Hey, let's organize that symposium!

Not too much life on this blog. So, I’ve thought I increase the traffic here and I ad a new post. First of all, Debbie, why didn't you write about my wonderful idea to make a virtual connection between Budapest and London? Is it the ordinary negligence of Eastern Europe or what? :) Anyway, there is no problem. Then I write down what I would like to do.

So, the day of the symposium is the 2nd of February which is also the day of our annual Street Ball in Budapest. It is a sort of class war protest (but without any old-fashioned Marxist orthodoxy) against capitalism and against the disgusting elite which in the midst of its drive of capital accumulation likes to invoke the good old half-feudal times of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy when the two nations oppressed the other folks around Central-Europe and when the aristocracy celebrated itself on its shiny balls as the wonderful and sophisticated pillar of the society. How does this double event look like? On the one side of the street there is the Opera Ball in the Opera House for the elite meanwhile we organize the Street Ball on the other side of the street. This is a party for homeless people and for anybody who wants to come, with live music and with different forms of street theater. What we do basically is that we hack an already existing event, the Opera Ball and we use its media coverage so that with our presence we distort the originally constructed meanings around the Opera Ball. So the Opera Ball together with a little supplement, the Street Ball starts to represent in the media the problems of capitalism instead of representing the greatness of the existing system. This is the one side of the Street Ball that with it we want to challenge everyday meanings in the Hungarian society, those ones which the elite wants to sell to the people as obvious and unquestionable such as capitalism is the best possible system for everybody. The other side of the event is that we also construct a situation when homeless people, who mainly only experience disdain in their everyday life can have fun and can feel that there is nothing wrong with them. To sum it up the Street Ball is about having fun and about challenging seemingly obvious meanings in the Hungarian society. Here is a short video about how our ball looks like. http://indy.media.hu/cikk.shtml?x=34970
You won’t understand the Hungarian but you can get a general view about it through the pictures.

Your virtual appearance in Budapest would help us to challenge some boring clichés around capitalism. If you would appear as our special guests and we could have a short conversation about that capitalism even in its center does not work and you as witnesses of it would tell us that even in the rich London huge amounts of social problems exist, that would be fine. It is important because in the Hungarian mainstream public life it is a general excuse that we have only problems with our system because we couldn’t yet catch up the West where everything works more or less perfectly. You as squatters or social center users can also say a few sentences about the squat culture in London and how useful it is to avoid homelessness and to struggle against capitalism.

I would suggest to establish the Internet connection from the start of the symposium. This would be good because so I could be with you even when I am somewhere else and also because I have friends in Budapest who are really interested in the symposium and would be participants of it. If you agree we can also make a presentation from Budapest. I imagined so that or connection can be finished with your appearance at the Street Ball. I can give you an exact time for this. It would be around 5 pm according to the English time. In Hungary it will be at 6 o’clock as there is 1 hour difference between the two time zones. Do you know anybody who can establish an Internet connection with open source software here in London? There is somebody in Budapest who can do this. If you don’t know anybody who is good at open source no problem because with general commercial software (such as skype) anybody can do it.

I have some questions too. What kinds of presentations do we have at the moment? I also suggested to some people who I know here in London to come and make a presentation at the symposium. Perhaps they will tell us later what they would like to do.

What is the situation with the venue? Are there any ideas for it? I have an idea. It is possible to do it in the Foundry in the big room downstairs. The symposium can be hold there from 2 till 6 pm. There is also wireless connection which is good but the Foundry has also the disadvantage that people might turn up and might disturb the presentations. So tell me what do you think about the Foundry as the venue?

Finally, there is one more thing. As the Rampart can be evicted in any moment it became extremely important to create a new social centre instead of it. The Rampart collective has already occupied a new building which is quite near to the old social centre, and they need help in squatting the place. I know that different people have different doses of free time and energy for the involvement in creating the new social centre but I think generally it is important not only to use resources but also to help out in creating those resources. I tell you what I've dreamt when I've slept first time in the building. Perhaps it makes you feel like going there. So, in my dream I woke up and I saw that I am in a beautiful new house. The walls are freshly-painted and dazzlingly white; luxurious furniture is all around. Outside there are a big pool and a sauna. But just when I started to feel myself comfortable I suddenly realized that I am in a fucking big brother house and all my movements are watched by cameras. I also realized that I am closed in this building and I will be closed there for the next few years. Then I woke up in the cold squat on the mattress at the floor and I thought this is much better than the building in my dream because in a squat there is always somehow the possibility of freedom. It is there despite of all the uncertainties. Even if I can't tell what exactly freedom is. Ok, ok perhaps it is a bit too romantic idea but anyway I am sure it is worth to devote some time to help out in creating squats and social centers.

That's it for now. And please comment the post and write down in a comment if you want to do a presentation or a workshop or just write about your ideas and opinions. I find a bit problematic the lack of decentralized communication around the reading group and the symposium.