Skip to main content

Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

A Call for Revolutionary Love Letters

Article type
Repost
December 29, 2011
Body paragraph
A Call for Revolutionary Love Letters
Jamie Heckert

Dear Potential Contributor,

For many of us, revolution doesn't refer just to a transformation of a political system. It's also about a change of heart: r/evolution in our relationships with ourselves, each other and the land. With life itself.

Are you drawn to, moved by or curious about revolutionary love? Would you like to share something of your love(s)? Do you know of others who might want to contribute? If so, please do pass this invitation on them.

This letter to you, to many of you, comes from a vision. In it is a book of love letters. They come from around the world, beautiful in their diversity of form and focus, beautiful in their shared love of freedom and equality, their love of life. In this vision, too, are street parties and poetry nights, protests and lazy mornings, friendly discussions and tense moments, deserts and forests, oeans and gardens, romances and loves that have no name. There are details out of focus, not yet present or not yet known. It is a vision of a world where many worlds, many loves, are possible.

A great philosopher, one who knows the wisdom of love, referred to the state as the coldest of all cold monsters. This potential book, and the process of it's birth, might be a source of warmth, of heat.

You might consider yourself a revolutionary, with or without adjectives. Or maybe you sense the power of love to transform consciousness, relationships, entire cultures. If not, would you like to?

It might be a traditional letter, a poem, a short story, a mini essay, a picture, a report from an event. It might be something that you or I have yet to imagine. The love letter might only be a small part of a bigger picture. How might you craft it with love? On your own, or with friends or lovers, comrades or strangers? Will making love letter(s) be part of an event, or an event in itself? Could the process help nourish communities or movements, families or friendships?

You are also warmly invited to interpret revolutionary love for yourself, for yourselves. As permaculture teaches, the most productive spaces are often at the edge. What do you see, what do you feel, at the edges of love and revolution? What would you like to?

Just to be clear, love does not have to be limited to romance. It need not exclude anger or a rage. It can be very practical. It might be love for a person or a place, a movement or an idea, an item or an event. It may have no object, no boundary, no end.

You don't need to write/make your own love letter in order to contribute. Do you know of existing works that might fit in such a collection? Could you point them out to me? Or volunteer to translate into English? Would you like to organise a loving event without necessarily worrying about submitting a letter? Perhaps you might accept this simply as an invitation to nurture your own capacity to love. That in itself is a contribution.

Deadline for writing 1st May, 2012.
Word limit: 2,000 (or one US letter/A4 page for artwork)
Language: some form of English, more or less (including English translation alongside another language)
Multiple, anonymous and/or collective submissions all welcome
Submissions, queries, etc to Jamie.Heckert@gmail.com

With love,
Jamie

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
CAPTCHA This question is to verify that you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam.

What does the G in GEO stand for?