Just watching about residents coming back to Kobane and very understandably talking about freedom.
However the combination of the geo local focus and the idea, in their words, of “freedom from”, seems to have highlighted for me what seems like a common fallacy about freedom – in my mind.
Freedom from is a suggestion – perhaps am reading this wrongly – of a movement from one state/situation to another. Once we got rid of the prison we are in – we’ll Be free. As if Freedom is a sort of outside of us, an outside – if not even an outside Other – that we can just go in if we were to be permitted/unshackled.
This is a physicalisation, a geo-graphication, ironically – a gardenification – of a process, of a practice, in my mind.
From an artistic and rhythmical perception, it seems like to be free, as a person or as a group, whether the laws happen to restrict or not – we are talking about cultivation a rhythmic practice rather than a place to go to. In that sense, legislation is an enabler, disabler, suggestion of expression rather than the definer of freedom.
The fact that, for example, terrorist legislation in the uk affects people’s perception of their freedoms. Affects how self restrictive to be in activities, how “careful” to be Not to get caught in the terror of the states’ violent assault on social, economic and cultural freedom. An assault by praying cameras, talk of keeping safe and indeed false dichotomies – freedom vs safety “balance”. Assault on speech and thoughts via social media, to protect (keep “safe”) society, as well as economic campaign to keep people on the short beat of survival sequences via 0 hours, precarious jobs and indeed – work that is done not for need but for the power and arbitrariness of economically well endowed people only.
Well.. Here’s an early sunday morning rant over and done with.. 😉