach to social change and cultural transformation. Its
approach is to build alternatives to the failing, oppressive, authoritarian
institutions that suppress us economically, culturally, socially,
emotionally and to build self-sustaining, self-governing institutions, to
build something other, and to involve masses of people from all walks of
life in that effort.

The founders of the All Stars (both the official founders Lenora Fulani and
Fred Newman, and the unofficial hundred or so others like myself) were (and
as Mike referenced related to the move in NYC to privatize public housing)
still are engaged in more traditional-looking protest. I say traditional
looking because I don’t think it is typical protest because of who is
leading it and what it is part of. It is an organizing effort, an effort to
engage people in activities through which they can see differently and can
qualitatively transform. Fulani did not run for US President in 1988 and
1992 to win, but to organize people to see new possibilities for
themselves, their communities and their country—and to take action. I think
that the All Stars is a new way of engaging poverty than those that we’ve
witnessed and perhaps been involved in, a way that over the decades has
involved thousands of people, poor, wealthy, and in-between. This kind of
work takes the long view, something Micah White, co-founder of occupy Wall
Street, writes about (among lots of other things) in his book, *The End of
Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution*. Please read the book!



With regard to play and performance and their similarities and differences…
In some ways, the two terms are interchangeable for the All Stars (in ways
that, apparently, are provocative). In this regard, the All Stars’
methodology is part of what’s come to be called the performance turn, and
the recognition (at long last!) of the necessity of play for human
development and learning—and cultural transformation. This methodology
plays loose with Vygotsky’s understanding of children’s pretend play and,
if you will, “exploits” the richness of his dialectical understanding of
play being how and where children are “a head taller” (going beyond what
you can do and normally do do in “real life”). For teens and adults,
performing is a way to break out of “real life”—the rigid identities and
the roles that a society casts us in and the ones we develop as reactions
(protests) to them—and to actively and continuously create who we’re
becoming.



Building something outside of the state apparatus, and working with a
methodology of play and performance to support human/community development
come together in the emergence of what I like to call a new kind of social
activism—performance activism. It’s not just the All Stars; thousands of
people and projects in every country of the world are engaging not only
poverty, but violence, environmental destruction and every manner of social
justice and human rights violation through the building of independent
organizations and projects in which people play and perform their way to a
modicum of de-alienation. I don’t know if this constitutes a social
movement. What I am sure of is that people are in motion, creating new ways
to see and be together. Given our world, I don’t know how else, other than
performing it, we can do this.



I hope this is helpful in moving the discussion along.

By the way, back many months (maybe February) I described the community of
which the All Stars is a part in a post responding to interest on this list
in Richard Schechner, who is a friend of the All Stars, and his work in
performance. No one commented on it. Perhaps this is another chance.


Lois













On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 1:41 PM, mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu> wrote:

> Hmmm, it appears that gremlins have gotten into Lois's xmca contact. This
> note from earlier in the day
> went missing, she got concerned, and so I am forwarding her message while
> Bruce tracks down the problem.
>
> mike
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Lois Holzman <lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org>
> Date: Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 12:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [Xmca-l] Re: Does the All-Stars article document a social
> movement?
> To: ablunden@mira.net, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <
> xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>
>
> I’ll jump in here to comment on two issues brought up in relation to the
> All Stars and Carrie’s article—one on social movements and another on play
> and performance.
>
>
>
> We usually think of social movements as efforts/activities where people
> protest, take to the streets, demonstrate, make demands, etc. The All Stars
> is a different approach to social change and cultural transformation. Its
> approach is to build alternatives to the failing, oppressive, authoritarian
> institutions that suppress us economically, culturally, socially,
> emotionally and to build self-sustaining, self-governing institutions, to
> build something *other*, and to involve masses of people from all walks
> of life in that effort.
>
> The founders of the All Stars (both the official founders Lenora Fulani
> and Fred Newman, and the unofficial hundred or so others like myself) were
> (and as Mike referenced related to the move in NYC to privatize public
> housing) still are engaged in more traditional-looking protest. I say
> traditional looking because I don’t think it is typical protest because of
> who is leading it and what it is part of. It is an organizing effort, an
> effort to engage people in activities through which they can see
> differently and can qualitatively transform. Fulani did not run for US
> President in 1988 and 1992 to win, but to organize people to see new
> possibilities for themselves, their communities and their country—and to
> take action. I think that the All Stars is a new way of engaging poverty
> than those that we’ve witnessed and perhaps been involved in, a way that
> over the decades has involved thousands of people, poor, wealthy, and
> in-between. This kind of work takes the long view, something Micah White,
> co-founder of occupy Wall Street, writes about (among lots of other things)
> in his book, *The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution*. Please
> read the book!
>



-- 
Lois Holzman
Director, East Side Institute for Group & Short Term Psychotherapy
119 West 23 St, suite 902
New York, NY 10011
Chair, Global Outreach, All Stars Project, UX
Tel. +1.212.941.8906 x324
Fax +1.718.797.3966
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| Psychology of Becoming <http://loisholzman.org/> | Mad in America
<http://www.madinamerica.com/author/lois/>
Websites
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<http://eastsideinstitute.org/> | Performing the World
<http://www.performingtheworld.org/>
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