July 1, 2002
Buy this book from Powell's (available in August)
"Woven in a new design"
a review of Starhawk's new book,
Webs of Power: Notes from the Global
Uprising
by Stephanie Hiller
Is it too late for the world?
Read Starhawk's latest book, and you'll get a bracing analysis of the global uprising which may be our best hope to save it. But you won't get any simple answers.
"My own position is that the system is both undesirable and unsustainable" and therefore, that it must come down. "I want a revolution that changes the very nature of how power is structured and perceived, that challenges all systems of domination and control, that nurtures the empowerment of individuals and the collective power we can wield when we act together in solidarity." But "even if we're wrong, if nothing we do does make a difference, courage and passion are a better place to be than hopelessness, cynicism, and fear."
The book is a collection of essays, the first half her own reports on the anti-globalization movement since its launch in Seattle two years ago, the second half her lucid evaluation of the tactics, strategy and debates that have arisen as the young grassroots movement struggles to define itself. She eschews the word "nonviolence" because "if we say 'nonviolence,' we are still thinking in terms of violence." Instead, she prefers to call this approach to political struggle "empowered direct action."
She outlines with remarkable clarity the principles and goals that drive this growing opposition to the detrimental policies of international corporations, crippling poor nations by devouring their resources and further endangering our collective survival. She knows whereof she speaks: Starhawk has been involved in direct action for more than 20 years, bringing to it her unique vision grounded solidly in the earth. Her spiritual practice, using the tools of magic and earth-based ritual, is what sustains her through the hard work of challenging powerful forces with little assurance of victory.
That pagan practice is what gives this eco-warrior her unique power. Her work emerges from her love of the planet and her deep sense of purpose, not from hostility against the perpetrators of oppression. Though she calls for revolution, hers is not a call for blood.
Nor is she satisfied with stereotypes or old answers. Though Gandhi was indeed great, she finds his sexual abstinence problematic. "Gandhi's rejection of sexuality, of the body, leaves us firmly in the world view of patriarchy, split between body and spirit, venerating Gods that transcend the flesh, and suffering the inevitable degradation of those of us who bring that flesh into the world." And so, "the revolution we need to make includes a profound change in relationship to our experience of being a body." She does not miss a chance to point out that the violation of women and the abuse of the earth have the same root. "The devaluation of women -- the violence, rape, and destruction perpetrated on female bodies around the globe -- is also supported by the same philosophical and religious systems that identify women with nature and the body, and assign them both low value."
None of this is new to readers of Starhawk's work. But what is new is her equation of the end result of this revolution with the process of fighting it. "What if we ceased to locate the revolution in the future, and embraced it now? Revolution is what we are, not what we will become; what we do, not what we will do someday. An unfolding, evolving, enlivening experiment, something we continually reinvent as we go a long, a living process happening now." That insight is a brilliant one, allowing protesters to see themselves as living the solution while attacking the problem, with "reform and revolution march[ing] along together for quite a while yet," modeling the new world while tearing down the old.
Starhawk's vision of that new world is eminently pleasing, with business serving to satisfy human needs and governments acting to protect human rights while the economy takes care of everybody. Is it realistic to suppose that we can build a world in which communities control their own resources and destinies, enterprise is rooted in communities, opportunity abounds for everyone, labor receives fair pay, security and dignity, and all people have a voice in the decisions that affect them?
I just don't know. Our present economic system is based on the assumption of scarcity, that there is not enough for everybody and goods must therefore be acquired through competition. Except for the goddess cultures, the 10,000-year history of human societies is fraught with wars fought to obtain sufficient food for a burgeoning population, unexpected earthquakes and periodic epidemics (68 million more AIDS deaths anticipated?),decimating whole civilizations.
Direct action's vision for "another world is possible" may be just a tad too utopian, given the quirks of human behavior and the vicissitudes of nature. But from where we're sitting, any movement born from a place of deep compassion and love for the earth has got to take us to a better place than where we are heading now. And if we don't have all the answers while staring into the chasm threatening to engulf us, well then, we just have to leave the rest to faith.
It's a whole lot more fun, anyway, than being sitting ducks for Armageddon.