Starhawk's Cancun Journals

[G_j]

Starhawk's Cancun Journals - Aug/Sept 2003

http://starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/cancun_journals.html

Near-daily updates from behind the scenes and by the barricades of the WTO mobilization in Cancun, Mexico: August 26 to September 15, 2003. Each journal is on its own page -- click on the link for the journal you would like to read.

[G_j]

1. great reading from an important

participant in the Global Justice movement. (also a well known witch)

[G_j]

2. to be posted soon...

Cancun Update 9/12/03  We did it!
It¹s 1:30 pm and I¹m so, so happy!

 We did it.  We got through all their security, got right up next to the convention center, and blockaded the roads for three hours, completely snarling all the traffic in the hotel zone just as the delegates were out for their dinners.  All those scattered, disparate kaleidoscope pieces shifted and shook down into the perfect, perfect pattern.  And up until the moment we did it, I didn¹t believe we could pull it off.
Here¹s how we did it:

The day begins well, with the news that a small team has hung a huge banner that says "Que les vayan todos/WTO Go Home!" on a giant crane outside the conference center.  They have been dancing naked three hundred feet up in the air, and the authorities just don¹t know what to do.  I wake up feeling exhausted and sick, but the news cheers me up.
All day we are meeting, planning and preparing.  Over breakfast, Rodrigo and I make up a new Spanish verse to one of our chants.  
  "Somos el viento que sopla
  Al imperio que colapsa.."
  "We are the wind that blows the Empire down."  I¹m still not sure if we have logistics or communications or a tactical plan, but at least we have a song.

The Pagan Cluster meets in the morning, practicing the song in the convergence space.  We quickly firm up our logistics, and goes out to the park to do a ritual of protection and success, asking for the way to be opened and for a bit of fog around the eyes of the security personnel.

 The fog is necessary as we are all in our tourist garb around the convergence center all day.  At home we¹ve spent a good half hour advising Karla on just the right shorts to wear with her blouse, and Josh on what to do with his hair.  I have this pale green pants suit that is truly the perfect outfit, it looks just like something a tourist would wear in the tropics to pretend she was having some revolutionary adventure in the jungle, but it actually has just the right pockets and roll-up sleeves and fit to be practical action garb.  Come to think of it I am having some revolutionary adventure in the jungle.

...much more...(to be posted at the webite soon)

[Athame]

6. Inspirational

I, too, have had the pleasure of working rituals with Starhawk. She is an absolutely genuine treasure. Although most know her for the witchy playbook Spiral Dance, one of her older books, Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Sex, and Authority, is the best I have ever read on group dynamics and direct action.

Thanks for posting G_j.

What do we see that we don't want to see? What do we know that we don't want to know?
Starhawk in Truth or Dare

[Tinoire]

3. Starhawk is one of my favorite activists!

The things she's done/said re Palestine are absolutely inspiring and comforting in a world where people are so blinded by blind loyalties.

So cool you posted her here.

Peace

[G_j]

5. one of my greater inspirations

has been meeting and interacting with her. Her experiences in the past years have greatly moved her. She was in Palestine when the Iraq invasion began. The piece she wrote that day sent a chill through me.
Her writings from Palestine have allowed me a glimpse into that situation that I never would have had. Knowing her, I found myself greatly concerned for her safety and was relieved each time she has returned. Of course Cancun was a potentially dangerous place to be also. Obviously that is not something that has ever stopped her from following her convictions, though she experiences fear like any one of us.

You no doubt have read her writings on her experiences in Palestine at the website.

[Stone_Spirits]

4. Starhawk

is someone who really walks her talk,

:toast:

Go Star!

[Stone_Spirits]

7. not expecting

anyone to don their foil hat, but for some of us who perceive things in this way, there is likey some genuine
"black" magic going on around the New World Order, BFEE, WTO etc.
Not for everyone to be concerned about or even accept, but it's good to know we have some very powerful and beautiful magic being worked on our side.

On a practical level you can see how a postive spiritual intension and energy helps in tense situations such as Cancun, by reading these journals.



"we are the wind.."

[G_j]

8. mmmm...

Hi Stone_spirits! :hi: :yourock: :loveya: